Muscadine Bloodline

[00:00:00] All right, we got the boys from Muscadine Bloodline here. Long time no talk. I'm not bullshitting you guys though. I was just thinking about this before and Wes, I think we were talking with an employee about this.

[00:00:24] It's been a few years now for Whiskey Riff and the question we start to get a lot of questions about it, whether it's an employee or just people we meet, they're like, who are some of your favorite people you've met?

[00:00:32] Who are your not so favorite people you've met over the years? And you guys always come up as some of the most like genuine, cool dudes that we've ever met and you'd like humble but like fun and cool.

[00:00:43] So like got to tip my cap to you guys on that. Like there's a lot of people. No, but honestly, there's a lot of not just duos, but there's a lot of artists in general

[00:00:53] or teams that don't have the success you guys have had without a major label that don't act the same way that we've seen. So perhaps you guys are doing it the right way. So I want to start with you. We appreciate that. It means a lot, dude.

[00:01:05] And I mean, same goes to y'all guys. It's always like it ain't a twist on our like we'll have it. We got a record coming up. So we've been doing interviews and stuff and like some of them are just they get rough

[00:01:16] and then you see this one on a calendar and you're just kind of like, oh dude, heck yeah, we get to check in with the boys for an hour or so. You'll make it easy. Yeah. So it's always cool. That's the goal.

[00:01:28] Just cool to see how y'all's things grow into. It's just like the more we play, the more we see the merch everywhere. So it's really cool. And we have some cool news we'll share with you off camp or off when we finish.

[00:01:43] I think we've also had you guys is this the third or the fourth time? I don't even know. It might be the fourth. For real. That's our most our most visited guest. But it's also because you guys just are always busting your ass and there's always something

[00:01:56] you got a new album out every god damn week. It's not a three year album for us. I mean, you want to talk about that new album? It's coming out exactly or week from the 24th right? Yeah. So a week from tomorrow. Yeah.

[00:02:12] The record's called Teenage Dixie and we've put out a few of the songs leading up to it and it's a 16 song project. And I think it's just kind of the next part of the evolution of kind of Dispatch the 16th

[00:02:27] Ave was finding an identity, so to speak, sonically. And you know, majority of just like Charlie and I just doing it ourselves and not, you know, we want to get better as being songwriters on our own right and just whether we're writing

[00:02:41] separately or together and it's kind of like, okay, well, let's just kind of hone in and do Muscadine Bloodline. That's kind of where we've kind of landed. And honestly, guys, I think the attitude or whatever that you talked about, it gets reciprocated

[00:02:56] because we're having so much fun now because it's a grind obviously, but it's an enjoyable grind because at the end of the day, it's just Charlie and I, you know, let's make a record and go tour the thing.

[00:03:10] And it feels really good to see the music that we're really making right now is having the most impact. And that's exactly where we want to be. It's not like we used to be kind of shotgun approach and like, oh, let's try this.

[00:03:22] Let's try this. This is what I'm feeling. We know it's feeling something different last Tuesday than I am today. And we kind of really honed in like what our stand kind of is. And so this record is just an evolution of the Dispatch sound.

[00:03:37] And honestly, I feel like this is kind of where we're staying. And it's kind of where I just feel the most comfortable and it feels the most real and honest. And I don't know, I feel like it's I mean, I love it and I hope everybody else

[00:03:53] does and how things have been growing. You know, we're starting to see sold out shows a lot more often. And this is kind of getting like, holy crap. And it feels weird because we're not doing anything different. Like it's still the same.

[00:04:07] It's like this weird crux that you're in. It's like, you know, from a listener perspective and like from a from a fan perspective, it's like it's the easiest our job's ever been. But it comes with the responsibility of being like it's also the hardest time ever

[00:04:23] because we have these different set of challenges now. It's like now it's not just like, oh my gosh, how do we get one more person to listen now? It's like, how do we get thousands of people to listen?

[00:04:33] It's like, how do we elevate not just the music, but like we're trying to elevate our social media constantly. And I mean, we we have in like the best we had the best year of our life last year.

[00:04:43] And it's what's good about us is we still have these like checks and balances, meetings of like, hey, everything's great and that's good. Let's make sure we're proud of you. But here's some things we can still crush and get better at.

[00:04:55] So it's like it's a strange, really fun time in our career to where you're like, it's not challenges that you had six years ago, like six years ago, you're figuring out where you're just going to if you were going to be able to eat.

[00:05:07] And now I'm going to wash my face tonight. Yeah, exactly. It's like now that you're eating, you have like these these different priorities and these different challenges that you have to keep navigating. And I feel like we are getting better and better at just trying to get better.

[00:05:22] You know? Yeah. No, I mean, real quick, I mean, hearing you talk that mirrors so much of our last year to like, yeah, they call it like the we joke about like the eight year overnight success

[00:05:34] type of thing. We had that where we were just like, holy shit, we're making money. And but it wasn't like boastful to each other. It was just like the build and the grind and like being tunnel vision was so strong that

[00:05:50] when the bigger things start happening, whether it's for you guys, maybe it's dreams, but it's also obviously like financial and all that stuff. You're just kind of like, oh, wait, well, this is kind of the same but different.

[00:06:00] And then now it's like you want to keep that same like. Atmosphere of when you started, right? It's always like that as a I totally resonate with that. We both do. It's it's kind of a it's a weird thing because like we will I do this often.

[00:06:16] And Charlie, I don't know how y'all's relationship is. Who's the half full half empty yin and yang kind of thing. But I'm definitely like, I'm going to look at the one thing that was wrong. And it's like we like last week we were in South Dakota and Nebraska.

[00:06:34] We just played we we redid our whole set. It's completely different than anything we've ever done. And the shows were incredible. You know, there's a thousand people a night at least in these places we've never been to. And and we're sitting here like, man, we got to sell.

[00:06:48] How do we sell more VIP experience? Yeah. And instead of just being like and Charlie has to remind me often, it's like, hey, man, first, before we address this, let's give each other a high five and let's say like this.

[00:07:00] Like we work hard for this, but like right now to improve this. But like, let's just make sure we're like, holy shit, this is still awesome. You know, that's that's so spot on. We get like two point five million visitors a day in a day on the site.

[00:07:14] We're like, man, that would have been nice if it was three million. That's how I was in the three. It's like I always compared to what we say to the others. You know, it's like it's like compounding interest.

[00:07:24] Like in the beginning, you know, it's like if you have a dollar in the bank, you know, the interest isn't going to be a lot. And then, you know, if you have two hundred thousand dollars, dollar signs is a wrong is the wrong thing.

[00:07:36] I don't want people to think I have like two hundred thousand dollars in the bank. But you guys get what I'm saying. You know, it's like all the years of work you put in, like the interest, which is like the reward for all your business

[00:07:48] and your fans is like it just it starts growing faster and faster. And so that's what's happened with us and you and you all, too, man. It's like, you know, we've all we've known from the beginning is like, I pretend like we're going to get any help.

[00:08:00] And it's something we've been offered some help. But we're still like, we're good, man. Yeah, we're just ready to keep doing our thing. It's just control. We can control. Yeah, I mean, you know how we do when we get on this.

[00:08:12] We always start talking and then we're way over here. The initial question was about the record. Yeah, but we're really excited about it. It's there's a lot of stories on here. There's pulling a lot from like a Steve Earl, Chris Knight.

[00:08:30] It's like it's a really cool mesh of like exactly what Charlie's influences are in mind. Like he loves the sing along the 90s thing. That's like his jam. So it's like having that.

[00:08:41] And then I'm more of a fan of songwriters and and concepts and those kind of things. And so it was a beautiful mesh of sonically. It's fun. It's and there's even some songs on there that are almost dark, yet they're fun.

[00:08:57] And it's it's kind of a weird, like depressing lyrics. But it's conveyed in a cool way. And so like a lot of this record takes place in South Alabama. It's very geo specific. We even tell folklore stories of different people that are historically accurate.

[00:09:16] And some we embellished a little bit and those kind of things. And it was just like the most honest, like picturesque version of what we grew up in. And and then the more we write, the more just hones in even more of that. And it's it's really cool.

[00:09:32] And I think people that's what people are wanting. Like everyone now is writing hit songs. And I think people just want death. They're that's these are the guys who are, you know, you see a band come out of nowhere, like, you know, 49 Winchester and Charles West of Godwin.

[00:09:47] And we have Colt Chaney on the road this week with us. And you see these guys that are really just like doing their thing. And people are just kind of like really glomming on to that more so than I feel like a hit song now,

[00:10:01] because you get three hit songwriters in a room to write a song. They're going to write up awesome melody. And it's like but at the same time, it's like, OK, how do we set ourselves apart? How is it different?

[00:10:11] And that's what we're the most excited about is seeing that. And like I said, it's being received so well that it's like the perfect storm of that. You talk about the eight year build up. It's like what's happening? I do anything different. Nothing has literally changed.

[00:10:27] It's just now just more people are here and it's just been building to like kind of snowballing, which is awesome. Yeah, you you mentioned kind of the dark storytelling and like Inconvenience Store was one of the ones you guys just released fairly recently here.

[00:10:43] And I was dying when you had that line about like, why did you say my name? So it's like dark and kind of heavy. Obviously, there's an element of desperation that comes with like a robbery, but then just like a little bit of comedy in there. Right. Yeah.

[00:10:57] But real life, because I can imagine like two idiots who don't know how to rob a store. Exactly. Imagine doing that for the first time, you know? Right. Yeah. And that's what it was supposed to be. And I don't know where that came from.

[00:11:09] But when we started writing it, we were just like, man, this is this is something. It's just fun as shit. And we were just like hadn't heard a conversation song in a while. And it's like, man, we're a duo. Like there's two of us. Like let's let's talk.

[00:11:22] Well, ironically, too, like we thought we had finished the record before. Like we had it was 12 songs initially. And then like we finished this song and and not in pocketful of 90s country.

[00:11:34] And like we were like, damn, like these are like these might be too good to leave off. Like I think we should go back. And, you know, and we did we ultimately decided like, hey, let's go cut four more.

[00:11:44] So it just turned the record into like a monster record after after that. We wrote those. And I will say in the in the process of this record for the first time,

[00:11:54] like we we usually now we're kind of at a point where we don't have to worry about budget as much. And so it used to be like, OK, we got to do all the pre-pro ourselves

[00:12:02] and then go in the studio, execute it quick, nail it, get in there now. Two hours. You know, and then we kind of had the realization it's like, man, like this backwards is it's not a it's like the songs are what gets people to the shows.

[00:12:16] And so let's take our time on this. Let's not get this done in a half day. So we recorded the whole record with the band and did like glorified the best demo version where like, OK, we're pretending this is the record.

[00:12:30] And then we did that for three weeks and then went home and stood on it for three weeks and then came back and redid the whole thing. And just kind of really just, you know, fine tune in every little nuance and that.

[00:12:43] And it was a it was a process that was cool now because now we're really making records. It's not just like here's 12 songs and we really liked it the time. Let's do this. It's like now, like we even we even record a song that we didn't

[00:12:56] we decided to not even do. And our we did it away originally and just were like, hey, you know what? Let's like let's try a different way. I think we can find a better way to do this. And there's a lot of that on this record.

[00:13:08] It's because back in the day, you go in there and cut, you know, spend thousands of dollars to make music. It's like we got to put this out to make the money bag. Like we can't just throw it away, you know?

[00:13:19] And I mean, we found out honestly, too, I think another like hack for some of these songs was like we we were like like playing these songs live. We've learned over the years is another way that you get ideas on how to how you want to cut it.

[00:13:36] You know, it's like playing it with your band and like it's and like even singing it, you know, it's like you can sing it one way in the studio. But when there's a thousand people there, you're something about it.

[00:13:47] It's just something about the energy that makes you make you sing it differently, you know? And it's so it's like a lot of times like we went back and changed a few melodies because of the way like I'm saying some things live.

[00:13:58] And I was like, I love that. We need to change that. You know, so just goes goes into more of like they're just taking our damn time. You know, do you guys have a band leader in the studio or is it like truly collaborative or does somebody?

[00:14:12] It's pretty much Gary. Like Gary's the leader in the studio. Yeah, I'm doubted that. Well, I'm the guy who like after the song, right? I'm going to go home and I'm going to dwell on it for. He hears it like like Gary.

[00:14:24] He's so I mean, I'm bragging on him, but like his brain is like so incredible because he can hear the song like done, you know, when we write it. I can't I can't hear that.

[00:14:35] I just hear I just hear this the vocal, you know, like that's what I'm good at. So like I just hear like the cool way to sing it and like a cool melody. And Gary's like, he's got it.

[00:14:45] I can see him doing it when we're when we're writing. But it's like Lexan and he's producing it in his head already. You know, he's like, I already know like what does this sound like? And I'm like, I mean, yeah, I think it's great.

[00:14:56] Hopefully what your head is clanging around is awesome. But it usually is. Yeah. And on this record was the first time to like how we usually go do a record is like Charlie and I will go in

[00:15:06] and I will lay down all the guitar stuff to a click track that I want. And so we were like puzzling backwards. And this time we were like, hey, you know what? Let's go in with the band because you find little ideas and stuff.

[00:15:18] And you don't pigeonhole your side. And so we have the guys who play with us are so good. And get Wes and our guitar player. He said he's really a bluegrass flat picker. And I was like, man, like me just telling this guy

[00:15:31] who's way better than me and get what to do, like what to do. Right. It was it was weird. It was more of a collaborative thing this time. And it was kind of like, hey, like go home with this

[00:15:42] and like come up with the part, make it intentional, make it yours and make have an identity in the song. And then these guys like they they're going to love it. Wait one there. It's their stuff, their parts, their playing that we play live.

[00:15:55] And so it just makes it really a band thing, which is which is I love the ideas of bands. It doesn't seem to work business wise when you have six people in there trying to figure out what to do.

[00:16:08] But when it comes to the records, like having them to be like, hey, we had this idea before before we'd even get in the studio, like the bassist and the drummer, like, hey, we had this idea. We wanted to hate this.

[00:16:20] And if you hate it, it's obviously Charlie's final call. But this is like something we were thinking like the record could need and or the record could have on it. And I was like and a lot of times it was magic.

[00:16:30] And it was it was just really cool to see these guys work in that in that aspect, you know, instead of just being like, OK, yeah, here's the chart you're playing. Go ahead and play it just like this.

[00:16:41] And so really opened our eyes to a lot of how we continue to do things. And now we find ourselves playing songs. We haven't even, you know, gone and even thought about recording and sound check. And it's like they're coming up with parts that I wasn't here.

[00:16:55] And when we first wrote it, and it's like, oh, man, this is changing the whole landscape of this game. So it's awesome. It's awesome. And you mentioned, I think, no, I mean, and I assume every artist kind of says, oh, this is my best album.

[00:17:09] Like when they put a new one out. But it sounds like you guys are really confident in that. You did mention. Yeah. A little bit earlier, you said some people trying to help or whatever. We've always joked with you guys about the whole like major label thing.

[00:17:23] Are you have you guys mastered it so well not having a label that they have come? Some have nibbled, some have offered. And you're just like, I don't see the value in this right now. Well, I mean, the irony of it is like,

[00:17:40] you know, once you read through the contract, like you're like, OK. You know, you're you're offering me this this X amount of dollars to, you know, make two, let's say two records or whatever, and it's like we make this much money.

[00:17:57] Already, like it's like we don't need we don't need the money. You know what I'm saying? So it's like we don't need to go make a two million dollar record. It's like, wow, why would we do that?

[00:18:07] You know, it's like we have our way that we like to do it. And like, you know, not mentioning any label names, but it's like there's been some nibbles, you know, that trickle in every now and then. And they're their names.

[00:18:17] And you're like, holy shit, like that's cool. Like it's flattering. But like at the same time, it just doesn't make sense. Well, you know, you know how it is these days. It's like I mean, we were fortunate enough, you know, to have a song

[00:18:29] go off on TikTok with me on you. And that was that was huge for us. And like that's the power of the good side of social media. That's awesome. Yeah. But after that, it was like people started seeing what was happening

[00:18:41] once that song came out and then we were having A&R people from L.A., New York City, they were all showing up to these shows. And it was honestly just like they would get in touch with our manager

[00:18:51] and they'd be like, I mean, the guys don't want to meet or have a steak dinner. Send them a deal. And yeah, Adam would literally tell them that. And they would be like, well, this is very unconventional how this goes.

[00:19:01] And they're like, well, these guys just aren't looking for it. So you caught us. So it is actually hilarious. He's like, yeah, so and so from this XYZ label called in like and I told our reservations.

[00:19:13] Yeah. He's like, I told him that like, you don't give a shit, but like they still want to meet you. So like, can they just come meet? Like, yeah, sure. Like we'll say hey to him or whatever.

[00:19:22] And and then like the guys are like, oh man, like you're great. It's just it never is a thing. But yeah, it's like I mean, we're kind of coming up to this point.

[00:19:32] It's like, man, we have like we have a gold record and about to have another one. And it's like these are things and like I mean, Portrait of an Angel is going to be platinum within a year.

[00:19:42] And it's like it's just crazy to think like and that's never been like it's never been playlisted, never been on radio, never. It's it's the it's just a pure war of attrition to it's just just stick to your guns and that.

[00:19:55] And it's kind of like I don't like it's not even a thought. Like we don't even have a conversation about we used to have like, well, what if something happened? It's just like one. Candidly, it's just we we just we make enough.

[00:20:10] And it's like and it just keeps getting more. So it's like, man, let's just do this and own it all. And then when we're 40, let's just sell the catalog for an ungodly amount and call it a day like or it's like you just wait.

[00:20:24] And as you got to get floored, say you talk. I had a baseball question we'll get to later. But you talk about like trades and stuff in sports, too. It's like, hey, blow me like this guy's untouchable kind of. Yes. But hey, everyone's got a price, right?

[00:20:42] Everybody's got a price. So so but it's like if you do your thing and kind of stick to it, I feel like a couple of guys have kind of. Seemingly done it the right way when they did go to like Cody Johnson,

[00:20:51] right, kind of kept all creative probably right. I want to think this is similar, like so there are ways that the difference is. I think the difference in those guys is that they wanted to be like, yeah,

[00:21:04] like Coe will straight up tell you his manager would tell you, like, we want to do like we're not sitting here trying to be like stubborn. Like, I mean, we are, you know, like we we are stubborn. There's there's plenty of artists out there that like.

[00:21:18] And I think those guys like have this weird like leg up because they still like appear that they don't have a label in a weird way. You know? Oh, yeah. Like all those guys, they don't seem they don't act like they have a deal. But like they do.

[00:21:31] You know, so it's like it's cool to see, you know, I mean, Coe, obviously you can't deny what he's doing. Like, you know, I think I think Coe was talented enough. He would have been where he's at anyway. But like, that's just me.

[00:21:42] I don't know really what the label has done for them. You know, it appears that it's working with relationships and stuff. He's got a little he's got a little bit of that. You mentioned what did you say earlier? Like that depressing, but like.

[00:21:55] And a little humor kind of mixed in there. He does. Yeah, he does. And he gets bubbled to that country category, which he's really obviously not. He's really not at all. Like, but but that it sounds like he is putting out that country

[00:22:08] album, he's working with Wade Bowen and some of those guys. Yeah, I know. I saw I saw him in the studio with some of those all those Texas guys. And it's like, OK, this is cool to see, you know, you guys

[00:22:18] because you guys have like Texas fans, which is awesome, really well there. Right? Yeah. Yeah. Texas is so good for them to like bring in somebody not from there and accept, hey, yeah, we like this. I feel like that's you don't hear about that very often. Right.

[00:22:36] Yeah. I mean, we'll show up to a lot of these big festivals out there. And we're the only band that's not from Texas. But you wouldn't know it like about fan base. It's just I think it's not even it's not even like a geographical thing anymore.

[00:22:48] It's just like how we move. Yeah. How those guys move. There's something about it. Like the indie thing definitely helps. Like, I mean, they love the fact that, you know, people come up to us every night

[00:22:59] and they're like, man, don't change like y'all are doing the right thing, you know, or whatever. But yeah, Texas is insane. And those fans are just rabid, bro. And they they just are just in tune differently, man.

[00:23:13] Like they just are the pioneers of finding like they want to find the new thing, you know, and that's that's how we are, too. Like we grew up and I wanted to show people new artists. And that's how they are.

[00:23:24] They want to get get you when you're early. You know, they want you to come to their little podunk town and in the beginning you will. But now it's like not as practical to go to the podunks.

[00:23:34] You know, you go to like five cities in Texas now, you know, and that three weeks driving across it. Yeah, no, it's and it's like we've actually started to kind of dial back how much we tour and tour very intentional.

[00:23:50] We got to a point where because we own our music, we make like a lot. The reality is a lot of these guys play one hundred and twenty, one hundred and fifty day tours just because that's where they make money. So it's like, go get it.

[00:24:01] I get it. But it's like for us, like we make more on the music than we do on tour and our touring revenue is great. But it's like we got to a point where we could put all our guys on salary

[00:24:12] so they don't care if we play 30 shows or a hundred fifty shows. So it's like so we always knew like that was a goal to to be able to get the guys in a bus, get them on salary

[00:24:22] and then we can kind of move how we want to move. And like I think we're playing like just under 70 this year. Yeah. So it's not a big and in our fall tour, we're only going to do Friday and Saturday nights.

[00:24:34] And so it was just kind of this thing where like, man, like we spend so much spending the wheels, being tired all the time, being gone five days a week. And then it's like where we fall on is like now we can't spend the time

[00:24:48] on what really makes the most money on us. And it makes your job and it makes the shows better when you can just focus on the creative aspect. That's that's what we had to realize, because at first you're just trying to survive.

[00:24:59] And now we've gotten to a point where we're past that. We're making money. Our band's making money. We're making money on music. We're making money touring. So it's like, OK, there's only so much time in the day.

[00:25:10] So how can we allocate it to where we're moving the way we can properly and also having some time off to just live life and get creative and honestly, just be a good husband and and those kind of things?

[00:25:24] That's where our kind of priorities are and play some golf and hunt. Yeah. I was going to say, get some turkeys. Yeah, right. I mean, yeah, like we're not touring all spring because of turkey season and it's like that's something we can do.

[00:25:35] And so it's like that's it's just really we all basically it's to me. It's not really about, you know, breaking records and stuff. It's just about making really great records. Like it's it's making really great records, going out and touring

[00:25:50] and just having a good time with your buddy. And so we're the happiest we've ever been. And it's like, man, what? Like, let's not put a cog in the system to like mess a good thing up right now.

[00:26:00] And so we're just going to see this thing through and see. I mean, we're only eight years into this thing, which feels like a long time. But it's like you said, it's just starting to catch steam. So it's like imagine where it's going to be in four years.

[00:26:12] Yeah. I mean, in reality, it's like we're we're 30. So I feel like to me, I feel older than I have been, obviously. But it's like in the scope of artistry, it's like, I mean, 30 more years. Yeah. Like, I mean, the crazy thing is, like even 10 more years

[00:26:28] is like a long ass time in this business. Like it's a long time, you know, 18 year career is long. I know. And you see you're talking about like the amount of dates and I mean, it seems like a nice guy,

[00:26:41] but like Luke Bryan or some of these guys, like they tour so much. And there are fans who don't know how old some of these like mainstream stars are. Luke Bryan's like in his mid forties. Well, Luke Bryan didn't even like break until he was like 38 years old.

[00:26:56] Yeah. And it's like and then it's like, oh, just do 280 dates and I'll just keep doing my like singing about my dad with my kids or like teenagers. And I'm still singing about spring break. And it's like, oh, fuck it. I'll just go to those guys.

[00:27:10] Cash in a million dollar checks. We always talk about that. It's like those guys have a different. I mean, the amount of like work they do is insane. I mean, I don't I don't I mean, this sounds bad, but it's like

[00:27:24] I don't want to work. I don't want to be that famous. No, I know that makes total sense to me. And so you can be more like you can earn and make what you want to make. Without like having to go

[00:27:38] like the end of your, you know, yeah, to make it yourself. Oh, because then it's was that really that enjoyable? You know, after the fact, right? When you're yeah, no, I mean, when Garth was like, I'm coming to Vegas, baby. And he's like, take your phone, be there.

[00:27:52] Your boat's a little nicer, but you don't get to spend any fucking time. Like you're right, man. I mean, that that's the reality is kind of like I have this dream of aspirations of like us building this thing.

[00:28:05] And when like we turn 40, we're like, do you want to do this anymore? Like we can call it quits. We've we've had this awesome time. We've got money invested. We have different businesses. We have all this stuff. It's like, is it different?

[00:28:19] I'm kind of intrigued about to like going out on top instead of like watch being a legacy act that's just like out there still trying to make money. It's like, man, like everybody's like, yes, bro. It's just like you quit while you're.

[00:28:32] Oh, I mean, there's some are playing the 2 p.m. slot at the Iowa County Fair. That's so weird to me when you're 16. Well, there's like like when there's like a ledge, I get it. You still want to make some money.

[00:28:45] So on a tour, but there's like, yeah, I think artists I want like these legends and stuff, and they're still out there doing it. But they went from being a superstar, say, like in the 90s, early 2000s.

[00:28:56] And then now they like open for like a Bradley Gilbert show or something. You're like, well, it's like a weird. I don't know how I would feel about that. You know, it's just I would feel strange. Yeah. It's a pride thing.

[00:29:09] You know, you'd have to be OK with it like pride wise. But I'm sure they do those do those small acoustic type of shows. Yeah, and that's the thing, too. It's like here and there if you're itching, but it'd be awesome to just be like

[00:29:22] if we were sitting in the house and we were a couple of years removed from this thing, it's like, did you want to go out and do a run? This would be fun. I could go do 30 days. Let's go do it.

[00:29:29] If you want to put out a record, let's let's start writing. We probably will do that. Yeah. Yeah. Just that's just being being artists like, you know, you're always going to have that itch, you know, always have the crazy thing.

[00:29:41] It's like you think about it's like by the time we're 40, we'll be almost 20 years into this thing. And it's like, hey, that's a long time. That's that's we at that point we had been doing it more than we hadn't been doing it.

[00:29:52] And it's like that's in your lifetime and you start looking at it's like, that's a really cool career. And so it's I mean, like I said, it's like if it's fiscally irresponsible for us to be like, we finally make it to, you know, arenas independently.

[00:30:06] We're like, no, see you later. We had fun. This is a good time. But if I had the wheels a little bit today, yeah, it's like as long as it's going like this. Yeah, exactly. Right.

[00:30:16] But it's it's a you know, I think of, you know, like like Turnpike, like we've been on a lot of these Turnpike shows and it's and it's it's insane to me that they announce we're playing with them in Tulsa two nights and the shows are sold out.

[00:30:29] It's it's what was that call? What was that called? The OK, the OK arena or whatever or whatever, something like that. And it's like it is those guys are great. They're they're super cool. And it's just cool to see them back in the resurgence that they've had spunkers.

[00:30:44] But it's like, you know, they kind of fell off the earth for a couple years. And then out of nowhere, it's like in that time, Tyler Childers takes off. A guy like Zach Bryan takes off. Turnpike comes back and it's like they're tailor made for it.

[00:30:58] And so it's it's cool to kind of see how that's really, you know, you know, and getting to be a part of those shows is awesome, too. But it's like, man, these guys haven't put up a new record in four years.

[00:31:10] And they're selling, you know, 30,000 tickets in one town. You're just like, what the heck's going on? It's it's insane. What was it like getting the call from them or like how did that come about? Because I mean, that seems like such a if I was in your shoes,

[00:31:24] I would be like, holy shit, this is great. Yeah, we I mean, we honestly were. And we had the same booking agent to we move booking agents. Yeah, that's right. We're at Red 11 now. And John Folk is our RA there. And he also does Turnpike.

[00:31:42] So there is a you know, there is a connection there in the family. But they kind of have a mean that the artists that we're getting to open for, it's kind of like we've we've been offered some tours and that kind of thing.

[00:31:56] But we're just like, man, it's just not not a fit. And it's and it's a big artist. And it's like she's not where we want to be. It's like, man, I really want to open for, you know, Eric Church and and Turnpike and Chris Stapleton.

[00:32:08] That's like who I would want to. And it's like we're already getting to open up for two of those guys. And you're like, man, this is insane. And they also have, you know, they are more so like

[00:32:18] have the fan base and the brand where like if they take you under their wing, like their fans and also to it's like they're they appreciate what we're doing. They don't just have anybody open for them. It's not just a label made that stamp of approval for.

[00:32:33] Right. So it's like it's a dope thing for you as well, you know. So but yeah, the time to be we got a lot of shows with Turnpike this year and and they're they're just super nice guys.

[00:32:44] Yeah. Like you would never like they they don't even have a tour bus. They just like they they have a couple of 18 wheelers and they jet in everywhere and then they just go play the show and go home and go back. I got that jet in money.

[00:32:58] Yeah. They get in and get out every night, bro. I mean, it's tight. Yeah, it's crazy. Well, they don't have to have a tour. Yeah, they don't even have a damn bus lease, bro. It's crazy. I don't know. They were on that.

[00:33:10] Yeah. As fans of Turnpike, like they just come back and are jetting in. Dude, I mean, they're massive, bro. Like they're doing some crazy numbers. It seems it's the heart girl Fonda, man. I mean, we posted so many stories as like

[00:33:24] I've been started kind of popping back up when he was doing a lot of stuff kind of out on the ranch, I think was one of the first ones. Yeah, he was down in Texas. You could just feel the excitement level.

[00:33:34] People started going like, holy shit, he looks great. People were so excited. And yeah, that's awesome. Real quick. He's just like, oh, they're just so kind. Like we kind of had a couple. Yeah, we had a couple of them on and

[00:33:49] I'm trying to recall it was two of the band members or it was a while. And Hank and Arsene on our scene. Oh, that's right. Yeah. Yeah. But it's like we were kind of like they, you know, obviously with, you know,

[00:34:05] you know, Evan saying coming back and everything, it's like they keep it pretty keep it pretty tight backstage. And we have the we had the mindset of like, hey, we're just happy and glad to be here. And so we will stay out of the way and do whatever.

[00:34:18] And we were in first show. We were catering and we've been told, it's like, you know, talk to him. You don't have drinks back here. You don't. But that's it's just like what it was.

[00:34:27] And then, you know, we go to sit down at catering and then the whole band just sits around me and it's just like, hey, what's up? It's like, you know, oh, what part of Alabama are you from?

[00:34:36] Like that kind of and it was just like and then they go play the show and just leave and you're just like and they were just the coolest. That's simple. And it's I was like, man, dude, it's like that's what I aspire for or whatever.

[00:34:48] It's like and then them just like, you know, coming up. Yeah, I mean, there are heroes. And so it's like for them to be like, man, we're so happy to have you on. You know, you're killing it, that kind of thing.

[00:34:57] It's like it was really it's just really cool to get that stamp of approval of people you think so highly of. Yeah, they're not going to they're not going to pick you if they don't love your music. You got to kind of like know that, you know, that's.

[00:35:09] Yeah, even if they don't say it. But to that point, the Eric Church new tour, you're going to open some of those shows. And yeah. I thought that's one of the coolest things I've ever seen, make a mainstream guy of that stature do.

[00:35:26] Like if you look at all of the openers on that tour, you got Cody, like 20 of you. Yeah. And a lot of them are kind they're not who you would, you know, the label probably wants, you know, they want to, hey,

[00:35:37] help out the label mates, help out the mainstream, whatever. But for sure, what was have you won? Have you met him before? And to just how excited are you for it, for that, for that? I mean, kind of seeing how he does things.

[00:35:51] Yeah. Like I mean, Eric Church is like a goat to me. Like and ironically, like Travis is opening the show, too. So like two of my two of my goats, you know, like my personal goats are going to be I'm opening for at once.

[00:36:06] So I'm like, I don't know. It's like it's one of those weird things. I've heard nothing. But like obviously I've heard Eric Church is cool with shit, you know. But there's always that like little weird. We were just talking about this earlier.

[00:36:16] It's like there's that weird thing in you that you're like, like I just hope he's all I hope he's like everything. I hope you don't meet your heroes kind of thing. Yeah. Yeah. It's like, I mean, I'm sure.

[00:36:25] I mean, I don't even know if we'll get an opportunity to meet them. Usually guys like that, like you said, they they just jet in and leave and go back to their family or whatever.

[00:36:33] But I mean, I would love to get a freaking picture with him, at least, you know, just to show my kids, you know? Yeah. I mean, we when we it was kind of like our band. When he told us it was kind of just like not sly.

[00:36:43] He's like, oh, yeah, shoot. I forgot. Like you are doing some air church dates this summer. And we were like, wait, what? Like, wait, what? So it was just like it was it was so cool. And then honestly, I mean, we were excited.

[00:36:53] But I think all of our friends and stuff and like people we grew up with were like, what the heck is this like such such a cool thing. That's one of those announcements, you know, where like people

[00:37:03] you ain't talked to in like ten years, you're like, hey, man, like, what's up? You know, like it's a great church. It's great. The guy was the guest list like, yeah, we get some tickets, bro. Oh, my God. Yeah, you don't want to overstep

[00:37:18] like not overstep and have too many people there. Yeah, man, it's funny. Hell no. My wife even bought tickets. I was like, I guarantee you'd have been fine. Like I could have got you. She's like, no, I want to watch. I heard. Oh, I got in the crowd.

[00:37:31] I did hear. I don't know if it was Parker West or who it was, but he had an opener and he seems to do a really good job to like. Meet the opener, especially with the other guys. I think Parker said that.

[00:37:44] Yeah, he was like, he was like the coolest, nicest guy I've ever met or some shit or made time with everybody who opened the show and like, yeah, super professional gentlemen throughout. Yeah, I mean, that goes I think that goes a long way.

[00:37:58] I mean, I'm not saying I'm going to, you know, he's not going to lose, you know, points for me if I don't meet him. But like, you know, in our career coming up, it's like some of the

[00:38:07] we've been fortunate enough to open for some of the coolest artists, you know. And so and like they've all just treated us like family. You know, and like I just think that's it's weird to me to hear stories of artists that don't do that.

[00:38:19] That's that's strange to me. You know, it's like, oh, yeah, I heard this guy's like a dick and won't take pictures or whatever. And I'm like, that's weird. Like, why would you even have someone out? You didn't want to like potentially hang with, you know, that's.

[00:38:30] And I mean, you never never know. He might he seems very open to writing with, you know, I don't know if this is still the case, but. In Nashville, there seems to be like the group right where big artists write with these few people.

[00:38:46] They find their all the time, right? Yeah. Eric seems that you see him sometimes popping up on these like rights. You're like, oh, that's like he's writing with like a superstar. Like he's writing with this Miranda.

[00:38:56] Who knows? Maybe maybe you get maybe he meets you and you get into the fold. He likes your music. And then he goes, hey, I mean, I would write with writing or something. It's like I mean, there's a lot of those similarities with some of the songs.

[00:39:07] I see a lot of the similarities, honestly, with he gets wacky in a good way. Right. Like he you know, he tries shit and you're just like, well, this is kind of strange. And I know you sometimes listen to like the like a few like

[00:39:19] even when like the desperate man came out, they're like it took me like three three listens to be like this record's incredible. Yeah. Because you hear it the first time. It's so different. Yeah. It's always different from the last thing, you know, and you're like,

[00:39:32] I don't know if I love this. And then you the more you hear it, like you're like, holy shit. We all fell in love with it. You know, sinners like me and chief and like, yeah, you go listen to those records.

[00:39:41] You're like, was every was every one of these songs are number one. Right. And not that many were. And not that many at all. And it's so it's like you go as you're not like I want to have. And we like I was like, man,

[00:39:53] we ought to just listen to a church record in celebration. And we put on the chief record. I was like, and we're both every song, every song. I was just like, golly, he was and is such a legend.

[00:40:03] So it's like it's cool to, you know, like I said, it's just one of those things where it's like regardless if anything comes up, if you made him right, whatever. Yeah, we don't need anything from it.

[00:40:14] It's like if you get to do this school and it's like you get to, you know, you still like no one gets to take away from you. You know, I mean, knock on wood, the show's happened and we don't have another global pandemic. They're fucking that.

[00:40:26] But but we can at least, you know, no one can take that away from you. Like, you know, you'd be like, yeah, they got to play show with him one time. It was really cool. Yeah. Real quick. I mentioned base. Oh, go ahead.

[00:40:37] I was going to say we we we went to the Whiskey Myers opening for the Rolling Stones at Soldier Field here in Chicago. Oh, I remember that. A few years back and they were like one picture.

[00:40:49] And you can't share it anywhere like you can take a picture with the whole band. So that was Rolling Stones, told Whiskey Myers. Rolling Stones. Still worth it. And they ended up being able to share it, I think, later or did and didn't give a shit.

[00:41:01] But like three years later, they shared it on Instagram. Hey, remember this at that stage and how big you are and the legends like, are you worried about how you guys are looking on a picture backstage at Soldier Field? It's like, come on. But yeah, yeah.

[00:41:14] Like you're literally the Rolling Stones. Like, who cares? We know you look like shit now. Yeah, exactly. You guys, you guys partied harder than everybody. So, oh my God. And you're still kicking. I mentioned baseball earlier. And Charlie, you got the Braves hat.

[00:41:27] So Wes and I are huge Cubs fans. And so we got Dancy Swanson now. You do our shortstop. Was that heartbreaking or is that like another like Freddie Freeman like it sucks for a second, but you guys have such good farm system here?

[00:41:41] Yeah. I mean, I think if we didn't know that we had didn't have like this Von Grisham kid coming up that like, you know, like you said, they're the brave. Everyone knows the Braves have a great farm team.

[00:41:52] And like Alex Anthopolis, like I mean, when he won the World Series, like everybody was like, how did he do that? Like, and I still don't know how he did it. It's like that was crazy. And we just have a lot of good prospects.

[00:42:03] And like Freddie's like maybe we maybe we could have kept him if like the agent thing worked out or whatever. Like we probably could have kept him. But it's like still feels good to know that you're like bringing in guys similarly as productive.

[00:42:16] And I mean, not not Matt Olsen's, not Freddie Freeman, but like he's still very productive and younger than Freddie Freeman. And it's like, dude, like it's just a part of the game. You know, it's like you can't keep every player like you just can't.

[00:42:29] I even remember telling Charlie like midseason. I was like once Grisham got called up because I was hurt. And so I was like, because he can play. He can play anywhere in the middle field. He's so good.

[00:42:41] But he's like he's not your he doesn't look like a shortstop because he's like six five or like six four. He's a big dude. But I remember I was like I was like, Charlie, I think I'll be there. Dansby's going because this guy's got to play.

[00:42:54] And so and then it just worked out. And I think the Braves, I think the Cubs is a good spot for Dansby. And he I don't know if remember when he was talking about to like

[00:43:03] we I mean, ironically, we got a lot of Cubs fans where we're from, because when you have basic cable, you had WGN. Yeah. So like a lot of people were watching the Cubs, too. And so it was cool to see his like when he went to the Cubs,

[00:43:16] he was like talking about him and his grandfather, like watching Cubs games during the day and stuff. And it's like he's like, man, if I can't be in Atlanta, like this is where I want to be. So Chicago is dope.

[00:43:26] Right. Like if I'm Dansy Swanson, like obviously you're sad. Like the first team, like you're you know, you spent a lot of time there. It's like, yeah, you're sad. But one, he just got the bag, a baggie.

[00:43:38] And he's still going to be playing for like arguably America's team. You know, so it's like, hey, still pretty dope. And he won a World Series, you know? So it's like the reality is it's like the Braves aren't the Yankees.

[00:43:50] And so like they don't have the they don't have the money. So it's like Braves kind of have to take a thing to where it's like if they're going to make money as a club, it's like, OK, we want a World Series.

[00:44:01] Now we got to rebuild for the next like a Braves organization is not expecting a World Series after World Series like the Yankees or the Red Sox or L.A. would. It's like they got to go back and say, OK, back to the drawing board.

[00:44:14] We can sell off some of these players, make some money. And we got this farm team. And so it's like and then we'll just rebuild again and hopefully make the playoffs, you know, every year. But it's like the reality is, is you're working for that,

[00:44:26] you know, World Series championship in the next five to six years. Of course, it is scary. They're like the Phillies are good now. So you're like, shit, you got to get over that hump. Was it Acuna or Acuna that got injured and then they won?

[00:44:38] Who was the guy? The. Yeah. So Ronald Acuna, he he tore his ACL and he was supposed to be like the MVP that season. He was so much our best player and won. So it was right. And that's it. So that's the one of my best friends

[00:44:57] likes to gamble. And he actually as soon as the injury was announced, he went and put thousands on the Braves to win the World Series on DraftKings. I think. Are you serious? Yeah. I think that payout was like. And that's when Alex Anthopolis made like.

[00:45:11] I think that payout was like it was like a. And Jack Peterson came in. Yeah. 20X payout or something like that. Oh, my God. Yeah. I saw a bunch of people putting in putting money on like Acuna to be the National League MVP next year.

[00:45:25] Yeah. Like a futures bet on that. I'm like, hey, I hope you I mean, that would be sick. I just saw a guy bet. Oh, my God. What was the number? Like a dollar? So he picked every every champion or whatever.

[00:45:40] No, he picked every preseason NFL like award for player of the year like MVP, offensive, defensive rookie of the year. He hit every single one. The payout would have been, I think, a million dollars. And he put like dollars on it because it was so far fetched

[00:45:59] because you're just picking like. Yeah. So maybe, you know, the only one he lost was offensive rookie of the year. I think he picked a labor, a lot of a high. Not a lot. Yeah. The Saints wide receiver. Damn, that's great. You can't.

[00:46:15] But he's like, you can't hedge that bet. You know, it's just like you're just waiting for it. They're in the height of college football. Like we are on DraftKings and we do that. Like, but we were doing a bus ban every week.

[00:46:29] So we'd all collectively like find a game and then we'd all watch it together. And then a little skin in the game makes a little more fun. Yeah. So like the whole thing, we got guys who don't give a rip about

[00:46:39] college football, but like now we're in here watching a big ten game or yeah, you're just like, we're all like my head on it. Like this guy minus three. My wife. Oh, right. We went to a couple DePaul. We went to DePaul, like in Chicago, terrible basketball team.

[00:46:55] But I'll be like screaming. It's like bedtime. But I'm in the garage with the garage TV on and I'm screaming. I'm watching like Clemson and Virginia Tech. You're like screaming. I was like, what the fuck is going on? He's got your bones. And you're just like,

[00:47:13] I've been on the most random ass. Like sometimes you'll get like on Fox Sports, I think, FSN or whatever it's called, like a cricket match. I'm just like, I'm bored. I don't even know the rules. And then you realize cricket lasts like three days in India.

[00:47:28] And you're like, what the fuck? Like, it's not paid out for three days. Yeah, I'm not. I was go Chinese Basketball League. Yeah, I got on a tear on doing like play play bets or whatever for like, especially during he was doing like, oh, what's he mentioned?

[00:47:44] Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. What's he mentioned? Especially during and in the World Series, I was just like, and I just be like my wife's laying on the couch. I'm like rubbing her head while she's sleeping and I'm watching it. It is every play. I'm like, all right, next pitch.

[00:47:58] Oh, that's right. And it's like, oh, and it's complete luck. It's like, you know, it's a bit of coin in a sense. Yeah. But it's fun when you hit those. Right. It's like I'm trying to think, oh, March Madness is going to be here.

[00:48:13] I had some crazy ones last year, but I don't really follow college basketball the same way I follow. I was like college football. Yeah. Yeah. Nowhere near as far as like baseball and then the NFL, of course. And then the NBA is such a annoying one for me

[00:48:29] because nobody plays defense anymore. So you just see these like point totals and you're like, yeah, yeah. You like to do it like two thirty nine. That's a lot. And then the final score is like over 280. You're like one for you.

[00:48:43] And just like spread betting the NBA is like, it's just so hard. Oh, LeBron's not playing. Why? Because he was at the Super Bowl. That's why. Yeah. Yeah. You got to do like prop bets and stuff in the NBA.

[00:48:55] Yeah. I just like betting on sports that I actually like watching. Yeah. It's like you see the baseball or football. Now I do love college basketball. Like I mean, we're Auburn fans and, you know, last year they were pretty good.

[00:49:05] They're not so great this year, but we still follow closely. But pretty much besides Auburn basketball and Southern Miss basketball. I don't watch that. Like, I don't just like spam watch it. Like I watch my teams, you know, but

[00:49:17] I'm not like the biggest college basketball fan, except my team. You know, right. You guys are you're Auburn. But I think you told me a few years back that you still kind of root for Bama as well, like if they're doing well. They did. I told you that.

[00:49:30] That was a damn lie. My wife, my wife's a Bama grad. Maybe that's what you heard. Yeah. OK. Yeah. I was just curious about it. Oh, they just lost last night, right? To Tennessee and basketball. They did. I actually we actually put a little money on Bama.

[00:49:44] Like I was like, they cover for sure. Yeah, I did. Ashley and I, we went to dinner before our bus left last night. And we just we ended up at this place called Corner Pub in Nashville. And then worst decision ever, because all just Tennessee fans.

[00:50:00] And they're like, I used to think Bama fans were the worst. But like now, Tennessee had a great year in football. It's like where'd all this Tennessee orange come from? Like we hadn't seen it in forever. And and then they win the game.

[00:50:12] And I did find myself honestly, like pulling a little bit for Alabama in the game. But like as soon as the game won, they cranked the speakers and the whole restaurants doing the Rocky Top chant.

[00:50:23] And I'm just like, like, I can't stand the fuck out of here or whatever. But yeah, I don't I don't I don't tend to. I smile a little bit inside that when Alabama loses for sure. But they're good at everything. That's just what it is.

[00:50:39] Saban, I mean, he's not going to coach forever, right? He's got to be figuring out who's going to who's going to be next. And Wes, as a Bears fan, you might get you might get what's his Will Anderson is right now. Oh, you tell me. Yeah.

[00:50:55] I feel like I mean, I'm hoping the Titans trade up is still the still the number one pick to get Bryce Young. That's that's got like that's the best. And we have Matt Miller on who's I don't know if you guys know who that is.

[00:51:06] He's like in the ESPN college. We're going to have him out for the draft. We get pretty nerdy about this stuff now. Yeah. Yeah. But they were just talking about Bryce Young, how small he was. He just did like the measurements ahead of everything.

[00:51:18] He's like five, ten, one eighty. I think I saw me. Imagine West lining up behind centers like a real top out there. Yeah. Yeah, he's a little tall, but I mean, but you're small. Yeah, dude. I mean, and, you know, Kyle Murray's had some good years, too.

[00:51:38] And he's tiny, tiny like he's on a depth. He seems like a big guy. You're like, this guy's got to be like five. There's no way they always had two inches of the depth chart. You know, yeah. They love not in cleats.

[00:51:49] Have you stayed since you moved to Colorado? Have you kind of become a pseudo Broncos fan, too? Are you still I know? You know, it's funny. I actually I pay attention because I'm like, I get always curious about growing up.

[00:52:01] I listen to like sports radio on my dad's truck going to like help him do shit. And so I'm like, oh, I'm always curious how other markets talk about their teams. So I had to explain to him, I was like, every place you go,

[00:52:13] everybody's just angry, like they just talk shit and like wrong moves and this. And that's so the hacket thing was so funny because. Kind of followed it from the beginning, they hire him and it was just a disaster, it was just so bad.

[00:52:26] And they're the stories are all about like Russell Wilson needs his like personal office and he has these weird guys like hanging around. But I got it. I got into like paying attention to it. But I was like, this seems off.

[00:52:39] And then I started paying more attention to Seattle guys talking about Russell Wilson, how weird he is and all the other shit. All these stories like the cringey. Yeah. Dude, like they were one guy came on.

[00:52:49] He goes, he goes, I was in the room. He goes, we were you know, they'll do like a Saturday night team meeting type of thing before the game on Sunday or whatever. And like Russell would get up to talk and he's like.

[00:53:02] Half of the the players sitting are literally like shaking, laughing because it's so like fake. So you're just like, damn. So I just didn't have a good feeling. I almost got my son. I was like. Like, I'm going to get a little Broncos jersey

[00:53:16] because they have a you go to Target, even they like, you know, it's everywhere. Yeah. And then I started seeing it. I was like, oh, fuck this. Well, I'm actually a Vikings fan. It's random as hell, but because the rain has drafted.

[00:53:27] So like I that's the most money I lost in a game all year was the Vikings Giants playoff game. I put money on the Vikings, but Sean Payton coming to the Broncos now, I'm kind of more interested again to pay attention. Yeah, yeah.

[00:53:41] I was curious about it's going to be well run. It's going to be well, it's probably going to be sick. I'll see me kind of like where in Mobile, like Alabama is different because like we I mean, we don't have a protein.

[00:53:51] So like it's literally like there's a line and like that cuts diagonally across it like Montgomery. And so like north of Montgomery is Atlanta Falcons fans and south of Montgomery are Saints fans. So we kind of grew up like I'm not going to sit here and be like

[00:54:05] I was a diehard Saints fan. But like the games on on Sundays and I mean, Mobile is an hour and a half from New Orleans. And so it's like, OK, and then the year they won the, you know, the Super Bowl,

[00:54:17] I was like a junior in high school. So I remember everyone was so hyped about about that. But I mean, now they just like I think you're just by because I wasn't a diehard Saints fan now that we're like in Nashville. It's like, OK, we got up.

[00:54:31] We got to adopt the Titans. Yeah, we adopted for. Yeah, I was sick for it. That was me, too. Like I grew up in the the top left hand corner of Indiana, right by Lake Michigan right there. So we got all of the Chicago channels.

[00:54:46] So it's Northwest Indiana is all Bears fans. Yeah, but the rest of Indiana is all Colts fans. Like literally just a little like little tick in that corner. And that's but yeah, it's I'm excited for baseball, though. Yeah, we are too.

[00:55:06] So I'm excited for spring training to be like over the like I mean, I know it hasn't started, but it's like I want the real shit like the I hate the read up like I'm like, I hate exhibition games. I hate that shit schedule some

[00:55:19] some shows down in Arizona during spring training. And I mean, yeah, I got some games. It's fun. We went down there. We are going to announce a bunch more shows. So we're going to be playing a lot of fucking cool places we haven't played.

[00:55:30] So yeah, what do you guys got kind of going on this year? Like what's the rest of your look like after the release? Before we let you go? So what we know of that's for sure.

[00:55:40] And I mean, I wish I'd know a little bit more about where we're going after because we and actually shows with Turnpike were done first week of April till June. And then but we're actually doing a West Coast run tour this year.

[00:55:55] We've been out there, you know, opening and done some festivals. But we're actually doing like, you know, starting in I think it starts in San Diego and it goes all the way up to Seattle and, you know, some Idaho in there.

[00:56:07] I think Montana, you know, I think maybe Salt Lake just trying to hit a bunch of stuff we haven't hit. And we like we don't know, you know, we don't know what it's like. And we're at that point now. It's like that. And there was talks.

[00:56:19] I don't know if I don't know for sure if it's happening in the fall, but we definitely are going up East Coast. We haven't been there in a while to do like the New England stuff. And there was talk.

[00:56:29] This is not true, but I know our management stuff was talking about dipping into Canada. We had a we had a fan ask if you're going across the pond to UK and the fan questions. Not that's probably not not probably not this year.

[00:56:43] That's what we're kind of like. You and your son would work there. They like the. Oh, yeah. And we have you know, we have fans there who are asking us, when are we coming? And and that sort of thing.

[00:56:53] But I think we're trying to kind of get let's let's create the stronghold here. I mean, because we still got some work to do in the greater 48. And we used to not go to these. The reason why we really hadn't gone there, you know, before is like

[00:57:07] one, when you're in a sprinter, it's just impossible. And and then once you're out there, it's like you got to stay out there. It's not go play Thursday, Friday, Saturday in California and then come back to the house and go pick up where you left off.

[00:57:20] So I think we're doing like a two week run out there. And I think it's either like eight or nine shows, I think, in like 15 days. So it's I mean, so it's spread out a little bit day off here and there.

[00:57:31] But we're just like, man, while we're out there, it's like we need to go ahead and get after it. And since we're there, it just makes the most sense. So, yeah, you get played Torrey Pines or something, you know? Yeah. So we're excited to go out there.

[00:57:43] And and if it's just the funnest part, I think of toward is going to new places that you've never been. And you're like, oh, I wonder what it's going to be like. And a lot of times it'll surprise you, you know, and then or you have one.

[00:57:54] It's like, hey, this is one we need to we need to invest in. We got some work to do here, you know, so or there might be this is a place we are never coming back to again. But well, well, boys, that was a quick

[00:58:07] quick over an hour. Yeah, always with you guys. But we're excited for the new album. We're going to share the highlight of it, of course. And we appreciate your guys. Can't wait to see you in person again soon and hang out. Yeah, we need to.

[00:58:19] I think somewhere close to you guys. Yeah, I do think we will be paying attention. We do have, I think, a Chicago show this summer. And yeah, 100 percent. And then we I think I don't I don't know

[00:58:31] because we did do Colorado the very end of the year with Jason Boland. But those shows were great. I imagine we'll be back to Denver at least somewhere. We got to be somewhere. Yeah, we'll be on the lookout for sure. So we have boys.

[00:58:45] We appreciate y'all's time once again. And always a good hang. Always good. You're right. It always goes by too quick. You're like, oh, that was a good. We're all good. No, you're the easiest. You're the easiest, easiest ever to talk to. So appreciate it, guys.