Chase Rice

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[00:00:41] for you at browning.com. Browning, the best there is. Welcome back to another episode of Whiskey Riff

[00:01:01] Raff brought to you by Browning. We're sitting here with Chase Rice today, and first thing is on

[00:01:06] Saturday was the concert for Carolina, which looked awesome. So we would love to hear about how that

[00:01:12] went. And you guys raised $24 million, which is not a small thing. So I'd love to hear about your

[00:01:18] experience, how it was. It was special. Yeah, it was one of the nights you're like,

[00:01:22] while it's happening, you're like, damn, this is never going to happen again. James Taylor,

[00:01:27] the whole lineup was just like, man, this is wild. But yeah, you're just like, damn,

[00:01:31] I don't want this to end. Yeah. And even this morning, I was sitting on my front porch

[00:01:35] talking to somebody about the whole weekend. It was just like, it was just, yeah, you didn't want

[00:01:41] it to end. One of my favorite moments I think I saw a video of was Eric Church and Sheryl Crow

[00:01:45] singing Picture. Oh, did they? Yeah. I'm like, that is awesome. Like no other time are you ever

[00:01:49] going to see something like that. And I actually just went to North Carolina for the first time

[00:01:53] myself, and that stadium looked so cool. Yeah, they've done a good job with it. It's an older

[00:01:57] stadium, but they've done it. It looked like they must have redone everything. It's a freaking

[00:02:01] awesome stadium. I didn't get to see the Eric and Sheryl thing. I didn't see Sheryl at all.

[00:02:06] Oh, really? Got to see James. That was sick. It was just this, is Sheryl from North Carolina?

[00:02:12] I honestly don't know. That's a good question. Yeah, she is, but it didn't matter. Yeah,

[00:02:16] it was just, everything was so messed up from the weather, which go figure weather would delay

[00:02:22] this whole thing. But Luke's crew did such a good job. First of all, putting it together in the

[00:02:26] short amount of time they did and just how well they did. They're just piecing everything

[00:02:33] together. And then Cappy's coming up to me before the show saying, all right, we want to keep everybody

[00:02:37] playing the same amount of songs we were supposed to, so we're going to change it. Me and Parmaline

[00:02:40] ended up playing together. It was supposed to be me, them, and Scotty together. But we were supposed

[00:02:45] to go on at 515, so I'm sitting there drinking vodka at 430. Get a little edge before you go on.

[00:02:51] You're playing acoustic to an entire stadium. Eric's done that a bunch. I haven't done that.

[00:02:56] Right. I've played stadiums, but you got your band and you're comfortable with that. But I'm

[00:03:00] playing Hall River and Carolina Can, which are two songs that I've, Hall River, I've only played it

[00:03:05] once live acoustic. Carolina Can, I haven't played in years. So I'm like, man, okay, don't screw this

[00:03:13] up. This is also live on TV.

[00:03:16] An important one.

[00:03:17] Yeah, very important one. So it was just a wild night of just figuring out, okay, well, let's lay

[00:03:25] off the vodka for now. Let's go get dinner. I didn't play till 945, I don't think. Oh, wow.

[00:03:30] Wow. So we're down below, below deck, waiting for Eric to be done with his set. And the Parmaline

[00:03:36] guys are warming up. I'm down there just going over my spots, just trying to not, trying to run it

[00:03:41] over. Don't be nervous. I was. But then by the time we went on, I'm like, I'm not nervous at all

[00:03:45] anymore. I just want to play. Like at this point, we've waited a long time, you know, throughout the

[00:03:49] day and the fans had too at that point. I mean, that was a long night for them, but it was just

[00:03:53] stacked with such cool, unique, different things. It was cool to hear the recordings back of like

[00:03:59] videos of friends or whoever took of Carolina Can, because I couldn't hear anything. I'm in my ears and

[00:04:06] I'm just singing, trying to sing as best I can. And it was hard when I get through because I,

[00:04:11] I'm from right there in Fairview where I got wiped out. And, you know, the night before my

[00:04:15] coach Craig, you know, took me down past my house a couple miles, a place called Craigtown and

[00:04:22] all his houses were wiped out, childhood home. Parents were, were killed. Sister was killed.

[00:04:27] I'm sorry. But it was, and then I started talking about that and I, it was hard to get through, but

[00:04:34] yeah, it was cool seeing those videos back of that song. And a lot of people were singing,

[00:04:37] and that was never single, but they were, they were singing the hell out of it. Yeah. Anything

[00:04:40] Carolina that night, I'm sure it was massive. And obviously like a lot of people have seen

[00:04:46] videos and pictures of the devastation, but can you talk on like what you saw whenever you went

[00:04:50] through, you know, a community that you were familiar with? Like it's not recognizable anymore.

[00:04:54] Not recognizable. Yeah. You go down to past my house, it's on old Fort road in Fairview.

[00:04:59] And, uh, you go, I think it's two miles. You take it right on Fly Creek road. And, uh,

[00:05:03] that's where Craigtown is at 23 fire station there. Um, that luckily they had that. So,

[00:05:08] you know, we parked up there that a checkpoint with, you know, police and everything. Um,

[00:05:12] coach Craig, it's his, his town, so he can do whatever he wants. But, uh, yeah, he took us in

[00:05:16] the side by side, showed us where his mom and dad's house was, where his childhood home was

[00:05:21] and, uh, they're gone, but he took us down the road, which is covered in mud and the bridge is gone.

[00:05:27] So we had to take another route, but, um, houses are gone. It was just weird cars. He had a 69,

[00:05:33] I think Oldsmobile or Camaro. I don't know what it was, but, um, he was restoring that. And that thing

[00:05:38] was just a pile of metal on the side of the road. Um, then he drove past the Creek a little bit,

[00:05:43] which is now back to being a Creek. Like he said, he'd never seen it flood before.

[00:05:46] And obviously that's what washed everything out. But, uh, he's talking stories of fishing,

[00:05:52] you know, he's always fishing that Creek or river, whatever it is. Um, it's wild.

[00:05:57] Just hearing him talk. Cause he's talking fine, but you know, he's not, um, he lost 11 family

[00:06:01] members. Yeah. So, you know, drive by another pile of rubble. It's got a mattress on top. You got

[00:06:07] car hearts down here on the side of the road, um, shoes everywhere. Um, and he, he's pointing out,

[00:06:14] you know, this is where they found my dad. It was about a mile down from where the house was,

[00:06:17] um, to another mile down. This is where I found my mom. Um, so it was just gnarly hearing those stories.

[00:06:23] It's hard to comprehend it while you're looking at it. And then, and then after that,

[00:06:27] we went to Britain Tilson down on the river, which is, uh, down in Biltmore. Um, my best friend in the

[00:06:32] world from high school, Matt Burns worked for Britain Tilson and Billy Britt and Bill Britt owned

[00:06:37] it. Um, he was my, um, little league football coach and Billy and I won a state championship

[00:06:41] together. And they're just showing me their building where it was. It was cool. The one cool

[00:06:45] thing, Matt founded an American flag. Um, it wasn't theirs, but something washed down,

[00:06:50] found the American flag, put it up on the rubble. And I actually, I take pictures on a Leica camera.

[00:06:56] Um, I just started doing it about a year ago. So I'm not that good. We'll find out if I got

[00:07:00] anything good. Just dropped the film off. But, uh, I took a bunch of pictures of all that and then

[00:07:04] just standing amongst the rubble and all that stuff. So I don't know what I'm going to do with

[00:07:08] that. Hopefully make a picture book or whatever, you know, coffee table, sell that and all the money's

[00:07:13] going to go straight to those two. Cause we raised 24 million, but I don't know how much

[00:07:16] that's going to go to Craigtown. Yeah. Yeah. And when something like that is so personal to you,

[00:07:20] is that something you get a call and you get asked to, and you're immediately like, yes,

[00:07:23] or is that something that you were like, no, I want to be a part of it? No, that was Luke. I was in

[00:07:27] Montana and Luke texted me and said, Hey buddy, we're, uh, we're going to do this thing. Here's

[00:07:32] the date. And funnily enough, I'd turned down like four different things that weekend. Um,

[00:07:36] I don't know why I just turned them down and I was like, no, I want that weekend off. And when he

[00:07:41] asked, I was like, whatever you need, man, I'm there. So it was easy for me. I sang two songs and we got up

[00:07:45] there in St. Carolina at the end. Um, Eric song. And, uh, it was, yeah, it was a special night.

[00:07:51] Um, it was cool to know coach Craig, his whole family was in the crowd. Coach Laws, my head

[00:07:56] coach down there was in the crowd. A lot of the coaches were there. A lot of the people were there.

[00:08:00] Um, and the night before I went to the football game, my high school football game, we, we won.

[00:08:05] So that was good to see. Um, yeah, it was just, it was a special weekend and a lot of good can come

[00:08:10] from this type of thing where it's, I hadn't talked to the, I mean, we stayed in touch, but I haven't

[00:08:13] talked to them like, or like I have over the last few days or a few weeks, um, in years. So it's

[00:08:19] back in touch, go hunting this fall and try to get their lives back to somewhat normal. It'll never

[00:08:26] be the same again, but it's good to be back in touch with them. And it's crazy to see like as

[00:08:31] divided as the world is, it's like really cool to see the country, country music community come

[00:08:35] together for something and actually like work on something together. Yeah. We've got this Carolina

[00:08:40] connection. A lot of guys, a lot of guys and gals from Carolina never done something together. So

[00:08:45] it was cool to see everybody drop their pride for a little bit and we're just ain't about us anymore.

[00:08:50] It's about trying to help. Yeah. Yeah. And that amount of devastation, obviously there are a lot

[00:08:54] of things that can be replaced, but you know, for you all to raise $24 million, um, and, uh, and for

[00:09:00] an event that was just put together in a matter of what, maybe six weeks, uh, something like that.

[00:09:04] It's, it's remarkable. So we wanted to, you know, obviously congratulate you on being a part of that.

[00:09:08] And I know that it's one of those probably thankless things too. You probably would have

[00:09:11] done it, um, you know, regardless of the situation. So, yeah, I said it on stage. I was like,

[00:09:16] I'm here for two reasons. First of all, cause Luke asked, um, and second of all, cause I just got

[00:09:22] to see what the reality of what just happened is. Um, and that gave me a whole perspective of why we

[00:09:27] were doing what we were doing. Yeah. Well, um, to change pace a bit, we want to talk to you of course,

[00:09:32] about some of your music. Um, whiskey riffs, a big fan of you. Uh, we know, or I guess we wanted to

[00:09:39] kind of open the floor to you to talk about the evolution of your music. Cause you could,

[00:09:43] you could say as a listener, it's kind of switched from, from one thing to another. So we, uh, I don't

[00:09:49] want to speak for you, but just wanted to open the floor to, uh, you know, the transition that

[00:09:53] you've had, uh, in the style of music that you have put out. Yeah. It was an interesting route for my

[00:09:58] whole career. Uh, I just listened randomly last night. I was smoking in my back porch,

[00:10:02] listening to an album put out 2012, maybe called Dirt Road Communion. And it wasn't great, but there

[00:10:09] were signs of like, Oh, I'm just doing what I'm doing. Um, and then right around that time was

[00:10:15] when we were at cruise and cruise is the biggest blessing and curse that I could ask for. Cause

[00:10:19] we're in there, write it, Joe Amor produces it. It blows up and I'm like, fuck, this is cool.

[00:10:26] Yeah. And that was when bro country became a thing and, uh, love it or hate it. It was,

[00:10:33] it was a thing and it was huge and it did bring a lot of new eyes to country music, but.

[00:10:38] But how do you, how do you feel about that label? Right. Cause you're saying it's a blessing

[00:10:42] and a curse. So country, I don't really care. It wasn't, it's a good name for it. Yeah.

[00:10:47] I feel like it's pretty proper. Um, and I earned every bit of that, you know, being a part of

[00:10:52] that, you know, I don't shy away from that at all. But the problem with what I was doing

[00:10:56] was I was clueless. Like, why wouldn't I have been, I learned to play guitar in 2006.

[00:11:04] A lot more recent than people would probably think.

[00:11:07] I'd never played guitar before. A lineman at Carolina was, had he play Dave Matthews and

[00:11:11] stuff in the, in the, uh, the dorm rooms. And I'd sing along with some country stuff. He'd,

[00:11:17] he would learn. He'd be like, dude, you should be a country singer. I'm like, okay, that's

[00:11:19] like saying, uh, there'll be an astronaut. Like it was that far from reality. I was a football

[00:11:24] player. And, uh, so I learned on his guitar, ended up buying a cheaper guitar and learning

[00:11:29] on that in the dorms. And, and then I moved to Nashville not too long after that, after

[00:11:34] I got hurt playing football. Um, and then I move into Brian and Tyler's house who were

[00:11:38] doing their thing. Um, they taught me a lot about writing songs and whether you loved

[00:11:43] them or hated them at first, man, it was just like, they're doing something different.

[00:11:46] The problem with what they were doing different was, was like, all right, I want to do that

[00:11:50] now. I had, but looking back, I don't really fault myself for that. Cause I didn't know

[00:11:54] any better. That's how I learned to write songs. And those guys taught me a lot about

[00:11:58] writing, you know, co-writing and, and it, I didn't know what I wanted to do. I didn't

[00:12:02] know what I didn't want to do. I just knew this is cool. It's different tracks became a

[00:12:07] thing right around that time. And that was something new. It was like, Oh, I don't have

[00:12:12] to write songs on a guitar. I can just write, I don't even touch. I didn't learn to

[00:12:15] play ready, set, roll on guitar until like four years ago, which is crazy. I didn't need

[00:12:19] to, I had the band. I don't think I played it on the record. Probably wasn't good enough

[00:12:23] to play it on the record back then, but I was so clueless to what I wanted to do that

[00:12:28] I just went with it. And we just threw a bunch of stuff out there looking back. It's

[00:12:32] like somebody should have grabbed ahold of me and said, dude, this is what, and Eddie,

[00:12:35] my manager, he really, and Bruce too, they really knew that there's something really cool

[00:12:42] that happens when it's just me and a guitar. But I wish they would have said back then,

[00:12:46] like, let's see if we could do this instead. But they didn't know either. And they obviously

[00:12:50] managers, you're wanting to have success and we were having success. Um, so I rode that

[00:12:55] wave as long as I could ride it. But, um, I, for me, there was always something off because

[00:13:01] I loved Eric. I love Jay Joyce and what they were doing. I always wanted to try to do something

[00:13:07] like that. And when I talked to Jay, he was like, dude, I don't want to hear a demo. I just want to

[00:13:11] hear you and a guitar. I'm like, okay, well, Chris already did the demo. It's already recorded. I'm

[00:13:16] just going to put that out. Um, and it took me till about 2018 to where I finally started going back

[00:13:23] and recording stuff into my phone. Like I used to do in the beginning. And then through 2020, I got

[00:13:28] in a bunch of trouble for doing the show. Um, and that was weird, but, um, it was a weird time.

[00:13:38] But that I kind of hit a wall. I did this interview with Paul Feinbaum on ESPN in 2020

[00:13:43] after all that happened. And, uh, I was at dinner with my Navy buddies and they were doing charity

[00:13:49] dinner and I went up to him. I was like, guys, I gotta go home. I'm not good. I don't know what's

[00:13:53] going on in my brain right now, but I gotta go home. So I went home that night, deleted social

[00:13:57] media off of my phone. Um, and watched the Springsteen documentary and then wrote a song

[00:14:03] called if I were rock and roll that night by myself. And I had read it by myself in 10 years.

[00:14:07] And I'm like, okay, that was different. Send it to my manager. He was like, what the fuck?

[00:14:12] Where'd this come from?

[00:14:13] But he knew, he knew it was in there. Um, and two weeks later, I wrote a song called life

[00:14:20] part of living, which was all part of the Cowboys record. Um, then I wrote a song called

[00:14:24] Ben Seed about my dog and my best friend who almost killed himself and his dog saved his

[00:14:28] life. And, uh, it's like, okay, these are cool for down the road. I still had that mindset

[00:14:33] of like down the road. It's like, by then I was probably 36 years old. And, um, throughout

[00:14:39] all that, I just kind of was like, man, I'm not really having, I've, I've worked my ass off

[00:14:46] to chase this radio game and to chase whatever's popular, whether it was FGL and Sam Hunt came

[00:14:52] out. I was like, Oh, good to be Sam Hunt. Um, Ed Sheeran. I was like, got an Ed Sheeran

[00:14:57] phase or like tighter pants. I'm like, dude, you can't play like Ed or sing like him. Stop

[00:15:02] trying to be these other people. And, uh, that was the record that really, we took it

[00:15:07] to Jay finally, after all these years of talking with him, he was like, all right, now we're

[00:15:10] talking, go in there, record two songs. And, uh, he was adamant about like, I don't have

[00:15:15] the energy or time right now to do a full album. Maybe he just didn't like me. I don't know.

[00:15:19] V and Jay got along great though, but I learned a lot from him through that process. And throughout

[00:15:26] all that, there was a guy named Arturo Buenajora who's, he's co-producer on a lot of Eric stuff,

[00:15:30] I think. But, uh, he kept saying, don't work with Jay. Like Jay's busy right now. Not that

[00:15:36] Jay's not great. Jay's one of the best to ever do it, but there's a kid named Oscar

[00:15:40] Charles. I really think you and him would vibe. He's younger, he's hungry and he's different.

[00:15:46] And, um, so through that worked with Jay, didn't work out for a full album. And that's

[00:15:52] when we went back to the drum board with Oscar. Oscar came into my house. We met for

[00:15:56] the first time I talked to Ben seat with him, told him the whole story behind it. And

[00:15:59] we started like tearing up, like growing out. Like we had a really good conversation

[00:16:02] and he said, well, where would you want to record this thing? And, uh, he spun around

[00:16:07] in his chair. I said, I don't want to do Nashville. I don't want to do Broadway or a 16th Avenue

[00:16:11] and all that. The typical recording studios, he'd spun around his chair and looked up my living

[00:16:17] room. He's like, what's wrong with this? I was like, Oh fuck. Yeah. This is now we're

[00:16:20] talking. Comfort. Yeah. It was just like, let's do something weird. Yeah. And, uh, got

[00:16:26] the permission from the label to work with a producer I'd never worked with to do it in

[00:16:30] my house. Um, and another cool part of that was I was a huge fan of, uh, uh, Boy Named

[00:16:36] Banjo already. I started listening to Boy Named Banjo, Flatland, a bunch of, uh, you know,

[00:16:41] William Clark Green, a bunch of stuff that I'd, you know, I just stopped listening to radio.

[00:16:46] And, uh, and so I knew that I'd love Oscar cause I love the Boy Named Banjo records.

[00:16:51] And so we did that record, did it well. We were pretty clueless, but it was fun. We had

[00:16:58] an awesome time and that was the start. I think a lot of people heard that album and they're

[00:17:02] just like, what is he doing? And even if people liked it, they probably weren't giving

[00:17:08] me the chance yet because they're like, Oh, he's just trying something new for me. It wasn't

[00:17:12] about trying something new. It was about finally, how do we create something that only I could

[00:17:16] record? Um, and then the process of making the deluxe version of the Cowboys record where

[00:17:22] we did it at Oscar's house at that point, I think we did five or six songs. And within

[00:17:27] one week we got a call, um, no CMA noms, which I wasn't shocked about. I've never had

[00:17:31] one. Um, and I didn't feel like I'd really earned, I didn't earn the right to even be up

[00:17:36] for something like that, but I did know the bench seat video was good enough. Like it

[00:17:40] was, it was unbelievable. It was a great video. So didn't get that. Um, they pulled

[00:17:46] bad day to big cold beer off the radio all within like three days of us recording. And

[00:17:50] then the final straw was they were like, we got the budget back for the deluxe version

[00:17:55] of Cowboys and they, they declined it. They said, we can't record yet. We got to go back

[00:17:59] and do another single off the Cowboys record. I was like, guys, you couldn't get bad day

[00:18:02] to big cold beer past 47. You're not gonna get anything else off this record on the radio.

[00:18:06] So I was like, all right, Oscar, I got the song called go down singing. I wrote it with Blake

[00:18:10] and Carolina. Um, let's record that. It'll be the last song of the night and let's turn

[00:18:16] this fucking thing into a full album. And I, and I'm going to leave my label. And he

[00:18:21] was all about that. And we're just going to do this on my own and on our own. And, uh,

[00:18:26] that's how that turned into a full album. It kind of became the second part of the Cowboys

[00:18:30] record. Cause you know, the picture, my dad picture me and then fireside just came out,

[00:18:34] which is all of them acoustic together featuring the songwriters one take type things. And, uh,

[00:18:40] and then that's, that's the conclusion of that three album series. And that all kind of happened

[00:18:46] by accident. But throughout all that, we've learned a lot like Oscar and I've learned a lot

[00:18:50] of how to work together. Those records are really good. Um, I hear stuff still that I'm like, damn,

[00:18:55] we could have done this better. Um, but this next record we wrote on accident in Colorado,

[00:19:01] it was me, Wyatt McCubbin and Oscar. And we wrote three song or three days and we wrote nine songs.

[00:19:08] It's like, man, why would, let's not overthink this. Let's just put another record out. So

[00:19:11] December, we're going to go and record. It's called Eldora. We wrote it near Eldora, Colorado.

[00:19:15] It's very Western theme cause that's where we were. But, uh, and that's where I live like half the

[00:19:20] year. So, um, up in Montana, but that's also changed cause I'm not going to Broadway every

[00:19:27] night and then not singing songs as a kid anymore, trying to be like, what do these people want to

[00:19:33] hear? That hypes them up. Now I'm just writing songs about whatever's going on in my life.

[00:19:38] So, um, that'll come out and we're going to do that one differently. Cause we've learned from the

[00:19:42] last two, like what's our favorite thing, especially the fireside sessions. We learned a lot from that.

[00:19:46] My favorite thing is me and a guitar. So, and that's what we based a lot of

[00:19:50] those last group of songs on, we'd get me and a guitar and then build the band around that.

[00:19:54] So we're going to do this one different where we're literally just going to do me and a guitar,

[00:19:58] um, me and a guitar, and then we'll build what needs to be around it. Some of them may not need

[00:20:03] anything. Some of them may need a full band to come in and be around it, but it's going to be a

[00:20:07] lot more raw than even the last two albums we did. And said in that way, um, and the most fun I'm

[00:20:13] having is it's so free when you're in the studio and you're not thinking like, Oh, this is what

[00:20:18] radio is playing right now. Let's figure out how to get in that vein or this is what's popular.

[00:20:22] Let's try to be Zach Bryan, like, or Morgan Wallen or whoever. It's like, no, let's, let's create

[00:20:27] something that only we could do. Yeah. And that's a fun mindset to have when you're recording an album.

[00:20:32] And something that you said earlier is you wish maybe someone would have just come up to you and

[00:20:36] shaken you and said, Hey, like, let's, let's try to find a different path. But it, it sounds to me

[00:20:41] like you figured that out on your own, whether that was just like a aha moment or what, or whatever

[00:20:45] it was. But now looking back with some hindsight, is it, do you find comfort in knowing that you

[00:20:51] are the one that kind of directed yourself down a different path?

[00:20:55] I'm not sure anybody else could have done it.

[00:20:57] Yeah.

[00:20:57] I think it had to be on me and COVID happening was a massive thing to change my life and my career.

[00:21:05] Um, yeah, I, nobody could have probably, maybe they would have, if they'd have tried to direct me back

[00:21:10] then, I don't know, I'm sure I would have listened and part of me wouldn't have, but yeah, I don't

[00:21:15] know what made me go down some of those roads. Like there's a couple of songs where I'm like half

[00:21:20] rapping in and I'm like, what the fuck am I doing?

[00:21:23] I think I, so I used to live in California than Colorado. So I've been, I've like been in the same

[00:21:28] areas and I think I was in college and I went to go see one of your shows in the desert of California

[00:21:33] at like, uh, one of the fairs that was going on and I saw you front row and that crowd was

[00:21:37] completely different than like the music you're putting out now. So it's just crazy to see the

[00:21:41] difference and everything. But when you talk about Colorado and this next album, what like themes,

[00:21:47] you said it's like Western, but like, is there anything else that's like big in there?

[00:21:51] Um, well it's story songs. I'm, I can write a story. I just, and we, I think I'm also going to

[00:21:57] do an album at some point of either songs that I put out or probably songs that I put out that

[00:22:02] were maybe recorded wrong. Um, but I want to redo Carolina can, I want to redo Jack Daniels and Jesus.

[00:22:07] I don't know what else, but I listened to a song last night called saved me. That's an

[00:22:11] unbelievable song. Um, people just don't know about it or maybe we didn't promote it right.

[00:22:17] Or it just wasn't good enough that we recorded it. But, um, forever it goes another one sick.

[00:22:21] Um, I want to do that too. But anyway, to get back to the Eldora thing, um, it's stories. Um,

[00:22:28] Eldora is about a couple that just can't hold it together and he's back in Tennessee and she's

[00:22:32] in Colorado and the whole song is about him driving back to Colorado. Like, look, we did

[00:22:36] this thing. Um, we got to live with what we did and, uh, let's move on from it. We're still in love.

[00:22:44] I'm coming back. And the, the whole thing leads to one line that says, uh, in the distance,

[00:22:49] I see Denver lights between the pines of Bingham red rock eyes, even nights like that couldn't

[00:22:54] save us then. So we said goodbye for what we did, but we were just two kids with too much life to

[00:22:58] live. And that's the one line that hints at this couple had this abortion. They were young. And,

[00:23:03] uh, let's move past that and fix this thing. And, uh, that's, that's one of my favorite songs on it's

[00:23:08] called Eldora. I bought a guitar, 1922 Martin that we're going to record that one with, um,

[00:23:13] name that guitar Eldora. So it's all about Eldora right now, seemingly. Um, another one's my,

[00:23:19] one of my favorites is called circa 1943. Um, talks about this couple, Harold and Bernice,

[00:23:23] who are my grandparents. And we fictionalized their story. Their story wasn't what happened in

[00:23:27] the song, but, um, meet it, you know, more or two when he gets shot up and, and, uh, yeah,

[00:23:33] and fall in love. She's the nurse takes care of him, brings back to life. And, um, it all leads to

[00:23:41] him basically saying, um, I don't, there's no, we don't want to say goodbye. Like when this thing

[00:23:46] is over, by the way, if you ever make it to superior Montana, um, my brother's band sure bangs around

[00:23:52] most Tuesday nights. It's like, it's the story of when this thing's over, you come, come see where I'm

[00:23:56] from in Montana. And I, I, uh, my buddy had a cover show in superior Montana and that's how I

[00:24:02] created this story. But, uh, yeah, it all leads to what happens there at the end when she finally

[00:24:06] does go to superior Montana. Um, I'll let you hear the song first before I give that away. But, um,

[00:24:12] man, it's just a cool story. That's like, some story songs are kind of hard to follow. This one's

[00:24:16] not, it's like, what happens, what happens in the end? What happens to this couple? Um, yeah,

[00:24:21] that's one of my favorite songs I've probably ever done. And I played it at the bluebird last week

[00:24:24] and I was just like, fuck, this is going to be so fun live. I always find it really interesting

[00:24:28] to see like the songwriting process behind it, especially like you said, it's like based off

[00:24:32] your grandparents might not be their story, but like how you got there. Do you, I mean,

[00:24:36] I don't know how open you are about your personal dating life. Do you think that those experiences

[00:24:40] also bleed into it? The dating life? Yeah. You're dating life. No, no, no, no, no, no,

[00:24:46] that would, that would just be a blank song for three minutes. Um, yeah, I figured out every way

[00:24:51] to screw up my dating life. Uh, I was just, I've partied my ass off for 12 years and I've loved

[00:24:57] being single. I've had some relationships that didn't work out. Um, I wasn't ready. Um, and I

[00:25:02] was sex, drugs and rock and roll. That's what my life has been the last 10 years. And it's been

[00:25:06] not self-induced, but, um, yeah, I'm finally at a place where at some point here, we're going to get

[00:25:11] an album like that. Cause I, I'm at a place where I'm finally getting into the point where I'm like,

[00:25:15] all right, I don't want to do this whole thing alone forever. Um, so you got to be in that

[00:25:19] place in order to, to get to, you know, be in a relationship period. Um, I shouldn't,

[00:25:23] I shouldn't have been in any the last 10 years and I was and screwed those up. But, um, yeah,

[00:25:28] when I do it, I'm 39 now, when I do it, I'm gonna do it right. And I'm going to, I'm going to be done.

[00:25:33] That's the basic artist evolution. I feel like it's like usually when people are in relationships

[00:25:38] in their twenties and like getting that height of fame that they kind of like crash it and burn it.

[00:25:43] So at least you didn't crash and burn it. You just,

[00:25:45] I wasted some time, other people's time, my time. Um, but yeah, I'm in a place now where I'm like,

[00:25:52] I don't want to do this forever and look up and be 50 and not have kids. And I want to,

[00:25:56] I want a family at some point. Um, it's finally getting there.

[00:26:00] Well, uh, another thing we were kind of curious about, cause obviously we've touched on a lot about,

[00:26:04] um, you know, your changes in music and, uh, obviously it's really cool to hear some of that

[00:26:08] motivation behind it. Uh, but when it comes time to play a concert, how do you put a set list

[00:26:14] together that you feel like is both fulfilling to you and to the people that are there to see you?

[00:26:20] Yeah, that's changing a lot even now. Um, like at the Bluebird, we didn't play one hit. It was just

[00:26:25] all the last two records and then, uh, Eldora and circa 1943 to end it. Um, Charlie Worsham was

[00:26:32] actually a big part of that. He was on the Dirk's tour and we were kind of struggling in the beginning,

[00:26:36] like just feeling like it was a good set and a good show. And Charlie, Oscar said, dude,

[00:26:42] Charlie's out there, hit him up and see if he'll come watch a set and see if he can piece it together

[00:26:46] a little better. So I did. And Charlie was all about it. He's the best man. And he, um,

[00:26:52] watched two or three song or two or three sets and said, Hey man, do the, let's try these few

[00:26:56] different things. And we were playing a lot of the Cowboys and a little bit of the singing record

[00:27:01] with Fireside and maybe going on singing acoustic. But now it tells you, he helped us just

[00:27:05] piece it together where it tells a really cool, it told a really cool story during the Dirk's tour

[00:27:09] of like where, where I'm at now, kind of, this is where I was play a couple of those songs.

[00:27:14] Then we would end it with eyes on you and drink a beer and bench seat sometimes if Jack was there.

[00:27:18] Um, but even that's going to go more towards like, I, I may not do any full band of, of the old stuff.

[00:27:25] Um, maybe do that acoustic. That could be fun. Like eyes on you, ready, set, roll, um,

[00:27:31] cruise. We even played that live, uh, acoustic. I'll never play that full band again, but,

[00:27:35] um, it's not my song, but yeah, I, I kind of want to get to the point where it's just like,

[00:27:41] I want to be very clear with people. It is not going backwards. It'll never go back to that.

[00:27:46] Um, so the one way to do that live is here's all the new stuff. If you're not going to learn it,

[00:27:51] then you're gonna be playing it. You're gonna be listening to a bunch of songs that you're not

[00:27:54] going to know. So if you don't want to learn the Cowboys, the singing record, now this Eldora

[00:27:58] record coming out. Yeah. Don't, I wouldn't suggest coming to my show because it's not going to be,

[00:28:02] it's going to be that. Um, and then an acoustic tour in your future.

[00:28:06] Oh, absolutely. I've been loving playing it because all these are written now on a guitar

[00:28:10] and now they're written even better on guitar because the Wyatt McCubbin was in Colorado and

[00:28:15] that dude can play. I've heard great things about him. He's unbelievable. And Charlie,

[00:28:20] I've also heard great things. I've met him once, don't personally know him, but the stories I've

[00:28:23] heard, like people admire that guy for a great reason. He's an unbelievable human too. Um,

[00:28:29] so yeah, I, I love playing on a guitar. I'll play a couple hours in the morning,

[00:28:34] a couple hours at night at my house. And I never used to do that. I was, like I said,

[00:28:36] I was partying and that's all I wanted to do. And you didn't have to worry about too much when

[00:28:40] your band's behind you doing all the work. Um, now it's a lot harder for a set because I'm up there

[00:28:45] grinding on the guitar most of the time. Um, but the acoustic sets would be, I, Eric did it at,

[00:28:50] uh, at bank of America. I don't think he had a full band until Carolina. Um,

[00:28:55] but that's fun. It's really fun, especially if people are aware that that's what it's going to be.

[00:29:00] They show up knowing that you're going to be playing new songs. Like, like I said, if you want

[00:29:05] to know me, listen to the new albums and then you'll get a good picture of actually who I am

[00:29:10] now. And that's what I'm going to be playing live. There's going to be a lot of acoustic stuff.

[00:29:13] You mentioned a couple of bands that you've been listening to recently,

[00:29:16] Flatland being one of them. William Clark Green was actually in here with us a couple of weeks ago.

[00:29:20] And then you had that song with South Hall, which I think was my,

[00:29:23] one of my favorite ones on the last album. Do you have any plans to kind of collaborate with

[00:29:27] any more Texas red dirt artists coming up? Um, I, yeah, I'm writing with Cleto in December.

[00:29:33] So we'll see what happens there. I don't know if it'll be a Flatland song or not. Um,

[00:29:37] but that would be awesome if, if we got, we got to write it first. Um,

[00:29:42] but I'd love to do something with Flatland. That would be so fun. Um, we're going to have a song

[00:29:47] called two-tone tripping on the Eldora record that Wyatt McCubbin is going to be on. Um,

[00:29:53] who else have I been talking about? I have a song on a row with Jamie Johnson. Like,

[00:29:58] damn, it has him all over it. His new stuff. His new stuff is awesome. Like,

[00:30:03] yeah, I can't stop listening to it. I thought I loved him. And like,

[00:30:06] his new stuff is just as good, if not better. He's not going to screw anything up.

[00:30:09] No, no. Um, he, he's an interesting one. Cause it's like almost for a long time,

[00:30:14] people forgot about him or he went away. It's like, and then he comes back. He,

[00:30:17] he, you can't, that's, that'll never go away. He's so good. So I have a song I want to write

[00:30:22] with Jamie. Um, I got to talk to him about it, but, um, that would be badass. Um, there's another,

[00:30:33] you had Laurie McKenna on this album. Laurie, Laurie's on the, uh, on the Go Down Singing record

[00:30:38] on four songs she wrote, two songs she's singing on, one she's featured on. Um, I've already got a

[00:30:44] list for this Eldora thing. I'm waiting for Ray Binks to stop calling me. He's calling me about a

[00:30:49] gun that just got in. So, um, um, hopefully he's open when I get back to itself. Um, this episode

[00:30:55] sponsored by Browning, maybe it's a Browning. We'll just say it is for the sake, for the sake

[00:30:59] of the sponsor. He's got a Browning gun for me. Um, but yeah, I'm looking at this list. Um, there it

[00:31:05] is. Yeah. Why it's on there for events. If you heard of Foy, Foy's on a, he's going to be featured

[00:31:10] on a song called tall grass. I wrote a song called kill, kill the boy, kill the kid, kill the boy.

[00:31:17] I think I'm going to call it Appalachia. I wrote that with Drake white last week. Um,

[00:31:20] I don't think that's going to go on this record. I don't think it fits, but that gave me the

[00:31:24] idea like post Eldora being in Carolina so much this past week to write an album called

[00:31:31] Appalachia and go to the mountains of Carolina and actually write a record. Um, I don't know

[00:31:36] if Drake would sing on that or not. Probably not, not type thing, but, uh, yeah, I love the

[00:31:42] planning. I'm figuring it out. Yeah. And also like kind of, it's, it's almost like

[00:31:47] immersion writing where you feel like, okay, if I'm going to write a song about

[00:31:51] Appalachia, then I'm going to go there. Is that something that you've?

[00:31:53] A hundred percent. Okay. I don't write in town anymore, except for the last,

[00:31:57] I wrote with Tanner Russ Ray. That'd be cool to do a song with him. Both songs we wrote were,

[00:32:02] it wouldn't be right for two guys to sing them, but we got to write something different for that.

[00:32:08] But I'd love to do a song with Tanner. I love Tanner. He's an unbelievable singer. Um,

[00:32:12] but yeah, I'm going to go to Carolina to do it. Cause I, I wrote the Cowboys record in Montana,

[00:32:17] Alabama and Massachusetts or Massachusetts was, uh, with Lori. So that was a singing record.

[00:32:23] Um, but yeah, we write, I don't write many of these songs in town anymore. It's mostly

[00:32:28] writing retreats. Now the, your fireside session that you just put out,

[00:32:32] Haw River, I think was my favorite like re-recording on it. But what inspired like the one

[00:32:36] take was actually a one take type deal? Yeah. They were all one take might've taken us to eight

[00:32:41] tries to get the right one, but they was, we didn't edit anything. Um, that was an interesting

[00:32:46] song. Cause I was walking off my bus and Wilmington, North Carolina is my first ever sold out amphitheater

[00:32:52] show. And, uh, walked on the bus and this little girl runs up to us. She said, I'm Kayla from Haw River,

[00:32:59] North Carolina. I looked at Blake. I was like, I don't know what that means, but we're right in

[00:33:04] Hall River. And that night walking to Jimmy's and Wrightsville, he, uh, which is another,

[00:33:09] we wrote that in Carolina, which makes sense. Um, he said, dude, we should make it like a murder

[00:33:14] ballad song, a murder ballad. And, uh, I was like, hell yeah, that's a good idea. Okay. So we started

[00:33:19] going over, we wrote it the next day, but we looked up the history of Alamance County, North

[00:33:23] Carolina, Hall River, the Sissipal tribe. It was, they're gone now. Um, and we wrote the real story.

[00:33:32] I got, I got the, uh, the idea from 1923, the TV show about this priest is just beating the hell

[00:33:37] out of these women, these native American girls and sing about it. It happened. Like we keep shying

[00:33:44] away from our history in this country. It's like, you can't fucking make it go away. I'm going to

[00:33:47] sing about what really happened and the truth of what happened to these people. And they're gone now.

[00:33:52] Um, but that song is nasty and the vibe of it's cool. I, I, I was listening to fireside sessions

[00:33:59] on the way here. Cause I haven't heard it yet since it's been out like on Spotify or Apple.

[00:34:03] And, uh, yeah, I haven't gotten to that one yet. So I'm excited to hear it. I've heard it obviously

[00:34:09] through the mixing process, but we get to hear that. Yeah. I think my next question is what is

[00:34:15] like, what is your definition of success? Because you know, you have, you've had the radio success,

[00:34:19] you know? So when you put out these new projects and these new albums coming up,

[00:34:22] what are you defining your success on? Is it the radio? Is it the streams? Is it

[00:34:28] just feeling like yourself again or? Yeah, that it's, you want this to be heard. You want people

[00:34:33] to get excited about it. I remember when, uh, I saw a quote from Stapleton when he put out the

[00:34:38] travel record, he said, well, there goes my country music career. Cause I was in the middle of the bro

[00:34:42] country thing. It turns out he was wrong. Um, thank you know, luckily, luckily for all of us.

[00:34:48] Um, but I was talking to somebody about that in Utah when I was in Elk Hunt this year and she said

[00:34:54] it and I was like, damn, I'm using that. Cause it's such a well thought thought. Um, and she said,

[00:35:03] I told her the answer to that question. She said, it sounds like you don't want to be well known.

[00:35:08] You want to be known well. And I was like, shit. Well said. Um, so that would be it. It's,

[00:35:15] it's like, and if it does become something big, cool. You want as many people to sing your songs

[00:35:20] as possible, especially when I love these new songs so much more than anything I've done.

[00:35:25] Um, yeah, I just want people to know who I am through my music and know that it's not fake. It's

[00:35:32] just, and you're going to hear that. You're already hearing that with these last two records. It's like,

[00:35:36] I don't care for the most popular artists in the world. I just want people to really care about what

[00:35:40] I'm doing and know that damn, these songs are written really well. And I want to hear these

[00:35:45] songs in 50 years and, and I don't know the stuff I was doing before. It's not going to, it was not

[00:35:50] going to stand the test of time. And I'm sure it makes it easier for you to stand up and play too.

[00:35:55] Like, you don't feel like you're being somebody else. You're just, you're up there as yourself

[00:35:58] singing the, your newer stuff. Yeah. I saw a video of me at Red Rocks and 14 with Dierks and

[00:36:04] is making me laugh. Cause I was like doing the wave thing, trying to get people fucking going at

[00:36:10] Red Rocks. There it was, I was probably second up or first up. And, uh, I was looking at like,

[00:36:16] man, what was I doing? And now I don't do a whole lot. I kind of walk around the stage and

[00:36:21] toss beers out sometimes, but it's me and a guitar for the most part. I want, and I respected that

[00:36:25] about Eric the other night in Carolina. It was like, he didn't need to put on a show that he was the

[00:36:30] show, um, when he was on stage and, uh, yeah, I don't need to go up there and do crazy stuff.

[00:36:37] It's a little kid up there and with guitar and, and really, really entertain people with great music.

[00:36:41] We were just talking about before we started recording, we both went and saw Sturgill,

[00:36:45] um, at Bridgestone and his stage, you know, it's a, it's an arena and his stage was just,

[00:36:50] you know, some lights and there was really no visual supplement to it whatsoever. And it was

[00:36:55] one of the best concerts I've ever been to.

[00:36:58] Three and a half hours nonstop.

[00:36:59] And he's just, he didn't want to make it about anything except for the music that he was

[00:37:04] playing.

[00:37:05] He didn't even say hi or like address the crowd till an hour and a half.

[00:37:07] Yeah.

[00:37:08] Really?

[00:37:08] It was awesome.

[00:37:10] That's crazy.

[00:37:10] Yeah.

[00:37:11] Um, but that's awesome. I think there's some artists that need and want the big show.

[00:37:16] And I think there's absolutely a place for that. I'm just not that dude.

[00:37:20] Yeah.

[00:37:20] Um, so why was I trying to be, I don't know. And, you know, we've talked a lot about that,

[00:37:24] but, um, yeah, for me to go up, I, one of the shows are one of my favorite shows I've ever been to,

[00:37:29] was I started going to shows again, which is another thing. I was like, I don't want to hear

[00:37:33] anything else. I don't want to see anything else. I want to do my own thing. So what you're doing

[00:37:37] sucks. So fix it. Um, and I hate saying that cause there was a lot of great songwriters and

[00:37:44] good people that helped that happen. And they did their thing. They're just fucking good at that.

[00:37:49] They were just doing something that I was pushing that I shouldn't have been pushing.

[00:37:53] Um, but it was, uh, Ryan Bingham at Red Rocks. So I wanted to see a show at Red Rocks before I

[00:37:59] played it again. And it changed everything for me. Like even some of the drum things he did,

[00:38:04] I brought to my band. I was like, how do we make our own version of this? Um, but the thing I love

[00:38:09] most about the show was every show I've seen or played at Red Rocks or seen on video and stuff.

[00:38:15] There's huge video walls. There's a huge stage. And Ryan didn't have any of that. He just had

[00:38:20] carpets down. He had the band risers behind him and then just his big feather in his hat logo

[00:38:28] lit up on the rock behind him. It's like, that's what Red Rocks is. You should be able to see that

[00:38:32] rock back there. And, uh, he did it as simple as you can. And it was like, that is it. So it sounds

[00:38:41] like the same thing. Yeah. Which is weird. Cause there are going to be some fans

[00:38:45] that go to a show like that and feel like, ah, you know, I feel like I didn't really get to see

[00:38:49] a show and then vice versa flip side of things, you know, kind of like, I guess how we were with

[00:38:55] Sturgill. He's like, that was the, I wish more artists would do something like that. Just focus

[00:38:59] on, uh, the main thing at hand. So we've had a lot of talks about what we're going to do next

[00:39:03] year for our set. And it's like, we don't need to do a whole lot. Let's just keep it as simple as

[00:39:08] possible. Um, and make it about the music. Cause the music's there now. Why would we do any,

[00:39:12] why would we have all these lights and lasers to try to figure out how to entertain the

[00:39:16] entertainment should be the songs. And for us, that's where I am. And I don't think it should

[00:39:19] be that for everybody. You're not going to go see lady Gaga, just sit there with a guitar

[00:39:23] with no lights and all that. She could probably do that cause she's unreal, but that's not her show.

[00:39:28] Um, I was just saying also, I saw post Malone last week. That was a lot of production. Also a

[00:39:32] fantastic show. It's just, well, Zach has a lot going on too. That's got a big video wall behind him,

[00:39:37] but he still figured out a way to make it him. And that's, I think that's all it really comes

[00:39:40] down to it's each artist is their own thing. So the video wall can be important, especially for

[00:39:45] stadiums. Cause a lot of people can't, you can't see that big on stage. So having the video walls,

[00:39:51] I think actually huge for that, just so you can see up close. But when you're up there,

[00:39:54] he's not sitting there running around going crazy. He's up there singing his ass off.

[00:39:59] Let's transition kind of, we're almost done. So let's transition to kind of non country music

[00:40:04] stuff. Let's go to your football career. Um, how accurate is the show blue mountain state

[00:40:10] to what college football is like? I watched like a couple episodes of that. I don't remember how

[00:40:17] that show went, but it's an absurd exaggeration of what I would assume. I remember it was goofy.

[00:40:22] Yeah. College locker room. Um, I didn't party a lot in college. I saved that for after college.

[00:40:30] Yeah. Um, so I was, I took it real seriously. Um, I don't know about the blue mountain state thing,

[00:40:34] but, um, it was a lot, it was a lot of work. It was straight up football for me in my life. Um,

[00:40:41] that's all I cared about. And I was a really good player until I got hurt. I was freshman year,

[00:40:47] special team, sophomore year, nickel package, played a hell of a back half going into my junior year.

[00:40:52] I was one of the guys and I was real good, had really good coaching at that point. Butch Davis came

[00:40:57] in, Chuck Wagano was our D coordinator. And he, he had me playing best football I ever played

[00:41:01] in first game. I got hurt and I'm done for the year. Try to come back from that. And, uh,

[00:41:06] I, I wasn't the same player and then my dad had just died. So I was just all over the place,

[00:41:10] but, um, I took football seriously and I had a shot in the league and, and, uh, that just didn't

[00:41:15] work out. I was a good enough player before I got hurt. I wasn't after. Um, so all three of my

[00:41:20] backups, I think were drafted in the first two rounds of the draft. So it was like, fuck,

[00:41:24] I could have done this. But during that year that I got hurt was when I took a lot of time.

[00:41:28] I was bored, you know, you're rehabbing, but you're not on, not really part of the team.

[00:41:34] Um, there's a younger artist coming up, Tucker Wetmore kind of has a very similar story to you,

[00:41:39] but he's just starting out. Yeah. He got hurt. He was a football guy. The football guy got hurt.

[00:41:45] And then just was like, I need a sign to do something else and just started playing country

[00:41:48] music. So I'm like, a lot of that. Riley was quarterback. Sam was a quarterback. Lee Bryce,

[00:41:54] I think played. Actually, I don't know if he's a quarterback, but I know he played football.

[00:41:56] Yeah. I was a linebacker. I was, I don't belong on the offensive side of the ball.

[00:42:00] Is there, is there a moment that stands out in your college career, even before that,

[00:42:04] that you like, you could close your eyes and envision right now?

[00:42:08] Well, getting hurt was horrible. I remember when that happened, it was just like,

[00:42:11] I knew immediately my ankle was gone. Um, so, and it was just sucked because it was just like,

[00:42:16] I worked so hard to get to this point and they just got ripped away from me in one play.

[00:42:20] Yeah. Um, but then we, uh, I did come back my senior year. I, like I said, I wasn't the same

[00:42:26] player, but, um, I ended up playing the Duke game was our last game of the year. And, um,

[00:42:34] it was my first kind of opportunity to actually get back and play. And I played a hell of a game

[00:42:39] and helped us actually win the game at the end. Um, I, it was just felt good to actually be able to

[00:42:45] help the team again. So that was a moment in my brother played at Duke. So we were at Wallace

[00:42:50] Way's stadium there in Durham and to help us help the team win a game was felt like, fuck,

[00:42:57] finally, I could at least show like guys, I w I wasn't all here, but I wasn't dead. Right. Um,

[00:43:03] so that was, that was a really cool way to end my career. And then the last game of the year,

[00:43:07] we played West Virginia in the, uh, bowl game there, same stadium. We just played with Luke.

[00:43:11] And so that was cool to be back in that stadium. Like, damn, I played, I don't know how many people,

[00:43:15] would have played football in that stadium and played the show. I don't know if that's ever

[00:43:19] happened. So that's cool. But, um, yeah, no, it's walking off the field. And another guy I'm a fan

[00:43:26] of is Charles Wesley got one. He's awesome. West Virginia guy. And, uh, every fucking night I'll

[00:43:34] play country roads because that was the last song I heard walking off the field. Cause West Virginia

[00:43:39] beat us in the, uh, you know, last, last minute thing in the bowl game. So last game I ever played,

[00:43:44] I lost to West Virginia. Um, but you, but you play that song. Yeah. It's kind of like

[00:43:49] a little bit of a, this was a part of my life. Okay. Like it hurts so good.

[00:43:54] It hurts so good, but it did lead into my career that I'm in now. So yeah, I'll play that sometimes,

[00:44:00] you know, and it was one of the first songs I ever learned to play guitar. Yeah. So last question

[00:44:05] before we move into some rapid fire is you have your dog here. Who's very cutely laying on the floor.

[00:44:10] Um, I heard that he is a master hunter. Is that correct? What does that mean exactly? Can you

[00:44:15] explain? Yeah, there's a bunch of different field trials and tests for dogs. Um, and where I wanted

[00:44:22] to get him, you have to pass six master tests, which means you have to not screw up anything on

[00:44:26] whatever test it is for that day of the testing. And, uh, so he passed six, he was six for six.

[00:44:32] I, you know, he's a hell of a bird dog. And so the first he's three and a half now,

[00:44:37] he's probably been in training for two years of his life and which I've gotten used to having him

[00:44:43] now and I'll have him forever. Now he's done with his training, but he could go past master

[00:44:47] hunter to become, to start winning ribbons and stacking ribbons and field trials and stuff.

[00:44:50] But I don't care about field trials. I just wanted him to be a great bird dog. Yeah. So we got to

[00:44:54] that point. There's another hunter test that he could pass. I don't like I'm stretching.

[00:44:59] Yeah. He hears us talking about him.

[00:45:00] You good boy, Jack? Hey, Jack, come here. Get up here. He's a great podcast dog.

[00:45:08] I haven't even known that he was here really. Get up here. He's tired. Nope. Up here. Come

[00:45:16] here. Got to get in the shot. There he goes. Good boy. But yeah, he passed that and now I'm done.

[00:45:21] Go back down. Yeah, I'm done sending him back to training. I got to the point. I just want my dog.

[00:45:27] So nice. Okay. Well, good. I, I have to ask about survivor because you, you nearly won

[00:45:34] survivor Nicaragua white. So right. Excuse me. I said white right there because I'm so excited

[00:45:40] about asking. I used to be a huge survivor fan. So what was it like being a part of that show?

[00:45:46] Is reality TV like it looks on television or is that? I mean, I think that's the most real show

[00:45:50] you can do. I mean, there's other ones, but it's not a, you know, get the drama, but I mean,

[00:45:56] what we were doing was very real. Yeah. We, I had rice and two cups of rice for breakfast and

[00:46:03] dinner every day. Um, but I was Oh, and six when it came to the immunity challenges. Like if you go

[00:46:09] home, I didn't win one of those. I didn't, I don't know why I just wasn't motivated. It was like,

[00:46:14] if I go home, whatever, I get to have a steak, but the food challenges, I was six and Oh. So that

[00:46:19] was my motivation. I loved, I knew I wanted food so bad. Um, but it was a real show. Yeah. It's

[00:46:25] like they tried it. They'll ask questions in the beginning. That was a girl and Brenda on there. They

[00:46:28] tried to, you know, make it look like we were thing, you know, producers are. So what's up with

[00:46:35] you and Brenda? I'm like, nothing. I'm fucking starving out here. We're nasty. Nothing. I'm not

[00:46:41] thinking about anything but food. Yeah. Um, so that was the drama part of it that they try to get out

[00:46:47] of people. And I was probably pretty bad. The producers didn't like me very much because I

[00:46:52] didn't give them much. It's like, I tried to stay away from drama as much as I could. I don't know

[00:46:56] how I made it to the end. Like I did some crazy shit that just didn't make sense looking back,

[00:47:02] but, um, like the kid that wanted, he should have won it. Like he earned it. Um, but yeah, I, I,

[00:47:09] it was a real show. It was a tough show. Um, I think it's less days now, but I mean,

[00:47:15] when I came back from that, it was, I had a full beard, looked emaciated and I had my buddy's army

[00:47:21] ranger, um, backpack in the airport. I think it was in Charlotte. And, uh, this little girl walks

[00:47:27] up to me and she said, thank you so much. And I was just like, for what? She said, thank you for

[00:47:32] your service to our country. I just kind of nodded my head and kept walking. I'm sure I looked like a

[00:47:37] POW. Yeah. It was, it was, that was one of the funny stories. And then, uh, Miami the night before

[00:47:42] they flew us, flew me home. Like you could get food at that point, but you're so fucked up in the

[00:47:48] head only from 40 days, which I can't imagine. Like these POWs you hear about that are years in

[00:47:53] that come back, they gotta be fucked for life. But, um, I was walking to the hotel room and there

[00:47:59] was somebody laid out their tray of food in the hallway like they do. And, uh, instead of waiting

[00:48:06] or going down and get my own, I grabbed it and took it in the room and started eating it. Like you just

[00:48:10] wanted food so bad. You go to the grocery store, you're just looking up the walls. Like, Oh my

[00:48:13] God, I can have all this. I think the first bill we had was 300 bucks at the grocery store.

[00:48:18] My mom was like, calm down. Like we can come back. We were allowed to come back.

[00:48:22] So it really was Survivor. That's good. It's good to know. I had to ask.

[00:48:25] Yeah, of course. And it's interesting how, you know, you keep finding yourself in the

[00:48:29] spotlight, even from like college football to Survivor to like your country career. It's like

[00:48:34] The Bachelor. Yeah. Yeah. I did watch that. I did watch that show.

[00:48:39] Yeah. I don't, I've done a pretty good job lately. I feel like I'm finally making it about what it

[00:48:44] should be about. I don't know if I necessarily like even Survivor. I was, I didn't want to, uh,

[00:48:49] be that guy that like, that's why I was a NASCAR guy. I wasn't, I was, cause I was writing songs at

[00:48:54] that point, but I didn't want to be the song or I'd seen it on The Bachelor where it's like

[00:48:57] they're singing songs to the girl and then they moved to Nashville to try to be a star.

[00:49:02] Um, I didn't want that. I wanted it to be about music from the beginning. Uh, it took a roundabout

[00:49:07] way to get there, but, um, I feel like there's weird drama that's happened in my life that I

[00:49:11] didn't necessarily ask for, but now it's, I think it's like just separating yourself from being the

[00:49:17] party guy and doing that. I don't do that a whole lot anymore. If I'm doing it, I'm doing it at my

[00:49:21] farm and, or doing it around, you know, not in the middle of Broadway. Yeah. Um, it comes with age

[00:49:27] and experience. Yeah. I'm getting older now. So now it's just like, I just wanted to be about

[00:49:31] the music and that's kind of what we've talked about, which makes sense. Yeah. Nice. Okay. Well,

[00:49:36] we'll wrap up with rapid fire questions brought to you by Browning. So let's start with what is

[00:49:42] your favorite sad country song? Don't close your eyes. Keith Whitley. Great choice.

[00:49:48] Hunting. Sorry. Hunting or fishing? Hunting.

[00:49:53] Do you have a specific kind of hunting you like? Elk hunting with a bow.

[00:49:56] Somewhere in the mountains. Sick. Yeah. What are you doing when you're not playing music?

[00:50:02] Elk hunting with a bow. Yeah. I assumed that would be. I do love fly fishing, but yeah,

[00:50:06] I would hunt before I'd choose that. I don't know how many times we've like, that's been the question

[00:50:10] after hunting or fishing and people say the exact same thing. Maybe when you ask those a little bit.

[00:50:13] Or duck hunting with Jack. He's a great bird dog. What's your favorite food?

[00:50:19] Oh, um, I love a good steak with mashed potatoes and, um, mac and cheese. God, you can't beat it.

[00:50:28] Studio recordings or live performances?

[00:50:32] Oh my God. I'd say live performances because then you get to see it really come to life.

[00:50:39] Yeah. What's your daily driver?

[00:50:43] Right now it's a 1985 Chevrolet K10 pickup truck. I drove my hunting truck today. Um, the K10 was out of gas, but yeah, it's a 1985

[00:50:53] Chevy K10. My, I have a newer, like a 21 regular 2500 HD diesel, but that's out in Montana because I've been out there all summer.

[00:51:01] So I'll get that and I'll finally have like a newer truck that I know is going to start every time.

[00:51:04] But right now I'm living and dying by the 85.

[00:51:08] And last one is sad country songs and blank make you happy.

[00:51:13] I feel like whiskey is the obvious answer.

[00:51:15] We have a shirt that says that.

[00:51:17] Sad country songs and whiskey.

[00:51:18] Yeah.

[00:51:20] Um, yeah, I mean, I don't get a whole lot happier than that. If I'm sitting around a fire and like going over these new songs or learning the singing record even better.

[00:51:29] If I have that and what kind of whiskey do you like?

[00:51:33] I got a barrel of Jack Daniels from that I bought in 2015. I've still got some bottles from that.

[00:51:38] Pour that over ice. It's that's hard to beat if I'm just learning songs or listening to songs.

[00:51:43] We listened to a lot of Jordan Davis last night and God, he's just, he doesn't miss.

[00:51:49] He's just, he's got his shit locked in.

[00:51:53] So yeah.

[00:51:54] Cool.

[00:51:55] I'll, I'll add one more country music survivor.

[00:51:58] Let's say that they did, you know, an only country music artist version of survivor.

[00:52:02] Would you take you or the field?

[00:52:05] Any other country artists out there you think that would be decent?

[00:52:09] I feel like there has been a period of time where probably earned, I'm not sure I was very well liked in this town.

[00:52:17] Um, so I think that might kick my ass out pretty quick.

[00:52:21] I want to take the field.

[00:52:22] Take the field.

[00:52:25] And excited for more new music.

[00:52:27] Yeah.

[00:52:27] I'm excited to get this one done and we'll move on to Appalachia.

[00:52:30] I'm already talking about two records from now on Eldor is not even important.

[00:52:32] That's great.

[00:52:33] I love it.

[00:52:33] Yeah.

[00:52:34] Okay.

[00:52:34] Thanks so much.

[00:52:34] It was easy.

[00:52:35] Thank you guys.