Brooks & Dunn

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[00:00:46] Everyone, welcome back to another special episode of Whiskey Riff Raff.

[00:00:50] We have the honor of interviewing two country music legends, Brooks and Dunn. So you are hands down

[00:00:56] my favorite artist, country artist, 90s country artist, country artist in general. So I feel very

[00:01:01] honored to be able to welcome you guys. Wow. You've never said that before. Did you hear what she just said?

[00:01:06] Can we have just a clip of that? Just on repeat. I'm buttering you guys up.

[00:01:11] We're not dumb, you know. I'm buttered up. I'm serious.

[00:01:15] We've been sucked into deeper trenches than this. I went to your guys' show just last week and

[00:01:20] I had three Brooks and Dunn shirts to choose from to wait for the night. So I was like, well,

[00:01:24] I never have to prepare. I have to go buy anything. Wow. Super fan if you've ever heard that term.

[00:01:28] Very excellent. Where are you from? I'm from California. What kind of California?

[00:01:32] Riverside. Okay, cool. Yeah, I don't know where that is. So yeah. Oh, hell yeah.

[00:01:35] But love country music. Love you guys. And when you sit down to talk to someone

[00:01:39] who has just a successful career as you guys do, it's hard to begin to know where to begin.

[00:01:45] So you guys met in your late 30s. Is that correct?

[00:01:48] What was your guys' life like prior to meeting?

[00:01:54] Well, let's see. I went to a great school. Yeah.

[00:01:56] 12 schools, 13 years. Dad was in pipeline business on the labor end, but he was a

[00:02:01] a wannabe country singer, a guitar player. Started in Abilene, Texas. I was born in Coleman,

[00:02:06] which is west-west Texas. Do you want to know this information? Yeah.

[00:02:10] Is this too much information? No.

[00:02:11] The more the better. Yeah, I'll ramble if you don't watch me. Okay.

[00:02:15] So we moved all over Texas and around my house. It's like, since my dad was a wannabe,

[00:02:22] you know, frustrated country singer, that's all I ever heard growing up. Country music. And,

[00:02:27] you know, like most of us did not get really into or wasn't allowed to, unless I snuck around with

[00:02:33] my buddies and friends and listened to like, you know, stuff that wasn't country. And I always loved

[00:02:37] it. Just, I mean, I liked metal as much as I did anything. You know, we're kids. Back in our day,

[00:02:43] we were just talking a few minutes ago. Country music was Creedence, Clearwater Revival, and then

[00:02:48] the Eagles, you know, later on. And we, both of us got into country and not speaking for you,

[00:02:55] but we've talked about this forever. When, when the outlaw movement started and I was in west Texas in,

[00:03:00] uh, in Abilene in college and, uh, you were, you were down in Louisiana and, uh, all around,

[00:03:06] close to the same age. And that's, that's where it all happened for us. Cause it was kind of like

[00:03:10] the perfect emergence of, uh, uh, rock and, uh, country. And that's when it kind of perked up,

[00:03:17] you know, Willie came in with Waylon and they did that outlaw thing and they started hitting,

[00:03:22] hitting the drums a little harder and turning the guitars up a little louder. And you know,

[00:03:26] they were rock and roll outlaw cowboys. That's what we were just rock and roll cowboys. Yeah.

[00:03:31] Yeah. Pretty much. And, and, uh, ended up here, went to spend some time in Tulsa after I left

[00:03:37] Abilene and, uh, fell in with a bunch of down there. There's shelter records was there, but at

[00:03:44] the same time, the largest country booking agency, the Jim Halsey company was in Tulsa at the same

[00:03:50] time. So it was a healthy, healthy music community are probably scratched my way to Nashville a little

[00:03:55] earlier. Glad that I didn't after it's all said and done, as I wouldn't want to be any, any place

[00:04:00] other than where I am now, but, uh, kicked around there, got married, you know, got a couple of kids

[00:04:06] and they're grown and, uh, I said three kids. They're all grown. Uh, but there was a good mix.

[00:04:14] I mean, Tulsa was where like Bob Wills and Johnny Lee Wills, his brother and that bunch were from

[00:04:19] on the, on the hardcore countryside at places like Kane's ballroom, traditional spring loaded floor.

[00:04:26] It's, it's still there. And at the same time, Eric Clapton's band is from there. Uh, JJ Cowell,

[00:04:32] Leon Russell, uh, Joe Cocker was in and out all the time. So we were just getting, it was really fun.

[00:04:37] If you kind of were lucky enough to get in, in that clip, I was on the outer perimeter of it because

[00:04:41] I was a little wannabe country singer. They're all like, yeah, that's cute. We don't, we've heard of

[00:04:47] George Jones. So, and then one thing led to another and they ended up here. Here we are in

[00:04:52] Nashville, 30 something years later. Yeah. I know. And I'm from Shreveport originally, which is East

[00:04:58] Texas pretty much. And, um, same thing though, for me, it really started, uh, my dad was into

[00:05:06] commercial country, which I would say, which was Hank Williams, Roger Miller, Johnny Cash. When I had a,

[00:05:13] I remember I had a hundred songs by Johnny Cash was my first song book, you know, and just learned

[00:05:18] to play every one of them that I'd, I'd ever heard before and started, you know, getting albums and

[00:05:23] whatever. But you know, when we were 10, 11, 12 years old, that's when the Beatles hit,

[00:05:27] Rolling Stones, Otis Redding for me, I was into a lot. My sister was really into soul music, you know,

[00:05:33] from Sam Cooke and all that stuff. And I love those records. I loved Otis Redding. I was ripped

[00:05:38] way off into it. Well, there was a lot of that in that part of the country. Yeah, there was,

[00:05:42] it was just kind of that thing and, and had bands in college, you know, and, and, um, and we played

[00:05:47] everything. We played from, you know, from Hank Williams to Frank Zappa, just in everything in

[00:05:52] between. And it's why when people start throwing rocks at traditional, what's traditional country in this

[00:05:56] and that, whatever, I'm like, man, we didn't care. And it's, and it is when, when I first heard about

[00:06:02] the first Willie Nelson picnic, it's like, just whatever we liked is what our band played. It's

[00:06:06] like, have you heard this? Oh shit, let's do that. You know? And, uh, but everything coming out of

[00:06:11] Austin then was real song, deep songwriter stuff, you know? And that's, yeah, Jerry Jeff Walker,

[00:06:16] which was Guy Clark was behind a lot of those great songs and whatever. That's those songs kill me.

[00:06:21] And like Ronnie's part of the world, there was a guy, Willis Allen Ramsey. I got that record.

[00:06:26] And I went, God, those songs are so good. And my dad was a pipeline contractor. Interesting enough,

[00:06:30] we both had that kind of connection with those truck drivers on the pipeline, man, they had those

[00:06:35] pointed toed boots, more pointed than these. And, and they had their feathers combed back with that

[00:06:41] slick grease, whatever it was, you know, and it was all Merle Haggard or all George Jones. They

[00:06:46] would cry real tears when they listened to that music. It fricking mattered to them. These are the toughest

[00:06:51] son of bitches on the planet too. But I mean, they would break down when George Jones or Merle Haggard

[00:06:57] or any number of classic, those classic really guys you know about. So I respected that because

[00:07:02] those guys were my heroes. They cut a finger off or smash the finger off of the pipe.

[00:07:06] I know. They just wrap it up and keep going. And Haggard starts thinking, stop on church.

[00:07:10] We love that kind of song around here. I know. We'll definitely touch on that more.

[00:07:15] Yeah. Working, working, swamping, they call it on those bulldozers for those guys. I was just oiling and

[00:07:20] greasing and helping welders, welder helper, you know, handing welding rods. All that,

[00:07:24] those guys were badasses. And that was, that was really where I toughened up.

[00:07:28] And that's cowboy. That's as cowboy as anything. You know, as rodeo cowboys.

[00:07:32] I mean, they're not riding bulls, but man, what they're messing with will get your heart in a hurry.

[00:07:36] Yeah. Yeah. But really what I loved and what you learned in college was,

[00:07:40] was Stones and all, all that kind of, that, that music was what. Leon Russell fricking killed me,

[00:07:45] man. I just loved his music. I loved his playing. I loved his singing. It's badass.

[00:07:49] I didn't care that it wasn't on the radio. That's how we traded music at the time. You know,

[00:07:54] it's music is so fractured and so available now. I mean, take somebody to hand you a Leon Russell

[00:08:00] record and you play it the first time. That's a treasure. It's like, okay, I got to find

[00:08:03] everything. It was, you know, so we were so passionate about the stuff we liked and listened to. So when

[00:08:09] young acts that are real country acts, you know, they may grow up having the same bonfires we did

[00:08:15] and whatever, but they got, who knows what hip hop hero they got or what, and they're all jamming

[00:08:20] and banging to that and whatever, but they start writing songs about that bonfire and whatever.

[00:08:25] And people that go, that ain't country. Well, hell yeah, it is. Cause they don't know.

[00:08:29] They may not have been listening to Buck Owens or whatever like that. You know, they just,

[00:08:34] whatever came through their frat house or whatever in the last five or six years,

[00:08:38] Frick rock on with it, man. I've, I've always kind of been behind that. I went to New Orleans,

[00:08:42] was determined to see if I could cut it down there being from Louisiana, you know, and my dad had

[00:08:47] taken me down there to the track and stuff when I was really young. And I always had a,

[00:08:51] That's a dangerous thing. I know. I know. I know. I always wanted to see.

[00:08:56] I spent, yeah, yeah. We're talking to New Orleans and get your monkey foot.

[00:09:03] Anyway, spent a good 72 nights in a row, you know, on Bourbon street and playing down there and just

[00:09:08] getting it out of my system. Had a good friend up here that was working for Charlie Daniels Publishing

[00:09:12] Company invited me up to write songs and I wrote songs for 10 years and had, um, had some success.

[00:09:17] I had, I don't know, I think four or five number ones by different artists and quite a few cuts,

[00:09:22] but you know, it's, it wasn't any big, big living or anything, even number ones back there. If it

[00:09:27] wasn't the gambler or something like that, you know, it was, I was making a decent living at it,

[00:09:32] but you know, middle income, but I was concerned about being able to put my kids through college,

[00:09:36] honestly. And same thing, Ronnie and I get introduced and in 1990 had, you know, actually

[00:09:43] pitching a song lost and found. I think Ronnie had heard that and, and Tim Dubois played me

[00:09:47] neon moon and boot scoot and boogie. I went, damn, those are good songs. That cat can sing.

[00:09:51] And he just kind of offered us a record deal real loosely.

[00:09:55] We didn't know he was getting offered the record deal. He was setting up, he took me in

[00:09:58] the office without kicks in order and he played me kicks as like three or four songs that kicks had.

[00:10:02] And then he, I think he did the same with you. And we were both thinking, okay,

[00:10:06] what do you think of this guy? I think it's cool. It's got like a good kind of progressive

[00:10:10] Eagles vibe to it and kind of out, kind of all that stuff reminded me of the west of the

[00:10:16] Mississippi desert Eagles vibe with a little hardcore, uh, Telecaster popping in it and it's

[00:10:23] still guitar and, uh, shoot. I mean, it was that fast y'all. It's like Tim was putting that label

[00:10:29] together, Arista with, with Clive David and had him a boy singer. It's got Alan Jackson.

[00:10:34] He'd signed all raising. I think he just was down, down a list.

[00:10:38] Uh, uh, yeah. Okay. I got a female singer. I got Alan Jackson. I got, I got, we got, we got this group.

[00:10:44] I don't need to do. We're like, well, I don't care. We're taking, we need a job.

[00:10:48] Yeah. Take the money.

[00:10:49] Tim, you can write us home. That was Tuesday. We had a bad enchilada with Tim and had this conversation.

[00:10:55] Cheap enchilada. Cheap enchilada. Yeah. Yeah. Arista was on a budget.

[00:10:59] Plastic seat, plastic plate, plastic forks. You know, the kind you break three times trying to

[00:11:06] cut your enchilada. Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, Thursday we wrote Brand New Man. Friday we wrote Next Broken

[00:11:12] Heart, put a little demo together, a couple other things and took it down. He goes,

[00:11:17] Misters, y'all got to do this. So we said, okay. Yeah. So the first four songs we, we give them.

[00:11:23] It was like, boom, boom, boom, boom. Yeah. I mean, it was good. He already had those.

[00:11:27] Number one.

[00:11:28] Threw in, lost and found. And I think it died at two or three. So we had five pretty,

[00:11:32] pretty good records out of the box. And obviously the rest is history, right?

[00:11:36] Yeah. And you guys just came out so strong in the early nineties, but do you ever remember

[00:11:42] getting any criticism whenever you were getting started? I don't think we were around or available

[00:11:47] for criticism. We were on a bus in prison. I don't think, I don't think we were sober enough to listen.

[00:11:52] Anyway, we were reading at that time. Plus you had social media.

[00:11:56] We better have TV on a bus. Yeah. No social media then to like hear everyone's opinions.

[00:12:01] It was doing what you were doing. Yeah. We don't know.

[00:12:03] We had plenty of smart ass critics out there, you know, who cut us down best they could, you know,

[00:12:07] but we really didn't care. You know, we were, as far as we were concerned, we're having hits.

[00:12:12] I don't know what y'all are doing. Yeah. Keep writing about us if you could.

[00:12:16] Everything was selling out. Yeah.

[00:12:18] Nothing to whine about over here. We're grown, man. We're smart asses. Yeah.

[00:12:23] Doing the best we could. Which the country music world is so excited that you guys are back together.

[00:12:27] I know a big part of your story is obviously whenever you guys retired, right? You're quote unquote

[00:12:32] retired. You described it as mutual and you said at the end of it, you know, you guys thought of

[00:12:37] yourselves as brothers, right? So that's the description of your retirement. What's the description of your

[00:12:42] on retirement? Yeah. Even better. I mean, just, I mean, we know one another. It's natural. It's normal.

[00:12:49] You know, there's a lot of groups in all genres. I was just watching Springsteen,

[00:12:54] uh, then he got a Netflix or something the other day, you know, he spent 10 years or six years and

[00:12:59] they all got back together and they were talking about what it was, what it was like to be off and

[00:13:04] have to get back in the groove and stuff like that. But it's just, it just felt like it was normal.

[00:13:09] Yeah. Yeah. And Vegas helped us to it, which is really strange. I would never,

[00:13:14] or you wouldn't either ever think about going to Vegas.

[00:13:17] I was dying to go. I was in California and it was only a four hour drive to Vegas.

[00:13:21] Where were you? We were looking everywhere.

[00:13:24] We're sick about you.

[00:13:25] I was like, I have to see them before like they never tour again.

[00:13:29] Did you?

[00:13:29] No. I didn't go, but I've seen you twice now.

[00:13:32] She doesn't care about us. She comes in here with three t-shirts and all that.

[00:13:36] She wouldn't give us air if we were in a jug.

[00:13:39] I did see you guys at Cheyenne for tear days though. So I got to see you guys at a really cool

[00:13:43] environment there. So that was awesome.

[00:13:45] All right.

[00:13:46] And let's get into Reboot and Reboot 2. So how did you guys actually choose which artists are on

[00:13:53] both albums? We did. You didn't. We did not. You're married.

[00:13:56] We're not dumb, you know. We still got some friends in this town, hopefully.

[00:14:00] Very uncharacteristic of our manager. He's a go getter for sure. And great.

[00:14:05] He's got a bunch of good acts. He's been successful over the years. But

[00:14:08] he called us for Reboot 1. He said, I'm just going to, we're going to do this.

[00:14:14] You good? They were like, I don't care. Go ahead.

[00:14:18] So we did Reboot 1. Everyone stayed between the lines on that.

[00:14:22] And the guys that were coming in, one of the catalysts was that we would see Luke Combs

[00:14:28] or another younger artist coming up like wearing our stuff on stage, a t-shirt or a cap or something.

[00:14:35] People started calling like, you watching this? He's wearing your cap.

[00:14:38] But like Casey Musgraves playing the young man out there like, well, that's cool.

[00:14:42] And I think that's it. Clarence said, man, there may be an album here. You know,

[00:14:46] let me talk to some other people. I'll just get back to you. Because I got a whole list of people.

[00:14:51] Here's the songs they want to do. Bang. Yeah, but it wasn't that all orchestrated.

[00:14:56] And then Reboot 2, which is where we should be talking about. We'll finally get to it.

[00:15:01] Yes. We will. Ended up to this point.

[00:15:04] Reboot 2 comes along, same thing. Clarence, our manager, calls and he says,

[00:15:09] I'm going to start putting this thing together if you guys are good with it.

[00:15:12] And we're thinking to an extent we're going back in to repeat the process or reboot.

[00:15:17] So, yeah, maybe not.

[00:15:21] So we get in there and the mandate is we're gonna turn these artists loose. 18 artists.

[00:15:26] They all call back, say, we're in. I don't know how the song fight went, how it went down, anything.

[00:15:31] But they came in, they got to do it. They do however they want to do it. They can bring their band if they want to.

[00:15:37] They pick whatever song they want to. And some of the artists did deep dives. I mean, it's not just the, you know, the 24 number one hits or whatever.

[00:15:45] It like it turned into like suddenly this is not formulaic. It's a it's a creative endeavor for fun.

[00:15:52] And it's been a surprisingly a blast. Let it eat. Let's get off the rails.

[00:15:59] It's taking on a life of its own. Slinging as hard as you want. Whatever you do, freaking do it.

[00:16:04] Bring your band. Bring your producer. Where you want to cut it at, we don't care.

[00:16:08] Yeah.

[00:16:08] Yeah. And so all the recordings were in person. It wasn't a situation where like...

[00:16:11] We don't have any money, but Sony has a lot apparently.

[00:16:17] I'd love to go kind of dig into some of the tracks. Obviously, the Morgan Wallen one is very anticipated.

[00:16:27] But the one I think that I was most looking forward to was the Marcus King one, just because it's so...

[00:16:32] His soulfulness. You mentioned Otis Redding earlier. That rock and roll soul on it was really cool.

[00:16:37] And I think the one I was most surprised by was the Meghan Maroney arrangement.

[00:16:41] Yes. Because you're in a much lower key. It's a lot different.

[00:16:45] Which one of the artists and arrangements surprised you guys the most?

[00:16:49] Yeah. You just named the three really good ones. I would pick those.

[00:16:54] Surprised you. Not the best, but just surprised.

[00:16:56] Yeah.

[00:16:56] Yeah.

[00:16:57] Yeah.

[00:16:58] I like what Cheating Kind of with Hayley Woodard.

[00:17:02] Okay. Yes.

[00:17:02] But that's just a cool vibe. She called it a lonely disco cowgirl vibe.

[00:17:07] You know, a Mitchell Tenpenny. And then you've got Thousand Horses.

[00:17:13] I'll say that you do, but that's a drop. Right on the drop in the bucket.

[00:17:18] Yeah.

[00:17:18] But I loved Cadillac 3. Jaron took a She Likes to Get Out of Town. Both those songs are just kind of

[00:17:25] deep cuts that's cool those guys found. I love Cadillac 3. They're cool anyway. But man,

[00:17:31] he got way down in the mud swamping that groove. And I just love that. That was really fun to play

[00:17:39] with in the studio. We just kept listening.

[00:17:40] They really took it to have their way with it. Yeah. And on that note, one that kind of was like,

[00:17:45] whoa, was Hailstorm Boot Scoot and Boogie. Probably the biggest surprise because I knew Lucy Hale from

[00:17:52] Eric Church. And I'd seen her like on the ACMs. They sang, I think, Hearts on Fire together. So I'd

[00:17:57] seen her and met her there, you know, and whatever. But I wasn't, I didn't know about Hailstorm really.

[00:18:03] And they had just apparently sold out Wembley a few days before. So it shows you how much I know.

[00:18:08] I mean, they ran through it about three times. And Dan Huff, our producer, big time rock guitar

[00:18:13] player, you know, he looked over at me and smiled and he goes, this is a really good band.

[00:18:17] Yeah. I was like, these are not sitting in some garage band from college. You know,

[00:18:22] these, they've been together 20 years, her and her brother and the other two guys. And man,

[00:18:26] they, God, they smoked that thing. And then Ronnie had to sing it with her. So

[00:18:31] get you some of that. You know, I screamed along a little harmony, but he had to do the

[00:18:36] heavy lifting again. You could replace your morning cup of coffee with that version of the song.

[00:18:40] Yeah. Right. An alarm clock. Yeah.

[00:18:43] Yeah.

[00:18:46] And another one that had me, like my jaw was on the floor dropped was the How Long Gone Bluegrass mix.

[00:18:52] Oh yeah. It was so different. And I love bluegrass too. Just completely different than your normal sound.

[00:18:56] So you know, Sean Camp is a co-writer. Oh, okay. I did it.

[00:18:59] Yeah. So him and Jerry Douglas, that's kind of their band. Sean's a great friend,

[00:19:03] the hell of a songwriter. And it's just really funny, man. They, we got a lot of calls from them

[00:19:08] on how do you want to do this and whatever. Just like, just come play it. You know, it's like, well,

[00:19:12] good. I mean, you want, should I do my guitar with this? I said, dude, just come play it.

[00:19:16] Yeah. You know? And when they came and played it, they fricking came and played it. Same thing,

[00:19:21] like Hailstorm. They walked in the room, they all sat down, they all got sound checks on their

[00:19:25] individual instruments. And then bang, when they kicked it off, it was like,

[00:19:29] bluegrass, there you go. We're on it. Do you guys have any bluegrass influences? Because

[00:19:35] when you were mentioning that fans you liked, you mentioned a lot of rock and a lot of country.

[00:19:38] I don't know. I did a hundred years ago in Muscle Shoals, I did a project with Sam

[00:19:42] Bush and the New Grass revival. You'll never hear it. But that's how I walked into a buddy's house in

[00:19:50] Tulsa one day and I hear this music like coming from the intersection of the house. I walk in the

[00:19:57] living room and it's Leon Russell sitting at a grand piano and the New Grass revival all standing

[00:20:03] around it playing and singing, getting ready for, for Leon's tour. Because they went up with him for

[00:20:08] a while. Man, that's crazy stuff. Yeah. We all ended up being fast friends. They're good stuff.

[00:20:14] Yeah. Saw it up in that tour up in Maine. But yeah, and I went to high school in Tennessee. And so I went

[00:20:21] to a lot of bluegrass festivals and stuff. And that's where you realize like, man, how did they get this

[00:20:26] shoot? There's so many of those things. You know, they have the under six year olds, you know, part of

[00:20:31] the festival. It's like a, you know, contest. Man, they're fiddling, banjo playing, whatever. All at,

[00:20:38] you know, four or five, six years old, they're already not just playing a little bit, playing way

[00:20:43] better than me. It's mountain jazz, baby. Oh, you know it. You know it. I think that's a song that so

[00:20:48] many artists keep putting out, but I don't think there's ever a bad cover of it. Yeah, it's a great song.

[00:20:53] Well, I was just going to say like the reboot projects that you guys have done have been so cool to,

[00:20:57] I know, I guess, breathe new life into some of your classic songs. But you guys have so many,

[00:21:03] you know, if you were to think of country music hits, like the greatest songs of all time, like

[00:21:08] Boot Scoot and Boogie, Neon Moon. Those are the ones that come to mind. I know in my family,

[00:21:13] my Maria was playing on repeat whenever I was growing up. So that song means a lot to me. But

[00:21:19] what do you guys think is the quintessential Brooks and Dunn song, if you had to choose one?

[00:21:24] I think it's kind of become Neon Moon. I'll answer that question because

[00:21:27] it's his song. I think so. You know, it's certainly, it's been, that rock's been flipped

[00:21:36] over several times now, you know, in different ways. And I think it has kind of, we're calling our

[00:21:42] tour this year, which we've never done before. We did have the Neon Circus, but that'll be the

[00:21:47] Neon Moon tour. Now we're scrambling to find a big production neon moon or something.

[00:21:52] Like we haven't done it before. Yes. Unfortunately, we have to wrap up soon with some rapid fire,

[00:21:57] but before we do that. We really like hearing ourselves talk, so we can just go a little bit

[00:22:01] long. I would be here for another hour because we'd be allowed to. But is there anything about,

[00:22:07] I don't know, this album, your guys' career that you want to share that you might not have shared

[00:22:12] before? Merle Hagrid told, came in the studio one time, we're working here in town and we were

[00:22:19] talking to him in the course of it. It got down to me. He goes, you know what, I'm a songwriter.

[00:22:22] He was like, he was kind of pitching songs. He said, I'm a songwriter. You're Merle Haggard,

[00:22:28] man. But well, that's a songwriter, you know, as songwriters. I get where he was coming from

[00:22:36] at that point because it's the music that takes you there. It's not, it's not the looks,

[00:22:40] it's not what you, how you sing, it's all that. People used to ask us, you know, way back in the

[00:22:44] beginning, what would you want people to remember you by? And it's going to be that music. Music is it.

[00:22:49] That's it. That's why we're all here. Merle was kind of a father figure to us. And when we did

[00:22:55] decide we were going to take a break, we really at one time didn't know if we were going to get

[00:22:59] back together or not. We just felt we were at that point in our lives. We needed to take a break from

[00:23:03] it. And, uh, and Merle, you know, I was talking to him one day and he just said, hey, when are

[00:23:08] y'all getting back together? I don't know, Merle. Listen to me. Y'all got a thing. You got a thing.

[00:23:17] Everybody doesn't get to have a thing. Okay. Y'all got one. He goes, don't waste that.

[00:23:22] Yes, sir. I see. And I, I was interviewing him. I took that clip and I sent it to Ronnie.

[00:23:29] He was like, I know.

[00:23:30] Y'all had a thing.

[00:23:31] I know. He was like, okay.

[00:23:33] If Andrew says you got a thing, you got a thing.

[00:23:35] We need to figure this thing out.

[00:23:38] Well, we'll wrap up with some rapid fire brought to you by Browning.

[00:23:41] First question is what is your favorite sad country song?

[00:23:45] Oh, we'd have to, what the classic would be, he stopped loving her and dying.

[00:23:49] Yeah.

[00:23:50] Uh, you know, hunting or fishing?

[00:23:53] Oh, cool.

[00:23:55] But it's, that's a toss up. It is. I loved blue water fish. I've really gotten into fly fishing.

[00:24:01] I love fishing in the Bahamas and chasing those bonefish around. But we're both like, like duck hunting and

[00:24:08] quail hunting. We get to, we get to get some really cool places. You know, it's more about

[00:24:13] being the place than it is the hunt, really.

[00:24:15] Yeah.

[00:24:16] Yeah.

[00:24:16] I'm a wing hunter though. I kind of, you know, I've got horns on the wall. I shot deer when I was a kid,

[00:24:20] but I don't really care unless I'm real hungry and my brother won't do it.

[00:24:24] Too much water.

[00:24:25] Too much water.

[00:24:26] Still like Venice.

[00:24:26] Yeah. I've got a river from the molly quarter of the Turnbull River west of town.

[00:24:30] So I go out there with 600 acres and you have about 500 that way. But we, uh, yeah, it's fun to

[00:24:37] just grab a fishing pole every now and then and roam up down the river. It looks like a park in Tennessee.

[00:24:42] It's unbelievable.

[00:24:43] Sounds awesome.

[00:24:44] Yeah.

[00:24:44] What else are you guys doing when you're not making music, performing on our?

[00:24:48] I'm driving my wife crazy.

[00:24:52] Yeah. I'm just telling her all the reasons that why I can't get on the road right now.

[00:24:56] I'm going for her.

[00:24:58] She is all for me.

[00:25:00] And I, I play some, uh, pretty bad golf that I, I've been golfing forever. It's a great,

[00:25:06] it's a great road game. You know, get up in the morning, kill four hours like that. So I have

[00:25:10] no idea what Ronnie's doing on the bus. I love college golfers.

[00:25:13] Are you a golfer?

[00:25:14] Yes.

[00:25:15] Yeah. She always mentioned it. So if golf comes up, she says,

[00:25:17] Hey, let's hit. Hit some big golfer.

[00:25:20] Yeah. I love golf as well too.

[00:25:21] Yeah. I'll grab a camera sometimes and run off with some buddies and things like that.

[00:25:26] Yeah. I'm always building something. I don't know why. I just, I love building.

[00:25:31] Same.

[00:25:32] Yeah.

[00:25:32] Yeah. What's the favorite food that you would have to choose?

[00:25:39] Beef stroganoff.

[00:25:40] I like Cajun food. I mean, I like big red beans and rice. Not the, not the lame kind, but you know,

[00:25:47] loaded up.

[00:25:48] Work country singers. Fried chicken.

[00:25:51] That's right.

[00:25:51] Arambo.

[00:25:53] Do you prefer studio recordings or live performances?

[00:25:57] Oh, wow. Uh, both, but live performances for media gratification.

[00:26:01] Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah.

[00:26:04] Yeah. What's your daily driver?

[00:26:06] Uh, kind of SVR range Rover. I don't understand the question.

[00:26:10] What's your car that you drive all the time?

[00:26:12] Oh man. I ain't telling the truth. I will.

[00:26:17] I got a GFC pickup.

[00:26:19] Black and Jack, you know.

[00:26:22] And last question is sad country songs and blank make you happy.

[00:26:27] Sad country songs and what?

[00:26:29] And what make you happy?

[00:26:30] Like an insert.

[00:26:31] Oh, I gotcha. Yeah.

[00:26:33] Sad country songs and a good, and the right group of friends.

[00:26:39] Sad country songs.

[00:26:41] Yeah.

[00:26:42] Yeah.

[00:26:42] Yeah.

[00:26:43] Sad country songs.

[00:26:45] Sad country songs and smooth whiskey.

[00:26:48] Yeah.

[00:26:48] That's a good one.

[00:26:49] I like that.