June 12, 2025 • 52 mins
Nestled in the heart of Myrtle Beach's country music scene, this special CCMF edition of Leader Mentality Show delivers raw conversations with rising stars and community champions who embody authentic leadership.
American Idol alum Colby Lee Swift brings his Texas ranch wisdom to the microphone, revealing the delicate balance between stardom and staying grounded. "I don't see myself failing," Swift shares with quiet confidence, offering a masterclass in resilience as he describes his musical journey from five-year-old guitarist to CCMF performer. His advice to aspiring musicians cuts straight to the heart: "Feel everything you sing. Don't just sing it because it's another song."
The spotlight then shifts to Ground Zero's Carly, whose passion for transforming teen lives through music and faith-based community building exemplifies leadership through service. Her announcement of a new coffee truck venture - KEI Coffee Company - demonstrates how pursuing passion projects can complement meaningful community work.
Next on the show is Bailey Marie, a jack of all trades singer, songwriter, and actress. Bailey discusses how despite online criticism and past struggles, the negativity will never stop her from doing what she loves most. At a very young age, Bailey is already paving the way and creating a name for herself with roles in HBO Max and Apple TV series, as well as singing the national anthem at large events, such as NASCAR, and now, prior to The Beach Boys performance at CCMF.
Jon Finley joins us on the show to discuss big things upcoming at the Greg Rowles Legacy Theatre located in North Myrtle Beach. Jon also shares tips on things he has learned and experienced as the sales and marketing director at the theatre regarding the development of technology and social media usage.
Four-time Josie Music Award winner Trey Calloway delivers perhaps the most powerful moment when he confesses to nearly abandoning music before his wife rekindled his passion. With three million Spotify streams and a songwriting collaboration with Chris Young, Calloway's candid reflections on leadership resonate beyond music: "When you put your confidence in people and treat them with dignity and respect, you get so much in return."
Between fascinating stories about performing for cancer fundraisers and crafting songs that become the "soundtrack of people's lives," these conversations reveal a common thread: authentic leadership isn't about perfection but perseverance. Whether rebuilding storm-damaged ranch fences or navigating music industry setbacks, these individuals demonstrate how challenges become stepping stones to greater impact.
Ready to be inspired? Subscribe now and discover more conversations that blend entertainment with enduring leadership wisdom. What soundtrack are you creating for your life's journey?
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Welcome to Leader Mentality Show CCMF edition.
It's that time of year againand we have a collection of
great guests coming in this year.
And I'm starting off with a bigone, really, really great
performer.
You've seen him on AmericanIdol.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Yes, sir.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
He's been all over the stages across the country,
been doing this for a long time.
I don't want to bury the leadtoo much.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
Mr Colby Lee Swift welcome to the show how you
doing, man, Nice meeting youpartner.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
Man well, good to have you on here, man, your
first trip to Myrtle Beach.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
It is, it is.
It's nice out here.
I like it.
It was a long drive, though itkind of got backed up a couple
miles down the road.
But it was just all right.
Beaches are pretty Now where.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
Texas Did you guys drive all the way from.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
Texas I did.
I got here a couple days ago,went to Florida and then I went
to Florida and I came here justa couple days ago.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
Just yesterday, just yesterday, man.
So you made the real trek righthere.
Absolutely, I ain't stopped.
Well, welcome to Myrtle Beachman Appreciate you.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
What's your?
Speaker 1 (01:15):
initial impressions.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Man, I like it.
I just got to sit around herefor just a little bit.
I like the beach for sure, butit seems like a lot of fun.
It's going to be a lot of fun.
I'm going to check it out afterthis.
Yeah, no doubt.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
I'm going to check it out more.
So, Colby, you're performing onFriday.
Yep and so first time at CCMFthen too it is yes, sir.
What are you most excited about?
Speaker 3 (01:35):
The experience.
You know I get to learn a lot,to learn everything.
I like to take everything withthe grain of, you know, with the
grain of salt, learn as much asI can, cuz I don't get these
opportunities much.
So I'm blessed, a bit blessed,to be a part, particularly the
death, I'm excited, for surethat's super cool.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
I love it when people are excited.
What do you find when you getto an event like this?
And we got a lot of big nameshere, right?
Yeah, I mean you're a big name,but you got big yeah,
absolutely, absolutely talkedabout, maybe some mentors in the
business who do you lookforward to seeing?
Do you guys get to hang outbackstage?
What's it like?
Speaker 3 (02:08):
Man, I'm not too sure yet.
I'm definitely excited to seewhat it's about.
I do not know, I have no idea.
I'm just going to focus on mysongs and what I'm singing and
going to put a dang good show on.
That's what I'm looking forwardto.
Whatever happens backstagehappens backstage.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
That's all I'm looking forward to.
Yeah, exactly yeah, whatever itis.
What fires you up about doingthis man?
I mean, you've been a singerfor a long time, since you were
five years old.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
Yes, sir, yes, I started at a young age, Played
guitar, more or less at five,and started really picking up
singing around you know, aroundeight, ten, my sister Around 8,
10, my sister sang a little bitmore and I used to play guitar
with her.
Daddy would video us and put uson Facebook and the town would
like it or whoever would shareit.
But we both did music.
(02:54):
She sang more than me butstarted really singing around 15
, getting actually into it.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
So at what point does your music career go from like
oh, that's so cute.
To like this kid's got sometalent.
Some talent, you get a littlefive-year-old playing guitar.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
That's just gotta be horrible.
Yeah, yeah, I really don't knowit's um, it's just the want I
really want to say, it's justthe want of doing it.
You know, um, you know it's.
It's I like to, I don't like to.
Sometimes I look back at videosand just see how young I was.
But i'm'm like you're all soproud, like I hear a difference.
I know I'm better than what Iwas.
(03:29):
You know what I mean.
It's real.
I appreciate seeing that.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
Yeah, I know that you've had some inspiration and
so I've read up a little bit onstuff and you know you say
you're influenced by GeorgeStrait people like that.
Tell me about that.
Do you find yourself whenyou're writing songs or you're
getting ready?
Is that something that's reallycreatively coming into your
stuff or is that just morenaturally happening?
You look back and go I kind ofsound like George Strait.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
Man, I don't like to put myself in anybody's shoes,
but what I like to look at isjust listening to the details,
listening to the color that theywere painting with songs and
the way they sang them, with theway you could feel that that
old country sound and that manor whoever you look up to, it's
like they're really bringingsomething out, and that's what I
like to look at and I thinkthat's, uh, that's what my team
(04:16):
likes to look at.
They we actually appreciatestuff.
We're actually working on newstuff, putting new stuff out.
That's gonna really start, youknow, being able to paint a
picture of what I actually andwhat I can do.
So I I think I look at thedetail in the colorful picture
that they they sing when all thesong to the window.
I had to listen to all the moldsongs of theirs.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
You know, love it, love it.
Man, how much your personallife comes into your music?
Speaker 3 (04:38):
oh, a lot, a lot man, you know drinking, uh uh.
You know having a good timewith friends.
Or you know a woman hurting myheart, you know, whatever it is,
it's all life.
And then there's a lot of songs, you know I like to.
I love looking at what otherpeople can write too, because
there's some times where I can'tget things off my heart or off
(04:58):
my head and other people can sayit just as just as like I want
you know, and then it makes youfeel something so you can
actually relate to that song andmake people, um, you know,
believe what you're acting, makethem you're touching anybody
when you're singing that, justsinging stuff like that.
You know I, that's what I likeabout it all too.
Everybody you really feel inmusic.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
I dig it.
Yeah, cause what you're, youknow, music has got this
powerful thing that it does.
Where it can make youintrospective, it can get you
fired up.
If you're in the gym, you cando one thing but the next moment
it's just kind of calming youdown.
So really powerful stuff, man.
It's a beautiful gift that youhave that you can share with the
people in a crowd like this?
Speaker 3 (05:37):
Yes, sir, absolutely.
It's super cool.
Do you have any other genres ofmusic you like, or is it all
country music for you?
I mean, yeah, I listen toEminem.
I like listening to rap.
You know rock creed and that'sjust about it, stuff like that.
You know the old school stuff,what daddy used to listen to,
what you know, what you hear inthe old garage shop, at a tire
(05:58):
shop.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
You know that's what I like, that what's the best
Eminem song of all time?
Man, I'm going to put you tothe dust.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
I would say Godzilla, no, no, no, it's Slim Shady,
the real Slim Shady, please.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
Oh dude.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
No, yeah, yeah, it's real Slim Shady.
That right there is hilarious.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
I love that song.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
It is a good song I was blank for a second.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
I gotta get this right.
I look stupid.
You say, god, I'm taking myaudio here.
No, that's cool.
So tell me about um.
It says you work with yourproducer, brent raider yes, sir
stuff.
Tell me about you guys'sinteraction and how that works
out.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
man, he really does.
Uh, he's been, he's been a real, a solid mentor to me.
I really gotta say he's hebrought me in and I didn't.
I never really got to sit inthe studio and really get to
learn anything.
Man, I've got to be in therooms with people that can do
absolutely everything, andthere's a new side of music that
I haven't got to see.
So he there's questions,questions that I ask that are
(07:02):
too much, and he'll just likeman, you ain't got to worry
about that, not right now.
Yeah, I get excited, I want toknow and I want to learn, but he
just steers me in the righttrack and I take everything what
he says.
I take it seriously.
I definitely got to listen tohim.
He's been doing a lot for me.
For sure.
I love the way he produces mymusic.
He sounds solid every time heproduces my music, dave.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
He sounds solid every time.
Nice, man, nice.
What motivates you?
You know.
I mean, obviously I know youlove the music, but what
motivates you to do what you do?
And what I mean by this is, youknow, in the road to where
you're at, obviously there'sgoing to be setbacks, there's
going to be detractors, there'sgoing to be people who don't
believe in you.
There's going to be people whodo believe in you and you keep
going.
You know you're playing on thestage at one of the biggest
(07:45):
events in the country.
You know what motivates you,man.
How do you get up every day?
Speaker 3 (07:51):
That's a good question, definitely.
I got to think I mean, goddefinitely motivates me, I mean,
but I just don't.
I don't see myself failing,like this is like I'm not going
to.
I guess that's what motivatesme.
I wake up and there are themdays where you just you know,
you second guess everything, youknow, you don't really know if
(08:13):
this is supposed to be somethingyou're doing.
And you start getting closer tothings and you start having
these opportunities and thenyour mind starts switching a
little bit and then you go hmm,I need to learn a little bit
more, I need to really take thisinto a different spot.
I just don't see myself failing.
So that's my motivation.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
Man.
Dude, that's a mindset thing.
You know what I love about that, though?
Everybody, no matter whereyou've been.
You've had that question marktime.
Oh Lord, man, is this it?
But then you keep pushingforward, and that's what the
difference is between thesuccessful people and the
non-successful.
I tell this story sometimes youwatch any sports uh, yes, I do
(08:53):
a little bit so.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
So there's a.
You ever heard of kobe bryant?
Speaker 1 (08:54):
yeah, yeah, yeah yeah absolutely, but kobe told a
story about how he went to abasketball camp when he was
younger.
Didn't hit a shot, the entirecamp and it's like you know.
He went home and there was apoint where you're like man, am
I good enough to do this?
And when he flipped that switchand he said, no, I am good
enough to do this, just like youjust said, and pushed forward,
of course, the story ended likethat.
For him it kind of worked out.
(09:15):
Yeah, exactly, tell me aboutyour story.
You know 10 years from now.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
Where would you see yourself?
I like to see myself playingstadiums, big stadiums, sellout
stadiums.
I like to have a number one hitin a mind that I wrote I like
to have a name in country music.
Be that change also for people,and that's something that I see
myself.
I want to mark like that in thenext 10 years.
Yeah killer man.
Have a good ranch.
You know what I mean.
Just sit on the ranch.
That's what I mean.
I just sit on the ranch.
That's what I'd like to seemyself in 10 years.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
So you said something .
I love that.
What do you do when you're notsinging?
What's a?
Speaker 3 (09:52):
good day for you, oh, man, a good day is I hang out
with Granny.
We wake up and hang out withher and I go check the cows, you
know, trying to build some.
Uh, I got to build gates out of, uh, corral boards, you know
wood boards, so I can work thesedang cow pens.
We had that thing.
Um, we had barrel storm runthrough, we had our windmill
break, our barns fall off, youknow, fall apart and uh, just,
(10:14):
you know, I would like to justsee it real, like a real
functioning ranch.
You know, like bring it back up, because we've had a lot of,
you know, trouble, not troubleson the ranch, just, you know,
just a lot, just a lot ofdestruction.
It's hard to do things I wantto do, but we've got a lot of
good-looking cows so we'reexcited to see it grow.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
That's a real country guy right there just in case
you're wondering, it's authenticman.
I like it.
Well, you know we're sponsoredby Carolina Bays Real Estate and
Construction, so we can allunderstand what you're saying.
You're talking about a littlebit of hard work.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
Yes sir, yes sir.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
Well, so tell me this With where you've been in your
career, what would you say to ayoung person that's 15 years old
and they're trying to come upthrough it?
What advice would you have forthem?
Speaker 3 (10:55):
Feel everything you sing.
Feel everything you sing.
Don't just sing it because it'sanother song.
Just put yourself in the shoesof the person that was singing
it and actually feel whatthey're trying to say.
And I think emotions, if youthink like that would come out
through your voice and singing,you know, do not.
(11:17):
That's probably the biggestthing I could say.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
I love that man.
Be authentic.
You know it's like don't try tojust copy everybody, but but
like literally feel what you'resaying, man.
It comes out after the crowdsconnect to that.
Speaker 3 (11:27):
Yes, exactly.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
Well, let me ask you this Anything coming up that you
uh?
Speaker 3 (11:33):
wanted to kind of promote before a couple of songs
coming out here shortly.
We got Up in Flames, cannot Runthe Heartache and got a lot of
good old country sounding songs.
So it's going to be coming outhere in the next couple of
months, going to be playing ashow in National Mechanics in
New Jersey, so that's going tobe a lot of fun June 28th with
Cole Goodwin.
(11:53):
So I'm looking forward to doingthat.
It it's going to be a lot offun, man.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
Killer man, Are you performing new stuff while
you're here?
Speaker 3 (11:59):
Oh, absolutely Every day's going to be original,
absolutely.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
All of it is.
That's what we got to talkabout.
It's our teaser.
Speaker 3 (12:08):
Yeah, I'm going to be playing them songs.
I'm going to be trying them outhere too.
Okay, we're going to do it, Ilike the way you say you're
trying them.
I'll see you.
Speaker 1 (12:16):
Let's see what it does.
That would be killer.
Speaker 3 (12:18):
Sounds good.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
Colby, I appreciate you coming on the show man.
You do a lot of great stuff outthere.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
Thank you and good luck.
Thank you, partner, get forward.
Yes, sir, all right.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
Hey guys, we appreciate Colby Lee Swift,
amazing young talent.
You guys come out and see himat CCMF this weekend on Friday,
and we'll see you guys on thenext segment.
Welcome back to the LeaderMentality Show, ccmf edition
2025.
We got more guests coming upover this few days that we're
(12:47):
recording, but we do want tostart off by thanking our
sponsors.
Thank you to Grand StrandBrewing Company and having us
out here in this beautiful venuehere, right in, right outside
of CCMF, so it's really a greatvenue.
They're getting ready busy dayahead, so you'll see everybody
kind of working behind us as wego.
We also want to thankCarolina-based real estate and
construction, of course, and ourother sponsor, who has always
been so good to us, is GroundZero.
(13:09):
So we have one of the bestrepresentatives you'll ever meet
anywhere and it is Carly fromGround Zero.
Hey.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
Carly, hello, hi everyone, good to have you back
for year to be here.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
Yeah, awesome.
I mean Ground Zero is such anamazing part of this whole area,
Myrtle Beach, and you said thewhole Grand Strand.
Really, yeah, Tell us a littlebit for the people who haven't
heard about it before.
Tell us a little bit aboutGround Zero and what you all do.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
Yeah, so Ground Zero.
We're located right in MyrtleBeach.
If you go to pick up yourwristbands at Will Call or if
you have questions for the CCMFstaff, you're in the Ground Zero
building and so we use that forevents.
We are a place for everyteenager to go belong and grow,
and we do that throughlife-changing experiences.
So on a weekly basis we haveevents for all middle and high
(13:55):
school students.
It's free for them to attend.
They get a free coffee drink, afree meal, we have a live DJ,
we have games and we have amessage at the end and it's just
building those relationships,sharing.
It's a faith-based nonprofit,so we're sharing just the gospel
and the good news.
And we also have concerts thatwe're doing.
(14:17):
That's a big thing.
This summer, every Sunday nightwe're doing a summer concert
series.
So artists like Colton Dixon Iknow, cochran Company is one of
them, tasha Layton is one ofthem and the Newsboys is the
other one, so Sunday nightsthey're free to attend.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
We're blocking off Chester Street and you can come
set up a chair and listen tosome good music, but we just
always have a good rotating listof events going on, but no one
of the things about Myrtle Beachand this show is viewed at
different areas of the country,actually different areas of the
world, and sometimes you hearthese things about Myrtle Beach
(14:54):
and they're not always positive,right?
People don't always haveglowing reports of it, but it's
the small pockets that come upthat are really the anomalies.
Myrtle Beach is a greatcommunity and the thing I like
that you just talked about isthat ground zero is a big part
of this.
You know you talk aboutcommunity building, taking care
of the kids, giving people agood quality thing to do when
(15:15):
they're, you know, going home atnight.
It's like, what do I want to do?
I'm going to go to ground zeroand have a good time, so I think
that's really cool.
Who started this and tell us alittle bit about them?
Speaker 2 (15:24):
Yeah, so Scott Pacer started this.
It'll be 27,.
27 years ago this monthactually in.
Tennessee, and he moved herearound like 2010, 2011.
That building, that ground zeroin is in, had nothing going on
and it was fairly abandoned,just kind of coming to shambles,
(15:44):
yeah, and so through donationshe's built it into what it is
today.
So that whole building is hisvision and it's pristine it is.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
It's a bit incredible , dude.
I love walking through thatbuilding.
Every time I go through there,I'm always like, oh, this is so
fun.
I wish I was a little kid again.
Yeah, you, just because there'sso many things to do.
There's video games and, likeyou said, coffee, which we're
going to get back to some coffeetopics in a little bit.
So, anyway, but everybody knowsRob Clemens loves a good coffee
.
You know what I'm saying?
Speaker 2 (16:09):
Yeah, Do you guys have?
Decaf just for's so much sugarin it already.
They get the frozen.
They love a frozen ground zeromocha.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
Yeah, those are, oh okay, A frozen ground zero mocha
.
And I have to say, when itcomes to that, maybe a little
placebo effect comes in.
You know they're not gettingany caffeine, but they're like,
oh, I'm so buzzed and they lovethe sugar.
Right, right, right.
The sugar buzz is there forsure.
Why is it called Ground Zero?
How did that name come out?
Speaker 2 (16:44):
So it's the point of impact.
So you're starting at literallyGround Zero.
So the ministry was in placebefore 9-11, so we do get that
question a lot actually of thecomparison there.
But it's the point of impact.
So, um, we want to impact thesekids before life hits them
right, like we want to help themset a good foundation, whether
(17:05):
that's, um, in their faith orwith some skills that they can
take into the workforce, or withtheir, their life.
Like we have students who workthe coffee shop and learn that
they work in top notch and learnthat they serve in production.
And we have we actually have ashe's 16, knows more about the
production booth than I do andthat's part of my job.
Like she can set all the lightsand do the video walls and
(17:27):
knows the soundboard and she'spicked it up as she's watched
other people do it.
So they really are learningincredible things at such a
young age.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
It's the best learning you can do.
You go and learn some practicalthings in school, but when you
can apply them.
Amazing, and I hear Ground Zero.
You guys have a lot ofvolunteers who come in, but a
lot of those volunteerseventually become employees.
Yeah, so it's a greatopportunity for somebody.
You guys always need volunteers.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
I'm sure Always, and if you're interested, head to
mygroundzerocom and you canclick.
Interested in volunteering?
Speaker 1 (17:56):
I'm doing like a little below under the screen
thing for Lauren to delve in.
So let me ask you this.
We're just coming off of ground, the ground zero dragon boat
races.
That's an amazing event eachyear.
How much money did that raisein the area?
Speaker 2 (18:10):
I don't know the exact amount I should know it's
over a hundred thousand though.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
It was.
I want to say it was over200,000.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
Wow, can you imagine that?
Just what a great cause that is.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
And the whole community rallies around that
event.
That's probably my favoriteweek of the whole year.
The staff says it's likeChristmas because we get to be
at Market Common.
We're setting up throughout thewhole week but we get to see so
many people in the community.
There's thousands, thousands ofpeople that come out and
they're just having having funand they're all doing it for a
good cause and people areexcited and competitive.
(18:42):
I'm a sports girl.
Speaker 1 (18:43):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
Love the competitiveness.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
You know I was on a boat this year.
I know I do.
I saw you.
Don't ask me how we did, thoughit was, uh, it was a humbling
year, you know.
You know how, uh, I think inthe Bible they talk about like
perseverance coming from failureand whatnot.
Yeah, yeah, I got, I got alittle dose of perseverance.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
So you rebuild, you just got to keep?
Speaker 1 (19:03):
Absolutely, I've been .
I'm already hitting the gym.
Going back to the things.
Uh well, carly, I heard alittle secret.
You got some good stuff comingup.
Tell me what's coming up on thehorizon for you, yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
So I have decided to pursue a dream that I've had for
a very long time, and I'mstarting my own coffee company,
and so it is called K CoffeeCompany, k-e-i, and it is a
coffee truck built on the bed ofa K truck, which is a Japanese
construction truck.
It's imported, it's 32 yearsold, it's a 1993 and it's neon
(19:39):
blue, and so I drove by thistruck almost every day.
Love the trucks.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
Um, it's a manual and it drives on the right hand
side okay, so there's just a lotof quirks that go with it um,
but I, it's just always been adream of mine.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
Someone asked me like if that's one of your dreams,
if that's something you'vealways wanted to do, then what's
stopping you?
And I said that's, that's agood point like what is stopping
me, and so things have justkind of fallen into place and so
I'm actually building the bedout this coming week.
But I have my machine.
I'm practicing drinks okay,tonight, and I should be out and
(20:12):
about in the grand strand in alittle over a week when you say
you're practicing drinks, soyou're practicing making the
drinks you've already designed.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
Are you also coming up with new concoctions?
Speaker 2 (20:22):
Yes, I love I love coming up with new menu items,
and so I worked at a coffee shopfor many years, okay, yeah, and
so that was one of the things Ilove doing when we had downtime
is finding new flavors.
I created a cinnamon roll latteat that store and that was one
of the most popular ones, but Ijust loved working there.
I helped roast the beans, Iloved getting to know our
(20:43):
regulars and they just becomepart of a really strong
community and it's so fun.
And actually that's whose beansI'm going to use their beans.
So I talked to them and theyfun fact they wholesale their
beans to the studio in Georgiathat films, marvel movies, okay,
their beans to the studio inGeorgia that films, marvel
movies.
Okay, so all of those actorswill be drinking the coffee I'm
selling.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
Oh, my gosh.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
The Rock loves a two-shot Americano black the
Rock does yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
Holy cow.
Speaker 2 (21:08):
So if you want the same drink as the Rock, that he
drinks when he's filming.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
You can get it from me, right?
You need to come to KEIK.
Yep, keik.
All right, I like it, I like it.
Hey, that's really cool,congratulations.
Thank you.
I think we all have tosometimes.
You just got to go for yourdream.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1 (21:28):
You know, and the biggest thing that holds most
people back is fear.
So you get over that hump andyou're headed out to do big
things, so people can startbuying coffee from you when.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
I think I have all of the permits and the licenses.
It's just kind of getting thetruck set.
So I say, in about two weeks Iwill be booking events and
you'll see me, hopefully allover the place.
You just have to look for thereally tiny neon blue.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
It'll be hard to miss .
I drive it down the road Withthe steering wheel on the wrong
side.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
Right yeah, on the wrong side, maybe it doesn't go
more than 65 miles an hour.
Speaker 1 (21:54):
Okay, well, good, yeah, most of Myrtle Beach.
That's the speed limit.
Anyway, you're good.
Well, very cool stuff.
Congratulations to you.
I know that's going to go well.
We'll definitely have to havesome coffee from you.
Maybe that'll be a future show.
Let's do that right.
So, carly, let's wrap up with alittle bit about what you're
excited about with CCMF.
Are you getting to go this year?
I am All right, awesome.
Who are you most excited to see?
Speaker 2 (22:16):
I am very excited for Jelly Roll.
That's what I've wanted to seefor a while, but I also love
Lainey Wilson.
And when she was here two yearsago, I think it was it was a
Sunday night and there was acrazy thunderstorm.
And so she only got maybe 20minutes, 20, 30 minutes into her
set and then they had to stopbecause there was lightning and
thunder and the whole, you know.
(22:37):
So I'm excited to see her fullperformance for once.
I think she's cool.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
Hoping the weather holds out.
Well, a lot of people thinkshe's cool too.
I think you're in good company.
Uh, I know we've had a few.
Uh, people already say she'sone of their most excited things
.
So, Lainey, the people atMyrtle Beach want you so very
cool.
Um, how can people find outmore about Ground Zero?
Speaker 2 (22:57):
Um, you can look them up on social media at
groundzeronb or go tomygroundzerocom and that'll get
you all the information you need.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
All right, hey Carly, thank you again for being here,
thank you for having me Alwaysa lot of fun.
Good luck with your venture,thank you, and we will see you
guys on the next segment ofLeader Mentality Show, ccmf,
back here over at theGrandstream Brewing Company, one
of our sponsors for the show,and the venue that we're
recording from right nowBeautiful place.
Come out, have some food, havesome drinks and just have a good
(23:26):
time, as you're going to CCMFthis year.
So, and we also want to thankour other sponsors, carolina
Bays Real Estate andConstruction.
Thank you to Ground Zero and,of course, none other than the
Greg Rolls Legacy Theater inNorth Myrtle Beach and we have
an old buddy with us on the show, here you got well, a young old
buddy, I don't know.
Man, I think when we get acertain age, we're all old, my
(23:50):
body feels it, john.
Welcome back John Finley, salesand marketing director over
there.
You guys been doing a lot ofcool stuff.
You got a lot of big thingscoming up on the horizon.
Tell us all about the theater.
Speaker 4 (24:01):
I mean second year.
First year went really great.
I had a lot of things to learn,Learning, moments.
Oh my goodness yeah, you go intoa new business and you do your
job and you learn that.
But, man, building somethingground up was just, I'd never
done it, a lot of us never doneit, so it was a lot, but we've
hit a good stride with somethings.
We're still learning somethings, but you know, we've got
(24:23):
a lot of things coming up, a lotof changes coming up, a lot of
music and concerts coming up.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
There's a lot coming up for sure, man, when you talk
about things that you learned inyear one when you were building
it, I think we can all relatewith this.
You know you try out something,whether it's a new job or a new
business venture, so we allknow what that feels like to be
like.
Oh, that didn't work.
What's something that you thinkyou could?
Speaker 4 (24:47):
share with the people .
That's a difference that you'redoing now.
I mean just for me.
You know there's stuff you knowI do, like you said, sales and
marketing, and for me, marketinga big part of it this day and
age, with technology developingand stuff, is just how to get
information out, whether it's,you know, if you want to be
serious about it and put it onfacebook, if you want to be
silly about it and put it in youknow, a reel or tiktok learning
the social media side of stuff,and I'll tell you that in
(25:07):
itself is a full-time job, mygoodness well, I can imagine,
because when you get into socialmedia, there are so many
different ways about going aboutit on each platform.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
What do you think is your most successful medium for
your venue?
Speaker 4 (25:24):
You know, honestly, I think it's changed.
There's different things thatgo different places.
Like for us, we do the dadjokes.
Everybody loves the dad jokes.
It's probably one of thebiggest social media drives we
have.
Yeah, yeah, you know, but youlearn, you put that in certain
places at certain times.
You know people on Facebookreally love like those behind
(25:44):
the scenes, personal, intimatelike photos and stories with the
photos.
Yeah, um, you know, we'vestarted doing a bunch of silly
little tiktok videos that we put.
It's just it's fun to do that,but trying to get all of that
filmed and edited that's a lot,man, it's a lot, but it's really
fun.
Do enjoy it.
And the cast has been reallygreat about participating.
We've got the box office peopleinvolved.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
So people are starting to get to know other
people besides the cast I sawthat and I think that's smart.
I think any good business.
If you can show your people ina good light and what they're
doing on a day-to-day, you canconnect with that.
Speaker 4 (26:12):
Yeah, we actually had someone I want to say.
It was, christmas came up andone of our ambassadors was
behind the concession stand andthis first time that they had
been to the theater and they goI saw you on TikTok.
I was like that's what we want.
Speaker 1 (26:24):
Yes, yes, yes, yes, it's the celebrity effect thing
and all that, I think thebiggest thing for our theater is
the personal touch to it.
Speaker 4 (26:29):
We feel like family, whether it's online or in person
.
At the theater they really feellike they know them, and that's
exactly what I need to do.
Speaker 1 (26:36):
That's my job Absolutely, and that's a good
point.
When we talk about why go tothe Greg Rolls Legacy Theater
while you're in Myrtle Beachdoing whatever else you're doing
, you head on down there and itis a family kind of a feeling.
It's a more cozy setting andyou have all these these great
songs from different genres andover a long period of time.
I mean, you know they have the,you know things that you're
(26:57):
going to hear.
If you're a baby boomer you canenjoy all the way down to being
a millennial or even a Gen Z-er.
Speaker 4 (27:07):
I think that's exactly right.
And you know, like you said,with our show we often change
big sections.
Most every night, each of thecast members has their own like
20-minute segment.
They'll change songs out ofthat, you know, literally every
night.
Speaker 1 (27:17):
I've had this question in my head.
Oh boy, now Greg does this.
Hey, songs from the audiencelike requests from the audience.
What if you threw him somethinglike hey man, play some
Metallica.
What would he do?
Speaker 4 (27:31):
I would probably have a heart attack if he played
Metallica.
Now the thing is, I think Kenny, our guitar player, could
probably be playing Metallica.
Speaker 1 (27:38):
He's good man.
Speaker 4 (27:39):
I would love to see Greg sing Metallica, it would
just be interesting.
Speaker 1 (27:42):
It's not really Greg's style per se?
Speaker 2 (27:44):
No, it is not.
Speaker 1 (27:44):
But I just think it would be interesting because and
I use them, I almost use anykind of thing like that that
just gets so far out of thecomfort zone, but it is a lot of
fun.
Man, he always kills it,whatever he sings.
Speaker 4 (27:55):
And I think the thing that they're all learning,
because I mean, a lot of themcame from the Alabama Theater.
He was there for 22 years,chris and Jason were there for
like 19.
What they're learning is theycan do that kind of stuff and it
might be silly, it might beweird, it might be uncomfortable
, but people love that becausethey've seen them, in one style
or one format, be very properand put together.
Speaker 3 (28:16):
Right, right so loosening up.
Speaker 4 (28:17):
people connect to that better and they're really
leaning into that.
It was an uncomfortable push toget them there, but we've
gotten there, I think.
Speaker 1 (28:24):
Well, I will say this .
There's a couple of segmentsduring the show.
It's a humor show too, so youguys have music you have humor
and everything.
And Jason I never realized hewas kind of a funny guy until I
started watching it.
Speaker 4 (28:37):
Yeah, I mean I don't know if I can ever.
He's literally come up and toldme something before and I'm
like I don't know if I can takeyou seriously.
Speaker 2 (28:43):
Are you being serious or are you not?
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
One of those things.
Speaker 4 (28:46):
Oh yeah, because he'll make jokes or crack things
off and just off the top of thehead kind of comments, and
Chris, his wife, will be backthere and she'll does this all
the time oh, just try livingwith them.
Speaker 1 (28:56):
It's like yeah, right , she's like I can't.
It's all the time it's notfunny because I hear it all the
time.
He is it.
He'll have you laughing.
He does all the physical humortoo, so yeah, he's like a uh
more in shape.
Speaker 4 (29:07):
Chris farley well said, well said.
Speaker 1 (29:11):
Very I like it jason, don't kill me, all right well,
hey, you said in shape, althoughthe bar for in shape there is
really low when we're talkingabout Chris Farley.
Speaker 4 (29:21):
Yeah, he's got a pretty big gap there.
Speaker 1 (29:23):
Well, cool stuff, man .
We're going to actually circleback around to him.
In a minute.
You guys have some bigperformers coming to the Greg
Rills Theater don't you?
Speaker 4 (29:29):
We have a lot of good stuff.
So through the summer we've gota John Denver.
That's the next Saturday, endof the month.
We have a group that was herelast year, motown and More.
They are phenomenal, but theysing a bunch of genres and stuff
, mostly obviously Motown, andthey had a huge showing when
they came last year.
Yeah, they sold out last year,so they're coming back at the
(29:50):
end of the month and then, Ithink the 13th of July, it's
called Revisiting Credence, soit's a.
CCR group and it's not a tributeor anything.
It's some of the members thatactually toured with them for
like 20 years.
Nice, they have a group.
So some CCR music is great.
We've got I'm trying to thinkof what else exactly through the
month, gary Louder, local guy.
He's going to be here.
(30:12):
Is Billy Bob Thornton stillcoming around the way?
So he is.
So in August.
We've got, I know we've got acouple of big shows.
We have a couple more returning, like Fleetwood Mac, that's
returning, and the Highwaymen.
They're coming back August.
We also have Jay Dupuis whoused to do Elvis here at Legends
Nice.
He's coming August 16th.
So Billy Bob Thornton is coming, him and his band the
(30:34):
Boxmasters, they'll be hereAugust 20th.
That's a Wednesday or Thursday,okay okay, nice, nice and
they're actually kicking offtheir Pippertree Hill tour for
the year.
They're starting it in NorthMyrtle Beach with us.
Speaker 1 (30:44):
Man, that'll be a big one.
I'd say, get your tickets now.
If you're trying to get to that, are there still even tickets
left?
Speaker 4 (30:49):
I mean I literally made an announcement post and I
think 500 tickets sold already.
Speaker 1 (30:59):
So it's going to go quick.
Yeah, All right, Cool man.
Well, let's dive into one otherthing.
We've got a few minutes left,so I know you've been brewing up
something for the theater, forthe Great Girls Legacy Theater,
talking about a little podcast.
Tell me about the concept ofthat and what all is going on
with it.
Well, you know you inspired usto start.
It all started here, babyno-transcript.
Speaker 4 (31:26):
The main kind of concept with it is that it's
sponsored by the theater,sponsored by you guys, but we,
we don't want it to bespecifically just music talk,
because I feel like that wasgoing to put us in a corner.
Yeah, at the same time, wedidn't want it to just be
specifically for our theater.
So we're going to be bringingin people from, like, the
Carolina Opry, alabama Theater,legends, you know, charles Bach
(31:47):
over at the Wonders Theater, abunch of different people,
business owners, you know peoplein the area that have got
experiences to share.
You know there'll be somecomedy stuff, because Jason's
going to be part of it too.
I mean, you can't make like Isaid, you can't take it
seriously.
Yeah, right, right.
So, but yeah, we'll be startingthat here, probably in the next
month or so, pretty soon, yeahnice.
Speaker 1 (32:06):
I think everybody needs to stay tuned for that.
You're talking about localentertainment and happenings.
You can probably talk somenationwide happenings.
Oh yeah, get some performers onfrom the show behind the scenes
and you talk about connectivity.
It's like sometimes you see thepeople on the stage but you're
wondering what are they reallylike?
What kind of stories do thesepeople have?
There are probably all kinds ofbackstories about man.
(32:27):
This happened when I went outon stage one time.
Speaker 4 (32:29):
Oh yeah, I mean, that's the thing I mean.
Just someone like Greg.
You take some of his storiesand they've got stories you
wouldn't believe people thatthey met.
Speaker 1 (32:43):
You wouldn't ever have guessed.
Or you know, it's just they'vegot cool stuff that I don't know
if they get to share it a lot,or you don't know about these
people absolutely well.
You know performers.
They've had so manyopportunities over the years and
the first time I had asubstantial conversation with
greg and he's a humble guy buthe's had a an amazing career.
You know talking about lonestar and being with them early
in the touring and being on starSearch and winning that and
traveling the country and I justthought, man, you know, these
are things that the people needto hear.
Speaker 4 (33:02):
Yeah, I mean, you take that and even someone like
you know, like me and you, yeah,I do marketing, but I've done.
I was in the military for 10years.
I was a firefighter.
Like you, don't know theseexperiences until you hear these
stories from people.
Speaker 1 (33:15):
So 100 percent, and the beauty is in the story.
So you know we want to bringthat to it.
You know my marketing director,lauren.
She's always talking about youknow we have to have creative
content.
We have to have things thatpeople want to hear.
You can't just sit there andtalk about you know business all
day all the time.
Speaker 4 (33:31):
So sometimes you got to break out of the company.
Speaker 1 (33:32):
That helps if you got a pretty face too.
Yeah Well yeah, oh, you weren'ttalking about me, were you?
Anyway, well, hey, man, and I'mlooking forward to joining you
guys on that podcast wheneveryou want to have me.
You know we're going to come inand we'll just have some fun.
Man lighting it up always.
Well, listen, how can peoplefind out more about the Greg
Rolls Legacy Theater?
Speaker 4 (33:49):
Yeah, you can give us a call 843-663-3600.
You can visit grltnmbcom or youcan stop by.
We're at 701 Main Street, rightin North Myrtle Beach.
Speaker 1 (33:57):
Man, you've done that a time or two A couple times.
Thank you, for being all men,always fun.
And, by the way, we have somemore guests coming up on the
CCMF edition of the LeaderMentality Show and we'll look
forward to seeing you guys soon.
It is our special CCMF edition2025.
We are in a special place today.
Might look a little differentthan what you leader mentality
(34:18):
fans are used to seeing, but weare back.
I'm going to say backstage,it's country music time.
We're backstage at the GrandStream Brewing Company, so we're
having a real authentic look.
Man, this is a little differentthan your other interviews
isn't it?
Speaker 5 (34:29):
It's pretty cool man.
This might be the coolestinterview scenario I've done so
far.
Speaker 1 (34:32):
Yeah, right, right, right, exactly.
Well, guys, fans of the show,you guys know that we're all
about uplifting, we're all aboutthe journey, we're all about
leadership.
We believe everybody can be aleader and our goal is to uplift
you.
But sometimes leadership is notthe easiest road in the world
and there's a lot of bumps thatyou might go through in your
path to inspiring others andgetting to where you're at.
(34:55):
So that's why this CCMF editionis so important to me, because
I'm having some of the best inthe world that are out here at
Myrtle Beach being asked toperform in front of thousands
and thousands of people, and wewant to tell that story.
So I got a great guy today.
I think he's going to fire youguys up.
This is Mr Trey Calloway.
He is Songwriter of the Year,texas Country Music Association.
(35:17):
Four-time and if I say anythingand I shortchange you, you let
me know.
Four-time Josie Music Awardwinner.
He's been a Carolina CountryMusic Song of the Year recipient
.
1.5 million streams on Spotify.
It's closer to three now Three.
Man ever since I wrote this,he's already up 1.5 million more
.
If you do give any stats andthey're wrong- just over-inflate
(35:39):
it for me he must be at least 3million and 1 right now, I'm
sure.
But well, man, welcome to theshow.
Good to have you.
Thanks for having me, rob.
It's good to be here.
Well, I know you have a busyweek.
What all is going on for youright now.
Speaker 5 (35:50):
So this has been a crazy week.
So I did my first Nashville CMAFest this week as well, Wow,
okay.
And Wednesday I got the amazingopportunity to play a thing
called Country for a Cause whichis for the Vanderbilt
Children's Cancer Research.
They give all that money tothem.
It's at 3rd and Lindsley, NiceWorld-famous music venue, man,
(36:13):
they had Jimmy Fortune from theStatler Brothers, all these old
Opry stars, the Oak Ridge Boyswere there.
It's just insane.
And I got to open the show andwe went out there and my guitar
player, Austin Crum, and we hada fiddle player named Sean
Bailey play it with us and heplays with Josh Turner, Austin
plays with Shannon Dole a wholebunch.
So I mean I had some of thebest players in the world up
(36:34):
there on stage with me and werocked it.
Man, they really came throughfor me.
And then I went and did myfirst ever autograph signing at
CMFS the next day and did twobooths and did a couple pressers
and a bunch of bunch ofinterviews, signed about 250
autographs, which was the firsttime I'd ever signed that how's
your hand doing, yeah, my handwas hurting, so, but it's just
(36:55):
been an amazing, an amazing weekand then.
So I drove down here and I don'thave a tour bus yet.
It was me and my pickup truckand my guitar in the back.
Speaker 1 (37:03):
Now, that's legit, though that's what we want to
hear.
We don't want to hear aboutthese tour buses, the road days,
right right, right, and so Igot to play.
Speaker 5 (37:10):
I played a couple of gigs while I've been in town.
I did a hometown show Fridaynight at Captain Archie's, which
is one of the first places Igot my start in Nice, and it's
grown from there being maybe 20people when I first started to
you couldn't walk in there.
And those people, the love thatthey've given me, that this
area has given me, as they wishme luck as I moved to Tennessee,
(37:32):
has just been humbling andamazing and anything a guy like
me could wish for.
Speaker 1 (37:39):
Man that's so cool.
You know, I really appreciatethe way that so many of you guys
and I've met a lot of thesingers over the years.
I'm sorry, no man, we're arough bunch.
You guys are some of the like Iguess it might sound cliche,
but salt of the earth type ofpeople.
Man, you're out there and yougive back to people but you also
really love what you do and Ifeel like there's a bigger
(37:59):
connection with the fans thansome other genres out there.
You know what I mean.
Speaker 5 (38:03):
Country is from the heart, man, I mean, it's you
know, if you and if you don'tlove your, the people that
support you, if you don't givethem that love back, mmm, what
are you doing?
Cuz?
Yeah, that's why we do this orat least in my opinion, this is
to make people happy.
And I was actually if I cantell a quick story, absolutely.
I had a guy I believe his namewas Brett or something.
(38:25):
He was escorting us from thesigning booth that we did back
around the festival at CMA Fest,and we were walking and I just
had this moment of seeing allthose fans there and people that
didn't know me from Adam butwere coming up to me that
thought, hey, you know, I wantto take a picture with this guy.
You know, you never know.
Yeah, and I told the guy I saidyou know, we get to create the
(38:46):
soundtrack of people's lives thefirst time they fall in love or
their first kiss or their firstyou know party, where they get
the courage to go up to thatgirl and they might hear that
song at the right minute and itgives them the courage to walk
up.
Speaker 1 (38:59):
And then, 20 years later, they're married and they
got kids and it's all because ofthat song I completely agree,
we create the soundtrack ofpeople's lives you create a
soundtrack of people's lives andI get chill bumps when I think
I can see that man and that's.
It is a powerful thing, and thething I think is so cool about
it is is music has the power ofemotion.
We've all been driving down theroad and you know like a sad
(39:20):
song comes on, it puts you in amood.
Sometimes an upbeat song comeson, it puts you in a mood.
So you guys have an ability tocontribute to people's emotions
during the day.
That's pretty neat.
Well, let's go back to thatcancer thing real quick.
How did you get involved withthat so?
Speaker 5 (39:35):
I work with a fellow named Scott Sexton who is very
connected with the Grand OleOpry all those guys and they
started he's a board member ofone of the people that run
Country for a Cause.
And I begged, and begged, andbegged I did, I had to beg and I
said, hey, man, please let mebe a part of this, because I
think I have something to offer,I think I can come and do a
(39:56):
good job for you.
And I finally got it.
Speaker 4 (40:03):
It took me a couple years, but they finally you know
, because you do have to bedoing pretty good.
Speaker 5 (40:03):
Yeah, for sure, you know.
So they finally let me do it,and I wasn't going to squander
the opportunity.
Speaker 1 (40:09):
Dude, do you hear what he said?
They let him do it.
You're talking about raisingmoney for cancer, and like to me
to hear you say it like that.
They let you do it.
That's a beautiful thing, man,and congratulations to you.
Speaker 5 (40:20):
You did man I had to beg.
Speaker 1 (40:22):
I'm not too proud.
Well, you know a lot of people.
It's like they're trying totwist their arms to get them to
go do something.
Here you are and you're sayingI'm volunteering it, so I love
that.
Well, tell me a little bitabout what it's like from your
standpoint.
You've got all these eventsstacking up.
It's got to be some pressure.
There's got to be some thingsthat go through your head.
You're talking about going fromone festival to another
(40:43):
festival, autograph signings,raising money for charity.
Tell me a little bit about whatthe weeks leading up to that
are like.
What kind of pressure do youhave and how do you handle it?
That's a great question.
Speaker 5 (40:53):
So, if I'm being 100% honest with you, the music part
has always been the easy partfor me the show stuff.
Playing a show, I'm the guy youwant to give the ball to with
two seconds on the clock.
When it comes to performinglive, I'm always ready to do
that.
Stage fright is not really athing for me.
I don't know why, but I neverget stage fright.
But the challenging part for meis the mental stuff.
(41:16):
When you get home after a showand you're and you're sitting
there and you're alone andyou're reflecting about your
career and the steps that havetaken you to this point, and the
struggle and the grind becauseit is a grind.
Anybody out there who might betrying to do music for a living
or anything like this, um, it isnot easy.
It is not easy.
There have been times when I'vewanted to quit and my lovely
(41:36):
wife has has talked me off theledge several times times when
I've wanted to quit and mylovely wife has has talked me
off the ledge several times.
I actually was, was was closeto quitting music about three
and a half to four years ago.
I've just been doing it for along time and I was, I was
burned out, you know.
But I met her and she changedmy life and I she.
She re-inspired me, she gaveme-gave me that confidence back.
(41:58):
And you talk about being aleader.
A leader is not somebody whocomes in and says this is the
way it's going to be, I'm goingto take charge.
I tried that for a while in myearlier part of my career and it
doesn't work.
You have to surround yourselfwith people that you believe in,
are capable of doing the jobwithout you micromanaging
everything they do believe in,are capable of doing the job
(42:20):
without you micromanagingeverything they do.
You have to have confidence andtrust in your friends that
they're going to have your backand then when you give them that
freedom, nine times out of tenthey go the extra mile because
they see you believe in them Onehundred percent.
Man With fans, with people youwork with in the industry.
When you put your confidence inpeople and treat them with the
dignity and respect they deserve, you get so much in return 100%
(42:43):
thing that we need to talkabout.
Speaker 1 (42:45):
This applies everywhere too.
You're talking about countrymusic scene, you're talking
about leadership in that way,but it applies everywhere.
This isn't about now.
I'm in charge.
Everybody do what I told themto do, but can you inspire
others?
The thing I really appreciatethat you said I'd love to
elaborate on it through yourstory is that there are times
where people want to quit.
(43:06):
It's times where all thepressure is coming down on you
and you keep going, andsometimes somebody becomes a
leader for you without you evenknowing it.
You know what I mean, and sothat's what she did for you, man
, and that's what she did foryou, man, and that's very
powerful.
Speaker 5 (43:18):
That's a great point you just made.
Very well said.
Speaker 1 (43:20):
Yeah, man.
Well, you know, this issomething that I like people to
hear, because it's not reallyinspiring for people to hear
that.
You know, I started singing andthen I was on the CMAs and then
I won my awards and it's allbeen.
You know, let's talk about thereal stuff.
Speaker 5 (43:33):
So very cool sweet, without sacrifice 100%.
Speaker 1 (43:37):
That's just the honest to God truth.
Love that.
Hey, tell me a little bit abouthow you got into the singing
game like this I started singingprobably around the age of six
years old.
Speaker 5 (43:47):
I've been singing since I was about six years old.
My father was a Pentecostalevangelist.
He also worked construction.
At the same time as workingconstruction, he was an
evangelist, which is, for thoseof you who might not know, it's
a traveling preacher.
We were Pentecostal and so hewould go and preach revivals at
all these churches, which islike a country singer going on a
tour.
Speaker 1 (44:07):
It's a preacher tour.
Less autographs, probably Lessautographs.
More mustard-colored suits,more purple suits.
A little bit of a dab in thehead, absolutely, man.
Speaker 5 (44:20):
So he would go and preach and I would sing before
he would preach his sermons andso that got me the music bug.
I sang contemporary gospel andsouthern gospel up until
probably the age of around 12 or13.
And my mom and dad bought me acountry gold greatest hits disc
that had Loretta Lynn and GeorgeJones and Waylon Jennings and
(44:41):
Merle Haggard and all thosegreat, great artists, and so I
really I discovered my walk withcountry music, was discovering
the roots of it, very early onand really my mom and dad said
well, if you're going to singcountry, we want you to know
what country music comes from,what it is Okay, and I also had
the Southern gospel backgroundas well, so that sound was
(45:02):
ingrained in me from a young age.
Then I started listening toJason Aldean and Luke Bryan and
Billy Currington and Chris Youngwhich is crazy because one of
my next singles coming up waswritten by Chris Young.
Speaker 1 (45:15):
Really it's a full circle moment it's crazy to
think.
Speaker 5 (45:17):
This guy I grew up listening to on my next album
there's a song that he wrote onthere with my buddy, anthony
Smith, who wrote Tomorrow I'mgoing to leave here Big old
number one hit for Chris YoungNice, nice, nice.
So they wrote that song andthey let me record it.
Dude, you are on your way upright now.
Speaker 1 (45:35):
man, I'm crying.
Man, I'm glad I got you now.
I won't get you two years fromnow.
Speaker 5 (45:40):
That's not true.
We get you two years ago.
That's not true.
We were just talking about that.
No, I can tell you're a leader.
I mean honestly, I can tell youknow you inspired.
I remember when you walked upto me over there we just met and
I looked at my wife.
I said I said he's got amagnetic personality.
I liked him from the get go.
Speaker 1 (45:55):
Man I appreciate that I mean.
Speaker 5 (45:56):
I can tell it's a good thing you're doing here.
It just won't be the last timewe work together.
Speaker 1 (45:59):
Well, hey, man, definitely I'm hoping you're
going to come back to MyrtleBeach with us.
Now I have to talk on this.
You know I'm a PK myself, sodid your dad ever want you to
follow in the evangelist'sfootsteps?
Speaker 3 (46:10):
He did, he did right, either that or construction,
and you didn't either.
Speaker 5 (46:15):
So the thing about it is I still have that message
inside my heart.
I still have that messageinside my heart.
I put a gospel song on everysingle album, if not two or
three gospel songs.
I love singing about the Lord.
I love singing.
I've been known to be in themost rowdiest honky-tonk you can
(46:36):
imagine, down in the middle ofnowhere, Georgia, and sing I'll
Fly Away.
And that entire crowd of peoplewith beers in their hands will
sing I'll Fly Away with you.
You know that message is astrue now as it's ever been.
Speaker 1 (46:50):
It's a cool thing when you can do that and we talk
about giving an emotion, givingthe spirit man and I did work
construction for a little bit.
Speaker 5 (46:56):
Yeah, well, okay, During the pandemic I went to
work because there was no music.
I went to work constructionwith my pops.
Speaker 1 (47:02):
What kind of stuff were you doing?
Give us a little taste.
Speaker 5 (47:06):
While I was a kid, my dad was an electrician.
He did electrical work for allof my years growing up.
Then he got into the commercialplayground building business,
which, like if a library or aschool or anything like that any
kind of public place needs aplayground, they'll hire my
dad's company and they'll go getit.
And it is.
Everybody thinks playground, oh, playgrounds kids this is
(47:28):
sitting in the hundred degreeheat, mixing concrete, digging
holes with an auger, driving askid steer it is, it's real work
, difficult work.
And I remember during that timethat I had kind of said I think
I'm done with music.
I remember the sun was justbaking on me and I was shoveling
molds or doing something andGod spoke to me and he said this
isn't what you're supposed tobe doing.
(47:50):
That was one of the things thatgot me back into playing and
giving it another chance, andthree and a half years later I'm
so glad I did.
Speaker 1 (47:56):
Man very powerful story man.
I appreciate you sharing and,by the way, it's always tough on
these because I meet a guy oncein a while I know I could do
like a two or three hour showwith and I got to cram it down a
little bit.
Speaker 5 (48:07):
I've got all the time in the world for you.
My set's not until 830.
Speaker 1 (48:10):
All right Laurie reset the camera.
Sounds good, she gave me athumbs up.
Well, let's talk about a couplemore things and I want to give
you some time to talk aboutwhat's important to you.
So you have talked about yourbackground, a little gospel
music.
You talked about some greatperformers today.
Who is a performer that youthink is on another level?
Speaker 5 (48:31):
So I am a big big fan of the 90s country guys.
George Strait, North Brooks,alan Jackson, those are probably
my, that's probably my MountRushmore, yeah.
And if I had to add one more,that's probably my Mount
Rushmore, yeah.
And if I had to add one more itwould probably be Clint Black,
okay, nice.
So if you take them guys and Ilove Johnny Cash too I got into
Johnny Cash's music from anearly age as well.
(48:52):
There's a purity and a gospelnote in his music?
Speaker 1 (48:56):
He definitely does, man.
He has that undertone always.
The coolest thing about JohnnyCash is if you watch his career.
He has that undertone always.
The coolest thing about JohnnyCash is if you watch his career.
He was singing songs until thevery end and you could see this
arc in his whole personality man, very interesting.
Speaker 5 (49:10):
That's why he inspired people.
I think he was an imperfect man, and admittedly so, and people
are inspired by that yeah, whenthey know.
You know, man, I don't wake upevery day perfect, I'm just like
everybody else.
Johnny Cash had that.
Speaker 1 (49:24):
Yes, sir, we can all relate to that and that's a very
important thing.
You performed last night andyou're performing today.
Right, tell me about how theperformance went yesterday.
Speaker 5 (49:33):
So you're talking about the Captain Archie's gig?
Yep, it was.
You could not move in thatplace.
The energy was insane.
I put a band together of fellasthat used to play with me
around here before I moved toNashville, and they're Nashville
caliber players.
Every single one of them justplays their butt off.
Tyler Hughes, greg Ford andDale Baker played the gig with
(49:56):
me, and man, we just I'm notbragging, but we brought the
house down.
Speaker 1 (50:00):
Okay, all right, they tore it down, they tore it up,
and so now you get to go do itat CCMF.
Speaker 5 (50:04):
We didn't take a break.
Speaker 1 (50:05):
We played a four-hour show without taking a break,
what you didn't have to go tothe bathroom or anything.
Speaker 5 (50:16):
I drank about 14 glasses of water.
Man Sweat it all out.
I'm not used's the humidityyeah.
Speaker 1 (50:21):
I've heard she's back there shaking hands.
She's going.
Yes, folks, there's nothinglike it in the middle of the
summer Wearing blue jeans andcowboy boots when it's 100
degrees and humid.
Speaker 5 (50:31):
It's not always the best combination, but she's
still got to have the lookSacrifice for our art For our
people.
Speaker 1 (50:36):
Oh well, that's cool stuff, trey.
What else do you have coming upfor next year?
Tell us what the next yearlooks like.
Speaker 5 (50:42):
I'm working on a new album right now.
I've got a new producer, a guynamed Brandon Hood, that I'm
working with.
He's working with Tom Myers,who's blowing up right now,
mackenzie Carpenter.
She's blowing up right now.
She's becoming quite the GrandOle Opry star.
It's kind of a cool thing.
I went to see Zach Topp at thego with my buddy Sam, and
Mackenzie played right beforeZach did and I said, that's
(51:02):
Mackenzie Carpenter.
See my producers, her producer.
Yeah, it's just.
It's.
All these things are startingto click in place with me and
it's it's almost like I'mwaiting for the other shoe to
drop or I'm wait for you know.
You never know, but but it's,it's surreal, and so we're
working on this new album.
I got a song coming out acouple weeks called she don't
break, break it, like she UsedTo.
Okay, all right, honky TonkShuffles are back in style.
(51:24):
Braxton, keith and all themTexas guys are making country
cool again, and you know, I wasalways country.
So for me it's like I came totown at the right time, right,
right, right.
And so we got that song.
I wrote it with Terry McBridefrom McBride and the Ride?
Speaker 1 (51:36):
No way, man.
Speaker 5 (51:37):
He wrote a bunch of hits for Brooks and Dunn.
He wrote a bunch of cuts forGeorge Strait.
Speaker 1 (51:41):
Now explain that song .
Just give us maybe aone-sentence overview.
What does that mean?
She Don't Break it Like sheUsed.
Speaker 5 (51:48):
To.
She used to break my heart allthe time, but things are getting
better, my heart's healing andshe don't break it like she used
to.
Man.
She still breaks it every nowand then but not like she used
to.
Speaker 1 (51:57):
All right, nice, nice , all right.
Well, trey man, I've enjoyedhaving you on the show.
I hope you go and tear it up atCCMF.
What time are you on today?
8.30.
And you are on the Coors stage,coors Banquet stage.
That's what I thought hey,listen, thank you for being on.
God bless you and we'll have youin the future for sure.
All right, hey everybody.
We Carolina-based real estateand construction Ground Zero, of
(52:20):
course, the Gregor Rolls LegacyTheater and our venue, the
Grand Strand Brewing Company.
Go check this guy out tonightand we'll see you on the next
segment of the Leader MentalityShow.
Welcome to Leader Mentality Show CCMF edition.
It's that time of year againand we have a collection of
great guests coming in this year.
And I'm starting off with a bigone, really, really great
performer.
You've seen him on AmericanIdol.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Yes, sir.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
He's been all over the stages across the country,
been doing this for a long time.
I don't want to bury the leadtoo much.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
Mr Colby Lee Swift welcome to the show how you
doing, man, Nice meeting youpartner.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
Man well, good to have you on here, man, your
first trip to Myrtle Beach.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
It is, it is.
It's nice out here.
I like it.
It was a long drive, though itkind of got backed up a couple
miles down the road.
But it was just all right.
Beaches are pretty Now where.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
Texas Did you guys drive all the way from.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
Texas I did.
I got here a couple days ago,went to Florida and then I went
to Florida and I came here justa couple days ago.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
Just yesterday, just yesterday, man.
So you made the real trek righthere.
Absolutely, I ain't stopped.
Well, welcome to Myrtle Beachman Appreciate you.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
What's your?
Speaker 1 (01:15):
initial impressions.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Man, I like it.
I just got to sit around herefor just a little bit.
I like the beach for sure, butit seems like a lot of fun.
It's going to be a lot of fun.
I'm going to check it out afterthis.
Yeah, no doubt.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
I'm going to check it out more.
So, Colby, you're performing onFriday.
Yep and so first time at CCMFthen too it is yes, sir.
What are you most excited about?
Speaker 3 (01:35):
The experience.
You know I get to learn a lot,to learn everything.
I like to take everything withthe grain of, you know, with the
grain of salt, learn as much asI can, cuz I don't get these
opportunities much.
So I'm blessed, a bit blessed,to be a part, particularly the
death, I'm excited, for surethat's super cool.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
I love it when people are excited.
What do you find when you getto an event like this?
And we got a lot of big nameshere, right?
Yeah, I mean you're a big name,but you got big yeah,
absolutely, absolutely talkedabout, maybe some mentors in the
business who do you lookforward to seeing?
Do you guys get to hang outbackstage?
What's it like?
Speaker 3 (02:08):
Man, I'm not too sure yet.
I'm definitely excited to seewhat it's about.
I do not know, I have no idea.
I'm just going to focus on mysongs and what I'm singing and
going to put a dang good show on.
That's what I'm looking forwardto.
Whatever happens backstagehappens backstage.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
That's all I'm looking forward to.
Yeah, exactly yeah, whatever itis.
What fires you up about doingthis man?
I mean, you've been a singerfor a long time, since you were
five years old.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
Yes, sir, yes, I started at a young age, Played
guitar, more or less at five,and started really picking up
singing around you know, aroundeight, ten, my sister Around 8,
10, my sister sang a little bitmore and I used to play guitar
with her.
Daddy would video us and put uson Facebook and the town would
like it or whoever would shareit.
But we both did music.
(02:54):
She sang more than me butstarted really singing around 15
, getting actually into it.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
So at what point does your music career go from like
oh, that's so cute.
To like this kid's got sometalent.
Some talent, you get a littlefive-year-old playing guitar.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
That's just gotta be horrible.
Yeah, yeah, I really don't knowit's um, it's just the want I
really want to say, it's justthe want of doing it.
You know, um, you know it's.
It's I like to, I don't like to.
Sometimes I look back at videosand just see how young I was.
But i'm'm like you're all soproud, like I hear a difference.
I know I'm better than what Iwas.
(03:29):
You know what I mean.
It's real.
I appreciate seeing that.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
Yeah, I know that you've had some inspiration and
so I've read up a little bit onstuff and you know you say
you're influenced by GeorgeStrait people like that.
Tell me about that.
Do you find yourself whenyou're writing songs or you're
getting ready?
Is that something that's reallycreatively coming into your
stuff or is that just morenaturally happening?
You look back and go I kind ofsound like George Strait.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
Man, I don't like to put myself in anybody's shoes,
but what I like to look at isjust listening to the details,
listening to the color that theywere painting with songs and
the way they sang them, with theway you could feel that that
old country sound and that manor whoever you look up to, it's
like they're really bringingsomething out, and that's what I
like to look at and I thinkthat's, uh, that's what my team
(04:16):
likes to look at.
They we actually appreciatestuff.
We're actually working on newstuff, putting new stuff out.
That's gonna really start, youknow, being able to paint a
picture of what I actually andwhat I can do.
So I I think I look at thedetail in the colorful picture
that they they sing when all thesong to the window.
I had to listen to all the moldsongs of theirs.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
You know, love it, love it.
Man, how much your personallife comes into your music?
Speaker 3 (04:38):
oh, a lot, a lot man, you know drinking, uh uh.
You know having a good timewith friends.
Or you know a woman hurting myheart, you know, whatever it is,
it's all life.
And then there's a lot of songs, you know I like to.
I love looking at what otherpeople can write too, because
there's some times where I can'tget things off my heart or off
(04:58):
my head and other people can sayit just as just as like I want
you know, and then it makes youfeel something so you can
actually relate to that song andmake people, um, you know,
believe what you're acting, makethem you're touching anybody
when you're singing that, justsinging stuff like that.
You know I, that's what I likeabout it all too.
Everybody you really feel inmusic.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
I dig it.
Yeah, cause what you're, youknow, music has got this
powerful thing that it does.
Where it can make youintrospective, it can get you
fired up.
If you're in the gym, you cando one thing but the next moment
it's just kind of calming youdown.
So really powerful stuff, man.
It's a beautiful gift that youhave that you can share with the
people in a crowd like this?
Speaker 3 (05:37):
Yes, sir, absolutely.
It's super cool.
Do you have any other genres ofmusic you like, or is it all
country music for you?
I mean, yeah, I listen toEminem.
I like listening to rap.
You know rock creed and that'sjust about it, stuff like that.
You know the old school stuff,what daddy used to listen to,
what you know, what you hear inthe old garage shop, at a tire
(05:58):
shop.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
You know that's what I like, that what's the best
Eminem song of all time?
Man, I'm going to put you tothe dust.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
I would say Godzilla, no, no, no, it's Slim Shady,
the real Slim Shady, please.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
Oh dude.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
No, yeah, yeah, it's real Slim Shady.
That right there is hilarious.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
I love that song.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
It is a good song I was blank for a second.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
I gotta get this right.
I look stupid.
You say, god, I'm taking myaudio here.
No, that's cool.
So tell me about um.
It says you work with yourproducer, brent raider yes, sir
stuff.
Tell me about you guys'sinteraction and how that works
out.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
man, he really does.
Uh, he's been, he's been a real, a solid mentor to me.
I really gotta say he's hebrought me in and I didn't.
I never really got to sit inthe studio and really get to
learn anything.
Man, I've got to be in therooms with people that can do
absolutely everything, andthere's a new side of music that
I haven't got to see.
So he there's questions,questions that I ask that are
(07:02):
too much, and he'll just likeman, you ain't got to worry
about that, not right now.
Yeah, I get excited, I want toknow and I want to learn, but he
just steers me in the righttrack and I take everything what
he says.
I take it seriously.
I definitely got to listen tohim.
He's been doing a lot for me.
For sure.
I love the way he produces mymusic.
He sounds solid every time heproduces my music, dave.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
He sounds solid every time.
Nice, man, nice.
What motivates you?
You know.
I mean, obviously I know youlove the music, but what
motivates you to do what you do?
And what I mean by this is, youknow, in the road to where
you're at, obviously there'sgoing to be setbacks, there's
going to be detractors, there'sgoing to be people who don't
believe in you.
There's going to be people whodo believe in you and you keep
going.
You know you're playing on thestage at one of the biggest
(07:45):
events in the country.
You know what motivates you,man.
How do you get up every day?
Speaker 3 (07:51):
That's a good question, definitely.
I got to think I mean, goddefinitely motivates me, I mean,
but I just don't.
I don't see myself failing,like this is like I'm not going
to.
I guess that's what motivatesme.
I wake up and there are themdays where you just you know,
you second guess everything, youknow, you don't really know if
(08:13):
this is supposed to be somethingyou're doing.
And you start getting closer tothings and you start having
these opportunities and thenyour mind starts switching a
little bit and then you go hmm,I need to learn a little bit
more, I need to really take thisinto a different spot.
I just don't see myself failing.
So that's my motivation.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
Man.
Dude, that's a mindset thing.
You know what I love about that, though?
Everybody, no matter whereyou've been.
You've had that question marktime.
Oh Lord, man, is this it?
But then you keep pushingforward, and that's what the
difference is between thesuccessful people and the
non-successful.
I tell this story sometimes youwatch any sports uh, yes, I do
(08:53):
a little bit so.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
So there's a.
You ever heard of kobe bryant?
Speaker 1 (08:54):
yeah, yeah, yeah yeah absolutely, but kobe told a
story about how he went to abasketball camp when he was
younger.
Didn't hit a shot, the entirecamp and it's like you know.
He went home and there was apoint where you're like man, am
I good enough to do this?
And when he flipped that switchand he said, no, I am good
enough to do this, just like youjust said, and pushed forward,
of course, the story ended likethat.
For him it kind of worked out.
(09:15):
Yeah, exactly, tell me aboutyour story.
You know 10 years from now.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
Where would you see yourself?
I like to see myself playingstadiums, big stadiums, sellout
stadiums.
I like to have a number one hitin a mind that I wrote I like
to have a name in country music.
Be that change also for people,and that's something that I see
myself.
I want to mark like that in thenext 10 years.
Yeah killer man.
Have a good ranch.
You know what I mean.
Just sit on the ranch.
That's what I mean.
I just sit on the ranch.
That's what I'd like to seemyself in 10 years.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
So you said something .
I love that.
What do you do when you're notsinging?
What's a?
Speaker 3 (09:52):
good day for you, oh, man, a good day is I hang out
with Granny.
We wake up and hang out withher and I go check the cows, you
know, trying to build some.
Uh, I got to build gates out of, uh, corral boards, you know
wood boards, so I can work thesedang cow pens.
We had that thing.
Um, we had barrel storm runthrough, we had our windmill
break, our barns fall off, youknow, fall apart and uh, just,
(10:14):
you know, I would like to justsee it real, like a real
functioning ranch.
You know, like bring it back up, because we've had a lot of,
you know, trouble, not troubleson the ranch, just, you know,
just a lot, just a lot ofdestruction.
It's hard to do things I wantto do, but we've got a lot of
good-looking cows so we'reexcited to see it grow.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
That's a real country guy right there just in case
you're wondering, it's authenticman.
I like it.
Well, you know we're sponsoredby Carolina Bays Real Estate and
Construction, so we can allunderstand what you're saying.
You're talking about a littlebit of hard work.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
Yes sir, yes sir.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
Well, so tell me this With where you've been in your
career, what would you say to ayoung person that's 15 years old
and they're trying to come upthrough it?
What advice would you have forthem?
Speaker 3 (10:55):
Feel everything you sing.
Feel everything you sing.
Don't just sing it because it'sanother song.
Just put yourself in the shoesof the person that was singing
it and actually feel whatthey're trying to say.
And I think emotions, if youthink like that would come out
through your voice and singing,you know, do not.
(11:17):
That's probably the biggestthing I could say.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
I love that man.
Be authentic.
You know it's like don't try tojust copy everybody, but but
like literally feel what you'resaying, man.
It comes out after the crowdsconnect to that.
Speaker 3 (11:27):
Yes, exactly.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
Well, let me ask you this Anything coming up that you
uh?
Speaker 3 (11:33):
wanted to kind of promote before a couple of songs
coming out here shortly.
We got Up in Flames, cannot Runthe Heartache and got a lot of
good old country sounding songs.
So it's going to be coming outhere in the next couple of
months, going to be playing ashow in National Mechanics in
New Jersey, so that's going tobe a lot of fun June 28th with
Cole Goodwin.
(11:53):
So I'm looking forward to doingthat.
It it's going to be a lot offun, man.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
Killer man, Are you performing new stuff while
you're here?
Speaker 3 (11:59):
Oh, absolutely Every day's going to be original,
absolutely.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
All of it is.
That's what we got to talkabout.
It's our teaser.
Speaker 3 (12:08):
Yeah, I'm going to be playing them songs.
I'm going to be trying them outhere too.
Okay, we're going to do it, Ilike the way you say you're
trying them.
I'll see you.
Speaker 1 (12:16):
Let's see what it does.
That would be killer.
Speaker 3 (12:18):
Sounds good.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
Colby, I appreciate you coming on the show man.
You do a lot of great stuff outthere.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
Thank you and good luck.
Thank you, partner, get forward.
Yes, sir, all right.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
Hey guys, we appreciate Colby Lee Swift,
amazing young talent.
You guys come out and see himat CCMF this weekend on Friday,
and we'll see you guys on thenext segment.
Welcome back to the LeaderMentality Show, ccmf edition
2025.
We got more guests coming upover this few days that we're
(12:47):
recording, but we do want tostart off by thanking our
sponsors.
Thank you to Grand StrandBrewing Company and having us
out here in this beautiful venuehere, right in, right outside
of CCMF, so it's really a greatvenue.
They're getting ready busy dayahead, so you'll see everybody
kind of working behind us as wego.
We also want to thankCarolina-based real estate and
construction, of course, and ourother sponsor, who has always
been so good to us, is GroundZero.
(13:09):
So we have one of the bestrepresentatives you'll ever meet
anywhere and it is Carly fromGround Zero.
Hey.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
Carly, hello, hi everyone, good to have you back
for year to be here.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
Yeah, awesome.
I mean Ground Zero is such anamazing part of this whole area,
Myrtle Beach, and you said thewhole Grand Strand.
Really, yeah, Tell us a littlebit for the people who haven't
heard about it before.
Tell us a little bit aboutGround Zero and what you all do.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
Yeah, so Ground Zero.
We're located right in MyrtleBeach.
If you go to pick up yourwristbands at Will Call or if
you have questions for the CCMFstaff, you're in the Ground Zero
building and so we use that forevents.
We are a place for everyteenager to go belong and grow,
and we do that throughlife-changing experiences.
So on a weekly basis we haveevents for all middle and high
(13:55):
school students.
It's free for them to attend.
They get a free coffee drink, afree meal, we have a live DJ,
we have games and we have amessage at the end and it's just
building those relationships,sharing.
It's a faith-based nonprofit,so we're sharing just the gospel
and the good news.
And we also have concerts thatwe're doing.
(14:17):
That's a big thing.
This summer, every Sunday nightwe're doing a summer concert
series.
So artists like Colton Dixon Iknow, cochran Company is one of
them, tasha Layton is one ofthem and the Newsboys is the
other one, so Sunday nightsthey're free to attend.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
We're blocking off Chester Street and you can come
set up a chair and listen tosome good music, but we just
always have a good rotating listof events going on, but no one
of the things about Myrtle Beachand this show is viewed at
different areas of the country,actually different areas of the
world, and sometimes you hearthese things about Myrtle Beach
(14:54):
and they're not always positive,right?
People don't always haveglowing reports of it, but it's
the small pockets that come upthat are really the anomalies.
Myrtle Beach is a greatcommunity and the thing I like
that you just talked about isthat ground zero is a big part
of this.
You know you talk aboutcommunity building, taking care
of the kids, giving people agood quality thing to do when
(15:15):
they're, you know, going home atnight.
It's like, what do I want to do?
I'm going to go to ground zeroand have a good time, so I think
that's really cool.
Who started this and tell us alittle bit about them?
Speaker 2 (15:24):
Yeah, so Scott Pacer started this.
It'll be 27,.
27 years ago this monthactually in.
Tennessee, and he moved herearound like 2010, 2011.
That building, that ground zeroin is in, had nothing going on
and it was fairly abandoned,just kind of coming to shambles,
(15:44):
yeah, and so through donationshe's built it into what it is
today.
So that whole building is hisvision and it's pristine it is.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
It's a bit incredible , dude.
I love walking through thatbuilding.
Every time I go through there,I'm always like, oh, this is so
fun.
I wish I was a little kid again.
Yeah, you, just because there'sso many things to do.
There's video games and, likeyou said, coffee, which we're
going to get back to some coffeetopics in a little bit.
So, anyway, but everybody knowsRob Clemens loves a good coffee
.
You know what I'm saying?
Speaker 2 (16:09):
Yeah, Do you guys have?
Decaf just for's so much sugarin it already.
They get the frozen.
They love a frozen ground zeromocha.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
Yeah, those are, oh okay, A frozen ground zero mocha
.
And I have to say, when itcomes to that, maybe a little
placebo effect comes in.
You know they're not gettingany caffeine, but they're like,
oh, I'm so buzzed and they lovethe sugar.
Right, right, right.
The sugar buzz is there forsure.
Why is it called Ground Zero?
How did that name come out?
Speaker 2 (16:44):
So it's the point of impact.
So you're starting at literallyGround Zero.
So the ministry was in placebefore 9-11, so we do get that
question a lot actually of thecomparison there.
But it's the point of impact.
So, um, we want to impact thesekids before life hits them
right, like we want to help themset a good foundation, whether
(17:05):
that's, um, in their faith orwith some skills that they can
take into the workforce, or withtheir, their life.
Like we have students who workthe coffee shop and learn that
they work in top notch and learnthat they serve in production.
And we have we actually have ashe's 16, knows more about the
production booth than I do andthat's part of my job.
Like she can set all the lightsand do the video walls and
(17:27):
knows the soundboard and she'spicked it up as she's watched
other people do it.
So they really are learningincredible things at such a
young age.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
It's the best learning you can do.
You go and learn some practicalthings in school, but when you
can apply them.
Amazing, and I hear Ground Zero.
You guys have a lot ofvolunteers who come in, but a
lot of those volunteerseventually become employees.
Yeah, so it's a greatopportunity for somebody.
You guys always need volunteers.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
I'm sure Always, and if you're interested, head to
mygroundzerocom and you canclick.
Interested in volunteering?
Speaker 1 (17:56):
I'm doing like a little below under the screen
thing for Lauren to delve in.
So let me ask you this.
We're just coming off of ground, the ground zero dragon boat
races.
That's an amazing event eachyear.
How much money did that raisein the area?
Speaker 2 (18:10):
I don't know the exact amount I should know it's
over a hundred thousand though.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
It was.
I want to say it was over200,000.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
Wow, can you imagine that?
Just what a great cause that is.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
And the whole community rallies around that
event.
That's probably my favoriteweek of the whole year.
The staff says it's likeChristmas because we get to be
at Market Common.
We're setting up throughout thewhole week but we get to see so
many people in the community.
There's thousands, thousands ofpeople that come out and
they're just having having funand they're all doing it for a
good cause and people areexcited and competitive.
(18:42):
I'm a sports girl.
Speaker 1 (18:43):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
Love the competitiveness.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
You know I was on a boat this year.
I know I do.
I saw you.
Don't ask me how we did, thoughit was, uh, it was a humbling
year, you know.
You know how, uh, I think inthe Bible they talk about like
perseverance coming from failureand whatnot.
Yeah, yeah, I got, I got alittle dose of perseverance.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
So you rebuild, you just got to keep?
Speaker 1 (19:03):
Absolutely, I've been .
I'm already hitting the gym.
Going back to the things.
Uh well, carly, I heard alittle secret.
You got some good stuff comingup.
Tell me what's coming up on thehorizon for you, yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
So I have decided to pursue a dream that I've had for
a very long time, and I'mstarting my own coffee company,
and so it is called K CoffeeCompany, k-e-i, and it is a
coffee truck built on the bed ofa K truck, which is a Japanese
construction truck.
It's imported, it's 32 yearsold, it's a 1993 and it's neon
(19:39):
blue, and so I drove by thistruck almost every day.
Love the trucks.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
Um, it's a manual and it drives on the right hand
side okay, so there's just a lotof quirks that go with it um,
but I, it's just always been adream of mine.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
Someone asked me like if that's one of your dreams,
if that's something you'vealways wanted to do, then what's
stopping you?
And I said that's, that's agood point like what is stopping
me, and so things have justkind of fallen into place and so
I'm actually building the bedout this coming week.
But I have my machine.
I'm practicing drinks okay,tonight, and I should be out and
(20:12):
about in the grand strand in alittle over a week when you say
you're practicing drinks, soyou're practicing making the
drinks you've already designed.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
Are you also coming up with new concoctions?
Speaker 2 (20:22):
Yes, I love I love coming up with new menu items,
and so I worked at a coffee shopfor many years, okay, yeah, and
so that was one of the things Ilove doing when we had downtime
is finding new flavors.
I created a cinnamon roll latteat that store and that was one
of the most popular ones, but Ijust loved working there.
I helped roast the beans, Iloved getting to know our
(20:43):
regulars and they just becomepart of a really strong
community and it's so fun.
And actually that's whose beansI'm going to use their beans.
So I talked to them and theyfun fact they wholesale their
beans to the studio in Georgiathat films, marvel movies, okay,
their beans to the studio inGeorgia that films, marvel
movies.
Okay, so all of those actorswill be drinking the coffee I'm
selling.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
Oh, my gosh.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
The Rock loves a two-shot Americano black the
Rock does yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
Holy cow.
Speaker 2 (21:08):
So if you want the same drink as the Rock, that he
drinks when he's filming.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
You can get it from me, right?
You need to come to KEIK.
Yep, keik.
All right, I like it, I like it.
Hey, that's really cool,congratulations.
Thank you.
I think we all have tosometimes.
You just got to go for yourdream.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1 (21:28):
You know, and the biggest thing that holds most
people back is fear.
So you get over that hump andyou're headed out to do big
things, so people can startbuying coffee from you when.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
I think I have all of the permits and the licenses.
It's just kind of getting thetruck set.
So I say, in about two weeks Iwill be booking events and
you'll see me, hopefully allover the place.
You just have to look for thereally tiny neon blue.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
It'll be hard to miss .
I drive it down the road Withthe steering wheel on the wrong
side.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
Right yeah, on the wrong side, maybe it doesn't go
more than 65 miles an hour.
Speaker 1 (21:54):
Okay, well, good, yeah, most of Myrtle Beach.
That's the speed limit.
Anyway, you're good.
Well, very cool stuff.
Congratulations to you.
I know that's going to go well.
We'll definitely have to havesome coffee from you.
Maybe that'll be a future show.
Let's do that right.
So, carly, let's wrap up with alittle bit about what you're
excited about with CCMF.
Are you getting to go this year?
I am All right, awesome.
Who are you most excited to see?
Speaker 2 (22:16):
I am very excited for Jelly Roll.
That's what I've wanted to seefor a while, but I also love
Lainey Wilson.
And when she was here two yearsago, I think it was it was a
Sunday night and there was acrazy thunderstorm.
And so she only got maybe 20minutes, 20, 30 minutes into her
set and then they had to stopbecause there was lightning and
thunder and the whole, you know.
(22:37):
So I'm excited to see her fullperformance for once.
I think she's cool.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
Hoping the weather holds out.
Well, a lot of people thinkshe's cool too.
I think you're in good company.
Uh, I know we've had a few.
Uh, people already say she'sone of their most excited things
.
So, Lainey, the people atMyrtle Beach want you so very
cool.
Um, how can people find outmore about Ground Zero?
Speaker 2 (22:57):
Um, you can look them up on social media at
groundzeronb or go tomygroundzerocom and that'll get
you all the information you need.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
All right, hey Carly, thank you again for being here,
thank you for having me Alwaysa lot of fun.
Good luck with your venture,thank you, and we will see you
guys on the next segment ofLeader Mentality Show, ccmf,
back here over at theGrandstream Brewing Company, one
of our sponsors for the show,and the venue that we're
recording from right nowBeautiful place.
Come out, have some food, havesome drinks and just have a good
(23:26):
time, as you're going to CCMFthis year.
So, and we also want to thankour other sponsors, carolina
Bays Real Estate andConstruction.
Thank you to Ground Zero and,of course, none other than the
Greg Rolls Legacy Theater inNorth Myrtle Beach and we have
an old buddy with us on the show, here you got well, a young old
buddy, I don't know.
Man, I think when we get acertain age, we're all old, my
(23:50):
body feels it, john.
Welcome back John Finley, salesand marketing director over
there.
You guys been doing a lot ofcool stuff.
You got a lot of big thingscoming up on the horizon.
Tell us all about the theater.
Speaker 4 (24:01):
I mean second year.
First year went really great.
I had a lot of things to learn,Learning, moments.
Oh my goodness yeah, you go intoa new business and you do your
job and you learn that.
But, man, building somethingground up was just, I'd never
done it, a lot of us never doneit, so it was a lot, but we've
hit a good stride with somethings.
We're still learning somethings, but you know, we've got
(24:23):
a lot of things coming up, a lotof changes coming up, a lot of
music and concerts coming up.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
There's a lot coming up for sure, man, when you talk
about things that you learned inyear one when you were building
it, I think we can all relatewith this.
You know you try out something,whether it's a new job or a new
business venture, so we allknow what that feels like to be
like.
Oh, that didn't work.
What's something that you thinkyou could?
Speaker 4 (24:47):
share with the people .
That's a difference that you'redoing now.
I mean just for me.
You know there's stuff you knowI do, like you said, sales and
marketing, and for me, marketinga big part of it this day and
age, with technology developingand stuff, is just how to get
information out, whether it's,you know, if you want to be
serious about it and put it onfacebook, if you want to be
silly about it and put it in youknow, a reel or tiktok learning
the social media side of stuff,and I'll tell you that in
(25:07):
itself is a full-time job, mygoodness well, I can imagine,
because when you get into socialmedia, there are so many
different ways about going aboutit on each platform.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
What do you think is your most successful medium for
your venue?
Speaker 4 (25:24):
You know, honestly, I think it's changed.
There's different things thatgo different places.
Like for us, we do the dadjokes.
Everybody loves the dad jokes.
It's probably one of thebiggest social media drives we
have.
Yeah, yeah, you know, but youlearn, you put that in certain
places at certain times.
You know people on Facebookreally love like those behind
(25:44):
the scenes, personal, intimatelike photos and stories with the
photos.
Yeah, um, you know, we'vestarted doing a bunch of silly
little tiktok videos that we put.
It's just it's fun to do that,but trying to get all of that
filmed and edited that's a lot,man, it's a lot, but it's really
fun.
Do enjoy it.
And the cast has been reallygreat about participating.
We've got the box office peopleinvolved.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
So people are starting to get to know other
people besides the cast I sawthat and I think that's smart.
I think any good business.
If you can show your people ina good light and what they're
doing on a day-to-day, you canconnect with that.
Speaker 4 (26:12):
Yeah, we actually had someone I want to say.
It was, christmas came up andone of our ambassadors was
behind the concession stand andthis first time that they had
been to the theater and they goI saw you on TikTok.
I was like that's what we want.
Speaker 1 (26:24):
Yes, yes, yes, yes, it's the celebrity effect thing
and all that, I think thebiggest thing for our theater is
the personal touch to it.
Speaker 4 (26:29):
We feel like family, whether it's online or in person
.
At the theater they really feellike they know them, and that's
exactly what I need to do.
Speaker 1 (26:36):
That's my job Absolutely, and that's a good
point.
When we talk about why go tothe Greg Rolls Legacy Theater
while you're in Myrtle Beachdoing whatever else you're doing
, you head on down there and itis a family kind of a feeling.
It's a more cozy setting andyou have all these these great
songs from different genres andover a long period of time.
I mean, you know they have the,you know things that you're
(26:57):
going to hear.
If you're a baby boomer you canenjoy all the way down to being
a millennial or even a Gen Z-er.
Speaker 4 (27:07):
I think that's exactly right.
And you know, like you said,with our show we often change
big sections.
Most every night, each of thecast members has their own like
20-minute segment.
They'll change songs out ofthat, you know, literally every
night.
Speaker 1 (27:17):
I've had this question in my head.
Oh boy, now Greg does this.
Hey, songs from the audiencelike requests from the audience.
What if you threw him somethinglike hey man, play some
Metallica.
What would he do?
Speaker 4 (27:31):
I would probably have a heart attack if he played
Metallica.
Now the thing is, I think Kenny, our guitar player, could
probably be playing Metallica.
Speaker 1 (27:38):
He's good man.
Speaker 4 (27:39):
I would love to see Greg sing Metallica, it would
just be interesting.
Speaker 1 (27:42):
It's not really Greg's style per se?
Speaker 2 (27:44):
No, it is not.
Speaker 1 (27:44):
But I just think it would be interesting because and
I use them, I almost use anykind of thing like that that
just gets so far out of thecomfort zone, but it is a lot of
fun.
Man, he always kills it,whatever he sings.
Speaker 4 (27:55):
And I think the thing that they're all learning,
because I mean, a lot of themcame from the Alabama Theater.
He was there for 22 years,chris and Jason were there for
like 19.
What they're learning is theycan do that kind of stuff and it
might be silly, it might beweird, it might be uncomfortable
, but people love that becausethey've seen them, in one style
or one format, be very properand put together.
Speaker 3 (28:16):
Right, right so loosening up.
Speaker 4 (28:17):
people connect to that better and they're really
leaning into that.
It was an uncomfortable push toget them there, but we've
gotten there, I think.
Speaker 1 (28:24):
Well, I will say this .
There's a couple of segmentsduring the show.
It's a humor show too, so youguys have music you have humor
and everything.
And Jason I never realized hewas kind of a funny guy until I
started watching it.
Speaker 4 (28:37):
Yeah, I mean I don't know if I can ever.
He's literally come up and toldme something before and I'm
like I don't know if I can takeyou seriously.
Speaker 2 (28:43):
Are you being serious or are you not?
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
One of those things.
Speaker 4 (28:46):
Oh yeah, because he'll make jokes or crack things
off and just off the top of thehead kind of comments, and
Chris, his wife, will be backthere and she'll does this all
the time oh, just try livingwith them.
Speaker 1 (28:56):
It's like yeah, right , she's like I can't.
It's all the time it's notfunny because I hear it all the
time.
He is it.
He'll have you laughing.
He does all the physical humortoo, so yeah, he's like a uh
more in shape.
Speaker 4 (29:07):
Chris farley well said, well said.
Speaker 1 (29:11):
Very I like it jason, don't kill me, all right well,
hey, you said in shape, althoughthe bar for in shape there is
really low when we're talkingabout Chris Farley.
Speaker 4 (29:21):
Yeah, he's got a pretty big gap there.
Speaker 1 (29:23):
Well, cool stuff, man .
We're going to actually circleback around to him.
In a minute.
You guys have some bigperformers coming to the Greg
Rills Theater don't you?
Speaker 4 (29:29):
We have a lot of good stuff.
So through the summer we've gota John Denver.
That's the next Saturday, endof the month.
We have a group that was herelast year, motown and More.
They are phenomenal, but theysing a bunch of genres and stuff
, mostly obviously Motown, andthey had a huge showing when
they came last year.
Yeah, they sold out last year,so they're coming back at the
(29:50):
end of the month and then, Ithink the 13th of July, it's
called Revisiting Credence, soit's a.
CCR group and it's not a tributeor anything.
It's some of the members thatactually toured with them for
like 20 years.
Nice, they have a group.
So some CCR music is great.
We've got I'm trying to thinkof what else exactly through the
month, gary Louder, local guy.
He's going to be here.
(30:12):
Is Billy Bob Thornton stillcoming around the way?
So he is.
So in August.
We've got, I know we've got acouple of big shows.
We have a couple more returning, like Fleetwood Mac, that's
returning, and the Highwaymen.
They're coming back August.
We also have Jay Dupuis whoused to do Elvis here at Legends
Nice.
He's coming August 16th.
So Billy Bob Thornton is coming, him and his band the
(30:34):
Boxmasters, they'll be hereAugust 20th.
That's a Wednesday or Thursday,okay okay, nice, nice and
they're actually kicking offtheir Pippertree Hill tour for
the year.
They're starting it in NorthMyrtle Beach with us.
Speaker 1 (30:44):
Man, that'll be a big one.
I'd say, get your tickets now.
If you're trying to get to that, are there still even tickets
left?
Speaker 4 (30:49):
I mean I literally made an announcement post and I
think 500 tickets sold already.
Speaker 1 (30:59):
So it's going to go quick.
Yeah, All right, Cool man.
Well, let's dive into one otherthing.
We've got a few minutes left,so I know you've been brewing up
something for the theater, forthe Great Girls Legacy Theater,
talking about a little podcast.
Tell me about the concept ofthat and what all is going on
with it.
Well, you know you inspired usto start.
It all started here, babyno-transcript.
Speaker 4 (31:26):
The main kind of concept with it is that it's
sponsored by the theater,sponsored by you guys, but we,
we don't want it to bespecifically just music talk,
because I feel like that wasgoing to put us in a corner.
Yeah, at the same time, wedidn't want it to just be
specifically for our theater.
So we're going to be bringingin people from, like, the
Carolina Opry, alabama Theater,legends, you know, charles Bach
(31:47):
over at the Wonders Theater, abunch of different people,
business owners, you know peoplein the area that have got
experiences to share.
You know there'll be somecomedy stuff, because Jason's
going to be part of it too.
I mean, you can't make like Isaid, you can't take it
seriously.
Yeah, right, right.
So, but yeah, we'll be startingthat here, probably in the next
month or so, pretty soon, yeahnice.
Speaker 1 (32:06):
I think everybody needs to stay tuned for that.
You're talking about localentertainment and happenings.
You can probably talk somenationwide happenings.
Oh yeah, get some performers onfrom the show behind the scenes
and you talk about connectivity.
It's like sometimes you see thepeople on the stage but you're
wondering what are they reallylike?
What kind of stories do thesepeople have?
There are probably all kinds ofbackstories about man.
(32:27):
This happened when I went outon stage one time.
Speaker 4 (32:29):
Oh yeah, I mean, that's the thing I mean.
Just someone like Greg.
You take some of his storiesand they've got stories you
wouldn't believe people thatthey met.
Speaker 1 (32:43):
You wouldn't ever have guessed.
Or you know, it's just they'vegot cool stuff that I don't know
if they get to share it a lot,or you don't know about these
people absolutely well.
You know performers.
They've had so manyopportunities over the years and
the first time I had asubstantial conversation with
greg and he's a humble guy buthe's had a an amazing career.
You know talking about lonestar and being with them early
in the touring and being on starSearch and winning that and
traveling the country and I justthought, man, you know, these
are things that the people needto hear.
Speaker 4 (33:02):
Yeah, I mean, you take that and even someone like
you know, like me and you, yeah,I do marketing, but I've done.
I was in the military for 10years.
I was a firefighter.
Like you, don't know theseexperiences until you hear these
stories from people.
Speaker 1 (33:15):
So 100 percent, and the beauty is in the story.
So you know we want to bringthat to it.
You know my marketing director,lauren.
She's always talking about youknow we have to have creative
content.
We have to have things thatpeople want to hear.
You can't just sit there andtalk about you know business all
day all the time.
Speaker 4 (33:31):
So sometimes you got to break out of the company.
Speaker 1 (33:32):
That helps if you got a pretty face too.
Yeah Well yeah, oh, you weren'ttalking about me, were you?
Anyway, well, hey, man, and I'mlooking forward to joining you
guys on that podcast wheneveryou want to have me.
You know we're going to come inand we'll just have some fun.
Man lighting it up always.
Well, listen, how can peoplefind out more about the Greg
Rolls Legacy Theater?
Speaker 4 (33:49):
Yeah, you can give us a call 843-663-3600.
You can visit grltnmbcom or youcan stop by.
We're at 701 Main Street, rightin North Myrtle Beach.
Speaker 1 (33:57):
Man, you've done that a time or two A couple times.
Thank you, for being all men,always fun.
And, by the way, we have somemore guests coming up on the
CCMF edition of the LeaderMentality Show and we'll look
forward to seeing you guys soon.
It is our special CCMF edition2025.
We are in a special place today.
Might look a little differentthan what you leader mentality
(34:18):
fans are used to seeing, but weare back.
I'm going to say backstage,it's country music time.
We're backstage at the GrandStream Brewing Company, so we're
having a real authentic look.
Man, this is a little differentthan your other interviews
isn't it?
Speaker 5 (34:29):
It's pretty cool man.
This might be the coolestinterview scenario I've done so
far.
Speaker 1 (34:32):
Yeah, right, right, right, exactly.
Well, guys, fans of the show,you guys know that we're all
about uplifting, we're all aboutthe journey, we're all about
leadership.
We believe everybody can be aleader and our goal is to uplift
you.
But sometimes leadership is notthe easiest road in the world
and there's a lot of bumps thatyou might go through in your
path to inspiring others andgetting to where you're at.
(34:55):
So that's why this CCMF editionis so important to me, because
I'm having some of the best inthe world that are out here at
Myrtle Beach being asked toperform in front of thousands
and thousands of people, and wewant to tell that story.
So I got a great guy today.
I think he's going to fire youguys up.
This is Mr Trey Calloway.
He is Songwriter of the Year,texas Country Music Association.
(35:17):
Four-time and if I say anythingand I shortchange you, you let
me know.
Four-time Josie Music Awardwinner.
He's been a Carolina CountryMusic Song of the Year recipient
.
1.5 million streams on Spotify.
It's closer to three now Three.
Man ever since I wrote this,he's already up 1.5 million more
.
If you do give any stats andthey're wrong- just over-inflate
(35:39):
it for me he must be at least 3million and 1 right now, I'm
sure.
But well, man, welcome to theshow.
Good to have you.
Thanks for having me, rob.
It's good to be here.
Well, I know you have a busyweek.
What all is going on for youright now.
Speaker 5 (35:50):
So this has been a crazy week.
So I did my first Nashville CMAFest this week as well, Wow,
okay.
And Wednesday I got the amazingopportunity to play a thing
called Country for a Cause whichis for the Vanderbilt
Children's Cancer Research.
They give all that money tothem.
It's at 3rd and Lindsley, NiceWorld-famous music venue, man,
(36:13):
they had Jimmy Fortune from theStatler Brothers, all these old
Opry stars, the Oak Ridge Boyswere there.
It's just insane.
And I got to open the show andwe went out there and my guitar
player, Austin Crum, and we hada fiddle player named Sean
Bailey play it with us and heplays with Josh Turner, Austin
plays with Shannon Dole a wholebunch.
So I mean I had some of thebest players in the world up
(36:34):
there on stage with me and werocked it.
Man, they really came throughfor me.
And then I went and did myfirst ever autograph signing at
CMFS the next day and did twobooths and did a couple pressers
and a bunch of bunch ofinterviews, signed about 250
autographs, which was the firsttime I'd ever signed that how's
your hand doing, yeah, my handwas hurting, so, but it's just
(36:55):
been an amazing, an amazing weekand then.
So I drove down here and I don'thave a tour bus yet.
It was me and my pickup truckand my guitar in the back.
Speaker 1 (37:03):
Now, that's legit, though that's what we want to
hear.
We don't want to hear aboutthese tour buses, the road days,
right right, right, and so Igot to play.
Speaker 5 (37:10):
I played a couple of gigs while I've been in town.
I did a hometown show Fridaynight at Captain Archie's, which
is one of the first places Igot my start in Nice, and it's
grown from there being maybe 20people when I first started to
you couldn't walk in there.
And those people, the love thatthey've given me, that this
area has given me, as they wishme luck as I moved to Tennessee,
(37:32):
has just been humbling andamazing and anything a guy like
me could wish for.
Speaker 1 (37:39):
Man that's so cool.
You know, I really appreciatethe way that so many of you guys
and I've met a lot of thesingers over the years.
I'm sorry, no man, we're arough bunch.
You guys are some of the like Iguess it might sound cliche,
but salt of the earth type ofpeople.
Man, you're out there and yougive back to people but you also
really love what you do and Ifeel like there's a bigger
(37:59):
connection with the fans thansome other genres out there.
You know what I mean.
Speaker 5 (38:03):
Country is from the heart, man, I mean, it's you
know, if you and if you don'tlove your, the people that
support you, if you don't givethem that love back, mmm, what
are you doing?
Cuz?
Yeah, that's why we do this orat least in my opinion, this is
to make people happy.
And I was actually if I cantell a quick story, absolutely.
I had a guy I believe his namewas Brett or something.
(38:25):
He was escorting us from thesigning booth that we did back
around the festival at CMA Fest,and we were walking and I just
had this moment of seeing allthose fans there and people that
didn't know me from Adam butwere coming up to me that
thought, hey, you know, I wantto take a picture with this guy.
You know, you never know.
Yeah, and I told the guy I saidyou know, we get to create the
(38:46):
soundtrack of people's lives thefirst time they fall in love or
their first kiss or their firstyou know party, where they get
the courage to go up to thatgirl and they might hear that
song at the right minute and itgives them the courage to walk
up.
Speaker 1 (38:59):
And then, 20 years later, they're married and they
got kids and it's all because ofthat song I completely agree,
we create the soundtrack ofpeople's lives you create a
soundtrack of people's lives andI get chill bumps when I think
I can see that man and that's.
It is a powerful thing, and thething I think is so cool about
it is is music has the power ofemotion.
We've all been driving down theroad and you know like a sad
(39:20):
song comes on, it puts you in amood.
Sometimes an upbeat song comeson, it puts you in a mood.
So you guys have an ability tocontribute to people's emotions
during the day.
That's pretty neat.
Well, let's go back to thatcancer thing real quick.
How did you get involved withthat so?
Speaker 5 (39:35):
I work with a fellow named Scott Sexton who is very
connected with the Grand OleOpry all those guys and they
started he's a board member ofone of the people that run
Country for a Cause.
And I begged, and begged, andbegged I did, I had to beg and I
said, hey, man, please let mebe a part of this, because I
think I have something to offer,I think I can come and do a
(39:56):
good job for you.
And I finally got it.
Speaker 4 (40:03):
It took me a couple years, but they finally you know
, because you do have to bedoing pretty good.
Speaker 5 (40:03):
Yeah, for sure, you know.
So they finally let me do it,and I wasn't going to squander
the opportunity.
Speaker 1 (40:09):
Dude, do you hear what he said?
They let him do it.
You're talking about raisingmoney for cancer, and like to me
to hear you say it like that.
They let you do it.
That's a beautiful thing, man,and congratulations to you.
Speaker 5 (40:20):
You did man I had to beg.
Speaker 1 (40:22):
I'm not too proud.
Well, you know a lot of people.
It's like they're trying totwist their arms to get them to
go do something.
Here you are and you're sayingI'm volunteering it, so I love
that.
Well, tell me a little bitabout what it's like from your
standpoint.
You've got all these eventsstacking up.
It's got to be some pressure.
There's got to be some thingsthat go through your head.
You're talking about going fromone festival to another
(40:43):
festival, autograph signings,raising money for charity.
Tell me a little bit about whatthe weeks leading up to that
are like.
What kind of pressure do youhave and how do you handle it?
That's a great question.
Speaker 5 (40:53):
So, if I'm being 100% honest with you, the music part
has always been the easy partfor me the show stuff.
Playing a show, I'm the guy youwant to give the ball to with
two seconds on the clock.
When it comes to performinglive, I'm always ready to do
that.
Stage fright is not really athing for me.
I don't know why, but I neverget stage fright.
But the challenging part for meis the mental stuff.
(41:16):
When you get home after a showand you're and you're sitting
there and you're alone andyou're reflecting about your
career and the steps that havetaken you to this point, and the
struggle and the grind becauseit is a grind.
Anybody out there who might betrying to do music for a living
or anything like this, um, it isnot easy.
It is not easy.
There have been times when I'vewanted to quit and my lovely
(41:36):
wife has has talked me off theledge several times times when
I've wanted to quit and mylovely wife has has talked me
off the ledge several times.
I actually was, was was closeto quitting music about three
and a half to four years ago.
I've just been doing it for along time and I was, I was
burned out, you know.
But I met her and she changedmy life and I she.
She re-inspired me, she gaveme-gave me that confidence back.
(41:58):
And you talk about being aleader.
A leader is not somebody whocomes in and says this is the
way it's going to be, I'm goingto take charge.
I tried that for a while in myearlier part of my career and it
doesn't work.
You have to surround yourselfwith people that you believe in,
are capable of doing the jobwithout you micromanaging
everything they do believe in,are capable of doing the job
(42:20):
without you micromanagingeverything they do.
You have to have confidence andtrust in your friends that
they're going to have your backand then when you give them that
freedom, nine times out of tenthey go the extra mile because
they see you believe in them Onehundred percent.
Man With fans, with people youwork with in the industry.
When you put your confidence inpeople and treat them with the
dignity and respect they deserve, you get so much in return 100%
(42:43):
thing that we need to talkabout.
Speaker 1 (42:45):
This applies everywhere too.
You're talking about countrymusic scene, you're talking
about leadership in that way,but it applies everywhere.
This isn't about now.
I'm in charge.
Everybody do what I told themto do, but can you inspire
others?
The thing I really appreciatethat you said I'd love to
elaborate on it through yourstory is that there are times
where people want to quit.
(43:06):
It's times where all thepressure is coming down on you
and you keep going, andsometimes somebody becomes a
leader for you without you evenknowing it.
You know what I mean, and sothat's what she did for you, man
, and that's what she did foryou, man, and that's very
powerful.
Speaker 5 (43:18):
That's a great point you just made.
Very well said.
Speaker 1 (43:20):
Yeah, man.
Well, you know, this issomething that I like people to
hear, because it's not reallyinspiring for people to hear
that.
You know, I started singing andthen I was on the CMAs and then
I won my awards and it's allbeen.
You know, let's talk about thereal stuff.
Speaker 5 (43:33):
So very cool sweet, without sacrifice 100%.
Speaker 1 (43:37):
That's just the honest to God truth.
Love that.
Hey, tell me a little bit abouthow you got into the singing
game like this I started singingprobably around the age of six
years old.
Speaker 5 (43:47):
I've been singing since I was about six years old.
My father was a Pentecostalevangelist.
He also worked construction.
At the same time as workingconstruction, he was an
evangelist, which is, for thoseof you who might not know, it's
a traveling preacher.
We were Pentecostal and so hewould go and preach revivals at
all these churches, which islike a country singer going on a
tour.
Speaker 1 (44:07):
It's a preacher tour.
Less autographs, probably Lessautographs.
More mustard-colored suits,more purple suits.
A little bit of a dab in thehead, absolutely, man.
Speaker 5 (44:20):
So he would go and preach and I would sing before
he would preach his sermons andso that got me the music bug.
I sang contemporary gospel andsouthern gospel up until
probably the age of around 12 or13.
And my mom and dad bought me acountry gold greatest hits disc
that had Loretta Lynn and GeorgeJones and Waylon Jennings and
(44:41):
Merle Haggard and all thosegreat, great artists, and so I
really I discovered my walk withcountry music, was discovering
the roots of it, very early onand really my mom and dad said
well, if you're going to singcountry, we want you to know
what country music comes from,what it is Okay, and I also had
the Southern gospel backgroundas well, so that sound was
(45:02):
ingrained in me from a young age.
Then I started listening toJason Aldean and Luke Bryan and
Billy Currington and Chris Youngwhich is crazy because one of
my next singles coming up waswritten by Chris Young.
Speaker 1 (45:15):
Really it's a full circle moment it's crazy to
think.
Speaker 5 (45:17):
This guy I grew up listening to on my next album
there's a song that he wrote onthere with my buddy, anthony
Smith, who wrote Tomorrow I'mgoing to leave here Big old
number one hit for Chris YoungNice, nice, nice.
So they wrote that song andthey let me record it.
Dude, you are on your way upright now.
Speaker 1 (45:35):
man, I'm crying.
Man, I'm glad I got you now.
I won't get you two years fromnow.
Speaker 5 (45:40):
That's not true.
We get you two years ago.
That's not true.
We were just talking about that.
No, I can tell you're a leader.
I mean honestly, I can tell youknow you inspired.
I remember when you walked upto me over there we just met and
I looked at my wife.
I said I said he's got amagnetic personality.
I liked him from the get go.
Speaker 1 (45:55):
Man I appreciate that I mean.
Speaker 5 (45:56):
I can tell it's a good thing you're doing here.
It just won't be the last timewe work together.
Speaker 1 (45:59):
Well, hey, man, definitely I'm hoping you're
going to come back to MyrtleBeach with us.
Now I have to talk on this.
You know I'm a PK myself, sodid your dad ever want you to
follow in the evangelist'sfootsteps?
Speaker 3 (46:10):
He did, he did right, either that or construction,
and you didn't either.
Speaker 5 (46:15):
So the thing about it is I still have that message
inside my heart.
I still have that messageinside my heart.
I put a gospel song on everysingle album, if not two or
three gospel songs.
I love singing about the Lord.
I love singing.
I've been known to be in themost rowdiest honky-tonk you can
(46:36):
imagine, down in the middle ofnowhere, Georgia, and sing I'll
Fly Away.
And that entire crowd of peoplewith beers in their hands will
sing I'll Fly Away with you.
You know that message is astrue now as it's ever been.
Speaker 1 (46:50):
It's a cool thing when you can do that and we talk
about giving an emotion, givingthe spirit man and I did work
construction for a little bit.
Speaker 5 (46:56):
Yeah, well, okay, During the pandemic I went to
work because there was no music.
I went to work constructionwith my pops.
Speaker 1 (47:02):
What kind of stuff were you doing?
Give us a little taste.
Speaker 5 (47:06):
While I was a kid, my dad was an electrician.
He did electrical work for allof my years growing up.
Then he got into the commercialplayground building business,
which, like if a library or aschool or anything like that any
kind of public place needs aplayground, they'll hire my
dad's company and they'll go getit.
And it is.
Everybody thinks playground, oh, playgrounds kids this is
(47:28):
sitting in the hundred degreeheat, mixing concrete, digging
holes with an auger, driving askid steer it is, it's real work
, difficult work.
And I remember during that timethat I had kind of said I think
I'm done with music.
I remember the sun was justbaking on me and I was shoveling
molds or doing something andGod spoke to me and he said this
isn't what you're supposed tobe doing.
(47:50):
That was one of the things thatgot me back into playing and
giving it another chance, andthree and a half years later I'm
so glad I did.
Speaker 1 (47:56):
Man very powerful story man.
I appreciate you sharing and,by the way, it's always tough on
these because I meet a guy oncein a while I know I could do
like a two or three hour showwith and I got to cram it down a
little bit.
Speaker 5 (48:07):
I've got all the time in the world for you.
My set's not until 830.
Speaker 1 (48:10):
All right Laurie reset the camera.
Sounds good, she gave me athumbs up.
Well, let's talk about a couplemore things and I want to give
you some time to talk aboutwhat's important to you.
So you have talked about yourbackground, a little gospel
music.
You talked about some greatperformers today.
Who is a performer that youthink is on another level?
Speaker 5 (48:31):
So I am a big big fan of the 90s country guys.
George Strait, North Brooks,alan Jackson, those are probably
my, that's probably my MountRushmore, yeah.
And if I had to add one more,that's probably my Mount
Rushmore, yeah.
And if I had to add one more itwould probably be Clint Black,
okay, nice.
So if you take them guys and Ilove Johnny Cash too I got into
Johnny Cash's music from anearly age as well.
(48:52):
There's a purity and a gospelnote in his music?
Speaker 1 (48:56):
He definitely does, man.
He has that undertone always.
The coolest thing about JohnnyCash is if you watch his career.
He has that undertone always.
The coolest thing about JohnnyCash is if you watch his career.
He was singing songs until thevery end and you could see this
arc in his whole personality man, very interesting.
Speaker 5 (49:10):
That's why he inspired people.
I think he was an imperfect man, and admittedly so, and people
are inspired by that yeah, whenthey know.
You know, man, I don't wake upevery day perfect, I'm just like
everybody else.
Johnny Cash had that.
Speaker 1 (49:24):
Yes, sir, we can all relate to that and that's a very
important thing.
You performed last night andyou're performing today.
Right, tell me about how theperformance went yesterday.
Speaker 5 (49:33):
So you're talking about the Captain Archie's gig?
Yep, it was.
You could not move in thatplace.
The energy was insane.
I put a band together of fellasthat used to play with me
around here before I moved toNashville, and they're Nashville
caliber players.
Every single one of them justplays their butt off.
Tyler Hughes, greg Ford andDale Baker played the gig with
(49:56):
me, and man, we just I'm notbragging, but we brought the
house down.
Speaker 1 (50:00):
Okay, all right, they tore it down, they tore it up,
and so now you get to go do itat CCMF.
Speaker 5 (50:04):
We didn't take a break.
Speaker 1 (50:05):
We played a four-hour show without taking a break,
what you didn't have to go tothe bathroom or anything.
Speaker 5 (50:16):
I drank about 14 glasses of water.
Man Sweat it all out.
I'm not used's the humidityyeah.
Speaker 1 (50:21):
I've heard she's back there shaking hands.
She's going.
Yes, folks, there's nothinglike it in the middle of the
summer Wearing blue jeans andcowboy boots when it's 100
degrees and humid.
Speaker 5 (50:31):
It's not always the best combination, but she's
still got to have the lookSacrifice for our art For our
people.
Speaker 1 (50:36):
Oh well, that's cool stuff, trey.
What else do you have coming upfor next year?
Tell us what the next yearlooks like.
Speaker 5 (50:42):
I'm working on a new album right now.
I've got a new producer, a guynamed Brandon Hood, that I'm
working with.
He's working with Tom Myers,who's blowing up right now,
mackenzie Carpenter.
She's blowing up right now.
She's becoming quite the GrandOle Opry star.
It's kind of a cool thing.
I went to see Zach Topp at thego with my buddy Sam, and
Mackenzie played right beforeZach did and I said, that's
(51:02):
Mackenzie Carpenter.
See my producers, her producer.
Yeah, it's just.
It's.
All these things are startingto click in place with me and
it's it's almost like I'mwaiting for the other shoe to
drop or I'm wait for you know.
You never know, but but it's,it's surreal, and so we're
working on this new album.
I got a song coming out acouple weeks called she don't
break, break it, like she UsedTo.
Okay, all right, honky TonkShuffles are back in style.
(51:24):
Braxton, keith and all themTexas guys are making country
cool again, and you know, I wasalways country.
So for me it's like I came totown at the right time, right,
right, right.
And so we got that song.
I wrote it with Terry McBridefrom McBride and the Ride?
Speaker 1 (51:36):
No way, man.
Speaker 5 (51:37):
He wrote a bunch of hits for Brooks and Dunn.
He wrote a bunch of cuts forGeorge Strait.
Speaker 1 (51:41):
Now explain that song .
Just give us maybe aone-sentence overview.
What does that mean?
She Don't Break it Like sheUsed.
Speaker 5 (51:48):
To.
She used to break my heart allthe time, but things are getting
better, my heart's healing andshe don't break it like she used
to.
Man.
She still breaks it every nowand then but not like she used
to.
Speaker 1 (51:57):
All right, nice, nice , all right.
Well, trey man, I've enjoyedhaving you on the show.
I hope you go and tear it up atCCMF.
What time are you on today?
8.30.
And you are on the Coors stage,coors Banquet stage.
That's what I thought hey,listen, thank you for being on.
God bless you and we'll have youin the future for sure.
All right, hey everybody.
We Carolina-based real estateand construction Ground Zero, of
(52:20):
course, the Gregor Rolls LegacyTheater and our venue, the
Grand Strand Brewing Company.
Go check this guy out tonightand we'll see you on the next
segment of the Leader MentalityShow.
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