Steven Curtis Chapman (@Stevencurtischapman) sits down with Bobby Bones to talk about his legendary career that has spanned more than three decades and made him the most-awarded artist in Christian music history. He has 50 number one songs and admitted he does have trouble naming them all. He also shared why he felt called to do music and sing about faith. He also shares an amazing story of how his dad went from seeing shows at the Opry, to performing with him on stage there. Plus, Steven will reveal the origins of his stage name, how he fell back in love with music, dealing with grief from losing friends and family and more!
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
I walked out on the stage and Roy introduced me.
I sang the first line, he stop loving her today,
and then I went completely blank.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
I couldn't remember the words.
Speaker 3 (00:15):
No.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
It freaked me out so much because I'm on the
Grand Ole Opry and I look at the audience and
my dad and my mom, and I'm like, and I
couldn't remember the words.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Episode four point thirty Stephen Curtis Chapman. There are some
episodes that I do and I get excited about him,
and this is one of them. But there are something
that I get excited about, and then I get excited
to tell certain people that I have done it. And
I called my in laws. I was like, you'll never
guess who was just over my house. Big fans, huge fans.
Even my wife's a big fans, Like she knows all
(00:46):
she knows all the songs.
Speaker 4 (00:47):
Like she was like, oh, you know what record? I
like them.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
Because she didn't come down. It's not her favorite thing
to do, but I think she would have had.
Speaker 4 (00:53):
I told her.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
And it's on the calendar, but she's like my calendar
every day, but like, yeah, she was just reciting songs.
This even Curtis Chapman and then the who is the
other one that she freaked out cauld She's saying all
the hymns at.
Speaker 4 (01:06):
Church, Chris Tomlin, Chris Tomlin.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
So when she was growing up, my wife, they would
have like on road trips, they would get picked like
one album to listen to, and woul always have to
be a Christian album. So she has vacations associated with
complete albums from Christian artists because it's all they would
listen to on the road, which is funny, and it
was purposely done, not the Christian part of it. I
mean that that too, But I'm saying I think her
(01:31):
parents had the idea of they want certain albums, certain
artists to remind them of certain places, which is pretty smart.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
Ye.
Speaker 4 (01:37):
So, but she's a fan. My in laws are massive fans.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
They they'll be like a big country star over and
I'm like, who's that again, what's he do? Is he
one of those Georgia line But then I said Stephen
Curtis Chapman and they were like, oh my gosh, crazy.
So he's such a nice guy. I'm lucky to know
him a little bit from playing the Grand Ole Opry
with him. Never on this at the same exact time,
but the same night, he celebrated fifty career number one
(02:02):
songs at radio this spring, joining people like George Strake,
Madonna Conway twitty fifty number one songs. He's only one
of those four to be a writer on every single
one of their fifty songs, though he wrote all of his.
So we're talking about that. He's celebrating all this by
playing clips of each song on social media, throwback footage
and a scripture from his pastor around every song. So
(02:24):
you guys go follow Stephen Curtis Chapman at Stephen Curtis Chapman.
Speaker 4 (02:28):
But it's like he's a superstar.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
I mean, the dude.
Speaker 4 (02:31):
He's also so nice and not fake nice.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
Sometimes we get fake.
Speaker 4 (02:36):
Nice people and that's okay, I don't care.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
Maybe you're just having a bad day, you're not feeling good,
and you're just trying to put out a fakeness a
niceness to get through.
Speaker 4 (02:43):
But like this dude's like I've never seen him not
be like kind and just aware. Yeah, how'd you feel
about him? I thought he was awesome.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
His whole story of like playing the operating, that whole
full circle moment amazing, and his dad yeah, Yeah, run
through a couple songs. Yeah, let's do three, two one,
top five, our top three streaming songs, Number three, dive,
number two, I Will be here, and number one. This
(03:18):
one's a monster Cinderella So Cinerella Wow. Stephen Curtis Chapman
the most awarded artist in Christian music history fifty nine
double Awards, five Grammys, an Ama fifty number one singles
has sold out more than seventeen sold on seventy minute albums.
(03:38):
God dang, I mean, gosh dang, ooh that's crazy. Here
he is, And I don't know the manin Law's listen
to every episode. If you are listening right now, just
text me like I'm hearing you talk about it to
my lass. Here he is, Steven Curtis Chapman, mister Stephen
Curtis Chapman, thank you for being here. I'm I've told
(03:59):
you many I'm a massive fan of yours. And also,
I just like you, and that's not always the case
with a lot of people. Sometimes you meet them and
they're fine, or you know, it's everybody doesn't have to
like everybody. But you're just a good dude. You've always
been super nice to me, so I was super excited
when they said you were going to come over.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
So I just want to say that up front, thank you,
thanks for having me.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
Seriously, what have you always been like outwardly, purposefully kind?
Or was there ever a time where you had some
sort of perspective change where all of a sudden it
wasn't so much about you that ever happened with you.
I feel like mine has recently happened. But yeah, I
only know the version of you being super kind? Have
(04:40):
you always been like that?
Speaker 2 (04:43):
I would first of all thank you.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
I mean, it's humbling and kind of a hard question
to answer because immediately.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
You're like a super compliment thing.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
Yes, well you know, I think let me tell you
about let me let me tell you how proud I
am of my humility.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
But it's funny when you ask that. I Ah.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
I read a book recently called Love Kindness, and it's
a book about kindness, and it really it was probably
on the best books I've read in a long time, and.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
And I was so into it. I told the author.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
How much I love this book, and they asked me,
would you we're going to re release it as paperback,
would you write a forward?
Speaker 2 (05:26):
And so in the forward.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
I was wow, like, you got to write a forward
of a book you loved?
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Yeah, how cool was that?
Speaker 3 (05:31):
That's like at the Hunger Games called me that would
be crazy, Like that's wild.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
Okay, go ahead, So now yeah, Bobby right the four.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
So I wrote the But but in the process I
was thinking about just kindness and what, you know, the
power of it. It's funny shirt and just you know,
how important and yet how kind of needed it is.
(06:02):
Now it feels like kindness is not the thing that
is the order of the day so much. And I
started to remember in a time when I was a kid,
when so my mom and dad I grew up and
of course obviously grew up around the church and buckle
the Bible belt in Kentucky. And when I was a
little kid, my dad was more interested. He was chasing
(06:24):
the music dream. Wanted to be on the Grand Ole
Opery some day. It was a country music writer, had
some not real success, but but tried. And we come
from Kentucky to Tennessee. But and my mom took me
and my brother to church pretty regularly on Sunday morning.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
But my dad really didn't go. It wasn't against it.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
He just wasn't wasn't his thing, and wasn't that interesting
after he'd grown up in the church and all, but
just as an adult. But we had a revival back
in the day. They called it a layman's revival, which
was basically meant they didn't have an evangelist a preacher.
They just had people get up and tell their story.
And they came from other towns and they would come
(07:02):
up and they needed hosts, homes, people to stay in homes,
so they didn't put them up in hotels or anything.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
Of course, I'm in Paduca, Kentucky. I don't even think
we had a.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
Hotel, and we somehow, and this, honestly was kind of
a miracle when I look back, I think it was
just God worked this out because my mom convinced my
dad to let one of these guys stay in her home,
and he was a he was a dentist, I remember
his name was doctor Findley Baird, and he stayed in
her home for like four or five nights, which was
(07:32):
unusual anyway. It was kind of freaking me out that
that was not a typical thing for my dad to
have somebody stay in our home. And he when he left,
I remember there was like he left like three bucks
on my pillow and my brother's pillow with a little
note and just said thank you guys for taking such
good care of me and being so friendly to me.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
And it was and when I look back, it's funny.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
That happened when I was probably six years seven years old,
and it really changed the trajectory in my family. It's
probably why I do what I do now, the music
I do and all of that, because my dad really
was marked by that, was changed by his kindness in
our family.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
We got your dad too, huh yeah. Yeah. And it
wasn't just it wasn't because he didn't preach at us.
He didn't.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
He was just kind and it was that that I
think won my dad over more than anything.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
And for me too.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
I just still remember doctor Findley Baird as this. He
was just he had kind eyes. He was just a
very kind guy. And it made such an impact in
my family. And maybe, you know, I was so young
then kind of marked by that. I don't know how
much of a difference that made in the way I
would react to people and respond to people. I think
that's sort of in your For some people, it's a
(08:45):
little more in their DNA. They just respond that way.
My mom's very kind. My dad is as well, but
especially my mom, and so you're kind of around it
and that's just how people relate to one another.
Speaker 3 (08:58):
But yeah, anyway, I would assume that if it affected whoever,
your caregiver is your dad in that situation, so it
affects you, but then it also affects you because it
affects your dad. Whatever it is. It doesn't have to
even be this like if you were to see a
parent be genuinely moved or affected by something, you know
what that would probably do to you that you don't
even really understand at the time. That would be a
(09:19):
big deal for me is getting married. And I don't
think I ever was not nice, just I was kind
of like an animal. I didn't do stuff to be mean.
I was just trying to eat, just running through the woods, surviving.
It's something need to help, I'd help it if you know.
But my wife, I remember when she we were briefly
(09:41):
talking about the pandemic before we went recorded here and
she she was coming here. We'd been dating for a
few months before the pandemic hit, and it was one
of those things because the pandemic was gonna last a week,
and so she was just gonna come stay for a.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
Week, I remember, in a week.
Speaker 3 (09:56):
And she is from Oklahoma, but she had just moved
out to California, and so California was going bonkers earlier,
earlier than everybody else. So she was like, come here.
And I remember I was taking around Nashville a little
bit and she came back to the house and she says,
I need to go to the store, and was all right, cool,
so we go and everything's not completely shut down yet,
but she buys like all this soap and these bags,
(10:17):
and I remember her filling up all these bags of
like bars of soap and an orange and like two
or three dollars, and she just wanted to drive around
and make sure that a lot of the homeless people
here had these little bags, because she just was like,
I don't we don't know what's about to happen. And
it was out of nowhere, I remembers, out of nowhere.
(10:38):
And that just having her in that constant, that consistent,
it's not even effort, it feels like from her sometimes
it feels like it has to be effort for me,
because again, I'm an animal. And for me, it took
a long time for that to kind of happen. But
I do feel a difference because of her and just
how she reacts to the world. Even when I talk
(11:01):
to you, You've just always been the nicest guy and nice,
not in the way of like fake nice, just like
you look at people like you invest even if it's
forty five seconds, and invest into like what's up? And
that's a lot. Yeah, Paduca, I've been through a few times.
I always associate Paduca with random town in America. When
(11:22):
I go to my random town, it's Paduca always, really always,
that's to me, that is random. It's the most representative
generic town of kind of the South, but kind of
the Southeast, not the South. Always my reference is Paduca, Kentucky.
So what was what was Paduca like as a kid
(11:42):
for you? You know what resources were there?
Speaker 2 (11:44):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (11:45):
Well, you know, my favorite thing about Paduca is it
it is geographically halfway between possum trot and monkey's eyebrow.
Of course everybody knows that.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
That's the best thing. I had a T shirt when
I was a kid.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
It was like it said it said that I come
from halfway between possum drop unkeys there.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
I'd give anything to still have that T shirt.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
In fact, I just nowadays you can just go online
and like custom make a T shirt. I need to
I need to make that that shirt again. But uh
so Paducah, Yeah, what was uh?
Speaker 2 (12:18):
What was it like? Or like just guess what do
you remember?
Speaker 1 (12:22):
What?
Speaker 3 (12:22):
What are the vivid memories of home of the town?
Speaker 1 (12:26):
Yeah, well it was. It's a river town. It's right
on the river, and uh, the Tennessee River. Actually, the
Tennessee and the Ohio River kind of run what do
they call it a when when two rivers kind of
run together that they're they're literally both at the We
call it the foot of Broadways. If you drive Broadway
(12:47):
all the way through Paducah, you're gonna run right into
the river. You gotta eventually turn around and come back.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
Like fish a lot. Yeah, so I did.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
I grew up fishing and drip and we had a
in I think it was nineteen, it was like forty seven.
The flood of forty seven or something is always talked
about in paduca There was a major flood that completely
flooded the downtown.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
So they built this big floodwall.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
So when you get to Broadway, which now we have
a really cool it's called the Carson Center, which is
really nice kind of symphony hall. We have a Paduca Symphony.
I've done a concert with a Paduca Symphony, so I
know from experience they're actually really good. A lot of
the players come from Nashville, but there's some from Paducah.
But but so I remember the floodwall. I remember hearing
(13:31):
the stories of the flood, always kind of being a
little nervous about that, as you know, can that happen again?
But no, that's why we built the floodwall. But I remember,
I mean, my best memories. We had the Columbia Theater,
which I keep thinking I need to go back and
figure out a way to We've even talked about trying
to revive it and bring it back around because it's
you know, defunct now, but it's still there. It's one
(13:52):
of the old school, beautiful inside, real ornate kind of
old school theaters.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
Did you go to shows there? Yeah, yeah, yeah, we went.
It was it was you know, it was movies.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
I mean, I remember us where I first saw my
first movie when I was a kid, and of course
saw Star Wars there and saw Gone with the wind.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
I think it might have been the first movie I
saw it.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
What's how how typical is that? That's a pretty cliche,
but that's but that was it. But it was my grandmother,
my dad's mom would take my brother and I uh
to Finkles was the store, and that's where we would
go and get our new Converse tennis shoes. Whenever we
(14:34):
wore out our tennis shoes, we would always go there.
It was kind of an everything store, but they had
because this was of course before there were walmarts and
targets and all that business. So it was the department store,
I guess, and and my grandmother would take me and
my brother and we'd get pick out our new Converse
Chuck Taylor's, and take off running down the street because
it was like, look how fast we can go now
because we've got new shoes. You know, you could go
(14:55):
even that much faster, and just you know, obviously great
great memories. My dad played music a lot of my
memories around my church, little Baptist church, all at Baptist
Church where we sang and kind of grew up singing
together as a family. But we played, you know, we'd
play music around town. My brother and me became kind
(15:17):
of a little duo Chapman Brothers, and we'd play at
the Western Baptist Women's Hospital Auxiliary Christmas program.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
We were always a big lot of west is just.
Speaker 3 (15:26):
Even say I'm tired halfway through Western Baptist.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
Blah blah blah.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
But but yeah, so a lot of music and fishing.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
Yeah. I grew up fishing. My dad is uh.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
It was my favorite thing, really, is fishing. We hunted
a little bit. We had we had at the time.
We had quail, so I had wild quail. They're they're
all moved out now pretty much, but he can't find
them around this part of the country. But we could hunt.
We'd walk out our back door with our four ten shotgun.
We always had hunting dog. My dad grew up loving hunting.
(15:59):
We didn't do a lot of it, but bird hunting
a little bit, and I had two ponds close to
my house.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
I grew up basically just fishing pretty much every day.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
If I didn't have a guitar in my hands, I
usually had a fishing pullman.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
When did you start playing guitar? Did your dad have
a music store?
Speaker 2 (16:12):
He does still still, Okay, so when.
Speaker 3 (16:14):
Did you start playing guitar or do you remember or
do you just always.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
Have I remember pretty distinctly because I was. My dad
owned a music store. He started it when I was
probably about five years old. He worked for the railroad
in Illinois Central Railroad, because that's kind of my family.
All of my my family on my grandmother's side, my
dad's mom's side, were all railroad people, and we had
(16:37):
a big train depot, Illinois Central in Paducah, and so
my dad worked there. Hurt his back ended up like
lifting something and had back surgery rupture disc and he
had always his dream though it had always been to
have a little music store and be a guitar teacher.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
He loved music.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
Barely finished high school, got his ged, didn't go to school,
didn't go to college, neither did my mom.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
He just he had a radio show.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
Actually, incidentally, when he was about sixteen in eastern Kentucky,
he went to Eastern Kentucky to live with some family.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
He didn't hit his dad.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
My grandfather on my dad's side died when my dad
was a real little left when my dad was three, alcoholic,
went a wall from the navy. Just kind of a
bad just had a lot of struggles and never made
it home. Met my dad met him twice. In the
playground of his elementary school. Some homeless guy kind of
wandered up to the door and the teacher said, Hey, Herb,
(17:39):
there's a man that wants to see you. And of
course all the kids are laughing, like who's that mom
at the door, And my dad walks the door and
he says, hey, Herb, I'm your dad. I'm Virgil. And
of course, you know, I'm trying to get my hec together.
I really want to be a good dad, but I'm
kind of a mess right now.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
All this stuff just things.
Speaker 1 (17:59):
That really, you know, my dad had a lot of
obviously struggled a lot with that and and so and
my grandmother never remarried, so my dad grew up kind
of without a dad in his life. So when he
got into high school, he went to Eastern Kentucky playing
music and wanted to uh and had a little radio show.
And back in the day, you know, you you kind
(18:22):
of played records, but you also played.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
A lot live.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
It was back in those days when he took his
guitar in and he'd play whatever the current Hank Williams
songs were and all that and then they'd play a record,
spin a record or two, you know.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
So it's so cool.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
I wish I would give anything to have some recordings
of that, you know, my dad, but but he came
back to came back to Paducah, married my mom my
almost sixteen, and they got married, and he started working
at the railroad.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
Hurt his back, but he always wanted to be on
a music store.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
He started writing song, came to Nashville, had a little
publishing deal for a while with some guys the Glacier
Brothers who guys here in Nashville know their names from
back in the day, and never had any real success,
but kind of dabbled in it and played and had
had some real interest.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
He's a very very talented guy.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
And some actually some of Colonel Tom Parker's people, of course.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
You know, we all know Colonel Tom from you.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
Know, Elvis days, some of his people had some interest
in My dad courted him a little bit, but it
never turned in anything, so he kind of rushed up
against it, but finally settled down into this music store,
Chapman Music in Mayfield, Kentucky, and which is just outside
of Paducah, which was the town that got destroyed by
(19:37):
the tornadoes a few years ago. Everybody heard about Mayfolk,
Kentucky because it basically got leveled. That's where my dad's
music store started. I was a kid, I'd go hang
out in his music store with him. Always loved just
being around music, around guitars. So I was six years old,
my dad brought a guitar home for my older brother.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
And because I.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
Was my brother was probably eight eight and a half,
my dad thought, yeah, he's old enough to start maybe playing.
But I was the one really interested, even though it
was only six. So my dad set me down, saw
how much I wanted to learn, and uh, and first
song he taught me was Fols from Prison Blues Johnny Cash.
So I'm six year old kid, just top of my
lungs singing about shooting man in a reno.
Speaker 3 (20:18):
That's funny. So was your dad a like a What's
classic now? Was a country music fan?
Speaker 1 (20:23):
Big fan? Yeah, he would go to the Opry. Uh
when he'd come to Nashville. I love this story because
it's such a fun story, the whole, the whole wrap around.
He would come to Nashville from Paducah, bring his guitar,
come try to make, you know, going down music road
and you know, pedal his songs and had a few
meetings here and there, and he he told me that
(20:45):
he used to go to the rhymen back in the day.
That was when the Opry was there, was before the
Opry House was built. He'd go to the Rhyman. He
couldn't buy a ticket, he couldn't afford a ticket, but
that back in the day they didn't have air conditioned yet,
and in the summer they'd open the windows. And he said,
I'd sit in my car, roll the window down, and
I'd listened to the Opry and think, someday I want
to be on that stage.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
That's my dream.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
Because he you know, and he loved he'd listened to
it on WSM when I.
Speaker 2 (21:08):
Was a kid.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
If the weather was just right. You're two hours away
from Paducah. You could get you could pick up WSM
and you could hear the Opry. And I remember being
in the car my dad would it is crack, you know,
it's all this static and all of a sudden you'd
hear you know, well you make right with Martha White,
you know, you'd hear one of the little commercials. And
Dad goes, hey, that's it. That's the Opry. Hey, yo,
(21:30):
everybody hush, you know, listen, that's the Opry. And you know,
it was just this reverence of man, that's music, that's
where it comes from. And so fast forward. Gosh, you know,
I'm gonna say, forty forty fifty years I do a
bluegrass record, which I've always wanted to do because that's
the music. My dad really grew up bluegrass and folk
(21:51):
music and all that. And and I was releasing my
bluegrass record called Deeper Roots and Ricky, Ricky, come do
something with me on it, and my dad sang on
it with me and my brother. We did a bunch
of old stuff we grew up with. And I called
dad and I said, hey, I want you to come
to Nashville. I'm gonna I'm gonna debut my new record,
(22:12):
and I want you to come perform with me. So
he walked out on the stage of the Grand Ole
Opry and he was eighty I think he was like
eighty years old, seventy seventy nine, and walked out and
we sang together, me and my dad on the stage
of the Grand Ole Opry.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
So he made it, you know, that's awesome. Isn't that
a great story?
Speaker 3 (22:29):
What a great thing to be able to ask him too? Yeah,
Like I want you to come and do this with me. Yeah,
we can do this together, something you've always wanted to do.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
That is such a cool story.
Speaker 5 (22:40):
Yeah, hang tight, The Bobby Cast will be right back. Wow,
and we're back on the Bobby Cast.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
You remember the first time we played the opry Yeah
I do. Yeah. I was nineteen years old.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
I worked at opry Land, USA, which was an old
It was an amusement park that was here forever.
Speaker 2 (23:07):
I don't even know you probably.
Speaker 3 (23:08):
I wasn't remember, no, but I knew about it, and
I know a lot about it now.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
So I graduated high school nineteen eighty one in Paducah.
It was on my way to to I was going
to go be a dentist. I don't don't ask me
why my dad, I.
Speaker 3 (23:23):
Can tell you why you met a nice dentist in
your house? I left you three dollars. That's right there,
you go.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
You're probably I've never even thought about that. It's like,
why did I think dentist? Probably that guy because my dad,
Plus my dad told me it was really hard to
make a living feet of family playing a guitar because
he had done it for like four years. He said,
he said, go get a real job, go get an education.
Dabbling music, you're great, You're talented, but man, so few
guys can make a living doing it. So so I
was like, all right, so I'll do the right thing,
(23:49):
you know.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
So I was off.
Speaker 1 (23:50):
I was going to go to college and major in
whatever pre mad pre dentistry I guess, I don't even know.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
But but the.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
Summer before I went to college graduate high school, my brother,
older brother, and I came to Nashville and auditioned at
opry Land to try to get a summer.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
Job, you know, and playing music, playing music in one
of the shows. Made it.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
Got got in one of the shows called Country Music USA.
Country Music USA. You dress up like the artists, you know, uh.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
Porter Wagner, I remember I did. Porter Wagner. Wore the
suit or.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
The suit and walk out and you do the suit
which was donated. It was an actual one of Porter's
suits that he donated. And I'd come out and do
George Jones he stopped loving her today and I come
out and do you know, and flatten scrugs and you know,
you dressed up, put the hat on, came out and
did a chorus of the song. It was just a
you know, it was a variety show basically, and did
that for the summer, and I got a phone call
(24:44):
one day that uh they said, hey, would you come
do the Grandell Opry. Uh you want to sing on
the Opry? I was like, like the Opry just on
the stage. I'm like, yeah, it's a strict question. And
they said, well, we bring kids from the park every
now and then and we call it the Future Stars
of Country Music or whatever, and we just bring, you know,
some of the kids from the park and it's kind
(25:05):
of a promo to send people to go out in
the park and buy tickets and and so, uh, they said, come,
you know, we want you to You've been invited to
come play the Opry.
Speaker 2 (25:16):
I was nineteen.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
I told call my dad, of course, who at this point,
I was like, Dad, guess what I'm going to see
on a grande ole Opry.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
So he came, my mom, my grandmother, my brother.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
Uh, it was sitting out there and Roy Acuff introduced
me and I walked out on the stage and uh,
and my big song in the show kind of my
big moment in the show in the Park was the
announcer would say the incomparable George Jones, and I'd sing,
he stop loving her today, and do the course of
he's loving her today. So I walked out on the
(25:46):
stage and Roy introduced me, and uh, I sang the
first line he stopped loving her today, and then I
went completely blank.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
I couldn't remember the words no.
Speaker 1 (25:55):
It freaked me out so much because I'm on the
Grand Ole Opry and I look at the audience and
my dad and my mom. I'm like, and i couldn't
remember the words true story. And I'm like, Okay, this
is bad.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
I'm on the.
Speaker 1 (26:07):
Grand Ole Opry, my dad, every face and Roy is
standing there, and so it seemed like about two hours.
It was probably about, you know, twenty seconds. But I'm like,
and the band keeps playing, and I could hear the
band behind me going they placed a reef up on
his door.
Speaker 2 (26:24):
They're trying to get me the words.
Speaker 3 (26:26):
You know.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
Everybody's like just dying for me. And so I suddenly
get the words back and I'm like, hey, f laster
wreath's door, finish the song, get done, and crowds you know,
super sweet, like, oh, we loved it. Roy walks over.
This is a true story. He said, he's like ninety
at this time. He's very you know, he's late in
(26:47):
his years already. And he said, well, Steve, sounds like
you forgot the words there for a minute, you know,
not gonna let it go.
Speaker 2 (26:54):
I'm like, thank you, and I am not kidding.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
The first thing that came to mind, which is terrible,
and I feel bad. This is not a kind thing
to do. This, This will show the real you know,
the other side of Stephen Chris Shabban. The first thing
that came to mind is this is when George was
no show Jones and that's what they called him. He
would come on stage, sing a song, fall off stage
and they you know, it's terrible. And the first thing
(27:17):
came to mind is I just said, well, Roy, no,
I didn't forget the words.
Speaker 2 (27:21):
I just wanted to sing it like George does it
these days.
Speaker 3 (27:23):
Funny, that's funny. I don't think it's not kind.
Speaker 2 (27:25):
I think it's pretty funny. It was pretty and the
crowd thought it was hilarious.
Speaker 1 (27:29):
And I walked off stage and Roy looked at me
and he said, well, Son, I don't know about your voice.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
I don't know about your music. I don't know.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
But if you can pull that off at this age
in front of that crowd, I think you just might
make it in this business.
Speaker 3 (27:41):
So when you finished that show, and again, I've had
situations too where I just blank for whatever reason, did.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
You have a lack of confidence?
Speaker 3 (27:51):
Ordered was your ability to recover so good that you
felt you could then do anything because you had already
done it bad and got yourself out of it.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
I think that was I think that was probably more
than anything, because I remember my dad coming back and
I thought my dad. I knew he wouldn't be disappointed,
and he's been my biggest fan, but I just felt
I felt bad and Dad. My dad was like, you
know what, Elvis forgot the word son, But what you
did with that, that's awesome. You just you you won
the crowd and that's that's a performer. That's what an
(28:19):
entertainer can do. And you got that in you. So
way to go?
Speaker 3 (28:22):
You know, did your dad do you get to see
him perform like openly in places like where you would
go and just sit and be in awe of your dad.
Speaker 2 (28:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:31):
When I was a kid, he was in a group.
They were called the Village Singers, and and uh he
I'd go watch him perform. That's my earliest memories really
are watching my dad play. We had a little Kentucky
village Kentucky dam which is in Kentucky. There's there's Kentucky
Lake and Berkley Lake and laying between the lakes area.
And my dad was in a group called the Village
the Village Singers, and they would perform every weekend at
(28:54):
the Kentucky Damn Village.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
Area like a boy band or like with instruments. No,
it was bluegrat it was folks.
Speaker 1 (29:00):
Yeah, they played rocky top and you know, and then
Dad would see Green Green Grass of Home.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
I hate that song too. I can't Arkansas, some sweet
home Alabama, you.
Speaker 3 (29:10):
Know, I can take that song. That's really one of
the cooler entrances. I will go down to tuscle Loos
and watch us get our brains beat down.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
Are you Alabama fan? I am? I have My daughter
is a cheerleader at Alabama.
Speaker 3 (29:21):
Well, I've spent many, many miserable but also really cool
weekends down there. Because you know, they have all the
statues of all the coaches that won national championships and
you know Saban their six or or how you know,
installed all the coaches are.
Speaker 2 (29:35):
There, Bear Bryant.
Speaker 3 (29:36):
Yeah, and then they play Sweet Home Alabama or the entrance.
I hate to say it, but it's pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (29:42):
It's pretty cool, I know.
Speaker 3 (29:44):
Yeah, So, why did your daughter choose Alabama?
Speaker 2 (29:47):
Yeah, it's kind of a crazy story. Matte.
Speaker 1 (29:49):
So I have two my so I have six kids,
three biological, and then we adopted three girls from China.
And so my oldest daughter, the oldest adopted daughter, sho Hannah.
It's kind of a brainiac of smarty pants. And she
was going to go to Duke or Vanderbilt or one
(30:09):
of this. She was looking at at ivy Leaves and
she's like, Arkansas, Yeah, that was right there.
Speaker 2 (30:14):
Tell And she.
Speaker 1 (30:18):
A friend of ours said, who had a daughter similar
very high, I mean my daughter. Okay, Dad Bragg for
a minute, got like a thirty five on the act.
At thirty six is perfect, you know, I got one away.
So it's like, okay, she's probably going to go do
some you know, go somewhere. And she but a good
friend who had a daughter similar to her academically said, man,
(30:40):
I was not Alabama's nowhere on our radar, but they
offered our daughter. They're trying to get her there on
a pole vaulting scholarship. But she went and visited the
Honors College and was blown away and said, I know, Showey,
I know kind of her you know sort of thing,
her intellect and all that and academic leaning. You ought
to go check it out. So we went down.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
They're just she's looking at schools. She's a junior in
high school.
Speaker 1 (31:03):
And went down and we were blown away every every
one of the like, especially the Honors College. They were
really working hard to bring a lot of those kind
of students, sort of the higher you know, academic students
in and so our daughter show he said, I think I'm.
Speaker 2 (31:17):
Gonna go to Alabama.
Speaker 1 (31:18):
And my wife, who's a massive college sports fan, was like, okay,
I'm good with that.
Speaker 2 (31:25):
We can go watch football games.
Speaker 3 (31:27):
But I'm also thinking, you guys aren't Alabama fans right then,
Like you're not, no.
Speaker 2 (31:30):
No, no, no, got it.
Speaker 1 (31:31):
Yeah, she's Ohio from Ohio, so she's kind of a
buck Eye fan.
Speaker 2 (31:35):
I grew up in Kentucky.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
But it's sadly, I'm I'm pretty sports dumb until I
met my wife, in fact, to the degree that the
first year we were married, she looked at me and
started talking about how excited she was for uh, for
March Madness and this guy from Kentucky. And I'm just
confessing here, you probably will never have me on your
(31:58):
show again. I said out of this mouth. Now tell
me again, what's March madness? I'm not really sure and
she looked at me like, is it too late to
anno all this marriage, I've been to a Kentucky guy
who doesn't know what the heck like, what How's that possible?
So that's what she's had to deal with. So we
were not necessarily Alabama fans. We have some good friends,
(32:19):
very dear friends who are massive went to Alabama big fans.
So we've watched some games. I figured I learned who
Nick Saban was. I was shamed when I said who
is that? So I've quickly learned and so Shoey went
loved it.
Speaker 2 (32:33):
Our daughter.
Speaker 1 (32:35):
Her below her Stevie Joy, is an amazing cheerleaders always
she's a gymnast. Wanted a cheer incidentally at Kentucky because
they have like the best cheer program in the nation
and win a lot of you know, championship. They have
a big competition then where they do co ed championship
cheerleading thing in Florida, And she watched it every year.
Speaker 2 (32:57):
On TV and takes notes and like that's where I
want to go.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
And then they had a big blow up fired all
the cheer staff her junior year and so her second
choice was Alabama. It's in a great program too, cheer program.
So she ended up going there, following in her sister steps.
So now we've we're in our sixth year show. He graduated,
got her masters in social work from Alabama, and then
now Stevie Joy's a junior getting ready to cheer at
(33:22):
the Rose Bowl.
Speaker 3 (33:23):
That's pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (33:24):
So we're pretty excited. That's a really watcher. That's really cool.
Speaker 3 (33:27):
Yeah, you have fifty number ones. If I said you
have to name all fifty of them or the earth explodes,
could you name all fifty of them? Oh?
Speaker 2 (33:35):
Man, if the earth, I'll do you.
Speaker 3 (33:38):
The ball players to him like you have to make
nine out of ten three pointers unguarded or the earth explodes,
could you do it?
Speaker 2 (33:43):
Could you name off? I'm not gonna ask you to.
I don't think so, I don't know I might. I've
looked at the list now enough.
Speaker 1 (33:51):
Because I'm doing something on social media where I'm doing
the chorus of all number one songs kind of over
the time, So.
Speaker 2 (33:57):
I've looked over the list. But I would get close.
I think i'd get close.
Speaker 1 (34:02):
I could go through the albums in my head and
I I would. I think I could get forty five,
if not all fifty.
Speaker 3 (34:11):
Looking at the list of people who have had fifty
number ones just anywhere, well, there's like four people. I mean,
it's it's you, It's Madonna was one, Yeah, as I heard, Yeah,
there is another one and George trach oh Man. Yeah,
so all four you should have done a record.
Speaker 2 (34:28):
Some pretty good company. Yeah, is there like a text
threat you guys are well? Yeah? Yeah, Conway noted George
and Madonna.
Speaker 1 (34:37):
Just know boy, that would be yeah, the three we
need to figure out a way to do a trio.
Speaker 2 (34:42):
You know, where did it? What?
Speaker 3 (34:44):
What's up with the kurt the middle name? Why?
Speaker 2 (34:47):
Yeah, Curtis question. Okay, So my best my dad's best friend.
Speaker 1 (34:52):
Funny, we were talking about the opry and talking about
all that my dad grew up with a guy named Jack.
Curtis Martin Jack's dream my dad's dreams guitar player. They
grew up playing music together. Jack was a doughbro player
and slide yeah, slide guitars, use a slide and lay
it like a guitar resonator and uh and and Jack
(35:13):
became doughbro player for uh Flatt and Scrugs and played
on the opry for years. So he made it big time.
So anyway, that's where my meddle name Curtis comes from.
Jack Curtis Martin.
Speaker 2 (35:23):
So it's not your middle name, No, it is my name.
So my name is Chapman.
Speaker 1 (35:29):
So I come to Nashville. I'm Steve Chapman. That's all
I've ever been. I mean, I'm a Paduca boy. You
don't use you know, you use your middle name when
you're in trouble.
Speaker 2 (35:37):
That's it.
Speaker 1 (35:37):
That's why you have a middle name. And if I
heard Stephen Curtis Chapman, that was you know, get in
here right now, Stephen. And so I come to town. Uh
there's a guy, uh songwriter named Steve Chapman and his
wife Annie, and they do music together.
Speaker 2 (35:54):
And Uh.
Speaker 1 (35:55):
In fact, when I was a kid, I had an
album from a group called Dogwood who was comprised of
Steve and Annie Chapman and one other guy. So I
thought it was cool because I had a record with
Steve Chapman's name on it, and they kind of did folk.
It was sort of gospel, but it was kind of
folk music. And so I knew there was another Steve Chapman,
but I thought, I don't even know if he's still
(36:16):
doing this. So I get to town and all of
a sudden, all these people are confusing me because I'm
in gospel Christian music. They're like, is that Steve? Waitmen,
Steve Chapman's married to Annie? Why is he talking about
Mary Beth? Did they get it? You know what happened?
And so literally my record when I first started writing,
my publisher came and said, royalty checks are getting confused,
(36:38):
you know, BM, I didn't know, is this that Steve
or which Steve Chapman? You need to come up with
a different name. And Steve, actually Steve and Annie's son
is Nathan Chapman, who went on to produce Taylor Swift
and is a country music guy, great guy, and I
met him at baggage claim one day when he saw
my bag go by, and he said, so you're the
other Steve Chapman.
Speaker 2 (36:59):
That's not my dad that everybody wonders if.
Speaker 3 (37:01):
I'm your kids are not related at all?
Speaker 2 (37:03):
Uh, not related at all?
Speaker 3 (37:04):
Yeah, I just assumed you were really Yeah, yeah, yeah,
I cousins.
Speaker 2 (37:12):
His dad is yeah, but his dad is Steve.
Speaker 1 (37:15):
And so they literally one day I walk in and
my at the time publisher and I was just starting
to talk about doing a record somewhere down the road.
But I'd been passed by everybody at the time over
as as an artist. I had had some success as
a writer, so people were interested in signing me for
my publishing, but no one was interested in signing me
(37:37):
as a as an artist. And so they said, hey,
if we're going to do this one thing, we'd feel
like you got to do something different with your name
because people are going to get you confused, not know
you're a different guy, and so what do you think
And literally it was like, well, see, can Steven Chapman work.
Speaker 2 (37:54):
I'll just put my you know in on the end
of it.
Speaker 1 (37:56):
And they said no, it's not different though, And I
said well, and they and what's your middle name? I said,
what's Curtis? Curtis Chapman that sounded like an R and
B artist or something didn't feel like me. And I
was like, man, I don't know. They said, well, we'll
just use your whole names Chapman, I won't get confusing,
and and that was kind of it.
Speaker 2 (38:16):
Now, did you feel like regal?
Speaker 3 (38:17):
Because I feel like it I got very weird because
it just your name, saying your name. I just feel
like I'm doing something like an illegal room Stephen Curtis Chapman.
And I've said it forever because I was listening to
you forever.
Speaker 2 (38:30):
But it's three names.
Speaker 1 (38:31):
It's kind of it's kind of it sounds a little pretentious,
and fortunately or unfortunate, I don't know when I was
a kid, and because I was still a kid when
that was all happening, I mean I was twenty one
years old when twenty two when that was being talked about,
and I think I don't even know. I didn't even
know what the word pretentious meant. Probably so it was
just kind of like, well, it's my name. I mean,
(38:52):
I don't know what else to do, you know, Steven C.
Speaker 2 (38:54):
Chapman.
Speaker 1 (38:55):
They're like, nah, it's not in a Michael W. Smith
that's working. But so it's funny. I just yeah, it
felt it felt like a lot. But they were all
for it, and I was, you know, I'm like, well
who am I'd argue with the the you know, the experts.
Speaker 2 (39:10):
You know, they know what they're talking about.
Speaker 3 (39:12):
When you were deciding what you're gonna do with your career,
was it always non secular?
Speaker 2 (39:18):
Secular? You're picking what kind of did you know you
were going to do?
Speaker 3 (39:21):
Christian music? Was that just a big part of your life?
How did you end up choosing that as your selection
of what you were going to do.
Speaker 1 (39:28):
Yeah, it's a good, great question. Is a question my
dad and I talked a lot about because my dad
had such a love.
Speaker 2 (39:33):
For country music. Did you not? I did?
Speaker 3 (39:37):
No.
Speaker 2 (39:37):
I love it. I grew up with it and loved it.
Speaker 1 (39:39):
And you know it's like, like I said, my job
at opry Land. Before opry Land, there was a little
opry Land want to be in Kentucky close to Kentucky
Lake called Kentuck Territory. That was my first music gig
when I was I mean, other than playing music around Paducah,
you know, when I was a kid. But I got
a summer job there before I got the job opry Land.
(40:01):
And uh played music there, same kind of deal again,
it was just way smaller, smaller time kind of a
little part, but it was we played bluegrass and country
music and sang you know all that. So I've always
loved it. I mean the music, the music that influenced
me as a kid. Still my probably favorite singer in
the world is Glenn Campbell.
Speaker 3 (40:22):
I was literally gonna ask you about going kenvill next, yeah,
because I'm market's always such a big gil.
Speaker 2 (40:26):
But it's not a better singer. I'm gonna pin that
to come back to it. Yeah, yeah, I do so
so so yeah, so that's the stuff.
Speaker 1 (40:32):
And then I mean John Denver songs when I was
a kid, Jim Crochey, James Taylor, any of the singer
songwriter guys.
Speaker 2 (40:38):
But then I got into rock and.
Speaker 1 (40:39):
Roll too, and you know, but more like the you know,
Doobie Brothers, Eagles, I love the harmonies. I loved any
group that had cool harmony kind of stuff because I've
always loved that. But still at the at the core, yeah,
it was bluegrass, full music, country music. But but but
Christian music. Growing up singing with my family, and I
think because I think what it was when I think
(41:01):
about it is. You know my dad, My dad loves music.
We'd sit in because he was a guitar teacher. I
remember him sitting and teaching me drift Away the old Adobe,
give me It'll.
Speaker 2 (41:11):
Be boys to free em.
Speaker 1 (41:13):
I soa it had a cool guitar part, and my
dad brought it home teaching it to his students, like, hey,
let me show you this cool guitar thing. So my
dad and I just had that relationship like playing music,
and he'd play whatever he loved, playing campbell. Everything he
loved is what I loved and fell in love with.
But I remember when we as a family started singing
together and my dad wanted to do country music. But
(41:35):
when his life really got changed by faith and a
relationship with Jesus is really what happened for him. It
became more than a religion. It was a real relationship
and it changed his life because he had all this
you know, shame and you know, confusion about with his.
Speaker 2 (41:51):
Dad and stuff.
Speaker 1 (41:52):
And for the first time in his life, you know,
it was like this truth of these songs that he
was singing mint something. You know, he loved Johnny Cash
and Folsom Prison Blues. But he's like I'm not singing
from prison. But when we sang Bill Gaither songs, and
there's a song called He Touched Me that we would
sing as a family, and my dad would just cry
every time he sang it because the song says shackled
(42:13):
by a heavy burden neath a load of guilt and shame.
Then the hand of Jesus touched me. Now I'm no
longer the same he touched me, and that's the that's
the course. And my dad would sing that and he
cry and say, you know, this is like true, this
really is true. This is my life. It changed me.
It gave me something I didn't have, and I think
something in me as a kid even saw that and
(42:35):
connected with that, Like these these words mean something more
than you know, just singing a song she broke my
heart and you know I'm gonna go, you know, go
drink yeah and forget about it. You know, this is
something that goes deeper than that. I love those songs,
love the story songs. And I mean, you know Glenn
Campbell singing which tall I'm in. I mean, it doesn't
get any better. But songs that really had something meant
(42:58):
something personal. So when I started writing songs in high school.
Speaker 2 (43:01):
I started.
Speaker 1 (43:02):
I remember writing my first song. It was I'd seen
another kid at our church write a song, and I thought, well,
I never thought about that I could do that. So
I sat down, had this idea and I wrote a song,
and it was a gospel song. It was written around
a lesson probably i'd heard in you know, youth group
(43:24):
or somewhere Sunday school or something around what's called the
Parable of the Talents about a master calls in his
servants and he's going to go away, and he gives
three servants different amounts of kind of entrust something to them.
One he gives a little bit, the next one he
gives kind of a medium amount, and one he gives
a lot to and says, I'm going to go come back,
(43:46):
do something with this. And you probably know the story
comes back. One of the servants kind of buried, you know,
the little bit he gave him and said, I don't
want to screw this up, and kind of didn't do
anything with it. And then the next one, you know,
had gone and doubled it, and then the one had
gone and whatever, you know, quadrupled what he had been given.
Speaker 2 (44:04):
And so it was called the Parable.
Speaker 1 (44:05):
The talents, and at the end of it, the thing
is kind of the Master says to the one who
who you know, used well what was given to him.
He said, well done, good and faithful servant. And so
my first song was a song called well done. And
as a kid, I was like, you know, if God's
given me talent, then I want to use it in
a way that he would say, hey, you use this
(44:26):
well well done. I didn't really know that much about
what I was doing. I just thought, this is what
I want to write about. It's what was stirring in
my heart. It's what compelled me to write a song,
and so I did that. And that's mainly the kind
of music I wrote. I mean, i'd write a love
song or a whatever.
Speaker 2 (44:45):
You know.
Speaker 1 (44:45):
I was always just creating, but primarily what came out
of me was music about my faith, but in a
real conversational way that the guys that influenced me in
that's a guy named Dallas Holme who was a singer
songwriter kind of in the Christian music world early on.
And he was a guy that when I listened to
(45:06):
his music, I didn't feel like somebody was preaching at
me or telling me how how to live or how
to be. They were just saying this is It was
like it felt like they were just kind of opening
their heart and saying, this is just what this is
what my life is about and what matters most. And
I think that's just what inspired me. And I remember
my dad and I having that very conversation. My dad
came and saw me at the Grand Old Opry another
(45:28):
time after that, and I remember him saying, Son, you
played on the Grand Ole Opry twice. You're getting these opportunities.
You're working at Opera Land. You know, look at Ricky Skaggs.
I remember him specifically saying, Ricky's a strong Christian guy
and talks about his faith, but he sings you know,
country music, and that gives him a big platform. You know,
maybe maybe that's maybe that's what you ought to do,
(45:48):
because you know you're at you know, you've got these opportunities.
And I remember even then saying, Dad, I'm open to it.
I love country music. I love that, But as far
as the music that just most naturally comes out of
me that I write and create, it has some reference
to my faith, even if it's not in an upfront way,
even if it's you know, I mean songs like Cinderella
(46:09):
that have written or I Will be here for my wife.
Some of my most well known songs now aren't even
necessarily what you'd call gospel songs are Christians.
Speaker 3 (46:17):
Meaning if it just came on and somebody to know you,
they wouldn't be able to define it in that genre. Yeah, right,
I would agree.
Speaker 5 (46:24):
The Bobby Cast will be right back. This is the
Bobby Cast.
Speaker 3 (46:37):
Christian artists, for lack of a better term, come to
Nashville to try to make it. Was this the place
that that that group, that genre came as well, I
would say.
Speaker 1 (46:48):
In the early days, it was not necessarily Nashville. In fact,
my first record deal and label is based in California, Chatsworth, California,
West Coast, Sparrow Records, and they were known as kind
of the cool label. I mean they had like, you know,
(47:09):
very more almost alternative and some of these you know
artists that they were working with. So the fact that
they were even interested in me was kind of a
shocker because I represented sort of this hillbilly, you know,
kid from Paducah. But it was a time when you know,
(47:30):
on the heels of urban cowboy. A lot of Californians
were starting to buy cowboy boots, and it was kind
of a cool thing, sort of some of country music
and all that sort of had a little bit of
a it wasn't nearly as hick and you know, it
wasn't country and western. Now it was kind of becoming
a little bit more of a cool thing. And so
I don't know, maybe all of that played into them
(47:50):
at least turning, you know, turning their head to give
me a look. They did pass initially and said now
we're not interested in Some things happened and they kind
of came back around and and you know, wanted to
meet with me. But that was my first, you know,
first label. They eventually moved to Nashville. Her Word Records
(48:10):
was based in Waco, Texas. They eventually moved to Nashville. Benson,
which was my first publishing deal was with Benson and
they were based here. But yeah, I think it was
not necessarily where artists came.
Speaker 3 (48:24):
Whenever you're starting to become you're you've dedicated not just
your life to Christ, but you're dedicated to your career
to Christ as well. Did you have to learn how
to be a better witness? Did you have to learn
how to how to speak, how to because you're not
a preacher, but you do pretty good, especially now you've
(48:45):
been doing it, you know how to do it.
Speaker 2 (48:46):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (48:47):
But if you're just generally playing music and you're having
these conversations with your dad, that means you probably haven't
spent a lot of time witnessing while playing music openly
and loudly. Yeah, or maybe you had in church, like
was there a growth there that you had to go
through so you could be a really well rounded Christian performance?
Speaker 2 (49:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (49:03):
You know, when I first started, it's it's kind of
interesting in that I I really felt ill equipped. I
remember having conversations with my wife because you know, I
started writing songs, got got songs cut by other artists.
First cut was by the Imperials, which I was a
(49:25):
massive Imperials fan. A Rustaff came along, and the Imperials
changed kind of the face of Christian music. They kind
of made the leap from being southern gospel quartet. Guys
who backed up Elvis to you know, Michael Lomarty and
produced them, and this guy who had made Christopher Cross
Records and Donna Summer, you know, these cool pop records
who suddenly brought you know, these guys into this whole
(49:49):
new realm. Like you can do that and sing about
your faith and sing about Jesus. That's that's amazing. My
first concert was Andre Crouch and the Disciples. You know Andre,
you know it's amazing, you know the songs he wrote
and the music he did.
Speaker 2 (50:05):
So I was influenced by all of that.
Speaker 1 (50:10):
And yet when I first started, uh, you know, so
I was writing songs and they were getting recorded by
other people.
Speaker 2 (50:20):
I was I could go back and play.
Speaker 1 (50:21):
In fact, I found an old cassette tape of me
doing some early concerts and it's embarrassing how first of all,
how just hillbilly I am, Like, you could never imagine
that's the same guy. Uh. And even when I was
at opry Land, they did a TV show on the
Nashville Network back when we had the TNN, the Nashville Network,
(50:42):
they did a thing called opry Land on Stage and
it's me and my brother being interviewed on that and
we're singing and I'm talking about Yeah, I kind of
want to hopefully write gospel music.
Speaker 2 (50:50):
That's what I really love probably the most, and write.
Speaker 1 (50:53):
But man, in my country, it's like yeah, I hope
someday I can mike it in gospel music.
Speaker 2 (50:58):
It's it's pretty fun.
Speaker 1 (51:00):
But and when I started, you know, and then I'm
writing songs and and I'll do little things here and
there with my brother.
Speaker 2 (51:09):
And in college, you know, I started.
Speaker 1 (51:12):
Doing doing music and uh, playing concerts and that kind
of thing more and and I just remember thinking, man,
if I'm really going to do this. And then when
suddenly I get the opportunity to start not just writing
songs but recording my own songs and doing concerts, I
remember thinking, I didn't.
Speaker 2 (51:32):
Go to Bible college.
Speaker 1 (51:33):
I mean, I'm not am I even equipped to really
do this to to you know, stand with some degree
of like a like a preacher, like someone would look
to a guy on stage to say, he has some
he's got some direct line here that we don't have.
That's why he's up there so we can listen to
what he has to say, which sadly we all know
(51:54):
that it isn't necessarily the case. Uh you know now
with documentaries and all the exposs and can tell you
that there's actually you know, they're about as broken and
messed up as anybody. But still there is that sense
for me anyway of man, I want I'm taking this
seriously and I don't want to just get up here
and say, well, this is my you know, my opinion.
Speaker 2 (52:15):
If people are going to be looking and listening in a.
Speaker 1 (52:18):
Different way, what I will say with that is the
people again who influenced me the most, The guys that
I was most inspired by were people that I felt like,
much like the the the the original the og you know,
gospel music writer, Christian artist, you might say King David.
(52:40):
In the Psalms, there was a real honesty and there
was a sense that I mean because you can read,
you know, King David saying things like you know, how long,
old Lord are you going to forget me forever? You know,
I feel desperate, I feel alone, I feel afraid, and
then saying, but I will praise you for you know,
these great songs that we write songs around. But the
(53:03):
reality is there was an honesty. I mean the Apostle Paul,
I am weak, but he's strong. And when I'm at
my weakest, that's when his strength, God's strength is greatest
in me. I wrote that song. His strength is perfect.
I mean, those are so my songs I felt like,
and even my position. My posture in front of an
audience was I'm just going to be as honest as
(53:24):
I can be. And it is my relationship with Christ
that has given me life and is what my life
is centered around, my marriage, struggling, good, bad, all of that.
Speaker 2 (53:38):
I'm just going to be really honest.
Speaker 1 (53:39):
So when I got up and saying I will be here,
the reason I got, you know, signed to my to
CIA with John Huey, who was my agent for many
many years. And CIA again was the cool I mean,
they had the big artists. What are they going to
do with this, you know, hillbilly guy. They had Amy Grant,
which she was, as you know, the biggest in gospel
music and beyond. And he heard me sing and I'll
(54:03):
never forget. He still tells the story. He said, you
got up at Knotsbury Farm in California. He was out
there seeing some other artists and this kid with a
mullet gets up and kind of country, kind of pop,
kind of rock and roll. Don't really know what he
is musically, it's good, but he said to you, I'll
never forget. You told the story of your parents who
(54:24):
had just gone through a divorce, and you were just
struggling with the reality of it, and you wrote this
song I Will be Here that you sing for your
wife to say, I don't know what it's going to
feel like tomorrow or ten years from now when I
wake up, and what we feel for each other, but
I've made a commitment. I really want to honor. I
want to go the distance, so I will be here.
This is a song. And he said that that's what
(54:48):
you know connected me. I want to work with that
guy because I feel there's an honesty and yeah, he's
singing about his faith, but he's singing about it in
a way that I think they're ic.
Speaker 5 (54:57):
Let's take a quick pause for a message from our sponsor.
Welcome back to the Bobby Cast.
Speaker 2 (55:11):
Gay, I would always say, I felt like you were
singing to or with not at Yeah. Yeah, there's a
big difference.
Speaker 3 (55:17):
Yeah, especially like I grew up in Baptist Church, and
there is a difference in the music and the communication
from the different people you listen to. I remember whenever
like the nineties happened, like late eighties, nineties, and it
would be Newsboys, Jarza Clay. That's when I first started
(55:38):
to feel like, oh okay, now I can actually feel
like they're saying things I was thinking, and not saying
things to me that I should be thinking. Yeah, exactly,
you know. And I feel like that's kind of what
people discovered in you early on, is you represented a
bit of what they were feeling and saying and not
what they were told they should be feeling or saying. Yeah,
(56:00):
Glenn Campbell to me has been an icon because he
was massive to my grandma, which I'm drawn to your
dad so much, and I guess because my story a
lot like your dad story, but in that he loved
Glenn Campbell. But Glenn Campbell for the record crew, like
he was such a good, great technical player, And I
(56:21):
think that gets lost a lot in from people knowing
Glenn Campbell the country artist or the rocket or the
guy that had the TV show. But he would play.
Speaker 2 (56:31):
He was the great.
Speaker 3 (56:31):
He play on Beach Boy record. So when you say
that your dad loved it, it makes sense because of
who your dad was, And so did you love him
because your dad loved him?
Speaker 2 (56:40):
See who?
Speaker 3 (56:40):
Because that was my grandma to me, she instilled Glen
Campbell to.
Speaker 1 (56:43):
Me really yeah, yeah, that was exactly it. And I
would take the Glenn Campbell live live record, and I
want to say it was live at Royal Albert Hall
or something, and he played a he did for once
in my life, Stevie Wonders song, and he did a
version of it and he plays this jazz guitar solo
(57:05):
in the middle of it, and it was one of
the most mind blowing because my real love as a
kid was guitar first and foremost. My brother was the singer. Incident,
I grew up not the singer. My dad and my
brother were the singers. I had this kind of squeaky
little voice and they had the big voices. And so
I was going to be the best guitar player I
could be and come to Nashville and be a session guitarist.
Speaker 2 (57:26):
That was my dream.
Speaker 1 (57:27):
As a little boy, really, because my dad would tell
me about how great the Nashville musicians were, their best
in the world. Go to Nashville. Those guys can play anything,
and so I thought, well, that's what I want to do.
Because I'm not a singer. I probably couldn't ever be
a singer, but my brother will be, so I'll be
as guitar player. But I would listen to Glenn Campbell
play this solo on anything.
Speaker 4 (57:48):
But for once in my life, I remember that solo he.
Speaker 1 (57:50):
Did on that live record, and I literally would slow
that album down. I had the album and I would
like put my finger on, you know, on it and
slow it down so I could try to.
Speaker 2 (58:00):
Figure out because it was just a.
Speaker 1 (58:04):
Jazz stuff that I had no concept of, and my
dad didn't really play that. So my dad played bluegrass
and played it. Was a great player, but that stuff,
that kind of soloing, even Dad really didn't know.
Speaker 2 (58:15):
So I try to figure it out because he was
in my mind.
Speaker 1 (58:17):
Yeah, he's like he's as good of a guitar player
as he is a singer. Uh and and so he
was as a result, a huge he wrote my.
Speaker 2 (58:25):
So it'd be super cool to work with him. Yeah.
Oh man, guys.
Speaker 1 (58:29):
My first like, like one of my first cuts was
I'd written a song. Imperials had recorded a song, Sandy
Patty had recorded a song of mine. A group called Whiteheart,
which was an early Christian music kind of rock Christian
rock group made up of Dan Huff, who you know
would go on to be obviously amazing record producer and
Dan Huffer. Now he had a band called Giant Giant,
(58:53):
which was yeah, which was a rock band, but Dan
and Dave his brother David Huff was a drummer and
Dan and.
Speaker 2 (58:58):
It was a one word band. I got one word yeah, yeah,
from Whiteheart to Giant.
Speaker 3 (59:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (59:03):
It was the Driver.
Speaker 1 (59:04):
But but those guys and and so I had had
a cut on their records. I'd had some songs cut
by other artists and uh and then UH I heard
about Glenn Campbell being a part of a patriotic album,
so it was a compilation. It's going to be a
bunch of different artists and and uh I wrote a
song called Another Day in America, and Glenn recorded it
(59:26):
and cut it on that record, and I lost my mind.
I'm like to hear Glenn Campbell's voice singing my song.
And then he recorded I Will be Here as well
a few few years later, and uh and I got
to sing back up on that.
Speaker 2 (59:39):
We were never in the studio together.
Speaker 1 (59:40):
Terry Crutchfield was producing it and called me and said, hey,
Glenn's gonna do I will be here and wants you
to come sing background vocals. But he was in Arizona,
I think at the time, and so I just went
in and sang, but oh man, that's yeah. I even
when I say it now, it's like, am I making
that up?
Speaker 2 (59:59):
Is that real? Did Glenn Campbell really sing one of
my songs? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (01:00:02):
I have two final questions for you. Were you a prodigt,
a child prodigy? Were you told that? Are? Do you
know if you were? Are you being humble?
Speaker 2 (01:00:12):
I don't think now, I don't. I mean, I don't
know what.
Speaker 1 (01:00:14):
I don't know how you define prodigy specifically. But I
was the kind of kid that you know, would take
my guitar to school and people go, man, he's you're
really good. But when I watch, you know, now social media,
you watch these kids like sit down and like they're
masters of whatever, and you go, that's a prodigy. I
think I was just a I was a talented kid.
Speaker 2 (01:00:36):
Who just eat, ate, slept, breathed music.
Speaker 1 (01:00:40):
I mean literally, my mom, you know, tells stories of
I would get out of the bathtub our one bathroom,
little one hundred year old farmhouse in Paducah, and I
get out of bathtub and we had these little chairs
at our kitchen table that were like woven, you know,
the weave on the thing that's what the seat was
made of, Like a woven kind of cross road whatever. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
(01:01:03):
and and I would I would get out of the bathtub,
and I wanted my I wanted to play guitar so
bad that I would just go buck naked, sit on
the set at the kitchen tables, me and my brother,
you know, and six years old, play guitar.
Speaker 2 (01:01:18):
You do it now, all right? Video games?
Speaker 1 (01:01:22):
And my mom would say, if you don't play guitar,
put your pants on. And then because I had a
little crossbars on my butt, she could go, yep, you've
been playing the guitar in the dude again.
Speaker 2 (01:01:31):
That's fine. Yeah, but I loved it. I think that
was it. I just love music.
Speaker 3 (01:01:35):
So final question, and we were talking about before we
started this part still and you're doing the tour starting
in February. It was still tour, so it was the
still is like the first studio album in almost ten years.
It's a long time to wait? Yeah, why why did
you wait? And the last one was a lot more bluegrass,
right and my wrong on the I feel right off
(01:01:56):
the timeline.
Speaker 2 (01:01:57):
The one before that was bluegrass.
Speaker 1 (01:01:58):
Yeah, that's one I did my dad say on and yeah,
the one that ended up doing on operay with my dad.
Speaker 2 (01:02:03):
Yeah, it was deeper roots, So why not?
Speaker 1 (01:02:08):
Honestly, I mean I didn't even I didn't know if
I would make another record. I don't have a I
didn't have a record deal, you know, a contract saying hey,
you got to deliver. Music's changed so much the way
people consume music. Do people even make records? You know,
I've talked before, I think when we were together about
my boys in a band called Colony House. My favorite
(01:02:28):
rock band in the world is a shameless plug for
my sons. Make sure you don't edit that out. Check
out Colony House music. Wherever you listen to music that
you love. But there they are freaks. They are freak talents,
both of those guys, and their band is amazing and
the music they play.
Speaker 2 (01:02:46):
So but.
Speaker 1 (01:02:49):
I we talk a lot about do people even make
records anymore? I mean I made albums and you listen
to them. When I had a theme and I had
a it was a movement.
Speaker 2 (01:02:59):
It was like a book.
Speaker 1 (01:03:00):
You know, you don't just get chapter fourteen and read
about you know, the big you know, the big moment
of whatever. You got to take the whole journey. And
that's what I loved about records. I mean, I'd listen
to those records when I was a kid, and you
just you'd take the whole journey and you had the
up you know, the fast songs, slow songs, the crying songs,
you know, all of it.
Speaker 2 (01:03:20):
And and so it's just changed so much.
Speaker 1 (01:03:24):
And the way people listen now, it's like, you know,
it's so quick and attention span is so short, and
you know, so we just want a song, and you know,
by the by the you know, my kids will be like, Dad,
check out this new song, and they'll play thirty seconds
and then it's on to the next thing. And I'm going,
I thought we were going to listen to a song.
I just got the verse, you know, the intro, like
give me a song. So with all of that going on,
(01:03:45):
you know, and a guy who the way I write
songs and all of that, it's like, maybe I'll make
another record. I don't know if if I will, I
think I'll keep making songs. I mean when the pandemic hit,
you know, I turned the TV on, I see everybody's
talking about we can do this together. And so I
write a song called Together, and I call Brad Paisley
(01:04:06):
and you know, I just had met and I'm like,
would you do something with me and get Lauren Elena
and get Tasha Cobbs and we do this song together
and put it on you know, streaming, and it's like, hey,
you can do that now. I couldn't have done that,
you know twenty years ago. You have to go press
it and wait a year and all that. So take
advantage of that. But do I do an album? So
(01:04:29):
all of that is kind of, you know, part of
the reason why I just wasn't sure I love I
can't ever imagine today when I, you know, put my
guitar in the case and go, well, I'm not going
to do you know, I'm retired, I'm done. I love
music more now probably than I ever have. But I
think it was one of those things where between the
pandemic and all that changed and all that that that
(01:04:53):
took away music for a season and we didn't really
know if it was coming back. Would I ever get
to get in front of an audience. I mean, we
thought we will, but man, the more time that went on,
it's like, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (01:05:03):
I think I fell in.
Speaker 1 (01:05:04):
Love with music again in a way, and singing songs
for people and watching their reaction and what happens in
a live concert.
Speaker 2 (01:05:13):
I just awakened something in me.
Speaker 1 (01:05:16):
I lost a very dear friend, keyboard player for many
years of mine, who died at sixty my age.
Speaker 2 (01:05:25):
That hit me hard.
Speaker 1 (01:05:27):
We lost a brother in law, my wife's sister's husband,
Glei O blastoma of brain cancer's brain tumors wasn't COVID related,
but lost lost him five or six months. I'd never
walked with somebody who looked in my eyes and said, man,
I don't want to die, but I think I'm probably
gonna die. I know God could heal me, but I
don't think he's going too. And and every song I
(01:05:50):
was writing, I'm like, can I sing this song to
him right now? I mean, it's one thing to sing about,
and you know your faith and God is good, you know,
and all the things that this's got to really it's
got to be real. It's got to stand up, you know,
in this. And obviously you know our story. We lost
our daughter fifteen years ago and horrible you know journey
(01:06:13):
that we've walked of grief and loss and we.
Speaker 2 (01:06:16):
Carry that with us.
Speaker 1 (01:06:17):
And what that looks like for me now at fifteen
years later, and the fact that I'm still married by
the grace of God. My kids are all still alive
and doing well, which is only the grace of God.
All those things are things that I could only write
songs about now. You know, I wrote songs about it
(01:06:39):
five years you know, in or whatever. But now, fifteen
years later, walking through some of the things I have,
I felt like there's some things that I needed to
say and I wanted to say that I can only
say now, and I kind of had to push all
the voices that said, well.
Speaker 2 (01:06:52):
But people may not care.
Speaker 1 (01:06:54):
You know, you're not Stephen gers Chapman of you know,
of the Great Adventure Days or the you know, Dive
Days or whatever, and is it going to matter? And
it's like, what matters who ever might listen, And it
matters to me to say these things.
Speaker 2 (01:07:08):
So I feel like I need to do it.
Speaker 1 (01:07:10):
Then that's that's kind of was the the the reason
it took that long. I guess it's a pretty good reason. Yeah,
pretty good reason, felt Phil.
Speaker 2 (01:07:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:07:18):
Uh, you know we mentioned the tour before, but sixteen
cities the still tour of February.
Speaker 2 (01:07:23):
Tickets are on cell Now. I'm a big fan. I
tell you that.
Speaker 3 (01:07:26):
Or time I see you and you're like you don't
tell me that every time, Like, no, I know every time,
I'm going to lead with that. I'm a big fan.
I've been a big fan forever. I'm thanks for coming over.
I you know, I was listing a lot of your accolades.
I'm not gonna do that in front of you here
before you came into and it's man, it's a lot.
It's like it's an honor. Yeah, and not even just
because of what you've accomplished, but because you know what
you've helped other people accomplish, because I think that's a
(01:07:49):
big part of who you are as well.
Speaker 2 (01:07:51):
Yeah, So thank you. That's all. Just thanks.
Speaker 3 (01:07:54):
And you know, I've never I'll never say go roll
tide or anything. But you know, I hope I hope
you're not. I hope your daughter daughter day cheering, good,
yes and healthy. And it's very.
Speaker 2 (01:08:04):
Kind of you. See you're just we're talking about a
kind guy.
Speaker 3 (01:08:07):
I get no kind All right, good to see you,
Thank
Speaker 5 (01:08:10):
You, Thanks for listening to a Bobby Cast production.
I walked out on the stage and Roy introduced me.
I sang the first line, he stop loving her today,
and then I went completely blank.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
I couldn't remember the words.
Speaker 3 (00:15):
No.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
It freaked me out so much because I'm on the
Grand Ole Opry and I look at the audience and
my dad and my mom, and I'm like, and I
couldn't remember the words.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Episode four point thirty Stephen Curtis Chapman. There are some
episodes that I do and I get excited about him,
and this is one of them. But there are something
that I get excited about, and then I get excited
to tell certain people that I have done it. And
I called my in laws. I was like, you'll never
guess who was just over my house. Big fans, huge fans.
Even my wife's a big fans, Like she knows all
(00:46):
she knows all the songs.
Speaker 4 (00:47):
Like she was like, oh, you know what record? I
like them.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
Because she didn't come down. It's not her favorite thing
to do, but I think she would have had.
Speaker 4 (00:53):
I told her.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
And it's on the calendar, but she's like my calendar
every day, but like, yeah, she was just reciting songs.
This even Curtis Chapman and then the who is the
other one that she freaked out cauld She's saying all
the hymns at.
Speaker 4 (01:06):
Church, Chris Tomlin, Chris Tomlin.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
So when she was growing up, my wife, they would
have like on road trips, they would get picked like
one album to listen to, and woul always have to
be a Christian album. So she has vacations associated with
complete albums from Christian artists because it's all they would
listen to on the road, which is funny, and it
was purposely done, not the Christian part of it. I
mean that that too, But I'm saying I think her
(01:31):
parents had the idea of they want certain albums, certain
artists to remind them of certain places, which is pretty smart.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
Ye.
Speaker 4 (01:37):
So, but she's a fan. My in laws are massive fans.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
They they'll be like a big country star over and
I'm like, who's that again, what's he do? Is he
one of those Georgia line But then I said Stephen
Curtis Chapman and they were like, oh my gosh, crazy.
So he's such a nice guy. I'm lucky to know
him a little bit from playing the Grand Ole Opry
with him. Never on this at the same exact time,
but the same night, he celebrated fifty career number one
(02:02):
songs at radio this spring, joining people like George Strake,
Madonna Conway twitty fifty number one songs. He's only one
of those four to be a writer on every single
one of their fifty songs, though he wrote all of his.
So we're talking about that. He's celebrating all this by
playing clips of each song on social media, throwback footage
and a scripture from his pastor around every song. So
(02:24):
you guys go follow Stephen Curtis Chapman at Stephen Curtis Chapman.
Speaker 4 (02:28):
But it's like he's a superstar.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
I mean, the dude.
Speaker 4 (02:31):
He's also so nice and not fake nice.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
Sometimes we get fake.
Speaker 4 (02:36):
Nice people and that's okay, I don't care.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
Maybe you're just having a bad day, you're not feeling good,
and you're just trying to put out a fakeness a
niceness to get through.
Speaker 4 (02:43):
But like this dude's like I've never seen him not
be like kind and just aware. Yeah, how'd you feel
about him? I thought he was awesome.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
His whole story of like playing the operating, that whole
full circle moment amazing, and his dad yeah, Yeah, run
through a couple songs. Yeah, let's do three, two one,
top five, our top three streaming songs, Number three, dive,
number two, I Will be here, and number one. This
(03:18):
one's a monster Cinderella So Cinerella Wow. Stephen Curtis Chapman
the most awarded artist in Christian music history fifty nine
double Awards, five Grammys, an Ama fifty number one singles
has sold out more than seventeen sold on seventy minute albums.
(03:38):
God dang, I mean, gosh dang, ooh that's crazy. Here
he is, And I don't know the manin Law's listen
to every episode. If you are listening right now, just
text me like I'm hearing you talk about it to
my lass. Here he is, Steven Curtis Chapman, mister Stephen
Curtis Chapman, thank you for being here. I'm I've told
(03:59):
you many I'm a massive fan of yours. And also,
I just like you, and that's not always the case
with a lot of people. Sometimes you meet them and
they're fine, or you know, it's everybody doesn't have to
like everybody. But you're just a good dude. You've always
been super nice to me, so I was super excited
when they said you were going to come over.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
So I just want to say that up front, thank you,
thanks for having me.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
Seriously, what have you always been like outwardly, purposefully kind?
Or was there ever a time where you had some
sort of perspective change where all of a sudden it
wasn't so much about you that ever happened with you.
I feel like mine has recently happened. But yeah, I
only know the version of you being super kind? Have
(04:40):
you always been like that?
Speaker 2 (04:43):
I would first of all thank you.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
I mean, it's humbling and kind of a hard question
to answer because immediately.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
You're like a super compliment thing.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
Yes, well you know, I think let me tell you
about let me let me tell you how proud I
am of my humility.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
But it's funny when you ask that. I Ah.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
I read a book recently called Love Kindness, and it's
a book about kindness, and it really it was probably
on the best books I've read in a long time, and.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
And I was so into it. I told the author.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
How much I love this book, and they asked me,
would you we're going to re release it as paperback,
would you write a forward?
Speaker 2 (05:26):
And so in the forward.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
I was wow, like, you got to write a forward
of a book you loved?
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Yeah, how cool was that?
Speaker 3 (05:31):
That's like at the Hunger Games called me that would
be crazy, Like that's wild.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
Okay, go ahead, So now yeah, Bobby right the four.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
So I wrote the But but in the process I
was thinking about just kindness and what, you know, the
power of it. It's funny shirt and just you know,
how important and yet how kind of needed it is.
(06:02):
Now it feels like kindness is not the thing that
is the order of the day so much. And I
started to remember in a time when I was a kid,
when so my mom and dad I grew up and
of course obviously grew up around the church and buckle
the Bible belt in Kentucky. And when I was a
little kid, my dad was more interested. He was chasing
(06:24):
the music dream. Wanted to be on the Grand Ole
Opery some day. It was a country music writer, had
some not real success, but but tried. And we come
from Kentucky to Tennessee. But and my mom took me
and my brother to church pretty regularly on Sunday morning.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
But my dad really didn't go. It wasn't against it.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
He just wasn't wasn't his thing, and wasn't that interesting
after he'd grown up in the church and all, but
just as an adult. But we had a revival back
in the day. They called it a layman's revival, which
was basically meant they didn't have an evangelist a preacher.
They just had people get up and tell their story.
And they came from other towns and they would come
(07:02):
up and they needed hosts, homes, people to stay in homes,
so they didn't put them up in hotels or anything.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
Of course, I'm in Paduca, Kentucky. I don't even think
we had a.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
Hotel, and we somehow, and this, honestly was kind of
a miracle when I look back, I think it was
just God worked this out because my mom convinced my
dad to let one of these guys stay in her home,
and he was a he was a dentist, I remember
his name was doctor Findley Baird, and he stayed in
her home for like four or five nights, which was
(07:32):
unusual anyway. It was kind of freaking me out that
that was not a typical thing for my dad to
have somebody stay in our home. And he when he left,
I remember there was like he left like three bucks
on my pillow and my brother's pillow with a little
note and just said thank you guys for taking such
good care of me and being so friendly to me.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
And it was and when I look back, it's funny.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
That happened when I was probably six years seven years old,
and it really changed the trajectory in my family. It's
probably why I do what I do now, the music
I do and all of that, because my dad really
was marked by that, was changed by his kindness in
our family.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
We got your dad too, huh yeah. Yeah. And it
wasn't just it wasn't because he didn't preach at us.
He didn't.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
He was just kind and it was that that I
think won my dad over more than anything.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
And for me too.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
I just still remember doctor Findley Baird as this. He
was just he had kind eyes. He was just a
very kind guy. And it made such an impact in
my family. And maybe, you know, I was so young
then kind of marked by that. I don't know how
much of a difference that made in the way I
would react to people and respond to people. I think
that's sort of in your For some people, it's a
(08:45):
little more in their DNA. They just respond that way.
My mom's very kind. My dad is as well, but
especially my mom, and so you're kind of around it
and that's just how people relate to one another.
Speaker 3 (08:58):
But yeah, anyway, I would assume that if it affected whoever,
your caregiver is your dad in that situation, so it
affects you, but then it also affects you because it
affects your dad. Whatever it is. It doesn't have to
even be this like if you were to see a
parent be genuinely moved or affected by something, you know
what that would probably do to you that you don't
even really understand at the time. That would be a
(09:19):
big deal for me is getting married. And I don't
think I ever was not nice, just I was kind
of like an animal. I didn't do stuff to be mean.
I was just trying to eat, just running through the woods, surviving.
It's something need to help, I'd help it if you know.
But my wife, I remember when she we were briefly
(09:41):
talking about the pandemic before we went recorded here and
she she was coming here. We'd been dating for a
few months before the pandemic hit, and it was one
of those things because the pandemic was gonna last a week,
and so she was just gonna come stay for a.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
Week, I remember, in a week.
Speaker 3 (09:56):
And she is from Oklahoma, but she had just moved
out to California, and so California was going bonkers earlier,
earlier than everybody else. So she was like, come here.
And I remember I was taking around Nashville a little
bit and she came back to the house and she says,
I need to go to the store, and was all right, cool,
so we go and everything's not completely shut down yet,
but she buys like all this soap and these bags,
(10:17):
and I remember her filling up all these bags of
like bars of soap and an orange and like two
or three dollars, and she just wanted to drive around
and make sure that a lot of the homeless people
here had these little bags, because she just was like,
I don't we don't know what's about to happen. And
it was out of nowhere, I remembers, out of nowhere.
(10:38):
And that just having her in that constant, that consistent,
it's not even effort, it feels like from her sometimes
it feels like it has to be effort for me,
because again, I'm an animal. And for me, it took
a long time for that to kind of happen. But
I do feel a difference because of her and just
how she reacts to the world. Even when I talk
(11:01):
to you, You've just always been the nicest guy and nice,
not in the way of like fake nice, just like
you look at people like you invest even if it's
forty five seconds, and invest into like what's up? And
that's a lot. Yeah, Paduca, I've been through a few times.
I always associate Paduca with random town in America. When
(11:22):
I go to my random town, it's Paduca always, really always,
that's to me, that is random. It's the most representative
generic town of kind of the South, but kind of
the Southeast, not the South. Always my reference is Paduca, Kentucky.
So what was what was Paduca like as a kid
(11:42):
for you? You know what resources were there?
Speaker 2 (11:44):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (11:45):
Well, you know, my favorite thing about Paduca is it
it is geographically halfway between possum trot and monkey's eyebrow.
Of course everybody knows that.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
That's the best thing. I had a T shirt when
I was a kid.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
It was like it said it said that I come
from halfway between possum drop unkeys there.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
I'd give anything to still have that T shirt.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
In fact, I just nowadays you can just go online
and like custom make a T shirt. I need to
I need to make that that shirt again. But uh
so Paducah, Yeah, what was uh?
Speaker 2 (12:18):
What was it like? Or like just guess what do
you remember?
Speaker 1 (12:22):
What?
Speaker 3 (12:22):
What are the vivid memories of home of the town?
Speaker 1 (12:26):
Yeah, well it was. It's a river town. It's right
on the river, and uh, the Tennessee River. Actually, the
Tennessee and the Ohio River kind of run what do
they call it a when when two rivers kind of
run together that they're they're literally both at the We
call it the foot of Broadways. If you drive Broadway
(12:47):
all the way through Paducah, you're gonna run right into
the river. You gotta eventually turn around and come back.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
Like fish a lot. Yeah, so I did.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
I grew up fishing and drip and we had a
in I think it was nineteen, it was like forty seven.
The flood of forty seven or something is always talked
about in paduca There was a major flood that completely
flooded the downtown.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
So they built this big floodwall.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
So when you get to Broadway, which now we have
a really cool it's called the Carson Center, which is
really nice kind of symphony hall. We have a Paduca Symphony.
I've done a concert with a Paduca Symphony, so I
know from experience they're actually really good. A lot of
the players come from Nashville, but there's some from Paducah.
But but so I remember the floodwall. I remember hearing
(13:31):
the stories of the flood, always kind of being a
little nervous about that, as you know, can that happen again?
But no, that's why we built the floodwall. But I remember,
I mean, my best memories. We had the Columbia Theater,
which I keep thinking I need to go back and
figure out a way to We've even talked about trying
to revive it and bring it back around because it's
you know, defunct now, but it's still there. It's one
(13:52):
of the old school, beautiful inside, real ornate kind of
old school theaters.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
Did you go to shows there? Yeah, yeah, yeah, we went.
It was it was you know, it was movies.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
I mean, I remember us where I first saw my
first movie when I was a kid, and of course
saw Star Wars there and saw Gone with the wind.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
I think it might have been the first movie I
saw it.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
What's how how typical is that? That's a pretty cliche,
but that's but that was it. But it was my grandmother,
my dad's mom would take my brother and I uh
to Finkles was the store, and that's where we would
go and get our new Converse tennis shoes. Whenever we
(14:34):
wore out our tennis shoes, we would always go there.
It was kind of an everything store, but they had
because this was of course before there were walmarts and
targets and all that business. So it was the department store,
I guess, and and my grandmother would take me and
my brother and we'd get pick out our new Converse
Chuck Taylor's, and take off running down the street because
it was like, look how fast we can go now
because we've got new shoes. You know, you could go
(14:55):
even that much faster, and just you know, obviously great
great memories. My dad played music a lot of my
memories around my church, little Baptist church, all at Baptist
Church where we sang and kind of grew up singing
together as a family. But we played, you know, we'd
play music around town. My brother and me became kind
(15:17):
of a little duo Chapman Brothers, and we'd play at
the Western Baptist Women's Hospital Auxiliary Christmas program.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
We were always a big lot of west is just.
Speaker 3 (15:26):
Even say I'm tired halfway through Western Baptist.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
Blah blah blah.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
But but yeah, so a lot of music and fishing.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
Yeah. I grew up fishing. My dad is uh.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
It was my favorite thing, really, is fishing. We hunted
a little bit. We had we had at the time.
We had quail, so I had wild quail. They're they're
all moved out now pretty much, but he can't find
them around this part of the country. But we could hunt.
We'd walk out our back door with our four ten shotgun.
We always had hunting dog. My dad grew up loving hunting.
(15:59):
We didn't do a lot of it, but bird hunting
a little bit, and I had two ponds close to
my house.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
I grew up basically just fishing pretty much every day.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
If I didn't have a guitar in my hands, I
usually had a fishing pullman.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
When did you start playing guitar? Did your dad have
a music store?
Speaker 2 (16:12):
He does still still, Okay, so when.
Speaker 3 (16:14):
Did you start playing guitar or do you remember or
do you just always.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
Have I remember pretty distinctly because I was. My dad
owned a music store. He started it when I was
probably about five years old. He worked for the railroad
in Illinois Central Railroad, because that's kind of my family.
All of my my family on my grandmother's side, my
dad's mom's side, were all railroad people, and we had
(16:37):
a big train depot, Illinois Central in Paducah, and so
my dad worked there. Hurt his back ended up like
lifting something and had back surgery rupture disc and he
had always his dream though it had always been to
have a little music store and be a guitar teacher.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
He loved music.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
Barely finished high school, got his ged, didn't go to school,
didn't go to college, neither did my mom.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
He just he had a radio show.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
Actually, incidentally, when he was about sixteen in eastern Kentucky,
he went to Eastern Kentucky to live with some family.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
He didn't hit his dad.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
My grandfather on my dad's side died when my dad
was a real little left when my dad was three, alcoholic,
went a wall from the navy. Just kind of a
bad just had a lot of struggles and never made
it home. Met my dad met him twice. In the
playground of his elementary school. Some homeless guy kind of
wandered up to the door and the teacher said, Hey, Herb,
(17:39):
there's a man that wants to see you. And of
course all the kids are laughing, like who's that mom
at the door, And my dad walks the door and
he says, hey, Herb, I'm your dad. I'm Virgil. And
of course, you know, I'm trying to get my hec together.
I really want to be a good dad, but I'm
kind of a mess right now.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
All this stuff just things.
Speaker 1 (17:59):
That really, you know, my dad had a lot of
obviously struggled a lot with that and and so and
my grandmother never remarried, so my dad grew up kind
of without a dad in his life. So when he
got into high school, he went to Eastern Kentucky playing
music and wanted to uh and had a little radio show.
And back in the day, you know, you you kind
(18:22):
of played records, but you also played.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
A lot live.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
It was back in those days when he took his
guitar in and he'd play whatever the current Hank Williams
songs were and all that and then they'd play a record,
spin a record or two, you know.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
So it's so cool.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
I wish I would give anything to have some recordings
of that, you know, my dad, but but he came
back to came back to Paducah, married my mom my
almost sixteen, and they got married, and he started working
at the railroad.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
Hurt his back, but he always wanted to be on
a music store.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
He started writing song, came to Nashville, had a little
publishing deal for a while with some guys the Glacier
Brothers who guys here in Nashville know their names from
back in the day, and never had any real success,
but kind of dabbled in it and played and had
had some real interest.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
He's a very very talented guy.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
And some actually some of Colonel Tom Parker's people, of course.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
You know, we all know Colonel Tom from you.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
Know, Elvis days, some of his people had some interest
in My dad courted him a little bit, but it
never turned in anything, so he kind of rushed up
against it, but finally settled down into this music store,
Chapman Music in Mayfield, Kentucky, and which is just outside
of Paducah, which was the town that got destroyed by
(19:37):
the tornadoes a few years ago. Everybody heard about Mayfolk,
Kentucky because it basically got leveled. That's where my dad's
music store started. I was a kid, I'd go hang
out in his music store with him. Always loved just
being around music, around guitars. So I was six years old,
my dad brought a guitar home for my older brother.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
And because I.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
Was my brother was probably eight eight and a half,
my dad thought, yeah, he's old enough to start maybe playing.
But I was the one really interested, even though it
was only six. So my dad set me down, saw
how much I wanted to learn, and uh, and first
song he taught me was Fols from Prison Blues Johnny Cash.
So I'm six year old kid, just top of my
lungs singing about shooting man in a reno.
Speaker 3 (20:18):
That's funny. So was your dad a like a What's
classic now? Was a country music fan?
Speaker 1 (20:23):
Big fan? Yeah, he would go to the Opry. Uh
when he'd come to Nashville. I love this story because
it's such a fun story, the whole, the whole wrap around.
He would come to Nashville from Paducah, bring his guitar,
come try to make, you know, going down music road
and you know, pedal his songs and had a few
meetings here and there, and he he told me that
(20:45):
he used to go to the rhymen back in the day.
That was when the Opry was there, was before the
Opry House was built. He'd go to the Rhyman. He
couldn't buy a ticket, he couldn't afford a ticket, but
that back in the day they didn't have air conditioned yet,
and in the summer they'd open the windows. And he said,
I'd sit in my car, roll the window down, and
I'd listened to the Opry and think, someday I want
to be on that stage.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
That's my dream.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
Because he you know, and he loved he'd listened to
it on WSM when I.
Speaker 2 (21:08):
Was a kid.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
If the weather was just right. You're two hours away
from Paducah. You could get you could pick up WSM
and you could hear the Opry. And I remember being
in the car my dad would it is crack, you know,
it's all this static and all of a sudden you'd
hear you know, well you make right with Martha White,
you know, you'd hear one of the little commercials. And
Dad goes, hey, that's it. That's the Opry. Hey, yo,
(21:30):
everybody hush, you know, listen, that's the Opry. And you know,
it was just this reverence of man, that's music, that's
where it comes from. And so fast forward. Gosh, you know,
I'm gonna say, forty forty fifty years I do a
bluegrass record, which I've always wanted to do because that's
the music. My dad really grew up bluegrass and folk
(21:51):
music and all that. And and I was releasing my
bluegrass record called Deeper Roots and Ricky, Ricky, come do
something with me on it, and my dad sang on
it with me and my brother. We did a bunch
of old stuff we grew up with. And I called
dad and I said, hey, I want you to come
to Nashville. I'm gonna I'm gonna debut my new record,
(22:12):
and I want you to come perform with me. So
he walked out on the stage of the Grand Ole
Opry and he was eighty I think he was like
eighty years old, seventy seventy nine, and walked out and
we sang together, me and my dad on the stage
of the Grand Ole Opry.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
So he made it, you know, that's awesome. Isn't that
a great story?
Speaker 3 (22:29):
What a great thing to be able to ask him too? Yeah,
Like I want you to come and do this with me. Yeah,
we can do this together, something you've always wanted to do.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
That is such a cool story.
Speaker 5 (22:40):
Yeah, hang tight, The Bobby Cast will be right back. Wow,
and we're back on the Bobby Cast.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
You remember the first time we played the opry Yeah
I do. Yeah. I was nineteen years old.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
I worked at opry Land, USA, which was an old
It was an amusement park that was here forever.
Speaker 2 (23:07):
I don't even know you probably.
Speaker 3 (23:08):
I wasn't remember, no, but I knew about it, and
I know a lot about it now.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
So I graduated high school nineteen eighty one in Paducah.
It was on my way to to I was going
to go be a dentist. I don't don't ask me
why my dad, I.
Speaker 3 (23:23):
Can tell you why you met a nice dentist in
your house? I left you three dollars. That's right there,
you go.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
You're probably I've never even thought about that. It's like,
why did I think dentist? Probably that guy because my dad,
Plus my dad told me it was really hard to
make a living feet of family playing a guitar because
he had done it for like four years. He said,
he said, go get a real job, go get an education.
Dabbling music, you're great, You're talented, but man, so few
guys can make a living doing it. So so I
was like, all right, so I'll do the right thing,
(23:49):
you know.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
So I was off.
Speaker 1 (23:50):
I was going to go to college and major in
whatever pre mad pre dentistry I guess, I don't even know.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
But but the.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
Summer before I went to college graduate high school, my brother,
older brother, and I came to Nashville and auditioned at
opry Land to try to get a summer.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
Job, you know, and playing music, playing music in one
of the shows. Made it.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
Got got in one of the shows called Country Music USA.
Country Music USA. You dress up like the artists, you know, uh.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
Porter Wagner, I remember I did. Porter Wagner. Wore the
suit or.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
The suit and walk out and you do the suit
which was donated. It was an actual one of Porter's
suits that he donated. And I'd come out and do
George Jones he stopped loving her today and I come
out and do you know, and flatten scrugs and you know,
you dressed up, put the hat on, came out and
did a chorus of the song. It was just a
you know, it was a variety show basically, and did
that for the summer, and I got a phone call
(24:44):
one day that uh they said, hey, would you come
do the Grandell Opry. Uh you want to sing on
the Opry? I was like, like the Opry just on
the stage. I'm like, yeah, it's a strict question. And
they said, well, we bring kids from the park every
now and then and we call it the Future Stars
of Country Music or whatever, and we just bring, you know,
some of the kids from the park and it's kind
(25:05):
of a promo to send people to go out in
the park and buy tickets and and so, uh, they said, come,
you know, we want you to You've been invited to
come play the Opry.
Speaker 2 (25:16):
I was nineteen.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
I told call my dad, of course, who at this point,
I was like, Dad, guess what I'm going to see
on a grande ole Opry.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
So he came, my mom, my grandmother, my brother.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
Uh, it was sitting out there and Roy Acuff introduced
me and I walked out on the stage and uh,
and my big song in the show kind of my
big moment in the show in the Park was the
announcer would say the incomparable George Jones, and I'd sing,
he stop loving her today, and do the course of
he's loving her today. So I walked out on the
(25:46):
stage and Roy introduced me, and uh, I sang the
first line he stopped loving her today, and then I
went completely blank.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
I couldn't remember the words no.
Speaker 1 (25:55):
It freaked me out so much because I'm on the
Grand Ole Opry and I look at the audience and
my dad and my mom. I'm like, and i couldn't
remember the words true story. And I'm like, Okay, this
is bad.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
I'm on the.
Speaker 1 (26:07):
Grand Ole Opry, my dad, every face and Roy is
standing there, and so it seemed like about two hours.
It was probably about, you know, twenty seconds. But I'm like,
and the band keeps playing, and I could hear the
band behind me going they placed a reef up on
his door.
Speaker 2 (26:24):
They're trying to get me the words.
Speaker 3 (26:26):
You know.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
Everybody's like just dying for me. And so I suddenly
get the words back and I'm like, hey, f laster
wreath's door, finish the song, get done, and crowds you know,
super sweet, like, oh, we loved it. Roy walks over.
This is a true story. He said, he's like ninety
at this time. He's very you know, he's late in
(26:47):
his years already. And he said, well, Steve, sounds like
you forgot the words there for a minute, you know,
not gonna let it go.
Speaker 2 (26:54):
I'm like, thank you, and I am not kidding.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
The first thing that came to mind, which is terrible,
and I feel bad. This is not a kind thing
to do. This, This will show the real you know,
the other side of Stephen Chris Shabban. The first thing
that came to mind is this is when George was
no show Jones and that's what they called him. He
would come on stage, sing a song, fall off stage
and they you know, it's terrible. And the first thing
(27:17):
came to mind is I just said, well, Roy, no,
I didn't forget the words.
Speaker 2 (27:21):
I just wanted to sing it like George does it
these days.
Speaker 3 (27:23):
Funny, that's funny. I don't think it's not kind.
Speaker 2 (27:25):
I think it's pretty funny. It was pretty and the
crowd thought it was hilarious.
Speaker 1 (27:29):
And I walked off stage and Roy looked at me
and he said, well, Son, I don't know about your voice.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
I don't know about your music. I don't know.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
But if you can pull that off at this age
in front of that crowd, I think you just might
make it in this business.
Speaker 3 (27:41):
So when you finished that show, and again, I've had
situations too where I just blank for whatever reason, did.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
You have a lack of confidence?
Speaker 3 (27:51):
Ordered was your ability to recover so good that you
felt you could then do anything because you had already
done it bad and got yourself out of it.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
I think that was I think that was probably more
than anything, because I remember my dad coming back and
I thought my dad. I knew he wouldn't be disappointed,
and he's been my biggest fan, but I just felt
I felt bad and Dad. My dad was like, you
know what, Elvis forgot the word son, But what you
did with that, that's awesome. You just you you won
the crowd and that's that's a performer. That's what an
(28:19):
entertainer can do. And you got that in you. So
way to go?
Speaker 3 (28:22):
You know, did your dad do you get to see
him perform like openly in places like where you would
go and just sit and be in awe of your dad.
Speaker 2 (28:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:31):
When I was a kid, he was in a group.
They were called the Village Singers, and and uh he
I'd go watch him perform. That's my earliest memories really
are watching my dad play. We had a little Kentucky
village Kentucky dam which is in Kentucky. There's there's Kentucky
Lake and Berkley Lake and laying between the lakes area.
And my dad was in a group called the Village
the Village Singers, and they would perform every weekend at
(28:54):
the Kentucky Damn Village.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
Area like a boy band or like with instruments. No,
it was bluegrat it was folks.
Speaker 1 (29:00):
Yeah, they played rocky top and you know, and then
Dad would see Green Green Grass of Home.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
I hate that song too. I can't Arkansas, some sweet
home Alabama, you.
Speaker 3 (29:10):
Know, I can take that song. That's really one of
the cooler entrances. I will go down to tuscle Loos
and watch us get our brains beat down.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
Are you Alabama fan? I am? I have My daughter
is a cheerleader at Alabama.
Speaker 3 (29:21):
Well, I've spent many, many miserable but also really cool
weekends down there. Because you know, they have all the
statues of all the coaches that won national championships and
you know Saban their six or or how you know,
installed all the coaches are.
Speaker 2 (29:35):
There, Bear Bryant.
Speaker 3 (29:36):
Yeah, and then they play Sweet Home Alabama or the entrance.
I hate to say it, but it's pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (29:42):
It's pretty cool, I know.
Speaker 3 (29:44):
Yeah, So, why did your daughter choose Alabama?
Speaker 2 (29:47):
Yeah, it's kind of a crazy story. Matte.
Speaker 1 (29:49):
So I have two my so I have six kids,
three biological, and then we adopted three girls from China.
And so my oldest daughter, the oldest adopted daughter, sho Hannah.
It's kind of a brainiac of smarty pants. And she
was going to go to Duke or Vanderbilt or one
(30:09):
of this. She was looking at at ivy Leaves and
she's like, Arkansas, Yeah, that was right there.
Speaker 2 (30:14):
Tell And she.
Speaker 1 (30:18):
A friend of ours said, who had a daughter similar
very high, I mean my daughter. Okay, Dad Bragg for
a minute, got like a thirty five on the act.
At thirty six is perfect, you know, I got one away.
So it's like, okay, she's probably going to go do
some you know, go somewhere. And she but a good
friend who had a daughter similar to her academically said, man,
(30:40):
I was not Alabama's nowhere on our radar, but they
offered our daughter. They're trying to get her there on
a pole vaulting scholarship. But she went and visited the
Honors College and was blown away and said, I know, Showey,
I know kind of her you know sort of thing,
her intellect and all that and academic leaning. You ought
to go check it out. So we went down.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
They're just she's looking at schools. She's a junior in
high school.
Speaker 1 (31:03):
And went down and we were blown away every every
one of the like, especially the Honors College. They were
really working hard to bring a lot of those kind
of students, sort of the higher you know, academic students
in and so our daughter show he said, I think I'm.
Speaker 2 (31:17):
Gonna go to Alabama.
Speaker 1 (31:18):
And my wife, who's a massive college sports fan, was like, okay,
I'm good with that.
Speaker 2 (31:25):
We can go watch football games.
Speaker 3 (31:27):
But I'm also thinking, you guys aren't Alabama fans right then,
Like you're not, no.
Speaker 2 (31:30):
No, no, no, got it.
Speaker 1 (31:31):
Yeah, she's Ohio from Ohio, so she's kind of a
buck Eye fan.
Speaker 2 (31:35):
I grew up in Kentucky.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
But it's sadly, I'm I'm pretty sports dumb until I
met my wife, in fact, to the degree that the
first year we were married, she looked at me and
started talking about how excited she was for uh, for
March Madness and this guy from Kentucky. And I'm just
confessing here, you probably will never have me on your
(31:58):
show again. I said out of this mouth. Now tell
me again, what's March madness? I'm not really sure and
she looked at me like, is it too late to
anno all this marriage, I've been to a Kentucky guy
who doesn't know what the heck like, what How's that possible?
So that's what she's had to deal with. So we
were not necessarily Alabama fans. We have some good friends,
(32:19):
very dear friends who are massive went to Alabama big fans.
So we've watched some games. I figured I learned who
Nick Saban was. I was shamed when I said who
is that? So I've quickly learned and so Shoey went
loved it.
Speaker 2 (32:33):
Our daughter.
Speaker 1 (32:35):
Her below her Stevie Joy, is an amazing cheerleaders always
she's a gymnast. Wanted a cheer incidentally at Kentucky because
they have like the best cheer program in the nation
and win a lot of you know, championship. They have
a big competition then where they do co ed championship
cheerleading thing in Florida, And she watched it every year.
Speaker 2 (32:57):
On TV and takes notes and like that's where I
want to go.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
And then they had a big blow up fired all
the cheer staff her junior year and so her second
choice was Alabama. It's in a great program too, cheer program.
So she ended up going there, following in her sister steps.
So now we've we're in our sixth year show. He graduated,
got her masters in social work from Alabama, and then
now Stevie Joy's a junior getting ready to cheer at
(33:22):
the Rose Bowl.
Speaker 3 (33:23):
That's pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (33:24):
So we're pretty excited. That's a really watcher. That's really cool.
Speaker 3 (33:27):
Yeah, you have fifty number ones. If I said you
have to name all fifty of them or the earth explodes,
could you name all fifty of them? Oh?
Speaker 2 (33:35):
Man, if the earth, I'll do you.
Speaker 3 (33:38):
The ball players to him like you have to make
nine out of ten three pointers unguarded or the earth explodes,
could you do it?
Speaker 2 (33:43):
Could you name off? I'm not gonna ask you to.
I don't think so, I don't know I might. I've
looked at the list now enough.
Speaker 1 (33:51):
Because I'm doing something on social media where I'm doing
the chorus of all number one songs kind of over
the time, So.
Speaker 2 (33:57):
I've looked over the list. But I would get close.
I think i'd get close.
Speaker 1 (34:02):
I could go through the albums in my head and
I I would. I think I could get forty five,
if not all fifty.
Speaker 3 (34:11):
Looking at the list of people who have had fifty
number ones just anywhere, well, there's like four people. I mean,
it's it's you, It's Madonna was one, Yeah, as I heard, Yeah,
there is another one and George trach oh Man. Yeah,
so all four you should have done a record.
Speaker 2 (34:28):
Some pretty good company. Yeah, is there like a text
threat you guys are well? Yeah? Yeah, Conway noted George
and Madonna.
Speaker 1 (34:37):
Just know boy, that would be yeah, the three we
need to figure out a way to do a trio.
Speaker 2 (34:42):
You know, where did it? What?
Speaker 3 (34:44):
What's up with the kurt the middle name? Why?
Speaker 2 (34:47):
Yeah, Curtis question. Okay, So my best my dad's best friend.
Speaker 1 (34:52):
Funny, we were talking about the opry and talking about
all that my dad grew up with a guy named Jack.
Curtis Martin Jack's dream my dad's dreams guitar player. They
grew up playing music together. Jack was a doughbro player
and slide yeah, slide guitars, use a slide and lay
it like a guitar resonator and uh and and Jack
(35:13):
became doughbro player for uh Flatt and Scrugs and played
on the opry for years. So he made it big time.
So anyway, that's where my meddle name Curtis comes from.
Jack Curtis Martin.
Speaker 2 (35:23):
So it's not your middle name, No, it is my name.
So my name is Chapman.
Speaker 1 (35:29):
So I come to Nashville. I'm Steve Chapman. That's all
I've ever been. I mean, I'm a Paduca boy. You
don't use you know, you use your middle name when
you're in trouble.
Speaker 2 (35:37):
That's it.
Speaker 1 (35:37):
That's why you have a middle name. And if I
heard Stephen Curtis Chapman, that was you know, get in
here right now, Stephen. And so I come to town. Uh
there's a guy, uh songwriter named Steve Chapman and his
wife Annie, and they do music together.
Speaker 2 (35:54):
And Uh.
Speaker 1 (35:55):
In fact, when I was a kid, I had an
album from a group called Dogwood who was comprised of
Steve and Annie Chapman and one other guy. So I
thought it was cool because I had a record with
Steve Chapman's name on it, and they kind of did folk.
It was sort of gospel, but it was kind of
folk music. And so I knew there was another Steve Chapman,
but I thought, I don't even know if he's still
(36:16):
doing this. So I get to town and all of
a sudden, all these people are confusing me because I'm
in gospel Christian music. They're like, is that Steve? Waitmen,
Steve Chapman's married to Annie? Why is he talking about
Mary Beth? Did they get it? You know what happened?
And so literally my record when I first started writing,
my publisher came and said, royalty checks are getting confused,
(36:38):
you know, BM, I didn't know, is this that Steve
or which Steve Chapman? You need to come up with
a different name. And Steve, actually Steve and Annie's son
is Nathan Chapman, who went on to produce Taylor Swift
and is a country music guy, great guy, and I
met him at baggage claim one day when he saw
my bag go by, and he said, so you're the
other Steve Chapman.
Speaker 2 (36:59):
That's not my dad that everybody wonders if.
Speaker 3 (37:01):
I'm your kids are not related at all?
Speaker 2 (37:03):
Uh, not related at all?
Speaker 3 (37:04):
Yeah, I just assumed you were really Yeah, yeah, yeah,
I cousins.
Speaker 2 (37:12):
His dad is yeah, but his dad is Steve.
Speaker 1 (37:15):
And so they literally one day I walk in and
my at the time publisher and I was just starting
to talk about doing a record somewhere down the road.
But I'd been passed by everybody at the time over
as as an artist. I had had some success as
a writer, so people were interested in signing me for
my publishing, but no one was interested in signing me
(37:37):
as a as an artist. And so they said, hey,
if we're going to do this one thing, we'd feel
like you got to do something different with your name
because people are going to get you confused, not know
you're a different guy, and so what do you think
And literally it was like, well, see, can Steven Chapman work.
Speaker 2 (37:54):
I'll just put my you know in on the end
of it.
Speaker 1 (37:56):
And they said no, it's not different though, And I
said well, and they and what's your middle name? I said,
what's Curtis? Curtis Chapman that sounded like an R and
B artist or something didn't feel like me. And I
was like, man, I don't know. They said, well, we'll
just use your whole names Chapman, I won't get confusing,
and and that was kind of it.
Speaker 2 (38:16):
Now, did you feel like regal?
Speaker 3 (38:17):
Because I feel like it I got very weird because
it just your name, saying your name. I just feel
like I'm doing something like an illegal room Stephen Curtis Chapman.
And I've said it forever because I was listening to
you forever.
Speaker 2 (38:30):
But it's three names.
Speaker 1 (38:31):
It's kind of it's kind of it sounds a little pretentious,
and fortunately or unfortunate, I don't know when I was
a kid, and because I was still a kid when
that was all happening, I mean I was twenty one
years old when twenty two when that was being talked about,
and I think I don't even know. I didn't even
know what the word pretentious meant. Probably so it was
just kind of like, well, it's my name. I mean,
(38:52):
I don't know what else to do, you know, Steven C.
Speaker 2 (38:54):
Chapman.
Speaker 1 (38:55):
They're like, nah, it's not in a Michael W. Smith
that's working. But so it's funny. I just yeah, it
felt it felt like a lot. But they were all
for it, and I was, you know, I'm like, well
who am I'd argue with the the you know, the experts.
Speaker 2 (39:10):
You know, they know what they're talking about.
Speaker 3 (39:12):
When you were deciding what you're gonna do with your career,
was it always non secular?
Speaker 2 (39:18):
Secular? You're picking what kind of did you know you
were going to do?
Speaker 3 (39:21):
Christian music? Was that just a big part of your life?
How did you end up choosing that as your selection
of what you were going to do.
Speaker 1 (39:28):
Yeah, it's a good, great question. Is a question my
dad and I talked a lot about because my dad
had such a love.
Speaker 2 (39:33):
For country music. Did you not? I did?
Speaker 3 (39:37):
No.
Speaker 2 (39:37):
I love it. I grew up with it and loved it.
Speaker 1 (39:39):
And you know it's like, like I said, my job
at opry Land. Before opry Land, there was a little
opry Land want to be in Kentucky close to Kentucky
Lake called Kentuck Territory. That was my first music gig
when I was I mean, other than playing music around Paducah,
you know, when I was a kid. But I got
a summer job there before I got the job opry Land.
(40:01):
And uh played music there, same kind of deal again,
it was just way smaller, smaller time kind of a
little part, but it was we played bluegrass and country
music and sang you know all that. So I've always
loved it. I mean the music, the music that influenced
me as a kid. Still my probably favorite singer in
the world is Glenn Campbell.
Speaker 3 (40:22):
I was literally gonna ask you about going kenvill next, yeah,
because I'm market's always such a big gil.
Speaker 2 (40:26):
But it's not a better singer. I'm gonna pin that
to come back to it. Yeah, yeah, I do so
so so yeah, so that's the stuff.
Speaker 1 (40:32):
And then I mean John Denver songs when I was
a kid, Jim Crochey, James Taylor, any of the singer
songwriter guys.
Speaker 2 (40:38):
But then I got into rock and.
Speaker 1 (40:39):
Roll too, and you know, but more like the you know,
Doobie Brothers, Eagles, I love the harmonies. I loved any
group that had cool harmony kind of stuff because I've
always loved that. But still at the at the core, yeah,
it was bluegrass, full music, country music. But but but
Christian music. Growing up singing with my family, and I
think because I think what it was when I think
(41:01):
about it is. You know my dad, My dad loves music.
We'd sit in because he was a guitar teacher. I
remember him sitting and teaching me drift Away the old Adobe,
give me It'll.
Speaker 2 (41:11):
Be boys to free em.
Speaker 1 (41:13):
I soa it had a cool guitar part, and my
dad brought it home teaching it to his students, like, hey,
let me show you this cool guitar thing. So my
dad and I just had that relationship like playing music,
and he'd play whatever he loved, playing campbell. Everything he
loved is what I loved and fell in love with.
But I remember when we as a family started singing
together and my dad wanted to do country music. But
(41:35):
when his life really got changed by faith and a
relationship with Jesus is really what happened for him. It
became more than a religion. It was a real relationship
and it changed his life because he had all this
you know, shame and you know, confusion about with his.
Speaker 2 (41:51):
Dad and stuff.
Speaker 1 (41:52):
And for the first time in his life, you know,
it was like this truth of these songs that he
was singing mint something. You know, he loved Johnny Cash
and Folsom Prison Blues. But he's like I'm not singing
from prison. But when we sang Bill Gaither songs, and
there's a song called He Touched Me that we would
sing as a family, and my dad would just cry
every time he sang it because the song says shackled
(42:13):
by a heavy burden neath a load of guilt and shame.
Then the hand of Jesus touched me. Now I'm no
longer the same he touched me, and that's the that's
the course. And my dad would sing that and he
cry and say, you know, this is like true, this
really is true. This is my life. It changed me.
It gave me something I didn't have, and I think
something in me as a kid even saw that and
(42:35):
connected with that, Like these these words mean something more
than you know, just singing a song she broke my
heart and you know I'm gonna go, you know, go
drink yeah and forget about it. You know, this is
something that goes deeper than that. I love those songs,
love the story songs. And I mean, you know Glenn
Campbell singing which tall I'm in. I mean, it doesn't
get any better. But songs that really had something meant
(42:58):
something personal. So when I started writing songs in high school.
Speaker 2 (43:01):
I started.
Speaker 1 (43:02):
I remember writing my first song. It was I'd seen
another kid at our church write a song, and I thought, well,
I never thought about that I could do that. So
I sat down, had this idea and I wrote a song,
and it was a gospel song. It was written around
a lesson probably i'd heard in you know, youth group
(43:24):
or somewhere Sunday school or something around what's called the
Parable of the Talents about a master calls in his
servants and he's going to go away, and he gives
three servants different amounts of kind of entrust something to them.
One he gives a little bit, the next one he
gives kind of a medium amount, and one he gives
a lot to and says, I'm going to go come back,
(43:46):
do something with this. And you probably know the story
comes back. One of the servants kind of buried, you know,
the little bit he gave him and said, I don't
want to screw this up, and kind of didn't do
anything with it. And then the next one, you know,
had gone and doubled it, and then the one had
gone and whatever, you know, quadrupled what he had been given.
Speaker 2 (44:04):
And so it was called the Parable.
Speaker 1 (44:05):
The talents, and at the end of it, the thing
is kind of the Master says to the one who
who you know, used well what was given to him.
He said, well done, good and faithful servant. And so
my first song was a song called well done. And
as a kid, I was like, you know, if God's
given me talent, then I want to use it in
a way that he would say, hey, you use this
(44:26):
well well done. I didn't really know that much about
what I was doing. I just thought, this is what
I want to write about. It's what was stirring in
my heart. It's what compelled me to write a song,
and so I did that. And that's mainly the kind
of music I wrote. I mean, i'd write a love
song or a whatever.
Speaker 2 (44:45):
You know.
Speaker 1 (44:45):
I was always just creating, but primarily what came out
of me was music about my faith, but in a
real conversational way that the guys that influenced me in
that's a guy named Dallas Holme who was a singer
songwriter kind of in the Christian music world early on.
And he was a guy that when I listened to
(45:06):
his music, I didn't feel like somebody was preaching at
me or telling me how how to live or how
to be. They were just saying this is It was
like it felt like they were just kind of opening
their heart and saying, this is just what this is
what my life is about and what matters most. And
I think that's just what inspired me. And I remember
my dad and I having that very conversation. My dad
came and saw me at the Grand Old Opry another
(45:28):
time after that, and I remember him saying, Son, you
played on the Grand Ole Opry twice. You're getting these opportunities.
You're working at Opera Land. You know, look at Ricky Skaggs.
I remember him specifically saying, Ricky's a strong Christian guy
and talks about his faith, but he sings you know,
country music, and that gives him a big platform. You know,
maybe maybe that's maybe that's what you ought to do,
(45:48):
because you know you're at you know, you've got these opportunities.
And I remember even then saying, Dad, I'm open to it.
I love country music. I love that, But as far
as the music that just most naturally comes out of
me that I write and create, it has some reference
to my faith, even if it's not in an upfront way,
even if it's you know, I mean songs like Cinderella
(46:09):
that have written or I Will be here for my wife.
Some of my most well known songs now aren't even
necessarily what you'd call gospel songs are Christians.
Speaker 3 (46:17):
Meaning if it just came on and somebody to know you,
they wouldn't be able to define it in that genre. Yeah, right,
I would agree.
Speaker 5 (46:24):
The Bobby Cast will be right back. This is the
Bobby Cast.
Speaker 3 (46:37):
Christian artists, for lack of a better term, come to
Nashville to try to make it. Was this the place
that that that group, that genre came as well, I
would say.
Speaker 1 (46:48):
In the early days, it was not necessarily Nashville. In fact,
my first record deal and label is based in California, Chatsworth, California,
West Coast, Sparrow Records, and they were known as kind
of the cool label. I mean they had like, you know,
(47:09):
very more almost alternative and some of these you know
artists that they were working with. So the fact that
they were even interested in me was kind of a
shocker because I represented sort of this hillbilly, you know,
kid from Paducah. But it was a time when you know,
(47:30):
on the heels of urban cowboy. A lot of Californians
were starting to buy cowboy boots, and it was kind
of a cool thing, sort of some of country music
and all that sort of had a little bit of
a it wasn't nearly as hick and you know, it
wasn't country and western. Now it was kind of becoming
a little bit more of a cool thing. And so
I don't know, maybe all of that played into them
(47:50):
at least turning, you know, turning their head to give
me a look. They did pass initially and said now
we're not interested in Some things happened and they kind
of came back around and and you know, wanted to
meet with me. But that was my first, you know,
first label. They eventually moved to Nashville. Her Word Records
(48:10):
was based in Waco, Texas. They eventually moved to Nashville. Benson,
which was my first publishing deal was with Benson and
they were based here. But yeah, I think it was
not necessarily where artists came.
Speaker 3 (48:24):
Whenever you're starting to become you're you've dedicated not just
your life to Christ, but you're dedicated to your career
to Christ as well. Did you have to learn how
to be a better witness? Did you have to learn
how to how to speak, how to because you're not
a preacher, but you do pretty good, especially now you've
(48:45):
been doing it, you know how to do it.
Speaker 2 (48:46):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (48:47):
But if you're just generally playing music and you're having
these conversations with your dad, that means you probably haven't
spent a lot of time witnessing while playing music openly
and loudly. Yeah, or maybe you had in church, like
was there a growth there that you had to go
through so you could be a really well rounded Christian performance?
Speaker 2 (49:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (49:03):
You know, when I first started, it's it's kind of
interesting in that I I really felt ill equipped. I
remember having conversations with my wife because you know, I
started writing songs, got got songs cut by other artists.
First cut was by the Imperials, which I was a
(49:25):
massive Imperials fan. A Rustaff came along, and the Imperials
changed kind of the face of Christian music. They kind
of made the leap from being southern gospel quartet. Guys
who backed up Elvis to you know, Michael Lomarty and
produced them, and this guy who had made Christopher Cross
Records and Donna Summer, you know, these cool pop records
who suddenly brought you know, these guys into this whole
(49:49):
new realm. Like you can do that and sing about
your faith and sing about Jesus. That's that's amazing. My
first concert was Andre Crouch and the Disciples. You know Andre,
you know it's amazing, you know the songs he wrote
and the music he did.
Speaker 2 (50:05):
So I was influenced by all of that.
Speaker 1 (50:10):
And yet when I first started, uh, you know, so
I was writing songs and they were getting recorded by
other people.
Speaker 2 (50:20):
I was I could go back and play.
Speaker 1 (50:21):
In fact, I found an old cassette tape of me
doing some early concerts and it's embarrassing how first of all,
how just hillbilly I am, Like, you could never imagine
that's the same guy. Uh. And even when I was
at opry Land, they did a TV show on the
Nashville Network back when we had the TNN, the Nashville Network,
(50:42):
they did a thing called opry Land on Stage and
it's me and my brother being interviewed on that and
we're singing and I'm talking about Yeah, I kind of
want to hopefully write gospel music.
Speaker 2 (50:50):
That's what I really love probably the most, and write.
Speaker 1 (50:53):
But man, in my country, it's like yeah, I hope
someday I can mike it in gospel music.
Speaker 2 (50:58):
It's it's pretty fun.
Speaker 1 (51:00):
But and when I started, you know, and then I'm
writing songs and and I'll do little things here and
there with my brother.
Speaker 2 (51:09):
And in college, you know, I started.
Speaker 1 (51:12):
Doing doing music and uh, playing concerts and that kind
of thing more and and I just remember thinking, man,
if I'm really going to do this. And then when
suddenly I get the opportunity to start not just writing
songs but recording my own songs and doing concerts, I
remember thinking, I didn't.
Speaker 2 (51:32):
Go to Bible college.
Speaker 1 (51:33):
I mean, I'm not am I even equipped to really
do this to to you know, stand with some degree
of like a like a preacher, like someone would look
to a guy on stage to say, he has some
he's got some direct line here that we don't have.
That's why he's up there so we can listen to
what he has to say, which sadly we all know
(51:54):
that it isn't necessarily the case. Uh you know now
with documentaries and all the exposs and can tell you
that there's actually you know, they're about as broken and
messed up as anybody. But still there is that sense
for me anyway of man, I want I'm taking this
seriously and I don't want to just get up here
and say, well, this is my you know, my opinion.
Speaker 2 (52:15):
If people are going to be looking and listening in a.
Speaker 1 (52:18):
Different way, what I will say with that is the
people again who influenced me the most, The guys that
I was most inspired by were people that I felt like,
much like the the the the original the og you know,
gospel music writer, Christian artist, you might say King David.
(52:40):
In the Psalms, there was a real honesty and there
was a sense that I mean because you can read,
you know, King David saying things like you know, how long,
old Lord are you going to forget me forever? You know,
I feel desperate, I feel alone, I feel afraid, and
then saying, but I will praise you for you know,
these great songs that we write songs around. But the
(53:03):
reality is there was an honesty. I mean the Apostle Paul,
I am weak, but he's strong. And when I'm at
my weakest, that's when his strength, God's strength is greatest
in me. I wrote that song. His strength is perfect.
I mean, those are so my songs I felt like,
and even my position. My posture in front of an
audience was I'm just going to be as honest as
(53:24):
I can be. And it is my relationship with Christ
that has given me life and is what my life
is centered around, my marriage, struggling, good, bad, all of that.
Speaker 2 (53:38):
I'm just going to be really honest.
Speaker 1 (53:39):
So when I got up and saying I will be here,
the reason I got, you know, signed to my to
CIA with John Huey, who was my agent for many
many years. And CIA again was the cool I mean,
they had the big artists. What are they going to
do with this, you know, hillbilly guy. They had Amy Grant,
which she was, as you know, the biggest in gospel
music and beyond. And he heard me sing and I'll
(54:03):
never forget. He still tells the story. He said, you
got up at Knotsbury Farm in California. He was out
there seeing some other artists and this kid with a
mullet gets up and kind of country, kind of pop,
kind of rock and roll. Don't really know what he
is musically, it's good, but he said to you, I'll
never forget. You told the story of your parents who
(54:24):
had just gone through a divorce, and you were just
struggling with the reality of it, and you wrote this
song I Will be Here that you sing for your
wife to say, I don't know what it's going to
feel like tomorrow or ten years from now when I
wake up, and what we feel for each other, but
I've made a commitment. I really want to honor. I
want to go the distance, so I will be here.
This is a song. And he said that that's what
(54:48):
you know connected me. I want to work with that
guy because I feel there's an honesty and yeah, he's
singing about his faith, but he's singing about it in
a way that I think they're ic.
Speaker 5 (54:57):
Let's take a quick pause for a message from our sponsor.
Welcome back to the Bobby Cast.
Speaker 2 (55:11):
Gay, I would always say, I felt like you were
singing to or with not at Yeah. Yeah, there's a
big difference.
Speaker 3 (55:17):
Yeah, especially like I grew up in Baptist Church, and
there is a difference in the music and the communication
from the different people you listen to. I remember whenever
like the nineties happened, like late eighties, nineties, and it
would be Newsboys, Jarza Clay. That's when I first started
(55:38):
to feel like, oh okay, now I can actually feel
like they're saying things I was thinking, and not saying
things to me that I should be thinking. Yeah, exactly,
you know. And I feel like that's kind of what
people discovered in you early on, is you represented a
bit of what they were feeling and saying and not
what they were told they should be feeling or saying. Yeah,
(56:00):
Glenn Campbell to me has been an icon because he
was massive to my grandma, which I'm drawn to your
dad so much, and I guess because my story a
lot like your dad story, but in that he loved
Glenn Campbell. But Glenn Campbell for the record crew, like
he was such a good, great technical player, And I
(56:21):
think that gets lost a lot in from people knowing
Glenn Campbell the country artist or the rocket or the
guy that had the TV show. But he would play.
Speaker 2 (56:31):
He was the great.
Speaker 3 (56:31):
He play on Beach Boy record. So when you say
that your dad loved it, it makes sense because of
who your dad was, And so did you love him
because your dad loved him?
Speaker 2 (56:40):
See who?
Speaker 3 (56:40):
Because that was my grandma to me, she instilled Glen
Campbell to.
Speaker 1 (56:43):
Me really yeah, yeah, that was exactly it. And I
would take the Glenn Campbell live live record, and I
want to say it was live at Royal Albert Hall
or something, and he played a he did for once
in my life, Stevie Wonders song, and he did a
version of it and he plays this jazz guitar solo
(57:05):
in the middle of it, and it was one of
the most mind blowing because my real love as a
kid was guitar first and foremost. My brother was the singer. Incident,
I grew up not the singer. My dad and my
brother were the singers. I had this kind of squeaky
little voice and they had the big voices. And so
I was going to be the best guitar player I
could be and come to Nashville and be a session guitarist.
Speaker 2 (57:26):
That was my dream.
Speaker 1 (57:27):
As a little boy, really, because my dad would tell
me about how great the Nashville musicians were, their best
in the world. Go to Nashville. Those guys can play anything,
and so I thought, well, that's what I want to do.
Because I'm not a singer. I probably couldn't ever be
a singer, but my brother will be, so I'll be
as guitar player. But I would listen to Glenn Campbell
play this solo on anything.
Speaker 4 (57:48):
But for once in my life, I remember that solo he.
Speaker 1 (57:50):
Did on that live record, and I literally would slow
that album down. I had the album and I would
like put my finger on, you know, on it and
slow it down so I could try to.
Speaker 2 (58:00):
Figure out because it was just a.
Speaker 1 (58:04):
Jazz stuff that I had no concept of, and my
dad didn't really play that. So my dad played bluegrass
and played it. Was a great player, but that stuff,
that kind of soloing, even Dad really didn't know.
Speaker 2 (58:15):
So I try to figure it out because he was
in my mind.
Speaker 1 (58:17):
Yeah, he's like he's as good of a guitar player
as he is a singer. Uh and and so he
was as a result, a huge he wrote my.
Speaker 2 (58:25):
So it'd be super cool to work with him. Yeah.
Oh man, guys.
Speaker 1 (58:29):
My first like, like one of my first cuts was
I'd written a song. Imperials had recorded a song, Sandy
Patty had recorded a song of mine. A group called Whiteheart,
which was an early Christian music kind of rock Christian
rock group made up of Dan Huff, who you know
would go on to be obviously amazing record producer and
Dan Huffer. Now he had a band called Giant Giant,
(58:53):
which was yeah, which was a rock band, but Dan
and Dave his brother David Huff was a drummer and
Dan and.
Speaker 2 (58:58):
It was a one word band. I got one word yeah, yeah,
from Whiteheart to Giant.
Speaker 3 (59:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (59:03):
It was the Driver.
Speaker 1 (59:04):
But but those guys and and so I had had
a cut on their records. I'd had some songs cut
by other artists and uh and then UH I heard
about Glenn Campbell being a part of a patriotic album,
so it was a compilation. It's going to be a
bunch of different artists and and uh I wrote a
song called Another Day in America, and Glenn recorded it
(59:26):
and cut it on that record, and I lost my mind.
I'm like to hear Glenn Campbell's voice singing my song.
And then he recorded I Will be Here as well
a few few years later, and uh and I got
to sing back up on that.
Speaker 2 (59:39):
We were never in the studio together.
Speaker 1 (59:40):
Terry Crutchfield was producing it and called me and said, hey,
Glenn's gonna do I will be here and wants you
to come sing background vocals. But he was in Arizona,
I think at the time, and so I just went
in and sang, but oh man, that's yeah. I even
when I say it now, it's like, am I making
that up?
Speaker 2 (59:59):
Is that real? Did Glenn Campbell really sing one of
my songs? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (01:00:02):
I have two final questions for you. Were you a prodigt,
a child prodigy? Were you told that? Are? Do you
know if you were? Are you being humble?
Speaker 2 (01:00:12):
I don't think now, I don't. I mean, I don't
know what.
Speaker 1 (01:00:14):
I don't know how you define prodigy specifically. But I
was the kind of kid that you know, would take
my guitar to school and people go, man, he's you're
really good. But when I watch, you know, now social media,
you watch these kids like sit down and like they're
masters of whatever, and you go, that's a prodigy. I
think I was just a I was a talented kid.
Speaker 2 (01:00:36):
Who just eat, ate, slept, breathed music.
Speaker 1 (01:00:40):
I mean literally, my mom, you know, tells stories of
I would get out of the bathtub our one bathroom,
little one hundred year old farmhouse in Paducah, and I
get out of bathtub and we had these little chairs
at our kitchen table that were like woven, you know,
the weave on the thing that's what the seat was
made of, Like a woven kind of cross road whatever. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
(01:01:03):
and and I would I would get out of the bathtub,
and I wanted my I wanted to play guitar so
bad that I would just go buck naked, sit on
the set at the kitchen tables, me and my brother,
you know, and six years old, play guitar.
Speaker 2 (01:01:18):
You do it now, all right? Video games?
Speaker 1 (01:01:22):
And my mom would say, if you don't play guitar,
put your pants on. And then because I had a
little crossbars on my butt, she could go, yep, you've
been playing the guitar in the dude again.
Speaker 2 (01:01:31):
That's fine. Yeah, but I loved it. I think that
was it. I just love music.
Speaker 3 (01:01:35):
So final question, and we were talking about before we
started this part still and you're doing the tour starting
in February. It was still tour, so it was the
still is like the first studio album in almost ten years.
It's a long time to wait? Yeah, why why did
you wait? And the last one was a lot more bluegrass,
right and my wrong on the I feel right off
(01:01:56):
the timeline.
Speaker 2 (01:01:57):
The one before that was bluegrass.
Speaker 1 (01:01:58):
Yeah, that's one I did my dad say on and yeah,
the one that ended up doing on operay with my dad.
Speaker 2 (01:02:03):
Yeah, it was deeper roots, So why not?
Speaker 1 (01:02:08):
Honestly, I mean I didn't even I didn't know if
I would make another record. I don't have a I
didn't have a record deal, you know, a contract saying hey,
you got to deliver. Music's changed so much the way
people consume music. Do people even make records? You know,
I've talked before, I think when we were together about
my boys in a band called Colony House. My favorite
(01:02:28):
rock band in the world is a shameless plug for
my sons. Make sure you don't edit that out. Check
out Colony House music. Wherever you listen to music that
you love. But there they are freaks. They are freak talents,
both of those guys, and their band is amazing and
the music they play.
Speaker 2 (01:02:46):
So but.
Speaker 1 (01:02:49):
I we talk a lot about do people even make
records anymore? I mean I made albums and you listen
to them. When I had a theme and I had
a it was a movement.
Speaker 2 (01:02:59):
It was like a book.
Speaker 1 (01:03:00):
You know, you don't just get chapter fourteen and read
about you know, the big you know, the big moment
of whatever. You got to take the whole journey. And
that's what I loved about records. I mean, I'd listen
to those records when I was a kid, and you
just you'd take the whole journey and you had the
up you know, the fast songs, slow songs, the crying songs,
you know, all of it.
Speaker 2 (01:03:20):
And and so it's just changed so much.
Speaker 1 (01:03:24):
And the way people listen now, it's like, you know,
it's so quick and attention span is so short, and
you know, so we just want a song, and you know,
by the by the you know, my kids will be like, Dad,
check out this new song, and they'll play thirty seconds
and then it's on to the next thing. And I'm going,
I thought we were going to listen to a song.
I just got the verse, you know, the intro, like
give me a song. So with all of that going on,
(01:03:45):
you know, and a guy who the way I write
songs and all of that, it's like, maybe I'll make
another record. I don't know if if I will, I
think I'll keep making songs. I mean when the pandemic hit,
you know, I turned the TV on, I see everybody's
talking about we can do this together. And so I
write a song called Together, and I call Brad Paisley
(01:04:06):
and you know, I just had met and I'm like,
would you do something with me and get Lauren Elena
and get Tasha Cobbs and we do this song together
and put it on you know, streaming, and it's like, hey,
you can do that now. I couldn't have done that,
you know twenty years ago. You have to go press
it and wait a year and all that. So take
advantage of that. But do I do an album? So
(01:04:29):
all of that is kind of, you know, part of
the reason why I just wasn't sure I love I
can't ever imagine today when I, you know, put my
guitar in the case and go, well, I'm not going
to do you know, I'm retired, I'm done. I love
music more now probably than I ever have. But I
think it was one of those things where between the
pandemic and all that changed and all that that that
(01:04:53):
took away music for a season and we didn't really
know if it was coming back. Would I ever get
to get in front of an audience. I mean, we
thought we will, but man, the more time that went on,
it's like, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (01:05:03):
I think I fell in.
Speaker 1 (01:05:04):
Love with music again in a way, and singing songs
for people and watching their reaction and what happens in
a live concert.
Speaker 2 (01:05:13):
I just awakened something in me.
Speaker 1 (01:05:16):
I lost a very dear friend, keyboard player for many
years of mine, who died at sixty my age.
Speaker 2 (01:05:25):
That hit me hard.
Speaker 1 (01:05:27):
We lost a brother in law, my wife's sister's husband,
Glei O blastoma of brain cancer's brain tumors wasn't COVID related,
but lost lost him five or six months. I'd never
walked with somebody who looked in my eyes and said, man,
I don't want to die, but I think I'm probably
gonna die. I know God could heal me, but I
don't think he's going too. And and every song I
(01:05:50):
was writing, I'm like, can I sing this song to
him right now? I mean, it's one thing to sing about,
and you know your faith and God is good, you know,
and all the things that this's got to really it's
got to be real. It's got to stand up, you know,
in this. And obviously you know our story. We lost
our daughter fifteen years ago and horrible you know journey
(01:06:13):
that we've walked of grief and loss and we.
Speaker 2 (01:06:16):
Carry that with us.
Speaker 1 (01:06:17):
And what that looks like for me now at fifteen
years later, and the fact that I'm still married by
the grace of God. My kids are all still alive
and doing well, which is only the grace of God.
All those things are things that I could only write
songs about now. You know, I wrote songs about it
(01:06:39):
five years you know, in or whatever. But now, fifteen
years later, walking through some of the things I have,
I felt like there's some things that I needed to
say and I wanted to say that I can only
say now, and I kind of had to push all
the voices that said, well.
Speaker 2 (01:06:52):
But people may not care.
Speaker 1 (01:06:54):
You know, you're not Stephen gers Chapman of you know,
of the Great Adventure Days or the you know, Dive
Days or whatever, and is it going to matter? And
it's like, what matters who ever might listen, And it
matters to me to say these things.
Speaker 2 (01:07:08):
So I feel like I need to do it.
Speaker 1 (01:07:10):
Then that's that's kind of was the the the reason
it took that long. I guess it's a pretty good reason. Yeah,
pretty good reason, felt Phil.
Speaker 2 (01:07:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:07:18):
Uh, you know we mentioned the tour before, but sixteen
cities the still tour of February.
Speaker 2 (01:07:23):
Tickets are on cell Now. I'm a big fan. I
tell you that.
Speaker 3 (01:07:26):
Or time I see you and you're like you don't
tell me that every time, Like, no, I know every time,
I'm going to lead with that. I'm a big fan.
I've been a big fan forever. I'm thanks for coming over.
I you know, I was listing a lot of your accolades.
I'm not gonna do that in front of you here
before you came into and it's man, it's a lot.
It's like it's an honor. Yeah, and not even just
because of what you've accomplished, but because you know what
you've helped other people accomplish, because I think that's a
(01:07:49):
big part of who you are as well.
Speaker 2 (01:07:51):
Yeah, So thank you. That's all. Just thanks.
Speaker 3 (01:07:54):
And you know, I've never I'll never say go roll
tide or anything. But you know, I hope I hope
you're not. I hope your daughter daughter day cheering, good,
yes and healthy. And it's very.
Speaker 2 (01:08:04):
Kind of you. See you're just we're talking about a
kind guy.
Speaker 3 (01:08:07):
I get no kind All right, good to see you,
Thank
Speaker 5 (01:08:10):
You, Thanks for listening to a Bobby Cast production.
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