Pipeman Interviews The 502s at Bourbon & Beyond 2025

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Bourbon & Beyond is the World’s Largest Bourbon, Food & Music Fest

Bourbon & Beyond Kicked Off America’s 8 Biggest Days In Music on September 11-14 In Louisville, Kentucky  

World’s Largest Bourbon, Food & Music Festival Featured Headliners The Lumineers, Benson Boone, Alabama Shakes (Thursday), Phish, Khruangbin, Joe Bonamassa (Friday), Sturgill “Johnny Blue Skies” Simpson, Jack White, Vance Joy (Saturday), Noah Kahan, Goo Goo Dolls, Megan Moroney (Sunday), Plus Dozens More Rock, Americana, Bluegrass And Alt Rock Artists Along With Elevated Bourbon & Culinary Experiences.  

The seventh Bourbon & Beyond welcomed fans from over 50 states and around the globe and over 120 music artists on five stages to Louisville, Kentucky over the weekend. The World’s Largest Bourbon, Food & Music Festival was held from September 11-14 at the at Kentucky Exposition Center in Louisville, Kentucky and featured an incredible music lineup of music legends and rising stars with headliners The Lumineers, Benson Boone and Alabama Shakes on Thursday; Phish, Khruangbin and Joe Bonamassa on Friday; Sturgill “Johnny Blue Skies” Simpson, Jack White and Vance Joy on Saturday; and Noah Kahan, Goo Goo Dolls and Megan Moroney on Sunday. The lineup also included Cage The Elephant, Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo, Collective Soul, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Iron & Wine, Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, Switchfoot, Third Eye Blind, Ringo Starr & His All Star Band, Pixies, Lake Street Dive, Dashboard Confessional, Foreigner, Blues Traveler and many others.  

This year, Bourbon & Beyond’s newly expanded footprint doubled the square footage of past layouts, and made greater use of the Kentucky Exposition Center’s infrastructure, creating a more comfortable and resilient experience for fans. In addition, all festival passes included FREE access to amusement rides inside Kentucky Kingdom.

This year’s festival was packed with unforgettable performances, surprise collaborations, and historic moments that will be remembered for years to come.   Take some zany and serious journeys with The Pipeman aka Dean K. Piper, CST on The Adventures of Pipeman also known as Pipeman Radio syndicated globally “Where Who Knows And Anything Goes.”  

Check out our segment Positively Pipeman dedicated to Business, Motivation, Spiritual, and Health & Wellness.  

Check out our segment Pipeman in the Pit dedicated to Music, Artistry and Entertainment.  
 
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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Hey, you have done too.

Speaker 2 (00:06):
Yes, that's true.

Speaker 3 (00:08):
Woe wow were you young? This is the pipe Man
here on the Adventures pipe Man W four c Y Radio,
and I'm here with the five O two's nice here

(00:30):
at Bourbon and beyond. You know what's wild. I live
in Florida, South Florida, Okay by West Palm, but I
used to cover okachoby Fest a few times in the
beginning nice And when I saw you guys in the lineup,
I'm like, holy shit, I think I saw them at

(00:52):
twenty sixteen. Okatoby Fest.

Speaker 4 (00:54):
Was that the first That was the first year, and
that's the year you were there? That was it? Yeah,
that was probably the first big show that the five
o' twos ever did.

Speaker 3 (01:01):
Really.

Speaker 4 (01:01):
Yeah. We entered into a Battle of the band's competition.
Had just formed the band, and we were like, well
we want to go because Mumford and Sons and those
types of bands were playing totally and we just tried
really hard and then we got to do that. But
that was our first big festival and show, really wild festival.

Speaker 3 (01:16):
Right yeah, oh my god, Like it's twenty four hours
And I would get bands that were texting me, can
you do the interview at three am or sets at
two I'm like, okay, Like no, I'll be asleep then,
but what a great festival. And I learned that day
at that festival besides you guys were badass? Is that

(01:38):
is that I never got the whole DJ concert thing
like Scrillics bas Nectar.

Speaker 4 (01:46):
Thing, you mean, like mixing in with bands also no Jo.

Speaker 3 (01:50):
I don't know if it was that year or the
next year Scrillts and bass Nectar were playing.

Speaker 4 (01:55):
Oh he was there the next year, that might have
been it.

Speaker 3 (01:57):
Yeah, And when I saw it, I was like, oh,
I get it now.

Speaker 4 (02:02):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (02:02):
It's the lights and the base, the feeling. It's like
everyone being around you.

Speaker 3 (02:05):
I get that. And everybody was like hyped up and stuff.
Because at first, before I ever experiencing that, I'm like,
why would I want to go I'll go to the
nightclub for a DJ. Why would I go to a
concert or festival? And now I got people for sure totally, So.

Speaker 4 (02:22):
I was gonna say that festival is fun because there
was no rules backstage. Really, I felt like the first
year there was no boundaries and so we got to
meet like Robert Plant and the guys from Mumford and
sons and stuff like that. And then the next year
Joe went with a different band at the time and
he put the first five O two's EP into the
lumineer's dressing room or something, gave it to somebody on

(02:45):
their team and they put it in there or something
like that. So nothing happened from that, but it's a
good story for a late night show on Still though.

Speaker 3 (02:54):
Could you imagine one day just like you get call, Yeah,
we've had this for like how many years, and we
want to take you out on tour.

Speaker 4 (03:03):
Yeah, we finally popped it into the CD player.

Speaker 3 (03:05):
We were looking for one, so right exactly. That would
be so cool. But yeah, it's a trip that festival.
I just got emails of the announcement for this year's festival.
Oh yeah, yeah, two thousand, Well not this year, twenty twenty.
Who's playing at it? They don't have the lineup yet,
just the announcement of the festival. But I'm curious because
they haven't had it for a couple of years.

Speaker 4 (03:23):
Yeah, so yeah, I thought it was a great festival.

Speaker 3 (03:27):
It was really fun actually, but this festival I really
love too. Yeah, have you experienced anything of the festival yet?

Speaker 4 (03:35):
Here not yet we got into about ten thirty or
so and eight lunch and came to hang out with you.
So I think after this we'll get a chance to
walk around.

Speaker 3 (03:44):
Nice And have you gotten the experience of how Danny
Wimmer treats artists at these festivals?

Speaker 2 (03:51):
Yeah, so far, everybody, all the hospitality has been really
kind to us, and the direction has been really sound.
It feels like it's welcoming to both artists and festival goers.
Is a hole and that's always really nice to see,
like everything's got its place.

Speaker 1 (04:03):
And the fact that there's a theme park or some
sort of roller coaster park.

Speaker 3 (04:07):
It is a theme park. That's very cool, Like that's
permanently here all the time. Yeah, yeah, and so yeah,
this year is the first year like usually they have
their own first s up. This is the first year
that's included with the ticket.

Speaker 1 (04:21):
That's really cool. Why Yeah, right to Florida people, you know, so.

Speaker 3 (04:25):
Roller there you go.

Speaker 1 (04:27):
That's great.

Speaker 3 (04:28):
And do you feel at home with this heat here
in Littleville? Like it's like holy shit, Like I left
Florida and I had to come into this.

Speaker 4 (04:36):
Yeah. I was literally just sitting here and I could
feel my back sweating. I was like got it because
in Florida in the summer, we really don't go outside,
or I don't really go outside. It's like i'd be
early morning, late night. Otherwise you're just walking into asana
and I'm sitting here. I'm like, yeah, this is very similar.
And we were just talking about how the sweaty or
the fiveway two show the better. Usually there it'll maybe
a great show for really yeah, it looks like we

(04:59):
jumped into swimming after it.

Speaker 3 (05:00):
You know what's different though about here is you know
how in Florida, at least in the West Palm area,
when the sun goes down, it gets hotter.

Speaker 4 (05:09):
You know, it gets muggy.

Speaker 3 (05:10):
Here it gets cold.

Speaker 4 (05:12):
All right, Well that's nice.

Speaker 3 (05:13):
It wasn't cold last night, but it was beautiful. It
was like nice cool. But I've been at this festival
where it's like this during the day and at night
I'm freezing. Right.

Speaker 4 (05:23):
I'll look forward to maybe experiencing that we're gonna stick
around all night.

Speaker 3 (05:25):
So nice who you're looking forward to seeing?

Speaker 4 (05:28):
I want to see Trombone Shorty tonight.

Speaker 3 (05:30):
Nice.

Speaker 4 (05:30):
Yeah, I think that's a few after us. So any
other recommendations that you're looking forward to? Fish fish. That'll
be good tonight.

Speaker 3 (05:37):
Yeah, probably only till eleven, Yeah, because you going till
four or five in the morning.

Speaker 1 (05:43):
Just let it roll.

Speaker 3 (05:44):
Yeah, it ain't no kotoby Fest. And so how did
this happen? Like did you just one day gain an
email or did you submit the Bourbon Beyond or were
you just like totally surprise, like holy crap that that was.

Speaker 4 (05:59):
All through our booking agency. So they right out the
whole tour and they were like, you would you like
to do this festival? And We're like absolutely, And that
was it.

Speaker 3 (06:09):
And that's the thing. Are you going to try some bourbon?
Like yarre in Kentucky?

Speaker 4 (06:13):
We do have to try someth Do they have like
bourbon tasting at the festival?

Speaker 3 (06:17):
Yeah, Like there's all these bourbon booths and I'm sure
they give it to you the test.

Speaker 4 (06:21):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (06:21):
Plus you're back here and there's an open bar right there.

Speaker 4 (06:24):
Oh there you go? What the Tryso?

Speaker 3 (06:27):
And then did you see the drip bar over there? Yeah?
I think the artists love that most.

Speaker 1 (06:31):
Yeah. I was gonna say I love a red beat
us in the morning and here it is.

Speaker 3 (06:34):
So you guys got a new album that just dropped.
Let's talk about that. Tell us a little bit about it.

Speaker 4 (06:38):
Yeah, it came out last week. It's called Easy Street.
There's thirteen songs on there. And the way we've been
describing it as a big picture thing is four o'clock
in the afternoon, you just got off the beach and
you're about to go out to dinner, but you're grabbing
a little pre dinner drink with your friends and family.
That's the energy of the album.

Speaker 1 (06:55):
I love that I was saying.

Speaker 2 (06:57):
I completely agree with it. It's a journey from beginning
to end. Every song there's a little bit of take
what you want from here. Maybe you like it from
another song, but over arc and feels you belong on
Easy Street.

Speaker 3 (07:06):
So see what's cool about that. One thing you said
really struck me that maybe we're making comeback with is
the fact of a journey listening to an album, the
post of that track thing. Yeah, like I was younger,
you pull that an album, you listen to the whole thing.
You're reading the lyrics, looking at the artwork and all that,

(07:27):
and I think kids are missing out on that today.
So thank you for bands like you bringing stuff like
that back on the vinyl.

Speaker 2 (07:35):
Actually, we have a slip that comes into it, and
it's got all the lyrics on every page, a lot
of artwork and design on the cover of both the
CD and the vinyl, and it is audio.

Speaker 1 (07:43):
Know, you can look at it, you can listen to it.
You're gonna enjoy it. It's a very cool package.

Speaker 4 (07:47):
I was gonna say, I feel like listening to albums
is I think when there's people that really like bands,
they enjoy it. And so that's where sometimes if people
are just dropping singles, I'm with you on like the
album is what I think maybe makes it cool or
like makes you can to the band, and I can
think of all my favorite bands. I like listening to
the albums all the way through. So we just try
to do that same thing where we spend weeks trying

(08:07):
to figure out the track list, which is like just
because we want people to be able to listen down
to it. And it's like there is something really special
about an album versus just a single. Yeah, kind of
lets you step into the world.

Speaker 3 (08:17):
Yeah, And if new people listening to music don't get
that experience, will never know what that is and they'll
just be in that single track mentality. But think about
like if I hear a Pink Floyd song on the
radio off of Dark Side, it sounds weird to me
when the song ends, it's like, where's the rest of it?
Because you can't listen to album without all the way through.

Speaker 4 (08:41):
Yeah, Well, it's because it's a great album, and it's
like it probably is. Well, it is more difficult to
make a great album versus a single great song, yeah,
And so I think there's some Yeah, I think there's
some like ability these days to just make a great
song and then use that as promotional material. You don't
have to have a great album necessarily, especially with all
the social media stuff, but if you take the time

(09:02):
and effort to do a great album, I think it's
better for the long term of like a career.

Speaker 3 (09:06):
Yeah. In the artist street, I think it also is
a great expression of musicianship in my opinion, if you're
a true musician, you go well and make that whole
album like a story.

Speaker 4 (09:18):
Yeah, And that's kind of what we're trying to do
with Easy Street, where it's like you can the whole
tour and everything that you can step onto Easy Street
whenever you press play. Pretty much what you were just saying,
like you want to hear the next song, you want
to be a part of the next song. And it's
not just one song that's skip it. It's a whole
world that you're entering. And I think that's what's cool
because then you think about outside of the album, You

(09:39):
get into the touring, you get into the website, you
get into the outfits we're wearing on stage, and it's like,
all these things start to create a world.

Speaker 3 (09:45):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (09:45):
I think that's where we have just as much fun
as making the music is creating the world too.

Speaker 3 (09:50):
I love hearing that because there's so many components to
being an artist's and I think people don't really realize
that it's not just writing a song and playing the song,
it's every thing else that goes along with it.

Speaker 4 (10:01):
Yeah. Yeah, we love doing it all. So that's what's
fun about this band is we have the opportunity to
do it all.

Speaker 3 (10:07):
See that's key. Like, and you can tell as a
fan if I'm watching a band, I can tell if
they're having a good time and then I'm gonna have
a good time, or if they're going through themotions or
they have this attitude on stage, and then it's like, yeah,
I'd rather just listen.

Speaker 4 (10:23):
Yeah, I think you want people that are enjoying what
they're doing, whatever that is. It doesn't have to be
happy folk music like us. But if they're connecting to
the music they're making, then audience can connect to it,
I think.

Speaker 3 (10:33):
No doubt. Yeah, what else do you want to tell
the listeners that you got coming up or anything about you?

Speaker 4 (10:40):
Yeah? The five O two's it's on all social media
and we're at the start three show number three of
a thirty eight show tour running all the way through
the end of the year and then going to Europe.
In the UK they started next year, so nice. Lots
of tour dates. The new album just drops, so check
that out. And that's it.

Speaker 1 (10:57):
That's about it.

Speaker 3 (10:58):
I have one more thing though, because they can't listen
to my show unless they buy your merch. So where
they go to buy your merch.

Speaker 4 (11:06):
Nice and easy, the five O twos dot com. They're'll
all be linked there. We got vinyl CD sweatshirts, shirts hats,
so go grab some. It's good stuff.

Speaker 3 (11:14):
And I say that all the time because you know what,
people don't realize nowadays it's not like the old days.
The only way you guys get to the next gig
is if you sell merch.

Speaker 4 (11:24):
Yeah, merch is a big deal. And even what we
were just saying, we spent a lot of time helping
design the merchants like stuff that we would wear, so
hopefully people will check it out and like it.

Speaker 3 (11:34):
See I love that too. That's great that you would
wear it, because why would anybody else wear it if
you're not gonna wear it.

Speaker 4 (11:40):
Yeah, we probably overwear our own merch.

Speaker 3 (11:41):
So it's like, I know people that podcast and they're like, yeah,
I wouldn't listen to a podcast or my own podcast, Well,
then why would anybody else listen to it?

Speaker 4 (11:50):
That is funny because Joe is Joe and I both
listened to five O twos music all the time nice,
and we are a lot of artists that are like, oh,
I don't once it's done, I don't listen to it
of my music. And I think that's a little bit
foreign to us because we're like in the most non
vain way possible, I don't think it like we like
this stuff.

Speaker 3 (12:09):
You have to like it for other people to like it.
And yeah, it's a transfer of emotion, so you can
tell if the band likes why would you not like?
I know, like artists are in like pop and they're
like really metal heads, and I'm like, I wouldn't be
able to do that, like play music that I don't like, yeah,

(12:30):
and I like another genre.

Speaker 4 (12:32):
Yeah. I mean, I think that's what we have been
lucky with is that we started making we started the
band making music that we like, and I've continued to
play music that we like so much easier and there's
so much easier and so much more fun and probably
a lot more longevity in it.

Speaker 3 (12:45):
No doubt.

Speaker 1 (12:46):
So.

Speaker 3 (12:46):
Well, you guys rock think glad you're here at Burman
Beyond and it only took me like nine years to
see you again.

Speaker 4 (12:54):
Sweet well, thanks for I guess being here from the
first day.

Speaker 3 (12:57):
Really, I know, right, that's so wild. I love it.
And thanks for being on the Adventures of pipe Man You.

Speaker 1 (13:03):
Thank you for listening to the Adventures of Pipemin on
w for c u I Radio.