August 5, 2025 • 49 mins
What does it take to go from a small Louisiana town to writing chart-topping hits for country music's biggest stars in just a few years? Beau Bailey's songwriting journey is as unexpected as it is inspiring.
In this captivating conversation, Beau reveals how a dislocated shoulder from an impromptu boxing match at age 15 led him to pick up guitar and accidentally discover his songwriting gift. His path to Nashville began with a pop-rock band and a Universal Records deal that launched right before COVID hit—talk about timing! When health issues caused the band to dissolve, Beau found himself at a crossroads that ultimately led him to country songwriting, where his authentic voice and storytelling talents have flourished.
Beau takes us behind the curtain of writing sessions that produced hits like "Dirty Dancing" for Cole Swindell, "Broken Branches" for Dierks Bentley, "Favorite Country Song" for Hardy, and "Stay Country or Die Trying" for Blake Shelton. The viral success of "Oil Money" (25+ million streams) showcases his ability to blend rock sensibilities with country storytelling, creating songs that resonate deeply with listeners. You'll hear the surreal moment of writing alongside his songwriting heroes Ashley Gorley and Hardy, and how these collaborations transformed from intimidating to inspiring.
What makes Beau's perspective particularly valuable is his emphasis on idea generation and authentic storytelling. His philosophy of surrounding yourself with like-minded creatives and constantly mining conversations for lyrical gold provides practical wisdom for aspiring songwriters. Beau's humility shines through as he describes the moment he heard his songs on the radio and performed at Nissan Stadium during CMA Fest.
Whether you're a songwriter looking for inspiration, a music fan curious about how hit songs come together, or simply love great storytelling, Beau Bailey's journey from Louisiana to Nashville success proves that sometimes the most unexpected detours lead to the most remarkable destinations. Listen now and discover the stories behind the songs you love.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
you're listening to stories behind the songs with
chris blair.
For more information you canfind us on instagram and tiktok
at sbt songs or check us out atchrisblaircom.
This week I sat down with a guyfrom louisiana.
We're to dive into how he gothis start in music.
(00:24):
As a pop rock artist, had amajor label deal, moved to
Nashville and then quicklyturned into songwriting and it
has really worked for him.
We're going to dive intostories that he's written for
Dierks, bentley, cole, swindell,blake, shelton, hardy.
Just talk about how he builthis camp.
I'm talking about Bo Bailey.
(00:45):
This guy has not been in townfor very long and is already
crushing it on songs that I knoweverybody has heard.
Let's get to it.
Here is Bo Bailey, all rightback in Nashville.
Here we are, bo Bailey, in thehouse.
(01:06):
How you doing, brother?
Speaker 2 (01:07):
doing good, chris.
How are you man good?
Speaker 1 (01:08):
thanks for coming in this morning, dude.
Thank you for having me.
Uh, yeah, man, let's, uh, let'sjust dive in, always kind of
start from the beginning.
So, um, take me, uh, take meback to louisiana.
What was life like growing upfor you, dude?
Speaker 2 (01:20):
it was.
It was real country.
In north louisiana I'm from atown called Monroe, which is
like top right of the boot.
I just did a lot of duckhunting, a lot of deer hunting,
played baseball, started playingdrums when I was like six years
old or something like that.
So I played drums from like sixto 15.
(01:40):
And then 15, I watched like theCanelo Alvarez and Floyd
Mayweather fight and with someof my buddies one night we
decided to have like a fightnight afterwards and I like
dislocated my shoulder in aboxing match and so I couldn't
play baseball for that seasonand I couldn't play drums.
So I just learned how to playguitar.
(02:01):
Wow, and then started playingguitar.
It was like pretty add to learna lot of songs.
So I just kind of startedmaking up my own with random
words that make no sense andsongwriter man I guess by
accident, just like kind offalling into it.
but yeah, dude, it was just kindof kind of happened that way.
(02:23):
What?
What was your influences backthen?
Kings of Leon, linkin Park,maroon 5, sheryl Crow Mom had
Casting Crowns.
The Fray, yeah, the band Perry.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Yeah, we were talking about that earlier.
We were just talking about that, yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
They're back, baby yeah, they're back.
There's a band called Catfishand the Bottle Men Okay.
Um, this band called catfish inthe bottom man okay, was more
like 2016, 2017.
They're from the uk.
They're like a wales britishpop rock band, kind of like
oasis family tree that I foundmy freshman year of college.
That was like my favorite bandI don't know them yeah, dude,
(02:59):
they're sick.
They have like a bunch of livevideos on youtube from this
festival called tea in the parkand this festival called
glassonberry and it's like it'sbad to the bone, dude, it's just
good old live, like guitarwalls hitting you as soon as, as
soon as they come in, and themelodies are real great and
everything's catchy and it'sjust like yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
so uh, yeah, I mean that makes sense, like uh,
because you moved here, uh witha pop rock band.
Yeah, I did, and uh had a, hada label deal for a little bit,
Uh so what?
What was I mean?
Speaker 2 (03:31):
you also moved here in 2020, right before I just
graduated college from LSU, andso I'd started a band my
sophomore year down there and weplayed for like sophomore,
(03:52):
junior, senior year and then gota record deal with Universal
Records out in Los Angeles andwe signed there.
I think it was like it wasright before COVID.
It might have been January.
I think it was january 2020, solike a month before coven we
were slated to go play uh, southby southwest festival in
february and it was like covethit like right before that and
(04:15):
like, oh, perfect timing.
But we went from like februaryto november and then we moved
here in november because we werelike, well, we're kind of stuck
, let's just like move tonashville because we had
management at red lightmanagement here and then caa was
our booking agent.
So we're like let's just get upto nashville and get kind of
involved in that ecosystem.
And then we did that for like ayear and then some kind of
(04:36):
health stuff like within theband band kind of fell apart and
I was like, all right, well,what am I gonna do?
Because I was like 24 orsomething at the time and I was
like, well, do I stop or do Ilike keep going or whatever?
And then I kind of like startedlearning about like the
songwriting world and publishingworld and I was like I think
I'll do that.
Yeah, I think I'm going to jumpin that world.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
So how did the shift happen for you, with growing up
with those influences and thenshifting into writing?
Country?
Speaker 2 (05:02):
I think it was not like I don't know if it was a
rebellious phase, because Iwasn't like a rebellious child.
I think it was just somethingnew, that I love the melodies of
everything and I love theguitar aspect of it and the live
performance.
Yeah, that just felt like alittle different from other
stuff that I'd listened to.
And then when I kind of cameout of that I fell back in love
(05:24):
with like the songwriting andthe lyric and the hook approach
and angles and all that stuff.
But I think it was mainly like Ifell in love with the live show
, seeing like uk rock fan basesjust like losing their absolute
mind chanting every song fromthe front of the record to the
back of the record.
But then we kind of finished upour band stuff.
I kind of took a look inwardand I was like well, I'm a
(05:45):
little more country than thatkind of stuff, lyric wise and
like how I grew up and like true, more so to my story.
So it's like let's kind of diveback inward and see what starts
happening there and then hadsome stuff kind of start moving
around.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
Yeah, yeah, I love.
I mean you've got some greatsongs out, hardy Blake, I mean
just you know, like, and you're,I think what's cool is like and
we see it a lot today, but likethat music, that was yeah,
inspirational for you growing up.
Like, you hear those tones inwhat you write, yeah, and uh,
thanks, dude, especially withwho's cutting your songs.
(06:26):
Um, you know just that thatrock feel to it just uh, an
apology, yeah kind of thing.
So, thank you, man.
Yeah, so talk, talk to me alittle bit about like, um, you
know, once you kind of made thatswitch and you're like all
right, I'm gonna focus on onwriting.
How did you build your camp atthat point, dude?
Speaker 2 (06:44):
I kind of was very fortunate moving to Nashville.
I grew up with Graham Barham inLouisiana, so he lived like 35.
Oh, he's a character.
He's my best buddy, he's.
We started a band when we werelike 15 together.
So he's from a town called OakRidge.
It's actually a village.
It's like too small to be atown.
It's like 35 minutes from myhouse and we're the only two
(07:04):
guys that did music in Monroeand Oak Ridge.
We're like, dude, we shouldjust get together.
We got together over bakedbeans at Padna's one day.
We're like let's do this musicthing.
We started putting out musicand everybody called us every
name under the sun for a coupleof years.
He went to belmont, which I'dnever heard of at the time, and
I went to lsu.
(07:25):
I graduated and he graduated, Icame up here.
So I kind of had like abuilt-in kind of like home base
already as soon as we got here,thanks to him, yeah for sure.
And he was in like a pop bandat the time which it was like
him, jake paletti and danny gand they're called phil street
and they had stopped doing thatband at the same time that I had
(07:46):
kind of stopped doing my bandand me and Graham were like,
well, do we go back?
And like does he go farm or doI go do real estate or medical
device sales, or like what'sgoing to go on?
And we were like let's juststart writing what we know.
And then we wrote a song calledPreacher's Need People, called
preachers need people, which islike the first song he ever put
(08:06):
out.
And it got like 800,000 viewson tiktok and we were like we've
done it, yeah, like we'vemastered this thing, and it was
like the first boost of kind ofcountry confidence that we had,
that we got together.
And then I met a guy named eddiein the getaway on tiktok live
one night back when I was in myband and then met cole miracle
at doghouse saloon like atuesday night um, there's so
(08:31):
many more I could.
I could go on forever.
But it was just kind of likedoing the thing is being lucky,
moving here and like knowinggraham and having his crew of
people of like jake and chris,rudiger and danny g and all
those guys and then meeting coleand meeting a bunch of
different people like out andabout, yeah, on the town and
going to whiskey jams and, yeah,doing the whole thing yeah,
(08:53):
yeah, man, speaking of uhwhiskey jam, let's just talk
about a little bit, because youwere just telling me, uh, and
you just mentioned ban perrydude like I'm so jealous you got
to see that last night likethey're back um yeah, dude,
they're so back.
Dude, I forgot how many bangersthey had.
Yeah, it was literally.
They played like a 10 song setlast night and it was bam, bam,
(09:13):
bam.
They played chainsaw.
I was like gosh, like I don'twant to take inspiration from
that this week.
Uh, that was.
It was crazy.
They sounded really good and Ihadn't seen or heard anything in
forever from them.
Yeah man, I can't.
I can't wait to see them liveagain from that this week.
It was crazy.
They sounded really good and Ihadn't seen or heard anything in
forever from them.
Yeah, man.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
I can't wait to see them live again.
Man, it's going to be.
Yeah, I don't know what they're.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
I think they're like going out on tour this weekend
somewhere is what they said.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
I don't know how many shows they've played before
this but I feel playing a lot,so you might, yeah, have a
chance to see him.
Yeah, um, all right.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
So, uh, you're building your camp, uh, and then
, um, talk to me about how howyou got uh hooked up with ashley
so that one's a funny story,because I met caroline hodgson,
who is now my publisher, at aparty probably like three years
ago, and we were just sittingthere talking and I didn't know
who she was and she didn't knowthat I was a songwriter or
anything, and we just like metat a party and talked for like
(10:08):
an hour probably just about lifeand what was going on that week
and sports, and she's from thenortheast, talking about the red
sox and patriots or whatever.
And then it like came to thespot where she was like well,
what do you do?
I'm like well, I'm a songwriter.
And she didn't say anythingabout her and she was like, oh,
cool, like who are some of yourfavorite writers?
I was like ashley, goorley,hunter, phelps, taylor, phillips
(10:31):
, wyatt mccubbin, brad clausjust named off like ben john,
like the whole named off likethe tape room roster yeah, not
even knowing that she wasemployed at tape room.
And she was like, oh, okay,cool.
I was like what about you?
She's like well, I work at, Iwork at tape room.
And I was like I promise you, Ididn't just corner you for an
hour to like get to this likegemstone at the end of the
(10:53):
conversation, but that'sactually insane.
And then that was probably likenovember, october.
I went on a retreat with GrahamBarham and Will Bundy Shout out
Bundy, because he's the one heput me in a group message with
Kelly Bolton who works at TapeRoom worked at Tape Room at that
(11:13):
time and at the same time wehad a manager from my old band
that like put me in contact withBlaine Rhodes.
Like the same day Bundy hitKelly Bolton.
So it was like a double whammy.
And then next thing I know Ihad a meeting with them, brought
in a bunch of songs.
That went well.
And then they were like well,hey, we'll go meet with Ashley
(11:34):
and we'll do that next week orwhatever.
So I'd get a list together, like12 songs or something like that
, trying to meticulously scrollthrough and be like is this one
actually?
Like, do I want to play this infront of gorley and is this
gonna be good or is it gonnasuck?
I don't know.
And then I went in and met himand the rest of the team at sony
one day and we had a goodmeeting and it was cool because
(11:55):
he's been like my favoritesongwriter forever.
So the idea at that time oflike possibly working with him
just blew my mind.
I was trying to like keep itall cool and composed and but as
soon as you get in with himhe's just like the sweetest dude
and like he is so easy to talkto and like.
It was intimidating beforehand,for sure, but like once you got
(12:15):
in there I was just completelycomfortable and like made me
feel like I was at home off thebat.
So I was like let's go, dude.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
Yeah yeah, do you go out and uh ride at his house?
Yeah, yeah, dude, that his, hissetup out there is just insane
man, it's like it's everything,dude, like a big horse farm
without horses.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
The dream is like, yeah, 100, you don't have to do
the maintenance on the horses,exactly I think they used to
have horses out there at somepoint, yeah, back in the day.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
But um, yeah, yeah, he's such a great dude.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
No, he's the man that .
That's like what drew me totapering as well, from ashley,
like all the way down.
It's just like the type ofpeople that work there and right
there I'm like.
That's the type of person likeI would like to see myself being
yeah, just good influences,just good, godly, faithful, hard
(13:03):
working, 100, yeah, yeah.
So it's like that's.
I've found that group.
I was like is this is a good,like life group of people to
surround myself around with andthen working alongside of them,
just like still blows my mind.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
Yeah, it's so, it's so awesome, man, when, uh, you
know like, you come to town andyou have, like, you know, you're
, you're you, you, you say, like, ashley Gourley is, like you
know, one of my biggest, youknow like, have that
conversation.
Um, you know, and I've, I'vehad those moments where it's
like, you know, I look up tocertain artists, writers or
whatever, and then you meet themand it's like it takes it to a
(13:34):
whole new level, cause you'relike, wow, you're not only like
like this amazing artist, butyou're also like just like super
cool, cool, you know, like, andthat's what I like, um, I, you
know, I've, obviously I've knownAshley for years, but, um, uh,
my wife is on the board of anonprofit called seed India.
Um, and, uh, you know, we'll,we'll go on mission trips to
(13:57):
Calcutta and and all that.
Well, uh, every year, prettymuch, we have this big
fundraiser and ashley just openshis doors up and, um, he's a
he's, he's involved in in it.
Um, pretty, heavily yeah, justyou know, just again like yeah,
just somebody that's like gotthat heart, that's just big tom.
They don't have to do stufflike that, but they're just like
(14:17):
yeah, whatever you need, likeyou know.
So him and his wife, both, Imean it's absolutely awesome.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
Yeah, so, and Mr Mandy, like I said, they're just
great role models and good likeprograms of how I'd like to be.
Yeah, you know yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
Well, so let's start diving into some stories made
with songs, because you've got aton of them, you've had so much
success and really a short time, thank you.
And um, you know everybodycalls it a 10-year town and um
sure you're, uh, you're, you'rekilling it bro trying to dude,
trying to just trying to stack afew up and let it snowball.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
Yeah, it's funny, because when you're doing it
doesn't feel like you're you'redoing it, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
Thank you for saying that, it's super nice, but yeah,
um, let's uh, yeah, let's juststart diving in um uh, recent
hits.
Uh, maybe let's talk about coleoh, yeah, swindell.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
Yeah, yeah, dude dirty dancing.
We wrote that probably wrote infebruary, like two years ago.
It was me, hunter phelps andned cameron, who are also tape
room and like two of my favoritewriters and humans, and we went
in that day and it was.
I wasn't even supposed to writewith them that day.
It was like the night before Iremember I was at Brown's Diner
(15:34):
and I'd had like two beers and Iwas like sitting there and
Blaine text me.
He's like, hey, do you want towrite with Hunter and Ned
tomorrow?
Like something just happened,like they have it open.
I with Hunter and Ned tomorrow,like something just happened,
like they have it open.
I'm like, yes, yeah, I'd loveto.
So I'm like I'm at Brown'sDiner.
I just start like scrollingthrough ideas and like what we
could write the next day and Iwrote down just probably like 50
different ideas and we went inand started kind of like going
(15:57):
through them and we probablywent through like all 50 ideas
before we kind of startednarrowing down what we wanted to
do.
And I was going through myphone and I kind of like landed
on one and I was like I'm goingto sound like an idiot when I
say this, but I'm just going tosay it.
I was like, all right, I gotthis idea.
It's called dirty dancing.
And Hunter kind of like lookedup at me.
He was like all right, what doyou do with that?
(16:18):
I'm like what if you set thisscene of this guy he's a girl in
a bar, classic story, whateverbut they get out of there and
they go find some sunflowerfield or spot by the river or
off the highway where they justget in his headlights and he
kicks off his boots and he'slike something whatever, my
lucky boots getting dirtydancing with you.
And as I said it, I was like,oh, is this cool?
(16:42):
I don't know.
And Hunter was like we'rewriting that right now.
I was like, oh, cool.
And then we wrote I think we didlike a verse chorus that day.
Yeah, because we went throughideas for a long time.
It was like a little later inthe day and we wrote a verse
chorus and then where did wefinish?
We might have finished it, butwe went back and worked on the
(17:06):
verses one like morning, yeah,to kind of tidy it up and make
sure it was right and we sent itin and blaine immediately was
just like yes, dude, sent it toswindell and swindell was like
can I have this?
And I was like yes, dude, youcan have it.
And the cut just like came outperfect.
It's been been one of myfavorites to listen to for sure.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
Yeah, man, he's another one of those guys that's
just got, uh, just so many likeI mean you can go to.
Actually, I was in st louis,I'm a, I grew up in st louis,
I'm a big carters fan, yeah, anduh, uh got a call from his team
it's like a month ago and, um,they're like dude cole's playing
a show at bush stadium, um, andhe was like the bus is full,
(17:44):
but like, if you can get there,like come hang out with us,
we're going down on the fieldand like all this kind of stuff.
And it was uh, dude, it was socool.
We, uh, we, we sat up in thesuite and watched the game and
then, um, you know, just, I wasstanding on the grass in the
outfield of the stadium that,like I grew up and just watching
cole just hit after hit afterhit after hit, and like how many
(18:06):
does he have now?
dude, it was like every yeah, itwas just like you know, just
standing standing back therewatching man, it was just like
that's what I'm saying.
It's like, um, you know he's,I've loved him for a long time.
But it's like one after another.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
I was like, yeah, dang, like I forget how many
hits you've got, like it's justyeah 100 and his voice is so
iconic just like the tone andlike you it a song comes on.
You're no doubt thinking that'sa cole swindell song.
Yeah, he doesn't sound likeanybody else.
Hearing him sing on dirtydancing for the first time was
just like.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
Sounds like a cole swindell smash dude do you, uh,
when you're writing um, you saidyou went in and, kind of like,
cleaned some stuff up andtightened it up.
Is that a typical process foryou or?
Speaker 2 (18:51):
Every now and then, yeah, yeah, especially because a
lot of the times you just wantto fight for the craziest idea
that you can write that day, andsometimes that takes a couple
hours to even get to that idea.
Yeah, that day, and sometimesthat takes a couple hours to
even get to that idea, yeah, andthen by the time you start
writing that, you kind of getall of like your energy out with
it that you possibly can, andthen you're like, okay, this
idea is perfect.
Let's just make sure, likemaybe we were tired at the end
(19:14):
of the session, let's just tidyit up for like an hour or
something at 9 30 on a tuesdaymorning.
Just make sure all the nuts andbolts and screws are just radar
roll, cause we spent the timefighting for the right idea and
now that we have that, let'smake sure we've executed it
correctly.
It doesn't happen all the time,but for some reason it felt
right with that one.
(19:35):
Yeah, I think it was just versetwo or maybe a bridge.
Maybe we didn't have a bridge.
Yeah, I think is what it wasactually.
I think it was a bridge, soyeah, man, let's, let's, let's.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
dive into Broken Branches a title track on Dirk's
album.
Yeah, super cool, and that wasaround the same time, right yeah
.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
We probably wrote that and that same February.
Okay, maybe that one sat aroundkind of for like two years when
we wrote it.
So it's me and graham barhamand zach alvin and like we went
in and we were writing forgraham and it was like kind of
pre like whiskey, whiskey andoil money, graham, that was like
(20:15):
more so like I guess likemainstream, like down the middle
, kind of classic soundingcountry stuff, and we wrote that
song and he had it for a while.
I was like, dude, are you gonnacut this song?
He was like I love this song,just let it wait for a second,
just let's see what happens.
He's like all right, dude, Itrust you on it.
And then I guess it kind of satfor like I want to say, a year
(20:37):
and a half, two years and blainesent it over to mary hilliard
whenever they were looking forDirk songs and they were like we
love this for Dirks and we'relike yes dude, it's like we we
had a feeling with that songfrom the day we wrote it.
It just felt correct, yeah.
And you don't get that feelingall the time.
So whenever you get it likeit's, you just kind of hold on
(20:59):
to it like, okay, somethingfeels special here and I've
heard it takes time sometimesfor songs, so we'll just let it
sit.
No, it never takes time whatare you talking about?
Speaker 1 (21:07):
I don't want it to take time, dude I want to happen
right now I'm the mostimpatient person ever I've got
one of those that I uh, I wrote,uh, I don't know, two months
ago maybe, uh, with um briandavis and aj cross and uh, I'm
not even gonna say, but uh, apretty massive artist has it
right now and it's just likethat waiting game is just like,
oh man, like each day feels likea year yeah.
(21:30):
It's crazy, it's crazy.
That's a good feeling, though,whenever you get that demo back.
Speaker 2 (21:34):
you're like okay, we did it.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
Like somebody's going to do this at some point, just
knowing that you know thisperson has it and they're like I
love this song, you know likeit's.
That's really all I need, butwhat I want is yeah yeah, so
well.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
And then you hear the stories of like the tom douglas
and the house that built me waswhat like seven or eight that's
kind of what one of the classicstories like seven or eight
years of just like going backand making sure it's right
several, several different times, or like gorley and stapleton
right and you should probablyleave.
I think it was like 11 years oryeah, something along those
(22:07):
lines.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
Like hey, that's a long time, yeah do you ever go
back and look at, uh, some ofyour new stuff, or like or not
not new stuff, some of your oldstuff.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
For, that, yeah, yeah , big time I forget.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
you know, like I'll be going through and like
looking at old demos and I'mlike, oh, oh man, I forgot all
about this song and, and youknow, sometimes it's like like
this yeah, this is like we kindof figured something out.
Let's resurface this, yeah, soa hundred percent.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
Yeah, that's.
I'll go on like walks in theafternoon Sometimes you're like
morning.
She's like 30, 45, scroll tothe bottom of 2022 songs and
just kind of like look throughthem and see like, oh well,
that's, we've gotten better.
We've gotten better, but everyonce in a while you find one
that's sprinkled in.
We were like dang, that wasactually pretty dang good.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
This episode is brought to you by Sennheiser
microphones.
When we first started thispodcast, we were using some
older microphones and Sennheisercame in and sponsored us and
gave us some MK4s and 914s and Imean, I'm telling you it's made
all of the difference in theworld.
We love these microphones, weuse them at the listening room
(23:15):
as well and I just can't sayenough great things about them.
Go check out Sennheisercom Ifyou are into music in any way.
Their microphones are, handsdown, the best on the planet.
Go check them out Sennheisercom.
And thank you, sennheiser, forthe support and the sponsorship.
We love y'all.
Okay, you mentioned, uh, youmentioned oil money, so I got to
(23:39):
dive into that one.
Um, what was it like?
24, 25 million streams now?
Uh, so dude.
That song, uh, is so good.
First of all.
Um and just, was that also oneof those that you just felt
really good when you wrote it?
And did you expect it was gonnahave like the viral moment that
it did?
Speaker 2 (23:57):
dude um, no and yes, okay.
So we wrote that song.
It's like one of the firstsongs we wrote this year.
It was like january 5th or 6thand it was me, graham cole,
miracle, who's like our brotherwe've written 300 songs together
and sam bergeson, who we'vejust met in the past year that
(24:18):
we've written so many songstogether.
He's become like our brother.
He's he's the guy like he justmakes everything sound perfect
and pristine.
He's a genius.
And we sat down that day and oilmoney was the second song we
wrote.
That day we wrote a song Idon't know if graham might put
it out.
It's called matter of time andit's.
It's a cool kind of like almostdo a leap of kind of feeling
(24:40):
country song.
It's like way different.
Yeah, we're like it's the startof the year, let's just do some
like weird, kind of crazy stuffwe wrote that song with.
Then we had like an hour andwe're like, well, let's just do
another one, see what happens.
So we start scrolling throughand I'd like been watching land
man and just wrote down like oilmoney in my phone and it was
just like in my head.
I was like, if you write a songcalled oil money, the saying
like she got a smile as good asI, was like if you write a song
(25:01):
called Oil Money and it's sayinglike she got a smile as good as
gold, I was like what if you dolike she got a smile as good as
gold and she got a body good asoil money, and I was like this
is.
I don't know if this is it, Idon't know.
Speaker 1 (25:18):
But it sounds kind of cool.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
It sounds like when you know I'm pretty hesitant on
stuff.
I'm like kind of I don't know.
I can be kind of hard on myselfsometimes and be a little bit
like that which some of them, Iguess, have.
Speaker 3 (25:28):
It's working.
Speaker 2 (25:29):
It's kind of worked out.
Maybe I got to lean into that alittle bit more, but it's like,
yeah, I said that title andthey're like that's cool, let's
just write that.
And I remember we were writinglike the chorus and we thought
that was the verse and thenGraham was like no, trust me,
that's the chorus.
So we moved out to the chorusand then Cole Miracle was like
(25:49):
sitting over there just cookingup his genius stuff and was just
like something like says youwent to SMU tattoo of a crescent
moon.
We were like that's how youstart the damn song right there,
dude.
And so it was kind of off tothe races after that and we
finished it and I didn't reallythink too much of it like that
day.
I was like damn, matter of time, slaps like that song, that's
(26:11):
awesome.
And then sam sent us the demosfor both of them and I listened
to oil money first and as soonas that chorus hit, I was like
this kind of goes really hard,dude.
And I remember I called themand we just jammed out for a
little while and then, listen,matter of time.
We're like, hey, well, this isgreat.
And then Graham went and teasedoil money and it just went kind
of like to the moon that firstvideo, and did like a million or
(26:34):
2 million views or somethingand we were like, oh, we'll take
that.
I think it was kind of likeperfect timing too, cause land
man was coming to an end.
I think it was like the finale.
So like that kind of ideologywas really hot at that moment
and we somehow synthesized thatin like a cool way, where it
like takes a nap but it feelslike its own thing and then it's
just kind of it's been coolwatching the journey for that
(26:55):
song for sure.
And then his marketing behind itwas genius.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:01):
Can I play a little bit of it, yeah?
Speaker 2 (27:02):
I can.
He had that track going and Ican't play his guitar part
because Sam's way better atguitar than I am.
But yeah, and we just kind ofstarted messing around and Cole
sang that verse that's how hestarted it, so it was like Said
(27:24):
she went to SMU.
Speaker 3 (27:26):
Tattoo of a crescent moon.
I said I was only headedthrough Dallas for a night or
two.
She said maybe we shouldrendezvous baby somewhere.
They got 90 proof.
Tell me, what was I supposed todo?
That little thing in DaisyDukes was copper tone from head
(27:48):
to Tonyony llama.
I don't know she's got herheart to go, but I know one
thing's for sure she got a bodylike gold money cardiac cross
around her neck cause she onlyever seen the kind of club
country house in the gulf whereit's always sunny little tan
line.
(28:08):
Only she's.
Everything you need is she'sgot everything she want.
She'll win off till the last.
Come on, I'm a rich man with myhands on that body like gold
money yeah, come on mansomething like that yeah, dude,
that's close enough.
Speaker 2 (28:26):
Huh, yeah, it's always funny playing that one on
acoustic, because it's so notan acoustic song, but then if
you kind of strip it down, it'skind of fun doing it like that.
Speaker 1 (28:35):
I can just see like Too Bad Landman's Done, because
that would have been like such acool song.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
I know, dude, I think they're doing another season
Are they really.
Yeah, I haven't heard anythingof our song being in it, but I
think it'd be pretty cool.
Yeah, I don't know what thescene would be, but I'm sure
Taylor Sheridan could drawsomething pretty cool for it.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
I'm sure they could figure something out.
Yeah, he's done pretty goodstuff.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
I think if that guy keeps at it he's got a bright
future ahead of him.
Speaker 1 (29:00):
Man, it's like every show that my wife and I watch
almost is like oh it's.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
Taylor, yeah, dude.
Oh, it's taylor, yeah.
Yeah, dude, he's on, it'severything.
He's a genius, yeah, and he waslike this is a cool story too,
because he was an actor for, andstill is, obviously, but like
his main gig was acting for along time, yeah, and then had a
bunch of doors closed and wasjust like all right, well, I'll
write my own.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
yeah, I'm gonna write my own and then it's just yeah,
one after another man, yeah,yeah, um, dude, let's talk about
, uh, the most recent hits.
Um, I, uh, man Hardy is.
Uh is another one of those guysthat I've known for years and,
um, you know, we don't get tohave him back, uh, very often.
(29:42):
Last time he played, I actuallysat right up there in the
balcony with his mom and, um,you know, it was just like full
circle moment, uh, for for afundraiser we were doing or
something that's awesome.
But uh, um, yeah, how did uh,how did you, you two get
connected and you know, take me,uh, take me, into the story
behind that yeah, dude, talkabout just another great human
(30:02):
which is like.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
Hardy and gorley are like the two guys that I
probably looked up to some ofthe most yeah, yeah, from like
how they go about life and thenas songwriters, they're just two
of my favorite songwriters ever.
And that day when we wroteFavorite Country Song was a tape
room in Relative Camp, so itwas like I remember we showed up
that morning and they hadeverybody's names listed on
(30:24):
boards of like what the roomswere that day and like I looked
kind of like started goingthrough it boards of like what
the rooms were that day and likeI looked kind of like started
going through it and I saw itwas me and zach aubin who I
wrote broken branches with.
Yeah, we've done some otherstuff and he's like one of my
favorite writers and producersand people ever.
You know it said me and zachaubin.
I was like hell, yeah, let's go, dude.
And caroline hodgson walked outto me.
She's like hey, hardy's gonnastart with y'all today.
Like y'all gonna, y'all gonnawrite with hardy this morning.
(30:45):
I was like that because I neverwritten with him and I'd met
hardy because the hardestdecision I think I've had to
make was when I was signingpublishing deals, it was between
tape room and relative oh, likethe last two.
So it was like gorley and hardyand it was just like I don't
know.
It was a really tough decisionto make because the best ever do
(31:07):
it.
And we like went in and in thatroom he like walked in and
brought his guitar in and I waslike, all right, I've got a ton
of ideas like I hope we canthrow some out that he likes,
because he surely isn't going tocome in with an idea that he
wants to write with me, slightlyself-degrading, and hardy walks
in with his guitar.
He's like man, I got this ideafor this song and I'm like no
(31:28):
way, dude, really like let's go.
And he like starts kind ofdoing like the.
Uh, he's like I got this idea,just called like favorite
country song.
I was like that's tough asnails.
And he was just like what if?
Speaker 3 (31:45):
it's my favorite country song.
I.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
I was like, oh my gosh, yes, dude.
We just sat down and startedkind of writing that for a few
minutes.
And then Gourley like knockedon the door, probably like a few
minutes in, and was like whaty'all working on?
And Hardy kind of did thatthing.
And Gourley was like well, I'dlove to be in that.
And Hardy was like if we do itright, I'd love to be in that
and Hardy's like we do it right,I'm gonna cut it.
(32:09):
We're like, yeah, so next thing, I know like it's party Ashley,
Zach and I'm like sitting herejust writing with like my idols
pinching yourself yeah, justpinching myself and trying to
like get a few lines in you know, because they're so efficient
and fast and like just genius.
So it was.
It was a really cool, specialkind of once in a lifetime like
(32:32):
first time experiences, yeah,yeah.
And then we wrote it likepretty fast and hardy was like
yeah, I'm putting this on hold.
I was like let's go dude, wasthat?
Speaker 1 (32:41):
uh, you said you wrote it fast.
Was that one of those that'slike, when it was done, it was
done, or did you go back andlike that one later?
Speaker 2 (32:47):
that one was like we probably left hour and a half
two hours like out of that roomand it was, it was done.
Yeah, yeah, man, yeah it wasgreat.
And then, like here in joeymoore production that was the
first time I've ever written asong that joey moore's produced
and so, like here, and becausehardy texted us when they went
in to cut it and just sent uslike the um, the lyrics and like
(33:08):
the national number system,like things on top of it, and I
was like dang, he's cut, let'sgo, dude.
And then here in the cut forthe first time, I was like it's
insane, where were you?
I was in my girlfriend's houseand it was funny because we were
sitting there and she had justgotten me what we're going to
call, which we learned fromJordan Walker, some cut bourbon.
(33:29):
And it was like she got me thisbourbon that, like we drink
whenever I have a song thatcomes out.
And that night we were sittingthere waiting for Hardy's song
to come out.
Speaker 1 (33:38):
She had just gotten it for you.
Speaker 2 (33:39):
Yeah, okay, wow, she had just gotten it for me, like
for this song.
And we were sitting there, wewere having a glass of it and we
like listened to it on our tvand we're like, oh my gosh, like
this is so damn cool, like whatan experience.
And then caroline hodson textedme and was like omg, omg, blake
, just put out your song, staycountry, die trying.
And so they came out the samenight and so I went and got
(34:00):
another glass of cup bourbon andwe sat down and then we
listened to like the blake songback to back and I was just like
I didn't realize you got thecall for both of those in the
same night.
Speaker 1 (34:10):
man, how cool is that ?
Speaker 2 (34:11):
I didn't know, cause I knew Hardy song was coming out
it was like April 11th Cause hehad texted us, yeah, but I
didn't know Blake song wascoming out that night as well,
wow.
So it was just like well,that'll work that good thursday
night.
Speaker 1 (34:30):
Yeah, yeah, man, you know.
So we enjoyed, we enjoyed thecup urban that night and uh,
well, let's, let's play, uh,let's play a little bit of uh
hardy's and then, and then Iwant to dive into blake's too.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
Yeah, this one's cool , this is this one's a special
one, for sure summertime chickenfry.
Speaker 3 (34:52):
Mama tried Country bull.
Country bull can't survive.
Oh, marina, my Maria and my Amy, outskirts of heaven and
sinners there.
Well, yeah, they might have lita flame under these old booms,
(35:17):
yeah, but they sure don't own nocandle too.
North wind blowing through apatch of pines, whip a wheel
singing about summertimeRaindrops drumming on rusted tin
Flathead dragging out 20-poundstring.
Oh, strike up the fire.
(35:38):
Somebody kill the crickets inthe Creek Bank.
Choir, I gotta get back causeit's been so long.
Yeah, that's my favoritecountry song come on, man.
Speaker 2 (35:54):
Yeah, dude, it's always fun when you're playing
that here too oh, dude, that one, that one is a lot of fun
always and in the sets here withthat song it slaps yeah big
time, yeah, big time.
Man, it's always always a goodreaction out of it and it's
really fun to sing.
Yeah, yeah, hardy does a bunchof just like his signature runs
(36:16):
in that song and so, likemimicking those, I'm like let's
go, yeah yeah, that's.
Speaker 1 (36:21):
Yeah, man it's.
I'm so pumped for you, man.
You've had so much success.
Again it's like thank you, bro,thanks a lot.
Yeah, appreciate it uh, staycountry or die trying yep take
me into the room.
Speaker 2 (36:31):
Yeah, that was drew parker, graham barham, sam ellis
and me and again a room thatlike initially wasn't supposed
to happen that day, whereassomething had fallen through
like the day before.
They're like y'all want to dothis crew together?
Yeah, it sounds like an awesomecrew.
And we got in and like we justkind of started messing around.
(36:52):
We didn't have any concepts, wedidn't have, say, country die
trying this concept.
We threw out a bunch of stuffand we were just like, well,
let's kind of like vibesomething out for a second and
drew started playing like thedrop d kind of cool, cool riff
thing.
We like started writing a versejust out of nowhere, which
wound up being verse two.
This song was crazy becauseit's just, we wrote a bunch of
sections for something we had noidea what it was and then like
(37:15):
started picking pieces andputting this here and putting
this there yeah.
So it's like we wrote a versewhich wound up being verse two,
and then we started writing thenow chorus.
It was like the red, white andblue flying high at the farm and
for some reason we werethinking like that, I was
thinking that was a bridge andthen they were like, no, that's
going to be the chorus kind oflike an oil money thing of like
(37:38):
this should be this, now, thisshould actually be this, which
is what it should have been.
And then we kind of likestumbled into this like stay
country or die trying concept.
And then, once we kind of hadthat home base, we're like, okay
, we know how to do this.
Now it's just like redneck thisthing up because drew's country
is mess and sam ellis is ourcanadian country brother.
Yeah, and graham's dad isliterally like a seven
(38:02):
generation farmer, and so that'swhat we started this on.
Like seven generations on thedirt road corn crop is just very
story, yeah.
And we were like, well, let'sjust write the most redneck
stuff we can possibly writetoday.
And it kind of shaped up thatway and I remember Graham said
the pre-chorus of like it's alifestyle, it ain't a living was
another thing that his dad usedto say, and we were like that's
(38:23):
so tough.
Yeah, that is such a cool lyric,yeah, and it was.
That's like one of my favoritestyles of songs to write, is it?
Yeah?
And why is that?
Because you can say crazy stuffof like a Bible and an almanac
up on the shelf Daddy prayed forme and mama prayed for me to
stay out of hell yeah, just likeyou can put up a word like
(38:50):
almanac, or seven generations ofdirt road corn crop, just like
cool stuff that we grew upseeing and doing.
Yeah, that like I guess likenot a lot of people have seen or
done, a lot of people have, butthere's a lot of people that
haven't.
And it's just cool to make asong like that feel mainstream
as well, which like doesn'thappen all the time.
But but we somehow wrangledthat one in and it runs up the
(39:12):
charts, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (39:15):
Do you have a favorite writer that you'd love
to write with?
That you haven't yet, that Ihaven't yet.
Speaker 2 (39:23):
Oh, let's see, I think there's a good bet we
actually could talk aboutyesterday yeah.
Speaker 1 (39:34):
You were telling us right before this.
You just wrote with Tom Douglasyesterday.
Speaker 2 (39:38):
Yeah, I wrote with Tom Douglas yesterday.
That was awesome.
Yeah, I was trying to defeatmyself.
Yeah, dude, he's so nice too,he's just like the nicest dude
ever.
Dude, he's so nice too, he'slike the nicest dude ever.
And we came in and he startedlike throwing out ideas and he
like just had written somereally beautiful, cool lines
down that he was just kind oftalking through and I was like
tom, can I get a dang audiobookof you, just like reading?
(40:01):
through your ideas and readingme these lyrics you've crafted
up that I could never craft upin a million years like this is.
This is so much fun.
Man and we, like wound upwriting a really cool song.
So that was.
That was a special day.
That was definitely one whereit's like Tom Doug is top of the
list and just kind of came tofruition.
Speaker 1 (40:19):
Yeah, he's, I'd say he's a good one for sure.
Um, what uh I mean with withthe way that things have
happened?
You know fairly quickly for you, um, which is a testament to
you and your talent, uh,obviously, but uh, you know, for
, for people that are listening,like new writers come into town
, um, or, or aspiring artists,uh, what advice would you give
(40:42):
somebody?
Speaker 2 (40:43):
Like, what do you think was was like a really
important piece to when youfirst started getting here,
going back to like building yourcamp and everything, yeah I
think surrounding yourself withlike-minded people, yeah, big
time that you love, that, yourespect that, you like, like to
consider your best friends andthen just like workshop in the
hell out of everything.
Ideas is definitely, I think,helped, like just trying to
(41:09):
think of stuff in different ways.
That's what I was trying to dokind of early on just write some
like crazy stuff, and thenKelly Bolton's like ideas, ideas
, ideas.
And you get in with Ashley andAshley's like ideas, ideas,
ideas, and it's just come upwith crazy words or concepts or
simple country words that you'veheard your entire life, but
like what's a crazy angle?
(41:30):
Or can you put this in a song 20times and flip it 20 different
ways and make it really cool, orwhat's the most simple way you
can do this?
But it has an amazing melodyand the lyrics fall into place.
Like I think ideas are stillwhat I'm like I try to do every
day right now, which they'rehard, like it's hard, they're
hard to come by, for sure, everyday right now which they're
(41:51):
like.
Speaker 1 (41:52):
It's hard, they're hard to come by, for sure, for
me, it's hard to stay focused ina conversation because I
because I feel like I'm alwayslike listening to everything
around me, um, but it's alsocool Cause, like you know now,
you know well my wife and I willgo to a restaurant or something
and, um, or we're watching TVor whatever, and now it's, it's
almost to the point where, like,something will get said and I'm
(42:15):
like picking my phone up, yeah,and she's like Ooh, did you
hear that?
Speaker 2 (42:19):
Like she's picking up on it, Like that's a good line.
Speaker 1 (42:23):
She's like oh, you heard that one?
Okay, yeah, the frustrating islike did you hear anything?
I just said I'm like no, I waslistening to this conversation
over here, because what they'resaying is gold.
Speaker 2 (42:31):
Right now, you're really in an intense
conversation with yoursignificant other and they say
something You're like oh, shouldI write that down right now or
should I wait about 10 minutes?
No, that's awesome.
Speaker 1 (42:42):
Is that where you find most of your ideas is like
conversations or yeah, yeah, youknow it's like um, you know
kind of what you're saying, likeyou know if you can take, take
a lyric and flip it in a waythat's not been done and you
know like it's the, the almanacin a bible.
You know, like things like that, that like will, I'll hear,
that's like oh, I've never, I'venever heard like that line.
(43:04):
Or you know, sometimes they'renot even like hooks.
You know it's just like I likethat line to use somewhere.
Speaker 2 (43:11):
You know so um some sort of like just different kind
of inspiration.
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (43:17):
I love, like when, uh , we travel quite a bit.
So when I get out of Nashvilleand I go to different States or,
you know, even out of thecountry, you know and just hear
other conversations and the waythat they speak or say something
, that's just different.
You know, that's when I'm like,you know, I just have to give a
heads up, like to Brittany, I'mlike I'm with you, but I'm like
(43:37):
this is I'm going to.
We're going to have to be quietand just listen and take all
this in.
Speaker 2 (43:42):
So yeah, Sometimes we'll just call like Graham's
cousin and just let him talk forlike 15 minutes and then just
like grab pieces of gold out ofthat dude.
Thank you or write us, yeah,just call one of the homeboys
that's just like country as canbe and just let them rip, dude,
they'll say something.
They'll say something you canwrite absolutely man.
Speaker 1 (44:04):
Um, well, dude, I uh, I know you've got a uh a right
with josh phillips here a littlebit, so uh, um, but man, it was
it.
Just I can't wait to justcontinue to see what happens and
appreciate you sharing some,some stories behind the songs.
And yeah, dude, thank you somuch for having me.
Yeah, man, appreciate it.
I'm going to put you on thespot.
Do you want to?
Do you want to play a little?
(44:25):
Yeah, yeah, let's do it.
Speaker 2 (44:28):
We got to see him play this one in Nissan stadium
for the first time.
Oh, dude, it's CMA fest.
Yeah, that was cool.
We were like up in the like 300section, yeah, and we were just
like drinking Jack and Cokesand like it comes on and I was
with my girlfriend and my familyand her mom and her sister came
in the town and so we were likeall sitting up there.
She, like all sitting up there,she was causing the scenes.
(44:53):
Everybody in the section waslike, yeah, we're just up in the
300s just jamming out.
Did you have the set?
Did you know he was gonna do it?
We knew he was gonna play it.
We didn't know like which partof the setting you're gonna play
it.
But yeah, we had some insidebaseball, knowing that it was
supposedly on the set list.
But I was definitely like, dude, I hope he plays it because we
have our whole family here andthe girlfriend's family, like
that would, that would suck ifhe did all this and he just
doesn't play it what a coolfeeling and those, those fun man
(45:18):
.
Speaker 3 (45:18):
But uh, yeah, this one's state country dot trump
seven generations from a dirtbroke corn crop boots ain't
never seen easy street where askeeter gets slapped about as
fast as a star drop fruits rundeep in this family tree.
(45:40):
Bust your ass still won't makea killing.
(46:04):
We'll be right back, john, andJohn we trust sure we trust
Redneck.
Let it testify From the morningto cut to the days and dust.
Yeah, i'ma stay country or dietrying.
Speaker 1 (46:29):
Man.
The lyrics in that song arejust like, so vividly, like
you're just in a movie oh dudehell yeah thank you, man.
Speaker 2 (46:36):
That was a I mean, that was a hell of a crew to
write that song with it feltlike everybody was firing on all
cylinders that day of throw outa line, you throw out a line,
you throw out.
Everybody just contributed andit all came together thanks for
saying that, man.
Yeah, that's that's one of myfavorites.
That's just like I said,writing those style, just like
super redneck songs.
Yeah, they just kind of fuel myfire, for sure.
(46:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (47:00):
All right, man.
Well, I always end on thisquestion.
So, if you can go back toeight-year-old you in Louisiana
Okay, you're playing baseball.
Yeah, you, you in Louisiana.
Okay, um, you're playingbaseball.
Uh, you're in a rock pop band.
Um, what kind of advice.
Sitting here today, what wouldyou tell eight year old you?
Speaker 2 (47:22):
Um, what would I tell eight year old me Probably?
I used to be like very nervousto sing in front of people.
I would like I wouldn't, Iwouldn't play my guitar and sing
unless everybody was out of thehouse.
I would say just like, leaninto that sooner, just like get
(47:43):
out and start playing in frontof people and just kind of like
overcome that fear and don't bescared of what somebody thinks
about it.
Just do what you do and trustit.
In 10 years or however long ittakes it, like you're going to
be good at it and it's, it's allgoing to work out.
But just kind of I knew I lovedit.
So just chasing that feelingand not being slaughtered on any
(48:05):
steps up, just chugging along,I'd probably say that something
like that.
Love it, man.
Yeah man, thanks again for thetime, yeah thank you, chris.
Speaker 1 (48:12):
Well, uh, well, I can't wait to have you just
chugging along.
I'd probably say that Somethinglike that Love it, man.
Yeah, man, thanks again for thetime.
Yeah, thank you, chris.
Well, I can't wait to have youback in another year or so and
just we'll talk about the next20 hits that you've got.
I hope so.
Speaker 2 (48:22):
That'd be awesome.
Yeah, dude, I'd love that Allright.
Speaker 1 (48:31):
Well, thank, will put uh links to Bo's, uh, uh
socials and uh and all of that.
So check him out and uh go buyhis music.
Uh, we appreciate the support.
You've been listening to anotherepisode of stories behind the
songs.
I'm Chris Blair, this is BoBailey, and we'll see you next
time.
Thank you for listening toanother episode of Stories
Behind the Songs with ChrisBlair.
(48:52):
Make sure to give us a followon Spotify if you enjoyed this
episode and make sure you clickthat notification button so you
can keep notified when newepisodes come out.
We release brand new episodesevery Tuesday and you can find
us on YouTube at Stories Behindthe Songs with Chris Blair or
anywhere you listen to podcasts.
Don't forget to send us acomment letting us know what you
(49:21):
thought of the episodes.
We love getting your feedbackand share this with your friends
.
We'll see you next time and alot of my great friends.
We love what we do and we lovesharing their stories with you.
We appreciate all of thecontinued support.
Thanks also to all of oursponsors and we will see you all
next week.
you're listening to stories behind the songs with
chris blair.
For more information you canfind us on instagram and tiktok
at sbt songs or check us out atchrisblaircom.
This week I sat down with a guyfrom louisiana.
We're to dive into how he gothis start in music.
(00:24):
As a pop rock artist, had amajor label deal, moved to
Nashville and then quicklyturned into songwriting and it
has really worked for him.
We're going to dive intostories that he's written for
Dierks, bentley, cole, swindell,blake, shelton, hardy.
Just talk about how he builthis camp.
I'm talking about Bo Bailey.
(00:45):
This guy has not been in townfor very long and is already
crushing it on songs that I knoweverybody has heard.
Let's get to it.
Here is Bo Bailey, all rightback in Nashville.
Here we are, bo Bailey, in thehouse.
(01:06):
How you doing, brother?
Speaker 2 (01:07):
doing good, chris.
How are you man good?
Speaker 1 (01:08):
thanks for coming in this morning, dude.
Thank you for having me.
Uh, yeah, man, let's, uh, let'sjust dive in, always kind of
start from the beginning.
So, um, take me, uh, take meback to louisiana.
What was life like growing upfor you, dude?
Speaker 2 (01:20):
it was.
It was real country.
In north louisiana I'm from atown called Monroe, which is
like top right of the boot.
I just did a lot of duckhunting, a lot of deer hunting,
played baseball, started playingdrums when I was like six years
old or something like that.
So I played drums from like sixto 15.
(01:40):
And then 15, I watched like theCanelo Alvarez and Floyd
Mayweather fight and with someof my buddies one night we
decided to have like a fightnight afterwards and I like
dislocated my shoulder in aboxing match and so I couldn't
play baseball for that seasonand I couldn't play drums.
So I just learned how to playguitar.
(02:01):
Wow, and then started playingguitar.
It was like pretty add to learna lot of songs.
So I just kind of startedmaking up my own with random
words that make no sense andsongwriter man I guess by
accident, just like kind offalling into it.
but yeah, dude, it was just kindof kind of happened that way.
(02:23):
What?
What was your influences backthen?
Kings of Leon, linkin Park,maroon 5, sheryl Crow Mom had
Casting Crowns.
The Fray, yeah, the band Perry.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Yeah, we were talking about that earlier.
We were just talking about that, yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
They're back, baby yeah, they're back.
There's a band called Catfishand the Bottle Men Okay.
Um, this band called catfish inthe bottom man okay, was more
like 2016, 2017.
They're from the uk.
They're like a wales britishpop rock band, kind of like
oasis family tree that I foundmy freshman year of college.
That was like my favorite bandI don't know them yeah, dude,
(02:59):
they're sick.
They have like a bunch of livevideos on youtube from this
festival called tea in the parkand this festival called
glassonberry and it's like it'sbad to the bone, dude, it's just
good old live, like guitarwalls hitting you as soon as, as
soon as they come in, and themelodies are real great and
everything's catchy and it'sjust like yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
so uh, yeah, I mean that makes sense, like uh,
because you moved here, uh witha pop rock band.
Yeah, I did, and uh had a, hada label deal for a little bit,
Uh so what?
What was I mean?
Speaker 2 (03:31):
you also moved here in 2020, right before I just
graduated college from LSU, andso I'd started a band my
sophomore year down there and weplayed for like sophomore,
(03:52):
junior, senior year and then gota record deal with Universal
Records out in Los Angeles andwe signed there.
I think it was like it wasright before COVID.
It might have been January.
I think it was january 2020, solike a month before coven we
were slated to go play uh, southby southwest festival in
february and it was like covethit like right before that and
(04:15):
like, oh, perfect timing.
But we went from like februaryto november and then we moved
here in november because we werelike, well, we're kind of stuck
, let's just like move tonashville because we had
management at red lightmanagement here and then caa was
our booking agent.
So we're like let's just get upto nashville and get kind of
involved in that ecosystem.
And then we did that for like ayear and then some kind of
(04:36):
health stuff like within theband band kind of fell apart and
I was like, all right, well,what am I gonna do?
Because I was like 24 orsomething at the time and I was
like, well, do I stop or do Ilike keep going or whatever?
And then I kind of like startedlearning about like the
songwriting world and publishingworld and I was like I think
I'll do that.
Yeah, I think I'm going to jumpin that world.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
So how did the shift happen for you, with growing up
with those influences and thenshifting into writing?
Country?
Speaker 2 (05:02):
I think it was not like I don't know if it was a
rebellious phase, because Iwasn't like a rebellious child.
I think it was just somethingnew, that I love the melodies of
everything and I love theguitar aspect of it and the live
performance.
Yeah, that just felt like alittle different from other
stuff that I'd listened to.
And then when I kind of cameout of that I fell back in love
(05:24):
with like the songwriting andthe lyric and the hook approach
and angles and all that stuff.
But I think it was mainly like Ifell in love with the live show
, seeing like uk rock fan basesjust like losing their absolute
mind chanting every song fromthe front of the record to the
back of the record.
But then we kind of finished upour band stuff.
I kind of took a look inwardand I was like well, I'm a
(05:45):
little more country than thatkind of stuff, lyric wise and
like how I grew up and like true, more so to my story.
So it's like let's kind of diveback inward and see what starts
happening there and then hadsome stuff kind of start moving
around.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
Yeah, yeah, I love.
I mean you've got some greatsongs out, hardy Blake, I mean
just you know, like, and you're,I think what's cool is like and
we see it a lot today, but likethat music, that was yeah,
inspirational for you growing up.
Like, you hear those tones inwhat you write, yeah, and uh,
thanks, dude, especially withwho's cutting your songs.
(06:26):
Um, you know just that thatrock feel to it just uh, an
apology, yeah kind of thing.
So, thank you, man.
Yeah, so talk, talk to me alittle bit about like, um, you
know, once you kind of made thatswitch and you're like all
right, I'm gonna focus on onwriting.
How did you build your camp atthat point, dude?
Speaker 2 (06:44):
I kind of was very fortunate moving to Nashville.
I grew up with Graham Barham inLouisiana, so he lived like 35.
Oh, he's a character.
He's my best buddy, he's.
We started a band when we werelike 15 together.
So he's from a town called OakRidge.
It's actually a village.
It's like too small to be atown.
It's like 35 minutes from myhouse and we're the only two
(07:04):
guys that did music in Monroeand Oak Ridge.
We're like, dude, we shouldjust get together.
We got together over bakedbeans at Padna's one day.
We're like let's do this musicthing.
We started putting out musicand everybody called us every
name under the sun for a coupleof years.
He went to belmont, which I'dnever heard of at the time, and
I went to lsu.
(07:25):
I graduated and he graduated, Icame up here.
So I kind of had like abuilt-in kind of like home base
already as soon as we got here,thanks to him, yeah for sure.
And he was in like a pop bandat the time which it was like
him, jake paletti and danny gand they're called phil street
and they had stopped doing thatband at the same time that I had
(07:46):
kind of stopped doing my bandand me and Graham were like,
well, do we go back?
And like does he go farm or doI go do real estate or medical
device sales, or like what'sgoing to go on?
And we were like let's juststart writing what we know.
And then we wrote a song calledPreacher's Need People, called
preachers need people, which islike the first song he ever put
(08:06):
out.
And it got like 800,000 viewson tiktok and we were like we've
done it, yeah, like we'vemastered this thing, and it was
like the first boost of kind ofcountry confidence that we had,
that we got together.
And then I met a guy named eddiein the getaway on tiktok live
one night back when I was in myband and then met cole miracle
at doghouse saloon like atuesday night um, there's so
(08:31):
many more I could.
I could go on forever.
But it was just kind of likedoing the thing is being lucky,
moving here and like knowinggraham and having his crew of
people of like jake and chris,rudiger and danny g and all
those guys and then meeting coleand meeting a bunch of
different people like out andabout, yeah, on the town and
going to whiskey jams and, yeah,doing the whole thing yeah,
(08:53):
yeah, man, speaking of uhwhiskey jam, let's just talk
about a little bit, because youwere just telling me, uh, and
you just mentioned ban perrydude like I'm so jealous you got
to see that last night likethey're back um yeah, dude,
they're so back.
Dude, I forgot how many bangersthey had.
Yeah, it was literally.
They played like a 10 song setlast night and it was bam, bam,
(09:13):
bam.
They played chainsaw.
I was like gosh, like I don'twant to take inspiration from
that this week.
Uh, that was.
It was crazy.
They sounded really good and Ihadn't seen or heard anything in
forever from them.
Yeah man, I can't.
I can't wait to see them liveagain from that this week.
It was crazy.
They sounded really good and Ihadn't seen or heard anything in
forever from them.
Yeah, man.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
I can't wait to see them live again.
Man, it's going to be.
Yeah, I don't know what they're.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
I think they're like going out on tour this weekend
somewhere is what they said.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
I don't know how many shows they've played before
this but I feel playing a lot,so you might, yeah, have a
chance to see him.
Yeah, um, all right.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
So, uh, you're building your camp, uh, and then
, um, talk to me about how howyou got uh hooked up with ashley
so that one's a funny story,because I met caroline hodgson,
who is now my publisher, at aparty probably like three years
ago, and we were just sittingthere talking and I didn't know
who she was and she didn't knowthat I was a songwriter or
anything, and we just like metat a party and talked for like
(10:08):
an hour probably just about lifeand what was going on that week
and sports, and she's from thenortheast, talking about the red
sox and patriots or whatever.
And then it like came to thespot where she was like well,
what do you do?
I'm like well, I'm a songwriter.
And she didn't say anythingabout her and she was like, oh,
cool, like who are some of yourfavorite writers?
I was like ashley, goorley,hunter, phelps, taylor, phillips
(10:31):
, wyatt mccubbin, brad clausjust named off like ben john,
like the whole named off likethe tape room roster yeah, not
even knowing that she wasemployed at tape room.
And she was like, oh, okay,cool.
I was like what about you?
She's like well, I work at, Iwork at tape room.
And I was like I promise you, Ididn't just corner you for an
hour to like get to this likegemstone at the end of the
(10:53):
conversation, but that'sactually insane.
And then that was probably likenovember, october.
I went on a retreat with GrahamBarham and Will Bundy Shout out
Bundy, because he's the one heput me in a group message with
Kelly Bolton who works at TapeRoom worked at Tape Room at that
(11:13):
time and at the same time wehad a manager from my old band
that like put me in contact withBlaine Rhodes.
Like the same day Bundy hitKelly Bolton.
So it was like a double whammy.
And then next thing I know Ihad a meeting with them, brought
in a bunch of songs.
That went well.
And then they were like well,hey, we'll go meet with Ashley
(11:34):
and we'll do that next week orwhatever.
So I'd get a list together, like12 songs or something like that
, trying to meticulously scrollthrough and be like is this one
actually?
Like, do I want to play this infront of gorley and is this
gonna be good or is it gonnasuck?
I don't know.
And then I went in and met himand the rest of the team at sony
one day and we had a goodmeeting and it was cool because
(11:55):
he's been like my favoritesongwriter forever.
So the idea at that time oflike possibly working with him
just blew my mind.
I was trying to like keep itall cool and composed and but as
soon as you get in with himhe's just like the sweetest dude
and like he is so easy to talkto and like.
It was intimidating beforehand,for sure, but like once you got
(12:15):
in there I was just completelycomfortable and like made me
feel like I was at home off thebat.
So I was like let's go, dude.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
Yeah yeah, do you go out and uh ride at his house?
Yeah, yeah, dude, that his, hissetup out there is just insane
man, it's like it's everything,dude, like a big horse farm
without horses.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
The dream is like, yeah, 100, you don't have to do
the maintenance on the horses,exactly I think they used to
have horses out there at somepoint, yeah, back in the day.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
But um, yeah, yeah, he's such a great dude.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
No, he's the man that .
That's like what drew me totapering as well, from ashley,
like all the way down.
It's just like the type ofpeople that work there and right
there I'm like.
That's the type of person likeI would like to see myself being
yeah, just good influences,just good, godly, faithful, hard
(13:03):
working, 100, yeah, yeah.
So it's like that's.
I've found that group.
I was like is this is a good,like life group of people to
surround myself around with andthen working alongside of them,
just like still blows my mind.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
Yeah, it's so, it's so awesome, man, when, uh, you
know like, you come to town andyou have, like, you know, you're
, you're you, you, you say, like, ashley Gourley is, like you
know, one of my biggest, youknow like, have that
conversation.
Um, you know, and I've, I'vehad those moments where it's
like, you know, I look up tocertain artists, writers or
whatever, and then you meet themand it's like it takes it to a
(13:34):
whole new level, cause you'relike, wow, you're not only like
like this amazing artist, butyou're also like just like super
cool, cool, you know, like, andthat's what I like, um, I, you
know, I've, obviously I've knownAshley for years, but, um, uh,
my wife is on the board of anonprofit called seed India.
Um, and, uh, you know, we'll,we'll go on mission trips to
(13:57):
Calcutta and and all that.
Well, uh, every year, prettymuch, we have this big
fundraiser and ashley just openshis doors up and, um, he's a
he's, he's involved in in it.
Um, pretty, heavily yeah, justyou know, just again like yeah,
just somebody that's like gotthat heart, that's just big tom.
They don't have to do stufflike that, but they're just like
(14:17):
yeah, whatever you need, likeyou know.
So him and his wife, both, Imean it's absolutely awesome.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
Yeah, so, and Mr Mandy, like I said, they're just
great role models and good likeprograms of how I'd like to be.
Yeah, you know yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
Well, so let's start diving into some stories made
with songs, because you've got aton of them, you've had so much
success and really a short time, thank you.
And um, you know everybodycalls it a 10-year town and um
sure you're, uh, you're, you'rekilling it bro trying to dude,
trying to just trying to stack afew up and let it snowball.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
Yeah, it's funny, because when you're doing it
doesn't feel like you're you'redoing it, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
Thank you for saying that, it's super nice, but yeah,
um, let's uh, yeah, let's juststart diving in um uh, recent
hits.
Uh, maybe let's talk about coleoh, yeah, swindell.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
Yeah, yeah, dude dirty dancing.
We wrote that probably wrote infebruary, like two years ago.
It was me, hunter phelps andned cameron, who are also tape
room and like two of my favoritewriters and humans, and we went
in that day and it was.
I wasn't even supposed to writewith them that day.
It was like the night before Iremember I was at Brown's Diner
(15:34):
and I'd had like two beers and Iwas like sitting there and
Blaine text me.
He's like, hey, do you want towrite with Hunter and Ned
tomorrow?
Like something just happened,like they have it open.
I with Hunter and Ned tomorrow,like something just happened,
like they have it open.
I'm like, yes, yeah, I'd loveto.
So I'm like I'm at Brown'sDiner.
I just start like scrollingthrough ideas and like what we
could write the next day and Iwrote down just probably like 50
different ideas and we went inand started kind of like going
(15:57):
through them and we probablywent through like all 50 ideas
before we kind of startednarrowing down what we wanted to
do.
And I was going through myphone and I kind of like landed
on one and I was like I'm goingto sound like an idiot when I
say this, but I'm just going tosay it.
I was like, all right, I gotthis idea.
It's called dirty dancing.
And Hunter kind of like lookedup at me.
He was like all right, what doyou do with that?
(16:18):
I'm like what if you set thisscene of this guy he's a girl in
a bar, classic story, whateverbut they get out of there and
they go find some sunflowerfield or spot by the river or
off the highway where they justget in his headlights and he
kicks off his boots and he'slike something whatever, my
lucky boots getting dirtydancing with you.
And as I said it, I was like,oh, is this cool?
(16:42):
I don't know.
And Hunter was like we'rewriting that right now.
I was like, oh, cool.
And then we wrote I think we didlike a verse chorus that day.
Yeah, because we went throughideas for a long time.
It was like a little later inthe day and we wrote a verse
chorus and then where did wefinish?
We might have finished it, butwe went back and worked on the
(17:06):
verses one like morning, yeah,to kind of tidy it up and make
sure it was right and we sent itin and blaine immediately was
just like yes, dude, sent it toswindell and swindell was like
can I have this?
And I was like yes, dude, youcan have it.
And the cut just like came outperfect.
It's been been one of myfavorites to listen to for sure.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
Yeah, man, he's another one of those guys that's
just got, uh, just so many likeI mean you can go to.
Actually, I was in st louis,I'm a, I grew up in st louis,
I'm a big carters fan, yeah, anduh, uh got a call from his team
it's like a month ago and, um,they're like dude cole's playing
a show at bush stadium, um, andhe was like the bus is full,
(17:44):
but like, if you can get there,like come hang out with us,
we're going down on the fieldand like all this kind of stuff.
And it was uh, dude, it was socool.
We, uh, we, we sat up in thesuite and watched the game and
then, um, you know, just, I wasstanding on the grass in the
outfield of the stadium that,like I grew up and just watching
cole just hit after hit afterhit after hit, and like how many
(18:06):
does he have now?
dude, it was like every yeah, itwas just like you know, just
standing standing back therewatching man, it was just like
that's what I'm saying.
It's like, um, you know he's,I've loved him for a long time.
But it's like one after another.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
I was like, yeah, dang, like I forget how many
hits you've got, like it's justyeah 100 and his voice is so
iconic just like the tone andlike you it a song comes on.
You're no doubt thinking that'sa cole swindell song.
Yeah, he doesn't sound likeanybody else.
Hearing him sing on dirtydancing for the first time was
just like.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
Sounds like a cole swindell smash dude do you, uh,
when you're writing um, you saidyou went in and, kind of like,
cleaned some stuff up andtightened it up.
Is that a typical process foryou or?
Speaker 2 (18:51):
Every now and then, yeah, yeah, especially because a
lot of the times you just wantto fight for the craziest idea
that you can write that day, andsometimes that takes a couple
hours to even get to that idea.
Yeah, that day, and sometimesthat takes a couple hours to
even get to that idea, yeah, andthen by the time you start
writing that, you kind of getall of like your energy out with
it that you possibly can, andthen you're like, okay, this
idea is perfect.
Let's just make sure, likemaybe we were tired at the end
(19:14):
of the session, let's just tidyit up for like an hour or
something at 9 30 on a tuesdaymorning.
Just make sure all the nuts andbolts and screws are just radar
roll, cause we spent the timefighting for the right idea and
now that we have that, let'smake sure we've executed it
correctly.
It doesn't happen all the time,but for some reason it felt
right with that one.
(19:35):
Yeah, I think it was just versetwo or maybe a bridge.
Maybe we didn't have a bridge.
Yeah, I think is what it wasactually.
I think it was a bridge, soyeah, man, let's, let's, let's.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
dive into Broken Branches a title track on Dirk's
album.
Yeah, super cool, and that wasaround the same time, right yeah
.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
We probably wrote that and that same February.
Okay, maybe that one sat aroundkind of for like two years when
we wrote it.
So it's me and graham barhamand zach alvin and like we went
in and we were writing forgraham and it was like kind of
pre like whiskey, whiskey andoil money, graham, that was like
(20:15):
more so like I guess likemainstream, like down the middle
, kind of classic soundingcountry stuff, and we wrote that
song and he had it for a while.
I was like, dude, are you gonnacut this song?
He was like I love this song,just let it wait for a second,
just let's see what happens.
He's like all right, dude, Itrust you on it.
And then I guess it kind of satfor like I want to say, a year
(20:37):
and a half, two years and blainesent it over to mary hilliard
whenever they were looking forDirk songs and they were like we
love this for Dirks and we'relike yes dude, it's like we we
had a feeling with that songfrom the day we wrote it.
It just felt correct, yeah.
And you don't get that feelingall the time.
So whenever you get it likeit's, you just kind of hold on
(20:59):
to it like, okay, somethingfeels special here and I've
heard it takes time sometimesfor songs, so we'll just let it
sit.
No, it never takes time whatare you talking about?
Speaker 1 (21:07):
I don't want it to take time, dude I want to happen
right now I'm the mostimpatient person ever I've got
one of those that I uh, I wrote,uh, I don't know, two months
ago maybe, uh, with um briandavis and aj cross and uh, I'm
not even gonna say, but uh, apretty massive artist has it
right now and it's just likethat waiting game is just like,
oh man, like each day feels likea year yeah.
(21:30):
It's crazy, it's crazy.
That's a good feeling, though,whenever you get that demo back.
Speaker 2 (21:34):
you're like okay, we did it.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
Like somebody's going to do this at some point, just
knowing that you know thisperson has it and they're like I
love this song, you know likeit's.
That's really all I need, butwhat I want is yeah yeah, so
well.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
And then you hear the stories of like the tom douglas
and the house that built me waswhat like seven or eight that's
kind of what one of the classicstories like seven or eight
years of just like going backand making sure it's right
several, several different times, or like gorley and stapleton
right and you should probablyleave.
I think it was like 11 years oryeah, something along those
(22:07):
lines.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
Like hey, that's a long time, yeah do you ever go
back and look at, uh, some ofyour new stuff, or like or not
not new stuff, some of your oldstuff.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
For, that, yeah, yeah , big time I forget.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
you know, like I'll be going through and like
looking at old demos and I'mlike, oh, oh man, I forgot all
about this song and, and youknow, sometimes it's like like
this yeah, this is like we kindof figured something out.
Let's resurface this, yeah, soa hundred percent.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
Yeah, that's.
I'll go on like walks in theafternoon Sometimes you're like
morning.
She's like 30, 45, scroll tothe bottom of 2022 songs and
just kind of like look throughthem and see like, oh well,
that's, we've gotten better.
We've gotten better, but everyonce in a while you find one
that's sprinkled in.
We were like dang, that wasactually pretty dang good.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
This episode is brought to you by Sennheiser
microphones.
When we first started thispodcast, we were using some
older microphones and Sennheisercame in and sponsored us and
gave us some MK4s and 914s and Imean, I'm telling you it's made
all of the difference in theworld.
We love these microphones, weuse them at the listening room
(23:15):
as well and I just can't sayenough great things about them.
Go check out Sennheisercom Ifyou are into music in any way.
Their microphones are, handsdown, the best on the planet.
Go check them out Sennheisercom.
And thank you, sennheiser, forthe support and the sponsorship.
We love y'all.
Okay, you mentioned, uh, youmentioned oil money, so I got to
(23:39):
dive into that one.
Um, what was it like?
24, 25 million streams now?
Uh, so dude.
That song, uh, is so good.
First of all.
Um and just, was that also oneof those that you just felt
really good when you wrote it?
And did you expect it was gonnahave like the viral moment that
it did?
Speaker 2 (23:57):
dude um, no and yes, okay.
So we wrote that song.
It's like one of the firstsongs we wrote this year.
It was like january 5th or 6thand it was me, graham cole,
miracle, who's like our brotherwe've written 300 songs together
and sam bergeson, who we'vejust met in the past year that
(24:18):
we've written so many songstogether.
He's become like our brother.
He's he's the guy like he justmakes everything sound perfect
and pristine.
He's a genius.
And we sat down that day and oilmoney was the second song we
wrote.
That day we wrote a song Idon't know if graham might put
it out.
It's called matter of time andit's.
It's a cool kind of like almostdo a leap of kind of feeling
(24:40):
country song.
It's like way different.
Yeah, we're like it's the startof the year, let's just do some
like weird, kind of crazy stuffwe wrote that song with.
Then we had like an hour andwe're like, well, let's just do
another one, see what happens.
So we start scrolling throughand I'd like been watching land
man and just wrote down like oilmoney in my phone and it was
just like in my head.
I was like, if you write a songcalled oil money, the saying
like she got a smile as good asI, was like if you write a song
(25:01):
called Oil Money and it's sayinglike she got a smile as good as
gold, I was like what if you dolike she got a smile as good as
gold and she got a body good asoil money, and I was like this
is.
I don't know if this is it, Idon't know.
Speaker 1 (25:18):
But it sounds kind of cool.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
It sounds like when you know I'm pretty hesitant on
stuff.
I'm like kind of I don't know.
I can be kind of hard on myselfsometimes and be a little bit
like that which some of them, Iguess, have.
Speaker 3 (25:28):
It's working.
Speaker 2 (25:29):
It's kind of worked out.
Maybe I got to lean into that alittle bit more, but it's like,
yeah, I said that title andthey're like that's cool, let's
just write that.
And I remember we were writinglike the chorus and we thought
that was the verse and thenGraham was like no, trust me,
that's the chorus.
So we moved out to the chorusand then Cole Miracle was like
(25:49):
sitting over there just cookingup his genius stuff and was just
like something like says youwent to SMU tattoo of a crescent
moon.
We were like that's how youstart the damn song right there,
dude.
And so it was kind of off tothe races after that and we
finished it and I didn't reallythink too much of it like that
day.
I was like damn, matter of time, slaps like that song, that's
(26:11):
awesome.
And then sam sent us the demosfor both of them and I listened
to oil money first and as soonas that chorus hit, I was like
this kind of goes really hard,dude.
And I remember I called themand we just jammed out for a
little while and then, listen,matter of time.
We're like, hey, well, this isgreat.
And then Graham went and teasedoil money and it just went kind
of like to the moon that firstvideo, and did like a million or
(26:34):
2 million views or somethingand we were like, oh, we'll take
that.
I think it was kind of likeperfect timing too, cause land
man was coming to an end.
I think it was like the finale.
So like that kind of ideologywas really hot at that moment
and we somehow synthesized thatin like a cool way, where it
like takes a nap but it feelslike its own thing and then it's
just kind of it's been coolwatching the journey for that
(26:55):
song for sure.
And then his marketing behind itwas genius.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:01):
Can I play a little bit of it, yeah?
Speaker 2 (27:02):
I can.
He had that track going and Ican't play his guitar part
because Sam's way better atguitar than I am.
But yeah, and we just kind ofstarted messing around and Cole
sang that verse that's how hestarted it, so it was like Said
(27:24):
she went to SMU.
Speaker 3 (27:26):
Tattoo of a crescent moon.
I said I was only headedthrough Dallas for a night or
two.
She said maybe we shouldrendezvous baby somewhere.
They got 90 proof.
Tell me, what was I supposed todo?
That little thing in DaisyDukes was copper tone from head
(27:48):
to Tonyony llama.
I don't know she's got herheart to go, but I know one
thing's for sure she got a bodylike gold money cardiac cross
around her neck cause she onlyever seen the kind of club
country house in the gulf whereit's always sunny little tan
line.
(28:08):
Only she's.
Everything you need is she'sgot everything she want.
She'll win off till the last.
Come on, I'm a rich man with myhands on that body like gold
money yeah, come on mansomething like that yeah, dude,
that's close enough.
Speaker 2 (28:26):
Huh, yeah, it's always funny playing that one on
acoustic, because it's so notan acoustic song, but then if
you kind of strip it down, it'skind of fun doing it like that.
Speaker 1 (28:35):
I can just see like Too Bad Landman's Done, because
that would have been like such acool song.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
I know, dude, I think they're doing another season
Are they really.
Yeah, I haven't heard anythingof our song being in it, but I
think it'd be pretty cool.
Yeah, I don't know what thescene would be, but I'm sure
Taylor Sheridan could drawsomething pretty cool for it.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
I'm sure they could figure something out.
Yeah, he's done pretty goodstuff.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
I think if that guy keeps at it he's got a bright
future ahead of him.
Speaker 1 (29:00):
Man, it's like every show that my wife and I watch
almost is like oh it's.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
Taylor, yeah, dude.
Oh, it's taylor, yeah.
Yeah, dude, he's on, it'severything.
He's a genius, yeah, and he waslike this is a cool story too,
because he was an actor for, andstill is, obviously, but like
his main gig was acting for along time, yeah, and then had a
bunch of doors closed and wasjust like all right, well, I'll
write my own.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
yeah, I'm gonna write my own and then it's just yeah,
one after another man, yeah,yeah, um, dude, let's talk about
, uh, the most recent hits.
Um, I, uh, man Hardy is.
Uh is another one of those guysthat I've known for years and,
um, you know, we don't get tohave him back, uh, very often.
(29:42):
Last time he played, I actuallysat right up there in the
balcony with his mom and, um,you know, it was just like full
circle moment, uh, for for afundraiser we were doing or
something that's awesome.
But uh, um, yeah, how did uh,how did you, you two get
connected and you know, take me,uh, take me, into the story
behind that yeah, dude, talkabout just another great human
(30:02):
which is like.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
Hardy and gorley are like the two guys that I
probably looked up to some ofthe most yeah, yeah, from like
how they go about life and thenas songwriters, they're just two
of my favorite songwriters ever.
And that day when we wroteFavorite Country Song was a tape
room in Relative Camp, so itwas like I remember we showed up
that morning and they hadeverybody's names listed on
(30:24):
boards of like what the roomswere that day and like I looked
kind of like started goingthrough it boards of like what
the rooms were that day and likeI looked kind of like started
going through it and I saw itwas me and zach aubin who I
wrote broken branches with.
Yeah, we've done some otherstuff and he's like one of my
favorite writers and producersand people ever.
You know it said me and zachaubin.
I was like hell, yeah, let's go, dude.
And caroline hodgson walked outto me.
She's like hey, hardy's gonnastart with y'all today.
Like y'all gonna, y'all gonnawrite with hardy this morning.
(30:45):
I was like that because I neverwritten with him and I'd met
hardy because the hardestdecision I think I've had to
make was when I was signingpublishing deals, it was between
tape room and relative oh, likethe last two.
So it was like gorley and hardyand it was just like I don't
know.
It was a really tough decisionto make because the best ever do
(31:07):
it.
And we like went in and in thatroom he like walked in and
brought his guitar in and I waslike, all right, I've got a ton
of ideas like I hope we canthrow some out that he likes,
because he surely isn't going tocome in with an idea that he
wants to write with me, slightlyself-degrading, and hardy walks
in with his guitar.
He's like man, I got this ideafor this song and I'm like no
(31:28):
way, dude, really like let's go.
And he like starts kind ofdoing like the.
Uh, he's like I got this idea,just called like favorite
country song.
I was like that's tough asnails.
And he was just like what if?
Speaker 3 (31:45):
it's my favorite country song.
I.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
I was like, oh my gosh, yes, dude.
We just sat down and startedkind of writing that for a few
minutes.
And then Gourley like knockedon the door, probably like a few
minutes in, and was like whaty'all working on?
And Hardy kind of did thatthing.
And Gourley was like well, I'dlove to be in that.
And Hardy was like if we do itright, I'd love to be in that
and Hardy's like we do it right,I'm gonna cut it.
(32:09):
We're like, yeah, so next thing, I know like it's party Ashley,
Zach and I'm like sitting herejust writing with like my idols
pinching yourself yeah, justpinching myself and trying to
like get a few lines in you know, because they're so efficient
and fast and like just genius.
So it was.
It was a really cool, specialkind of once in a lifetime like
(32:32):
first time experiences, yeah,yeah.
And then we wrote it likepretty fast and hardy was like
yeah, I'm putting this on hold.
I was like let's go dude, wasthat?
Speaker 1 (32:41):
uh, you said you wrote it fast.
Was that one of those that'slike, when it was done, it was
done, or did you go back andlike that one later?
Speaker 2 (32:47):
that one was like we probably left hour and a half
two hours like out of that roomand it was, it was done.
Yeah, yeah, man, yeah it wasgreat.
And then, like here in joeymoore production that was the
first time I've ever written asong that joey moore's produced
and so, like here, and becausehardy texted us when they went
in to cut it and just sent uslike the um, the lyrics and like
(33:08):
the national number system,like things on top of it, and I
was like dang, he's cut, let'sgo, dude.
And then here in the cut forthe first time, I was like it's
insane, where were you?
I was in my girlfriend's houseand it was funny because we were
sitting there and she had justgotten me what we're going to
call, which we learned fromJordan Walker, some cut bourbon.
(33:29):
And it was like she got me thisbourbon that, like we drink
whenever I have a song thatcomes out.
And that night we were sittingthere waiting for Hardy's song
to come out.
Speaker 1 (33:38):
She had just gotten it for you.
Speaker 2 (33:39):
Yeah, okay, wow, she had just gotten it for me, like
for this song.
And we were sitting there, wewere having a glass of it and we
like listened to it on our tvand we're like, oh my gosh, like
this is so damn cool, like whatan experience.
And then caroline hodson textedme and was like omg, omg, blake
, just put out your song, staycountry, die trying.
And so they came out the samenight and so I went and got
(34:00):
another glass of cup bourbon andwe sat down and then we
listened to like the blake songback to back and I was just like
I didn't realize you got thecall for both of those in the
same night.
Speaker 1 (34:10):
man, how cool is that ?
Speaker 2 (34:11):
I didn't know, cause I knew Hardy song was coming out
it was like April 11th Cause hehad texted us, yeah, but I
didn't know Blake song wascoming out that night as well,
wow.
So it was just like well,that'll work that good thursday
night.
Speaker 1 (34:30):
Yeah, yeah, man, you know.
So we enjoyed, we enjoyed thecup urban that night and uh,
well, let's, let's play, uh,let's play a little bit of uh
hardy's and then, and then Iwant to dive into blake's too.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
Yeah, this one's cool , this is this one's a special
one, for sure summertime chickenfry.
Speaker 3 (34:52):
Mama tried Country bull.
Country bull can't survive.
Oh, marina, my Maria and my Amy, outskirts of heaven and
sinners there.
Well, yeah, they might have lita flame under these old booms,
(35:17):
yeah, but they sure don't own nocandle too.
North wind blowing through apatch of pines, whip a wheel
singing about summertimeRaindrops drumming on rusted tin
Flathead dragging out 20-poundstring.
Oh, strike up the fire.
(35:38):
Somebody kill the crickets inthe Creek Bank.
Choir, I gotta get back causeit's been so long.
Yeah, that's my favoritecountry song come on, man.
Speaker 2 (35:54):
Yeah, dude, it's always fun when you're playing
that here too oh, dude, that one, that one is a lot of fun
always and in the sets here withthat song it slaps yeah big
time, yeah, big time.
Man, it's always always a goodreaction out of it and it's
really fun to sing.
Yeah, yeah, hardy does a bunchof just like his signature runs
(36:16):
in that song and so, likemimicking those, I'm like let's
go, yeah yeah, that's.
Speaker 1 (36:21):
Yeah, man it's.
I'm so pumped for you, man.
You've had so much success.
Again it's like thank you, bro,thanks a lot.
Yeah, appreciate it uh, staycountry or die trying yep take
me into the room.
Speaker 2 (36:31):
Yeah, that was drew parker, graham barham, sam ellis
and me and again a room thatlike initially wasn't supposed
to happen that day, whereassomething had fallen through
like the day before.
They're like y'all want to dothis crew together?
Yeah, it sounds like an awesomecrew.
And we got in and like we justkind of started messing around.
(36:52):
We didn't have any concepts, wedidn't have, say, country die
trying this concept.
We threw out a bunch of stuffand we were just like, well,
let's kind of like vibesomething out for a second and
drew started playing like thedrop d kind of cool, cool riff
thing.
We like started writing a versejust out of nowhere, which
wound up being verse two.
This song was crazy becauseit's just, we wrote a bunch of
sections for something we had noidea what it was and then like
(37:15):
started picking pieces andputting this here and putting
this there yeah.
So it's like we wrote a versewhich wound up being verse two,
and then we started writing thenow chorus.
It was like the red, white andblue flying high at the farm and
for some reason we werethinking like that, I was
thinking that was a bridge andthen they were like, no, that's
going to be the chorus kind oflike an oil money thing of like
(37:38):
this should be this, now, thisshould actually be this, which
is what it should have been.
And then we kind of likestumbled into this like stay
country or die trying concept.
And then, once we kind of hadthat home base, we're like, okay
, we know how to do this.
Now it's just like redneck thisthing up because drew's country
is mess and sam ellis is ourcanadian country brother.
Yeah, and graham's dad isliterally like a seven
(38:02):
generation farmer, and so that'swhat we started this on.
Like seven generations on thedirt road corn crop is just very
story, yeah.
And we were like, well, let'sjust write the most redneck
stuff we can possibly writetoday.
And it kind of shaped up thatway and I remember Graham said
the pre-chorus of like it's alifestyle, it ain't a living was
another thing that his dad usedto say, and we were like that's
(38:23):
so tough.
Yeah, that is such a cool lyric,yeah, and it was.
That's like one of my favoritestyles of songs to write, is it?
Yeah?
And why is that?
Because you can say crazy stuffof like a Bible and an almanac
up on the shelf Daddy prayed forme and mama prayed for me to
stay out of hell yeah, just likeyou can put up a word like
(38:50):
almanac, or seven generations ofdirt road corn crop, just like
cool stuff that we grew upseeing and doing.
Yeah, that like I guess likenot a lot of people have seen or
done, a lot of people have, butthere's a lot of people that
haven't.
And it's just cool to make asong like that feel mainstream
as well, which like doesn'thappen all the time.
But but we somehow wrangledthat one in and it runs up the
(39:12):
charts, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (39:15):
Do you have a favorite writer that you'd love
to write with?
That you haven't yet, that Ihaven't yet.
Speaker 2 (39:23):
Oh, let's see, I think there's a good bet we
actually could talk aboutyesterday yeah.
Speaker 1 (39:34):
You were telling us right before this.
You just wrote with Tom Douglasyesterday.
Speaker 2 (39:38):
Yeah, I wrote with Tom Douglas yesterday.
That was awesome.
Yeah, I was trying to defeatmyself.
Yeah, dude, he's so nice too,he's just like the nicest dude
ever.
Dude, he's so nice too, he'slike the nicest dude ever.
And we came in and he startedlike throwing out ideas and he
like just had written somereally beautiful, cool lines
down that he was just kind oftalking through and I was like
tom, can I get a dang audiobookof you, just like reading?
(40:01):
through your ideas and readingme these lyrics you've crafted
up that I could never craft upin a million years like this is.
This is so much fun.
Man and we, like wound upwriting a really cool song.
So that was.
That was a special day.
That was definitely one whereit's like Tom Doug is top of the
list and just kind of came tofruition.
Speaker 1 (40:19):
Yeah, he's, I'd say he's a good one for sure.
Um, what uh I mean with withthe way that things have
happened?
You know fairly quickly for you, um, which is a testament to
you and your talent, uh,obviously, but uh, you know, for
, for people that are listening,like new writers come into town
, um, or, or aspiring artists,uh, what advice would you give
(40:42):
somebody?
Speaker 2 (40:43):
Like, what do you think was was like a really
important piece to when youfirst started getting here,
going back to like building yourcamp and everything, yeah I
think surrounding yourself withlike-minded people, yeah, big
time that you love, that, yourespect that, you like, like to
consider your best friends andthen just like workshop in the
hell out of everything.
Ideas is definitely, I think,helped, like just trying to
(41:09):
think of stuff in different ways.
That's what I was trying to dokind of early on just write some
like crazy stuff, and thenKelly Bolton's like ideas, ideas
, ideas.
And you get in with Ashley andAshley's like ideas, ideas,
ideas, and it's just come upwith crazy words or concepts or
simple country words that you'veheard your entire life, but
like what's a crazy angle?
(41:30):
Or can you put this in a song 20times and flip it 20 different
ways and make it really cool, orwhat's the most simple way you
can do this?
But it has an amazing melodyand the lyrics fall into place.
Like I think ideas are stillwhat I'm like I try to do every
day right now, which they'rehard, like it's hard, they're
hard to come by, for sure, everyday right now which they're
(41:51):
like.
Speaker 1 (41:52):
It's hard, they're hard to come by, for sure, for
me, it's hard to stay focused ina conversation because I
because I feel like I'm alwayslike listening to everything
around me, um, but it's alsocool Cause, like you know now,
you know well my wife and I willgo to a restaurant or something
and, um, or we're watching TVor whatever, and now it's, it's
almost to the point where, like,something will get said and I'm
(42:15):
like picking my phone up, yeah,and she's like Ooh, did you
hear that?
Speaker 2 (42:19):
Like she's picking up on it, Like that's a good line.
Speaker 1 (42:23):
She's like oh, you heard that one?
Okay, yeah, the frustrating islike did you hear anything?
I just said I'm like no, I waslistening to this conversation
over here, because what they'resaying is gold.
Speaker 2 (42:31):
Right now, you're really in an intense
conversation with yoursignificant other and they say
something You're like oh, shouldI write that down right now or
should I wait about 10 minutes?
No, that's awesome.
Speaker 1 (42:42):
Is that where you find most of your ideas is like
conversations or yeah, yeah, youknow it's like um, you know
kind of what you're saying, likeyou know if you can take, take
a lyric and flip it in a waythat's not been done and you
know like it's the, the almanacin a bible.
You know, like things like that, that like will, I'll hear,
that's like oh, I've never, I'venever heard like that line.
(43:04):
Or you know, sometimes they'renot even like hooks.
You know it's just like I likethat line to use somewhere.
Speaker 2 (43:11):
You know so um some sort of like just different kind
of inspiration.
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (43:17):
I love, like when, uh , we travel quite a bit.
So when I get out of Nashvilleand I go to different States or,
you know, even out of thecountry, you know and just hear
other conversations and the waythat they speak or say something
, that's just different.
You know, that's when I'm like,you know, I just have to give a
heads up, like to Brittany, I'mlike I'm with you, but I'm like
(43:37):
this is I'm going to.
We're going to have to be quietand just listen and take all
this in.
Speaker 2 (43:42):
So yeah, Sometimes we'll just call like Graham's
cousin and just let him talk forlike 15 minutes and then just
like grab pieces of gold out ofthat dude.
Thank you or write us, yeah,just call one of the homeboys
that's just like country as canbe and just let them rip, dude,
they'll say something.
They'll say something you canwrite absolutely man.
Speaker 1 (44:04):
Um, well, dude, I uh, I know you've got a uh a right
with josh phillips here a littlebit, so uh, um, but man, it was
it.
Just I can't wait to justcontinue to see what happens and
appreciate you sharing some,some stories behind the songs.
And yeah, dude, thank you somuch for having me.
Yeah, man, appreciate it.
I'm going to put you on thespot.
Do you want to?
Do you want to play a little?
(44:25):
Yeah, yeah, let's do it.
Speaker 2 (44:28):
We got to see him play this one in Nissan stadium
for the first time.
Oh, dude, it's CMA fest.
Yeah, that was cool.
We were like up in the like 300section, yeah, and we were just
like drinking Jack and Cokesand like it comes on and I was
with my girlfriend and my familyand her mom and her sister came
in the town and so we were likeall sitting up there.
She, like all sitting up there,she was causing the scenes.
(44:53):
Everybody in the section waslike, yeah, we're just up in the
300s just jamming out.
Did you have the set?
Did you know he was gonna do it?
We knew he was gonna play it.
We didn't know like which partof the setting you're gonna play
it.
But yeah, we had some insidebaseball, knowing that it was
supposedly on the set list.
But I was definitely like, dude, I hope he plays it because we
have our whole family here andthe girlfriend's family, like
that would, that would suck ifhe did all this and he just
doesn't play it what a coolfeeling and those, those fun man
(45:18):
.
Speaker 3 (45:18):
But uh, yeah, this one's state country dot trump
seven generations from a dirtbroke corn crop boots ain't
never seen easy street where askeeter gets slapped about as
fast as a star drop fruits rundeep in this family tree.
(45:40):
Bust your ass still won't makea killing.
(46:04):
We'll be right back, john, andJohn we trust sure we trust
Redneck.
Let it testify From the morningto cut to the days and dust.
Yeah, i'ma stay country or dietrying.
Speaker 1 (46:29):
Man.
The lyrics in that song arejust like, so vividly, like
you're just in a movie oh dudehell yeah thank you, man.
Speaker 2 (46:36):
That was a I mean, that was a hell of a crew to
write that song with it feltlike everybody was firing on all
cylinders that day of throw outa line, you throw out a line,
you throw out.
Everybody just contributed andit all came together thanks for
saying that, man.
Yeah, that's that's one of myfavorites.
That's just like I said,writing those style, just like
super redneck songs.
Yeah, they just kind of fuel myfire, for sure.
(46:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (47:00):
All right, man.
Well, I always end on thisquestion.
So, if you can go back toeight-year-old you in Louisiana
Okay, you're playing baseball.
Yeah, you, you in Louisiana.
Okay, um, you're playingbaseball.
Uh, you're in a rock pop band.
Um, what kind of advice.
Sitting here today, what wouldyou tell eight year old you?
Speaker 2 (47:22):
Um, what would I tell eight year old me Probably?
I used to be like very nervousto sing in front of people.
I would like I wouldn't, Iwouldn't play my guitar and sing
unless everybody was out of thehouse.
I would say just like, leaninto that sooner, just like get
(47:43):
out and start playing in frontof people and just kind of like
overcome that fear and don't bescared of what somebody thinks
about it.
Just do what you do and trustit.
In 10 years or however long ittakes it, like you're going to
be good at it and it's, it's allgoing to work out.
But just kind of I knew I lovedit.
So just chasing that feelingand not being slaughtered on any
(48:05):
steps up, just chugging along,I'd probably say that something
like that.
Love it, man.
Yeah man, thanks again for thetime, yeah thank you, chris.
Speaker 1 (48:12):
Well, uh, well, I can't wait to have you just
chugging along.
I'd probably say that Somethinglike that Love it, man.
Yeah, man, thanks again for thetime.
Yeah, thank you, chris.
Well, I can't wait to have youback in another year or so and
just we'll talk about the next20 hits that you've got.
I hope so.
Speaker 2 (48:22):
That'd be awesome.
Yeah, dude, I'd love that Allright.
Speaker 1 (48:31):
Well, thank, will put uh links to Bo's, uh, uh
socials and uh and all of that.
So check him out and uh go buyhis music.
Uh, we appreciate the support.
You've been listening to anotherepisode of stories behind the
songs.
I'm Chris Blair, this is BoBailey, and we'll see you next
time.
Thank you for listening toanother episode of Stories
Behind the Songs with ChrisBlair.
(48:52):
Make sure to give us a followon Spotify if you enjoyed this
episode and make sure you clickthat notification button so you
can keep notified when newepisodes come out.
We release brand new episodesevery Tuesday and you can find
us on YouTube at Stories Behindthe Songs with Chris Blair or
anywhere you listen to podcasts.
Don't forget to send us acomment letting us know what you
(49:21):
thought of the episodes.
We love getting your feedbackand share this with your friends
.
We'll see you next time and alot of my great friends.
We love what we do and we lovesharing their stories with you.
We appreciate all of thecontinued support.
Thanks also to all of oursponsors and we will see you all
next week.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal
Gregg Rosenthal and a rotating crew of elite NFL Media co-hosts, including Patrick Claybon, Colleen Wolfe, Steve Wyche, Nick Shook and Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic get you caught up daily on all the NFL news and analysis you need to be smarter and funnier than your friends.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.