The Top 8 BobbyCast Interviews of 2020 (Part 2)

This is Part 2 of 2 as we look back on the Top 8 BobbyCast Interviews of the Year! We'll hear pieces of each of these interviews. Want to hear more? Check out the full episodes on our feed!

Which was your favorite? Tweet @MrBobbyBones or @TheBobbyCast with your pick!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome back to the Bobby Cast, the Top eight interviews
of the Year. This is part two what we're looking
back on some of our favorite moments from this podcast.
If you miss part one, go back and check it
out because there's a lot of good stuff there. Lionel Richie,
Chris Kirkpatrick, event SNC. But this episode we'll hear from Shay,
from Dan and Shay, Russell Dickerson, Morgan Wallen and Luke Combs.

(00:24):
They've all had really big years and had a chance
of talking to different points of the year, so it's
been pretty cool. It's also cool to go back and
listen to some of these on our podcast feed from
before they blew up, because I have a lot of those.
We're talking to folks before they blew up. It's like, Hey,
what's this about? What are you about? And then what bam?
Here they go. Now. Also, be sure to subscribe wherever
you listen to this right now, if you're just searching
it out and finding it and you haven't subscribed yet,

(00:45):
we'd love it if you subscribe, and if you wouldn't
mind giving us a five star rating and a quick
little review because that will help us out in the
long run. And if you hear me say this and
you don't do it, that's bad luck. I've heard that
lots of people have really bad luck if they don't
do it. Bad Yeah, just for you, not for aybody else.
You won't be in this together. You'll be in this alone.
All right, let's kick it off here. Here is Shane Mooney.

(01:05):
Here you go at there's a number five, number four
four four. We do six last week eight. Oh it's
top eight. Yeah, all right, let's leave all us on
the podcast to I'm an idiot. I thought we were
doing top ten even though I just said three lines ago.
All right, we're not gonna edit this out. Friends. There

(01:26):
we go tweet me if you heard this and thought
Boby's the idiot. We'll kick it off with Shane Mooney
of Dan and Shay at number four. Here you go, like,
I feel proudness for you and Dan both because it's
just I've just seen because we kind of came in
at the same time. I've seen you go from two
guys that they patched together, that you guys patched together.
People are like, I don't know if their country, yeah

(01:47):
that was your whole rap. I don't know if they're
gonna make it. I don't know if that they're you know,
the guy can sing okay, but they just didn't know
for sure. I mean it was I saw one of
the coolest uh. Like it was an Instagram message. I
think this girl had this picture to us, and she
was like, I think she had tagged us and it
said I saw these guys. Uh. It was in two
thousand twelve, I think or two, right after we had met,

(02:08):
and we were doing this round at Soulshine Pizza that
I don't think is there anymore. I think it's something
else now in Midtown And she was like, I saw
these guys play around, you know, however long ago in
two thousand thirteen, and now I just bought a ticket
to see them in Bridge Down, and it kind of
took me. It took me back for a second because
I was just like, man, this is just as as
they think it's it's cool. A lot of times you're

(02:28):
so busy with building it that it's hard to look back.
And I saw that picture and immediately in that moment,
it was just like, well, that's that's heavy. You know,
we're struggling in that moment, couldn't We were probably paying
for Honestly, I think the deal we did weren't getting
paid for the round. It was we got a slice
of pizza, like that was what we were getting paid.
Pizza and experience, yeah absolutely, And and playing to where

(02:50):
people would actually be there to listen, yeah yeah, which
they weren't that, but we didn't get the pizza, which
was pretty awesome. Apparently there was one girl though, that
was there and got to kind of see that, which
was a pretty cool moment. I don't know. I I
looked up the most Google questions about you here you go.
Number one is are you and Shay related? You can

(03:10):
answer these. I'm not gonna answer them for you, but
are are Are Dan and Shay related? We're not. We're
not related, not that I know about. Okay, did you
twenty three and me? And make sure I haven't yet.
You know, it's it's starting to starting to think about
it now. Though. What is make a lot of sense
for me is when I see you guys. I don't
know what a ward show it was, but you guys
don't like each other to the point of it's not

(03:32):
just I'll compare it to and I'm not married, you're
married now, but a marriage that's been through like ten
years and and this is not you guys, but they're
together and they just do it because they've agreed to
a partnership. It's like you guys that are that married
couple that you look at and go, wow, they still
like each other after all this time. It is man
and it feels like that. And I think it's because

(03:53):
it started out with a from a place of mutual respect.
You know, it wasn't just this, It wasn't so much
a lot of you know, lot of times it's this
whimsical thing that happens and you know, you don't even
have time to really get to know each other. You
know a lot of times in bands that it can
happen quickly and you you didn't have the time where
you were kind of grinding it out with each other
on the road and doing you know, millions of shows together. Um,

(04:14):
and Dan and I had kind of we had become
kind of who we were going to be when we
had met. We knew where we were trying to get to,
and we just really respected what each other, you know,
we're doing, and uh yeah, I mean it's it's kind
of crazy because Dan and I are really complete opposites
in most ways, in most ways, and I think from that,
you know, it's kind of like a puzzle piece. It's

(04:35):
like he picks up what I can't do. He's an
unbelievable producer. He makes me sound good. I can't do
any of that. I don't know what I'm doing the studio.
So it's kind of that thing of I trust him,
you know, with literally like my life and my well being,
and he trusts me with with that as well. And
I think it just kind of, you know, it's it's
clol it's it's like being family, but it's really just

(04:56):
a I don't know, it's a really cool thing because
I do, I do still like and we are still
best friends. You know. It's kind of one of those
things of all the time we're always looking at each
other being like, I can't believe that this is this
is happening. It's just crazy. The second one is who
are She's parents? Who are parents? Rick and Cindy Mooney?
Are their names? Natural? Damn Arkansas and everybody pay. A

(05:18):
lot of people watching from Natural don't think they just
got internet, So this is probably gonna be a pretty
big deal, you know. You you laugh about natural Damn
arketsall about my town Mountain Pine, Arkansas. We just got
a cell phone tower now months ago. Wow, Now where
where is that? As far as like where a Little
Rock is? Because that we're on the you know, the
western side of Arkansas. So if you go straight dow

(05:38):
because I know where you are. If you go straight down,
Mountain Pine is below Little Rock on the same side
of the state, about an hour the left side of
the states down. Is that towards Eldado or is that
the other it's the other side, the other side. But
I went to Fable and I was with the razor
by game this past week, and I don't get many
weekends where I'm off, and so I went over and

(06:00):
I took Adam Hamburg, who's a dear friend of mine,
and I saw that and you're with Ronnie Brewer, right, Yeah,
they were my points were they were asking about you.
They were like, have you seen Shay lately? And it's
it's almost like if someone that they think we're all
like related to hang out that we're all like you.
He's in the kitchen, what's up? What's up with Like

(06:22):
you know, I've seen him, probably got a month, but
I think he's doing pretty good. I watch him on
Instagram with it. It's just funny how when we all
come from Arkansas and afterward I hung out with a
lot of listeners and a lot of people that listen
to the show are watching American Idol, and they were
I probably got asked about you four times. They think
all of Arkansas boys run together. We should probably have
a meeting, and we haven't had one. And at least

(06:44):
it's been a couple of member's Chapter of Arkansas. Here's
the one. Does Shay get paid more than Dan? Yeah?
That was in the deal. I was like, look, if
I'm gonna see, if I'm gonna do this, you know,
you might do most of the work, but this is
how it's gonna be. I assume there's this. That's it.
You guys are even split as far as I know.
Maybe he maybe he does. I don't know. One more.
Does Dan or Shay sing speechless? Well? We boasting dancing's

(07:08):
harmony sing the lead? But you yeah, I'm not. I'm
not that that sounded pretty amazing. I'll be honest with you. Yeah,
do you want to join? Yeah? Okay, yeah, that'd be cool.
Can you imagine if I went out and just we
didn't say anything about it just as a joke. We
didn't acknowledge it. We just walked out and you know,
we did see anything. I just walked out and it

(07:29):
was like like Danna say, and it's me and and
we start speakless. And they would totally depend on if,
like if someone knew that it was you or not,
because if they did it and they hadn't seen it before,
they'd be like, I didn't even I had no idea
that it was three of them. Then no, no, you
don't know. I don't come now. I put on like
a black better and I never break character, and I
sing as great as I can, and just we keep
cameras in the crowd. We'll see if people are stunned.

(07:52):
We never acknowledge it. I'll tell you it's gonna be
it's gonna be a pretty great social experiment that will happen.
And I can tell you no one will get angry
it that What kid were you in high school? What
were you known at shay is the were you the singer? Were? Did? Yeah? Yeah?
I think yeah, A little great that people knew most
about you was what probably honestly more that I was

(08:15):
kind of like the funny guy, I would say, because
I didn't like sing a ton I did, Like I
was definitely kind of known for that, but I was.
I was definitely the class clown. I would say, um,
but yeah, I did sing at like events, like randomly,
I would do like we had chapel. It was a
Christian school, So I would sing in chapel like people
that you were so good because you didn't do it

(08:36):
all the time. Oh yeah. Sometimes. I remember when I
came to school because I started like halfway through a
fifth grade and so I remember I I like, they
asked me to sing at chapel, and I was like
my first I had been. I had sang in church
and like you know, done that whole thing. But that
was like my first like real world at school. It
was like halfway through the year and I came in
singing at chapel. It's my moment I felt I felt

(08:58):
really good at what age? Did you? Oh, I'm not
just good for hearing a small town. I'm actually good
enough to go and try something outside of what I'm
accustomed to. Yeah, man, honestly, I was. I was probably
I was eight years old when we first started coming
to Nashville because we would make these little trips because
I would sing with my sisters. I have two older sisters,

(09:19):
eric As the oldest, and then Gabby um, and we
would saying. We would travel around and like you know,
just kind of for fun, we go to churches and
do the whole deal. Um. And when I was about eight,
we came to Nashville and at that point I kind
of told my dad like, I'm I wanna this is
like what I wanna do. That was just like I
didn't know that I was like people would. I think

(09:39):
people a lot of times I kind of assumed that
I was like this, I don't want to say like prodigy,
but like was like always insanely good at singing. It
was just like that wasn't necessarily case. We just everyone
in my family did it. And I think just for
the sheer fact that I was young, people would be like, oh,
he's like he's really good. But we were in small
you know, this was small towns, so it's kind of
like I would take it as as a grand assault.

(10:00):
I think my parents would too, like they knew I was,
you know, pretty good, but I don't know that it
was this is gonna be your career kind of thing
that kind of came honestly later, and I did it.
You know, I was coming to Nashville since I was eight,
but it wasn't I never knew. There wasn't a ton
of people that were just like this is undeniable, Like
they knew that I was good. But it wasn't until
I was a little bit older where we had a

(10:20):
couple of people be like, you should you guys could
do this, But it was never I don't know, you
go to college for a year, right, yeah, and then
you go, I'm gonna go I need to go to
do music. Yea. What was the point in going to school?
Where it clicked? Was like, it's gonna be tough, but
I gotta get out of school. And I actually it
wasn't even a real It wasn't actually a school. It
was actually a ministry school. So I went there. It

(10:43):
was like a nine month program and I had a
full ride to go to like a music school. And
I decided right before because my sister Gabby had decided
she was going to go up to Pittsburgh to go
to this like nine month you know program, and I
was just like I kind of wanna I'm gonna go
with you. I'm gonna do this. And it was kind
of that I wasn't quite sure what I was gonna
do with my life. I was about to graduate, and

(11:04):
I didn't want to go to school for something that
I already felt like I was. I didn't think I
was gonna like learn and if I was going for
like engineering or something like that, which is probably what
I would have done, I just I didn't want to
go to school for like performance major, you know, and
like learn how to sing. I just felt like that
wasn't really the vibe. And so yeah, I kind of
took that that nine months and lived in Pittsburgh. Um,

(11:26):
and then right after that I moved back home, which
is when kind of the whole tea paying thing happened.
Which is an interesting thing too, because when you can
really sing, you can also kind of pick where you sing. Yeah.
Even I give Garth as an example, he was singing
rock songs. Yeah, he was, you know, he was kind
of finding his place early. Um. So how do you

(11:49):
get discovered by because what was it called what was
t paint? It was called nappy boy, Nappy Boy? How
do you get hooked up with them? How do they
see you? What are the steps that led you to
go there? Did you moved to Atlanta for a while.
I did move to Atlanta, So I was so I
lived in Pittsburgh and my sister was she had this
uh she was super good. She a good dancer, like

(12:10):
she was a choreographer and Tylla's stuff and she was
had met this guy named Mike who was actually a
backup dancer for Tea Pain, and so we kind of
all were hanging out there for a little while. And um,
long story short, we get back to Arkansas after you know,
the school, after the nine months, and we're there and
I just randomly get like a text, was like, Hey,

(12:31):
what are you doing. I knew he had worked with
Tea Pain, and I guess he had sent some YouTube
video mine to Tea Pain. And I was and I
was at Van Buren actually, and I was in a movie.
I'll never forget this, and I like he was like, hey,
like he wants to like, you know, FaceTime you or whatever.
And I was just like I was in this movie
and I didn't have any service, and I was like,
I was like, this is the craziest thing ever. So

(12:51):
I go out of the movie and my friend was
like the manager watching was watching him? Did you think
he was? Like? I thought he was like to have
heard of this movie is called hot Rod. It was
like this little project I was working on. So you
leave the theater, Yeah, so I leave it. So I
walked outside and I didn't have any WiFi and this
service wasn't good enough, so I had to get on WiFi.

(13:12):
I think it was a FaceTime call. I can't remember
if that was even a thing then, but either way,
I didn't have any service. I had to like go
get on the WiFi. So my friend was the manager
there and like gave me the WiFi passard and I'm
in like this back room at the movie theater like
face timing or whatever. T pain and he was like, hey,
I want you come to Memphis, like we're playing a show.
There was him and Chris Brown. I want you to come,
you know, play with us and and do this whole deal.

(13:33):
So I was just like, yeah, all right, let's just
do this whole deal. Mean, I didn't have no idea.
To this day, I don't know what that meant. You
know those moments like you get the call and you're
just like yeah, whatever it is I'm down yea, And
that got me into a lot of trouble probably at
some points in my life. Like whatever that is, I'm
doing it. So the legend of the fort which in
different places we've talked about, but you guys met in

(13:55):
the living room for at a house which you've been
backed by. Have even seen you guys posted before, Um
Dan was living in that house and you went over
to the house I did, So I was living on
I was living with my buddy actually at the time,
um I had I was, I was, I think I
was maybe I don't even remember how if I even

(14:18):
was paying him, but I was basically sleeping on his
couch for like a little while. His name was Brandon Metcalf,
great guy, and he had a studio and I was
like working a lot with him when I had moved
to Nashville and kind of had my place, and um
there was a guy named Andrew um that just one
night we had been writing a lot and he told
me he was like, man, I'm going over to these
guys house. They had a band at the time. He's like,

(14:39):
they're having a house party. Uh, you know, you want
to come with me? And I was just like, yeah, sure,
let's do it. And at that time it was just
kind of like any time you could go somewhere without
spending any money. And he knew that there was like
we knew that there was a keg, and I was
like a little bit of englishment that's that's always changed,
was like, do you think they go like pizza or
someone like I haven't even like a couple of days,
but it was like, yeah, we showed up at this

(15:01):
house and little did I know that that night was
going to completely change my life. At number three, this
is the pretty recent one. This is Russell Dickerson from
the New House, the New Studio. I'm not sure if
I'm mentioning this clip or not, but I drove up
to the house and he was standing out in the
dark by himself, and he's a tall hunting figure. It's
the lights aren't on. He's a he's a big old boy.

(15:22):
Here you go, number three. Do you feel though, now
with four number ones, like you can take a breath,
not in a way of relaxing, but in not worrying
that you won't stay? Yeah, a little bit. I mean
with everyone that gets that way, And I think why
this one is so special is because it's off album too,

(15:44):
you know, And I think this kind of nips the
sophomore slump in the bud. You know, this is the
first song from the second album, but the four record
is and I don't know it's right. It's called Southern.
I'm the biggest Russell Dickerson stand there is. So the
song is out, the record is not yet, and you

(16:04):
already have a number one before the records even out?
Come on? What else can you ask? But I don't know.
I don't know. That's like best case scenario. So it
comes out December four. Let me play your four number
one in the case we have some brand new Russell
Dee fans. All right, yours? Here you go first, which is,
by the way, funny story. I of course, I'm just

(16:27):
gonna go ahead and interrupt you there. Yes, I will
come sing at your wedding. Wasn't the question? That's funny.
Caitlin and I were listening to songs last night because
she's trying to find a song to walk down the
aisle too. She doesn't want to walk down to Dada,

(16:48):
and we wanted to pick a song that meant a
lot to us. But we were scrolling and why I
think about yours is because there's a whole wedding mix
of this song too that I didn't even know. It's
how is it different though? It's just there's no drums,
there's no you know, there's no big guitar solo. It's
like a kind of piano cello. We vibe. But we
didn't pick it, but it was up there in the

(17:08):
top ten. We just but I was like, hey, this
song is really great. I was like, I love Russell.
We just didn't have a story to it as a couple.
Absolutely happen to like defend myself and I'm like, hey man,
that's a great song, trust me. So that was your
first number one. Here is Blue Tacoma, Here is every

(17:32):
little thing. I mean, that's a jam. Listen of all
of your listen, they're all good, right, but that's the
one that it comes on. I can't get it out
of my head. Yes, that's the goal. I mean, that's
the ultimate goal. And you know it's not a slow
love song. So your sets, one of your big hits
has got an energy, got to Yeah, that's what was

(17:53):
so huge about this song actually taken off was like
we finally have more than I mean I remember having
to teach people blue to Elma in the crowd, you know,
and so to have that, you know, it's kind of
mid ish. But then every little thing bro and that
was a yeah so, and every little thing was just
like I felt so good to having the set and
this I love you like I used to, which it

(18:14):
feels like just looking at the title, like you're saying
I don't love you like I used to in a
bad way. Do you know that? Do you know that?
When you absolutely alright? So, but it doesn't mean that
at all. No, So in the first verse, we kind
of wanted that to be the kind of fake out.
It's like I've always loved you, but something's changed, Blame
it on time, whatever, but it's not the same, you

(18:34):
know what I mean. It's up until the course just
punches you in the face. That's what we wanted you
to think that it was a breakup song. But it's
like this gets better every time you kissed me like this,
you know what I mean. So I'm such a melody
guy that it took me a while. I was like, Okay,
well he's said about something, But then I just knew
na no no, no, no, no, no no no, no, but

(18:55):
then it took me a little bit as just a
guy that doesn't know lyrics. Right, good, good though. Congratulations man, man,
this is a big week. Is all of these songs?
Were they written with all four of them written with
the same folks, same folks? Yeah, Casey Brown and Parker Welling,
my Bellmont friends. That was like I tried the I
tried the hit songwriter a out, you know, I wrote

(19:17):
with I mean, I don't have to name all the people,
but I wrote with all the who's who's the songwriters,
and it just didn't the magic. Wasn't there? Do they have?
Because I don't know either one of them, and I'm
I'm saying it's in the most respectful way. There's obviously
something that clicks with the battery of you three. Have
they written other massive hits or big hits? This is
all our first four number one. That's awesome, so cool man,

(19:40):
It's I mean even I like yours, the first number
one we all had together. Dude. I was just like
standing up there, you know how you have the number
one parties and everybody gather around, there's chips and salsa
and everything, and I'm just like standing up on the stages,
crying because like it's been it's been a long journey
to get to this point into all for all three
of us who went to Belmont together and all had

(20:00):
our first number one together. It's just like one of
those so super special moments. Is that how you and
Tyler Hubbard are friends from column? Yeah, they came to
one of my first shows ever, Brian and Tyler. So
they came and I was probably playing to like eight
people at twelfth and quarter and to it then we're
Brian and ty Yeah. Yeah, so they were literally a

(20:21):
quarter of the crowd and uh man, it's just like
they came up to me afterwards and were like, hey, bro,
cool vibe cool songs. Well, they weren't friends with yours
then they saw you, yeah, and so they were. They
were like songwriters at the time. They were just like,
we want to write. We've been writing songs together. So
they invited me over. We wrote my pretty much first
EP together with F G L. And that was like

(20:43):
the start of it all, I mean, not not for me,
and then then it was a start of it for
them because they went from just nothing too. They played
me the demo for Cruise and I was like well,
see you all later, bro, because y'all are gone taking
off And you guys are like close family friends. Yeah,
you and Tyler, Yeah, we're very close. I feel like

(21:04):
every second Instagram pictures you on his or his on yours. Yeah,
he's coronaing right now and the bus he is, he's
straight up quarantining. Have you talked to him? Is he playing? Like?
Was he playing video Guess what I would do. I
put myself in the mindset I was playing video games
or if I was trapped in a bus, I play
video games. I would have all the time in the
world to work, but I would keep going. Well, since
I have all this time, I'm not gonna work yet,

(21:25):
and my work would continue to put off. What is
he doing? The same way? He told me he's written
like five songs by himself already, and he's just like
that's him though, he just like never stops. I mean
you never stop either. But I don't have a talent,
Like I don't have a skill that stone telling you
this is the truth my podcast, let me talk. I

(21:47):
don't have something that I can just bet all the
chips on and go. This is my talent. I stand
behind it. My my skill is knowing that my grind
is going to keep me year. I've worked, We've all
worked extremely hard. But at least you can sing. I
can do nothing. I go out and I fail and
figure things out slowly but shortly. But thank you for

(22:09):
saying that. But I think I think you're never gonna
convince me I'm talented. And when people tell me, if
people like, man, you're you're very talented, I get offended,
like me and you're you're you're so talented, yeah, because
I'm like, no, I'm not talented at all. I just
show up. Yeah, Which is weird that I get upset
at folks for telling me I'm talented. Like even Russell

(22:31):
said that triggered me. I was like, I was like,
that's not true. I was reading your your wife's Instagram, which,
by the way, if you want to hear Russell's whole
origin story because you are basically an X man, basically,
there's one of these with Russell and his wife the
first time, maybe the first time we met. That's when
that was no, right around right around then, because your

(22:52):
wife saved me outside of the Ryman doing a show,
and then you guys came up a couple of days later. Ye,
all I know is they're I'm going to the back
door with the rheman. There are a lot of folks
and a lot of those autographed people that want you
to sign something so I can sell it immediately. And
I'm being hounded and a voice jumps in from the
clouds and goes stop, he has to get inside. And

(23:15):
I looked over and I was like, who is this
master figure? And it was your wife. And she has
scored me in the in the in the rhyman for
the an opera show that me, you and Michael Ray did. Yeah,
we were there for that. Yeah, all right enough, I'm
gonna read you something she wrote. This was on his
on her Instagram. This man is celebrating his fourth number
one on Cunt Radio this week. I'll never stop celebrating
your accomplishments at Russell d the little ones, the big ones,

(23:37):
and this is a big one. I'll never stop celebrating
because I know what it cost to get us here,
sleeping on seatbelts and vans, watching you put on an
arena worthy show to six people in a field who
would listen, barely getting by being told no over and
over again. All of it. You never wavered, not in
your dreams, your work, ethic, or in your character. Some
people are giving success in spite of who they are,

(23:59):
and you were given it because of who you are.
I'm so thankful our son has you to look up
to in every way. Four for four baby, let's celebrate
with some corrabas. Thank you Jesus. There are a lot
of people like to talk about in this paragraph. For sure.
I think your wife's fantastic. By the way, Oh my gosh, dude,
she's such a writer, man, she is lover. Okay, up, first,

(24:19):
let's talk about the sleeping on seatbelts and vans straight up,
because when you have to lay down in a van
and you can't get the seatbelt all, there's nowhere to
put it. We'll go into the seat. Yeah, there's there's
the seatbelt, like the actual belt with the buckle, and
then there's what you bug into that literally is up
your crack. You can try, you can put a pillow
over it never stays still, your hip bones just digging

(24:41):
into du It's the God bless any and everyone still
to ourn in vans. I'd like to tell her that
was a really fantastic reference that I could feel in
my body, because when I first started touring doing comedy,
I just slept in a sprinter van in the middle
seat because the back seat had crap in it, but
the middle seats that seatbeats sp or bro tell me
about a because she must be talking about a show specifically.

(25:04):
She remembers, were you ever in a field and there
was Oh, yeah, absolutely, we were opening up. I bet
the one she's talking about is, well, dude, there's been
a lot. Actually I have go pro footage of this show.
It was. It's so we did the knack A circuit,
which is national collegiate whatever association of whatever. So they

(25:25):
put on shows. So they brought us in for like
maybe two bucks. So we drive eight hours a whole band, everybody,
and it's further like you name it, like registration day,
but like nobody cares, you know what I mean, Like
nobody came to this function and they just like they

(25:46):
had like cotton candy and popcorn and everything, and there
was legit, maybe twenty total people just scattered around these
little stations and like zero people up at the stage
watching us, and so you know that was normal for us.
What goes on in your mind whenever you've been paid
to do a show, but nobody cares. My honestly, my

(26:09):
mindset was will get there one day. Like I I
just if I had gained six new fans that show
she's talking about, then great. Like that was my mindset of, like,
we will get there one day, six people at a
time if we have to, you know, And like it
was just in my mind, it was just arenas And

(26:30):
you know, I watched Garth Brooks DVDs, I watched Keith
Urban's DVDs of their their live show, and I just like,
in my mind, I would just kinda go there when
there's no one, when no one cares and there's six
people in a field. Isn't it crazy too? You mentioned
Keith he used to play in an airport. He would
stand on that that thing where the bags went around,

(26:52):
and he would say people would be annoyed that they
were playing and he had to visualize something like there's
something that he had to focus on just to get
to that next step. Yeah, now here you are. And
we have a lot of new artists that listened to
this podcast specifically because we put on producers, who put
on managers. You know, it's a little more on the
weeds But what's great is you're talking about this because
there are a lot of new artists right now listening

(27:12):
who feel like they can't get that full step forward.
It's it's constantly a step backward. What do you tell them?
You just gotta keep showing, Like you said, you gotta
keep showing up. That was what, And you have to
you have to do it humbly. You can't you can't
rush trying to. You can't be too good for that
two fifty dollar show, you know what I mean, Like

(27:33):
there comes to a point where it financially doesn't make sense,
and it didn't, but you know I was, you just
have to show up and show up humbly and keep
showing up taking two fifty because two fifty will turn
into five hundred to a thousand to five, you know,
until you're opening up for Thomas Rhett, opening up for
Kane Brown, and you know that was I know. I

(27:55):
don't take any show for granted because I've been I've
been there. You know. It's like it's like rich people
who used to be homeless, like they know they came
from nothing and now they have every I'm not saying
I'm rich. I'm saying you know, listen, I know because
I'm living it like I was a welfare food stamp kid,
and so I appreciate what I have even more than

(28:17):
that the same way that you're talking about. Um, I
want to mention one of the thing and I want
to go back. But Corrab is that is also a
place that Caitlin and we'll do Olive Garden on normal nights,
but when we get fancy, we go to Corrabs because
we're speaking our language. Because Crab is like nicer. Both
are great, love them both, but Corrabs I might wear pants,

(28:39):
I can wear sweatstall gardens. I feel like I need
something with a scene. Yeah. Well because the first of all,
the wait staff is dressed a little night, they're dressed nicer,
you know what I'm saying. Yeah, Crab is fantastic at
number two. And this was tough because two and one

(29:00):
are both really good. Morgan Wallen has really only long
form interviews since all the drama. We were the first
place he came. He was like, Hey, I want to
talk about this and kind of get it over with.
I was like, cool, come to the house. He did,
and then we played piano over with the hell at
my house number two. Here's Morgan Wallen when you cut
the mullet, because I credit you to the entire country
music mullet world. You were the first one that said, hey,

(29:24):
this is just what it is. Now everybody does that
a little bit, but honest to God, and I'm not
just blowing smoke every buck as you're here, you were
the first one to kind of bring it back and
make it cool again. Back. Yeah, I'll say I didn't
invent it. I mean yeah, but I'm saying that the
next generation of country guys, even some of the older
guys that are being funny and cutting it's all because
of you. You know that, right. I got a pretty

(29:46):
good feeling that I definitely had a good part in it.
Why why did you cut them all in? And did
you expect it to last? Uh? Well I had after
I cut my long hair. I kind of just had
a haircut, you know. And as as I remember, um
Stacy at CMT told me one time, he was like,
you can usually tell if you can look at a

(30:07):
silhouette of a person, you can usually tell that's them.
I was like, well, I don't know if you could
do that with me right now. So I started thinking
you know, and I couldn't really didn't really think anything.
So I was like, well, whatever, I'm just gonna to
let my music speak for itself, I guess. And then
I went back home to uh my parents on Easter.
I guess it was three years ago. Now, maybe maybe
you have three I think, And uh I was looking

(30:29):
through a photo album of my parents when they got married.
My dad had a mullet, and uh, me and him
look a lot of like, we're just a lot of
like in general. And he was twenty five when he
got married, and I was twenty five at the time,
so I guess not even three years almost three years ago,
and uh I was either five whatever. I was the same,
around the same age as him, Like, well, Dad, you
look pretty good in that. If if you can do that,

(30:50):
I can do that. I'm gonna wear a mullet. He
was like, all right, man, I don't He probably didn't
believe me or whatever. But I went back and told
Amy Amy Cruiz is my Amy George Julias I was
her last name. I knew her when she was Amy Cruz,
but um she I told her. I said, Hey, Amy,
I think I think I know what her could I
want to think I'm gonna get a mullet. She was
like really, I said yeah, and she was aw for

(31:12):
She's like yeah, yeah. So I was like, all right, cool.
And then you know my label management there there, I
tell them I'm getting one, like what, no, please, God no,
And I'm like, y'all know what happens when you'll tell
me no, I'm gonna do exactly the opposite of that.
So I did. I grew it, and uh, I did not.
But I didn't expect it. It wasn't like I had
forgotten about the whole silhouette thing at that point. It

(31:35):
wasn't like I didn't expect it to become a thing.
I didn't expect to show up at shows and dudes
are wearing mullets and cut off flannels. I just I
don't know. I just I just liked how it looks
and and and uh, Harry, we are. Yeah, that's I mean,
that's what I know, isn't it you? And because it's
such a lasting first impression. But again, much like up down,

(31:58):
it's like you're the mullet guy. That's how you get
in the door. Or but then you kind of open
your rib cage up and you're like this is the
rest of me. Like the mullet gets you in the
heart is what makes you last, right, Yeah, And that's
a good way to put it. I've never thought of
it that way. But you know, people, whether they like
it or they hate it, they're still gonna say that's
a mullet, you know. And I wear really darker un glasses.
I'm just a generic white guy, right, I really am

(32:19):
just another generic white And so I was going, well,
I can't see what can I do to make me
stand out? Because I always thought if someone could draw
a character of you pretty easily, that means that what
you're doing stands it. So I was like, I'm just
gonna a big, darker un glasses and that's where that
comes from. Kind of the same idea about the silhouette. Yeah,

(32:41):
I guess I'll just never forget Stacy's staying that to me, man,
he said that. I was like, that's a good point, man,
because I hate there was there was like a picture
of silhouettes or I don't even know if it was
a picture like a piece of art or something, but
there was people and I knew them all from the back,
not even from the front, from the back, and uh.
I made me think a little. So I've always remembered that.
The first show I went to of yours, I was

(33:02):
at Marathon music work and at a bunch of it
was like during radio one of those radio seminars, and
I don't do a lot of that stuff, but I
was in talent for that maybe, so yeah, and a
couple of guys like, hey, you're in town, come come
to Morrigan Wallen show. And I was like, I'm just
gonna be honest with you. Yeah. I was like, I
was like, he gonna be there, and they were like
They're like yeah. I was like, I know like two

(33:24):
of the songs. Um, yeah, I'll go just because I
want to see you guys. And I go and it
is packed to the guilt and you freaking blew through.
And then I was like, oh, man, like I missed on.
I missed on knowing how great you were early. Well you,
I mean, but it doesn't matter. Yeah, I see a
lot of acts. That's what I meant to say. Whether
whether whether I'm great or not, you get you get

(33:44):
swamped with. But I still missed. I still missed, and
I'm usually pretty good, and I'm telling you that to
your face. Like I'm missed, and I was like, I
don't know about what were they gonna be thirty people there?
And I get there, I can't even move. They had
to put us in like a little cage to make
sure nobody did. Yeah, I remember it was phenomenal. So
and and you came and you played the st Judo

(34:07):
last year and I was just like, God, damn man,
this guy is so good. And then you know, so
your record. What's crazy about it? Is like it comes
out and does well, but it it's the biggest snow
slow building snowball I've ever seen. It's wild. It was
like I can't even remember. It was like a hundred
in something weeks after that it finally made it to
number one on like on Billboard for like it was

(34:28):
like a hundred seventeen weeks or something wild like it.
Are you feeling it now where it's like, I know
you're not gonna use the word, but just for the
fort take of conversation, are you feeling it now where
you kind of like I can actually feel some of
the superstardom Or did it hit you like this or
was it kind of like slow? I think it hit

(34:48):
me in Alabama about six weeks ago. Well, what's funny
about that too, is like I have caubited you on TikTok,
and when you sing straight into TikTok, yeah, I think
it blows people's socks off because you're so freaking good,
and I don't think people expect force like a country
boy like yourself with a mullet to just sound so good.

(35:09):
Probably not. And then I would see this is way
before the Alabama stuff. I would see you were worshiped
on TikTok. There was just a culture of and I
would get them all and I'd be like, why am
I watching these girls? I'm talking about how much they
love Morgan waller Man, and I swiped away from him.
I didn't want to spend too much time watching I
don't even but yeah, well I kind of realized that

(35:29):
about TikTok once the Seven Summers thing happened, because I
didn't even really know what TikTok was whenever that whole
thing happened, because I Ja jake On had nominated me
for a demo challenge on Instagram, like remember when everybody's
doing those challenges at the beginning of quarantine, just to
keep you know, we thought it was gonna be a
little month or whatever. This will be fun. Eight months later, channel,

(35:52):
I haven't seen any challenges lately, have y'all every uh?
But you know, somebody I guess screen grabbed it and
put it on TikTok and somebody from my team I
can't remember feel set or tracker, but I said, hey,
have you seen what's going on with with tiktoking Like TikTok,
I really didn't even know what it was, and they said, yeah,

(36:12):
it's a new app and somebody's got on there. You know,
they've got seven summers are using that sound by a lot.
I was like, okay, that's interesting because I originally put
that sound bite out on my Instagram to gauge if
I even wanted to cut the song or not. I
didn't even know if I was gonna record it, and
um so I was like, all right, that's cool, you
know whatever. A couple of weeks ago, by the thing,
like dude, this thing is like really going off on there.

(36:34):
I'm like, well, don't you guys think we might need
to put it out then, you know if it's doing that.
So we went and recorded it and I think it
had like thirty million hits on there or something before
it every even came out. So I started like being like, man,
this could be a real tool we could use for
for music and trying to drive people to the new music. So,
um man, I just started you know, leaking a demo

(36:55):
on my Instagram ever so often, or you know, playing
a acoustic thing on my Instagram and didn't even have
to post it on TikTok. They would just do it,
and um just you know, just giving little pieces of
stuff and and and I did that without asking. You know,
the first couple of times, they're like, dude, what do
you do? What are you doing? But these songs out
and then they you know, they kind of were they
were like, well, they didn't get mad at me. Actually,
my team they're they're they're so good and understanding. They

(37:17):
didn't they didn't get mad. But there, you know, they
they're gonna ask or ask a questions what do you do?
But so I told them and they're like, all right,
that's cool, that's a good idea. So we just kept
you know, I've kind of just continued to do it
a little bit. And then somebody has like leak some
demos that I don't even know where they came from.
I don't even have it. I don't even have the demos.
I don't know where they even came from that are
on there. But uh, the ones that I lead can
put on my Instagram that we I like to do that.
I'd like to get people's hopes up for that, and

(37:37):
then you know, drop them soon after, hopefully on TikTok.
You're a lower case ge god for sure. And and
somehow I see all these girls just like guys. Get
over it, like I don't even want to see them anymore.
It's great, It's great. I love I love that how
your fan base was organically created and just because you
brought it up, and I'll only ask a few more questions.
It's like I'm enjoying. When the Alabama stuff happened, I

(37:59):
was like, guys, get off his jock, Like I didn't.
I understand the COVID stuff too, but I was like,
what do you want from this guy? He's seven years old.
People were just having fun. I know, I mean, I
get it, but I also I understand both sides of
it a little bit, you know, I know, I got
I know that I got young kids that look up
to me and all those kind of things too, So

(38:21):
I do want to be mindful of things. I'm not
gonna let people control the way I live my life,
but I do also want to be mindful. And honestly
I have I have a son now, and I don't
know that i'd be proud to show him those videos,
you know. I'm like, I gotta think about some things
a little bit differently, and honestly, I have. I have
been in you know, throughout this whole process, There's been
times where for a while, I would just be like, man,
I'm really I'm kind of like lonely, and I don't

(38:42):
know if I even like this, and and then you know,
there's and then there's another high and you're like, oh yeah,
I love this, you know, and it just kind of
goes goes through phases, and I kind of just have
been living like that, you know, and it's like, I
don't know, can I not maybe do something to come
bat that maybe you don't have to be so moody,
you know. So it was almost a good thing for me,
you know. It kind of forced me away and just

(39:02):
to kind of reflect and look at myself and kind
of get to know myself again. And it was good
for me. So I took like a while, like almost
two weeks, and just turned my phone off and just
didn't didn't even look at it, you know, drove on
the track here and things like that and just clear
my head. And uh, that was it was really really
good for me. So I don't I don't really love
the circumstances that led to that, but I'm thankful for

(39:23):
for where it led me. And my only point was
you were living your life. You're gonna have to You're
gonna have to learn somehow what you like, what you
don't like. And I was just like, let's let the guy.
You weren't doing anything illegal, like, let the guy live
his life. But I was vocally pro you live in
your life. I appreciate that man. So you know, I
had a very similar situation. I'm just now getting married

(39:45):
in April. I've never been married, how many kids, But
I was struggling with being single. And Tyler and Florida
Georgia Lyne t pulled me in to coffee shop. Was like, dude,
you're kind of spiraling. It was a different spiral. My
spiral was straight loneliness, and I just could not. I
was like, I my thing was a ratio of loneliness
to happiness. That's where I was. And I would have
some hit and I'd feel great, but then because I'd

(40:08):
be I'd do a stand up show and I feel
so loved on stage, but then you go back to
your hotel room and you're just like, well, it just sucks.
It's so easy to base your feelings off of what
other people think, because that's what the that's my job.
You know. It's like, I pour my heart and soul
into this. I really want these people to like it.
And damn they do like it. You know, they do
like me. That's awesome. And then but you start chasing that,

(40:29):
you know, that's what that's when you start wanting that
feeling it all the time and more and more. Yeah,
it's like it's almost like a drug. Just keep on,
you know, all that feels good. I like it when
people like me. I mean, who don't. And I've always
been the type of guy I really want to make
everyone around me have a good time and feel good.
That's like I love that. I don't. I want people
to to love me. I just always have and um

(40:49):
so it's it's kind of like it's it's a catch
twenty two. You know, it's like, you're gonna go back
and do SNL. Do they think you'll They originally told
me that they were gonna invite me back. If they do,
I'll go do it. Yeah. I hate the situation that
happened for you, but I think if I'm standing back
ten feet for your career one, I think you learned

(41:10):
a lot from it. But too, it was great. I
saw you pop up on the E news feed. You
crossed over into the news because of this. People were
sending me like little screenshots whatever, like we've never heard
of this guy before. I'm like, well, that's good. You know,
I wouldn't want you to go through it again. However,
it takes, it takes some deep valleys to to to
understand how hard it is to climb the tall mountains.

(41:31):
And it's not even you know, it's not even gonna
be the lowest. We're gonna go through so many highs
and lows. But I'm proud of you, man, Thank you.
I really appreciate that. I'm proud. I'm just I'm just
such a big fan too. And I'm not someone who
claims to be there from the start, you know, I'm like, hey,
what the heck is this guy doing. I don't I
was the artist fun to convince. I can't even say
I blame you, man. I came out, I came out

(41:51):
of the gate with songs that weren't even my personal favorite.
So you know, I understand chasing you, just still my favorite?
Uh seven some or The weird thing about Seven Summers
and more than my Hometown is they kind of are
running alongside each other, which is rare. They're both on
top thirty of the chart. I think Hometown is almost
it's in top three right now. Maybe I believe top three.

(42:12):
I think they go what is today the fifth They
told me they're to go on for number one on
starting pushing spins on the fift So and you already
have a song it's number or something. Yeah, yeah, dude,
it's it's wild and and you know, like we were
talking about the TikTok thing earlier, I knew I had
a good feeling in that Seven Summers would come out
out of the gate, you know, pretty strong, definitely not
as strong as it did. Had no idea it was

(42:33):
gonna do any of that stuff. I would have worried
that it was gonna take spins off of I did
have that worry. I did have that worry, but like
we didn't even we didn't even plan on putting that
out as a single. It was almost forced upon us,
like people were just playing it. So we're like, well,
if these people are plunting their point, and maybe we
just ought to make it as single and my I
mean my label, and I you know, I asked him

(42:55):
every week. I'm like, yeo, I'm mad at me. Yet
you know you're having to work two singles. I know
that's gotta be a pain, but there you obviously, I
think they're pretty happy about it too, and they work
really hard and they're doing a good job. All right, Well,
I'm done with you, but are you sure you don't
mind walking over the house? Mind? We can, I want to.
We'll play it on this It'll be like thirty seconds.
I think people would be free playing. I ain't playing
the piano. About a month. We'll try, all right, Morgan

(43:15):
walland we're gonna go. But the next thing you hear
is us walking over to the house and doing it
over there by that earlier. That's it. That's it. And

(43:57):
at number one, I'll tell you I have a guy
that comes in works on my yard a little bit.
If I haven't any issues, but like there's like sprinklers
in the yard and stuff, he'll come fix them. And
I was out there the day and he goes, hey,
is it true? I was like, what goes with Luke
Combs over here? I was like, yeah, he goes Dang.
I wish I would have been here that day. I

(44:17):
was like, I know, he's a good guy. Here is
number one. It is Luke Combs. As you're a kid,
what is that you're singing? Do you have an eight
year old wrath? Or did when it? Like? You know,
I was, I was. I had a really high voice
when I was little, so I was, I mean I
was singing Vince Gill, you know, I mean killing that stuff. Uh.
And then I just got in I always liked singing.

(44:37):
I always getting trouble in class for humming or you know,
talking or I was just constantly making noise. Uh. And
then and then I found a you know, a channel
for that through chorus class. And like the sixth grade,
they make us, they made us take every elective in
the sixth grade. So he took like art and home

(44:57):
Mack and Jim and and and chorus and band, and
you took all of those classes. Uh. And then so
when I went to pick my electives for the next year,
I picked up my electives were always jim and chorus class.
That was it. When you started singing? Was it duck
to water for you? It was, but I didn't know

(45:18):
it at the time. It was just kind of like
I just like doing it. But I didn't think. I
thought it was just you don't understand that. There's I
just never thought of doing something like this, you know.
It wasn't like I was the kid that was like,
I'm gonna be Garth Brooks, I'm gonna do this or that.
I never had that intention in mind at a young age.

(45:38):
And I know a lot of people who do you know,
they heard a Tricia Garwood song and went, I'm gonna
be Tricia Earwood. That's what I want to do. I
just never thought of that as an option. I was
playing sports. I was horrible at sports, but I was
playing sports. I like doing that, and I was just
singing because it was something to do that I liked
to do. You know. I was just, I mean, at

(45:59):
that point in time, truly just living my life. You know.
I wasn't playing for the future at that time, and um,
I didn't really know I was any good until like
ninth grade, probably until I went to high school and
my course teacher was like, hey, you're pretty good, you know.
And I was like, cool, that's good because I like

(46:20):
I like doing it, so it's cool that I'm good
at it, you know, And then I sang. I was
in course class every day of high school from ninth
grade to the time I graduated. Play football horribly. I
was horrible, really, And what position do you play? Defensive tackle?
Did you like hitting? Loved hitting? Um? I didn't have Uh.

(46:40):
I didn't really have the quickness, per se or the aggression.
I wasn't like an aggressive guys, but I loved hitting people.
You weren't singing Vince gil Like. I wasn't singing Vince
Gill in high school. No, I wasn't. Um I always
you know. It's funny. I I played rugby in college,
which I was good at and I did enjoy a lot,

(47:02):
But I loved I always wanted to I was like
a running back stuck in a offensive guards body, you
know what I mean. Like I always wanted to have
the ball and run with the ball, but that was
never an option. And the and my my high school
team we ran we were one of the first teams
to run the spread. And so obviously there's a high
school football team. Yeah, you ran the spread, and for

(47:22):
you in two thousand and probably five four or five.
And you gotta you gotta be able to move if
you're running the spread, no doubt, even the line, you
gotta get up and go. And so I wasn't in
like in shape enough to be you know, I don't
have the endurance two to run with the offense because

(47:43):
we had we had two running backs that ran sub
for three forties. I mean they were just lightning fast um,
and so we were up and down the field a lot,
I mean, thirty forty yard play. It was not something
that was out of the ordinary for us. And so yeah,
I was just not cut out for that either. You know,
in a lot of teams we were playing, we're playing

(48:05):
we're you know, we're running the wing tea and like
the super antiquated offenses and stuff like that. So yeah,
I was just I was just not cut out for
that particular thing. Now, looking back in time, I would
have I would have loved to play offensive line. It's
one of my favorite most intriguing positions now and I

(48:26):
think I would have been very good at that. Actually,
Um but I was just I was just not because
I didn't play when I was little. I started playing
in high school. So all of my all of my
teammates have been playing since they were seven or eight
years old, you know. So by the time I was
a senior, it was like there are guys who had
been playing football for fourteen or fifteen years and I

(48:48):
had only been playing for three. So I was way
behind the curve of you know, strength training and learning
the game. And I just wanted to hit people. That
was it. You go to Appalachian State and as you
leave high school and you go to college. In your
mind at that point, why are you going to college?
I just thought that was what you did because I

(49:09):
didn't want to go to work, I think, you know. Um,
but I had went to actually went to a chorus
camp at app in probably maybe eighth grade or ninth
grade or something like that. For the summer. I was
like one of those two weeks you go and stay
in the dorms and there's kids from all the different
schools and everything, and I just fell in love with

(49:31):
that place because I grew up in the mountains already,
but that was way I mean, that's way in them
as much in the mountains as you can be in
North Carolina. Um kind of nestled in this little valley thing.
And I just fell in love with the campus and
like the and the weather, you know, I like the cold,
you know, I'm fine with being cold, and it's very

(49:52):
cold and it snows a lot there, and I just
I absolutely was enamored with that place. And ever since
I went to that camp, I was like, that's where
I'm gonna go to college. I'm gonna go to school there.
And I was not a very good student in high school.
I've always been interested in in learning things. I really
enjoy that. I just was never interested in learning things

(50:14):
that people wanted me to learn. So what were you
doing in college for the most part, if obviously you're
getting too because you didn't leave until and you left
right before you graduated, which so then look at us,
But what were you doing in school? Were you just
keeping the grades up so you could keep singing, or
we're like, why what was your motivating? It was like
it was college was a big time for me of like, okay,

(50:38):
how do you be three hundred pounds and get a girlfriend?
That was what I spent most of my time trying
to figure out. Did you have girls in college? No? No,
I was definitely not a ladies man. Uh you know,
not not because I didn't want to be. But in
high school you don't exactly get judged on your great personality.
Um So those were interesting times for me. But I

(51:00):
mean that was what I did in college. Men. I
hung out, I drank with my buddies. I didn't go
to class a lot. I played rugby. I sang in
an acapella group my my first year year and a
half of school. Um I pled I pledged a fraternity
and ended up quitting doing that before I became an
initiative member. Um I did. I did a bunch of stuff. Man,

(51:21):
I just tried a bunch of stuff, you know. And
I think that's what I'm thankful for in the college experience,
because that's where I found out that this is what
I was supposed to be doing. And you left early
like you were a closer graduating right. Well, I was
there for five years, so I didn't leave early, but
you left I stayed late and I didn't graduate. Yeah

(51:44):
how many hours you think you need? Not even semester
and a half yea, not even year. But I could
have done like a summer and a semester. But the
problem was I always hated math and I always hated science. Um,
I'm not good at not good at science, not good
at math. Um, and so I never What happened was

(52:06):
I I loved I was a major, and I changed
my major from business. I started out at business and
I was like, wait, I hate math, Why am I
doing that? That's just something that I was like, Oh,
you could probably get a good job doing business things,
you know. So I tried that for like a year,
and then I switched my major to criminal justice because
do what incriminal justice? Near mind? I wanted to be
a homicide detective is what I wanted to do. Uh

(52:28):
still and very interested in that um, and so I
I went balls to the wall and in that major,
and I really enjoyed that. So I liked go into
my you know, forensic science class and my this and
this and this class. But the things that I the
twenty one hours I was short where all my math classes,

(52:48):
all my science classes, so like basic like your freshman
year stuff. Never took any of them. I never took
Stats one and stats too, and then I never took
chemistry or biology because I was like, this is just
I don't want to do any of this stuff, you know.
And so by the time I got to the end
of my major, I kind of ran into this huge

(53:11):
roadblock because I had two or three classes that I
needed for my major and they were like, well, you
can't take this class unless you have Stats one in
stats too, and you can't take them at the same time.
So that's at least a year of school to take
two classes. So I had to do Stats one Stats
to biology or Chemistry one in biology or chemistry too,

(53:34):
and those were both prerequisites, and then I would have
had to take the classes for the end of my major,
and then I would have had to do my internship
because I couldn't do my internship until I did the
classes for the end of my major. And you already
years and I had already done yeah, like four I was, yeah,
I've already done like four and a half years. So
I was like, I'm not staying here for another two
and a half years in school. At least I ended

(53:55):
up living in Boone until I was twenty four before
I moved to Nashville. Um, but I was just like, man,
I just I don't you know what that by that time,
I was already playing music. Were you going back and
the forth from Boone to Nashville or what did you
when you came to Nashville? Was it you came to
Nashville the first. I came to Nashville twice in in
those years, and that was two thousand and at the

(54:16):
end of two thousand and thirteen, and then the summer
of two thousand and fourteen the first time. Did you
know you wanted to stay? Yeah? Oh yeah, because I
had written a few songs, and so I came at
the end of and recorded those songs. And then I
met had you know, through the internet, had met a

(54:36):
couple of people. I was like, oh, I write songs
with these guys. And so I wrote a couple of
songs when I was there, and then I got back
and I was like, man, like, I gotta play another trip.
So I played another trip, wrote some more songs, and
then on that trip and probably aprilish May of two
thousand and fourteen is when I recorded she got the
best to me, can I get an outlaw and share

(54:58):
if you want to? And then at that time after that,
those came out in June, and I moved in September
of that year of two four. The tweet you posted
what you said. I think the topic was tell me
something about yourself that no one believe. And the just
of it was that you came to town and you
had some songs and people were like, hey, they weren't good,

(55:19):
and your old thing was don't let anyone let you
stop chasing your dreams. Yeah, those meetings where you were rejected,
are they vivid to you? The early meetings definitely? Um.
The one in the meeting in particular was with somebody.
It was, you know, they have like the artist like
writer reps at at like b and I. So I

(55:40):
had a friend that had a rep there and I
went in and I was like very excited because I
had just moved to Nashville at this time and I
didn't know anybody, you know, I knew a couple of
writing buddies and was going out and playing a few
writers rounds and writing songs every day. And because by
that time I was living off of those songs that
I had put out the previous year and I went

(56:03):
in and it was kind of like this this person
was like, we'll play me three songs. And I was like,
oh cool, Like this person is gonna be like I'm
gonna play these three songs and like they're gonna walk
me into the best publishing thing and they're gonna like
this guy is great, Like how could you not love
this guy? Give him a publishing deal? So I played
Hurricane When It Rains in One Number Away, which were

(56:26):
my first three number ones, and they were like, Okay,
here's the deal. You gotta get better a songwright, and
you gotta write better songs and you're never gonna be
an artist. So that's it. And I was like, and
I wasn't like mad. Do you know who said it? Yeah,
but I'm not gonna I'm not gonna say I would
never ask you to say it, but I'm just asking

(56:46):
if you know who's that? Oh? I know? Yeah? Have
you seen them since? Yeah? I've ran into them awkwardly
at actually the B and My Awards. Do you think
they remember telling you that or do you don't get
just someone that was coming through attorney to the system.
I don't think so at all. Which is fine, you
know I have I have nothing against that person, you
know what, because I get it. Man. I mean it's

(57:08):
it's like if you look at it, would I would,
I would equate it to at that level, you know,
because you're not even screened at all. At that level,
like any Tom Dick or Harry can walk in off
the street pretty much to be AM and get one
of those meetings. So I can't imagine the pressure of like, Okay, well,
I've got six kids that moved to town yesterday that

(57:30):
want to come in and they all think they're awesome,
and I've got to be able to figure out which
ones I think are good enough to go on to
the next thing. And so I wasn't mad about it
at all. I'm actually very thankful for that meeting because
I did go out and feel like I wrote some
of the best songs that I had ever written, because
I was like, man, I gotta I gotta write more

(57:51):
and and do better, Like I'm not even close to
as good as I need to be. And so I
just kept my head down and I went and a
ton of songs and and then there kind of the
rest is just kind of fell into place. I mean,
I know that's, you know, summarizing a big chain of events,
but that's kind of how it felt like at a
few minutes left her. I wanted to run a couple

(58:12):
of other things about you that I heard. First of all,
a lot of folks come in myself included that worked
retail because we kind of had to. You gotta pay
the bills somehow as you're chasing your creative endeavor. And
I worked at hobby Lobby. Mike who was in Michael
Hobby from Thousand Horses worked at the Buckle. You worked

(58:32):
at isod How did that go? I was not a
great fit at izod Um, but I had you know,
I had as much fun with it is you could
possibly have folding people's golf sweaters, you know. Um. It
was in an outlet mall, like one of those like
Tanger outlets or whatever they call it. They had one
in Blowing Rock, which is right down the road from Boone.

(58:54):
So it was I mean, it was pretty pretty miserable.
And how long did you do that? I probably worked
there for I mean close to a year probably, I
would think. And whenever you are walking past a table
of shirts that are messy, does it bother you and
will you refold a shirt? No chance, no chance. But

(59:16):
I'll tell you what I do. I do fold a
mean shirt, you know when I'm when I'm doing the
laundry at home, which I'm sure people are supposed to
do do laundry. Uh, my fiance does handle the brunt
of the laundry. Um, but I do. I do chip
in quite a bit and you know, help fold stuff.
And you know I'm not I'm not afraid to do laundry.
I I don't. I don't mind it at all. But

(59:37):
or I I if I wasn't in a committed relationship,
I would throw it on. Yeah, but I do separate
it now just because that's what. But now it's like
her stuff's in there, which is the thing. Like mine
are just old, like gross t shirts and jeans really,
so I'm not too worried about them like shrinking or like.

(59:58):
But now there's this whole like don't wash this thing
with that thing, and don't drive this thing. But it's
gotta be tumble dried, but don't put it in with
this thing that has to be high heat. And then
some stuff is like cold water and so it's I mean,
it gets pretty Matthey to me, you know, and we

(01:00:18):
know you don't like don't left left school because you
didn't even take a laundry That was like a year three.
That was the year three and I skipped laundry class,
that's for sure. Thanks for listening to part two of
the top eight Bobby Cast interviews of the year. If
you enjoyed those, you can hear the full conversations. That
was just a little snippet. Go back on the Bobby
Cast feed, and again, if you missed part one from
last week, check that out. We'll be back with new episodes.

(01:00:42):
Just appreciate you. We wouldn't be able to do what
we do if you didn't listen, so we're very grateful.
Check out my d's movie podcast called Movie Mike's movie
podcast Talk to Chuck with Chuck Wicks. If you love
country Talk to Chuck. It's a good one too. We're
just so many. We hope to check them out. We
hope you find something you like. I'm glad you're actors. Goodbye, friends,