Charles Wesley Godwin #2

[00:00:00] Okay. I think we have to intro you now as major label recording artist, Charles Wesley Godwin. The big news. You got signed to Big Loud recently. It was a matter of time before somebody woke up and kind of swooped you. Yeah, kind of life changing moment for you.

[00:00:34] I'm sure. Can you know, we had some fan questions about it too, but I got to imagine there was a lot of noise and chatter and inbound stuff. But the decision, the fit, kind of the timing,

[00:00:49] did it all just kind of match and kind of what were some of the things you were really excited about that kind of sold you on the whole thing? Yeah, a label is something that after I made

[00:01:00] Seneca, my first album did that independently, stretched myself out to the absolute max and went into debt to make it. And after that, I was like, man, if I ever get the right opportunity

[00:01:15] and everything's right with a deal or something, I would love to have that stress taken off my shoulders. It did not happen between Seneca and How the Mighty Fall. So I had to make How the

[00:01:27] Mighty Fall again independently, and it stretched me out again to the max. And so then How the Mighty Fall came out there in November 2021. And I talked with you all like the next week. And when

[00:01:42] I talked with you all, that's when everything started, started having the first meetings and stuff like that. So this the whole like, label shopping started then in November of 2021. And it

[00:01:55] was, it was finished in December of 2022 is when I decided that I was going to go with Big Loud. And there's a lot of folks, a lot of meetings. And you know, some folks were, you know, maybe not

[00:02:15] 100% in on me, they weren't sure they wanted to see what I was working on. Like they wanted to cherry pick. So that was something I really wasn't on board with. I'd rather be independent. Some folks

[00:02:23] weren't down for me to, you know, to own my music and stuff, which, you know, that's fine. Again, I'll, I'd be independent the rest of my life, I didn't own my music. Big Loud was the perfect fit

[00:02:33] because as soon as they identified me, they hired a new VP of A&R in September, and he reached out to me before he even had his first day at the office. And they, they had an offer on the table within a

[00:02:47] month. And it was just full on enthusiasm, enthusiasm, belief in my work, everything as far as the deal and the business side of it is completely fair. And just everything I can I can

[00:03:01] hope for it's a win win. And yeah, so to me, it was just it was the the obvious choice that they there's enthusiasm to work with me and the way they feel about my music is like the same way like that. My

[00:03:14] family is my managers, my bandmates, you can't ask for anything more than that. And I recorded the album in January. And once everything was locked down, I handed it to them and said, Here y'all go and they love it. And can't wait for folks to hear it.

[00:03:28] When everyone's knocking on the door and you're taking meetings with these different labels. Is it like a little bit of a, are they taking you out to steakhouses? And they're like, Charles, we need

[00:03:37] you and they're wining and dining you or is it more like way less glamorous than that? Oh, there wasn't too much of that with me. I'm in West Virginia. So I know it was just, it got

[00:03:50] pretty repetitive there. I don't really know what else to say about it. You know, I don't want to ever I appreciate everybody that reached out and stuff. And you know, there's no hard feelings or

[00:03:59] anything like that. It's just, you know, I was fortunate enough to find the find the folks that were most enthusiastic to work with me. Yeah. I mean, we, similarly, we went through a year last year where we had a bunch of people

[00:04:12] reaching out to us and then we had the opry deal kind of made sense. And, but it's, it's probably is similar. I don't really know like the negotiation and how it goes, but like for us too, it was

[00:04:23] just like, man, you get like pretty drained after a while you want to focus on your craft or what you do or your business. And it's like, man, things start to really take it to take a toll. But

[00:04:32] speaking of that, just a quick segue, big year, obviously with that. And then you also did make your opry debut, just missed the timing for when we announced that, like, we would have loved to

[00:04:42] have been there. We didn't, we weren't able to publicly announce it yet, but you just did that in February. So what was that like for you? Oh man, that was like the first time stepping on stage to play in front of people. It was the same

[00:04:54] feeling, the same nervousness. It was it was wild. I didn't expect that, you know, to be honest with you all. Yeah. The first time I ever played in front of somebody who was, uh, you know, in

[00:05:06] front of a crowd, like out at a place was in 2013, Estonia. And I remember my legs were shaking and my jeans, if I would have had shorts on, you probably could have seen it at the opry. I was

[00:05:17] very nervous. I was very nervous. Yeah. I normally, when I walk out now, it's just like, I'm walking into my living room at a live show. I was very nervous for the opry. I did not want to mess

[00:05:28] that up. Um, so it was a huge relief once I strummed that final note and I'd gotten through all my words and didn't have like, just that freezing moment that you just fear, like no, like

[00:05:42] nothing else at a show. It's not such a big deal when it does happen. You just say, ah, I lost it and let me restart or something. But at the opry, you don't want to do that your first time. So, uh,

[00:05:51] yeah, to be honest with you guys, I was very nervous. And then once it was done, it was just such a, such a, uh, like, um, a great feeling of a call. I got to really enjoy it once I was done

[00:06:03] the answer, you know, it was incredible. Had my wife and kids there. Um, got to, got to meet Vince Gill and, uh, you know, a lot of family and friends out in the crowd. It was, it was something else.

[00:06:14] Was that your first time there like ever? Or have you been in the crowd before? No, I've never been in the crowd before either. Yeah. Yeah. I didn't know. I didn't know what to

[00:06:23] expect. That's a, that's good insight though for us. Cause we have some full-time people in Nashville. They're going to be there a lot. Um, and it's, we've toyed with a couple like quick

[00:06:32] fire, like, um, short form video, like just, just to get people like, you know, some content from the backstage at the opry. And it's like hearing you, I'm like, I think we know now we should talk

[00:06:44] to them after they perform versus before, especially when it's, yeah. If it's the debut, it's like, you want to get, you want to be locked in. It's like a, being an athlete, right? Like before you go

[00:06:55] on the field. So yeah. Yeah. I mean, maybe everybody's made different and I'm pretty good with nerves too. Like honestly guys, like when I walk out for a show, I'm not nervous anymore. It's just

[00:07:08] more of like an excitement and just like, let's go, let's do this. But, uh, yeah, that would have been, that's a good call though. If anybody else was like me just to say what's up afterwards and there'll be a lot more chill and relaxed.

[00:07:20] Do you have any pre-show? It sounds like you just said you don't get nervous, like you used to maybe, but do you have like a little ritual? Do you have like a, is it like, or is the band takes a drink

[00:07:31] or I don't know, anything kind of unique? Yeah. Well, something I do the first show of every week. So if I've had an off day or a couple off days, I run through my entire set in the green room and get, get my words. Like, you know, it's,

[00:07:45] it's getting to where, you know, it's just so many songs. Um, and you know, I'm always working on more. It's getting to be a lot of words up here. So I have to like run through them just to keep

[00:07:56] them straight. I can't rely on my like last reps from the week before or something. And when I'm at home, I'm working on new songs or covers and stuff. I'm not like just hammering my material that

[00:08:07] I've played thousands of times over and over again. I'm always kind of working on the new thing. So it's not like I, I don't rep it out at home too often anymore. So I do that. And then, uh, you

[00:08:17] know, me and the guys will huddle up and I'll kind of say something to get them pumped up. Like, like we're going out to like play a game or something. Um, yeah, yeah. You know, I try to, if

[00:08:31] there's even been like, it does anything, I grab anything I can to get them pumped up. Like if, you know, if we've never played a town before or something like that, or if we had a bad show and

[00:08:42] our, you know, in our eyes, you know, the last show that we were out, it was like, you know, let's make up for that shit boys. Or if we feel any in the slightest tinge of disrespect at any point in

[00:08:51] the day, you know, I'll bring that up and tell it, like try to get them fired up to go out and just like, you know, use that as fuel to the fire. So, you know, it's that's really about it. Always have

[00:09:04] tunes on in the green room, just kind of getting, getting fired up, ready to go. And I always text my wife, tell her I'm about to go on that. I love her before I go on to, you have a go-to pump up

[00:09:13] song. I mean, we walk out the snake farm by, you know, Ray Wiley Hubbard. So yeah, that's the one that like gets me going. But you know, some nights I'm listening to the Averitt brothers, some

[00:09:23] nights I'm listening to Hayes Carl, some nights I'm listening to a Kings of Leon last week, we listened to Kings of Leon, you know, so kind of switch it all up what we're listening to in the green room beforehand.

[00:09:34] Nice. We had some fan questions. We covered a couple of them with the, with the label and, but there's a couple of Zach Bryan questions on here. But one of them, and you did touch on this

[00:09:45] opening for him some shows when we first talked to you on the podcast, but toured with him more since he's obviously gotten bigger since what's that been like just to kind of, obviously guys are

[00:09:54] really close to so it's kind of see the growth from both in the popularity kind of just skyrocket. What's the last year been like, and you're going to also go on tour this summer with him, right?

[00:10:08] Yeah, we're doing almost, almost all of August with him. Besides a couple, but yeah, it's, it's insane. I mean, he's going on an arena tour this year, and it probably could have been a stadium

[00:10:19] tour. I think the whole thing sold out in less than a minute. So he probably should have been playing football stadiums. He can, man. He can. You know? So I mean, to watch it, it's, it's incredible. It's, it's like, so we were playing

[00:10:37] rooms when that 21 tour with him, we were playing rooms between 1500 and 5,000 and it was just absolute electric and just everybody singing along. And all last year was, was like from 5,000 to 20,000. And it was just that it was just the exact same, like the exact same energy. It was

[00:10:57] insane. Some of the craziest shows I've ever, the craziest shows I've ever seen. And, uh, I mean, it was unreal and red rocks wasn't even the craziest. Like I wish, I wish they could have

[00:11:09] had a fit like a camera crew with them just the entire tour is it would have been such a, it would have been unreal to catch like some of the energy and some of the nights, like when there

[00:11:20] was no guard for the crowd and people were right up at the stage and it's 13,000 people like on this Hillside and council bluffs, like, or it would just, man. Yeah. I think I'd, I'd said on

[00:11:32] here last time in 21, it would be reminded me of Beatlemania. And like, that's just ever since then, that's just been, I think proved to be right. It's like new age, uh, singer songwriter, country music version of Beatlemania.

[00:11:46] Oh, go ahead. I was just having so bitter the red rocks thing. You didn't make it. And it's just like, so I seen the videos, right. Was that the snow and all that stuff? I was just like, ah,

[00:11:55] they just look pretty majestic out there. Well, I was 30 minutes, 30 minutes from my house. And it's just, I even said on the last podcast, I missed you and Zach at this like kind of

[00:12:05] smaller cap ballroom type place here in Chicago. Cause I was wide tweeting the fucking CMA awards. And I'm just like, I'm never going to let it go. I'm never going to let it go.

[00:12:15] Yeah. I remember that. I remember you talking about like if my disdain for the CMA awards wasn't already at like an all time high, it's like that just drove the nail through the coffin. But one fan specifically asked if you have a favorite specific memory from that tour

[00:12:32] last year with Zach. Something that really sticks out in your mind. Yeah. I mean, uh, in San Francisco, we all went out to like this, this really cool bar. I can't remember what it's called after the show. It was in October, you know, and we just

[00:12:47] had like, I think we had like one, we were only at a time for like one beer, but we were just chilling and kind of just soaking it all in. And then they started like yelling at us that they wanted to close and kicking us out

[00:12:59] and stuff. So that was a cool, a cool night. Cause it's pretty rare. We actually just get to lay back and just like soak in what's happening and the kind of experiences you're getting to enjoy.

[00:13:09] And pretty rare that we got, got to do that together. And then, uh, you know, far and away my favorite, you know, is this beating their ass and, and football and November before our last show in San Diego.

[00:13:24] You know, those guys, they can play the hell out of some music, but they just not just not quite up to where me and my boys are on the football field. So what was that like a flag football game type of thing or?

[00:13:35] Yeah. It was like two hands touch. We didn't even have flags. So it was two hands touch. What if, if Zach, I actually did have some football questions on it. Cause I know we talked about college football the last time.

[00:13:45] If Zach was gonna lay a position on the field with the 11 guys, is he lining up where at fullback? Is he, is he a I'd say, I'd say ZB would be an outside linebacker. Yeah. It'd be like a strong safety outside linebacker. Yeah.

[00:14:07] Yeah. You couldn't get too much, too far into the middle there. Just the, you know, size starts taking over at that point, no matter how tough you are. But I think he's kind of got, he's kind of got like the, you know, he could, he could work,

[00:14:20] work up some receivers and some like hold his own in that like receiver and corner world he can handle, you know, a running back and stuff. But yeah, you wouldn't want him like, you wouldn't want to be blitzing the A gaps and the B gaps, you know,

[00:14:33] with the fullbacks and, and, you know, pulling guards and stuff like that. And you played safety, right? Am I remembering that? I played outside linebacker too. So yeah, I'm right there with them. I'm not,

[00:14:44] I'm not really big enough to mix it up too much with the big guys, but definitely not fast enough to be on the outside. I'm not good enough to get on the field. I, uh, I played wide receiver when I played and just tried to,

[00:14:56] wasn't the fastest, but possession receiver, right? It's like, that's, that's what we're good, good for. But, uh, do your outs and sure hands. I also played, also played corner, but you know, they would put anybody back there who's just like semi-athletic when you're

[00:15:14] playing early in high school and stuff. My high school coach was like, come on out, come on out. We need a cornerback. And I'm like, I'm just gonna get my ass kicked and I'm not gonna be able to play baseball or hockey. So sorry, you're on your own.

[00:15:28] We actually have a, I think next week, right? We have a Matt Miller from ESPN on before the draft, cause we're big, you know, sports guys too. And, uh, do a lot of sports content on the site. I know we talked about college football the last time,

[00:15:42] but I don't know if we asked you like, do you have an NFL team like that you root for or is it mostly just college that you care about? Yeah. I root for the Steelers. Oh yeah, for sure. That's like, you know,

[00:15:53] that's, that's my team. And then there's like certain players that I, you know, that I like and kind of pull for, you know, if they're not playing the Steelers. So like Gino, Gino Smith kind of had this like great comeback this past year,

[00:16:06] got his contract up in Seattle and also, you know, I'm definitely pulling for Seattle and him wanting him to keep going well. Basically anytime there's like a mountain here, you know, somewhere, I'm always hoping they do well. And then I like, uh, I really like Joe Burrow.

[00:16:20] Samantha and I lived in Southeast Ohio and Athens where he grew up there for five years. So the whole, that whole community and a lot of our friends there are just giant Joe Burrow fans. And, you know, I just loved, I liked the way, you know,

[00:16:35] the way he is off the field, you know, the way that he accepted that Heisman, I like, you know, he got in jail and hurts his same boat here where like disrespect all through like, you know, high school and college careers.

[00:16:46] And then they just keep on winning and keep proving everybody wrong. So, you know, I pulled for both of those guys. I was rooting for the, uh, for the Eagles and the, and the super bowl because of Jalen hurts.

[00:16:58] I think cause you're a white's playing for them too. He's also a mountaineer. Yeah. I feel like have a pretty good track record with some of the NFL players. I was about to pull it up as you were talking, but Wes and I don't have that luxury.

[00:17:09] Having white go to West Virginia. What's that? Having white go to West Virginia. Was it the bear? Yeah. He's he's cause here's older brother. Oh, yeah. Literally got drafted and his leg like fell off.

[00:17:24] I know that was such a shame because he was, he was so good too. I mean, he was kind of like the, like the football version of Joe Alexander, just like such potential. And it just, it just didn't work out, you know, the way everybody hoped.

[00:17:39] There are like similarities sometimes I feel like with music, right. Where you're scouting. I know it's, it's much probably there's the pool is so much bigger, right. Maybe for like football, but you're, you're like, you mentioned earlier the way some labels may look at an artist or whatever,

[00:17:57] but similar to a sports, it's like, can they take that next step? Can they adapt? Can they kind of do all these things? And it's like, the talent's there, but it's like that it's like the intangible, right. And I, we've always thought with you,

[00:18:10] it's like it's so clear that like the authenticity is there. The just kind of the buzz is there. Stage people just keep coming stage presence. Vocals are there. So you're a five tool player, but and we're not worried about this with you, but it's like, yeah,

[00:18:27] you'll see those quarterbacks get drafted and they have all the tools and they just kind of shit the bed. And it's just like, I feel like it's a little different than music. It's like you've proven it so much more. Right. Cause it's like,

[00:18:38] look at the streams, look at the albums, look at the, you know, the buzz versus, Hey, is this guy going to get scared once he gets hit real hard the first time, you know, and then not stay in the pocket and get like, I don't know.

[00:18:49] Don't you feel like you played, you know, you play football. There's a little, the way you kind of view it, I bring a mentality to, to my work, uh, in order to, it's a, it's a tool that I use to bring my best that is similar to football,

[00:19:05] like competing in sports in many ways. But then on the other hand too, like, you know, the whole getting a deal thing or, or all that it's, it's not like, it's weird because see, I, you know, with music, like, you know,

[00:19:20] you might go multiple albums independently and build up your following and like, just honestly be totally, well, you don't need to be to the point where you don't need anybody and you never will

[00:19:30] need anybody and you never have to take a deal and you can have a great career and you can still be playing in the pros. And by the pros, I mean like the, so the big venues around the country and right. Like in selling them out.

[00:19:43] Exactly. Exactly. Like that, that type of thing. And, um, yeah, so I didn't feel like there's no, to me, I didn't see, there was no risk with me. I, you know, I made two albums independently that people love them and there's rooms and big

[00:19:59] rooms now full of people everywhere I go because of those. And, uh, I had another one that, that I made before I was signed that is, you know, that's in my opinion, my best work. So it's not like, in my opinion,

[00:20:12] I don't think there was any risk there. I thought it was, I think it was a sure thing, but I could see where like, it would be similar though. If you're trying to identify an artist that has like zero discography and like

[00:20:22] take a, take a chance on them. Yeah. Like to develop somebody like that, that would be similar to like scouting sports in many ways. But in my scenario, it was, uh, it was more just like a partnership rather than just, you know,

[00:20:40] nobody's coming in to save me. I didn't need saving. No, absolutely. Can you imagine we're talking about stage presence? Like can you imagine yourself like on stage, like for multiple songs, like without a guitar and just kind of does that, would that feel incredibly awkward? Cause we,

[00:20:55] we've seen some artists that like don't play guitar and then they, just the mic, it's just like, it just gets like, I know it's like, it's not my thing either. So it's not our thing. It's just like,

[00:21:05] the stage presence part of it though, your live show is so good from, I mean, just the comments, even one of our people here just saw you in, was it Alabama the other night? It was, I think. Yeah. Friday, I believe.

[00:21:15] Friday. I think. Yeah. So, uh, he was there and you're just incredible. It's like, do you, is that just all organic or is there like planned? Okay. I got to do this. I'm going to act like this. I'm going to look like this.

[00:21:28] Or is it just very like, this is myself. Boom. Let's go. Yeah. We're just feeling it. We're just having a good time. Yeah. Me and my guys, we get along so well and love what we're doing. I'm so fortunate to have, you know,

[00:21:40] my backing band believes and enjoys in my music as much as they do. And they're, they're feeling it just as much as I am when we're playing a show. Yeah. We don't really have any choreography, um, other than, you know,

[00:21:53] when each that on like strings and pills or something like that, when each of my guys takes their solo, they are expected to do something crazy. Goofy. Yeah. Yeah. I want him to do something like just ridiculous. Like I think in, in Alabama last Friday, I think Al,

[00:22:09] he's got a wireless pack now for his guitar input. So I think he went up and in the second floor, like up on the railing above the whole venue, he was like 30 yards from the stage, just ripping his solo. And that's,

[00:22:23] that's what I want, man. And you know, Reed gets down sometimes and like just lays his steel in somebody's hands and just rips the solo like right there as they're holding it. You know, to me, that's us, you know, and me and the guys,

[00:22:36] like the other week in grand Rapids, we were watching Springsteen's 1979 no nukes concert getting pumped up from the show. We were tired. It was our last one of the week and we were, we were watching Springsteen wanting to get fired up and ready to go out there

[00:22:50] and just give it a hundred percent energy. So yeah, we, that that's who we kind of pull from is, is guys like, you know, like Springsteen, the E Street band for how they perform live. We want it to be fun. And those are always the most memorable shows.

[00:23:02] Like I'm trying to think back to things I've seen where it's like, Oh, the guitar player like jumped into the crowd and you know, something like this, or the, you know, the singer dove off the stage and did a whole lap and you know,

[00:23:14] like security was like, what are you doing? And it was awkward, but it was awesome. And the fans are like, those are always the most memorable moments when you're thinking of like, even if you got a local venue,

[00:23:24] because you're probably going to see most of your shows at a certain venue near your house, you know? Like that's where I go when they, my favorite artists come to town. So it's like thinking back each year,

[00:23:34] you're like, Oh, that was a good one. That was a good one. That was crazy shit happened there. So yeah, that's how you make it memorable. But do you have a bat like a, I know you're you're a young dude and you're just like hitting that trajectory,

[00:23:47] but do you have like a, Oh my God, that was the worst thing that's ever happened live, whether it's forgetting a song, whether it's some technical issue, do you have any like horror story? It was like, maybe it's an early show back in the day.

[00:23:59] And we've heard some stories like obviously you're playing in front of five people and three of them are in a brawl in the corner. And you know, it's like any, anything like that, that you can kind of recall that just like,

[00:24:08] man, we've kind of come along or maybe, or maybe, or maybe it was last week and some crazy shit in the stands or. Oh dude, I've, I've done it all. I've played to nobody. You know, I've been you know, I've been told to turn my shit off.

[00:24:23] I've not been paid before. I've there's been fights. There's been, you know, you go out and there's no sound or wedges and you're just playing off of whatever you can maybe hear. And just pure, just repetition that you believe that you're doing what you need to do without

[00:24:42] even being able to hear it. That, that happens. It's happened multiple times a year. And me and the guys, we just, when that, when that kind of thing happens, we just, we do our thing. We're confident in ourselves.

[00:24:54] We've done this enough to know that, you know, we're good. This is what we do. And who gives a shit if, you know, you get different calibers of sound guys all across the board. Sometimes it's at the, at the bottom end.

[00:25:09] We got one and we got one of those folks that you're having to work with and you go out there and there's not a thing that you can hear on stage. No problem. We're going to do our thing anyways,

[00:25:16] nobody's going to be able to tell that we're having those issues. So that's kind of like the mindset that we bring into it. But yeah, man, we run into all of it. Nothing has stopped me from, from doing my job.

[00:25:27] The only thing that would be health stuff. You know, sometimes I struggle with my voice, keeping it and that kind of thing. But even then I still, even if it's a whisper, I'll go out there and play acoustic. And I just did that two months ago.

[00:25:40] So, you know, it's just nothing will stop me from doing my job. Do you, do you like when we had a viral post, I forgot what year that was, Wes. It was a CMA awards, but Garth,

[00:25:52] when Garth Brooks was like, yeah, of course I lip synced. And it was like, what? He was just so like confident, confident about it. And then Eric Church and I think Miranda Anderson,

[00:26:04] he's a lot of people like kind of called it out. I think for him, he's so big. And he's probably was like, Whoa, Whoa, I'm not sure about this, but I kind of with you, like I'd rather go to a show. And if like a guy can't sing,

[00:26:16] but he's just like trying and it's just like gravel is just like fucked up, but he's like still try out. I'd rather have that than some like polished, you know, prepared backtrack, just kind of pumping it out there.

[00:26:28] All shows like it probably would, you see, it's not like a guy, like it would take a lot for you not to, if you can't, can't, can't, you're not going to be lip singing. Yeah. Yeah. That's not an option. I don't even have the tracks.

[00:26:44] I don't even know how to do that. And the other thing too, is that I haven't recorded to a click. So none of my songs are, are straight time anyways. Like there we,

[00:26:57] it would be all over the place because we can never play it the same way that we did in the studio. You know, that there'd be guys making a strum on a guitar that didn't happen. And no, exactly.

[00:27:09] I remember showing my wife, I was like, some of you are just like general fans. You know, they're watching a award show. They're kind of past, Oh, take a look. What? I was like, no,

[00:27:18] like they pulled the mic away and the S the S the song is like going, it's the same. And they're singing. It's like, cause they're not used to like holding the mic next to their mouth. You know,

[00:27:27] it was just like, Oh my God, I don't know. I just, I really, we get a little older. You get a little jaded by all the shenanigans that happen behind the scenes for some of the folks, but thank you for not ever doing that.

[00:27:40] Yeah. Yeah. It's not something I worry about though. I mean, Garth Brooks, he's proved, I mean, he doesn't have anything to prove to anybody. You know what I mean? Everybody knows he can sing, you know, whatever he's in that day,

[00:27:52] like he was dealing with something health wise or with his voice, like, you know, what does he have to worry about? Well, people are worried about what's going on in the, in the, with the shovel in the backyard.

[00:28:06] I was going to say, uh, speaking of in the studio, you just, uh, released fairly recently here, live EP, uh, which you recorded in a bad-ass church studio in Pittsburgh, I believe. Yeah. Um, what was it like doing that? Such a cool project. The videos were awesome.

[00:28:23] And then like, what kind of made you pick those five songs? Got a couple of covers in there that all come together. Man that originally, so that was just like a three hour thing we did last May in Pittsburgh.

[00:28:36] And it was the whole point originally was I was like, I need some live videos of me and the band playing some of the songs from How the Mighty Fall. I didn't have anything. It was just me playing acoustic, which is it's, it's like two different things.

[00:28:51] Um, so I was like, guys, let's record some like live in studio videos when we're wrestling up, you know, this off week in May, uh, last year. And the guy's like, yeah, sure, man, that sounds good. And then, uh, they're like, you know what?

[00:29:05] Let's do that Chris Knight song that you've been playing it, that we've been doing at the shows. And so I was like, all right, like we should do a ZB song too. That'd be fun. Like, what would be a good one?

[00:29:14] I was like, God, and then Rita's like, don't you think that's too obvious? I was like, all right, fine. All right, fine. I'll pick a different one. I was like, all right, crooked teeth. That's the one that's got like, when,

[00:29:26] when Zach plays that live, I love the, uh, I love that melody line. Like the melody of that song is just so sick. Zephyr's bass line and stuff that does it's just, it's so cool. I was like, man,

[00:29:36] that hits hard. It'd be fun to try to work up a different version or something like that. So we did that. And, um, it was really just meant to go on YouTube just to have like the videos of like, you know, temporary town, Jesse, things like that.

[00:29:49] And then my manager was like, why don't you just like throw it up on streaming too? I mean, you made it, you know, just throw it up there too. I was like, yeah, I guess you're right. I mean, whatever. Yeah. Let's do that.

[00:30:02] And then, uh, you know, uh, Louis took, he got the videos done and stuff. And then we, we decided we, we'd release it when things were kind of slowed down in the winter a little bit. And, uh, yeah, that's really all it was. It wasn't something, you know,

[00:30:14] wasn't much thought put into it. I was just like, Hey, let's go up and play for a few hours and video it and record it. Nice. Love it. Did have a question because I don't think you've officially announced this yet. Um, speaking of some of the newer music,

[00:30:29] but I think when the record deal was announced, did it leak kind of through Seth that family ties, maybe the title of the new album. And, but I don't think there's been a lot of information about when a lot of fans

[00:30:41] were asking when can you give any teaser about time of year at all? Um, for the day. I don't have a date yet, but if I had to reckon it'd be like late summer, somewhere, somewhere in there. Um, like we're, you know,

[00:30:59] mastering by the end of this month should be done. Like, so it's still like not like ready to just put out there right now. But yeah, family ties is, is the, uh, album title. I love that. Yeah.

[00:31:11] Is that going to be the lead single or like the first release in a sense? Uh, I don't know if I had to guess. I mean, I, I don't think it would be the, uh, I don't know, man. I have no idea, but I'm fine with all. Yeah.

[00:31:25] We haven't, we haven't figured all that out yet, but like the, I love this album so much and I'm so proud of it. I don't care what, what, uh, what song comes out first. 28 songs long. I love it.

[00:31:41] I can't write that much. I can't, but it is longer than my other two albums, but it's not, it is not 30 songs. Speaking of family, like, I feel like this is the best way to grow fans.

[00:31:52] Like the organic way that probably how you do, whether it's a friend, sending a friend, you know, Hey, check this guy out, whatever. But I have an almost three year old and then my wife, like, so when I'm cooking,

[00:32:02] I put on a certain type of music usually. And you're like, my go-to has been for multiple years now, probably my number one played country artists. And then it's just like, I just had kind of pay attention slowly, but surely.

[00:32:12] And then I get in my wife's car and it's like, Oh, Oh, you were listening to a guy. What were you? And then, and then now my son, there's certain songs. It's gotta be a little, some of the more upbeat ones or like the quicker ones. Yeah.

[00:32:25] He starts kind of moving around now. And I'm like, all right, cool. Cause his favorite song is Chattahoochee. He makes me put two songs, one more time by Daft Punk and Chattahoochee. I don't know. Cause it came up as like an ad and he's like, play that.

[00:32:38] So like now he jumps on the couch to Chattahoochee and Daft Punk, but he's liking quite a few of the Charles Wessie Gowen tunes. So you got two more, two more in the households. Strong. I'll get the kids going. Strong. Yeah.

[00:32:53] I listened to Strong out of the way. I listened to Strong out of the way to the gym usually. It just gets me kind of going. I love that. Yeah. Great work. UFC walkout song like that people wouldn't expect that a little something

[00:33:06] different out there. I dig it. I would too, man. That'd be sick. I'd be if I found out somebody was walking out to my music, I'd be going to watch them fight or that's for sure. Or a, or a baseball player with their walkout music. I mean,

[00:33:19] we've done some of the hell. Yeah. I'm sure you're going to have one this year. I got a feeling. Wouldn't surprise me. It wouldn't surprise me. There's, there's some, there's some new stuff that would not surprise. Real quick. You just tweeted about George in the truck driving around,

[00:33:35] listening with your I think you said with your son, right? Yeah. And that's why we put them behind Wes over there. What's, do you have a favorite George straight song? I know you just covered. True blue. I think oceanfront properties is such a clean, good song.

[00:33:51] I mean, it's just, there ain't no extra fat on that thing and it's just such a, such a cool song. So that one right now, but man, yeah, I've been digging, I'm going down to Texas next week.

[00:34:02] I've just been listening to George straight taking the kids to daycare, you know, in the morning and, and just been enjoying it. Kids don't seem to mind either, which is pretty cool. You got to meet him, right? Every time you meet,

[00:34:16] every time you meet him, it's like better than you could ever imagine. We've had, he just floats. He doesn't want, yeah. It's like a, I've always heard that about Alison Krauss too. So maybe, yeah, maybe he's like a,

[00:34:30] like a man version of Alison Krauss where it's just like everybody that meets her just say, Oh my God, there it goes. Like too stunned to even say anything. Right. There's a buddy of mine that he used to work at black bear or black bird

[00:34:45] studios in Nashville. And I think he told me the story that Alison Krauss is singing on a Willie Nelson song and her vocal, like her session was like 8 AM, which, you know, for most folks, myself, like at 8 AM, I'm not necessarily warm,

[00:35:03] like warm, warm, even though I'm up, you know, for a few hours or whatever. I'm just not ready to like lay down some tracks vocally at 8 AM. But she was, he was the engineer for the session. She said like,

[00:35:16] she like levitated into the room, went into the vocal booth, one take and then just like walked out and said, thank you so much. Have a good day. And then just walked away. Job done. This is, yeah, we did a,

[00:35:28] which is a March sadness tournament for sad country songs that her and Brad Paisley kind of made it, made it pretty far West. I forgot exactly where they ended up for. I think they got to the final four and then they, uh, they lost out to, uh,

[00:35:42] whiskey Myers though. They're fans, like they just show up and vote on everything. So we might have to ban them from next year's tournament. Yeah, we might, but broken window serenades a sad song. So, I mean, I don't know. Yeah, that's true. Hopefully you got a really good,

[00:35:58] a sad song on the next album. And we'll, uh, if we do it in March sadness again, you're in it. I don't know if it'd be up there with those ones though. I knew that was sad. Dude, we're so excited for the new album.

[00:36:12] So obviously we're going to post like crazy about it and great to talk to you again. And hopefully we kind of catch you at a live show. Finally Wes is moving to Wisconsin. I'm in Colorado. So I just a little,

[00:36:23] there's a little coordinating to do, but we're going to make it happen here. Yeah, dude. If we're going to be at a red rocks, the Shane Smith and the saints on May 9th, you know, come out to that one. And then, uh, I think we're,

[00:36:37] I was like, yeah, I got, I gotta get her to plan that shit because it's like, I forget and then it's like three days before I'm like, fuck. Yeah. Just, just let me know. And then, uh, I think we're in Des Moines or something like that this summer.

[00:36:50] I can't remember. I think you'll be in Chicago literally the day I'm moving. And I'm like, I'm going to park my truck in the parking lot. It's just bad luck for you up there with me.

[00:37:05] Oh, I'm just, I'll, I'm going to make a trip then. I don't care. Yeah. We're in a cool place too. It's like Taliah hall or Taliah hall. I don't have to say. Oh yeah. Yeah. Right. Cool. Well buddy, we love you. Love your music.

[00:37:16] Love what you do for supporting other artists too. So appreciate everything. You know, we'll be sharing your music, the new stuff. Um, once you're ready. Hell yeah dude. I appreciate it boys. Thanks for having me on. Yeah.