Justin Federico

After playing our monthly writers round event at The Barn Justin Federico joins the show to talk with Josh Mattei on this weeks episode of COD!

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
This week on Country on Deck. I went to work one morning.
I, you know, rolled up to the job site, had my the first guy
there. Surprisingly, usually I'm not
that early. They're like, oh, something's
wrong. So I, you know, I'm the first,
I'm the first guy there. My headlights are, are on the
front door and I'm just looking into it was a like an apartment

(00:21):
complex we're working on for that job.
And I'm just looking into this gutted out apartment complex
that I'm, I'm going to go in and, you know, start doing work
on. I looked at myself in the mirror
and I said, I didn't say the heck with this, but we'll keep
it clean. I said, you know, what the heck
with this? I, I picked up my phone, I
called my boss and I said, hey, Jamie, I'm going to give you my

(00:42):
2 day notice. I quit today.
He's like what? I was like, yeah, I'm going to
go be a musician. Discover the stories of rising
country stars Country on Deck with Josh Maddie.

(01:03):
Kick off your boots and settle him country on this about to
begin. Josh Maddie's here.
Stars on the rhymes. Voices of hope, dreams in their
eyes. Sing your songwriters stories

(01:25):
unfold hearts of wonder, hearts out of bone dirty Rd.
She rides rains lines, captures the journey, shares their sights
country on this. Hello and welcome to another

(02:05):
episode of Country on Deck, where I sit down with today's
rising country stars and help you discover the stories behind
their music. I'm your host, Josh Maddie, and
I'm back at my desk in Connecticut with another rising
country star on the show this week.
But first, if you missed our conversation from last week, we

(02:26):
sat down to talk to Katrina Gustus Finn.
We talked to Katrina about beinga teacher in addition to music,
she's a teacher. And we also talked to her about
how she has brand new music coming out very, very soon.
Can't wait to to hear new music from from Katrina.
So we talked about her about everything.

(02:47):
Everything including how she met.
And I'm a big wrestling fan, so I thought this was really,
really cool. We talked to her about meeting
John, Cena's father. I really thought that John Cena
was going to show up. I was ready for it.
But yeah, no, that was so cool. He sounds just like him.

(03:09):
They just sound just like each other.
Look just like each other. During like when he was doing
the ceremony, he was like, as you know, I am John Cena senior.
And if you know my son, you can see me, but you can't see him.
And then he did like the waving over the thing and I was like.
Oh my. God, and don't forget to watch

(03:31):
him on Summer Slam. Right.
I was like, holy cow. You can listen to our entire
conversation with Katrina. That episode is streaming below
this episode on the platform that you're listening on.
And don't forget to hit that follow button on the platform
that you're listening on. We released new conversations

(03:52):
with new rising country stars every single Friday and we don't
want you to miss one. And if you're already subscribed
to the show, first, thank you somuch for doing that.
I really appreciate it. And 2nd, consider sharing the
show with a friend so that they can listen every single Friday
just like you do. Katrina, of course, just played
our writers round at The Barn inGroton, CT this past Wednesday

(04:15):
night. Thanks to her and all the
artists that played their original music and share their
stories with us. What an amazing, amazing night.
I was really blown away by the crowd that came out.
If you were there, thanks so much for for coming.
I really appreciate it. We have a lot of fun videos up
on our Instagram account right now for you to check out,

(04:37):
including the fun video we took from the State with everybody
saying I love country on deck. You guys really packed the place
and I can't thank you enough forhelping me build build this
community. It wouldn't really be anything
with without you. So I I really appreciate it.
What you making was in the housewith their awesome DIY trucker

(05:00):
hats. I, I got one myself and I saw a
bunch of people at the table picking out their patches and,
and grabbing a hat and Sabrina doing a great job putting those
patches on the hats and making them look really, really great
and, and something that people could walk away from the event
with and where to a future concert or just where to the

(05:22):
beach or where anywhere really. So a big thank you to Sabrina
and what you making for, for coming out and being a part of
our event. Go give them a follow on social
media and see where they're going to be next.
There are they're popping up everywhere and they do a great
job. So so go check them out at a
future event here in here in NewEngland.

(05:43):
Our guest this week on the show,he also played a past writers
round at the at the barn. I really enjoyed hearing him
play his original music and share his stories.
We had a great conversation out in the parking lot after the
show, and I'm excited to extend that conversation and kind of
pick up where we left off and help feature him and his music

(06:05):
and his story on the show this week.
Justin Federico. Hey, Justin.
Hey, good morning. What's going on, man?
How are you? I'm.
Doing all right? How are you?
Not too bad. Thanks so much for for making
some time and I'm excited to to chat with you again and help
feature you and help people morelearn a little bit more about

(06:27):
you, man. Likewise, I appreciate you
having me on and doing what you're doing to spread the good
word and help people like me getout there.
How's your your car doing? Good, good.
The pole at the barn took a tooka mean shot at me, but it ended
up not being that bad so. Well, that's good, you were able
to get it fixed real quick. When it initially happened after

(06:51):
being on the road for a bit, it was probably like a little more
dramatic than it actually turnedout to be.
I was coming off of doing, I think it was like, I don't know,
3000 miles of driving in the like the prior week.
And when I rolled into the parking lot, I had done like
3:00-ish hours that day. And so I was, I was just ready

(07:16):
to be, I was ready to be there and ready to play.
And it was just like, oh man, I scratched my new car, but I was
just being a baby. Well, I really enjoyed listening
to you play live and and hearingsome of your stories.
That was a lot of fun. I hope you had fun as well.
I definitely did. It's it's it's kind of becoming
one of my new favorite things tojoin the writers round format.

(07:39):
You know, it's obviously it's a little more intimate and hearing
all that goes into a song and where people were when they put
a song together definitely brings a lot more meaning to
what it is we're trying to do. Not that bar gigs or restaurant
gigs or any other type of gig isnot as impactful or not as
important, but the Writers Roundis just it's a little more raw.

(08:03):
It's a little more just a littlemore intimate.
Does it feel a little bit strange just kind of sitting up
there listening to the music? Like, what's that like from an
artist perspective, being up there listening to the other
artists? If you asked me that question a
year ago, I would say it's, you know, it's it's like that scene
from some the movie with Will Ferrell and John C Reilly, the

(08:27):
legend of Ricky Bobby. You know where he's he's like,
what do I do with my hands? You know.
I think like a year ago I would have been very awkward and
uncomfortable. Now it's just, you know, it's,
it's enjoyable. You get to take a back seat and
listen to somebody else's creation and you just try to
give your, your full attention to them and, and try to

(08:48):
appreciate what they're doing. And it's enjoyable for me.
You know, I think it's, it's also inspiring.
And in that you kind of get a glimpse into other people's
creative process or where they get their inspiration for
writing. For me, it's a, it's a nice
break from the typical concert. Like I love going to concerts
and dancing around in my seat and taking some videos and, and

(09:10):
rocking out and like big arenas and stuff like that.
But the the intimacy and the storytelling, it's a nice change
of pace. Yeah, I'd, I'd agree.
I, I think, you know, a lot of times with big concerts, the big
production, obviously there's a great deal of rehearsal and a
lot of artists piping backing tracks and this big theatrical

(09:30):
production, it sometimes doesn'tfeel as authentic.
So I'd, I would definitely agreewith you on, you know, on the
writers round side of things, itit's a lot more raw, like you're
just, you're in the moment, you're it feels more authentic
and real and you can really tap into people's emotions.

(09:54):
I think more so than you know, live show is, is a blast.
You know, your tailgating, your you may be having some beverages
with with the homies, but yeah, the writers round is it's it's
very special. Before playing ours, you had
just gotten back from Nashville,making your writers round debut
out in Nashville. I was fortunate enough to be

(10:14):
included in writers round calledthe Get Up over in Midtown at a
place called Distillery. It was definitely an experience,
man. A lot of, a lot of the way that
things are done down there, you know, I mean, obviously it's a
lot like the way that you guys run your round, you know,
inspired by what they're doing down there.
But it's just, it's so differentfrom what goes on up here.

(10:36):
It's, it's very, it's very like supportive and very, it's more
of like a nurturing environment.Whereas I think New England is
sort of you're more on the hot seat up here where, you know,
people's eyes are like laser beams.
Very judgmental up here. Yeah, man, I feel, I feel like,

(11:00):
you know, I'm growing up in likenorthern Mass Boston area and
now we're in Southern New Hampshire.
It's very much like a what have you done for me lately type of
culture, which I mean, I think is great because it forces you
to produce and, and to work harder.
But down in down in Nashville, it was very like, Hey, let me

(11:21):
get to know you. What, like what's your story?
What are you all about? You know, who are you?
Whereas up here it's it's just, you know, if you're not awesome,
I might not pay attention. And if you're awesome, like now,
now I want to get to know you like who is who is this
mysterious talented person? So a little more pressure, I
think, which is weird, right? Because you try to go down to

(11:42):
Music City, where everyone is insanely talented, and it's
almost like it's less disarming than playing up here.
I definitely would agree. I went down to Nashville and
walked into Rebel Rouser as likea complete stranger and I would
use the word welcoming. Everybody was just so welcoming.
Yeah, Ronnie. Ronnie is a hot ticket.
I, I actually had an opportunitythe second time I went down like

(12:07):
in a span of two weeks and I hada chance to hang out with him
over at the red Door. And we actually talked about
hockey and like non musical stuff more than we did musical
stuff. But yeah, he, he's, he's a fun
guy. He's he's definitely a hot
ticket and I'm glad I had an opportunity to meet him as early
on in, you know, getting down there and getting involved as as

(12:28):
I did. It had to be so cool to to play
your debut writers round and then come back so quickly and
play another one right in in NewEngland.
It was empowering, not that not that it made it easier, but it
definitely, I don't know, going down there and coming back lit
off, lit a fire under me that every, everything now is, is

(12:54):
exponentially easier because I think the direction I want to
head in and the goal that I haveis, is more insight now than it
has been before. You know, it's, it's funny how
taking a trip like that will do that.
You get out of your comfort zoneor your daily routine and go do
something and it's like, oh, nowyour eyes are open.

(13:15):
It definitely made it a more comfortable and easy experience,
that's for sure. There's probably a part of you
that when you got to Nashville, you're like, I don't want to go
back. So I will say this, I've been
very lucky. I've, I've had an opportunity to
travel a bit, you know, growing up in, in my adult life and it
happens to me anytime I go anywhere.

(13:35):
Just as an example, we were lucky we, we went to Maui at the
front end of of this year back in February.
And if there were a way for me to be there full time, that
would be where I'd be. But that's until, you know, next
time I travel, you know, wherever that may be.
If you know Alaska, maybe I'll say I want to stay in Alaska

(13:56):
forever and travel has a way of doing that to me anyways.
I I sort of get locked into whatmakes a place special and it
seduces me, that's for sure. Traveling seduces me and and
makes me want to to stay a little bit longer or stay
forever. To answer your question,
Nashville definitely had that effect on me as well.

(14:18):
I definitely think I would choose Maui over Alaska.
I think the only thing I've seenfrom Alaska is that Ice Rd.
trucking show and that sounds like.
That sounds pretty. Scary.
That sounds like a scary place. Well, I, you know, I think, you
know, being here in the frozen tundra of New Hampshire, you
know, we plowed our fair share of driveways and shoveled
18,000,000 lbs of snow. But no, I mean, it's, I would, I

(14:42):
would agree Maui is almost the polar opposite of of Alaska,
that's for sure. I haven't, I haven't been to
Alaska yet though, so I don't know.
I can't, I can't, you know, I can't speak I'll of Alaska just
yet. Yeah, the New England winters
are another reason to put Nashville on your bucket list.
Get away from the New England winters.
Now that I'm aging and my jointsare getting a little a little

(15:05):
more brittle, the snowboarding and skiing is less and less of
we get out less and less now. And so it's like, well, you
know, that's, that's kind of like the attraction of winter
for us here is being able to do those winter activities.
And now that we're not doing them and just maybe we'll we'll
start to be like snowbirds or, or move to move down South

(15:27):
altogether. Music at first was an
opportunity to hang out with your grandfather.
It was it, it was not to go likeright to the end of of the
story. But you know, one day when I'm
in the ground or wherever I end up, you know, what they'll write
about me is that I was the same person my entire life, very

(15:49):
stubborn. And I don't listen to too much
advice more, more so now, more so now than I, I was before.
Like I'm, I'm a little more opento, to constructive criticism.
But, you know, as as a younger, younger kid, as a younger
Justin, I did get to spend a lotof time with my grandfather and,
and my grandmother as well. But my grandfather was an

(16:11):
accomplished musician. He, he traveled quite a bit, I
want to say, before and after the war.
He was, you know, the World War 2 and he had a Super 400
acoustic guitar that he played for pretty much the entirety of
his career. And when I was maybe 7 or 8I

(16:33):
stumbled across a guitar case inthe closet and, you know, not
knowing that what a Super 400 was and and how valuable that
guitar was. It was always something that was
like, hey, don't touch that, don't touch that, don't touch
that. And it was either either my 8th
birthday or around like 8th Christmas, I got my first real

(16:55):
guitar. And my grandfather tried for,
for quite a while to give me lessons.
And, you know, at 8 years old, Iwas already a virtuoso.
I, I didn't need any lessons, you know, But it, it was
something that he, he really stayed after me.
And over time, I, I got into playing drums.

(17:16):
He tried to teach me how to playdrums.
And, you know, and I think the, the full arc of that story is
like, it wasn't really about music.
It was about getting to spend time together.
And, you know, now in a lot of ways where he's not here
anymore. And I miss him a lot.
Being able to play music everyday and especially, you
know, being able to do it for a living, It keeps me close to him

(17:38):
on a daily basis. And there's a lot of stuff that
you know, from one time to another, he would say and I
would laugh off or I would poo poo.
Now you have no idea what you'retalking about.
You're old. And, you know, now I'm, I'm 39
and about half as old as he was and certainly nowhere near half

(18:01):
his wives. But a lot of the stuff that he,
I think, tried to impart on to me, I'm, I'm like finally
realizing and, and, and recognizing in playing and
interacting with people and the way that music hits people and
what people want out of music and the feelings that it gives
them. So it's it started out as, you

(18:24):
know, first guitar that, you know, first of probably like 100
guitars that I've had, you know,now doing what I'm doing and
it's it's really cool. You know, I obviously like
everybody that we lose. You wish they were still around.
But more so I think than anything than anybody.
It would be really cool to have him here now, just, you know,

(18:46):
seeing what it is we're doing and, you know, kind of
recognizing to an extent, the dream.
Did he get to see you play any gigs?
Yes, he did. I think he had a chance to see
us twice actually. Luckily enough, the the group of
guys I was playing with at the time are some guys that have

(19:06):
been lifelong friends of mine. So, you know, it's really
special to be able to play in a band with them first of all.
But for him to be able to come out and and see that obviously
nothing that he not his style ofmusic by a long shot.
We're a, you know, a Hard Rock band back then.
You know, being able to see us doing the thing and enjoying it

(19:27):
and being into it I think is what what would have mattered.
And that's the way I look at it now.
I mean, like seeing, seeing other musicians do it and the
level of enjoyment that they getout of it, even if I don't like
the music that they're playing. It's it's definitely inspiring
to see somebody get caught up and wound up in the music.
So yeah, he did get a chance to catch it.

(19:48):
Not, not in the format that we do it now, but you know, Once
Upon a time he did. Sounds like he definitely really
helped cultivate your love for music.
Without a doubt, you know, between my grandfather, you
know, the old big band and swingand jazz music, you know my, my
mom is, even though she's not professional by any means, she's

(20:08):
a. She's a car singer or a living
room singer. And we, we grew up with that,
you know, multiple nights a week, the record player would be
on and our own Whitney Houston cover show in the in the living
room or later on, like when my, when my parents got divorced,
you know, we, it's probably the most country thing about my

(20:29):
upbringing is my dad had a pickup truck and you know, we
listen to like sad 90s country music in the pickup truck on the
way to hockey or on the way to baseball.
And that was probably my introduction to country music.
You've talked about the loss of your your grandfather, your dad
also passed away at the beginning of this year, or.
No, so my dad, we, we almost lost my dad.

(20:51):
You almost lost him, OK. He had something come up with
his heart. I don't know if I'd say a fluke
thing, but it was a totally surprising thing.
I don't know how deep down this rabbit hole we're going to go,
but I'll dive in. We grew up going to church and
we grew up with a certain presence of God in our lives as
kids. It's not something that I walked

(21:12):
away from or avoided or anythinglike that, but it was sort of
like always on the back of my mind.
You know, it wasn't my first thought every day.
And back in November when that happened, it was, you know, it
was like a lightning bolt. It just obviously you never know
what day is going to be like theday or who or, you know, the

(21:33):
people that mean a lot to you like when it's going to be their
day. So that hit me really, really
heavy back in November when thathappened.
It was right before Thanksgiving, right before the
holidays. Thankfully, to tie that
together, the way that everything happened, it was
almost undeniable that somebody was watching over my dad.
He felt strange having a hard time getting around the house.

(21:57):
Typically my stepmom would have been at work.
She traveled extensively for work.
She had recently retired. She stepped away from her job
and was home that day. That particular day, usually
she'd be out like walking or jogging with friends.
And you know, my dad woke up, took a shower, was just feeling

(22:17):
off. Then he like lost feeling in his
legs. I don't know if he fell down the
stairs or he got to the bottom of the stairs and they called
help. They got, they got him to the
hospital. The, the surgery that he needed
that saved his life was a procedure that there's a local
doctor here in New Hampshire that like pioneered that

(22:38):
procedure. He happened to be the on call
and so within a matter of just acouple hours, they had them in,
they had them opened up and theycompleted the procedure that he
needed to not be dead and. Oh wow, well, I'm happy to hear
that. That's that's good.
How's he doing now? He's doing a lot better.
I mean, he he's had a, he's had a good strong recovery.

(23:01):
Some areas have been kind of slow to get back, but, you know,
that's, I think that's kind of in his nature.
He's he's stubborn and he wants,you know, I'm, I'm a lot like my
dad in that way. Yeah, I want it done.
I want it done now. I want it done the right way.
And patience is definitely not in our collective vocabulary.
So I think he's doing good. I hope he's doing good.

(23:25):
I think he's, you know, if he's like, I think he is, he's
probably in a perpetual state oflike slightly frustrated that
he's, that he's not as far aheadas he'd like to be.
But you know, like maybe that's like just part of aging, right?
You start to start to slow down a little bit.

(23:45):
But no, so he is, he is definitely not gone.
He's not singing with the angelsyet.
That's good. But but we were really, we were
really close. So it was, it was, it was scary
for a bit. That's that's good news.
I'm I'm happy to hear that. I think I I got my wires crossed
because I had saw this post, thehugs from Donald post you put up

(24:06):
on IG and I wasn't I wasn't surebased on seeing.
That oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. So no.
That that I played, I played a place up here locally, the
Henniker Brewing Company, not too far from the house here
where we're at. And I met a family.
This woman had lost her father not too long ago.
And one of the beers that they brew and the way they package

(24:30):
it, they it's kind of like that,like have a Coke where they put
someone's name on the Coke can. So you know, you'd be like, oh,
I'm going to go have a Coke withJosh.
And it's like, hey, that's my name right on the can.
And so they do that with a beer that they put out.
And I think the, I think the story was it was the last four

(24:51):
pack that they had of that beer and it was hugs from Donald.
And that's her father's name. And when she, I think when she
checked out, we had started to play Fire and Rain by James
Taylor. And that was like her dad's
either her dad's favorite song or a song that reminded her of
her dad, you know, So it's just one of those moments where, you

(25:13):
know, we talk about music kind of having an emotional impact on
people. And, you know, she, like, kind
of lost it a little bit and broke down and she tagged me in
a post. And, you know, obviously I leave
stuff like, up stuff. Yeah, stuff like that.
Up is so important to have you know that connection to other
other people. I was going to say that must be
so special to you that a fan would take the time to include

(25:37):
you in such a meaningful and unfortunate time in their life.
I mean, it really is. It's, I take stuff like that to
heart big time. I don't know, there's so much
like hustle and bustle and so much stuff that our society is
designed to like keep you away from feeling and to keep you
away from enjoying the company of other people.

(26:00):
Just generally celebrating community, right?
Everything is like now geared towards let's stay in the house,
let's leave the house the least amount is possible, drop ship
everything to your door so you don't have to go to the store.
Hey. Sometimes that's nice.
Hey, I had before we jumped on the the call, I, I had chewy

(26:21):
drop off the dog food, right? So, so like it's in a, in a
world that's kind of becoming more isolated and pushing people
towards being comfortable with being alone and consuming from
the computer, it's probably moremeaningful now than ever to be
able to connect with somebody, especially a stranger. 8 billion

(26:42):
of us, however many there are now, like we're on this rock
together for the time being. If you can connect with somebody
that way, I think it's it's definitely a gift.
You you originally broke into the New England country scene
playing the drums. That's interesting.
I was very, very much a drummer for a long time, and a former
friend of mine by the name of Nick Druin had decided he wanted

(27:04):
to start a band doing what I'm doing now.
So, you know, solo singer-songwriter type of thing.
So got a handful of us together,started playing and we played a
whole bunch. I was actually playing drums
almost full time between that band and a few others.
You know, I was fortunate enoughI got out and played a bunch
with Maddie Ryan, had an opportunity to play a bunch with
Chris Rudiger. And then I, you know, like some

(27:25):
Blues and jazz gigs and just stuff to fill the calendar.
But but yeah, I, I got my, I gotmy start behind the drum kit,
behind behind some congas and bongos and.
Yeah. What inspired you to to make the
switch and go in a more solo direction?
I'm a jerk and it's, you know, the honestly, I, I always play

(27:50):
guitar. I always played a little bit of
bass depending on the band I wasworking with.
I got to a point where, you know, it's like, almost like in
a job when you get burned out, you get tired of doing things a
certain way and you know, you have the solution and you want
to do it and your current job doesn't allow you to, to do it
that way. So I just, I started to play

(28:11):
guitar more. I got out and played some gigs
with friends as you know, with aguitar and with a bass.
It was honestly, it was more funthan it was anything.
It wasn't, it wasn't a job, it wasn't going to be a career.
It was just having a good time with the boys and playing some
gigs and enjoying a beer too. And and then the pandemic
happened. And during the pandemic, it

(28:31):
just, it kind of changed my mindset and changed my way of
thinking. Really, really made me realize
that, you know, when the proverbial crap hits the fan,
you can't really rely on certainthings or certain people and not
through any fault of their own. Like, that's just the way the
world is sometimes. And I kind of came to the

(28:51):
conclusion that if I wanted to have a reliable source of income
and a reliable, I don't know, just conduit to be able to go
out and play music that I had todo it for myself.
We'd sold our house. We're living with our in laws in
between, like house hunting. I said to my wife, I was like,
you know what, I want to start playing solo and I don't want to

(29:13):
be in a band anymore. As much as I love these guys.
I just want to go out and play my own shows.
You know, she jokes, she's like,well, don't talk about it, just
do it. Which if you know me well, it
was kind of like she told me where the the dog lied right
there. She was like, she's like, she's
like, go do it dummy. Don't, don't talk about it.
So I did, I started going out and playing solo gigs, you know,

(29:35):
as as things went on a little bit further, I was working as an
electrician full time, gigging almost full time.
And I just, I kind of got burnedout up at 4:00 in the morning to
go to work, going to a gig aftermaybe be there until 1:00,
sleeper sleep, sleep a couple hours, you know, sleep, sleep

(29:58):
during my lunch break type of thing, you know, at work.
And, and then so like work got slow.
There wasn't a lot of work locally where I live.
I was doing some travelling. I actually travelled up to Maine
and was sleeping in the back of my, my old SUV while gigging
while working as an electrician.And a few months after that, you

(30:18):
know, like not, oh, not too longafter we got married, I got, I'd
have to think back to the actualdate, but I, I said to my wife,
I was like, you know what? I don't think I'm an electrician
anymore. I think I'm just a musician and
I'm going to play music full time.
And, you know, same things like don't talk, don't tell me about
it, just go do it. So I went to work one morning.
I, you know, rolled up to the job site, had my, the first guy

(30:41):
there. Surprisingly, usually I'm not
that early. They're like, oh, something's
wrong. So I, you know, I'm the first,
I'm the first guy there. My headlights are are on the
front door and I'm just looking into it was like an apartment
complex we were working on for that job and I'm just looking
into this gutted out apartment complex that I'm I'm going to go
in and, you know, start doing work on.

(31:02):
I looked at myself in the mirrorand I said, I didn't say the
heck with this, but we'll keep it clean.
I said, you know what the heck with this?
I, I picked up my phone, I called my boss and I said, hey,
Jamie, I'm gonna give you my 2 day notice.
Like I quit 2 day. He's like what?
I was like, yeah, I'm gonna, I'mgonna go be a musician, which is
I'm sure was shocking to him. You're going to, you're going to

(31:24):
what? You're going to.
You're going to. That makes no sense.
Did they know about your music? I think they knew that I played
music on the, like, the nights and the weekends, and the guys I
worked with definitely did. We would.
You know, when you're on a job site, you're talking about all
kinds of stuff. But yeah, I think it came as a
shock to him when I said, hey, I'm just going to go play guitar
and sing. And so that's what I did.

(31:45):
I came home. The job site I was on was close
enough to the house, so I got back home before my wife was
awake for work. I climbed, I'm back into bed and
I said, hey, I'm a musician now.And then.
Yeah. And that's, and that's kind of
where, you know, that's kind of where we've been since then.
Just, you know, going further down the rabbit hole.
You have a really awesome, supportive wife.

(32:07):
That's that's, that's great. I'm very, very lucky that I have
her. If there were ever a piece of
advice I would give to anyone, it's, you know, if you find the
right one, it makes the rest of your life very easy.
We're a pain in each other's butts.
We, we give each other hell. But she is definitely the, you

(32:27):
know, I, I wouldn't be doing anyof the things I'm doing if it
weren't for her. And you know, and that's, and
that's saying a lot because a lot of there's a lot that's
happened in the last three yearsthat if there were anybody else,
I would not, I would not be where I am.
You've been doing music your entire life, but it seems like
the last two or three years things have really picked up for

(32:48):
you. I think the thing that I
realized is, you know, like mostthings, you know, when you
become hyper focused on what youwant and what the goal is and
what you what you must accomplish, it gets a lot
easier. Even though there's still times
where I feel like I'm a little bit lost and I don't know like
how to book certain things or, or you know, how to, how to

(33:11):
advance the, you know, the musiccareer that I have, It's still
way further ahead of where I thought I would have been three
years ago. You know, just laser focus
knowing, knowing what you want and where you're going makes it
much easier to get there and much easier to get it.
Now I understand how you've played 500 plus shows in the

(33:32):
last couple years because it's that's probably nothing to you
after working on these job sitesand putting all these these
hours in. That's definitely a big part of
it. I think that, you know, in a, in
a community locally anyways, that there's a lot of younger
musicians that, you know, these,these kids that are still in
school, they, they haven't necessarily worked their first

(33:53):
like really hard job yet. It's, it's easy to wake up and
say, you know what, I don't feelgreat today.
I'm not going to go, I'm not going to go play music.
I'm going to, I'm going to call in, I'm going to, you know, tell
them I can't make it. And for me, like you said, you
know, working on different job sites where, you know, I'm like

(34:13):
literally playing with lightning.
I everything I'm working on is trying to kill me on an
electrical job site. You know, going from that to the
worst thing you deal with is somebody drunkenly yelling free
bird. You have a.
Different perspective on that. Yeah, I mean, like life.
Life is so good, man. To play a guitar and to sing and

(34:34):
to put a smile on people's facesis, and I'm not knocking the
trade by any means there, there are some guys and girls that are
meant to be electricians and they're great at their job.
I am no longer one of those people.
I think it's perspective. Any, anything you do, if you, if
you realize that it's just a blessing to be doing it and you

(34:56):
know, there's so many worse things you can do, it makes it a
lot easier to do it. I feel, you know, be very
candid. I'm not, obviously I'm not some
big famous musician or anything like that, but there are people
that get a certain sense of enjoyment by watching me do the
thing. And if I were to not do it as

(35:17):
hard as I would work on a construction job or or something
like that, I'm really doing a disservice to those people.
That's a good way to look at it.Not that I'm like trying to go
out there and be a people pleaser, but I owe it to people
to, to show up and to, to do it at the, the best level I can and
as much as I can. And I think in the back of my
mind too, there's a certain level of if I'm lucky, one day,

(35:39):
you know, one day when I'm pushing up daisies, I'll be, you
know, I'll be sitting with my grandfather looking down and I
won't have to listen to him say,well, you could have done this.
You could have done that a little different.
You could have, you know, you could have worked a little bit
harder. I joke with people like I don't
want to leave any doubt when, when my friends say that I'm
mental for, you know, doing like5 or 6 days in a row or doing

(36:01):
double SI can. So I should I, I know people
that work even harder than I, I am.
I almost kind of feel like it's a little sacrilegious to say I
work hard. Like this week I'm, I have the
whole week off. I'm like hanging out at the
beach, going to the, going to the pool.
I must feel you know. It, it, it does.
Like I, I'm, I'm, I'm seeing people post like I have an

(36:23):
opening tonight and I'm like, who do I want to play tonight?
Like I could do a fill in. But yeah, so it's I, I kind of
owe it to, you know, obviously Iowe it to myself, but I owe it
to everybody else to just be thebest version as much as I can
every day. If your past self is willing to
like sweat in the heat and do all these tough jobs and bust
your ass, why not play like 5-6 shows and put the effort in?

(36:46):
At least now I don't smell like,like grease and, you know, wire,
wire Lube and all the, you know,all the other gross stuff you
deal with when you're pulling heavy wires and work working in
crawl spaces and digging, digging out ditches.
And it's good hard work. You get a workout, but not

(37:07):
glamorous. And you know, now, now I just
sweat so I can, I can deal with that.
You talked about listening to Country in the the truck with
your dad and being inspired by your your grandfather.
Who are some of the country musicians that kind of piqued
your interest growing up and kind of made this career

(37:29):
happened for you? Like inspired you?
I don't know if you would remember this or if you're, if
you're even old enough to, to befamiliar with this, but in the
like early 90s and I, I may or may not be spot on with the date
either. But in the early 90s there was
ACD subscription service where if you sent like a penny in an

(37:53):
envelope, they would send you a box of CD's every month.
And then if you liked what you had, you would send them money
for the CD or you would just send them the CD back and then
you wouldn't have to buy it. The long, the long come around
on that is like nobody ever sentthe CD's back.
So they people ended up having these CD collections that they

(38:16):
the bill went to collections because they never paid for all
the CDs they had so. Interesting.
Yeah, it's like Columbia House or like UMG or BMG or something
like that. So when my parents were
divorced, my dad had that CD subscription.
So we saw my dad, you know, likehe, they, they live close, even

(38:39):
though they were, they were divorced, they live close.
So we got to see my dad a good bit.
And, you know, eventually, you know, I moved into with my, my
dad and my stepmom and we saw him every day, but it was kind
of like that one night a week, every other weekend situation.
And so like every time I'd hang out at my dad's, there was a new
batch of CDs. So this is around the time that

(39:03):
Garth Brooks was huge and sort of brought country music as a
genre up. So every time I went to my
dad's, we had like, Travis Tritt, Marty Stewart, Clint
Black Eagles, Alan Jackson, Sawyer Brown, Ricochet, Tracy
Byrd, Tracy Lawrence, John Anderson, you know, all that

(39:27):
stuff. So huge influence from early 90s
country for sure. You know, I think in my
personality or my like on stage persona, which is, I mean, it's
really an extension of myself. But I'd say that I, I probably
air a little on the side of likea Toby Keith where I am

(39:51):
unapologetically myself. I, you know, I love what I love
and that's never going to changeas long as I live.
And I like to have a good time. People.
I want everyone to be part of the party.
So I'd, I'd say Toby Keith is a big, big influence, Garth,
obviously big influence. And then I don't know, Alan

(40:11):
Jackson, Diamond Rio. I'm all over the map really.
Billy Joel. Elton John.
Elton John, that's an underratedone.
I love that. That's a good one.
So, yeah, across the board and that's, you know, any and this
is back before like C DS were incars too.
So this is like cassette deck or, you know, the various

(40:32):
country stations on on the FM radio.
Hey everybody, it's Josh Maddie and we want to congratulate our
ticket winner, our big ticket winner at our last Writers Round
event at The Barn in Groton, CT Thanks to Mohegan Sun

(40:52):
Congratulations to Catherine. She and a friend are going to
see Dasha play the Sun Patio at Mohegan Sun this upcoming Sunday
night, August 17th. That that show still as of right
now has tickets available. You can get ticket information
at ticketmaster.com or mohegansun.com.

(41:13):
But congratulations to to Catherine for winning those
tickets. We've had so much fun crowning
ticket winners at the end of ourevents.
We can't thank Mohegan enough for for partnering with us.
And if you have been signing up for our most recent ticket
giveaways, our our Jordan Davis ticket giveaway, our Warren

(41:34):
Zeiders ticket giveaway, our ourDasha ticket giveaway, and you
didn't win, we have another opportunity for you Warren
Zeiders November 15th. That show is on sale right now
through Ticketmaster. You can buy the tickets or you
can win them from us. September 10th, our next Writers
Round event back at the Barn in Groton, CT, We'll have another

(41:58):
live drawing. Thanks to Mohegan Sun for more
tickets. So go see Warren Zeiders.
You can you can buy them right now or you can win them from
from Country on deck. You can get more information on
our Instagram account at Countryon Deck in the coming days.
And we can't wait to see you on on September 10th at our next

(42:20):
event. Thanks so much to Mohegan Sun
for making this ticket giveaway possible.
And you have a new song coming out August 29th, right?
I do, I do. So we are we're going to be
releasing drink our way out of this and yeah, it's exciting.
We're you know, it's the song itself is.

(42:40):
I mean, it's almost kind of exactly what we just talked
about, like having a good time and being unapologetically, you
know, ourselves. We sort of wrote it on accident.
We didn't even, it wasn't even asong that had been written going
into the studio. It we're just sort of joking.
It was, it was around like election time.
Everyone was going crazy. People are upset about, you

(43:01):
know, Donald Trump or they're upset about Joe Biden and and
then Kamala Harris and all that.So we just, we kind of said, you
know what, none of this matters.It's, it's all just, it's all
just theater and it's, you know,we're not, we're not in it.
We're, you know, we're the spectators.
Why are we getting upset about it?
And so we just kind of joke. We said, you know what, like it
would just be in everybody's best interest if they sat down

(43:24):
with their friends, drank a beerand shut up.
And, and so that's kind of what we, that's the, that's the song
we wrote. We just wrote a song that was,
you know what? We can, we can drink our way out
of this and just at the end of this whole thing, like we can
all still be friends and have different opinions and, and want
different things out of life. And so, you know, hopefully

(43:45):
that'll hopefully that'll resonate with people when it
comes out. And it'll, it'll be something
that people can listen to and take them out of a, you know,
maybe a bad, a bad mindset or a bad, a bad situation that
they're not happy about. And it's like just, even if
you're not a beer drinker, just,you know, take a second, have a
cold beverage and, and take a chill pill.

(44:06):
Just relax. Yeah, I'm definitely not a
drinker, but I could certainly appreciate the appreciation of
the small things and kind of taking a step back for a second.
Yeah, so it's not worth stressing out, man.
Stress will you know, as we as we learned in November, stress
will try to kill you. It can literally break your
heart. And why do you want to leave any

(44:29):
earlier than you have to? Just relax and stay a while.
I remember that one getting a pretty big cheer and ovation
when you sang it at the writers round.
Well, it's a fun. It is a fun song.
It's one of those, it's an up tempo, upbeat kind of.
Hopefully it'll be a sing along jam.
We'll see. Did you take yourself off the
road for full time band gigs to keep writing music?

(44:52):
Is that is that your plan? I mean, yes and no.
That situation was kind of a bummer.
I, I want to clarify, I still love the guys that I was in the
band with, but there was sort ofa difference in opinion on like
what direction we were going to head and being the like the, the
band leader. I don't, I don't like using the

(45:13):
word owner of the band, but likebeing the owner of the band and
the band leader. You have, you know, anything
other than one vision of the direction you're heading in,
it's not going to work. You know, we sound, we sounded
great. There was just kind of
conflicting opinions on which way we wanted ahead.
And I mean, I do this full time.This is, this is my career.
I, I am inflexible when it comesto what I'm trying to do because

(45:37):
that's the direction we're heading in.
If you guys want to head in thatdirection with me, let's go and
we'll, you know, we'll get there.
But, but I'm not diverting from my plan to get to where I'm
going. And so that's, that's kind of
where we came to. We just kind of reached an
impasse where they wanted to do more cover band type stuff and

(45:57):
right as a full band and, and not put out originals that I've
been working on. And I respect that.
That's what they want to do, butI just won't be doing it with
them. Sounds like you made a good
choice for yourself because the music that I've been hearing
from you is really, really great, so I wouldn't want to see
that get silenced. I appreciate you saying that.
It's just one of those things. Everyone's got something

(46:18):
different that they're looking to get out of the music.
And I can appreciate that there's a certain element of
originality and creativity. They wanted to also get out
there, but hopefully they do what they wanted to do and they
get where they're going. And like I said, I, I love those
guys. If, if I, if they change their
mind, I would love to have them continue to be my band.

(46:39):
You know, I don't know that that'll happen, but kind of
where I stand on it. And I, what I decided was that
it was, it was going to be much more productive for me.
I have a ton of music that I've been working on and it just
makes the most sense to to work on getting that out as soon as
possible and finding other people who see the same vision I

(47:01):
have. Is part of your vision to get
down to Nashville more often? Do you plan on moving there or
just going back and forth from New England to Nashville?
It's funny you should ask that. That is definitely part of the
vision. Where as it is right now, I'm
trying to get down there once every like 7 to 8 weeks just to,
just to like foster relationships that I've I've

(47:25):
started. And when the time is right, I
think we are definitely going tomake the move to Nashville.
So figuring out the details of like selling the house and all
that is kind of where we're at right now.
That means New England has to take advantage of having you
here while you're still here. That's that's right.
I am. So I, you know, the plan, the

(47:47):
plan as it were right now is, you know, we'll, we'll
definitely be back a whole bunch.
I still have some residency stuff in the books into next
year and I will be back probablyon a bi weekly basis to work at
home even once we're down there.OK, so it'll flip.
You'll be coming from Nashville to New England.

(48:07):
Yeah. And it's, it's the great, you
know, the great thing obviously for us up here Southwest is, you
know, Nashville and Boston, it'ssuper easy and they have a ton
of flights. It's super affordable too.
So it works out that it's really, you know, getting into
the weeds of the business stuff,it makes sense to be able to
commute here instead of commuting there.

(48:30):
Well, Justin, I really enjoyed being able to chat with you.
We had a great conversation after the round out in the
parking lot and I'm glad that wewere able to kind of pick that
back up and chat some more and Iwas able to help you get your
story out. Thank you and I, I appreciate
you doing what you're doing, man.
It's, it's great, especially fora lot of these younger artists
that I've, I've seen going through and had the opportunity

(48:52):
to meet at, at the round I was in.
So thank you for, for the work you're putting in.
And you know, like I think, I think the way we left it when I
when I saw you last was just, you know, keep doing what you're
doing and all the good stuff is gonna come your way, man, You're
doing some great stuff. Yeah, actually I wanted to tell
you that Go, ironically enough, going into that round, I'm not

(49:13):
sure really why, but I was feeling kind of down in the
dumps and questioning why I was still going after all of this
and if it was going to work. And then meeting you and having
that conversation, you were speaking so, so much positivity
towards my my ideas and stuff. It really helped me.
And I just want to mention that to you.
Well, any, any time you're, you know, if you're having any

(49:35):
moments of weakness and you're having doubts, you can call me
and I'll give you a, I'll give you the pep talk.
The shirt. The shirt's awesome too.
I've been wearing the shirt so Iappreciate that too.
Thank you. I'm glad.
I'm glad you enjoy it. I'm glad it's getting.
I'm glad it's getting worn in. Well, Justin, I hope you have a
great rest of your little mini vacation that you're on.

(49:56):
Thank you, buddy. I appreciate you.
I'm gonna, I'm definitely gonna be sunning the sunning the buns
today for sure. Thanks so much for for making
the time. Likewise, brother, I appreciate
you. Have a great day.
You too. Thanks Josh.
That's going to do it for this week's episode.
Thank you so much to Justin Federico for coming on the show
and making some time for us. I really, really enjoyed that

(50:19):
conversation and being able to chat with him again after the
the writers round catch up. Not only catch up with him, but
help you learn a little bit moreabout his story.
If you'd like to learn more about Justin, head to his
website, his official website, justinfederico.com.
That'll bring you to his bio, his his music, everything you

(50:42):
need to know about Justin Federico right there on his on
his website, his social media. You'll get access to his social
media where you can follow him and maybe had to a future show
and and check him out in in person, maybe meet him.
So thanks so much for listening.We can't wait to to be back
again next Friday when then withanother rising country star on

(51:05):
the show. So don't forget to hit that
follow button on the platform that you're listening on so you
don't miss it. We can't wait to see you at a
future writers round in Groton at the barn.
Our next one coming up on September 10th.
Good luck on those Warren Zeiders tickets.
Thanks to Mohegan Sun if you if you got that information earlier

(51:27):
in the episode. We can't wait to give those
those tickets away. Another big giveaway with with
Mohegan. Until then, thanks so much for
listening. I'm Josh Maddie and this is
Country on deck kick. Off your boots and settle in

(51:53):
country on this. About to begin.
Josh Maddie's here. Stars on the rise.
Voices of hope, dreams in their eyes, singer songwriters,
stories on phones. Hearts that wander, hearts that

(52:16):
a bone. Does he roam?
She writes. Angelines capture the journey
shares their fights. Country on dead we're tuning in.
Well, the new star stories are coming in and the small town

(52:39):
dreams they're gonna take you away.
Country on Dead when John Maddie.
Thank you so much for listening to the Country on Deck with Josh
Maddie. Josh is back at his desk every
Thursday talking with a new country artist, so make sure you
hit that follow button whenever you're listening so you don't

(53:00):
miss an interview. Follow country on deck on social
media. All social media links can be
found by going to LINKTR period EE slash country on.
Deck.