#328 - Elvie Shane on How His Song “My Boy” Landed Him A Record Deal + Driving An 18 Wheeler +Getting Recognized At Wal-Mart

Bobby sits down with new artist Elvie Shane. They talk about his No. 1 song “My Boy” and how he wrote it years before getting a record deal. Elvie talks about his journey from Kentucky to Nashville and how Chris Stapleton was a big inspiration for him to make the jump. Elvie also shares the hardships she encountered in his life and how it ultimately got him to his goal of being an artist.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hey guys, welcomed Episode three. Our guest and a second
will be Elvie Shane, which feel bad for LVA. We
talked about this. It's not a name that people here often.
I actually I've never heard it until him, and so
I think a lot of people call him Elvis Shane
or Elvi or you think it's a typo because it
happens with me all the time with Bobby Bones. I mean,

(00:24):
I I was called I was in a bowl game
last week and they were promoing my New Year's show.
They were like in Bobby Jones host and I'm not
even upset anymore because it happens so much. Mostly I
just laughed and I sent the video to Mike and
I was like, can you can be the second post it?
I just think it can't be a real name. I
know that thing with Elvie. I'm sure he gets it
all the time. But I'll say this about LVI, Uh,

(00:45):
I like him a lot. I mean, he has such
an interesting look that you would be like, I'm not
gonna hate this guy. To love this guy because bold look,
the beard, the glasses. But I love him, just just
love him. Here is my boy from LV Ain't saying
my name that feel the same, basically about having a

(01:09):
step son. Uh was the number one song got so
big he didn't was like people are now asking about
doing that my girl, and he did a little version
like that he would do live. Um. He has an
album called Backslider, which is really great and if you
you love his vibe and what he's about, and we'll
play some clips in this interview. I I encourage you
to check it out. You know, he's born in Canybale, Kentucky,
which I'll say this and we start the interview with us.

(01:31):
He drove down for Kentucky but he was parked. We
do the show from my house and my wife was
driving out and almost hit his car. Not his fault.
She was like, ohmost somebody's car out there today in
our yard and I was like, yeah, that's Elb. I don't.
I don't know. Uh. So you know a big church singer,
you know, grew up in the church, singing in the
church like a lot of country artists do. We talked

(01:52):
about that and just a big fan of the guy.
So I'm gonna play this for you and be sure
to go check out the Keith Urban, the one out
we did it in two parts, but then we decided
after a couple of weeks, let's just load the whole
thing up as a full hour, so you can go
back and listen to the hour with Keith Urban. It's
up on a past episode. And if you don't mind,
and I know people say this all the time, but
I'm gonna ask you, near and dear. We don't say
it every week. If you will subscribe to this feed listen,

(02:15):
that would be great because it helps us. If you'll
rate it. What's the biggest rating we get? Five stars?
You can give us five stars? That helps Um we
can say this every episode, I guess, but we don't.
But if you don't mind doing that, that would be
awesome for us, especially on Spotify because that's new. They
now allow you to rate, and so we don't have
any ratings on Spotify because of this. So if you

(02:35):
don't mind giving us five stars, that would help us tremendously.
What else do they do? Like review? You know what
you ask you to do? That you can if you want,
but I don't want to ask too much. If you
ask too much, you don't get anything. But thank you,
and we're gonna play this interview we do with LV Shane.
Any thoughts in LVY before we go? Mike, I really
like them too. Yeah. I felt like I identified a

(02:56):
lot with this story. So it was cool getting talked
to him. All here you go, guys, good to see it.
It's good to see you man. How you do it?
Pretty good? So what you had too much coffee today?
I had too much coffee. Stopped in Livingston, Tennessee on
my way to Nashville and got coffee, and then I
had coffee at first watch and then why into did
you drive into Nashville? I live in eastern Kentucky, so

(03:17):
I didn't you still do? Yeah? Did you know that, Mike?
I didn't know that. I lived here for like five
years and then uh, just back right after we bought
a house in my wife's hometown when we found out
we were pregnant. So how long I would drive? Is
that to Nashville? Three hours? But so just close enough
that you can get here. I'm back if you need
to in a day. Yeah, it's like driving to Walmart

(03:39):
at this point. I've done it so many times. You know,
it's not a big deal. So Eastern Kentucky is because
is that where you or your wife grew up the
town that's where my wife grew up. Um, she's from
a little town came montal Cello, and uh I'm from Caneyville,
which is about three hours west of there. But like
I said, we found out she was pregnant and we've

(03:59):
been doing this back and forth things. She was working
part time in Nashville and going back and forth because
we didn't want to bring Caleb and put him in
uh metro school in Nashville. So he was in a
Christian school in small town Kentucky, and it was like
it just seemed like a better education and experience for
him there. So so she was also working part time
in Nashville. It was Yeah, So the first two years

(04:21):
I was coming down here Monday through Wednesday. I would
stay on somebody's couch or whatever and uh meet people
at Losers, you know, and try to write songs. And then, um,
those first two years I was down here pretty much
without her and and my boy and uh she I

(04:42):
didn't get see her very much those first two years.
But you know, after the publishing deal kind of happened,
everything we got to you know, start coming down here
together and more and stuff. So let me get this straight.
You would come down here, drive from Kentucky, m on
a Monday, and the Losers the bar where you know
a lot of local shows, a lot of people songwriters. Um,

(05:05):
you would try to meet someone there to write with
over the next couple of days. Yeah, but if you didn't.
But if you met no one, would you drive back home? Well?
I had, uh had a buddy named Matt Cooper who
was the lead singer of this band called Borrow Blue.
They were all friends with my wife, uh, childhood friends.
So his dad had a condo at the Terrazzo, and
he had been coming down here for like two years already,

(05:26):
so he knew some people. So the first time I
came down with him first, you know a few months
I was coming down, I was coming down with him,
staying there and and uh, you know, writing with people
that he already knew. But we were always at Losers
every day after we were done. When you would drive down,
what was the goal for you? Was it to get
a publishing deal as a writer or was it too Okay,
I'm gonna get a publishing a deal, but that's only
so I can get my artist care up and running. Yeah,

(05:49):
I was. I was kind of focused on the publishing
deal at first, Like I always want to sing, you know,
my songs if I get a chance to. So I
was booking myself bar gigs and stuff to make some money,
which I we I would have done a lot sooner
because I didn't realize I could like make more money
than I was making cutting trees and shoveling corn, you know,
selling t shirts and playing four hours at a bar

(06:09):
night with a kis of guitar. But uh, the hopes
were to just get a pub deal and then you know,
see what came after that. Uh my five year goals,
which we just we just got to the end of
my five years last year, and every five years, like
I write, I write out, you know, five goals for
those five years. And uh, first was publishing deal, and
I wanted to get outside cuts. I wanted to get

(06:31):
a record deal. Um getting number one. Um I'm missing one.
I can't remember. Oh the first one was moved to Nashville,
so because I was still in Kentucky at the time,
so posting it was first, you know, And that's kind
of like the uh, I guess the order of things typically,
what do people in your town thinking because you have
to be, you know, a bit of a hometown hero

(06:51):
right now. It's cool man, It's a it's kind of
hard to go to Walmart sometimes, you know, but also
a very distinctive look. I mean, I really missed him,
right mate, you can't. Yeah, and uh, you know, probably
one of the only dudes in in Marmosella, Kentucky that's
run around with three necklaces and ear rings and you know,
wearing the stuff I do. Yeah, I bet it's you know,

(07:11):
more of a fish bowl doing this and living where
you lived, and if you were here and everybody did
what you did, and it's not as big of a
deal here. I mean, I can go to the mall
and have seen Keith Urban. You know, you can go
to a restaurant and see Cole Swindell or kept more
at the grocery store. However, if you're the only, if
you're in the Kentucky and you're the one that's doing

(07:33):
something big, like everyone has to like take pictures of
you and be like, day, Okay, he's out here. I
get I get to I get to take pictures with
a lot of folks, particularly at Walmart. But it's cool, man,
you know, It's like, uh, that just means that they
love what I'm doing. And uh, and they support me,
and I see I see Becky all the time. Me
and her took several pictures and uh, I'm like, we

(07:53):
took a picture last time. Becky. She's like, I want
to do Do you have a Is there a hometown
radio station there? Yeah? Zee Nanni three night three point three,
but um, that's the small town Moto solo and then
there's Nanni three point non. I believe it is in
Somerset and they do Heart radio. So your shows on
in the mornings. How far is the Somerset from where
you live? Uh? Sixteen miles? Oh, that's it. Yes. Whenever

(08:17):
we first started here, I mean now it's been almost
nine years, we came on the radio and we were
we were like yourself. We were very different from anybody
else doing this because I don't have a good boys,
I don't wear a cowboy hat. Um. I grew up
in extremely rule, Arkansas, and you know, I have been
so heavily influenced by country music, but also I'll turn

(08:38):
into music also hip hop, and so you know, we
started doing this show and this woman at Somerset. We'll
call every day and tell us how much we sucked.
Every day. She was like, I will never listen to
the show. And I said, and I we'll talk to her.
Put it on the air. I'd say, listen. I get it.
You don't like us now, but if you'll just spend
a couple of weeks with us, and then if you
hate us, I will drive to Somerset and I will

(08:59):
give you one of dollars. But you have to listen
every day for at least I think it's a twenty minutes.
If you listen two weeks every day for twenty minutes
and you still call me and you go, I hate
this show. This is an embarrassment. You're not what I like.
I will drive. I will personally put the cash in
my wallet and drive up there. And so she agreed,
and we call her every day. Two days, three days

(09:21):
hit the week mark. What really wasn't budging. After a week,
I felt like she was starting to crack after that
second week a little bit. So we got her on
the phone the last day after two weeks and I said, well,
and she goes, well, I still hate you. So I
drove all the way to Summers that gave with that money,
did you go through Cookfield, right, I think we through
Bowling Green and right outside of a sonic there in Somerset.
I gave her the cash and I never saw her
permer again. And so that's my relationship with summersecond Tucky Ma.

(09:44):
Why do some people feel the need to tell you
those things? I don't know at this point. I'm just
kind of used to it, but I would imagine, yeah,
I'm I'm starting to get more and more of it,
you know. I guess with with more people are, with
more exposure, you find more waters. But yeah, I mean
I always compare it and I don't know what people
have to hite on you. You're very authentic guy. Um.

(10:05):
But I've found and I've also talked to new artists
who suffer from this that I imagine, I'm standing on
the ground and there are, you know, people that can
see me on the ground, but it's only the people
that are close to me. They can see me because
I'm the same level that they are. But as the
pedestal starts to lift, a few more people can see
you because you're getting higher. The higher you go, just
generally the more people can see you, and the more

(10:27):
people that can see you are the more people that
can comment on you. You You know, when you're down on
the ground level, nobody's really say something bad about you
because only a few people are seeing you. You haven't
changed at all. You've just shot up the pedestal a
little higher so more people can see you from farther.
And just because it's a numbers game and people want
to have voices. People want to give their opinions even
when it's not asked. That's when you start to get there. Hey,
you saw okay, do you ever get people talking not

(10:49):
that you suck, but going, hey, what's up with your image?
Like what you know. I've had this one dude on
YouTube that was like, I love the song, but hate
your sisters blue jeans, you know, And I was like saying,
I was talking about your sister. I was like, man,
that's some deep hate. I was like, uh. I was like, well, dang,

(11:12):
I thought I was in the wrong section of the
day I bought those. But dude, I think he just
wanted to reply, because he ended up commenting back and
he was, you know, he was friendly or whatever, so
and to like sometimes but I remember the first time
they say, don't read the comments, right, But the first
time that I really got piste off. Um. I had

(11:32):
never seen the negative side to our song at all.
It was all positive to me. Um, but this guy
he commented something like, hey, you're you're just poaching some
other dudes kid, you know. And I was like, I
got piste off. I was like, cool story, bro, you know.
And uh. And then I deleted my comments, as as
I said, because I was like, I'm not you know,

(11:53):
I'm not gonna be and I asked because he's being
one and um so, but he he had enough time
to see it. And then he posts pictures of my comments.
I'm like, all right, whatever, But I go back and
I creep on his Facebook for a little while and
I noticed, like four months before that it was pictures
of him and his little boy. Every picture was him

(12:15):
and his little boy. And you can tell like he
loves his kid, you know. And and then all of
a sudden it turned into I haven't seen my boy
and you know, three weeks babies, mama got a new boyfriend,
piece of you know whatever. And I was like, oh,
I get it now, you know. So he was like

(12:36):
I didn't care about me. I don't even know me.
I'm a nice guy. I'll be nice and anybody they'll
give me a chance. But um, but then I was like,
I kind of found some empathy through that, So it
kind of gave me you're not supposed to read comments,
you're not supposed to comment back, but it kind of
gave me ammunition for the future people who did that
to just have a nicer approach and uh, you know,

(12:59):
maybe kill him kindness. That's good that you learned a
lesson from that, because I would have just shot a
couple of bullets on the internet and tag them and
let everybody else see it and then ran away and
let everybody take care of it for me. You know,
that's good for you from learning something. And do people
do say don't look at the comments, But I think
the ultimate goal is not too dwell on the comments

(13:21):
and not too I feel like you need to look
at the comments every every second of every day. I
don't know anyone who doesn't look at the comments. Yeah.
It's weird, man, It's like, uh, it is. It is
like a drug. I mean, it really is. It's like
instant gratification. You put you put a post, you post
a song, you post a cool picture. People are like, oh,
that's dope whatever, you know, and you're like, oh, that

(13:42):
feels good, but those those feel equally as bad. It's
like losing all your money at you know, playing twenty
one or black jack. Now we're talking about something and
I related to what was growing up for you that
your hometown was called what it's called what Caneyville, Kentucky?
So what what's ain't even like uh ten years behind
the rest of the world. It's it's a cool spot, man. Um.

(14:06):
I grew up in a little holler called post Tausi
and uh, you know, it's just hard working, blue collar
American people. Truck drivers, mechanics, they're one of most people
do their truck trucks, work on trucks. There's a there's
a trucking company called Majors there that's got a quite
a few trucks. I grew up around all the truck
drivers because my dad was a truck driver. So it

(14:26):
seemed like there was a lot of them to me,
you know, and they're all like legends in my eyes
yet Legs and pickle Man and j J. And you know,
but they called my dad Scratch. So all these guys
have crazy names. And I'm this little kid to run around,
say snow and stuff, and they're all such characters. But
then people like Tinker and and uh Harold Higgs there
mechanics and always just looked up to a lot of

(14:48):
people that were in the uh the automotive industry in
some way. But they're also you know, there used to
be a bunch of factories, but they all moved to
Mexico or Germany or something. So did you want to
work in automotive or drive a truck? I did? I.
Uh my first job in high school, I would I
was in a co op program. Uh leave school at
eleven o'clock every day, you go eat lunch. And I
went to a full service gas station. It was a

(15:10):
little tinker who was not a little guy at all.
He's about six ft eight, you know, four hundred pound
dude can could probably throw this desk catch you if
he was mad enough. I know. Um, But I went
there every day and pump gas, did all changes, break jobs, tires,
stuff like that, and UH got pretty good with a
gas pump where I could stop it on whatever number
one of two. Back when gas was a dollar twenty five.

(15:32):
That was cool. Did you ever think you wanted to
drive drive a truck. Yeah, I drove a truck too.
I drove a truck a couple of times while we
were I think it was this last year or during
the quarantine. Yeah, semi truck. Yeah you have a cdo
I do not know? I I have had in the past.
Citizens arrest, citizens arrest. Now it's okay. Actually in Kentucky

(15:54):
you can do a hundred and fifty nautical miles, uh,
if you have farm tags. So I was hauling grain. Um,
I think it went a little over a hundred fifty miles.
But you know, they didn't catch me so dropping a truck.
I had a show called Breaking Bobby Bones where I
had to do things and long story short, I had
to go and get my CDL drive all the way

(16:18):
across Chattanooga with a load of eggs. Class A or
B or what whatever the big big one is pulling
a trailer air brakes. Yeah. Class A had to study
the air brakes how to pass the test. That free
trip test is hell, ain't it? Man? What sucks is
everyone is not They disregard you in the big truck
when the big truck could kill them like they're as

(16:39):
so they're all over the place there They don't care
they're cutting you off. It's like, I'm in this massive
truck and if one little thing goes wrong, somebody's gonna die.
Yet everybody's all around me, darting in and out, you know,
giving giving no care at all. Eighty thousand pounds don't
stop that quick man at all. And uh, I mean
I've seen some some wild stuff. I've I've spent my

(17:01):
entire life on the road and you know, in some
capacity and uh, just being out on a road with
my dad when I was a kid and everything. I've
literally seen, uh, semitruck go over the top of an
F one fifty like crew cat pickup truck, like because
things got messed up. And you know, you were thinking
this big four world drive truck that You're like, you're
a pie enough that a semi truck ain't gonna go

(17:23):
over tuppy you will. What's your dad said about that
he wants you to be a truck driver? Was he
encouraging to you to try to be creative and do music.
If you listen to a song called Miles on on
the records, last song on the record, there's a a
string intro that was kind of a tip of the
hat to Mike Miller. But in the end of that
string intro, you can hear my dad say, boy, you

(17:46):
better learn something. You're gonna be working out here on
this hot ash gravel on the truck all your life.
And I think my dad would have definitely been fine
with being a truck driver. I know he would because
my younger brother now owns a truck and companies twenty six.
He just bought two trucks, two trailers and put my
dad back on the road and they're running them down
the road together and and having a blast. But I just, uh,

(18:08):
he always pushed me so hard to like do good
in school, which I didn't do, but I got by,
but mostly because he was keeping me up till four
o'clock in the morning working on his trucks. You know.
It's like every freaking weekend during the week man, he
had like three or four trucks, and we were always broke.
So as uh, you know, I was cheap labor. I could.

(18:29):
I could do everything he needed done, or help him
do everything you needed done for five dollars an hour,
cart and a cigarettes, you know, pretty easily. Like it's
that's a language that you know really well. I've always
looked at ever since I was young. I've always looked
at it as if someone always has done it first.
So like if if it's already put together, I can

(18:51):
take it apart and put it back together with new parts.
But you know there's a trick in the in the
country shade tree mechanic, and you you always have to
have leftover parts at the dur he didn't do it right,
you know. So when you were growing up in um Canyville, right,
look Kennyville, how big was school? Like? What was the
what was that like? It was big? So we had
four high school or four K through twelve schools in

(19:15):
my county that consolidated in seventies six or seventy seven,
so we had a six a high school. Wow, there
was a lot of us A big county, all very rural.
The most urban part of my county would be Litchfield, Kentucky. Um,
but I don't have any idea what the population is
there or anything, but it was like the city. That's

(19:35):
where he went to Walmart, to the grocery too, restaurants whatever. Um.
But yeah, there's a lot of kids, man, And that
rivalry between communities was still very alive and will It's
like you made friends from different areas, but there was
there's fights all the time, and it was just you know,
this is how it was. What about school? Like, I

(19:57):
guess what at school did you like? In were you
drawn to? I liked I liked music. Obviously, I was
in a course program from fourth grade till ninth grade. Um.
Actually one of my principles and a teacher that just
took a liking to me kind of started this first
course program to help get me out of trouble a

(20:18):
little bit. And uh so kudos to uh to them,
uh Mr Huffman and at the time Miss Children's Um.
But I like that. I liked automotive stuff. Obviously, I
liked English. I didn't do great in English class, but
I enjoyed the stories. I was just kind of honorary man.
I just didn't do my word. But could you could

(20:40):
you sing before chorus or did chorus actually tell you
that you could sing? So? My my mom can sing
really well, my dad could sing really well. Um, all
my siblings sing. I was singing well before I even
went to school. Was we was going to church and
you know old school traditional you know, have this church

(21:00):
singing hymns and stuff. So I was always just trying
to mimic my mom. And uh, this guy named Ron
Spurgeon who was a preacher and a tenor singer in
a group called Journeyman and Jan and uh, he was
just he could get up there where the money was,
you know. And and so I love to like try
to sing high and and everything like my mom and

(21:21):
like him. And then you know, John Fogerty was was
a big influence with my dad and Steve Earle as well.
So I don't I don't know I was. I kind
of knew I was a singer, you know, well before
that in school and chorus. Were you like one of
the better singers or was it later that you kind
of found your voice? Oh man, I don't like to
say I'm I'm better at anything. I I got a

(21:42):
lot of solos. Put it that way. One of my
mom missed, I remember that, but pickers. She hates that.
She went to the bathroom man and I had the
beginning of all the langes on, and I was like,
I could have waited, you know, but I just I
didn't know that at the time. I'm in like seventh
three grade. I'm like, I can't. We got the show
much go on? Sorry, mom, but uh, I got a

(22:06):
lot of solos my first the first show we did
with the fourth grade in fourth grade was the Christmas
tree lighting my hometown at the Bank, and I sang
part of Winter Wonderland in the middle week Bills, No men,
you know whatever that part is, Parson Brown, Yeah, it's
a fellow I know. Yeah. So were you also wanting

(22:27):
to be singer as a career when you were a
kid or was it something you were just doing for fun?
But you kind of because I'm from a town like
yours where nobody really did anything other than what everybody
was already doing. Dude, it just seems so far out
of reach. I didn't know that you could like come
to Nashville and go hang out of bars and meet
talented people and write songs with them, or I would

(22:47):
have been here the day after I graduated high school. Um,
it just all seemed like such a process that was
impossible for somebody like me from where I was from
kind of grew up the yeah right down if you will,
similar to you. Um, I was in Abandon high school.

(23:07):
We did like punk and you know, hard rock stuff
and stuff for original stuff, original stuff. Actually I met
the bass player at a revival one night. My mom
let me go to a different denominational orders I think
she came to, which was really odd. But we went
to a different denomination's revival one night and I was
singing hymns and this guy came up to me afterwards,
and Uh, He's like, hey, man, are are singer? And

(23:29):
our band just quit and we got a gig at
the vf w N Danville, Kentucky next Saturday. Can you
sing in our band? So I asked my mom, and
my surprise, she said yes. And I went and learned
like all their originals that week, and and we went
up there and did the show, and I was like, man,
this is a lot of fun, you know. So that
kind of started the whole thing. But I played in college.

(23:52):
Uh did you sing in church? You're talking about you
her mom going to a revival? Yeah, I know you mentioned,
but I mean, was were you like one of the
singers at church when it was time either I got
like the guy, Yeah, my whole the whole congregation kind
of sang or tried to regardless. Everybody every made a
joyful noise. Everybody everybody and everybody that made a joyful noise.

(24:12):
Sometimes not so joyful, but uh yeah, I would say,
like my mom, me and my mamma on my dad's side,
because my mom went to church with all my dad's family,
and my dad he didn't never show up, you know,
but there was there was quite a few singers at church.
I was. I was exposed to a lot of talented
singers and musicians. My aunts played piano. Would never teach me,

(24:36):
probably because I was so a d D. They just
didn't want to deal with it. You know, when you
finished high school, you go to college. Where you go
to school. I went to the school a hard knocks man.
I moved to Rebel in Springs, Tennessee for two years,
where the pastor of my church lived. He would drive
like two hours on Sundays and Wednesday nights to past
our church, and I went to work for him, um

(24:56):
doing mobile home warranty work all over the East Coast.
You just said college. Yeah, Well I was saying school,
hard knocks. Yeah. I didn't go to call, but you
just okay, oh you did later on? Yeah, okay, so
you had a couple of gap years. It sounds like, yeah,
I went two years as a I went two years
as a mobile home warranty worker and driver, and I

(25:19):
was I was very heavily involved in the church. And then, uh,
I came back home and did one eight D. Went
to college and bowling Green for a couple of years,
did really good, and then started doing really bad. What
was the pivot point there? If I'm doing really good

(25:40):
really bad? Weed? Yeah, at did you do really good
then the next day you got that really bad? Or
was it a slow evolution? I think it was a
slow evolution. You know, started letting new things be introduced
into my life and and at you know, greater quantities.

(26:02):
And but you know, I did good there for two years.
I think I was on the Dean's list four point oh,
you know, for at least two or three semesters. And
I was like, I'm gonna be the first person from
my family to go to four year college and like
make something happen, and uh, and I was so excited.
It was so much fun. I was going for creative
writing and English literature. I wanted to like, I thought

(26:23):
I was gonna be a college professor or something, and that, uh,
that lifestyle just looks so romantic in movies and stuff,
you know. So but uh, and I was like, man,
I just hate doing all this work that everybody else
wants me to do. I just want to do what
I wanted to do. You know. But where you were
you playing music? Your own music? In college at all,

(26:44):
I was in a group called eight eight with uh
my buddy sister and Chad Lindsay or Burlow we call
him um he uh he played guitar, My my buddy
Seth play bass. I played guitar, and saying we were
just three p we were called A eight because we
were all born in ad eight and we rehearsed in
our hometown at a garage at our our buddy Patty's

(27:07):
house on Highway eighty eight. So it's it's like, hey,
that all makes sense. And we got our logo and
so with a d A. It was their hope of
we're going to turn this into something or was it
more of this is what we're doing as something that
we can get to get together and have fun. Yeah,
it was just have fun and you know you guys
good free beer. No we were we were probably not

(27:28):
very good, um, but we we had a lot of
fun and we had a lot of friends come to
see us. So, um, we had like super cheap equipment
that sounded clanky, and you know, um, I hate to
be like that, but more expensive guitars to sound better,
you know, but also you learn how to play them better,

(27:49):
you know. To what was the deal with you guys
deciding not to be a band anymore? Oh? Man, I
don't know. That was very chaotic time in my life,
but I think that we just kind of all started
fading out and going our separate ways. Uh. Seth moved
to Louisville with a girl. Chad moved to Nashville girls.

(28:12):
Did you think that when you were I'm assuming you
were fronting the band singer? Okay? Did you did you
think as you were doing this and you're a little
more adult now and regardless of what other decisions you
were making, did you think, hey, I can actually do
this now? I still didn't have that kind of confidence. Uh.
I feel like I've always I've always felt like, you know,

(28:35):
God gave me a talent with my voice, um, and
I always felt like I said things in a in
a different way and I like to write, like I
had some poems and stuff that won some competitions at
Western and and my sister was a poet and had
some published poems and stuff too, which, um but I

(28:58):
just still I don't know, man of so embedded in
me where I come from is like, you know, uh,
it's just growing up a little little poor and you know,
everything seems so oud right you grow up broke, it
never leaves you, you know. So it's like everything just
seemed like it was impossible, and it wasn't until I

(29:19):
was this Steve Harvey video on YouTube and he was
talking about jump, like just jump and eventually your pair
of chet's got to come out, and uh so that
kind of got me into trying to do something with music.
Um So you see this video because there have been
things in my life too that I've seen and they've
inspired me to take chances, especially early on because like you, nobody,

(29:42):
I'm from the town of seven hundred people in Arkansas,
so nobody ever did anything I wanted to do, so
I didn't seem real because if you don't see somebody
doing it, it's just something on TV that rich people
are fancy people. Yeah, that's not that's not a job,
that's not work. Yeah, And so you're watching this video
of Steve Harvey saying jump But what did that say
to you? Was it jump into music? Was it jump

(30:03):
into getting out of this town? Like? What what did
that mean to you? I think it was jump into music.
There there's a lot of things. I'm sure where you're
at now, you there's a lot of things like that
video for you. One of one of the other things
for me was, Uh, my father in law told me
one day, I need to find my niche and I
was cutting trees for him when he said it. You know,
I've had somebody telling me set the expectation when you

(30:24):
started working with somebody, and that's something that I've held onto. Um,
But it was that that video. Watching that video just
O don't know, man, I was just at a breaking point.
Like I've never been a big drinker. Um. I've been
enjoying a little bourbon here lately, but I've never I
had to go through these phases. But I was like
going and sitting out on the porch and just drinking

(30:46):
fireball and like looking up into the sky, just like miserable, crying,
grown ass man. And it was just like miserable with
not with who I was with or the people I
was around. I had good friends and everything, but I
was just like, man, I just gotta beat something more
out there. And some people don't want more and that's cool,
but I wanted more. And that video is just like
it said, you know, if you jump, eventually your parasitt

(31:09):
is gonna come out, you know. And it was always
like a financial hang up for me, like how am
I going to afford especially now that I'm married, I
have a kid? How am I gonna afford to chase
my dreams and do music? Um? I some wad if
somebody's got some how am I gonna afford to chase
my dreams and do music and then be a provider

(31:30):
or an assistance to my my providing for my family.
And it was cool, man, Like when I watched that video,
and you know, later on down the road, I just
realized that if you kind of follow what that calling
is that I think everybody has one. You know, you're's
being the radio mind being uh writing songs and singeing them,

(31:52):
or you know, this guy being a welder. If you
follow that, however hard it is to get into it,
there's like these these angels that are show up and
give you a little bit of gas money for the road.
You know, people people who have been successful and know
what that that road is like, uh and they see you, um,
thank you sir. So for me, it was like there

(32:13):
was a there was a couple of people that came
along just when Tom's were super hard, and they were
like put that in your pocket, you know, and that
got me through the next month or something, you know.
Or I would get a phone call from somebody that
was like, hey, come play the show im. I'll pay
you two thousand dollars, come play on the houseboat this weekend.
I'm like, what really, just to sing songs? Hell, I'll

(32:33):
do that for a hundred dollars. That's a bad negotiation,
but fair um. To be inspired by something, What was
the first step you made that was a bit out
of your comfort zone? What was the first chance for
your parachuteope. I would say I was working construction. I
was in Coleman, Alabama, and I was shoveling grab on

(32:56):
the pipeline dish. I had this foreman named Steve Rich
and he was just a good dude, and I would
I brought my guitar a couple of times, and he
wanted to play songs for him. Stuff and he he
kept telling me, hey man, you need to do something.
I got tired of that job. I didn't like the
people who were over Steve, and they made it clear
they didn't like me either, but wouldn't fire me. So

(33:16):
I just I left and um. I went to my
buddy Brandon's dad, uh, Danny Davis at this company called
Pro Video Audio Productions that's in my wife's little hometown.
But they do like Thomas Tomcat, Trust Systems, Lights Sound.
They do these festivals around Kentucky and and the the
greater area of Kentucky. And I was just like, hey man,

(33:38):
I just want to be around music. Uh. I got
you know, willing hands and you know, send me strong back.
And he said, we'll be here in two weeks. And
I started throwing subs and speakers and lights and trailers
and going out. And then one night at a show,
our our monitor tech didn't like show up when he
was supposed to, and I had to just like jump

(33:59):
on board. And so that was like the first time
it is like somebody I did good that night, So
they let me continue to do more. And I only
ever worked with my hands, and they let me work
with my my mind and my hands for once, and
it was so rewarding. And it was cool too now
because I can go to a show and if I'm

(34:20):
working with a monitor, tack or something, I'll be like, hey, man,
pull a little five hundred out of my my vocal
or my guitar. And they always first they look at
me like this. It's just trying to tell me he
knows what frequencies. And I'm like, pull up the freaking
frequency test right now, let's go um. But it helps out,
It helps out a lot out on the road. But
that was definitely pro Video Audio Productions was the first

(34:42):
paarachute And then uh, I don't know, I'll go on
forever man, But when was it too? And have some
more water here because it's so cold and snowy outside
that we turned the heat up to ten thousand and
now we're all sweating our balls off. There's a fine line.
It was freezing in here, but hey, I shout out
to the heating system. Pretty good. When was the performance?

(35:02):
Parachute pulled? Um all the performance? Like the person you
are now as far as the singer songwriter, when was
the first big risk or the first shot that you
got And you're like, Okay, I think I want to
pursue this. I'm gonna go start playing these shows and
make the decision to go play a show and make
less money than possibly go and work, you know, your

(35:23):
your day to day job. I mean, uh, it all
and nothing ever really happened abruptly. It's all being kind
of such a process. But um, I would say the
big turning point in getting me to knuckle down and
do this. My buddy Matt that I told you about earlier,

(35:43):
been trying to get me to come to Nashville. And
I was just like, I was like, he wanted he
didn't want me. He wanted to know. He wanted me
to come down here and right he believed in me,
and he still he still does. But he just wanted
me to come down there and start writing with people.
And I was like, man, I just don't know. I
was listening to Steel Drivers and Sturgill Simpson and uh,

(36:06):
you know, the Johnson Brothers, a lot of Chris Sable
and stuff, a lot of Air Church stuff, and uh
during that time, there was like this, there was this
sound that was prevalent in in country music, and it
seemed like everybody was trying to do this sound, and
I was like, man, I just I don't know that
I have a place down there, you know. And then um,
the c M A performance. Uh what year was it?

(36:28):
Two done? Fifteen sixteen when uh Stapleton and timber Lake.
Man it was and uh that was that was a
huge moment. I think not only just for me, but
just for our genre that that was a huge moment
because you had such diversity on the stage together. You
had polar opposites almost, but it created something so cool.
And I think since then we've seen our genre become

(36:51):
so open to so many different sounds and takes on whatever. Uh,
you can be Dan and Shay, or you can be
ally Green. You know. It's um. So, right after that performance,
my phone rings and it's Matt and he's like, yo, buddy,
you reckon, It's time to go to Nashville now. And
I said, dude, there might have been some doors just open.

(37:11):
So the following Monday was my first time down here.
And uh, so what was your expectation of coming down
here versus the reality of what you got here? Oh? Man,
it was. It was awesome. I was like kid in
a candy store. Um. When we came down the first time,
I was like, I hadn't seen Nashville on so long.
So my first like came over the hill and was
like what hill has happened to? Nashville is huge? Um?

(37:35):
But it was like I was bright eye and bushy
tail man for for a long time and uh and
still feel that way from time to time, but you know,
it's there's been some some years where on that. How
do you tell you meet people though, Let's say your
first time in Nashville, Like what do you you walk
around the grocery store and be like, all right, I
need to let us send a friend right with, like
what do you do? Uh? Well, Matt helped out. He
introduced me to buddy his name Nick Columbia, who ended

(37:58):
up being a writer on My Boy later on. So
it's like my first friend in Nashville and then from
there just going to losers every day and it's like
it sounds funny like going to a bar, you know,
and three o'clock in afrinoon and stay until too. But
I did that for the first three months I was
in town and ended up meeting just about everybody that
I've well, I met everybody that I wrote My Boy

(38:21):
with there for sure, and uh that that song has
been the biggest driving force in in minding their careers
at this point. But yeah, dude, I'm I'm kind of Uh,
I seem very extroverted, but I'm I'm pretty introverted. I
like to be by myself or be at home a lot.
But when put in the situation, I can, I can
be the chameleon that I need to be. Um, I

(38:42):
enjoy like having a good time with with people. It's
just that, uh, if I prefer I'd like to be
at the cabin, you know, in the mountains. So you're
going to the bar, but you're going to the bar
to actually network. Were you at the bar drinking a lot?
Or you at the bar meeting a lot. I was
doing a little bit of both. Sometimes it was a

(39:04):
lot of drinking, sometimes it was a lot of meeting. Um,
it got to be a lot of drinking for a while.
And I told somebody the story here while back. But
the guy who who owns Losers, I don't know if
he just did this for everybody or but it seemed
like he liked me and my buddy and he would
always like buy me a shot when he seen me
if he was there and then I went back a

(39:24):
little while later, and you know, I hadn't been there
and quite a while, and he said, man, I ain't
seen you around here for a while. And I said, yeah, man,
I'm I'm sorry. I've just been you know, keeping my
nose down and trying to write. And he said, that's good,
you know. And I always look back on that. It's
it's such a you know, small moment. But I just
thought it was cool that the guy that owned the
bar was just like recognize that, Hey, this is a

(39:46):
good place to be for certain things, but you know,
you don't need to be here all the time either.
So so when did you start to get a little
traction here, not as a successful artist, but as I'm
gonna write And then you start writing and I guess
people start to notice your songs as you gotta uh,
you know, a pub deal here. I started just going
around and singing my boy at a lot of writers

(40:07):
rounds and some other songs that I had at the time,
and I met I met a few people, um, Lisa Johnson,
uh and R. J. Romeo and Lance Roberts. That was
like my original team. And Lisa knew a lot of
people in the Publishing World r J and uh Romeo
Entertainment Group. They do a lot of affairs and festivals

(40:29):
all over the United States. And then uh Lance Roberts
was with the United Talent Agency and um, they they
just started kind of taking me around and introducing me
to their friends, and I just, man, it was so
cool too too, because you you have this idea of
what it's like and what people were like in the industry,
and it seems like, uh, everybody's all proper and everything.

(40:53):
There's there's a bunch of freaking you know, just regular
country people and you know city folks. There's it's a
outon pot but it's good people. And I had that
same idea about about radio, going into like that nervousness
of like what are these people gonna be? Like, are
day uptight? Whatever? And it's it's been a good experience
there too. You had a goal of getting an outside cut.
Did you get an outside cut? Man, I've had a couple,

(41:15):
not on any major artists or anything yet. Um, I
would I would love to one day get one on
an on an artist, you know that, especially an artists
that I really enjoy listening to myself. But uh, it's
just as cool to just have somebody be like, you know, anybody,
but man, I love that song enough I want to
cut it. That's that's pretty awesome feeling. When did you
get management starting to either take meetings with you or

(41:40):
agree to come and listen to you? How did that
work out? Is that cool story? Um? We did everything
up to recording the County Roads EP without any management.
I had my my team, you know, so I hadn't
like my my brain trust of my group of people
who were smarter than me and knew what was going on.
But um, when I went to meet with John Lobo,

(42:03):
who's the head of my record label group, and play
him the songs, I was like, hey, man, I think
it's time for manager. And I said, why don't you
call Al Dean's guy? And he just started laughing. He's like,
hey man, you know Clarence ain't signing no no new artists.
And I was like, well, he's a Kentucky boy. I
mean you could at least send him a freaking email,
you know. And so John was like, all right, dude,

(42:24):
I'll send it over. Well, Clarence messages me, emails me
like a few hours later, it just says, hey, this
is Clarence call me tomorrow at one one o'clock and
left my phone number and I was like, to the
point I call him the next day and uh he said, hey,
I told John Lobo ain't signing no more baby acts.
And I was like, this is going good, you know?

(42:46):
And uh he said, he sent me a few year songs.
You wanna come over here and hang out tomorrow for
a little bit. I went over there and talked to him,
and uh. I gave him a list of people that
I was interested in working with, maybe ten or twelve people,
and helped me narrow it down to like four or
five people. And I was like, hey man, I think
any of these people would make a great manager for you,
but if you decided to come over here, And I

(43:06):
was like, what you mean, what does that mean? You know?
He just said it so quick and a couple of
weeks the literally the next day is when they were like,
everybody go home, don't go anywhere, you know, so covid Yeah.
The next day, so two weeks later he calls me,
just chit chatting. And the next day I call him
and I'm like, hey man, I don't quite see how

(43:27):
anybody's gone or send my hill billy ass like somebody
from the same place where he said, were jump into
water together, and and we did. And then he paired
me up with a guy named Brian Wolf over there
at at Maverick, and uh, it's it's just been awesome
ever since then. Those guys have created so many opportunities
for me and and uh, they're just good, hard working people.
That whole team is. Yeah, Clarence, I'm pretty close to Clarence.

(43:48):
But and you it's funny that you mentioned al Dean,
But it's like, yeah, Brooks and Dunne al Dean, somebody
screwed up the paperwork. Man. I don't know how I
got into that camp. But it's a it's a lot
of massive at Darius, you know, it's a lot of
massive acts. He does. He's the best. It It helps,
It helps to hold me accountable, like I know that

(44:10):
nobody why hey, I know how hard everybody there worse
than I know that. They're not gonna put up with
no no bullcrap, especially from some little baby artists like
me that's just showing up on the scene, you know.
So it definitely holds me accountable. And I want people,
I want anybody that I interact with or work with
two to be proud of what I'm giving to that relationship.
So it ain't always the case. But you you say

(44:33):
you grew up listening to a lot of nineties country
in the car with maybe your mom, Like, who who
are the artists that you listened to that You're like, man, like,
I love I love that artist and what they say, Man,
I loved I liked a lot of Dwight Yoko him,
a lot of Clint Black, Garth Brooks. Um. You know
Tim mcgrawl when he was when he was getting started.
I don't know what what years was that when Tim
was first hitting started, was that later nineties. I mean,

(44:56):
it's weird that Tim mcgrawl was even in the nineties,
I'll be honest with you, because he's still today's and
a lot of those acts from the nineties are considered
legacy acts now, but McGraw has never turned legacy. Yeah,
my girl is a badass man. He's he's been going
for a long time. I would assume, like though, really,
I mean yeah, yeah, Indian Outlaw was ninety four. Wow,
that's what I'm saying, Like, I remember listening, you know,

(45:18):
Little Rock was an hour away the big City. But
I remember listening to Kissing ninety six and Indian Outlaw
then Don't Take the Girl, and I was, you know,
fourteen years old, that's wild man. Yeah, he's had he's
he's definitely stayed relevant and and you know, had so
many changes in his life. And he's like I was
thinking of I was watching eighteen eighty three the other day,
and I was just like, man, I hope I am

(45:40):
half as bad as this dude is when I'm his
age and have achieved what he has, you know, and
still you know, with his his family and and you know,
I'm sure they've had their trials and tribulations, but like
everything seems very strong at the surface. Anyway. What about
classic Croc influence, Oh, dude, there's a lot. I mean,
it's Southern rock, classic Croc Heartland for the most I
loved like Tom Petty Melling Camp. I kind of put

(46:04):
Steve Earle in that in that world. He's kind of
country hard um. You know. Obviously there was a lot
of Southern rock influence to Leonard Skinnered, Uh, the Almond Brothers, Uh,
the band. My dad listened to that stuff predominantly, and uh,
I would like in the mornings, if you listen to

(46:26):
a song on my record called Sundays in the South
is literally how my Sundays went. On the morning in
the mornings, on the way to church, we go the
gas station. Get you who listened to, uh, you know country,
Nina's Country. Then after church the NASCAR race be on.
I get home. Dad would be working on you know
something out in the driveway of car trucks in my
and be playing you know, I think it's one oh

(46:47):
three point seven the point. It was like classic and
southern rock up in Bowling Green, and that was the
station he usually headed on there. I mean, that's what
I grew up on too. Was listening for me it
was cool ninety five. But my stepdad would always I mean,
it was classic rock all the time, and I knew

(47:09):
that as well. All I knew anything else if it
was country or you know, alternative at the time. But
we were together at Christmas a little bit because him
an I still have a relationship, and we were listening
to classic rock station and we played We used to
play this game when I was like thirteen. We'll be like,
all right, who's the band? And I would go, that's
bt O that named the year. You know, it was
just something that we did that kind of brought us
together with sports and music. And we were together in

(47:31):
his truck and we were going to eat and we're
listening to station, and it was like we started doing
it again, you know, and here we are, so many
years later, still got it. Nope, I've lost a little
bit of it because I'm not as quick. But it's
just funny how I'll put you back in that time again.
Just hearing those songs again, sitting beside him in the
truck as he was driving again, almost felt thirteen or

(47:52):
fourteen years old again. Yeah, it is really cool how
how music can do that for me. Those uh, that's
those you know, the We Moon Swamp record from nineties seven,
John Fogerty's solo record and Guitar Town record. Those those
two records are when I'm riding around my hometown, you know,
every now and then, I still gotta get out and
and do what teenage Elvi did, you know, right around

(48:14):
my go my circle and listen to those records, and
it really will. Music can really take you back and
make you because I mean, there's nothing different except for
what the inside of the car looks like these days
when you're out doing that righting around listening to that
same music, it's funny keep reversing, John Fourty. I'm a
massive John Fogerty fan BIGA and so that's the first

(48:34):
concert ever bought a ticket to myself, because my first
concert was Diamond Rio and Church took us, so I
didn't pay for that. But the first concert ever drove
to him, bought a ticket to myself was John Fogerty
and Little Rock. I bet that was awesome, And it
was because of my stepdad, who was a massive credence
Clearwater fans. Was this before after he uh started playing
his his old CCR songs again because there was a

(48:56):
there was a point in time where I guess he
couldn't really play his own stuff and he had to
He sued himself, sued his own band to I mean
he had to sue himself basically. I started reading his
bio and it was tough. I had I had to
quit reading it because it was just there's there's just
a lot of um and I don't know, it's just
the dude's been through the wringer you yeah, over time.

(49:17):
And his brother was in the band. Yeah, you know,
they were both in CCR. He was they played some
uh some some CCR stuff, but you know he was.
He was playing in center field. He was playing a
lot of the of his new stuff too. Um, but
I was a big John Fogerty fan. I guess still am.
I heard he's getting pretty up there. He getting pretty
old now. Yeah, I would love to They say never
meets your heroes, but uh, Steve Role definitely didn't disappoint.

(49:39):
He's he's became somewhat of a fan or a friend,
not fan friend. I hope he's a fan. Uh yeah,
I've met him. Uh. I met him a couple of times. Um.
Got to seem inducted into the Country Music Writer's Hall
of Fame here while back. That was so awesome. Uh,
Emmy Lou Harris came out and sang Pilgrim. It was
so sick. But I got to write with him one time,

(50:00):
me him and oh man, I mean I was I
was pumped. I wasn't uh, I guess I wasn't like
nervous or scared or anything, but uh but I was
just so excited. I wanted to get something great. And
what was really cool is I feel like, this guy
has been writing my life, my whole life anyway. But

(50:21):
we didn't finish the song, and then he sent me
a second verse and uh, there's like something about a
little boy and a little girl on the way and
then something about driving these county roads. And I was like,
dude that I was like, and but he's like an encyclopedia. Man.
It's so cool to to talk to him and write
with him because for twenty minutes you'll you'll talk about

(50:42):
you know, music history or culture history or something that
you know that see's interested in. Um, and then you
write for a couple of minutes and then you talk
about stuff again. So get an education with Yeah, man,
I'm looking forward to doing again. We were supposed to
do it h the second two days ago, and um,
I ended up having like I got COVID back before Christmas,

(51:05):
and then I guess somebody in their camp got COVID
and he just didn't want to, uh, you know, risk it.
So whenever you cut my boy, did you have that
song recorded before you got a record deal? You started
talking about singing it? Is that what kind of got
you a deal? That song? That song is exactly what
got me a deal. Um, John and and Carson over

(51:27):
at the label, they say that's the only reason they
signed me. And I thought I had a whole record
at the time. Um. But shortly after signing they were like,
we feel like he only got one song. I'm like, like,
you're fullishh it um. But uh but they were right,
But no, I recorded that song several times, man. I
I spent I got a really good like advance sign

(51:50):
on Bonus for my first publishing deal, and um, I
spent every bit of that money on recordings for my boy.
The recording that you guys played on the radio was
I think the seventh or eighth version of that song.
Why did you keep you recording it? It just wasn't right, man,
And uh, it just didn't make me feel like it
felt when I played at Acoustic and the second to

(52:15):
last time, I didn't really like it. My producer was
pumped about it. Um, it's it was cool, you know,
it's I being cool. But I went and played. I
picked up John Loebo at the at the label. I
was like, hey, man, I got these first three songs done.
Let's go right around in my Mustang and listen. And uh,
we're coming down the music grow, and he's listened to
I Think County Roads and my Mississippi or Nose County

(52:37):
Roads and Saturday Night Me and we get to my
boy and I'm watching him and he's just kind of
like mm hmm. And the song goes off and he's like, uh, man,
I think I'm in demo love and I like curbed
my car and it was like, get out of my car. Man.
He's like, what do you mean. I said, no, I'm
just kidding. I said, I feel the same way, dude,
and I said, he said, you know. He just looked

(52:58):
at me. It's like, you know, if it's right, man,
go in the studio and make you right. And I
fought and fought and fought with with people in the
recording process about it being acoustic in the beginning, and
every was like, I ain't gonna work at radio. It
ain't gonna work at radio. And I was like, I
don't care. I gotta feel what what I feel, you know,
regardless of what radio is gonna do with this song,

(53:19):
it's gonna relate to people. They gotta feel it right.
And so Lee Star, who's another writer on the song,
came in and had this guitar part, and I said, dude,
just go in there and record it. You know. This
was weeks after we had cut it with the studio band,
so that was like the eighth recording, and then we
ended up going and doing the My Girl version two.
So did you feel like the song wasn't going to

(53:42):
hit ever? Like? Was there a time or a couple
of times where it stalled and You're like, I don't, man,
I thought we had it, but we don't. Yeah, man,
there's there's been like so many there goes my fifteen
Minutes of fame. Uh. It blew up on Facebook the
year before I signed my record deal, which led to
you know, getting some attention around town and helped with

(54:03):
the record deal. But uh, it was six million views
in like two weeks. The only thing I'd ever put
on the internet that went over a few thousand views.
So I uh, I'm all excited. We're all excited, and
then Facebook just pulls the video and we're like, we're
reaching out to him. My book and age were like,
what happened? No answer, So there was no nothing. It
was still going up like a hundred thousand views an hour.

(54:25):
It was. It was just really starting to take off.
So then I was like, well that sucks. Well, then
I signed my deal and the last thing you want
to do when you sign a record deal is to
be the guy that gets shelved, you know. But but
I'm so thankful for that. At this point, I didn't
get shelf. They just said, you know, you don't have
it all put together, yet you have this one thing.
And as much as I disagreed in the beginning, like

(54:47):
they were, they were so right. And there's not a
single song off this record that was written before my
record deal except for my boy and uh, but I
don't know, man, the all this was just it was crazy.
I didn't really find myself until after signing my record deal.
When when that thing starts to be top ten or so?

(55:08):
I mean, did it start to feel like we have
not only a monster like that's affecting people, but I mean,
this thing is actually like really gaining traction commercially. It
was cool. I didn't. I opted out of the emails
every week and everything, like I didn't want to be
the I was like, slit, someone do what's gonna do.
I'm not gonna worry about it. I'm gonna go out here.

(55:29):
I'm gonna be good to people. I'm I'm gonna meet
people at radio when we get a chance, because we're
having to do all this weird stuff. But when it
got to top ten, we're looking at the charts and
it's like, man like, steady chart flow. It looks like
we're gonna be good to go. And then what do
you know, here comes Jason Audeen and Carrie Underwood and
and then here comes uh Maren and Ryan and then

(55:50):
here comes Walker Hayes and I'm just like Jesus Christ,
what is going on? Man? Like, there's three huge songs
that are just and then I mean, the Walker has
thing that was crazy. But I've I've been a fan
of Walkers for a while. He's always been He's always
been really different. And uh, one of my favorite songs, like,
one of my favorite songs is that Halloween song of his.

(56:12):
It's so sick, such a such a really cool song.
If you if you're watching this you haven't heard it,
go check it out. Um, but I saw a Walker
right when all that stuff was going on. We played, uh,
golf and guitars or something over in Oregon, and Uh,
I was just like, dude, I don't know you really,
but I just want, you know, let you know, I'm
proud of you. I've seen I've seen it and heard
of you grounding for years. And I know some people

(56:32):
in this camp and stuff, but but then you know
Al Dean, you know, he's my label mate, my management mate. Everything.
I was just like, Jesus, is this gonna hurt me
or help me? You got it though you rang the bell?
We got it, man, we got it, and uh yeah,
it's just uh it was a cool win. It was
for me man, I'm the thought of me having a
number one was like, hell, yeah, that's awesome. But I

(56:54):
just wanted to see the song win. I didn't care
who was seeing it. Was just like I wanted and
not not to be down on it, but everybody, you know,
everybody knows how it all words, and like sometimes those
songs they just don't make it, they don't cut through
the noise, and and I was I was just gonna
be so disappointed if that song didn't get it spot
And I felt like the years and the and the

(57:14):
faith that I've had in my co writers, my team,
I was like, I just didn't want to see it fail.
So thanks to everybody for not letting us fall. What's
the next single? Do you guys have? Is it announced you?
We haven't announced it, but I'll tell you. I mean,
you don't have to if you don't want to. I
didn't know. Well, I'll put it this way. There's uh.

(57:37):
I talked a lot about the road in my life
in general, and we're gonna try to get some people
some speeding tickets over in the next hopefully let's cut
it down to Can we cut it down to twenty
weeks this time? Like, listen, you're really asking for a man.
You want to do it in twenty weeks? Come boy, man,
do we gotta go? Do we gotta go a whole
year this time? Let's see, let's see cut your roads?

(58:00):
Oh you did it all right, Let's fight. Somebody go
get some gloves. I mean we're not saying this is it,
but here, Mike, I know you've practiced boxing, but listen
to this really closet County roads. County roads. Everybody says
country roads, and I'm like, I'm like dud John denver
head that one country roads too. You did? Wow? That's

(58:22):
crazy marketing nightmare, you guys, get it right, Come on,
county roads. I'm literally looking right at it and said
country roads. Yeah, I get it, man, I mean we're
it's country music. You see, you don't you know that
R doesn't really stick out to you. That's wild and
and even like people literally listen to it and the
world the last words county roads and they still go
to country Like, Man, that was country roads. But I

(58:43):
was saying county county. I will mess that up again.
But I mean I'm looking right at it and still
said it. So there's something to that. As we've been
talking about country music, like, it's in my brain to
say country roads and we couldn't say country roads, but
that just seemed to clear shay to me. County county
roads seems more relatable. So you don't want to name

(59:04):
a country roads, Well, it's John Denver man boy names, sue.
You know, you gotta stay away from the the classic names.
John Denver do one of my favorite stories in country music.
I think it was a c m A Awards Charlie
Rich he opens it up and John Denver friend lights
it on fire. Yeah. I want to get a tattoo
of him doing that so bad. I thought that was

(59:26):
so baller. Let me let me mention this because I
want to get a little promo here for you too.
Come on my kind of Trouble tour. You're doing show
starting in February, so next month you and Frank Raader
on the road. Right, speaking of country and County, I
bet people call you Elvis or like I bet you
that that's mixed up to a lot, right, LB. People

(59:46):
think I'll say LB. I don't know if it's just
goes to my action or whatever. LB, elba, Elva, Elvis.
I get, I get all of them. I get Bobby
Jones a lot. Bobby Jones, I was doing. Uh. I
hosted the New Year's Eve show on CV yes, like
a few days ago, and on the Bowl games that morning,
Brad Nestlers, you know, in the middle of a game.
All right, be sure to watch tonight Bobby Jones host this.

(01:00:09):
I mean it happens all the time. So I'm imagining
with the name and you're you're your real last names
Esther Is that right? See? That's a mess up? Two,
it's E S T E L L. How would you
say it? E S T E L L. Still see.
And this is the debate my wife and I have
because she likes to for it to be said Estell,

(01:00:30):
so she says it that way, that's how it's spelled.
But where I'm from in Arkansas, Yeah, it's definitely funny
that you said, because that's how it is. That's that's
what my family always called it. So LV Shane dot
Com all the the dates are up there everywhere from
chattanoog Get to Charlotte. I'm just gonna read down them. Greenville, Indianapolis, Louisville, Cincinnati, Lexington, Warrendale, Pennsylvania, Chicago, Springfield,

(01:00:54):
Little Rock, Birmingham, Macon, and Nashville, Tennessee. So you're gonna
go and do a bunch of shows, which is pretty siding. Man,
I'm pumped. And we were adding everybody likes to compare
me to Church all the time anyway, So I got
me a real genny when Joanna Cotton coming out on
a row with us for some of these, it's not
actually her, but Jenna McClellan, who uh saying backgrounds on

(01:01:16):
Saturday Night me on the record. Uh, she just it's
hard to find somebody seeing harmonies with me. Man, I
guess tenor rains or whatever. And uh, she's she's gonna
bring some really cool energy to the to the stage
with the Broken Arrows, my band. I'm just so pumped
to get out there and and do this hard ticket thing. Man.
I want to I want to build this down. It's okay, man.

(01:01:38):
If if it doesn't go great this time, then we'll
just keep going. Man. I've I've got faith in my band.
I've got faith in my my co writers and and
and everything to uh to get this stuff out there
and and get people latched on. So let's go to
read for one question? All right, reads at the beginning
of that talking about how put you on the spot.
What's your one question for elv Shane? Okay, Um, let's see.

(01:02:00):
Take a deep breath, all right, I didn't drink coffee
this time. Lord, a little bit better? All right, here
we go. Um, eventually, Mike, he's gonna know. I'm gonna
come to him, right because I know you would think
because he sa he lives flustered. Go ahead, read well
the thing with Keith Herb and my dad was listening
to and he was like, you went that whole time
He did not even ask a question. You just talked

(01:02:22):
about random stuff. So I'm gonna ask a question this time. Um,
when you write music, are you more of a lyrics
first guy or UM melody guy. Depend Man, I think
it's it's different. It's different all the time. UM, I
definitely know how I say things. So sometimes there's someone
who's on fire in the room with with lyrics and

(01:02:44):
and I just tried to adjust the cool things they're
saying to be more my language. UM. Sometimes I'm a
guitar part guy, you know, very seldomly but sometimes a
guitar part guy, sometimes a lyric guy, sometimes a melody guy.
I've kind of fallen into this. I feel like there's
a there's an originality developing in uh some of the uh,

(01:03:08):
the cadence and stuff in my melodies, and uh I've
been excited to hear some of those kind of come
to life, like uh, rocket Science song on the record
right now. I really love that song, just the the
flow of the melody and everything. So UH, I would
like to say that I'm fairly diverse. I just try
to uh, let whoever is on fire in the room

(01:03:31):
be on fire in the room and go from there.
Some of these songs that I don't have finished song
in three hours, man, I hate doing that. If we're
on a great idea, let's get let's get it going somewhere.
And rocket Science we took two years, right and which
is ironic with the name of it being rocket science,
but you know we met up several times. So anyways,

(01:03:52):
I figured just because of uh you're saying you did
poetry and stuff like that, you would have a lot
more emphasis on the lyrics side of things. Is that
from you like listening to your music? Uh, your words
are very like descriptive and yeah, I mean I uh
like uh Sundays in the South. You know that song

(01:04:13):
I had half written, went into the right with that one.
Uh finished the miles. You know. Sometimes I'll go off
by myself and finish. It's hard for me sometimes in
the room to uh to be able to get the
stuff out the right way. Sometimes I gotta get in
the right headspace. I gotta be by myself, and sometimes
I need a little bit of a buzz, you know

(01:04:35):
or whatever. But yeah, good luck. I'll bet on the road. Man,
hey man, thank you, thank you for having me. This
is uh, this is awesome and uh, dude, I wish
so bad that my wife could have made it. She's
she has been a She turned me onto the show
early in our in our marriage and she's been a
big fan of the show for a long time. Uh,

(01:04:55):
she's actually I think she talked to you one time
on the phone y'all were doing she's the one, she's
the one from from us. What was the town in
Kentucky Summer says, she's the one from You didn't need
she you don't need to call her back up. We
can get a couple of hundred bucks. But you know,
you guys are doing a stunt where there was an
uber driver and you were gonna like do something to

(01:05:17):
the uber driver and a gagement ring or something, and uh,
I don't know if it was Eddie or we were
seeing up the uber driver would propose for somebody else,
like you have to ring across town. She pulls up
and she sees him and she's like, oh no, and
they whoever was opened the door and she was like,
I'm listening to the show. Wait, she was the one
that was Yeah that's funny. Yeah, that's a small world.

(01:05:39):
All right. Hey, good to talk to you, man, big
fancy buddy, Thank you so much, really big fan you guys.
LB Shane dot com backslider. Uh the name of I'm
saying the record name, right, Backslider from I'm going from
memory here, so good do I appreciate it? Backsliders the
name of the record, and uh, you guys go see
a show. If he's around LB Shane, come see me.
There you go.