Whiskey Makes Her Miss Me: Ansel Brown's Comeback Story

Send us a text

Buzzsprout - Let's get your podcast launched!
Start for FREE

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

Support the show

Thanks for listening! Follow us at youtube.com/c/skiphappens

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hello everybody.
It is Skip Clark.
I am the host of Skip Happens,and with me tonight is country
artist Ansel Brown, who'sjoining us to talk about his
comeback.
By the way, he's got a newsingle and it's called Whiskey
Makes Her Miss Me, and already Ilove it just by the title.
It comes out in 16 days.
That's going to be on the 13thof June, and his upcoming album

(00:25):
it's called Gravity.
We're going to be talking aboutthat as well.
From chart success to real lifesetbacks, Ansel's story and his
music is all heart and we'regoing to dive in right now.
We're going after it.
Ansel, how are you?
Did I say the name right, Ansel?
Ansel, but it's better than wellcan I say and I'm sure that's

(00:47):
happened right, I mean,everybody likes to make fun of
names.
Yeah, oh yeah.

Speaker 2 (00:50):
My first my first go around I was I teamed up with a
famous football player NFLplayer named Sean Gilbert.

Speaker 1 (00:56):
Oh wow.

Speaker 2 (00:57):
And we were doing an interview for a news channel at
one of our hospital visits andhis dad was with us and so we
got finished with our interviewand they want to interview his
dad.
So the whole time we'restanding there he's like that
asshole Brown, he is the bestyou know and he said it.
I'm not joking, he probablysaid it 20.
It was almost like he meant todo it, but it was like 20 times

(01:19):
in the interview and theinterviewer he could, he
couldn't keep a straight face,so I was known as Ant's Asshole
Brown.
Well, there you go.

Speaker 1 (01:30):
I know, I get it, I get it.
I know it's not meant to bethat way, but you know that's
the deal with names.

Speaker 2 (01:34):
And there's a story behind your name too right, Say
that again.
There's a story behind yourname as well.
Well, there's, ansel Adams iskind of the most famous Ansel of
all, so he's the photographer,yeah, and I've, uh, I've I've
actually been introduced asAnsel Adams a few times in my
career, oh yeah and you know itdoesn't really bother me because

(01:57):
I was a huge Ansel Adams fanand um but in South Carolina
there was a governor Ansel atone point and I think families
in South Carolina liked him somuch they started naming uh
family members or kids after him.
So I I still think that's wherethe name came from, but I can't
a hundred percent say that.

Speaker 1 (02:18):
Okay, I get it.
It is different.
When I saw the name, when I gotit from your team, you know,
asking for the interview, I wenthmm, okay, Well, you know, it
is what it is right.

Speaker 2 (02:31):
Oh yes.

Speaker 1 (02:32):
It's you.
Why not Own it?
Own it, own it Just keepsmiling too, Absolutely.
So you've been doing this for alittle bit, but it seems like
now you're finally hitting theradio.
You're going to drop a new songWhiskey Makes Her Miss Me.
I love the title of that.
I don't know, I think WhiskeyMakes Me Miss Her.

(02:52):
Yeah right, but I like what youdid with that play on words,
which is pretty cool.
What inspired that song and howdoes it reflect where you are
in life right now?

Speaker 2 (03:03):
Well, gosh, I've kind of lived that song and when you
hear it it's that love that youwish would just really come
back or happen.
And in this case the woman kindof only calls me when she's

(03:24):
drinking the whiskey and thewine makes her relax, the
tequila makes her want to danceand the whiskey makes her miss
me.
So it was really.
I did not write that songactually.
It was by some heavyweightwriters in Nashville and my
producer brought it to me lastsecond and now it's the lead-off

(03:48):
single.
But it was such a, the song tome just had this vibe when I
heard the demo and I really justconnected with the storyline
and I said to my producer I saidI really want to do this song
and I think I want it to be mylead-off single.
And sure, uh, and sure enough,it turned out really really well
in the studio and I'm excitedthat we got we got ahold of it

(04:11):
and got to release it.

Speaker 1 (04:12):
That's cool.
You felt that right away.
I mean I'm sure you've heardothers and you just kind of go,
I don't know about that, I don'tknow about but that song was
like that's it, that's the onethat's it, that's the one that's
it.

Speaker 2 (04:22):
Yeah, yeah, and actually I had four on this
album, um that that kind ofhappened like that cool.

Speaker 1 (04:29):
So we talk about the album.
We're talking about gravity.
That's the album that's comingout, so this is going to be the
first single off of that yeah,it's, it's, it's going to be,
it's going to come out in twoeps, so we'll have ep1 called
the rise, we'll have ep2 calledfalling into place, and then the
full album release.

Speaker 2 (04:46):
this fall will be gravity.
Why the dual release?
Well, I was going to do I'vegot 15 songs and I was going to
do them all you know, all atonce.
But we started talking andreally you know, you only get
one chance to make a comebackand and to me, me as a marketing

(05:07):
guy, I want to captureattention, and so my story on
the album the rise and thefalling into place and the
overall word gravity meant morethan you could understand In my
life.
I say life's taken a few bitesout of me in the last 10 years.

(05:27):
And I'm getting ready to biteback.

Speaker 1 (05:31):
You should.

Speaker 2 (05:32):
But I felt like two EPs allow me to one focus on
radio releases.
So, we'll have one single andthen in July we'll have a second
single called we Make AmericaRun, which is an amazing song,
and then we'll have the full EPrelease.
So I get that much time toreally garner some media

(05:55):
attention.
And then we'll have a secondset of songs that make up the
second EP.
And the same thing we'llrelease one lead off single,
then we'll release a secondsingle and then we'll release
the second EP.
Now, not all of the songs maymake it onto the final album or
we may even add a song that wedon't currently have.
So I really wanted to drag outthe releases because it is a big

(06:18):
album and I've spent a lot oftime really thinking through the
songs and the selection of thesongs that I've written and that
others have written, and itjust felt like it was the way to
go on this comeback.
I call it a relaunch.

Speaker 1 (06:34):
I love it and I don't know I'm going to just slide
something over here.
I don't know if you can see iton your screen, but Ellie Brown
is on there and she's sendingsome love and that's pretty cool
.

Speaker 2 (06:46):
She's my aunt.

Speaker 1 (06:47):
Well, that's awesome, hi, ellie.
I love it.
I love it.
You know the support of familyis so important, so that's nice
when I see the comments come uplike that.
Exactly, exactly, you know, ifI think back a little bit, you
had such a strong start.
What mid-2000s Music RowDiscovery Award.
I probably saw you at CRS atone time back then I was

(07:09):
definitely active there?
Yeah, I went to the Music Rowparty.
I did all that CMA Buzz.
How was your perspective onsuccess?
How has that changed since then?

Speaker 2 (07:22):
Oh it's.
You know, we talk about sportsand I think we're both sports
fans A little bit.
I'm baseball, we're bigbaseball fans.
Yeah, I love baseball, I lovefootball.
You know, my favorite isfootball.
Just to be honest there, who'syour team, who's?

Speaker 1 (07:37):
your team.
Come on, yeah, because I'mready.
I'm ready.
Who's your team?

Speaker 2 (07:47):
But, um, you know, I, I don't know the first time it
was such an adrenaline rush andI was so new, you know, wet
behind the ears, very vulnerable, very uh, which I'm still.
I consider myself a vulnerableartist because I feel like
vulnerability is a superpowerand, um, especially for a singer
and I'm sure you probably feelthe same way being a DJ in your

(08:08):
life it's, you know,vulnerability connects you.
Oh, my gosh, yeah, and I, youknow, I have to say that the
first time I was anxious a lotwhen I would perform.
I was, I didn't want to fail,obviously, and I got such a
powerful start.
I was CMA, debut spotlight CMAwho knew to watch.

(08:33):
I was artist of the month forthe CMA.
During CMA Fest I had a greatreception at Fanfare, just all
sorts of things just fell intoplace, and I didn't have a major
label, by the way was I wasdoing all?

Speaker 1 (08:48):
this on my own with sean, and that's long bit not to
interrupt you, but there's alot of artists now that are
breaking away from the majorlabels and doing it on their own
well, when you talk 70, 30deals, or you talk not you know,
a lot of artists right now aregetting 595 deals.

Speaker 2 (09:02):
They're getting five percent of the hundred percent
of their royalties go to the youknow and and they're going to
pay back the label for 10, 20years um in terms of the money
that the label's spending on theartist.
So so it's smart to not.
You know, just there arereasons to do it.
And then there are reasons tojust rely on the digital world

(09:24):
as we live in and really justbuild your fan base.
You know, radio is great, but Ithink you need, you know, with
radio, to break out in radio,one, you need a great song.
Two, you know, in country radioyou've got to have the
promotion capital to go out andpush a song.
And then three, it's, it's a.

(09:45):
It's a.
It's just a luck game.
Right, it takes luck being atthe right place at the right
moment.
So a lot of people can't relyon radio right now in country
music.

Speaker 1 (09:54):
They got to rely on the digital side.
Absolutely A hundred percent.

Speaker 2 (09:59):
Yeah, it's, it's, it's a.
It's an interesting world.
But I think, if you do theright, my theory is that I feel
like I can do anything that amajor label could do myself.
I feel like I can come up withthe ideas, the plan.
I can connect with the brands,I can do the things that I need
to do to stand out and build mystory where people it almost

(10:22):
forces people to talk about youand to experience your music in
both the entertainment world youknow when I'm talking about
that radio DJs or programdirectors that hear about a
story that's percolating.
And that's really what my goalis as an artist.
It's always to do whateverybody's kind of like.
How did he?
How did he make the final spaceshuttle stuff happen?

(10:44):
How did he do that?
That's what I want to.
How did he?
How did he make the final spaceshuttle stuff happen?
Right, how did he do that?
That's what I want to continueto do, but in a bigger way.
This time I feel like I wasgoing through the room, through
a dark room, and I was feelingmy way through that room with
the lights off, but this time Ifeel like I'm entering a lit up
room.
Does that make sense and I'mvery I'm seeing what I know,

(11:06):
I've experienced this.

Speaker 1 (11:13):
Makes a whole lot of sense, and you were telling me
about the reason behind the dualrelease and all that you
decided on that by yourself.

Speaker 2 (11:18):
Right, you sat down.
I can't say by myself.
I think my publicist was thefirst person to ask me if I had
thought about that.

Speaker 1 (11:24):
All right, but nobody else was really telling you
what to do.
Correct, that comes down to itbeing all you.

Speaker 2 (11:31):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (11:32):
Cool.

Speaker 2 (11:32):
I like that.
And it's a challenge to be anindependent artist.
But it's also a blessing, andit's a blessing because I can
relate and connect with peopleat a deeper level.
I was talking to a major brandtoday, right before I got on
here, for about an hour and ahalf conversation, and the brand

(11:54):
is thinking about teaming upwith me.
I'm thinking about teaming upwith the brand and we're
thinking of ways to team up.
We'll just put it that way, andwe're going to present to
somebody else in the company andit was exciting to sit there
and talk to this person aboutideas and ideas that relate to a
brand in the retail sphere andmusic.

(12:17):
And if people could feel theenergy that happens when you
have a conversation like thatand it deals with your own music
and it deals with your musiccareer as a as a non major label
artist.
It is.
I can't even say how rewardingit is because it's it's.
It doesn't even measure, it's,it's above whatever the

(12:38):
measuring stick is.
And, uh, that's what I getcharged by.
I'm a marketing guy at heartand that's what I get charged by

(13:01):
.
I'm a marketing guy at heart.
My business is all related tomarketing and advertising.
I'll give it a plug.
It's Envisionative and we're anagency, so I live for marketing
ideas and I get such a chargeout of talking to people like
that and they're willing to talk.
So if artists have the rightideas and the right music or the
right song, it's just like whenI did the final space shuttle
events for NASA, I had one songthat I wrote that I felt really
connected with the astronautsand I sent it to the lead
astronaut at Johnson SpaceCenter and I got a response

(13:22):
about six months later with hercalling me telling me how much
she loved the song.
She loved it so much she's likeI'm sending this to DC and let's
see what happens.
I didn't hear anything foranother year almost, and the
final space shuttle launch washappening like 12 weeks away and
I got a call as I was making avideo for that song at an

(13:45):
airport and they said you needto come to the phone right now.
It's NASA.
And NASA said hey, we've talkedto X, y I'm not going to say
the artists, but they are major,major artists.
But we love your song.
We would be privileged andhonored if you would come
perform it for the final spaceshuttle oh my gosh, and the
final space shuttle launch.
And so, yeah, the final spaceshuttle launch.
And so that that changed.

(14:07):
I mean, that impacted my wholefamily, because it wasn't just
me that got to experience that,it was my whole family and we,
we went.
They loved everything so muchbecause, again, I'm a vulnerable
artist and I say that not in anegative way but in a positive
way.
I believe in vulnerability as asuperpower and I tend to connect

(14:33):
with people at a deeper levelthan a lot of people connect,
and it's one of my God-giventalents is to be able to connect
like that.
And so after that firstexperience, they were like, hey,
can you come and do the finalspace shuttle landing?
It's a private event forastronauts of the history of the
program, world media and, ofcourse, dignitaries.
And I was like, yeah, and theywere like hey, can you get on
this national radio, countrytalk radio show and do a live

(14:57):
broadcast from the final?

Speaker 1 (14:59):
landing.

Speaker 2 (14:59):
And I did all of that for the landing and they're
like, hey, can you come back andspeak after the administrator
of NASA to all of the employeesthat are going to lose their
jobs because the program wasending?
So they asked me to talk toeverybody in a way that would
uplift their spirits as thisprogram was coming to an end,

(15:20):
and that was a huge honor.
And then I went on for 10 yearsto have relationships with NASA
on an official basis, withSpace Act agreements for youth
programs and veteran programs.

Speaker 1 (15:31):
Are they going to put you in a capsule?
No, I'm just saying.

Speaker 2 (15:35):
I kind of hinted that I wanted to get up there at
some point, but it hasn'thappened yet.

Speaker 1 (15:40):
I'm totally captivated here.
You've got my attention.
I'm just.
I didn't expect this.
This is like dude, you're thebest, keep going.
I'm not going to stop you.

Speaker 2 (15:49):
If people just understood the power of music.
I used to be a worship leaderback in the day.
Churches use music to get peopleready for a sermon.
It's because music doessomething that almost nothing
else can and it just it's.
It opens you up.
It opens you up to to emotionalyour own emotional

(16:12):
vulnerability.
It allows you to be open towhatever that message is, and
for me, country music is verysimilar in terms of what you
want it to do, because it'sstory-based.
It's something that reallydrives home a message, whether
it's a funny message or a sadmessage or an excited message.
And I think NASA realized thepower.

(16:36):
I mean NASA realized it so muchthat they had me judge a song
competition nationally for youth, and these are youth that are
involved in their tech transferprogram.
That's an amazing man.
I could have a whole podcastwith you just about that program
.

Speaker 1 (16:53):
We just might have to do that down the road.

Speaker 2 (16:56):
It's eye-opening and extraordinary, and so we ended
up doing a national songcompetition.
My manager and I chose thewinning song.
We wrote and finished the songwith this teenage girl and NASA

(17:19):
paid everybody to go out andrecord it in Nashville and the
girl got to experience thatwhole the way that goes, and she
had cerebral palsy on top ofthat which was when they didn't
tell me anything about the girl.
So when I went to Kennedy SpaceCenter to meet her at this big
event it was called the OptimusPrime Awards event and when I

(17:43):
walked in there was a girl in awheelchair and and my heart just
I melted immediately.
I was like because they knew mybackground in children's
hospitals and my bigger heart,tour and all the work I had done
with Ronald McDonald houses.
I mean it couldn't have beenlike there was nobody knew that
she had cerebral palsy, but thefact that they knew and they

(18:05):
didn't want to tell me becausethey really wanted to see my
vulnerability.

Speaker 1 (18:10):
Your reaction to the whole situation.

Speaker 2 (18:12):
I cried.
Right there I met this girl.
I instantly connected with her.
She went to Nashville.
She's sitting there with myproducer and the producer is
noticing that she was kind ofsinging along as I was recording
.
And we asked her do you sing?
And she's like, yes, I sing, Iwrote the song, I started the
song, and so we got her in thestudio and she ended up doing

(18:33):
the background vocals on thatsong.
And then, do you know about theradio station that's in the
Nashville?
What's the big event center inNashville where the big
conference center.

Speaker 1 (18:48):
You're talking about the.
Sirius XM has a studio up inthe tower of the.
Oh my God, I'm having a brainfart.
It's a big, I'm sorry somebodyon the chat can probably tell us
, and I walk by it all the time.

Speaker 2 (19:07):
But it's not in downtown Nashville, it's in the
suburbs.
And it's not in downtownNashville, it's in the suburbs
and it's a huge conferencecenter and they've got a big,
famous old radio station in thatconference center that you walk
by.

Speaker 1 (19:17):
Oh, are you talking about the WSM?

Speaker 2 (19:21):
That might be it, I don't know.

Speaker 1 (19:23):
I'd have to think it could be, because they're big
Nashville, they have a lot ofhistory with the Opry and what
have you?

Speaker 2 (19:31):
Um, but I'm thinking of the Gaylord the Gaylord
entertainment center.

Speaker 1 (19:35):
that right Isn't that ?
Uh?

Speaker 2 (19:36):
right, that's where it was.

Speaker 1 (19:38):
Yes, and it has the big tower outside.

Speaker 2 (19:41):
Yes, right, and there is a radio station in there?
Yes, so we got to go and whenthe song released, they were the
ones that debuted it and andthey had us both on to have me
sing it, had her and I interviewand it was just like this
amazing experience that youcouldn't have written out as a
movie in my mind.
And we went on to surprise herwhen we were finished with the

(20:03):
song.
We surprised her in Oregon ather high school, and I have
never seen a student get so muchlove from an entire population
of a high school.
We had to do two cons, twoperformances, because there were
so many students, and to thisday it's one of those things
that are just locked in my brainpermanently, like it was
yesterday.
And it was an incredibleexperience to be able to stand

(20:26):
up on stage with her.
In fact, if you look at myLinkedIn profile, you'll see her
on the stage sitting with me inthat moment.
I still have it as my LinkedInprofile picture.

Speaker 1 (20:38):
I did.

Speaker 2 (20:38):
I don't think I changed it but, I, it's
something that's always stuckwith me.
It was just an amazing.
I can't tell you how amazingthat was almost as big as doing
the shuttle stuff, to be honest.
It was that important andimpactful to me.
But I went on to have threeSpace Act agreements with NASA.
We almost had a TV show onDiscovery Channel together and I

(21:01):
don't like to talk aboutfailures, but it was one of
those things that timing justwasn't perfect and we had just
gotten a letter of intent fromGoddard Space Center and
everything kind of crumbled downthat was during my time off
from music.

Speaker 1 (21:15):
Don't ever say that's a failure, because yeah, it
wasn't, it was, you know it's.
You had that opportunity and itjust didn't work out and
something else happened.

Speaker 2 (21:23):
So my main person at nasa, daryl.
His name's daryl and he's hemight be listening right now.
Actually, um he uh you know,he's just wonderful man he's.
He might be listening right nowactually.
Um, he uh.
You know, he's just wonderfulman he's.
He was just all in on what wewere trying to accomplish
together and we had Dale jr's uhpeople involved in the show as
well, and it was just one ofthose things.

(21:44):
Timing wasn't just, you know,timing just didn't work out and
um, but I still have arelationship with them at NASA
and it's been something thatchanged my life.
That wouldn't have happenedwithout music.

Speaker 1 (21:56):
No, it absolutely would not have.

Speaker 2 (21:58):
Yeah, and artists need to understand that's the
power of one song and if you canfigure out the process of
getting that song that youbelieve in, that has the message
that you connect with somethingelse.
Artists need to always rememberthe song is powerful.
It's more powerful than justplaying on the radio or
streaming and people listeningto it.

(22:19):
It can have impact in your lifefrom a business perspective as
well.

Speaker 1 (22:25):
Right, you know, ellie's on here still.
And Ellie says if anybody iswondering, I call Ansel Michael.
He's my nephew, she's making it.
No, she's making it no.
Also, do you know?
I mean, I'm looking at allthese comments coming up.
Hello there, I just woke up at734 am In Vietnam, mike.
Is that Mike?
You're Rita.

Speaker 2 (22:46):
Mike, you're right.
Oh, he's my manager.

Speaker 1 (22:49):
Oh, he's in, he's in Nam, he's in Vietnam, he was in
China for two weeks and then hemoved.

Speaker 2 (22:54):
He went over to Vietnam, uh, last week and uh I,
I was like great timing, mike,I mean my singles coming out on
the 13th.
But you know, hey, go ahead andgo to Asia.

Speaker 1 (23:05):
Yeah, where are you going, dude?
I got 16 days my signal's goingto drop to radio.
Where the heck are you going?

Speaker 2 (23:10):
We've been living this reversed life cycle or day
cycle, because he's 10 hoursahead of us Right, right,
depending on Whatever.

Speaker 1 (23:20):
Yeah, I don't know, I get all that messed up, but
still.

Speaker 2 (23:23):
It's been kind of comical the way we've been
communicating.

Speaker 1 (23:26):
Oh, I think it's great though.
I think it's great, though Ithink it's awesome, you know, I
mean you've been doing all thisand you took that long pause
from music because of health andpersonal challenges.

Speaker 2 (23:44):
What was it like, though, actually stepping back
into the studio after?

Speaker 1 (23:48):
all that time away.

Speaker 2 (23:49):
Dude, it was actually a four-year process.
I started back in 2020 with aguy that's known as the TikTok
cop and he's pretty famous.
He's been on Dr Phil and,anyway, I got kind of irritated
that he got fired for hisopinion and for one of his
videos and so I said hey, can Iwrite a song and you collaborate
with me on it and just makesure that you agree with my

(24:12):
message.
It's called Middle of theMadness and I wrote it not to
alienate anybody, because I'mnot a political person.
I don't believe in alienatingany of my fans.
I love everybody that likes meand I put a lot of effort into
that one song and that was theone song that relit my desire to

(24:36):
do this.
And it's not that I lost thedesires that I went through a
dark time in my life and then Iwent through a health issue with
afib, with chronic afib, yeah,yeah, it hit me younger than
most people, of course, now,with these people that are in
their thirties and even twenties, are realizing they have AFib

(24:56):
because a lot of people don'tknow that they're having it and
um, and I'm trying to get theawareness out about that because
you don't, you, just a lot ofpeople can't tell.
And uh, luckily I could tellevery time that I had it.
But I went through all of thatand I got to that.
And I got to that point duringCOVID where all the anti-police
stuff was happening and I justgot irritated by it when I heard

(25:21):
his particular story and I waslike, okay, look, I know not
everybody has to agree, noteverybody has to agree that cops
are good or bad or whatever itis no-transcript have bad apples

(25:53):
.
And I wanted to write the songin a way that admitted that if I
wasn't raised a certain way, Imight not feel the same.
And that's a big part of thissong is understanding that not
everybody views what I view thesame way.
And I wanted to have that assomething that's admitted in
this song but at the same timeto let people know it's crazy to

(26:15):
think we don't need policeofficers.
And it's crazy to think thatthey should not intervene in
somebody that's getting attacked.

Speaker 1 (26:22):
It's unbelievable.
I have a godson who's a chiefof police here in upstate New
York and when we sit and talk,we were just doing that on
Memorial Day he was hanging out.
He came over and I interviewedhim as I did the broadcast for
the parade and just you knowafterwards and stuff he was
telling me and the stress andthe anxiety and just what, the

(26:43):
emotions from so many differenttypes of people, just I'm like I
wouldn't be able to do that.
I'd just I'd be.
I wouldn't be able to do that,I'd just I'd be.
I don't know, I don't.
I don't even know how toexplain it.

Speaker 2 (26:55):
It's a hard, hard line of work to have as a person
in the United States.
It's just one of those thingsthat you know.
I feel like they just peopletend to use it as a political
thing, and it really that'swhere you get into a bad
situation, where people aregetting hurt for no good reason

(27:19):
and, um, and people are beingblamed for things that they're
just trying to help and do whatanybody that had a you know I
want to say, but anybody thathas a brain would understand
you've got to do something tostop this and I, you know.
So I wrote the song.
It's it's out on any of thestreaming services.
But that got my music, that gotmy love for music restarted and

(27:42):
I started going to the studioat that point and slowly I
finished songs that I had beenwriting with Brent Bowers and
Harrison Foreman, who are justgreat guys who kind of jumped up
and they were the ones thatfirst talked me into getting
back into music.
They said it's time, just start.
Let's start finishing yoursongs, let's record them.

(28:04):
And we did it at a place inSalisbury, north Carolina, and
that took me literally three,about three and a half years,
north Carolina, and that took meliterally three, about three
and a half years.
And I stopped and finished in2024, right around March, and
but something told me I wasn'tdone with the album.
So I I didn't do anything.
I didn't go on.
I kept doing my children'sYouTube channel with my daughter

(28:27):
and you know, continue to focuson my, my business, and I don't
know about eight months later Igot connected, or reconnected
with my original producer, CliffDowns, who's an amazing,
talented uh just well-respected.
You know, he's worked withGarth, he's worked with uh, just

(28:48):
, he writes with guys that youwould be like.
Okay, this is this is awesome.
He's just an amazing person, buthe had cancer and uh, he was,
he had beaten it, Um, and we gotconnected and I said I want you
to hear what I've kind of beenplaying with in the studio.
And we both agreed.
After he heard it he was likehey, man, I want you to hear

(29:10):
some songs.
And so, cause he had been apresident of a big publishing
company and he couldn't recordreason why I didn't ask him to
begin with was he could notrecord or produce albums under
the terms of his corporate job.

Speaker 1 (29:28):
Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 (29:28):
Only with the writers and the artists that were on
that it was restricted from whathe could do.
Yeah, so I didn't know that hehad left and he decided he
wanted to go back to his ownbusiness of being a producer.
And so when he told me that, Iwas like maybe this is why I was
waiting, I feel like there's aplan here.
And sure enough, he brought mefour songs.

(29:50):
That just changed everything tome and before you know it, I
was in Nashville, we wererecording.
We're using some of the bestsession players that artists can
use, and Whiskey being thefirst one, but there's three
others that two are going to beon the first EP, two will be on
the second EP, and we may bedoing one or two more songs that

(30:11):
might end up on the final album.
And I don't know, man, Ihonestly felt like we never
stopped talking, even though wekind of did, for a good number
of years we didn't reallycommunicate.

Speaker 1 (30:26):
And it just came off flooding back and when I was in
that studio with him, rightwhere you left off, you picked
up.

Speaker 2 (30:32):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (30:33):
So to speak.

Speaker 2 (30:34):
The great thing about Cliff is he is a teacher at
heart.
He studies every word in a songas you're performing it in the
studio and he really makes youthink about and not taking any
of what Brent and Harrison, justthese guys that pushed me to go
different direction than I hadever gone.
So they, they got me to do thatand nobody else has.

(30:56):
But with Cliff it was like thesensei, you know, it was like
the, the, the master, coming tothe students and you know, you
just feel this, this power thathe has and I don't know man, it
is just awakening for me andfrom that point on I was like
you know what I'm going to.
I'm going to launch this nextyear this was back in 2024 and

(31:18):
we're going to finish this thingand I'm going to do it in a
bigger way than I was planningto.
I was like this is the momentthat I need to get back out and
I need to turn heads and I needpeople to go.
How the hell is Ansel doingthis again?
And, I think, being a disruptorin my own way?
I don't I'm not saying that I'mtruly a disruptor, but I am.

(31:38):
I disrupt in a in a way that Ithink a lot, of, a lot of
artists can't.
Because of my experiences andmy background, it gives me an,
you know, that extra bit ofpower to my story that I think,
opens doors and allows me toallow, or allows me to get
somebody to listen and, um,cause my, my stories go on and

(32:01):
on.
Man, I don't think anybody'sexperienced as much as I have as
an artist.

Speaker 1 (32:06):
It definitely sounds that I need to ask uh, tell me
about bullet Bob and BombshellBabe.

Speaker 2 (32:13):
How did oh wait, how did you?

Speaker 1 (32:14):
hear.
How do you know about BulletBob?
Because I am looking at hiscomment.
I don't know if you can see itor not.
Let me see if I can bring itover here.
Let's do this.
I don't know, can you see?

Speaker 2 (32:26):
that that's a celebrity right there.

Speaker 1 (32:31):
Bullet Bob and Bombshell babe.
Love your music and support you.

Speaker 2 (32:34):
How cool man yeah, bullet bob is a famous nascar um
uh, souvenir and merch guy.
What?
Oh yeah, he came in what camein with jeff gordon when jeff
gordon first started, uh handledhis merch and everything for I
don't know seven years, as hetook over NASCAR, um.
Then he moved into DaleEarnhardt Um, wow.

(32:57):
And then he handled Chevy.
The guy is a legend.

Speaker 1 (33:02):
So let me ask are you a NASCAR fan?

Speaker 2 (33:05):
I love NASCAR, I I like racing, I I've written a
theme song for a world of out orthe world of outlaws.
Racing organization for dirtracing.

Speaker 1 (33:15):
Um.

Speaker 2 (33:15):
I don't, I don't um.
I love NASCAR.
At the same time, I'mdisconnected a little bit
because in the last 10 years Ireally focus.
I was really not focused on um,I was focused on football.
That was about it I got.
You still haven't told me yourteam so just energy that I get
when I go to a nascar event andthe adrenaline, um, and same

(33:39):
thing with the dirt racing.
They're both really cool towatch in person, like I actually
love watching them in personand um, but I I'm, you know,
yeah I've been to charlotte.
I live in race city oh really,yeah, this is mooresville.
North carolina is race city,usa.

Speaker 1 (33:56):
This is where 90 of the race teams are, so yeah, um,
I've been to the charlotte racea couple of times and I
remember going.
I don't know where we went,obviously not from there but we
ended up seeing a lot of theshops, and I think we went by
Earnhardt's place.

Speaker 2 (34:14):
Oh yeah, that's.
That's right out near where Ilive.

Speaker 1 (34:23):
Oh, okay, okay, Cause I still remember.
I think it was like a railedfence, it was just, but I mean
it was, you know, kind of asquare building.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,oh, my God that is so freaking
cool.

Speaker 2 (34:29):
So Dale Earnhardt was my.
Okay, daryl Waltrip and DaleEarnhardt are my two favorite
drivers.

Speaker 1 (34:38):
Okay, daryl.

Speaker 2 (34:38):
Waltrip was my first favorite because he was so funny
.
He was hilarious to me and justas a kid I just grew up loving
his Tide car and I think it wasTide and just watching Daryl
Waltrip.
Later on I ended up leadingMichael Waltrip's children in
worship service for a number ofyears and that was when I was

(35:01):
doing worship.
And then I became infatuatedwith Dale Earnhardt right before
his life ended.
I had really connected to himas a driver because I liked the
black three car and I liked hisaura, because I saw him doing an
interview about his marketingof his products.

Speaker 1 (35:22):
And as a marketing guy.

Speaker 2 (35:24):
That's like spice on my food when I hear anybody talk
about their drive for goodmarketing.
It just, it just stuck with meand I started rooting for him.
And then I watched the day thathe he lost his life.

Speaker 1 (35:38):
I was watching that day, yeah.

Speaker 2 (35:40):
I saw that race and and right down the street from
me, his body laid in rest in thefuneral home for a day or two,
um, and I just remember vividlyjust the sign on the funeral
home and their prayers and and,uh.
So I would say Dale Earnhardtended up touching my, my heart
more than any other driver.

Speaker 1 (36:00):
I bet and um yeah yeah, it's, it's just uh.

Speaker 2 (36:04):
You know, I'm sure Bob's got things to say.
Bullet Bob would have somethings to say right now.

Speaker 1 (36:11):
Next time I go to a race, I'm going to be like
walking up to these trailers andgoing are you bullet bob?
Are you bob?
Yeah, I'm skipping the podcastbullet.

Speaker 2 (36:18):
Bob and I get coffee a lot together and we we hash
out ideas.
He's a is a huge supporter ofmy music, um, just a great guy
and you know.
You know I like I.
That's the other thing, thefirst time I felt like I was
doing this by myself.
Even my family was disconnected,you know, and I've got five
kids and I, you know, I feltlike I kind of left my home,

(36:43):
went to Nashville, you know, Iperformed on Broadway for a year
and a half.
I, you know, I I've done it allthere.
Yeah, my, I built my fan base,kind of Nashville West, and this
time I feel like everybody wasready for me to do this and
wanting me, including all theveteran friends that I have.
They were all wanting me to dothis and I feel like this time I

(37:07):
really want to.
I really want to resonate outof the Carolinas, out of the
southeast, um, and really focuson my hometown, my, my home
states, um, and really build my,my fan base here first and
focus on it instead of justgoing to Nashville, right?
So where?
Where are you?
I'm in, uh, just north ofCharlotte, north Carolina, in an

(37:30):
area called Lake Norman.

Speaker 1 (37:31):
Oh, I'll be flying over your house next Thursday
because I'm flying into.
Charlotte for a wedding, afamily wedding.

Speaker 2 (37:37):
That would be great.
We've got to do lunch.
Man, I'm involved in a coupleof restaurants.
Oh, dude, I mean, if I've gotsome time I'll text you.

Speaker 1 (37:44):
Yeah, no, absolutely.
And you're talking about familyand how you kind of broke away
from them for a little bit.
But now you're back togetherand I'm watching all these
comments.
There's a Tracy Hoffman, aMichael Deckman who, by the way,
is saying Buffalo Bills.
Tracy Hoffman, I mentioned yougot Mike on there from Vietnam.
Deanna Mitchell I can go on andon.

(38:07):
I mean you got a ton man andyour aunt continues to post.
So can you hear me?
Okay, I hope you can.
Can you hear me, ansel?
You know what I don't know he'slike, but just shake your head,
can you hear me?

Speaker 2 (38:27):
Am I Something's?

Speaker 1 (38:28):
going on with my system.
No, I got you.
Now I can hear you.

Speaker 2 (38:33):
Hold on one second.

Speaker 1 (38:35):
We're hanging.
But Ansel Brown is who I'mtalking with tonight and what a
story.
Just hang on with us, because Iknow he's going to be right
back.
But he's an independent artist,got a brand new song.
It's Whiskey Makes Her Miss Me,and it's a very vivid title.
I love the title and his wholestory of you know.

(38:55):
He was on a roll early on andthen now he is.
You know, he took little break,some issues, and now he's
making a comeback and I justlove seeing all you guys posting
.
Uh, it's so, so good when I getto talk to somebody like that.
Uh, you know, and I see, well,jacob smalley is an artist, uh,

(39:16):
but still, everybody else, uh,you know, got bob and deanna and
of course mike.
Uh, you know he's in v.
Else, you know, got Bob andDeanna, of course Mike.
You know he's in Vietnam.
You know this is being watchedall over the world, which is
cool.
And while I have your attention, you could always go to YouTube
, subscribe to Skip Happens.
So it's pretty good.
I'm trying to see if Ansel isgoing to pop back in.

(39:36):
I can hear him.
I don't know, but yeah, popback in.
I can hear them.
I don't know, but uh, yeah, andso uh, is it?
Uh d d vasita, uh love whiskey.
Can you hear me okay I can hearyou loud and clear, I just don't
see you.
Oh, now I see you there, youare ladies and gentlemen, he has
returned from the abyss.

(39:57):
He is back I've had.

Speaker 2 (39:59):
I've had gremlins in my computer today.
I'm not sure what's going on.

Speaker 1 (40:02):
Oh, that's okay.
No, I got you now you look fine.

Speaker 2 (40:04):
I was talking to all your friends over here, are you
kidding?
It was all cool Over there.
I'm trying to see I can see thechat now.

Speaker 1 (40:12):
Can you see the chat?
I don't know if I, it's adifferent.

Speaker 2 (40:17):
I can see it now.

Speaker 1 (40:18):
Yeah, oh yeah, so it's all there.

Speaker 2 (40:21):
Deanna Mitchell.
Let's see.

Speaker 1 (40:24):
Oh yeah, that's cool, that's cool.

Speaker 2 (40:26):
Oh, eldridge Bravo, he's got a song on my album.

Speaker 1 (40:28):
Very cool, so that's that's.

Speaker 2 (40:30):
EB.
Uh, this is cool.
I you know, I you know, I youknow, I know we were going to
get into sports and everything,but I, I, um, I I gotta say that
, uh, the love that I'm feelingand I've got some supporters
that I can't tell you howimportant they are to me, um,
absolutely.

Speaker 1 (40:51):
Absolutely, I totally get that, I totally get that.

Speaker 2 (40:53):
Yeah, it's, it's just good because going through some
of the stuff that I wentthrough, um, I don't know, it
just feels right.
It just at this moment in mylife, you know I've got to.
You know, build a good business, I've got a four-year-old, it
sounds it God bless you, man,god bless you.

Speaker 1 (41:13):
You know what I want to hear about.
You talked about it earlierbefore we went on and I saw
somebody else mentioned it butyour YouTube channel, seriously,
sophia, with your daughter,that adds such a personal layer,
and so let me ask how hisfatherhood shaped your music,
because of that.

Speaker 2 (41:34):
Honestly, I'm trying not to cry right now, sorry.

Speaker 1 (41:37):
Dude, it's all good, it's all good.
Good the kids that I have arejust amazing spirits.

Speaker 2 (41:43):
All of them are creative spirits, you know.
You know some of them and I saidI sound like I have a pack
because I did that's all rightyou know some of them, uh, very
highly creative ones, like a, amajor up-and-coming video game
artist, nice, or some very majorgames like Halo, infinite and

(42:07):
Squants games, high on Life.
And another is just as creativebut very analytical, so he's
getting into programming.
And then another is likehands-on, you know, kinetic
learner, but very creative.
That's huge.
And yet another is, you know,just, you know the architect,

(42:28):
the architect type, and justvery, you know, wants to be good
at that, but still verycreative.
And then my daughter is justhands down, she's just like the
only girl in the family.
So you know what that means, ohmy.

Speaker 1 (42:42):
I do she rules everybody.
I do.

Speaker 2 (42:44):
And cause all the, all the boys, cause they got
four boys and one girl and uh,she is.
Uh, she is.
Probably she might be the she'sup there on the creativity
scale, but she started reallyearly, she's.
She leads me in our channel.
And if you're looking for acountry artist, don't look at
that channel.
I'm just a goofy dad in thatchannel.

Speaker 1 (43:06):
I love it, I love it, I love it.
You know, that's the wholeability, right?
Yeah, no, exactly.
And you know, when I do thispodcast, one of the other
reasons I do this is not only toget to know somebody like you
or an independent artist, oreven go a little bit deeper with
a well-established artist, butmy point is to prove that you're
real people too.

Speaker 2 (43:25):
Yeah, you shop the same stores, you, you, you know
you do all this with your kidssame way exactly?

Speaker 1 (43:32):
and?
And what did I tell you beforeyou went on that you know I do
the podcast, I'm.
It's not your typical podcast,it's, it's a conversation.
It's not.
It's not your typical podcast,it's, it's a conversation.
It's not it's not just aninterview saying who are your
influences and this and that.
Yes, I'm asking variousquestions, but you know, I want
to know who your favoritefootball team is.
I want to know who yourfavorite the Panthers, they were

(43:54):
telling me, the bills, or theCowboys, oh no, no, listen, I
like.

Speaker 2 (44:01):
I like any good football team, I respect you
just like a good game song I was.
I was a Green Bay Packer fanfor a while.
I've been a Pittsburgh fan attimes.
I've there are.
There are certain teams thatspeak to me and.
I kind of look at you know.
Look at the teams that are theBuffalo Bills, do speak to me.
I, honestly they're you knowthey're kind of look at you know

(44:22):
.
Look at the teams that are theBuffalo Bills, do speak to me.
I honestly they're you knowthey're kind of the Panthers
North, uh, cause we we've shareda lot of uh front office people
and and coaches and you know.
So there's there's just anatural connection.
But I just love football.
I was a football coach.
Um, I coached youth football.

Speaker 1 (44:48):
We went to a couple of.

Speaker 2 (44:48):
Superbowls and won a couple of Super Bowls in a row,
and I've written a song for thePanthers called we Call it
Football, and very, very tiedinto the community relations
team over at the Panthers withRiley.
Fields who's just.
He's an amazing person and youknow, I was kind of there luke
combs before luke combs maybewas even I don't know, I I think
he was born, probably, but Iwas.
I was in that role with thepanthers for a while and we, uh,

(45:10):
we did a song together calledwe call it football so um, I'm
told you secretly love thecowboys oh, that's okay.
Now I get what's happening.
Yes, some of my, some of mypeople want me desperately to be
fans of their teams.

Speaker 1 (45:24):
That's what I get it.
I love it, I love listen, goodfootball is good football though
and I can watch any game onsunday even if my team's not
playing yeah, do you have likethe nfl ticket so you have, like
you can watch any and everygame?

Speaker 2 (45:39):
that's crazy, I've dabbled in that, but I don't
have it.
Currently.
I can go go to a sports bar.
I've got a place called hotshots right here in Mooresville.
That's very supportive of mymusic.
I can.
I can go there anytime I wantto watch any game I want to.

Speaker 1 (45:51):
I love it, I love that.
Yeah, what about baseball or no?

Speaker 2 (45:55):
No, I love.
I grew up Um I played baseballas a youth.
I coached lots of baseball foryouth.

Speaker 1 (46:03):
And.

Speaker 2 (46:04):
I love it from a sports perspective and I played
catcher growing up.
I was a very good catcher.
I played some shortstop.
I should have been a pitcher.
I was the kind of player thatnever.
I didn't have enough confidencewhen I was young to be the
quarterback or the pitcher and Iwish I would have been or

(46:24):
allowed myself to try to do it,because I always had the
strongest arm on the team and Iremember one time I launched a
football in practice for myyouth team and I think it went
about 70 yards, 65 yards.
And that was pretty major yards,65 yards, and that was pretty
major.
That was like a pretty goodthrow for a huge person that was

(46:45):
out of college and maybe above,maybe even above, NFL age.
Um and uh.

Speaker 1 (46:49):
I just remember the kids kind of looking around
they're going.

Speaker 2 (46:51):
He just threw that but I kind of missed, like I
feel like I missed anopportunity because I didn't
really have anybody.
My dad was in the Navy so hewas gone a lot and I didn't
really have anybody pushing meto go hey, you should be a
pitcher or you should be aquarterback.
So I was always like adefensive end on football.
Gotcha, gotcha Good one, and Igot the quarterback a lot, or I

(47:13):
was, or I was, you know, acatcher in baseball, so I was
catching the ball.
But that was also because I hada strong arm and I could throw
people out at second ball, so Iwas catching the ball but that
was also because I had a strongarm and I could throw people out
at second.
Yes, but yes, I love lovebaseball, Um, and uh, I love ice
hockey.
I love watching, uh, myhurricanes, you know I.
You know, um, I used to be aCapitals fan, Uh, so I did

(47:34):
switch to the hurricanes and Iused to be a Redskins fan, by
the way, Sorry, whoever wantedme to be a Cowboy fan.

Speaker 1 (47:41):
Well, now they say you're a Steelers fan.

Speaker 2 (47:44):
Yeah, oh boy, your friends are really I'm talking
to the city of Pittsburgh rightnow about something, so I'm
pretty excited about that's cool.
Yeah, it has to do with a songcalled we Make America Run,
which is really a good song forPittsburgh.

Speaker 1 (48:03):
I love it.
I love it.
See, like I said, we're a bigbaseball family.
I do enjoy football, but maybeyou're a little more into it
than I am, but I do enjoywatching a good game.
It's always great.
But we're New York Mets.
Okay, the team here in Syracuseis the AAA affiliate of the New
York Mets, the Syracuse Mets.
I work as one of their PAannouncers, which is cool.

(48:26):
I love it, oh that's awesomeBecause we see a lot of the
major players at this level andit's just so much fun.
My son works in the press box.
He's, as I told you before,he's down syndrome and he's 24,
but he's up there working.
He does the scoreboard.
It's just amazing, amazing.
But we've been doing baseballfor a long, long, long, long

(48:48):
time.
We used to house the players.
My wife and I would open up ourhome to the players years ago
when they would come into townand not have a place to stay.

Speaker 2 (48:58):
I don't think that happens today.

Speaker 1 (49:00):
It does not.
They don't allow them to stay.
That's, that's all.
See like?
I don't think that happenstoday.
It does not.
They don't allow them to dothat.
But a few years ago, up until2019, that's when it stopped oh,
and it went that long yeah yepand uh being, you know, at the
games all the time.
We get to know, we get to knowthe coach, we know the manager,
we know everything about it andit's like, well, if somebody's
coming in and they need a placeto stay, have them call us.
So almost every year we wouldhave a player or two staying

(49:23):
with us and nine times out of 10, they were Latino, spoke no
English, so it was ratherinteresting in the house.
But I will say they took overmy wife's kitchen and, like when
the wives were here and stuff,yeah, oh my God, could they cook
?
My wife is from columbia, southamerica all with the plantains

(49:43):
and just oh my god, so yeah, soI can't diet here now, my uh
type 2 diabetes here, um, but no, it's happening.
It's happening.
You know, um, it's amazingtalking to you.
It is just.
I don know.
I've done so many podcasts andI don't think I mean I love them

(50:07):
all.
Don't get me wrong, but thiswhole conversation with you and
your background and what you'vedone and what you believe in and
where you want to go, and andthe friends and the support that
you have, is amazing.

Speaker 2 (50:21):
Thank you Really amazing.

Speaker 1 (50:25):
I did not know what to expect because, I'll be
honest with you, I wasn't surewho I was talking to.
You know I got a nice email.
I mean I love you know your PRpeople.
They're great and I work with alot of them in Nashville.
You know they send artists myway, they want to get it out and
stuff.
But it's just amazing whatyou've done and what you've been

(50:45):
saying tonight.
You totally made my day, man,and it's just you know to see
all your friends coming on hereand everything as well.
You know you've been using yourplatform supporting the
veterans, the children'shospitals, faith-based causes.
Why are those so close to yourheart?

Speaker 2 (51:04):
The kids were the first thing and you know, being
a dad, you know obviously that'simportant to me, but you know
the kids made me understand.
There was one girl inparticular named Haley Cook,
that I think she was on her 36thbrain surgery.

Speaker 1 (51:18):
Oh my.

Speaker 2 (51:18):
Lord and I was with her and I got very close to her
and her family.
I was in the Special Olympicswith her.
And just my little girlfriend,man, she was just amazing and
she's like in her 20s now, soshe did survive.
But she taught me People wouldtalk to her adults that were

(51:39):
facing life-threatening illnessor needing surgery.
And she would just say don'tworry, you're going to be okay
and you know?
It opened my eyes to to um, tosee a child that doesn't know

(51:59):
how their future is going to beand all of the struggle that
they face.
But they're still like justthat faith, that innocence of a
child.
And I think adults we curl upin a ball when we face something
very, very dangerous or bad orscary.
And if you just talk to a childthat's in a children's hospital
, your whole perspective wouldchange 100%.

Speaker 1 (52:21):
just talk to a child that's in a children's hospital.
Your whole perspective wouldchange 100%.
I have a moment.
Where have you been to St Jude?

Speaker 2 (52:28):
I have never been to St Jude's, believe it or not,
and I've been to hospitals allover the US.

Speaker 1 (52:32):
Yeah, we were a St Jude radio station, so to speak.
We would do the radiothon everyyear.
We did it for like five yearsand every year they would fly us
out to, uh, you know, to gothrough the briefing.
Uh, we'd you know we'd be inMemphis and we stay at the
Peabody, whatever.
And um, we tour the hospitaland to to see and hear these

(52:58):
kids, to see and hear theparents to, just, they tell you
not to, you know, we're notallowed to talk to anybody, it
just they gave us the tour ofthe hospital and all that.
But I remember they gave us thetour and we had our lanyards on
.
I had my name on it where I wasfrom Syracuse, new York and I

(53:21):
walked out into the lobby andsee this is where it gets me.
But I walked out into the lobbyand there was a family sitting
there on the couch and a littleboy and you could tell he was at
the hospital for a reason.
And he comes up to me.
He goes Mr, mr, I go.
Yeah, he goes, your name it's,you're from Syracuse, I go.

(53:51):
Yes, yes, I, you know, I don'tremember what his name was, but
he knew my name was Skip and hegoes home of the orange, the
Syracuse orange basketballfootball, I go.
Yeah, that's right, he goes,goes.
Do you mind if I give you a hug?
so we hugged and Ansel, I justI'm getting, and it was years
ago and I still, to this day,not knowing what his outcome was

(54:14):
, not knowing you know, I gotthat's it, right there, what you
just said.

Speaker 2 (54:20):
Whenever I would visit children's hospitals and I
got very, very close to thechildren and their families were
facing because, honestly, I wasthere and, just like you were

(54:43):
there, we were there to kind ofhelp them forget.
They end up impacting us morethan we impact them.
But you know I never, I neverknew any of that.
I, honestly, I never knew anyof the outcomes of any of the
children that I visited in thoseyears and I'm I'm kind of happy
because I got to be with themin a situation where that didn't

(55:07):
matter, right?

Speaker 1 (55:08):
Yes, yes, absolutely Wow.

Speaker 2 (55:11):
And that's the magic of, of people that are in media,
that are entertainment orsports and and and being with
these kids and really not makingit about why it's about today,
and it's about just beingtogether.
Yeah, and the same thing withthe veterans, believe it or not,

(55:32):
because so many veterans arefacing so much PTSD issues and
suicidal issues today.
And when I, when I wrote ourcountry and and collaborated
with Peter Cullen, who's thevoice of Optimus Prime and all
the transformer franchise, he,he instantly, when he heard the
song, he instantly said I want,I'll do this for you, I want to

(55:54):
narrate the, the intro, and Iwas blown away.
But it was because he had had abrother.
That was, you know, he diedfrom Agent Orange exposure in
Vietnam, had cancer, was a majordecorated soldier.
And when I went to sing thatsong, to make a video at

(56:15):
Richard's Coffee Shop inMooresville, which is one of the
most famous coffee shops inAmerica, it was just on ABCs and
ESPN for their Veterans Dayspecial, which I branded, by the
way, I branded their big sign.
That's on TV was my brand.
And I did that pro bono, becausethey're my guys.

Speaker 1 (56:33):
They're my family.

Speaker 2 (56:38):
And I sang that song and I'm telling you guys that
you would never, ever see.
Cry Guys that their familiesdon't even know their stories
because it's that personal.
We're sitting in a circlearound me and I remember tears
after tears, after tears aftertears, and the same thing

(56:59):
happened on Monday, when I didit for Memorial Day.
And the guys.
They teach you that the stuffthat we're going through is just
you can't touch with these menand these kids.
I know, wow, and when you havethat perspective, I have a fib

(57:21):
Okay To me.
I I fought it differentlybecause of the people that have
impacted me and those roles thatI've played as an artist,
getting out with the people thatI care about, and it's been an
amazing you know way anybody,that if you don't volunteer at a
hospital or at a veterancommunity area or center or

(57:44):
coffee shop or whatever it isyou're, you're missing out on
something that will absolutelyimpact your life.
And these people, the kids andthe veterans, are just amazing
to me, and I'm, you know, partof me getting back into this now
.
I will be doing a lot of workwith veterans and I will be
doing a lot of work with kids.

Speaker 1 (58:05):
That's just going to have.

Speaker 2 (58:06):
That's got to be a part of it.

Speaker 1 (58:08):
You have to promise me that you'll come back on Skip
Happens and let's talk aboutlet maybe a few weeks down the
road, a couple of months downthe road, let's find out what's
happening with you, let's findout what you're doing, let's
find out because this, this istremendous.
It's powerful.
Now, on a brighter note, what'sthe deal with the hat?

(58:28):
Somebody was mentioning the hat, nice hat, this is.

Speaker 2 (58:31):
This is my, this'll be my main, this is my main logo
.
Love it so it's an, it's an,it's an.

Speaker 1 (58:38):
A, b, a b so see the a oh I'm trying to look at this
and I'm backwards.

Speaker 2 (58:43):
No, no, I see what you're saying, though I got a
and then b right and so anselbrown and uh, it's my uh it's my
you know, my relaunch hat yeah,exactly it's, uh, it's.
It's near and dear to my heartso I know the hat I'm wearing.

Speaker 1 (58:59):
As you can see, it says grateful.
I love it.
Now, do you know what that'sabout?
He's an artist.
His name is Scotty Hastings.
Okay, I had him on the podcasthere a while ago.
It's all about being gratefuland it's funny because this
whole conversation that we'vebeen talking about it and you're
talking about the veterans Ilove that.
He was in Afghanistan.

(59:20):
He was shot 10 times.

Speaker 2 (59:22):
Oh, wow.

Speaker 1 (59:22):
Was not expected to survive.
They flew him out.
He is now.
Of course he's been home quitea while, but still he's an
artist in Nashville.
His name is Scotty Hastings.
He's doing really well and atCRS this past year I grabbed a
hat.

Speaker 2 (59:41):
I would love to meet him at some point.
I kind of figured you would.
I think we would connect likethat.

Speaker 1 (59:47):
I think you would, and I think it would be a
perfect match Just witheverything that you do and
everything I know that Scottydoes.
He was on my podcast a fewweeks ago, but it's funny
because when he came on he hadthe Gr hat on.
I had the grateful hat.

Speaker 2 (01:00:02):
I love that I really do.

Speaker 1 (01:00:06):
Yeah, so that's the story behind that being shot 10
times.
United States army took 10bullets and he survived again.

Speaker 2 (01:00:14):
So think about that, think about that he's not alone.
And these people, these peopleare some of the you know they're
, they're, they're heroes, for areason man.
And, um, it's, it's, they're,they're amazing to me, I think
any anybody that you talk to atRichard's knows how much I care
about them.
And, uh, you, in fact, if youcome up here, you need to visit

(01:00:37):
Richard's coffee shop.

Speaker 1 (01:00:39):
Oh, dude I, you know when we get done here, I'm going
to get your info and you knowwhether I don't know if I can do
it next week, because it's aquick turnaround for me.
I have to go and I'm actually.

Speaker 2 (01:00:53):
DJing the wedding.
That's cool though.

Speaker 1 (01:00:56):
So it's my nephew Sally's like hey, Uncle Skip,
will you do it?
I just work in radio.
I mean, dude, come on, butanyways I'm going to do it for
him and then I'm flying back onSaturday afternoon or maybe even
Saturday morning we meet up,but anyways, we can talk about
that later.

Speaker 2 (01:01:11):
I would love that I see that Tracy's reminding me
about One Wish.

Speaker 1 (01:01:15):
Yeah, oh yeah, I was going to ask you If you get a
chance you should look up.

Speaker 2 (01:01:19):
Just type in One Wish Ansel Brown on YouTube and
you'll see.
It's with the Carolina Panthers, with their help.
But it was the initial part ofmy children's hospital tour, and
you'll actually see a girl thatthe nurses said would never
smile and don't expect to smile.

(01:01:40):
She's in too much pain, she, uh, she can't smile basically.
And by the time I got done,there's a video of her and you
see her just the lights flashing.
You see her this huge smile,literally.
At that moment the entire staffof the hospital was shedding
tears because they witnessedwhat they felt was a miracle.

(01:02:01):
It was one of the mostincredible moments of my
hospital work.
Uh, but it's in that.
One wish.
Uh, I wrote a song called onewish and it's about a girl named
Hope Stout who, uh, passed awayback in the.
Do you remember when thePanthers went to the first,
their first Superbowl againstEngland, yes.
Yeah, that that run, that thePanthers went on.

(01:02:21):
They were behind this littlegirl named Hope Stout for make a
wish, because there was notenough money in the Charlotte
make a wish, uh, area to grantwishes.
So what did she wish?
She wished that everybody inCharlotte would get their wishes
.
So that was her wish.
And then she passed away.

(01:02:42):
And guess what?
They raised them enough moneythrough the Panthers help to get
everybody in Charlotte theirwish.
So I inspired a song called onewish.
You know what would you do ifyou had one wish?
What would you do with it?

Speaker 1 (01:02:55):
Would you use it on yourself, or would you find a?

Speaker 2 (01:02:57):
way to use it on someone else, dude.
So it's an incredibly strongmessage in that song and, uh, if
you watch that video, you'llsee what I mean it's.

Speaker 1 (01:03:06):
It'll speak to you it's an incredible message of
everything you you've said hereon this podcast.
Um, I know we're.
We're close a little over anhour so I almost feel like I
could go on all night with you.

Speaker 2 (01:03:20):
But you know what?
You're fun to talk to.

Speaker 1 (01:03:23):
Yeah, right back at you your music.
Incredible, good to have youback and definitely going to be
I'm going to be getting this.
What I normally do is everywell, every once in a while,
like this interview, I'll playthe song.
I'll play the song, I'll playthe song and I will take clips

(01:03:44):
from this interview and I willplay it on the air, saying if
you don't know who this guy is,well, this is who he is and this
is what he told me.
So there's little clips.

Speaker 2 (01:03:52):
That's what I do, but uh well, I, I will definitely
appreciate your support and, um,and you know people need to, I,
I need to get people to findout about me somehow.
Oh, absolutely, well, you knowwhat?

Speaker 1 (01:04:05):
Yeah, we're off and running.
We're going to help everywherewe can and I love what you're
doing.
Thank you, and I know Deanna isasking what was Scotty?
Scotty, oh all right, tracymentioned it.
Scotty Hastings, that is theartist.

Speaker 2 (01:04:21):
Look him up.
That is the artist.
Look them up.

Speaker 1 (01:04:22):
Um, normally I don't talk about other artists when
I'm interviewing an artist withthat man, but uh, it just it
kind of went together with whatyou were saying and I'm looking,
I go, I'm wearing scotty's hatthat says grateful and there's a
reason for that he's gratefulI'm a fan of anybody that gets
out and does what they're meantto do?
yep yep, the bottom line.
Yep, you know so.
Know so if viewers otherviewers besides family and

(01:04:42):
friends that don't know where toget your music where can they
go?
Ansel browncom to start andwe've got a new website up, not
the other, it's Ansel.

Speaker 2 (01:04:54):
Yeah, a N S E L browncom.
Not Ansel Adams, and right, oryou can find me on any streaming
platform.
Just got to search Ansel Brown.

Speaker 1 (01:05:06):
I love that.
I love that.
Make sure you go on all thesupport.

Speaker 2 (01:05:09):
I can get on Spotify, by the way, so let's go, let's
build it.

Speaker 1 (01:05:13):
Yeah, if you're on.

Speaker 2 (01:05:14):
Spotify.
Go ahead and play my, play mymusic.
That would be great.

Speaker 1 (01:05:17):
And once I get my hands on the song, I will post
it below this video, which is onall my it's on my youtube, it's
on my social, it's, uh, justall my everywhere you rock, man.
I appreciate that.
Yeah, ansel brown.
God love you, man, you're sothank you, I feel the same sir.
Yeah, and I told you, by thetime we get done with this
podcast, we need to go have abeer.

Speaker 2 (01:05:39):
Yes, I really wish we could, man, I know.
So just make sure I know whenyou're going to be here.

Speaker 1 (01:05:46):
Yeah, I'll get your info here in just a minute or
two, but I want to thank you forcoming on.
Thank you to all the viewers.
Make sure you go on andsubscribe to Skip Happens.
We do a lot of these.
I do a couple a week.
I'd love to keep in touch withevery one of you, and this is
what we do.
Just subscribe Skip Happens onYouTube.

Speaker 2 (01:06:04):
Definitely subscribe.

Speaker 1 (01:06:06):
Yeah, it's not just.
You know, it's a real deal.
I have my own podcast studio,I've got a voiceover studio,
I've got a vocal booth.

Speaker 2 (01:06:12):
That's awesome.

Speaker 1 (01:06:13):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:06:15):
I took over the baseball players.
You're living the dream man.
You're doing what you'resupposed to be doing.
I know this is my world.

Speaker 1 (01:06:20):
I know it is.
This is my world and that'syour world.
I love it All right, anselBrown, thank you.
Thank you so much for being on,skip Happens tonight.

Speaker 2 (01:06:30):
It is a pleasure, absolute pleasure.
Thank you for going throughsome of my experiences with me.

Speaker 1 (01:06:36):
It was great to talk to.