Getting Real with Greylan James: Is He the Baby Daddy?!

Greylan James rolled into Nashville broke, living in a rundown East Nashville house surviving on tomato soup and a dream. Before the hits, he was writing nonstop, and once house-sat for a hit songwriter — then threw a 200-person party without asking. The songwriter’s response? “Hope you have a great time — just let everyone know it’s my house.” Legend.

Greylan went on to co-write “Happy Does,” Kenny Chesney’s #1 hit, then penned the Song of the Year, “Next Thing You Know,” for Jordan Davis. Now he’s stepping into the spotlight with “Water at a Wedding,” a nail bitter that has fans on the edge of their seat asking: Is he the baby daddy? No answers yet — but we’re all desperately waiting to know the truth. From broke to blazing, Greylan’s  just getting started.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:09):
Carryl Lyne. She's a queen and talking and a song
she's getting not afraid to face as episode, So just
let it flow.

Speaker 2 (00:20):
No one can do we quiet Cary Line his time
for Caroline Gayln James. I'm so excited to meet you.
We're actually reminiscing on how we met and I this
is an outrageous story to me, and I feel like
I had to have you have to share it again.

Speaker 1 (00:37):
Yeah, I think we met. I think I met you
and your husband at my buddy Lee Thomas Miller, who's.

Speaker 2 (00:42):
A great songwriter.

Speaker 1 (00:43):
I write her probably a Hall of Fame songwriter. One
day he used to have me house at his house
because he had been to my house up in Ea
Snashville that I was living in when I first got here.
And uh, I lived in a piece of shit. I
hope I can cuss on this podcast.

Speaker 2 (00:55):
Let it rip.

Speaker 1 (00:57):
I lived in a turd over in Snatch.

Speaker 2 (00:59):
You did by yourself? Over? Did you have other people
in the turd with you?

Speaker 1 (01:02):
My dad would pay half the rent to help me out,
and you know, would do a lot of He's in
a kitchen design so he would come down here a
lot and find excuses to work in Nashville. Just to
make sure I was all right.

Speaker 2 (01:13):
Your dad would come stay with you.

Speaker 1 (01:14):
Yeah, he come stay with me and pay half the rent,
which was nice. And so it's just me, the cockroaches.

Speaker 2 (01:19):
And my dad, and so you love your family.

Speaker 1 (01:22):
I love my family to death. They made a lot
of sacrifices for me to get down here. But Lee
came over to my house one day to record a
vocal and I had my studio also in my bedroom,
and he was like, dude, this is not a great house.
And he was like, man, me and my family go
on road trips for like a month or two every
summer and we're never here. So why don't you pretend

(01:44):
you live in Brentwood and just stay at my house
make sure it doesn't burn down. And I was like absolutely.
And at that time I was starting to make buddies
other other songwriters in Nashville, and so I would have
a little get togethers.

Speaker 2 (01:57):
What we might get together, So how many people would
do we invite?

Speaker 1 (01:59):
Oup It started off small, I mean it started about
like five or ten people, and then people were like, damn,
this house rocks.

Speaker 2 (02:07):
You know.

Speaker 1 (02:07):
It had a dope pull in the back, had a
cool ass, studio a movie theater, and I mean it
was it was badass. And so, uh, five to ten
started to double and triple and I started having my
birthday parties there.

Speaker 2 (02:20):
No, you did not started to triple.

Speaker 1 (02:23):
I did.

Speaker 2 (02:23):
Do you not have fear of like getting in trouble?

Speaker 1 (02:27):
I kind of did back then, but you know, I
didn't really know much. And you know, I didn't have
my first sip of alcohol until I was twenty one.

Speaker 2 (02:32):
So you're making it up. You're going hard.

Speaker 1 (02:34):
I was making up for lost time.

Speaker 2 (02:35):
Say like, if you're you don't really have fear of
getting in trouble, you're not really aware thing. Are you
noticing that things could like break in the house, or
like you could spill wine on the floor, or like
you could like ruin things.

Speaker 1 (02:48):
Well, people always ask me, like, I'm a neat freak
at my house and they're like, where'd you learn how
to clean? It was from cleaning Lee Thomas Miller's house
to make sure there was no proof of the parties
that we had there. But he finally caught me he
didn't know about it.

Speaker 2 (03:01):
I was so bold, I cannot even I would be dead.

Speaker 1 (03:04):
Well, he started telling me, He's like, uh, you know,
people started telling him around, telling like, man, you've got
a great house.

Speaker 2 (03:09):
Are you just claiming it?

Speaker 1 (03:11):
Saying Lee Lee would just like be in a riot
and like some young rider would in the kitchen at
Warner Chapel and be like, hey, like you've got the
dope house and be like thanks. And he finally put
two and two together when uh, I had my twenty
second birthday party there and I had about I think
I had about a hundred hundred fifty people. No, you
did not, Yeah, I mean that's he did not know.

(03:33):
So he he knew.

Speaker 2 (03:34):
You had a hundred people over to someone else. You know,
you know, stuff is breaking.

Speaker 1 (03:39):
Stuff was breaking. People were throwing up everywhere.

Speaker 2 (03:42):
This was a nightmare. They were having a panic.

Speaker 1 (03:45):
Little Caesar's pizza was getting found in places that pizza
has never been before.

Speaker 2 (03:48):
Were you stressed out when you're having the party? Were
you enjoying yourself?

Speaker 1 (03:51):
I was having a great time. I mean I still
had confidence of my cleaning skills and my cover up skills.
But then I think one of his neighbors was like, hey, man,
there's a lot of cars parked outside and in your
in your yard, like everywhere, And so he checked the
cameras and he saw a guy named Tommy Cecil, who's
another great rider. But at that time we were on
the come up and he had parked his cheap Cherokee

(04:13):
or cheep Wrangler in the backyard and it started like
just down pouring in the middle of our party, and
he starts trying to leave. MUD's going everywhere. There's tire
tracks all in the yard. So Lee was like, hey, man, so,
uh you have a party in my house last night.
And I was like, oh, damn it, dude. He's like,
that's badass. He's just let people know, like you're welcome.

Speaker 2 (04:36):
And he didn't say he wasn't mad at you at all.

Speaker 1 (04:39):
And then for the next like the next few weeks,
the next few months, I'd stay there and every now
and then he'd be like, man, feel free to have
people with the house have a party. Dude, Like let
me know if you need beer, chips, whatever.

Speaker 2 (04:50):
Yeah, he was, are you kidding me?

Speaker 1 (04:51):
The supportive fun Nashville dad.

Speaker 2 (04:53):
For sure, I would have died.

Speaker 1 (04:55):
Yeah, it's crazy. But you didn't notice that there was
a party thrown in his house when I met you there,
So yep, nobody knew. No I knew for a long time.
So that's how I got my head.

Speaker 2 (05:03):
So did you say I met you? Because did I
come to this party?

Speaker 1 (05:06):
You did not come to the party, but I think
I met you at least Christmas party.

Speaker 2 (05:09):
Did I come to your radio?

Speaker 1 (05:10):
I don't think they didn't have a rager. Their parties
were never rage was like manware. No, they were. They
were sipping wine and having a circuitary board or whatever.
Mom was a little seazar with pizza and natural light.

Speaker 2 (05:20):
Yeah, okay, So how long have you been to Nshville
A long time?

Speaker 1 (05:25):
You know?

Speaker 2 (05:25):
I was looking up emails. I was like looking up
your name because I was like trying to find information
on you that people sent me. And I found an
email from Leslie Thomasina because I used to be her
song plugger. I was your song plugger for like maybe
one minute, because then I ended up not staying there
or somehow we I didn't say I love Monkey very

(05:46):
long because were you there with Travis Carter?

Speaker 1 (05:49):
I was yep.

Speaker 2 (05:50):
Then he left and then for some reason, I think
I was going to like be the song plugger. So
you were one of the files that she sent me.
I was like, oh my god, that was like in
twenty fifteen or something fifteen.

Speaker 1 (05:58):
So I was when first I had just moved to Nashville.
I graduated high school.

Speaker 2 (06:03):
And you came straight here.

Speaker 1 (06:04):
I just moved straight here, and I was I was
about to have to go to community college and have
to figure that out, which is gonna be terrifying. Uh
why just because I've been homeschooled the last two years
of high school? So why just because I've been playing
so many shows around back home?

Speaker 2 (06:18):
And I did you really do school work or did
you just like kind of.

Speaker 1 (06:23):
Kind of Uh yeah, I definitely phone that in. But
I graduated within like three months of being homeschooled, so
I hadn't really done school for like a year and
a half. And I was like, oh my god, I
gotta dial this ship back up and figure out how
to be smart.

Speaker 2 (06:37):
Again because you thought you were in half to go
to school because music.

Speaker 1 (06:40):
Yeah, I was gonna have to go back to community
college because everything that happened up to that point. I've
been writing songs, playing shows my entire life.

Speaker 2 (06:48):
But sure, when you were like what five or something? Yeah,
when I was like five or six, your grandfather.

Speaker 1 (06:52):
Yeah, my grandfather got me a guitar and I just
became obsessed with it, and yeah, I just started writing songs,
playing shows all around town. And then the Voice when
I was like fourteen or fifteen, you were on.

Speaker 2 (07:02):
The Voice when you're you're still that in casually.

Speaker 1 (07:04):
Split second, split second?

Speaker 2 (07:05):
So that's why did you make it to TV?

Speaker 1 (07:07):
I was on TV?

Speaker 2 (07:08):
Did you get a team?

Speaker 1 (07:09):
I did not get a team?

Speaker 2 (07:10):
No, look at their rendant now.

Speaker 1 (07:13):
Yeah, it was sad, that's right, dude?

Speaker 2 (07:14):
Were you a heartbreaking? Was that your first real heart break?

Speaker 1 (07:17):
It kind of was. Was the first time I was like, oh, man,
like it's not figuring itself out, you.

Speaker 2 (07:22):
Know, at fourteen, the first thing I'm four it feels
like the end of the world.

Speaker 1 (07:25):
Yeah, it definitely did. But you know, I'd always like,
you know, I wasn't really athletic, you know, and I'll
always like figure out how to be good at baseball,
and I always try to figure out how to be
good at things. And all of a sudden, like it
kind of fell out of my control, and you know,
I needed other people to say yes, and it wasn't
something that I could do.

Speaker 2 (07:42):
You're so your destiny was hinged on other people's opinion
on you.

Speaker 1 (07:45):
Yeah, absolutely, and that's a.

Speaker 2 (07:46):
Hard revelation for anyone, especially fourteen year old.

Speaker 1 (07:49):
And you know, I've known a lot of people, you know,
back home that had moved to Nashville but moved back
and uh okay, I started to kind of get that fear.
And so you know when I I've gotten homeschooled, and I
thought like, oh my gosh, everything's gonna explode for me,
Like it's just going to work out. Somebody's gonna email
me offer me a record deal on Boom. It's going
to happen like that. I guess it kind of did
because Leslie Papiro found me on on YouTube.

Speaker 2 (08:12):
On you So are you posted on YouTube before you
the thing?

Speaker 1 (08:15):
Yeah? So, I mean it was kind of a thing
back then.

Speaker 2 (08:17):
I think keep been trying to go viral for a
long time. You go viral from the beginning.

Speaker 1 (08:21):
My dad was actually trying to He was posting a
lot of that stuff for me. But I've written a
song by myself when I was a kid, and they
posted on YouTube and she found it and was like, hey,
like come to Nashville. You know, we'd love to meet
with you and hear some of the songs you'd written
and I've never written with somebody else. I'd only written
songs by myself. And she introduced me to Bob Dapio.

Speaker 2 (08:40):
Her husband's a legend.

Speaker 1 (08:41):
Another legendary songwriter. They heard my songs and were like,
we'll sign you to a publishing deal. Just moved to Nashville.

Speaker 2 (08:48):
Well, when you have Leiro on your team, you have
a freaking just jim of a human. That girl will
go to war for her people. And when she believes
in you, she loves you and like is so fierce
and just like so proactive. She's like, I feel like
just Nashville like treasure.

Speaker 1 (09:04):
She is, you know, and I at that time, I was,
you know, I'd never really been away from my family
at all, so, you know, moved to Nashville was scary.
And yeah, my dad made a lot of sacrifices to
spend a lot of time in Nashville.

Speaker 2 (09:13):
And what sacrifices did he make?

Speaker 1 (09:15):
So he h he actually like kind of quit his
job and got a new job that was like split
between Nashville and Knoxville. Uh, purposely to make sure I
was all right because I had no money. I mean,
I was broke, is broken good, and I mean the
amount of times my car got declined for the first
two or three years. I got decline to the Captain
D's one time for a six dollars shrimp meal. It
was crazy. So I was I was struggling, so I

(09:38):
really needed my parents to help me out. And uh,
you know, they've kind of gone through it with you know,
eight and all the way to like twenty thirteen up
until I moved here. So it's not like they could
send me to Nashville with a little trust fund or anything.
So I got here, started from scratch, and yeah, that
started writing songs for whopping twelve thousand dollars a year
with Leslie Depiro and uh, but more importantly than the

(10:00):
publishing deal was the connection.

Speaker 2 (10:02):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (10:03):
Then being kind of like my parents.

Speaker 2 (10:04):
Away from my parents, she's like a mother.

Speaker 1 (10:07):
I don't understand. They would take me to dinners, they
would take me to award shows, introduce me to people,
and make sure that I was just I was taken
care of.

Speaker 2 (10:14):
And so you were trying to live up twelve thousand
dollars a year, I did. Yeah, you lived up twelveth
How do you live up twelve?

Speaker 1 (10:21):
I eat tomato soup. I mean, if somebody would record
the record. I probably set the record for eating tomato
soup consecutively. I would eat tomato soup for lunch and
then through tuna packets. I was thin that never was
a big eater, but yeah, I was definitely a rail
thin for a little while. But that was my first deal.
They Leslie got hired somewhere else after two years of

(10:44):
righting over there, and I got and got dropped. They
were like, all right, we can't bring you over here
with us, and so I got let go and I
was without a publishing deal for like six or seven months.

Speaker 2 (10:55):
And then those hard times. So what did you do
in that season?

Speaker 1 (11:00):
I was writing with people that had real jobs, you know,
people that worked at restaurants, at home depots, and uh,
I realized, oh my god, Like I went from writing
with Bob Apiro and his buddies, you know, Shane McNelly
and all them, and just the top of the top,
the top of the top, to all of a sudden
writing with people that you had to get off work
before they could write with me. And that was terrifying.

Speaker 2 (11:20):
And what was terrifying about it?

Speaker 1 (11:23):
Just like again I fell out of control. You know,
I think that I didn't have somebody like Bob de
lean On. I didn't have just the everything's going to
work itself out, you know. And people had kept telling
me that my whole life, but it felt like it
wasn't working out. You know. It's like, oh, dude, it's
gonna happen. It's going to happen. It's going to happen,
and it wasn't happening, and so much so that I
lost my first publishing deal. And then I met a

(11:44):
buddy actually do Leslie, named Kevin Mack that uh. He
was another songwriter in town, and he had signed with
Keith Stegall, who is Alan Jackson's producer for for Forever
since the beginning, and then Zach Brown's producer, and he
had a little publishing company over Barry Hill, and he
had signed Kevin, and Kevin was like convincing Keith to

(12:05):
sign me, and Keith brought me in and was like, brother,
I'm gonna be honest with you. Like that pop country
shit you're doing, I'm not a big fan of it,
but you seem like a good kid. Kevin believes in you,
and we believe in Kevin. So how about we give
you a publishing deal for a year and just use
it to figure something else out.

Speaker 2 (12:24):
Again.

Speaker 1 (12:24):
It was fifteen grand I got a little take. Oh god,
it was awesome. I felt so rich. Yeah. I remember
like bragging to my buddies at the bar. I'm like, god,
I got a fifteen thousand dollars, it's crazy. And so
I start right over there and yeah, just I didn't
have a song plugger. I just had Facebook. I would
message other songwriters that were on track list and be like, hey, man,

(12:47):
like I write for Key Still.

Speaker 2 (12:49):
We have one tiny shred of like something in your
arsenal to say, like I write for Keith ste God
gives you the confidence of put youself out there, doesn't it. Oh?

Speaker 1 (12:56):
Yeah, absolutely, I understand. I would fit about. You know.
I message other writers and be like, yo, like you
know case. I was working with Alan Jackson and Zach Brown.
I think they're looking for songs like you want you
want to write sometime, and I would just like get
people like that and uh. The first person I got
was Jay Brunswick, who was a a great songwriter, great guy,

(13:16):
and he messaged me back, was like, yeah, bro, you
want to hop in with uh? With me and a
guy named seth Innis.

Speaker 2 (13:21):
And Recordbogger ship.

Speaker 1 (13:25):
Crazy.

Speaker 2 (13:25):
Yeah, I mean, so maybe I'm not thinking the right person.

Speaker 1 (13:28):
We probably are. He's a great songwriter, yeah, and he's
he's had like three number ones Fournum ones. He's crushing it.
But at the time he was just an artist and
he was It was my first time writing with somebody
with a record deal, and me and Jay hit it off.
He introduced me to Tommy Cecil, who inevitably introduced me
to Tom Luteran at Sony and Uh. Tom Luder heard

(13:48):
my songs and was like, what are you doing signed
to this company that only likes you know, older country stuff.
And I was like, bride, no other choice, dude, nobody
wanted to work with me and uh, and so he
brought me de Troy Thomlinson. They listened to my songs
and uh offered to buy me out of my deal and.

Speaker 2 (14:05):
Then bought you out of your deal. Now you're like,
you're being it's crazy.

Speaker 1 (14:08):
Yeah, my songs are getting on hold, and uh it was.
It was insane not being able.

Speaker 2 (14:12):
To get a deal to like being bought out of
your deal yep, and drastic change.

Speaker 1 (14:17):
I mean I would from not being able to get
a publishing deal a year before or too, I had
like ten or fifteen offers.

Speaker 2 (14:23):
And uh, how what happened? What was the explosion?

Speaker 1 (14:26):
I think, like the songs, she started to make sense,
and like songwriting started to make sense to me.

Speaker 2 (14:30):
I went from like, you're a big storyteller, aren't you.

Speaker 1 (14:32):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (14:32):
Yeah, yeah, And your songs are such great stories. They're
so vivid.

Speaker 1 (14:35):
Well they used to not be. They used to be terrible,
and uh, the songs I was writing when I first
moved here were god awful, and uh, I didn't know
how to write. I didn't know what I was doing,
and I was just kind of leaning on other people
to just make the song happen, and inevitably I would learn.

Speaker 2 (14:49):
I guess, but how did you finally hit your stride?
And what what would you call your what would you
say your stride is? Because obviously it hit if you're
getting offers by ten publishing companies.

Speaker 1 (14:57):
I tell the story all the time. I'll never forget.
I just got a uh a four for four from
Wendy's and yeah, I sort of got it. All happened
with that and I got back to the little studio.
It's like four different options. I love four for four dude.
It was a junior baking cheeseburger, a small fry, four
piece of nugget, and a small drink four stopped crazy. Okay,

(15:21):
hit that shit all the time, and so I got
that went back to my little studio I had at
Keith Seegull's, a little publishing company, and I was sitting
there and I heard people talk about this band, Old Dominion,
and they were talking about how they're just incredible songwriters
who write all these songs for other people and now
they're artists and they're a band, and he's got this
incredible album. And so I listened to the album and

(15:42):
instead of like just listening to it, I read the
lyrics while I was listening, and I was like, holy shit,
I see what they're doing, and what are they doing.
They're just writing songs like poetry and they were using
all this wordplay and puns that I didn't realize were
just sitting in songs. Like I just was listening and
hearing the songs, not really studying them and seeing what
they meant and seeing the art in them, and it

(16:05):
just clicked. I'll never forget that feeling. And yeah, I
was like, I'll see what they're doing like it's just math,
Like it's just words are math, and it's just describing
a sunset in a different way instead of just saying
that's a red sun set. Just finding a different way
of doing it. And it blew my mind. It blew
my mind, and every day since then it's just kind

(16:25):
of clicked.

Speaker 2 (16:25):
Were able to apply that, and like, so, how did
what changed in your brain?

Speaker 1 (16:29):
I don't know. It literally felt like a literal switch.
And you know, I'm religious, so I think, you know,
it was a sound from God, like hey, like, this
is this is how you do it, and this is
what you've been chasing. And so I like the next
day that song was better, and the songs just kept
getting better and better, and I was able to you know,
I was still writing with people that had never had
cuts before, and you know, I was in the same boat,

(16:50):
and all of a sudden, our songs were getting on
hold and they were ending up like almost making records,
and I was getting really close. And then I got
to write. You know, Jay introduced me to Harmally and
I got to go in the writing and retreat with
them and got some songs that they were they were
loving and thought about cutting and it just changed everything,
Like the songs just got that much better, and I

(17:12):
kind of just figured it out enough to be competitive.

Speaker 2 (17:15):
Because like I have noticed on the your songs that
I've been listening, like your latest one, uh wait.

Speaker 1 (17:20):
Wan to write a wedding?

Speaker 2 (17:21):
Yeah so good? Is that a true story?

Speaker 1 (17:25):
No comment, dude, we can't talk about it. I can't
talk about it for a minute.

Speaker 2 (17:28):
But that's what I was wondering, because you do. All
your songs are such a vivid story. I'm like, is
this your life? Are you just like a master storyteller?

Speaker 1 (17:36):
Yeah, it's a little bit of both. I mean I
think that you know, my relationships have been against all
my homies have been very uh interesting, and so what
do you mean, It's just you know, I've been I mean,
I'm twenty nine, you know, never really uh settled down,
you know. And I think that in.

Speaker 2 (17:52):
Your whole life, have you ever had a serious relationship.

Speaker 1 (17:54):
I mean, yeah, yeah, for sure.

Speaker 2 (17:56):
But since you've been a Nashville or just like back, it's.

Speaker 1 (17:58):
Been a Nashville for sure. But I think, you know,
songwriting has always been first, you know, I'm like, you know,
drawing from experiences, and I think like also writing the
way that I do. I try to write super detailed
and try to feel what I'm writing and write what
I feel, and sometimes I can, you know, bring that
into a relationship or whatever. But like that, I think
that that's what makes songs vivid and makes other people

(18:21):
feel like, oh my god, this person's living my life.

Speaker 2 (18:32):
Well. And that's the thing, because sometimes it's not that
I don't appreciate all types of songs, but some songs
it's like anybody can sing that. It's just a it's
just words put together and they're great, But you don't
feel a story. You don't feel connection to the character
in the song. You don't like feel like you're getting
an insight to the artist. It just feels like anyone
could have cut it. But like when I was listening
to Water at a wedding, honestly, I listened to it

(18:53):
like three times because I kept learning new things each
listen and then like, there's such.

Speaker 1 (18:58):
A twist, there's a crazy to us that one?

Speaker 2 (19:00):
Yeah, and did it just go viral on itself? Was
that supposed to be a single? Or did like the people?

Speaker 1 (19:05):
No? No, so uh? I had a song out that
was at radio. Was my first.

Speaker 2 (19:10):
Raa have kids because you love your parents so much
because you don't have kids. And so were people coming
at you because like, how are you writing a song
about not having kids?

Speaker 1 (19:17):
They were, I mean, it was it was kind of
an easy thing, like that was the initial concern with
that song was, Hey, this guy's you know, we know
I didn't have kids, and so that we know, you know,
and so I think, uh, you know, that was the
initial thing. But you know, I wrote I was part
of writing that song for Jordan Davis Next Thing, you know,
which was a lot about family.

Speaker 2 (19:34):
And that was a Song of the Year song of
the are Yeah.

Speaker 1 (19:36):
Yeah, we got really lucky with that song. But you
know that that song really taught me again, like how
to write about family and be more present with my
family so I can write about that. And you saw
people's reaction to that song. I was like, man, like
I want to write more songs like that. And so
I really spent the next year after writing Next Thing,
you know, like really paying attention to my parents' lessons
that they've taught me and looking back and see how

(19:57):
my parents raised me and my brother and so you
I started writing songs like that, and you know, wait
to have kids was a song that a few artists
that have kids wanted to record, but you know, my
label is like, you know, we got to start having
hits on you, Like, why don't you put this song out?

Speaker 2 (20:11):
I love that you put that out. I think it's
such a tribute to your family and the fact that
you don't have kids and you're not married. It's so
sweet that like that's what you're prioritizing.

Speaker 1 (20:20):
I understand it's kind of a you know, a letter
to my future self and uh and in currncyl too,
you know, to be uh, to be present, you know
right now I don't have kids, you know, like, uh,
to enjoy this time in the season of life because
it's going to change.

Speaker 2 (20:32):
Do you want to be some point?

Speaker 1 (20:34):
Oh yeah, yeah, for sure, for sure. I think a
lot of that's just because, you know, too, my brother
just became a dad.

Speaker 2 (20:41):
How is that?

Speaker 1 (20:42):
Oh so exciting?

Speaker 2 (20:43):
Is your brother older or younger?

Speaker 1 (20:44):
He's he's a younger brother when you.

Speaker 2 (20:47):
You're When my sister had her daughter, it was life changing,
just like just shook your world.

Speaker 1 (20:53):
I mean, he's, uh, my little nephew's the ship. He's
he's awesome and it's definitely wild to see uh, it's
you know, my my brother become a dad, and see
how changing my parents.

Speaker 2 (21:03):
And how did it change your parents and brother?

Speaker 1 (21:05):
My parents were built to be grandparents.

Speaker 2 (21:06):
They were sure. They seem like they're so loving and
supporting the fact you change jobs to come up and
live with you part time. A sweet people.

Speaker 1 (21:15):
They're they're incredible and uh, you know, my my mom's
an angel and so they is O. Yeah, she's like
the second coming to Dolly Parton. She's she's incredible, but
she's you know, she's so ready to be a grandmother.
And so I also kind of took the pressure off
of me, you know a little bit. And uh, but yeah,
definitely I think that you're writing songs, uh definitely makes
you hyper emotional and you feel things a lot more so,

(21:37):
you know, like getting into my late twenties, you start
to feel that kind of that that clock that people
say that uh, you know a lot of guys don't
have you know, you feel that, you.

Speaker 2 (21:45):
Know, so you feel the clock really like what is
your what is your what are your numbers? Like? What
are your time frames? Oh? I had a clock too,
I don't have.

Speaker 1 (21:52):
A crazy I don't have a super locked in time
time frame. I think it's just you know, like looking
at my my grandparents. I adored my grandparents and uh,
you don't have them anymore. So I had some of
my best memories though we're growing up with my grandparents,
and you know, I'd love to see my kids, uh
you know, have the support from my parents and uh
get to get to know them, so they don't just

(22:12):
hear the stories, they get to have a few of
their own too. So I think that's a lot of it.
I'll write so many songs about being present and uh,
you know, about grandparent experiences and all that stuff. So
I think that that just adds the uh, the little
thoughts in the brain. I think it's just oh not really, no,
I think more than like a songwriting sense. Yeah, I

(22:33):
think that that's so important. I think that I learned
from Shane mcinelli, Bob Phapiro in those early days as
a songwriter, Like they would just say lines and I'm like,
how did you know?

Speaker 2 (22:41):
How did you say that? Like that?

Speaker 1 (22:43):
Like how did you know that I live that?

Speaker 2 (22:45):
Like?

Speaker 1 (22:45):
How did you There's no way that you live something
that specific that I've lived, And it's just from them
being so fucking present.

Speaker 2 (22:51):
And like listening to your story.

Speaker 1 (22:53):
Yes, and you know, just looking at something about somebody
else and being like, all right, like I if I
put that in a song, that person's gonna be somewhere
driving down the road. Holy shit, Like that's that's my life,
that's what I'm wearing, that's what I'm feeling, that's what
I've been through. So I really try to like incorporate
and that that in my song. Sometimes that takes me
out of my own life for sure, but uh, I
still enjoy it. And then you know, the life I

(23:14):
get to live because of songwriting is pretty pretty amazing.

Speaker 2 (23:17):
So when did it switch? You're kind of talking about that.
You went from eating to made a soup every day,
barely getting by, losing your publishing deal, feeling like you're
alone in the world, and signing again with PC all
and then kind of getting some momentum going again and
then you get bought out, so you felt like, for
a minute, just for equipment, it wasn't gonna work out.
Then immediately you landed somewhere else and now people are

(23:39):
like pursuing you. What, So what did that feel like?
And did that like was it fast? And was it
when you realize when that shift happened, when you realize
how to write songs and you started writing them. Did
it come fast?

Speaker 1 (23:53):
It kind of came fast. I mean, looking back at
it happened a lot faster than it felt like in
the moment, you know, signed, I inevitably signed it Universal Publishing,
and which is the best decision I've ever made. I
got over there. I signed with a guy named Ron Stevie,
who's turned into one of my best friends. And uh,
at the time, he was super hard on me, and
uh yeah, I got in there thought I was hot ship.

(24:14):
I was like, hell yeah, dude, let the young stum
bitches here.

Speaker 2 (24:17):
And so you're pretty confident I.

Speaker 1 (24:19):
Was at that time, because you know, I felt like
I figured it out. I was like, here we go.

Speaker 2 (24:23):
I got the golden too. Oh yeah, they were you
cracked the code.

Speaker 1 (24:27):
Yeah, they were paying me forty thousand dollars and I
was like, you were rich this point, I was thinking
about buying an island I was. I was like, yeah,
I was. I was checking some ship out of New
Truck and everything.

Speaker 2 (24:37):
You're like, I am so rick God, I thought I
was is a lot.

Speaker 1 (24:42):
It was. It was a lot back, especially when you
know how.

Speaker 2 (24:43):
To live on twelve thousand and now you get forty.

Speaker 1 (24:46):
One hundred percent.

Speaker 2 (24:47):
Dude, I wouldn't even do thought that.

Speaker 1 (24:48):
Dude, I was getting four f for Forrest. Dude, I
was getting so much ship. That was a tough twister.
Oh No, So I got, uh got over there, and
I started like hanging out in the kitchen at a Universe.

Speaker 2 (25:00):
So that's kind of a watering hole, isn't it.

Speaker 1 (25:01):
Yeah, it was wild, and so you know, i'd be
in there and i'd be hanging in the kitchen with
Andrew Dwarf and Chase McGill, and you know, came brown
and walk in and I was like, damn, you know,
this is so bad ass. I'm about to be like
these guys. We're with all these guys. And then I'd
sit down with Ron to uh listen to my first
batch of songs that I wrote over there, and he
was like, I'm gonna be honest with you, these are

(25:22):
some of the worst songs I've ever heard, but these
are so fucking bad. And I was like, that's like,
I was, bro, I make forty thousand dollars doing the show,
you know, and.

Speaker 2 (25:35):
I love your confidence.

Speaker 1 (25:36):
No, And then I lost all of it. I lost
all of it.

Speaker 2 (25:38):
You did, Yeah you hit a rock bottom again?

Speaker 1 (25:40):
Well no, no, not rock bottom. I mean I definitely
like it just brought me back to earth because he
was like, all right, well, I want to you hear
this song that you wrote. You know, it's about whatever, uh,
a girl leaving her hometown, you know, breaking up with you, whatever,
like a summer love fading. Whatever. He's all right, let
me play this song that Chase McGill wrote last week.
And he would play that song for me that was
the same, same plot, same tempo, whatever. And he played

(26:02):
that for me, I'd be like, oh fuck, yeah, that's good.
That's actually good. And uh so we kind of used
that and that comparison thing to really help me like
just come back to earth and be like, oh shit, dude,
like somebody's way better at this, you know, way better
at this. And then yeah, and then all of a sudden,
like you know, these these guys, I mean I started
looking at like my publishing only got a year. They

(26:23):
can drop me after a year, Oh my god, you
know yeah, and then he's telling me that all these
guys have twenty cuts a year, thirty cuts a year,
they've already got twenty cuts whatever, and I'm like, I
don't even have a hold, you know, and like that's
that's insane. And then it definitely helped me, like, you know,
really starting to keep observing and get better. And I, uh,

(26:44):
I started writing a lot of songs with you know,
other buddies that were kind of in the same position,
first publishing, big publishing deal, starting to kind of get
momentum and get better rights. And I got to write
with a gun named Mitch Oglesby, who's the guy that
just signed to Chris Jansen. And he was like, bro, like,
if we write some of my half songs, you know,
we'll send them to Chris Jansen. I was like, all right,

(27:04):
you know, hell yeah. Chris had one of my favorite
songs that Buy Me a Boat, and uh that had
just been a smash, and so I got to write
with Mitch. He sent a couple of songs to Chris,
and Chris cut all three songs that we wrote, and those.

Speaker 2 (27:17):
Are my first He's such a great songwriter, so that
he cut outside songs was a ton What songs are they?

Speaker 1 (27:23):
I had the title track with Blake Sheldon. It was
called Real Friends, and then uh, a song called check
and then another song called Uh, God's Got to be
a Good Old Boy, and all three all three songs,
and those are my first three cuts. And that happened
in the first like six months of my deal, and
so it was the first time I'd ever made a record.
I was like, Oh my god, this is unbelievable. And
then that really kind of changed everything, and the riots

(27:46):
got bigger and I felt like it was possible. And uh,
because up until then, you know, I was writing songs
that I thought were cool, but I didn't know how
to make records and how to get you know, my
songs and targets, and uh.

Speaker 2 (27:57):
How do you get your songs and targets? What?

Speaker 1 (27:59):
That was? It just you know, like getting songs on records,
you know, it was it was just it's a hard
thing knowing the right people. And I knew that I
could write good songs or good enough songs, but it
was writing good enough songs with the right people.

Speaker 2 (28:09):
Do you have to write them with the artists normally
to get them on records? I guess not for Christian No.

Speaker 1 (28:12):
No, not not. I mean not in my career.

Speaker 2 (28:14):
You know, I've had songs with people, songs that they
didn't write.

Speaker 1 (28:17):
My first number one was a song with Kenny Chesney
that was an outside song, And I wrote that song
with Happy does okay? And uh was.

Speaker 2 (28:26):
That a huge deal when he cut that song?

Speaker 1 (28:28):
It was insane? Yeah, yeah, it was crazy. I mean
we wrote that song because them, that's a crazy story.
So I was writing with Brock berry Hill and Jamie
Pollin and uh, actually it's just going to be me
and Brock. And then Jamie and Brad had gotten canceled
on by somebody else and they were like, hey, do
you want to write can we hop in with you?

(28:49):
Guys were like absolutely, And so Brock, I think it's
at the time, was still doing surveying out in Wilson
County and so he still had a part time job,
and we had a Christian chance and cut together, but
still hadn't had anything huge at that time. And then
we heard that on our little pitch sheet, you know,
the publisher sent out to songwriters saying like, hey, this
person's looking for songs, said Kenny Chesney was cutting next week.

Speaker 2 (29:11):
And every songwriter tries to write for everybody's going for that,
but no one really actually every week.

Speaker 1 (29:16):
Thought we did that. We didn't think we had a
shot in hell.

Speaker 2 (29:18):
And I was like, yeah, let's write for Keny. Let's
get his next thing. You know.

Speaker 1 (29:21):
I've just been at the QS Songwriters Festival and I
had this idea called like happy Choose Happy I think
it was. And uh, I thought it was such a
dope idea. I was like, Oh, this is gonna be
so sick and write about Key West or whatever. And
I said that and Jamie paul And was violently hungover,
violently hungover, and he was like, I think he was

(29:41):
still drunk too, because he was like remember that movie
Force gomb You know how he says stupid is a
stupid does stupid does? What about happy? Is this? Happy
does so? And I was like that's horrible, dude, that's
so bad. But I was like, all right, let's just
let's just write it. Let's just get it over with.
And we wrote that song literally in like two.

Speaker 2 (29:58):
Hours and turn out way better than you thought.

Speaker 1 (30:01):
No, I thought it was You don't think it was great.
I didn't think it was great. I thought it was
just like, Okay, you know it's a it's a song
that says palm trees and it you know, we'll see
what happens, and then Jamie proceeded to curreous hangover with
the Hair of the Dog. We got the demo done
that afternoon and send it to him and uh, I
think it was Sperry's over bell Meade and I think

(30:22):
he let whiskey talking him into sending the song to
Kenny Chesney.

Speaker 2 (30:25):
He sent because he had his information.

Speaker 1 (30:27):
Yeah, so his wife is like best friends with one
of Kenny's ex girlfriends or current girlfriends. I don't know
what that situation is, but uh send it to send
it to Kenny. And before we knew it, like we're
getting a text from Kenny Chesney saying like I love
this fucking song. I'm gonna record it and stop it.
It was unbelievable and uh yeah, that was a whirlwind

(30:48):
and we got I mean, and then getting the record
was one thing, and getting on there having it come
out was awesome. Then we found out we had the single.
You know, getting that phone call for the first time.
Never forget that And.

Speaker 2 (30:57):
What did that feel like? Did he call you or
just who called you?

Speaker 1 (31:00):
I mean, so my publisher called me.

Speaker 2 (31:01):
Said you have Kenya that he wrote the song? Did
a hall? It just a pitch out? Into the great
unknown to see if he'd get it. He got it,
loved it, then actually cut it and then put it
as a single.

Speaker 1 (31:14):
Single Yeah, which I mean, oh my god. I felt like,
I mean, everything changed and I knew, I knew it
did that day.

Speaker 2 (31:20):
I was like, your life changed.

Speaker 1 (31:21):
Yeah, I knew my life had changed. And I was
with my dad. I was just like, you know, I
I've done it, like I've I've gotten here and it's happening,
and I'm going to be able to write with better
people and like I have no excuse to fail. It's
like it's it's it's up to me now, like as
long as I just keep writing great songs and stay inspired,
like I've got the class, I've got the credibility.

Speaker 2 (31:44):
Now. Was that or has have you stayed in that
mindset since? You know?

Speaker 1 (31:47):
I feel like I belong now and I felt like
I belonged then, and uh, it just changed everything. But
it gave me like that that little that little piece
of like I've done it, you know, and I can
do it like it can't happen, and.

Speaker 2 (31:59):
So does that each everything in your psyche to know
that like, Okay, I came here, I thought I could
do it, but then like you had so many highs
and lows, then it happens.

Speaker 1 (32:08):
I'm sure. It's the same thing with like winning a
super Bowl. I'm sure like if you're just a freak athlete,
go to Ohio State or whatever, and then you go
to the NFL, like you're like, oh my gosh, yes
this is badass. But then you win the super Bowl.
It's a holy shit, Like.

Speaker 2 (32:19):
You feel like you won the super Bowl? Yeah, I
mean what a dream. What does it feel like to
have your dreams come true?

Speaker 1 (32:25):
I mean it's I don't think the dream ever like stops,
you know.

Speaker 2 (32:29):
Like, uh, but your dream as a five year old
to come to Nashville and make it and like have
can you chose me? Like you did it? So like
does did you take a moment to feel that?

Speaker 1 (32:38):
Like oh definitely, I mean I definitely did back then,
and I got to spend it, you know. I look
back and my grandfather he passed away like two or
three months after the song was done at radio, so
he got to see, you know, you got to hear
my songs on the radio. He got to got to
tell his buddies down at the barbershop that you know,
this is my son, my grandson's songs, and uh, you

(32:58):
know it kind of valid to what everybody in my
hometown thought, you know, when I was forcing them to
listen to me sing, you know at little Mexican restaurant
patios and all that. But you know, I think one
of the hardest things that I see creators and really
anybody that's in this business, you know, no matter what
angle they're coming from. You know, you check all the
boxes that you think you had, and you're like, Okay,

(33:19):
if I I get my first cut, i' gonna be happy.
If I get the publishing the I wanna be happy.
If I get my first number one, I'm gonna be happy,
and it's gonna be all my problems go away. They
just evolve. And that's a hard thing about this, but
that that's why we keep doing it. And uh, that's
why we keep chasing this and keep writing songs and
try to write better songs. But it's hard to finally
feel like I've done it because I think you keep

(33:40):
wanting to do it and you want more. And yeah,
it's just uh, it's a it's a crazy town and
I'm just blessed to be a part of it.

Speaker 2 (33:47):
So what is success now since you have and then
like getting Jordan Davis' songs, having songs of the years,
like that's as big as you can get as a songwriter.

Speaker 1 (33:53):
Yeah. Yeah, well you know now I'm an artist and
you know now I'm put that my own song. Yeah,
Jimmy Harten and the whole team, Yeah, absolutely, I mean
he's the best. They're fantastic and uh.

Speaker 2 (34:05):
What a great team to be a part of.

Speaker 1 (34:06):
Yeah, you know, but you know it's it's that thing
is like, hey, if I signed a record deal, you know,
I'd written a letter to Scott Borshetdow when I was
thirteen years old.

Speaker 2 (34:12):
He wrote me a letter to Scott Borchetta to sign.
What did that letter say?

Speaker 1 (34:18):
Signed me? It was like, hey, I'm GRAYLN and uh,
you know, I've seen what you've done with Taylor Swift
and I think the band was still Magnolia, yes, And
I'd opened for them and at the Tennessee Valley Fair
and I was like, yo, I opened for them, Like
they're really good, you know, like I could definitely see
where you and your team has developed them. And I
was like, I think y'all could do that same thing
with me.

Speaker 2 (34:36):
Did he ever get your letter.

Speaker 1 (34:37):
So I actually I brought that letter. My dad found it,
and uh he had no idea. You know, they committed
the sign to me. I signed the record deal. We
were doing the press release, and I brought that letter
and I was like, bro, do you live at U
And I told him his address. He's like, yeah, so
I had his address right, which is crazy that that
was on the internet back in the day, back in
the day. And uh, he was just blown blown away.

Speaker 2 (35:00):
He was like, holy, you actually got signed to who
you wanted to get So you're a manifestor.

Speaker 1 (35:05):
I mean absolutely, So you had.

Speaker 2 (35:07):
Your sight sent on Scott Borshedda and you got it.

Speaker 1 (35:09):
I got it, which is just unreal.

Speaker 2 (35:11):
That's unbelievable.

Speaker 1 (35:13):
It's crazy. It's it's fucking crazy. And you know, and
even with Jimmy Harden, you know, like, uh, just one
of my dad's favorite songs is one of the songs
that Jimmy Harnen had put out as an artist, stop
it back in the eighties.

Speaker 2 (35:24):
Because he was a great artist. He had a moment. Yeah,
and your dad and then Jimmy Harnen, so you already
knew him as an artist and your dad loved him.

Speaker 1 (35:31):
Yeah, and Jimmy Harnen is my my A and R
at my record label, and so it's, uh, it's just
been unreal. And now you know, my my radio rep
LI was in my neighborhood that I'll live in now.
And so anytime my songs are struggling or I'm like,
what the fuck's going on? My song just knocked on
his door, it's it's it's a great team. But you know,
signing a record deal feels like, oh my god, I've
done that. And I was like, well, now I've got
to put out songs and now i gotta.

Speaker 2 (35:52):
Get the water in a wedding. Is that your current single?

Speaker 1 (35:55):
Yeah, so it's ah, it looks like it's gonna be
my my next radio single, which is gonna be.

Speaker 2 (35:59):
Excited, but it's it's already like blowing up.

Speaker 1 (36:02):
Yeah, it's crazy.

Speaker 2 (36:03):
I have to know if it's a true story. Are
you ever going to tell us?

Speaker 1 (36:05):
You know what? So people have, uh.

Speaker 2 (36:08):
Because the hook of this everyone is you got to
listen to it. Can we tell them a hook?

Speaker 1 (36:11):
Yeah? Yeah? Yeah, I mean it's this.

Speaker 2 (36:12):
Girl that you Grayland, who is singing has a relationship with,
is getting married and you go to the wedding like
this confident person you are that throws parties at people's
houses when they're out of town. And I could see
this happening now because you have the confidence to show
someone's wedding. And then she's getting married and she's drinking

(36:33):
water at her wedding, and she's pregnant, and we then
find out that maybe it's your baby. Maybe you are dad.

Speaker 1 (36:40):
Possibly are you a father? Dude? We gotta get talked
to Phil on this show. Dude. No, So you know what,
my first started teasing the song.

Speaker 2 (37:01):
And also, is she still married?

Speaker 1 (37:04):
I'm not saying ship right now.

Speaker 2 (37:06):
Is she freaking out? And if this is true, then
her marriage is definitely also.

Speaker 1 (37:10):
But but people, I'll tell you people, people are fucking insane.
So people never cared about my songs as much about Yeah,
you know it's uh, I mean my past few songs.
I realized I was just kind of putting out songs,
and you know, going from songwriter to artists. You know,
I've written songs for other people, you know, my entire
career up until this point, and I thought, you know,
just all I gotta do is just put out good songs.

(37:31):
I just got put out songs that are just hits
and people gonna respond to them, and that's just not
been the case.

Speaker 2 (37:35):
You know.

Speaker 1 (37:36):
I've had songs that streamed well, I've done well whatever,
and it's got me on the road, kept my record deal,
but I wasn't really telling the story and wasn't really
letting people in on who I am and what I've
gone through and who I am as a person not
just a songwriter. And so this is the first song
that I felt like, Okay, I'm gonna post screenshots. I'm
gonna post you know, just behind the scenes of the song.

(37:57):
And you know this, this is my first time ever
teasing a song just on an acoustic guitar. I've always
just been proud of the productions, you know, letting people
hear the polished vocals, and really the way that starter
was top of this year. My numbers were awful and
on streaming, yeah, on streaming nothing was just like blowing up,
you know, the way I needed it to to just

(38:20):
keep a record deal, to get people in town to
believe in me, to get fans to want to know
who I am. And uh. And so I was in Vegas,
uh watching Kenny Chestnay play sphere and yeah, yeah, I
was out there, you know, for some shows and watching
him and doing some writing, and I had a couple
of days off and I was just kind of lost

(38:42):
and kind of like having a little like damn, you know,
like I can't even get like five thousand views on
a TikTok. Dude, this is not good. You know, my
labels watching.

Speaker 2 (38:50):
This and pressure.

Speaker 1 (38:52):
It was a lot of pressure and so but they
told me just keep promoting this this one song, why
you have kids, don't post anything else. And I was like,
all right, So I struggling. So I made it. I
made a fake TikTok and because I was just like,
I want to post the songs I've been writing, and
I want to post the personal songs you know that
not a lot of people that cared about after I
wrote them. And so I made this fake TikTok account

(39:16):
and I posted water at a wedding. I was just like,
I'm gonna leave it up for an hour and just
see what happens. And left it up for an hour
and had like five reviews. I'm like, damn, do that
song's ass? You know, like they're right, dude, nobody wants
to know me. Whatever. So then went to bed. Next morning,
I woke up and had half a million views, and
I was like, oh fuck. And I had all these texts,

(39:36):
you know, like I had a bunch of these artists
commenting on it like oh my god, this is the
best song I've ever heard, like whatever, you know, and
everybody's just like freaking out, like is it Do you
have a kid? Like what the fuck is going on?

Speaker 2 (39:45):
It's so many questions.

Speaker 1 (39:46):
But also like who is this guy? He's only posted
one TikTok? It's crazy. And I started posting more on
that that fake account, and I, you know, I went
to my team. They had no idea about it, and
I was like, hey, like, I think we should put
that water at a wedding song out. They're like why,
Like no, like that's too controversial. I was like, trust me,
I think it'll do well. I think it'll do well,

(40:07):
and they're like, I don't fucking know. And so a
couple of weeks went by, posted on my main account
against their wishes, and it got you know, a million,
a couple of million views and kind of just took off,
and uh, yeah, people just starting to want to know
who I am. People started showing up the shows, you know,
just freaking out. And the most pre says I've ever
had was like five hundred or a thousand, and this

(40:31):
one was you know around thirty thousand.

Speaker 2 (40:33):
Uh the power of a song, yeah, which is crazy.

Speaker 1 (40:35):
And uh, I've never had that, you know, remotely close
to that before and and never really shown up to
shows and people were like waiting outside of my green
room and stuff, and it's it's just it's changed everything.
And so yeah, I wrote that song in the season
in my life that I wrote a lot of songs
about that.

Speaker 2 (40:51):
And what was that season?

Speaker 1 (40:52):
Yeah, just going through you know, a weird relationship and.

Speaker 2 (40:55):
Weird break up relationship and break ups.

Speaker 1 (40:58):
So I've got the following. You know, people have been
one of you posted screenshots you know around the song,
and uh, you know, people are like, you know, we
need to know.

Speaker 2 (41:05):
So you were writing this from a true place, are you?
But what are we going to do? If you are
the father? Are you going to marry this girl?

Speaker 1 (41:14):
So my mom are marriage? My mom's freaking out about
this song too. Now everybody's been wanting, you know, part two,
and we have to have a part two, you know,
And I don't ever you know, it's my first time
doing podcasts and stuff, you know, talking about myself and
so yeah, I usually tell my stories with songs, and
so that's what I'm doing with you know, this process.
You know, we're leaning into you know, trying to get

(41:35):
a record out by the end of the year. And
so I'm just gonna let the songs kind of reveal
everything and just talk about myself.

Speaker 2 (41:42):
And but what about the girl who got married? That's
all I have.

Speaker 1 (41:46):
You can't talk about it. Listen to the I've got
a song coming out very soon that uh, it's going
to let a lot of people in on. Yeah, the
next few steps of this relationship, the relationship and just
you know, my career or two and uh gonna be
it's gonna be exciting to keep people tuned.

Speaker 2 (42:02):
In that grayln you gotta go be involved in that
kid's life. If you're his daddy.

Speaker 1 (42:06):
Again, my mom is gonna be like, you tell him,
you tell him.

Speaker 2 (42:10):
You can't just you've got to be your present father.

Speaker 1 (42:12):
That's true. My dog, my dog would say that I
as am bro. That's right.

Speaker 2 (42:18):
This is so good. I mean, way to way to
uh get everybody talking. Hey, you know what, it's is
it hard to share this kind of stuff? Like are
you nervous putting a song out like this? Because this
is like not just like a casual song.

Speaker 1 (42:31):
And I will say that, you know, people have they
have found out stuff very fast and it's pretty crazy
to see, uh some of the d ms that I've
gotten since the song's h dropped and been teased. Uh,
but again, I'm gonna let the songs kind of tell
the stories. And uh, you know, if people want to
know stuff, they can come to a show and ask
me in a meet and great line, you know.

Speaker 2 (42:51):
And you'll tell them, oh, you know, at least.

Speaker 1 (42:53):
Bomb a beer or some ship I don't know, and
tell them, you know, the next song I'm want to
be dropping. It's gonna be really exciting.

Speaker 2 (42:58):
And uh, look at you, Look at you. You're I
won't I won't push you anymore. I'm not going to
ask you about my post.

Speaker 1 (43:04):
This over here just staring a hole through my body
right now. And so is all my family and friends
back there?

Speaker 2 (43:11):
Does anybody know the truth?

Speaker 1 (43:13):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah close friends and family though,
yeah yeah, and my publicist.

Speaker 2 (43:17):
I think, I mean, I'm dying. This is so good.
I haven't had a good mystery like this in a minute.

Speaker 1 (43:23):
That's what we're trying to do. It's like, uh, you know,
it's I think real country music is back, and I
think like telling stories and songs is exciting and uh,
it's it's fun that we have that platform again. And
you know, thank god for TikTok now because this song
would never have made it to radio. I don't think
it'd ever make a record, you know, pre covid h.
I think now that we've got social media, people are
invested in knowing real stories and uh, and yeah, just

(43:46):
hearing stuff that's not just the typical country song.

Speaker 2 (43:48):
You want to know, you want to be you want
to be taken away into the story.

Speaker 1 (43:51):
Yeah, you absolutely, and I uh, I think the song's
done that. You know, we've we've talked about, you know,
how the lead up has gone. And also you know,
just talking about music videos and all that stuff, which
is so dope that you you can just tell a story.
I mean, the music video is just the song and people,
I give this song is literally a book.

Speaker 2 (44:09):
And it could be a whole Yeah. Do you like touring?
I love touring with Cole Swindell. You also have his
current single is that right.

Speaker 1 (44:17):
Yeah, so I just had Cole's last number.

Speaker 2 (44:19):
One, so excited.

Speaker 1 (44:21):
Yeah, yeah, it was so that was it was a
song that was like, no, it was. It was a crazy,
pretty crazy experience, you know, writing it about, you know,
a buddy that had just met the love of his
life and then when he always told me like, I
don't know if I'm going to find somebody, and he
did and we wrote that song, uh, just for their
wedding song and it turned on number one, which is awesome.

(44:41):
But you know, yeah, I mean touring is it's been Uh,
it's definitely had its up to now. It's my first
tour ever was being on tour with Old Dominion playing arenas.

Speaker 2 (44:50):
Which is who taught you had to write songs to
be going. Yeah, exactly, very ironic.

Speaker 1 (44:53):
It was full circle for sure.

Speaker 2 (44:55):
Hey, writing a letter of Scott Borshetta getting signed to
his label.

Speaker 1 (44:58):
I need to write. I just need to write down
I want to win the lottery, dude.

Speaker 2 (45:00):
That's what I do do because you will eventually circle
back around to really shaped your songwriting and now your
first tour.

Speaker 1 (45:07):
Yeah, yeah, my first tour and it was fucking We've
got to play Laura Arena's I mean it was it
was crazy. And then my second tour was the ten
Roof Tour, and so I got to just go from
playing for you know, ten thousand people a night to
playing for ten people, and I you.

Speaker 2 (45:20):
Know, you know, you just got to keep yourself.

Speaker 1 (45:22):
It was definitely and I was on tour bus my
first tour and then now you know, I was in
a cross of pacifica and uh, you know, so and
ever since then, it's been a grind to get back up,
but you know, the song has kind of changed everything.
And uh now we're yeah, on tour coach from now
in the fall alreaty, getting booked on festivals next year
that are, you know, way bigger than the ones I
played this year, and so it's uh, it's definitely feeling

(45:45):
like the tides turning and people are they're they're hearing
what I've been saying, and yeah, I feel like I
could finally put out the songs that I want to
put out, and I know what I want to put out.

Speaker 2 (45:56):
Next, which is exciting, just like you know the next song.

Speaker 1 (45:58):
Yeah, I know the next song. I know the next
half of songs, and yeah, I know what story I
want to tell, and.

Speaker 2 (46:04):
Uh, is it all kind of a part of the
same story.

Speaker 1 (46:06):
I mean, it's it's it's all my story. Yeah, so
I think it's all. Yeah, I'm gonna go hand in hand.
I think, like even just musically, I feel like I
know what I want to sound like and I didn't
know that before. I mean, if you listen to my God,
it did. And you know, I think social media puts
that pressure on it cause you're you're kind of already
out there. You don't have the chance to put out
a record and fail, you know, and nobody just knows

(46:26):
about it. Like everybody knows about it because you're posting
about it all the time. And uh, yeah, I put
out songs that I'm proud of, but I wish I
would have maybe, you know, put out songs that were
a little bit closer to my heart and my story
and my life. But I feel like I'm there now.

Speaker 2 (46:41):
You got your right. So do you still feel the
highs and lowser? Have you like learned how to like
surf the surf the waves?

Speaker 1 (46:48):
Oh? I definitely feel. I mean the high has definitely
come with a ship ton of pressure. I mean, even
you know, this past weekend, uh, a song coming out
you know it's a yeah, you're posting a TikTok. Can
you know your last one got a million views? Well
then when you just post it's only got four hundred
views after two hours, you're like, oh, fuck, dude, like
I shipped the bed and uh, and so just keeping

(47:11):
that going. But also, you know, it's just trying to
sleep and trying to be I.

Speaker 2 (47:15):
Know you have breathe on your hand.

Speaker 1 (47:17):
Yeah, yeah, somebody got me that. I think they could.
They were like, this guy doesn't breathe.

Speaker 2 (47:21):
Are you stressed? You're always stressed.

Speaker 1 (47:24):
Absolutely. I had my drummer called me the most stressed
up person.

Speaker 2 (47:28):
He knows what are you stressed out about?

Speaker 1 (47:30):
Oh? I just feel like I love my job and
I love Uh, I don't know. I love what I
do and I love getting it right, and yeah, I
think that. I just I'm constantly wanting to make sure
everything is done perfectly because you know, we're writing songs
that people live their lives too, and uh. You know

(47:51):
when people are watching your videos, like that's your their
escape from the day they just had and kind of
what they're going through and good or bad. So I
just want to make sure everything is is done right.
And that I'm putting my best foot forward and people
are getting the best, best version of myself of my songs,
and I think I put a lot of pressure on that,
but as I think I should. I think all my

(48:11):
favorite artists when I've met them, they're stressed out as fuck.
So I think I'm doing it right.

Speaker 2 (48:16):
Well, Yeah, because with more success, honestly does get more
pressure if you've got to keep it then.

Speaker 1 (48:20):
Too, absolutely, And also you know more people are listening
to you and count on you to to give them
something that Yeah again, they can they can live their
summers too, and their heartbreaks through, their good times through.
And I think that's our responsibility is as country artists
and songwriters is to uh to get the stories right
and to to get it to the people the right way.

Speaker 2 (48:40):
Okay, so you had three number three number ones Jordan
Davis and that.

Speaker 1 (48:44):
Was yeah, yeah, Kenny, I mean.

Speaker 2 (48:47):
Way to go. Just start with the bang. You have
water Wedding out now, your first single was Wait Till
You Have Kids? And you're touring with Cole Swindell. Are
we putting an album out any times?

Speaker 1 (48:58):
Here?

Speaker 2 (48:58):
Are just doing songs at time?

Speaker 1 (48:59):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (48:59):
I mean I were to do an album anymore.

Speaker 1 (49:02):
No, Yeah, we don't have to, but I want to.
I think that by the end of the year is
the goal. The song's kind of change everything. I think
originally we were we were just gonna put out songs
that we liked, like, you know whatever. But now I'm like, no,
people people want to know my story and people are
actually interested and they're asking for an album now, and
so I think, uh, just looking at it from a
more personal perspective instead of just like, you know, this

(49:22):
song sounded like a smash, Like, let's just actually put
out songs that mean something and feel like something. So
we got a song coming out very soon after this.
I'm just going to continue the story and then you know,
I got a song coming out after that. I'm going
to try to keep, uh, keep the ball rolling and
put out songs that people care about.

Speaker 2 (49:43):
When what's gonna have to happen for you to feel
like you have fully arrived?

Speaker 1 (49:47):
Oh I don't know. I still feel like, you know,
just continue. I don't think I'll ever be done because
I really do love this and I think there's always
a story to be told. And uh, I think I'm
always gonna love writing songs and putting them out and uh,
seeing people's reactions to them. So I don think. I

(50:07):
don't think I'll ever be like, oh I've done it,
I want to keep doing it. I won't ever want
to make that past sense.

Speaker 2 (50:13):
I love that. Okay, anything else we need to know, No,
that's on the horizon that we need to tell everyone about.

Speaker 1 (50:20):
I don't think so. I think we're just.

Speaker 2 (50:22):
Waiting on our penzanin to figure out what's happening with
this child in this wedding. Please tell us the answer, Grayland.
If you don't, that's just that's just me.

Speaker 1 (50:32):
No, I don't stay tuned. That's right, ain't're right? Ruby?

Speaker 2 (50:37):
Can I we stick around for a bonus episode. We
just draw you questions and answer Okay, but I always
drop up with leave your Light, and it's super open
ended and basically just what you want people to know.
Drop some inspiration.

Speaker 1 (50:48):
Oh that's a good one, you know what? Because I'm
religious and one of my favorite quotes of all time
was don't put a question mark. We're God. It's a period.
And I think that that's just as like, Hey, if
a book closes, be all right with it. Move on. Yeah,
I've I've had that happen a lot. You know, when

(51:10):
I I lost my publishing, do what's going on? Like,
what's going on in my life? Being like, all right,
that happened for a reason, move on, don't question it.
It's all going to work out.

Speaker 2 (51:19):
That is so true.

Speaker 1 (51:21):
What's going to get a period? Like just right here,
like as a tattoo on my arm And I was like,
that's just gonna look like a dot. That's so stupid. Yes,
I did do that.

Speaker 2 (51:30):
I love that. So faith is a big dealty absolutely, Yeah.
How do you connect with God?

Speaker 1 (51:35):
I mean I think that I feel him all the time,
you know, I uh, I've had really personal experiences that
keep reminding me that you know, he's he's hanging around
and you know, especially like you know, losing relatives that
I felt like I lost a little too early that
I wish could be here. I wish they could experience this.
And I think that's part of you know, what I
feel like is missing is you know, I have a
big moment happened and I want to call my grandparents

(51:58):
and I want to call you know, people that are
no longer with me. And my mom told me one
time that every time you see like a redbird, that's
your your grandmother checking out on you. And I'll be
the most random places in the middle of the night
when birds aren't even out, and I'll see a redbird
just hanging around. And so I just I know that,
you know, being on the road and going through times

(52:19):
of confusion with just you know, my stories. I'm telling
my songs and I'm like, I don't know what's happening
on all my next songs coming out. I don't know,
like when my next inspiration is going to hit. I
just see God show up right there.

Speaker 2 (52:29):
And you do have to have faith as an artist
and songwriter, don't you.

Speaker 1 (52:32):
Absolutely?

Speaker 2 (52:33):
I mean we all do, but you it's very present
in this career.

Speaker 1 (52:35):
Yeah, the song I'm righting tomorrow is doesn't even exist yet,
you know, And like I can't see that I'm going
to write a song tomorrow.

Speaker 2 (52:41):
I don't.

Speaker 1 (52:42):
I can't see that there's a song there, but there is.
And I feel like that's you know, that's God in itself.
You know.

Speaker 2 (52:47):
I love that, just faith, just blind. I love that.
Grayling Jem, thank you so much for coming water at
a wedding. We all are dying. You know the answer
we will be staying tuned.

Speaker 1 (52:58):
Please do, Thank you so much for.

Speaker 2 (53:00):
Joining in, and now we're going to answer a few questions.

(53:23):
H