Chris Janson Has A New Album and It's GREAT + More Janson - McGraw coming soon?

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Episode Transcript

(00:01):
In studio with the guy that I'vespent more time with them my mother the
last couple of years, and I'mtalking over just the last couple of weeks.
You're welcome. So you went,Chris Jansen is here. What's up?
Man? How are you? I'mbetter now. I've been looking forward
to being in your studio, livewith you, and thank you for having
me. Dude. Absolutely, First, I gotta say so, we broadcast

(00:21):
down here on Lower Broadway and youwalked in and by no means of ours,
the guy on the stage was playingyou know there's cover acts all over
Broadway that used to be one downtownNashville, right, and so you've you've
done his gig. So the guy'splaying buy Me a Boat, as Chris
Jansen happens to just be walking inthe bar. And it was not imprompt

(00:43):
that was that was totally happenstance,by the way, did yeah. Yeah.
But the funny thing I want togive the dude his name is Justin
Lee. I want to give himcredit for is he knew you stood side
stage the whole time and he keptjust cool. He didn't make eye contact.
I couldn't have done that. IfI'm up there, i'd be like,
finish the song for me, youknow, man, I just uh

(01:03):
yeah, I just hopped up therejust because I well, I first just
got up there with them just tojust to encourage people to make sure that
they throw money in the tip jar, because that's the way these guys are
making a living down here in girls. And and I know how that I
know the struggle of that, soum, that's an important thing. And
the fact that he's up at what, like, I don't know, early
in the morning starting out through theafternoon. Those are awkward hours to be

(01:25):
playing anyway in a honky tonk.Man, I appreciate that, and I
respect that a lot. So it'spretty cool to get up there and just
just I've been so blessed by people. Man, I've been so blessed,
you know, so I just figurejust add to it. So let me
let me ask you, after theamount of time I've spent with you recently,
I'm reading your face a little bit. That's kind of an emotional moment,

(01:46):
like it was kind of like afull circle thing. Hell yeah,
it's super emotional, just because youknow, I remember what it was like.
Someone someone sent a message the otherday on social media and said,
hey, killer job at the arenalast night. We were there when you
were sleeping in your car behind Tootsie's, and so you know, that's that
says a lot. And uh,I mean people always ask me, oh,

(02:07):
man, did you ever struggle?Like I never felt like I struggled,
But I know that the there's twosides of that. I know that
the struggle is real, and thatreal life is taking place in so many
people's worlds, especially aspiring singer songwriters. And and this guy's out here,
he's you know, he's playing ina club in the starting out in the
early morning, and that's not aneasy thing to do, you know.

(02:28):
And you got to remember, evenlike at my level and above, it's
like sometimes you're playing for people whoare really in tune, but then there's
like twenty five percent who are justlike they're just there and and I know
how that feels. And so Iwanted to just show a little love there.
And also it's freaking humbling to havesomebody playing you're covering your songs in
a honky tonk where you started.It's nuts. It's it's nuts, yeah,

(02:52):
it's nuts. Yeah. And it'sand it's very emotional. You're right,
it was very well. Well itwas cool to see man. Thanks
take me through. If anybody callsyou on social media or they've seen you
live, they know that the recordingpart is probably great to put the album
part is great. But man,Chris Jansen lives on the stage like it's
like a whole new whole new bloodis pumped in you as soon as those

(03:13):
lights go low. Yeah scary,really, you're You're right. It's almost
like that's where Chris Jansen is born. All other ways, it's just Chris
the rest of the time. Yeah, uh, why is that? What
is it about about those lights goinglow and the first guitar nos hitting that
like bring you to life? Ijust let them. I just let the
music lead always. I don't evertry to lead the music, you know.

(03:34):
I think that, like even backin my younger days of of of
just learning to play. I thinkat first you trying to impress so many
people that you're letting you're trying tolead the music. It never works.
I just I quit that quickly andlet the music lead. And that's what
that's where the raw entertainment value comesfrom. I believe. Also, I
love fans and I love playing forthem and I love having hits. I
always I never understood, as afan myself, why I would go to

(03:58):
see some of my favorite artists ofall time and they would play a plethora
of album cuts that they thought youneeded to hear and didn't play any of
the hits. That's the stupidest thingI've ever seen in my life, and
I've seen it a bunch. I'mlike, can we just hear the hits?
Like, it doesn't matter if youhave one or five or twenty.
Can we just hear the hits.That's always been my motto. I have
hits now, I want to playthem for people, and I don't care

(04:19):
if I have to do them twiceover. Let's go, man, like
we're winning at such a big levelin life, like we should celebrate.
It doesn't last forever, you know. And so all that said, that's
where the energy comes from before Itake the stage. And you know,
I'm I'm and I'm always going tobe this way. I'm just still surprised

(04:39):
and I'm glad I think this way. I'm just still surprised people show up.
I'm grateful people show up, andlike, you know, it's if
I walk in someplace and twenty peopleare asking for my picture. I'm like,
dang, I mean, that's athat's a blessing, you know.
I'm like, I eat it up. Yeah, Well, and that was
it was cool man's deciding it's fun. Recently we got to see you be

(05:00):
an artist and a fan at thesame time on as you were a part
of Kid Rock Show and Austin notlonger. Was awesome. But the cool
thing is I felt like you alwaysgive all you have when you perform,
right, but I feel like therewas something special that night that you maybe
hit a different level. It wasthe most special, and because not only

(05:20):
that you did the show, butthen afterwards on social media, you and
your wife got to like sit andbe fans, which probably doesn't happen very
often for you. I haven't watcheda concert in ten years, and I
watched a whole concert from the beginningcredits to the last song. It was
the most And I'm gonna tell youright right now, his best friends call

(05:43):
him Bob Bob shows them is thebest concert I've ever been to in my
entire life. And I've seen somegreat ones. The best one I've ever
seen, hands down, the mostpatriotic, god loving, god fearing fans
die hard. I mean, itreminded me so much of my fan base.
It was like, and they acceptedme with open arms, a full
blown arena full of people. Andbelieve me, when you're on a show

(06:06):
with kid Rock, you don't haveto be He doesn't need you, he
doesn't need anyone, and you couldbe as famous as as famous can be.
He doesn't need you. And hisfans accepted me and loved me,
and I loved them, and man, they're just can't stand of good things.
I'll tell you this. You haveany idea how long it's been since
I've been moved by music, liketo the point of crying tears for real.

(06:29):
I cried my eyes out at afreaking This is something you never hear.
I cried my eyes out at aCured rock concert. It blew my
mind, dude, it blew mymind. So just people were so happy
and the happiness exudes from it,and there was so much positivity that it
just that's it, I thought,I can tell you I started. I

(06:51):
bawled my eyes out for three quartersaway through the show. So knowing how
important your wife is to your life, but to your profession as well.
At any point did you turn toher and go, hey, how can
we can't do that at my show? How can we also like tapping her
shoulder? I was like, that'shappening. She's like that, that's happening.
Calm down. I can hear.Now that's happening. She goes.

(07:15):
She goes and we're doing okay,right, but she goes, yet,
that ain't happening. We're doing good, but like, let him, we're
not doing that good. I mean, it was. It was unbelieved.
It's I can say this in closingwith it. It was unbelievable, and
thank you for asking. And Iso appreciate Kid Rock and he is so
appreciated and loved in my household.I just can't say enough good things when
it comes to relationships like that,whether it's working close with Kid Rock or

(07:40):
we're gonna talk about some people thatyou worked with on on the album here
shortly, how do those relationships helpyou create not just a new buy me
a boat every time you write asong right, uh yep, or a
new done? How do how dothose relationships challenge you to add decor to

(08:00):
the middle of that well you know. I usually I usually have the creation
done by the time that I askedsomeone to collaborate with me. Yeah.
So because I write my own songs, that's that's the good news, is
like already have one foot in thedoor, and it creates it in such
a positive atmosphere and creates a positivelight around it. Because whether they say
yes or no, that's just theicing on the cake. Right. So

(08:22):
if they say yes, great,we'll do a duet or a collaboration.
If they don't, that's okay too. I'm not offended. And believe me,
like over the years there have beenplenty like not nothing mean or nothing,
but it just doesn't work out orI don't really feel it. That's
great, Like I want honesty.Yeah, but I win either way because
the song was already done. Inmost cases, now it may be different,
you know, and there may bea whole different avenue of creativity that

(08:45):
I'm missing out on. Should Iget with one of my friends and like
we write the song together and it'sa true fifty fifty co write and then
we're a co recording in those kindof things, and so we'll see.
But I can tell you that likecollaborating with people like Dolly and Slash and
Darius and Brantley on this album.The outside of the album has been amazing.

(09:05):
Collaborating the past so people like Churchwas amazing, Tim McGraw, hands
down amazing, Blake Shelton amazing.I have a lot of great friends who
have who have taken a chance onme and uh and you know, it's
a two way street, but they, you know, pretty big stars,
and I appreciate their time and energyand their efforts, and um, it's
it's always been. It's always beenin a positive light for me. If
it didn't work out, I justwouldn't do it, you know, I

(09:28):
just I just wouldn't do it.So well, let's talk about the album
which is out now, The OutlawSide of Me. Was it your goal?
If anybody puts in a previous project, this doesn't it sounds like you.
It feels like you, but likeit's almost like I'll go with with
the new Indiana Jones movie just cameout. I can't wait to see it

(09:48):
same. I grew up on thosemovies like My Jam is still my favorites.
I'm glad. I'm glad you're withme because I didn't want you to
think that I was calling you asold as hairs Man been my favorites period,
but it's you know what to expectfrom a Chris Jansen album. That's
why you're a fan of his.But every version gives you something different and

(10:09):
new, the outlaw side of me. At what point where you like,
this is the avenue we're taking withthis record? Well, I had no
manipulation on this album. Every oneof my albums I had manipulative things coming
from all different directions of like youshould do this, or you should be
that, or you should sing this, or we don't really hear that one,
or maybe you should cut this oneor whatever. And that's fine because
I'm a team player and that's howrecord deals go. Not that they weren't
you though, No, they wereme. I wrote them all, but

(10:31):
but they just some There were certainparts looking in the past where I'm like,
I just wish I would have justkind of put my foot in the
ground a little bit. But youknow, to make things work in a
positive manner, sometimes you have toebb and flow, which is fine.
This record, I had no manipulation. I just wrote the songs, turned
them into the label. The labelwas like hell, yeah, we're into
this. And it was as simpleas that. We A and R this

(10:54):
project, basically me and Julie andmy producer and Kelly at the kitchen table,
just like this, like push play. We okay, do we all
like it? Yeah? Cool?All right, put in the keep pile.
Do we like now? We don'treally like this one? And then
we just played them for the upperups at the at the record label,
which is the process, and thankfullywe turned in like twenty songs and they're

(11:15):
like, we love all these.Pick thirteen or fourteen, let's make a
record. We cut a record intwo days. I mean it was like
while we were done, we bookeda week for a session, cut it
in two days. Done. That'sit done, just like that. And
the songs I think are better.They're funner. They're harmonica driven, which
is something that for whatever reason,I've left out on my last couple albums

(11:37):
just because it whatever. But you'regetting it in a live show, you
dang right, And you're getting thisrecord is basically a live show on record.
It does feel it feels a liveshow on records. What I do
live Finally, and I just havea great team. He lets me do
that. So you said there wasthis funnel approach where, like you know,
there was a lot of different thingsfeeding into what we were getting before

(12:00):
too many opinions. Have you sosome of these songs we got on the
outlast side of me? Have youbeen sitting on any of these or were
you like totally okay? All Ineed is You? The first hit single
I wrote during the pandemic. Iwrote that in twenty twenty, sitting on
the back porch of the beach house. I'm thirty eight. That's where the
song came from. Days in theField. I wrote that in twenty seventeen

(12:22):
and debuted it at a bass prograndopening event for Wonders of wild Life in
Missouri. That's how long that song'sbeen sitting there. But it hasn't just
been sitting, you know, away. I've been playing it and keeping it
alive. Just needed to find theright fire to throw the gasoline on.
And then we found it, andboy it when we did it was like,
WHOA, how does it feel You'veyou have the potential of number ones

(12:45):
and hit records and sold out shows? What does it feel to have a
song performing the way a Christ Jans'ssong should perform again. Well, thank
you very much. It's a blessing, the biggest blessing of all, because
you have to understand from me,I've said it a million times. I
will sit until the ed. AllI ever cared about was being on the
radio. That's why I moved here. I wanted to That's why I moved
to Lord Broadway. I wanted tobe on the radio and be a you

(13:09):
know, a radio star. That'swhat I wanted to be. I'm getting
to be it. I'm getting tobe it over and over and I'm getting
to be it yet again, withall I need is you not to mention.
There are certain singles that people release, myself included that I'm at first,
I'm like, whatever, Okay,I'm glad it's a hit. I
love this song. I would lovethis song if it wasn't a hit,

(13:30):
and I would love it that itis. And thank you for the compliment.
And I appreciate the way you wordedthat too, because I've always felt
like I've had a very good foundationwith country radio and just continuing that legacy
is very important to me, andit's and it's it's truly the number one
thing that's always been important in myheart, soul and the nature. It's
my number one way to get tomy fans, and I appreciate it.

(13:54):
With this album, were you knowingthat it was one of the first times
in your career you could be like, this is going to go my way.
Yeah, right, I'm gonna doit. How how comfortable I am?
Yes, But with that there's nosafety that either, right when when
when there's all these other opinions,there's every now and again turned around and
be like, yeah, this timeit's Jansen or bust right, well yes

(14:18):
and no, yes, yes onthe fact that that's awesome and yes it's
true. But the other part ofthat is it's interesting the minute that you
get the free reins, then youstart wanting to ask opinions. Then you're
like, okay, you feel morecomfortable in your own in your own placement
of where you're at. Right,And so I'm great. I have to
say that I'm grateful for my teamfor accepting me for who I am and

(14:39):
who I want to be in themusic I want to make. And that's
that's that's when I thrive the best. If you just let the music lead,
I can play live shows, Ican sing and produce and write and
play and whatever. And um,that's the easy part for me, just
mentally getting into those zones where Ican just be one hundred percent authentic Chris
Jansen or Bust, then it works. What are I'm gonna I'm gonna ask

(15:05):
you to pick a favorite kid here? Okay, not in your house,
but on the album. What aresome songs that that you are most proud
of on this project? Obviously collaborationsaside, right, just the songs themselves,
because it's epic that you have workedwith Dolly that which, by the
way, when's the last time Dollyhad a collaboration right? Uh? Darius

(15:28):
Rucker, which I mean I don'tknow if he's collaborated with anybody that hasn't
been named Blowfish before. Also,uh, there's the Brantley, there's the
Slash. I mean, first ofall, if any record label that you
walked in and said, hey,I want to collaborate with Dolly and Slash,
they'd go, yeah, we'll workon that next time. But what

(15:50):
do you want today? So sogive us, give us a little bit
on how how those came together.And more importantly, they were good songs
with or without these people. ButYou're damn glad they were part of it.
Why did it make sense? Now? Well, first part of the
question on the favorite songs on therecord, let me just give you a
few choice cuts that I would likepeople listen to. Days in the Field
my number one favorite. Days inthe Field is my number one favorite song

(16:10):
on the album. Second to that, All I Need Is You is my
second top tier song on the album. I love the outlaw side of me.
I love rowdy Gentleman because it remindsme of old school Hank Jr.
Now moving on to the collaborations,Man, the timing was just right with
these people, Okay, Like Ifigure that if you don't if you don't
shoot for the stars, how couldyou ever touch one? Right? If

(16:30):
you don't dream big, how couldyou ever win big? If you don't
bet on yourself one hundred percent ofthe time every time, nobody else is
going to bet on you. AndI bet on myself every time all in
period. Nope, even if Ibust and lose. Right, So that's
just always been my thing and it'sworking for me. And so like,

(16:51):
for instance, when we reached outto Dolly and Slash said, Hey,
Dolly, would you collaborate with ChrisJansen. Yes, that's it. Hey,
Slash, would you play guitar onthis and put a November Rain two
point oh solo on the song ofa guy that you've probably never heard of.
Yes, just like that, Likeso awesome. What's the worst that
could happen? No, I'm notinterested, Okay, no problem. Not

(17:11):
offended. Thankfully they were interested.The cool part was, dude, is
they is? They both sent backmessage like, hey, is there any
direction you'd like us to take?Or any who asked that? I mean,
you know what I mean. Like, first of all, it's so
humbling that they would say that,but um, you know Dolly Parton,
Like I'm thinking to myself like,no, man, just you're I mean,
you're Dolly Parton sing what you singtwo too, lululu. I don't

(17:33):
care. And Slash can play,Slash can play Red Rover and whatever you
want to play whatever, Like,just place. I don't care, man,
just play something, and I'm justthankful that you're doing it. But
I literally said, back to Slash'scamp, hey, just November Rain two
point zero if you're cool with it, And that's what I got. You
also mentioned when we caught up atthe I Heart Country album released party for

(17:55):
the Outlaw Side of Me that notonly did you collaborate with Darius, but
you ended up producing Darius to thepoint where he's like, how do you
want me to sing this? Yeah, like in the in the studio because
Julie and my producer was like,on his way to the studio. Well,
Darius is like a consummate pro andhe shows up early to everything.
I mean like he's one of thebiggest stars in the world in two genres
or three I guess technically rock andcountry. And he showed up and I'm

(18:21):
like, oh, man, wouldwait till Julian gets here. He's I
was like, or we just goit. He's like, let's go ahead
and do it. So we getin there, and then Julian got there.
Julian's like, y'all just do it, and so I'm like cool.
So I'll sit behind the console justlike this, and Darius is like over
there in the vocal booth. He'slike, hey, any direction, and
I'm like, I mean I literallyjust like, uh, you're a Darius.
What you want He's like, no, literally, I'll follow your lead.

(18:42):
And I was like, all right, we'll do it this way,
this way, this way, andthis way and this way. And he's
such a pro man, you know, And I you got to remember that
I asked him to do the duetafter listening to let her cry. Yeah
in the rain driving to the planeat one o'clock in the morning. Yeah,
yeah, yeah, totally. Sohe got in there and I said,
you just do what you want andI'm good with it. And that's

(19:04):
it. He took two passes andwe were good at it. Do you
now this is like a Cardinal Sinquestion. I'm gonna ask you about singles
because we should be focused on theone that's now and that's good. But
as a guy who is so passionateabout the music, he puts out,
I know you're thinking next. Wehad a conversation not long ago. What's
next? Do you think we're allfocused on current? But do you know

(19:26):
what you want to do next?If they said, hey, we got
five favorites, you just pick whatyou want, well, that that would
be my eggs. Actually, sothe first dance first part of that,
No, I do not. Secondly, I'll answer it like this, I
would probably say exactly if they theoreticallysaid that to me, I would say
it right back to them, tomy label. That is because I'm not

(19:48):
the one really working the music.They're working the music. I'm just doing
the music right, making it,playing it whatever. I guess working it,
but you know, not really,Yeah, and so I want whatever
they can work the best. Andthe good news is I wrote these songs.
I'm proud of all fourteen of them. And there's not a curveball you
could throw me that I couldn't catchor hit out of the park. Which

(20:11):
ever works best for the team,I'm good for. The last thing I
want to ask you is we gotwe got? You know how, Like
there's a piece of pizza and you'relike, I don't want to eat it,
but you pick off like the sausage, and then you pick off the
pepperoni right yesterday. So that's kindof what you did to us when you
were talking about the songs you've written. Right, you have a whole slice

(20:34):
of songs you've written, but youjust picked off the truck y app pepperoni
at the iHeart Country of release.She hounded me first, So I'm gonna
make sure we cover this you.Anybody who loves Chris Jansen today loved him
before they knew his name. Asa country music fan, it's tough to
be like, I love this song. Oh, it's a low cast song.

(20:56):
I love this song. It's aTim mcgraws song. Yea. Not
many fans dive into the weeds onthe writing aspect, right, but you
have been writing people's favorite songs longbefore they knew your name, and some
of those are what other than truckYeah? Yeah? Well, first of
all, I'm gonna name these.Then I'm gonna give you a second part
of this. Yes, truck Yeah, that was my big one. I
always say that first because it changedour life. We mean, it changed

(21:19):
our life in every single way.I love this Life for low Cash,
which was It's It's a gigantic song, huge, biggest song of their set,
and Build a Fire for Cody Johnsonsong number seven Randy Howser. Two
of my choice favorites which were turnedout singles, but for me personally it

(21:41):
was like a bucket list thing forme were Hank Junior to record my songs
Those Days Are Gone and God FearingMan m gal Lee which other ones which
one oh yeah yeah, that's anotherchart topper, my bad I forgot sorry,
um how I'll always be for TimMcGraw and quite possibly thank you Kelly,

(22:04):
that might be the favorite song.It is. It is actually the
favorite song that I've ever had recordedby another artist, which was it was
a big, big song for Timbecause I wrote it for myself first and
then I just I was like,I wonder if McGraw would sing this,
and I sent it to him andhis album was already done. I mean
it was like in the can douneokay, And he recorded it and stuck

(22:27):
it on the album and it wasthe next single. So that's crazy,
man, that's crazy how that happens. But uh, you know, McGraw
has been very good to me overmy over my career, and I've been
a good friend. And but youknow, if you look at it that
if you look at songs and peoplehave recorded for their albums, but then
you also look at the collaborations.I remember I wrote those songs, so

(22:51):
I technically have written songs for andhad people put put the vocals on them,
from Dolly to Slash to Darius toBrantley to Tim multiple times, Blake
Shelton, um Eric Church actually hewrote Church wrote his song that We Cut
Together. You me and the River. That's the only outside song I've ever

(23:11):
cut. But anyway, I've hadsome good I've had some good bouts in
music. I would say, I'mI'm proud of it. I got it
on my wall. So let meask you this then, which I was
trying to land the plane pun intendeda couple of minutes ago here all right,
No, no, it's I loveit. I'm a pilot, so
it's like a no, it's good. You're driving around the turbulence. I
appreciate it. I'm not a greatflyer, Yes you are. You flew

(23:32):
with me and you fly good together. Um, I think it's there.
It's the pre flight meal that's putyet these it's good. Um. When
it comes to a relationship, you'veYou've got more than one project that's been
successful with Tim McGraw. Do thoseartists ever come back to the well,
are they ever like, Hey,are you sitting on anything right now?
Yep? Okay? Is that isthat a behind the curtain? You can't

(23:55):
tell every Okay, I can answerthat, no problem. Tim McGraw has
recorded several of my songs that havebeen big hits. He's recorded some that
have not made the album it's okay, like happens, but then like they
get picked up somewhere else down theline or something like that. That's that's
not a behind the curtain question atall, Like that's just what happens.
I mean, you know, artistsrecord, they record a big group of

(24:15):
songs. Some make it, somedon't. And the ones the thankfully,
the ones that I've had, particularlyon tim that did make it, were
big singles, you know, Andso sometimes you got to think there's guys
and gals out there who have hadmaybe ten McGraw cuts but never had a
single. I've had two McGraw cutsand had two singles. So just whatever,

(24:37):
you know. I mean, herecorded one of mine a while back
here that maybe on the upcoming project, maybe on the one I'm hearing that
it may be on the one evenfurther down the line. That's fine too.
It's one of my favorite songs I'veever been a part of writing.
Just the fact that he cares enoughto record them, that's good enough for
me. I don't care. Buthe'll check in and be like, hey,
how's a family. Yeah, that'sgreat. Got any music you're not

(24:57):
cutting yet? Yeah? No,base It's like, um so so fun
story for people out there who don'tknow this, Like I don't share this
a lot, but I'm sharing itwith the world now. It's like Tim
classically was a part of his fameand Ara, him and Faith were like
having this farm that Hank Williams oncehad, yeah, and then they like

(25:18):
chunked it up and sold into bigportions. Well, we now own a
big majority of that, and soI write a lot of my songs.
Particularly I wrote a lot of theShane Prophet record with Shane in the cabin
that we renovated that was once ownedby Tim McGraw, who was once owned
by Hank Williams. So I waslike texting Tim all these pictures like what's
up from your house, you knowthing and like, and we're buddies and

(25:41):
so that we talk like buddies wouldwith one another, you know, like
and so but that was kind offunny, and it's funny like McGraw is
such an emoji guy, so likeI'll be like, bro, I love
you, thank you for cutting mysong, and he'll be like, that's
is the cameraon. He'll be like, strong arm do you ever text with
Gator oh yas strong strong arm guy? Or like the yeah, these are

(26:04):
this, but I'll like said,but I'll like say something like really you
want to reply you say something likethat and you'll get strong arm. I'm
like, give me something that'll belike I'll be like, hey, Tim
man like, man, it wasdude, we were Michigan together. We
did this show together and like welike it was. It couldn't have been
any better, right mcgrawl Jansen showJanson mcgraws it was. The vibes could

(26:26):
not have been better. It wastwenty five thousand people. It was unbelievable.
I'm like, dude, killer show. He's like, no, I'm
like, look, great job thisdude. No, I mean that.
But you gotta understand, once youbecome friends with someone, you learn how
they communicate. That's how he communicates. It's okay that look you cat understand.
Keller's over here telling the story.Like you got to hear this on

(26:48):
on record and on camera. Likeso I'm on stage playing and I'm I'm
like beating the doors off this place. I'm I mean, I'm I know
in my heart, I'm like I'mstraight crushing this, like and so all
of a second, I'd say thatin good humor. By the way,
I'm not being cocky. And soI'm out there and but the crowd's going
wild and I get off the stageand Kelly's like she has to look on
her face, and I know whenshe's pissed, and I'm like, are

(27:11):
you okay? She's like, I'mokay now. I was like why.
She's like, because I was overhere and you almost got smacked in the
head with a lemon. And Iwas like what, and she goes,
yeah, she goes, I walkback behind that curtain backstage, and she
will tear your she will tell youra doubles apart. Dude, trust me,

(27:33):
I don't care who you are.And she goes, I was so
mad because somebody was throwing stuff atyou on stage, like kind of lobbing
it out there. And I walkedback behind the curtain and it was freaking
Tim McGraw hiding in the shadows,throwing fruit at me, throwing fruit at
me and rolling it across the stage, like trying to trip me up,
like just being a buddy, right, being a yeah, yeah, he's

(27:56):
back there trying to be a footballpro, baseball pro, like throwing throwing
fruit at well, if i'd haveknown that too, and I told him
too, and he started a boyhe laughed. I said, I said,
listen, I'm gonna tell you something, muscle Man. Anybody but you
and there would have been an ashwhiponto be at. And that's a promise,
you know. And so I said, but anyway, that's how good
of friends I consider him, anduh, and I think it's mutual.

(28:18):
So anyway, it was just agreat kind of fun moment. But he
pulls that again. You just startplaying part of his set list and ruin
the second now, So don't thinkfor a second. Don't think for a
second. I wouldn't whip out twoof his biggest hits and play them.
They'd be like, good luck tohim. He's next. Yeah, I
don't want to hear these new songsI cut. Not only that, I

(28:41):
feel like that's a pay per viewby Kelly Jansen versus Tim McGraw. It
was so funny when she found him, when she found him too, and
he was, I mean, hewas, it was. It's funny.
I mean, it's funny. It'swhat friends do. If we weren't real
friends, he wouldn't be doing it, you know. And I appreciate that
so but he's uh, he's been, He's been great. And um,
somewhere online there's a cool video twoof of me and him and we're in

(29:03):
a locker room at an arena inSan Antonio. We're singing how I'll Always
Be when it was a single.And then there's another video of me and
him and Mark Collie sing an oldviolin Johnny Paycheck and it's really amazing.
Same trip. But anyway, Ilove you Tim. If you're watching and
listening, you know I love youand and you know I could beat you
arm wrestling, So no big deal. Same not Maybe if we team up,

(29:25):
I'll tickle him you arm your armwrestling, dude. The album is
out now. It is fantastic listeningon our iHeart Radio app. You can
go back to I Heart Country's YouTubechannel to watch part of the I Heart
Country album release party for the OutlawSide of Me. Chris Janson, Thank
you brother, Thank you brother.