What inspires a successful country artist to leave the music industry and embark on a journey of faith and ministry? Join our captivating conversation with Granger Smith, where he shares a deeply personal transformation that changed his life's trajectory. Granger discusses his evolution from a serious musician to embracing his viral YouTube persona, Earl Dibbles Jr., and how this unique blend has captivated audiences far and wide. Through laughter and tears, we explore the creative parallels between songwriting and sermon writing, and how personal tragedies, including the heart-wrenching loss of his son, have profoundly shaped his perspective and strengthened his faith.
Granger Smith captivated new fans with his humor, authenticity, and exceptional guitar skills. Our chat touches on the intriguing link between Kelsea Ballerini's song "Dibs" and Granger's alter ego, sparking lively debate and fan theories. We reflect on Granger's early career days sharing the highs and lows that come with the territory. The bond formed between diverse fan groups and the artist's relentless perseverance in the industry highlight a journey that is as inspiring as it is entertaining.
Granger's journey doesn’t end with music; it transforms into a mission of ministry. He candidly shares the pivotal moments that led him to pursue this path, including heartfelt encounters with fans who opened up about their struggles. The challenging but rewarding decision to leave music behind for a higher calling is detailed with sincerity and introspection. Granger's metaphorical view of God as a diamond on black felt provides a humbling perspective on life and faith. Through his story, listeners gain not only inspiration but also a powerful message about finding one's true purpose amidst life's trials.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I had to kind of reconcile the idea that I had a
viral YouTube guy that was funnyand then people would go to my
show and it was real serious andwe took ourselves, you know,
very seriously and I thought,okay, earl needs to be part of
the show somehow.
I don't know exactly how he'sgoing to do it, but I need to
write him a song.
So I wrote him a song and thenmade a music video and then that
(00:23):
video went viral.
So that made it easy to kind ofmake it the last thing that we
did every night.
And the band would vamp and Iwould run to the trailer and
change and come back out ofZorro as kind of the encore.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
God, I feel like an unworthy person because of my
own struggles.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Elaborate a little bit on what you mean by you feel
like a, an unworthy personbecause of your own God.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Granger, should I lay down on the couch?
Speaker 1 (00:51):
Writing sermons is so close it's like the same layer
of my brain writing a sermon aswriting a song and then
preaching it.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
It also satisfies a very similar itch the try that
in a small town podcast beginsnow all right, y'all, we are
coming to you from the patriotmobile studios.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
This is try that small town podcast, tkk low
thrash.
I'm kurt.
We appreciate you guys joiningus today.
It's a super special.
They're all great and special.
It's kind of like your kidsthey're all special and awesome
in their own way.
But, seriously, today is goingto be I have a feeling it's
going to be pretty powerful andawesome.
(01:39):
We have a friend, granger Smith, coming on.
Some people do know and thensome people don't like a lot of
his.
How he got famous was his kindof alter ego, earl dibbles jr,
which I think is brilliant anduh it's.
It's incredibly interesting.
He had a number one song.
What was it?
uh, background song, so he hadincredible success yeah, on his
(02:02):
own, but then he kind of createdthis alter ego which I
definitely want to ask him about.
Speaker 4 (02:06):
I want to do that.
You want to create an alter ego.
I have a couple of them, but Iwant one more.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Yeah, I was going to say you already do yeah you
already do You're there.
Speaker 4 (02:13):
One more is good.
I think three would be good.
Speaker 6 (02:15):
You're there, you're just not.
I'm losing money with my alteregos, we all are.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
That's good, that's awesome.
Granger we've known for quite awhile, and those of you that
don't know him, he lost his sonin a drowning accident I think
it was in 2019.
But it's going to be powerful.
Looking forward to it, for sure.
Speaker 4 (02:38):
Great guy and go back a long way with him, but to see
what he's doing now is is it ispowerful.
Speaker 6 (02:46):
You know, he and his wife, you know, really rely on
God and um, and we're going totalk about his music.
You know, we're going to talkabout Earl Dibbles Jr.
We're going to talk about hisministry, uh, and just all kinds
of things and what an amazingjourney he's had.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Welcome, granger Smith.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
Thank you guys for having me.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
This is fun oh man, we appreciate you, hey.
So talk about that real quick.
The podcast, how long you'vebeen doing it.
Give us any tips that you mighthave for us?
Speaker 1 (03:13):
yeah, we're struggling man, uh, yeah, I was
actually thinking about this theother day because it's we're
going on almost eight years now,2017.
Yeah, it started.
Uh, I started doing it on tourin the back of my bus, had a
setup back there and I was likeI'm just going to start doing a
podcast and still doing it today.
(03:34):
It's, yeah, it's it's crazythat it's gone this this far,
that people still listen.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
I guess I should say Do you do it once a week, or how
often is it Release it?
Every Monday, okay, that'sgreat.
So everybody check that out.
I'm sure it's on wherever youcan listen to podcasts, youtube,
spotify, all of that.
Hey, let's go back quite a bit,because we've known you for
quite a while.
Some of us know you as EarlDibbles but some of us know you,
(04:02):
as Granger Smith Talk about,actually go to the Earl D
Devilsink, because that thing iscrazy.
Like you were, you were viralbefore people knew how to go
viral yeah, that's weird.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
It's weird to think about it that way.
Um, it was 2011 and we had analbum coming out and my brother
and I two brothers and I weretrying to think of unique ways
to promote the album.
And this is a time back whenYouTube was.
You know, there's just like alot of goofy things on YouTube
(04:36):
and and you could get somethingto go viral on there and
everyone was watching it.
Now there's so much stuff nowthat not everyone could watch it
, but we were doing a series ofjust silly videos with these
different characters trying tobasically just bring eyes to the
album, and Earl Dibbles Jr wasjust another one of them.
(04:58):
It was another one of thesecharacters and the goal was
always to try to get a millionviews, and we weren't even
anywhere close to that untilEarl, and he was just a kind of
an ultra redneck country boy.
It wasn't talking about musicat all.
It wasn't talking about me atall or the album at all.
Uh, just at the very end of thevideo it says grandersmithcom,
(05:19):
like in small letters, and andthen it just it goes viral.
I remember that first day ithad 25 000 views on on day one
and I thought I think that waslike all the other characters
combined was that number in 2011.
So I just thought there'ssomething special, and then,
just in a few weeks, it was.
(05:39):
It was the first million viewvideo that I had, so it it was.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
It's just absolutely ridiculous that it that people
watch that and it became astaple, right?
I mean, you had to do it inconcert, you had.
You had people needed to seethe Earl Dibbles thing, right?
Speaker 1 (05:55):
Yeah, so it lived as just a video, with no music, no,
just kind of no reference.
It lived for several monthsbefore I knew, lived for several
months before I knew.
In fact, there was a momentwhen a guy came up to me after a
show and I used to go to themerchandise table and just stand
there and just talk to anyonethat was around.
And this one guy came up andsaid, man, you're a funny guy.
(06:17):
And I said, oh, thanks, man,and he goes, but I don't see
that in your show at all.
And I was like, oh, he's right.
And I had to kind of reconcilethe idea that I had a viral
YouTube guy that was funny andthen people would go to my show
and it was real serious and wetook ourselves very seriously
and I thought, okay, earl needsto be part of the show somehow.
(06:42):
I don't know exactly how he'sgoing to do it, but I need to
write him a song.
So I wrote him a song and thenmade a music video and then that
video went viral.
So that made it easy to kind ofmake it the last thing that we
did every night and I would, theband would vamp and I would run
and to the trailer and changeand come back out as Earl is
(07:02):
kind of the the encore.
And then I remember soon afterthat the yee-yee thing was taken
off, because there was a littlemoment in the first video where
Earl holds up the shotgun andhe says yee-yee.
And that kind of sparked thisthing with people.
They were coming to the showsand they were holding up signs
(07:24):
that said yee-yee and I thoughtit might be something special.
But I didn't really know untilone day I was driving in a
little town in Texas and I saw atruck dealership and in the
windows of all the trucks thatsaid yee, yee.
And so that's when I knew Ishould trademark this before
someone tells me that I can'tuse it anymore.
(07:46):
So it was $5,000.
I remember to trademark it andI remember thinking that was
just ridiculous to pay that kindof money and what a stupid risk
that would be to pay $5,000,but I did and I think it's paid
off, yeah.
Speaker 6 (08:04):
Well, granger, there's so many things to
compliment you on and wewouldn't have time in the
podcast.
I'm sure you have somethingdirectly after this to get to
and we all have so many thingswe want to talk to you about.
But I'm just proud of you.
I mean, you were just a kid,you were a teenager First time.
We wrote a long time ago at EMIand CEO and all that stuff, and
you've had hits as an artist,like Kurt was saying, and it's
(08:29):
just amazing to see that youkind of did it the Nashville way
, but when you didn't want to doit the Nashville way, you did
it your own way.
It's just amazing.
You've found avenues and you'vecreated things and you keep
creating things and you keepchanging and altering and
staying true to God andeverything.
And I wanted to comment on onone thing before I forget and
(08:49):
compliment you mostly as theonly male country artist that
has surpassed garth brooks.
I want to congratulate you onthat in what way well hey, hey.
well, chris, gain Earl DibblesJr.
No freaking contest no contestI'll take it.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
I'll take it.
Speaker 6 (09:09):
You know you got it.
Thank you, buddy,Congratulations.
Speaker 3 (09:13):
That's good, thank you, I'm going with Dibbles
every time too.
Speaker 6 (09:20):
Well, and two, I was going to ask you two do you
think and this is just kind of atrue or false, or yes or no,
and you may not even know and Idon't know the answer Do you
think that Kelsey Ballerini'sDibs was inspired by Earl
Dibbles Jr.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
Have you heard that?
I'd say probably 70%.
Speaker 6 (09:41):
Okay, yeah, I was curious about that.
Speaker 5 (09:43):
Oh, you're going to make people dig now.
You're going to make people go.
Yeah, that's funny.
Speaker 4 (09:49):
That's fun.
Now.
You were such a hard worker too.
I remember we talked to Jasonabout it when you were at Broken
Bow and we did a few showstogether, like random festivals
or fairs, and Jason always saidyou know, you're hustling, doing
your thing and it was.
It was as a as a new artist andyoung artists and establishing
(10:11):
yourself.
It seemed like you were thefans, like they stayed with you.
Did you feel that out there,like your fan base, they just it
felt like watching you grow.
In that time we knew you.
It felt like it was just reallyyou were holding all your fans
growing it.
That's not easy to do.
It's from year to year.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
Yeah, that's so interesting.
I don't think I could takecredit for that.
I think for some reason thefans just kind of stuck with it
and united.
We saw over the decades we sawsome strange things happening
with fans.
We saw the original fans andthen the Earl Dibbles fans
started coming and the originalfans are like these people don't
(10:57):
look like us, they're different, but they kind of started
getting along and sharingcommonality with each other.
And you know, this guy wouldlike this older song of mine and
then this guy was an EarlDibbles guy and then they would
kind of share and end up walkingaway liking a little bit of
each.
But then when we started havingnational success, then the new
(11:22):
radio people started coming in,you know, and they're looking at
these two other groups going.
These, these are not like me,but but you know they for some
reason they started gettingalong.
So you got these oldunderground people meeting the
Earl Dibbles rednecks meetingthe.
Now that you know how radiopeople look, they they're
different in their in their ownright.
So all three groups kind ofstarted coming together and just
(11:47):
stuck with it and found, youknow, they became friends, which
is so interesting to me.
Speaker 4 (11:52):
See, maybe you missed it.
You could have sold twoseparate tickets to each show
and doubled your money?
Speaker 1 (11:57):
Yeah, it's interesting.
Speaker 4 (12:01):
That was great.
It was always fun seeing youand watching you do your thing
and your success grow.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
You guys too.
I met Jason probably in 99,something like that Back when
Jason was on Capital or when hefirst got signed to Capital.
Speaker 4 (12:22):
Wow, You're one of the very few people that would
remember that, that Capitalsigning and we talk about it a
lot because he gets signed andwe were young, we were trying to
be a band and he gets signedand we're excited and then it
doesn't happen.
And that's part of the businessthat no one really sees.
After you have success, theyonly see the success, they don't
(12:43):
see the bumps.
But that's amazing.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
I didn't realize that you even knew about that.
The capital signing, yeah, youknow, um, it was Michael Knox
was the connection, but it was along time ago and I used to
come up and hang out with thoseguys and Jason and I would go
and you know, like, just try tosee what we can kick up in
Nashville, and I remember helost his deal and that was.
(13:11):
It was kind of the first bigreality for me that.
Oh, you know, I thought Jasonwas going to make it and now I
guess he's.
I guess he's not.
Yeah, he's not going to make it.
Speaker 4 (13:19):
It's a.
You know, I love talking topeople like yourself who can
remember those days and howpeople don't even know about
that, how that was.
We all thought we had our firstchance and next thing you know
the deal's gone and you're backto.
We probably showcased 10 timesto get that deal lost.
It.
Now we're back to square one.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
Yeah, people think you have a record deal, you've
made it.
Oh wow, have a record deal,you've made it.
Oh wow, that's amazing, you'vemade it.
No, that's actually thebeginning of the that part of
the journey yeah, and kellyremembers that from brad same
thing yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 6 (13:59):
There are four artists coming out around the
same time, you know, and yeah,and one of them made it out yeah
, losing losing a record dealwas the greatest thing that ever
happened to me.
Yeah yeah, I will say um, likewhen you mentioned brad paisley
and watching your video.
By the way, your videos areamazing.
(14:19):
I mean I could sit there andwatch them all day long, one
after another another.
I said he got another one andchecking them out, I'll say your
guitar skills and sound, whatyou can get out of an acoustic
guitar.
Brad Paisley and Keith Urbancombined couldn't get out what
you get out of acoustic guitarin that video.
America, america, america.
(14:41):
He's flat wearing it out.
It's just so funny.
I was like oh my God, it's justhilarious, funny.
I was like, oh my God, it'sjust hilarious.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
Oh man, You're just giving me all kinds of strange
accolades today.
Well see, I definitely don'tdeserve.
Speaker 6 (14:52):
Well, there's four of us, so I got to think of things
that these guys might not thinkof Well mission accomplished
yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
Yeah, america was another.
That was another commonalitythat you and I have kelly,
because that was.
That was a frank rogers thing.
Frank, you know when, when wewere working on different earl
dibbles things, frank was likewe could do whatever you want,
as long as I get to write a songcalled america with you, there
you go.
Speaker 6 (15:17):
It's really great, I love it.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
Speaking of america, I know you're a uh, you're very
passionate about the militaryand that's how we did.
You know you did a new share ofUSO things.
We've been able to do that andjust the unbelievable experience
that is.
But from what I understand, itkind of led you to do some
parties at the White House or aChristmas party during the Bush
years.
Is that right?
Speaker 1 (15:41):
Yeah, yeah, I was thinking about that the other
day.
Some wild things that you couldjust, sometimes you can walk
away from all that and just go.
Was that a dream?
Did I dream that that stuffhappened?
But yeah, that was the Bushadministration.
We kind of became friends withthem.
Christmas parties, parties forwounded warriors, we did his
(16:06):
farewell party from the WhiteHouse as he stepped down from
the administration.
So yeah, those were.
Those were some fun times, yeahyeah, that's unbelievable.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
We're hoping we might get to do a little inauguration
party here coming up, but Iguess we'll see.
Hey, I know you're a hugecollege football fan, let's go
to here real quick to do alittle inauguration party here
coming up, but I guess we'll see.
Hey, I know you're a hugecollege football fan, let's go
to here real quick because welove discussing football.
And now we got the playoff.
Who do you first of all?
Do you like the playoff?
Second of all, who you got.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
Man, yeah.
So it's crazy because I wantedthis 12 team playoff, because I
just thought, oh, this will makeeverything better, because you
could make an argument thatnumber five team should be in
there, but you could never makethe argument that number 13
should be in there.
And then here we are arguingthat 13 should be in there.
But what's driving me crazyright now is this transfer
(17:00):
portal thing that's happening.
Did you guys hear about PennState?
The quarterback for Penn StateJust happened, right.
No I he just stepped down fromthe team they play this weekend.
They play the first playoffgame this weekend and he's
saying he's going to go into theportal.
Speaker 5 (17:17):
Wow, oh Lord.
I can understand somebody notin the playoffs doing that, but
not where they're at.
I can't see that.
Speaker 6 (17:24):
It doesn't seem like a smart business move.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
We're hoping our quarterback sits down Crazy.
So yeah, there's a lot ofthings in college football.
Speaker 6 (17:34):
a lot of things need to be fixed, for sure oh yeah,
yeah, well, and you're, uh, andtalking about the service, the
military and the and the, thetours that you've, you've done
and played for the soldiers andthings like that.
You're an a&m guy texas a&mright, yeah, and and you're in
the corporate cadets there,correct?
I did a little research on that.
Do you think, think I mean withthat that is such a highly
(17:56):
disciplined and military thing?
Do you think that kind ofcarried over to your success now
, being that disciplined andthat kind of stuff instilled in
you, do you think that helpedyour success?
Speaker 1 (18:08):
I think so.
I think there's a lot of andall of us could probably say the
same the same thing that life.
So many times I think of itlike a Jenga game, and if you
start pulling out those littleblocks, you pull out different
blocks, the whole tower falls.
And so that's for me, that'sdefinitely one of those blocks,
and we all, we all have thosethings that you look back and
you go you know, I think if Ididn't have that, I wouldn't
(18:31):
have built anything.
And you go you know, I think ifI didn't have that, I wouldn't
have built anything.
So, yeah, certainly there was.
There's a certain amount of,there's a certain amount of
mental discipline that just goesinto the music business.
You just have to have it.
And if you don't, then the, thelong nights and the, the tired
days and the rejection and the,the months that turn into years,
(18:51):
they get the best of you andyou just say I'm gonna, I'm
gonna go do the dad's dad'sbusiness.
You know, I'm gonna take up,take over dad's business that
I've been wanting to do.
We see that happen all the time.
Yeah, yeah, certainly go ahead,bud.
Speaker 4 (19:06):
I was gonna say um, I wanted to just tell you real
quick.
I saw you on Brad's podcast,brad Warren's podcast and, uh,
this one.
I went on that podcast with himone time and I wanted to.
You know, brad's got a way ofmaking you feel really
comfortable.
I felt really comfortabletalking to Brad about about
things.
I wanted to commend you on yourum on that.
(19:29):
I thought it was wonderful.
Seeing you and Brad together Didmy heart good for Brad.
I know Brad and you share somethings and it's meant a lot to
me to see you guys talking toeach other in that way, cause I
remember you know he had me onthere talking about the vegas
(19:52):
thing that we went through yearsago and I'd never talked about
that really to anybody.
And brad, you know, known brada long time and he had this way
of making it feel realcomfortable for some reason and
I and I felt that with you guysand it was, it was inspiring.
I just wanted to say that itwas really inspiring for me to
see you two guys talkingtogether.
(20:14):
You know so well thank you, man.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
Um, yeah, that that's encouraging and, uh, we all
have our.
We all have our our things.
You know, we all.
I call it for me I used to callit the slideshow a lot, and, um
, you got a different slideshow.
What you saw that day, um,that's something I can't
possibly understand.
And what Brad saw, I can'tunderstand that either.
(20:39):
So we kind of all have ourthings and it's encouraging to
get together and talk about it.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, you know, I think, like Tully
started to allude to, and maybeyou even as well like when we
talk about being being in lasvegas and that whole time I find
myself, if somebody asks meabout it, I actually have a hard
time talking about it becauseit's like no, you don't
understand and but you know likewhat?
(21:06):
Totally, we talk about it likeit's just not common, but it's
an easy conversation.
Obviously, when you and Bradwere talking, you could feel the
similarities there.
But even on your own, I'venoticed that you're able to talk
about this a lot.
And just to you know, ifthere's people that don't know,
you obviously lost your son.
(21:27):
He was three years old, I thinkthis was in 2019.
Old, I think this was in 2019,but the way that you've been
able to communicate to people,talk to people and literally
preach to people through this is, you know God, I feel like an
unworthy person because of myown struggles.
(21:47):
Maybe talk to people about thebook, because we said you're an
author.
You have a book called Like,like a river.
Can you talk about that alittle bit?
Speaker 1 (21:57):
yeah, could you?
Could you, before I do that,elaborate a little bit on what
you mean by you?
Feel like a, an unworthy personbecause of your own?
Speaker 2 (22:05):
well, so there's this get him granger, get him.
No, but listen like I.
I watched that podcast with you, and brad as well, and
something was really powerful tome and one of them was talking
about guilt and the differencebetween grief and guilt and the
evil that shame and guilt has.
(22:25):
That, to me, first of all, waspowerful, powerful.
But when I'm talking about withmine, it's like you found a way
to talk to people and to preachto people, whereas maybe in my
experience I can't, like I don'tknow how to talk to people that
haven't been through that likemy experience, and they say what
(22:49):
was that like?
Speaker 1 (22:50):
and I'm like, uh, you won't understand and why does
that make you feel unworthy?
What does that have to do withgod?
Speaker 2 (22:59):
granger I'm curious, I'm curious yeah, it just does
and I mean I can't explain it.
It just you know, I see peoplethat have picked up pieces and
you know, like I lot of Brad'spodcast and what you're doing,
and I'm just like wow, that'sjust incredible.
That's incredible to me to beable to spread your message like
(23:22):
that.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
I understand people that have been through trauma,
because when you see otherpeople articulate it and and
help others with it, that makesyou feel like you're a little
bit less, because you, you, youdon't speak of it in that way,
right right, when reality,that's just a, that's just a
personality trait yeah, I have alot of faults well, I think
(23:50):
what's what's so important whenI hear unworthy um, what's so
important to me and I mean youtalked about my book, like a
River, really, what I had tocome to grips with.
And it's very interestingbecause this morning I keep a
journal and it's digital, so Iget to look back on several
years, instantly, right there,you know my little iPad on
(24:16):
several years instantly, rightthere, you know my little iPad.
And six years ago today, wewere on a flight to Boise, idaho
.
I'm not sure where we're comingfrom, but we were on a West
Coast tour and it was prettygrueling and that was the, you
know, six months after I lost myson and that tour, that a
(24:36):
particular day, we were doingback to back nights in Boise.
And so as I look back on thatjournal, I know what was coming
next.
But that's that's the night.
I lost all control, ended upputting a gun to my head six
years ago in Boise on the backof my tour bus, and the reason
(24:57):
was this idea of worthiness orguilt, and the world kept
telling me a conflicting messagewith what I was feeling and
experiencing.
The world was saying you're notguilty, granger, you are worthy
, you are a good father you are.
You're not guilty, granger.
You are worthy, you are a goodfather you are.
You're a good person.
It kept saying it and I'mthinking but you weren't there
(25:21):
with my son, you know, I let himdown.
What would qualify as a good?
You say I'm a good dad.
What would qualify as that?
Keeping your kids alive tillthey're 18?
Like that's the joke.
People say, you know, justtrying to keep them alive till
they're 18, get them out of thehouse.
That's kind of the joke.
So what if I failed one out offour of those?
(25:42):
Then I wouldn't actually be agood father.
These are all the thoughts I'mwrestling with.
You know, I'm trying to bepractical about it, and that
eventually caught up with me,and it caught up with me in
Boise, idaho, six years ago.
But what happened afterward waswhat matters.
That night might've been thecatalyst for a lot of things,
but what happened after that wasI encountered the true gospel
(26:08):
of Jesus, which I always thoughtthat I knew.
I always thought that I was aChristian, but when I
encountered the truth of it, thetruth of it was this that's the
only message in the world thatsays you aren't worthy, you
aren't a good person.
You aren't sufficient.
(26:30):
I make you whole, I make youworthy, I make you clean.
Look to me in my sacrifice onthe cross.
I cleanse you of all this andyou take my righteousness, I
take your sin upon my body.
And that just blew my mind.
When that finally took root inmy heart, I could say I am
guilty, I am not worthy.
(26:52):
He is.
And so I looked at him and thenGod sees me as worthy, not
because of me or anything I'vedone or because of the way I
could help other people throughtheir tragedy.
But he looks at me and saysyou're worthy because you're in
my son and he's worthy.
And then through that, throughthat reality, I'm able to live
it out and then and actuallystart feeling good about the
(27:13):
message and feeling good abouthelping other people.
Not because it's earning meanything or certainly not
because I'm worthy of it.
Man, I'm not worthy.
I'm just a songwriter thatcreated a stupid, stupid alter
ego and, and you know, andtraveled for a long time on tour
and made people laugh doingmusic.
That doesn't make me more orless worthy than anybody else.
(27:33):
Jesus does that.
So that was the reality andthat's really what the book was
about wow, that's powerful amenyeah, I tell you what church on
monday morning which was really,um, this is.
Speaker 4 (27:45):
You know, god put people in your path for a reason
and I, I believe this.
I've I've known too many peoplethat I've lost children and
I've known people, um, I grew upwith that, I've lost children
and they, their way of dealingwith it was it turned to alcohol
or turn away from God or godown a dark path.
And then, you know, I met youand I've been friends with Brad
(28:07):
and Casey Beathard for a longtime and you guys have both been
through unspeakable things thatI I can't imagine or, but I
know if it happens to me, I knowwhat I want to be.
Like you guys.
You guys inspire, really doinspire.
Like I often wonder how would Ideal with this?
(28:28):
And when you, what I've learnedmyself is like I have people to
look up to in this, like youand Brad and Casey, who have
inspired through the tragedy,and I know a lot of people who
went the other way, you know.
So it's just a testament to youand the way you've turned that
(28:52):
into a teaching moment.
I think for people like myselfthat you know what.
What would I do if it?
How would I deal with it youknow um, but just a well, very
powerful, totally.
Speaker 1 (29:05):
I appreciate it, man.
Those, those are super kindwords and and it means a lot,
but that's not what I said,though.
The testament is not me, it's a.
You said it means a lot, butthat's not what I said though.
The testament is not me.
You said it's a testament toyou.
It's not because I was on theback of a tour bus with a gun in
my mouth and he saved me.
It's a testament really to him.
(29:26):
And I know you didn't mean tosay it so that I would turn it
around that way, but I just haveto say I did turn to alcohol, I
did turn to becoming aworkaholic, I did try to just be
the man of the house and moveon, and it caught up with me
quick.
But the Lord really put a hookin my mouth and jerked me around
(29:49):
in my mouth and jerked mearound.
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Speaker 7 (30:23):
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Speaker 2 (31:04):
Well, we can see why you're a minister now and you're
so you did retire from music,right?
And was this basically thereason why you just felt like,
hey, this, this is my purpose?
Speaker 1 (31:18):
well, it's interesting, that's.
That's an interesting questionand I think about quite a bit.
But, um, as as this, this wholething we've been talking about
really is, this started todevelop over the years.
And I was still on tour, peoplestarted coming to my meet and
greet and they would say, and Iwould know it as soon as they
walked in to the step.
And I was still on tour, peoplestarted coming to my meet and
greet and they would say, and Iwould know it as soon as they
walked in to the step and repeat, and I could just see their
(31:38):
face that they got to tell mesomething.
They lost their dad in October,or their mom just got diagnosed
with cancer, or they lost their14 year old to a-wheeler
accident.
And I know it.
And here they come and they'regoing to talk to me and
sometimes they'd be wearing thet-shirts you guys have probably
seen this where they're wearingthe t-shirts that says you know
(32:00):
the kid's name and the date.
And Jason Aldean was hisfavorite band, so we're all
coming to watch the show on hisbirthday in remembrance of him.
It's been three years.
You show on his birthday inremembrance of him.
It's been three years.
You guys have seen that right.
And this was just happening overand over, especially because of
my story, and it began to nagat me that I didn't have enough
(32:22):
time with them.
I thought I would get tothinking I wish I could just
talk to these people.
They need my help, and yet I'mtoo busy.
I'm going to play a show, andso then I thought, well, I'll
use the show and I'll talk alittle bit during the show.
And then that began to nag atme, thinking I don't think this
is enough.
And I did the further I wentdown that road.
(32:43):
Um, I know now it was.
It was a calling from the Lord,clear as day.
But I just thought I think Ineed a pivot.
I don't think I have time, ascrazy as it sounds, to do music.
I think I need a pivot where Icould go straight to the people.
And and I was still.
I was built for traveling tothem and I was built for talking
(33:04):
for long periods of time, andand so it's like the Lord had
prepared me.
The Lord, you know, prepared mehow to use a microphone and
stand on a stage, and and it wasjust not what I thought he was
preparing me for at the time.
Speaker 2 (33:18):
And when was that?
When?
When did that moment happen?
Speaker 1 (33:22):
Well, the the first, it was really.
The first thing was really, youknow, such a weight on my
shoulders.
I thought it was the recorddeal and I thought it was
promoting radio singles.
So I, I was telling my brotherwho's my manager and he was
pretty mad at me, you know, forsaying this.
Um, it's taken years for Tylerto truly to understand.
(33:44):
We're in a good place now.
But he thought, why wouldanybody with a perfectly good
record deal try to get out of it?
And but it was, it was just aheavy weight on my shoulders.
I ended up going to John Lobaand I told him this and he knew
my heart, you know he was, he'sbeen with me that whole journey
(34:05):
and by God's grace he understood.
And they went to Germany andthey had I remember they had
some board meeting to vote meoff, because it was kind of a
weird thing that an artist wantsoff and he's not going to go to
another label, it's not like hefound another deal, and so they
had to vote me off in Berlinand I thought, okay, now it's
(34:27):
good, now I don't have topromote a single, I could use
that time now to shift intoministry and talk to people and
we'll still tour.
But the feeling didn't go awayand it was still wearing on me.
I thought.
I said I think there's more.
I think the Lord needs me tosurrender more.
And when I started thinkingthat maybe it was touring itself
, I went to my wife and she said, well, what are you gonna do?
(34:51):
And I said I think that's it.
I think it was like around thistime of year and I thought
maybe I'll just, I just won'tcome back January 1st and she
goes.
You can't do that.
You got to do a farewell tour.
You have to appropriately saygoodbye to the people that have
supported you.
And I said, yeah, you're right.
That was wise of her to saythat.
So we scheduled an eight-monthfarewell tour and made the
(35:15):
announcement and told the bandwhich was it was all of.
That was extremely difficult.
But I instantly that weightleft me.
It left my shoulders andthrough that I knew, oh yeah,
this is, this is the rightdecision.
Speaker 6 (35:29):
That would have been hard.
You know, just thinking abouttelling that story If I'm in
your band or if you and I areco-writing and we're rocking and
got some things going out, andI'm thinking, hey, man, I'm one
of my closest friends Now, we'rehaving hits and success, this
is great, and he's young andwe're going to ride this horse
all the way to retirement.
And then all of a sudden yousay hey guys, I think I'm going
to step down and do ministryfull time and be like whoa whoa
(35:51):
Granger.
There's a lot of ways the Lordcan use you.
I mean, let's think, let's stepback and really think about this
.
Did you have did?
Speaker 1 (36:02):
you have some of that , you know, cause that would be
a human response probably.
Oh man, yes, it was.
Uh, I was so nervous.
I was in Minneapolis and it wasin January, a few years ago two
years ago, I guess?
No, it was.
It would have been um Two yearsago, I guess no it was.
It would have been January 23,I guess I.
We were in Minneapolis and I hada.
(36:23):
I had scheduled a meeting withall the band and crew, the
drivers.
It was a fly date for us, sothe drivers were all home, or
they, I think they were.
Their buses were somewhere else, so we FaceTimed them and put
the computer in there.
So everyone knew, like this isweird, the drivers are on there,
everyone's talking, what are wedoing?
(36:44):
And I came in.
My heart was pounding, you know,and just because I knew what
that meant, once I let that go,it's something I've.
I did it for 25 years and andonce I made that known, you
can't put that toothpaste backin the tube, you know it's out,
yeah.
So I told him and my heart wasbeaten.
I just said guys, um, this isgoing to be last year touring
(37:06):
for me and I just feel the air,you know, leave the room.
Some of the guys were like sawthis coming, I understand,
brother, whatever you need.
Other guys were like, well,this sucks.
What am I supposed to do now?
I gave him all my 30s.
You know what am I supposed todo?
So I told him.
(37:28):
I said if you guys don't sayanything to anyone except your
wives until March when I make itpublic, and then you stay with
me if you don't leave Soundslike a transfer portal, you know
.
So if you don't get thetransfer portal and you stay
(37:49):
with me until we finish this outearly September, then
everyone's going to get all ofthe money from everything that I
sell Buses, semi-truck trailers, gear, all of it.
I'll sell all of the money fromeverything that I sell buses,
semi-truck trailers, gear, allof it.
I'll sell all of it andeveryone will get according to
how many years you've been withme.
You'll get that percentage,which would be a really big
chunk and, by God's grace, everysingle one of them stayed all
(38:13):
the way till September.
Speaker 4 (38:15):
Wow, and that says a lot about you as well.
Do you ever because it's inyour blood as much as this is
like the music and what you'vedone do you?
Do you miss it?
You ever wake up one day andsay you know what I'm gonna, I
think I might do two monthsworth of shows.
Or you know, I think I want togo cut an ep.
You know, I mean, you ever havethat tugging feeling, you know?
Or is it?
(38:35):
Or is it just in a differentspot now, kind of I missed.
Speaker 1 (38:39):
I missed, do miss the camaraderie of being with the
guys and playing music, the, thestage aspect, the performance
aspect, even the songwritingaspect actually.
Um, writing sermons is so close, it's like the same layer of my
brain writing a sermon iswriting a song and then
preaching.
It's like the same layer of mybrain writing a sermon is
(38:59):
writing a song and thenpreaching.
It also satisfies a verysimilar itch as getting up on
that stage.
I'm not glorifying myself, I'mglorifying God now, but when I
preach I just preached this pastSunday, as we record this
podcast that was yesterday andyou know I prepare the message,
I put my time in there's a levelof in the preparation, there's
(39:25):
a level of kind of practicingand you know timing yourself and
getting your pacing down andyou go up and you deliver and it
feels very much like we knowwalking up on a stage and you're
delivering a message, you knowwhether it's music or an actual
sermon and so I get that itchcompletely scratched.
(39:46):
I don't think of, I don't missit in any way in that aspect.
Speaker 6 (39:49):
Yeah, Is it harder going out when you're about to
deliver a sermon and you walkout there?
Is it challenging without aguitar?
Do you think about it?
You know, when you walk out andsay, man, I wish I had a guitar
and I could deliver this thing.
Speaker 1 (40:03):
I used to.
Yeah, I used to.
So now you know, I've got myiPad.
That's kind of my guitar.
Now.
Something I do now I starteddoing lately is I did this
yesterday I walk, kind of geteverything set up as I walk out
there and then I'll just stopand just look at the audience
and just take maybe 10 seconds,15 seconds max, and just kind of
(40:27):
breathe for a second and thathelps the weight of what I'm
about to say hit me and it kindof takes away the old anxiety
that I had of go up on the stageand hit them with a bang, get
their attention right off thebat as a musician.
It kind of takes that away andI'll let it sit, let the air sit
(40:47):
for about 10 seconds, catchmyself and then begin.
Speaker 4 (40:52):
It seems to me I don't know why that what you're
doing now would be so much morechallenging, in the sense that
you know, when we take the stageto play, it's like people are
there, like to forget about alot of their problems.
They come to our shows to havea good time and I feel like
they're there to what you'redoing now.
They might be there to a muchheavier reason you know what I
(41:14):
mean when it's like a lot moreat.
That's how I'd feel about it.
Like they're, they're lookingfor more help.
I'm used to like just having atime, these people drinking and
forgetting about their problems,and they're there to kind of
put those on you and and in away, maybe, or it's totally,
that's good.
Speaker 3 (41:32):
I'm gonna have to remember that the music just
feels like it'd be way morechallenging.
Speaker 1 (41:38):
Yeah, you're totally right.
Music helps people forget theproblems and a sermon the goal
is, so that they'll know theirproblem.
Speaker 4 (41:47):
Or maybe even absorb some of that from them, which is
way heavy I I'd be way verynervous to be a nervous wreck.
Speaker 6 (41:54):
I pat quivering, you know it feels like.
How does he know?
Speaker 2 (41:56):
I have to tell I mean iPad quivering, you know.
Speaker 6 (41:57):
He's like how does he know that's so right man.
Speaker 1 (41:58):
I have to tell.
I mean, in some way or another,I have to tell them through the
word that they have a problemand I have the solution for them
and I have to make them awareof that problem.
And in music it was theopposite.
Right, it was.
Hey, just watch us and have funand don't think about your
problems.
Speaker 4 (42:16):
Exactly, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 5 (42:18):
Dude, listening to you talk and listening to you
tell your story, I think all ofus, especially men, we have a
tremendously huge selfish nature.
Speaking, you know, from mepersonally and listening to you
(42:39):
tell your story, it it's goingto be a it's not.
It's not a destination that youever get to, but it's a
constant battle of making it notabout me and more about him and
hearing your story.
Just it's so thrilling and soinspirational to hear you tell
your story that way and I thinkit's's a battle not just the
(42:59):
four of us, but every man andwoman alive today.
That battle of making it notabout you and more about him
will be.
I just want to commend you forthe choices that you've made,
for what you've been through andthe choices that you've made.
Speaker 1 (43:19):
That's it.
That's the problem I have totell people is that it's not
about you.
I know that you've built aworld around yourself that makes
it feel like it is about you,but it's not, and that
separation between who we areand who God is.
All knowledge could be summedup in that right there who God
is and who we are.
And it's not like you know.
(43:41):
When you take a diamond and inorder to really see what that
diamond is made of, you put iton that little black felt and
you put a microscope on it andyou just see the intricacy of
the diamond itself.
It just blows you away.
So that, knowing the diamond,it helps to put it on that black
(44:03):
felt to know the diamonds.
You can see everything.
And sometimes, when we thinkabout knowing God and knowing
ourselves, we think about here'stwo diamonds, God and us.
And God's the big diamond, realintricate, and we're the little
diamond.
In fact, we're not the diamond,we are the black felt.
So you put God on that blackfelt and it's the knowledge of
(44:23):
us.
In comparison to him, we justhighlight him, we just show that
we are really nothing but blackfelt.
And the more we think aboutthings like that, meditate on
things like that, the more wecould release what you're
talking about and say you knowwhat it's not about me.
It's not.
Speaker 2 (44:41):
That's incredible.
It's an incredible message.
And listen, we know you're abusy guy.
We can't thank you enough forbeing here.
We're so thankful for you Fromall of us.
We love you, brother.
God bless you.
I don't know many words todescribe that, but powerful is
first thing that comes to mymind.
And just how good of a humanbeing is granger smith.
Speaker 6 (45:06):
Oh gosh I mean, I could sit there and talk to him
for another hour if we didn'thave his producer saying that he
was ready to cut it off I wasready to talk more football with
him too.
I know it was amazing.
I was gonna.
The one thing I wanted to askhim about uh or talk.
He had uh in 2020.
He got a cmt award and I thinkit was for like the best
(45:28):
quarantine song so I've.
I've read that too, as I wasit's called don't cough on me
right, and so I watched thewhole video.
That's the first thing I lookedup and it's the first one I
watched and it's and it's abouttoilet paper and hand sanitizer
like the whole thing.
So it really the hand sanitizercaught me yeah, of course.
Of course, sucked you right inbut it reminded me of like in
the, you know, when you had thepandemic and everything.
Uh, the first thing to go, orone of the first things, was
(45:50):
toilet paper, not food.
But you don't need toilet paperif you can't get food.
It's's just funny that thatwent first.
Speaker 5 (45:58):
The first thing.
That was hard to get.
It's weird, I know, and you gotto have food before you need
the toilet paper.
I agree, we're right in line.
Usually we're right in line.
Speaker 6 (46:06):
That's the order of things right, yeah, wow, I mean,
it's just basic.
You know body mechanics.
Speaker 4 (46:25):
But back to Gr.
It is.
It is an um, inspiring thoughto.
I don't know if inspiring isthe right word, but I often
wonder okay, if that, if thathappened to me, then how would I
deal with that or get throughthat?
Speaker 6 (46:35):
and that's, and we say that you're talking about
the loss of his son.
Speaker 2 (46:41):
Yes, yeah, yeah and you know, neil, you kind of
alluded to it because you dohave you instinctually have
selfish thoughts of like howwould I do this or how would I
get over it, how would I, how amI going to get through this?
Yeah, how would I deal with it?
Fair question too.
It is a fair question and, andyou know, you hear him talk
about it and through christ andthrough that, you know he, he is
(47:05):
able to surrender thosefeelings.
But that still seems reallyhard, like.
I know that, I've heard that,but applying that seems like a
monumental task Right.
Speaker 4 (47:19):
It is one thing to say that and actually to see
that play out.
I'm not sure how that would go.
Hopefully none of us ever feelthat I've kind of lost the words
with that it was interesting.
Speaker 6 (47:40):
Each time that one of us would applaud him for how he
handled it, he turned it to God, every time with a smile.
He wasn't trying to makeanybody feel bad.
It was like, guys, it wasn't me.
I keep saying it, it wasn't me,it was God he did put me on the
spot.
Speaker 2 (47:57):
He really did.
We're like get him Granger, Ican it.
You know it wasn't me, it wasgod.
You know he did put me on thespot.
He did, oh my gosh, and we'relike, we're like get him granger
, I know, I can feel the feel itin the room.
No, I mean, and it was.
It was actually a greatquestion and a fair question, uh
.
But yeah, I was like a littletaken back, like oh my god, how
do I answer this?
Speaker 6 (48:11):
well, I wanted what I wanted to ask him sorry but
before I forget because I almostforgot it here too is okay.
Speaker 4 (48:17):
It it's one thing you know to keep yourself strong
through God, and but I want toask him to like his wife,
because you can't necessarilycontrol how how she gets through
it.
I know she's following this inthe same path, but still, when
she has a weak, weak moments andshe overtakes her, you know you
have to take care of her aswell, and and that that's a
(48:41):
great point and you do feel theresponsibility just and, like
Neil said, as a man like that's,that's your job, right.
Speaker 5 (48:48):
Right but you still, but you still you know, and
people will take offense to that.
Speaker 6 (48:53):
Well and too, oh and two, but how many times have you
read, or maybe know of a couplethere's a high percentage of
couples that go throughsomething like that that will
divorce Right One.
They're just too depressed tohandle it, or they blame it on
the other one.
You know what I?
Speaker 4 (49:09):
mean or it's just too much, or it's just too much.
Speaker 6 (49:11):
It's easier to handle on your own, but the fact that
they're together and thriving asa godly couple is a miracle in
itself.
Speaker 2 (49:18):
I think it is and that's kind of why, you know, I
was like I don't know if I chosethe right word, but like
unworthy it's because, like Idon't man, that's him, I don't
know how you did that.
Speaker 4 (49:27):
That's incredible and like I'm not sure when he made
it clear to me when I said thesame thing like he, he, he
didn't just walk through it, youknow, he had the point where he
hit rock bottom, which is anamazing story.
You know, I know people thathit rock bottom and didn't come
back out of it.
So something in him.
Speaker 5 (49:48):
That's where Satan wants you.
Speaker 4 (49:50):
You know he wants you to hit rock bottom.
Speaker 5 (49:52):
He doesn't want you to make the right decision.
Speaker 6 (49:54):
He wants you to pull the trigger.
Speaker 5 (49:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (49:56):
Yeah, and you know, like, I don't know how deep he
just got into it, but totallybrought up the podcast with, uh,
brad warren, um, and Iencourage everybody to watch
that um, it goes through hisstory quite a bit.
And just listen to granger'spodcast as well, in his ministry
it's will be inspired.
(50:17):
Yeah, absolutely, yep, 100%.
We really appreciate you guysbeing with us.
Like I said, go check outGranger's stuff.
It's really good and we feelgood about promoting that.
And, of course, if you'rewatching us, subscribe right
like Download, follow us on thesocials, download all that stuff
(50:39):
.
This is, uh, try that in smalltown podcast.
We got what am I going to callyou today?
Speaker 6 (50:45):
thrash money nice neil nice neil, nice neil, okay,
okay nice like it wait till thenext one klo and tk.
Speaker 2 (50:54):
I'm kurt.
We appreciate you guys watching.
Speaker 4 (51:00):
Nice Neil.
Speaker 3 (51:04):
Make sure to follow along.
Subscribe, share, rate the showno-transcript.
I had to kind of reconcile the idea that I had a
viral YouTube guy that was funnyand then people would go to my
show and it was real serious andwe took ourselves, you know,
very seriously and I thought,okay, earl needs to be part of
the show somehow.
I don't know exactly how he'sgoing to do it, but I need to
write him a song.
So I wrote him a song and thenmade a music video and then that
(00:23):
video went viral.
So that made it easy to kind ofmake it the last thing that we
did every night.
And the band would vamp and Iwould run to the trailer and
change and come back out ofZorro as kind of the encore.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
God, I feel like an unworthy person because of my
own struggles.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Elaborate a little bit on what you mean by you feel
like a, an unworthy personbecause of your own God.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Granger, should I lay down on the couch?
Speaker 1 (00:51):
Writing sermons is so close it's like the same layer
of my brain writing a sermon aswriting a song and then
preaching it.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
It also satisfies a very similar itch the try that
in a small town podcast beginsnow all right, y'all, we are
coming to you from the patriotmobile studios.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
This is try that small town podcast, tkk low
thrash.
I'm kurt.
We appreciate you guys joiningus today.
It's a super special.
They're all great and special.
It's kind of like your kidsthey're all special and awesome
in their own way.
But, seriously, today is goingto be I have a feeling it's
going to be pretty powerful andawesome.
(01:39):
We have a friend, granger Smith, coming on.
Some people do know and thensome people don't like a lot of
his.
How he got famous was his kindof alter ego, earl dibbles jr,
which I think is brilliant anduh it's.
It's incredibly interesting.
He had a number one song.
What was it?
uh, background song, so he hadincredible success yeah, on his
(02:02):
own, but then he kind of createdthis alter ego which I
definitely want to ask him about.
Speaker 4 (02:06):
I want to do that.
You want to create an alter ego.
I have a couple of them, but Iwant one more.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Yeah, I was going to say you already do yeah you
already do You're there.
Speaker 4 (02:13):
One more is good.
I think three would be good.
Speaker 6 (02:15):
You're there, you're just not.
I'm losing money with my alteregos, we all are.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
That's good, that's awesome.
Granger we've known for quite awhile, and those of you that
don't know him, he lost his sonin a drowning accident I think
it was in 2019.
But it's going to be powerful.
Looking forward to it, for sure.
Speaker 4 (02:38):
Great guy and go back a long way with him, but to see
what he's doing now is is it ispowerful.
Speaker 6 (02:46):
You know, he and his wife, you know, really rely on
God and um, and we're going totalk about his music.
You know, we're going to talkabout Earl Dibbles Jr.
We're going to talk about hisministry, uh, and just all kinds
of things and what an amazingjourney he's had.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Welcome, granger Smith.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
Thank you guys for having me.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
This is fun oh man, we appreciate you, hey.
So talk about that real quick.
The podcast, how long you'vebeen doing it.
Give us any tips that you mighthave for us?
Speaker 1 (03:13):
yeah, we're struggling man, uh, yeah, I was
actually thinking about this theother day because it's we're
going on almost eight years now,2017.
Yeah, it started.
Uh, I started doing it on tourin the back of my bus, had a
setup back there and I was likeI'm just going to start doing a
podcast and still doing it today.
(03:34):
It's, yeah, it's it's crazythat it's gone this this far,
that people still listen.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
I guess I should say Do you do it once a week, or how
often is it Release it?
Every Monday, okay, that'sgreat.
So everybody check that out.
I'm sure it's on wherever youcan listen to podcasts, youtube,
spotify, all of that.
Hey, let's go back quite a bit,because we've known you for
quite a while.
Some of us know you as EarlDibbles but some of us know you,
(04:02):
as Granger Smith Talk about,actually go to the Earl D
Devilsink, because that thing iscrazy.
Like you were, you were viralbefore people knew how to go
viral yeah, that's weird.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
It's weird to think about it that way.
Um, it was 2011 and we had analbum coming out and my brother
and I two brothers and I weretrying to think of unique ways
to promote the album.
And this is a time back whenYouTube was.
You know, there's just like alot of goofy things on YouTube
(04:36):
and and you could get somethingto go viral on there and
everyone was watching it.
Now there's so much stuff nowthat not everyone could watch it
, but we were doing a series ofjust silly videos with these
different characters trying tobasically just bring eyes to the
album, and Earl Dibbles Jr wasjust another one of them.
(04:58):
It was another one of thesecharacters and the goal was
always to try to get a millionviews, and we weren't even
anywhere close to that untilEarl, and he was just a kind of
an ultra redneck country boy.
It wasn't talking about musicat all.
It wasn't talking about me atall or the album at all.
Uh, just at the very end of thevideo it says grandersmithcom,
(05:19):
like in small letters, and andthen it just it goes viral.
I remember that first day ithad 25 000 views on on day one
and I thought I think that waslike all the other characters
combined was that number in 2011.
So I just thought there'ssomething special, and then,
just in a few weeks, it was.
(05:39):
It was the first million viewvideo that I had, so it it was.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
It's just absolutely ridiculous that it that people
watch that and it became astaple, right?
I mean, you had to do it inconcert, you had.
You had people needed to seethe Earl Dibbles thing, right?
Speaker 1 (05:55):
Yeah, so it lived as just a video, with no music, no,
just kind of no reference.
It lived for several monthsbefore I knew, lived for several
months before I knew.
In fact, there was a momentwhen a guy came up to me after a
show and I used to go to themerchandise table and just stand
there and just talk to anyonethat was around.
And this one guy came up andsaid, man, you're a funny guy.
(06:17):
And I said, oh, thanks, man,and he goes, but I don't see
that in your show at all.
And I was like, oh, he's right.
And I had to kind of reconcilethe idea that I had a viral
YouTube guy that was funny andthen people would go to my show
and it was real serious and wetook ourselves very seriously
and I thought, okay, earl needsto be part of the show somehow.
(06:42):
I don't know exactly how he'sgoing to do it, but I need to
write him a song.
So I wrote him a song and thenmade a music video and then that
video went viral.
So that made it easy to kind ofmake it the last thing that we
did every night and I would, theband would vamp and I would run
and to the trailer and changeand come back out as Earl is
(07:02):
kind of the the encore.
And then I remember soon afterthat the yee-yee thing was taken
off, because there was a littlemoment in the first video where
Earl holds up the shotgun andhe says yee-yee.
And that kind of sparked thisthing with people.
They were coming to the showsand they were holding up signs
(07:24):
that said yee-yee and I thoughtit might be something special.
But I didn't really know untilone day I was driving in a
little town in Texas and I saw atruck dealership and in the
windows of all the trucks thatsaid yee, yee.
And so that's when I knew Ishould trademark this before
someone tells me that I can'tuse it anymore.
(07:46):
So it was $5,000.
I remember to trademark it andI remember thinking that was
just ridiculous to pay that kindof money and what a stupid risk
that would be to pay $5,000,but I did and I think it's paid
off, yeah.
Speaker 6 (08:04):
Well, granger, there's so many things to
compliment you on and wewouldn't have time in the
podcast.
I'm sure you have somethingdirectly after this to get to
and we all have so many thingswe want to talk to you about.
But I'm just proud of you.
I mean, you were just a kid,you were a teenager First time.
We wrote a long time ago at EMIand CEO and all that stuff, and
you've had hits as an artist,like Kurt was saying, and it's
(08:29):
just amazing to see that youkind of did it the Nashville way
, but when you didn't want to doit the Nashville way, you did
it your own way.
It's just amazing.
You've found avenues and you'vecreated things and you keep
creating things and you keepchanging and altering and
staying true to God andeverything.
And I wanted to comment on onone thing before I forget and
(08:49):
compliment you mostly as theonly male country artist that
has surpassed garth brooks.
I want to congratulate you onthat in what way well hey, hey.
well, chris, gain Earl DibblesJr.
No freaking contest no contestI'll take it.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
I'll take it.
Speaker 6 (09:09):
You know you got it.
Thank you, buddy,Congratulations.
Speaker 3 (09:13):
That's good, thank you, I'm going with Dibbles
every time too.
Speaker 6 (09:20):
Well, and two, I was going to ask you two do you
think and this is just kind of atrue or false, or yes or no,
and you may not even know and Idon't know the answer Do you
think that Kelsey Ballerini'sDibs was inspired by Earl
Dibbles Jr.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
Have you heard that?
I'd say probably 70%.
Speaker 6 (09:41):
Okay, yeah, I was curious about that.
Speaker 5 (09:43):
Oh, you're going to make people dig now.
You're going to make people go.
Yeah, that's funny.
Speaker 4 (09:49):
That's fun.
Now.
You were such a hard worker too.
I remember we talked to Jasonabout it when you were at Broken
Bow and we did a few showstogether, like random festivals
or fairs, and Jason always saidyou know, you're hustling, doing
your thing and it was.
It was as a as a new artist andyoung artists and establishing
(10:11):
yourself.
It seemed like you were thefans, like they stayed with you.
Did you feel that out there,like your fan base, they just it
felt like watching you grow.
In that time we knew you.
It felt like it was just reallyyou were holding all your fans
growing it.
That's not easy to do.
It's from year to year.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
Yeah, that's so interesting.
I don't think I could takecredit for that.
I think for some reason thefans just kind of stuck with it
and united.
We saw over the decades we sawsome strange things happening
with fans.
We saw the original fans andthen the Earl Dibbles fans
started coming and the originalfans are like these people don't
(10:57):
look like us, they're different, but they kind of started
getting along and sharingcommonality with each other.
And you know, this guy wouldlike this older song of mine and
then this guy was an EarlDibbles guy and then they would
kind of share and end up walkingaway liking a little bit of
each.
But then when we started havingnational success, then the new
(11:22):
radio people started coming in,you know, and they're looking at
these two other groups going.
These, these are not like me,but but you know they for some
reason they started gettingalong.
So you got these oldunderground people meeting the
Earl Dibbles rednecks meetingthe.
Now that you know how radiopeople look, they they're
different in their in their ownright.
So all three groups kind ofstarted coming together and just
(11:47):
stuck with it and found, youknow, they became friends, which
is so interesting to me.
Speaker 4 (11:52):
See, maybe you missed it.
You could have sold twoseparate tickets to each show
and doubled your money?
Speaker 1 (11:57):
Yeah, it's interesting.
Speaker 4 (12:01):
That was great.
It was always fun seeing youand watching you do your thing
and your success grow.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
You guys too.
I met Jason probably in 99,something like that Back when
Jason was on Capital or when hefirst got signed to Capital.
Speaker 4 (12:22):
Wow, You're one of the very few people that would
remember that, that Capitalsigning and we talk about it a
lot because he gets signed andwe were young, we were trying to
be a band and he gets signedand we're excited and then it
doesn't happen.
And that's part of the businessthat no one really sees.
After you have success, theyonly see the success, they don't
(12:43):
see the bumps.
But that's amazing.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
I didn't realize that you even knew about that.
The capital signing, yeah, youknow, um, it was Michael Knox
was the connection, but it was along time ago and I used to
come up and hang out with thoseguys and Jason and I would go
and you know, like, just try tosee what we can kick up in
Nashville, and I remember helost his deal and that was.
(13:11):
It was kind of the first bigreality for me that.
Oh, you know, I thought Jasonwas going to make it and now I
guess he's.
I guess he's not.
Yeah, he's not going to make it.
Speaker 4 (13:19):
It's a.
You know, I love talking topeople like yourself who can
remember those days and howpeople don't even know about
that, how that was.
We all thought we had our firstchance and next thing you know
the deal's gone and you're backto.
We probably showcased 10 timesto get that deal lost.
It.
Now we're back to square one.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
Yeah, people think you have a record deal, you've
made it.
Oh wow, have a record deal,you've made it.
Oh wow, that's amazing, you'vemade it.
No, that's actually thebeginning of the that part of
the journey yeah, and kellyremembers that from brad same
thing yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 6 (13:59):
There are four artists coming out around the
same time, you know, and yeah,and one of them made it out yeah
, losing losing a record dealwas the greatest thing that ever
happened to me.
Yeah yeah, I will say um, likewhen you mentioned brad paisley
and watching your video.
By the way, your videos areamazing.
(14:19):
I mean I could sit there andwatch them all day long, one
after another another.
I said he got another one andchecking them out, I'll say your
guitar skills and sound, whatyou can get out of an acoustic
guitar.
Brad Paisley and Keith Urbancombined couldn't get out what
you get out of acoustic guitarin that video.
America, america, america.
(14:41):
He's flat wearing it out.
It's just so funny.
I was like oh my God, it's justhilarious, funny.
I was like, oh my God, it'sjust hilarious.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
Oh man, You're just giving me all kinds of strange
accolades today.
Well see, I definitely don'tdeserve.
Speaker 6 (14:52):
Well, there's four of us, so I got to think of things
that these guys might not thinkof Well mission accomplished
yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
Yeah, america was another.
That was another commonalitythat you and I have kelly,
because that was.
That was a frank rogers thing.
Frank, you know when, when wewere working on different earl
dibbles things, frank was likewe could do whatever you want,
as long as I get to write a songcalled america with you, there
you go.
Speaker 6 (15:17):
It's really great, I love it.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
Speaking of america, I know you're a uh, you're very
passionate about the militaryand that's how we did.
You know you did a new share ofUSO things.
We've been able to do that andjust the unbelievable experience
that is.
But from what I understand, itkind of led you to do some
parties at the White House or aChristmas party during the Bush
years.
Is that right?
Speaker 1 (15:41):
Yeah, yeah, I was thinking about that the other
day.
Some wild things that you couldjust, sometimes you can walk
away from all that and just go.
Was that a dream?
Did I dream that that stuffhappened?
But yeah, that was the Bushadministration.
We kind of became friends withthem.
Christmas parties, parties forwounded warriors, we did his
(16:06):
farewell party from the WhiteHouse as he stepped down from
the administration.
So yeah, those were.
Those were some fun times, yeahyeah, that's unbelievable.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
We're hoping we might get to do a little inauguration
party here coming up, but Iguess we'll see.
Hey, I know you're a hugecollege football fan, let's go
to here real quick to do alittle inauguration party here
coming up, but I guess we'll see.
Hey, I know you're a hugecollege football fan, let's go
to here real quick because welove discussing football.
And now we got the playoff.
Who do you first of all?
Do you like the playoff?
Second of all, who you got.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
Man, yeah.
So it's crazy because I wantedthis 12 team playoff, because I
just thought, oh, this will makeeverything better, because you
could make an argument thatnumber five team should be in
there, but you could never makethe argument that number 13
should be in there.
And then here we are arguingthat 13 should be in there.
But what's driving me crazyright now is this transfer
(17:00):
portal thing that's happening.
Did you guys hear about PennState?
The quarterback for Penn StateJust happened, right.
No I he just stepped down fromthe team they play this weekend.
They play the first playoffgame this weekend and he's
saying he's going to go into theportal.
Speaker 5 (17:17):
Wow, oh Lord.
I can understand somebody notin the playoffs doing that, but
not where they're at.
I can't see that.
Speaker 6 (17:24):
It doesn't seem like a smart business move.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
We're hoping our quarterback sits down Crazy.
So yeah, there's a lot ofthings in college football.
Speaker 6 (17:34):
a lot of things need to be fixed, for sure oh yeah,
yeah, well, and you're, uh, andtalking about the service, the
military and the and the, thetours that you've, you've done
and played for the soldiers andthings like that.
You're an a&m guy texas a&mright, yeah, and and you're in
the corporate cadets there,correct?
I did a little research on that.
Do you think, think I mean withthat that is such a highly
(17:56):
disciplined and military thing?
Do you think that kind ofcarried over to your success now
, being that disciplined andthat kind of stuff instilled in
you, do you think that helpedyour success?
Speaker 1 (18:08):
I think so.
I think there's a lot of andall of us could probably say the
same the same thing that life.
So many times I think of itlike a Jenga game, and if you
start pulling out those littleblocks, you pull out different
blocks, the whole tower falls.
And so that's for me, that'sdefinitely one of those blocks,
and we all, we all have thosethings that you look back and
you go you know, I think if Ididn't have that, I wouldn't
(18:31):
have built anything.
And you go you know, I think ifI didn't have that, I wouldn't
have built anything.
So, yeah, certainly there was.
There's a certain amount of,there's a certain amount of
mental discipline that just goesinto the music business.
You just have to have it.
And if you don't, then the, thelong nights and the, the tired
days and the rejection and the,the months that turn into years,
(18:51):
they get the best of you andyou just say I'm gonna, I'm
gonna go do the dad's dad'sbusiness.
You know, I'm gonna take up,take over dad's business that
I've been wanting to do.
We see that happen all the time.
Yeah, yeah, certainly go ahead,bud.
Speaker 4 (19:06):
I was gonna say um, I wanted to just tell you real
quick.
I saw you on Brad's podcast,brad Warren's podcast and, uh,
this one.
I went on that podcast with himone time and I wanted to.
You know, brad's got a way ofmaking you feel really
comfortable.
I felt really comfortabletalking to Brad about about
things.
I wanted to commend you on yourum on that.
(19:29):
I thought it was wonderful.
Seeing you and Brad together Didmy heart good for Brad.
I know Brad and you share somethings and it's meant a lot to
me to see you guys talking toeach other in that way, cause I
remember you know he had me onthere talking about the vegas
(19:52):
thing that we went through yearsago and I'd never talked about
that really to anybody.
And brad, you know, known brada long time and he had this way
of making it feel realcomfortable for some reason and
I and I felt that with you guysand it was, it was inspiring.
I just wanted to say that itwas really inspiring for me to
see you two guys talkingtogether.
(20:14):
You know so well thank you, man.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
Um, yeah, that that's encouraging and, uh, we all
have our.
We all have our our things.
You know, we all.
I call it for me I used to callit the slideshow a lot, and, um
, you got a different slideshow.
What you saw that day, um,that's something I can't
possibly understand.
And what Brad saw, I can'tunderstand that either.
(20:39):
So we kind of all have ourthings and it's encouraging to
get together and talk about it.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, you know, I think, like Tully
started to allude to, and maybeyou even as well like when we
talk about being being in lasvegas and that whole time I find
myself, if somebody asks meabout it, I actually have a hard
time talking about it becauseit's like no, you don't
understand and but you know likewhat?
(21:06):
Totally, we talk about it likeit's just not common, but it's
an easy conversation.
Obviously, when you and Bradwere talking, you could feel the
similarities there.
But even on your own, I'venoticed that you're able to talk
about this a lot.
And just to you know, ifthere's people that don't know,
you obviously lost your son.
(21:27):
He was three years old, I thinkthis was in 2019.
Old, I think this was in 2019,but the way that you've been
able to communicate to people,talk to people and literally
preach to people through this is, you know God, I feel like an
unworthy person because of myown struggles.
(21:47):
Maybe talk to people about thebook, because we said you're an
author.
You have a book called Like,like a river.
Can you talk about that alittle bit?
Speaker 1 (21:57):
yeah, could you?
Could you, before I do that,elaborate a little bit on what
you mean by you?
Feel like a, an unworthy personbecause of your own?
Speaker 2 (22:05):
well, so there's this get him granger, get him.
No, but listen like I.
I watched that podcast with you, and brad as well, and
something was really powerful tome and one of them was talking
about guilt and the differencebetween grief and guilt and the
evil that shame and guilt has.
(22:25):
That, to me, first of all, waspowerful, powerful.
But when I'm talking about withmine, it's like you found a way
to talk to people and to preachto people, whereas maybe in my
experience I can't, like I don'tknow how to talk to people that
haven't been through that likemy experience, and they say what
(22:49):
was that like?
Speaker 1 (22:50):
and I'm like, uh, you won't understand and why does
that make you feel unworthy?
What does that have to do withgod?
Speaker 2 (22:59):
granger I'm curious, I'm curious yeah, it just does
and I mean I can't explain it.
It just you know, I see peoplethat have picked up pieces and
you know, like I lot of Brad'spodcast and what you're doing,
and I'm just like wow, that'sjust incredible.
That's incredible to me to beable to spread your message like
(23:22):
that.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
I understand people that have been through trauma,
because when you see otherpeople articulate it and and
help others with it, that makesyou feel like you're a little
bit less, because you, you, youdon't speak of it in that way,
right right, when reality,that's just a, that's just a
personality trait yeah, I have alot of faults well, I think
(23:50):
what's what's so important whenI hear unworthy um, what's so
important to me and I mean youtalked about my book, like a
River, really, what I had tocome to grips with.
And it's very interestingbecause this morning I keep a
journal and it's digital, so Iget to look back on several
years, instantly, right there,you know my little iPad on
(24:16):
several years instantly, rightthere, you know my little iPad.
And six years ago today, wewere on a flight to Boise, idaho
.
I'm not sure where we're comingfrom, but we were on a West
Coast tour and it was prettygrueling and that was the, you
know, six months after I lost myson and that tour, that a
(24:36):
particular day, we were doingback to back nights in Boise.
And so as I look back on thatjournal, I know what was coming
next.
But that's that's the night.
I lost all control, ended upputting a gun to my head six
years ago in Boise on the backof my tour bus, and the reason
(24:57):
was this idea of worthiness orguilt, and the world kept
telling me a conflicting messagewith what I was feeling and
experiencing.
The world was saying you're notguilty, granger, you are worthy
, you are a good father you are.
You're not guilty, granger.
You are worthy, you are a goodfather you are.
You're a good person.
It kept saying it and I'mthinking but you weren't there
(25:21):
with my son, you know, I let himdown.
What would qualify as a good?
You say I'm a good dad.
What would qualify as that?
Keeping your kids alive tillthey're 18?
Like that's the joke.
People say, you know, justtrying to keep them alive till
they're 18, get them out of thehouse.
That's kind of the joke.
So what if I failed one out offour of those?
(25:42):
Then I wouldn't actually be agood father.
These are all the thoughts I'mwrestling with.
You know, I'm trying to bepractical about it, and that
eventually caught up with me,and it caught up with me in
Boise, idaho, six years ago.
But what happened afterward waswhat matters.
That night might've been thecatalyst for a lot of things,
but what happened after that wasI encountered the true gospel
(26:08):
of Jesus, which I always thoughtthat I knew.
I always thought that I was aChristian, but when I
encountered the truth of it, thetruth of it was this that's the
only message in the world thatsays you aren't worthy, you
aren't a good person.
You aren't sufficient.
(26:30):
I make you whole, I make youworthy, I make you clean.
Look to me in my sacrifice onthe cross.
I cleanse you of all this andyou take my righteousness, I
take your sin upon my body.
And that just blew my mind.
When that finally took root inmy heart, I could say I am
guilty, I am not worthy.
(26:52):
He is.
And so I looked at him and thenGod sees me as worthy, not
because of me or anything I'vedone or because of the way I
could help other people throughtheir tragedy.
But he looks at me and saysyou're worthy because you're in
my son and he's worthy.
And then through that, throughthat reality, I'm able to live
it out and then and actuallystart feeling good about the
(27:13):
message and feeling good abouthelping other people.
Not because it's earning meanything or certainly not
because I'm worthy of it.
Man, I'm not worthy.
I'm just a songwriter thatcreated a stupid, stupid alter
ego and, and you know, andtraveled for a long time on tour
and made people laugh doingmusic.
That doesn't make me more orless worthy than anybody else.
(27:33):
Jesus does that.
So that was the reality andthat's really what the book was
about wow, that's powerful amenyeah, I tell you what church on
monday morning which was really,um, this is.
Speaker 4 (27:45):
You know, god put people in your path for a reason
and I, I believe this.
I've I've known too many peoplethat I've lost children and
I've known people, um, I grew upwith that, I've lost children
and they, their way of dealingwith it was it turned to alcohol
or turn away from God or godown a dark path.
And then, you know, I met youand I've been friends with Brad
(28:07):
and Casey Beathard for a longtime and you guys have both been
through unspeakable things thatI I can't imagine or, but I
know if it happens to me, I knowwhat I want to be.
Like you guys.
You guys inspire, really doinspire.
Like I often wonder how would Ideal with this?
(28:28):
And when you, what I've learnedmyself is like I have people to
look up to in this, like youand Brad and Casey, who have
inspired through the tragedy,and I know a lot of people who
went the other way, you know.
So it's just a testament to youand the way you've turned that
(28:52):
into a teaching moment.
I think for people like myselfthat you know what.
What would I do if it?
How would I deal with it youknow um, but just a well, very
powerful, totally.
Speaker 1 (29:05):
I appreciate it, man.
Those, those are super kindwords and and it means a lot,
but that's not what I said,though.
The testament is not me, it's a.
You said it means a lot, butthat's not what I said though.
The testament is not me.
You said it's a testament toyou.
It's not because I was on theback of a tour bus with a gun in
my mouth and he saved me.
It's a testament really to him.
(29:26):
And I know you didn't mean tosay it so that I would turn it
around that way, but I just haveto say I did turn to alcohol, I
did turn to becoming aworkaholic, I did try to just be
the man of the house and moveon, and it caught up with me
quick.
But the Lord really put a hookin my mouth and jerked me around
(29:49):
in my mouth and jerked mearound.
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Speaker 2 (31:04):
Well, we can see why you're a minister now and you're
so you did retire from music,right?
And was this basically thereason why you just felt like,
hey, this, this is my purpose?
Speaker 1 (31:18):
well, it's interesting, that's.
That's an interesting questionand I think about quite a bit.
But, um, as as this, this wholething we've been talking about
really is, this started todevelop over the years.
And I was still on tour, peoplestarted coming to my meet and
greet and they would say, and Iwould know it as soon as they
walked in to the step.
And I was still on tour, peoplestarted coming to my meet and
greet and they would say, and Iwould know it as soon as they
walked in to the step and repeat, and I could just see their
(31:38):
face that they got to tell mesomething.
They lost their dad in October,or their mom just got diagnosed
with cancer, or they lost their14 year old to a-wheeler
accident.
And I know it.
And here they come and they'regoing to talk to me and
sometimes they'd be wearing thet-shirts you guys have probably
seen this where they're wearingthe t-shirts that says you know
(32:00):
the kid's name and the date.
And Jason Aldean was hisfavorite band, so we're all
coming to watch the show on hisbirthday in remembrance of him.
It's been three years.
You show on his birthday inremembrance of him.
It's been three years.
You guys have seen that right.
And this was just happening overand over, especially because of
my story, and it began to nagat me that I didn't have enough
(32:22):
time with them.
I thought I would get tothinking I wish I could just
talk to these people.
They need my help, and yet I'mtoo busy.
I'm going to play a show, andso then I thought, well, I'll
use the show and I'll talk alittle bit during the show.
And then that began to nag atme, thinking I don't think this
is enough.
And I did the further I wentdown that road.
(32:43):
Um, I know now it was.
It was a calling from the Lord,clear as day.
But I just thought I think Ineed a pivot.
I don't think I have time, ascrazy as it sounds, to do music.
I think I need a pivot where Icould go straight to the people.
And and I was still.
I was built for traveling tothem and I was built for talking
(33:04):
for long periods of time, andand so it's like the Lord had
prepared me.
The Lord, you know, prepared mehow to use a microphone and
stand on a stage, and and it wasjust not what I thought he was
preparing me for at the time.
Speaker 2 (33:18):
And when was that?
When?
When did that moment happen?
Speaker 1 (33:22):
Well, the the first, it was really.
The first thing was really, youknow, such a weight on my
shoulders.
I thought it was the recorddeal and I thought it was
promoting radio singles.
So I, I was telling my brotherwho's my manager and he was
pretty mad at me, you know, forsaying this.
Um, it's taken years for Tylerto truly to understand.
(33:44):
We're in a good place now.
But he thought, why wouldanybody with a perfectly good
record deal try to get out of it?
And but it was, it was just aheavy weight on my shoulders.
I ended up going to John Lobaand I told him this and he knew
my heart, you know he was, he'sbeen with me that whole journey
(34:05):
and by God's grace he understood.
And they went to Germany andthey had I remember they had
some board meeting to vote meoff, because it was kind of a
weird thing that an artist wantsoff and he's not going to go to
another label, it's not like hefound another deal, and so they
had to vote me off in Berlinand I thought, okay, now it's
(34:27):
good, now I don't have topromote a single, I could use
that time now to shift intoministry and talk to people and
we'll still tour.
But the feeling didn't go awayand it was still wearing on me.
I thought.
I said I think there's more.
I think the Lord needs me tosurrender more.
And when I started thinkingthat maybe it was touring itself
, I went to my wife and she said, well, what are you gonna do?
(34:51):
And I said I think that's it.
I think it was like around thistime of year and I thought
maybe I'll just, I just won'tcome back January 1st and she
goes.
You can't do that.
You got to do a farewell tour.
You have to appropriately saygoodbye to the people that have
supported you.
And I said, yeah, you're right.
That was wise of her to saythat.
So we scheduled an eight-monthfarewell tour and made the
(35:15):
announcement and told the bandwhich was it was all of.
That was extremely difficult.
But I instantly that weightleft me.
It left my shoulders andthrough that I knew, oh yeah,
this is, this is the rightdecision.
Speaker 6 (35:29):
That would have been hard.
You know, just thinking abouttelling that story If I'm in
your band or if you and I areco-writing and we're rocking and
got some things going out, andI'm thinking, hey, man, I'm one
of my closest friends Now, we'rehaving hits and success, this
is great, and he's young andwe're going to ride this horse
all the way to retirement.
And then all of a sudden yousay hey guys, I think I'm going
to step down and do ministryfull time and be like whoa whoa
(35:51):
Granger.
There's a lot of ways the Lordcan use you.
I mean, let's think, let's stepback and really think about this
.
Did you have did?
Speaker 1 (36:02):
you have some of that , you know, cause that would be
a human response probably.
Oh man, yes, it was.
Uh, I was so nervous.
I was in Minneapolis and it wasin January, a few years ago two
years ago, I guess?
No, it was.
It would have been um Two yearsago, I guess no it was.
It would have been January 23,I guess I.
We were in Minneapolis and I hada.
(36:23):
I had scheduled a meeting withall the band and crew, the
drivers.
It was a fly date for us, sothe drivers were all home, or
they, I think they were.
Their buses were somewhere else, so we FaceTimed them and put
the computer in there.
So everyone knew, like this isweird, the drivers are on there,
everyone's talking, what are wedoing?
(36:44):
And I came in.
My heart was pounding, you know,and just because I knew what
that meant, once I let that go,it's something I've.
I did it for 25 years and andonce I made that known, you
can't put that toothpaste backin the tube, you know it's out,
yeah.
So I told him and my heart wasbeaten.
I just said guys, um, this isgoing to be last year touring
(37:06):
for me and I just feel the air,you know, leave the room.
Some of the guys were like sawthis coming, I understand,
brother, whatever you need.
Other guys were like, well,this sucks.
What am I supposed to do now?
I gave him all my 30s.
You know what am I supposed todo?
So I told him.
(37:28):
I said if you guys don't sayanything to anyone except your
wives until March when I make itpublic, and then you stay with
me if you don't leave Soundslike a transfer portal, you know
.
So if you don't get thetransfer portal and you stay
(37:49):
with me until we finish this outearly September, then
everyone's going to get all ofthe money from everything that I
sell Buses, semi-truck trailers, gear, all of it.
I'll sell all of the money fromeverything that I sell buses,
semi-truck trailers, gear, allof it.
I'll sell all of it andeveryone will get according to
how many years you've been withme.
You'll get that percentage,which would be a really big
chunk and, by God's grace, everysingle one of them stayed all
(38:13):
the way till September.
Speaker 4 (38:15):
Wow, and that says a lot about you as well.
Do you ever because it's inyour blood as much as this is
like the music and what you'vedone do you?
Do you miss it?
You ever wake up one day andsay you know what I'm gonna, I
think I might do two monthsworth of shows.
Or you know, I think I want togo cut an ep.
You know, I mean, you ever havethat tugging feeling, you know?
Or is it?
(38:35):
Or is it just in a differentspot now, kind of I missed.
Speaker 1 (38:39):
I missed, do miss the camaraderie of being with the
guys and playing music, the, thestage aspect, the performance
aspect, even the songwritingaspect actually.
Um, writing sermons is so close, it's like the same layer of my
brain writing a sermon iswriting a song and then
preaching.
It's like the same layer of mybrain writing a sermon is
(38:59):
writing a song and thenpreaching.
It also satisfies a verysimilar itch as getting up on
that stage.
I'm not glorifying myself, I'mglorifying God now, but when I
preach I just preached this pastSunday, as we record this
podcast that was yesterday andyou know I prepare the message,
I put my time in there's a levelof in the preparation, there's
(39:25):
a level of kind of practicingand you know timing yourself and
getting your pacing down andyou go up and you deliver and it
feels very much like we knowwalking up on a stage and you're
delivering a message, you knowwhether it's music or an actual
sermon and so I get that itchcompletely scratched.
(39:46):
I don't think of, I don't missit in any way in that aspect.
Speaker 6 (39:49):
Yeah, Is it harder going out when you're about to
deliver a sermon and you walkout there?
Is it challenging without aguitar?
Do you think about it?
You know, when you walk out andsay, man, I wish I had a guitar
and I could deliver this thing.
Speaker 1 (40:03):
I used to.
Yeah, I used to.
So now you know, I've got myiPad.
That's kind of my guitar.
Now.
Something I do now I starteddoing lately is I did this
yesterday I walk, kind of geteverything set up as I walk out
there and then I'll just stopand just look at the audience
and just take maybe 10 seconds,15 seconds max, and just kind of
(40:27):
breathe for a second and thathelps the weight of what I'm
about to say hit me and it kindof takes away the old anxiety
that I had of go up on the stageand hit them with a bang, get
their attention right off thebat as a musician.
It kind of takes that away andI'll let it sit, let the air sit
(40:47):
for about 10 seconds, catchmyself and then begin.
Speaker 4 (40:52):
It seems to me I don't know why that what you're
doing now would be so much morechallenging, in the sense that
you know, when we take the stageto play, it's like people are
there, like to forget about alot of their problems.
They come to our shows to havea good time and I feel like
they're there to what you'redoing now.
They might be there to a muchheavier reason you know what I
(41:14):
mean when it's like a lot moreat.
That's how I'd feel about it.
Like they're, they're lookingfor more help.
I'm used to like just having atime, these people drinking and
forgetting about their problems,and they're there to kind of
put those on you and and in away, maybe, or it's totally,
that's good.
Speaker 3 (41:32):
I'm gonna have to remember that the music just
feels like it'd be way morechallenging.
Speaker 1 (41:38):
Yeah, you're totally right.
Music helps people forget theproblems and a sermon the goal
is, so that they'll know theirproblem.
Speaker 4 (41:47):
Or maybe even absorb some of that from them, which is
way heavy I I'd be way verynervous to be a nervous wreck.
Speaker 6 (41:54):
I pat quivering, you know it feels like.
How does he know?
Speaker 2 (41:56):
I have to tell I mean iPad quivering, you know.
Speaker 6 (41:57):
He's like how does he know that's so right man.
Speaker 1 (41:58):
I have to tell.
I mean, in some way or another,I have to tell them through the
word that they have a problemand I have the solution for them
and I have to make them awareof that problem.
And in music it was theopposite.
Right, it was.
Hey, just watch us and have funand don't think about your
problems.
Speaker 4 (42:16):
Exactly, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 5 (42:18):
Dude, listening to you talk and listening to you
tell your story, I think all ofus, especially men, we have a
tremendously huge selfish nature.
Speaking, you know, from mepersonally and listening to you
(42:39):
tell your story, it it's goingto be a it's not.
It's not a destination that youever get to, but it's a
constant battle of making it notabout me and more about him and
hearing your story.
Just it's so thrilling and soinspirational to hear you tell
your story that way and I thinkit's's a battle not just the
(42:59):
four of us, but every man andwoman alive today.
That battle of making it notabout you and more about him
will be.
I just want to commend you forthe choices that you've made,
for what you've been through andthe choices that you've made.
Speaker 1 (43:19):
That's it.
That's the problem I have totell people is that it's not
about you.
I know that you've built aworld around yourself that makes
it feel like it is about you,but it's not, and that
separation between who we areand who God is.
All knowledge could be summedup in that right there who God
is and who we are.
And it's not like you know.
(43:41):
When you take a diamond and inorder to really see what that
diamond is made of, you put iton that little black felt and
you put a microscope on it andyou just see the intricacy of
the diamond itself.
It just blows you away.
So that, knowing the diamond,it helps to put it on that black
(44:03):
felt to know the diamonds.
You can see everything.
And sometimes, when we thinkabout knowing God and knowing
ourselves, we think about here'stwo diamonds, God and us.
And God's the big diamond, realintricate, and we're the little
diamond.
In fact, we're not the diamond,we are the black felt.
So you put God on that blackfelt and it's the knowledge of
(44:23):
us.
In comparison to him, we justhighlight him, we just show that
we are really nothing but blackfelt.
And the more we think aboutthings like that, meditate on
things like that, the more wecould release what you're
talking about and say you knowwhat it's not about me.
It's not.
Speaker 2 (44:41):
That's incredible.
It's an incredible message.
And listen, we know you're abusy guy.
We can't thank you enough forbeing here.
We're so thankful for you Fromall of us.
We love you, brother.
God bless you.
I don't know many words todescribe that, but powerful is
first thing that comes to mymind.
And just how good of a humanbeing is granger smith.
Speaker 6 (45:06):
Oh gosh I mean, I could sit there and talk to him
for another hour if we didn'thave his producer saying that he
was ready to cut it off I wasready to talk more football with
him too.
I know it was amazing.
I was gonna.
The one thing I wanted to askhim about uh or talk.
He had uh in 2020.
He got a cmt award and I thinkit was for like the best
(45:28):
quarantine song so I've.
I've read that too, as I wasit's called don't cough on me
right, and so I watched thewhole video.
That's the first thing I lookedup and it's the first one I
watched and it's and it's abouttoilet paper and hand sanitizer
like the whole thing.
So it really the hand sanitizercaught me yeah, of course.
Of course, sucked you right inbut it reminded me of like in
the, you know, when you had thepandemic and everything.
Uh, the first thing to go, orone of the first things, was
(45:50):
toilet paper, not food.
But you don't need toilet paperif you can't get food.
It's's just funny that thatwent first.
Speaker 5 (45:58):
The first thing.
That was hard to get.
It's weird, I know, and you gotto have food before you need
the toilet paper.
I agree, we're right in line.
Usually we're right in line.
Speaker 6 (46:06):
That's the order of things right, yeah, wow, I mean,
it's just basic.
You know body mechanics.
Speaker 4 (46:25):
But back to Gr.
It is.
It is an um, inspiring thoughto.
I don't know if inspiring isthe right word, but I often
wonder okay, if that, if thathappened to me, then how would I
deal with that or get throughthat?
Speaker 6 (46:35):
and that's, and we say that you're talking about
the loss of his son.
Speaker 2 (46:41):
Yes, yeah, yeah and you know, neil, you kind of
alluded to it because you dohave you instinctually have
selfish thoughts of like howwould I do this or how would I
get over it, how would I, how amI going to get through this?
Yeah, how would I deal with it?
Fair question too.
It is a fair question and, andyou know, you hear him talk
about it and through christ andthrough that, you know he, he is
(47:05):
able to surrender thosefeelings.
But that still seems reallyhard, like.
I know that, I've heard that,but applying that seems like a
monumental task Right.
Speaker 4 (47:19):
It is one thing to say that and actually to see
that play out.
I'm not sure how that would go.
Hopefully none of us ever feelthat I've kind of lost the words
with that it was interesting.
Speaker 6 (47:40):
Each time that one of us would applaud him for how he
handled it, he turned it to God, every time with a smile.
He wasn't trying to makeanybody feel bad.
It was like, guys, it wasn't me.
I keep saying it, it wasn't me,it was God he did put me on the
spot.
Speaker 2 (47:57):
He really did.
We're like get him Granger, Ican it.
You know it wasn't me, it wasgod.
You know he did put me on thespot.
He did, oh my gosh, and we'relike, we're like get him granger
, I know, I can feel the feel itin the room.
No, I mean, and it was.
It was actually a greatquestion and a fair question, uh
.
But yeah, I was like a littletaken back, like oh my god, how
do I answer this?
Speaker 6 (48:11):
well, I wanted what I wanted to ask him sorry but
before I forget because I almostforgot it here too is okay.
Speaker 4 (48:17):
It it's one thing you know to keep yourself strong
through God, and but I want toask him to like his wife,
because you can't necessarilycontrol how how she gets through
it.
I know she's following this inthe same path, but still, when
she has a weak, weak moments andshe overtakes her, you know you
have to take care of her aswell, and and that that's a
(48:41):
great point and you do feel theresponsibility just and, like
Neil said, as a man like that's,that's your job, right.
Speaker 5 (48:48):
Right but you still, but you still you know, and
people will take offense to that.
Speaker 6 (48:53):
Well and too, oh and two, but how many times have you
read, or maybe know of a couplethere's a high percentage of
couples that go throughsomething like that that will
divorce Right One.
They're just too depressed tohandle it, or they blame it on
the other one.
You know what I?
Speaker 4 (49:09):
mean or it's just too much, or it's just too much.
Speaker 6 (49:11):
It's easier to handle on your own, but the fact that
they're together and thriving asa godly couple is a miracle in
itself.
Speaker 2 (49:18):
I think it is and that's kind of why, you know, I
was like I don't know if I chosethe right word, but like
unworthy it's because, like Idon't man, that's him, I don't
know how you did that.
Speaker 4 (49:27):
That's incredible and like I'm not sure when he made
it clear to me when I said thesame thing like he, he, he
didn't just walk through it, youknow, he had the point where he
hit rock bottom, which is anamazing story.
You know, I know people thathit rock bottom and didn't come
back out of it.
So something in him.
Speaker 5 (49:48):
That's where Satan wants you.
Speaker 4 (49:50):
You know he wants you to hit rock bottom.
Speaker 5 (49:52):
He doesn't want you to make the right decision.
Speaker 6 (49:54):
He wants you to pull the trigger.
Speaker 5 (49:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (49:56):
Yeah, and you know, like, I don't know how deep he
just got into it, but totallybrought up the podcast with, uh,
brad warren, um, and Iencourage everybody to watch
that um, it goes through hisstory quite a bit.
And just listen to granger'spodcast as well, in his ministry
it's will be inspired.
(50:17):
Yeah, absolutely, yep, 100%.
We really appreciate you guysbeing with us.
Like I said, go check outGranger's stuff.
It's really good and we feelgood about promoting that.
And, of course, if you'rewatching us, subscribe right
like Download, follow us on thesocials, download all that stuff
(50:39):
.
This is, uh, try that in smalltown podcast.
We got what am I going to callyou today?
Speaker 6 (50:45):
thrash money nice neil nice neil, nice neil, okay,
okay nice like it wait till thenext one klo and tk.
Speaker 2 (50:54):
I'm kurt.
We appreciate you guys watching.
Speaker 4 (51:00):
Nice Neil.
Speaker 3 (51:04):
Make sure to follow along.
Subscribe, share, rate the showno-transcript.
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