Episode #70: Scott Sean White

Have special episode for you all! Nashville singer/songwriter Scott Sean White zooms in! Scott has written songs for Cody Johnson and Bryan Martin and also writes his own music. I heard about Scott through some mutal friends in Nashville and heard nothing but good things! (Turns out they were right!)

Follow Scott on:

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

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@scottseanwhite

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrQ0NQjKgnluno3r55H1qtg

Use code: BIGHOSS @ https://cowboyrevolution.com/

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

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Welcome to Big Hoss's Tailgate. All
right? And I'm with Scott Shawn White,
Nashville. Or, well, no, you're Texas

(00:21):
singer-songwriter. But I'm I'm in Nashville 2 weeks
a month, so both places, yeah. Yeah, I, I prefer Nashville
like, well, that's not true. I've only been to, I've only
been to Austin and I've been to Amarillo.
Yeah. So I've, I've wanted, I want to
go to a different place, cities in Texas.
What city would you recommend? I mean, for music, it's the,

(00:44):
it's definitely the Austin area,New Braunfels, Austin,
Wimberley, you know, all the legendary Texas places are there
except for, you know, Billy Bob's, but that's a whole
different animal in Fort Worth. And the Fort Worth scene is
really cool too. And the Amarillo Lubbock scene

(01:07):
out there is really cool as far as singer songwriters and Texas
artists. Yeah, my buddy got me around
like 2017 got me a lot into the red dirt scene.
So I, a lot of my favorite artists come out of there like
William Clark Green. I found out through found out
about Cody Johnson that way, waslistening to the red dirt stuff.

(01:29):
Then he started getting bigger and I was like, oh great, 'cause
I love I. I want all my friends to see
that this is great too, like. Right.
Yeah, yeah. So where are you from in like
where were you like originally from in Texas?
I was born in Waco, but we got out of there as fast as we could
and we moved to Kerrville, the Kerrville area.
And I grew up mostly in Kerrville.

(01:52):
And then when I was 16, we movedto Dallas and I've been in the
Dallas area ever since. So 41 years.
Oh, OK. And I mean, I'm, I'm not, I say
Dallas area. Now we're 45 minutes east of
Dallas in a little town called Poetry, Texas.

(02:12):
But it's, you know, I still consider it the Dallas area.
Yeah. Yeah, so.
So how long have you have you been playing music or writings
and writing music actually? Well, playing music, I started
messing with it when I was 1617 and I was in my first garage
band when I was probably 17 or 18.

(02:34):
And then I played in a 10 piece R&B funk party band for almost
30 years, from about age 20 to till I sold via business when I
was 50. Yeah.
And just went full time songwriting.
As for writing songs, I did write my first song when I was
like 16. It was awful, just awful.

(02:58):
And so in the last several yearswhen people go.
So when did you start writing songs?
My first answer is good songs. Yeah, I like a good songs or
yeah. Because I mean, I wrote a bunch
of songs before then and you know, and I wrote hip hop and
R&B stuff really for about 15 years and produced it before I

(03:19):
ever went to Nashville. And I was a studio engineer
around the Dallas area. And so I would do production and
programming, programming beats and all the stuff, you know, and
all the stuff I've had and TV shows and movies and stuff is
all been that hip hop and R&B stuff from way back when.
Oh wow. Yeah.
And then 2005, I started going to Nashville because I had the

(03:43):
kind of childhood that produced stories I couldn't tell in hip
hop and R&B really is, I like tosay I had a quality redneck
upbringing. And so I started going to
Nashville and I got hooked immediately on those kinds of
songs and just fell in love withthe whole deal.

(04:04):
And that's all I've been doing ever since.
So wow, I didn't, I didn't know Texas had a big like R&B scene.
Like I mostly know it for like, you know, Waylon Jennings and
Willie Nelson. I didn't know that I that I had
a huge scene there. There is.
I haven't been involved in it really since 2005, other than

(04:24):
the band that I was in, but thatwas a cover band for the most
part, playing corporate events in weddings and we did Earth
Wind and Fire, Michael Jackson and all the old disco stuff.
I do love my 90s R&B though. Man, a buddy got me into that
when I was in high school. He'd play boys to men all the
time. And I was like, this stuff.
I think why, why why am I just finding out about this?

(04:47):
Like because I just grew up in acountry house.
Like it was mostly just country played.
Yeah, yeah. We had a horn section and three
singers up front and I played keys in the band and it was
super fun band to play in. Not so much to run and be the
boss, but playing in it was amazing and great players and

(05:09):
great singers. And it was, it was a big wild
extravaganza, so. Tell you what, Nashville's
changed a lot since you first went there, hasn't it?
And don't even get me started. I was just telling some of the
other day. I remember being in a room in
one of those high rises a few years back and writing with a
kid and looking out. And you could see out that

(05:33):
particular window, you could just see houses for a couple
blocks and got nostalgic for a minute.
And I was like, man, I remember when all this was that none of
these that we're sitting in right now, right?
Because that was one of the things that made me fall in love
with it. When I went to town in 2005, the
first time was it was freaking 3-4 blocks wide and about 10

(05:57):
blocks long and nothing but a neighborhood that, I mean, they
look like houses, but all of them were publishing houses or
record labels or management or, you know, whatever.
And it was just awesome to walk into those houses and, and all
the music that was in there. And, you know, and there's still

(06:20):
a little bit of that. But like my first publishing
deal that I got in 2007, that building doesn't even exist
anymore. It's an Orange Theory workout
gym. That's just from like, so I
started going like my brother would go down.
We worked in a titanium plant. So we get Christmas break off

(06:42):
all the time. So we would just go down to the
Nashville for a week and just like go to hit different bars
and just see different bands andstuff.
And the town has changed so muchfrom 2013 to last time I was
there was 2021 and I was like, holy crap.
Like all the bars are different.Like a lot of my favorite places

(07:03):
are gone. And we're like, I mean, I'd say
the stage was one of my first like favorite bars when I used
to go to Broadway and now there's like 5 different bars in
there. I'm like, I remember there just
being one. Like it was just that, the
mainstage. Yeah, you're right, because
you're, you're talking about a whole different world than than
I'm. I was talking about Music Row.

(07:25):
But yes, Broadway is completely different.
Yeah. So much so that I I hate
Broadway. I I completely agree with.
I'm too old and it's too crazy and it's too out of control and
just a bunch of drunk bachelorettes and drunk people
in general. And you know, there's boom,

(07:45):
boom, boom, boom coming out of this place, while there's
country music coming out of thisplace and I'm like, it'd be out.
So yes, in Broadway is drastically different too.
Yeah, the only country bar that we have here in Nashville or
here in Pittsburgh is To Kill a Cowboy, which was a Broadway
bar. And I was like, so it's I'm

(08:07):
getting all that. It's like, Oh yeah, it's a
country bar, but it's all the hip hop remixes of like Jason
Aldean and Luke Bryan. And I'm like, I, I'm like, I
have a real honky tonk that likethat.
I grew that it was like where I grew up at, like it was just
right over the hill that place. I'm used to that.
And I come to the city and see this and it's like this is this

(08:30):
is not the same. We're not.
We're not the same here. Yeah, it's, it's wild.
Man. And it's funny because you see
the real country boys show up, and usually when that happens,
there's always going to be a fight.
There's always because the city guys think it's fun to mess with
them. And it's like you're messing
with the wrong guy. And then oops, yeah.

(08:51):
No, it is. It is changed a lot.
But you know, I've also learned that just everything changes.
Oh yeah, there's no, there's no getting around it.
And some, you know, some of the change, sometimes it's for
better, some of it's not. But it changes regardless of
whether we like it or not. Yeah, I mean, there's more money

(09:12):
to be made, so that's a good change.
But the bad change is that you got to deal with some poppy
things. And I get it, we have to do it
because it's popular. But sometimes popular sucks.
Yeah. Yeah, it does.
It does. So, So what was some of your
influences like when you startedlike that influenced your music

(09:32):
like to make you want to be morepersonal.
Like you said, you came to Nashville and you started
hearing that story sound. So like, what were some of the
artists that influenced? That man, it was the Nashville
part was definitely just the first thing were were just the
song writers on the street, as Icall them.
You know, when I first started going, I went to the Blue Bird

(09:55):
Cafe and I went to Douglas Corner, which isn't there
anymore. COVID killed that and every
riders know how I could get to. I went to at night, you know,
I'd ride all day until about 5530 and then I would hit every
riders night I could in the evenings.
And there were just so many unbelievably great songs by

(10:19):
people I didn't know and I neverheard of and that weren't
recorded yet. I was like, what in the world is
this? You know, it wasn't what I was
hearing on radio and I'm not a radio hater either.
You know, yes, there's a bunch of crap on radio, but there are
still great songs on radio too. Kind of like there's always been
really. They just don't sound the way

(10:42):
people wanted to sound. And I totally get that.
But anyway, I digress. So those are the first things
that influenced me was just people don't even know their
names. And then as I got further into
the scene and started to figure out who the writers were, you
know, people like Bobby Pinson who had a hit of his own called

(11:07):
Don't Ask Me How I Know. Yeah. 2006, 2007 on his own
artist record. But that whole record called Man
Like Me is freaking unbelievable.
Like song wise, crap wise. I remember when that song came
out. I remember that's when I that
was like right in the air when Iwas kind of like in and out of

(11:28):
listening to the radio. But I remember that song
sticking out. And then I'm in Nashville years
later. I think I was at the local and
I'm talking with a a guy I met losers one night and we're
talking and stuff and he he was telling the story Later on.
He's like, yeah, we were hangingwith Bobby pins and I was like,
is that who that guy was? Like I was like, I didn't even

(11:50):
realize it was him. And it was like just you start
thinking about it's like, holy crap.
Like because I fangirl over little moments like that our
hangout. A little crew that I've been
doing life with and writing songs with for the last, I don't
know, 1520 years. It's called the Music Row Freak
Show. And the local is where it's been

(12:12):
now for six or seven years, I think.
And and so, yeah, Bobby's in there all the time.
But so Bobby Pinson and then, you know, my favorite writer on
the planet is a guy named Tony Lane.
Have you heard of him? I don't think I have what's.
Well, he wrote Run for George Strait I think was his first

(12:32):
hit. Maybe he wrote Little Pass,
Little Rock, Liam Womack, He wrote, I Need You.
Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, He wrote.
He wrote Letters from Home. John Michael Montgomery.
Yeah, yeah, that song. Yeah, and he has the he has a
self-titled album out that's on Spotify and Apple.

(12:53):
You should go find it. It's just called Tony Lane LANE.
And I got it one night in 2008, right before I went to see him
at the Commodore in Nashville. A buddy of mine is like, hey,
Tony's playing with the Commodore.
You should, you know, we should go over there.
And I was like, I'll go over there before I head back home.
And I was like, Dang. And so I bought ACD and I

(13:15):
listened that CD all 10 hours back to Nashville just the whole
time. And it changed the way I write.
There were things about that CDIsay this all the time.
There were things about that CD that we're like just college
songwriting class for me that I,I listen to it and I went, oh,

(13:37):
that's how you do that. Oh, well, that's how you do
that. Oh, like, I don't know why.
There were just things about it that that I clearly understood.
He might as well have been teaching songwriting class
because that's what happened with that, that record for me.
And as a matter of fact, you know, when people ask that

(14:00):
question we talked about earlierabout when did you write, start
writing songs And I go good songs.
The answer, the answer is good songs on purpose about 2008.
So three years, because before that I got a publishing deal in
2007. But I always tell people looking
back that I wasn't ready for that publishing deal back then.

(14:21):
I accidentally wrote a good songevery now and then, you know,
like everything came together somehow.
I didn't really know, but it, itall worked.
And da da da da. It was 2008 when I started, you
know, get more of a clue about how to do it.
And it was, it was that record and like the title track to my

(14:43):
first album, call it even, whichis probably my favorite song
I've ever written craft wise andjust, you know, overall.
I started it the day after I gotback from that trip after
listening to that album for 10 hours.
I sat down at the piano. I played this piano thing that I

(15:04):
had for about 6 months, but I didn't know what song it was for
yet. And I sat down at the piano, and
the first words that came out ofmy mouth is I played that piano
part where my daddy hit my Mama more than one occasion, but he
also saved my ass a time or two.And that was the beginning of
that song. And so, yeah.

(15:27):
And And now I get to write with Tony Lane, which is really,
really crazy to me. Isn't that weird Whenever you
have that moment, like you've you admired someone's like art
and the next thing you know you're working alongside and
it's going to be one of those like, how did that?
I'm not supposed to be here, Like, yeah.
Yeah, it's, it's it's wild, and I'm super, super grateful and

(15:48):
super humbled by it. But yeah, it's a it's a wild
ride. So, yeah, you know, people like
that. Casey Beathard is a writer I've
admired from afar. Tom Douglas.
And then there's the Shane Mcinally and Josh Osborne's of
the world. Also Laurie McKenna.

(16:11):
Travis Meadows. Have you heard Travis Meadows?
I've heard the name. Oh my.
There's so many like songwriters.
It's like, I've seen these nameslike pop up and you're like, I
know I've seen the name before, but where did I see it?
It's like, then you start looking at all your favorite
songs you've ever looked listened to and you're like, oh,
that's where I know this. Yeah, and then there's Texas

(16:33):
guys, too. Walt Wilkins is probably my
favorite Texas writer. Randy Foster's pretty far up
there too, you know, So definitely once I started going
to Nashville and, and started digging into how to learn to

(16:53):
write this kind of song, it was definitely a, it's definitely
been a blessing to be a part of both scenes, Texas and
Nashville, because they're, they're two different, they're
two different animals. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I was listening to some of your songs today and like the one
that hit me was God's not me. Like that.

(17:18):
Like, because I was feeling that'cause I was like reading some
news articles today. And like some of these news
articles, you, you see people doing like horrific things like
reading about this and it and I get bothered by it.
And to me it's like, 'cause I completely understand your point
of view on that, 'cause I was like, if it was me, I would have

(17:39):
just ended things a long time ago.
Like I just restart. We're done.
We're not doing this no more. Yeah, but I'm like, I like, but
you make a great point. You're like, I'm glad he's not
me because we would already beendone.
Yeah, yeah. And I'd have given up on me a
long time ago. You know, that's where the whole
song was born. I was, I was driving to
Nashville and thinking about God's grace and singing about

(18:02):
what a mess I am. And I'm like, golly, I would
have, I would have been out on this a long time ago.
But he doesn't do that. And so that's where the song was
born. And then with the little turn of
phrase, the, the whole setup of if it was me da da, da, da, da.
And then thank God, God, it's not me.
And once, once those things happened, I was like, oh, we

(18:24):
have a song. OK, we can, this is something we
can write. And it'll have an impact when it
gets the end of that chorus. It'll it'll get you here, which
is the goal. Yeah, I was listening to that
and I was listening to Call it Even today, and I was like, when
I heard that opening line, I waslike, like, I was like, I was
like, I got to listen to something else today.

(18:46):
Yeah, Yeah, there's a couple albums like, oh, you start
listening to songs, you're like,all right, I got to skip to
something else. I'm at work.
I don't need to see these guys cry.
Like I'm good. Yeah, I and I think, you know,
of course, call it even. Call It Even and God is Good are
two songs that are completely true.
Every word of them. They're my they're my story,

(19:09):
parts of my story. And so I think that songwriting,
my favorite songs are just brutally honest, you know, and I
think people like Walt Wilkins, Travis Meadows, people like that

(19:33):
kind of gave me permission just by listening to their music.
He waltz a friend of mine, he sang on my first record, sang
harmony on Dad's Garage and Mama's Kitchen.
But but really just listening totheir records in the sheer, I'm
going to be totally transparent with the listener right now, you

(19:56):
know, really, really open that door completely for me.
And it's really just kind of theway I made anyway.
But but hearing guys like that just lay it all out there, you
know, really gave me permission to do that too, so.
No, I mean, it's going to be like, like, I know I do.
Like I do stand up and I know you, you know you, you obviously

(20:19):
are songwriter. And for me, I know it's really
hard to get right personal because it's like, I don't know
if I want to do that. Like I don't know if I want to
tell people that. So then like you kind of hold
like is it really hard for you to write personal about things
like that? Like no, like I don't know if I
want to share this like this is a little bit.

(20:40):
That's one of the I guess maybe one of the unique things about
me is no, I'm just that way. I learned a long time ago, you
know, you can tell by the song called Eden and God is good.
You know, I grew up in a real violent house and just, you
know, a bunch of stuff. I probably shouldn't have
survived, but I'm here. There's a bunch of people that

(21:02):
had a lot worse than me. There's a bunch of people that
went through the same stuff I went through.
But I just came out of all that with this unspoken understanding
that I, when I say unspoken, I never really thought about it,
that, hey, I need to go. If the opportunity arises to

(21:25):
share my story, I need to share it because first of all,
somebody might need to know thatthey're not alone and what and
what they went through, because so many of us don't talk about
that stuff, right? And secondly, if, if I don't, if
I don't put it out there and youjust hear the highlights of my

(21:47):
story, you might think, oh man, that's a great dude.
And I don't want you to think I'm a great dude.
I want you to know the God who saved me because there's really
no other explanation for me being here and being who I am
and writing the song. Is that right?
And there, there's, there's justno other.

(22:08):
Like I want you to, I want you to hear the story and go, OK,
that wasn't that dude. Who was it, you know?
But if I tell you all the raw, pretty harsh stuff, you might
think it was me. That's true, and that's a really
good point. I don't want you to think it's

(22:30):
me because it wasn't, you know? Yeah, I mean, it makes it
totally, it totally makes sense because and, and I think that's
something that only comes like with time, yeah.
Like after a while, because there's a lot of people that
don't want to open up. And it's like after a while,
it's like, you know what, I haveto open up.
So you understand the real me. I get that.
That makes that. Makes sense.

(22:50):
And even in the craft part, you know, I say this to folks all
the time. You know, I, I, I do speak to
some college students about songwriting and different
retreats and stuff every now andthen.
And I'm like, we become really good friends in the writing room
pretty fast. Because if you do this thing

(23:12):
right, you're going to be in theroom.
There's going to be a song idea that comes into the room with
you and this other person, thesetwo other people.
And if you're going to serve thesong best, there are times
you're going to have to share something with those two almost
strangers or strangers that's super personal that you may have

(23:34):
never shared with anybody. Something something that chokes
you up every time you say it. And but if you're going to serve
the song well today, you have totell them that story.
And so that's another thing about it.
Like, my first priority in a writing room is always the song.

(23:54):
I don't care if I write 5% of itwhen it's done or if I write 95%
of it when it's done. I don't keep track of it.
I don't worry about it. The only time I know how much I
wrote of a song is if I'm the only writer you know.
And so if you're serving this song, you have to open up and

(24:16):
let let all that stuff out. And if you don't, you're not
doing your job. I remember Drew Kennedy a few
years back, I was at some at theRed River Songwriter Festival
that he puts on in Red River, Red River, NM, and he had a
Saturday morning where he was just had a conversation.
He was up on stage, but you could just come and all the

(24:38):
normal folks were sitting at thebar and songwriters and people
just asking him questions. And somebody asked him something
and he said, well, he said, look, I think that if you're a
songwriter and the muse gives you an idea, you owe it to that
idea and to the muse to do everything you can do to write

(24:59):
it as good as you can write it. Because if you don't, you're
cheating them. And, and they'll, it, it'll just
take the idea back and give it to somebody else.
And I've never right. And I've never heard it put that
way. But he's right.
Like, and so that's that's why so many of us become such close
friends way faster than usual because you'll end up being

(25:24):
there and you'll be like, am I really into these strangers?
Is. And I'm like, well, yeah, I am.
Because it might help us figure out how to write this song
today, you know, so. Yeah, So I wanted to tell you
how I how I heard about you. So it was 20 like April 2021,

(25:45):
like Nash, like, you know, COVIDstill like rampaging the US, you
know, and I'm in Nashville 'cause they have wait, like
everybody's like, yeah, Can you believe the bars only go open
till 2:00 AM? I'm like, I'm from Pittsburgh,
man. They're only open till 11 here.
You don't understand how good you guys have it right now.

(26:08):
But I, I met this songwriter down there.
I went my a friend of mine had asongwriter show on a Sunday and
I happened to run into one of the songwriters that were on the
show named Cameron Havens. And I heard him mention your
name a bunch him. And there was a friend of his.

(26:29):
I only say his first name just because I don't want to, you
know, get him into any trouble or anything.
But his name is Vaden. And he spoke very highly of you.
And I kept hearing your name so much.
And I was like, I need to look, look into this guy because
apparently he's very good. So I need to hear about this.
And then I, I think it was around that time I may have

(26:53):
heard a demo or something of a song that was going to be coming
out very soon. And it was one of your songs.
I was like, holy crap, like thatsong's awesome.
Like, I, I want to, I want to meet this guy one day.
And. Thank you.
There, there we go. This is how we got here.

(27:13):
Cameron Havens is is now one of my best friends.
He's been in town, I guess in Nashville now.
I think he said the other day. It's been 4 years.
Whoo man, that's flown by. Yeah, so I must have met him
like not soon after he got there.
But and, and we've written a tonof songs together.
Now 1 is going to be on my new record.

(27:34):
I was just listening to the vocal comp right before we got
on this call. It's called by Heart.
And yeah, we've written a bunch of good songs.
And and he is golly, that guy has gotten so much better since
he came to town. It's been really fun to watch
and he's such a great kid. You know, it's just I always say

(27:57):
whatever age he was at the time,you know, he's the best 23 year
old human I've ever met, which is about right.
You know, he's he's really good kid, great singer and he's
humble. That's why he's also been able
to get better. It's because he's walked in
every room knowing he's got, youknow, a lot to learn.
And boy has he. And a Vaden.

(28:20):
Vaden is just awesome. He's one of the biggest song
fans and music scene fans in Nashville.
Yeah, I love Aiden. I I met him 2019 as AI was in
losers. It was on a Tuesday night.
I brought my buddy in from he he's never been in Nashville
before. So he was in Texas visiting the

(28:42):
friends and he was coming through.
I said, hey, you guys come checkout this bar.
It's my favorite bar in Nashville.
So we're there talking and we see a big country star walk into
losers and I was like, hey, I'm I know who that is.
So end up meeting some girl there.

(29:04):
I go and chase after her. She, you know, things don't work
out. So I leave and come back to the
bar and I walk up to the bar andorder a double tequila sunrise.
And the the big country star makes this look at me.
And I said, man, this is the only way, the best way to kill a

(29:25):
taste. And I'm here to get hammered
tonight. And he's like, cheers, brother.
And I just started chatting up like just in my head.
I'm like, don't freak out, just keep it together.
Right. And I must, I made a joke about
like, oh, it'd be nice if we hadsome like right now.
And so the Vaden's with this guyand he's like, I got a video of

(29:48):
this. So I have a video on my phone of
this whole thing going down and we started talking.
He's like, man, he goes. I've never seen like, you be
this like anyone be calm around a country music guy.
I was like, well, yeah, I was like, I'm a fan, don't get me
wrong. But I'm also like, I also know
he's a person. I'm not going to his time here.

(30:08):
He wants to have a good time. Let me have a good time.
And he was like, dude, you got to come to the songwriter show
tomorrow night. He's like, I'll introduce you
some cool songwriters. He goes and then been friends,
you know? Yeah, acquaintances and friends
ever since. Yeah, yeah, and Nashville is
great about that too, like most most of the people in bars, like

(30:29):
losers and winners and stuff. When those when the when the big
country stars walk in, 99% of the people know, hey, just let
them be people tonight because they're just.
And. And so that's that's cool to
see. I've, I've seen Tim and Faith at
the Bluebird Cafe and, you know,just all sorts of, I mean, not

(30:50):
playing, just hanging out, you know, like, Dang, that's Tim
McGraw and Faith Hill over there.
And there and there's sometimes it's like I always said to you,
it's weird, you have to read thesituation 'cause there's
sometimes you can always walk past and be like, big fan of
your stuff. Keep doing what you're doing.
Just roll all by and just that'senough.
Like, you know, I don't need a picture.

(31:10):
I don't need anything. Just be like, I really like.
My favorite move is to pull out a deep cut.
Right. Yeah.
That's my favorite because I do love deep.
I listen to a lot. If I can find a good BB side
song or a real good like one of them songs, it's not it.
It's not going to be a single. Yeah.
I would say I'm trying to think of a good example of that.

(31:33):
It's a tough one, but. I'll I'll give you my favorite B
side song story. It was Key West.
I think it was 2018 as the Key West Song Irish Festival.
Which have you been to that by the way?
I have not. I've always heard I want to go
to it's so bad. Because all in Nashville, Music
Road goes to Key West for five days and you can walk to

(31:55):
everything. It's all acoustic shows, 99%
acoustic shows. It's amazing.
You would freak out and love it.But anyway, we're down there is
my wife and I in Smack Music, which is Shane Mcanally's
company was having a little thing over the place and
apparently it was private, but we didn't know that.
We got there early and we walkedup in there and and others,

(32:18):
there's a food buffet laid out and stuff, which we are.
That was the first clue is like,this doesn't look normal.
Why would they have a buffet out?
And so we're in there for 6-7 minutes and this older gentleman
came up very politely and he is like, hey, do y'all do y'all
have an invitation? And I was like, no, I thought it
was just open. He goes, oh, I'm sorry, you
know. And so we're like, that's no

(32:39):
problem. You know, as we're walking out,
we walk down the stairs out of the little, you know, it's a
little open air bar, restaurant and on the water.
And as we're walking out, WalkerHayes is standing there.
And at this point, I mean, this is 2018.
I'm trying to think what is biggest is that.

(32:59):
Right when fancy light came out.Or is that?
No fancy light is like a couple years ago, three years ago.
So this is way before he blew up, blew up, but he had he had
something out. I forget what it was.
He had had at least one hit. And but anyway, we're walking
out and I'm and I see him say, Hey, man, what's up?
And he starts talking. He's hey, man, what are you

(33:20):
doing? Good to see you.
Where you been? I'm like, he thinks he knows me
and I tell him twice in the conversation, hey, brother, I, I
don't, you don't know who I am, but I'm Scott Shawn White.
Both times he's like, dude, I know who you are.
Have we written? I think we've written.
I was like, no, we haven't written.

(33:41):
And so anyway, we talked for about 10-12 minutes and one of
the things I brought up was beerin the fridge, which is if you
haven't heard it, go listen to that record, the record that
Craig on it. It's a freaking great song about
him getting surprised sober and and there was a beer in the
fridge and just a great song. And I said, I said beer in the

(34:05):
fridge. I said, I like the whole record.
I said, but that's my favorite need.
Oh man, I love when people bringup deep cuts.
And so we stand there, we're we're talking for good 1012
minutes and the older guy sees this apparently comes over in
the middle of our conversation there at the end and goes, Sir,
I am so sorry. You are more than welcome to

(34:25):
join us today. Nice.
So we got to stay for the party,got free food, all because we
accidentally ran into Walker Hayes.
He talked to us for 10 or 12 minutes, swore he knew us.
That guy saw it and we got back in.
I told my wife, I said. I said these people think we're
somebody, but they don't know that we're nobody.

(34:48):
That's always the best feeling too, is whenever you're like,
you get invited into something, you're like, I shouldn't be
here, but I'm going to keep my mouth shut.
And all 'cause that guy thought,oh, he knows Walker.
Hayes, of course, it's OK. I don't know Walker Hayes.
He thinks he knows me, but I don't know him.
Yeah, I think it was that same, the same trip I met.

(35:10):
I heard about you. I was going to leave on a
Sunday, and that was Easter Sunday.
And they're like, when they saidyou're leaving on Sunday, I'm
like, yeah. And they're like, no, you're
not. Or I push that flight till
Monday, come with us. And I get invited outside of
Nashville and had dinner like atthis farmhouse.

(35:30):
Was that Vayton? Was that Vayton's?
Yes. Oh yeah, the place is great.
Yeah. And I was like my, I was like,
again, one of those moments where I shouldn't be here.
And then someone famous showed up and again, I'm a huge fan of
that artist and I'm just like, keep it together, dude.
Like and I was like wasn't even going to mention it.

(35:52):
Like and we're, we're having a blast.
And I'm telling people like, I come home and it's like, no
one's going to believe this because I you can't take photos
as you. Know.
Which I respect, I'm not going to do that, but I'm like in my
head like what is what is happening?
Because like I was a college student, I wasn't even, I didn't

(36:12):
even have a real job at the time.
I was just going for it was one of those I just got hired at a
new job and I was like, well, I have a week before I start,
let's go to Nashville and hang out for a week.
So. It's a very cool community.
You know, there's a bunch of folks in Texas, you know that on
the music scene here just, you know, say they hate Nashville

(36:35):
and dog it and everything. And I get a lot of their
complaints, but most of them I just say, look, come to
Nashville sometime. And when I get done writing
every day, I'll take you around to the writers nights and hear
those songs. And if you hear those songs to
meet those people, then tell me.You don't tell me you hate
Nashville after that. Because I don't know what the

(36:56):
disconnect is between what's on the street and what ends up at
radio. But I'm just telling you, 99% of
the Nashville thing is, you know, 99 maybe high, but it's in
the 90s. Is is super cool.
Yeah. And so, you know, but I

(37:17):
understand why why they hate some.
I hate some of the songs on radio so.
Dude, it's it's the same thing like with comedy, but there's
some place you can go and it's really cool and like you'll fit
right in And then there's other parts of that same city you'll
go to and you're like, I don't like these people Where why is
everyone here kind of a jerk? It's just, it's weird how the

(37:37):
parallels are there. I I heard about it in music.
And then when I started doing comedy was like, oh, yeah, this
is this is factual. Like 100%.
Like, yeah, yeah, yeah. So yeah.
You have had some really big songs as you as you know, but
the people don't know. I'm sure they do.

(37:59):
They listen. You have Make a Home, which is
sang by Cody Johnson and. Yeah.
Wow. What a song, man.
Thank you and and so is God bless the boy.
That's that was the one I heard that was like a demo version and
was like holy crap, like that. I was like, who is this guy?

(38:21):
Thank you. Yeah.
And made a home wrote with Cody and my friend Jesse, Rob Junior,
who's a Texas artist down here too.
And and become one of my best friends.
And that was the first song Codysaid, Hey, I'm going to put that
on my album A Human. And then that song is a reason
he heard God Bless a Boy and allthat is the reason he heard over

(38:44):
Missing You, which he put on theLeather deluxe edition.
So yeah, it's wild. I have a wild story that I, I
told him about and his reaction was priceless.
So I have to tell you this storyjust so you can be like, hey
man, I heard this. What happened so I'm hanging out

(39:07):
with a bunch of my buddies. They're we're we're all partying
one night and one of them says hey, I brought some like stuff
that you know stuff you put on your tongue and see stuff and I
was like all right, cool. And I was like I'm probably
going to be respectfully and decline this Well, later on the
night goes on more partying. You do that yet that meant no.

(39:28):
Turned into a yeah, sure, why not?
To which I am going through it because I didn't take one.
I took two. Big mistake.
Thought I could handle this. So I at 1, you know, it's now
8:00 in the morning and the sun's up and I'm talking to
dogs. It's it's crazy.
Stuff's happening here. So I'm driving home and I'm

(39:52):
listening to music and music sounds amazing right now.
As a result of this, one of the songs I'm I go home and I'm I
just go home, sit in my chair and just play country music
videos. Until you can't came on.
Oh man, what a song. I started bawling like a baby,
like 'cause I started thinking about my dad and the video

(40:14):
didn't help and it just like, I'm just ugly crying to this.
So I go to see Cody perform in Pittsburgh and we get hooked up
with meet and greet tickets. So we go and take a picture with
him and I said, hey, man, I justwant to tell you I cried like a
bitch on acid listening to you to to you can't.

(40:34):
And he just starts losing it like, Oh my God.
And I had just walk away. Don't even say nothing else.
Just walk away. Well, everybody goes.
I wouldn't have told that story.I was like, I had to.
I just wanted to see what his reaction.
Would be. Yeah.
Well, and one of the cool thingsabout Till You Can't is Matt

(40:56):
Rogers. And I think Ben sent us for the
writers on that. And I've written a few songs
with Matt now and he's he's great.
He's a great singer too. But that song was nine years old
when Cody cut it. Oh, really?
It had been around town for nineyears.
And there's a bunch of stories like that.
Like they in Nashville, you knowthey say the average age of a

(41:16):
song when he gets cut is 7 is 7 years old.
And like another example is Blessed of Broken Rd. by Rascal
Flatts. Yeah. 13 years old when they
recorded it. Which is that songs like sounds
like a no brainer. It sounds like a no brainer,
right? Like right out the gate, like of
course, but it took thirteen years and from what I heard,

(41:38):
Rascal Flatts almost cut it three different times before
they actually cut it. And I think it was Mark Wills
that cut it right before them. But it was just an album cut.
I think it. Was underrated country singer
right there, right? Mark Wills does not get enough
respect and and. So there's just a bunch of songs

(42:00):
like that that that take a whileto find a home, you know?
Yeah, yeah, I'll tell you, like I said, I've heard.
I was listening today to your song.
I was listening to Right Reasonstoday and I was like man, like I
I love like how your songwrite is, how just personal it is and
just just hits man. Thank you.

(42:21):
I'm sure like that you get a lotof compliments like that from
the some of the shows you do. I seen you were on tour with MO
Pitney. Well, I did a show with them
last week. Yeah.
He and I wrote a song together, I don't know, 6-7 years ago.
Really cool song. And we just kind of kept in
touch ever since. Every now and then, you know,

(42:43):
once in a blue moon and I saw he's playing down in my
neighborhood, you know, down in the Metroplex.
And I was like, I text him and say, said, you got anybody open
that show? And he's like, no, he said I'd
love to see you. He said, I'm not in charge of
that. You know, you can ask the venue
about it. And I know the venue.
So I texted the venue and the venue was like, man, we'd love

(43:04):
to, but that's not my show. That's a promoter, Casey.
And I was like, well, I know thepromoters.
I texted the promoter and so that was, it was cool.
It was cool to see MO again. He's, you know, real country
music. He's really good people, great
singer, great picker. His version of, I don't know if

(43:26):
you ever heard his version of Give Me Jesus in the morning
When I rise in the morning when I rise, Give Me Jesus.
It's an old, it's an old, old hymn or something, and golly is
unbelievably great. So my parents are huge or they
love his music and stuff becausethey watched him on the there

(43:48):
was a video series that went around.
It was like the country family reunion where it was a bunch of
country legends sitting around and they brought him in and he
sang. I can't remember what song he
sang but they loved how he how he sang.
Remember that? I remember that video.
I know what you're talking about, yeah.
I try to remember what it is because it's like a real like

(44:10):
deep cut. I can't think.
Yeah. I know what you're.
Talking about, though, I saw that video.
Yeah. Yeah, it was great.
It was great. So it was good to see him again.
That was a fun, fun gig in a bigold theater, so.
So I was wondering, since you'resongwriter, you've written a lot
of personal songs. Who is somebody that you would

(44:30):
like to see cover one of your songs?
Anybody that would make more money than me?
Well, I meant like I didn't knowif like maybe there was a
country legend or something likesomebody said, like, oh, I would
love if you know, if that could ever happen.
That was be the guy I wish could.
I mean, I guess at the top of that wish list, although the

(44:50):
wish list is long, I guess at the top of that wish list by
hair would be her church. I just love what he does.
I love that he is very rarely does he put out something that

(45:11):
is an idea that's been written 4billion times and he's just
rehashing it. You know, he puts out so much
unique stuff like monsters. What a great song.
Lightning from that first record, although it wasn't a
single one of my. Favorites was Knives in New
Orleans. Yes, you know, like it's just so

(45:32):
unique and different and cool and he's a great songwriter and
just determined to be himself. But you know, obviously too, you
know, George Strait, even thoughhe's not on the radio anymore,
anybody wants a George Strait cut.
Tim McGraw, you know, and Chesney Chesney on the same side

(45:56):
of songs as Tim McGraw in the sense that Tim McGraw will cut a
humbling kind. He will cut a songwriter song.
He will cut a song about real life with meat on the bone.
And that's one of the things that Nashville loves about Cody
Johnson. Is it Cody Johnson Records.

(46:19):
Read what we call real songs, you know, dirt cheap till you
can't. You know, God bless a boy.
He, he's not not only is he not scared to cut real songs and
great songs, it's what he prefers, you know.

(46:40):
And so that's very exciting for songwriters like me in Nashville
who left in my own devices. We're writing something that
means something today. Yeah, we're trying.
'Cause people identify with more.
That's why a lot of you see a lot of like young women love Zac
Bryan. Cause like a lot of that music

(47:02):
for them, like it speaks to him.Like it's, it's, it's raw and
it's it, that's why there's a market for that stuff.
And like, yeah, I I prefer thoseshows over the big party shows.
Yeah, and I think Zac Bryan and my friend Brian Martin, have you
heard of him? Oh, yeah.
So I was going to ask you about Brian Martin.

(47:24):
I met him over COVID. He played this little bar in
Pittsburgh called Jurgles. Yeah, he was.
He was on with Colt Ford. Yeah.
And I met him at the time I was like, I was 420 lbs then.
So I was, I was big. And then when I met him again
here, I lost like 120 lbs. And I was like, you probably

(47:46):
don't remember. He's like, I knew you look
familiar. Like I he came to again with
Chris Young. Yeah, I've seen him a couple of
times and he's, wow, what a voice.
Yeah, cool voice. And and, you know, he blew up on
streaming with no, no promotion.He just, you know, organically

(48:06):
blew up and kind of like Zach Bryan, although being on
Yellowstone didn't hurt Zach Bryan.
He was on Yellowstone a lot, so that definitely helped.
But he was, yeah, he was blowingup organically streaming without
radio before that. And my theory behind that an
artist like that is that they'rejust being really honest.

(48:29):
And whether the public consciously knows it or not,
they can sense that they, that Zach and Brian and artists like
that are really being authentic.And even if they don't know it,
know it, they can feel it. And my theory is that's why

(48:50):
those things, those artists and those kind of artists have blown
up because also it's I think it's a rebound effect from all
the fake fictional broke countrymess.
And then there's people just finally get tired of it.
And the rebound is OK. Give me something real, you

(49:12):
know? One of my, I love that 90, like
I want to say 90s countries coming back.
It feels like because like it's weird because if you look at
like I'd say mid 80s country, you could see it's a lot of
fake. Like everyone's kind of like
every it seemed like it was verymuch like Nashville
manufactured. And then like you hit the 80s

(49:33):
where it kind of starts going back in the night, like starts
going back into real country again.
And then it started getting backto being poppy again.
So I hate now. I like how now we're going back
into like, oh, it's more authentic.
You have more guys like Zach Topp.
Yeah, Jake Worthington. That's one of my one of my guys
I can't wait to see again live. That guy's so much fun.

(49:55):
Yeah, yeah. He's a Texas boy, been around
here forever. He was playing like 70s country
at this small show in Pittsburghand I knew the words.
He's like, he is, man. He goes.
I wasn't expecting people up here to know the songs up here.
He's like, but at least you did it.
He's like, that's awesome, man. I was like, I haven't heard a
young guy play music like that. So it's like, that's awesome.

(50:19):
Yeah. And yeah, I.
Always say you kind of reminds me a little bit like Mark
Chestnut with the voice. And then he also has, like, a
George Jones kind of sound to it, yeah.
Yeah, he does. He does.
That's some coming to music right there.
Yeah, and he's just like, just seems like when we were talking,
like, you know, he stayed hung out and talked to people.

(50:40):
It just, you could tell like he wasn't like annoyed.
He was just hanging out and justjust being, you know, there was
no like, fake personality. Like no, this is who I am.
How's it going? And yeah, it's one of the things
I love about the Nashville sceneis most of those, most of those
guys and girls are like that, you know?
So what do you like to? Oh, I'm sorry.

(51:01):
No, go ahead. I was going to say, what do you
like to do when you're not songwriting?
Like, what's your like? What do you like to do?
For fun, man, I'm a big sports fan.
OK. I'm a big sports fan, so I watch
when I'm, when I'm at home and chilling in the evening, I

(51:21):
watch. I watch the Rangers and The
Mavericks or the Cowboys and just I love sports, I love
movies, but I haven't been to movies in a long time.
There's a lot to do around. We have a little 5 acres and a
couple of horses. So there's and we have three

(51:41):
dogs, 3 Akitas, which are big dogs and three cats in the
house, the two horses and a barncat.
So there's nine animals on the property.
So there's there's work to do with all that.
And you know, when I'm home, I'mon the road a lot, I'm gone
probably 3 weeks a month on average.

(52:06):
And so, you know, I don't know, I just, I like music.
I was going to say. I would probably have more
things that I do in my off time than I do.
I appreciate my friends that when I like, I was just in
Kentucky for about 10 days or 9 days or something playing shows

(52:29):
on in Illinois, Kentucky, Illinois, Kentucky, Ohio on two
different weekends in between weeks in Nashville to work.
And my buddy in Kentucky that I stayed with and also right with
him, he, he was like, we're going fishing Thursday, like
good, let's go. And so I appreciated that I have

(52:50):
a couple of friends like that, that when we're hanging out for
a few days in between shows, they're like, I'm taking you
fishing and, or I'm taking you, you know, out on the boat or
something. And I'm grateful for those folks
for slowing me down a little bit'cause I I kind of need somebody
else to slow me down. That's nice 'cause I mean, at
least you get away from like people, you don't have to worry

(53:12):
about nothing. It's a nice place to clear your
head and you might get inspired to do something even out, you
know? Yeah, I just had.
I hope you inspire you to think of something else, you know what
I mean? So it's a good thing.
By the way, if you are looking to go to the movies, go see
Naked Gun. Oh, the new one is a good one.
I went to get, I took my 82 yearold dad to go see that movie.

(53:34):
Come on. And he's laughing.
I mean, but like, he doesn't laugh at dirty jokes.
And there's a scene in the trailer where it looks like
Pamela Anderson's doing some, you know, doing the Amneson a
favor. And that scene goes on for way
longer and gets way raunchier and everyone in the theater is

(53:54):
dying laughing except my dad andI look like Violet from Charlie
then Chocolate Factory because Idon't want to.
Because his favorite game is when he you laugh at something
dirty is the why don't you explain to him why it's funny?
And if that 1 isn't bad enough, he goes, why don't you explain
that one to your mother for, youknow, go explain to your mother

(54:16):
what it means. See.
You're just like, all right, man, like.
All right, all right, I get yourpoint.
Yeah, but Oh yeah, I highly recommend it.
Like I what? I want to see is.
Have you seen F1 yet? I haven't seen I want I was on
my list. I want to go see it.
I've heard it's great. It looks it looks like visually

(54:38):
at least, it'd be super cool looking.
Yeah, it's the same guy did Top Gun too, so.
Yeah, boy, the new Top Gun was great.
Yeah, I'll tell you what, I you want a good racing movie, I like
Ford. Ford V Ferrari.
Oh man, it was so great. Like, just the way they filmed
the car, like, you actually feltlike you're in the car at some

(54:59):
point. And this the.
Yeah. And they had a way to recreate
the Le Mans track because it doesn't look that way anymore.
It's changed in 50 years. Yeah, wild.
Yeah. But hey, I take you.
I appreciate you taking the timeto like do this.

(55:21):
I appreciate you having me man Thank you.
Man, I if you ever come to Pittsburgh, I know you're a
sports guy. If you're like baseball, I can't
guarantee you're going to see a good team, but you should
definitely come check out the stadium.
That pitcher. That pitcher of yours is pretty
good. Yeah, but here's everything
else. But I'll tell you what everybody

(55:43):
says, PNC Park is the most beautiful baseball stadium
because you get to see this the whole out like outlook of the
city and everything. Yeah.
So do you ever come to When I See It?
Yeah, if you have to say if you ever come to Pittsburgh or
something, let me know. I will get you tickets or
they're Yeah, it's you always get a good deal on tickets here.

(56:03):
How? Far is how far is Wilmington NC
from you? North Carolina is usually about
like 12 hours. Really.
Yeah. Dang, that's wow.
Yeah, Nashville's only like 8. At some point I may, I may be,
you know, at some point in the next couple years, I may come up
your way for shows. We'll just see.

(56:25):
I I go where they where they, where they have me.
Well, there's a lot of cool little like clubs and stuff
stuff here. And then I know the radio
station does this. They have this thing called 8
Man Jam, like 8 country artists.Sometimes it's a songwriter,
sometimes it's somebody who's just starting out.
Whoever they can afford within the certain certain ranges, you

(56:48):
know what I mean? I think last year they had Jelly
Roll and Laney Wilson because they knew like once next year
comes, we're not going to be able to afford.
It Yeah, yeah, yeah. My Terry Joel box that I wrote
God bless the boy with her and Barrett Baber.
Terry Jo is on Hillbilly Hippie.She's a Co writer on that, on

(57:10):
Leaning Wilson's Record and Those Boots.
She's a writer on both of those.And she's the writer on Ashley
McBride's Bible in a 44. Yeah, I love Ashley McBride,
man. She's like all of her songs just
hit you right in the heart like.You know, she's great.

(57:31):
Yeah, I always used to tell jokewith people and say, you know
the song Andy's written about me, right, 'cause it's in the
name. I know Andy.
I I know Andy in real life. I met Andy, he was at the time
he was playing guitar for Ian Gnome, I think it is.
And Ian Gnome is on tour with Colder Walls.

(57:52):
So I got to see and Colder Wall man, that's that's a guy I know
I'll never get a chance to talk to like this 'cause he's always
gone. But man, that what a voice.
Yeah, yeah. Well man, I sure do appreciate
you have me, dude. Yeah, if you have anything yet
coming up, let him. If you want to shout it, outlet
it know, let him know and I'll also post your links in the bio

(58:16):
and stuff. But.
Well, thank you. Yeah, just the website,
scottshawnwhite.com and Instagram, Facebook and follow
me on Spotify and hit the playlist.
All the stuff, you know, all thestuff that helps us independent
artists. And I'm working on my third
album right now. I think it's probably going to
be May or June of next year before the full album is out.

(58:37):
But I'm guessing the first single is either going to be
sometime in November or the third weekend of January.
Nice. We'll be the first and there'll
be 5 and then now. Yeah, I was.
Going to say if you ever want tocome on, you want to talk, you
know. I'd love.
To promote it man, 100% I'd loveto have you back.
Most definitely. Thank you, Sir.

(58:57):
All right.