June 5, 2020 • 31 mins
‘Black Lives Matter’ – Cody Alan’s conversation with Jimmie Allen.
A note from Cody:
My ‘Black Lives Matter’ conversation with Jimmie Allen – My emotions have run from anger to frustration to sadness. So I wanted to have my longtime friend Jimmie Allen on to help us ALL understand why the hurt is so deep and how to make things better. After this very candid conversation, I felt so much better. I believe supporting the black community, while also supporting great police officers doing their job is a balance we can reach. There is change coming, and I feel our common humanity will unite us in love to make it happen. I don’t often get serious like this, but felt strongly this is an important moment to speak out. Please share this discussion with as many friends and family as possible. -cody
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Cody Cast. This is Cody Allen's podcast. My
friend for a long time, and I always thought we
had the most frank conversations, like we were just lay
it all out there, how I felt, how you felt.
We've talked about some of these things before. So that's
why I wanted to have you on. Because I watched
that video of George Floyd, like we all did. I
(00:22):
had emotions, but I bet you had a unique set
of emotions that were the only a person seeing it
through your eyes feels and sees. So when you saw
that video, what did you think, Oh, picture my seven Uh. Yeah,
(01:00):
I've said a lot of videos, man, Uh, that's probably
one of the worst. When I have that whole videos
that I saw where you see this guy get killed
on camera, like for eight and a half minutes. He
was already cuffed. You know, the guy has this knee
(01:24):
on his neck and you can see he keeps repositioning
his knee, and I was like, wow, man, what is
going through this guy's head? How messed up is his heart?
Cannot see? This is somebody who's brother, somebody's son, ah,
(01:47):
somebody's friends that he's purposely taken life off and bothered
me because it looked like the guy looks like me,
you know, and it took me back to a time
I was in Virginia after the Best Shot went number one,
(02:08):
and I'm driving and I get pulled over. Uh God
to tell I out the officers. You know, from the
start he was very aggressive, and I didn't equate it
to racism. I just say, you never know what people
are going through, because we've all had days when we're
just irritated from certain things. And the first person we
come in contact with the other one that and sometimes
(02:28):
catches the wrap. But he was very aggressive. He was like, hey,
your tail lights out? What are you doing? Do you
have anything you're legally in your car? Do you have
any drugs? Weapons? I was like, uh no, sir, I'm
just just hated home. Then he said, well I don't.
I don't know if I believe and do was like,
I might have to have you step out of the car.
And this other officer pulls up. Uh. He said, hey,
(02:52):
Jimmy Allen, right, you think that song Best Shot? I
said yesterday said I love that song. Man. He said, look, man,
you just gotta tell that out. You apologize for the law,
for the officely, but I'm like, what if that other
guy didn't pull up? What if I didn't have a
number one song on country? You know, I definitely kept
my calm because I feel like you always have to
(03:14):
approach situations and be the calm person in it. But
I I thought about that. I thought about my son
when I saw the video, and I'm like, man, this
is this is horrible. Man, we're we're still here. And
I I said, you know, I've I saw wait a
(03:35):
few days before I said things, because had a bunch
of people message me, Jimmy, why have you said that
about George Floyd? Blah blah blah, And you gotta do
things in your own speed. And I say something I
wanted to be meaningful. I want people to hear my
heart and also be able to move forward with an
open mind and understanding because hateful words don't welcome or
(03:58):
listening here. You know what I'm saying. Uh. So that's
why I wanted to approach it the way I did.
And because when you have a situation like this, you
don't know how people were raised. M h. I know
for me, there were I was raised h different denominations. Um,
(04:21):
my mom was one, my dad was another one. And
there were things in the denomination that I was taught
growing up from my parents and their parents has just
passed down that I found out the older I got.
It's not biblical, it's not real. It's some of the
things I was taught was just something that we've been doing,
(04:41):
you know what I mean. And I equate that to
this to where if you have no access to black
in your life, and the only black people you see
are on TV and their robbers and murderers, and the
media pushes it this way, and you see movies and
you have a family that Mike tell you, okay, you
(05:02):
got to be careful around black people. They do this.
They do that when the rest of the world slowly
starts to wake him up. They have to unlearn everything
that they've been taught, you know, and that doesn't happen overnight. Um,
So they're trying to learn the new ways of everybody
being equal and equality and we're we're a lot more
(05:23):
like than we are different, and there in their mind
like they could be hurt, like I can't believe my
family get this to me. Made me feel I was
superior then this person or that person. So I wanted
to write something that was meaningful because the only way
to change people's hearts doesn't happen overnight. You have to
(05:45):
be persistent, passionate, and uh you have to have patience,
you know, because everybody learns at a different uh speed.
And it's been beautiful to see uh protesting and different
shades of people protesting, because if we've come a long way,
(06:07):
you know, in the sixties during the Civil Rights movement,
it was pretty much all black people. Now there's more
people that weren't black marching that I saw the black people.
And the phrase the revolution won't be televised isn't about
protesting and stuff. The revolution is what happens in your
mind and your heart when it clicks mm hmm, there's
(06:30):
there's injustice. And had a buddy of mine. It's a
white guy. We've been freshman like. He said, Jimmy, well,
how come you can't just say all lives matter? Why
do you have to say black lives matter? I said, man,
you can't say all lives matter until all lives matter.
I said, on your honest opinion, do you think black
(06:51):
people a lot of times are treated equally? And he
said no. I said, well, there you go. You can't
say all all lives matter and tell all I do,
whether it's black lives, white lives, Asian lives. Whenever there
is an injustice on an overall general group of people,
(07:11):
then they don't matter, you know. And technically, you know,
when the US everything started from the Constitution and everything,
it's it's kind of been that way from slavery too.
I think I don't know if it's been changed or
now of black people, we were two thirds of a person,
not even the whole person um to where if it
was equal. You know, we have family members that fought
(07:33):
in World War one, World War two that come back
to a country that they fought for but can't vote,
you know, so it can you imagine I can't. It's
so silly now thinking about that. It's insane. Yeah, man,
it's it's it's uh. But again, man, it's one of
the things where it's just my job to kind of
(07:55):
just teach people to just, you know, when you say something,
mean it. You know, that's guys. And second post, don't
just post a black square just because it's the new
media trend. Like I it drives me insane when people
post praying for Nashville, praying for California, praying for them?
Are you actually praying or you just posting it because
everyone else is doing. What's your reason behind your post?
(08:18):
What's your reasoning, your purpose behind your protesting, behind everything
you do? Have a plan, because it's everything you do
can either hurt or help well. Actions speak louder than words,
and I think it's important to hear the words here.
People talk about this this and and work through this
(08:39):
issue together, but then do something about it um. And
I think that comes back perhaps to our government a
little bit, uh doing something about it. I mean, as
you mentioned, this country has a history of this uh
of injustice, and so this may be the year. This
may be the only I feel like it is. Honestly,
(09:02):
like we all like brushed away as if it meant nothing.
Coronavirus had ruined it, um, and we all just sort
of gave up, like Okay, let's wait till to do anything.
And I just feel like we're being pushed into change.
And actually, this isn't the year to be canceled. This
is the year. There's no concerts to distract you, there's
(09:25):
no sports. I had a country on his friend's mine.
White guy he called me and he said, man, this
is the first time that I've actually seen something and
had time to just sit and process it because I
have no cond rush to had no interviews, had nothing
to do, and I really got to see it. And
he was like, I can honestly tell you, he said.
(09:47):
I asked myself, do I really think things are equal
for people? And he said I said no, because he said,
I can tell you right now I would not want
to be a black guy. I don't. And he said
me saying that, really, let's me no. Man, We've come
a long way, but we got a long way again.
Real quick, go back to your first comment about when
(10:08):
you first saw the video, you thought of your son,
I'm raising a white son. You're raising a black son.
Why should you be more scared for him than I
am for my son, just because of the negative image
that's been around black people, you know, because you know
(10:33):
I've had it happened where I'll walk into a store
and say that's today. I don't have my jeans and
my cowboy boots song, but I'm wearing my Jordans and
some sweats and a hoodie. Like I've literally watched two
people coming to the store that don't look like me
robbing this place blind, but the manage the entire time
(10:53):
heeps coming to me, can't help you with anything. I
was like, no, I'm kidding. I go, do you need
any help? I said, I'm good. I just told you
I was I'm great. I'm I'm good. And I was like,
I was like, you need to watch them. They already's
killing everything. He's like, what do you mean? I said,
go look at the camera. And he went back and
and I asked him, I put him on the spot
that man, you follow me because I was black and
(11:13):
wearing sweats, said no, I would never do that. I said, well,
why you am I the only person you're asking to help?
Ain't nobody that nice? Like? Why? I said, I just
told you I'm good. Bro? What you keep asking me?
But I seen you have nobody else in this little story.
If they if they, if they need help, and you know,
it's it's it's that's and that's the difference. Man. You know,
(11:35):
if not all people, but some, you know, there's injustice
to everyone. But I'm not gonna sit here and be
nice and say who do you feel more threatened by?
If you're outside by yourself and you see a black
guy cross the street the hood, you're a white guy
cross the street. And even even as a black guy,
(11:57):
you know, we've all done it. You know, I can
honestly say I see it. If I'm feel threatened and
I see a white guy across the street and a
black guy, I'll probably say to myself, I'll fight that
white guy before I like that black You know what
I mean, We've all done when we can be honest
and just point out our own flaws. Man, that's you know,
(12:20):
that's that's where the that's where the change starts. And
you know, so many people ask me all the time,
what how's it about being a black guy in country music?
And I tell people all the time, Man, for me,
I see the progress. I had no fan base before
country music. You know, I have two number ones now
because of the support from any of you guys, you know,
(12:40):
radio media and country music and the fans. You know,
I have I ever experienced a little setback before. Yeah,
but it came from someone that worked out a record label,
not radio, not my record label, and not the fans.
(13:01):
Someone told me in a meeting this person's exact words,
and I ended up walking out. They said, well, you know,
I like you, Jim, You're you're cool for a black guy.
I was like, what does that mean? And then this
person used to say, well, I'm not sure how to
market someone that looks like you because I'm not sure
(13:22):
how people would feel about your people. My I'm like,
what year is this? Like wow? And I'm sitting here,
and then they they just continue the dig and in
their brain they have no idea what they're saying is
not right. So I was like, all right, but man,
(13:43):
from country radio, man to country music family two, the fans,
it's been great, you know. And that's where I feel
like people ask how come there's more black people in
country music, more black artists. Because the hiccup isn't radio
and the fans. The hiccup is sometimes at the record
label side. And if the record labels don't sign black artists,
(14:06):
how do we get played on country radio? Because that
relationship between country radio and the record label is so strong.
If a record label doesn't sign a black artist, how
do we get them the radio? How do we get
them too? You know? So uh, but there's so many
out there to look like me and for myself to
caim brown Mickey Guy and Davis Ruts and Charlie Pride, Uh,
(14:27):
Cowboy Troy, Aaron Vance, Tony Jackson, this new girl named Tierra. Um.
There's just so many people to you know. The musicians
are playing bands. My boy Tyrone that plays for Sam Hunt,
my boy Hubert that plays a little big town, Damien Horn, Uh,
my boy killed that place a little big time, and
so many out there. And we've been welcomed, you know,
(14:50):
by the artist, and we've been welcomed by the radio.
You've been welcomed by the fans. It's just there's a
little This person works in my label. I'm not gonna
put them out, but this person works for my label.
This person said, yeah, Jimmy, there's some problems at certain recolle.
What You've got a lot of people with old ways
of thinking, you know, and they forget the whole history
(15:14):
of country music. Where history of country music actually came from.
The blues came from black people, Banjo came from West Africa.
So it's like, you know, it's all again. It comes
down to just educating yourself. No matter how people treat me,
I choose to still lead with love and compassion and
(15:35):
hopefully one day you know, you know, people will start
to see each other's as equal and and I don't.
People said, well, Jim, you should get mad, you should
say something angry. What will that do? It just takes
the hate I'm trying to preach against. It makes me
become what I don't what I'm going to get to
(15:56):
defeat the whole purpose. I'm glad your message coming out
of this past week, it's just been so much low
So thank you for that. I I'm glad you brought
up also like the names of the artists who are
making things happen. And the best thing about that most
recent number one was the fact that you and Came
were number one and number two on the country music
(16:18):
charts at that moment. It was incredible and so listen, man,
that happening. When that happened with Best Shot Too? Yeah,
oh that's right, Yes, we happened with Best Shot Too.
I made a joke to one of my buddies in radio.
I was like, man, my single went number one and
came with number one, or came go number one. I
don't number one. I said, it's good to see y'all
(16:38):
got a black section carved down a black sestion, right
at the very top of the charts. Um, it really
comes down to great music. And by the way, you
have a great new song out right now with Noah
Cyrus called This is Us that's doing so well. I'll
get to that in a second. One more question on
this though, because I wanted you to look at this
(17:00):
past week and help me and help us sort of
cope with I mean, obviously there's protests, there's riots, there's looting, vandalism.
Aldi's uh, what what do you see? And and like,
how do we um deal with this moving forward? Um?
Do we need to protest more? Uh? How do I say,
(17:24):
sort of the the bad side of this, which is
the negative negative which often gets covered, which is you know,
people breaking windows and stealing and like that is a
sidebar to the greater protest. I think that is most useful.
I thought about the other day, you know when when
the when the looting first started, somebody said, somebody said,
(17:47):
Nike stewing got broken into and so four got broken into.
I said, well, you know, Nike, Okay, that was us,
that was us, that was us four. We're not breaking
in enough the four with those skateboards, bro, and that
ain't us. And after that. But but I told people
the best way to do this, Man, if you want
to protest, do it during the day and then leave,
(18:08):
because at nighttime a group of people creates camouflage, and
the people that are there to terrorize and and take
this moment as an opportunity to get stuff, form themselves
and disrupt the whole movement. I said, if y'all, if
everybody leaves five o'clock, everybody go home. The ten twelve
people that's out there messed up up, it's just them.
(18:29):
But I tell people, it really comes down to voting.
You know, not even I'm not even talking about presidential
voting because the president is really, in my opinion, affect
your daily life. It's voting. When it comes to your
mayor government, you're you're sinning your your representatives and represent
your state. Because if you have a mayor that's all
about love and equality for everyone, black, white, different, uh,
(18:54):
doesn't matter your sexual orientation, whatever. You have someone that's
all about love and equality. They're not gonna stand for
police chief that lets nonsense happen. They're not gonna stand.
And I don't care if the person getting abused as black, white, Asian,
it don't matter man wrong as you you know. Uh,
So that's where I tell people vote on your local level.
(19:16):
You get that, you really get down and you vote
for somebody that's all about equality for everyone. Seeing everyone
is equal. That's where you really start to see the
change when it comes to this coronavirus virus time. We've
all been stuck at home a lot more. And obviously,
like you said, it probably all of this inequality and
(19:38):
justice being brought to the forefront. It's given us time
to really think about how we can do things differently
and so and that way. Um, it's been good, I think. Um.
But on the lighter side of all of this, how
have you been spending time, uh, coping with this at home?
(19:59):
I know you're que Disney fan. I imagine Disney plus
must be a major player right now. Dude. I've been
on a fishing tour where I've been taking the tour
bus from Delaware. It's Nashville, Nashville, Florida. I go from
the house to the fishing hole, and people said, well,
why would you go fishing? I was like, first of all,
it's just me out there. I feel a lot safer
(20:21):
from my boat with just meet and in walm month.
You know, there was like what if you catch COVID?
Listen if I catch COVID on the water, just me,
I already had it. Okay, I already had it. We
got bigger issues. So man, I've been, I've been, you know,
spending time with family. I actually got a chance to
(20:42):
spend more time with my newborn daughter because when she
was born on March first, we left and when I
left the country March fiveth and we wasn't supposed to
come back to like March THIRTI but we ended up
coming back on the twelve. So I got all that
time with her, all this time with her now and
my son who turns five uh here pretty soon. Um.
(21:02):
So it's been. It's been great. You know, I've I've
been doing a lot more activities outside I had. I was.
People ask me, what, Jimmy, you know, well, why don't
you post something about stay at home p s A.
I said, Listen, man, I'm not the type of person
to ever say or ever do anything that I'm not
(21:25):
literally doing. How can I tell people to stay home
when I'm taking the toy bus to Florida to go fishing.
You know, even though I don't post it on social media.
I'm doing that, I said, I just I just just
be smart. You know, nothing wrong going outside if you
want to go fish and go fishing. And it was
like you should stay home. I was like, even if
I'm going outide, everything's closed, So what does that matter.
(21:47):
That's why I've been doing to spending time with family
and on a fishing tour. Right. Um. The new song
this is us with North Cirrus. Great love song. Um,
and so tell me about the song and kind of why, Well,
first of all, we need more love in the world.
But tell me what this song is kind of special?
I Knowah Cyrus, Uh you asked to sing on all?
This song? She wrote with Tyler Hubbert for the Georgia
(22:12):
line Noah, a guy named d Miles and another writer
forgot the name. Uh. Well, my manager Ash Bowers that
manages myself, Matt Stale and Crisp Bandy works alongside a
lot with uh Noah's Noah's record label Records, and he
knows Verry Wise really well. And uh the song h
was sent to Ash and I heard it and I
(22:35):
thought it was gonna be a duet first with FGL
and Noah, and I heard it. I was like, yo,
can I then I get on that. They asked me
if I wanted to put a vocal on. I was like, dude,
I would love it. So I love the song recorded it.
I'm a fan of Noah's music. Anyway, I got to
meet there hang out where we shot the video. She's
super cool, like she's really a nice person, man, right,
(22:56):
super chill uh. And I love this song and I
just so happened to be doing a e new EP
that comes out soon that's full of collaborations because I've
never done only collab I did on my something from
Me was uh, did shallow with Notice Side with Abby Anderson,
(23:19):
and I did a song with Mattsdell on his record.
I did a song with my buddy Pope Forward on
his and and I got to be a part of
Florida Georgia, not Florida alone, but my gummy Gentry's um verse.
I got to sing hell yeah uh. And then I've
done stuff with my buddy other people, but never actual
projects for me. So I said, I want to do
a duet record with people I love. Um So, the
(23:43):
lead single from it is this is Us. I have
a song with some people that with people on the
record comes out of people are like, this is so random.
I won't give them all out, but one I will
give out that it was so super so amazing for
me and it's a true representative of black people in
country music. It's a song with me, Charlie Pride, and
(24:05):
Darren's Fucker on the same song. And I was like, Wow,
this is cool and I got one. I t s
I got a song with Mickey Goton on there. And
that's some other artists I'm excited about that's on EP.
Uh yeah, man, how soon do we need to hear
all this? This sounds amazing o coming to yes between
(24:28):
now in July, okay, between now and a live thirty
if I'm hoping, uh, you know it'll it'll be out
and and and and be available because I haven't putting
on new music out in a long time and I'm
tired of here. I love my record Mercury Lane, but
I'm tired of listening to it, and at my shows
(24:49):
I'll be playing new songs. But I'm like, man, nobody
knows it. So I just wrote this thing. But it's
been great man. Uh again, Man, just super thankful and
to be a part of you know the country music family. Man,
It's it's great. You know. I always had people asked, what, Jimmy,
are you gonna go pop? Was like, why would you
(25:10):
say that? They said, Well, your music leans POPA said,
since day one, my music is kind of leaned that way,
you know. I'm I'm a country lyric with pop rock
production kind of guy and pop melodies. Uh sometimes classic
country melodies. Depends on the records. And you know, I
just I said, I never leave it. I'm always gonna
play country music festivals. I'm always gonna send my music
(25:32):
country radio. I'm always gonna be a country ward shows,
always gonna do interviews, hang out with my cousin Cody Allen,
you know. Uh so yeah, man, I love it. Man,
you know, life is I'm I'm thankful. Am I bad
you know injustice and everything going on? Yes, But at
the same time, I am thankful for the product, for
(25:53):
the progress. I am thankful too in a genre of
music where people don't think I would succeed be succeeding. Yeah,
just go to show that there's love here man. And
uh and and it's possible to do what you want
to do no matter what you where you're from well
and the great music finds its way like great music rises. Uh.
(26:17):
And I also think good people do too, and I
think that that's what this moment really is, good people
coming coming together, I hope and united for listen. I
don't talk politics ever, Like this is not what I'm about.
I just, you know, uh, talk about music mostly. But
it's just I don't. I don't, I don't think. But
a lot of people think that. It is to the
(26:38):
point where if you say something or you step out,
it's like suddenly, oh, he must be for Trump or
he must be for Biden, or like it's like, no,
it's it's just about people. It's about You're not even
talking about Trump or Biden. We're talking about people being
treated fairly. That's all we're talking about here, right, you know. Uh.
(27:00):
And I challenged a lot of a lot of my
friends that are Christians and believers, and I said, how
can you love God and not love everyone when God
specifically tells you to love it? And I was like,
just let that sink in for a little bit. I said,
there's no way you can say you love God, you
(27:23):
love people and see the video with George Floyd and
make excuses for it. Then do you really love God?
You say you do. Yeah, So it's just something people
to think. One last question on this, because I wonder
if there's not a balance we should be talking about
as well, the balance being yes, I can support Black
(27:46):
Lives Matter and the black community while at the same
time supporting good cops who are in my community. You
got we have to figure out that balance too, because
I think it's a little bit still a little imbalanced
right now. See again, I tell people, it just comes
down two people being treated fairly. I know some of
(28:10):
my best friends and police officers, my cousins a police officer,
and and and that's and they're great people. You know,
they people fairly. Uh So you can still support Black
Lives adat and support police officers. Of course, you know,
(28:33):
I don't. I'm not one. I don't want to see
a black guy treated wrong by one police officer in
Minneapolis and then see a protest where somebody throws a
brick at an officer just because they think he might
be racist. No, that's not how you do it. You
know nothing about this First of all, it's not the
(28:54):
right thing to do saying well, you know nothing about
this car he could have a black wife and mixed
kids at home. What I'm saying that that that doesn't
it's no, that's not how you do it. You know,
it's about because when we stereotyped police officers, we can't
get mad. I can't get mad if someone stereotyped black
people because it comes down to groups of people. So
(29:16):
what I'm saying and you can't stereotype one group of
people and not didn't get mad when people stereotypes a
group of people that are associated with So yes, you
can support. Again, it comes down to support it everything.
Supporting blacks, supporting UH police officers, supporting firefighters, supporting Asian,
(29:38):
supporting whites. It's about supporting global support and I definitely
think you can do that. I don't agree with people
UH harmon police officers, no, not at all. My families
are My family are police officers. So my best friend Stance,
I was a kid our police officers. You know you
(29:59):
can support because again, how can you say, how can
I push for black lives matter and hopefully one day
black lives are including in all lives matter? If I
treat a certain group of people different, I'm contracting everything
I'm pushing towards perfectly said, I really appreciate that. Um.
(30:21):
I think we all uh need to hear it um
before we let you go. In case people don't know
your story, Jimmy, you came to Nashville and how long
did you live in your car? About four and a
half months? Showered at the y n C as jim
and fitness. That's right? Uh really no electric? That was horrible. Yeah,
(30:49):
but now you're in this slinky new truck. You got
there with a couple of number ones under your belt
and lots more to comb. There you go. I'm just
so proud of you and listen and I love your story.
I love you as a human being. I always have.
But I mean, this is not something that's I'm just like, oh,
let's have Jimmy on because he can speak to this though.
Jimmy's my friend and I we've been hanging out on
(31:13):
radio for a long time. We haven't, we haven't. So
Jimmy appreciated My best of your family. Give Alexis my
best as well, and y'all take care. We'll see soon.
Your family, I say hello as well, and everybody out
there watching and listening, love yourself, love everybody. Thank you.
So much for supporting the country music family, not just
myself but every other artist out there. We appreciate and
(31:35):
look forward to saying you guys on the road soon.
Love you, Jimmy, thank you, I love you too. Rather
say this has been Cody Cast. Subscribe now on iTunes,
listen any time on the I Heart Radio app. Cody
is Hurt on hundreds of radio stations across America and
seen on CMT Hot twenty Countdown every weekend for more, TOMT.
Cody dot com
Welcome to Cody Cast. This is Cody Allen's podcast. My
friend for a long time, and I always thought we
had the most frank conversations, like we were just lay
it all out there, how I felt, how you felt.
We've talked about some of these things before. So that's
why I wanted to have you on. Because I watched
that video of George Floyd, like we all did. I
(00:22):
had emotions, but I bet you had a unique set
of emotions that were the only a person seeing it
through your eyes feels and sees. So when you saw
that video, what did you think, Oh, picture my seven Uh. Yeah,
(01:00):
I've said a lot of videos, man, Uh, that's probably
one of the worst. When I have that whole videos
that I saw where you see this guy get killed
on camera, like for eight and a half minutes. He
was already cuffed. You know, the guy has this knee
(01:24):
on his neck and you can see he keeps repositioning
his knee, and I was like, wow, man, what is
going through this guy's head? How messed up is his heart?
Cannot see? This is somebody who's brother, somebody's son, ah,
(01:47):
somebody's friends that he's purposely taken life off and bothered
me because it looked like the guy looks like me,
you know, and it took me back to a time
I was in Virginia after the Best Shot went number one,
(02:08):
and I'm driving and I get pulled over. Uh God
to tell I out the officers. You know, from the
start he was very aggressive, and I didn't equate it
to racism. I just say, you never know what people
are going through, because we've all had days when we're
just irritated from certain things. And the first person we
come in contact with the other one that and sometimes
(02:28):
catches the wrap. But he was very aggressive. He was like, hey,
your tail lights out? What are you doing? Do you
have anything you're legally in your car? Do you have
any drugs? Weapons? I was like, uh no, sir, I'm
just just hated home. Then he said, well I don't.
I don't know if I believe and do was like,
I might have to have you step out of the car.
And this other officer pulls up. Uh. He said, hey,
(02:52):
Jimmy Allen, right, you think that song Best Shot? I
said yesterday said I love that song. Man. He said, look, man,
you just gotta tell that out. You apologize for the law,
for the officely, but I'm like, what if that other
guy didn't pull up? What if I didn't have a
number one song on country? You know, I definitely kept
my calm because I feel like you always have to
(03:14):
approach situations and be the calm person in it. But
I I thought about that. I thought about my son
when I saw the video, and I'm like, man, this
is this is horrible. Man, we're we're still here. And
I I said, you know, I've I saw wait a
(03:35):
few days before I said things, because had a bunch
of people message me, Jimmy, why have you said that
about George Floyd? Blah blah blah, And you gotta do
things in your own speed. And I say something I
wanted to be meaningful. I want people to hear my
heart and also be able to move forward with an
open mind and understanding because hateful words don't welcome or
(03:58):
listening here. You know what I'm saying. Uh. So that's
why I wanted to approach it the way I did.
And because when you have a situation like this, you
don't know how people were raised. M h. I know
for me, there were I was raised h different denominations. Um,
(04:21):
my mom was one, my dad was another one. And
there were things in the denomination that I was taught
growing up from my parents and their parents has just
passed down that I found out the older I got.
It's not biblical, it's not real. It's some of the
things I was taught was just something that we've been doing,
(04:41):
you know what I mean. And I equate that to
this to where if you have no access to black
in your life, and the only black people you see
are on TV and their robbers and murderers, and the
media pushes it this way, and you see movies and
you have a family that Mike tell you, okay, you
(05:02):
got to be careful around black people. They do this.
They do that when the rest of the world slowly
starts to wake him up. They have to unlearn everything
that they've been taught, you know, and that doesn't happen overnight. Um,
So they're trying to learn the new ways of everybody
being equal and equality and we're we're a lot more
(05:23):
like than we are different, and there in their mind
like they could be hurt, like I can't believe my
family get this to me. Made me feel I was
superior then this person or that person. So I wanted
to write something that was meaningful because the only way
to change people's hearts doesn't happen overnight. You have to
(05:45):
be persistent, passionate, and uh you have to have patience,
you know, because everybody learns at a different uh speed.
And it's been beautiful to see uh protesting and different
shades of people protesting, because if we've come a long way,
(06:07):
you know, in the sixties during the Civil Rights movement,
it was pretty much all black people. Now there's more
people that weren't black marching that I saw the black people.
And the phrase the revolution won't be televised isn't about
protesting and stuff. The revolution is what happens in your
mind and your heart when it clicks mm hmm, there's
(06:30):
there's injustice. And had a buddy of mine. It's a
white guy. We've been freshman like. He said, Jimmy, well,
how come you can't just say all lives matter? Why
do you have to say black lives matter? I said, man,
you can't say all lives matter until all lives matter.
I said, on your honest opinion, do you think black
(06:51):
people a lot of times are treated equally? And he
said no. I said, well, there you go. You can't
say all all lives matter and tell all I do,
whether it's black lives, white lives, Asian lives. Whenever there
is an injustice on an overall general group of people,
(07:11):
then they don't matter, you know. And technically, you know,
when the US everything started from the Constitution and everything,
it's it's kind of been that way from slavery too.
I think I don't know if it's been changed or
now of black people, we were two thirds of a person,
not even the whole person um to where if it
was equal. You know, we have family members that fought
(07:33):
in World War one, World War two that come back
to a country that they fought for but can't vote,
you know, so it can you imagine I can't. It's
so silly now thinking about that. It's insane. Yeah, man,
it's it's it's uh. But again, man, it's one of
the things where it's just my job to kind of
(07:55):
just teach people to just, you know, when you say something,
mean it. You know, that's guys. And second post, don't
just post a black square just because it's the new
media trend. Like I it drives me insane when people
post praying for Nashville, praying for California, praying for them?
Are you actually praying or you just posting it because
everyone else is doing. What's your reason behind your post?
(08:18):
What's your reasoning, your purpose behind your protesting, behind everything
you do? Have a plan, because it's everything you do
can either hurt or help well. Actions speak louder than words,
and I think it's important to hear the words here.
People talk about this this and and work through this
(08:39):
issue together, but then do something about it um. And
I think that comes back perhaps to our government a
little bit, uh doing something about it. I mean, as
you mentioned, this country has a history of this uh
of injustice, and so this may be the year. This
may be the only I feel like it is. Honestly,
(09:02):
like we all like brushed away as if it meant nothing.
Coronavirus had ruined it, um, and we all just sort
of gave up, like Okay, let's wait till to do anything.
And I just feel like we're being pushed into change.
And actually, this isn't the year to be canceled. This
is the year. There's no concerts to distract you, there's
(09:25):
no sports. I had a country on his friend's mine.
White guy he called me and he said, man, this
is the first time that I've actually seen something and
had time to just sit and process it because I
have no cond rush to had no interviews, had nothing
to do, and I really got to see it. And
he was like, I can honestly tell you, he said.
(09:47):
I asked myself, do I really think things are equal
for people? And he said I said no, because he said,
I can tell you right now I would not want
to be a black guy. I don't. And he said
me saying that, really, let's me no. Man, We've come
a long way, but we got a long way again.
Real quick, go back to your first comment about when
(10:08):
you first saw the video, you thought of your son,
I'm raising a white son. You're raising a black son.
Why should you be more scared for him than I
am for my son, just because of the negative image
that's been around black people, you know, because you know
(10:33):
I've had it happened where I'll walk into a store
and say that's today. I don't have my jeans and
my cowboy boots song, but I'm wearing my Jordans and
some sweats and a hoodie. Like I've literally watched two
people coming to the store that don't look like me
robbing this place blind, but the manage the entire time
(10:53):
heeps coming to me, can't help you with anything. I
was like, no, I'm kidding. I go, do you need
any help? I said, I'm good. I just told you
I was I'm great. I'm I'm good. And I was like,
I was like, you need to watch them. They already's
killing everything. He's like, what do you mean? I said,
go look at the camera. And he went back and
and I asked him, I put him on the spot
that man, you follow me because I was black and
(11:13):
wearing sweats, said no, I would never do that. I said, well,
why you am I the only person you're asking to help?
Ain't nobody that nice? Like? Why? I said, I just
told you I'm good. Bro? What you keep asking me?
But I seen you have nobody else in this little story.
If they if they, if they need help, and you know,
it's it's it's that's and that's the difference. Man. You know,
(11:35):
if not all people, but some, you know, there's injustice
to everyone. But I'm not gonna sit here and be
nice and say who do you feel more threatened by?
If you're outside by yourself and you see a black
guy cross the street the hood, you're a white guy
cross the street. And even even as a black guy,
(11:57):
you know, we've all done it. You know, I can
honestly say I see it. If I'm feel threatened and
I see a white guy across the street and a
black guy, I'll probably say to myself, I'll fight that
white guy before I like that black You know what
I mean, We've all done when we can be honest
and just point out our own flaws. Man, that's you know,
(12:20):
that's that's where the that's where the change starts. And
you know, so many people ask me all the time,
what how's it about being a black guy in country music?
And I tell people all the time, Man, for me,
I see the progress. I had no fan base before
country music. You know, I have two number ones now
because of the support from any of you guys, you know,
(12:40):
radio media and country music and the fans. You know,
I have I ever experienced a little setback before. Yeah,
but it came from someone that worked out a record label,
not radio, not my record label, and not the fans.
(13:01):
Someone told me in a meeting this person's exact words,
and I ended up walking out. They said, well, you know,
I like you, Jim, You're you're cool for a black guy.
I was like, what does that mean? And then this
person used to say, well, I'm not sure how to
market someone that looks like you because I'm not sure
(13:22):
how people would feel about your people. My I'm like,
what year is this? Like wow? And I'm sitting here,
and then they they just continue the dig and in
their brain they have no idea what they're saying is
not right. So I was like, all right, but man,
(13:43):
from country radio, man to country music family two, the fans,
it's been great, you know. And that's where I feel
like people ask how come there's more black people in
country music, more black artists. Because the hiccup isn't radio
and the fans. The hiccup is sometimes at the record
label side. And if the record labels don't sign black artists,
(14:06):
how do we get played on country radio? Because that
relationship between country radio and the record label is so strong.
If a record label doesn't sign a black artist, how
do we get them the radio? How do we get
them too? You know? So uh, but there's so many
out there to look like me and for myself to
caim brown Mickey Guy and Davis Ruts and Charlie Pride, Uh,
(14:27):
Cowboy Troy, Aaron Vance, Tony Jackson, this new girl named Tierra. Um.
There's just so many people to you know. The musicians
are playing bands. My boy Tyrone that plays for Sam Hunt,
my boy Hubert that plays a little big town, Damien Horn, Uh,
my boy killed that place a little big time, and
so many out there. And we've been welcomed, you know,
(14:50):
by the artist, and we've been welcomed by the radio.
You've been welcomed by the fans. It's just there's a
little This person works in my label. I'm not gonna
put them out, but this person works for my label.
This person said, yeah, Jimmy, there's some problems at certain recolle.
What You've got a lot of people with old ways
of thinking, you know, and they forget the whole history
(15:14):
of country music. Where history of country music actually came from.
The blues came from black people, Banjo came from West Africa.
So it's like, you know, it's all again. It comes
down to just educating yourself. No matter how people treat me,
I choose to still lead with love and compassion and
(15:35):
hopefully one day you know, you know, people will start
to see each other's as equal and and I don't.
People said, well, Jim, you should get mad, you should
say something angry. What will that do? It just takes
the hate I'm trying to preach against. It makes me
become what I don't what I'm going to get to
(15:56):
defeat the whole purpose. I'm glad your message coming out
of this past week, it's just been so much low
So thank you for that. I I'm glad you brought
up also like the names of the artists who are
making things happen. And the best thing about that most
recent number one was the fact that you and Came
were number one and number two on the country music
(16:18):
charts at that moment. It was incredible and so listen, man,
that happening. When that happened with Best Shot Too? Yeah,
oh that's right, Yes, we happened with Best Shot Too.
I made a joke to one of my buddies in radio.
I was like, man, my single went number one and
came with number one, or came go number one. I
don't number one. I said, it's good to see y'all
(16:38):
got a black section carved down a black sestion, right
at the very top of the charts. Um, it really
comes down to great music. And by the way, you
have a great new song out right now with Noah
Cyrus called This is Us that's doing so well. I'll
get to that in a second. One more question on
this though, because I wanted you to look at this
(17:00):
past week and help me and help us sort of
cope with I mean, obviously there's protests, there's riots, there's looting, vandalism.
Aldi's uh, what what do you see? And and like,
how do we um deal with this moving forward? Um?
Do we need to protest more? Uh? How do I say,
(17:24):
sort of the the bad side of this, which is
the negative negative which often gets covered, which is you know,
people breaking windows and stealing and like that is a
sidebar to the greater protest. I think that is most useful.
I thought about the other day, you know when when
the when the looting first started, somebody said, somebody said,
(17:47):
Nike stewing got broken into and so four got broken into.
I said, well, you know, Nike, Okay, that was us,
that was us, that was us four. We're not breaking
in enough the four with those skateboards, bro, and that
ain't us. And after that. But but I told people
the best way to do this, Man, if you want
to protest, do it during the day and then leave,
(18:08):
because at nighttime a group of people creates camouflage, and
the people that are there to terrorize and and take
this moment as an opportunity to get stuff, form themselves
and disrupt the whole movement. I said, if y'all, if
everybody leaves five o'clock, everybody go home. The ten twelve
people that's out there messed up up, it's just them.
(18:29):
But I tell people, it really comes down to voting.
You know, not even I'm not even talking about presidential
voting because the president is really, in my opinion, affect
your daily life. It's voting. When it comes to your
mayor government, you're you're sinning your your representatives and represent
your state. Because if you have a mayor that's all
about love and equality for everyone, black, white, different, uh,
(18:54):
doesn't matter your sexual orientation, whatever. You have someone that's
all about love and equality. They're not gonna stand for
police chief that lets nonsense happen. They're not gonna stand.
And I don't care if the person getting abused as black, white, Asian,
it don't matter man wrong as you you know. Uh,
So that's where I tell people vote on your local level.
(19:16):
You get that, you really get down and you vote
for somebody that's all about equality for everyone. Seeing everyone
is equal. That's where you really start to see the
change when it comes to this coronavirus virus time. We've
all been stuck at home a lot more. And obviously,
like you said, it probably all of this inequality and
(19:38):
justice being brought to the forefront. It's given us time
to really think about how we can do things differently
and so and that way. Um, it's been good, I think. Um.
But on the lighter side of all of this, how
have you been spending time, uh, coping with this at home?
(19:59):
I know you're que Disney fan. I imagine Disney plus
must be a major player right now. Dude. I've been
on a fishing tour where I've been taking the tour
bus from Delaware. It's Nashville, Nashville, Florida. I go from
the house to the fishing hole, and people said, well,
why would you go fishing? I was like, first of all,
it's just me out there. I feel a lot safer
(20:21):
from my boat with just meet and in walm month.
You know, there was like what if you catch COVID?
Listen if I catch COVID on the water, just me,
I already had it. Okay, I already had it. We
got bigger issues. So man, I've been, I've been, you know,
spending time with family. I actually got a chance to
(20:42):
spend more time with my newborn daughter because when she
was born on March first, we left and when I
left the country March fiveth and we wasn't supposed to
come back to like March THIRTI but we ended up
coming back on the twelve. So I got all that
time with her, all this time with her now and
my son who turns five uh here pretty soon. Um.
(21:02):
So it's been. It's been great. You know, I've I've
been doing a lot more activities outside I had. I was.
People ask me, what, Jimmy, you know, well, why don't
you post something about stay at home p s A.
I said, Listen, man, I'm not the type of person
to ever say or ever do anything that I'm not
(21:25):
literally doing. How can I tell people to stay home
when I'm taking the toy bus to Florida to go fishing.
You know, even though I don't post it on social media.
I'm doing that, I said, I just I just just
be smart. You know, nothing wrong going outside if you
want to go fish and go fishing. And it was
like you should stay home. I was like, even if
I'm going outide, everything's closed, So what does that matter.
(21:47):
That's why I've been doing to spending time with family
and on a fishing tour. Right. Um. The new song
this is us with North Cirrus. Great love song. Um,
and so tell me about the song and kind of why, Well,
first of all, we need more love in the world.
But tell me what this song is kind of special?
I Knowah Cyrus, Uh you asked to sing on all?
This song? She wrote with Tyler Hubbert for the Georgia
(22:12):
line Noah, a guy named d Miles and another writer
forgot the name. Uh. Well, my manager Ash Bowers that
manages myself, Matt Stale and Crisp Bandy works alongside a
lot with uh Noah's Noah's record label Records, and he
knows Verry Wise really well. And uh the song h
was sent to Ash and I heard it and I
(22:35):
thought it was gonna be a duet first with FGL
and Noah, and I heard it. I was like, yo,
can I then I get on that. They asked me
if I wanted to put a vocal on. I was like, dude,
I would love it. So I love the song recorded it.
I'm a fan of Noah's music. Anyway, I got to
meet there hang out where we shot the video. She's
super cool, like she's really a nice person, man, right,
(22:56):
super chill uh. And I love this song and I
just so happened to be doing a e new EP
that comes out soon that's full of collaborations because I've
never done only collab I did on my something from
Me was uh, did shallow with Notice Side with Abby Anderson,
(23:19):
and I did a song with Mattsdell on his record.
I did a song with my buddy Pope Forward on
his and and I got to be a part of
Florida Georgia, not Florida alone, but my gummy Gentry's um verse.
I got to sing hell yeah uh. And then I've
done stuff with my buddy other people, but never actual
projects for me. So I said, I want to do
a duet record with people I love. Um So, the
(23:43):
lead single from it is this is Us. I have
a song with some people that with people on the
record comes out of people are like, this is so random.
I won't give them all out, but one I will
give out that it was so super so amazing for
me and it's a true representative of black people in
country music. It's a song with me, Charlie Pride, and
(24:05):
Darren's Fucker on the same song. And I was like, Wow,
this is cool and I got one. I t s
I got a song with Mickey Goton on there. And
that's some other artists I'm excited about that's on EP.
Uh yeah, man, how soon do we need to hear
all this? This sounds amazing o coming to yes between
(24:28):
now in July, okay, between now and a live thirty
if I'm hoping, uh, you know it'll it'll be out
and and and and be available because I haven't putting
on new music out in a long time and I'm
tired of here. I love my record Mercury Lane, but
I'm tired of listening to it, and at my shows
(24:49):
I'll be playing new songs. But I'm like, man, nobody
knows it. So I just wrote this thing. But it's
been great man. Uh again, Man, just super thankful and
to be a part of you know the country music family. Man,
It's it's great. You know. I always had people asked, what, Jimmy,
are you gonna go pop? Was like, why would you
(25:10):
say that? They said, Well, your music leans POPA said,
since day one, my music is kind of leaned that way,
you know. I'm I'm a country lyric with pop rock
production kind of guy and pop melodies. Uh sometimes classic
country melodies. Depends on the records. And you know, I
just I said, I never leave it. I'm always gonna
play country music festivals. I'm always gonna send my music
(25:32):
country radio. I'm always gonna be a country ward shows,
always gonna do interviews, hang out with my cousin Cody Allen,
you know. Uh so yeah, man, I love it. Man,
you know, life is I'm I'm thankful. Am I bad
you know injustice and everything going on? Yes, But at
the same time, I am thankful for the product, for
(25:53):
the progress. I am thankful too in a genre of
music where people don't think I would succeed be succeeding. Yeah,
just go to show that there's love here man. And
uh and and it's possible to do what you want
to do no matter what you where you're from well
and the great music finds its way like great music rises. Uh.
(26:17):
And I also think good people do too, and I
think that that's what this moment really is, good people
coming coming together, I hope and united for listen. I
don't talk politics ever, Like this is not what I'm about.
I just, you know, uh, talk about music mostly. But
it's just I don't. I don't, I don't think. But
a lot of people think that. It is to the
(26:38):
point where if you say something or you step out,
it's like suddenly, oh, he must be for Trump or
he must be for Biden, or like it's like, no,
it's it's just about people. It's about You're not even
talking about Trump or Biden. We're talking about people being
treated fairly. That's all we're talking about here, right, you know. Uh.
(27:00):
And I challenged a lot of a lot of my
friends that are Christians and believers, and I said, how
can you love God and not love everyone when God
specifically tells you to love it? And I was like,
just let that sink in for a little bit. I said,
there's no way you can say you love God, you
(27:23):
love people and see the video with George Floyd and
make excuses for it. Then do you really love God?
You say you do. Yeah, So it's just something people
to think. One last question on this, because I wonder
if there's not a balance we should be talking about
as well, the balance being yes, I can support Black
(27:46):
Lives Matter and the black community while at the same
time supporting good cops who are in my community. You
got we have to figure out that balance too, because
I think it's a little bit still a little imbalanced
right now. See again, I tell people, it just comes
down two people being treated fairly. I know some of
(28:10):
my best friends and police officers, my cousins a police officer,
and and and that's and they're great people. You know,
they people fairly. Uh So you can still support Black
Lives adat and support police officers. Of course, you know,
(28:33):
I don't. I'm not one. I don't want to see
a black guy treated wrong by one police officer in
Minneapolis and then see a protest where somebody throws a
brick at an officer just because they think he might
be racist. No, that's not how you do it. You
know nothing about this First of all, it's not the
(28:54):
right thing to do saying well, you know nothing about
this car he could have a black wife and mixed
kids at home. What I'm saying that that that doesn't
it's no, that's not how you do it. You know,
it's about because when we stereotyped police officers, we can't
get mad. I can't get mad if someone stereotyped black
people because it comes down to groups of people. So
(29:16):
what I'm saying and you can't stereotype one group of
people and not didn't get mad when people stereotypes a
group of people that are associated with So yes, you
can support. Again, it comes down to support it everything.
Supporting blacks, supporting UH police officers, supporting firefighters, supporting Asian,
(29:38):
supporting whites. It's about supporting global support and I definitely
think you can do that. I don't agree with people
UH harmon police officers, no, not at all. My families
are My family are police officers. So my best friend Stance,
I was a kid our police officers. You know you
(29:59):
can support because again, how can you say, how can
I push for black lives matter and hopefully one day
black lives are including in all lives matter? If I
treat a certain group of people different, I'm contracting everything
I'm pushing towards perfectly said, I really appreciate that. Um.
(30:21):
I think we all uh need to hear it um
before we let you go. In case people don't know
your story, Jimmy, you came to Nashville and how long
did you live in your car? About four and a
half months? Showered at the y n C as jim
and fitness. That's right? Uh really no electric? That was horrible. Yeah,
(30:49):
but now you're in this slinky new truck. You got
there with a couple of number ones under your belt
and lots more to comb. There you go. I'm just
so proud of you and listen and I love your story.
I love you as a human being. I always have.
But I mean, this is not something that's I'm just like, oh,
let's have Jimmy on because he can speak to this though.
Jimmy's my friend and I we've been hanging out on
(31:13):
radio for a long time. We haven't, we haven't. So
Jimmy appreciated My best of your family. Give Alexis my
best as well, and y'all take care. We'll see soon.
Your family, I say hello as well, and everybody out
there watching and listening, love yourself, love everybody. Thank you.
So much for supporting the country music family, not just
myself but every other artist out there. We appreciate and
(31:35):
look forward to saying you guys on the road soon.
Love you, Jimmy, thank you, I love you too. Rather
say this has been Cody Cast. Subscribe now on iTunes,
listen any time on the I Heart Radio app. Cody
is Hurt on hundreds of radio stations across America and
seen on CMT Hot twenty Countdown every weekend for more, TOMT.
Cody dot com
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