Walker & Laney Hayes: The Best Love Song. Blessing Others. Grieving the Loss of a Child. Practicing Gratitude.

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:08):
Okay, cass up broad little food for you so life.
Oh it's pretty, it's pretty beautiful. Thank you for that
for a little moth kicking with four Happy Friday Amy

(00:33):
here And while we typically don't upload any episodes on
Friday's here at the Four Things podcast today you're getting
a bonus episode. My little sit down with Walker Hayes
and Craig yesterday was received so well and just loved
the feedback and everyone's sending emails for the Glad You're

(00:54):
here book and pimp and joy giveaway and even some
requests for hey, wait, where can I find when Walker
was on your podcast with his wife Laney. Now, I
was back in two thousand and nineteen, So to keep
it simple, we thought we would just throw it up
today to put it at the top of the feed
so that people didn't have to scroll back and find
it if they want to listen to it. So, without

(01:16):
further ado, that is what this bonus episode is. Here
is my chat with Walker and Laney Hayes from a
few years ago, and I hope you enjoy all four Things.
Here you go. Laney's forty by the way, looking smoking

(01:37):
hot for forty? Yeah, Well what Walker doesn't know is
that I've started recording. But no, that's awesome. But he's
brought it up. Is so fine, and she's so fine. Yeah.
So I've got Walker Hayes and Laney Hayes on the
podcast today, so they are going to do all four

(01:59):
things us, which is awesome. We're going to cover just
some of Walker's music, which is amazing. I feel like
he is a talented songwriter, like so talented. He will
forever have a special place in my heart. Well, for one,
you may recognize his voice because he does the theme
song to this podcast in case you don't know, but

(02:20):
this is Walker Walker. Do you do you remember singing
this I don't put your headphones on, little Foodie. So
that's pretty bad. He was pretty beautiful. Yeah, so I

(02:43):
had sent Walker when I asked him because Walker and
I developed a relationship because Walker is also the guy
that gave my mom a theme song like my mom
was battling cancer. We would talk about her on the
Bobby Bones Show. From that, the Pimp and Joy movement
was born. And then next thing you know, Walker busts
out with this song titled Joy like Judy and then

(03:07):
walk Away you don't know is that song. Well, I
probably have told you before, so you may know, but
I'm just now I'm going to tell everybody, and I'm
sure I've told everybody before, but I'll say it again,
is that this song is such a gift to me
and my sister and my family and friends and my
mom's grandkids, my kids who didn't get to know her
because you sent us this song. Like I feel like

(03:29):
we at least recorded the video in March of two
thousand fourteen. Not sure when you sent the song, but
once my mom had a theme song joy like Judy,
I was like, whoa, we gotta mom, you need to
do a music video. And she was so hesitant. It
wasn't like being on videos and not her thing, but
she rolled with it and she was such a good sport.
And now you know, y'all can watch it. It's a

(03:51):
it's on YouTube, but we'll put it at radio amy
dot com if you want to check it out. But
this is my first connection to Walker and why he
and his family will for ever be special to me
because this is a video that will forever be there
for my family to watch. And this is Walker seeing
about my mom choosing Joy and it's It's definitely something

(04:18):
if you listen to the podcast and you don't know
much about Pimp and Joy that I encourage you to
go check out because I don't know if the video
is like just super special to me because it's mine,
but I hope that you'll be touched by it too,
because and that's why another reason why I'll be forever
grateful for Walker. But he has his so many other
amazing songs. And you know, Bobby has always praised your

(04:39):
songwriting skills and is a big fan of you, and
we're such a huge fan of Laney too. And y'all
just have an amazing life with some stories, the ups
and the downs, and y'all are willing to be vulnerable
and share, and that's what we're all about here on
this podcast. So I think we're going to cover some
of those some of those ups and the down So

(05:01):
I appreciate y'all coming in to do it. Thanks for
having us here. Yeah, we count a tune really fast?
Is that what you do? Is? I think? I think?
So that goes back to seventeen and y'all do have, yeah,
six kids, so that probably happens with them too a

(05:25):
little bit. Yeah, do you feel like they keep you
pretty young kids. Oh yeah, absolutely, because y'all do not
look like you have six kids. I gotta tell y'all
if y'all don't know to what Walker and Landey look like.
They're like Nashville's most beautiful people. Right. And then lady
you said Walker has been when did you start your
working out journey? Walker? I started. So I quit drinking

(05:49):
four years ago and that's I dabbled, and then I
became you know, it becomes a little bit of a session, um.
And so yeah, so that's what kind of when I
started caring us visiting the gym frequently because Laney, I
don't know, you can tell me if i'm but I mean,
he like was not in bad shape, but he went
from like Walker, hay, I work out I don't know,

(06:09):
like Men's Health magazine covers. Right, He's always been in
great shape, and there were seasons tell him, let's not
get that. No, we can go deep. You're like, no, really, no,
just kidding, um, But yeah, it became his thing on
the road for sure. He always either ran or worked out.
He always was in good shape, but definitely now it's

(06:31):
turned it up, and yeah, it's up and nuts in
the house. Okay, he's crazy. Sorry, you can't take him anywhere.
It's fine, We'll go ahead and get in. Tell him
your favorite parts like me, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, kick
him off. Okay, but yeah, and so far, I always

(06:51):
be like, it doesn't my arm Jack, and she's like,
it looks the same. I mean, I'm terrible affirmation because
he always looks the same to me. So I'm like,
I don't know, you look the same as you did
years ago, and he's like, no, that's not the right answer. Well,
I like, I don't see the fluctuations, old Walker. I

(07:12):
know that you're used to kind of being out there
and sharing a lot. I mean, and you're an artist, musician,
a songwriter. You're out there that Laney, thank you for
being here with us, and I know that y'all are
both going to open up about some hard stuff and
um again, we'll talk about kind of the highs and
lows of life and what we like to be here
at the podcast is relatable and touch somebody. And I
know that your story about Oakley and um losing her

(07:37):
and then even like Walker, you having to deal with
that and almost losing Laney. I feel like Um, that's
something we're going to get into as well, which I
hope will you know, be comforting somebody. I mean, we're
all we'll experience loss at some level, but you know,
that's definitely another level to me, like I can't even imagine,

(07:58):
but even I've appreciated being open and talking about it. So, um,
that said, we'll just and then too, I want to
get at the end. Sometimes what we do with guests
is find out things that you're grateful for. Guess how
many things we do four? So you know, while we're recording,
be thinking of the four things that you're grateful for.

(08:19):
They can be serious or fun or whatever. And then
we'll kind of close with that. But with that said, Walker,
do you want to are you gonna sing us to
the So I just sent Walker the four things, Um,
the four Things joy Seeker, which that's what that is,

(08:40):
called the be kind Choo joy laugh a lot e cake.
It's something we had on a shirt and a toe
and we called it the joy Seeker. And I was like, hey,
would you mind doing my theme song? And You're like,
no problem. And then you were like over in the
UK or something, walking the streets of London just spitting
out rhymes. I was so excited to do it for you,
but I didn't have any gear there to like lay

(09:01):
it down. And so yeah, one day I remember you
being like, well, I need it by a certain date,
and I'm like, oh crap, and uh so yeah, I
just kind of wrote it. I texted it to mysel
That's kind of how I writes stuff. It's just text myself.
But yeah, I remember a bit walking around and I
was like, I gotta find an alley where I can
sit and sing like castle roll thing and like, and

(09:23):
so send you a voice memo and I remember being
glad when I sent you that, and you were like, yeah,
that's the that's great, so perfect, Like you had the
little like the casse role and how you tied in
like yeah, we share recipes on here because I kind
of told you I think we're gonna be like it'll
be all the things like recipes and serious stuff, and
so you your brain came up with castle roll things, food,

(09:46):
food for your soul things, and that tight end. It's
not just about like literal food, but food for the soul.
He is wrote it all. I just put it to music.
But yeah, the uh yeah, but my favorite lines eat cake,
I mean that's me. That's the jam, Like you need
a hat that says just eat cake good idea. Yeah, okay,

(10:09):
coming soon to walk her hay stoma. Yeah, I don't
worry other people do it. It's fine. First, Okay, So
we're gonna go ahead and start with the romantic song
tease because I feel like this song Walker, it's it's

(10:31):
so I mean, it's it's probably everything every woman want
to hear. And I know Laney that you vet a
lot of his songs for him, And do you get
tired of doing that? Or is it like do I
get tired of doing that? I'm gonna be honest in
this interview, don't lie. Yes, for sure, I get I
wish I was this like perfect wife who was like, oh,

(10:53):
bring me all your song lines. I'd love to hear them.
But no, that's not really the reality at our house. Um,
when he comes home with a song idea, like the
day he steps off the bus and he's home for
a couple of days, We're like, you have a new
song idea right now, Like, couldn't that have just waited
a couple of days until you go back on the road.
Because he gets in song land, and it's hard to

(11:14):
bring him back. Like anybody in the creative world kind
of knows that you you drift off and even though
you're there, you're not really there. You're kind of living
in your head and creative land. So um yeah, oftentimes
we go, hey, come come back to us, like out
of creative world. But but when you sent me the
lyric to this song, I definitely it was different. It
was different from the others. Okay, And so for people

(11:37):
that haven't heard it, I'm gonna play a little clip here.
We can only listen to a little bit of it,
or then we might get sued by Walker because that's podcast.
So let's look. We can listen quietly for a little bit,
and then we may have to start to talk over it.
So here is a little bit of Don't let Her.
It's a little coffee se l home is a fives

(12:11):
babies bad she never miss please don't let her. Okay.
So what people are probably like, Okay, those are cute lyrics,
but I don't really get it. But it's the concept

(12:31):
behind it that makes the song so fabulous. So explain
the concept. Yes, it's a million different things into one. Um.
I was I was. Actually I wrote this song the
same week I wrote your theme song, crazy like in
one week. I had the most fun, creative week, and uh,
I was missing Laney. And you know, this was last year,

(12:51):
so I was still you know, we're fresh off the
loss of Oakley, almost losing Laney, which you know, I'm
I'm a I am Laney Wood would agree. I'm the
emotional person of the family and I have trouble. I
don't know what you call it, just digesting emotions like
it takes me. I'm a slow rebound from any emotional

(13:14):
stimulus and so, uh, my head. You know, when I'm
missing Laney over there, I was in the in the
UK for two weeks. I am myself and recharging my
batteries with Laney and the kids. When I'm away from them,
things begin to just go south. I'm just lost. And
I just started writing specifics about Laney um and really

(13:39):
it was just a love song, like look how much
I know about you, because I think that's flattering when
Laney is like when you smile like that, I know
what means this, and when you I know how you
you know, eat with your elbow up or you know,
like little quirks. When somebody knows that about you, you
feel like you noticed me. And so that's what I
started to do. I was like, you know, she loves

(14:01):
to sleep late, and you know, she didn't like you
if you're drunk, and uh, you know, and it just
all the specifics about Landy and my story. And then
I accidentally was like, and if she misses me, don't
And then I was like, well, what what I want
you to do if she misses me? Because honestly, selfishly,
I'm like, let her a little bit, you know, but

(14:21):
then then make her feel better. But I was like, no,
I want you to, you know, you know, help her
move on. And and then then that's that's the line
that became. That's what made it that almost morbid concept,
you know, was that question was like, hey, you know,
we're not promised tomorrow. And that actually happens to a

(14:42):
lot of people. And I've I've noticed that from from
the reactions of this song. So many people react and say, hey,
that is my spouse. Uh, you know, I lost them,
and um, I needed to hear that. Now I'm gonna
go out you know, I'm gonna get back out there
into the world. So yeah, that song is you know,
obviously completely about the Laney. I really enjoyed kind of

(15:04):
sifting through the specifics of her and I knew when
I texted her and by the way, she she does
not like to always listen this to lyrics like there there.
I almost cringe when I'm like, hey, do you listen
because I know she's like, oh my god. Um. So anyway,
when when I sent her this, I knew. I was like,

(15:27):
this is gonna get her. I know this is about
to get her and uh and it did. So, Laney,
what was your when he sent you? Like, I mean,
my one of my favorite line is home is a
favorite restaurant? Yeah? So good? No, I really this one
struck me differently than a lot of the other songs.
I you know, sometimes he comes home with the sweet
love song and he's like, I've wrote a song about

(15:49):
you today, and I hear it and I'm like, nah,
that wasn't really about me, but this one obviously yea. Um,
but this one was so genuine and it was sweet
to think, oh you do you just know all the
little intricate details of me and who I really am,
And it's it's fun to feel really known for who

(16:10):
you are, good and bad and loved anyway, and so
this song did I kind of. I think I sent
him back a tarry face and was like, oh my goodness,
that's so sweet. Now. On the other hand, I was thinking,
I don't know why anybody would want to listen to
a song about me, But you know, I'm thankful that
it really does touch other people. You're the inspiration. I
think it's just for me listening. I mean, yeah, I

(16:31):
don't like all Home is my favorite restaurant. By the way, too,
I feel you on that one. But it's just like
you can feel it's so cute. It's cute, Like it's
a cute love song that's deep and sweet, has so
many layers to it. It's not just surfacing. It's not
surfacy cute. It's deep cute than does that do even

(16:55):
make sense? Yeah? When I listened to it myself, I
find myself like I'm confused emotionally, I'm like, am I
sad or happy? Or? And then I laugh, you know
at the mom line that makes me laugh. And then
I love the little section of say the Moline the
best of ice I can give you. Brother, I don't

(17:16):
never say she's acting just like her mother. Oh yeah,
even though she does sometimes, which, by the way, I
adore my mom. And it sparked a whole lot of
like me calling my mom, mom, you're going to get
a complex over this song. And so that was a
really funny, well other little interlude, and I and my
mom was so sweet. I was like, my kids are
gonna say that one day. That's just life, right, we
all say that. I loved my mom as well. But

(17:36):
when I mean when she was alive, my husband definitely
compared me to her. And in fact, even since she's
passed away, it's from five years now, so it's like
in that territory where it's okay to bring her up again.
He won't compare me, and I still get mad. I'm like,
I don't do that, but I mean I clearly do that.
But it's like little it's just people that you're close,
and the way there's things about people where you're like,
and you know, I'll call him out, like you're acting

(17:57):
like your dad right now, and he's like, yeah, a side.
It is not one side all the time. That's the
fun go to when you're married. That's just an easy ammo.
You know, right, and then it's like well, and then
you're like, well, I wouldn't say that if I was
like they were in the room. You're right, But no, fans,
it doesn't mean anything bad. I might. Yeah, just are

(18:17):
y'all close with y'all have a healthy in law. I mean,
I don't think you're in laws are listening unless they are.
But I mean, yeah, we don't get to see them
a whole lot. You know, our life stays busy, and
they don't. You know, they come to visit some, but
you know, we try to. We try to make the
round to visit everybody at least a couple of times
a year away because y'all are skilled. I think that's

(18:38):
pretty good. High school sweethearts, your parents friends, I've no no,
I mean our parents were once we we started dating
in eleventh grade. They kind of began to get to
know each other. But you know, I feel like maybe
since our relationship was so early and and and an
immature age, and then you combine that with my career choice,

(19:04):
you know, I can definitely, uh, even though at times
I'm a stress or not appreciate my relationship with my
in laws, I can as as a father, I can
see how difficult kind of watching us must have been,
you know, me like Lanny meeting me obviously not being

(19:26):
on her level, Like she was completely out of my
league as she a president of everything like beautiful, and
then I was kind of a I was a poor student,
a little more of a wild um card. And then
you know, a couple of months into our our engagement,
I'm like, hey, by the way, I'm not gonna sell
real estate. I want to move to Nashville, you know,

(19:48):
be a rock star. And then turn around she's popping
out kids like tic TACs and you're like, and you know,
I'm sure her parents. I can definitely see if if
there's any animals the or was ever any like, oh
my god, what are y'all doing? I can completely understand
where that would come from. When I tell our story,

(20:09):
a lot of times, I'm like, what were we thinking?
What age were you when you got engaged? We were married,
engaged at with a long dating, long right relationship. I
think our life has just never made sense. And the
things that we love the most in life are all

(20:29):
the things that we're really silly to go into. I mean,
we couldn't afford, well, this dream was crazy to chase,
and then we couldn't afford kids, but we kept having them,
and all the things that we love the most about
our journey in life, you know, have been the things
that don't really make sense. We still can't afford kids,
and we we we want to, like we wish someone

(20:51):
would just drop quadruplets on our door, you know, I mean,
we still struggle. That's where everyone should go download don't
let her, we can afford and then there's like, is
there don't let her merch? Oh yeah, we just came
out with the don't ever watch the Office without Me
shirt because that's one of the things. Yeah. So yeah,

(21:12):
I mean we um, yeah, we never we we sometimes
sometimes we're like, are we we selfish? Like that we want,
you know, more kids or um and stuff, and we're
but we're both the babies of the family. And so
if you, I think, if you walk in our house,
you realize that we're so I I feel like we're
lazy at times, but we're just there's there's things that

(21:35):
we're not concerned with, perhaps like the yard. I don't
care like our yard looks like Jumanji always and I
don't care. I don't fix it until I get a
notice from the neighborhood and like, hey, you gotta and
I'm like, for real, I think they're like they're so pretty,

(21:55):
but you know, we got we got sheet rot problems
going on. I mean we scaped, or we throw the
ball in the house. We we just we live in
a different on like kind of a different planet, and
we always have I think when you have a bunch
of kids, though, you have to learn to let a
lot of things go, a whole lot of things go
just right. I mean I have to. You'll have six

(22:17):
his life with kids, yeah, yeah, you have two, or
you don't enjoy your kids and you don't enjoy what
you have exactly. I used to be way more uptight
about or I don't know what kind of mom Laney
you thought you were going to be. But I thought
I was gonna never give my kids sereal, like I promise.

(22:38):
I get that. You're like, we're gonna held these smoothes
for breakfast every morning, and I get it right. With
our first kid, Laney always had like a mini bag
of fresh carrots, like some pure ad asparagus, And now
we only start off avocado and our house is raining
lucky charms now It is interesting how you change. It's

(23:02):
just you know, it's like, wait, why am I so stressed?
I mean, I feel like we still have aspirations and
goals of like keeping them healthy and getting them interested
in like things that are gonna be good for them.
But at the end of the day, like a bowl
of cereal isn't gonna hurt anybody. But I mean I
used to be pretty and even like I was a
little judge, and I take it all back. I don't

(23:25):
now I'm like, not judge, but I remember I would
see like I was like, I mean because my mom
fed me that I ate sugary seials, I will say,
we don't have we don't lucky charms, right, I know
that's what I'm saying. If I pop out any more,
I might go that route. But now it's like even

(23:47):
even the convenience sometimes of I think on Saturday morning,
like Stevenson got up and I was like, hey, buddy,
he's like, what's for breakfast? And I was like, can
you just pour yourself a bowl cereal? And it was amazing.
I was like, this is the life, right, Yeah, So
I can't even imagine this ideal like way up here
in the clouds, and then there's real life and it
doesn't always on the subject. They'll have sugar cereal. I

(24:08):
will say it is has an immediate effect on our
kids attitudes. So then selfishly, I'm like, uh, eat a banana,
r something else, because I just don't want to deal
sometimes with the way you're gonna act after you right
that Cereal, that's a real thun saying that struggle is real,
like with the dietary stuff is for real. Oh yeah,

(24:31):
I can see it too in my kids. But then
sometimes well sometimes it's like you're saying, Lenny, like you
just you don't want to miss out on experiences with
your kids, Like you don't want to waste time doing
the yard if you're missing out and stuff with your kids.
Like for me, I felt like I was sort of
gonna be the same way about like ice cream. We're
different things. And then there's times we've got as a
family and we all get it together and it's like
if I was trying to be uptight about it, we'd
miss out on those moments because like kids love treats

(24:52):
like that, and you know, I don't want to be
like so uptight. I can't even joy I scream with
my kids. But okay, so before we again back to
Don't Let Her, which you should be downloading now on
iTunes to support Walker and Laney and their six kids.
But let's listen to a few more lyrics to see
where we are. I kind of like, let me turn
it up. Not a professional here, but hold on and

(25:16):
then she should understand that's your favorite flower. Don't ever
watch the Office without available the favorite season, Jim, you
really love football season? Laney? Oh, I doting down August

(25:40):
thirty one. Oh yeah, no, I know. I see. I'm
not that in the football. But my husband, yeah, he's
on the countdown, and I'm like, oh gosh, I'm very
lucky Laney. Laney is like avid sport. Like if if
I was like, hey, we're gonna have a special date tonight,
I have a surprise for you. If I was like, hey,
I got tickets to a Cardinals game or Brave game
or a band with football game, she would lose her mind,

(26:03):
like that's that's where she likes to hang. And again,
I'm I'm a lucky, lucky dude. Um. She knows more
about pro baseball than I do. Right now, I'm I'm
on the road singing. I don't really you know, get
to watch every game and she'll be like, Dude, the
Red Sox lost by this much and this is how
this was crazy, and she'll just watch it by herself.

(26:23):
I think it's probably been since getting since having boys
and they've gotten older, and watching them at baseball, and
then just kind of getting into it and then watching
some games with them. You know, it's kind of been
a process. I can't say I was always like that,
but it is a fun thing to do as a family,
and we're kind of obsessed with playing the show on
the PlayStation when Walker comes home, so every day. We've
gotten a lot of baseball knowledge that way too. But

(26:45):
I do love football the first thing we do, and
four of our kids were all just baby PlayStation baseball game.
She goes with the Red Sox. I usually play with
the Dodgers. She's so good kind every time. Speaking that
right now, and I'm just hearing a song she likes
Red Sox. I like Dodgers, right, put it on a shirt.

(27:11):
Just kidding. But I know we mentioned the merchant and
the stuff about Walker. I just want to say to
you can go to Walker Hayes dot com right Walker,
because I mean, get it, get it, check it out. Okay,

(27:33):
So Walker, next, I want to talk about the Craig Fund, which,
um is a really amazing story. Also to you created
a song from that, it's got to be I think
probably therapeutic for you to be able to use, just
like you gave us the gift of joy like Judy
and you know, even the podcast theme song that may

(27:53):
resonate with some people in some way, but this is
like on another level because you know, you met this
guy Craig, and he had had a major impact on
your life, which we'll get into, but then you were
able to write a song about him, and then you
played him the song, and then it's created a whole movement.
And so I'm gonna play a little bit of the
Craig song and then we'll talk about it. Because the

(28:16):
Craig Fund, I think is something that people, I mean,
they may want to see how they can get involved,
or they may just be inspired by like wow, like
you can make a difference and you can bless people bigger, small,
and Craig happened to go I mean, he went big
for y'all. And we'll get into exactly how, but here
is Craig by Walker Hayes. Yeah he sounds cool, right,

(28:39):
not just from Sunday School, right, still figured it out
church yet now he can't. It's turned down about buddy
just be t so obviously bearer flying s U S Jesus,

(29:05):
Like he's tight with Jesus because he has, you know,
a relationship. You met him at church, but you kind
of were like, this guy's different than maybe other people
you have had experienced a walker. I'll let you take it. Yeah, yeah, Craig. Uh,
there's two massive Like, there's two two large things that
I that um struck me about Craig is one, I

(29:27):
can be a very judgmental person, especially upon like a
Christian community, because a lot of times I find myself
picking him up apart because they are proclaiming one thing
within acting a certain way, and that's that's my problem,
that's wrong with me. Um. But Craig's relationship with Laney
and I was so unconditionally loving and we never felt

(29:50):
if I'd have felt preached that or even taught, I
would probably have backed off from just that type of person.
But he just loved us and so that was definitely
alluring um quality that he possessed and he his just
relationship with us was so um had no agenda, just
just they just wanted to They just loved us, you know.

(30:14):
And then also I was beyond inspired obviously by by
by Craig giving us a car, and and there's there's
many reasons, but one was because dude didn't ask, you know,
I found myself a lot of time. Hold on, I'm
gonna back up a little bit because people might be
I want to know a little bit more backs story.
So y'all started in Laney. I don't even know that

(30:35):
I know this part, but like who like found the
church all were gonna start going to maybe it was
a new he started going, Were you going? And then
Walker started going? And then what was what was going
on in y'all life? Y'all's life around that time, and
then boom, now Craig is in the picture. So I
originally met Laura, Craig's wife, through a mutual friend just
kind of nice to meet you, and that was it.

(30:57):
And then saw her later at basketball at our kids
basketball games and just started talking to her. She told
us they had just moved here, they had started a church,
and I was like, oh yeah, yeah, great, that's nice.
And then they had invited us, and I was like,
I don't know, So I kind of got online and
I was like, what kind of church is this? What
do they believe? You know, what's going on here? And um,
she struck me, of course as super kind and friendly

(31:20):
from the very beginning, and we certainly clicked. And then
I drugged my family there and it was in the winter,
so it was pitch black dark, it was at night.
They were meeting at night, and we were driving to
the middle of the country and I was like, guys,
I don't know what we're about to drive up to.
Like I was kind of a little bit flipping out
about I don't know where I'm taking my family. Um,

(31:40):
and then we walked into this church at night, and
every it was just it was amazing. People were so
kind and welcoming and loving, and kids everywhere and running
around and it was just the most come exactly how
you are and we love you sort of place that
we had walked into. So that was kind of how
it started. And then we did develop a very close

(32:02):
friendship with Craig and Laura and their kids over the
course of time. And you can go from here, well, yeah,
and at that time in our lives, Um, I was,
I was drinking heavily. Um, probably when we rolled into
that church. I'm sure I've been drinking all day. Um.
We had we were about to have we're about to
actually be pregnant with our sixth We had just had

(32:24):
number five, number five, and you know, things were going
downhill fast, like money wise, job wise, I had not
gotten a job yet at Costco was what was about
to And but yeah, Laura, but I mean, honestly, Laura
and Craig, Uh, they they just they adopted us, is

(32:45):
what they did. I mean, they they called us. There's
they opened their house to us. Uh. He showed up,
you know, to my shows like a father figure would
and sat in the back. And anytime I saw Craig
in the back chat and somebody's ear off, I knew
that he was like and that dude good like dude,
you have you ever heard of this guy like he

(33:07):
se like he would always tell every night, like after
a show, he'd be like, you need to be playing arenas, man,
I can't believe you're playing right, you know. And I
and I was just like it was so kind and
and and genuine and um and then yeah, our relationship
just continue to grow. And then about three years later

(33:28):
we had had our six kid, Um Everley, and we
were down to one car. We we I had hidden
the fact that I had gotten dropped from a label,
from an endorsement deal that I had, and because I
knew that as soon as this Volkswagen dealership found out
that nothing was going on musically, that they probably take

(33:48):
that van back. And all we had was this old
Honda that Laney brought in when when we got married,
and so the van got taken away. I remember, I
remember watching the truck take it, and the kids were like,
that's awesome, you know how they put it up on
the truck, and I was like, but not at the

(34:10):
same time, and so things got rough, you know, and
and Um, you know, I acted like, oh I got
you know, I got it figured out. And we shared
a car for about six weeks, and one night Craig
shows up unannounced. We had invited. He showed up after
Beckett's baseball game and Um got out of his own

(34:32):
minivan and Laura, his wife, drove in in another car,
and he had this big grin on his face and
and we argued, you know, he was he was like,
take take the car, you know, just take it. I know,
I know you you know, you know you needed all
you gotta A sign in the song is exactly what

(34:52):
what went down. And UM, I was like, nah, you know,
and because honestly, I was genuinely embarrassed and just proud
and and didn't want to accept help, because you know,
accepting help just felt like I was saying that I
couldn't do it, you know, on my own. And I
remember my daughter, I remember her saying, Dad, just take
the car. And then I remember Craig saying he he

(35:16):
actually him and his brother were like really good wrestlers
in high school. And at one point he said, I'm
gonna wrestle you, you know for it, and I was like, nah, no, thanks,
I don't want to wrestle. And so I just took
I took the car and we drove it home, and uh,
and I immediately felt a burden just lifted. Um. I

(35:36):
felt the ability to focus on other things and not
be so stressed out about, you know, the vehicle situation.
And obviously the kids, we're much safer riding in a
car that they all fit in. You know, we had
been driving everywhere in the Honda with Laney and I
and six kids, and so it was definitely illegal. Um

(35:58):
and you know we we weren't proud of that, but
that's all we had. But yeah, I mean, dude showed
up and he didn't ask like I said. I mean,
he saw a need and he just I think him
and Laura probably spoke like, hey, can we do this?
And and and Craig. You know, I think a lot
of people feel like he just hands out cars and

(36:19):
can do that. I mean he I think after he
gave us the car, he went and bought himself something used,
like for five or six grand. It's not it's not
like he was like, oh, I'm going to get a
Tesla and just say y'all know that was a that
was definitely a financial push for them. That was not
really something they could necessarily afford to do. People think, oh,

(36:40):
they must be wealthy and be able to just do that.
They really couldn't. They were stepping out in faith, just
seeing a need that we had and how can we help.
They're just those people, you know. It wasn't that that
was an easy thing for them. They were They were
really just stepping out and they have four kids. Right, Yeah,
and they didn't have like a bank account of money

(37:00):
that they could rely on if something happened. I mean
they they were really they were going out on a
limb for us for sure. That was people, don't They
wanted to bless you and and walker to you like
he he proved to you that, like, yes, there are
there can be people that maybe aren't necessarily they are

(37:21):
walking the walk and talking the talking, and that's who
Craig was to you. So that's why, well that's what
the song is all about. And then you from that
the Craig Fund. Yeah, it's unreal. I get teary eyed
every time we do something just because of how just
full circle it is. But we we have, um, we

(37:43):
have a Craig Fund. We sell shirts where those those shirts,
every shirt that we sell, the proceeds go to the
Craig Fund. And then people just drop huge installments like
people just like when we lost Oakley, the Craig Fund
filled up. That was kind of people's a of um,
you know, saying they love us and and um in

(38:04):
honor of Oakley and stuff and and what what we
do is uh we it was a lot of logistics
and hoops and loopholes to to jump through at first,
but we we gave our first car away uh to
a single mother and and again it was just an emotions,
such an emotional moment, and um, we're going to continue
to do those things and find ways that the Craig

(38:27):
Fund can be used. But it's all about exactly what
Craig did for me. It's what we do is we
take submissions of who you can like nominate for the
Craig thing, and people send us. You know, we had
about fifty submissions narrowed down for us, and then me
and Lanny and the kids sat down and we went

(38:47):
through like fifty one night and and it was like, okay,
who do you all? It's so hard, but um, you
know we'll keep all those and and do it again
and again and again. And uh it's my favorite, you know,
part of of being um uh you know whatever you
call me, you know, singer, songwriter, recording artists or whatever,

(39:08):
I mean, that's to to me. That's the That was
the most fulfilling moment I think I've experienced in this
in this job is when when we showed up in
a town and I was able to give this lady
a hug and um her kids had written me, you know, letters,
and I sat in the car and it was so clean,
and and you know, from from my experience with Craig,

(39:29):
I remembered how nice that was like to sit in
the car that just started when you turn the key,
you know, and you push the button and the window
works and you're hot and the air makes you cold.
It's just like those things. I think, you know now,
Landy and I are okay financially right now, and and
we we It's funny how fast you take those things

(39:51):
for granted. But I know where those people are, and
I love reading the submissions, and the people that write
the submissions are they're they're Craig's and themselves just to
to sit down and write essays about someone they love
and why they need a car or they need assistance.
So it's a it's a really really gratifying, fulfilling fun

(40:12):
part of what I'm able to do now. And that
Craig fun stuff can be found at Walker. There can
be a Craig shirt. You know, those are everywhere, and uh,
I didn't steal that from Amy and his team set
up the fund, but it's all the people out there
that are filling it. Yeah, were like, oh, you're so nice.

(40:34):
It ain't my money. It's the fans. I mean, they're
they're the ones that find it's it isn't amazing, it
is an amazing feeling. And you know, Walker, you're I
know sometimes you're like, oh no, you know, people ask
you to sign like Pimp and Joy stuff like you're
one of the original Joy Pimpers because the theme song,
and it's like that's something too where I know exactly

(40:57):
what you're feeling like watching people rally together for a
cause and a reason and a movement and it's so
cool to see people react and they want to be
a part of something bigger and better, because that's what
pimp enjoys. To me, it's what the Craig Fund is
to y'all. And it's a lot similar to your mom.
I'm sure you're you're like so to me, it allso

(41:19):
like that elevator thing she talks to people like, that's
what grabbed me. So you must have been re listening
to the Bobby Bony okay, so or maybe read maybe
heard about you talking about her and then read something
and in something written about you talking about her, you
said she taught me because she was choosing joy and

(41:40):
at the hospital Indie Anderson, when she would be like
having a rough day, like going to get treatment, it
was just like, oh, but she knew everyone else at
Indie Anderson was probably having really rough days too, so
she would make an effort to talk to people on
the elevator and be like such a cute sweater or whatever.
And I'm like, who talks to people on the elevator,
But she did, and I guess you picked up on that.
And then I I don't know that we've ever talked

(42:02):
about how you ded that was the spark, and you
have to like, that's I think that's That's what I
feel about Craig is like just the way he spoke
to me that first night, and now full circle, we're
just dropping cars on people because other people were, you know,
doing it, and then that happens outside of us, like

(42:24):
but you know, we'll meet people in line and they'll
they'll say, hey, I donated, I just gave somebody car
because I heard about your friendship. But you have to feel,
you know, the the same way about that's just a
cool thing. How small to me something can be. And
then a couple of years go by and it's a
freaking franchise, like it's just happening, and it's all. It

(42:46):
was literally because of love. It was because one person
just wasn't in love with themself. They were actually in
love with everybody else just for a second and then baboom,
it's just And I know was kind of when you
talked about releasing the song and it being public, like
he was like, oh, it was uncomfortable for him because

(43:09):
he wasn't doing it for any sort of He didn't
want praise or recognition. He just wanted to again just
bless y'all and so. But but for him and because
him and his wife they felt it was put on
their heart that's what they needed to do, and they
were obedient with that. Like this is the domino effect,
Like this is the blessing upon blessings and blessing and

(43:29):
it's multiplying, and y'all are keeping it going and walker
with your platform like and y'all's fans together, I mean, hello,
you'll do have These are the haze of our lives,
basically our own soap opera happening. But y'all are y'all
are using y'all are doing good with it, and I
think that that's what's important. Some people are like, I

(43:51):
don't really want to talk about it, but when you do,
it's not like for bragging, because you know that it's
possible because of everyone. And it's also to inspire. Yeah,
it is. Craig didn't even want to play the song
for his kids. That's how you know humble he is
about kind of recognition. And then on a yeah, on

(44:13):
a funny note, one songwriter came up to me and
it was like, dude, that same thing happened to me.
Somebody gave us a car and I was like, she
wrote a song and it was originally just meant as
a thank you for him, and then it was never
meant as an album addition, Yeah, let's listen to this
hook one last time in case Craig's listening. Craig, if

(44:33):
you're listening, this goes out, This goes out to you.
And I don't know. He sounds cool, right, not just
kid from Sunday School, right. I still don't figured it
out church yet. I can't now. He can't turned down
by buddy, just be tight. He's not. I don't but

(45:01):
I wish. Yeah, just my lyrical genius and you know
he will listen. Yeah, yeah, awesome. Hey Laura, Hey, um,
so that's another song to Walker's probably like shut up, aby,

(45:25):
but you can go download you won't do so, Walker.
I have tattoos that are super personal to me, Like
I have Joy tattooed in my mom's handwriting on my wrist,
and then I have a spua right below that, which

(45:46):
means hope in Creole, and that was just for me.
Like our adoption process took five years, so obviously having
lost my mom, having Joy in hand writing on my
wrist is a big deal. And then a squaw was
there as an everyday reminder as we were going through
that process of you know, like, don't lose hope. This
is going to happen, even though there were days where
I thought, Okay, this might not happen, but that was

(46:07):
my reminder. And so I know that you have Oakley's
footprint on your arm, and so I know, like even
getting into this right now, I feel like it is
something that I know it's so personal for you all,
and I appreciate you sharing, but even something like that
every day having to look down, I'm sure it has

(46:28):
sometimes like for me seeing my mom's handwriting. It's like
so special, but then sometimes it's also hard. And so
how how long has it been since she would have
been She would be one year and about two months now, Okay, yeah, yeah,
and um, you know you just talk about I. Um,

(46:51):
Laney and I kind of decided together, uh, to not
be private about this, and I think one of the
reasons we did it is because there were a couple
of people that were not private about their own experiences
that showed up for us literally the day of like
I'm talking about, while Laney was in this in in

(47:13):
the operating room and I was there alone by myself. Um,
what was the girl's name. Her name was Michelle. I
don't remember her name. I've only seen her once in
my life and that was that. That was that day,
and she showed up and she began to just talk
and walk me through her experience of losing a child.

(47:34):
And uh, had she been private or never reached out
to any organization that cared about that happening to someone else,
we would have been completely lost that day. I didn't know.
You know, this sounds silly, but when you when you
when you you know, Laney had us stillborn. She she
carried ocally nine months. That morning we thought we're going

(47:56):
to have a home birth. We were so excited. I
was us playing on the CMT Awards that night, like
first TV anything. Just a lot of excitement and happiness.
And then and you know, she goes into labor, her
uterus ruptures. An hour and a half later, doctor walks
in to me in a room and says, hey, you

(48:17):
had a little girl. We tried to resuss state what
we couldn't and so I'm just sitting there alone. I
don't know, like, well, obviously want to get to my wife.
I don't know if I'm supposed to meet. Do you
do you meet? Do you do? You? Do you hold
a dead kid? Do you do? Like? Dude, that's just
a question. That's like one question in my head, like
do you do you hold her? What do you do? Like?

(48:38):
What are we about to We're about to have a funeral?
Like do you get rid of them at that? I mean,
I'm clueless, you know what I'm saying. I had absolutely
no idea. And then in the meantime, emotionally, I'm never
experienced and Laney and I are what we go through
this together, you know, I I look at this tattoo
still on my arm, and it minds me. I had

(49:01):
a baby. I had a kid, a baby. I held
a kid of mine, a real life child in my hands,
you know, that had a foot and another foot, and
and hands and and and hair and a face that
that this looked like another one of our our kids.
And so yeah, I don't really know what question I'm answering,

(49:22):
but I think I started off by saying we would
be vocal about it because it's not just us, you
know this, People lose people all the time and it
is a shocking, lonely emotion, and people grieve differently. And
I needed that girl Michelle there more than anything. She
walked us through getting pictures of Oakley and uh. She

(49:45):
she helped us find the cemetery where we would eventually
go look and bury our daughter next to hers um,
which which was earth shattering, just like kind of of
that that was just like a I don't know what's
what you call it. It just like we fell in tears,
you know when we when we saw louse Lucy is

(50:07):
her name, When we saw her name Landy and I
literally broke down and just shambles. And then then a
dog came up and peede on a grave and we
we laughed. We just laughed. Uh, we laughed so hard
and we needed that dog to peel on that grave.
We were like, this is a perfect spot. We were like,

(50:27):
it's just like our house. There's dogs everywhere, and there's
you know, Lucy here. But it's just a whirlwind. You know.
We still are in Like I said, I still look
at at at her footprint and I go, that happened
to us, and it happens to a lot of people. Um,
and you know, I'm talking miscarriages too, you know, and

(50:50):
it sits and and people people just lose, people lose
grown up kids, you know, and well there's something about
it being the other way around. I feel like, yeah,
I lost my mom and she probably she died too
young and she had cancer, but it was sort of
in the right order of like at some point I
was probably hopefully going to say goodbye to my mom

(51:11):
and I will to my dad, because that's what we
consider to be the natural progression of life. So with
y'all having to experience, especially after you got six kids,
it's like, well, we're giving birth of this. We've already
done this before we about to meet our new baby,
and then it took do a one eight and then
not like that's that's a whole different territory, even to

(51:35):
where I'm just like I wouldn't know what do you do?
Do you do you hold them? And do you take Yeah,
do you take pictures? So yeah, I mean Michelle, what
a blessing that that she was there, And then Laney's
not You're in surgery, right, so I mean he went
through a lot of it alone because I was in

(51:56):
surgery for what a couple of hours and um and this,
and then after that her state. You know, you know,
I didn't. I wasn't really honestly, it just was such
a blur. I wasn't. I realized later I guess how
close you know Laney was to to dye. I was
just oblivious. Again, I'm concerned with, you know, with Oakley,

(52:18):
because you're you're looking honest, you know, you're looking at
minutes You're like, fifteen minutes ago there was a heartbeat
or and you're like, no, it can't you know, it
can't be done now, like are you sure? You're sure?
And you're and you're just like no, no way, this
is that this is happening. And then I could. I
could sense distress in the doctor as she continued to

(52:38):
visit me and say, hey, we're trying to stop the bleeding.
We're doing everything we can. And then they would vanish,
and then I'd be like, what did you just say
to me? Like does it it sound It doesn't sound
like it's over yet, you know, And so yeah, I
mean that was freaky. And then the worst part of
it all was, um was when Laney came to and

(53:04):
she was out and she was she had a tube
in her mouth so she couldn't talk to me, and
she was very very drugged and sedated and uh she
lost a ton of blood um during surgery, and so
she she was coming out and awake from that, and
and she would look at me and I'd be like, ah,
she's gonna you know, she's gonna say something about it,

(53:24):
and she would touch her stomach and I knew she
was like trying to say, like what, you know, she
wanted me to say we had a girl or you
know whatever. And then I would tell her, I say,
you know, as a girl, she didn't make it. And
then I could just see Laney's body physically just convults

(53:46):
just go like I thought she's gonna have a heart
attack because she couldn't she couldn't talk or say anything.
She could just cry and I would just see tears
and tears, and then she would kind of pass out,
and then fifteen minutes later her we just do it
all again, like she would wake up like I never
told her anything, and and so over and over, you know,

(54:09):
I continually felt I had to answer, and and so
you know, that completely sucked. And then and you know, Laney,
Laney and I we we it's like we were some
of Somebody explained it to me, not like a therapist,
but a dear friend said, it's like you are both
in the in a car wreck at the same time,

(54:30):
like exactly at the same time, and then forever will
always be telling each other what happened in our rex
like it was the same wreck, but different recks. And
and you know, I thought, I feel so bad, you know,
for for Laney, because when she woke up, she didn't
lose just a kid. We're done, we can't have she

(54:53):
she she woke up and got told where you're done,
You're not have you, you can't we're not having any kid.
Would be irresponsible of you to to to to become
you know, pregnant again, and that is so hard, you
know for for for me to watch Laney is just
just what she was born to do. I swear to

(55:13):
God that is It's just she she was supposed. I
didn't know that when I met her, you know, when
I'm in eleven, eleventh grade, I didn't know she was
just she was made to just raise and love and
nurture and care you know, for kids. But that is, um,
that's where she she belongs. She she's supposed, she's gifted

(55:34):
at that, like like next level gifted, and so you
know she's been struggling with that, um truth. You know
that she's she's what we what I don't know what
do you call it? You're you're you're on not like
birth control, but she we have what do you use?
The wall? Come on, somebody help me. The goalie, the
eternal goalie that never goes away your d Yeah she did.

(55:57):
She does that going into like birth control many what
I'm just saying, And she's on that. But when she
and I laugh and we're like, I hope I still hope,
Like I still hope, you know, like I hope I
hope you get pregnant and that's like maybe God's way
of saying, you can't stop this train. Like it's it's
crazy how big those desires are, you know. Yeah, like

(56:18):
Walker said, not only did I wake up and realized
that we had lost we didn't know she was a girl.
So we found out it was a girl, you know,
we lost her. Um and then they say, you know,
they were able. They wanted to do a HYSTORICCT to me,
but they couldn't because of how much blood I'd already
lost and they didn't think I could survive it and
all of that. So, um, anyway, they did not do

(56:40):
a hystorrect to me. So for Walker and me, we're going, well,
maybe there's still a chance, you know, Like that's how
badly we love having kids Like that is, you know,
his his only dream is not music, but that that
is my dream. Like I love having kids and just
pouring everything I have into them, like, um, I don't know.

(57:01):
So yeah, to wake up and to realize we were
done and that you know, that wasn't our plan. You know,
that was our plans. Just getting completely halted and told
you know, you're doing a one a D from this
actually you know, um, it is hard. Is so many
layers to process, to take in, so many levels of grief.
You know, we're grieving Oakley, you know, after losing her,

(57:23):
you know, I'm my body has a hard time healing.
And then it's the things like your milk still comes in,
you know, a day or two later, and it's such
a harsh reminder that you don't have a baby. Um.
And so you have these physical things you're dealing with
the emotional toll. Um. You know, you're almost still in
so much shock. It's kind of the Lord's way of

(57:45):
protecting you. You can't take it in. It's hard to
even grasp it's a process of grieving because you can't
you can't really understand the weight of it immediately. Um.
And yeah, we had so many people there for us, um,
the people at the hospital, the stuff we didn't know,
I mean, hold her, spend time with her, hugger you know,

(58:06):
love what you can. Um, trying to memorize our features.
You know, you just look at her toes and you
just like study or stop looking at her because you're
not you won't You're not gonna see her again. Um.
A photographer named Callie showed up and did pictures for us.
And you know, then I said, you know, Leela's our

(58:27):
only child that met her and held her. But I said,
you know, don't take pictures on your cell phone because
I don't know that you'll want that in your camera role.
And I regret that. I mean, you know, I didn't know.
It's not you're not taught on how to do this,
and so we didn't take snapshots of her. But thankfully
Callie was there and did pictures of her, and that's
all we have. And so, um, I am so thankful

(58:50):
because I mean what I what, I do things differently
in some ways, yes, but in other ways, I'm so
thankful that these people all showed up because they helped
us grieve in the this this way that we possibly
could going through something like that, and we wouldn't have
known how to do that, um, how to walk through
losing her. And and then you know, it's the things

(59:10):
you're not expected for. You know, you're holding you're holding
your dead baby, and you just it is the weirdest thing.
They look just like every other newborn we ever had,
and you are you are physically staring at them, going
please just breathe, like there's you know, you just think, oh,

(59:33):
they're gonna start breathing. You know they're not. This isn't true.
You know they're gonna breathe. You know. It's just hard
to it's hard to take it in because you really
are And the other thing and this is you know,
maybe a lot of information, but she was cold, and
so the mom and you just keeps kind of wanting
to snuggle her up and hold her close and wrap

(59:54):
her up because you know she's cold. And um, you know, spiritually,
I'm going she's not here. You know, this is just
her show. She's not here. She's very much alive, just
not right here with me. But the mom of you
can't get past the this is her physical body that

(01:00:15):
you want to care for, um, even though you know
she's not there. But it's it is traumatic and traumatizing.
And we do want to share her story because if
it can help somebody, like you said, not feel alone.
If it can you know, if we can help somebody
grieve in the healthiest way that they can, you know,

(01:00:36):
we want to We want to do that. It's also therapeutic,
I mean selfishly, just to relive it. Um. I can
still just as we talk about it. There's there's still
shock here. I mean, it really is that her picture
is at the it's it's in our room. It's in
our room where it all went down. And um, I

(01:00:57):
mean some nights we just sit there and talk, you know,
and and look at her picture and still absorb like
this happened to us. You know, like you said, it's
probably a miracle that you can't if you could, if
you could feel it all at one time, you'd probably
just explode, you know, or your heart would stop or something.

(01:01:17):
But yeah, um, we we were so lucky the community.
This community, UM not gonna lie. Like artists were so competitive,
like we just compare each other to each other, and
we want to we want to be friends, but we
want to sell more albums than the other one or
I do speaking personally, but I'm gonna tell you something.

(01:01:39):
When something like this happens, or when it did to us.
We had a meal that day from Russell Dickerson's uh family,
him and his wife that day. I know they were
busy uh CMT stuff and she left and homemade the
most incredible Yeah, just su We just a buckets a film.

(01:02:01):
I mean we I don't think we paid for a
meal or fixed a meal she you know, Oakley. We
lost Oakley in June, on June six, and I promise
you we had food till September, more food than we
could eat, you know. And and for us to be
you know, we felt it took us a while, like
to just get back out into life, you know. And

(01:02:24):
so the last thing you wanted to do, what was
was like worry about where we're gonna eat tonight. And
and so yeah, I mean it was we were so well,
uh taking care of Craig and Laura showed up, they met,
they met Oakley, they they held her that he actually
officiated like a little a funeral service. My my boys

(01:02:45):
and I buried her like we've we've filled it a
whole up with dirt. And you know, Craig and Laura
were there and we were just surrounded by We had
a lot of family and friends show up that day.
And you know, it's it's a tricky situation for all
of us to navigate. Nobody knows what to do. And
you know, death is awkward. It can be awkward for

(01:03:07):
all of us. We don't know how to walk through it, really,
and nobody people talk about it, but um, well I
think y'all being willing to share your story and then
kind of also too, Yeah, it is that that's an
accurate statement. Death is is awkward. Um, so it's like

(01:03:29):
just people should just show up. I mean it's a
reminder for me to hear that too, and I think
other people listening, like if some if you know someone's
gone through something, sometimes you just don't want to be
in the way or you don't wanna like you don't
really know. Well, I'm not that close to them, but
I mean I have sympathy for them. I empathize or

(01:03:49):
whatever the case may be. Like I hurt for them
right now because I know that they're hurting and this
has got to be painful. But like, but what do
I do? And so I don't know, Like sometimes we
do a thing. Yeah, but it's I think that this
is probably a reminder that just just do. If it's
put on your heart, like, don't ignore that, just do.

(01:04:11):
And I know probably the people that sent meals and
you know, publishing companies and labels and you know, so
many people were providing food for us and that might
seem silly and small to them, but it really did.
People feeding us through August. It was I mean it
really was such a blessing because physically I couldn't for
a while. And then after that you just are trying

(01:04:33):
to pick up the pieces. I mean, you just are
trying to your best to maintain some sort of let's
get back into life, like we can't just hold up
in our house forever, um. And to have that taken
care of and provided for us, it really was that
was huge. That was so huge, and that was you know,
maybe people saw that as small just Okay, I'm gonna
send him a gift card for Uber Eats or whatever

(01:04:56):
people might have done. I mean it all that's like
to me, the US experience in that and and the
people that did show up, Um, it's it's to to me,
like the right answer in that case that you're talking about,
because I feel the same way, like I don't even
know that guy that well, and like it's gonna be weird,

(01:05:17):
you know if I show up and I feel like
the right answer takes the most courage and and like Craig,
can you imagine how scary it would be to drive
up to a dude son based baseball game Son's baseball
game and be like take this car, Like I can't

(01:05:38):
imagine a more frightening thing to do. Um. And the
same thing you talk about Michelle showing up for me
that day, I'm not like, I'm I'm I'm I'm pretty
angry person and amidst like emotions like that. So I
can't imagine being on her side of that waiting room
and talking to a completely silent man in whose wife

(01:06:02):
isn't even out and okay yet and just start black
and just start telling my story. You know, that's just
I had to That required some serious bravery. UM. So yeah,
what I'm saying is probably like it's good just to show. Yeah,
I mean, that's what I'm receiving from this now and
even a reminder to myself. And then sometimes when you're

(01:06:23):
hesitant on sharing your story and sometimes it may hurt,
but I think that what you all have learned for
it too is it's therapeutic. And then also, like Michelle,
it probably was painful. It probably walked her through her
entire thing and she's having to relive it, but somewhat therapeutic.
But also now it gives not that you want to give,

(01:06:47):
you have to find. It's almost like you want to
find the reasons why things go bad. It's not like
there's the whole that everything happens for a reason or
like okay, well this is why that happens that we
can better prepare me. But for me, I think if
you look at it, like, um, yeah, this was a
really crappy situation, like this sucked, but in order to
make the best of it, I have to look for

(01:07:08):
the ways to make this better. Like you can choose
to live in the crap and make it crappy and
it be a horrible situation like the whole, like my
mom's games about losing her to that like could have been,
like we could have just lived in the crap. It sucked.
It was brutal. The things I saw I will never
unsee and it was horrible and nobody should have to
die that way, Like it just was not right. And

(01:07:30):
you know, I was there toil her last breath. I
even laid with her dead body for like an hour
with my sister and thought it was awkward. But it's
like my sister I made a choice, like Okay, what
are we gonna do from here on out? What's the
legacy gonna be? Are we gonna you know, just sit
in this yuck or are we gonna like look for
how we can help others with this, you know, And

(01:07:51):
so then now that's what we've done, and I feel
like to y'all sharing your story, that's what you can
do is look for the reasons. And for Michelle, yeah,
I'm and she went through it, but then she was
able to help you and she was said she was
like your angel that day walker, I mean, like a
huge blessing. And then now y'all are going to be
that for somebody else, because it's the stuff is going

(01:08:13):
to happen in life. It is. But when you put
yourself out there and you open up like you have
an opportunity to be that angel for somebody else, Like
I guarantee you somebody listening right now like it has
been or gover bid like somebody listening, and then you know,
something like a year or two later, something may happen
where this podcast may right and they may remember, oh gosh,

(01:08:35):
like they may know what you're saying and the things
like remember too how to how to grieve and everybody
grieves differently, but um and not that y'all went into
necessarily exactly how you grieve the process, but just for
y'all being open and sharing and I'm so thankful and
I appreciate you opening up for my listeners to. Okay,

(01:09:13):
so now it's gratitude time and I want to hear
the four things. So technically, because it's times too today,
we're gonna get eighty eight things. Yeah, well Walker you
get four and Landy you get four. And it's just
something fun to do because you know, with gratitude, when
you practice that, that's what brings true joy. And so

(01:09:34):
that's we're all about on the podcast. So we want
to encourage that and maybe it'll get other people to
be thinking about what they're grateful for today. Okay, putting
me on the spot here, well obviously, I mean I'm
just not just saying it, but right here, I tell
Laney this all the time, and uh, I mean it's
it's so cheesy, but I'm grateful for her. Uh you

(01:09:58):
know who I never would have thought ought, you know,
just I mean, I guess I'm like halfway through life
here and I'm just really glad you know that I have.
I'm glad I found her so early. Um, my best friend,
just just somebody I wanted just to hold hold my
hand through everything you know, and even the worst stuff.

(01:10:19):
You know, I've I feel like I've experimented holding Landy's
hand through all things, and um, She's there's no one
else I'd rather like get old with. So I'm obviously
grateful for her. I'm so grateful for all of my children,
living and gone. Um, they are unreal. I learned so

(01:10:43):
much from my kids about my own brokenness and UM,
I don't know, they made me laugh, but they also
just make me love life, UM even more. I'm grateful
for Um. I'm grateful or music. You know. Music, Uh,
it brought us together. Um it is uh you know.

(01:11:08):
I always tell any this, and she makes fun of
me because I'm so emotionally attached to all music. But
it's it, truly is. I can't imagine a life without it.
I can't imagine a life without being able to make
it for therapeutic reasons. Um, it has saved my life
a billion times, and um it's it's given me um

(01:11:34):
purpose and then um and then my last you know,
but not least grateful. And I don't really know how
to say this, but I'm right now. I'm I'm I'm
grateful for the Bible. I'm grateful for that book. Um.

(01:11:55):
I don't know everything in it. I don't know how
to apply you know, verse after verse, but I'm I'm
grateful that that is a resource um for me at
this time in my life as I kind of add
up all my experiences and try to move forward as
an old man. Um, I'm glad it's there for me

(01:12:19):
and the man and it is in there um with me.
I think, Oh, I love those four things. Walker. I'm
gonna try to not jump all over the things here
so I can't come Kylie. No, I wish i'd gone first. Um.

(01:12:40):
This is super generic and it's kind of a you know,
wonderful like Miss America kind of answer. But um, I
know right Miss Alabama. Not it doesn't really sue me
very well. But but I'm going to just go generic
with love on the first one. I mean, Walker and
Uh spend more time than you know just talking about love,

(01:13:02):
just how you know, how do we love each other better?
How do we love our kids better? How do we
love other people? Um? Obviously, you know, we have a
handful of people in our life that have really impacted
us in that have taught us shown us. Um, you know,
Craig other friends reading about Jesus whatever. I mean, it's

(01:13:27):
we and another book we're both kind of reading right now.
I mean, we are constantly talking about how can we
just love other people better? Um, So that's just kind
of generic a little bit. Um. My second one, I
want to say laughter because that gets us through a
whole a whole, whole, whole lot. And you know, I'm

(01:13:49):
sure someone as Walker feels like the jester of the family,
but I'm like, we laugh so much when he's home,
and I'm so grateful for that. Um, it gets you
through anything. It's like us trying to pick out a
burial plot for Oakley and it's the worst experience you
can even imagine walking through. And then he makes me laugh,
he makes comments and we just giggle and I'm like, golly,

(01:14:11):
I'm so thankful for moments of laughter, um, whether it's
in the hard times or the you know, super happy times.
And then the third, I'm gonna have to say all
of my my living family. I mean I and Walker
has already touched on that, and I can't say anything
but kind of repeat what he says. Um, Walker, our

(01:14:33):
kids living Um, it's they are just such a joy
in my life. They because of all them, it makes
it harder to yearn for heaven because I love being
here with all of them so so so much, um
that they they are just my everything. It's hard to

(01:14:55):
not make them idols in my life because I love
them that much. Um. H always want to be with them,
and I just I don't know, everything in my life
just wants to revolve around them. Um. And then the
fourth win, I'm gonna say Oakley, um, because I can

(01:15:15):
see the big picture of her and what the Lord
is doing with us having her and losing her, and
I'm so grateful. It's a stretch to say I'm grateful
for that experience because it is more painful than I
can even express, But I am so grateful for what

(01:15:40):
the Lord is teaching us and how he's using her life,
um to change us and to reach out to others
and just to make us more outwardly focused. And UM
just I think a lot of the changes that He
is working on in us would not have happened without
having lost her. And I wish those were lessons we

(01:16:02):
could have learned without losing her, but I'm not sure
we were in a place to do that, so um
I'm very grateful for her and what her life, even
though it was just nine months in utero, what that
is really teaching us and continues to teach us. Well,

(01:16:23):
I just love a nadori all so much so, Walker Laney,
thank you for coming on. Boom You'll nail it. The
four things finally always end with the boom, all four
things and you know, yes, through the I can't even
tell you how many times I got goose bumps when
you are talking and sharing and um, you know, yeah,

(01:16:44):
I'm I'm grateful that y'all came on. You feel famous,
You're rocking it, am A oh yeah, you know, you know,
the laws, the technology, killing just stuff I learned from Bobby.
So yeah. It is different though because I've been you know,

(01:17:05):
I've been doing this a long time, like thirteen years,
but with Bobby, so now to kind of be on
my own, it's like a little bit and we were
looking forward to it, and we've listened to a couple
of them. You do a great job. I listen to
him while I'm working out recipes. Recipe. Yes on the
first one, Stevenson came on and shared it so cute.

(01:17:29):
That was his podcast debut. It was funny. Yeah, well thanks,
we all are great. Um, and I will see senor
how to bring all the kids over. I mean, we
talked about all the time and it's happening. We're all
getting together. We'll just come over to your house. That's
especially because it doesn't matter about the yard of the house.
You can't mess up anything. Kind of crooked and dangerous.

(01:17:50):
It's awesome, rusty, we love it again. Um okay, Well,
everybody go to Pcker Hayes dot com. I don't know
why I just kissed like that, but Locker Hayes dot
com download all of his music Walker really really quick.
What is your favorite song you've ever put out? Ever

(01:18:12):
put out? Not gonna lie, it's just don't let her.
I know, I know that's yeah. I mean that's my
favorite one me too. But I just I didn't know
if there was some like you know, we never heard.
Oh yes, Halloween is so good. I'm just trying to
encourage people if they have never heard your music like
Halloween Laylist stars or Lee List. Sorry it's um Lee

(01:18:34):
List stars, Yes, money favorite that yeah, but yeah, I
mean this is the jam, right jams A little coffee
your favorite lady, Come on we're full end on this,

(01:18:57):
but turn it up okay with jam Okay. So that's
Walker and Laney Hayes. If you weren't familiar with them

(01:19:18):
before today's episode, well you are now, and I hope
you love them as much as I do. I just
appreciate them coming on to do all four things with
me and opening up about different parts of their life,
like they're so amazing. You can follow Walker on Instagram
at Walker Hayes and then on YouTube you got to
check out These are the haze of Our Lives their
little YouTube show, get it like, these are the days

(01:19:38):
of our lives. But since their last name is Hayes,
so yeah, give them a follow. Tell them how much
you you loved them being on the podcast, if you did.
I mean, I'm not telling y'all to just like lie,
but if you liked it. It never hurts to reach
out to someone and say, hey, thank you for sharing
part of your life with us, and thank you for
doing Amy's theme song like I love it, I personally

(01:20:00):
love it. Be kind to joy level up eat Cake,
which that was our joy Seeker. I mean, we talked
about it in the interview that already existed, but the
way Walker turned it into my theme song. I love it.
And then, of course Pimp and Joy, which the note
I got from my email shout out today has to
do with Pimp and Joy, so it's a perfect tie in.
I thought this was a great email to wrap up

(01:20:21):
the Walker in Laney Hayes Four Things podcast. So this
email comes from Suzanne and Susanne. I love this. Thank
you for sharing this email with me. Amy. I just
had to share this story with you because it brought
so much joy to me and I know it will
bring the same to you. I recently made a big
move into d C to live by myself for the
first time. I was absolutely terrified, but I faced that

(01:20:41):
fear head on, especially with the help of your podcast.
A few weeks ago, I was crossing a street with
my dog and spotted a driver's license. I watched just
tons of people stepped on or over it. It only
took a second of my time, but I picked it
up and took it home with me. I sent it
back to the owner with a quick note that said,
hope this reaches you into time. Just a quick kind
thing I could do for you. Hashtag Pimp and Joy.

(01:21:04):
Long story short after a very stressful week. I returned
home to my little apartment to find a card in
the mail with a message that said, you give me
hope for humanity in this world. Uh, Susanne, great story. Yes,
you saw a license, you took the time to pick
it up, you checked out the address, you mailed it
to the person. They probably thought their license was gone forever,

(01:21:25):
which I recently lost my license and I still haven't
gotten it back, and I still need to go figure
out how I'm gonna get a new one. I don't
know what I need to do, call and renew or
go to the d m V. But the DMV, just
like even saying it right now sort of stresses me out.
But I'm sure that this person was obviously so thankful,
and yes, you gave them hope for humanity in this
world by your little kind act. And that is what

(01:21:47):
pim and Joy is all about. I mean, first of all,
Susan alludes to the fact that I think she's choosing
joy for herself even though she was terrified moving to
do d C, but then she decided to spread joy
to others, and Pimp and Joy a nutshell is about that.
Choose joy, spread spread joy, be joy, I know that
I can't talk, but somehow I have this podcast. So

(01:22:08):
choose Joy, Spread joy, be Joy, all things Joy. So
shout out Suzanne, and shout out to all of you
out there that are Pimp and Joy. You can always
post stuff on Instagram use the hashtag. If you want
to get any Pimp and Joy swag for yourself, just
go to radio Amy dot com and that's where you

(01:22:29):
can find a link to Pimp and Joy stuff. Same
length it will take you to Pimp and Joy will
also get you to a spuaw Things, which is our
line that supports Haiti. And just a quick note on that,
we have launched the Teacher for Things tote bags and
there's a code. There's a discount code for teachers and
it's Apple. Actually there's two codes that will work. You're

(01:22:52):
only gonna get still ten percent either way, but two codes.
You can type in Apple or west Rock. Because we're
doing whole thing on the Bobby and Show with west
Rock Coffee. That's like we're big west Rock Coffee fans
and they do a lot of really amazing good things
in this world. They even are delivering I think right now,
like as I speak, some four things tote bags to Rwanda, Like,

(01:23:14):
how cool is that the teachers in Rwanda are going
to have topebags? Four things topebags? Like it's amazing. So,
uh yeah, if you are a teacher, you can get
the teacher toe, which the four things on our already
made teacher toe say caffeineate, educate, sleep, repeat. Pretty cute.

(01:23:34):
Um if you I know, we went back and forth
on what the four things are going to be for
our teacher tote, and I know we didn't make everybody
happy with that one, but overall it's been a great response.
But if we didn't make one the way you like it,
that's the beauty of the four things. So you can
also customize your own, so that is super cool. You
can just think of the four things you wished were

(01:23:54):
on your teacher toe or our teacher toe and and
make your own. So that's that's the fun heart or
make it for a teacher in your life. Or yeah,
maybe you're not a teacher, but you've got kids and
you want to get your teacher a gift, well then
order them the teacher tote. Pretty much every teacher can
relate to caffeineate, educate, sleep, repeat, and um, what else,

(01:24:16):
there was one more thing associated that. Oh yeah, we
are still working on a thing. Around September is when
we will launch the sponsored Teacher Tote where we want
to have you guys come alongside and sponsor some totes,
and then we're trying to get donations and maybe even
people sponsoring, like you know with funds, Like when you

(01:24:36):
buy a tote, you could check out and say like, oh,
want to donate an extra five or ten or fifteen dollars,
or maybe you can't even afford to buy a tote,
but you can do the five dollars. It'll go towards
what We're gonna fill the tote with two kind of
bless teachers and then people are gonna be able to
nominate teachers and then we'll pick them and then we'll
just mail them a surprise tote full of all kinds
of amazing goodies inside and that fun. Okay, we hope

(01:24:58):
that y'all will join in. We'd like need This is
where though, we need to rally the troops and spread
the word. Y'all are amazing at that. Like I feel
like we've got a great little community going here, but
this will be one where we've got to just spread
the word on Facebook, on Instagram, tell your friends, um,
send emails. Maybe just tell your book club, your mom's group,
your this or I don't know how you spread the word,

(01:25:19):
but word of mouth is what we've got, so that's
what we've got to use. Which you can have same
same way for this podcast. Word of mouth. Tell your
people and subscribe. That would be huge. Really, just subscribing
and rating and reviewing is amazing. Maybe you don't have
time to rate and review. Just click subscribe, boom. Tell
your friends. Go on your husband's phone, click subscribe. Maybe

(01:25:41):
he'll start listening. Then we got another mail listener. I
feel like every time we get a mail listener and
angel gets its wings. So okay, y'all are amazing. Um again,
shout out Walker and Laney Case for being on today.
Never life, he can't, he can't be kind two sorts,

(01:26:05):
never lie, he casts up, broath things, little fool for
your soul, little be So life ain't always pretty, but
hey it was pretty beautiful. Family laugh a little more
famil So he tightened up because I because said he can't.
You don't can't. Getting here with fouring with Amy Brown

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Walker & Laney Hayes: The Best Love Song. Blessing Others. Grieving the Loss of a Child. Practicing Gratitude.