Remembering Brett James: Nashville's Songwriting Legend :: Ep 75 Try That in a Small Town Podcast

Loss has a way of reordering priorities and bringing perspective like nothing else can. When Nashville songwriting legend Brett James died in a plane crash, our podcast world was rocked to its core – and it came just weeks after the assassination of Charlie Kirk. 

This special episode captures our raw, unfiltered processing of grief in real-time. Brett wasn't just a songwriter with over 500 recorded songs and hits for artists like Carrie Underwood, Jason Aldean, and Kenny Chesney. He was our friend, our collaborator, and a true champion for others in an industry that can sometimes breed competition and ego.

We share personal stories that capture Brett's essence – from his legendary good looks and perfect hair (even after wearing a motorcycle helmet) to his genuine kindness and support for young songwriters. The stories flow naturally as we remember writing sessions, performances, and even a memorable plane ride with Brett piloting. His recent social media post now feels prophetic: "Now's a good time to tell the people that you love, you love 'em."

The conversation takes unexpected turns as we process not just Brett's passing but also Charlie Kirk's assassination and the remarkable forgiveness shown by Kirk's wife at his memorial service. We explore the spiritual dimensions of these losses and how they've clarified what truly matters – relationships, faith, and not taking people for granted.

Whether you knew Brett James or not, this episode offers a powerful reminder about living intentionally and expressing love while we can. As we navigate our grief together, we hope these reflections might help others processing their own losses or reconsidering what truly matters in life.

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Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_05 (00:00):
One of the last shows is me and him and De
Stefano and my wife Rachel.
She books uh she booked theparticular shows in Montana and
we're on this ranch andeverything and and Rachel and I
were upstairs and we're she'shelping go out on the deck, you
know, just sit out for a littlewhile.
I said, hang on a second.
And I looked out there and itwas and it was Brett.
It was in the afternoon.
He has had his shirt off.
He's talking to his wife on theon the phone, is just putting

(00:20):
his hair back like that.
And I said, I said, no, I don'tthink we need it.
Let's go out front.

SPEAKER_06 (00:24):
Let's walk out front.
I wonder what what AOC'shandshake is like.

SPEAKER_05 (00:28):
Probably firm.
Probably firm.
Very firm and say firmly.
Firm and angry.
You know, it's an angryhandshake.
Just gets like that.
Just pissed all the time.
Just dark pissed.

SPEAKER_08 (00:40):
There's nobody better at that than Jason,
though.
Because he's so genuine andauthentic.
When he speaks about something,it's so unscripted and so real
that people get touched by it.
Like it's not like a plannedthing.
And so when he talked aboutBrett before he did the truth,
you could have heard a pin drop.
I'll never forget that justbecause it was.

(01:02):
You know, I knew that Brett waslistening.

SPEAKER_01 (01:06):
Try That in a Small Town Podcast begins.

SPEAKER_04 (01:15):
Alright, welcome back to another episode of the
Try That in a Small TownPodcast.
Coming deeper from the PatriotMobile Studios, powered by
eSpaces.
We love eSpaces.

SPEAKER_06 (01:30):
I can't muster that voice up tonight.
I just gotta get warmed up.
It's a little dark outside.

SPEAKER_04 (01:36):
Yeah, it is.
We got Thrash, Kalo, TK, I'mKurt.
Thanks for joining us.
Um man, it's been it's been aheavy couple weeks, dudes, and
don't want to start the podcastnecessarily on a down note, but
I don't know how else to do it.
Um obviously we're a coupleweeks removed from Charlie Kirk

(01:58):
and his assassination, uh, whichhas been a completely heavy,
heavy moment.
Just uh the actual event, theresponse to it.
Uh and then just a few days ago,all of our good friend Brett
James died in a plane crash inNorth Carolina, which I don't

(02:21):
know where you guys were.
We were on the road when we gotthe news, and it was disbelief
at first.
And actually, it might still bedisbelief for me.
I don't know.

SPEAKER_06 (02:30):
It really is.
It's like still processing,hadn't even processed it yet.

SPEAKER_04 (02:34):
Yeah, you know.
And sometimes as men, and I knowI do this, especially we're out
in the road.
I don't know why we're not inNashville, so I kind of just put
it aside.
I know I haven't processed it.
And you know, all I can thinkabout is you know, as kids, and
it just it just breaks my heart.
And sometimes I just kind ofpush it away.

(02:55):
But uh, where were you guys whenyou found out?

SPEAKER_05 (02:59):
Uh y'all y'all were on the you guys were on the
road.
Um I guess for me, um, uh well,I know exactly where I was.
I was in uh baby Lucy's room, Iwas feeding her, getting her
down, and it's and all I can doin there, you know, is is I have
my phone because it's reallybright in a super dark room.
So I've had my phone way downthis recliner, and I'm and I'm
like this, so she doesn't seeme.

(03:20):
I'm just looking, and I startgetting I start getting a couple
texts, and then Rachel, my wife,had had said, Hey, have you
heard anything about Brett?
And I'm like, it's one half, youknow, if you're used to texting
with Thune, I'm I'm saying, no,what's what's going on?
And then then started uh youknow getting getting reports,
people saying, Oh, we're notreally sure, but there's a

(03:41):
single engine plane, you know,that took off from Thune
Airport, and the Thune Airport'swhat what got me a little bit,
even though they weren'treleasing his name.
And at the time I didn't knowthat that they released the tail
number and they put it to whereit was Brett's uh plane, but but
um but I know that's where hekeeps his plane, and I know
that's where he takes offbecause I've landed there with
him one time, we'll talk aboutthat later.

(04:02):
But that's when I reallythought, oh crap, it's you know,
that could it could be him.
And so you're texting everybodyyou know, and then and I even
text Brett, you know.
I said, I said, hey dude, sayplease tell me you're okay.
Then Neil calls me and said,How'd you hear and then we
talked and he knew more than Ididn't know?

SPEAKER_06 (04:19):
But I didn't know anything until Tully called me
because they heard they foundout out there before I knew.
And Tully called me and it wasjust like and and it was real
quick because I could tell y'allwere like busy and you guys.

SPEAKER_08 (04:32):
It was even it was we were getting ready for the
for the show, it's gettingpretty close.
Yeah.
Such a surreal Brett was such aa great and he's he was I
remember he's it's hard to eventalk about it, but we started to
know him back in the day when wewere doing a lot of sessions,
like demos, and he was alwaysaround on a song or his song,

(04:55):
and this is years and I meanyears ago, and we started
producing a lot and we wereproducing Thompson Square.
And he was writing a lot thenwith with those guys.
And he was he was just a fabricof like everything we were
doing, he seemed to be involvedin it some way.
Uh whether it's a song we'redoing with Al Deen or a song
we're writing with him orsomething we're producing that

(05:17):
he had a song on, and it's justa a great always a supporter of
he used to come to the showcasesand we were doing with Al Deen,
you know.
This is back to the like late90s, you know what I mean?
Um so it's just kind of a reallysurreal moment, and he's just
such a supporter of thecommunity, like a legit.

(05:39):
I think a lot of people uh Ithink in Nashville we like to
say that it's a supportivecommunity, and for the most part
it can be.
Not always.
But I can say with 100% thatBrett pulled for everybody.
Yeah.
I I do know that.
Like I I could I I you know, Iremember when he was.

SPEAKER_06 (05:56):
It hit harder for us because he's he's like you know
how you know how songwriters inNashville have generations.
We have we have this generationand he was part of our
generation.
You know, we all came up and didour stuff all together.

SPEAKER_05 (06:08):
Yep.

SPEAKER_06 (06:09):
Went went to the award shows together.

SPEAKER_05 (06:11):
Yeah, in our in our class.
Yeah, it was our same class.

SPEAKER_06 (06:14):
Yeah, right.
Yeah, and it it really hit hard.
No, you know, just for that factalone.
I mean, when you leave somebodyin your community like that that
you look up to he was I mean, hewas uh he was an inspiration to
so many writers, young writersthat came in.
And he's his publishingcompanies, the writers that he
signed over there, he was verysuccessful at that.

(06:37):
And um man, it was it was toughhearing that news.
It was really, really tough.

SPEAKER_08 (06:42):
Makes me think of all the things I was thinking
about it today.
Like we get so used to seeingeverybody around and working
with everybody.
Uh we would always every yearthis time of year be like, hey,
we're going skiing this year.
This is the year we're gonna goski 'cause we always talk about
going skiing, like we gotta goskiing together.
He's like, it's happening thisyear, and we make the plan and
it wouldn't happen.
And then and then it thishappens, and you're like, you

(07:04):
know, it me it instantly made methink about you guys and
everybody and and just take forgranted how uh how we just
assume we're always gonna bearound.
I know.
And how we get to prepare forwhen someone is gonna leave us,
and we don't get to prepare.

SPEAKER_04 (07:22):
It reminds me he had that thing on his Instagram that
started making the rounds, and Ithink I reposted it too, but it
was just he wrote out a note.
Now's a good time to tell thepeople that you love, you
love 'em.
I'm not sure what it was or whenhe did that, but God did that
hit after seeing that.
Yeah.
And we, you know, Justin Weaver,who is a good friend of

(07:45):
Valdean's, he wrote over thereat Cornman for Brett and
obviously hit him very hard.
We know Lydia Vaughn very well,who writes over there.
Both of them say Brett was such,and to get to Tolley's point,
same thing, such a champion tothe younger people and the
younger, the new generation,because he took pride in what
this generation did and wantedthe next to be that.

(08:08):
Those guys, uh, like I knowJustin and Lydia, they've
they're obviously really takingit to heart as well.

SPEAKER_05 (08:14):
Yeah, and uh and and Nate.
Nate uh and you know, and CornelCornelius, that's where Cornman
came from.
That's his you know last name,and uh, which is which is
interesting.
And whenever you whenever I didwrite with Brett over the last
you know few months or a littlebit, last time I wrote with him,
I think, was with one of his newwriters, Chris August, who's a
great uh writer, talent comesfrom contemporary Christian

(08:36):
world, but but really cool guy.
And then Brett came over there,uh which is in Franklin, it's a
long, long way away from hispublishing company.
Like if it's me, I would want towrite at my publishing company,
have all my stuff there.
And I said, Hey, it's cool youcame all the way out out here to
do that.
And he goes, Yeah, he goes, I'mnot too far away.
And he goes, plus the fact hegoes, because everybody at my
publishing company loves it whenI'm not there, you know.

(09:04):
And then too, I I don't know ifwe just for the listeners out
there, like we all know all allof Nashville knows uh Brett
James and everybody would knowhis songs.
But I mean he's he's had over500 songs recorded and some of
your favorites.
He's wanted Grammy, you know.
Um he's had uh I mean Jesus Takethe Wheel was a was a huge song.
Um he's had but you know thetruth, which we can talk about

(09:26):
with Al Dean, which is a whichis a huge thing.
And Al Deen even made a commentuh uh about and so did Carrie,
you know, about Brett and howhow much they loved him his work
and everything.
So he's just done he's just doneso many, so many things and so
many hits.
Um it's just uh a huge huge lossmusic wise, much less the way
that everybody loved him and wemiss him here tonight.

SPEAKER_08 (09:47):
He was really fun to I I was telling Neil this today,
Kurt, the last time I saw Brett,a month and a half too, a couple
months ago, I can't rememberbefore the tour started.
I think it was right before thetour started.
We were down at BMG writing andwriting is Neil was there and
David Lee Murphy, and we walkout to the to get coffee and and

(10:08):
out walks Brett.
He was writing some new artists,he walks out of the room and
we're all talking.
I'm sitting there, I'm lookingat Brett and Neil and David
Murphy all within two feet, andI'm like, holy crap, like three
of the most badass singers thistown's ever had right here.
I mean, this might this mightexplode.

(10:28):
We might explode.
And and I remember just Brettalways he loved working.
I'm I every time I wrote withhim, he would grind, we would
work, and and it's so much fun.
I caught myself after ithappened laying on the bus in my
bunk uh after the show, goingthrough all the songs he wrote
and listened to him sing.

(10:49):
You know, and it's it's the samething when when Neil sings, it's
the same thing when when DavidLee Murphy sings and Brett Brett
sang.
It was like just make you feelevery word of that of that song.
And then the reason why thoseartists connect with these songs
is guys like Brett and Neil andDavid Lee.

SPEAKER_06 (11:08):
Seriously, it's like you know it's it's he was one of
those guys when I was becauseI've actually spent more time
with Brett away from the row.
Um our kids went to schooltogether, we'd see each other
football games or we did around, we'd do writers round
together, done a bunch ofwriters' rounds with him or
playing golf.

(11:28):
And it was it wasn't reallymusic related other than than
the uh the writers' rounds thatwe did.
But he's like one of the one ofa small handful of singers that
when we were doing a round andhe'd start singing, and I just
you know, I'm just kinda likeand then I'd close my eyes when
he would do like No and You thatKenny cut and The Truth that Hal
Dean cut.

SPEAKER_05 (11:49):
Yeah and the Kelly Clarkson uh song.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 (11:52):
Um how he'd sing those Czech songs and still make
them sound cool when he did it.
They're great.
Yeah.
He was the epitome of badass.
He really was.
Brett was badass.

SPEAKER_08 (12:01):
Brett was Brett was cool.
He's a cool dude, and just itwas it's such a a gutting
feeling, and and all you can dois is know that God's got a
plan, and it's hard tounderstand that plan.
It makes no sense sometimes, andit certainly doesn't make sense
this time or any time for thatmatter, when you're not prepared
for something, but it's such auh it's uh it's weird not having

(12:24):
him in town.
Knowing that he's not in town.
Yeah.
I felt this way when uh MichaelRhodes, the great bass player,
passed away three, four yearsago.
And a staple of the musicianindustry in in this town and set
the bar.
I always said Michael Rhodes wasprobably the whatever town he
was in, he was the best in inthat town, no matter who you

(12:47):
know.
And same thing when he when hepassed away.
It just feels weird him notbeing in town.
It feels weird Brett not beingin town.
You could you you're writingwith him, and next thing you
know, you see him the next day,he's somewhere else, you know.
So yeah, it's it's a great, it'sa great loss, also a great

(13:08):
celebration of how many peoplehe touched.
You can see all the tributes andhow he did it right, you know.

SPEAKER_05 (13:16):
Yeah, he did he didn't just kind of sneak into a
room, like when he entered aroom, you knew he was in there.
Like I can come in, you got aball cap on, and nobody really
notices.
He comes in, it's like Tarzanwalking in slow motion, his
beautiful hair is blowing in thewind, you know.
And we'd go on a show, like oneof the one of the last shows is
me and him and De Stefano and mywife Rachel, she books uh she

(13:38):
booked the particular shows inMontana and we're on this ranch
and everything, and and um andRachel and I were upstairs and
we're fixing to we're fixing togo down.
She goes, I think I'm gonna goout go out there on the deck.
And I'd already been downstairsto see De Stefano's down there
working out.
He's got all jacked up and he'sdown there pretty much his
underwear, no shirt.
And and she goes, I'm gonna goget a coffee.
So I get it, I get it, I get it.

(13:59):
And then so I brought up thecoffee, and then she says, She
says, How many go out on thedeck?
You know, just sit out for alittle while.
I said, Hang on a second.
And I looked out there and itwas and it was bread.
It was in the afternoon.
He has had his shirt off.
He's talking to his wife on theon the phone, is just putting
his hair back like that.
And I said, I said, No, I don'tthink we need, let's go out
front.
Let's walk out front.
But but yeah, I always alwaystease her, you know, she she

(14:19):
would say if there was a show,she goes, Well, I might need to
advance the show and and get upthere and make sure the guys are
okay.
Like if there's a show I wasn'ton, I said, I said, well, who's
on the show?
I said, Well, I think I thinkmaybe Decephino, maybe Tim
Nichols, possibly Brett J.
Brett, no, no, no, no, no, youdon't need to go up there and
advance the show.
But anyway, just a really goodlooking guy.
And um, and but just such such agood heart.

(14:40):
Uh it's always a lot of fun juston shows.
And that's that's the main timeI spent.
I didn't write tons with Brett.
I mainly saw him at shows andeverything, and he had he had
fun and everybody.
And I love bringing him, youknow, somewhere that they hadn't
seen him or heard him, becauseit's kind of like it's bringing
like bringing nil, it's likeshow and tell.
You know, you're saying, hey,these are my buddies, and
they're really cool and they'regreat, you know, and uh it makes
you look a lot better.

SPEAKER_08 (15:01):
So it's certainly certainly gonna miss that that
guy around town and just ingeneral, just you know.

SPEAKER_06 (15:08):
It always hurts when you lose one of your own.
Yeah, you know?
And that's when you realizeyou're like, guys you can take
it for granted.

SPEAKER_02 (15:19):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 (15:20):
It's real easy to do.
It's and until it hits it wakeup.
It's a little wake-up call, butyou know.

SPEAKER_04 (15:27):
Yeah, we did the show that night, and you know,
like we're just still talking,we're in disbelief, we're going
through talking about it, thenwe have to go on and play the
show, which is a weird feeling.
But for some reason, for thefirst half of the show, it's
like, I'm okay, we're doinggood.
This is a fun show.
We're we're doing them.
We get to the truth, uh, Al Deanstops and says some really great

(15:50):
words, and we bust into thetruth.
And I know you felt this waytoo, and all of a sudden it was
like, Oh, I don't know if I cando this.
Played that one through theshow.
It'd be hard to get through.
It was really hard to getthrough, and the rest of the
show was hard to get through.
You know, because the lightscome up, I you know, everybody's
got their phones now.
And in our age, people used toput up lighters, but now they do
the phones.

(16:10):
Dude, the phones were shining.
It was and I know we all had ahard time getting through.
It was tough to get through.

SPEAKER_08 (16:17):
It was, it was, it was tears in the eyeballs, man.
It was like seeing those allthose lights up and and knowing
Brett was hearing that one.

SPEAKER_05 (16:26):
You know, did you guys talk to Aldine after did he
say anything?
Because he's singing that, and Iknow you guys are singing
background stuff.
Did he did he talk about howdifficult that was to sing that
night?
Or did y'all just not talk aboutit?

SPEAKER_08 (16:38):
The thing about this is we were talking without
talking.
That's how long we've beentogether.
Yeah.
You know, we he shot me a lookafter we finished a song, and
just one of his looks just likethat.
That's all that needed to besaid.
You know, it was like you know,it's part of the gift we've had
of and the blessing of being ina band so long where it's just

(16:59):
it's kind of the same thing wewe approach after Vegas a lot, a
lot, you know, when whensomething you just kind of get
through it and you you can say alot without saying anything, if
that makes sense.
So that's after right after wewe finished the last note of
that and he just looked and justit was that was all that we had

(17:21):
to say about it, you know.
It was it was really toughthough.
It was like and what'sinteresting is we played three
shows and that was tough, andthe second night I felt like a
celebration more than sadness,but the last night it got me
again, the third show.
Dude, the third night got meagain.

SPEAKER_04 (17:38):
There was everybody had their phone.
Because I think news had finallygotten around and people were
starting to understand who Brettwas.
And yeah, I agree.
The third night was very moving.

SPEAKER_08 (17:51):
Jason's there's nobody better at that than Jason
though, uh because he's sogenuine and authentic.
It's like it it it's it's it'sthe same thing when when uh
Charlie got shot and passed, youknow, and and and when he speaks
about something it's sounscripted and so real that
people get touched by it.

(18:12):
Like it's not like a plannedthing, you know?
And so when he talked aboutBrett before he did the truth,
you could have heard a pin drop.
I mean, it was just he's got away of like that moment when he
did in those three shows doingthe truth, I'll never forget
that just because it was youknow, I knew that Brett was

(18:33):
listening, you know.
And he loved that song.
He loved I remember after weafter he heard the cut of that
song, and like we were likeeither writing with him or doing
a session, I can't remember, buthe was like so blown away by the
cut of that song and Jasonsinging it.
You know, I just I know that itmeant a lot to Brett that that

(18:55):
song did what it did, you know.

SPEAKER_05 (18:56):
So yeah, and I was thinking too, um, I know he's
real close with Chesney and he'shad huge hits with Chesney.
They have a great friendship,but uh you know, when the sun
goes down was an epic smash.
And then I thought about uhKenny today, kind of just
looking because you kind of youcan't remember what how many
songs that Brett's been a partof, but um we went out last

(19:19):
night, and I know the story onlybecause the shows we play with
Brett and he tells the storyabout him and Kenny and and they
they wrote that song.
Uh it came, you know, uh Brettwas just fooling around with the
melody.
Kennedy slept in a little bit.
I guess they're in at an islandor something somewhere exotic
and wonderful.
But uh anyway, so Brett wasalready up sipping, you know,

(19:40):
drinking coffee, and and Kennyhad this sliding glass door, and
he just stuck his head out thedoor and he says, We went out
last night.
And then Brett just startedworking on it, and that that you
know, and that came to be.
And so you got you know thatthat Chesney every night he
performs that just like youguys, and Al Dean uh performing
the truth.
Um, he's gonna think about thatevery single time, and not just

(20:02):
the song, but what they weredoing and what a good time they
had, and and um anyway, becauseI used to sit next to him in
these rounds and he would gointo when the sun goes down, and
he wrote it by himself.

SPEAKER_06 (20:16):
Dude, and do you know the rest of the story?

SPEAKER_04 (20:19):
Like I think he wrote it on the way to the
session.

SPEAKER_06 (20:22):
Yeah, and that's what I would always go, you son
of a he didn't have enough songsfor the session.
It was but it was the the factthat that song was so simple,
but it was so good.
Yeah, so good, you know, and itand it was so commercial and it
was so kinny.
There was no way in hell itwasn't gonna be shit.

(20:42):
No way.
You're right.
There's and for him to do thatin that short a period of time
to write that song by himself,yeah, it makes you kind of
jealous.
Like very much.

SPEAKER_04 (20:54):
And the ability to not overthink it, you know,
because there's a there's agenius in that.
That's a fact.

SPEAKER_06 (21:00):
And people don't realize that.

SPEAKER_04 (21:02):
Yeah.
I don't know if it was likebecause I remember him telling
us a story, but I can't rememberif it was the second verse or if
it was like the majority of it,but whatever it was, it was on
the way to the session.
He didn't have enough songs, andso he was just like, well, in
this car, he basically just madeup the words, and there it was.

SPEAKER_08 (21:19):
Well, it's like Daily Murphy writing Dustin the
Bottle on the Kitchen Table thatmorning before we went to do to
cut the album.
That's right.
Yeah, you know, but I rememberone of my favorite stories about
Brett, Kurt, you remember this?
We're uh the first time weplayed Fenway.
Um, and I think like Miranda wason it with us and that first

(21:40):
show we did at Fenway years andyears ago, the first time we did
it.
Well, Brett was out writing withher, and we're getting ready to
go down to get ready to play.
And I think I think Miranda hadshe was either going to play or
just finished, but Brett comesout in those black leather
pants, you know, looking like Isaid, damn, are you playing with
us tonight?
You know?

(22:00):
He's always just so freakingcool.
Always cool, always like likeDan, you're cool.
You know, you know, it's justit's yeah, he never looked bad.

SPEAKER_06 (22:11):
Ever.
Ever.
He looked, I mean it had to takehim hours.
He used to get up early lookinglike that.

SPEAKER_04 (22:18):
Carrie had some grenades that he came in on his
motorcycle, you know, of course,with this helmet.
And somehow, even after havingthe helmet on for hours, he came
up and his hair is still purple.

SPEAKER_05 (22:32):
He might have worked out a little bit.
Yeah, yeah.
So uh he he was the guy at thepool.
He didn't leave his shirt onlike most other people.
Yeah.
So um swim shirt?
Yeah.
I'm wearing swim shirt.
He was okay without he was okaywithout, you know.
I'd be tell you tell your wifesaid, Hey, hey, look at that
beautiful sunset over there.
Brett, go, go, go, go.

SPEAKER_06 (22:51):
I'm glad we can remember him like this.
And remember remember storiesand laugh.
Yeah, because he was he he's ahe's a legend.
Absolutely in the songwritingcommunity.
He's a he's you know, and I itwas a force.

SPEAKER_08 (23:06):
And and you know, I always talk about this with guys
like like you know, Mike Delaneyand Daly Murphy and and Brett
Twineleys where he wrote becausethere was a time when we were,
you know, playing we weresession players playing with
Jason and on the road, and wewere session players in town,
and no one looked at us like wewere really writing, you know,

(23:27):
because we wrote, but we werealways gone on the road.
So we never really wrote peopledidn't know us in that facet,
they just knew us in the chairin the studio.
And I remember Brett writingwith us really early when he
didn't have to.
He didn't have to write with us.
I like and and and David Lee andDelaney did the same thing,
writing with us when everyonethought we were just players,

(23:51):
you know.
But Breba come in and write andhave a great time, and he'd sit
there and spend all day writingsongs, and it just I really he
he was a champion for everybody.
I just feel like he loved seeingeverybody win.
I really do like like I thinkhe's one of the few people I can
I can say that really was lovedseeing people have success.

(24:14):
You know?
It was a good man.

SPEAKER_05 (24:18):
Yeah, and he and for for some of the people that that
don't know, I mean his hisstory, you know, even coming in
was interesting because he's asmart guy and and he's you know
he was in medical school, youknow, and then he was you know
playing around the songs andeverything, moved to Nashville,
he gets a record deal or two,puts out a few things, but
nothing really hit.
He had some things out thatcharted and everything, and and

(24:40):
so he reapplied, you know, tomedical school.
Um and then but he was stillhaving some success.
I think he signed at uhTerracell Music, which was Mark
Bright's uh company, and and uhand I think for a year or
something like that.
And in the midst of it, he gotaccepted back to medical school.
Things weren't really happening,so he went, so he went back.
And then then when he went back,he all of a sudden he started

(25:02):
getting some cuts.
You know, ended up, I think hehad 33 cuts during that, you
know, one year or two-yearperiod.
Um and uh and so he went to theyou know, however you go to the
school, the top of the medicalschool and say, hey, I'm gonna
have to go back to Nashville, Ithink.
And he said, Well, you probablyshould, but you can't come back
again.
He said, All right.
But anyway, it worked out goodfor him.

(25:22):
So he could have he could havedone anything he wanted to do.
And um when he got here, and toreally all all the points that
we're that we're talking about,I mean he's he's not just your
standard issue songwriter, youknow, and you know, much like
Neil, he's an he's an artist.
And the artist writers aredifferent, they write different
because they it just needs tosound good when they sing it.

(25:43):
And sometimes the problem withsomebody who sings so good is
that all the lines sound good,you know, because sometimes you
can't tell, is that a good lineor is it just because you're
singing it so dang good, youknow?
Um but he was, and I remember uhRivers Rutford said this uh uh
years ago, and he said hey, hesaid, he said, hey Kalo, there's
there's two types of writers.
There's there's generators andeditors.
That's the two.

(26:04):
And I I think there's actuallymore categories now, but but um
but Brett was a generator, youknow, like he would just spit it
out.
He doesn't have to have you towrite a hit song, so you think
about okay, what can I bring tohim that he doesn't have?
Can I bring this idea?
Can I bring this birth?
Can I bring, you know, and andhe would just make it, he would
just make it happen and he wouldmake it cool and make you sound

(26:25):
more talented than you were.

SPEAKER_04 (26:27):
100%.

SPEAKER_06 (26:29):
But he was a team player.

SPEAKER_08 (26:30):
Oh yeah.
No doubt about it.
But he was, I remember at the atthe little you know, publishing
house, you know, he was workingwith Kit Moore.
Kit Moore was living upstairs,you know.
But and you walk in there towrite, and it was a cool cool
place.
You had all kinds of stuff goingon, excitement.

(26:51):
You know, we'd write we writingwith Justin Weaver when he was
in that front room and you walkin, and Brett would come in, pop
in, and like, man, this is thisis a great atmosphere to be
creative.
Because he was creative.
It wasn't like a it didn't feellike a business, it felt like a
place to be creative.
You know, and that's and that'swhat he was, you know.
So really gonna miss that guy.

SPEAKER_06 (27:12):
But yeah, but uh lucky to There's a void, there's
a void on music row right now.
Yeah, it's been it's been aheavy he'll be missed.

SPEAKER_08 (27:23):
And then and then in our guitar player Jack, our
brother, his mom passed lastweek, and then you know Charlie
had got shot the week before,and it was like then Brett, and
it's like man, it's just like uhYeah, it's been a lot.

SPEAKER_04 (27:39):
And speaking of Charlie, we're we're recording
this on Monday.
The yesterday was thecelebration, basically.
Did you guys watch any of that?
Yep.

SPEAKER_05 (27:50):
I watched a lot of it.

SPEAKER_04 (27:51):
I couldn't get all of it, but uh how incredible was
that, and I know if you didn'tsee it live, you probably saw
the clips of Erica and her oh mygod.

SPEAKER_05 (28:00):
Yeah and forgiving the sh the the shooter and it's
like pretty much what everybodywill remember from that.
Because on the human scale, evenas a Christian, you're thinking,
God, that's that's hardcore toto be able to do that that
quickly, even the thought oftrying to do it is impressive.

SPEAKER_06 (28:19):
Because she knows that's what Charlie would have
wanted.

SPEAKER_08 (28:21):
Yep.
I think so too.
Still processing that situationwhere it's like crazy that
happened.
Killed shot.
That's just crazy to me.
This even happened.
It's still it it's hard to takethat in.
You know?

(28:41):
I don't know.
It's a lot.

SPEAKER_05 (28:44):
It's it's a it's a lot, you know, but like uh you
know, Neil was saying earlier,it's like uh you know, like with
Charlie, I mean I mean thingshave really e exploded, I mean,
for for just the kingdom of Godand all the young people that he
was, you know, talking to onthose college campuses.

(29:05):
And even me, I knew I I listenedto some of the stuff, you know,
but but not not as much as I'velistened to since he's passed.
I mean I've watched not everyvideo because you can't, there's
so many of them, but I'm justwatching them like uh just over
and over again and and and justwatching how he debated and and
respected the other side, supersmart guy.

(29:27):
Um didn't you know didn't go tocollege, but but he but but he
was well read and he was wellstudied and everything and and
uh his impact now is is I meanit's gonna I mean it's already
exploding.
Yeah.
You know, so it's just uhunbelievable.
Um you know, the plan that Godhas uh when some evil things

(29:48):
happen.

SPEAKER_04 (29:49):
We appreciate you guys listening to us.
You know, it's not our normalthing, but you know, there's
been a lot on our hearts, and wethank you guys for kind of
listening to that.
We're just gonna take a quickbreak.
We'll be right back on the otherside.
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SPEAKER_04 (31:21):
Alright, welcome back to the Try That Small Town
Podcast.
I'm the Patriot Mobile Studios,powered by eSpaces, and of
course we're going to thankOriginal Glory Beer as well.
You know, we always say we wannawe should record our break.
Usually it's about five minutes,and we're just talking about
whatever, and it can usually befunny or whatever.
But this time our break wasprobably 30 minutes, and we kept

(31:44):
talking and we were reflectingon Brett.
But um we you started to tellthe story, but when we said,
let's save it, so you had astory that you wanted to talk
about.

SPEAKER_05 (31:52):
Oh yeah, I mean, like a a lot of Brett's friends,
you know, I've uh I've been inhis plane before.
He he loved he loved to fly, youknow.
Um and and and for me, I've justnever been like my dad never
liked you know single-engineplanes.
I've just never really likedthem.
I don't love I don't loveflying, you know, all to all
together, but but you know, yougot to, you know, so so we do it

(32:14):
and stuff.
And so he had actually contactedme before we had me and him and
Rivers Rutherford had a show inin Charlotte, and and Brett had
asked me, you know, said said,Hey Kayla, why don't you just
fly with me?
I said, I'm going going upthere, you know.
And and I and I and I and Ididn't.
It was a text.
And I thought, oh, how do Irespond to that because I
because I really didn't want to,but I didn't want to hurt his

(32:34):
feelings, you know.
And uh and so finally I textedhim back and I said, I said, hey
Brett, I said, here's the thing.
I said I said, I'm I'm sureyou're fully capable.
I know you're a smart dude, andI know you love flying and
everything, but I don't want theanxiety, my anxiety uh to ruin
your flying experience.
You know, so it's something likethat to make it sound as loving

(32:54):
as possible.
He says, he says, no problem.
So so anyway, so I flewsouthwest and then we we did
that, and then we played, we didour show, then we played golf
the next day.
And the clients had kept, youknow, if I know I'm late
everywhere, except the one placeI like to get uh to on time,
even early, is the airport.
Uh so I do like to get therereally, really early.

SPEAKER_06 (33:14):
Think of us as the airport next.
I thought you were gonna saythat's a good idea.

SPEAKER_05 (33:17):
Yeah, that's a good idea.
I could Terminal one.
Yeah, terminal one.
Try that in a small townpodcast.
Um but anyway, so I'd beentelling them, hey, I kind of
need to bolt, I'm flying in acouple hours.
And they're like, Oh, you canget there in 10 minutes.
We're 10 minutes from theairport.
And as they kept dragging it on,kept dragging it on, and they
were eating lunch or havingbeers and stuff, and I was
getting stressed out, and I waslike, I mean, no way we're gonna

(33:39):
have time to get to that.
And then sure enough, by thetime they had a car, you know,
come get us, you know, it was itwas I was looking at it and I
was thinking there's no way.
And um Rivers, he had it, he wasgoing somewhere else, but Brett
and I were both going back toNashville, and Brett had his
plan.
And and I and I said, I said,yeah, I said, I I said, I I
don't I don't think I'm gonnamake it.
And then Brett just looks overat me and says, Looks like it's

(34:01):
you and me, boss.
And I I said, I said, I said,yeah, I said it does.
I said it does.
And so so there was like a quickmart or circle K or something.
I s and I asked the driver, Isaid, Hey, can you pull over to
that uh that little uh servicestation there?
And he goes, he goes, Yep, Iwent in there and I got a 12
pack of of uh middle light.
And and uh and he said he said,You ready?

(34:23):
I said I said, I think so.
I said, so we so we got thereand he and uh and and part of it
was kind of it's kind of cool.
I mean, it was very nice playingand everything, but we got in
there, it's really really small,but I got my got my 12 pack in
there.
Not that I was planning on youknow down at the whole whole 12,
you know, but uh but I got agood I got a good lick on it.
But uh but anyway, so I so Imade it kind of a you know kind

(34:45):
of a party, you know, a littlebit.
But but I'll I'll say when hewas when he was up there and
flying that plane, one, I getit.
I got it when I once I was upthere because you're flying
lower, you know, so you get tosee everything.
It's like 10 to 15,000 feet, andwe're flying over the smoke.
It's really beautiful.
And uh and the whole experiencewas great, and he loved it, and
he kind of put me at peace, youknow, just because he was good

(35:08):
at what he enjoyed doing.
And it was uh he loved doing it.
He loved it, he loved doing it.
And you know, and a lot ofpeople will will say and have
commented, you know, well, youhey you shouldn't be flying
those planes, or you know,whatever, but that's the thing,
he loved doing it.
He he liked he likes riding uhHarleys and flying planes, so do
thousands of other people.
It was just his joy.

(35:28):
And um and he just he just loveddoing it.
And so so I I'm actually as uhI'm actually so glad I had that
experience with him because itwas just uh it was it was just
uh it was just funny.
He was that's a great thing.

SPEAKER_08 (35:41):
He lived, he was always taking trips or going to
skiing, or we talked about everyyear like he was always doing
some crazy ski trip somewhere.
Yeah, yeah.
He he lived.
He lived, he really did.
He lived.

SPEAKER_06 (35:54):
And if anybody needs to know anything about Brett at
the end of the day, yeah, he wasa believer.
And if there's any any peace tohis passing, is that we all know
that about him.
That he was a believer.
And there's a lot of peace inknowing with that guy.

SPEAKER_05 (36:15):
For sure.
Yeah, he actually uh uh went tothe same church I go to and my
um mom and brother uh RollingHills, which is just down the
road in Franklin of Columbia.
And um and I would I wouldn't goto church with him, I would see
him because he believe it ornot, I go to the late service
and he went to the earlyservice.
But uh I'd I'd pass him everynow and then coming out of

(36:35):
there.
And Jeff Simmons, the thepreacher, is actually one of his
uh super close friends, and theythey went to college together
and uh I think Boston, BostonCollege.
And um uh but anyway, and theywere very tight, and I know they
talked about all things biblicaland and and Christ and theology
and all that stuff, so I I knowhe's a believer too, and you can
tell just by the way he carriedhimself.

(36:56):
Yeah, dude had major peace, youknow, just all the time.
He never seemed stressed outabout anything.
And um, but yeah, you're right,that is something you can you
can uh rest in for sure.

SPEAKER_04 (37:08):
You know, I hope Tully had mentioned this before.
It's like sometimes most of thetimes you take people for
granted.
And we're talking about them nowas opposed to last week.
Why didn't I reach out and justhug the guy or say, hey man, I'm
thinking about you, I love ya.
And you try to take moments likethis and and really take that to

(37:32):
heart and reach out to thepeople you love and don't take
them for granted, even thoughit's human nature and that is
what you do, but I hope this isa a reminder for us as we go.
And I love you guys, not justsaying that, I absolutely love
you guys.

SPEAKER_05 (37:48):
Yeah, we've we've said since since then, even on
our text threads, there's been alot more.
Hey, love you guys, look forwardto seeing you guys.
I know it's a lot of people.

SPEAKER_08 (37:55):
Well, something's hit this this one hits
different, almost like a alittle bit of a kick in the ass
for myself to be more consciousof that, where it's like, you
know, we're not we don't getthis we're not always gonna be
here.

(38:18):
Man, that's really a lesson thistime to like learn from.
You know.
I hope so.
I hope we challenge each otherto Yeah, I don't know.
I know I've gotta be better.
I guess I I think a little it alot, but it's like, man, like I
keep saying, God, I should havemade the time to go skiing

(38:38):
together.
Yeah, I should have like that'syou know, should have instead of
talking about it, try toactually do more of the stuff
with the people that you loveinstead of thinking about it,
you know, actually doing it andyou know thinking about it as
too late.

SPEAKER_05 (38:53):
Yeah.
You know.
Well, and and for you know, forme and maybe for a lot of
people, I mean, over the lastfew years I've had a couple
relationships go sideways, uh,neither of which were my fault.
Of course.
Uh at all.
However, it does make me I canverify that.
It does make me want to want togo and just at least talk to

(39:14):
them.
And you don't have to be on thesame level of friends where you
were, but just to kind ofbecause I'm fine, you know, but
I've been trying to get just toyou know, but just to kind of
but just kind of clear up somethings, or if there's something
that maybe it says, yeah, butyou you said this or whatever is
oh I totally I didn't know that,you know, and just have a chance
to clear the air while whileyou're here and um you know so

(39:38):
do you think you'll do that?
I think it will.
Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 (39:41):
But I believe I think at the end of the day,
Kalo's gonna be the only onewith the humility, with the uh
courage to admit anything.
And that's okay though.
He'll be the only one in theconversation.
And that's fine though, becauseat least he'll get to absolutely
mind for him.
You can't control that.

(40:02):
I made the attempt.

SPEAKER_05 (40:03):
Yeah, at least you tried.
Yes, you know.

SPEAKER_06 (40:05):
That's right.
That's right.
Yeah.
That's exactly right.
And everybody every andeverybody needs to remember, I
wanted to say this a while ago.
Everybody needs to you need tokeep all these people, Charlie
Kirk's family, Brett Jamesfamily, keep them.
Yeah, Davy for sure.
All you prayer warriors outthere.
I hope we have a lot of prayerwarrior listeners.

(40:25):
That's a good point.
Yeah.
And pray for those people.
Pray for the ones who are stillhere because uh they're in a
better place.
The ones who have gone on are ina better place.
And they're probably feelingsorry for us right now.
Keep their fail their familiesin your prayers.
That's such a good point.

SPEAKER_04 (40:42):
You know, it's it's human nature also, and the world
and the news.
It's like something else isgonna happen next week, and
we'll be like, oh my gosh, didyou hear about this?
Oh my gosh, did you hear aboutthis?
What's next?
And sometimes you forget aboutthese moments and continuing to
do that because they're stillgonna be going through that,

(41:03):
those families.
And you know, it's gonna be awhile.
If not the rest of their lives,that's something that they have
to get over to get through it.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_08 (41:19):
It didn't make me think though, there was a there
was a um on your point, Caleb,about kind of maybe catching up
with people that then apart fromfor whatever reason.
You know, I won't go into nameseither, but like a writer that
used to write for Brett that weworked with, it kind of kind of

(41:39):
gave me and Kurt the shaft, youknow, a few years ago and a
couple little things.
And looking back on it, it'slike we were pretty close to
this person.
It's like I actually thought acouple days ago I'm like, I'm
gonna reach back out and justtry to pick up maybe where we
all left off because it's likeit's it's life's too short to
like it's it's it's notnothing's a big deal.

(42:03):
You know what I'm saying?
In the grand scheme of things.
Like in the grand scheme ofthings, like like what is a what
is really matters and what's abig deal?
Certainly not what what we wereupset about or I was upset
about, or you were you know whatI'm saying, all right?
You know, so what are we whatare we doing early?
I know.

(42:23):
What we what we're talking aboutdoing is just reconnecting and
trying to.

SPEAKER_06 (42:27):
If you're the if you're a true believer in
forgiveness, you listen to whatErica Kirk said, yeah.
Oh my gosh.
You know, she forgave thekiller, yeah, the assassin of
her husband.
If you're a true believer inforgiveness, be the one to make
the first call.
Be the be the one to reach out.
Like you were just talkingabout, like you're talking
about.

SPEAKER_08 (42:45):
That's that's the thing, like that that's that's
probably a good lesson here, isto like take the high road and
make the first call.
You know, just being estrangedfrom someone you worked with and
had success with for whatreason?
Because of a little bit of moneyor a little bit of notoriety or

(43:06):
a little bit of whatever isn'tin the scheme of things.

SPEAKER_06 (43:09):
There's a lot of ego in this town.
Yeah, you're right, dude.
You're right.
There's a lot of ego in thistown.

SPEAKER_08 (43:14):
There's a lot.
There's a lot of ego at thistable.
That's like the exact samething.
Why did you say that?
No, but I bet that's I mean,there is a but that but there
is, but it it's navigating thatin this town, which is which is
it's tough because there is somuch.
Are you talking about yourself?
No, I uh uh at the table, notthis.

(43:40):
It this side of the trail.
Which side, Tully?
Which I don't know.
But they I mean you can getcaught up in it.
And it and you and it's it's ohit's so easy.
It's so easy.
That's the human side of it.
Yeah, it's it's it's competitiveand there's ego and but man, at
what cost?

(44:00):
You know, because you end up youknow like falling out with
people that really it's notworth it.

SPEAKER_05 (44:09):
Uh and and at some point, you know, for everybody,
you know, regardless of whereyou are in the industry or what
what your age is, at some pointin time the business will be
over.
Whatever business you're in.
Yeah.
You know, and and so you know,they're who you gonna hang out
with?
You know, is it just gonna bethe people that you made money
with?
Is that why you're with them?

(44:30):
Is that why they're with you?
So start thinking about thosethings earlier in life.

SPEAKER_06 (44:34):
Yeah, you better like your spouse.
You know.

SPEAKER_05 (44:37):
Yeah, that helps.
You better like that helps.
And then uh and then also too,and I think uh telly or one was
talking about this on the on thebreak, is like for for the
people um that are just kind ofjust just mean people or just
saying mean things, whether it'sCharlie Kirk or or about Brett

(44:57):
James and and uh it's a it it'sri it's really amazing.
And I'm not we can get on apositive thing, I don't want to
end on a negative, but but ifyou just if you don't like
somebody just don't sayanything, you know, on social
media, you know, just a it's afreaking I I'm ready for it to
just I know we have to have it.

SPEAKER_08 (45:18):
We have to have it, and I don't want it such a dark
place.
It can be a great place.
Yeah.
It has its moments where it'slike, okay, you know, this is
good.
This might be positive even.
Well over the Charlie stuff andand your it's really exposed
some truly dark things, darkpeople.
Which can be a good thing.

(45:38):
You can see some really hideouscomments about Brett if you
look, you know, which isdisgusting to me.

SPEAKER_05 (45:45):
And he's the least political guy of anyone, and
they still find something theystill it's derogatory, hateful
to say about his passing.

SPEAKER_08 (45:53):
It's it's terrible.
And I I don't know.
I like to think that thosepeople since the Charlie thing
and especially and then whatwe're seeing some comments
about, but I I don't look toohard because it's it's
infuriates me.
But I'd like to think that thosepeople have put themselves on a
little island because how canyou be that hateful?
Whether you you're whetherCharlie, for instance, whether

(46:16):
you believe in everything hesaid, you don't have to agree
with everything he said.
That's healthy not to.
Sometimes that's good to havethat debate with him.
But to to celebrate someone'sassassination, that's another
level of that.

SPEAKER_06 (46:30):
That's a whole other realm.
It's another level of dark.
Yeah, that's a whole other realmthat you we can't relate to.
That's a whole other uh level ofdarkness that we can't relate
to.
I don't I don't I don't even Ican't even comprehend it.
To find any kind of joy orpositive in that is is I think
about ourselves on you know,we're we're we're conservative
guys and if if some someone onone on the left, and we talked

(46:54):
about this, uh was wasassassinated or whatever, I
can't even fathom feeling joyover that.
Because it's not in me.
It's not written on my heart tofeel that.
Thank God it's not.
Yeah.
And so it's a whole nother realmthat I can't even relate to.

SPEAKER_08 (47:15):
And am I wrong in thinking this?
And I'm uh I I mean sure maybesome people disagree, but it
feels like it feels like youknow, a lot of people are so
anti-God and religion that's howthey can do it.
They don't have they're not withGod, so it's easy to be so dark

(47:37):
and say these crazy thingsthere's no one to to keep them
in check.
It's weird to me.

SPEAKER_06 (47:43):
Like I don't understand You can't they've
already given their souls over,so you can't even keep them in
check.
You can't tell them why youcan't ask them why you're doing
this.
You don't you need to stop doingthat.
They don't even hear that.
That doesn't even that doesn'teven ring that.

SPEAKER_08 (47:55):
Is it a cavernous thing in the chest they have?

SPEAKER_06 (47:57):
Like is there any like to once you give yourself
over to that, then then it justgets deeper and darker and
deeper and darker with thatperson.
Once you once you've surrenderedyourself, your soul to the
devil, that's what happens.

SPEAKER_08 (48:12):
You know, you've been saying this.
I wanted to tell you this, I'mglad you just mentioned that.
Because when you started thispodcast over year over a year
ago.
Oh yeah, yeah, right.
You said from the beginning wewere in a spiritual battle.
Absolutely.
Which when you first startedsaying that, I I'd be honest, I
was like, I I didn't know.
Are we in a spiritual battle?
Like I I didn't I didn't know ifthat was what we were in.

(48:36):
A battle.
I didn't I was just trying tomake that make sense to me,
which I don't disagree.
But since Charlie's thing, I Itold her, I'm like, Neil's
right.
Neil's been right.
Like this is exactly what we'rein.
It exposed that very clearly tome that it is a spiritual battle

(48:58):
that we're in.
Like, because I don't like tothink about I have a hard time
thinking people that don'tbelieve in God.
I'm naive in that way.
I'm like, well, surely they doand they just don't want to say
it.
You know what I mean?
Like there's a lot.
But you know, I'm naive in thatway where I'm like, like, how
many people it feels like surelycan't be that many people that
don't but then but then afterCharlie's thing, it drew like a

(49:23):
line in the like well, okay.
Well, if you can celebrate thiswell, you you don't this is a
spiritual Neil's right.

SPEAKER_05 (49:31):
We're in a spiritual world.
Yeah, at a minimum, if you'recelebrating somebody's death,
you are not a believer in Godand you do not have Christ or
love in your heart.

SPEAKER_04 (49:41):
And it's not even just a cell.
I mean, yes, there are peoplethat are whatever celebrating,
but there's a lot of people thatwe all know and that I know that
would say, Oh, that's a badthing.
But you know, he did say somedivisive things, but he had like
that.
That's the same thing to me.
Shocking.
Yeah.

unknown (50:00):
I just don't get that.

SPEAKER_06 (50:01):
And you're like, I found out I saw some people that
I I had no idea.
I was like, that posted somethings.
I'm like, you're kidding me.

SPEAKER_08 (50:08):
That guy's I don't I'm not celebrating it, but
that's how they said I feelsorry for his feeling, but if
you're gonna say stuff likethat, then you gotta, it's like,
well, wait a minute.
To me, you're just sure codingwhat you're really feeling,
which is yeah, you don't feelbad.
Because it I tell you right now,and I mean this, like if if if

(50:30):
if someone that I don't agreewith on politically on the on
the left, I don't care howradical they are, if if they
would have gotten assassinated,yeah, I'd feel just like I do
now, like, oh my god, you thinkabout this, think about this
100%.

SPEAKER_06 (50:43):
This doesn't this is terrible.
Think about this.
It's one thing to feel it and tonot feel bad for it.
It's another thing to post it.
Yeah.
It's one thing for them on theirown to go, man, I'm glad that
dude's gone.
It's another thing to post it,to let everybody know how dark
you are.
That's a whole different level.

(51:03):
Because because I think if youif it even crossed your mind
that some people, if they werewith us, some you know they
would think it, but they wouldnever dream of telling anybody
that they thought it.
It's another thing to post it.
You've been let everybody know.
You have been right thismorning.
Jesus didn't come here to unite,he came here to to divide.

(51:26):
I mean, to separate thebelievers from the
non-believers.

SPEAKER_05 (51:29):
The one to seek and save the lost.
He wants everyone.

SPEAKER_06 (51:31):
Yes, but he it's not a united thing.
He's he doesn't, it's therethere is a divide going on, and
that's exactly what is supposedto be happening spiritually.
Everything that's happeningright now is by design, and it's
just it's supposed you have thefence riders better fall on the
side that they need to fall onbecause it's the divide's
happening, and you if you falloff that fence, it's gonna be

(51:53):
too late and you're gonna godown in the crevice.

SPEAKER_08 (51:55):
So but yesterday at the at the service, I don't know
the number, hundred over ahundred thousand at the service.
I'm uh I think I'm somethinglike I heard there was hardly
anybody protesting, like tenpeople outside protesting.
It looked like more on that.
Which tells me that God iswinning because like that's all

(52:15):
you can muster, you know, tencrazy people with purple hair
who have no idea what they'retalking about anyway.
They're just I think they'rereally just sick.

SPEAKER_04 (52:23):
One of the beauties of that service yesterday was
that it, you know, ABC had toshow it, uh NBC had to show it,
CNN had to show it, and all daythey're talking about God, Jesus
Christ, faith, family, love, andthat message was going out to
hundreds of millions of people.

SPEAKER_07 (52:41):
You know, Al Dean's been sensitive, but it's and
he's at its most basic form, ourcountry we've founded this is
with our whole Christianbeliefs.

SPEAKER_08 (52:50):
Like I don't know when it got when did it get like
this?
Where I need someone to tell me,like I'm asking.
I didn't feel this kind ofdivide that long.

SPEAKER_06 (53:02):
I didn't feel it until really you know what fuels
more hate on the left thananything?
Not not not everybody on theleft, but most of the left.
What fuels hate on the left isthe fact that we don't hate 'em.
They hate the fact that we don'thate them back.
They're not hated back.
And then and they hate that.

(53:22):
They hate us even more for that.

SPEAKER_08 (53:25):
Well, they're very angry because because when
because you know when they getupset, they just torch the city.

SPEAKER_06 (53:31):
Well, you can do the contrast.
I mean, I'm just saying, yeah,you're right.
And then how many rides have wehad?

SPEAKER_08 (53:36):
I mean, it was pretty inspiring.
How many stores have we looted?
How many police cars have weburned?
Everybody in there yesterday,and and so that's it is
different how we handle things.
And there's just you can't arguewith that, you know.
But I still find it amazing thatuh an AOC can go up there and

(53:58):
and talk and somehow defendCharlie's assassination.
Like I'm I'm like I don't see itthen, and I'm glad.

SPEAKER_05 (54:09):
Yeah, and was she just disagreeing with with the
things that it that he saysthey're just blatant lies and
that he was telling me.

SPEAKER_08 (54:17):
But she's calling him basically a racist, which he
was not.
Yes.
Which is which is again themtrying to turn the media into
making think uh Charlie issomething he wasn't.
He was the opposite of that.

SPEAKER_06 (54:28):
They're not that they don't spin things.
They're they're literally lyingabout things now, and they don't
care.

SPEAKER_05 (54:34):
Well, and and AOC is the perfect example.
Sorry, I can have to cut youoff.
Uh the perfect example ofsomeone that I listen to her and
I'm watching her and I'm like,you're a terrible person.
She's not very but she's notvery nice, but I don't want
anything bad to happen to herphysically.
That's what I mean.
I know it.
I just hate that.
How do you how do you get that?

(54:55):
But I don't want her to die.

SPEAKER_06 (54:56):
You don't hate him.
I don't want her to die.
It's like the guy that wants tofight the other dude, and the
other dude's like, no, dude, I'mnot.
He's like, come on, let's go.
She won't get into it.
He gets he gets more pissedbecause the dude won't fight.
That's the lift.
No, I didn't I just they're sopissed that we won't that we we
love them.

SPEAKER_05 (55:11):
Yeah.
I don't want her to die.
I just want her to get marriedto somebody and if that got
miserable for the rest of hislife.

SPEAKER_08 (55:17):
I'll burn our shit down.
I'd swear to God, if she I youI've actually used her an
example to somebody the lastcouple days that said if if
something were to happen to her,I'd be just as mad.

SPEAKER_04 (55:27):
Absolutely.

SPEAKER_08 (55:28):
I I swear to God, it does nothing to do with your
political beliefs.
It's just like something.

SPEAKER_04 (55:34):
I love you, AOC.
I love you.
We love you, AOC.
I love you, we're gonna be.

SPEAKER_08 (55:38):
I mean, she's there's no way I tell you this.
There's no way in real lifeshe's this grumpy.

SPEAKER_05 (55:43):
Because you can't be how do you how about Crockett?
I mean, that that girl, goodgrief.
God bless her.

SPEAKER_06 (55:51):
I mean Jasmine Crockett is a freaking demon.
She is not she's a lying assdemon.
She's she would be hard to love.
Hard to love.
I'm so sorry.
That's a fact, though.
But I love you, Jasmine.
Can I call you JC?

SPEAKER_05 (56:12):
Yeah, but anyway, we don't want anything bad to
happen to be a big thing.
No, we don't.
Of course not.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_08 (56:16):
That's what we're saying, though.

SPEAKER_06 (56:18):
Of course not, because your heart's in the
right place, dude.
You're not, you don't have adark soul.
You don't.
I don't wish anything bad likethat on anybody.
Nope.
That's it.
And they hate that, that youfeel that way about them.
They hate it.

SPEAKER_03 (56:30):
I know.

SPEAKER_06 (56:31):
Just pray for them.

SPEAKER_08 (56:33):
That's all I'm doing.

SPEAKER_06 (56:34):
That's all I'm doing.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_08 (56:35):
She's very grumpy.
I mean, she used to be awaitress, right?
What a terrible service.

SPEAKER_05 (56:41):
I wish she'd be a terrible service.
Oh, I'd hate to be in hersection.
Oh my god.
Yummy, yummy.

SPEAKER_06 (56:44):
What do you want?
How much food she spit in?
You only have tofu.

SPEAKER_05 (56:48):
Oh, I guarantee you should be one of those
waitresses that she'd come say,Do you want some more tea?
And she'd grab the top of myglass with all five of her
fingers and touch it and thenset it back down.

SPEAKER_04 (56:58):
I'm gonna go completely off subject, but
because that reminded me ofsomething we were at catering
the other day.
And somebody was introducing meto another person.
We're all eating, and they said,This is such and such, and they
reached out their hand, and Iwas like, Who did that to you?
No names.
But really, seriously.
And I was like, I had a case.

(57:21):
I'm not even a germophobe.

SPEAKER_08 (57:22):
I'm not even a germophobe.
You thought about me, didn'tyou?
I did.
Just for a moment.
To be fair though, that's one ofyour things, though, since I've
known you.

SPEAKER_04 (57:29):
Anybody's saying I'm eating with this hand.
You never drew the hug.

SPEAKER_05 (57:34):
Never shake hands at lunch, dinner, or breakfast.
You say, say, hey, I know you'reeating.
I just want to say hey realquick.
That's all we gotta do.

SPEAKER_06 (57:41):
Do you shake hands with a firm handshake?
Clearly.
I mean a common handshake, Iguess.
Y'all ever shake hands with guysthat are just like it's like a
dead fish?
Well, it's I have, yeah, there'sonly one guy.
That's the worst ever.
Can't say as many because helistened to it.
It's an immediate impression insomebody.
You can't do it.
You can't do it.
No.

SPEAKER_05 (57:58):
But the one guy I know that does that is
incredibly successful, and Iwonder how.
Because all the big businessmeetings he has to go to.
I mean, yeah, the deadest.
It's weird.
I can't do it.
It's amazing that he doesn'tknow that he's got nerve told.
Nerve damage in that hand, isthat why?
No.
Nope.
Nope.
Nope.
I did ask.
I asked if I said I've asked himbefore and he said no.

SPEAKER_08 (58:20):
Actually, the first thing you my son was like barely
walking, I was like, Firmhandshake.

SPEAKER_06 (58:25):
That's right.

SPEAKER_04 (58:26):
Amen.
Good dad.
I mean, seriously.
Good dad.
Good boy.
And look him in the eye andshake hands.

SPEAKER_06 (58:33):
Good dad.
Thank you.
That's that's good.
Good luck.
But seriously, though.
You're right.
I mean, one of my first lessonsfor sure.

SPEAKER_08 (58:39):
It's kind of gotta happen.
Otherwise, it's a firstimpression.

SPEAKER_06 (58:45):
I wonder how I wonder, I wonder what what AOC's
handshake is like.
Probably firm.

SPEAKER_05 (58:50):
Probably firm.
It's probably very firm.
Firm and angry.
You know, it's an angryhandshake.
It's like that.
Just pissed all the time.
Just dark, pissed.

SPEAKER_08 (59:01):
But she was or is married or engaged, and I can't,
or at least she was, I can'thelp but think to myself, God,
what a miserable thing to wakeup to every morning.
Like, wake up pissed.
Good morning.
I just don't see her ever notbeing pissed.
Whether she just wakes uppissed.
That's all you see.
That's all I has lunch pissed,goes to bed pissed, rinse and

(59:24):
repeat.
She's angry all the time.
And the only time she's smilingis when she's doing that evil
woman smile when they're reallymad but they're smiling.
Wow.
Yeah, not all women, but Godman.

SPEAKER_06 (59:37):
Oh, all women, they need they have please go pursue
a God fearing conservative man.
Please.
Have babies.
Just go.
Just before you have before youhave babies.
Before you have babies, get getto know them.

SPEAKER_08 (59:54):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 (59:54):
Date one and see what a real man's like.

SPEAKER_08 (59:57):
Yeah.
Come on.
That'd be a great.
Like a reality show.
AOC goes conservative, and sheasks to live with a conservative
band for like a month.

SPEAKER_06 (01:00:07):
What a great show that would be.

SPEAKER_05 (01:00:09):
It'd be an amazing show.
Oh.
That'd be good.
We go back to your dual idea.
It'd be good to have some duels,you know.

SPEAKER_06 (01:00:16):
I still like the idea of the duel.

SPEAKER_05 (01:00:18):
It's not a bad idea.
We're not done discussing it.

SPEAKER_06 (01:00:20):
They've never been treated like women, though.
They've never, I mean, well,because they've reversed the
roles.

SPEAKER_08 (01:00:25):
Yeah.
Whoever she's with is the woman.

SPEAKER_06 (01:00:27):
I'm sure she drives everywhere.
Yeah.
Whoever's over with the case.
I've seen the guy in the woman.
Oh, he sits in the passengerseat and shovels out of the
room.
Yeah, she does.
Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_08 (01:00:36):
Yeah, she he's the woman.
I've seen him.
He's the woman.
Yeah.
They reverse the roles.
Yeah, one thing.

SPEAKER_06 (01:00:42):
I get it.
Well, I've seen them.
They're everywhere.
You can tell.
And he's probably got a mask on,too.
In the passenger seat.

unknown (01:00:50):
Ha!

SPEAKER_06 (01:00:52):
They kiss with the mask on.

SPEAKER_05 (01:00:55):
So since we're talking about all the people
that are angry and everythinglike that, do you think that
Luke Bryan is right when he saysmost people are good?
See, right or wrong.
No.
Now most, if you think about allthe people on the whole planet.
Yeah, that was probably I meanAre we gonna go off here?

(01:01:18):
No, are we gonna get under?
Like, are most people Honestly?

SPEAKER_06 (01:01:22):
I do think that most people are.
Oh, most people, most people,yeah, I think they have okay.

SPEAKER_04 (01:01:28):
I think social media and TV has uh makes you think
that there's a lot of peoplethat are bad.
There are some bad people, butbecause you can hide behind this
and say stop, uh it uh I like tothink most people are good.

SPEAKER_08 (01:01:44):
I think when things happen, you can see that most
people are good.
I I feel I I what I like tothink that anyway.

SPEAKER_06 (01:01:51):
Like if after the Charlie Kirk thing, I found out
a lot of people that I thoughtwere good weren't.

SPEAKER_08 (01:01:56):
But most are good.
Yeah.
I I will agree with that.
They're really dark people.
They're just very smallpercentages.
Like they're just they're justthere's a light shining on them
because they're so dark.
You know what I mean?
But it's but it's not as many ofthere's more of us though.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 (01:02:11):
I think when you say when you say the word good, I
think I think our intenteverybody's most people's
intentions are good.
All of us were born with awretched heart.
All of us.
Yeah, yeah.
Um, but I think most most peopleare in most people's intentions
are good.

SPEAKER_05 (01:02:25):
Yeah.
And we'll get some theologians.
We have a lot of theologiansthat follow this podcast, and
they're gonna remind us that theBible says that no one is good.
We know that.
That's what I just said aboutthe title of a song.
We're all born with wretchedheart.

SPEAKER_06 (01:02:39):
We're all born sinners, and we're all we're
reading.
I am agreeing and affirming you.
I am affirming you.
I will admit that.
I will shout it from themountaintop.
That's but it's true.
We are all horrible people whoare trying to get better.
Okay.
I think that's good.

SPEAKER_04 (01:02:57):
I think that's good.
It was a fun episode.
I mean, it's it We had to talkabout it.
We had to talk about it, and youknow, honestly, we haven't the
four of us sat down and talkedabout Charlie a lot either.
And then, of course, with theBrett news, we have been on
text, but this is the first timewe've been in a room.

SPEAKER_06 (01:03:14):
Yep.

SPEAKER_04 (01:03:14):
So we appreciate everybody listening and kind of
hearing our stories and ourthoughts and our feelings.

SPEAKER_05 (01:03:21):
Well, and I think as uh as Barney Fife would say,
it's therapeutic.
Is that what he says?
Yeah.
So good.
Andy, it's therapeutic.
Okay.
But it is but it is good to talkbecause I I came I came here
knowing what we were going totalk about, and I was, you know,
yeah, not uh not a little down,but I wasn't looking forward to

(01:03:45):
the to the topic.
But then we get to talking aboutabout Brett and Charlie and all
the and all the positive things,then I actually feel better
talking about it than than not.

SPEAKER_08 (01:03:56):
Yeah.
I think I think the Brett thingwill I know it has any will make
people, at least I hope it does,like really try harder.
I know for me personally, like II'd have taken that from that
like you know, that it hit uslike a ton of bricks out there
finding this out.

(01:04:16):
It's like one of our own thatcould be any of us.
It could be.

SPEAKER_06 (01:04:21):
I love you, I love you, I love you, I love AOC.

SPEAKER_08 (01:04:26):
We love AOC.

SPEAKER_06 (01:04:27):
I do.

SPEAKER_08 (01:04:28):
It bugs her.
AOC, will you come on thepodcast?
Actually, that'd be amazing.

SPEAKER_04 (01:04:32):
Yeah, sure it would.

SPEAKER_08 (01:04:32):
I'm just gonna tell her I love her all night.
No matter what she says, I don'tknow.
She can disagree.
I just want to, I mean, I I wantto get a smile out of her.
I don't know if it'll have beendone.
But we could have a contest.
I love you, AOC.

SPEAKER_02 (01:04:47):
All right.

SPEAKER_04 (01:04:47):
We appreciate you guys for listening.
Make sure you download theepisode, leave us a comment, let
us know how you're feeling, ormaybe how it affected you.
Hey, Jim, hopefully we maybe wecan put some clips of Brett in
this episode.
That would be cool, right?
And have some stuff for maybethe people that didn't see him
to get a little glimpse of whathe did.

SPEAKER_06 (01:05:06):
We got some pictures, K Little of us playing
with him and doing the show.

SPEAKER_04 (01:05:10):
Um also want to thank Patriot Mobile eSpace's
original glory beer.
I love you.
I love you.
Love you, love you, love you.
We love you guys.
Thanks for listening to us.