Exploring Authenticity and Connection with Country Singer-Songwriter Chris Housman

Episode Transcript
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Brother Love (00:00):
Telling our stories is the connective tissue of the
collective human experience.
The Just Keep Talking podcast delvesinto the lives and stories of artists.
What is the impact ofmental health on creativity?
What does it mean to bea creative individual?
Someone who feels deeply, experiencesjoy and pain, intensely and
navigates the challenges of lifethrough the creative process.

(00:21):
With each story shared, we explorethe authentic experience of our
basic need to be seen, to be heard,
and to belong.
We're really not so different fromone another, nor are we alone.
Together we can inspire, encourage, andenlighten each other to find the true joy
and fulfillment that is within ourselves.
When we Just Keep Talking, we createthe space for gratitude, self-acceptance

(00:46):
and grace in everyday life.
In a world filled with divisiveness,
fostering inclusivity and connection isa powerful way to make a positive impact.
The Just Keep Talking podcast with me,Brother Love, because Your Story matters.

Chris Housman (01:20):
Yeah..

That was Chris Housman, country music singer
singing Tennessee Waltz.
Chris Housman and I recordedthis interview back in August of
2023, but you know, life happens.
The messages are still the same.
We all crave and need and yearn tobe seen, to be heard, and to belong.
Since the interview Chris released afull length album called Blue Neck.
He's been touring all over the country.

(02:00):
My wife.
The famous Sarah Tomek plays drumswith him very often, and Chris
has a new single coming out onJune 20th called Hiding Something.
It'll be available on all platformswherever you find your music.
I hope you enjoy this episode withChris Housman, country music singer.

Larry (02:14):
Ladies and gentlemen.
Chris Housman

Larry.
it's so good to be here with you.
Good morning

Larry (02:18):
You are a country music artist.
You are a singer songwriter.
You are a person who writessongs and sings them.

That's correct.

Larry (02:26):
So when you refer to like, oh, it's early in the morning,
like do you go to sessions?
we work in the studio.
I've been on sessions as a producer,I've been on sessions as the artist.
I've been on Sessions as a sideperson, and somebody comes in and goes,
oh, I can't sing to, oh, my voice.
It's so early.
The yada yada.
why I can't, the disclosure.
That's what it is, right?
I guess allergies are talking to me today.

(02:48):
Ho So Nashville is Allergy Central.

Yes.

Larry (02:52):
Right.
You're from Kansas.
Yeah.
I don't know what it's like over there

Not Allergy Central.

Larry (02:56):
Not Allergy Central.
And I'm from New York City and Idon't know if you get an allergy,
you beat the shit out of it.
You know what I mean?
That's it.
you walk away.
Hey, allergy Gah!.
Nashville.
They're kicking our butts left and right.
What I think is that Nashvilleallergies are the reasons why
country music sounds the way it does.
I am convinced when WillieNelson came to Nashville,
Tennessee, he sounded like Elvis.

(03:18):
they're like, we have an Elvis.
And he just hung around and hestarts sneezing and he said,
maybe I should go home and rest.
And then, and he sounded like, you know,and all of a sudden you're like, whoa.
The allergies makes thecountry music what it is today.

Hot take.
I love that.

Larry (03:31):
Right?

Wow.
damn, I'm mind blown right now,

Larry (03:33):
Right?

Frank Sinatra could never in the South,

Larry (03:35):
Frank Sinatra could never in the South.
Yes.
For a lot of reasons.
Yeah.
There's a lot of reasons whyFrank Sinatra could not south.
Yeah.
That's good.
That's the name of this episode.
Frank Sinatra Could Never South.
So, thank you so much for,joining me, joining me.
I'm in your house.

Thanks for joining me.

Larry (03:53):
Thank you for having me.
I love this.
This is beautiful.
I'm finally in one of these tall andskinnys in East Nashville where we live.
and by the way.
Thanks for living so close to my house.
Oh yeah.
I said this is fantastic.
So basically a lot of our lots wherehouses are, what do you call that?
Properties?
People buy the house.
They don't care about the house.
The property is valuable, so they knockthe house down and instead of having one

(04:13):
big house, or one medium sized house, orone small house, they put up two houses.
we call 'em tall and skinnys.
You are living in a gorgeous house.
You share a wall with your neighbor.
I would be like, Nope.
They'd be like, we'll knock$50,000 off this house.
I'd be like, I'm not sharing a wall.
I lived in an apartment,I'm a New York City guy.
I grew up in a three bedroom housein Queens we had sidewalks and

(04:35):
buses to go to the trains, I couldwalk 10 minutes to the pizza place.
Mm-hmm.
It wasn't like I wasn't in thesticks, but I was not in city.
City walk, walk mode.
I moved into the East Villageof Manhattan as an adult.
Lived on East fifth Street between firstand second Avenue, a five floor walkup.
Every wall Except the ceiling,because I was on the top floor.
was somebody else's wall too.

(04:56):
I lived a lifetime ofthat, you get used to it.
I had a girlfriend that livedwith me for a little while, and
her name was, uh, little Lisa.
She still, her name still isLisa, they called her little Lisa.
She was short.
Yeah.
And she was a soprano.
She had a gorgeous voice and shewould practice in that apartment.
My apartment was 380 square feet.
I could touch the ceiling.

(05:18):
I found out later on by visitinganother person's apartment.
That their ceilings were way higher.
It's like they got to myapartment on the fifth floor
and they said, nah, we're done.
They put a ceiling that's like, you know,maybe six one, meaning I could touch it.
Yeah.
I'm like five, seven and a half.
On a good day with myhair, I'm like five eight.
So my old girlfriend, Lisa, shewould sing and I would lose my mind

(05:39):
because what a beautiful voice.
But I had to leave.
I would run out and everybodyneighbors, the landlord, everybody
be like, oh, I just love it.
I love it when Lisa sings.
I'm like, well, then yougo up there and hang out.
I gotta get outta here, man.
by the way, she sang beautifully.
It was just the quarters were small

And soprano too.
That like echoes at a different level.

Larry (05:56):
Oh yeah.
It kills you.
It kills you dead.
Yeah.
So speaking of Kill Dead, areyou okay with your neighbors
that you share a wall with?

Yeah, so far so good.
And it's been a few years.
Uh.
I haven't heard 'em yet,so that, that helps.
You haven't heard them yet?
No.
not at all.
They've probably heard mesinging in the shower and stuff,
But they seem to be relativelyquiet people, so, so far so good.

Larry (06:15):
I have this picture in my head, like, 1950s America, you go out in the
morning and you have your bathrobe onand your pipe and your slippers on, and
you walk out to get the newspaper andyou say, modern and Donald Martin and
Chris, you know, they're right here.
Yeah.
So do you see them in the

I see them.
I do a lot of front porch sittingon my little front porch there's
a shared kind of front yard thing,and so I see them In that kind of
a mailbox to and fro and a littlehello that's about the extent of it.
and that's fine.
They're nice people.
Actually, weirdly, it's a couple, agay couple and one of the husbands,
is born in the same small town.
That I'm was born inreally Dodge City, Kansas.

(06:51):
So wild.
we're of different generations,but we know all the same places and
stuff, so we talk about that a lot.

Larry (06:57):
Dodge City,
Kansas.
Yeah.
So
where,
in relation to anything thatanybody would know about Kansas?

Oh gosh.
Nearest place.
We'd like a hospital that youwould actually want to go to where
they have actual doctors and such.
But, that's also the nearest Walmart.
But I grew up in a town like30, 40 minutes from there.
Hanson, Kansas, whichis, town of 200 people.
So it's probably, it sounds likethe opposite of where you grew up.
you had neighbors everydirection except up.

(07:22):
meanwhile our neighbors were.
Half a mile down the road.

Larry (07:25):
Wow.
was it a big piece of property?

Oh my gosh, few thousand acres.
Like

Larry (07:29):
Did you live on a farm?

Yep.
Grew up on a farm, literallya few thousand acres.

Larry (07:33):
Uh,
a few thousand, yeah, was theacreage, used for anything?
did it just sit there?
Did you just stare at it?

Just some scenery.
Um, honestly, a lot of it felt thatway because there's just so much
land and there's so few people toown the land and do things with it.
we grew corn, wheat, soybeans,milo, and had a cattle farm as well.
So we had usually around200 head of cattle.
That roamed around on the pastures.
there's a lot.

Larry (07:57):
Are you a farmer?
Can you farm?

I guess I can kind of farm.
I didn't really, appreciateit as much growing up.
'cause that was like chores, you know?

Larry (08:05):
Ah, yeah.

Going again, moving pipe was a big one.
And it's just

Larry (08:08):
Moving pipe?
Now where I
come from, laying pipe meanssomething very different.
Okay.
So well moving pipe, what does that mean?
Moving pipe?
That sounds like citywork, not farm work, right?
Yeah.
I guess the water's gotta get somewhere.

Yeah for irrigating the, crops cause it definitely
doesn't rain, that much either.
and, and we were kind of not likepoor, Like the fancy farmers and the,
the rich farmers have like sprinklersystems I mean, it's like attached to
a basically a computer and they wheelaround the crops and sprinkle everything.
Yeah, I guess.
But we, but the old fashioned, the poorpeople way is moving pipe you take Yeah,

(08:42):
big like metal pipes and you hook 'emup to a well and then you just kind
of connect 'em and it's kinda likeLegos You just connect them and then.
Turn the well on once everything'sconnected and then it, waters the
crops.

Larry (08:53):
That's fantastic.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So
things could
go south quickly.
Oh, yeah.
In the south anywhere.
Yeah.
So I wanna know who I can count on.
Like, all right.
Chris.
Well, he knows how to lay pipe.
Chi lays in pipe.
Lays in pipe.
We're going to his house.
Yeah.
wow.
I came in it as a sex party going on.
we were just trying to irrigatejust thought he was a crop man.
Oh my God.
I just know, few places in Kansas.
I've been to Wichita.
Okay.
Yeah.
And scared the shit outta me.

(09:14):
Wichita, I
was playing in the country rockband, the band that moved me to
Nashville and we were touring.
I remember it was a real, like dancehall honky tonk place we were playing.
the motel was right next door,there was blood and bullet holes,
like not just one room of ours,like hey, you got blood in yours?
Yeah, I got in my shower.
I have bullet holes.
Oh, I've got blood in mine.

(09:34):
Oh, well, cool.
All right.
we're gonna be all right.
I just remember beinglike, okay, this is weird.
This is freaky.
Kansas is very flat.
it just goes on forever.
Mm-hmm.
Pennsylvania is sort of similar that way.
If you're just going east towest or west to east, it's a lot.
Yeah.
As a traveling musician.

Oh gosh.
And
at least Pennsylvania has some trees.
That's true.
Yeah.
Kansas not so much I actuallyheard that, Candace is actually
flatter than a pancake.
They like scaled some dimensionsand found that a pancake usually
has a little, little curve.
You know, if you know how to cook,

Larry (10:01):
If you know how to make a good pancake.
It's gonna have a little fluff.

And Kansas doesn't have a lot of fluff.
No fluff.
Yeah.

Larry (10:06):
I do remember another time that, we showed up somewhere in Kansas
we got out of the van and the bandthat I was in was all from New York.
I remember Obama had just been electedpresident, The owner of the club just sat,
he smoked a cigar and had a big hat on.
He didn't look at us at all.
He didn't say we are so gracious.
Thank you.
We're so happy to play.
We can't wait.
Thank you.

(10:26):
You're hiring us to play music.
we get to do what we love.
And he didn't stare at us.
He just said, with his cigarjust don't be bringing any of
that Obama bullshit up in here.
And we said, okay, sir.
All right.
Thank you so much.

Yeah, that
sounds about right.

Larry (10:41):
So we knew
we weren't gonna fit in.
We knew we weren't gonna fit in becausewe weren't going to change in order
to fit into what was going on there.
I think you understand what I'm saying.

I can relate.

Larry (10:51):
You can relate.
Yeah.
So you've spent a lifetimeof trying to fit in.
You are a country music singer songwriter.
You are gay.

Yeah.
Yep.

Larry (10:58):
I feel like I'm coming over here.
I'm like, I don't want that to be,the whole thing about you, because
that's not entirely who you are.

Right.

Larry (11:05):
But you have garnered a lot of attention lately.
It's one of the reasons why Iknow you, because you are, visibly
out there more so than before.
I didn't know who you were.
Yeah.
my wife Sarah has playedsome shows with you.

Yeah.
Love Sarah.

Larry (11:18):
You're great.
You write great songs.
You've done a lot during, PrideWeek, you played CMA Fest.
CMA Fest finally had a Pride Stage.
Was that at the Hard Rock?

Yeah.
In front of the Hard Rock Cafe.
The Hard Rock stage.

Larry (11:30):
I played the Hard Rock stage.
and it was miserable 'causeit was a thousand degrees out.
Yeah.
CMA fest was always the day that like Godsaid, now's gonna be hot in Nashville.
Like the day before CMA Fest waslike, God, it's sort of temperate.
It's okay.
It's still spring.
No, no, no, no, no.
CMA Fest Day 1000 Degrees.
Oh yeah.
And we were just carrying gear.
Like I, it, this was 10, 12 years ago.

(11:50):
Now all of a sudden the HardRock stage, it was your stage.

Yeah, yeah.

Larry (11:54):
We're talking about fitting in and we're talking about the
difference between fitting in,which is how you change who you are.
You sort of tap dance who you are.
You basically, youbecome like other people.
You become like somebody else.
I'm gonna be a country singer.
I'm gay, but I gotta fit in, man.

Yeah.

Larry (12:10):
So, all right, I got the outfit, I got the hat, I write the songs.
Did you act the part to fit into this world of country music
that predominantly favored
heterosexuality?

Yeah, absolutely.
I spent a lot of years doing that and,with my upbringing you nailed it on,
don't want that to be the whole thing,but it is a huge part of me and it took a
long time for me to even get comfortablewith coming to terms with that myself.
I grew up doing country music.
And of course, sexuality wasn't evenso much on my radar at the time as far

(12:42):
as involving that with music or career.
But then, I spent about the first10 years of Nashville trying
to fit in, trying to blend in.
It's funny, I've always thought it wasironic that, camouflage is such a thing
in country music, and I felt like thatwas kind of what I was trying to do.

Larry (12:58):
What you mean camo?
Like, like clothing.
like the print that wewear in the army to fit in.

Right, exactly.

Larry (13:02):
To blend.

To blend in.
and it's funny, like, I've always thoughtthat was ironic because so many people, I
mean, I'm not much of a camouflage person.
I'm more of a tie dye guess.
But, I've always thought thatwas ironic that there's all
these people wearing camo.
And it's like, oh yeah, you guys areliterally trying to just blend in and
all look the same and do the same thing.
And even the songs I was writing,you know, I wanted to sound like

(13:24):
everything else on the radioif I wanted to be successful.
So that meant me writingsongs about girls.
Even if that wasn't true to myown experience or my identity,

Larry (13:33):
That's been going on for a long
time.
Right?

Sure, sure.

Larry (13:36):
You just change he to she she to he.
And there you go.

Easy.
Cool.

Larry (13:39):
But you're still trying to be a country artist, right.
Your sexuality, has nothing to do withit because you're just writing songs
Yeah.
What I love is, when Americajust figures out like, you know
how many people love Liberace?
You know how many people, like, whycan't you marry a nice man like Liberace?
I got grandmothers who say.
He plays the piano.
He's so nice.
He's got a smile.
Because he doesn't wannamarry me, ma, I'm a woman.

(14:00):
You know?
right.
What do you mean?
it's just so funny.
And by the way, with the camothing to get back to it, yeah.
They all fit in on the camo thing.
You know what happened with the camowhen they all took the World War II
and Vietnam and all that camo, you knowwhat happened when they went to Iraq?
They got killed.
because they didn't fit in.
They had to change the outfit.
They said, shit, this isn't gonna work.

(14:21):
We're sticking out like a sore thumb here.
We're getting our asses killed.
Yeah, because the old camo, theold way of fitting in didn't work.
You had to figure out a new way to blend,which is what we all do all the time.
Figuring out another way to blend.
Oh, this tan outfit looks,you look great at Tan.
Yeah.
I look great.
You know why I look great?

(14:41):
'cause I'm alive right now.
Because I look like sand.
That's why I'm alive.
That's the part of fittingin that keeps you alive.
It's gotta be different nowthan it was five years ago.
It's gotta be different now thanmaybe it was three months ago.

Yeah,

Larry (14:53):
Because I think the best artists, the best, the most successful artists,
and I don't even mean monetarily,I mean somebody that people admire.
The reasons why we admire you,Chris Housman, is because you.
Know who you are.
The reasons why we really like somebodyis because they know who they are.

Mm-hmm.
Yeah.

Larry (15:12):
Right?
I've known you For less than ayear, and I've seen from knowing
you from day one to today you'remore comfortable in your own skin.

So
much more comfortable.
Yeah.

Larry (15:21):
You
know who you are.
And that I think is growth.
That's human growth.
It's humanity, it's spiritual growth.

Yeah.

Larry (15:27):
But do you have moments where you literally can see now you'll have
a choice, A or B basically fitting in,like the whole gang is over to the left
and doing something, and you're like,no, I don't think I need to do that.
I don't want to be a part of that.
You know, I don't wanna besycophant and I don't want to
do things for the wrong reason.
I have integrity.
Does that happen to you?

Yeah
it does.
And um, it's wild to me I've spent alot of time really in the last three
years, I think 2020 gave us all thisopportunity to zoom out, take a break.
Look at what reallymatters and what doesn't.
Once you've achieved some.
level of self identity, it'shard to set that aside again.
Even if you've done that plenty of timesbefore, it's hard to compromise self,

(16:08):
once you've achieved that to some extent.
I mean, we're all trying to constantlyachieve that more and more all
the time, I don't even regret, theyears that I spent in writing rooms,
basically closeted in every room.
But now I can't imagine myselfwalking into a writing session, not
having it be known that I'm queer.
It's not even that I have to walkin and say, Hey, I'm Chris, I'm gay.

(16:30):
What song do we wanna write?
But that's naturally gonnacome up at some point.
even if we're just catchingup on life me talking about an
ex-boyfriend I just can't imagine
Going back and compromising myselflike that now that I've known and
feel how good it feels to not do that

Larry (16:46):
Right,
writing is what
Nashville is really all about.
I go to co-writes, and it's thescariest thing in the world to
go somewhere where you might notknow the person or people at all.
You might know them, like you met 'em atthe bar and said, Hey, we should write.

I like that
one song you did.

Larry (17:04):
Let's write.
And then you get in the room with,he or she or them or whatnot.
And like, I have apanic attack every time.
I'm like, please, Lord, let them cancel.
I, just like, I suck.
I'm a fraud.
I'm a piece of garbage.
Alex and I will co-write withpeople and I don't play guitar.
I understand music and I hear music.
I can sing you every part,meaning instrument wise of
a song if it's in my head.

(17:24):
I'd be like, yeah, if you don'tmind, can you play the drums?
Like, and the bass goes and the guitar.
And they'd go, oh, youknow, and let's just try it.
And nor am I poetic in any way.
Alex is my writing partner forthe most part, for Them Vibes.
And he plays guitar and he's thepoetic guy I mean, we both have
our strengths and weaknesses.
But like I said, I just wannafall into the floor and drop down.

(17:46):
I hate co-writing.
But we've gotten great songs out ofit because it's about being in the
moment, it's about being honest.
It's about being vulnerable.

So vulnerable.

Larry (17:54):
Do you enjoy co-writing?

I do.
Yeah.
I really do.
And it took me a long time.
'cause it is, yeah.
it feels like one of the mostvulnerable things you can do.
And it's also really scary.
And another way that like took me along time to get past that I'm still
kind of trying to do, but is you couldhave an idea that you're so excited
about and it's so important to you.
And, and then bringing that in a room withpeople you don't know, barely know, or you

(18:18):
could know them so well, so well, right.
And, but bringing that like, youknow, child that you have yours
into a room and that's a whole otherside of the vulnerability But I've
gotten better at letting go of that.
A lot of that took me getting comfortableor making sure I'm in rooms where I'm
comfortable to say, Hey, I'm sorry,I appreciate that idea or direction,
but this is so important to me.

(18:39):
I was really hearing it going this way.
And when I'm in the right rooms,that's gonna work every time.
If this is for me as an artist, youkinda have that last little veto stamp.

Larry (18:48):
Oh, good for you.

Oh, it took me a long time to get there.

Larry (18:50):
I gotta learn from that.
Yeah.
I'll, I'll be like, yeah, this idea.
And then what happens a lotof times is you hear nothing.

Yeah.

Larry (18:57):
It's like silence.
And then somebody goes,well, how about we try this?
And you go.
I suck.
I'm terrible.
Shame, shame, shame, shame,shame, shame, shame, shame.
I'm a fool.
You know?
I just fall into zero.
And then you're not in the moment.
Yeah.
Then you're not vulnerable.
And I miss the opportunity to workon whatever we're gonna work on.

Oh yeah.
Yeah.

Larry (19:18):
Just because my idea didn't hit home to you doesn't
mean it's a terrible idea.
It just means that itdidn't resonate with you.

Yeah.

Larry (19:24):
You know, of course right now I, I know all of this.

I'm the same way of like, I can hear all these
things musically in my head.
Mm-hmm.
And I dabble in severalinstruments, but I've mastered none.
And, a lot of the instruments I playare kind of useless for writing songs.

Larry (19:39):
Well, I don't see, I disagree, like, what?

Well, like fiddle.
Um, crazy.
Fiddle, upright.

Larry (19:43):
You crazy?,
by the way, the fiddle usedto be in country music.

Yeah.
Used to

Larry (19:46):
Remember that?

Yeah, I do.

Larry (19:47):
When was the last time you heard a fiddle in country music?

I don't know.
I need to incorporateit back into my music

' Larry (19:52):
They gotta learn to do drop d
version of fiddle.
Yeah.
Like metal fiddle.
Oh, please.
You know what, actually there wasa time in country music, ' cause
it was like during like, bro,real serious bro country.
Like when Jason Aldeanfirst hit hard and like,

Florida Georgia Line.

Larry (20:05):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
basically what I learned in countrymusic was that a lot of the players
hired to play with these big countrystars, were ex metal guitar players.
A well-rounded musician willsay, well, where's the money at?
Right.
Yeah.
That's well-rounded.
Yeah.
I'm a fool.
I'm an artist who says I'm gonna do myart and be poor but I'll do it for me.
So it's not an idiot necessarily, butI understood that all of a sudden a lot

(20:27):
of people that were writing, playing themusic, to me, it sounded like eighties
or nineties or 2000, it sounded like buttrock, which I love, but I was like, wow,
they're just putting country music to thisand, I'm like, oh, that's where it was.
So the guitar tunings you hadthat low e string dropped down.
So you had that low bottom bass.
You know, you had thatreal heavy rock thing.

Yeah.

Larry (20:45):
But every violin player, fiddle player had this little fauxhawk or
a mohawk and like a chain wallet.
And I just thought, oh my gosh.
Because for me, I was like,well that was never my look.
'cause I have a little Jew-Fro.
It was almost like thestandard, typical thing.
And this is the days where everybodyhad their little eyeliner and all.
I mean, but I thought to myself, thisis like metal, but it was country music.

Yeah.

Larry (21:07):
As whatever it is.
It is.
But I just thought, wow,
They were able to bring that sensibilitybecause people love to rock, by the way.

Oh yeah.

Larry (21:14):
But the fiddle players, they've lost their work.
Yeah.
It's No fiddle!

Outta work.
Yeah, exactly.

Larry (21:18):
Where's the fiddle?
Where's
the fiddle?

Mine's been in my closet

Larry (21:21):
So bring it out to a session when you're writing a song.

Look at like, devil went down to Georgia, the solo in that.
That would be a greatelectric guitar, solo

Larry (21:28):
They could put that song away
for about 20 years.
Don't you think Thereshould be a vault, yeah.
I worked karaoke.
At Santa's Pub.
for a while.

Yeah.

Larry (21:35):
There are songs like Devil Went down to Georgie put em in a vault.
Yeah.
Like half of Elton John's catalog.
No offense.
you know what?
He'll write a new onetomorrow and it'll be great.
There's so many of these songs.
Just put 'em away.
Five years.
And then five years from now,you'll open the vault up.
You'll be like, wow.
I love the Devil Went Down.
Wow, man.
Oh my gosh.
fantastic.

(21:55):
Oh my gosh.

Like what
Disney does with their movies

Larry (21:58):
Yeah, for sure.
So the stuff that you havereleased, you've just released
a new song, am I correct?
Laid Back.
Great.

Yeah.

Larry (22:03):
Did you co-write that song?

Yep.
Co-wrote that.
with some of my favorites that I'vewritten, probably over a hundred songs
with, Emily Kroll and Christian Wood.
And that's an example of prettystraightforward feel good country song.
Because I've kind of got this reputationin the last few years, which I love, and
those are my favorite songs to write.
Are the ones that are sayingsomething other people in country
music aren't willing to say, or

Larry (22:26):
Like what?

This song Blue Neck that I put out in 2021.
Wrote it over Zoom.

Larry (22:31):
Was that a co-write?

And that was also with co write

Larry (22:33):
You Zoomed Yourself.
That's what Zoom means, Larry.
He, he's with somebody else.

This song, honestly, I had the idea for while tripping
on mushrooms the year before.
Full disclosure.

Larry (22:43):
So what, take us there.

Yeah, let's go there.

Larry (22:45):
Alright ladies,
gentlemen, So what was it
like?
You were on mushrooms.
Was it a
big heavy trip?

It was like a, above average, medium heavy,
like a 7 on a scale of 1 to 10.

Larry (22:54):
You were tripping on mushrooms to basically get
nuts, to wild out or to let go.
there are mushroom takers.
myself being one where, microdosing hashelped with my mental health issues.
Yeah.
mushrooms are the great connectors.

Absolutely.

Larry (23:07):
There's fantastic documentaries.
Fantastic Fungi.

Yes.
Love it.

Larry (23:12):
Fungi or Fungi?
So

I think fungi is the actual word, and I've been
saying it wrong the whole time.

Larry (23:16):
That makes sense because you know
what, I'm a fun guy.
Yeah.
But
I'm no fungi.

And we're all connected like they are, but not,
you know, not under the ground.

Larry (23:24):
Right.
But it's true.
People are learning more and more andthere's more research in psilocybin.
And the fact of the matter is, itliterally reconnects some, brain stuff.
Absolutely.
You know what mean?
And that's as scientific as I got.
Exactly.
It connects some brain stuff, I knowthat for people who are, terminally
ill and they're facing the end or thebeginning, however you wanna look at it.
It helps them cope with death.

(23:44):
I know that it's helped me for relaxingmy, anxieties and my stresses in life.
Drugs get a bad rap because sometimes theyshould, some of 'em, you know what I mean?
I love doing cocaine andhanging out all night.
I love that.
But I don't do that anymore, But whatI got outta That was a good time.
I lost a lot of money'cause I bought more.
Yeah.
But I'm alive.
Thank goodness.
So when you were doing mushrooms,was it a party kind of scenario?

No, and it never has been for me.
I really got into it in 2020 with thatopportunity I had done mushrooms with
a friend before, but this was my firsttime acquiring mushrooms for myself
Right.
and a week into quarantine, sittingon my beautiful patio on a gorgeous
spring day eating these mushrooms andlike unlocking all these things and you
know, feeling like I got more out ofone trip than I did in years of therapy.

(24:31):
I felt like I unlocked, something

Larry (24:32):
What did you unlock?
Because that's exactly what I'veseen and read in documentaries and
books, which is the pills and themedicine that we're supposed to
buy and the therapy and all that.
God bless, right?
We all wanna feel better about our lives,but there's a reality that is psilocybin.
psilocybin in one dose has been able totake care of a lot of people's mental

(24:53):
health that lasts for a long time.
I didn't mean to cut you off,but when you say it unlocked?

Yeah.
I read this, book EntangledLife, all about fungi.
I think Merlin Sheldrake, I couldbe getting the author wrong, but,
just finished that pretty recently.
it's more scientific and, not justabout psychedelic mushrooms and
psilocybin but also fungi in general.
that was really fascinating.
Highly recommend that.
But my understanding is you'regonna get a different experience.
some people love mushrooms forpartying and going out to a

(25:20):
dance thing, and that's not me.
I honestly prefer to do 'em by myself.
Mm-hmm.
And a, you know, safe amount and stuff.
But, but as far as unlocking, myexperience has been, I can have thoughts
and my mind can go places that itcan't when you're just limited to the
constructs and the physics and thethoughts that you've been accustomed
to having for your whole life.

(25:41):
Yeah.
I mean, I got over some familystuff just kind of in my head.
And so my favorite thing to do is just siton my, front porch or a patio in the safe
space of home if I need to, you know, Iforgot something or I need to drink water.

Larry (25:54):
yeah,

yeah.
Have a notebook, a little speakerwith music playing and my phone.
hidden kind of from myself.
maybe a guitar, but Irarely touch the guitar.
But it's there in case I need Yeah.
Yeah.
And like, you can set up the vibe.
Oh, set up the vibe.
I really like, walking aroundmy neighborhood and stuff.
to bring it back to music, I guess.
And, 'cause I, I did it a lot in2020, putting a lot of thought into

(26:16):
all the stuff with George Floyd andunpacking my own experiences and
stereotypes from growing up in avery white, conservative small town
So a lot of stuff with my family, I wentfrom extremely atheist to, I almost hate
the word spiritual, it can sound cliche,but it's not cliche at all, I don't think.
Okay, great.
I'm not saying a hundred percentlike, oh, I ate a mushroom and

(26:39):
then all of a sudden I'm spiritual.
But from having those thoughtsand experiences, even things
you see, again, probably soundscliche, but looking at trees.
And being like, oh, they'rebreathing right now.
I remember one time just laying onthis field of grass on a blanket and
I could feel the earth breathing.
Yeah.
And that type of stuff.
But you know, it sounds, fun and trippy,but it sticks with you after that

Larry (27:01):
And why does that stick with you?

I think.
it, and it's not of course gonna bethe same experience for everybody,
but I think that resonated with me.
'cause that's always been inme to, you know, to know that
or believe, that's reality.
But then when you experience something,that can't be taken away from me once
I've felt that, of course it's gonnabe intensified when you're tripping

(27:25):
But I'll never forget that feeling.
And that was a real experience.

Larry (27:29):
Would you say that the feeling was a feeling of connection?

Absolutely.

Larry (27:32):
Isn't that.
What so much of life is about.
Isn't that what we're striving for?
do you suffer from depression?

I wouldn't say that I do, but I've experienced it,
but it's not a regular thing Yeah.

Larry (27:42):
He's like, depression.
I'm gay, I gotta come out.
I'm in country music.
Oh yeah.
I don't need depression.
I got enough things to worry about.
Geez, I gotta try to write songsand try to make a living here.
Depression.
OY, I got no
time for that.
But connection.

Yeah.
but I definitely have suffered, Ithink as, most, if not all of us do.
Looking for connection, beingone of the main things you're
ever looking for, you know?
Right.
Whether that be a connection with aparent a family member, a friend a
lover Or a tree of the earth, literally.
Yeah.
and then oh, actuallywe've all got connection.
We just always have the tools tosee it or we're not taught it.

(28:14):
So

Larry (28:15):
Because we're taught
to think about what do I needto do to get to the future?
And the only tools that I may have isto rely on the thoughts of the past.
And so wherein lies the now?

We're not taught about it.

Larry (28:28):
We're not taught about the now.
Right Now, where there is no thought.
There's just now.
Like we're having a conversation andyou know, this isn't fru weird stuff.
Yeah.
It's not.
It's like true creation happens.
Imagine if you're I'mhaving open heart surgery.
You want that surgeonto be right there now.

Yeah.

Larry (28:46):
If they start thinking about, gosh, I have a car payment that I forgot about.
They're not in the now.
Yeah, exactly.
do you ever notice that you cutyourself doing something dumb?
Or you fall.
And you go, I don't even rememberwhat I was thinking about.
Yeah.
It's the Power Of Now I've beenreading Eckhart Tolle, I love this
book, the Power of Now, and it reallyhas transformed my way of thinking

(29:06):
because I need to be connected to now.
Yeah.
Because if I'm connected to now,then I'm not worried about things.
'cause it's like, it'sso funny to read this.
It's like, if you're really in themoment, what are you worrying about?
And I'm like, oh yeah.
Well I have plenty ofthings to worry about.
I got, well that's not the, nowI'm worried about the future.

Yeah.
we jumped to the future, so Right.
Easily or the past.
I was just in a co-write last week.
one of my co-writers, I'm probablygonna butcher the quote exactly, but she
said something like, thoughts about thepast bring up depression and thoughts
about the future bring up anxiety.
Yeah.
Just naturally.
And that, was naturally brought upbecause, we were writing, I had this
idea to write this song that we'reso busy dreaming about tomorrow

(29:44):
that we're sleeping on today.
And that's the song we wrote.
And it was cool, I was like, I guaranteewe're the only country people in
Nashville writing this song today.

Larry (29:52):
See?
See,
there's where I think you're wrong.
We're the only people becausetherein lies a lack of connection

Yeah.

Larry (29:58):
Because what I'm hoping for, I don't mean to be You are wrong.
No, no, please do.
I'm literally pointing myfinger at you right now.
Please.
This is horrible, right?

I love it.

Larry (30:05):
You are wrong.
Yeah.
No, but hopefully, Imean, here's the deal.
As a writer as an artist, youwanna be like, here's the song
that people are gonna, wow.
Nobody's done this before.
none of us are recreating the wheel.
But.
That moment of honesty that you had withyour co-writer is something that cannot
be reproduced in any way, shape or form.
Yeah.
And hopefully what I believe is acollective consciousness, a connective

(30:27):
collective consciousness connection.
That in the next room, maybe somebodyelse is writing about connection.
Yeah.
I like the way you're thinking, man.
Yeah.
That's what I want to emulate.

That's so
true.
it's not like I went in therebrought up this idea and they
were like, oh, that's weird.
No, they were super down and theyloved it, and they had these common,
things to contribute so I love that.
Thank you for calling me out on that and

Larry (30:48):
You're welcome.
This is being in the moment.
This is creating.
Yeah.
so getting back to, youwrote, you were on mushrooms.
Yeah.
And you wrote, Blue Neck.
Yes.
Song called Blue Neck.
What happened that Blue Neckcame about because it must
have been a light bulb moment.
You're on mushrooms and something, so tellme because the lyrics, I, I enjoy them.
So Good.
Thank you.
Explain to me.

Thank you.
so again, I have specifically amushroom notebook I wrote down in
that, song about being a liberalredneck I draw a lot of arrows.
I drew an arrow.
And wrote Blue Neck question markand circled it a bunch a few days
later, looking through that notebookand, where did I get, you know?
Yeah, yeah.
I mean, of course I rememberedeverything, but, not every single
thought like that, and then I sawthat and I was like, oh, that's cool.

(31:28):
That's really cool.
and then it made the transfer from mynotebook to my phone notes where I keep
my ongoing list of song ideas and titlesI just wrote, you know, blue Neck and
Song about being a liberal redneck.
and then it was months laterthat I brought that up over a
Zoom call a co-writing session.
And it really wasn't until I heard.
one of the co-writers, Tommy, who'sa producer writer, we found it best

(31:51):
to use tracks over Zoom writing hehad this track idea that sounded very
mainstream country, Florida Georgia line.
Yeah, bro.
Country.

Larry (32:00):
Let's go man.

Let's go.
And I was like, okay.
and he is just awonderful mind and person.
the other person in the virtual roomwriting session is a friend of mine
who's also queer and she's a beautifullyricist and we'd written a few songs
together, I knew that they wouldprobably be willing to go there with me.
So I was like, okay, y'all,I have this crazy idea.
Hear me out, you know, BlueNeck and blah, blah, blah.
I had some other lyric ideaswith that, but, they were

(32:22):
totally down to go there and,

Larry (32:25):
What's the lyric?

Yeah.
So the hook of that is like.

Larry (32:28):
It's not like, it is.

oh yeah, it is.

Larry (32:30):
I'm
like a second grade teacher, right?

The hook of it is, Yeah I guess I'm a Red state, Blue Neck.
And after saying just kind of abunch of values, you know, the chorus
starting, I'm a good old boy witha bleeding heart, just a homegrown
hick with a hybrid car and kind oftaking a lot of these common mm-hmm.
You know, very countryvalidating my countryness.
Yeah.
Is that, yeah.

Larry (32:51):
I have to validate my countryness.

I wanted to get across this undeniable thing, like why can't
country people have a little moreopen-minded values and stuff as well?
The bridge, literally says,can't a country kid want to
see the glass ceiling shatter?
Want to see a worldwhere Black lives matter?

Larry (33:09):
Yeah.

We went there, and they were down every step of the
way I wanted to write the songthat I wish I heard growing up.

Larry (33:15):
Yeah.
You love country music.
Yeah.
And you wrote a country song.
It's incredible.
Right?
Country music.
I mean, they've figured out so manyways, the geniuses, the masters,
about how to look at thingsfrom a different perspective.
Yeah.
That's all we're trying to do.
Like woman scorned will somehowfigure out that that man, that son
of a bitch, cheated on me, steps out,embarrasses me, but that's my man.

Yes, exactly.

Larry (33:38):
Oh, you give him a pass.
There's ways of looking at life.
That's what it means to create art, AllI know is through the glasses that I'm
looking through or the eyes that I see.
Maybe there's some other angles.
And that's what you did.
You wrote something fromjust another perspective.

Yeah.
And that's one of my favorite thingsabout country and always has been,
and, and especially the songwritingprocess is, you know, there's so many
words, and especially in country,it feels like a word bank of things.
But piecing 'em, you know, puzzle,piecing 'em together in a way
that maybe haven't heard before.
Ah, I love it.
And country's alwaysbeen great about that.
not just country, of course that'ssongwriting in general, but saying

(34:15):
common experiences in a way that justmakes a little light bulb go off or
makes you feel seen is really, the goal.

Larry (34:21):
That's been sort of the theme about what I've been
talking about with this show.
I really believe.
Wholeheartedly that everyone, everysingle one of us is craving to be seen.
To be heard.

Yep.

Larry (34:31):
And to belong.

Yeah.

Larry (34:32):
And there's the difference, the distinction between fitting in, which
is what we talked about and belonging.
Do you feel like you belong?
Belonging as far as I can tell, I've beenreading a lot of Brené Brown, by the way.

I love Brené

Larry (34:43):
Oh my gosh.
Yeah.
So you're gonna hear a lot ofthese themes folks when you listen.
I didn't just come up with thisstuff, but collectively as a
consciousness, we need this.
And Brené Brown has, been talking to me.
She's whispers in my ear all the time.
Yeah.
she shouldn't seem like awhisperer though, which I love.
But we wanna be seen, we want tobe heard, and we want to belong.
Do you feel like now you are feelinglike you belong because you are

(35:04):
being seen, you're being heard,people are loving your music.
You've had some success.
There's a documentary calledHow Queer Artists Have
Revolutionized The music industry.
Yeah.
How do you feel in terms of belonging?
And being seen and being heard now.

Well
it is nice to, and I can truly sayfor the first time I'd, say in the
last year or two years, knowing thatI belong, as opposed to just seeking
that or wondering or questioning and

Larry (35:30):
Be seen, Be heard, Belong.

Yeah.
Oh, love it.
That's, that's, it's great.
Yeah.

Larry (35:35):
I wrote that down with my own magic marker.

Nice.
It is, nice.
truly knowing that.
We all belong.
Right.
And then I love that it's so,validating too, and like refreshing
and gives me so much hope we allhave come to these similar and same
conclusions from different angles.
And for me it's been a lot ofthese podcasts that I listen to
about consciousness and stuff.

Larry (35:57):
Yeah.

There's so many ways and, it takes just living in the now, which
is a hard thing to do, but if you cando that, that's proof that You belong.

Larry (36:05):
is it cool with you that you're being seen, being heard,
belonging, because of being gay?

Yeah.

Larry (36:11):
Does that bother
you?

It doesn't, it doesn't.
I would be foolish to not recognizethat that's a large part of the
reason why, things have changed.
it's not a coincidence thatthese cool things that have
happened in the last few years.
Have also happened when I wasmore authentically myself.
There's too many things forthat to be a coincidence, right?

Larry (36:31):
'Cause you're not just a box to be checked off, because that's
what happens now, as you know.

Yeah.
It, it does.
And there's definitely some thingsthat, okay, maybe this opportunity was
a little bit performative, but hey, itgives me a chance to perform, I guess.
As long as I'm entering thosespaces and those opportunities with
keeping in mind that I'm gonna bea hundred percent authentically
myself then that's, not a, bad thing.
I think we're all striving to get to wherethat isn't performative and it's just

(36:58):
like, oh, people just know me becauseof the music or that song or the voice
But there's definitely some progress tobe made first and it takes these things,

Larry (37:07):
Alright, so tell me who else is gay
that nobody knows about?

Oh my gosh.

Larry (37:10):
I'm totally kidding.
I'm joking.
Are you?
No, I'm totally kidding.
You
mentioned therapy.
Are you, still in therapy?

I'm not, honestly, a lot of that had to do with, I used
to work at a nine to five and hadreally good insurance and stuff.
Tried a bunch of different therapistsin the, four and a half years I
was there and even some after.
I got some good toolsand, lessons from that.
But truly.
2020 and like mushrooms and listening tothese things and getting into meditation

Larry (37:34):
Ah, so you meditate.

Yeah.
try to do it like, I mean,in my head I, when I'm doing
well, I do it every day, right.
Even if 10 to 20 minutes.
and then of course that I gothrough phases of doing great and
doing poorly, but, I'm a big fanof sensory deprivation float tanks.
I don't know if you've ever done that.

Larry (37:49):
Ooh, never done that.

I can't recommend it enough.

Larry (37:51):
Do you have
to go somewhere or can you make your own?

It'd be awesome to make your own, but

Larry (37:56):
So what does that
look like?

So it kinda looks like a little spaceship.
Okay.
I go to this place, float Nashville.
I think it was kind of the OG inNashville it's just a little tank.
I know the concept can be scary forsome people, but it's a little tank.
I'd say it's like six foot, two long.
the

Larry (38:11):
So it's about
six feet long.

Six feet long and then maybe four feet wide.
And a heavily salted tankthat just like is pitch black.

Larry (38:18):
What if I have high blood pressure?
Salt's not good for me.

I think you'd be fine.
I don't know if it enters the Yeah, but

Larry (38:23):
So it's filled with water?

Filled with, heavily salted water.
So is all it is.

Larry (38:27):
So in other words, it's salted so that way you don't drown, right?
Yeah.
so you're floating.

You're floating.
you're naked.
That's fun.

Larry (38:32):
So you're floating in a coffin filled with water.
This could not sound more terrifying.
That's a good way to, this is terrifying.
A coffin filled with salt water.
Yeah.
Huh?

Yep.
That's it.

Larry (38:43):
So go on.

You float

Larry (38:45):
It's dark?

Dark,

Larry (38:46):
No music

Pitch black.
No music.

Larry (38:48):
So it's just pitch black, quiet salt bath,

Nothingness.

Larry (38:51):
Yeah, nothingness.
And for how long isthis nothingness go on?
Yeah, there's a, if you don't play yourcards right, if you don't know how to
swim, like, I don't know how to swim.
It goes on forever.

It's as long as you want.

Larry (38:59):
Who forgot to

add

Larry (39:00):
the

salt?

Larry (39:01):
Oh, he's dead.
Okay.
So how long are you in there for?

Um, 60 to 90 minutes.
I do 90 minute floats.

Larry (39:07):
How often do you do this?

I try to go, like, I have a membership now 'cause I'm such a fan.

Larry (39:11):
Float Nashville.
A membership.

Yeah, membership.

Larry (39:12):
It's could be good to give gifts for

Oh, absolutely.

Larry (39:15):
How often do you go?

About once a month?
Yeah

Larry (39:17):
Once a month.
And are you face up?

Yeah, face up.

Larry (39:20):
Do you have
like a straw, a snorkel just in case?

You're floating Just up to where like your ears are
underwater, but your nose and mouthare above water and you have earplugs,
so nothing's going in your ears.

Larry (39:30):
What about pruning?
What about You get outtayour skin is like a prune.

Not
too bad.

Larry (39:34):
You get out and you look
like you're 138 years old.
Or you're like, you'rein another dimension.

Yeah.
that is more likely I think to happen.

Larry (39:40):
So that's been therapeutic for you?

So therapeutic.
Even just that feelslike 10 years of therapy.
You know, maybe I just nevermade the right connections or had
the right therapist or whatever.
But, like I said, I still am nottrying to take any value out of
therapy and stuff, but I thinktherapy, you know, a broad term mm-hmm.
This is therapy to me.
finding the therapeutic thing thatworks best for you it could be different
for everybody, I've gotten over atoxic ex that I was completely torn

(40:06):
up about months after breaking up.
Really got over that in a float session.
and I did microdose mushroomson that one as well.
Wow.
And I don't always do that.
I could done it totally sober as well.
and actually I usually do that.

Larry (40:18):
You
drink, right?

Yeah.

Larry (40:19):
Okay.
You have healed to some degree.

Yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
I've unpacked family stuff.
And then sometimes it's just like,oh, I, had a whole chorus of a
song drop into my head while Iwas in the flow tank, I feel like.

Larry (40:30):
And do you remember?
Do you see, that's why youneed your tape recorder.
You need a recorder.

But because, so not to get all weird, but like you
reach a theta state in your brain.

Larry (40:39):
What state?

Theta.
State.
So theta,

Larry (40:41):
Spell it.

Theta.
T-H-E-T-A.
Theta.
Like the Greek letter's.
That's,

Larry (40:47):
Yeah.
So there's alpha, beta,

I don't know all that much about it, but I know there's like Alpha
Gamma, we reach Delta State in sleep.

Larry (40:55):
Wow.

Theta is the kind of in between waking and sleeping.
it's really hard to get to,under normal circumstances.
'cause usually, like evenif you're laying in a bed.
You're physically stimulatedby touching the bed.
Yeah, sure.
So a, Theta state, like when you arekind of no longer using your nervous
system in the float tank, the temperatureof the water is really important too.

(41:15):
Oh.
Because you, Jesus, you can't tell whereyour body ends and where the water begins.
And, it feels like youcould just be in space.
Really.

Larry (41:22):
It feels like
a panic attack to me.
So, are you allowed to say,Hello, person working this thing.
If I scream, please let me out.

Yeah.

Larry (41:30):
Do they say, haha, everybody says that.
I won't.
Will they let you out if you'rescreaming, like, please get me out.
I'm having a panic attack.

Yeah, they totally would.

Larry (41:37):
Because then I might
try it.

Yeah, They totally would.

Larry (41:39):
You know, in the 1600's they did that to cure you
of your gayness, you know?

Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
I tried to do that in a floattank too, and it didn't work yet.

Larry (41:46):
Are you serious?

No, I'm just,

Larry (41:48):
By the way, completely joking.
Somebody of my listeners,man, that might work.
Yeah.
I wonder if that would work.
My dad would really love it if I gotinto the tank and came out straight.
Oh my God.
It doesn't work that way, folks.

It doesn't, no, yeah.
It really doesn't.

Larry (42:00):
Well, your openness to want to heal yourself is really amazing.

Oh, I'll
try about anything

Larry (42:05):
There's a quote here from Alan Cohen.
I read this book called TheDragon Doesn't Live Here anymore.
A LAN Cohen, page 240.
"Our strengths lie within us,and it is only our permission
that can activate their expression.
Our problem is not that weare weak, but that we do not
believe that we are strong."

Oh,

Larry (42:24):
I was thinking about you when I read that quote.

Hmm.

Larry (42:27):
Because I feel like, you have the ability to lift yourself up because
you have the vulnerability to dig deep
Into who you are.

It's one of the hardest things that we could ever do.
we seek so many outside.
Resources, you know, pills anddoctors in medicine and stuff.
And again, not discreditingthat whatsoever.
But I've always been more interestedin instead of going out, going in

Larry (42:49):
Inside out.
Yeah.
Baby that's what it's all about.

Yeah.
That's what it's all about.

Larry (42:53):
Yeah.
Because that's what this show is about.
So I have a few questions for you.
I really appreciate your honesty.
Simple stuff.
What fascinates you?

I'm just constantly fascinated by consciousness in general.
That's the number one consumerof my thoughts, lately.

Larry (43:08):
And that takes up every breath.
Consciousness by the way,is like all the time.

Yeah.

Larry (43:12):
It can be, But then unconsciousness, as I'm reading
with this, The Power Of Now iswhen you're unconscious, it's,
Eckhart Tolle or Tolle is saying.
It's not necessarily beingasleep or knocked out.
It's not being in the moment.

We think of unconscious as like when we are asleep.
Right.
And then like you wake upand, oh, we're conscious now.
No, like not really.
One of the podcast things I listenedto, they did a massive survey.
This, institute did a massive survey,found that less than 5% of people
said that they have thought abouttheir own consciousness for more than
30 minutes in their entire lives.

Larry (43:43):
Wow.

Less than
5%.

Larry (43:45):
I know where you are with this because.
I would walk the streets of New Yorkwhen I was in my twenties thinking, oh
my God, I don't know what anything is.
my heart was broken.
I said, I don't know what love is.
I don't know what life is.
it was avoiding relationship, right?
Mm-hmm.
it was a sort of a mantra for me.
And I realized, 'cause avoidingrelationship in that moment for
me meant not being in the now Iwas avoiding relationship because
everything is relationship.

Yeah.

Larry (44:06):
So I would just be walking down the street and I would have
a thought about this or that.
I'd be like, oh, centermyself, Be conscious.
It's a full-time, I don't wannasay job, but the fact that that's
what fascinates you is pretty cool.
Yeah.
So you spend your, it'slike, well, what's going on?
Well, I'm just, I'mconsidering my consciousness.
Yeah.
Which is great.
What angers you, my friend?

Ah.
that's, um, of course I like am tryingto get to a place where nothing.

Larry (44:26):
Yeah, I know.
We're trying

Nothing.
Yeah, I know.

Larry (44:27):
We're trying to be spiritual.
It's hard, right?
It's hard to be like, this doesn't
piss me off, but what is itthat angers you that Yes.
Hopefully down the line

Get over

Larry (44:34):
won't consume.
Well, I don't know aboutGet over, but understand.

Yeah.

Larry (44:37):
Understand and say maybe I can't change these things, right?

Yeah.

Larry (44:41):
They anger me.

Yeah.

Larry (44:42):
Maybe I can change 'em, you know, maybe through the power song
you will, but I am cutting you off.
What angers you?

What angers me?
I would say people thatcan so easily hate.
It takes a lot of energy actuallyto hate unfortunately it happens
a lot in the country music genre,

Larry (44:58):
What you see a lot of hate?

I guess not so much in my own personal right experience,
but I guess, online and there'ssongs that are like completely
disguised and hateful toward
entire communities of people.
Especially the tricky ones orthe disguised ones are even worse
'cause that's even more dangerous.
'Cause then a whole bunch of conservativerednecks in America are like, yeah,

(45:20):
I'm feeling seen by this song.
Yeah.

Larry (45:23):
Yes.
It's breeding hate ina way that's disguised.
It's not breedingconnectivity, that's for sure.

Yeah.
It's not

Larry (45:28):
Right.
Yeah.
It's divisiveness.

Yeah.
and I think the part that angers meand frustrates me is 'cause I'm always
kind of like, how can we help them see.
And I don't ever wannasound like I'm right,
we are right.
Y'all are wrong.
Right.
But, really, if the objectiveis to love everyone and show
this connectedness, uhhuh Yeah.
Like, you are wrong.
And creating divisiveness is frustrating.
Like, damn it, is therenothing that we can do?

(45:52):
and that can make me angry.

Larry (45:53):
Well, What brings you joy, my friend?

Oh man.

Larry (45:56):
What brings you joy, sir?

Conversations like this, feeling connected.
For me, it's like walking aroundmy neighborhood brings me joy and
it's like a direct proportion whenI like, am doing great, feeling
great in a good space mentally.
Mm-hmm.
With mental health andI'm spending time outside.
Yeah.
And when I didn't have time to be outsideor go on a walk today or sit on my porch

(46:18):
and I'm stressing about this and that.
And it's just

Larry (46:21):
Not being
in the moment.
Huh?

Not being in the moment.
Yeah.

Larry (46:23):
Right on.

I like taking every day is kind of like a little adventure because
I just hate too much repetition andjust like going through the motions and
feeling like a robot and Oh, you know,what thing am I gonna do today that I can

Larry (46:35):
Choose your own adventure.

Yeah.

Larry (46:37):
Yeah.
Which, by the way, you'reallowed to write your story.

Yeah,
You are sure.

Larry (46:41):
If you could change one thing in the world, like you have
a magic wand, I'm gonna fix this.
Boom.
Chris, you have the power right now.
Blink your eye.
This is fixed.
This is different.
This has changed.

I would say my answer now is different than what it used to be.
I think if I could blink things changewould be for people to have the resources
to not be starving to death and notlive in systems of severe oppression.
Yeah.
I think that would be the thing.
and this is kind of contrary towhat I was just talking about.
World peace type thing.

(47:11):
Or for everybody to feel this connected,but then we would be out of balance.
and that sounds great for everybody.

Larry (47:16):
You're saying things that are altruistic without being what
they would call a bleeding heart.
Yeah.
In a way you're realistically altruistic.

Yeah.
I love that.
Realistically altruistic.
But I think just the basic resources

Larry (47:28):
You're a human being.
You should, and I don't use shoulds andshouldn't slightly, you're a human being.
You should be able to eat.
You should be able to have clean water.
And if you need medicine or a doctor,you should, if you're having a baby,
you should be able to have a healthy
birth.

It seems, you know, pretty simple and stuff, but
yeah, that's, yeah, that's good.
Not the reality for a lot of
people.

Larry (47:46):
Realistically, altruistic is who you are.
One last one.
This is a big, big one.
Toilet paper, over or under?

Over

Larry (47:54):
My man!

Yeah.

Larry (47:55):
Where can we find you, sir?
Chris.
Chris Housman.
Where do we find you?
Gimme all the things you have new music.
Tell me,
Commercialize yourself.

Alright.
I'm working on my full lengthalbum, getting in the studio

Larry (48:05):
Is it called My Life's Work?

It's not, no, it's actually gonna be called Blue Neck.
and thought about doing just theself-titled thing, but Blue Neck
sums it up really well, I think.
You can find me anywhere you stream music.
I'm on TikTok a lot.
That's where I've founda lot of my people.
Yeah.
And kind of changed my life.

Larry (48:19):
So at where You gotta tell me

Oh yeah, yeah.

Larry (48:20):
Come on.

Chris Housman music.
Yeah, I'm doing, spell it.
Spell Chris Housman
Housman's.
H-O-U-S-M-A-N.
Right.
There's no E in there.
you know, a lot of people think that.
That's fine.

Larry (48:29):
See, I'm a
Floorman.
No, E - FL One O yeah.
But we're talking about you now.
So tell me

I'm a house man with No E.
Yeah, exactly.

Larry (48:35):
So you see, I'm the floor man.
You're the house man.

House man.

Larry (48:37):
We're hanging
out.

We're hanging out.
You can find that documentary thatyou plugged a little bit on YouTube.
That's Vice if you type in Big FreediaPresents: Up and Coming Queer Artists.
to watch out for,

Larry (48:50):
Wasn't it How Queer Artists Have Revolutionized The Music Industry?

Yeah, that's it.

Larry (48:54):
Is that what
it's called?

It's got a few different names.
But chrishousman.com
is kind of the hub to get youto all the other places as well.

Larry (49:00):
I look forward to your
full length record.
Remember you have your wholelife to make that first record.

Yeah.

Larry (49:05):
And here you are.
You know who you are and Iknow who you are and we all do.
And I love you, brother.
Love you too man.

You can personally support this show simply by clicking
the tip link in the show notes.
The Just Keep Talking podcast is nowavailable on all podcast platforms.
Please like, share, and subscribe.
Visit our website@justkeeptalking.com,
our YouTube channel@justkeeptalkingpodcast and
Instagram @thejustkeeptalkingpodcast.

(49:32):
Thank you so much for supporting theJust Keep Talking podcast with me,
Brother Love, because Your Story Matters.

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