September 29, 2025 • 34 mins
It is a privilege to welcome music producer and podcast host Tony Mantor to The Jake’s Take with Jacob Elyachar Podcast.
The Madison, Maine native first arrived in Nashville as a touring sideman for country music sensation Ronnie McDowell in 1976. Since that time, Mantor has progressed and evolved into an award-winning music producer and artist developer, recording and placing 33 songs into the Top 40, and 16 songs into the Top 10 of various U.S.-based major music charts, including Billboard, Indicator, Mediabase, Cashbox & Music Row Magazine. He’s worked with artists like Debby Campbell (daughter of Glen Campbell), Bobby Brooks Wilson (son of Jackie Wilson), Happy Days star & singer Donny Most, country recording artist Sam Austin, and country recording artist Mila Mason.
He is inspired to find ways for his music and production skills to make a difference in people’s lives both personally and professionally. Mantor’s 2021 self-written and produced song “Why Not Me” became the inspiration behind the launch of a podcast series dubbed Why Not Me The World, focusing on Autism awareness, acceptance, and understanding.
Since its launch in 2023, the podcast has been downloaded over 750,000 times across 82 countries and more than 1,500 cities worldwide. It has featured a worldly group of autism thought leaders, medical professionals, celebrity guests from the world of music and entertainment, parents, and others from the Autistic community. In 2024, Mantor debuted his second self-produced podcast, Almost Live…Nashville. Turning his attention back to the world of entertainment, music and TV, Mantor hosts thought-provoking and behind-the-scenes stories with celebrity guests and industry professionals who share how they’ve achieved their own success and continue to sustain.
On this episode of The Jake’s Take with Jacob Elyachar Podcast, Tony Mantor spoke about his upcoming 50th anniversary in the music industry, his podcast – Why Not Me?, and his work with Autism Digest.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/jake-s-take-with-jacob-elyachar--4112003/support.
The Madison, Maine native first arrived in Nashville as a touring sideman for country music sensation Ronnie McDowell in 1976. Since that time, Mantor has progressed and evolved into an award-winning music producer and artist developer, recording and placing 33 songs into the Top 40, and 16 songs into the Top 10 of various U.S.-based major music charts, including Billboard, Indicator, Mediabase, Cashbox & Music Row Magazine. He’s worked with artists like Debby Campbell (daughter of Glen Campbell), Bobby Brooks Wilson (son of Jackie Wilson), Happy Days star & singer Donny Most, country recording artist Sam Austin, and country recording artist Mila Mason.
He is inspired to find ways for his music and production skills to make a difference in people’s lives both personally and professionally. Mantor’s 2021 self-written and produced song “Why Not Me” became the inspiration behind the launch of a podcast series dubbed Why Not Me The World, focusing on Autism awareness, acceptance, and understanding.
Since its launch in 2023, the podcast has been downloaded over 750,000 times across 82 countries and more than 1,500 cities worldwide. It has featured a worldly group of autism thought leaders, medical professionals, celebrity guests from the world of music and entertainment, parents, and others from the Autistic community. In 2024, Mantor debuted his second self-produced podcast, Almost Live…Nashville. Turning his attention back to the world of entertainment, music and TV, Mantor hosts thought-provoking and behind-the-scenes stories with celebrity guests and industry professionals who share how they’ve achieved their own success and continue to sustain.
On this episode of The Jake’s Take with Jacob Elyachar Podcast, Tony Mantor spoke about his upcoming 50th anniversary in the music industry, his podcast – Why Not Me?, and his work with Autism Digest.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/jake-s-take-with-jacob-elyachar--4112003/support.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Hello, Hello everyone, and welcome back to the lays edition
of the Jake Stake with Jacob Alishar podcast. I'm your host,
Jacob Alizar, the chief content producer and writer at jakestak
dot com. If you're watching us on YouTube, please give
us thumbs up and please subscribe now. If you're listening
to us on our audio platforms, please give us five
star rating and download this episode and more episodes. I
(00:45):
am thoroughly welcome my next guest. He is a quadruple friend.
He's a singer, songwriter, pianist, and record charting producer, and
thirteen of his artists that he worked with were considered
for Grammy Awards. On top of that, he has over
thirty three top songs and sixteen top ten songs. He's
also the host of the Why Not Me podcast and
(01:06):
Almost Live Nationville podcast. So please let me welcome Tony
Mettor to the pod podcast.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Well, thanks for having me. I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
You're so welcome, Tourny. It's a thrill to have you here.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Yeah, it's great to be on It's it's it's a pleasure,
all right.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
So let's get started. So when did you get interested
in music, and how did that passion evolve and decided
to pursue a career in the recording industry.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
Well, actually, when I was eight years old, my mother
started me with piano lessons because I was playing on
an old, beat up piano that we had, so she
got it refinished and just just brought back to new
I started taking lessons, and every every time I went back,
I just started learning more and grasping more and just
(01:59):
just started loving music. So if I wasn't for her,
I probably wouldn't be here today.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
That's amazing. I reminded me a lot on my other
peak family piano that we had that belonged to my
grandma on my mom's side. They actually kept it. We
actually have it at the house right now. My brother Aaron,
who's young, who's love most part for me, loved playing
that piano and make up songs on it. But every
(02:27):
time you played it, it was like noise, noise, noise.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Yeah that was me for a while, but I just
I just enjoyed it that My piano teacher taught me
a lot. And then once after I don't know, four
or five years, I started singing a little bit and
just kept developing from there, wound up playing music in
my high school band, and then once I got out
(02:52):
of school, just decided I wanted to continue it and
join some bands and just kept working at it.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
And you've been working at this almost fifty years, and
next year is your fifty year anniversary. So in you're opinion,
how has the recording the stream grown? Has it changed
for the better, for the worse? And why?
Speaker 2 (03:12):
Well, you know it's it's grown. It's evolved. I mean
back when I first started recording, we was recording on
two inch tape, so the singer had to sing, a
guitar player had to play guitar. You could punch in,
but if you made a mistake, you couldn't go back
and you'd have to go back and fix it. Today's world,
(03:34):
because it's evolved into the digital form, if someone makes
a mistake, you can go back and keep what you
recorded over and see which one's better, or work on
another one. So it's evolved in a lot of ways
so that it's better, but yet you still have lost
some of that sound quality that the two inch analog
(03:57):
brought you, because there is nothing like two inch analog.
If you go back and listen to the songs that
was done in the fifties and the sixties and the seventies,
you can hear just that that quality difference. And I
think that back then sometimes the imperfection of the craft
(04:19):
was the perfection of the craft, because you would hear
things that wouldn't go quite right, but because they were
done so well and they had hard to them, the
song got life brought to it, whereas today we're focused
on the perfect everything. So no one's perfect. If you
(04:40):
record something and then you go see somebody perform it,
they're not going to perform it like they did in
the studio unless they're playing the tracks, because you can't
duplicate everything that you did note for note in a studio.
So I think that there's ways that it's evolved that
is really really good, and there's others that's evolved that
is also good. But overall, we have what we have
(05:02):
and we continue to work with it.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
Oh yeah, So like that reminds me perfectly. Match go
your own way, because the nineties and in the seventies
it was one particular way. And then if you go
to the dance when they release the Dance in nineteen
ninety seven, it almost felt similar but when I saw
them live in two thousand and nine and twenty thirteen
and twenty fifteen, we see with Christy McFee and I
(05:28):
Can they were playing a key lower than the studio.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
Yeah, and sometimes they play a little lower because as
they get older, their voices go a little lower, so
they'll compensate it by changing keys. There are some some
singers out there that can sing just as good in
their forties, fifties and sixties as they could win their
twenties and thirties. It's just depends upon the person. But yeah,
(05:52):
I mean, they're always subject to change. And you know,
the beauty of live music is that you imp a
little bit, you change things up a little bit, you
don't stick to an exact script. So that's what makes
music beautiful because because of that that purpose.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Absolutely. I remember like thinking of artists that I seen
live like I always when I saw Ann Wilson live
and and back in its late twenty tens, and then
also Tony Bennett in twenty seventeen, I could remember like this,
that's Tony That that's the Ann Wilson I heard from
the record. That's the Tony Bennett I've heard from the
(06:33):
cg Right.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
Yeah, I mean that's that's the beauty of it, you know,
because they're timeless artists and and lots of times, until
they start getting to a certain age, their quality stays
at a very high level. Then when you get up.
But Tony Bennett was I mean, he was a he
was a freaking nature, you know. I mean, I mean
he's saying as well, you know, in his eighties as
(06:56):
he did in his sixties and fifties. He was just
really really good, you know. So you get some of
those people that get out there and they just never
seem to age the year's age, but their voices don't,
and that's just that's a testament to their craft.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
Absolutely. I would like to before we move on, I
would like to throw in one name. I forgot to
mention Miss Patty about I loved I saw her in
twenty seventeen and she was epic.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
Yeah, she's great, no doubt about it. She's She's got
a very very good vocal that is very recognizable.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
Absolutely absolutely so. Speaking of recording artists, you had the
opportunity to produce and record music for po plethora of
recording artists, including Debbie Campbell, Bobby Brooks Wilson, Happy Days Icon,
Johnny Moss, Sam Austin and Austin and Mila Mason. So
what were some of the approaches that you used with
(07:57):
these performers to bring out excelst within them.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Well, the beauty, the beauty of all those people that
you brought up is they're all different from each other.
I mean, Mila had some big hits back in the nineties,
and you know, because Debbie saying with her father Glenn Campbell,
Bobby's got that R and B feel like his father.
Jackie Wilson, Donnie is more of a Frank Sinatra Bobby
(08:21):
Darren style, you know. So they're all different and because
of that, you bring in different perspectives in the way
that you approach their music. But the beauty of it
is is you just go with the quality that they
get of their vocal and then you try and bring
out anything you can bring out that will just give
(08:42):
a little enhancement to it so that when they sing
that song, the listener is feeling like they're singing it
to them. If you can hit that where the listener
can can just feel the power and the energy and
the emotions that they're feeling while they're singing it, you've
got to win.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
Absolutely, absolutely, And you brought up to I want to
go back, because you brought up to legacy artists family
like Debbie Campbell, who was Glenn who's Glenn Campbell's daughter,
and Bibe Wilson, the son of Jackie Wilson. So is
it are they like I think with everything else, it's
like even though you have the family name, there are
there are very different artists.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
Oh. Absolutely. The beauty of like Debbie versus versus her
father Glenn is that Debbie has. I always call her
the female Glenn Campbell because if you listen to her vocal,
it's so smooth, you know, it's it's just one of
those voices that you could listen to and listen to
(09:44):
and never get tired of. With Bobby, if you listen
to his voice, he's got a lower residence than his
father Jackie had, but he's still got that power. You know.
He doesn't have the power that he could hit the
very high notes that Jackie could, but he has the
power to hit some very good high notes. And because
of that, just the overall quality of their vocal and
(10:08):
the approach that we took in the songs that they picked.
It just helped bring out the overall feeling of what
they were trying to put across with their music.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
Absolutely tell you said, we're going to leave the music
world for a little bit and jump into the podcast world.
So the first podcast I want to talk to you
about is why Not Me? Can you describe the podcast
origin story to my audience?
Speaker 2 (10:32):
Well, you know, Why Not Me actually started because back
during the pandemic, I went back to my singing songwriting
roots and I started recording an album for myself just
for the fun of it. And a friend of mine
that had written why Not Me sent it to me
and I told him, I said, you must have written
a song for me because it's about positivity. Never given
(10:54):
up on your dream, just keep working. That's what I
preach on my social media all the time. So I
recorded the song and at that time, because the COVID
was out there, nobody was working. My promoters that worked
in New York, Nashville, La, London wanted to hear my
music that I was working on us. I sent them
(11:16):
why Not Me. They all came back and said, You've
got to release this song. I said, no, I'm not
getting back into releasing songs. I'm doing this for fun.
I'm not doing it to get out there and go
back on the road and say and perform. So ultimately
they talked to me into releasing that we did, and
then I did a video to support our first responders.
(11:37):
So once the promotion was over, I had a lady
call me up and she said, I really love this song.
Is there any way that you could do something to
help us? And she was a speech therapist for autistic children.
So I wound up doing a video called why Not
Me Nashville. I did it more on an adult contemporary version
(12:00):
with autistic and special needs people within the Nashville community.
Then it just blew up and I decided. I was
working with a company co hosting a podcast out of
New York City, so I decided maybe I'd better start
my own, so I did, and at the time it
was called why Not Me the World and it was
(12:22):
just about autism. So I did that for two years,
and then last January I started doing a special event
for Autism Awareness Month in April, and then I had
some people ask me if i'd do a mental health
awareness special for May. So I did, and I had
(12:45):
so many people coming to me that wanted to be
on my podcast that weren't autistic. They were PTSD or
any type of you know, anxiety, or anytime a mental
health issue that you could think of. So I had
to think about how it's going to handle it. So
I decided to re do my podcast and call it
(13:07):
why Not Me Embracing Autism and mental health Worldwide. So
I debuted the new version of why Not Me in
June of this year, and it's just kept growing and
growing and growing. So I talk with people that are autistic,
to deal with people in the autistic communities, I deal
with people with ADHD, bipolar, anxiety, schizophrenia. I try and
(13:31):
cover anything that needs to be told because we are
in a world now that I think there's a lot
of things that have you know, people like to call
it stigma. I like to call it perception because people
might perceive it as being something, but it's really not
that way. So I just felt that we need to
put something out there they can hopefully change the perception
(13:53):
of people in the way they look at autism and
mental health issues, and hopefully we can make a difference
to some people that's living in the communities, and you know,
make a change.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
I definitely think you've done a wonderful job Tony bringing
those voices in because as a podcaster, I normally see
podcasts that are like The Con O'Brien Needs a Fan
or The Bobby Bone Show or Challenge Mania or something
like that are entertaining. However, I've never I've never said
when I heard about this, I listened to episodes. This
(14:25):
is amazing. The way you're giving people voices that they
have that are haven't been shared listened to before. It's
very fascinating and it's very and those episodes are very powerful.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
I appreciate it. You know, that is the beauty of
this whole podcast is it's about telling the story. It's
not about being perfect. It's not about being you know,
knowing everything about the science of it. It's about people's
lives and how they live it, how they found out
(14:59):
that they had aught to, how it affected them, how
they found out that they might have been schizophrenic, how
it affected their friends or family, or you know. It's
about telling the story. And everyone's story is unique. You
have similarities from everybody that's in that community, no matter
whether it's the mental health side of it or the
autistic side of it. The stories can be very similar,
(15:22):
but the way it affects people is so different because
everybody's different out there still. Because of that, everybody's story
is different. And because of that, that's why people that
are listening need to hear these stories, because they might
just hear something that someone else is doing that they
never thought of that they might try with their son
(15:43):
or daughter or family member or whatever, and or they
might just hear something that they didn't realize and it
helps them understand it so that when they come in
contact with somebody that is in that community, they don't
just automatically look down upon them. They look at them
with empathetic eyes and how can I help them? How
(16:05):
can I lift them up? You know? So everybody's story
is different, but everybody's story needs to be told so
that way, hopefully it's going to help everybody that listens
and give them a platform to share and basically educate people.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
And wethers through your mind when you gets sit down
with these with them, because it's like basically, when I
sit down with a lot with everyone is basically I
just have a few talking points, but do you have
a roadmap with them? Especially with those complicated, complicated, complex
topics to talk about.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
I don't I do an unscripted podcast because I if
you script it, then every episode is going to sound
the same, only with different people. So I don't script
it because I want their honest opinions or honest story. Sorry,
And lots of times they'll tell me something that I
(17:04):
might not know, because the beauty of this is that
I'm learning a lot of these things right along with
my listeners because I didn't have anybody this autistic in
my family. I don't have any mental health issues in
my family, you know, So I didn't know anything about
these issues. So I'm learning as I go as well.
So the beauty of having a non scripted show is
(17:25):
that as someone's speaking, as someone's telling me part of
this story, they might say something and I'm going, WHOA,
I don't know anything about that, And I wait for
them to stop, and then I'll ask them a question
that they just brought up, and then they'll tell me
something else and then we'll just keep it going. So
there is no script, there is no plan. It is
(17:46):
just tell me a story, let's be honest with it
and let people hear the honesty let's let people hear
the pain, let people hear the good that comes out
of it, because it's not always pain. You know, sometimes
you'll hear something and you'll just smile because because they'll
tell a story and you'll just kind of kind of
look at you know, they'll everybody will look at themselves,
(18:09):
and they'll say, that was kind of funny, wasn't it?
And it is. You know, so not everything that people
think of when it comes to serious mental illness or
or PTSD or or you know, autism or anything is
always bad. You know, when people have this perception in
their minds that because if it falls in this umbrella,
(18:31):
that oh, it's going to be sad and bad all
the time, when it's not. I've had some people on
my podcast that are so inspirational in how they've taken
their life from point A to point B and keep
going when everybody else, well not everybody else, but a
lot of people will just said, screw it, I'm going
to give up. I can't do this, but they find
(18:52):
a way to make it happen. There are people that
have lost decades of their life trying to figure it out.
But on the other end of that decade, they figured
it out and now they're living a fulfilling life. So
we get all kinds of different stories, all kinds of
different scenarios, but there's stories and the scenarios that people
need to hear so that we can take that perception
(19:15):
that they have of these people away and hopefully replace
it with something that's positive.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
And you have done an incredible job. I remember listening
to some of the episodes and we're talking about there
was an episode about a police a mental health officer,
police officer who had especially with mental health, who actually
helped a patient find be able to get out of
the graphic situation and be able to go to a hospital.
Showcases that showcase the power of the power of middle
(19:45):
of basically building community and not to mention all these
people that you've all these community members that have been
shot and bill them. So do you have any memorable conversations.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
Oh? Absolutely, I mean, I mean, I mean just brought
up police. I mean, I mean, with everything that's going
on in the country right now, a lot of people
have this they look at police in a different way
than then they used to. You know, police are out there,
they have a hard job. They have to make life
altering decisions in seconds, and sometimes it's going to be
(20:20):
the right one and sometimes it's not. You know, that's
just being human. But the one thing that I have
come across in most of the police that I've talked
with and most of the people has dealt with the police
that in situations, there have been good scenarios where they've
come out of it with a positive thing. And just
like you brought up, there was one one case where
(20:44):
a guy was going through a serious mental illness and
the policeman took him to the hospital and the doctor
said that we can't help them, and the policeman said, well,
where do you live, And he goes, why, because I'm
going to take and drop him off at your house
so that you can help him since you can't help
him here. And then they found a way to find
(21:05):
him and get him in the hospital to help him.
You know. So that was a good policeman. That was
somebody that has some empathy and wanted to help the guy.
You know. So for every every one of those you
hear ten negative. But but there are so many police
out here that try and do good and do and
help people, and there are people out there in the
autistic community. There are people out there in the mental
(21:27):
health community. They try and help people. They try and
take the stigma away from everything and try and show
people that they're just trying to live their life like
you and I. So I've had so many memorable stories
throughout this I don't know. I'm about one hundred and
sixty hundred and seventy episodes in now a little over
two years, and there's just so many that I walk
(21:49):
away from when I finish it and go, Wow, that
was really good, and then the next one will just
blow that one away because it was really good. You know.
So people when they're thrown in the world case scenarios,
find a way to thrive, and we find a way
to show the ways that they thrive on this podcast,
so that hopefully the listeners see and hear what they're
(22:13):
going through and might look at it just a little
bit differently from that going on.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
I agree completely. I agree completely. I want to move
on before we talk. Before we move on for step
by Eyre to almost Side Nashville. This brings to me
a perfect time to talk about your work with the
autism community, and especially with the autism with the Auxism
Digest because your work call they're touching on their tour team.
So what did it mean to you when they invited
(22:41):
you to join them as a columnist and contributor.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
Oh, that was an honor. I mean, Autism Digests goes
out all around the world, and not only do they
have an online presence, but they have a physical magazine
that they send out around the country to doctors and
hospitals and clinics and all this so it gets seen
by millions of people. And to be part of that
(23:05):
is is just really empowering. You know, if if they
get to see and read about an episode that I
pick and then they hopefully that grabs them enough to
want to listen to it, so they the QR code
is right there where they can just snap it and
(23:26):
go right to the episode, or they can snap it
and go to the podcast and listen to all of them,
or pick a pick and choose. But to be able
to write and contribute to a digest that is so
well recognized around the world, it's a it's an honor
to be able to be part of that.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
And I believe you're going to your words are going
to have a lot of people, especially if they're reading
the digital and online or the physical copy.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
Well, I hope. So that's the plan. You know, we
want to when we want to educate, we want to
show people that just because they might be a little
different than what you and I are, that they can
still contribute and still have a good life and still
you know, move forward just like anyone else would.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
Absolutely, absolutely we got to go back and talk about
Almost Live Nashville. I love this, This is a podcast.
I love the Taylor Dane episode. The way Jennings episode
moved me a lot, especially how he said a he
overcame found a way to over the tourney's life around
after all those hardships.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
Yeah, Almost Live Nashville came about because I've been in
the music business, you know for thirty over thirty years
here in Nashville, and everyone expected my first podcast would
be a entertainment slash music podcast, and I threw him
a curveball when I come out with it being autistic.
(24:57):
So it just caught him off guard. So last year
I decided, you know, now that I've got my autism
podcast going and it's starting to build, it's a good
time to come out with what everybody expected of me,
which would be a music and entertainment podcast. So I
started almost Live Nashville, and I just do it for enjoyment.
(25:20):
It's not it's not as you know. I mean, some
of the some of the stories are impactful, like you
just brought up about Way Jennings and and you know,
some of them are just lighthearted, like like Taylor Danes.
You know. But the whole prot the whole premise of
this podcast is just to have a little fun and
(25:40):
maybe show some things that people might not expect from
some of these artists that that have been around for
so long, and just build it and let us see
where it goes. I've talked with people all around the world.
I've talked with and and the beauty of this is
is I don't keep it just to singers. I've got songwriters,
(26:01):
I've got actors, I've I've got just a I've got
a filmmaker that they just did a bio pick on
Billy Joel on it. I mean, I've got so many
different people that come on it. This part of the
entertainment business. So that way they can tell their stories
and can tell what they're doing and hopefully we can
shame shine a little bit of a different light on
(26:22):
people than just the ordinary. How did you get started,
what was your first what was your first gig? Like
and that type of thing. Hopefully we can laugh, have
some fun, tell some good stories, and just to have people,
you know, enjoy hearing something a little different about somebody
that they might have listened to or or watched or
(26:43):
or seen in the movies or whatever they may may be.
Speaker 1 (26:47):
Absolutely, absolutely, especially I love I love this my podcast
and like doing everyone everyone said entertainment, I'm like, no,
it's it's all over. I have you on, I had
anyone inist on, I've had reality TV stars on, social
media influencers on, I mean, not many directors. It's all
about diversity. I cannot you cannot bring Just because you're
(27:10):
in the entertainment of music doesn't mean you could go
outside the sandbox.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
True exactly. And by doing that, it gives a it
gives a great platform. Like I've got one one episode
that I'm not sure if it's out yet, if it's,
but it's it's it's about a Hollywood actress that that
created a movie about nursing homes no place for old people,
(27:37):
and and and that whole that whole story is is
about how these nursing homes across the country are understaffed
and overworked and and because of that, some of the
people that are in it suffer. And it tells a
completely different story than than than what you'd want to see,
but it's one that need to be told, and she's
(27:59):
out there telling it. So she came on my podcast
and I and we talked about it, and it's uh
and it's doing well and you know, in the in
the theaters and all that where it's being shown. So
I'm trying to show a little bit about everything, and
there's anything connected to the entertainment business where people are
trying to help people because of their being in the
(28:21):
entertainment business or or they're just trying to make a
living and do something different. You know, we try and
touch on so many different things.
Speaker 1 (28:29):
Absolutely, absolutely we all have touch on different talk different things. Now,
do you have like a dream list, like a like
your ultimate get list, and why would they make the
best guest for your podcast?
Speaker 2 (28:42):
You know, I do, and I don't. I've got a
lot of lot of singers that I that I listened
to growing up, growing up, and and I've got to
you know, like I mean, like I mean, you can
see share behind me. I met her here several years
and you know, I would love to have her come on,
(29:04):
but getting her on sometimes, you know, she's so busy
and everything, you know, so she's one of the top
ones I'd like to have on, you know, but I don't.
I don't have a bucket list like a lot of
people might. I just have whoever wants to come on
my podcast comes on, and we tell the story and
we talk and we have some fun, you know. So
(29:25):
so I because I find that if you've got a
bucket list and you really push it, then sometimes you
can you can get yourself depressed because you're not getting
the people you want on. And I don't go that way.
I just, uh, I just talk with people that are
doing different things that might be working their way up.
I've got to I've got a I've got a singer
(29:46):
that started out singing Texas, moved to Nashville. Now she's
on Broadway. You know, she's coming up here shortly. I've
got you know, I've got I've got to you know, actresses,
I've got I've got to you know, I've got a
guy that uh that that just you know, uses music
to help others. You know, I've got a girl that
that uses are acting to help others. You know, we
(30:07):
try and cover everything, you know, there's there's nothing that
I don't leave untouched. You know. I just try and
keep it light hearted and and fun because it's it's
about entertainment. So I don't want to take and deep
do any deep dives and anything that would depress anybody.
Because my other podcast is a deeper dive on on
the social impact and and the autism and the mental
(30:30):
health and all that. So I want to keep this
one lighthearted and and where people, you know, when they
finished listen to it, they it might make them feel
good for a couple of minutes and then they live their.
Speaker 1 (30:39):
Life absolutely absolutely, So I would love to talk to
you about how have you used social media to help
to to build your audience.
Speaker 2 (30:52):
Well, you know, I'm not a long time ago a
friend of mine told me, you know, you don't have
fifty thousand followers, you know, like some of these people do.
And I said, you know, I may not have fifty
thousand followers on Instagram or Facebook or Twitter or x
(31:12):
or whatever you want to call you know, or all Instagram.
What but I've got fifty or sixty thousand followers on
my podcasts you know that listen to me. Which one's
more important? You know, it's it's nice to be able
to go out there and say, Man, I've got one
hundred thousand followers on Instagram. But you know, if they
don't interact, and they don't they don't be part of
(31:34):
the of the community that we're trying to build, then
in reality, it doesn't mean anything. So I would rather
have a thousand people that like what I'm doing, that
interact with me from time to time, and then have
that fifty sixty seventy thousand people that actually follow me
and you know, take a link to my podcast and
(31:58):
listen to it. So that way, every time I put
out a podcast, it goes to them. They're listening to it.
That's much more important to me. Even though I do
my social media, I post it on on social media
just like I like anybody would. Hey this guy is
gonna be on I got this podcast coming up. You know,
Oh I just got this happening. I try and keep
people as interactive as possible as I count on social media,
(32:21):
but I don't live and die by social media. I
live and die by hopefully the people that subscribe and
follow me on my on my podcasts.
Speaker 1 (32:32):
Absolutely, that's great advice. I need, definitely need to heed
those words again. So last question, are you ready?
Speaker 2 (32:40):
I'm ready?
Speaker 1 (32:42):
Where can my audience find you on social media? Tony?
And also where can they can listen to both to
both almost like Nashville and why Not Me?
Speaker 2 (32:54):
Well, they can go to why why Not Meet World
That'll take them right to my podcast. They can go
to almost live dot com that'll take into my podcast.
They can find me on Facebook, Instagram, x uh TikTok,
even though I don't use it as much. You know,
(33:14):
they can find me on just all the social media
platforms there are my website's Tonymantra dot com, I mean,
any and any and all those those outlets. They can
find me and I hope that they they, you know,
they check it out and listen because there's a lot
of things that we're covering that I think that people
need to hear.
Speaker 1 (33:33):
Awesome. So, guys, if you missed an episode of The
Jake's Take with Jacob Elation podcasts, visit our channels at
Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, iHeart Radio, Spotify, and Sprinker. Jake
Stake with Jacobalation r j A c O b e
O y A c h A r A R you
on social media because I'm on social media Facebook, Instagram, threads, Twitter,
and YouTube. Jacob a shark j A c O b
(33:56):
e O y R. Want to find out what's going
on and during America's Got Talent Season twenty wanted want
to see some new music reviews, want to season podcasts?
Well head to Jake, says chick dot on the blog
that started all Jake Sashake dot com, and I am
so thrilled to reveal the Jake with Jacob Eleuy Share
podcast is twenty twenty five American Business Award winning winner.
(34:20):
So thank you very much to all the twenty to
all the American Business Award judges to consider the Jake
Stick with Jacob Ellus Sharp podcast as a silver as
a silver medalist for Best Interview Talk Show in their
inaugural podcasting category. Tony, thank you so much for taking time.
I'm just going to talk with me today. You're doing
incredible work as a podcast and I look forward to
(34:43):
seeing what you do next.
Speaker 2 (34:45):
Thanks. I really appreciate you having me on.
Speaker 1 (34:48):
Awesome Tony guys, Thank you so much for watching, Thank
you so much for listening. Until next time, I'm a
great one. Everybody good.
Hello, Hello everyone, and welcome back to the lays edition
of the Jake Stake with Jacob Alishar podcast. I'm your host,
Jacob Alizar, the chief content producer and writer at jakestak
dot com. If you're watching us on YouTube, please give
us thumbs up and please subscribe now. If you're listening
to us on our audio platforms, please give us five
star rating and download this episode and more episodes. I
(00:45):
am thoroughly welcome my next guest. He is a quadruple friend.
He's a singer, songwriter, pianist, and record charting producer, and
thirteen of his artists that he worked with were considered
for Grammy Awards. On top of that, he has over
thirty three top songs and sixteen top ten songs. He's
also the host of the Why Not Me podcast and
(01:06):
Almost Live Nationville podcast. So please let me welcome Tony
Mettor to the pod podcast.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Well, thanks for having me. I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
You're so welcome, Tourny. It's a thrill to have you here.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Yeah, it's great to be on It's it's it's a pleasure,
all right.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
So let's get started. So when did you get interested
in music, and how did that passion evolve and decided
to pursue a career in the recording industry.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
Well, actually, when I was eight years old, my mother
started me with piano lessons because I was playing on
an old, beat up piano that we had, so she
got it refinished and just just brought back to new
I started taking lessons, and every every time I went back,
I just started learning more and grasping more and just
(01:59):
just started loving music. So if I wasn't for her,
I probably wouldn't be here today.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
That's amazing. I reminded me a lot on my other
peak family piano that we had that belonged to my
grandma on my mom's side. They actually kept it. We
actually have it at the house right now. My brother Aaron,
who's young, who's love most part for me, loved playing
that piano and make up songs on it. But every
(02:27):
time you played it, it was like noise, noise, noise.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Yeah that was me for a while, but I just
I just enjoyed it that My piano teacher taught me
a lot. And then once after I don't know, four
or five years, I started singing a little bit and
just kept developing from there, wound up playing music in
my high school band, and then once I got out
(02:52):
of school, just decided I wanted to continue it and
join some bands and just kept working at it.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
And you've been working at this almost fifty years, and
next year is your fifty year anniversary. So in you're opinion,
how has the recording the stream grown? Has it changed
for the better, for the worse? And why?
Speaker 2 (03:12):
Well, you know it's it's grown. It's evolved. I mean
back when I first started recording, we was recording on
two inch tape, so the singer had to sing, a
guitar player had to play guitar. You could punch in,
but if you made a mistake, you couldn't go back
and you'd have to go back and fix it. Today's world,
(03:34):
because it's evolved into the digital form, if someone makes
a mistake, you can go back and keep what you
recorded over and see which one's better, or work on
another one. So it's evolved in a lot of ways
so that it's better, but yet you still have lost
some of that sound quality that the two inch analog
(03:57):
brought you, because there is nothing like two inch analog.
If you go back and listen to the songs that
was done in the fifties and the sixties and the seventies,
you can hear just that that quality difference. And I
think that back then sometimes the imperfection of the craft
(04:19):
was the perfection of the craft, because you would hear
things that wouldn't go quite right, but because they were
done so well and they had hard to them, the
song got life brought to it, whereas today we're focused
on the perfect everything. So no one's perfect. If you
(04:40):
record something and then you go see somebody perform it,
they're not going to perform it like they did in
the studio unless they're playing the tracks, because you can't
duplicate everything that you did note for note in a studio.
So I think that there's ways that it's evolved that
is really really good, and there's others that's evolved that
is also good. But overall, we have what we have
(05:02):
and we continue to work with it.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
Oh yeah, So like that reminds me perfectly. Match go
your own way, because the nineties and in the seventies
it was one particular way. And then if you go
to the dance when they release the Dance in nineteen
ninety seven, it almost felt similar but when I saw
them live in two thousand and nine and twenty thirteen
and twenty fifteen, we see with Christy McFee and I
(05:28):
Can they were playing a key lower than the studio.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
Yeah, and sometimes they play a little lower because as
they get older, their voices go a little lower, so
they'll compensate it by changing keys. There are some some
singers out there that can sing just as good in
their forties, fifties and sixties as they could win their
twenties and thirties. It's just depends upon the person. But yeah,
(05:52):
I mean, they're always subject to change. And you know,
the beauty of live music is that you imp a
little bit, you change things up a little bit, you
don't stick to an exact script. So that's what makes
music beautiful because because of that that purpose.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Absolutely. I remember like thinking of artists that I seen
live like I always when I saw Ann Wilson live
and and back in its late twenty tens, and then
also Tony Bennett in twenty seventeen, I could remember like this,
that's Tony That that's the Ann Wilson I heard from
the record. That's the Tony Bennett I've heard from the
(06:33):
cg Right.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
Yeah, I mean that's that's the beauty of it, you know,
because they're timeless artists and and lots of times, until
they start getting to a certain age, their quality stays
at a very high level. Then when you get up.
But Tony Bennett was I mean, he was a he
was a freaking nature, you know. I mean, I mean
he's saying as well, you know, in his eighties as
(06:56):
he did in his sixties and fifties. He was just
really really good, you know. So you get some of
those people that get out there and they just never
seem to age the year's age, but their voices don't,
and that's just that's a testament to their craft.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
Absolutely. I would like to before we move on, I
would like to throw in one name. I forgot to
mention Miss Patty about I loved I saw her in
twenty seventeen and she was epic.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
Yeah, she's great, no doubt about it. She's She's got
a very very good vocal that is very recognizable.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
Absolutely absolutely so. Speaking of recording artists, you had the
opportunity to produce and record music for po plethora of
recording artists, including Debbie Campbell, Bobby Brooks Wilson, Happy Days Icon,
Johnny Moss, Sam Austin and Austin and Mila Mason. So
what were some of the approaches that you used with
(07:57):
these performers to bring out excelst within them.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Well, the beauty, the beauty of all those people that
you brought up is they're all different from each other.
I mean, Mila had some big hits back in the nineties,
and you know, because Debbie saying with her father Glenn Campbell,
Bobby's got that R and B feel like his father.
Jackie Wilson, Donnie is more of a Frank Sinatra Bobby
(08:21):
Darren style, you know. So they're all different and because
of that, you bring in different perspectives in the way
that you approach their music. But the beauty of it
is is you just go with the quality that they
get of their vocal and then you try and bring
out anything you can bring out that will just give
(08:42):
a little enhancement to it so that when they sing
that song, the listener is feeling like they're singing it
to them. If you can hit that where the listener
can can just feel the power and the energy and
the emotions that they're feeling while they're singing it, you've
got to win.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
Absolutely, absolutely, And you brought up to I want to
go back, because you brought up to legacy artists family
like Debbie Campbell, who was Glenn who's Glenn Campbell's daughter,
and Bibe Wilson, the son of Jackie Wilson. So is
it are they like I think with everything else, it's
like even though you have the family name, there are
there are very different artists.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
Oh. Absolutely. The beauty of like Debbie versus versus her
father Glenn is that Debbie has. I always call her
the female Glenn Campbell because if you listen to her vocal,
it's so smooth, you know, it's it's just one of
those voices that you could listen to and listen to
(09:44):
and never get tired of. With Bobby, if you listen
to his voice, he's got a lower residence than his
father Jackie had, but he's still got that power. You know.
He doesn't have the power that he could hit the
very high notes that Jackie could, but he has the
power to hit some very good high notes. And because
of that, just the overall quality of their vocal and
(10:08):
the approach that we took in the songs that they picked.
It just helped bring out the overall feeling of what
they were trying to put across with their music.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
Absolutely tell you said, we're going to leave the music
world for a little bit and jump into the podcast world.
So the first podcast I want to talk to you
about is why Not Me? Can you describe the podcast
origin story to my audience?
Speaker 2 (10:32):
Well, you know, Why Not Me actually started because back
during the pandemic, I went back to my singing songwriting
roots and I started recording an album for myself just
for the fun of it. And a friend of mine
that had written why Not Me sent it to me
and I told him, I said, you must have written
a song for me because it's about positivity. Never given
(10:54):
up on your dream, just keep working. That's what I
preach on my social media all the time. So I
recorded the song and at that time, because the COVID
was out there, nobody was working. My promoters that worked
in New York, Nashville, La, London wanted to hear my
music that I was working on us. I sent them
(11:16):
why Not Me. They all came back and said, You've
got to release this song. I said, no, I'm not
getting back into releasing songs. I'm doing this for fun.
I'm not doing it to get out there and go
back on the road and say and perform. So ultimately
they talked to me into releasing that we did, and
then I did a video to support our first responders.
(11:37):
So once the promotion was over, I had a lady
call me up and she said, I really love this song.
Is there any way that you could do something to
help us? And she was a speech therapist for autistic children.
So I wound up doing a video called why Not
Me Nashville. I did it more on an adult contemporary version
(12:00):
with autistic and special needs people within the Nashville community.
Then it just blew up and I decided. I was
working with a company co hosting a podcast out of
New York City, so I decided maybe I'd better start
my own, so I did, and at the time it
was called why Not Me the World and it was
(12:22):
just about autism. So I did that for two years,
and then last January I started doing a special event
for Autism Awareness Month in April, and then I had
some people ask me if i'd do a mental health
awareness special for May. So I did, and I had
(12:45):
so many people coming to me that wanted to be
on my podcast that weren't autistic. They were PTSD or
any type of you know, anxiety, or anytime a mental
health issue that you could think of. So I had
to think about how it's going to handle it. So
I decided to re do my podcast and call it
(13:07):
why Not Me Embracing Autism and mental health Worldwide. So
I debuted the new version of why Not Me in
June of this year, and it's just kept growing and
growing and growing. So I talk with people that are autistic,
to deal with people in the autistic communities, I deal
with people with ADHD, bipolar, anxiety, schizophrenia. I try and
(13:31):
cover anything that needs to be told because we are
in a world now that I think there's a lot
of things that have you know, people like to call
it stigma. I like to call it perception because people
might perceive it as being something, but it's really not
that way. So I just felt that we need to
put something out there they can hopefully change the perception
(13:53):
of people in the way they look at autism and
mental health issues, and hopefully we can make a difference
to some people that's living in the communities, and you know,
make a change.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
I definitely think you've done a wonderful job Tony bringing
those voices in because as a podcaster, I normally see
podcasts that are like The Con O'Brien Needs a Fan
or The Bobby Bone Show or Challenge Mania or something
like that are entertaining. However, I've never I've never said
when I heard about this, I listened to episodes. This
(14:25):
is amazing. The way you're giving people voices that they
have that are haven't been shared listened to before. It's
very fascinating and it's very and those episodes are very powerful.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
I appreciate it. You know, that is the beauty of
this whole podcast is it's about telling the story. It's
not about being perfect. It's not about being you know,
knowing everything about the science of it. It's about people's
lives and how they live it, how they found out
(14:59):
that they had aught to, how it affected them, how
they found out that they might have been schizophrenic, how
it affected their friends or family, or you know. It's
about telling the story. And everyone's story is unique. You
have similarities from everybody that's in that community, no matter
whether it's the mental health side of it or the
autistic side of it. The stories can be very similar,
(15:22):
but the way it affects people is so different because
everybody's different out there still. Because of that, everybody's story
is different. And because of that, that's why people that
are listening need to hear these stories, because they might
just hear something that someone else is doing that they
never thought of that they might try with their son
(15:43):
or daughter or family member or whatever, and or they
might just hear something that they didn't realize and it
helps them understand it so that when they come in
contact with somebody that is in that community, they don't
just automatically look down upon them. They look at them
with empathetic eyes and how can I help them? How
(16:05):
can I lift them up? You know? So everybody's story
is different, but everybody's story needs to be told so
that way, hopefully it's going to help everybody that listens
and give them a platform to share and basically educate people.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
And wethers through your mind when you gets sit down
with these with them, because it's like basically, when I
sit down with a lot with everyone is basically I
just have a few talking points, but do you have
a roadmap with them? Especially with those complicated, complicated, complex
topics to talk about.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
I don't I do an unscripted podcast because I if
you script it, then every episode is going to sound
the same, only with different people. So I don't script
it because I want their honest opinions or honest story. Sorry,
And lots of times they'll tell me something that I
(17:04):
might not know, because the beauty of this is that
I'm learning a lot of these things right along with
my listeners because I didn't have anybody this autistic in
my family. I don't have any mental health issues in
my family, you know, So I didn't know anything about
these issues. So I'm learning as I go as well.
So the beauty of having a non scripted show is
(17:25):
that as someone's speaking, as someone's telling me part of
this story, they might say something and I'm going, WHOA,
I don't know anything about that, And I wait for
them to stop, and then I'll ask them a question
that they just brought up, and then they'll tell me
something else and then we'll just keep it going. So
there is no script, there is no plan. It is
(17:46):
just tell me a story, let's be honest with it
and let people hear the honesty let's let people hear
the pain, let people hear the good that comes out
of it, because it's not always pain. You know, sometimes
you'll hear something and you'll just smile because because they'll
tell a story and you'll just kind of kind of
look at you know, they'll everybody will look at themselves,
(18:09):
and they'll say, that was kind of funny, wasn't it?
And it is. You know, so not everything that people
think of when it comes to serious mental illness or
or PTSD or or you know, autism or anything is
always bad. You know, when people have this perception in
their minds that because if it falls in this umbrella,
(18:31):
that oh, it's going to be sad and bad all
the time, when it's not. I've had some people on
my podcast that are so inspirational in how they've taken
their life from point A to point B and keep
going when everybody else, well not everybody else, but a
lot of people will just said, screw it, I'm going
to give up. I can't do this, but they find
(18:52):
a way to make it happen. There are people that
have lost decades of their life trying to figure it out.
But on the other end of that decade, they figured
it out and now they're living a fulfilling life. So
we get all kinds of different stories, all kinds of
different scenarios, but there's stories and the scenarios that people
need to hear so that we can take that perception
(19:15):
that they have of these people away and hopefully replace
it with something that's positive.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
And you have done an incredible job. I remember listening
to some of the episodes and we're talking about there
was an episode about a police a mental health officer,
police officer who had especially with mental health, who actually
helped a patient find be able to get out of
the graphic situation and be able to go to a hospital.
Showcases that showcase the power of the power of middle
(19:45):
of basically building community and not to mention all these
people that you've all these community members that have been
shot and bill them. So do you have any memorable conversations.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
Oh? Absolutely, I mean, I mean, I mean just brought
up police. I mean, I mean, with everything that's going
on in the country right now, a lot of people
have this they look at police in a different way
than then they used to. You know, police are out there,
they have a hard job. They have to make life
altering decisions in seconds, and sometimes it's going to be
(20:20):
the right one and sometimes it's not. You know, that's
just being human. But the one thing that I have
come across in most of the police that I've talked
with and most of the people has dealt with the police
that in situations, there have been good scenarios where they've
come out of it with a positive thing. And just
like you brought up, there was one one case where
(20:44):
a guy was going through a serious mental illness and
the policeman took him to the hospital and the doctor
said that we can't help them, and the policeman said, well,
where do you live, And he goes, why, because I'm
going to take and drop him off at your house
so that you can help him since you can't help
him here. And then they found a way to find
(21:05):
him and get him in the hospital to help him.
You know. So that was a good policeman. That was
somebody that has some empathy and wanted to help the guy.
You know. So for every every one of those you
hear ten negative. But but there are so many police
out here that try and do good and do and
help people, and there are people out there in the
autistic community. There are people out there in the mental
(21:27):
health community. They try and help people. They try and
take the stigma away from everything and try and show
people that they're just trying to live their life like
you and I. So I've had so many memorable stories
throughout this I don't know. I'm about one hundred and
sixty hundred and seventy episodes in now a little over
two years, and there's just so many that I walk
(21:49):
away from when I finish it and go, Wow, that
was really good, and then the next one will just
blow that one away because it was really good. You know.
So people when they're thrown in the world case scenarios,
find a way to thrive, and we find a way
to show the ways that they thrive on this podcast,
so that hopefully the listeners see and hear what they're
(22:13):
going through and might look at it just a little
bit differently from that going on.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
I agree completely. I agree completely. I want to move
on before we talk. Before we move on for step
by Eyre to almost Side Nashville. This brings to me
a perfect time to talk about your work with the
autism community, and especially with the autism with the Auxism
Digest because your work call they're touching on their tour team.
So what did it mean to you when they invited
(22:41):
you to join them as a columnist and contributor.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
Oh, that was an honor. I mean, Autism Digests goes
out all around the world, and not only do they
have an online presence, but they have a physical magazine
that they send out around the country to doctors and
hospitals and clinics and all this so it gets seen
by millions of people. And to be part of that
(23:05):
is is just really empowering. You know, if if they
get to see and read about an episode that I
pick and then they hopefully that grabs them enough to
want to listen to it, so they the QR code
is right there where they can just snap it and
(23:26):
go right to the episode, or they can snap it
and go to the podcast and listen to all of them,
or pick a pick and choose. But to be able
to write and contribute to a digest that is so
well recognized around the world, it's a it's an honor
to be able to be part of that.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
And I believe you're going to your words are going
to have a lot of people, especially if they're reading
the digital and online or the physical copy.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
Well, I hope. So that's the plan. You know, we
want to when we want to educate, we want to
show people that just because they might be a little
different than what you and I are, that they can
still contribute and still have a good life and still
you know, move forward just like anyone else would.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
Absolutely, absolutely we got to go back and talk about
Almost Live Nashville. I love this, This is a podcast.
I love the Taylor Dane episode. The way Jennings episode
moved me a lot, especially how he said a he
overcame found a way to over the tourney's life around
after all those hardships.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
Yeah, Almost Live Nashville came about because I've been in
the music business, you know for thirty over thirty years
here in Nashville, and everyone expected my first podcast would
be a entertainment slash music podcast, and I threw him
a curveball when I come out with it being autistic.
(24:57):
So it just caught him off guard. So last year
I decided, you know, now that I've got my autism
podcast going and it's starting to build, it's a good
time to come out with what everybody expected of me,
which would be a music and entertainment podcast. So I
started almost Live Nashville, and I just do it for enjoyment.
(25:20):
It's not it's not as you know. I mean, some
of the some of the stories are impactful, like you
just brought up about Way Jennings and and you know,
some of them are just lighthearted, like like Taylor Danes.
You know. But the whole prot the whole premise of
this podcast is just to have a little fun and
(25:40):
maybe show some things that people might not expect from
some of these artists that that have been around for
so long, and just build it and let us see
where it goes. I've talked with people all around the world.
I've talked with and and the beauty of this is
is I don't keep it just to singers. I've got songwriters,
(26:01):
I've got actors, I've I've got just a I've got
a filmmaker that they just did a bio pick on
Billy Joel on it. I mean, I've got so many
different people that come on it. This part of the
entertainment business. So that way they can tell their stories
and can tell what they're doing and hopefully we can
shame shine a little bit of a different light on
(26:22):
people than just the ordinary. How did you get started,
what was your first what was your first gig? Like
and that type of thing. Hopefully we can laugh, have
some fun, tell some good stories, and just to have people,
you know, enjoy hearing something a little different about somebody
that they might have listened to or or watched or
(26:43):
or seen in the movies or whatever they may may be.
Speaker 1 (26:47):
Absolutely, absolutely, especially I love I love this my podcast
and like doing everyone everyone said entertainment, I'm like, no,
it's it's all over. I have you on, I had
anyone inist on, I've had reality TV stars on, social
media influencers on, I mean, not many directors. It's all
about diversity. I cannot you cannot bring Just because you're
(27:10):
in the entertainment of music doesn't mean you could go
outside the sandbox.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
True exactly. And by doing that, it gives a it
gives a great platform. Like I've got one one episode
that I'm not sure if it's out yet, if it's,
but it's it's it's about a Hollywood actress that that
created a movie about nursing homes no place for old people,
(27:37):
and and and that whole that whole story is is
about how these nursing homes across the country are understaffed
and overworked and and because of that, some of the
people that are in it suffer. And it tells a
completely different story than than than what you'd want to see,
but it's one that need to be told, and she's
(27:59):
out there telling it. So she came on my podcast
and I and we talked about it, and it's uh
and it's doing well and you know, in the in
the theaters and all that where it's being shown. So
I'm trying to show a little bit about everything, and
there's anything connected to the entertainment business where people are
trying to help people because of their being in the
(28:21):
entertainment business or or they're just trying to make a
living and do something different. You know, we try and
touch on so many different things.
Speaker 1 (28:29):
Absolutely, absolutely we all have touch on different talk different things. Now,
do you have like a dream list, like a like
your ultimate get list, and why would they make the
best guest for your podcast?
Speaker 2 (28:42):
You know, I do, and I don't. I've got a
lot of lot of singers that I that I listened
to growing up, growing up, and and I've got to
you know, like I mean, like I mean, you can
see share behind me. I met her here several years
and you know, I would love to have her come on,
(29:04):
but getting her on sometimes, you know, she's so busy
and everything, you know, so she's one of the top
ones I'd like to have on, you know, but I don't.
I don't have a bucket list like a lot of
people might. I just have whoever wants to come on
my podcast comes on, and we tell the story and
we talk and we have some fun, you know. So
(29:25):
so I because I find that if you've got a
bucket list and you really push it, then sometimes you
can you can get yourself depressed because you're not getting
the people you want on. And I don't go that way.
I just, uh, I just talk with people that are
doing different things that might be working their way up.
I've got to I've got a I've got a singer
(29:46):
that started out singing Texas, moved to Nashville. Now she's
on Broadway. You know, she's coming up here shortly. I've
got you know, I've got I've got to you know, actresses,
I've got I've got to you know, I've got a
guy that uh that that just you know, uses music
to help others. You know, I've got a girl that
that uses are acting to help others. You know, we
(30:07):
try and cover everything, you know, there's there's nothing that
I don't leave untouched. You know. I just try and
keep it light hearted and and fun because it's it's
about entertainment. So I don't want to take and deep
do any deep dives and anything that would depress anybody.
Because my other podcast is a deeper dive on on
the social impact and and the autism and the mental
(30:30):
health and all that. So I want to keep this
one lighthearted and and where people, you know, when they
finished listen to it, they it might make them feel
good for a couple of minutes and then they live their.
Speaker 1 (30:39):
Life absolutely absolutely, So I would love to talk to
you about how have you used social media to help
to to build your audience.
Speaker 2 (30:52):
Well, you know, I'm not a long time ago a
friend of mine told me, you know, you don't have
fifty thousand followers, you know, like some of these people do.
And I said, you know, I may not have fifty
thousand followers on Instagram or Facebook or Twitter or x
(31:12):
or whatever you want to call you know, or all Instagram.
What but I've got fifty or sixty thousand followers on
my podcasts you know that listen to me. Which one's
more important? You know, it's it's nice to be able
to go out there and say, Man, I've got one
hundred thousand followers on Instagram. But you know, if they
don't interact, and they don't they don't be part of
(31:34):
the of the community that we're trying to build, then
in reality, it doesn't mean anything. So I would rather
have a thousand people that like what I'm doing, that
interact with me from time to time, and then have
that fifty sixty seventy thousand people that actually follow me
and you know, take a link to my podcast and
(31:58):
listen to it. So that way, every time I put
out a podcast, it goes to them. They're listening to it.
That's much more important to me. Even though I do
my social media, I post it on on social media
just like I like anybody would. Hey this guy is
gonna be on I got this podcast coming up. You know,
Oh I just got this happening. I try and keep
people as interactive as possible as I count on social media,
(32:21):
but I don't live and die by social media. I
live and die by hopefully the people that subscribe and
follow me on my on my podcasts.
Speaker 1 (32:32):
Absolutely, that's great advice. I need, definitely need to heed
those words again. So last question, are you ready?
Speaker 2 (32:40):
I'm ready?
Speaker 1 (32:42):
Where can my audience find you on social media? Tony?
And also where can they can listen to both to
both almost like Nashville and why Not Me?
Speaker 2 (32:54):
Well, they can go to why why Not Meet World
That'll take them right to my podcast. They can go
to almost live dot com that'll take into my podcast.
They can find me on Facebook, Instagram, x uh TikTok,
even though I don't use it as much. You know,
(33:14):
they can find me on just all the social media
platforms there are my website's Tonymantra dot com, I mean,
any and any and all those those outlets. They can
find me and I hope that they they, you know,
they check it out and listen because there's a lot
of things that we're covering that I think that people
need to hear.
Speaker 1 (33:33):
Awesome. So, guys, if you missed an episode of The
Jake's Take with Jacob Elation podcasts, visit our channels at
Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, iHeart Radio, Spotify, and Sprinker. Jake
Stake with Jacobalation r j A c O b e
O y A c h A r A R you
on social media because I'm on social media Facebook, Instagram, threads, Twitter,
and YouTube. Jacob a shark j A c O b
(33:56):
e O y R. Want to find out what's going
on and during America's Got Talent Season twenty wanted want
to see some new music reviews, want to season podcasts?
Well head to Jake, says chick dot on the blog
that started all Jake Sashake dot com, and I am
so thrilled to reveal the Jake with Jacob Eleuy Share
podcast is twenty twenty five American Business Award winning winner.
(34:20):
So thank you very much to all the twenty to
all the American Business Award judges to consider the Jake
Stick with Jacob Ellus Sharp podcast as a silver as
a silver medalist for Best Interview Talk Show in their
inaugural podcasting category. Tony, thank you so much for taking time.
I'm just going to talk with me today. You're doing
incredible work as a podcast and I look forward to
(34:43):
seeing what you do next.
Speaker 2 (34:45):
Thanks. I really appreciate you having me on.
Speaker 1 (34:48):
Awesome Tony guys, Thank you so much for watching, Thank
you so much for listening. Until next time, I'm a
great one. Everybody good.
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