Episode #61: Dillon Weldon

Zooming in from Nashville, TN, Dillon Weldon! I've been a fan of Dillon's content on TikTok and Instagram and I wanted to reach out and see how he got started and to talk some classic country music with him. Dillon also has a podcast called "Drifting Cowboy Podcast".

Follow Dillon on:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dillonweldon/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@dillon.weldon

Use code: BIGHOSS15 at https://cowboyrevolution.com/

Use code: BIGHOSS at https://www.cowboysnapback.com/

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Welcome to Big Hoss's tailgate. Here.
Cool. And now we're off.
So how's it going where you're from?

(00:22):
Are you in in Nashville? I am.
I'm in Nashville, but I'm from southwest Louisiana.
OK. Yeah.
So I follow your Instagram, you do a lot of country music
history and videos like that andyour on your Instagram page.
And I love like a lot of the stories I've heard because I
used to watch like my brother was a big like TNN fan.

(00:47):
They would have the George Jonesshow and George would tell all
kinds of stories. And I was like, I love the fact
that you use you don't get that anymore.
Like they don't have anything. I'm glad that your page is like
an outlet for that man. Well, I appreciate it.
Yeah, there's kind of a big gap in country music that luckily
people like myself are are able to feel.

(01:08):
But yeah, those old TNN shows were great.
You know, Ralph Emery and and all those guys were, were
fantastic. But there has been a a void in
country music without TNEMCMT isnot what it used to be.
So there was really just an opening in social media to do
that. And I, I just love country music

(01:32):
so much and it's all that opening.
So, you know, I kind of kind of took it.
Yeah, I I think that's awesome. It's it's nice to have someone
step in. So tell me a little bit about
yourself. Your name's Dylan.
Crap. I gotta remember that.
Weldon. Dylan Weldon.
Yes, Sir. Yeah.
So I'm from southwest Louisiana.I just love country music.

(01:54):
Been doing country music contentcreation for about 5 1/2 years,
but although I've loved it sinceI was a kid, I was raised on
country music, you know, So I tell this story often.
But when I was three years old, I asked for a song and Walkerman
and Johnny Paycheck's Greatest Hits cassette back in the 90s

(02:17):
and got it and, and burn it up. You know, first song I ever
learned all the words to was Time Marches on, which Tracy
Lawrence, which is a Bobby Braddock tune, which is
incredible because I've, I've since become, you know, friends
with Bobby Braddock. And so to get to be a part of
this world, you know, I didn't have any, any connections in the

(02:39):
country music industry at all down in Southwest Louisiana.
So to be a part of the country music world, it's, it's, it's
pretty incredible. It really is, I said, a dream
come true for me. Yeah, 'cause I, I mean, I used
to go to, I used to go to Nashville like almost every like
Christmas break from work and I would just go down for a week

(03:00):
and just party and I would just go hit, I used to hit Broadway.
But then like my one last time there was like one year I went
and I was friends with a guy. He plays like he used to play at
Losers in Midtown. Yeah, his name is Craig Curtis.
And he told me he's like, man, he's like Broadway's fun.
He goes. But if you want to see real

(03:20):
country, like the real Nashville, he's like, you need
to go Losers. So I was like, all right, next
time I go to Nashville, I'm going to Losers.
And I fell in love with that place.
Yeah, I love losers. That's one of the the coolest
Hangouts in town. I hate giving the secret away
though, but that's what that is.Yeah, that's cool.

(03:41):
I, I might have to cut that, sneak that one out, but I, I
remember when that place was like, it wasn't as big as it,
you see it now, like it was really just the outside and like
you had the front part and that's it.
There was no top half, There wasno all that stuff.
And then next door was winners. Yeah, I I've had a lot of fun, a

(04:04):
lot of good times and losers, and I'm not a bar hopper by any
means. I'm, you know, I'm married and
so I'm not wanting to go out barhopping, but I've been to some
cool, you know, Private Chin digs over there and Raleigh
Green's next door. I've recorded podcasts there.
Steve, who owns the places. He's he's a great guy and

(04:27):
they've been good to me. And yeah, I'm, I'm, I'm a big
fan of losers. Oh, yeah, I met, So I met, I met
Steve like the, I think it was New Year's Eve or something
until I was like, yeah, I'm fromPittsburgh and I was hanging out
down there and I think he boughtme like some Patrone shots.
Like this was like 2017, I think2018 maybe.

(04:49):
Yeah. So it was like I met those guys.
I met Irv. Irv was the guy like I used to
like I mean he since passed and I would sit next like I was
like. I think I would just I went over
like you. Used to have a jukebox in there.
So I would go and like put in like a bunch of old country
songs. And I remember he was like
talking one time to somebody andI seen him like look up like

(05:10):
who's playing this? And then looked over and was
like gave me like a thumbs up kind of thing, 'cause I was
playing like very deep cut like old songs.
And I just started, like, just talking, like, just casually
like, hey, man, like, you know, just talking about just just
music in general. And this dude would just start
telling stories. But he would say someone's name,

(05:30):
like, yeah, I remember one time,like, Alan.
And George was like, Alan. He's like, Jackson George
Strait. Yeah.
Like, oh, like he's telling likesome good stories.
Yeah, yeah, you, you reminded meof when I was in college, my
cousin Lance and I, We were living in a place together and

(05:53):
we were working at a slaughterhouse, actually, after
school. We'd go in there and, and
butcher hogs and stuff and get us a little spending money.
And we'd go, there was a bar, I think it was called BJ's, right
down the road. And we would go in there and
take up whatever money we made at the slaughterhouse, $100 bill
or whatever, and go stick it in the jukebox and buy it out for

(06:16):
pretty much the remainder of thetime we intended to be there.
Which was usually till closing, you know, but we'd go in there
and I'd, I'd, it'd be Keith Whitley and Gary Stewart, lot of
Gary Stewart, you know, Hank Junior, Merle Haggard, that kind
of stuff. And we, there was a couple times

(06:37):
we just about tied up in fights with people over that.
They would get plumbed mad that we bought the jukebox out with
old country songs. You know, they'd come in there
and try to put on some hip hop or something like, hey, if you
got the money, buy it out beforewe do.
My, my, there was a bar, there'sa bar like where I like right
over the hill from me where I grew up.
And there was a sign on the jukebox that said like, we have

(07:02):
the right to skip any song that you put on there.
So like somebody would come in like, oh, I'm going to put some
like, you know, hip hop on. They go over and skip it.
And like we told you, like you look at the vibe of this place.
It there was there was a huge giant photo.
I think it's the same one that you see in Losers where it's
Hank Williams is still it. It was like a picture of Hank

(07:22):
Williams. And at the top there was like a
little plaque and it said Hank Williams is still the king of
this honky tonk. And I was like, hell yeah, like,
this is a real, this is a real bar.
Let's go. Yeah, yeah, those are my kind of
hanging outs. So how how'd you get started?
Like in like the music thing, Like the music like I guess it's

(07:43):
the music business. Well, I started writing at a
very young age. I mean, I, I've always loved to
write. I, I remember the third grade
writing stories, you know, I would, I wouldn't pay attention
to class. I'd, I'd make up stories and
write them. But it was about when I was 14,

(08:03):
I guess, when I started writing songs and really fell in love
with songwriting. And I've been writing songs ever
since and learn how to play the guitar around 16 and just
hanging out with friend. I'm from a very small town, so
there's not a lot to do. So that was one of our main

(08:24):
things to do is go down to the Creek and, you know, build a
fire and and, and play music. So then I get out of college, I
got a degree in agricultural business and I get out of
college and I built houses, which is what my family did for
near about 10 years. And around COVID, I started is

(08:50):
whenever, you know, TikTok really made a change from a
dancing app to what it is now. And Grady Smith had put up a
video on YouTube that country music was taking over TikTok.
And what he meant by it in the video was that a lot of
musicians were starting to gain traction on there.
So I was like, well, that was like an opening for me to maybe

(09:14):
get some of my songs out there. And so I got on there and free
trial and error, just found out what worked and what didn't.
And I've, I've always loved the history of country music and I
think it's just as important as any other piece of the puzzle.
So I'd, I'd get on there, be reading a whaling biography or
Merle or something, and then come across a cool story and I'd

(09:35):
get online and tell it. And that started doing really
well. My man.
People really or like me and enjoy these stories.
I'm going to, I'm going to keep on telling them.
So I started doing that and I did that for about 3 years and
never, I got up to about 30,000 followers, which was to me was
huge. You know, that was mind blowing.

(09:55):
There was 30,000 people who cared to listen to me, you know.
So I moved up in 2022, I think it was two at the end of 22 to
Montana. Me and my wife did and I was
doing a construction job up there as a project manager.

(10:17):
I was up there for a little while and then I moved down to
Austin for a year and ended up getting a call from a guy who
was like, hey, we'll pay you 20%more if you come to Houston.
We got a big job coming up. So I'm we moved out to a rent
house in Houston and just got there, man.
We hadn't been there a week and the guy messes to me like hey,

(10:40):
job fell through and I'm like, what do you mean?
It's like we the job fell through.
We don't have it. And I was like, well, do you
have anything? Like we moved out here like we
haven't rent houses like no, we don't have anything right now.
I'll let you know if so it comesup.
So I'm like, now I'm out here inHouston with nothing.
Luckily I had a good savings from being out in Austin.

(11:02):
And so I was like, well, I told my wife, I'm just going to take
some time, a few weeks, couple months, whatever and just figure
out really where we need to be at and what we need to do.
So I applied for some jobs here and there around Houston in the
construction industry. Nothing was clicking.
And, and I, I'm a pretty spiritual person and I went out
on my front porch one day and I was fed up, man.

(11:24):
And I said, God, your book says that the birds don't worry about
what they're going to eat and the plants don't worry about
what they're going to wear. So let's see what you got and
said that prayer in. About two or three days later, I
got a notification from TikTok that they were going to roll out

(11:45):
the creative, the creator rewards program that paid
exceptionally well compared to what they paid before.
Before you, you was lucky if youmade 100 bucks a year, you know,
and this was going to actually start paying and which didn't
mean a whole lot to me because Iwasn't getting very many views
at the time I was if I got 10,000 views on video, I was

(12:05):
doing real good and I put out a video about three days after
that. So this is five or six days
after I said that prayer. I put out a video on Hank Junior
falling off the mountain and it got I've.
Seen that video, I've seen that.I think I've seen that you
telling that story on there. Yeah, it got like a million,

(12:27):
million and a half views and I got a check off of that one for
$700.00. And so I'm like, wow, if I can
do that one time, I can surely do it again.
And I haven't sworn hammer since.
Oh it that was 2 1/2 years ago. It it's weird, like what will
take off and what doesn't? Like, I mean, what, like for

(12:49):
instance, like when I'm making like comedy, like comedy posts
and stuff, like I'm and I'm doing podcast things, I'm
working hard trying to get the poster and get this thing to
look right. And I'll get like 112.
I'm like, seriously. But then I'll find something
stupid on cap cut and put that out there.
And all of a sudden it's like, Oh yeah, you got 12,000 views on

(13:11):
this. You're like.
What? What did I do?
I don't understand like what I did like.
Yeah, it's a weird man. I'm it's, it's becomes the
biggest part of my life really because it's my full time job.
So it's, it's become almost scientific to me now, like what

(13:33):
hits and what don't and, and times and time of day, different
days, what works. I'm always thinking about that
kind of stuff. And I think you have to, you
know, to to be successful at it.And, you know, constantly
backing up to when I had that first video pop off of my friend

(13:54):
Josh Walker, who is a fantastic sports content creator.
He's he's doing it full time too.
He and I both at the time were not full time content creators.
It not even close. And we made a pact to each other
like, you know what, let's let'spost consistently for one year,

(14:15):
Let's keep each other accountable for it and post
consistently for one year and try to make each video that we
post better than the last and just see how far we can get.
I had no idea how far I would get in that year.
No idea, like I thought I might end up here and I ended up way

(14:37):
above the moon. You know, it was, it was insane.
You know, I, I started off that May with 30,000 followers and by
the end of the summer had 100,000.
And that was a couple years ago,just right around two years ago.
And we just hit a million last week across.

(15:02):
So it's been, it's been 2 years from 30,000 to 1,000,000 and it
feels like a lifetime because somuch has happened in those two
years. But that's a relatively short
amount of time, honestly. Yeah, I mean, like, like I said,
I mean, I love it. Like the like the stuff you're
able to dig up and especially like there's so many like

(15:22):
stories out there that you can do things off of.
And it's like, you know, they eventually, OK, I ran out of
stories. Now what?
Like, you know, now you're like,OK, well, I can feature artists
that maybe people don't know about, like things like that.
Like it? It's weird how you have to try
and come up with different stuffto, you know, fill in the, you
know, content pivoting. Is what I what I call it.

(15:46):
You know it, when one thing stops working, you you need to
pivot to the next thing and figure out what, what's going to
work. And if you're not good at that,
you're going to have a hard time.
You have to be able to, yes. Like I, I started out some of my
most success, successful stuff at the beginning was I did a

(16:07):
series called Dark, Dark Songs and Country music.
And I did, I don't even know howmany parts I did that because
there's a lot of dark songs, country music, but that was very
successful for me. And until it wasn't.
And then I pivoted and did another series and then pivoted.
I had the series, you know, kidsof country music, musicians who

(16:31):
sound like their parents. I had that series and that one
was always successful, but there's just not that many, you
know, kids that sound like theirparents.
So it didn't last long, but thatwas a very successful series for
me. But it's always about the pivot,
you know, now I'm in the podcastworld, so a lot of my content
now is clips for forms, the podcasts, which had been doing

(16:55):
really well for me. And I'm very thankful for that.
You know, that's been doing really well for me.
And it's been so cool to get to sit down with with people who
I've considered my heroes and listen to my whole life.
Yeah, I see. I think I've seen you on with.
I hope I get this right 'cause Iwas pretty sure that's who it
was. I was like, I think it was Clay
Walker I've seen you sitting down with.

(17:17):
Yeah, that was the last one we put out.
I I went down to Clay's house and we filmed down there.
Clay's a good dude. That was a lot of fun to do.
We've had Randy Travis on and Travis Tritt, lots of good folks
and lots of good folks coming up.
I just did Matt Mcanally day before yesterday.
God, what an incredible career he's had.

(17:40):
It's not up yet. I haven't even had to do.
That's another thing. I'm a one man operation.
Same same. I'm doing all my stuff is like.
I'm still like trying to figure it out like.
Like I took my I take the computer, I'm talking to you on
all my lights, my mic stands, mics, cameras, camera stands,
everything loaded up in the trunk go out to Clay Walker's

(18:03):
house or whoever unloaded, set it up and then we film, I break
it down, bring it home and it's it's me.
My buddy Grayson comes and helpsme when he can.
Holiday comes and helps me when he can.
But it's just a one man operation and, and it's been
really, a lot of people ask me like who edits your videos and

(18:25):
stuff like that. I've never paid anybody to do
anything for me. It's it, it's not really
overwhelming to me yet. I hope, I, my hope is that it
gets to the point, you know, where it's overwhelming and, and
it gets to the point where enough money's coming in where I
can hire people to help me. But for now, it's just a A1 man
pony show. Yeah, I mean, I was listening to

(18:46):
like. I think I was listening to Joe
Rogan and he was talking about like for a podcast, He's like,
you know, you get some of his friends because they have teams
where like he's like, you know, you have a bunch of like you
have like 5 or 6 guys. He's like, what do you need all
these guys for? He's like, you guys only need to
be just you and one other guy because.
That's all you. Really need most of the time

(19:08):
that's just one guy to make sureeverything's running behind the
scenes because everybody, because everything else is just
you and them. Yeah, I mean, if you have a
studio, if you have a studio where people can come in and you
can have a producer like Joe hasJamie, you know, you can have
somebody live switching and whenthe podcast is over, it's ready
to post. For me, I don't have a studio

(19:31):
yet. That's a big goal of mine.
But I mean, it take a lot of takes a lot of money, you know,
to rent a space and all that. But if I ever do get that point
that that's the plan, I would have a producer to live switch
and stuff. And that would make my life 100
times easier than hauling this equipment around and then having
to sit there and edit it myself.It's that it gets time

(19:54):
consuming. So, but as you say, in time, I
love it. So you always hear, you know, if
you do what you love, you never work a day in your life.
And that's how I feel. TG Shepherd told me one day he
said, ma'am, you must be the hardest working man in
Nashville. And I said, and I thought about
it. I was like, you know, I don't
really feel like a hard working man.
But I guess from the outside looking in that I am all the

(20:16):
time running somewhere and doingthis and that.
So it seems like I'm just, I have so much fun with it.
I don't really consider it. Hard work.
Oh, yeah. I mean, it's like, oh geez, I
have to go talk to Travis Tritt today.
Yeah. This is going to be such hard
work to do. I mean, I would be nervous
because like, I've had some like, like I had a guy opens for
Bill Burr on the podcast. And like the entire time I'm

(20:38):
thinking to myself, what can I talk about?
Because it's like I just when you have moments like this, your
brain just decides to. Leave for the day.
And you're like, wait, I needed you here.
Like get in because you're I think it's just you get nerves.
You're so excited and you're like, I don't want to ask
something dumb and him be like, why did you ask me that?
Like, I'm like, my bad, dude. Yeah.

(20:59):
My podcast is, and I get a lot of compliments on, on my
interview style, but to me, I just go in there and really just
let them go because the most of the people I'm interviewing,
almost all of them really are, are legends.
And, you know, I, I kind of steer the conversation.
I, what I like to do, I, I call them like legacy interviews.

(21:23):
I like to start, you know, from childhood and then work through
the years, do it chronologically.
And I just kind of steer it thatway and just let the stories
flow unless there's specific stories that I want, like when I
did Ray Wiley, you know, I, I had to hear some of those towns
and guys stories. So you, I'm going to ask about
those, But for the most part I just, I like to let the person

(21:46):
I'm interviewing talk. That's what we're there for, you
know? Yeah, I got to see Ray, Ray,
Wiley Hubbard, a couple. Oh man.
And the more that's just weird. You start thinking back before
COVID and then it's like, it feels like it's like forever
ago. I seen him like 7 years ago.
I think it was him, Wade Bowen and Co Wetzel.

(22:07):
And they played like my hometownin Washington, PA, at a baseball
field. And it was, it was so cool
'cause my buddy was working at the radio station at the time
and he was trying to promote Texas country in Pittsburgh.
Pittsburgh's a very hard town tolike, get people to like new
stuff. If it's not already established.
They're like, you're I don't care.

(22:28):
It's. Weird.
Yeah, I love Ray Wiley. That was one of one of my top
favorite ones that I've done so far, just because he's had such
an extensive and legendary career and been around, you
know, some of my favorite people, Towns and Guy and Willie
and Blaise Foley and and Jerry Jeff Walker, all these folks.

(22:49):
So just be with a guy who's a legend himself and to get to
talk about these other legends that he, you know, cut his teeth
with, that was just sad. That was one of the coolest
things I've ever got to do. And Ray's just such a sharp,
quick witted guy. I enjoyed the heck out of that.
Oh, yeah. I mean, like how I heard of,

(23:11):
heard of him was like listening to Eric Church, like Eric Church
would reference him and then like bring him into stuff.
And I was like, oh, like, who's this dude?
And I started looking into him like, oh, wow, this guy's been
around forever. Like how come he's not bigger?
Like, like, how do you, how is his name not thrown around all
the time? Like, it's crazy how many you'll
how you'll, how you'll find these guys that are like huge in

(23:32):
other parts of the country, but you've never heard of them
because their music doesn't get played nationwide.
It gets played like in certain areas.
Yeah, that's especially true with Texans and Oklahoma and
places like that, you know, especially Texans, you know that
that's its own world out. Like I told you, I lived in
Austin for a year, which I I live in southwest Louisiana

(23:54):
about 40 minutes from the Texas line, so I ain't far from Texas.
So I I kind of grew up around that kind of music and it, it is
it's own world and it's cool. It's cool that it's own world.
That's exactly why Willie Nelsonand Waylon went down there in
the 70s, you know, because you don't feel appreciated in
Nashville. That's OK.

(24:15):
We'll go down to Texas and they'll appreciate us.
So I didn't. Realize is that when they went
to Austin, because I watched thethe Outlaw documentary, I think
it was on CMT when they aired itthat the woman that came up with
the outlaw name, she was always on CMT.
She had that country diner like they would always show like she

(24:37):
was like a personality on there.And I had no idea who the woman
was. I was like, who is like this
woman? And then I seen the documentary.
I was like, oh, that's who she was.
Like, OK, this makes now I understand what she is.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's funny, You know, the whole
outlaw movement, how big it became to where, I mean, it's

(24:57):
still around the day, you know, people calling themselves outlaw
country and none of them asked for that.
You know, Willie and Whelan, they didn't ask to be called
outlaws. And types, if you listen to some
of their songs, I think they're kind of offended to be called
outlaws, but. Yeah, don't this outlaw, but
just yeah, don't you think? Yeah, I tell you what do you

(25:20):
watch? You like the story, Like you
like the music, history and stuff?
Did you watch any of the Tales from the Tour Bus?
Oh yeah, I'm a huge, not just a huge country music history fan,
but a huge Mike Judge fan I love.
Mike Jones returning. Let's go.
Yes, that's Kelly Hills. One of my favorite shows, if not
my favorite show of all time. So I'm pumped about that.

(25:42):
So when he was coming out with acountry music series, I was
like, this is about to be one ofthe greatest things of all time.
And it was that that series is so good.
Even the second season because like, they went to Funk on the
second season. Those ones are wild too.
Yeah, yeah. It was such a good series.
I wish he would put out more. I wish he would put out another

(26:03):
country, you know, season because there's some guys that
they didn't touch on that, you know, that's wild stories and
whatnot. Yeah, that's what I think the
one of the funniest ones that meand my brother are cracking up
at is when George Jones, when his cocaine days and he was

(26:24):
talking about there was the old man in the duck and he was like
talk like Donald Duck. There's audio, there's audio of
George talking like Donald Duck.Oh, is there?
You can probably find it on YouTube.
It was on the radio show. I don't remember if it was Ralph
Emery's or what radio show it was, but yeah, there's there is

(26:46):
audio of George as the duck. Yeah, I do.
I, I do like when you go to Nashville, especially if you
hang around the Opryland area, how much like old Nashville is
still there. Like you can still feel like
some of it's still around. Like you know, like they had
like the old shotgun red puppetsand stuff.

(27:07):
And I was like, oh, that's cool that they have that.
Cause like most people, like it was before my time, but my
brother knew what it was, Yeah. So it was like kind of cool to
still see that some of that stuff there.
Yeah, that's a cool area to go around.
The Opry, the Texas Troubadour, which they just renamed, just

(27:29):
like Music City, something whichI don't know why they renamed
it, but that's a cool place. Nashville Palace is iconic,
obviously. You know, around each.
Travis started out frying Frenchfries in there.
Yeah. I think we, I think they
recorded, I think you can find like an early recording of him
before, like he blew up and yeah, he's Randy Ray.

(27:54):
It's like, oh, like there's someof those.
Like I think you can find like an early Alan Jackson, like when
he's just a guy in the audience and he's singing a song and
everybody's like, what? Like this?
Guy's really good. That was on TNN OnStar search.
So when Alan moves to town, he had a job in the mail room of
TNN and that I guess they knew that he could sing, so they was

(28:15):
going to let him sing out into the commercial break.
And Keith Segal was actually oneof the judges OnStar Search that
season. So he hears Alan and he is
Alan's career producer. So he's still producing Alan.

(28:36):
So that's when he discovered Alan Jackson.
So it was kind of, you know, on that TV shows is part of where
he got his start. He also got some help from Glenn
Campbell thanks to his wife who was working at an airline and
met Glenn Campbell, I want to say in Atlanta at the airport

(28:57):
and gave him one of Alan's tapes.
And and Glenn was a big help at the beginning too.
Oh I do. I do love some Glen Campbell.
You talk about one. One of the saddest documentaries
is What was that called it? It was like the name of his last
album too. I'm still me or something.
Yeah, he had that song, that onesong.

(29:19):
Not going to miss you. That was.
Man, talk about gut you man. That was that was hard to listen
and it was all over the radio. And that was a hard listen, man,
because it was the truth. It was country music to the
ball, you know, three chords in the truth and it was the truth,
but it was a harsh truth, you know, and sometimes country

(29:41):
music is like that. But what a sad song, man.
Well, that's what you were talking about, like darkest
country songs and I'm thinking and the first one that popped in
my head was Long Black Veil. Long Black veil.
Long black veil is is dark, but it ain't even close to the
darkest man. There's some if you want to hear
dark. The darkest song in punching

(30:02):
music, in my opinion is Psycho by Eddie Noah.
It was written by Leon Payne. So Leon Payne, they called him
the blind balladeer. He's blind man, but he also
wrote The Selfishness of Man, and probably his most well known
song was A Lost Highway by Hank Williams.

(30:26):
But Psycho was a song that nobody had talked about or heard
of or listened to in decades. And me and my buddy Holiday, we
like the obscurities and stuff. And I had that that series going
on dark country music. And I did a video on Psycho and

(30:47):
it went crazy. It went super viral.
People were like, man, this is this is dark, dark.
And so then I reached out to Patrick over at Country versus
Metal and he was doing some reaction videos to the time I
said, react to this one, it'll do well for you.
So he did it and it did really well for him too.
And Holiday did a video and it did well for him.
And next thing you know, it becomes a trend on TikTok.

(31:10):
This is a 50 year old song, obscure country song, and it
becomes a trend on TikTok. And I've often wondered, whoever
gets, you know, Leon Payne's royalty checks are probably
scratching their head. Like how in the world are we
getting we went from getting twocents every four months on

(31:31):
Psycho to now we're getting paidon it.
But you probably saw it. It's a you think I'm psycho,
don't you, Mama? You know.
Oh yes, I have heard that song, yeah.
So it's about a guy who he's a psycho and he killed a bunch of
people and he's telling his mom about it.
Like I last night I woke up standing over Johnny's bed and

(31:52):
I, I killed his, I killed his dog and I killed the little girl
at the park. And I killed this couple last
night and buried them underneaththe Sycamore.
And then at the end of it, he's like, Mama, Mama wants you to
please get up. So at the end of it, it's
revealed that he killed his mother.
You know, it's just, it's super dark.
Damn. Super dark song.

(32:13):
It's like I always heard that part of it, but I didn't listen
to the whole song. Now it's like I'm going to have
to listen to this on on the way out the way out tonight.
Oh yeah, It's eerie, man. It's a eerie dark song, that one
in Knoxville Girl. Knoxville Girls, a bluegrass
song, but I included it in my series and is basically a man
doesn't want to marry his girl, his fiance.

(32:35):
So instead of just breaking it off, he bludgeons her to death.
And I mean, it's graphic. Like it talks about a slung her
by her hair and blood was everywhere.
It's it's it's it's through in the river.
Yeah, it's it's and this is an old song too.
It's all it's actually based offlike a several 100 year old

(32:55):
ballad from like Ireland or something, but they changed it
to Knoxville girl and it's it's it's it's a dark one.
Who? That's what You almost went look
and go. Who hurt you, man?
Like, yeah, like what was her name?
Is she still alive? Like let's just check on.
Yeah, if if I heard somebody singing that song for the first

(33:15):
time, I'd probably just get awayfrom him as quickly as possible.
So what do you? What do you think is one of your
favorite stories that you covered?
The the my favorite story that Icovered would have to be about
Gary Gentry in the ride, and I'dnever heard that story until I

(33:40):
had a Gary's one of my best friends.
He he wrote the ride in 1959. The 1 I loved back then, the
Chicken in black, drinking and driving, just a bunch of
legendary country music songs and I, I had him on the podcast
and he told me a story that I had not heard before I'd heard
the story about Hank's ghost. You know there's.

(34:00):
Him getting drunk and yelling atHank's ghost.
But the story that I hadn't heard was that he came to Nash.
He he was riding his bicycle when he was a boy and he had a
little transistor radio on the handlebar.
And that's when he heard Hank Williams for the first time.
When he goes home and he tells his mom, hey, I want to go see

(34:24):
Hank Williams. I just heard him on the radio
and he's incredible. I want to hear him.
Mom said, well, that's not possible because he just died.
And a few years ago, well, he became an obsessed Hank Williams
fan. And they decided to go to
Nashville because he lived out in East Tennessee.
So they decided to take a trip to Nashville, him and his mom
and his grandma, and he was 14 years old, gets to town with one

(34:49):
thing on his mind. He wants to see Hank Williams
house. So he gets here and they was
went to right in front, right onBroadway in front of Ernest Cubs
record shop. And he gets out and there's two
means there's talking and I can't ever remember the guy's
name. It's the guy who's saying Green
Acres though was there. And he asked him if he knew
where Hank's house was. He said no, but he probably

(35:13):
does. And it was Ernest Tub standing
next to him. And so Ernest Tub gives a kid,
Gary Gentry, directions to whereHank's house is.
So they go over there, and Gary's driving at 14 years old
and drives up. And he hops out of the car.
And his mom's like, what are youdoing?
You're going to get us arrested.He's like, I got a knock on the
door and see if I can see the inside.
So he goes and knocks on the door and the maid answers and he

(35:37):
said, I'm the biggest Hank Williams fan and I just, I want
to see the house where my hero lived.
And the maid said, well, who's with you out there?
And he said, my grandma and mom said, well, tell them to come
in, I'll show you all around. So they get out and go in and
his mom and grandma were just inawe of the kitchen.
So, you know, state-of-the-art for back then.
And they were looking around andGary sneaks down the hall and

(36:00):
he's looking around and a woman comes out of the bathroom with
her hair done up in the towel. We're in the bathrobe and it's
Audrey. And she, she says, son, can I
help you? You know, she shot there's just
a random kid in her house. And he tells her why he's there.
And she said, OK, well, I'll, I'll show you around.
So he showed, she showed him Hank Williams junior's bedroom,

(36:23):
which he said was just crazy andtook him to the garage and
showed him the Cadillac that Hank died in was sitting in the
garage. So he got to see that and show
them around and they go to leaveand they're walking out of the
door. And this is the part that gives
me chills every time I feel it. They walk out of the door and he

(36:45):
says, Miss Williams, thank you for showing me all of Mr.
Williams things. I'm just such a huge fan.
And she said we don't have to call him Mr. Son.
The whole world called him Hank.And that line stuck with Gary
for a couple decades until he wrote the ride.

(37:06):
One of my favorite memes is thatcat wearing the cowboy hat with
its mouth open, like over the mountain.
And someone put that as the caption.
Like the whole world calls me hey and.
You see, like the cat turn its head back and I was like.
That's exactly how you sing thatsong.
It's exactly. How you?
Do it. Yep.
And so for me to realize that, like that line came straight

(37:28):
from Audrey Williams. It's when he told me that, I was
like, I couldn't believe it. And I instantly knew I was like,
when I tell this story to people, it's going to go insane.
And it did. It got millions of views.
And because it's just one of those stories, it's like soaked
out there and cool. Like the chances of all that

(37:51):
coming together like it did and him her saying you don't have to
call him Mr. Son, the whole world call him hanging.
Like, wow, that's it's incredible.
Yeah, I got, I got excited one time I went down to I went to go
check out the George Jones Museum.
Like it, it was still like kind of newish in Nashville.
So I went out. I mean, I was hungover and from
the night before and I was like,I'm just wandering around

(38:12):
Nashville. Just I'd get an Uber from my
Airbnb and just walk around and I went in and here just happened
to be that time where George's wife was still his widow.
Was there like 1. He.
Yeah. And she's just sitting there
hanging out and people are coming up and talking to her and
stuff. And I'm thinking like, why not

(38:34):
just walk up? And I was just wanted to tell
her like, my grandfather was a huge George Jones fan.
Like had, I mean, cassette tapes, cause like that was his
favorite singer. And it was just kind of cool
just to talk to her a little bit, just to be like, Oh, this
is the closest I'll get to ever meeting George Jones.
But this is cool. Like, you know, it's, it's, it's
weird when you like meet people like that, 'cause then you're

(38:55):
like, oh, this is just another person.
Like it's, it's crazy. Like, you know what I mean?
Like this is a, like, you know, in your head, you're building up
that this is this huge legend. And when you meet him and it's
like, oh, and you get to know him a little bit, like just
one-on-one a little bit, you're like, oh, this is just, you
know, if I, if this person, if this wasn't a thing, they would
just be like a nice, you know, lady I met in the store.

(39:17):
Yeah, yeah. Nancy Sweet, I, I talked to her
a couple of days ago, congratulated her on the new
George Jones statue with the riding.
I'm going to have her on the podcast pretty soon.
She's a, she's a real sweet lady.
But I met George. I, I, I went to two George Jones
concerts when I was a kid and wewent out to his bus after one of

(39:40):
the shows 'cause we was trying to, you know, meet him and get
his autograph. And he wasn't feeling well that
evening, but he took time to sign her stuff.
And what a legend, man, I, I wish I could have had more time
to really talk to him and get toknow him, But Nancy's a
sweetheart. I, I've, I've met her several

(40:01):
times at this point. But we're going to have on the
podcast pretty soon, you know, and I can't wait to sit down and
get some of those inside storieson George.
Oh yeah, 'cause it's like that. I mean, that's what I like
listening to. I think Theo Von had Brooks and
Dunn on. Yeah.
And when Ronnie Dunn's telling stories about Johnny Cash, you

(40:23):
know what I mean? Just that he's like, I'm sitting
next to Johnny Cash and we're just watching TV and it's like,
this is crazy. I'm talking.
I'm sitting next to Johnny. He's like, I'm nobody at this
point and they're just being nice to me.
Yeah, I've been in those situations, man.
Just just a couple weeks ago, I was at a party and I was there

(40:43):
with Jamie Johnson and Randy Howser, Jake Worthington and
people who I really admire and like Jamie is someone I've
listened to since I was in high school.
I absolutely love Jamie. We're going to have him on the
night. And you just kind of step back

(41:06):
sometimes and you're like, man, how did I get here?
You know, it just doesn't seem right, but it is.
And you're there and it's, it's just, it's, it's really cool,
you know? Oh, yeah.
I mean, so one time this happened to me, I think this
was, yeah, this was like 2021. I went down to Nashville and I
met a friend or I met, I met somebody one like on a previous

(41:30):
trip. And he's like, hey, we're going
to go and like meet up for, you know, drinks or whatever.
And my hotel's like right down the street.
So I just walked down and I got there a little early and I, and
I'm getting cash out of the ATM and I happened to catch out of
the corner of my eye, I'm like, that looks a lot like Randy
Houser. But I'm not going to say nothing
because, you know, it's Nashville.
No one says nothing. If someone's there, you just

(41:50):
kind of let, let, let them do their thing.
And I go to meet my buddy here. He's sitting at the table across
from him is Trent Tomlinson. And I, I think there was
somebody else there. I couldn't remember.
And then we're sitting there just talking and I'm just
keeping my mouth shut 'cause I really don't want to like, you
know, say something stupid in this moment.
And as we're sitting there, Randy Hauser walks over and

(42:13):
goes, Hey, is it cool if I sit here with you guys 'cause he's
like, I'm meeting a buddy here later and I really don't know
anybody. And I, I know you guys, so I'm
just going to sit with you. And I'm sitting next to Randy
Hauser And I'm just like, keep your like in my head, losing my
mind. But in the moment I'm just like,
oh, hey, how's it going, man? Like, like I'm trying to play it
cool. But and like, at one point my

(42:34):
buddy and Trent Tomlinson get upto go to the bathroom.
So it's just me and Randy Hausersitting there and I'm just like,
all right. I was like, I'm not trying to
make a big deal of this, but always been a big fan of your
music. Just saying as like my dad got
to see you open for Alan Jacksonas he's like, wow, that guy's
got a great voice. Like, and he was cool by like,

(42:54):
he was like, you know, he didn'tlike, you know, wasn't like, oh,
like, I don't want to talk to music.
He was like, no, no thanks, man.I appreciate that.
Yeah, Randy. 'S good as gold.
I've been around Randy a few times.
One of them, in my opinion, one of the most underrated vocalists
ever, ever in country music. Anything goes When everything

(43:18):
gone is gone is, in my opinion, one of the one of the greatest
country music songs of all time in the and Randy Randy makes you
feel that song the way he belts it.
I mean, it's just it's incredible.
It really is I'm. Trying to remember the name of
this song. I I it's like off his first

(43:38):
album. This song is amazing.
It's I think it's I don't think it's sleep one second.
We almost got this office first one to call me who's anything

(43:59):
goes. I think it's Al sleep.
Yeah, yeah, there's one, I thinkit's remember I I think it's one
where it's his dad reading him abedtime story or something.
And he's just like, if the course, it's basically it ends
with like his dad dying when hiswhen his dad dies.

(44:21):
And he's saying the same thing that his dad said to him when he
was growing up and I was. Like.
Like that's one of those I was driving to work and be like, I
have to make sure I'm clear before I go in, like.
Yeah, yeah, those. Any songs about your dad like
that just gets me. That's that's a.
That's a easy layup right there.Yeah, and you know, a singer

(44:42):
like Randy, too. I mean, Randy could sing about
divorce and you could have neverbeen married and and you're
missing your wife by the end of the song.
You know, it's like he's just got one.
That's why, you know, there are great singers out there, but it
takes a really good singer and astylist.

(45:05):
And Billy Cheryl used to tell his musicians, Gary Gentry told
me this, that he would, he wouldhand them the lyrics and say,
this is your script. You're an actor or an actress.
Act out this script, you know, in other words, feel what's in

(45:26):
this song when you sing it. And that's what makes a
difference in a great singer, I believe.
And, and Randy has it and, and alot of folks have it, but Randy,
man, he can, he can gut you. He can gut you on the song.
Oh, yeah. I mean, that look at like he
stopped loving her today. Like George Jones did not want.
Like, you know, it's, you know, I think it's a known fact he did

(45:48):
not want to do that song becausehow sad that song is.
Yeah, it just takes anybody to listen to it.
Yeah, and especially with his voice.
His voice adds another haunting.Like, I don't think they're the
only person I think that comes close to matching.
That has to be Alan Jackson's cover when he did that at the
funeral for him, 'cause even he's breaking up when he's

(46:09):
singing it. And it's like, I don't know,
that's but me and my parents talked about this.
My mom's like, I love George Strait she's but I think Alan
Jackson's the better. Like the has the better voice,
even though they're both legends.
There's something when Alan Jackson, like even when Alan
Jackson sings Blues Man, that song I think hits harder than

(46:30):
Hank Junior's version of it. And Hank's the writer, and it's
about it's his. He lived.
It yeah, You know, Bobby Braddock, he didn't think it was
even going to be a big song and he wrote it.
Him and Carla Putman, they didn't think that it was that
big of a song. But Billy Cheryl was really the

(46:52):
one who, yeah, he was a genius man.
And I'm sure when he read the lyrics, he already heard it in
his head, you know, and just knew how big it was going to be.
And so he reinhold everybody in.I think it took him like a year
and a half to get George George's vocals laid down on.
It was he was, you know, big time battling addiction and

(47:14):
stuff at that point in his life.But what a Thomas song.
And I've been fortunate enough to become friends with Bobby,
and he actually gave me handwritten lyrics to He Stopped
Loving Her Today. So that's one of my most prized
possessions in this world. Oh, yeah, Yeah.
I started collecting lyrics. And I actually need to reach out

(47:37):
to a couple of songwriters who I've had on the podcast and get
some lyrics from them. But I've got some really good
ones, man. I have.
He stopped loving her today. I have the ride.
I have Chattahoochee where corn don't grow and I actually have
Blue Suede Shoes, which is written by Carl Perkins that a

(47:57):
friend of mine gave me. So I have some, I have a really
solid lyric collection. But I had I had Vicki Lee on the
podcast. I need to reach out to him and
get she thinks I still care. And I had Darn Goodman on.
I need to reach out to him and get old Red and.
Oh man, I forgot about all the red.
I remember that music video cameout.
I was like, I was a kid and I remember seeing that like that

(48:20):
was like, it's like an early music video.
I always remember 'cause it was like him in jail and the dogs
getting out. Yeah, Bobby Braddick is
actually. Is it that video?
No, he's not in all red. Yes, he is.
He's in all red because Bobby. See, Bobby Braddick produced
like Shelton up until like all of the good, really good Blake

(48:44):
Shelton, like Austin, Old Red, some beats, all those songs from
the early days, Bobby Braddock was producing them and he kind
of got screwed out of that deal by some higher ups.
But yeah, the cellmate in Old Red is Bobby Braddock.
And in some beats, I think it's the dentist is also Bobby.

(49:07):
Yeah. So if you go back and watch
those videos, check it out. Yeah, I'll have to check that
out. Did you have you ever got to?
I think was it Midland did like a podcast series for a little
bit where they were doing like they would find like these
country music myths and they would find someone who was like
very close to the person or they'd find the person

(49:30):
themselves and be like, hey, is this true?
Or like they'd go over the storykind of thing.
Then at the end they'd bring theperson in and be like, tell the
real version now. And I think 1 of it was, I can't
remember his name. It's the guy who wrote Friends
in Low Places. They said he sold the rights to
the song to play his bar tab. And he's like, it's kind.

(49:54):
It's like kind of true, kind of not 'cause it was one of those.
Like they held it until I came back and paid it.
Then they kind of gave it back kind of thing.
But it's like still kind of funny.
Like Oh yeah, you sold the rights to your song just to pay
a bar tab. I'm trying to think of top my
head, Was it Earl Budley? Yes, that's who it was I.
Think I'll tell you another myththat can be squashed as of

(50:17):
today. I went and had lunch with TK
Kimbrel and Kurt Motley today and they managed Toby Keith his
entire career. Have you heard the story of Toby
Keith and Kris Kristofferson getting into it?
I have heard that. Yes, it's a a pretty popular

(50:38):
story that goes around about twice a year That and I've
actually told the story because I read that they were at
Willowley's 70th birthday party and Toby walked by and Chris
said, hey, none of that right wing stuff or I'll have to whip
you or something, you know, And they got me spat over it.
It's the story. So I asked TK today.

(51:00):
I was like, is there any truth to that?
And he said, ma'am, I was with Toby when we went up there to
New York and we got there and itwas basically a who's who, you
know, of, of people. Keith Richards and some other
folks was there. And he said, we got there and
went to the door and there was aboxer.

(51:20):
I can't remember what it said. The name of the boxer was some
big boxer. I'm not into boxing, so I
couldn't tell you. But Toby was in the boxing and
he wanted to meet this guy. So he kind of makes a beeline
for this guy. Chris and Willie and Ethan
Hawke, I guess, and a couple others were standing there
talking and he stopped for a second, said hello to Chris and

(51:43):
Willie and everybody that shook hands went and talked to the
boxer and they had to go somewhere.
So they weren't there very long.They ended up leaving and TK was
like, man, none of that ever happened.
Like there was no fat or anything.
Like it was a completely made-upstory.
So that's one rumor that can be squashed.
Nice. That's I'm glad.

(52:04):
Well, hey, that's, that's awesome.
Yeah, 'cause it's like Toby Keith is probably, since I think
since he passed, he's probably my favorite country artist of
all time. Like I was, I've been a Toby
Keith fan. I can tell you the exact moment
I became like obsessed like withToby Keith was the Dukes of
Hazzard Hazard in Hollywood. He does Jackie Don Tucker in the

(52:29):
beginning and at the end he does.
How do you like me now? How do you like me now made me a
Toby Keith fan and I never got to meet him.
Closest I got Toby it was like 2016.
This is on YouTube. I it's on my like YouTube page
for it. It's 2016.
I was supposed to take a girlfriend.

(52:49):
We broke up so my I asked my brother if he goes I'll go but
we have to be in the pit. So I sell those tickets buy the
pit tickets and we are right up front right right up to the
stage and my brother keeps pointing at the Toby's tequila
bottle on like by the drum standand he keeps like he I see him
look over at my brother and justgoes like this and then next

(53:12):
thing you know me and him like me and my brother are chatting
it up. We look over and Toby's standing
above us and throws my brother to tequila bottle and he takes a
drink out of it. He pours some in my cup and then
Toby goes like, pass it on. And he's just like, I really
don't want to pass it on, but he's right there.
So he just passed on. He's like, so somebody's got

(53:33):
that tequila bottle and we're like, OK, that's that was cool.
And then he's singing. Should have been a cowboy.
And again we look up, Toby's standing above us and he just
yells sing it and throws us the microphone.
And we're just like, shocked. We're like, shut.
Up in a cowboy and like, I thinkI flubbed like one of the lines

(53:55):
because I was so like in that, like shocked.
And then I passed the mic behindme to these two girls and they
finish it and then he's up therelike, hey, like give it back.
And I got to hand him the microphone on stage.
And I'm not going to lie, I was like AI was fangirl.
I was like, like, and that was like the, I was like, that's my

(54:17):
moment right there. Yeah, that's cool.
Yeah, I got this. Did you ever get to meet him?
I never got to meet Toby. I got to see him when I was a
kid, around 2004. I guess Blake Shelton was
opening for him. Blake still had the mullet.
He knows it was a pretty incredible concert, 'cause, you

(54:38):
know, that was Toby was hot, youknow, back in 2004 he was on
fire. Oh yeah.
So it was, it was pretty incredible.
I wouldn't, but 2004 I wouldn't.But 10 or 11 years old.
But it was a it was a good one. I remember see my brother like
he had, he has the sold out. He has a record at the big like

(54:59):
Amphitheatre in Pittsburgh. It's sold out and they said
never to be broken. Like he sold out like 3 nights
or something. It's like two or three nights.
He sold that place out and it was like a record attendance and
they're like, this will never bebroken because we can't fit this
many people in here anymore. But yeah, we got to see him.
I think I got the first time I saw him, maybe he came with Gary

(55:22):
Allen, Trace Adkins and him. And then I think the next year I
got to see him. It was the first time seeing
Eric Church and it's when Chief dropped.
So this was like the new Eric Church.
And I was like, this dude just melted everyone's face off.
I was like, holy crap. And I was listening to an
interview, I think they, the radio station, like, was talking

(55:43):
to Toby on the phone and he's like, you know, The thing is
about Eric, he's like, you forget how many hits this guy
has until he starts playing. And like, and that was at the
time, like 2011. Now it's like, yeah, I don't, I
don't even know what you say is a superstar at this point.
I don't know. I think he's hit legend status
almost. Yeah, yeah, yeah, he's up there.

(56:06):
I, I, I can dig Samaric Church for sure.
Yeah, I've been to some pretty incredible ones over the year.
Man, I think if, if I had to pick your favorite concert that
I had to, I had been to, it would have had to been
Kristofferson, though. I I got to see Kristofferson
right after Merle died and he was traveling with the strangers

(56:30):
and Ben and Marty and man, just to he was old and his voice was
completely gone. But just to be in the same room
and hear him sing, you know, forthe good times and Sunday
morning coming down and me and Bobby McGee and to beat the
Devil and all these songs like man, I was just how can you get

(56:52):
any better than this is kind of how I feel, you know, and
Willie's 4th of July picnic. I've been to that.
That was incredible. I've seen some good ones though,
man. And I've met, I've met a lot of
really cool people. I met Lynyrd Skynyrd when I was
15, so Gary Rossington and thoseguys, you know, we're still with
them, you know, original band members.

(57:14):
And they had some cigars and offered me a cigar.
I wouldn't look 15, but you knowit's Lynyrd Skynyrd.
Don't ask questions. That's why I told people were
like, is weed illegal? Yeah.
But if Willie Nelson hands you a, you know, hands you a joint,
you take a hit from the joint, There's no, I don't care if you
say, oh, yeah, I've never done drugs.

(57:35):
You will tonight. You will tonight.
That would, If I had to like oneperson that's living that I
could do a podcast with, it'd bewilling.
That's who I would, you know, tome that that would be the
pinnacle for me and I would be there's nobody higher than that

(57:58):
that's still living that I can go to then really.
Oh, yeah. I mean, I mean, that's like like
how I do like these, like these like my podcast is I like try to
get to the know people like on apersonal level, like hey, tell
me some stories. Like what do you like to do?
Like what do you like to do whenyou're not doing this?
Like, you know, whatever. So it's like, that's what it's

(58:18):
like. I want to get to that point
where, like you're talking to someone like Willie or whatever
and it's like, So what do you like to do?
Like just hang out? Like, I want to hear some
personal like, yeah, tell me what you like.
The what? What?
What's your favorite movie dude?Yeah, yeah, like.
Is it 1 of yours like? Yeah, yeah, I, I'm hoping that
one day the stars will align andI'll get to do that interview,

(58:41):
you know, get to sit down with Willie that that would be just
incredible. Like I said, I'm having Lucas on
tomorrow, you know, his son, which which is going to be
incredible because I love everything Lucas does.
Lucas is a phenomenal artist himself in it and has built a

(59:02):
career entirely on his own. Just absolute talent, 99.
I love Lucas, so it's going to be that.
That was going to be a lot of fun tomorrow.
I I got to see him at farm aid that when they came to
Pittsburgh, I was able to see Willie and I got and because
Willie's, you know, he's older. So like, you know, he was

(59:22):
struggling, like Lucas would pick up the the slack, which I
thought was cool. One of the coolest things that
one of my favorite things that Lucas Nelson did hands down,
probably has to be him and Shooter Jennings doing the cover
of Mamas. Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to
Be Cowboys for the rants. Like I've never skipped the

(59:42):
intro because I loved hearing that song.
Like their version of it I thought was amazing.
Yeah, yeah, that was a good one.I, I love, I enjoyed seeing
those two guys come together because they're both incredible.
And I and I've been around Lucasa couple times.
Great guy. I've never been around Sugar,

(01:00:03):
but this? Saturday I'm flying out to Los
Angeles and shooters putting on a Wayland Father's Day
celebration at the Viper Room ofall places, which I thought was
wild. You know, we're celebrating
Wayland at the Viper Room in Hollywood.
I never would have guessed, but it's going to be really cool.

(01:00:25):
I'm excited to get to meet Shooter and whoever else might
be there and hopefully I get to go back to LA and and do a
podcast with sooner. That's not I'm crossing my
fingers on that one because I just he's he's such a talented
singer-songwriter and producer and I really admire, I admire

(01:00:48):
both him and Lucas. They're they're seem like really
good people. So who who are you listening to
right now? Like would you say?
Oh man, I, I listen a lot of Merle Haggard, a lot of Waylon,
a lot of George Jones, Hank Junior, Loretta Lynn, Tammy

(01:01:10):
Wymet, you know, as far as new stuff, Jamie Johnson, I'm, I'm
really been digging. Jamie's newest album is great.
I, you know, I listen to obviously Lucas and, and guys
like that and the new stuff. I'm really interested to see
what Tyler Children's new album is going to be like with Rick
Rubin producing it. Yeah, that's that.

(01:01:32):
That sounds like a really good one.
I see. The bad thing is when you talk
country music, you're never supposed to mention things that
you don't like. But that the last one wasn't a
big hit for me. Like I just, I wasn't into it as
much, but I love the first, like, like the first one's gold
like that. His original, like when his

(01:01:53):
stuff when he first came out wasamazing.
White House Rd. and Feathered Indians is still my karaoke
song. Yeah, I think that's fair
though. I mean, I don't think I'm sure
some artists would get upset if that people saying that they
didn't like a certain album. But I'm with you.
I like a lot of all of children's earlier stuff I like

(01:02:15):
and and a lot of people didn't like the Helms to Heaven album,
but I thought it was fantastic. I loved it.
Rusting in the Rain fell a little flat for me.
I did like that he had helped memake it through the night on
there. I I really enjoy his rendition
of that song. But.
Oh yeah, and it's, I'm not saying like it's quality wise,

(01:02:36):
it's it's great. I I was just like, I just like
some things. It's like you don't have a
connection to it and some stuff you can have an easy connection
to it. Yeah, it fell a little bit flat
for me as well, but I'm, I just,I would be shocked, honestly, if
Tyler Childers and Rick Rubin came together and it just wasn't
great. So I have really high
expectations and that might not be the best way to go into an

(01:02:59):
album, but it's hard not to whenit's Tyler Childers, who's an
incredible singer and songwriterwith Rick Rubin, who is one of
the most legendary producers of all time.
So I have just astronomically high hopes for it.
We'll see though. Say my drop tomorrow.
Who knows. Because he posted this cryptic

(01:03:20):
video day. Or was it last?
Night I know they might shadow drop stuff and they just do that
day of and it blows up like. It's weird like if.
If anybody else did that, it would get nothing.
You'd have to have a, you know, market and everything.
But then there's some people it's like, yeah, we're just
dropping this now. And you're like, oh, thanks,
like. Great.
Well, they put in the video right at the end of it,

(01:03:42):
tomorrow's date, 8:00 AM EasternTime.
But it, it didn't say what was going to happen or anything in
the video. So it's really cryptic.
So I'm sure it's either a singleor maybe they're going to go
ahead and release the whole album.
We'll see. But I'm I'm pretty pumped about
it. Yeah, that's funny you mentioned
Jake Worthington. I got to see him in Pittsburgh

(01:04:04):
couple years ago and it was likeright when he was kind of like
just on like the first Hicks tape.
It's like people like he wasn't like he had some stuff out but
wasn't really like no known. So when we went to go see him,
he played this little place in Pittsburgh called the Craft
House. There was maybe 10 people there,
but he was playing like that oldstuff.

(01:04:26):
And I, I knew the songs. And he did like a little like a
met with people after the show. And he goes, I'll tell you what,
'cause when they said we were coming to Pittsburgh, 'cause I
didn't think any of this stuff was going to hit because.
But I'm kind of glad that there's some people here that
knew he's like, he goes, man, you knew all the words is like,
yeah, so I grew up with this music.
Like, yeah, I love. And he's his voice.

(01:04:47):
He reminds me of a young Mark Chestnut.
Like with the way his voice sounds, he always reminds me of
Mark Chestnut. I see people you know, comparing
them to Mark. Looks wise for me, man, a lot of
his style reminds me a lot of Jones and that that's about the

(01:05:12):
highest something that I can getto anybody.
And Jake is a friend. I'm not saying that because I
know him and, and I think he's good people, which I do Jake's
real good people, but he's, he'sgot a lot of a lot of Jones and
his style. And that's, that's about the

(01:05:33):
highest praise in country music I think you can get.
But me and him, me, him and his dad and one of his buddies and
my wife went out to the steakhouse about 3 or 4 nights
ago and we of course talked to country music for hours.
I, I believe that guy's the future, the country music.

(01:05:56):
I, I really do. He's got a reverence for the
history, the songs. That style is making a huge
comeback. And, and I'm, I'm a big
supporter of my pal Jake Worthington.
I can tell you that. Oh, yeah, I, I, I like I said,
he put on such a great show and I said, and every song he puts
out, like, I mean, even like he,he has some sad songs.

(01:06:18):
I was like, man, that hurt. Yeah.
I like him, Zach. I got to see Zach top recently.
And I hadn't met Zach yet, but Iman, I'm ready.
I, I want to meet Zach. I'd love to have him on the I'm
going to have Jake on the podcast soon.
I'd love to get Zach on at some point in time because those,

(01:06:39):
those guys, you know, the first time I met Jake, he think to me,
and I mean sincerely, he was like, man, you are keeping
country music alive and I just love everything you do and I
appreciate you. And I was like, dude, the
feeling is 100% mutual. Like it wasn't for you.
Country music would be alive. And he's like, no, it wasn't for
you. You know, it's got a back and

(01:06:59):
forth deal. But I think you really though
it's, it takes a village, you know, and I think we're all kind
of doing our part, but I just love being around those guys,
man, because we all kind of havethe same idea of of where
country music needs to be. And that's just country music.
You know, it's not like we have some radical idea.

(01:07:20):
We just think it needs to be country music.
And I think a lot of people agree with that.
Apparently a million. But it's, you know, I hit that
last week and I I think that just shows you that there's that
many people and really a whole lot more than that, that believe
the same thing that country music needs to be country music.

(01:07:42):
Well, yeah, I, I, I just miss like when CMT used to do like
they, I mean, they used to have specials where they go over
people and stuff like that or like have like little mini
concerts and stuff. And now it's just all mostly
reality TV and it's like, Oh yeah, we're putting Golden Girls
on. What does that have to do with
country music? Like, yeah, I like Golden Girls,

(01:08:03):
don't get me wrong, but you haveone Southern woman on there like
that has nothing to do. You know what I mean?
No, I, I think, you know, TV is TV and terrestrial radio have
been dying a slow death for a while now.
You know, with streaming services, Netflix and all that,

(01:08:23):
and then Spotify and YouTube Music and Pandora, you radio,
terrestrial radio and televisionhas been dying a slow death.
And the riot has been on the wall for a long time for a lot
of these conglomerates. And is it unfortunate?

(01:08:43):
Kind of, I guess, But it's just,it's it's progress.
And now people, the the bad thing, the worst thing about it
honestly, is that the streaming platforms don't pay what radio
pays. And it should, it should, you
know, it should pay more. I'm not saying it should pay
what radio pays because it's different.

(01:09:08):
It's a different beast. But it should pay more than what
it's paying. You know, it's ridiculous that
somebody gets millions of streams and gets $100 check in
the mail. You know, it should be a lot
more. But I think I'm hoping one day
those kinks are worked out, something happens and but it's
just times are different. People get their news and stuff

(01:09:29):
on the Internet and social mediaand they won't.
They're watching Netflix and I'mlistening to Spotify and I know
I don't. I hadn't turned the radio on in
years. I listen to YouTube Music.
I pay the the subscription fee, no ads, and I can listen to
whatever Merle Haggard song I want to listen to.
You know, I don't have to sit there and listen to, you know,

(01:09:52):
somebody that I don't want to listen to.
You know, it's just, it's the time.
Times have changed. Yep.
I mean, I, yeah, I was like, crap.
I I had a thought and it disappeared.
That's that's the problem, man, that that happens to me all the
time. But like, yeah, it's like, I, I
mean, I pay for Spotify and it's, I mean, I can listen to
everything except Garth Brooks. That's the only.

(01:10:15):
Thing I don't have to. I'm kind of like.
I got YouTube for that so. Yeah, unless you're one of those
weirdos who has Amazon Music. Yeah, or you subscribe to Garth
streaming service and I'm like, come on now.
Like I'm not just cave in like the rest of them.
It's OK. As much as I like songs like The
Rodeo and much too young to feelthis old, those songs, it's OK

(01:10:40):
I'll. Tell you what he's had.
He has some like deep cuts that if you dig for him, you could
like there's one, I can't remember which album it's on,
but it's called Ireland and it'sand it's, it's more of like a
haunting, like almost like a battle song.
And it's like about like, yeah, it's but he's he has a he has a

(01:11:01):
great voice. His early like his like older
songs. And like I said, his deep cuts
are great. The new stuff just doesn't hit
with me. It's just.
Yeah, those first three, you know, Garth Brooks, No fences
roping in the wind or roping thewind.
Fantastic albums, 33. I love, love those albums.

(01:11:23):
They got, you know, commerciallysuccessful.
And what happened happened. And the record labels really are
to blame for that. You know, I, I've had my fair
share of, of, you know, talking about, you know, this artist
went pop and, you know, but really all it boils down to is
money and the labels. And, you know, you, you can't

(01:11:47):
really blame one person for whatwas going down, But this is
really, it's the labels and the industry, the machine, you know,
to blame. What's it like?
I said, there's some people thatyou know, they get the fame and
they're like, well, the money's good, so I'm just going to keep
playing what's popular. And then there's other guys are
like, I'll play the game until Iget enough money.
I can do what I want. Eric Church is one of those

(01:12:09):
guys. Because I said, would you
believe the guy that did Hell onthe Heart would have done stick
that in your country song? Like you don't Like it's
completely like he's I think in the video he was dressed like a
1950s style and they're playing like a like a like a look like a
sock hop like. And it's super like like he had
some really poppy songs when he first started out, like kind of

(01:12:33):
poppy, but and now it's a completely different ball game.
You know what I mean? Like it's it's it is nice
whenever you see someone go, Oh yeah, they just kind of did
their own thing. It's awesome.
Right. Yeah, Yeah, There are a lot of
artists like that too. But I think, you know, the

(01:12:54):
labels just have a lot to do with Sway and artists like, and
and you got to think about what position they're in.
You know, you want you want to keep on going and they don't
want to lose their record deals and they don't want to, you
know, fall off into obscurity. And that's a big fear for a lot

(01:13:15):
of artists, I'm sure. So I think a lot of the blame
needs to be placed on the big machine and the powers that be
for sure. Oh yeah, 'cause I mean that.
Like, I remember like Joe Nichols was a big fan.
Like, I was a huge fan of Joe Nichols.
For a long love, Joe Nichols. And then there was like a period
where he kind of disappeared fora bit and Count would come back

(01:13:36):
and then he'd kind of disappear.Then he would come back.
I have a funny story about meeting him that would that was
crazy. Oh yeah.
Yeah, I was he he played a a tequila.
They have a Tequila Cowboy location here.
Like there's one in Nashville there.
There was one in Ohio. Now there's one in Pittsburgh

(01:13:56):
and he's just playing Pitts. He's playing in Pittsburgh here.
And so they had a guitar out front that you could auction to
win or whatever. So I looked at the merch guy and
I was like how much is it if I just buy that?
Guitar. He's like 300 bucks.
And I was like, Hey, I'll tell you what, 'cause you buy that
guitar right now, 'cause I'll take you on the bus after the
show. And I'm like, I looked at my

(01:14:17):
brother and he's like, you only live once.
You might as well do it like, and like I walk on the bus.
We, we had a couple drinks in USand I'm, I, I, I'm walking up
the steps and he's just sitting there just chilling like in like
the seat. And I'm just, hey, like, you
know. And I told him I was like, man,
I really thought you were going to do Footlights, like, for your

(01:14:40):
Merle Haggard song tonight. And he's like, you know what?
He goes. I almost did that.
And as he's signing the guitar, you could hear him like, just,
well, tonight I kicked the foot.I know.
Like, yeah. I was like, I looked at my
brother. I'm like like.
This is so cool. Yeah, he, he had for a while on
YouTube, he did Merle Mondays orsomething and he would get on

(01:15:04):
and sing a Merle Haggard song. He could sing the heck out of
Merle. I love Joe Nichols.
He's great. Yeah, he's one of those guys
where he has such like a a. It's just his voice.
He can almost sing anything and it'd be great.
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, well, man, we've been
going for about an hour. I appreciate you taking the time
to do the podcast with me once you if you want to tell people

(01:15:26):
where they can find you. Yeah, if you just search Dylan
Weldon, that's Dillon. Anywhere you can pretty much
find me. My podcast name is Drifting
Cowboy that's on Apple, Spotify and YouTube, and we got lots of
cool stuff coming up, so check us out if you're a real country

(01:15:47):
music fan and you'll enjoy it, Ipromise you.
Right on man. And I'm gonna, I'm, I'm gonna
add that to my, my Spotify listens for podcast 'cause I'm,
I need some, I need, I need to divvy up the Rogan and the Theo
Von. All right, it's getting after a
while, you start talking like Theo Von.
It's like, all right, this ain't, this ain't fun no more.

(01:16:08):
Yeah, man. I appreciate you coming on and I
hope everybody checks out your podcast and I'd like to have you
on again like in the future or something if you got.
Something going on? Yeah, if you're.
Ever in Pittsburgh, or if I'm ever in Nashville or something,
we got at least meet up for a beer or something.
Yeah, maybe in Nashville. My buddy Holiday lives up in
Pennsylvania, and the way he talks about it, I don't ever

(01:16:30):
want to go. Well, the roads are shit, I will
tell you that right now. That's what he said.
He said the roads suck, the weather sucks.
Oh yeah, especially dude, every time driving over a pothole
pothole, you feel like the Dukesof Hazard, like you're just
jump, like doing little jumps the whole way.
Yeah, yeah, He talks about it. It's all.

(01:16:52):
And he's like, it's always blownme.
The weather sucks, the road sucks.
Pennsylvania is horrible. Don't ever come.
It's, I mean it, there's some cool things like, you know, we
got the Steelers and stuff, got some hockey stuff, but that's
about it. Baseball's, we don't even talk
about it. They're not even we, we just
have, we just have guys cosplaying as baseball players

(01:17:13):
out here. There you go.
Yeah. But anyway, guys, thank you for
tuning in or whatever. Yeah, check you out, man.
I appreciate you coming on. Yes, Sir.
Appreciate you all right.