The Warren Brothers - Old Friends, Hard Truths & Basketball with Tim McGraw :: Ep 58 Try That in a Small Town Podcast - Try That in a Small Town Podcast

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Have you guys just getting to the age that we all
are and how long we've all beendoing it is?
Don't you sort of feel like inthe last couple years you've
really been cherishing oldfriends?
Yes like it's just.
It's not like you call them upand write a card every week, but
it's just like this bragg ishey, totally called.
You want to.
You want to go do the podcastand now I hate podcasts yeah and

(00:24):
I was like I 100% I'm doing it.

Speaker 4 (00:27):
Plus, you had no choice.
Famous people need to bevalidated, just like everybody
else.
The difference is they want tobe validated by other famous
people.

Speaker 1 (00:36):
Not by us.

Speaker 4 (00:38):
We told Tim McGraw that song was great for a month.
But when Carole King said itwas great, it was going on the
radio for like a month.
But when Harold King said itwas great, it was going on the
radio.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (00:44):
I'm a dad of four kids and two are girls and like
the whole, you know, men usingthe girls' restroom and all that
I just never got it political.
I was just like as a dad,that's not happening in a store
when my daughters are in there.
I just didn't think about ittoo politically.
I think everybody got one sideor the other.

Speaker 3 (01:11):
The Try that in a Small Town podcast begins now.

Speaker 6 (01:15):
Welcome back to the Try that in a Small Town podcast
.
T-k-k low thrash.
I'm Kurt Kurt Mann, kurt Mandu,kurt Mandu, kurt Mandu, the
Kurt man.
I like it.

Speaker 7 (01:27):
Mandu.
Have you done Mandu before?
Oh yeah, you've done that whenthey put the vest on and the oh
Like the electrodes and stuff,and it's kind of a workout.

Speaker 8 (01:37):
I've seen it.
I've heard about it.

Speaker 6 (01:39):
No, I'm unfamiliar with Mandu.

Speaker 7 (01:40):
I've never heard of that.
No, I did it for a while.
It actually works.
They put a vest on you and theyput you know they have these.
They put a collar Very lightbolted GPS through you.

Speaker 2 (01:50):
that stimulates your muscles while you're doing
things Really and you can get ahuge workout like in 15 minutes.

Speaker 7 (01:56):
It's pretty cool.
Anyway, I hadn't heard of Manduin a long time.

Speaker 6 (01:59):
I hadn't either, I had no idea.

Speaker 7 (02:02):
Sorry about that.
I probably messed up the introYou're not putting a vest on me.
You can put a hunting vest onyou.

Speaker 8 (02:07):
Like a bicycle skateboard helmet and a vest.
Then they would get it.

Speaker 3 (02:14):
Oh my gosh.

Speaker 6 (02:15):
It's already fun and it's going to be a lot of fun
today.
We've got the Warren brotherswith us today.
Brett and Brad Warren.

Speaker 8 (02:23):
Their story is unlike any other that's right, a lot
of energy, oh I could sit and Icould sit and listen to y'all
stories for them that y'all havefor the past 30 years I could
sit here for hours and listen tothat it's interesting.

Speaker 6 (02:37):
We write with them from time to time and we'll get
in the room and it's usuallyjust two hours of banter back
and forth and then we finallywrite a song oh yeah that's
what's fun about.

Speaker 5 (02:47):
Uh, you know these really long.
You know 25, 30 yearfriendships.
You know, and you get togetherand you give your reason to look
back and kind of realize youshouldn't take anything for
granted.

Speaker 8 (02:59):
You know, yeah, we miss half the stuff when the
mics aren't on, because y'allyou start reliving everything
right off the bat and it's like,oh God, I wish the cameras were
rolling.

Speaker 7 (03:10):
We can't deliver all that.

Speaker 8 (03:12):
We'll have them on again right Some of us go.

Speaker 7 (03:14):
but yeah, they're amazing, like you mentioned,
their energy and they're goingto talk about it but just their
energy is infectious.
I mean, they're a crazyproductive, good guy.
They're just good humans andincredibly talented and they're
writing things from McGraw'sHighway Don't Care to Toby
Keith's Red Solo Cup.
I mean it's pretty diverse, youknow, and incredible performers

(03:37):
and good buddies, so I'mexcited.

Speaker 6 (03:40):
Absolutely.
Let's get right to it.
I have some fun guests.
I didn't know how to introducethem so I went to chat gpt oh
let's see what is this.

Speaker 7 (03:49):
That's a lot of preparation, it is.

Speaker 2 (03:54):
It's early so check this out.

Speaker 6 (03:56):
This is chat gpt today's guest, our country
music's favorite troublemakerstwo guys who have written more
hits than a vending machine.
I don't know what that means,neither and there's more
backstage antics than a rocktour in the 90s.
They've written chart toppersfor everyone, from McGraw to
Jason Aldean.
They are equal parts genius,chaos and smart ass.

(04:17):
Commentary.
These brothers bring the heart,humor and just enough chaos to
keep Nashville on its toes.
Buckle up.
We've got the Warren Brothers.
Why?

Speaker 7 (04:27):
would I ever try to do my own research?
Now, which one of you two wrotethat?
That's great, that's fantastic.

Speaker 1 (04:33):
I mean it's a little scary.
It actually is very scary.

Speaker 4 (04:35):
I mean it's pretty dead on the fact that we're
still, kind of like, consideredknuckleheads in our 50s.
I'm 54.

Speaker 5 (04:41):
He.

Speaker 4 (04:42):
I'm 54, he's 56.

Speaker 1 (04:43):
We played an acoustic show like a fundraiser a week
ago with Jelly Roll and hereferred to us as a hoot.
It was Jesse Alexander.
She plays.
You know I Drive your Truck,the crowd goes crazy.
Jelly Roll sings.
You know his song, crowd GoesCrazy.
We play a song and he goes.
You guys are a hoot.

Speaker 4 (04:59):
A real hoot.
So 30 years of work and we're ahoot.
Yeah, the guy that's doing atoot calls us a hoot.

Speaker 1 (05:06):
He doesn't know you If you're describing you guys as
a hoot, he doesn't know you Allmy friends from Franklin were
there and they're like oh,you're a hoot.
It's been going on for aboutthree weeks now.

Speaker 8 (05:17):
Is that what they call old people now?

Speaker 4 (05:20):
We're a hoot.

Speaker 8 (05:22):
We're a hoot.

Speaker 1 (05:23):
A real hoot I know you're a great singer and
everything, but you're a hoot,have you guys?

Speaker 6 (05:28):
ever like chat.
Gbt is pretty scary.
Have you ever been in a room?
And it's like I wonder how theywould write this song just for
fun, right in the style of JasonAldean.
It's not bad, it's not great,it's not great.

Speaker 7 (05:42):
Like lyrically it's not great, but it sounds real.
The demo they produce is prettyamazing it's pretty
unbelievable, are you?

Speaker 1 (05:48):
talking about, just straight up, ai and songwriters.

Speaker 2 (05:51):
I mean it's a tool.
At this point, who?

Speaker 1 (05:52):
knows how good it'll get, but we've, we've typed it.
Now you said the music's prettygood.
There's Suno and a couple appswhere the music you know not bad
, You're right Track guys arefreaking out right now Like oh
my God, the right lyrics we'redone.

Speaker 4 (06:08):
That's why we play a bunch of live shows, because
this could all be going away.
Right, yeah, exactly On somelevel.

Speaker 1 (06:12):
But I think it lacks nuance.
I don't think ChatGPT's goingto come up with the devil and
down to Georgia.

Speaker 4 (06:25):
You know what I mean.

Speaker 8 (06:25):
I would have said at some point that AI can't sound
like Neil Thrasher, but they'regetting pretty close, man.
We were going through all thatstuff the other day and it's
like okay.
One of the guys I write withsaid no, everybody's going to be
using it.
We might as well use it too andrun it through our filter.
I think our filter might be alittle tick better than some of
the others.
You know what I'm saying I'mlike I'm not admitting that I'm

(06:46):
using AI yet.
I'm just saying I remember whenthe track thing came to town
and it was like they were sayingadapt or die, yeah, and we
didn't believe it.
I'm like I am not going to usetrack.

Speaker 2 (07:02):
And two years later we're like I'm not doing it
track.
And two years later I'm likeI'm not doing it.

Speaker 8 (07:05):
And it's like you adapt or die.
And they were right.
Here's the scary part.

Speaker 1 (07:10):
I have these four nephews that live in Detroit and
they're all like 8, 10, 12, and13.
And they were in Nashville acouple weeks ago and I was like,
hey, would you care if you wentto chat GPT or one of these
apps, these ai apps?
And you said, hey, make me a, arecord that's like half rap,
half rock about me and all myeighth grade buddies going on

(07:32):
our first camping trip and youinsert all of your names and
things that you like and itcreated a record for you.
Would you care that real humansdidn't create that music?
And would you listen to it?
And they were like, oh, we'dlisten to it, we wouldn't care,
humans didn't do it sure.
And I was like, uh-oh yeah,that's what it was like that's
right, I can go in and make myown record just for that weekend
.
Hey, I'm going to the beachwith my friends and make us a

(07:53):
fun beat sounds like jimmybuffett meets blah, blah, blah
and plug in all your info andthey were like, yeah, we don't
care.

Speaker 4 (07:58):
I feel a little bit like dwight shrewd on the office
trying to beat the computer insales.
Well, I mean, we're like thatfar ahead of the computer right
now.

Speaker 6 (08:09):
You do have to adapt, because for a while it was like
oh, we're not going to grid ourmusic, Everybody grids music.
Oh, we're not going to useautotune, everybody uses
autotune.

Speaker 4 (08:20):
We're not going to use stems.
Live, we're going to singeverything, right.

Speaker 7 (08:24):
Neil and I.
He actually was talking to meabout it last week and just kind
of checking out some of thatand said hey, let's plug in this
title and see what happens.
And we're just throwing outrandom things.
And, like I said, it was prettygood and that was the first
time I'd messed with it, becauseNeil had already messed around
with it a little bit and itthrew out a decent country song.
My first thought was man, if Iwas 16 and had no talent

(08:44):
whatsoever and I was in lovewith my girlfriend, I would
totally do that and play it forher on Friday night.

Speaker 6 (08:50):
Lee Miller showed it to me, lee showed it to me.

Speaker 2 (08:53):
Then Neil said I threw in an idea and he goes.

Speaker 7 (08:56):
Hey, that's great, he goes.
I've got to take this call,plug that in to AI or chat
whatever and see what it spitsout and he said I'll be right
back.
Then he's muted.
I'm like and I'm nervous abouteverything.
I worry about everything I said.
There's no way I'm putting inthis title into the unknown and
letting somebody else grab itsomewhere, or we don't use any

(09:19):
of the AI stuff but later, 10years down the road, or whatever
.
They come after you for contentand they come after me and say
oh, you plug this in this givendate, then you use it, said no,
no, we didn't we didn't you have?

Speaker 1 (09:31):
ptsd on that.
Anyway, yeah, yeah, for sure,I'm the same way, so I was
afraid to do it.
You know, I'm afraid to give myemail address to the guy at uh
tractor supply.
I'm off the grid.

Speaker 4 (09:41):
I don't like quoting sitcoms, but I'm getting more
like Ron Swanson every day.
It is a scary thing, though.

Speaker 8 (10:02):
First time Lee showed it to me.

Speaker 1 (10:04):
We were at a corporate gig playing and we
were just sitting around beforewe went on in this little
catering room and he typed inBrett, oh, brett, you broke my
heart.
And he gave it some content andhe said make it a male vocal.
Soulful 90s country.

Speaker 4 (10:18):
I think that's actually how Lee felt about you,
Brett.

Speaker 8 (10:28):
Very sweet love song.
The song's not bad.
No, it's not.
That's scary but it's not bad.

Speaker 7 (10:30):
The singer's good and in two minutes you have a demo.
A singer maybe?
Yeah, and I'm going.
Oh, it's great, great for quotasongs wow, I've never thought
about that.

Speaker 6 (10:37):
This is the scared guys coming in with a plan.

Speaker 7 (10:40):
Now I turned in.
I turned in eight full 100percenters and they think I'm
brilliant.

Speaker 4 (10:44):
Taylor, I thought about it, I didn't do it.
Oh my God, light bulb, yeah, no, thank you.
I was thinking the same thingwhen you got that.
Oh, you need another.
You took kind of a light year.
You need to write a couplesongs Like okay, here we go,
yeah, here we go yeah.

Speaker 1 (11:05):
It out.
You're out on the road rightnow.
Don't you feel that the seeingyou a real human being playing?

Speaker 6 (11:07):
live with his band in front of you.
It's just.
I mean, it's the numbers.
Those numbers are going up.
We're old, so we're gonna sayyes.
I mean, I don't know how the 16year olds feel we're gonna make
it out, yeah, we're closeenough to the finish line we're
gonna make it out.

Speaker 4 (11:18):
But yeah, the 16 year old rider, I'm like I'll do
something else I tell you what.

Speaker 5 (11:21):
That's right.
We are all a dying breed.
You know we go out on the roadand you know we'll use some
loops and some stuff and halfthe sets just guitars and amps,
like the old days, like you guysdid.
Yeah, you would be every year.
I'm more surprised.
The opening acts, you know,used to be like okay, here's
your band, and if you needsomething like a loop or a

(11:43):
shaker or something to enhancewhat you're doing, used to use
that slowly, work it in.
It's reversed now where theyoung acts, they're up there
with three guys a singer andthree guys and no bass player,
which is my least.
Everything you know, I didn'tsee it coming, man, I didn't see

(12:04):
it.

Speaker 3 (12:05):
I didn't think it would be the first to go.

Speaker 4 (12:07):
I'm holding my bass.
I hope this podcast does well,because you are screwed Me too.

Speaker 5 (12:12):
I'm holding.
I told I think it was Kurt orAlvina, I was holding my bass
and I said I said look, I saidthis is a relic.

Speaker 4 (12:27):
I look, I said this is a relic, this is.
It's like I'm holding a relic,this no one.
It's rare to see it.
What is that machine?

Speaker 6 (12:30):
it plays low notes you're holding there one of the
uh opening acts of just.
You know, because it was ourfirst weekend, he went up to
rich.
He's like, ah, it's gonna be socool to see you guys.

Speaker 5 (12:38):
I mean, you're up there with you know the amps and
stuff it's bizarre where wecame from and how we did it and
how we still do it wild to me.
We're playing music and in thefirst night, you know, I think,
or second night, kurt's guitarcut out in one of the songs and
it feels like you, all of asudden we're rush, you know,

(12:59):
it's like down to three people,you know, and it's like that's
the beauty of the live music.
But man, they don't even.
It's an afterthought, like the,now the stems, like you're
mentioning stems and the and thetracks are all taking over and
they're just a couple people upthere kind of going through the
motions.
It's really it's bizarre howmuch it's flipped to like.

Speaker 1 (13:22):
We're like I mean, we're like dinosaurs up there,
dude we're like relics, we'relike there are some bands like
whiskey myers and and and zachbrian and people like that that
are super organic, that are notdoing that, yeah it's.
And I think the younggeneration's kind of like oh wow
, imperfection, that's cool.
Wait, string noise.
Wait, that's slightly out oftune.

(13:43):
Wait, that it, that's not to agrid.
They sped up in the chorus orwhatever, which I think is
refreshing.
My kids are like, oh, thissounds really cool, because
they've never they've heard ofbob dylan and they've heard a
bob dylan song.
But now they're getting some oftheir own generations having
their own version of that, whichit's really to me I like.

Speaker 8 (13:59):
I like when those bands start to have success and
stream and next time you do ademo session, go in there,
because I did it last time.
I went in there and said we'renot going to use a click on
anything.
We did it the other day andeveryone was like oh.
They freaked out.
How do we do this?
How do we start?

Speaker 4 (14:16):
How do we start?
Just start from the middle ofthe song, the drums were
freaking out.

Speaker 8 (14:23):
One, two.
Do you click them together?
Do I hit the rim?
He has nothing.
I was like you want to freakthem out.

Speaker 6 (14:32):
Do that, let's.
Let's back up.
Let's give some people somebackstory.
You guys are from florida,you're up there pretty uh strict
christian family would that bethe right way to say?
That would be an understatementof the decade oh, no TV right.
No TV, no alcohol.

Speaker 4 (14:44):
Couldn't walk down the beer aisle at Publix because
my mom thought that beer wouldjump out of the bottles down our
throats.

Speaker 1 (14:52):
She was right.

Speaker 5 (14:54):
She was a prophet.
She was really smart.

Speaker 4 (14:57):
Actually it's crazy.
No, really really strict Didyou know, it was strict.

Speaker 6 (15:11):
Yeah, because everyone else had a TV, she also
like made some of our clothes.

Speaker 4 (15:21):
Oh wow, yeah, not good either.
Like this, the stripe on youron your sweatpants would go
across your knee like men in thecity.

Speaker 1 (15:31):
I just saw a picture of us.
I was brad.
You were nine when you rangasparilla in tampa's a marathon
called the gasparilla distanceclassic.
It's a 15k, it's nine miles.
He's nine years old.
He got second place in thewhole city.
I'm thinking how many otherkids at nine ran nine miles?
Well, I'm seven.
I ran the 5k, which is threemiles, and in the picture I'm
wearing earth shoes, like, likeyeah, you know what I'm saying.

Speaker 6 (15:54):
You know what?
Swayed with a bot, they're like, they're like a like a bad
church dress, shoe almost like abox like

Speaker 4 (16:00):
wall like a monster soul and mike, I remember, and
this is double meaning like wallof the soul and my I remember
and this is double meaning.

Speaker 1 (16:09):
Yeah, I did not know this about you guys.
No, you could tell us.
My dad said I will get you apair of jogging tennis shoes
when you run 10 miles withoutstopping.

Speaker 4 (16:14):
So he got on a 10 speed bicycle beside us as we
ran 10 miles in earth shoes toget shoes to run in, so I ran 10
miles in earth shoes with mydad on a tsp all right two

Speaker 1 (16:24):
miles ago boy suck it up seven years old, and the hot
form of heat we didn't knowanything different, so he took
me to sports unlimited and I gota pair of stride right super
z's like tennis shoes.

Speaker 4 (16:36):
I thought he had bought me a porsche absolutely I
think I'm bowlegged to this daybecause my knees used to knock
together when I was running andI would separate them because we
had to run like five milesbefore school every morning.
Talk about embarrassing theonly thing more embarrassing
than running five miles withyour dad past your friend's
house before school is doing itwith your sisters in homemade
sweatpants.

Speaker 6 (16:56):
This explains a lot, doesn't it Wow?

Speaker 5 (17:02):
it's really locking some puzzle pieces in.

Speaker 1 (17:04):
For me, exactly 30 years, and this is the first
time you're hearing about this.

Speaker 5 (17:09):
This is not okay, because you know, when we met, I
would have never thought thatyou guys had homemade shoes ever
wait.

Speaker 1 (17:16):
They were.
We didn't make the homemadeyeah my dad wasn't a cobbler,
yeah he was an air trafficcontroller.

Speaker 3 (17:23):
He flew airplanes.
We had some technology.

Speaker 4 (17:25):
You're not far off.
You're not far off.
So he was just yeah.
He did have this stuff calledshoe goo.

Speaker 2 (17:30):
Oh yeah, and when?

Speaker 1 (17:30):
our shoes ripped, he would put cement back together.
He wasn't a cobbler, but hedidn't make them.
Even so, we kind of ripped.
No, they were this is true,we're down in Florida it's hot
all the time.

Speaker 4 (17:43):
You don't believe it do you, Kelly?

Speaker 7 (17:45):
I've never heard of Earth Shoes.
That's the first time I'venever heard of Earth Shoes
either.
I'm going to send you allpictures.
They're special.

Speaker 1 (17:51):
But it's hotter than crap all the time in Florida.

Speaker 4 (17:53):
They're like top-siders with an inferiority
complex.
Sort of, sort of.

Speaker 1 (17:59):
But so all our friends they're, you know their
dads had boats and they wouldski on the lake.
We skied when we were youngerand when we so we said, dad, we
want to start water skiing.
And he had like this boat thatlooked like a boston whaler,
which is like a small flatbottoms boat.
It had a 25 horse engine on it,the kind that you use for your
hand.

Speaker 4 (18:15):
It was a john boat.

Speaker 1 (18:16):
It was like a john boat a bigger john, and so my
dad bought a pair of dick popeskis from a garage sale and we
took them apart and sanded themdown and varnished them.
And then he made a ski rope outof a broom handle.
He took a broom and cut it,drilled holes in it and made our
own ski handle and he took usout to pull us on skis.
Well, the 25 horse wouldn'tpull us up, so he went and

(18:37):
bought a 15 horse and two peoplehad to drive at the same time.

Speaker 4 (18:40):
That's true, brett and my dad would drive to get me
up on skis on the jumbo.
I don't know if one of themrebelled and turned right while
the other one was going left,what would have happened?
I think we would have all justexploded.
But I swear to God that's howwe skied, he said.

Speaker 7 (19:01):
when y'all learn how to slalom, I'll get a boat with
a steering wheel and we thoughtthat was the coolest thing ever
were like go, but you couldn'tlike if you're skiing slalom,
you couldn't, he couldn't getyou up with no, no, because it
was too yeah.

Speaker 4 (19:10):
Yeah, it takes a little more power to get you up
oh my god, so how did the musicstart then?

Speaker 6 (19:16):
uh, you're older, so I assume you were playing first
I started you know.

Speaker 4 (19:19):
So we they made us, our family's, very musical.
My mom and dad were um, bothmusical.
We have two older sisters thatare actually better players and
singers than we are if they hadfocused in on it.
I played the trumpet in thethird grade and fourth grade,
but played the trombone in thesecond grade.
We were in the band in thejunior high band, pretty good at
trumpet and then.

Speaker 5 (19:38):
I realized that girls did not like trumpet.
You were in band, not a band.

Speaker 6 (19:44):
That word makes a big difference in band verse very
important one letter that's agood teacher life

Speaker 4 (19:52):
it's very important to say exactly what you mean
when you're praying.
I don't want to be mad.
No, no, I'll get up in.
So when I was 11, I startedplaying guitar.
Me and a friend of mine formeda band, but it was just two of
us and we needed a drummer and asinger.
So I just informed Brett thathe was going to be both, because
he could kind of do anything.
You know, he's still kind ofjack of all trades.

(20:13):
So I'm like you're going to bethe drummer and the singer in
our band.
And he was like alright, thegirls tend to hang around some
sort of band ever since, for thelast 40 years.
Wow, amazing more.

Speaker 1 (20:25):
And back in those days did y'all just we like.
Of course we didn't haveanywhere to go and brad could
drive.
He was 16.
Every saturday morning we gotup in tampa, florida, and drove
all the way down hillsboroughboulevard to thoroughbred music.
Wow, we just hung out in themusic store all day, made
friends with those guys, playedamps, play guitar I mean, it was
like our Saturday.

Speaker 4 (20:43):
You know those no jamming signs.

Speaker 1 (20:48):
I think there's for us One more time.
Here we go.
I tell you this when I firstsaw you guys.

Speaker 5 (20:53):
I met you guys.
What was it?
99, 2000.
You were playing at our cafe.
Yeah, it was a good day Back inthose days and I knew the
drummer, I walked in Angelo, soI walked in.
To this day I tell you, I meanyou guys are the coolest and you
guys are playing One Headlightby the Wallflowers, oh, wow.
Killing it and I'm like theseguys are badass.

Speaker 2 (21:16):
That's awesome, no seriously that continued.

Speaker 5 (21:19):
I still think about that, like those days in
Nashville then and how cool itwas.
But you guys were killing it upthere and you guys, I think I
just got signed to RCA, if I'mnot mistaken.

Speaker 1 (21:29):
Yeah, 98.
Bna, RCA Records, whatever thatis.
So how'd that happen?

Speaker 6 (21:33):
You guys moved to Nashville and how'd the record
deal happen?

Speaker 7 (21:36):
Yeah, and what was the draw to Nashville?
Like what said, hey, we'removing.

Speaker 4 (21:39):
Honestly, it was closer than New York, like we
didn't have a car that wouldmake it all the way there.
We weren't really sure what wewere.

Speaker 6 (21:46):
Because you probably didn't know.

Speaker 4 (21:47):
Hey, we're a country band.

Speaker 1 (21:47):
Country rock whatever , we were in this 80s rock band
forever.
And then, like somewhere around93, 94, we started just playing
beach bars for money, becausethe rock scene kind of went down
in Tampa.
So driving over to the beachbars and it's, you know, it's
hard to play sound garden onacoustic guitar.

Speaker 3 (22:03):
so we started learning eagle songs we hated
that stuff crosby stills and ashand all that and van morrison
and john mellon camp tom pettyand we played everything kind of
wrong like we did.

Speaker 1 (22:12):
We didn't sometimes, we didn't know the passing
chords at the time, we were justmuscling through them and that
sort of developed?
Yes, it taught us how to writesongs, just playing those songs
that we loved.
And then we're.
Nashville seemed like it wasmore acoustic driven and we had
been playing beach bars and wemet a guy that knew buzz casen
oh yeah just passed away, butbuzz casen, uh, was friends with

(22:33):
tom douglas.
So we moved here, met buzz casenand he signed a little three
song deal with us.
He gave us like five grand apiece and we wrote three songs
for him and recorded them andthe first co-write that we did
in nashville was with tomdouglas.
Talk about dumb luck, oh my godwow okay and tom had just had
weirdly humbling.
We were like oh, we're terrible, like in tampa.

(22:53):
You're like, oh, we got thisfigured out, we're gonna be huge
.
And then we come to town.
The first co-write we do is tomdouglas, and we're like, oh,
we're terrible, this guy's agenius.

Speaker 6 (23:01):
We wrote how many songs 50 with tom douglas and
with Tom Douglas, and it waslike he took to you guys, he was
our mentor which people go.

Speaker 4 (23:07):
You guys don't seem like you would even know Tom
Douglas, but we were very close,very close, loved that dude and
that's dumb luck, yeah it'slike hey, this guy named Tom
Brady is going to show you howto throw the football.

Speaker 1 (23:17):
You know?

Speaker 4 (23:18):
opposites do attract you know, and he was honestly
he'd had his first number one.
He was a real estate salesmanand had had his first number one
with little rock and he was inhis 40s, with a nice house and a
button-up shirt and we wereliterally like smoking
cigarettes in his, you know, inhis yard and homemade sweatpants
tom have you ever heard ofearth shoes check

Speaker 7 (23:36):
these out play the piano in these bad boys and you
guys might have also thoughtthat all songwriters in
Nashville are as talented as TomDouglas.

Speaker 4 (23:45):
It was scary because we did it.

Speaker 7 (23:47):
That's at level which it's really not.

Speaker 4 (23:49):
You can still be fairly wealthy and not be Tom
Douglas.
You've all probably writtenwith Tom Douglas.
He also is not all on every day.
He's crazy, so there's a lot ofinformation passing and he
really did teach us to put itout there.
Put it out there and that wasthe story come back and edit we
always had musical and melodythings going, but he just just
put it out there and don't thisis it's not about, like I don't

(24:10):
want to be right, I want to getit right and tom would he got.
He said some crazy shit in themiddle of the song.
Yeah, that turns out beingbrilliant, or sometimes it turns
out being horrendous.

Speaker 1 (24:18):
He doesn't care no, he doesn't love it.

Speaker 4 (24:20):
He's a poet and he just throws it out there, and we
learned a lot of lessons withthat way, because we would
really only say the thing thatwe thought was going to be right
and you keep yourself in alyrical box.

Speaker 1 (24:28):
So we learned a lot from him that two years that we
were here without if I looked, Iwas just now thinking about
like what was your first fiveco-writes?
It was like tom douglas, donschlitz, james house, harlan
howard like Howard.
It was like craziness.

Speaker 3 (24:45):
They plugged us right into this.

Speaker 1 (24:47):
We were, like everybody here's a genius, we're
screwed, not knowing we weregetting the ultimate crash
course.

Speaker 8 (24:55):
Yeah, but you paid attention.

Speaker 1 (24:57):
We listened.
Yeah, believe it or not.

Speaker 8 (24:59):
The two of us actually were quiet, but we were
like mm-hmm, if you'refortunate enough to write with
big writers when you get to townyou're intimidated as hell.
But I paid attention.

Speaker 4 (25:09):
Yes, well, and another thing is the way you
sing is always like a tool thatthat great writer wants to use.
So you probably had theadvantage of walking in and
going oh, let me drive thisMaserati around and you can
learn from them.

Speaker 2 (25:23):
So you're saying the way I, I say you're more like a
toy hold on, let's back up righthere, like if they said hey
brad, come to our podcast.

Speaker 1 (25:35):
You can go into.
Neil.
You had an advantage with yourbrother.

Speaker 4 (25:37):
You were like driving a duster it's gonna get you
there, but it's gonna sputter alittle bit every topic takes a
turn.

Speaker 8 (25:43):
Every topic takes a turn.
With these two, I will have tochallenge that.

Speaker 5 (25:47):
I tell Kurt all the time, every time that we get
together to write or something Isaid Brett and Warren is one of
my favorite singers in thistown.
So cool, oh yeah, so cool, ohyeah, badass, like you're one of
the coolest singers in town, oh, thanks, and the record you
guys made killer.
I will say this about.

Speaker 4 (26:06):
Brett's voice he only has about 20 fans.
Yeah, but they're reallyimportant ones Tim.

Speaker 8 (26:13):
McGraw loves his voice.

Speaker 1 (26:14):
He only has 20 fans.

Speaker 7 (26:15):
That's a great point.

Speaker 4 (26:17):
The singers love to sing what he's saying.
Tom Douglas has the same thing.
By the way, they have verysimilar singers.
But all joking aside, timMcGraw loves hearing Brett
Frazier's song so he can go backand do his version.
That doesn't wind up soundinglike it, but he loves that feel.
So I said you don't have thebiggest amount of fans, but they
are rich.

Speaker 5 (26:36):
There's a style there too.
There's a style there too.
Yeah, you know, brett style,neil style.
You get other great singersthat come in and add their
flavor and sell a song.
It's so much, you know.
We all know a lot of greatsingers that sing great, but you
don't really have that, thatdifferent style or that
different selling point right.
So you get even like a rodney,claus or neil and they're all

(26:57):
different.

Speaker 1 (26:58):
They're the greatest singers in this town, but I hate
to tell people that, but it'sit's.

Speaker 5 (27:02):
It's.
It's not about who the greatestsinger is, it's like how you
the selling point of the songand you've got that you always
have.

Speaker 1 (27:08):
Oh thanks, dude.

Speaker 7 (27:09):
Yeah, sorry, bro, you're important too, but a
couple things on that like andyou're right, and we've talked
about this before being artistsand songwriters is a huge
advantage.
You know, like say so, timmcgraw loves brett's voice.
Huge advantage right off thetop, as opposed to just a singer
he's heard, and sometimes anartist.
I'm sure you probably heard timsay this.
Though you'll play a song andsaid so this is great, this

(27:31):
you're gonna love it and saywho's singing that?

Speaker 2 (27:33):
and you're like you missed the opening line.

Speaker 6 (27:34):
I don don't know who's here, don't worry about it
.

Speaker 7 (27:35):
But it's a huge advantage.
But, to y'all's credit and toTully's point and you guys
mentioned corporate shows ofwhich, like you said, with our
mechanicals down and things likethat, it's hard to get on the
radio- that's making up for alot.
That's making up for a lot ofour income.

(27:58):
But anyway, seeing you guys at awriter's round, it's really
unfair because there's.
So you're so good, you've gotthat, the harmony which is
god-given in your dna.
You can't get the familyharmony.
You can't beat it and uh, andjust so talented, so tight, you
know.
So anybody out there listeningwants to hire the warren
brothers.

Speaker 4 (28:14):
You're gonna be you'll be one of the best one of
the best shows you've ever seen

Speaker 1 (28:19):
I like the fact that he's worried about everything
you need to manage us.
It takes two of us to make upone really good song.

Speaker 5 (28:25):
Well, you know, I will say I have and I love you
guys so much and we, we all wego back so far.
So I love it.
But I remember being on theroad with other acts in the 90s
and you guys were had made yourrecord and we were opening.
We'd open some shows for youguys or whatever.
Back in the day we'd be on thesame festival, right, you mean
way back like Rush, low, wayback, yeah, yeah, like 90s.

(28:49):
I remember when I was like MinMcCready back in those days,
yeah, 98, 99.

Speaker 1 (28:52):
We kind of crossed paths how?

Speaker 7 (28:53):
did you find a way to work?
Rush Low into this conversation.

Speaker 5 (28:59):
Well always the live show was always so good.
It was like you guys shouldhave.
Musically as an act should havebeen way more successful
because it was always rightthere, so good.
I remember we'd be sitting backthere saying damn, god knows

(29:21):
what he's doing.

Speaker 1 (29:22):
This is pretty good, well.
Well, to take it back fullcircle, we had our when we had
our first hit.
It was a faith hill song calledthe lucky one that we actually
wrote with j joyce, which is sobizarre that the warren brothers
and j joyce and it was hisfirst country radio it was.
It was a faith hill song.
We got our first bmi.
Check of bragg is.
We make way more money whenanybody but you sings ourselves.
I was like what?

Speaker 8 (29:41):
no, he was right.
I was like you're right dude.

Speaker 1 (29:43):
He's like let's go, let's try to do that again.
I'll tell you this, and this isserious for like 30 seconds.

Speaker 4 (29:47):
I'll be serious and I won't again.
We got sober right around thattime and our attitudes in life
changed from one of deliver tome instead of deliver through me
, and we we became serversinstead of, instead of
collectors of everyone else'senergy, and we started helping
people try to get where theywere going.

(30:07):
And absolutely life has been,and I don't.
This is beyond money and careerand accolades, which honestly
don't really care about any ofthose.
I love sitting here with youguys four guys I love for so
long, you two for so so long andand and close good friends.
And I love the locker room ofthis business now, but the
accolades don't mean shit to me.
But when we started being ofservice and trying to serve and

(30:30):
we got our shit together, are weallowed to cuss on here?
Yeah, sorry.
And when we got our crap, whenwe got our poop together,
language everything turnedaround and we started becoming
successful, because we were nolonger trying to be the star, we
were trying to serve a littlebit.
And it sounds corny, butliterally that is exactly what
happened, and I don't think it'san accident or timing or
whatever.
You can be good at something.

(30:51):
I do think we had a really goodlive show, but when it came to
creation of music, we're alwaysself-serving, and when we
stopped that, we found what ourgroup was supposed to be and we,
and and we became what we weresupposed to be anyway.

Speaker 6 (31:02):
Well, okay, so you mentioned it.
Uh, you know, and we when wemet you guys, you guys were
obviously a little bit uh, wild,whatever crazy drunk we yeah,
but we all kind of were um, Iwasn't until I met them.

Speaker 5 (31:15):
and then they get straight and they let me in the
dust.
You caught up pretty quickly,you were quick Thanks guys.

Speaker 4 (31:20):
Reflect on this.
Leave me here stranded withthis drug problem, Sorry.

Speaker 6 (31:27):
Kirk no, no, no.
So that's around 20 years ago.
You guys probably got sober.
I don't know if I know this.
Did you get sober at the sametime?
You probably had to, or wasthere?

Speaker 1 (31:41):
it was very close, because we started eliminating
people from our band and crewthat were drinking, thinking
that they were our problem oh,yeah, and then all of a sudden,
we had a bus full of soberpeople.
We were the only class twodrinking and the crown bottle
was still empty at the end ofthe night classic artist move
yeah we were like I looked atthat.
I said, hey, dude I hate totell you this.
I think it's us, I think I'mthe problem.

Speaker 4 (32:02):
It's me throw me over the boat.
You know, we did try to quitseparately a few times and it
just wouldn't work.
I'd be like, oh, that looks sofun, you know.
So we were like two days apartgetting sober was it in la on a
trip?

Speaker 6 (32:15):
was it a defining moment moment?
A lot of people that you knowstopped.
I don't know why it was done.
Yeah, the drive, that's what Iwas wanting to know.

Speaker 4 (32:21):
But man, we were, it was well me, it was with my wife
.
She had caught on to me and wasjust like, calmly, without any
sort of emotion or fighting, shesaid I'm done, I love you, my
children, but I'm done, I justcan't, I'm just so.
She was really done, calmly,miraculously.
20 years later we're stillmarried, but I had a spiritual

(32:42):
awakening in that moment.
But brett was going to the samething, not necessarily his wife
.
It's just that week and we werein la shooting a cameo for the
movie uh flicka.
It's literally the dumbest moviethat tim mcgraw's ever had
anything to do with it wasreally about a girl who owned a
horse, and I don't know ifthere's any other plot I feel
bad because I love that movie,like last week but we sat in a

(33:04):
closet on my face there I am no,you have to do that come in
here, look at this.
Someone's like I was watchingflick the other night.
Your brother's in it.

Speaker 1 (33:14):
I'm like no to answer your question, like once, the
day I actually quit drinking.
I had been trying to quitdrinking for like two years.
So, like a buddy of ours tookus to an aa meeting two years
prior to that, and then I waslike, then I started the trail
of, as, as we all do, I'm onlygoing to drink beer, I'm only
going to drink wine, I'm onlygoing to drink on the weekends,
I'm just going to have one shotof whiskey, I, I'm just gonna

(33:35):
take one pill and one.
You know it's like you'realways just you either
completely surrender or not.
And so that at two years I wassort of trying to quit drinking
and brad was on different levelsand for whatever reason I don't
know, they see you hit yourbottom.
I woke up one morning, walkedoutside it was beautiful sunny
day in la and I just said, okay,god, you win.
I wife, I said I'm going toquit, I'll quit the music

(33:58):
business, I'll work at Walmart.
I don't care what I got to do,I want to be, you know, the kind
of husband, the kind of fatherthat I know I'm supposed to be,
and none of that other stuffmatters to me.
And that's when it started andI wasn't trying to get out.
I didn't get a DUI, I didn'tpunch anybody, there was no
incident I had, just that's it.

(34:18):
I'm either going to die or I'mgoing to get sober.
And I got sober and that's themiracle in it.
You know, that was sort of mystory for the bottom.

Speaker 4 (34:27):
Yeah, I don't know exactly how to describe it, but
it was just over.
It was over, I was just done.

Speaker 5 (34:38):
And and it's two days apart I was done, but I hung in
there a little longer than thatand you guys, you know you guys
, after that happened, you guyswere top of your game.
Remember, we were out and weweren't sober.

Speaker 4 (34:51):
This is not fair.
Did you not like us anymore?

Speaker 5 (34:53):
This is not fair, because we go out with McGraw at
open shows.
You guys were out there withMcGraw and McGraw had just
gotten sober that year.
This is very fair, because wego out with McGraw at open shows
, you guys were out there withMcGraw and McGraw had just
gotten sober that year.
This is very unfair for thelisteners out there.
So we are not sober, you aresober and working out.
You guys look incredible.
By the way, I'm actually pissed.
I'm very strong looking.

(35:14):
So this is what, 08?

Speaker 1 (35:17):
08, 09 is the first time.
Couldn't wait to see these guysyou know we go so far back.

Speaker 5 (35:21):
We're opening for mcgraw.
They're out there, they lookgreat and you know, again we're
not sober and we're forced toplay basketball against you guys
and tim every day.
I knew it was gonna come up.

Speaker 4 (35:31):
We're playing in tim's band at that point.
Yeah, we're playing his bandand you know tim's very okay, I
can you know Tim's very adamant.

Speaker 5 (35:37):
I can't wait to hear this Very adamant about us
playing basketball every dayaround noon, even though we went
to bed about nine Again we'rein a different.
We're trying to break and wegot responsibilities to party
like we're supposed to.
You guys are getting 12 hoursof sleep at night and working
out and then playing basketballAnyway we got our asses kicked

(35:59):
every day at noon.

Speaker 6 (36:00):
It's three on three, by the way, it's Tim and these
guys.
Every day, you don't switchteams.
It's Tim and these two.

Speaker 4 (36:05):
And he's keeping score of the records.
Oh, yeah, yeah yeah.
He's keeping a win-loss recordthe whole time.

Speaker 6 (36:11):
The most competitive predictions, and all of you are
uber competitive, which I love,by the way but, like Tully said,
we're at a slight disadvantage.

Speaker 8 (36:21):
Who was y'all's third ?

Speaker 6 (36:22):
Jason Aldine Aldine.
Oh, okay, and now keep in mind.

Speaker 5 (36:24):
These guys are tall too.
I'm 5'8".
Struggling to get there.
These guys are tall.
They're athletic McGraw's outthere with his prickly chest
hair and his sweat.

Speaker 4 (36:39):
And somehow I'm on his bra every day.
I'm guarding him.
Well, you were a bruiser.
To be fair to you guys, of allof us, Kurt was probably the
best actual basketball player.

Speaker 1 (36:45):
He's easily the best, but he had a brace on his leg
the whole time.
I guess he had an ACL surgery.
He just had surgery, so I said,let me cover the guy that just
had surgery.

Speaker 5 (36:54):
Honestly, he probably was the best actual basketball
player.

Speaker 4 (36:58):
For sure, but he's wearing basically a cast,
tully's a bruiser.
Not a bruiser, and Aldean's abaseball guy, Not a bruiser.
At that point you weredefinitely thicker than we were.
We were very thin.

Speaker 8 (37:07):
I thought you were a bruiser.

Speaker 4 (37:10):
He just fouled a lot that doesn't mean he's a bruiser
, he, he didn't know the rules.

Speaker 7 (37:15):
He didn't know the rules, right, right.

Speaker 8 (37:16):
Didn't know the rules .
I was going to ask how physicalit got.

Speaker 6 (37:19):
Well, it's funny, you should ask Funny, you should
bring that up.

Speaker 5 (37:22):
I wasn't going to mention it, but I'll.

Speaker 6 (37:24):
It's not hockey.

Speaker 5 (37:26):
It's basketball, we take an ass kicking every day on
this tour at noon.

Speaker 3 (37:31):
Every day, every day, we get out there Totally.

Speaker 5 (37:34):
I remember playing in Phoenix, Arizona.
It's 500 degrees outside.
We're hungover.
Tim looks at me and goes, notfeeling good, huh.
I'm like no, as a matter offact, we're in catering one day
1145.
Me and Kurt in there we'retrying to drink water because we
know freaking McGraw's huntingfor us.
Kurt makes a sandwich and wecan barely eat.

(37:54):
Tim comes in when you guys at.
I like tim, we're gonna beright there.
Man, we're not ready yet andkurt's sitting there with a
sandwich and she goes, yeah timI'm shaking we'll be right out
man, we're not ready yet.
And tim takes his finger andsticks it through kurt's
sandwich.
He goes you ready now.
I'm like so we grab our shitthe sweetest bully you've ever
had.

Speaker 4 (38:13):
We grab our shit.
He is the sweetest bully you'veever heard of.

Speaker 5 (38:16):
We grab our shit.
We go out Me, Brett and Brad.
Okay, here comes Aldine.
Aldine takes a puff ofcigarette.
We're out.
We take our beating again Everyday in the heat of the summer.

Speaker 8 (38:29):
Did you ever win?

Speaker 5 (38:31):
Oh, I don't think so no, I don't think so.
Well, we get to houston.
This is like day 10 of abeating, you know.
We get out there and this is areally rough day.
We are really hungover andthey're like it's time to play
ball.
We get out there and I'mrunning around.
All of a sudden, I'm runningaround and I get knocked on my

(38:52):
ass, fall backwards, head offthe pavement.
I look up and and there's Brettstanding over me, set the most
illegal pick in the history ofbasketball.

Speaker 1 (39:03):
Show me the film that thing was legal.

Speaker 4 (39:05):
I stood straight up and pulled my arms in.

Speaker 1 (39:07):
I might have leaned a little.
I think there was a lean.

Speaker 4 (39:10):
You put that shoulder in there.
You leaned like a linebacker.
I mean I was on your team.

Speaker 1 (39:19):
Sometimes I wake up at night and my sternum is like
oh, there's Brett.
I was telling my wife aboutthis story.
She was crying.
I said you're going to hearTully tell it.

Speaker 4 (39:23):
I remember the concept of this because you had
kind of fouled Brett on a shot,but it wasn't one of the fouls
that you would call because itwas kind of light but he was a
little frustrated because he hadmissed and he's like like under
his breath and you were comingby covering him and he set a
pick on you where he might havebeen jogging towards you.

Speaker 1 (39:44):
It was a moving pick, bro.
Still to this day you say I wasmoving.
I feel like I was stationaryand leaned.
Well, again you guys were again.

Speaker 5 (39:52):
You're in very good shape.

Speaker 3 (39:53):
You were in very good shape.

Speaker 5 (39:55):
You were getting rest .
I remember tim being like manyou stink.
I'm like yeah well, yeah, twohandles of crown and, you know,
two hours of sleep.

Speaker 1 (40:02):
If, you fast forward that little basketball world,
though to the it was like acouple tours later he had love
and theft open it up and they'reall like six, four and 25 years
old and their drummer was uhand lady and lady a.

Speaker 4 (40:15):
So you got charles talley 6 10.
Drummer who's married toHillary now is a really good
basketball player.

Speaker 1 (40:19):
I mean amazing and we played like three games and
they stomped the crud out of us.
Three games and Tim's like I'mretired we retired two years
later, 2010.

Speaker 5 (40:28):
Yeah, well, keep in mind that Tim also keeps the rim
.
What at?

Speaker 1 (40:35):
eight foot.

Speaker 5 (40:36):
Eight and a half Fun for you, because you guys can,
because you guys, at that rate,these guys, the Warren brothers,
are really athletic, and whenthese guys drive to the hoop it
is intimidating.
And then they at an eight footrim, they are skying over us.

Speaker 1 (40:53):
They're throwing alley-oops, throwing alley-oops
backwards.
And every time I try to dunk itthe rim stuffs me, so it's not
the same so I'm 54 now and fouryears ago I played basketball in
the ymca three on three halfcourt with a 60 year old, one
guy was 70 and one guy was myage and I tore my achilles
running to get him buddy, that'sthe old man and grabbed it.

(41:15):
You can't do it picked it up andI thought someone hit me with a
baseball bat in the calf and Iturned around and nobody was
there and I said that's it,that's why, we went to
pickleball.

Speaker 6 (41:25):
That's even worse.

Speaker 4 (41:27):
I bought a pickleball .
Yeah, they paid us back inpickleball the next day.

Speaker 1 (41:38):
I didn't tell y'all ball and we're like over trying
to like.
Somehow our, our athleticability is going to be us and
they were destroying us the nextday.
I couldn't get out of bed.

Speaker 5 (41:42):
I walked like a deer.
That was just we figured out.

Speaker 1 (41:43):
We have to do something on like not athletic
to have a chance with you guysand it was so fun.
I love it so much.
I went and bought a racket andI never played again.

Speaker 3 (41:52):
I still need to do.
I'm waiting for the call wellyou know what?

Speaker 5 (41:55):
what I mean?
It's coming.
The pickleball thing for metook a turn on my eye issue, but
I'm getting back into it andI'm like we will play.
We will definitely play, butthose were really like we talk
about this every time.
Every time we write, we end uptalking for two hours and then
writing some great song.
It always happens.
That's the fun part about whatwe do.

Speaker 1 (42:15):
is this right here?

Speaker 3 (42:16):
happens, but that's the fun part about what we do,
is this right here.

Speaker 1 (42:18):
I love this just kidding it's the 10 minutes
before we go on that, we talkand laugh and catch up and tell
stories.
That makes it all worth it.

Speaker 6 (42:24):
You're right.
It's like the locker roomenvironment.
People always ask are you goingto miss it?
That's, what I'll miss ishanging with the guys before the
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Speaker 4 (44:03):
Uh, hey, so we were talking about you need to you
need to tell people about howyou met tim and how that
relationship got formed so itkind of goes back to our little
childhood, when we were um Itell this story live because
it's it's funny um, when we werekids, we played a lot of
basketball because, as you havelearned already, we didn't have
anything else to do played alittle guitar and played a lot

(44:25):
of basketball, and our motherwould always tell us you know,
you're never going to make anymoney playing basketball you
realize that right and and wewould retort.
I know, mom, but we're 10 and wedon't have a tv, so what are we
supposed to do?
So we played lots of hoops inthe street and we played at our
little, our little cult-likeChristian high school.
Both of us were point guards inour in our years and um, and
then after high school we justthat was our fun thing we played

(44:47):
basketball.
So we get it.
We moved to town, we spent acouple years dicking around, uh,
finding our way.
We signed a publishing dealrecord.
Then we get a tour opening forFaith Hill.
So we're in second week of thetour with Faith Hill.
We've met Tim once in passinghey, how are you?
Took a picture and it's theonly time we've ever met Tim
McGraw.
We're sitting and catering onthe Faith Hill tour, the second
week of ever touring in our life, and Tim McGraw walks in with

(45:10):
that do-rag that he always woreand gym clothes, and he's
scouring, looking for victims.
We must have looked just that,much more athletic than the
other motel 10 guitar players inthe catering tent because he
came over and said, hey, do youguys play basketball?
and we're like, yes, we do, wedo and um.

Speaker 1 (45:30):
If he'd asked us, do you guys play golf?

Speaker 4 (45:31):
we would not be sitting here if he had said do
you play, play golf?
A whole different line.
But we went that day and playedfour hours of basketball with
Tim at a YMCA in Omaha, Nebraska, and have been friends ever
since and we played.
He came out every single daythat he was on that tour.

(45:52):
We went somewhere and playedbasketball and he would come
watch our sound checks andlisten to our sound check every
day.
And we started because he wantedto leave to go play basketball
right afterwards and because youknow how patient he is and, by
the way it was, was it all of us?
It's just the two of us.
No, no, that was the whole band.
Yeah, but we would play songsthat we had just written, that
we thought he would like.
So we started pitching himsongs, kind of at sound checks,

(46:14):
that far back, and he would gowe'd be on the way to the
basketball game and he'd go hey,who wrote that song you guys
were playing we wrote it Atsound check.

Speaker 6 (46:20):
That's brilliant.

Speaker 4 (46:22):
Not even on our record, but we had just written
it and he started like hey, Ireally like, so it's funny.

Speaker 3 (46:27):
We were hungry.
True story.

Speaker 4 (46:39):
At the end of the tour he sat us down and he said
he said, guys, I got a greatidea with this band called the
Dixie Chicks.

Speaker 3 (46:41):
Why don't you come out and open for us?

Speaker 4 (46:42):
and we can play basketball every day, and so
literally nothing to do with ourmusic, nothing to do with how
many records we didn't sell, butliterally we got our first big
tour because we knew how to pickand roll, especially pick.

Speaker 7 (46:53):
Ah, the banjo.

Speaker 4 (46:55):
It's that shoulder that got us in totally we had to
stick with it.
So at the end of the, at theend of the day, we you know,
after, after spending 20 yearswith tim, we've had 37 tim
mcgraw cuts.
We toured his band, we we gotnominated for a grammy together.
I called my mom.
I said, mom, you are so wrong.

Speaker 5 (47:10):
We made an ass load of money playing basketball, you
guys, I mean, and I love tim todeath, like for all the things
like tim.
Tim's awesome, like always beenawesome to us, you know we all
the beatings aside, you know.

Speaker 4 (47:24):
So that's part of his charm, that's the part you know
well, I mean, I remember inflorida.

Speaker 5 (47:27):
One day I mean we got lucky.
Remember one day we got luckyand we beat you guys.
We were playing, well, for somereason, and our shows and those
days was that 720, yeah,whatever it.
Yeah, whatever it's 6.50.
And we were playing basketball.
He won't let us stop, like bro,we got to play Because he came
in on a loss Went and

Speaker 3 (47:46):
sunburned, sunburned.

Speaker 5 (47:49):
But for all those things he needed, you guys, when
you were out there becauseDanny had it at that point you
guys were adding all the coolfactor and you guys were
standing right behind him and itwas like a trifecta.

Speaker 1 (48:04):
We went out there to write and hang out with him and
everybody thinks, oh, he cutyour songs because he was your
friend.
I said no, he cut a lot of oursongs because he heard a lot of
them.

Speaker 8 (48:13):
Right.

Speaker 1 (48:13):
And when you become, you guys know Jason, jason can
walk in the room and you couldsay, now's not the time for us
to play him a song.
Exactly, we would know I'd seepeople just forcing themselves
to have tim listen to a song.
I'm thinking, dude, you couldplay him, let it be right now.
He's not gonna like it.
He just had a fight with curbrecords, you know.
So we, we just learned.
When he liked to listen tomusic and when he was ready, we
had a, I remember we had the cd.

(48:35):
We went down, he had an island,we would go down and spearfish
his island and we went down toplay him some songs for his new
record.

Speaker 5 (48:40):
Can you tell us the story real quick about the
spearfishing thing you guys dida lot with him right?

Speaker 1 (48:45):
well, it'll be after my story.

Speaker 7 (48:46):
You can't interrupt because this is really good,
tony.
Thanks Brett.

Speaker 1 (48:51):
Brett, go on, please try that please podcast please
and so we had this cd of songsthat played for him and he said
I want to play this song, I'mthinking about cutting.
We were like we know, we havesomething on.
This cd is going to be hisfirst single.
We could, we could just feel it.
And he says man, check thissong out.
And he puts on the cd and it'slaurie mckenna singing humble

(49:11):
and kind.
And I just took my cd and wentyep, we're not beating that one.
All right, enjoy spearfishing.
Put songs on a different daywhich spearfishing story

Speaker 3 (49:26):
I don't know before I broke my leg.

Speaker 4 (49:28):
I literally every broken boat I've ever had has
something to do with jim mcgrawand he would he would have a
spearfish down there, like hejust took us out.
No lessons, no, whatever.
They just stick you in thewater.
There's sharks everywhere andyou just get the crappy fins
until you get better at it andhe just puts you in the water
and you're like it's a Hawaiiansling.
You have to get like two inchesfrom the fish to shoot it, but

(49:50):
I'm trying to shoot it from fivefeet away.
The first day we ever went youwere spearing lobster.
There's a certain season youcan go down, but you have to
free dive spearing lobster.
It's like nine, ten feet ofwater.
My pool's deeper than this.
This water was, but thecurrent's moving and there's a
lot.
I was, I was about to drown.

(50:11):
There's a lobster.
I could see him nine feet ofwater down.
I'm holding this sling and Ikeep going down in the current.
I'm swimming back across thecity pool and they can barely
swim and I finally at one pointI just said, okay, one of us is
dying down here this time.
I'm not coming up without thatlobster.
And I got down like two inchesfrom it and speared a lot and
the first time you put thatspear through something under

(50:32):
the water in the wild.
It's amazing, it's pretty coolbut he would leave us out there
so long that our eyes wouldliterally bugging out from the
blood vessels would bust in oureyes.
He can't quit something untilyou're done, as you know yeah,
so he was still fishing untildark at night and there's sharks
coming and I like go get in theboat.
Oh, I saw you get in the boatwhen you saw the shark.
I'm like is that cowardly?

Speaker 5 (50:53):
I just thought that was kind of smart what's that
thing he was doing, not with us?
He was pushing this giant tirearound the parking lot.

Speaker 7 (51:02):
That's called exercise.
You guys got to have him on thepodcast.
That's called working out.

Speaker 6 (51:08):
He ends up telling the stories of the A's.

Speaker 5 (51:09):
We're worried about having him on the podcast.
He asked me and Kurt, one dayyou want to come out and push it
?
I said what?

Speaker 4 (51:24):
Have you come out, push it.
I said what?
No, no, no, 10, 10, 1 is beforeyou go on.
I mean, oh, he had a thing tooon that tour where he would run.
We would all get and run fourmiles right before the show.
No showers, run four miles.
It's 10 minutes till you startand just put your clothes on.
I want to be sweaty when I goup there.
I'm like gross.
But yeah, like to run fourmiles and then walk on the stage
.

Speaker 5 (51:38):
He had that really cool trailer.
Oh, that workout trailer healways let us use it, which was
really awesome of him, like it'sreally really cool, like it was
very nice of him to let us youhear war stories about artists
that are cruel to the openingbands and all that.

Speaker 1 (51:53):
He doesn't have an ounce of that.
He gives you full sound lights.
If he's got a workout trailerout there and you're the guitar
tech that's 20 years old.
For the third opener, you havefull access.

Speaker 4 (52:04):
Yeah, hey, I wouldn't agree with anyone at this table
politically about anything andI fought with him like a brother
over the years.

Speaker 3 (52:09):
But man, he's a good man, he's a good dude, he has
absolute goodness in his heart.

Speaker 4 (52:14):
Um oh yeah, he's really really been good to this
day.

Speaker 5 (52:17):
Yeah, he sees this, and he's always been good to my
family to this day.
He always talks aboutbasketball, of course, but he's
a great guy he didn't reallyaffirm try that in small town,
in an interview I think it's ona playlist

Speaker 7 (52:30):
for him deflected it, but I wanted to go back just
for one second on the soberthing, because you had mentioned
McGraw and everything, and whenyou guys got sober, how did
that affect artist relationships?
And going out on the soberthing, because you had mentioned
McGraw and everything and whenyou guys got sober, how did that
affect artist relationships?
And going out on the road howdid that affect things?
Was it weird for a minute?

Speaker 1 (52:45):
yeah, for a minute you think we're never going to
be funny again.

Speaker 4 (52:49):
No one's going to like us well because Tim McGraw
said you guys aren't funnyanymore and your songs suck.
I swear to god.

Speaker 1 (52:56):
I remember saying that but uh you're kind of
freaked out about it, just beingsober in general.
You know, it's like you feelbetter physically and it's like
you're having a spiritualexperience and you're actually
getting your what really mattersin life, in order.
But we're thinking, okay, now,now our career's over musically,
and it's at that point wheregot our first cut and it just

(53:17):
started happening because we'reI mean I, I don't.
I mean because I have noproblem if somebody drinks or
whatever it's, it's not an issuefor me.
But it not drinking is asuperpower and I'm so grateful
for it, not just the notdrinking physical side of it,
but just learning, becausealcohol wasn't my problem, it
was my solution.
So I had to go deal with whydid I think I needed to be drunk

(53:38):
and I had to go deal with thatside of me and that just it just
helped it.
Just the aa program, the 12step program, it just it.
I think everybody should gothrough it.

Speaker 4 (53:47):
Recovery is the superpower to me, not not
drinking, necessarily.
That's good physically, butrecovery is a superpower because
, for me especially, noteveryone is as sick.
You know, some of us are sickerthan others.
But I needed to right-size myego, I needed to change my
attitude.
Like I said, I needed to be inservice of something, and that
was when I was most productive,and all of the things that have

(54:09):
happened good in my life andcareer have been kind of as a
result of recovery.
I do find it a superpower, notjust like oh, I made more money
because I was in recovery, but Ilearned how to live life on
life's terms.
I don't live panicked aboutbeing something else.
I've learned to care about theright things and then not care
about the things that don't needto be cared about as much, and
I don't think I would havegotten there without being so.

(54:29):
I'm happy to be an alcoholic,by the way, because to me the
solution is worth the ailment.

Speaker 7 (54:34):
Amen, that's awesome yeah.
You guys have written.

Speaker 6 (54:38):
Obviously a ton of hits, a ton of hits for McGraw,
like you said, but one of thebest songs from my point of view
is If You're Reading this Talkabout how that song came about.

Speaker 1 (54:55):
Well, it was funny because I thought we had a lot
of hits until I went in Neal'sbathroom and he puts them all in
the bathroom because know whereyou're gonna spend time.

Speaker 6 (55:02):
You're everything.

Speaker 1 (55:03):
You got a few minutes to look around.
I was like, wow, talk aboutgoing from feeling good about
yourself to feeling like a loser.
So uh, no, it's just amazing.
I love hearing othersongwriters.

(55:26):
When you hear a hit that's beenon the radio and then you go to
their house and say, hey, playme the demo, play me the work
tape.
It's just so cool to meet thedudes that wrote it.
It's still cool to me.

Speaker 2 (55:35):
I still think it's awesome.
I still think it's fascinating.

Speaker 1 (55:44):
But if you're reading this it was like 9 11 happened.
You know we go to war and it'sbeen a couple years and you know
kids are coming home in caskets, soldiers, young.
And uh, tim was taking a flightone night and we had written a
bunch of songs sort of for himat that point, but never
anything with him.
And he called me up one morning, said hey, I just read this
time magazine article which youknow you're flying private when
he says I was on a late flightbecause they don't have time

(56:05):
magazines on southwest.

Speaker 4 (56:05):
They don't know, so he's definitely in a private
plane.

Speaker 1 (56:10):
He read the time magazine.
In the middle of it was allthese letters that soldiers
write home to their familieswhen they're going to go out on
a dangerous mission.
And it was.
He said, if you're reading this, and it was just all these
letters.
And he said I'd love to write asong where the whole song's a
letter.
So that day me and brad gottogether, started working on it
and that night we went to tim'shouse and we finished and wrote
the song and and it was at themoment this is when people were

(56:33):
still putting records in stores,so there was no like, hey,
maybe we can slide this out orput it up on one of the dsps.
It was, his current record hadjust come out.
It's in all the walmart's bestbuys, wherever they sold records
at that point and he alreadyhad a song in the top five on
billboard.
So we were like driving homethat night when we wrote it and
brad said man, that might be oneof the best songs we've ever

(56:54):
written that nobody ever hears,because people don't realize if
you write a song at the wrongtime.
An artist is going to go do twoworld tours and hear 100 songs
and write 50 songs and it canget lost in the shuffle.
But you know, as fate would haveit, he, two weeks after two
couple weeks after we wrote it,he played it at a private event
in washington dc.
And uh, carol king was in theaudience and she came up to him

(57:18):
afterwards and said hey, thatnew song you played.
I love that song.
That's one of the best songsI've ever heard.
So we've never met Carol King,but if anybody out there knows
her, please tell her.
We said something.

Speaker 4 (57:27):
I learned a really valuable piece of information
too, about famous people thatnight.
Famous people need to bevalidated, just like everybody
else.
The difference is they want tobe validated by other famous
people yeah, that song was greatfor like a month, but carol
king said it was great it wasgoing on the radio yeah.

Speaker 1 (57:48):
So he decided to play it on the acm awards and it's
just not on his record, it'syeah it's not out.
There's no to this day.
The only recording of that songis the live performance.
He and he shut down the ACM sono one would hear the sound
check.
It was a sort of surprise.
And so Tim's singing it withtwo acoustic guitars, a couple
string pieces, really low lit,and he just sings it.
And then when it's done becauseMemorial Day was two days ago,

(58:11):
so he showed he posted a pieceof that on Instagram and I
hadn't seen it in about 10 years.
It was really cool.

Speaker 4 (58:23):
He a piece of that on instagram and it was just I
hadn't seen it in about 10 years.

Speaker 1 (58:25):
It was really cool.
He's kind of fat, kind ofchoked me up again and so it's
like he was a little bit fat.
So basically, it's like he soonas he's done, the lights come
on and it says families offallen soldiers are uh, are
standing behind him.
And it was just one of thosemoments and people started
requesting it at radio but therewas no.
So they started playing thelive recording and that's how it
happened.
Wow, that's all there is of it.

Speaker 6 (58:44):
Wow, and then let's jump to the other end of the
spectrum.
You got it if you're readingthis, and then tell people the
Toby Keith Red Solo Cup.
Oh, wow, yeah.

Speaker 7 (58:53):
Equally as impactful.
Equally as impactful yeah.

Speaker 6 (58:59):
Just in impactful.
Equally as impactful, yeah,just in a different way.

Speaker 4 (59:01):
More so the depth I mean you guys can write this and
then you can just go write that.
You know, it's interesting too,because I look at you guys who
I know really well for a longtime, but you guys who I've
known for a long time and likejust songwriters, I'm like we
could do the warren beaversthing that we did with any
conglomeration of four of us andat this we just formed a fake
college band with Jim and BrettBeavers two other songwriters

(59:21):
very much like this hang andwe're like we're going to write
songs that are so ridiculousthat we're daring the town to
cut them.
And we went in and for thefirst, like we did a summer, we
wrote every Wednesday or every.
Tuesday or every Wednesday, andwe just wrote a bunch of stuff
that was we thought was reallyoffbeat, just to just to be
different, just to do differentwe had to do it as a picture.

(59:42):
We're the band dual record.
So we do what we.
We write like eight songs.
We I think we recorded five ofthem.
Brett was the drummer, jimbeavers played bass, I played
electric guitar and brettbeavers played acoustic.
And that was the band and itsounds very very whatever.
And on that, that first littleCD of five songs, there's a song
called hey.
Now that Tim put on one of hisrecords it was Felt Good on my

(01:00:03):
Lips which was a three-weeknumber one, and there was Red
Solo Cup, wow.
We tried to repeat that severaltimes after.
But you know what, it's toolate.
We'd already had success.
We were trying.

Speaker 1 (01:00:13):
Yeah, now we started trying to restart is a little
better Yep, a little morecommercial it happens.

Speaker 4 (01:00:17):
So Red Solo Cup was literally just in a mix of.
We have a song called thePirate Song that we debated on
putting that one instead of RedSolo Cup, and it's funny, Never
would have been a hit.

Speaker 1 (01:00:27):
No.

Speaker 4 (01:00:28):
But it was just in a mix of a bunch of ridiculous
songs and Toby Keith's managertook us along for a night.

Speaker 6 (01:00:39):
He said hey, man, I heard at uh, you know butter
butter boy.
Oh yeah, he was on tour withtoby and played him red solo cup
, so we owe him so much.

Speaker 1 (01:00:43):
I guess toby writes all of his songs almost amazing
songwriter.

Speaker 4 (01:00:44):
Yeah, yeah, he is but so butter played him that song
and they were.
You know, they had just enoughalcohol and toby's like that is
the dumbest song I've ever heard.
Play that again and he his, youknow, tk kimbrough took brett
night at lunch.
Well, he's the biggestpractical joker of all time as
you know, yeah, so he took us tolunch and he's like wearing
sunglasses, like boys at soloclub song you got.

(01:01:04):
Can we hold on to it for like ayear and we're looking for we
think we're on kushar yeah yeahyou can have it for 10 years
okay and we don't hear anythingelse from him.
And like a year later, maybe 10months later, he said hey,
we're gonna shoot a video tothat song.

(01:01:25):
Why don't y'all drive up therewith us?
And there's no address, butit's on this top of this
mountain.
I'm like man, this is anelaborate prank, but they're,
it's just serious.
So we all four rode togetherbecause we were sure that they
were pranking us you know, wepulled up to the top of the
hills the first time we knewthey were serious.
There's 10 trucks and lightseverywhere and I'm like, oh my
God, they're shooting a videofor that song and it was
literally just you actuallystill thought it was a prank.

Speaker 6 (01:01:46):
We still did, we rode together.

Speaker 1 (01:01:49):
So, we would all be embarrassed equally.

Speaker 4 (01:01:50):
So we wouldn't have to do the lonely.
I'm still kind of surprised.

Speaker 7 (01:01:57):
But that song was not thrown together.
I mean, there's so much lyricin there and line for line it's
perfectly written.
I mean writing two Red Solo Cup.
You couldn't have done anybetter.

Speaker 4 (01:02:08):
I don't know, anybody could.

Speaker 7 (01:02:10):
It didn't seem like there had to be ridiculous.
There's some really good linesin there.
There are some funny lines.

Speaker 1 (01:02:15):
But it's funny that you say Toby was an amazing
songwriter.
So the year before he passedaway they honor him at the BMI
Awards.
Yeah, and I mean he wrote Idon't know 95, 98% of all of his
material as a phenomenalsongwriter.
And they're honoring him at theBMI Awards for his songwriting?
Yeah, and we get to the BMIAwards.
You know how big it is andmassive building.

(01:02:36):
There's 500 tables with eightchairs per table and there's a
ceramic red solo cup in front ofevery chair.

Speaker 5 (01:02:42):
I got that in mind and it says proceed to party.

Speaker 1 (01:02:45):
So they honor Toby that night.
And on the way out the door Iwanted to say hey to him but as
soon as he got done acceptinghis award, his manager and all
the people around him they'retaking pictures.
So I'm just walking by and onthe way out I just reach my foot
between the crowd and tap himon the foot and he looks up and
I just hold up the red solo cupand I go like just kind of going
funny that you get the one.

Speaker 6 (01:03:05):
Just kind of going.

Speaker 1 (01:03:07):
And the last thing Toby Keith ever said to me.
He looked at me.
That's the last year and he wasso cool to us.
How many times did he?
If he ever played that show ina tv show, he would call me and
brad and jim and brett beaversif we happen to be at a festival
writing or something, we wereon stage singing, we had to sing
.

Speaker 4 (01:03:23):
He was so cool about it he loved it.

Speaker 1 (01:03:26):
He just thought it was so fun.
Well, I mean, he was.

Speaker 4 (01:03:28):
He was a great guy.
That was kind of quietly.
He was really good to themilitary.

Speaker 1 (01:03:32):
I'm sure you guys know people don't know like toby
was a really good guy, reallyfunny guy, didn't take himself
too seriously I mean, I think hehad missile shot at him when he
was flying in a helicopter toplay for the troops, like he
flew into enemy territory morethan 30 times amazing you know,
he came out oklahoma.

Speaker 5 (01:03:47):
God, was this just a couple months before, before he
passed he came out and did.
Uh, we were playing in okc andhe came out and did should have
been a cowboy with us, oh, wow.
And so after we played it thatnight he hung out backstage with
us and jason for two hours, um,telling us the best stories,

(01:04:08):
van halen stories and all thesegreats and you knew he was sick,
but he was.
He was like you know, when Iget better I'm gonna head right
back on tour.
And it was like, but he was anamazing person, he was.
He really is.
We were on tour with him tooback in the day and still
learned a lot, did you?

Speaker 1 (01:04:24):
so, aldi and you guys opened up for him back early on
.

Speaker 5 (01:04:26):
Yeah, that's awesome.
They probably what 15 showsyeah, it wasn't much.

Speaker 6 (01:04:30):
Oh, seven or eight around the same time we were.

Speaker 5 (01:04:33):
That's so great meeting.

Speaker 4 (01:04:35):
There's a bonding thing that happens when you've
toured with someone, you justliterally like summer camp with
liquor.

Speaker 1 (01:04:40):
You know what I mean, but you do, you definitely bond
.
You can't wait for it to beover when everybody cries on the
last night.

Speaker 5 (01:04:46):
Yeah, kit, we talk about touring now and it's so
Sign my yearbook.
It's so different because it'sso like literally.

Speaker 1 (01:05:03):
We talk about it like we don't have a ton in common
with the opening acts anymore.
It's not like the old dayswhere it's just different and
it's hard to really describe.
I just don't understand, astight as you guys are tied in
with jason, how you don't haveme and brad open acoustically so
we can play basketball everyday.
I mean it is 80.

Speaker 5 (01:05:14):
I mean it is hard to add to 80.

Speaker 1 (01:05:15):
I mean, you can see?

Speaker 5 (01:05:17):
No good try.
You're baiting us in.
You guys look incredible.
You guys are in particularshape.

Speaker 1 (01:05:24):
We'll just sit there and read the promises while you
guys are drinking.
Do you guys have those?
I feel like McGraw bought yousome of those chambers at night,
you're sleeping in.

Speaker 4 (01:05:32):
You're sleeping in some sort of chamber or
something.
The acrobaric chamber yeah, Ididn't rent one for a month.
Something's going on.
It's for my son, but they'repretty good.

Speaker 8 (01:05:39):
If I was LeBron?

Speaker 4 (01:05:39):
James, I would have one too.
Something's going on.

Speaker 8 (01:05:41):
It sounds like you need to start a new band.
I think so and then write abunch of songs just off the cuff
it is, so I can play tambourine.

Speaker 1 (01:05:52):
Quit the band, start another band.
We two people they're bothpublishers and we handed in a
song.
It was me and Brad and RhettAkins wrote this song and
everybody loves this songbecause we were playing a
corporate event with Rhett Akinsand Rhett goes hey, san Angelo,
texas, we're in San Angelo.
Everybody's trying too hard towrite songs.
Let's write a song in 15minutes.
He goes, I think I second verse, I go, I'll get the first verse

(01:06:23):
.
We're like spitting out lines.
We wrote a song in 15 minutesand it's just like.
It's almost like the travelingcountry traveling wheelbarrows.
So I said to this publisher Isaid I kind of want to start a
country traveling wheelbarrowsband where it's just all of us
guys, we put together about sixor seven of us and we go in the
studio with j joyce, just cut arecord.
We don't tour nothing, just puta record out.
I talked about that thismorning.
What are you doing in July?
We need a singer.

Speaker 8 (01:06:40):
There's nothing more fun thanthat.

Speaker 1 (01:06:43):
I think it would be a hoot.
Every writer, just bring inyour two favorite songs.
We're cutting them.
There's no A and.

Speaker 8 (01:06:48):
R in it.

Speaker 1 (01:06:48):
You bring in the two songs you love and let's just go
cut 10 songs or 12 songs orwhatever.
So you're hearing it.
We call the band hoot you are?

Speaker 5 (01:06:55):
you are such a hoot that's the name of the band.

Speaker 1 (01:07:00):
What animal can we blowfish?
Well, we always like to ask the.

Speaker 7 (01:07:04):
I'm sorry, I was gonna ask you guys.
Um, I know that mcgraw wasn't aa huge fan of the song.
Try that small town.
But for you guys, as as writers, and then knowing, knowing us
and knowing aldine, what did youthink like the first time you
heard it?
Did you have it?
Be careful, you heard it.

Speaker 4 (01:07:18):
Be careful.
You know what's interesting tome.
No, don't be careful.
I did not find anything, evencontroversial.
If I didn't, if I hadcompletely different political
leanings, I wouldn't have foundit controversial.
And I saw the video and I went.
Oh so Sean Silva did this, butI honestly think it was a little

(01:07:38):
place where everyone waslooking to be offended.
I couldn't understand whysomeone was offended.
I didn't understand it.
I still don't really, becausethe truth is don't watch it,
just block it everything andlisten to that.
And the truth is it'severything we've been singing
about in this town and in thisformat for the last 40 years,
which we are different here, alittle stronger, a little more

(01:08:00):
family oriented, a little bittry less of that.
I just don't understand.
I never understood the umoffensive part of it.
That didn't never click with me.

Speaker 6 (01:08:08):
Well, you're right people are looking to be
offended.

Speaker 4 (01:08:10):
Yeah and it was already.
People were already offendedand told me about it before I
ever listened, so I never had anaked listen.
Yeah, I heard all of you heardthat jason aldean song and I
listen, I think, at the sametime, nikki minaj had a song out
wap.

Speaker 7 (01:08:23):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, and I was just like what's that
stand for?

Speaker 1 (01:08:27):
I just I'm I guess I'm different because I think
you just I'm a dad of four kidsand two are girls and, like the
whole, you know men using thegirls restroom and all that.
I just never got it political.
I was just like as a dad, right, that's not happening in in a
store when my daughters arethere?
Just I just didn't think aboutit too politically.

(01:08:48):
I think everybody got so oneside or the other I mean, you
know your face.

Speaker 8 (01:08:52):
You guys think this racial thing, oh, you got you
guys.

Speaker 5 (01:08:54):
They always use you guys I remember you guys texting
when all that stuff was goingon and really good friends, and
I think it's one of thosesituations we talked about
earlier where maybe somethingnegative happens with some of
the backlash, whatever.
But then it's positive too,because we did a lot of healthy
weeding out of people that arereally your friends and then

(01:09:19):
people who you realize are yourfriends when it's convenient.
So that actually was a was apositive thing.
I mean, it's not not beingnegative, it's just it's true.
It's like really makes you geteven tighter with the people
that you know have your back.

Speaker 4 (01:09:34):
Yeah, you know every bad thing has that effect if we
handle it the right way.
You're, I, you and I talkedabout that.
Yeah, on my part.
When I lost my son, I learnedthere was some weeding out not a
lot, but there's a few peoplethat literally just kind of
disappeared from you.
I'm like, oh, they're souncomfortable with this that
they can't.
But everything that bad,negative that happens.
You will find yourself strongerat the other side of that,

(01:09:55):
unless you just dive into abottle purposely, or even if you
do dive into a bottle, becausethat's how I came out of that
one.
But there is a thing about painand growth and on the other
side of that.
And look, we wouldn't besitting here if that song wasn't
so controversial to them.
I don't think it'scontroversial at all.

Speaker 1 (01:10:09):
Right, well, just thinking about it, artistically
mentioned, we mentioned tomdouglas.
He says don't tell the beststory you know.
Tell the story you know best,and I think each person just
there.
That's what art does, that's it.
That's that's what you're doing, is telling the story of the
people that you represent andwho you are, and that's if you

(01:10:30):
get any further down the roadthan that.
It just seems to becounterintuitive to like suss
out every line and see ifsomebody meant I didn't know, I
don't even still know to thefull extent.
I know you guys got reallyattacked, for that is, I mean,
on the level just sort ofhearing it from you through text
, but I didn't, I didn't reallyknow all the stuff that happened
, but apparently it was a lot ohyeah, yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:10:49):
I mean, I was just mad I didn't come up with that I
know those guys, nope, that'snot true.

Speaker 1 (01:10:55):
Yeah, you know no.
So what was what?

Speaker 4 (01:10:57):
was the the worst thing.
I mean I remember, but I don't,I don't pay a lot of attention.

Speaker 8 (01:11:01):
There wasn't a bad thing, nothing nothing in my,
according to me, I had familycalling going man, you okay with
all this criticism, peoplecalling you racist and all this
stuff and I go.
What are you talking about?

Speaker 7 (01:11:13):
this is, but I didn't like this is like fuel.

Speaker 8 (01:11:15):
This is awesome because everybody everybody
knows me knows the truth.

Speaker 7 (01:11:19):
Right, yeah, but it's people that form opinions based
on what they hear, and I didn'tlike being called a racist.
I didn't like that.
That wasn't fun.

Speaker 4 (01:11:28):
Yeah, that's an easy unfair thing for people.
That's become the easiest thing.
You're Hitler, you're racist.
It requires no thought at all.

Speaker 1 (01:11:34):
I heard the greatest sentence.
I forget who told it.
You might remember who told usthis.
I said man, quit worrying abouteverybody that's not going to
be on the front row of yourfuneral, Tim O'Neill.

Speaker 4 (01:11:43):
You just started worrying about the people on the
front row of your funeralinstead of the people on the
back row.

Speaker 1 (01:11:47):
Wow, what somebody says from what they hear and
think about you.
They don't really know you.
I just don't think about it.
I'm not really on social media.
I don't think about it, itdoesn't matter to me.
They don't know me, I don'tknow them, I don't even it
doesn't bother me.

Speaker 5 (01:12:01):
Of course, I've never been really attacked, I guess,
like that I know what'sinteresting, that we talk about
this on your great podcast.
It's amazing, but when you, youknow, I remember thinking,
talking to lost a child.
What we're going through isabsolutely nothing, yeah, and so

(01:12:22):
that's.
You know, being so close to youguys and knowing what you went
through, it was really I, Iwould, I'm like what is that?
Yeah, what you went through,now, that's, that's something
and we need to tell people aboutthe podcast we're not going
through anything compared tothat, and I know you mentioned

(01:12:42):
this.

Speaker 4 (01:12:42):
And the truth is, when you delve into any
situation because I work with alot of that Well, we have a
dad's group at my house,whatever, and my story is easy.
I got some guys.
There's one guy that lost threekids in one year oh my God, two
kids.
And then the third one was soupset about his siblings he
committed suicide.
I mean there's, oh gosh, youwant to feel good about your
situation.
You know the old thing if youput your problems in a bowl with

(01:13:04):
whoever, you take your ownproblems back.
I will take my own problemsback and they're designed for me
to handle.
But I mean having the Wellfirst of all, having the heart
and having the balls to do whatyou guys have done instead of
running from that.
We're gonna make a podcast aboutit, I think, honestly at the
other end of it, because you thetruth is, the people that are
critical are tend to be cowardson that thing.

(01:13:27):
And where are they now?
I don't hear them.
Yeah, I hear you still, but Idon't hear them.
So they really did you a favorby calling attention to
something that was prettyobvious and common sense.
I think they did you a favorand I'm glad they did because we
get to be here today.
Amen.

Speaker 7 (01:13:41):
And what's the name of your podcast and what's the?
What's the subject matter forpeople?

Speaker 4 (01:13:44):
that are listening.
Good grief, good God, survive,what is it?
We're all honest conversationabout things that are about
surviving, things that suck but,it's faith, recovery and grief
and it's just, you know, and alot, a lot of music people.
But yeah, just just reallyhonest, talk about the truth is
about about grief, or any of ourproblems, and what we're, you

(01:14:05):
guys, are doing here all thetime is that if you conversate
about it, a lot of that power ofthat thing dissipates just in
the conversation.
Just bringing it up, bringingit to light, and I think we all
find a lot of common ground anda lot of grace and gratitude for
each other, with just the gutsto say, hey, I'm feeling like
this or whatever it is.

Speaker 6 (01:14:23):
That's what I love about it and you know, tully and
I talk about being in the LasVegas shootings and that was
kind of our grief, which doesn'tcompare to anything like what
you're doing and what you gotwith your podcast, but what I
did notice with it I couldn'ttalk about it with people that
couldn't understand or have gonethrough anything similar or

(01:14:47):
grief like that.
But you know, we can talk aboutit in any kind of way.
We might have any type ofconversation, but the power was
having the conversation withsomebody that's been through
something.

Speaker 4 (01:14:58):
It's interesting.
As we get older and we've allbeen through something, I know
that we have you tend to only beable to really connect with
people who have been throughsomething.
It's really hard to be therewith and have a real
conversation with.
Oh yeah, everything's cool, man.
It's like what are you worriedabout?
That just doesn't really existanymore and I enjoy the.
My friends that have theirpuppies have been run over more

(01:15:20):
than once because we can connectand there doesn't have to be
any BS.

Speaker 5 (01:15:23):
And so I, yeah, god works in amazing ways Cause you
know, and I think we talkedabout this a little bit but
after the biggest thing, I'm thetype of person I just bottle it
up, push it way down and then,without realizing it, you know,
it comes out in the wrong waysto my family or whatever.
So I never talked about it, itwas just we never talked about

(01:15:44):
it ever.
And so I was telling my wifeI'm like you know, god is great
in the way he works things.
Because you know, you gothrough this horrendous tragedy
and you start your podcast andit almost because it was you and
it was just me and you talkingback and forth for the first
time, it almost gave me like areason and a platform to talk

(01:16:08):
about it, where you know, andit's almost like I forgot we
were even doing a podcast thatday.
But that's how bad I need.

Speaker 4 (01:16:15):
But you know, you, you took your negative thing and
you and you done a lot of goodand the, the Kurt, was supposed
to come, but he was out of town.
It's like almost like youdidn't.
By the way, I still want you todo that, so I'm going to ask
you right here in front ofeveryone.
But it was just you and Italking and it was like all of a
sudden it was a cathartic thingand like we talked the next
week.
You're like man, I never talkedabout that chest and that is I

(01:16:42):
mean I.
I mean I'm a, not a big therapyor whatever guy, but man, when
we, when we openly conversateabout, about something, it the
power of the negativity theredissipates a lot just by
breaking it out into the openand if we sit?

Speaker 6 (01:16:50):
on it, it will become cancer I encourage everybody to
check out that podcast.
It is so good.
Good grief, good god, right,yep, uh, talk about you too.
Uh, you obviously have a ton ofsimilarities.
Sometimes people think toli andour brothers, oh, you got a lot
of similarities.

Speaker 2 (01:17:06):
We obviously have differences too, but they're
kind of yin and yang they worktogether what's the biggest
difference between you guys?

Speaker 1 (01:17:14):
oh, we're different people.
I was just being funny.
You one laughed.
That was for crazy.

Speaker 3 (01:17:19):
I was like gee I thought that was gonna be a lot
funnier when I dropped it.

Speaker 7 (01:17:25):
You guys continue now .
We'll put it a lot.
We'll put in a lot of laughter.

Speaker 1 (01:17:32):
We always used to joke and say that if, if I
wasn't there, we wouldn't starta song, and if brad wasn't there
, we wouldn't finish one.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
But yeah, I think there's just.
You know, there's because youguys know, because you work
together, we all co-write inthis town and one can slay 1,000
, two can slay 10,000.

Speaker 6 (01:17:50):
And it's I don't know why you guys by the way,
exclusively or did exclusivelywrite together.

Speaker 1 (01:17:54):
I mean, we've written close to 3,000 songs together
over 30 years, so it songstogether over 30 years.
So it's like there's a, there'san organism.
That kind of happens love it orhate it, and uh, and it's.
What's interesting is we werewe were talking not too long ago
about how I think we're writingthe best songs we've ever
written, yet we just for thefirst time in like four years,
had us had a song on the chartsright now.

(01:18:14):
So it's like you can't equateyour paycheck for the quality of
work that you're doing in this.
You just got to do it becauseyou love it and you have great
songs and I think Brad and I,because we're brothers and
because we're duo, I know youguys have it too.
You'll look at Kurt and go no,not that I don't think that's
the right sound, or I don'tthink that's the good title.
It's not that you're rude.

(01:18:34):
You have to form boundaries andhave respect for each other,
but at the same time, if hedoesn't like something he's not
gonna go.
Gosh, I really don't like that.
How do I tell him?

Speaker 3 (01:18:41):
he just says hey, dude, I don't like that.
And I say well, I think you'rewrong.

Speaker 1 (01:18:44):
He goes why do you think that?
And so we did talk about it'snot, we don't want to be right,
we want to get it right.
Right, and when we both kind ofgot on that same track it
helped a lot, but that's.
I mean that those are thedifference.
I mean, he's a great guitarplayer and I can play a little
bit of which means I can't singno he actually can sing and but

(01:19:07):
uh, the I, you know just justbeing brothers and having the
same sort of we're pointed atthe same target but coming from
two different, you know, avenues, just the beauty, too, of the
partnership that we have, thatyou guys have.

Speaker 4 (01:19:19):
but why didn't?
Why didn't you do this podcastby yourself?
Why didn't you do it, kelly?
Because it's more fun with ateam, absolutely.
Who would you celebrate with?
I never wanted to play.

Speaker 1 (01:19:30):
I do come up here when they all leave by yourself.
We do that a second he says Ican do this.

Speaker 7 (01:19:35):
Some hidden gems and just see if you can fill all the
dead air.
Hello America, this is NeilThrasher.

Speaker 4 (01:19:40):
But I never wanted to play tennis.
You know what I mean.
I wanted to be on thebasketball team.
If you're a solo sport guy, Iguess that's something.
But the gratification we talkabout the locker room is in the
creating together, and having ateam member and a partner just
makes the whole thing more fun.
I love the co-writing we get todo, because we wind up with
friendships that last forever,whereas that person is too cool

(01:20:00):
to get in a room with anybody.
They might have a little bit atfirst, but it dies off.
They just repeat themselves.

Speaker 1 (01:20:05):
Have you guys just getting to the age that we all
are and how long we've all beendoing it, don't you sort of feel
like in the last couple ofyears you've really been
cherishing old friends?
Yes, it's not like you callthem up and write a card every
week, but it's just like thisBrad goes hey, totally called
you want to go do a podcast Now.
I hate podcasts.

Speaker 3 (01:20:25):
Not listening to them .

Speaker 4 (01:20:26):
Why does?

Speaker 3 (01:20:26):
I want to do them.
I'm like yeah, why.

Speaker 1 (01:20:29):
And I was like 100%, I'm doing it.

Speaker 4 (01:20:32):
Plus, you had no choice.
We've been friends for 30 years, you're coming 30 years, but I
for 30 years.

Speaker 1 (01:20:38):
you're coming 30 years but I was sitting there.
We were doing a writers roundthe other day with Caitlin Smith
and she wrote that song withDon Schlitz you can't make old
friends it's like 8 in themorning, we're doing it for some
corporation.
We're just sitting there.
She starts playing it and I'mlike I don't put this salty
stuff in my eyes.

Speaker 8 (01:20:56):
I was like, I feel like, oh my gosh, I'm not taking
enough testosterone.
I need to double up on that,but I feel like we're in that
phase where we're just going oh,it's not like.

Speaker 1 (01:21:07):
Oh my God, the end is near, my career is over, but I
just cherish dudes that you'veknown over 25 years.

Speaker 4 (01:21:16):
It's a great thing.
I love this.
I love this age.
I love being this age.
You know it's funny.

Speaker 2 (01:21:21):
I you go wow, this is really.
Yeah, I love this, I love thisage, I love being this age.

Speaker 4 (01:21:22):
You know, it's funny.
I couldn't wait to turn 50because I'm like for a guy in
his 40s I look okay, but forguys 50s I'm gonna look pretty
good I've been lying about myage for like a day.

Speaker 1 (01:21:33):
How old are you?
I'm like 61 really.
Wow, good job I just want tocompliment.

Speaker 3 (01:21:38):
I don't care if you think I'm old I compliment my
love language is words ofadoration.

Speaker 6 (01:21:43):
I used to say how young I was.
You know 10 years younger.
That's a good idea.
Now lie up and see how great itis I

Speaker 2 (01:21:50):
mean I didn't see, I didn't see us go, still going.

Speaker 8 (01:21:54):
At this age, you know what's interesting either I
what?

Speaker 4 (01:21:57):
what do you like?
What do you?
I love to hear what you.
What is your?
What is your take on it now?
Because I might change this, bythe way, daily, but it's like I
want to walk down the hill andinstead of running down the hill
, whatever.
Less, less quality, lessquantity, but more quality, what
?
What are you?
What are you doing?

Speaker 8 (01:22:11):
on the creative process.
There's not as much writing.
Yeah, but it's.
But it's what you said.
Yeah, it's.
You want it to count and it'smore about.
It's not about I'm not rushingto turn in a bunch of songs,
it's all about when somethinghits me now.

Speaker 4 (01:22:24):
And I don't care about missing anything.
I do not have FOMO, no.

Speaker 8 (01:22:27):
I have.

Speaker 4 (01:22:27):
JOMO.

Speaker 2 (01:22:28):
No.

Speaker 4 (01:22:29):
I'm cool with it.
The world can go on without me.
It didn't need me to start with.

Speaker 8 (01:22:34):
I'm still blown away.
If you'd have told me 30 yearsago you'll still be doing this
at 60.
Yeah, You're crazy.

Speaker 7 (01:22:42):
I would definitely write less if we mentioned the
word quota earlier, which isminimum delivery commitment.
So we all have that in yourcontract.
So for me it's 12 songs, butit's 12 100% songs which used to
be easy to get when it was twoways or three ways, but now
there's fours and fives.
that's I mean for me, that'sgetting into into the 40s of

(01:23:02):
complete songs, and that that isnot me I don't like having to
do that, right, but you, I haveto to get those, to get the
numbers in, but I generally andyou go and you're not not going
through the motions.
You're trying to write as goodas you can, but that's a lot of
songs for me.
I would rather focus just on onthe quality, because I've never
been a quantity.
Yeah, you know that's the thingI like to do the most.

(01:23:23):
Just think of ideas.
Think, okay, if I get this tothe right writers, this can be a
hit yeah, yeah, yeah, thequantity game is tough.

Speaker 4 (01:23:30):
You guys have always been so smart about it, like
totally.
Like, yeah, I do.
We're writing like almost neverand we're just yeah, going out
of it.

Speaker 5 (01:23:38):
If it's not something and we're, I know you guys the
same way like we're brutallyhonest, like we're writing and
we're not on something, greatit's over.
Yeah, we just bail, go to thenext thing.
You know, I mean that is such.

Speaker 4 (01:23:51):
That is such a great thing.
I've never been in part of aright that did that, and there's
been times I'm like man, if wewere all honest right now, we
would just leave and get beatthe traffic.

Speaker 5 (01:23:58):
This sucks and that's okay and I love it.
I mean and honestly, like talkabout getting older and I've
never felt more creative than Ido now.
I just want to point it in theright direction.
So that's that's where we're atlike, I just you know it's it's
a, you know very proud andhappy of everything we've

(01:24:20):
accomplished.
But there's more to do, butdoing it smarter oh, you don't
feel like you're in a hurry,though.

Speaker 8 (01:24:26):
No, there's.
No, there's no pressure anymore.
Yeah, but a lot of that zerothough we're all very blessed to
.

Speaker 5 (01:24:31):
You know we've all.

Speaker 8 (01:24:32):
If you saved your money, there's no pressure.

Speaker 5 (01:24:33):
Yeah yeah, yeah, just figure out.

Speaker 7 (01:24:36):
I mean, I just think I think we figured out what we
do.
I've got got some pressure.

Speaker 1 (01:24:40):
You've got a new one.

Speaker 7 (01:24:42):
I'm starting over at 57.
You are one of my.

Speaker 4 (01:24:46):
I have five friends in their 50s with young small
children under two.
God love you.
That's awesome.
So much respect I love it.

Speaker 7 (01:24:58):
I didn't know I needed baby Lucy, but God knew I
needed baby Lucy, so it'sreally fun.
It's just a whole new.
You guys have alreadyexperienced it and for me it's
all brand new.
And so I don't think, yeah,you're tired and everything, but
I don't think about it, I'mjust thank God.
Do I wish I would have morebased on having Lucy?
Yes, now, physically, could Ihandle that?

(01:25:18):
The staying up, having Lucy?
Yes, now, physically, could Ihandle that?
You know, the staying up, Idon't know, but just I mean,
thank God I got the chance toexperience the miracle of having
a kid.
That's so cool.

Speaker 4 (01:25:26):
It's awesome and you look great, so I think you
probably should have more.

Speaker 7 (01:25:29):
Yeah, well, I think hopefully Rachel's not listening
to this episode.

Speaker 1 (01:25:33):
Hey, rachel you can handle more.
Men don't mature until like 45or 50.

Speaker 3 (01:25:37):
anyway she's getting the best Kelly for sure.

Speaker 4 (01:25:40):
Thank you, she's getting the best.

Speaker 7 (01:25:42):
Kelly, she did say to tell both you guys.

Speaker 2 (01:25:46):
She's awesome.
What about us?
She loves you guys.

Speaker 7 (01:25:51):
She loves you guys too, I'm sure she did.
It's somewhere in here.

Speaker 6 (01:25:55):
All right, we know these guys have things to do.
By the way, this is the firstmorning.
I guess that's what soberpeople do, they do morning
podcasts.

Speaker 4 (01:26:03):
This is our first one .
We're going to go shoot somehoops after this, yeah.

Speaker 6 (01:26:07):
We can't thank you guys enough.
I mean, you're incrediblefriends to us.
We love you guys.
We're going to have to do thisagain.
Yeah, right.

Speaker 4 (01:26:16):
Absolutely Anytime.
I yeah Right, absolutelyAnytime.
I wouldn't know any way.
I'd rather stay in the morningCountry traveling Wilburys.

Speaker 1 (01:26:21):
Yeah, let's do it.

Speaker 5 (01:26:23):
Neil July, you meant to travel.
If that doesn't happen, I'll bevery upset.

Speaker 1 (01:26:27):
Untraveling Wilburys yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:26:29):
Untraveling, not traveling.
Do a world tour of Franklin.

Speaker 1 (01:26:33):
Absolutely.
Congrats on your podcast.

Speaker 7 (01:26:36):
Thank you very much, really appreciate it.
Thank you, thanks so much forcoming, is that?

Speaker 1 (01:26:40):
OG beer.
Do they make that in anO'Doul's?
Is that your own beerNon-alcoholic it's not our own
beer.

Speaker 6 (01:26:45):
I don't know if they make a non-alcoholic one.

Speaker 7 (01:26:47):
You know, you're not, I'm not sure that's a great
question.

Speaker 1 (01:26:49):
Well, if it's non-alcoholic, it ain't.

Speaker 6 (01:26:54):
American for not going Love you guys From the
Patriot Mobile Studios.
This is the Drive at the SmallTown Podcast.
Thanks for watching.

Speaker 3 (01:27:03):
Yay, Make sure to follow along, subscribe, share,
rate the show and check out ourmerch at trythatinasmalltowncom.

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The Warren Brothers - Old Friends, Hard Truths & Basketball with Tim McGraw :: Ep 58 Try That in a Small Town Podcast

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}The Warren Brothers - Old Friends, Hard Truths & Basketball with Tim McGraw :: Ep 58 Try That in a Small Town Podcast