In Case You Missed It: #220 Shay Mooney of Dan + Shay on The Untold Story of Meeting Dan + Getting Justin Bieber On A Song

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey guys, it's Bobby here. Thank you for listening and
subscribing to the Bobby Cast. You know, because of Dan
and Chay's record, Good Things that's out. I thought we'd
played the origin story of the group, and we did
Dan yesterday. Up next is Shay and how he originally
started as a solo artist and then he met Dan
at the house party. He talked about his first deal
with t Pain's record label and how they got justin

(00:21):
Bieber on ten thousand Hours, one of our favorite episodes
from a couple of years ago. Here is Shae Mooney
in the Origin story of Dan and Shay here on
the Bobby Cast. All right, welcome to episode to Shay
from Dan and Shay, which we had to partner in.
It's probably a year or so ago, and even for
him it was kind of weird coming in alone. But

(00:44):
my whole goal with these is to actually let people
hear individuals. Yeah, this is probably trouble for me. They
won't like our band after this. I don't think that's okay.
I think people are gonna like the band more after
after this, do you mind? And and again it's here's
the weird thing for me interviewing somebody that I kind

(01:04):
of know, is that there are things that I know
that I would never ask, and there are things that
I've always wanted to ask in a personal space. It's
never you're just with a buddy and you just don't
ask ques. You know, like tell me about being seven?
You know that just never comes up. And we're somewhere,
you know. Um, So that's why I'm excited to have
you over. And also I got to prank you outside
of my house. He did. I got here, I was

(01:26):
a little bit scared. I'm not gonna lie because I
didn't know what your house looked like and how when
did you move? Did you move? Ye? In half? Like
a year and a half ago. Okay, yeah I knew that,
but I was just gonna ask it. But I didn't
know what your house look like. So I pulled up
and I was like, I have no I was gonna
text you that. I was like, I don't want to
be outside of like someone random's house, and I didn't
want to like not park. So I get out and
I ring the doorbell and what I thought was an

(01:47):
old woman answered hello out there. If I did, Hello
scared me. I was like, I'm scared this woman because
they had a camera and she's out there being like
and then I saw your face and I was like, oh,
he's thinking this is real. Yeah I was. I was
a little scared, like who is it anyway? Shah who
shaye mooney, I don't know how many money? And about

(02:08):
that time might be the door. I was scared that
I was going to open up to, like, you know,
someone prepared, because this house is very much of like
a fortress. It was like someone that's you know, loaded,
and stop it. I'm loaded, as in like I got
a gun. Do you want to speaking a loaded? This?
But this puts me on a good question. I googled
because I always think it's fun to google how much

(02:29):
people are worth, and it says that you're worth five dollars. Now,
I'm not gonna ask you how much of worth because
I would never do that. I would never do that. However,
it's got to be more than that at this point
after especially by right like a little bit, I was
offended for you. I was like, the guy's written he's there,
shows are mine everything about you? Guys set up the

(02:52):
way my bank accounts are set up. I got checkings
and savings. Thanks are hard to track. But over right,
we're getting right into it. I'm just I wanted it
going to but you came up when you're like your
house is a fortress, you're so loaded. I'm loaded as
Then I'll punt from that question. Maybe it might be

(03:12):
over that, but I got I got a kid and
getting ready for a second, so I'm you know, And
I'll also say this about you. You didn't grow uploaded,
so it's not like this whatever you have fifty dollars
or what i've heard five million, whatever, And I don't
want to say anything that's close to that. It's close
to that. If that's going to be the rumor, I'll
go up to five that you've earned it. Is my

(03:33):
point likewise, which is, you know, whenever I um think
about you guys and I see you now and you
guys are you know, I was nervous and I'll come
back to this in a second. I wasn't nervous for
you when you announced an arena tour before it goes
on sale, because I was your first time to doing
arena tour and just as someone who has to put
up theaters and I'm nervous before they go on sale
to go as anybody going to show up because I'm

(03:53):
doing bigger theaters this time, so I was like, Wow,
they put up a Brena is I sure hope it
sells like crazy. And as I'm thinking that, I also, O, man,
I remember when those two dudes were just two dudes
doing karaoke and Nada they had their first song we
were I was hassling them on the radio and you
were struggling. Yeah, man, And that's We're so cool to

(04:16):
see and even myself to feel for you going on
so nervous for them as you're about to do arenas
like that's honestly, I think that's you know, people ask,
you know, do you get nervous for anything anymore? And honestly,
I don't get nervous performing, you know, playing show, because
I'm sure you don't really get necessarily nervous. It's more
of an exciting you know, your heart kind of starts
to race a little bit. You're excited about it. But

(04:37):
that's probably the most nervous that you get as an
artist is putting on a tour, because you just never know.
Selling tickets is different than getting hit songs, It really is.
I mean, it's kind of that We've been trying to
build this grassroots thing for a while. We've been headlining
for a long time of doing small shows, and then
you know, our last tour did well. But even before
that tour, I was I was nervous because it's like,
you just don't know Tuesday and Wednesday night shows. Like

(05:00):
you guys were the guys that were grinding doing week
night shows shows, and everyone else is doing what the
normal Nashville thing is do Friday, Saturdays and Thursday. But
you guys were grassrooting it early, which which again I
admire so much, but I just admire hustling, grit with talent.
And so whenever you put in a and I saw
the you guys announced it, that Rena Tory comes out,

(05:20):
and I'm like, man, first of all, it was proud
because you guys have graduated to that level. But then
I'm going, please, God, I hope it sells like crazy,
because I know, just in my little world of doing comedy,
when I'm putting up a bigger theater, I'm like, oh,
people like me. I hope they like you more than
they used to. As much as you were nervous. Like
just imagine, I was about thirty times as nervous as
I can imagine that you were for us, because it's like, man,

(05:42):
even like the biggest room we did on the last
tour was about I think, like tickets, you know, and
that's like we've done like a couple of days where
you know, we've got up there a little bit in
the last couple of years, but that's like jumping from
even eight to like eighteen is just that's a lot
and a lot of those eighteen rooms. Yeah, I was
just hoping for one. I was like, just God, please
let us sell out, just one because that's like And

(06:04):
we were starting in Nashville too, and I remember where
I was. I was back I was back home in
Arkansas and I was I can't remember why I was in,
but I was visiting my family. And uh, I remember
we had put you know, we're about to put on
the tour for sale, and it was in the pre
sale and I was just like, when you're starting in Nashville,
that's like starting in your hometown. I mean that's you know,
that's where we all live now, that's where all of

(06:25):
our friends are. So like when you start there and
if you don't sell that out, it's like, well, it's
gonna be a long let's gonna be a long tour.
It's be a long tour. And another wrinkle on the
Nashville Show is that a home show that there's just
a lot of things you have to do that's not
a part of a normal show if you were in Milwaukee.
Because the home show you have to entertain so many
people that you're close to, and it's the first show

(06:47):
where you have all this production. You're just learning, and
now you have all these extra people there and you're
doing freaking Bridge Stone Arena. Yeah, it's like, let's uh,
you know, let's do this in our hometown when we've
never done this show ever, and it's gonna be too. Luckily,
it was like that was the first call that we got.
I was so so nervous that the tour wasn't gonna
still mean we we had hoped, you know, that it
would do well, but it was we got the call

(07:07):
and they're like, all right, we have to we have
to add it. I knew whenever I got the call,
They're like, all right, you know the Nashville Show. And
I was like, this is about to be either the
worst day in my life or like one of the
most exciting days, and they said we were gonna have
to add another show because we sold the tickets, and
I was like, that is that crazy? Man? Honestly, like
my heart was just like I couldn't believe it. And
that was kind of People asked like, what are those
moments where you know you feel kind of like, man,

(07:29):
this is like a dream come true. I mean that
that to me was you know, playing venues was really
more like The Rieman. That was kind of my when
you look at the biggest bands like that, I thought
were the biggest bands in the world, Like they were
playing places like The Rieman. You know that that size
of venue was like they made it and they're like
the biggest bands in the world. Bridgetone was never really
even on my radar. So I'll moved to town and
I realized that that was the place that people did shows,

(07:51):
and I was like, that would be pretty amazing to do.
But that was kind of the moment where I was like, Okay,
this is uh, that's probably one of the coolest things ever.
I mean, your first was our first to sell out.
That the second one, yeah, now you didn't just sell
you had It's it's like I feel a proudness for
you and Dan both because it's just I've just seen
because we kind of came in at the same time.

(08:12):
I've seen you go from two guys that they patched together,
that you guys patched together, people like, I don't know
if their country, Yeah, that was your whole rap. I
don't know if they're gonna make it. I don't know
if that they're you know, the guy can sing okay,
but they just didn't know for sure. I mean, it
was I saw one of the coolest uh Like it
was an Instagram message. I think this girl had sent
this picture to us, and she was like, I think

(08:32):
she had tagged us and it said I saw these guys.
It was in two thousand twelve, I think or two,
like right after we had met, and we were doing
this round at Soulshine Pizza that I don't think is
there anymore. I think it's something else now in Midtown
And she was like, I saw these guys play around.
You know, however, long ago in two thousand and thirteen,
and now I just bought a ticket to see them
in Bridge Down and it kind of took me. It

(08:53):
took me back for a second because I was just like, man,
this is just as as they think it's it's cool.
A lot of times you're so busy with building it
that it's hard to look back. And I saw that
picture and immediately in that moment, it was just like, well,
that's that's heavy. You know, we're struggling in that moment,
couldn't We're probably paying for Honestly, I think the deal
we did, we weren't getting paid for the round. It
was we got a slice of pizza, like that was

(09:14):
what we were getting pad pizza and experience, yeah absolutely,
and and playing to where people would actually be there
to listen, yeah yeah, which they weren't that, but we
didn't get the pizza, which was pretty awesome. Apparently there
was one girl though that was there and got to
kind of see that, which was a pretty cool moment.
I don't know. I I looked up the most Google
questions about you. Here you go. Number one is are

(09:37):
you and Shaye related? You can answer these, I'm not
gonna answer them for you, But are are Dan and
Shaye related? We're not. We're not related, not that I
know about. Okay, did you twenty three and me? And
make sure I haven't yet? You know, it's it's the
starting to starting to think about it now. Though. What
is make a lot of sense for me is when
I see you guys, I don't know what a wards
show it was, but you guys don't like each other

(10:02):
to the point of it's not just I'll compare it
to and I'm not married, you're married now, but a
marriage that's been through like ten years and and this
is not you guys, but they're together and they just
do it because they've agreed to a partnership. It's like,
you guys are that married couple that you look at
and go, wow, they still like each other after all
this time. It is man and it feels like that.

(10:24):
And I think it's because it started out with a
from a place of mutual respect. You know, it wasn't
just this, It wasn't so much a lot of you
know a lot of times it's this whimsical thing that
happens and you know, you don't even have time to
really get to know each other. You know a lot
of times in bands that it can happen quickly, and
you you didn't have the time where you were kind
of grinding it out with each other on the road
and doing you know, millions of shows together. Um and

(10:46):
Dan and I had kind of we had become kind
of who we were going to be when we had met.
We knew where we were trying to get to, and
we just really respected what each other, you know, we're doing.
And uh yeah, I mean it's it's kind of crazy
because Dan and I are really complete posits in most ways,
in most ways, and I think from that, you know,
it's kind of like a puzzle piece. It's like he

(11:07):
picks up what I can't do. He's an unbelievable producer.
He makes me sound good. I can't do any of that.
I don't know what I'm doing in the studio. So
it's kind of that thing of I trust him, you know,
with literally like my life and my well being, and
he trusts me with with that as well. And I
think it just kind of, you know, it's it's clol.
It's it's like being family, but it's really just a

(11:28):
I don't know, it's a really cool thing because I do,
I do still like and we are still best friends.
You know. It's kind of one of those things of
all the time we're always looking at each other being
like I can't believe that this is this is happening.
It's just crazy. The second one is who are she's parents?
Who are she's parents? Rick and Cindy Mooney? Are their names?
Natural Damn, Arkansas and everybody probably a lot of people

(11:50):
watching from Naturally. I think they just got internet, So
this is probably gonna be a pretty big deal. You
know you you laugh about Natural Damn Arkets all about
my town Mountain Pine, Arkansas. We just got a cell
phone towel were now nineteen months ago? Wow, Now where
where is that? As far as like where a Little
Rock is? Because that we're on the you know, the
western side of our Kansas. So if you go straight
dow because I know where you are, if you go

(12:12):
straight down, Mountain Pine is below Little Rock on the
same side of the state, about an hour the left
side of the state down Is that towards Elder Redo
or is that the other that's the other side. But
I went to Fable and I was went the razor
By game this past week, and I don't get many
weekends where I'm off, and so I went over and

(12:32):
I took Adam Hamburg, who's a dear friend of mine,
and I saw that and you're with Ronnie Brewer, Right, yeah, Yeah,
My points were they were asking about you. They were like,
have you seen Shay lately? And it's it's almost like
if someone they think we're all like related to hang
out that we're all like, what's up? What's up with? Like,

(12:54):
you know, I've seen him, probably got a month, but
I think he's doing pretty good. I'll watch him on
Instay with it. It's just funny how when we all
come from Arkansas and afterward I hung out with a
lot of listeners and a lot of people that listen
to the show are watching American Idol, and they were
I probably got asked about you four times. They think
all of Arkansas boys run together. We should probably have
a meeting, and we haven't had one, and at least

(13:16):
it's been a couple of chapter of Arkansas. Here's the one.
Does Shay get paid more than Dan? Yeah? That was
in the deal. I was like, look, if I'm gonna sing,
if I'm gonna do this, you know, you might do
most of the work, but this is how it's gonna be.
I assume there's this that's you guys are even split
as far as I know. Maybe he maybe he does.
I don't know one more? Does Dan or Shay sing speechless? Well,

(13:39):
we both sing Dancing's harmony sing the lead. But you're ye,
I'm not. I'm not that that sounded pretty amazing. I'll
be honest with you. Yeah, do you want to join? Yeah? Okay, Yeah,
that'd be cool. Can you imagine if I went out
and just we didn't say anything about it, just as
a joke. We didn't acknowledge it. We just walked and

(14:00):
you know, we did see anything. I just walked out
and it was like, you're like, dannit Jay and it's
me and and we started peakless. And it would totally
depend on if, like if someone knew that it was
you or not, because if they did it and they
hadn't seen it before, they'll be like, I didn't even
I had no idea that it was three of them.
Then no, no, you don't know. I don't come now.
I put on like a black and I never break character,
and I sing as great as I can, and just

(14:21):
we keep cameras in the crowd'll see if people are stunned.
We never acknowledge it. I'll tell you it's gonna be
It's gonna be a pretty great social experiment that will happen,
and I can tell you no one would get angry
at that. Um. So, okay, one of my did you watch, um, Mike,
what's the show called? You watch the Mandalorian? Did? Okay?

(14:41):
You're a Star Wars guy, I am. Yeah. So I've
never seen Star Wars. I would like to because I've
heard in a lot of ways. Did you like the show?
And what someone like me who's never seen Star Wars
like the show? Yes? Yeah, I think so. Do I
need to know Star Wars? Not at all? I think
you can. I think the cool part about the shows
that there is you know, if you like, you know,
read the books or whatever. I wasn't that I didn't like.

(15:04):
I read like some Star Wars books like Back in
the Day. Um, but there's like the whole Mandalorian thing
is kind of you wouldn't really know about it. Even
if you were a Star Wars fan, you would probably
just think like, oh, that's like Bubba Fett, which I
guess you know Django and beaua Fett would they weren't
even actually Mandalorian. They just liked their armor. I guess.

(15:25):
So I don't know what you're saying right now. Yeah,
and see the quantum mechanics. It No, I don't really
know that, but you know, it really doesn't have anything
to do with the story of Star Wars that people
would know from their kids. It's just a great it's
a really new concept, really, even to a Star Wars fan.
How fast is you take in that show? Probably like

(15:45):
because they did it in I think they did every Thursday,
like they released. I know that you couldn't bene it, huh.
And I think I started I want to see, there's
eight episodes, and I think I started on six or
I started when they had six out, so I watched
all of them and then I had to wait for
the next two weeks. So I watched it. I think
I watched six episodes and like, like a couple of days,

(16:07):
did you go watch the last Star Wars movie and
your thoughts? I I liked it. It was it was
a lot they had to kind of button up the
whole deal, which was it was a lot to kind
of it seemed like the fan reviews were great, but
the critic reviews were really not. Well. It was kind
of you know, and I love Star Wars and I'm
I'm I'm not the movie guy who's like, I don't

(16:29):
usually look at the critics reviews. If like the fan
views are pretty good, I will enjoy the movie, Like
I like a lot. If I go to a movie,
I usually have a pretty good time. Like I enjoyed
the whole experience of going to watch movies. Boys loved
movies as a kid, still love them. Yeah, I enjoyed
it as like a movie. It was very entertaining, but
it wasn't like if you were to pick it apart,
there was like a lot of things that we're just like, oh,

(16:51):
that's so he's just been alive this whole time, you know,
that's not that's not like Senator pow Bettine was like,
he's like the you know, he's the you know, the
the dark Lord Seth guy. He's like the main bad
guy and he dies and like one of the first
movies whenever, like with Darth Vader, Darth Vader kills him

(17:12):
and then he's just like, now is this are these
are well? I guess kind of for you maybe, but
like someone hasn't seen the final movie or no, no, no,
not the final movie. This happens in like like old
like in the you know, seventies or whatever. Whenever the
first movies came out, he like he dies and then
he doesn't really yeah, and then it's just kind of
he's just alive again. Yeah. Do you can you go

(17:34):
to the movies without people stopping you? Yeah? Yeah, I
mean it's it kind of depends what, like what theater
like where we are. If I go back home, like
and people would you know, they kind of know that
I'm home, then it can be a little bit of
a like everybody knows that you know I'm there, but
people are super sweet, you know. Can you go to
the movie theater without yeah, Like I mean like usually like, well,
we'll get stopped a couple of times, especially for something

(17:56):
for some reason. If I'm like with Hannah, because people
kind of follow her too, that's more of like an indicator.
If Dan and I are together and people really like yeah.
But if it's just like if I'm just out somewhere,
people aren't, like because people aren't really expecting to see
anyone that they would know ever, so they're not like
looking around like analyzing. Like when in a second, I
went to a true Food kitchen today to have lunch,

(18:16):
and I was having a work talk with somebody from
my PR team. We're kind of lining up some stuff
and Sam Hunt walks in and comes in just just
sitting over there and grabs his food chill. He's Sam
the Monster, huge guy, big beard, so way bad him
ways back does the deal. He's there for like ten minutes.
Nobody says the word him Walkchu And I'm like, that's interesting.
Nobody uh b k from Florida. George Line walks right in,

(18:39):
walks up to a table. I say, what up to?
What dude could produce? Sets down? Nobody he had had,
you know, boom um, and it was just like saying
and nobody kind of it was just cool to see
nobody mess with anybody, for sure, especially here. Yeah, and
then I saw Thomas Struts manager. But so there was
just a lot happening and nobody. I went to dinner

(19:00):
a couple of weeks ago at yeah, so not a
super fancy place, cool spot close to work and reach
where this spoon came in and it's her and her family.
They said right in the middle. Nobody bother him. I
just think it's cool. I would have bothered her probably
well before my rules. But my rule is you shouldn't

(19:22):
bother someone if they're with their kids or they're eating,
if they have food in front of them. If they're not,
they know they're famous. Yeah, that's on them. They wanted
to get famous. You should go say hi if you
want to say hi, and never be ashamed to be
a fan of somebody. But if there's food or a
kid involved, that's a great rule. I think it should
be like a written rule if you're eating or if
you're with your kids, and even like it doesn't like

(19:42):
bother me insanely if someone comes, like because we'll go
out to eat, Like there's a Mexican restaurant that's by
my house. It's like our favorite spot. We always go there,
and usually if I'm with with them, like they're people
will wait till like we're done eating, And it's really
funny to watch people, which is like I can't, I can't,
like do you ever? Do you do you find yourself
like very hyper aware of people, Like I'm so I

(20:04):
can hardly like really when we go out and I'm
in a place where I just know there's something in
like the rim that shifts if if someone does recognize you,
if if we're going out with like a nicer restaurant,
we're like I have my hair all spiked. I usually
just like where I hat. But if I have like
my hair spiked up, it's like a better chance that
someone might be like, who's what That guy's hairs looks weird,
so he might be in Nashville, so it's kind of funny.

(20:26):
I'll be watching like around the rim, and I could
always tell when someone's like kind of just looking over
like I think that. I think that might be what
kind of got me was people would take pictures and
I wouldn't know. I wasn't aware for a while, and
it's like who cares about me? And you'd see them later.
But then people would post pictures and then tag me
of me like just looking awkward or that's that's the worst.
And I would be like, I would love to take

(20:46):
a picture say hi, so I don't look mostly for
my sakes, I don't look stupid on your Instagram, Like,
come say hi to me. I would love to take
a picture with you because I love I love being
out When people come up and they say something like
I love that people are like, like you said, this
is something that we got into. It's not like I'm
just hungry for the attention, but like it's I want
them to like if they're there and they're a fan,
like I'd love to meet them and feel appreciated and

(21:06):
feel appreciated because without people that music or come to shows, yeah,
and people that like they hide it like this happened. Actually,
reasonid that same Mexican restaurant I'm talking about, and it
kind of and I could. I knew like the table
that there was like two tables around us, and they
just they were super sweet, like I just love your music,
so thank you so much. We're there for probably like
twenty minutes and we're eating and I kind of noticed

(21:28):
this lady at the bar and she was just you
just it was all over her face. It was like
all she was thinking about was like when it is
a good time to like go over there. And I
wanted to, like, look, I didn't because you don't want
to assume and be like when you come over and
she's like, no, my my husband's here with someone else.
I'm just spying on them. It's fine. I don't know
why that was the example. That wasn't what was happening
with this lady, but I watched her and all the

(21:51):
tables and our friends that were with us watch all
of this go down, because she gets up and she
walks all the way to the bathroom, and what feels
like a half a mile of her walking, she has
her phone like this like like people just like like
she's texting, but it's like right up against her chest,
and I'm just like, we all see you, and I
kind of like point at the camera, you know, just
like we get it. And I thought, like for sure

(22:12):
she'd get in the bathroom and look at it and
be like, oh my goodness, I'm so embarrassed and come
over and be like I'm sorry at me to like
film you. She comes back and like everybody around the
table is like, you know, that woman was like filming
me right And I was like, I saw And then
she comes back and does it the same thing the
whole way back, films all the way back, never comes over,
never says anything. And that's that's the weirdest to me.
Let's make a statement here together, because I tried to

(22:34):
say it a lot. I would love to take a
picture with you, as long as I'm not eating it
with my kids. No one knows about my secret kids. Yeah,
like Ben John Kevin, I it's a compliment to me.
But you're right. Sometimes when someone's holding their phone and
they're holding it just a little too pointy, like it's
like we know, yeah, I know, I would love to

(22:54):
take a picture, like you don't text like this. Yeah,
Like there's a certain way to hold the phone and
that's what that's for sure, not it so natural? Damn?
Was how many people? Five eleven? Wow? Good for you.
I'm seven D seven solid. You guys are well. I

(23:16):
honestly don't think like it says five hundred and eleven.
But that's been there since I've been a kid, and
I know for a fact that there's there can't be
unless there are people that are literally living underground. I've
never seen five people there, maybe like maybe two hundred.
I've never seen him in natural. Damn. What school did
you go to? I had to go so for a
while I went to a school and Fort Smith went

(23:39):
Yeah that was and it was River Valley at the time,
so I had to drive. It was kind of it
took like fifty minutes to get to school because there
was there was Cedarville High School and nothing against Cedarville,
but at the time it was just like it just
wasn't a great place to go to school, and it
was just kind of there's a lot of just stuff
going on there. My parents were just like, yeah, we
don't think that that's That'ssily where we're gonna send our kids.

(24:00):
But now it's kind a lot better. Now there's you know,
there's a lot of great schools kind of around there.
But I ended up graduating from Van Buren High School,
which was like probably twenty minutes from Natural Dam, so
it wasn't bad, but growing up that was a long
drive and at homeschool until I was like fifth fifth grade.
What kid were you in high school? What were you
known as? Shay is the Were you the singer? Were did? Yeah? Yeah?

(24:22):
I think yeah, a little break that people knew most
about you was what probably honestly more that I was
kind of like the funny guy, I would say, because
I didn't like sing a ton I did, Like I
was definitely kind of known for that, but I was
I was definitely the class clown. I would say, um,
but yeah I did sing at like events, like randomly,

(24:43):
I would do like we had chapel. It was a
Christian school, so I would sing in chapel like people
that you were so good because you didn't do it
all the time. Yeah. Sometimes. I remember when I came
to school because I started like halfway through a fifth
grade and so I remember I I like they asked
me to sing at chapel and was like my first
I had been. I had sang in church and like
you know, done that whole thing, but that was like

(25:04):
my first like real world at school. It was like
halfway through the year and I came in saying at
chapel my moment I felt I felt really good. At
what age did you go, Oh, I'm not just good
for hearing a small town. I'm actually good enough to
go and try something outside of what I'm accustomed to. Yeah, man,
honestly I was. I was probably I was eight years

(25:27):
old when we first started coming to Nashville because we
would make these little trips because I would sing with
my sisters. I have two older sisters, eric As the oldest,
and then Gabby Um, and we would saying we would
travel around and like you know, just kind of for fun,
we go to churches and do the whole deal. Um.
And when I was about eight, we came to Nashville,
and at that point I kind of told my dad
like I'm I wanna this is like what I want

(25:49):
to do. That was just like I didn't know that
I was like people would. I think people a lot
of times I kind of assumed that I was like this,
I don't want to say, like prodigy, but like was
like always insanely good at singing, and just like that
wasn't necessarily the case. We just everyone in my family
did it. And I think just for the sheer fact
that I was young, people would be like, oh, he's
like he's really good. But we were in small you know,

(26:09):
this was small towns, so it's kind of like I
would take it as as a grand assault. I think
my parents would too, Like they knew I was, you know,
pretty good, but I don't know that it was this
is gonna be your career kind of thing that kind
of came honestly later, and I did it. You know,
I was coming to Nashville since I was eight, but
it wasn't I never knew. There wasn't a ton of
people that were just like this is undeniable, Like they

(26:30):
knew that I was good, but it wasn't until I
was a little bit older where we had a couple
of people be like, you should you guys could do this,
but it was never I don't know, you go to
college for a year, right, yeah, and then you go,
I'm gonna go I need to go to do music.
What was the point in going to school? Where it clicked?
Was like, it's gonna be tough, but I gotta get
out of school. And I actually it wasn't even a

(26:52):
real it wasn't actually a school. It was actually a
ministry school. So I went there. It was like a
nine month program and I had a full ride go
to like a music school. And I decided right before
because my sister Gabby had decided she was gonna go
up to Pittsburgh to go to this like nine month,
you know program, and I was just like, I kind
of wanna. I'm gonna go with you. I'm gonna do this.

(27:13):
And it was kind of that I wasn't quite sure
what I was gonna do with my life. I was
about to graduate, and I didn't want to go to
school for something that I already felt like I was.
I didn't think I was gonna like learn and if
I was going for like engineering or something like that,
which is probably what I would have done I just
I didn't want to go to school for like performance major,
you know, and like learn how to sing. I just

(27:33):
felt like that wasn't really the vibe. And so yeah,
I kind of took that that nine months and lived
in Pittsburgh. Um, and then right after that I moved
back home, which is when kind of the whole tea
paying thing happened. Which is an interesting thing too, because
when you can really sing, you can also kind of
pick where you sing. Yeah. Even I give Garth as

(27:55):
an example, he was singing rock songs. Yeah, he was,
you know, he was kind of finding his lace early. Um.
So how do you get discovered by because what was
it called, what was the paint was called nappy boy?
Nappy boy? How do you get hooked up with them?
How do they see you? What are the steps that
led you to go there? Because did you move to
Atlanta for a while? I did move to Atlanta, So

(28:17):
I was so I lived in Pittsburgh and my sister
was she had this Uh she was super good. She
a good dancer, like she was a choreographer and Tylla's
stuff and she was had met this guy named Mike
who was actually a backup dancer for Tea Pain, and
so we kind of all were hanging out there for
a little while and um, long story short, we get

(28:37):
back to Arkansas after you know, the school, after the
nine months, and we're there and I just randomly get
like a a text was like, hey, what are you doing.
I knew he had worked with Tea Pain and I
guess he had sent some YouTube video online to Tea Pain.
And I was and I was at Van Buren actually,
and I was in a movie I'll never forget this,
and I like he was like, hey, like he wants

(28:57):
to like, you know, FaceTime you or whatever, and I
was just like I was in this movie and I
didn't have any service, and I was like, I was like,
this is the craziest thing ever. So I go out
of the movie and my friend was like the manager
watching and was watching the movie. Did you think he
was like I thought he was like Arkansas might have
heard of this movie was called hot Rod. It was
like this little project I was working on. So you

(29:19):
leave the theater, Yeah, so I'll leave it. So I
walked outside and I didn't have any WiFi and the
service wasn't good enough, so I had to get on WiFi.
I think it was a FaceTime call. I can't remember
if that was even a thing then, but either way,
I didn't have any service. I had to like go
get on the WiFi. So my friend was the manager
there and like gave me the WiFi password and I'm
in like this back room at the movie theater like
facetiming or whatever, t pain and he was like, hey,

(29:40):
I want you to come to Memphis, like we're playing
a show there was him and Chris Brown. I want
you to come, you know, play with us and and
do this whole deal. So I was just like, yeah,
all right, let's just do this whole deal. Mean, I
didn't have no idea to this day, I don't know
what that meant. You know, those moments like you get
the call and you're just like, yeah, whatever it is,
I'm down. And that got me into a lot of
trouble probably at some points in my life. Like whatever

(30:03):
that that is, I'm doing it. So do you go
to Memphis? I did. I went to Memphis and drive
by yourself. But because you don't know what's happening, Oh
that's crazy. Whober actually was not a thing that I
guess with my sister Gabby, she she drove me up there,
so I drove up there with her. We went to
the show and met with him and basically go on

(30:23):
the bus afterwards, and I think it was like te
Pain and his wife and and Mike and all these people,
and I'm just like singing and just he was like,
I want, I wanna sign you, you know, And I
didn't know what that I just heard, you know, I'm
gonna sign you. I didn't know what that entailed at
the time or what that even you know, looked like.
But yeah, they ended up, you know, because I was
writing even when I was with him. When I end

(30:43):
up signing to him. I moved to Roswell, Georgia, which
is out there, you know, just a suburb of Atlanta,
and I started writing all kinds of stuff. I mean,
I had been writing like country, and I've been writing
pop and been writing like R and B like all
this kind of stuff. But I knew that I wanted
to do country. And that's what That's kind of how
he the song that he had even heard me covering, um,

(31:04):
I think, was a country song, and so he was like,
you know, this is what I want you to do.
This is oh Blood And basically what I did for
those that year and a half that I lived in
Atlanta was just go into the studio every day until
like five in the morning and just like right, two
beats and and everything else. And it was just kind
of a I don't know, it's kind of one of
those just kind of honing my craft moments of like

(31:25):
I didn't really get anywhere, Like there wasn't we didn't
release any music or anything like that. Um, what was
his goal with you? I don't know, I'm not sure. Uh,
the the overall goal, you know that was kind of
like pitch to me was we want to sign you
to a major you know, we want to get you
to Nashville at some point. But so there was country
music in mind for you, even though it was te

(31:45):
pain yeah, and we all go, oh, hip hop R
and B yeah. And it was kind of one of
those things that I didn't even have like my sound.
I didn't really know what I was doing either. I
was just writing songs and I had all these you know,
songs that I was writing that wasn't necessarily I'm they
were like fine, but it just it had my identity
was not found yet, you know. I just didn't really
know what I was doing, So it's kind of somewhere

(32:08):
in there. Um it's hard to put unless I looked
at the timeline. It's hard to put all this stuff
into a timeline. Um. But I remember there was a
moment when I was there. I was just like, what,
we haven't put out any music. We're not doing anything.
I have no idea, there was not really The contract
I signed was a three sixty and I didn't know
what I was doing. I didn't have a lawyer at
the time, so I signed this ridiculous deal. Um. And

(32:28):
I think it was all good intentions on all parties.
But I ended up at some point being like I've
got to go to Nashville, like I just have to
get there. So I was getting I mean, I had
no money because I was getting paid, you know whatever
it was. I think I think I was getting paid
maybe like it was like fifteen hundred dollars for two
thousand or fifteen hundred dollars for like, you know, per

(32:49):
month to like live on and stuff. But I was
having to pay like five dollars for my you know,
my rent in Atlanta, and then I had to pay
five off the top to like my manager that was
you know this guy that had had you know, I
had met in Pittsburgh. He was now my my manager,
and uh so it was a whole thing. So I
had about after I was moving to Nashville. I was

(33:09):
left with about like four hundred dollars to like eat
like pale everything on after this and go out and expect, like,
you know, try to meet people in Nashville, which four
dollars in a month is not a lot of not
a lot of spending cash. How did you get out
of the deal? Um? It ended up? You know when
I met Dan, uh it was a whole I mean
there was a lot of people that that kind of

(33:30):
helped me get that out of the deal. And you know,
whenever we had we had met, it became kind of
like a oh man, what's what's going to happen? Because
this is this is like a problem. I'm still in
this this deal. Yeah. Yeah, but it was, Yeah, that
that whole that was a pretty rough a little time
there for a little while because it was a lot
of there was a lot of feelings, you know, feelings

(33:51):
hurt on I think on all sides because it was
just this I don't know, I want to go I
don't want to go like two into detail about it,
but it was a rough time thinking in his life.
He was he was going through a lot, and it
was just kind of I was just stuck. There was
nobody to like talk to. He had he had gone
away to kind of deal with some personal stuff, and yeah,
it was just kind of all right, well, I'm in

(34:12):
this deal and we got to try to figure out
whenever we were talking to these labels, it was like
it kind of became an issue because it rolled really fast.
When Dan and I met and we had kind of
met with you know, Jason Owen and Scooter and things
were kind of rolling. It was just like, well, this
is this is a problem. And I was like I
was freaking out because I'm like, this is a huge opportunity.
And we finally got something to something yeah that you

(34:33):
can't get out of. Yeah, and it was a full
three sixty deal. You know. It was like everything you're
doing and have not just music, but if you put
out a shirt, if you touring, everything, and it was Yeah,
it was a rough time, but we ended up you
know really, you know, Scooter and Jason had a huge
part of of kind of getting me out of that
deal and but yeah, man, it was it was a
tough you know start, you know, because it was just

(34:57):
even on that first record, like there was a lot
being being taken out, you know, and it was just
kind of like thankfully I didn't have, you know, a
family at that time or no, you know, it's not
like I was. I wasn't completely broke. Whenever we had
you know, Dan and I had met and and finally signed.
You know, we had like a lot more money than
I had enough to begin with. I was it was
enough to live on. But they did a great job

(35:18):
of kind of helping me get out of that, and
you know, Warner Brothers and when all those guys, it was, yeah,
everybody's really good. So so the legend of the Fort,
which in different places we've talked about, but you guys
met in the living room fort at a house which
you've been back by. I've even seen you guys posted before.
Um Dan was living in the house and you went

(35:41):
over to the house. I did, so I was living
on I was living with my buddy actually at the
time UM I had I was, I was, I think
I was maybe I don't even remember how if I
even was paying him but I was basically sleeping on
his couch for like a little while. His name was
Brandon Metcalf, great guy, and he had a studio and
I was like working a lot with him when I

(36:01):
had moved to Nashville and kind of had my place
and um, there was a guy named Andrew Um that
just one night we had been writing a lot and
he told me he was like, man, I'm going over
to these guys house. They had a band at the time.
He's like, they're having a house party. Uh, you know,
you want to come with me? And I was just like, yeah, sure,
let's do it. And at that time, it was just
kind of like any time you could go somewhere without

(36:22):
spending any money and you knew that there was like
we knew that there was a keg and I was
like a little bit of noblishment, that's all that's always changed.
It was like, do you think I like pizza or someone? Like?
I haven't even like a couple of days, but it
was like, yeah, we showed up at this house, and
little did I know that that night was going to
completely change my life. You guys start talking that night.

(36:43):
When was it that you said, Okay, we're actually going
to try something together, which means putting everything else aside.
There's a difference than going, hey, we should do something
together and going we're doing something together. I would even
say it's comparable to in that part of a relationship
where you're just dating and you go, we're only dating
each other now, Yeah, so that means nothing else can exist,
Yeah except us. What was that point where you guys

(37:05):
finally said we're just dating each other? Well, it was
not until just a couple of weeks ago. We uh,
it kind of happened. It happened really naturally where Dan
I started writing. Really, I think it was either that
next day or like the day after that. We had met.
We were jam until probably like four in the morning
or something like that, and I think we decided to write.

(37:26):
So we get up the next day and we go
we met it like a Starbucks or something, and then
we ended up going to Uh, this this guy that
I was Jesse Fraser. I'm sure this year Mandy's been here.
Love him. One of the greatest guys. When I had
forst quick side side notes, this all makes sense. Jesse.
When I had first moved to town, I had a
friend and I asked him. I was like, who is
doing like beats? Because I have been writing to a

(37:48):
lot of beats. I've been writing like country songs two beats,
which is now like a common thing, but it was
just kind of becoming a thing then. And I was like,
who is a great track guy in in Nashville? And
the first name that he's at my friend was nash
Over Street, which is paulver Street songwriter. Uh, and he
was like Jesse Fraser. So I started writing with Jesse
Um a lot. And then whenever Dan and I had met,

(38:10):
I was like, let's go right with with you know,
with Jesse Fraser or at at his place. So we
ended up writing our first writing session. I think we
wrote two songs that that day and one of them
got put on hold that night. But for Rascal Flats,
so what, you wrote a song that day? Yeah, they
sent it out maybe too Flats because they thought it's this.

(38:31):
It was sensible, both of them. That night he got
put on hold. I think it was that night. Yeah,
Like when we got home they were like, this is
on hold for Flats and for us were like, things
things are heating up, things are really really good at
which if you know you know what a hold is
when they never cut the song or anything like that.
But for us, it was just like it was legitimately
like Rascal Flats heard our song. That was a huge

(38:53):
and as small as that you know, might seem now,
you know, in our minds, it still it was such
a big deal because it was you know, you have
these big dreams when you're coming to town, and it
was kind of that first taste of like whoa this
is like somebody who's who has done it, who is
a successful artist, has they liked our song and put
on hold. So that was a huge deal for us
and that was kind of the fuel to be like

(39:14):
we should let's let's you know, keep doing this because
we liked you know, what songs are writing. Would you
compare that early part of you and Dan and I
don't mean this spacetiously at all, but when you meet
a girl, like when you and Hannah meet and you're like,
oh my god, this is it, Like it's similar to
that feeling, which name as it was, because if you're
rand of four in the morning, that's what you do
when you talk to her all to four in the morning. Yeah,

(39:36):
I mean, I don't think for either of us. We
just were kind of it wasn't it was different than
when I met my wife, because when I met Hannah,
I literally told my friend Benji Davis is a writer
in town. He I told him, like right then. It
was in Arkansas. It's like our first day. It was
at George's Majestic Lounge, and I like walked her out
to a car and I got back on the bus
and I was like, I'm gonna marry that girl, literally

(39:58):
said like that night. But Dan, it was like we
were having fun writing these songs. We didn't necessarily like
we thought they were good, but we didn't necessarily be
like we're gonna make this is We're not gonna or
marry each other. But not neither one of those were
on my mind. And I think it just kind of
happened naturally to where like we thought the songs were good,
but as you do, you know when it's when it's

(40:18):
your work. We thought it was good, and it we knew.
I think the most exciting thing for us was there
was an aha moment, but it wasn't necessary like oh,
we're gonna be a duo. It was like, this is
the kind of music that I've been trying to write
this is all like everything has kind of led to this,
you know. It was like the stuff that I had
been wanting to write, but it just couldn't. I hadn't
quite found the sound yet. So are you saying that
when you two first started it was like we found

(40:41):
partners in creating more so than we could go be
a duo. It was exactly that. It was like, oh man,
this is like this is the kind of stuff. It
was like better than any of the stuff that I
had been writing in town. And I think for both
of us it was just kind of like, well, this
is like we we got something special here. So then
how long until you decide you're going to actually pursue
the artist thing together? Yeah, so we started to all
these songs we've been writing, because we we did start

(41:02):
to write a lot together. And so the more that
we wrote, we would just start doing like these writers
rounds and like playing these songs for our friends, and
like our friends and everybody were getting hype on these
songs like this is the greatest song, like we were
doing when we were in five oh seven. Morton Avenue
was the place. I can say it because we've said
it a million times. I'm sure that the owner of
that house hates us for probably talking about all the time. UM,

(41:22):
but it was like I think we would go to that.
We went to the house one time I specifically remember,
and I think it was Pete Tracy, who now does
all of our video stuff. It was his birthday and
we remember we shot like a fake music video for
one of the songs because we love it was so
good and it was just like it was just ridiculousness.
We were having so much fun and it was just like, man,
this this stuff is really cool. So we started to
play all the all the music out like rounds and stuff,

(41:44):
and then Dan and I we had eventually like there
was actually an opportunity that we had to go down
Um and I had booked a show. It was just
like Shae Mooney and we were opening up. We did
two shows together without actually being like a band at all.
It was just like he was there with me and
we were playing all the songs we had written. And
one was at Georgia's opening for Chris Allen and I

(42:06):
thought that we I thought I made it. Then I
was like this is you know, things are really starting
to take off. And then another one we played was
that in Conway um at at u c A. There
was this kid who booked me and I thought it
was gonna be like the biggest show ever. And I
think this. It was in there like little performing arts
theater which probably holds like, I don't know, maybe people,

(42:27):
and there was probably like fifteen people in there. And uh,
right after that, we went down to Austin, Texas because
my lawyer had set up this like showcase basically for us,
and we went down. We put together a band, the
whole deal. Dan I drive down on my truck and
we ended up playing the show and it was I'm
not kidding. There was There was honestly probably like four

(42:48):
people in the room and one was my lawyer, one
was like a bartender girl in the back, and then
our friend Paul di Giovanni, which ended up writing, uh
how not to for us used to be in the
band Boys like Girls. He was there, and then Dan's
lawyer and there was like no other people there. We
were hearsed for like four days and we were we
thought it was gonna be like our big break and uh, yeah,
it wasn't our big break, but at that time it

(43:10):
was I think on the way back from that trip,
we kind of made the decision of, like we've been
doing these shows together, like we should we should kind
of we should do a duo. And I think it's
hard to kind of put all this in my mind
to like line it up, but kind of when we
were writing all these songs, um, there was a guy
who had who knew he worked for Scooter Run at

(43:31):
the time. His name was Nano and he knew Scooter
and he had kind of been talking to to Skeeter,
I guess about us, and uh yeah, during that time,
Scooter ends up We're at a writing session and uh
we had kind of decided like, all right, we're gonna
do this this duo thing. And uh, once we kind
of decided that was when Scooter had heard about us,
and we were in a writing session at a guy

(43:51):
named Danny Orton's house and there was he faced times
us and basically says like I wanna work with you,
and uh Ed Sharon was was there. Is really funny
because he was like, well, you guys, play that song
that I like. It was a song called stop Dropping
Role that was actually on our first record. We had
like just written it, and he was like, play that song,
so we we played it and at the end he
was like, my friend wants to hear the song because

(44:12):
he really loves it because we had sent him maybe
like a demo or something and ed shearing like pops
and he say, hey, guys, how are you? This is
like the worst ed sheering impression. Hey guys, how are you?
And he yeah, we like saying stop dropping roll acoustic
like overface time to him, And that was kind of
the start of it. Did you go and play for
different labels? Yeah, yeah, I think that at the beginning

(44:33):
we had at first we had pitched, you know, we
we wanted to you know, be writers. Was like the
whole point we wanted to you know, be signing. We
were working with you know, some some guys and Rohan
who now works with us at Warner who's our and
our guy. Um, he was kind of working, you know,
we were we were trying to you know, get all
these these meetings with publishers and things, and it was

(44:54):
really funny. At the very beginning we were meeting with
like everybody because at this point we had we still
had zero money like at all coming in and Dan
and I used to like we would go out to
like a publishing meeting, and we would always like we
would make them take us to dinner, like we'd always
take the dinner meetings because it was like that was
free food and drink for the night. It was fantastic.
So I think we took out a couple of people,
which which now is funny because there's a couple of

(45:17):
our now friends in town of like, man, I was
a new publisher and you guys maybe take I spent
like Tim Grant on you guys and you didn't sign
with us, And I was like, sorry, dude, But yeah,
we were meeting with you know, publishers at first, and
then kind of when we decided to come together, we
met with several labels in town and um bidding war
for you a little yeah, a little bit. There was

(45:37):
like at that time, we had we had all these songs,
you know, that we had written. We had, you know,
a couple of hundred songs that we had, and we
were doing all these these demos and everything, and we
had I think that the demo that we were bringing
out around to people, it was like twenty two songs
that we had had on this thing, and they were
and they would they would just go in there and
be like, all right, you know, just pick a song

(45:59):
and play it. And uh yeah, there was there was
kind of at the end, there was sort of, you know,
this little bit of a bidding war. But we had
kind of we met with with Warner Brothers and we
had met s BO and Um. I think it was
like ten thirty in the morning, and we went in
and we played with them, and they just they were
so passionate about it from the very beginning. And Spo
if you if you know Spo at all, he's very

(46:20):
passionate about music, loves music, And it was like ten
thirty in the morning and he was like, you guys
aren't leaving this room until you signed with us, and
so we were like, well this guy was pretty fashionate.
But uh yeah, that was it was. It was kind
of crazy and it's hard to even like remember all
that because it all happened so quickly after that. You know,
people see it as like, oh, this happened like overnight
if you guys just became an overnight success. But it

(46:41):
was really this accumulation of of me doing my thing
and Dan touring since he was like thirteen years old,
and it was kind of that moment where it all
kind of came to a head and it was just like,
I don't know it was I think when we signed
it was it was it was two thirteen when we
put out like our our first single, like that summer
and we were going on like radio tour and it

(47:01):
was just like it all it was crazy. It was
just a crazy time, and it's it seems like yesterday
and now that I look back, that was now here
we are. I'm gonna come back to nineteen you and
me in one second. But something you said when we
were talking about you meeting Hannah going I want to
marry her, is that you walk back to your bus. Yeah.
So were you guys touring through Arkansas when you guys

(47:24):
were on your first date? Yeah? Yeah, so we had
I had known about her, like we had a bunch
of mutual friends. She was Miss Arkansas. Yeah. So if
you go through Franklin, Arkansas, still a pretty big billboard,
it's a pretty big deal. So she's she's a lot
coreer than me, definitely a lot better looking. Uh. But yeah,
we were on tour. We were I want to say
it was our first time planning. George's like legitimately like

(47:44):
as a headliner and that was like our our one
of our first times playing there, and I was pretty
excited about it because we had like, you know, that
was the hometown show, and it was, Yeah, we have
been talking a little bit and I basically begged her. Yeah,
I think it was like Facebook or Twitter or something.
I don't know, but I had invited her to the
to the show, and I know in her mind now
that I've like talked to her, she was like, this

(48:06):
is not gonna happen because she was like unimpressed. She's like,
I'm not gonna I'm not dating a singer, you know.
And I was just like I was doing everything I
could that night. Whenever I was like I knew kind
of like I was looking for the whole time. So
you were like looking at her section too, I was
looking at her section, Yeah, and I was, I mean
I was looking. I was smoldering. You know now that
I know how dumb I look doing that. I wish
I would have done that, but still worked out. But yeah,

(48:28):
it was. It was crazy. I was looking for the
whole time, being like all right, I know she's here,
and if she wasn't there, I would have been devastated. Well,
and if she wasn't there, that section that would had
a great night. Got a lot of you. Yeah section,
there was like like a couple of people in that section.
They were like feeling it like he wants he wants me,
he wants me. I'm gonna play nineteen you and me.
Here's a little bit of this watching. That's the first one, right,

(48:51):
it's the first one. Now you know you said a
second ago too, And I think a lot of people
look at you guys to go, wow, what overnight success
everything of Roses song, which did wonderfully for you guys,
only hit number nine. Yeah, it didn't even hit that.
It went to eleven. Well, my notes has peaked at nine,
so one of the charts, I think it. I don't
think that I ever picked. I think it was eleven,

(49:12):
like on both charts. And did you feel like when
they happened though that that I mean that was huge? Right? Yeah? Yeah,
I mean it was kind of that we were stuck.
I mean I remember when Nada told us that, you know,
our song was going to be on the radio. We
about I literally blew out the speakers in my jeep
like listening to that. Whenever we found that out. It
was like the biggest deal to have a song on
the radio and to be like on a radio tour
was all like, I can't believe this. It was insane.

(49:34):
It felt like hitting the lottery, which really, you know,
to do what we do is, you know, then you
come off with the next next song here and show
you off comes out and doesn't do as well like
my note heres as peaked at nineteen. Yeah, it didn't
do good now And my point in saying this is
we haven't played that song in years yet, so you

(49:54):
don't play it any No, no, no, no, I hope
that's not any But when a song doesn't do as
well as your first one, are you starting to like
hang your head a little bit? You know? I think
it was all kind of we were just so stoked
to be in it all. I don't think we thought
about it too much, um, because it's kind of it
would have been worse, Honestly, it would have been worse.

(50:14):
I think if nineteen and me would have would have
been at number one, and then we followed it up
with a nineteen. Since it was kind of this like
it still felt like, all right, we still have like
our chance to like have the song, and I don't
think that any of us like it was tempo, but
like looking back, neither of one of us were like
stoked on that song. We were about nineteen and me
and it's still it's still one of our biggest songs

(50:35):
because you know, at that time and it's so it
was like platinum. It was like a big you know,
it's sold a bonch. It did really well for us,
but we had put it out to radio immediately we
went on radio tour, so by the time we got
to the West coast, the East coast have been playing
it like they had played like fifred times, so like
we didn't feel we knew it went number one and
almost like every market, but didn't just not all at

(50:56):
the same time. So we were like feeling good about that.
But when you off kind of you know, didn't do
its thing. We we kind of it was kind of
a you know, like, man, I wish that would have
done better, But I don't think that any of us
was like super passionate about the song to begin with,
so it didn't sting as much. But the third one
that was kind of the pinnacle of not the pinnacle,
but really the start of it that would have been

(51:18):
if that one didn't go number one. That's when you
start to be like, oh, this is my connection to
show you off is that I remember having you guys
up in the studio and because you guys would come
in like three times so far, and mostly it was
because we knew each other more than anything. You guys
are really good, But it wasn't because you had a
bunch of number ones when you were fun on the air,

(51:38):
um two year, really good on the year, and we
had a personal relationships. And I was like, you guys
are coming in and we did a bit together where
you guys came in and saying boys to men's songs,
and it goes up on YouTube, and this is how
you guys have kind of affected my life from a
side part. We put it together, put it up on YouTube.
Scooter or your managers watching you guys on YouTube sees
me interviewing you guys, sees that is doing our thing

(52:00):
where it's like I'm not great at being on the radio,
but I'm great at doing a good radio show. And
he's like, dude, we should do TV work together. So
him and I get to know each other and start
working on TV projects together. Which has in turn later
by later I've gotten working a lot of projects, just working.
But because your relationship with him and him watching you
and seeing me and so that were fully responsible for

(52:23):
your career. Wasn't you bringing the check? Yes? This is
this the part they said you had some special Is
this what it is? But that's song nothing like You
as the one where I'm or not nothing like you,
but show you off as a one where I was like,
that was a big part of my career. That's so
cool because he had told you, had said that before,
but that's that's pretty crazy. Once I was with I

(52:43):
was with Scooter in a meeting and we facetimes you
guys and you guys were in a car somewhere together.
I was with that cheering yeah, no I was. I
was like, yeah, I totally remember that nothinglike You goes
number one. Yeah, and so this is a big one.
But I tell you where it really started to sing
like you guys were one next to me was the
build up to from the ground Up, because I started

(53:03):
to hear people go, oh, this next song from the
ground up is next level. Yeah, because you had a
number one and number ones are hard to get and
good for you and great, but and now you're on
the path took us forty seven weeks. If you feel
like from the ground Up was like the first real
respect you got from the community of art, Yes, it was.

(53:26):
It was because nothing like you was that song where
like it was, it was a hit, but it was
just kind of that it wasn't the song that it
was just like oh, Dan and Shay like this is
this is gonna be it Like obviously that was. It
was a hit, but there's a there's a big difference
between like a number one song and something that truly
like really impacts your career, and and it did for
us at the time. You know, we would go out,

(53:47):
we were also headlining like these small shows, and you
could tell when we played that song people would freak
out because it was a hit. And I think it
was more because they were like yeah for us, and
not necessarily you know, out of that people weren't you know,
it wasn't there wasn't a lot of respect factor there.
Like you said, like from the ground Up was the
first where people even in town was like, Okay, I
think these guys might be here to stay. That's when

(54:10):
I felt it was getting legitimate for you guys as
not just singers but artists. Yeah, and there is a difference.
It's yeah, it was like a three sing again, well
he's worth three. It was like three or six degree,
like everything they're doing is right on. This is it? Yeah,
And I think it's that point where were it was
the first time we were really really excited of like
we we kind of started to hear even from like
the songwriting community of like like I wish I would

(54:32):
have written that song. It was kind of that moment,
like I don't think there was very many people we
did with like nineteen and me. There were some people
would be like, that's you know, that's my favorite song.
Nothing like you like our first hit and show you off.
People weren't being like I wish that I would have
written that song. There's been times like I wish I
maybe you didn't write that song. You know. It's like
and I'm thankful for every you know, ounce of everything
we've ever gotten to do. But that was kind of

(54:53):
the first song and it was very personal to us too,
you know, we had written that about our grandparents and
it was it was kind of that moment we're just like, man,
this is this is crazy. You know, that's when things
started really to happen for us. How not two hits
Adam Hambrick earlier, one of the writers of the song.
I would play it because Adam had to come out

(55:13):
and fill in when I would do early raging idiot stuff,
And so I had to learn this song and try
to do his background because he would sing it because
you know, if you write a song, you get to
sing it. And he's fantastic too. Yeah, this song goes
number one. Now most of these are number one. I'm
gonna bring up maybe a store spot for a second
because road tripping. It's a little heart road trip and

(55:35):
hit number thirty six. So one, did you want to
put the song out? Two? Did you jump off it earlier?
Did it just fizzle out? We we we pulled it.
We did pull that song because it was you know,
it wasn't that I like hated that song, like I
don't like to play it, like we don't play it live.
It was just kind of one of those moments where

(55:56):
it was it was a tempo is something that we
felt like we kind of needed and our fans loved it.
It was like and live it like did really well
and it was kind of that moment where it was
the best move I think we could have made in
our career. Even still looking back, that was the best
move at that time was to pull that song because
that that's set up, you know, what was the next

(56:16):
chapter of your freaking career when it was like and
you went from being a strong artist to know kaboom
time went te Keela hit to change the whole world.
In my mind, your whole world changed. Every don't know
what happened in your world. Everything changed. But when this
song ends, and I remember the lead up to it,
and I remember talking to Nicole before it came out
and the old galley and this song just shook up everything. Yeah,

(56:40):
it was that moment where I remember whenever roach like
when we were picking the single that wasn't necessarily like
my my choice. We we brought in, you know a
bunch of people to be like, you know, what what
should be the next single? And you know that was
it was back and forth between a couple of songs.
You know, we had you know already ready on our
last record, on our not on our last record, but
the the second album. Uh, And there was a couple

(57:02):
of other like contenders for singles, And the problem was was,
you know, our fans. We had done this, you know,
such a grassroots thing that our fans were like buying
the album and they were listening to every song. So
it was kind of it was a little bit tough
to to pick a single because they had already really
you know, kind of taken in that record, and we're
kind of like, you know, they loved the record, but

(57:24):
they had kind of heard all these songs, and I
don't think that there was any single that we could
have put out that would have kind of taken us
to the point where you know, Tequila did. And I
don't think that if we would have put Tequila out
in a different time that it that it would have
worked in the way that it did. I mean, it
still would have been a hit, but the way that
all happened, Like looking back, but being like, all right,
we pulled road Trip and and now we're gonna this

(57:44):
is a reset, and we're gonna we're gonna do this.
It was the first of a new whole project. It
was Yeah, it was the first of a whole new project.
And I remember like we had had these you know,
we'd had these songs and we were really excited about them,
and we had had I think like a few like
single UH that were contenders for like the first thing
that we put out there. And I remember Dan and

(58:05):
I were in London and we had to talk um
and I remember like before we cut to Quila, I
was such a fan of the song because I did.
I wasn't a writer on that. It was Dan and
UH and Jordan Reynolds and UH and and Nicole Galleon.
And I remember hearing that song and I was just
like that, I want to sing that. I think I can.
I think that that'll sound good with us doing that,
And there was it was just that moment where like

(58:26):
we were all in and I remember talking with a
label and Dan and I were like in this little
room we were playing in London, I think, and we
were on tour over there, and we had this whole
conversation of like, we can't there's a lot of people
in the label, like we can't put out a ballad first,
We just can't do this. And I remember we were
just having this whole conversation. I was just like, we're
we're putting this song out. This has to be our

(58:46):
first one. Dan and I were so like Adam about it, like, look,
this is we're taking the reins. This is it. And
I just remember like making that decision and we put
out the song and it was just you know, the
lead up to that, we tried to you know, we
didn't know what it was. That was a kind of
a scary time, but at the same time we were
very excited because I feel like, out of anything we
had done, there's like the songs that we had done,

(59:08):
like I was very proud of, like from the ground up,
and even like nineteen you and Me there and how
Not Too. Those were the first times whenever I felt
like I could play something for like my friends and
then be like that's sick. You know, I love that.
But Tequila was like the moment where everyone was like,
oh my god, like that is that's crazy? Like this
is it felt cool? Like it that song a love
We put that out. It made us like the cool

(59:30):
thing to go see in town. When that song hit,
it changed everything pretty much like overnight. I mean, it
was just insane. I still think that it's the song
that I've seen screwed over more for rewards than any
other song on my history here. And I say that
not joking. And I know you're you're gonna be like, oh,
wall shucks. But I do think that I and I
would even you know, talking with Dan or Nicole or

(59:52):
people that have I would be like, I can't believe it.
I'll tell you one time, I was presenting the CMA
for Duover the Year and I was just and I
love on TJ Brothers Osborne. I have a close relationship
with them, but in my mind, I was like, this
is so damaged. This they there's not been to do.
Others had a bigger year that you had. Been speechless Tequila,
you've been touring. I was like, I'm going to read

(01:00:13):
their name and then they're gonna pick me up and
it's gonna be all We're gonna have like the greatest
moment and um and and it wasn't. And I opened
up the card on it was on ABC, and I
said in the winner for do other Year and I
saw Brothers Osbourne. I called him up and I thought
what they did even then, I think they were shocked
because they give you guys a shout out of there,
which felt like I didn't we didn't know what to do,
like you good, who wants to be down here? It's everyone. Man,

(01:00:37):
I don't know. I can't smile any bigger speaks to
their character to do that. Um, but I know that
it has it has to And I'll speak from personal.
And you can say whatever you want at times when
you're having great success but no one is giving you
the cred from where you're living. It sucks and that
and and you can say but I've had to happen

(01:00:58):
to me too, it sucks. Hurts a little bit. Yeah,
And at that point I was like, Holy mother, like
right now, they're not getting it from home, but when
they do, they're gonna own home. And I wonder how
you kind of got through that? It was man. I
think I think Dan took it a little bit harder
than I did, just inherently because he I don't want

(01:01:18):
to see like I don't do anything, but like Dan
puts his entire life into this and I do as well.
But you know, obviously now like I have a family,
there are other things that really you know, and that's
for him too, and everything's a chance he has. He
has a wife, you know, and pretty much a family
with his dogs, and there are other things obviously that
mattered to him. But I think that that really, you know,

(01:01:38):
that was just a lot of months going into making
this stuff and and the build up to this and
when someone when you go and you lose, it just sucks,
like there's never and it doesn't just suck for for us,
you know, it sucks for everybody. It's horrible to lose
and it's terrible to get up there. And the whole
concept of award shows now that we've like and after
that we won like everything, and it was it was

(01:02:01):
like it was cool, but it was just kind of like,
it sucks that a lot of artists you feel like
you live and die by these award shows and it's
just not the truth. You know, it's amazing to be
recognized by your peers, but I think that your peers
do you recognize you in other way as it just
sucks when it's publicly like you lost and you had
such a monster you're like nobody else had. Yeah, I

(01:02:21):
think that to me because the talent is so different
and so just it's premier talent. Every duo nominated premiere talent.
But you guys had statistically speaking, in every count chart, streams, tickets,
there really wasn't something. Yeah, that was what hurt I

(01:02:41):
think that's what hurts when you know that, Like you
don't want to say, like we deserve it, but if
there is a metric, you know what is the metric?
At that point, it's like because you hope that it's
just like whatever the biggest song was, like the biggest
thing was you would hope that that would win, which
is just not the case, which is it sucks if
you win, it's great, but like sometimes that happens with
us when it's like they know, like that song probably

(01:03:02):
should have won, you know, and every word show is
different where it's you know, the Grammys is more like
a cred thing. It's not necessarily based on like what
was the biggest song, which is why we were blown
away when we when we did win a Grammy because
it was like, you know that that song was very
commercially successful, so you're like to win a Grammy for
it was like kind of a surprise for us. We
had no idea that that was going to happen. But

(01:03:23):
I don't know, it does suck. Man, Like you're there
and they're zoomed in on you and they're just waiting
for you. They're on to say something and they're on
a knee looking your face with a camera and it
is from me to you, Oh dude, closer than that.
I mean, it's literally like it's like a you know,
they're up there and you're trying to smile and it's
just like it's a weird thing. It's kind of like

(01:03:43):
if you're there and people, you know, they get crap
all the time because there's been in the past like
people having a bad reaction like what you know, and
they catch that like we got you, you know, and
they play that over and over again, like oh man,
like faith Hill. I've no idea that's never having a
faith Hill. But she was just like what you know
and whatever that is. But it sucks because like if
someone if some it's turn it around and make it

(01:04:06):
like a lottery, Like there's three people in the rim
and you're gonna win a million dollars and you put
through and you put a camera on them. What do
you think that the other two are gonna be? What
I'm gonna do? Whenever they're like yeah, this this person
and like the other twop like no, I put everything
I wanted on this, like this is everything. So it sucks,
Like of course you're gonna have a bad reaction, but
we're all know now, like they'll get you if you're

(01:04:27):
not you know, bummed out because it sucks, like for everyone,
it sucks, and it's just kind of I don't know,
and it's hard to see, like to see other people like,
you know, lose it. We had we kind of saw
the other side of that because every award show after
that we won like everything, and it was just kind
of like this is like now we're on the other
side of this, and it's almost like you're up there
and then you just remember, like all these people right

(01:04:48):
now hate us because it sucks, you know, to be
on this side of that, and it's just I don't know.
I think the most important that we tried to not
you know, live and die buy award shows, because it
really is the most im written thing to us is
to go out and to be able to to sell
out shows is like the biggest deal to us, Like
we want to be able to play to the most
people that we can and for our music to get

(01:05:09):
out there, you know. But it it definitely for anyone
to say like that it doesn't matter, like it matters,
Like it definitely matters, and that momentum helps like to
win an award shows is huge, So it definitely sucks
to because in in your heart you're almost like it
wasn't good enough, like what you did and what you
put all those hours into of not sleeping for two
years to make this record. It did, it wasn't good enough,

(01:05:32):
And that's what really hurts of just being like, damn that,
that's a bummer. You know, a couple more of these
real quick speechless it's number one massive wedding song the
Lords that it's the wedding song. The video, the whole
thing was like dialed in. Yeah, like you knew the
lane of this song visually, sonically, nailed it all to myself.

(01:05:52):
Made a lot of love to myself for this song.
I'm gonna ask you about ten thousand hours, what was
the process like to get a song with Justin Bieber?
Were you already talking about doing something together? Eventually? Did
you have the song and Scooter go what what was
that about? Yeah? I mean it was kind of it
all started. I mean we obviously through Scooter, we had

(01:06:14):
we had met like some people like we had met
Ed Shearing through him. We had met Justin zur and
we had been to l a a bunch of times,
and we had met Justin a few times, and we
always thought like, man, it'd be so cool. It's like
to get Justin on a song because it's like, you know,
it's one of the biggest pop stars in the world,
you know, and it was just like that in our
mind was like we of course I want to do
a song with him, you know, especially since we have
this connection. No one in country has this unique connection

(01:06:37):
that we do, you know, through Scooter and UM. Early on,
we definitely we wanted to try to, you know, do
something with and we had pitched some things and I'm
really glad that it didn't happen. Whenever, you know, it
might have happened, like a long time ago, would not
have been this. This is kind of the first time
we had written this song in Nashville, Jesse, Joe Dillon,
Jordan Reynolds and UM. It was kind of that point

(01:06:59):
where we had written the song and we're like, this,
this actually might be perfect for for Justin because in
that time, like the timing of everything of him being
you know, just getting married and all this stuff, and
it was the first time that we felt like we
were bringing something to the table where It wasn't just
like can we please get Justin bieberrun our song? It
was this would make sense for both of us. This
would be I think big for for both of us.

(01:07:20):
You know, it would make sense. We had like because
and before it was just kind of like, you know,
we were down here and we're like, can we get
we please get Justin in our song? And then at
that point, you know, we're out there like we're about
to do arenas. We're a legitimate act so we can
kind of bring something to the table, and um, we
just you never know what's gonna happen. It's not like
we were like, Okay, this is time and this is
for sure going to happen. We didn't know what was

(01:07:41):
gonna happen when we sent the song to him. Um,
but he just ended a Scooter or Doe. Yeah, we
had sent it to j B. We had we had
called him. Uh No, we had just sent it to
to Scooter to see if like it was something that
he would like. Before we just like, you know, send
it over to Justin and he was like, I think
that this this makes a lot of sense. And Justin
heard it and loved it, and he resonated with it.
I think, like we said, in the same way as

(01:08:03):
we thought that he would like it, he liked it,
and uh yeah, I just kind of we couldn't believe
it whenever they were like, yeah, this is gonna it's
gonna happen. So for for months, like we had his
we got his vocal, uh and and they had like
changed changed some things and kind of made it his own.
And it was crazy like getting that back. We had
to sit on that for months and months and it
was not on the song, and not telling anybody about

(01:08:25):
it was like the hardest thing we've ever done because
it was like, you know, I've literally in my phone,
I had, you know, a song with us in Justin Bieber,
and it's like I couldn't even talk about it. And
it was just like because if that gets out, you know,
that's like a big that's a big league. Like maybe
if like they found out work coming out with a
new song, that's probably not gonna country songs don't really
like leak, but songs that Justin Bieber on him like,

(01:08:46):
that's a you know, worldwide, there's a lot of people
trying to find that kind of stuff. So it was
it was a crazy, crazy moment, And it was weird
because I knew, I just knew. I had a feeling
that it was gonna be big for us, just because
the timing of everything, like the momentum that we had
going into this with Tequila speechless and all of my stuff.
It was just that moment of like, people are not

(01:09:07):
gonna they're not going to see this guy at all,
you know, and it was just crazy. Man. Before we wrap,
I want to play one of my favorite songs of yours.
It's called Your Love from two thousand eleven. Smack came
in up one seventy three in the Afghanistan charts. Oh

(01:09:28):
it was. It was pretty big in Afghanistan. I can't
even go there still, it's so it was so big there.
And maybe city Lights with Gabby, Oh yeah, these are
these are gay? So what was the goal with these
early songs? I was just messing, honest. I was actually
recording in Fayetteville with this guy named Mike Bailey, who
like kind of looks like you, which is pretty funny.
You guys look a lot of like like the whole deal.

(01:09:50):
He's got like where's black glasses? Everything? You're like a
much better looking like that. Yeah, he's like the you know,
I almost looked the poor man's version of that, you know,
the junior varsity meet university. Yeah, but yeah, I was
just I was just doing it for fun. It was like, ah,
I think I was in high school at that time,
just going to Fayetteville recording songs for fun in this
guy's house, and then I just would put them out

(01:10:12):
and would you send that off to people there hoping
to get that next level or we're just putting them
out for fun. Now. I was putting them out just
like thinking, like, you know, every day there are things
to go viral. This is probably didn't it didn't work out,
it didn't happen like that, but I was having fun.
I think I probably made I mean I'm literally made
like tens of dollars off that stuff. Good for you.
I still checked my CD baby, uh sometimes CD Baby,

(01:10:34):
I had CD Baby. I just checked music on my Space.
Uh No, I didn't know. I think my Space had
kind of it had fizzled out a little bit at
that time. I think I put like I would put
these covers on Facebook though. That's what I did, like
all through like high school. I would do Facebook videos
and YouTube videos. Yeah, I remember I checked that that
CD baby account one time because I fo forgot about

(01:10:54):
it because I had this like connected and that was
I don't think that like the label or anybody like
ever knew like it knew about it, but like they
didn't know like the money was going. And I think
I checked on CD baby account thinking like there could
be like some serious change in here, and there was
like thirty seven change, literal change. So yeah, go out
and check that out. I'm still Shae Mooney music on YouTube.

(01:11:17):
Go check that out. All right, You're gonna love it.
Your name, James Shay isn't moot. How do you spell
your last name? You're real m O O an e
m o n e y it is any anyway anyway? Yeah, yeah,
all right now. And if you're getting this with a pseudonym,
I don't think so. All right, um listen, go let
me do a little plugger for you guys, not that
you need it because you were killing the world. Uh.

(01:11:38):
The Arena tour kicks off March six in Nashville with
the bank Amino and Ingrid Andrews, who's a great friend
and so good, so good all the way through October
thirty one and you guys are everywhere. It's hard to
get tickets. It just is. It's just really great to see.
It's good to see people that work really hard crush
it because it gives hope to other people who work

(01:12:00):
really hard. Likewise, man, it's it's really fun also, just
to to say it is very I think the coolest
thing about this town is the people that you do
meet and when you get to see them. Also, you know,
crushing it and having these moments is fun because you're
killing it. It just doesn't it doesn't feel like real
life for either one of us. This is wild and
I think a bit too, we haven't stopped to take
it in is real schair sometimes? Yeah, And I think

(01:12:20):
for you it's great you have a kid and a
wife because I think there's probably some balance there that
you didn't have before. When I'm home for like two weeks,
I forget what I do for a living literally, which
is probably not a good thing, but it is just
kind of those are two different worlds. So it's cool
to slow down and I kind of remember how how
blessed we are to get to do this, especially with
people we love. Well, dude, I love you. I'm glad
you're and I'm rooting for you guys. I get nervous

(01:12:42):
for you guys. And and that's that's how you know
I really care because I'm like, man, I hope this
does so good. We hope the arena towards seals. I
hope so. But one of these days we have to go.
We have to play that. I don't think they've ever
done a concert like Bud Walton Arena. So let us
go and we'll go do that too. We'll go, I'll
do stand up and open the show and then you
guys is you guys will play. I would love it.
They're working. By the way, this can be our opener.

(01:13:04):
I'm working on getting a massive amphitheater in Fort Smith, Arkansas?
Or you really from my hometown? Are you in? Yeah?
Look at you and I and I want and I
want you to be in on it. They have an
opportunity to just talk about it. Let me I have
literally five Yeah, I just found that out, which is
pretty exciting. So well, in with that question five, it

(01:13:27):
says net Worth online, k it has to be higher, right,
not after this deal going all in the amphitheater alright?
Episode two twenty one, Sha Mooney follow on Instagram at
Shay Mooney, follow at Dan and Shay and go see
them if they're coming around. They really are even better
than you think they will be, which is an amazing
to say about someone you already think they're going to

(01:13:48):
be great. So and I mean that with all my heart,
not even saying all right, thank you you

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Bobby Bones

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