#109 - Rhett Akins

hard to tell because there's so many sons. I've probably written close to two thousand songs in the last ten years. And when I started, I really thought I knew. And then the ones that you think this is a Grammy. I mean, this is the best song of all time. It's still sitting on the shelf at my publican company. And the one that you walk out of there going, it's all right. You know, nobody'll ever cut it. Whatever, boys around here, nobody in the world will ever cut that.

You know, I've got it, you just I just don't know. I can't tell anymore. So you couple boys right here and you go at him. Now, this is another song of the day. I don't, yeah, and it was the demo was so whacked out. What you guys doing the demo that was different. Craig Wiseman built the track the

red red red Red, Redneck came from. Uh. Craig Wiseman asked Alice Davidson, one of the writers on the song, what he had done that weekend, and Dallas said, oh, just me and my red neck buddies fishing or something like that. But Craig had the microphone rolling and and you know, Craig, we didn't know it, don't even know this, but Craig's over there messing with the computer and we don't know what he's doing. Next thing, you know, you

hear red red, red, red, red, red red Nick. He had just taken Dallas's word from Redneck and turned it into that. And uh, the the bridge Riggers, Let's ride. That was that happened because we had been there so long that I just leaned back in my chair and I went yawn. And Craig thought that I was singing at melody and he was like, oh, that's good, right, there was what you got right there. I was like, what do you mean? I was like, I yawned, and

he guys, yeah, it was good. It's in tune. It's in tuning, and so oh, let's right, came from me yawning. Actually um. And then Dallas had to leave, and so me and Craig finished the bridge and the rest of the song out. So the first half of the song is Dallas singing. The back half of the song is

me singing. It's got the red red red Neck, and it's got all these little ad libs, like, you know, all this stupid stuff, and and so, uh, Craig, we're packing up, and I said, no way on earth does this song get pitched until the Redneck is out, all the little ad libs. And Dallas has got to come back and sing the rest of the song, because who wants to hear a song with half of its me

and half of its him, you know? And he uh, he text me that night and I'm doing a Craig wise an invitation, but or he called me and he say, I ain't God Daddy, he said, uh too late on that redoing the demo. And I said, what do you mean? He said, Lawrene, I said, Blake And he loves it. That was it. You know, that's a song that I was like, who who could cut this? You know? And I guess Blake can. Well, Blake's you know, He's y'all are the raging idiots, and he's the biggest of all.

He's the raging ist, raging idiot they ever walked, so of the super country, even the pop. Yeah, he can say. Blake has created that lane where you can say anything Blake and with black Black just I mean, I've known Blake since probably two thousand. This is fun, this is true. I was back when I was on the road and stuff.

I was booked by Buddy Lee Attractions, and so me and Joey Lee, he was had a Buddy Lee were in the parking lot and Giant Records was right across the rut across the road, and this guy pulls up in a truck, it's old truck and he gets out and his hair is literally to his butt. He's got a cowboy hat on, curly reddish brown hair down to his butt. And I asked Joey Lee, I said, who in the world is that? And he said, uh, as this new artist I think named Blake Shelton. And I said,

I don't know if he can sing. I don't know anything about the dude, but he will never make it like he was just like worse than I mean, worse than Billy Ray never had hair like Blake had back then, and who who would have guessed? You know, eighteen years later, if you ask a random person on the street, do you listen to country music? And they go, no, you know,

any country artist, Blake would probably be the first. Taylor Swifter or Blake would be the two artists they would probably pick, you know, because he's just the voice and everything he's done is just awesome. See you leave the studio now and you got do you not even think about what you did? Because it's so like for me, I'll go to a radio show and I can't tell it's good night anymore because I do it every day like I do what I do, and I try to do what I do to the best I can do it,

but I don't know if it's good anymore. I don't either. I wrote with Ashley Gorley and h Jesse Frasier today too, fantastic writers. They're written every hit in the world, and we're just sitting there looking at each other, and I was just like, dude, how can we how can we cook this potato any differently? That's like we have baked it, We've mashed it, we cut it up, made French fries, we've bowled it, We've held it over a fire with a stick. I don't know how to I don't know

how to cook this thing anymore. It just to me, it starts to be I just trust the process. Yeah, that's for me. My whole My whole success is showing up and doing it. You know. I have to just show up and and just right because you never know what day in the world that God's just gonna drop that one in that one in your lap, you know, And so I I do it all the time. What's the one to you? If I say, hey, what's that one? That's what the one that you put out that goes man,

that's the one I'm I'm proud of it him. I think the best, the only one song, the best combination of melody and unique lyric. I think it was Honeybee. It's a love song that's that's written completely different than any other love song I've heard. We didn't even mean to write this song. Neither neither Ben Hay Silett nor myself even had this title, this has an Arkansas connection

for you. Um, We're sitting there like we always do, talking about Georgia football and hunting or something, and you know, we do for the first hour and what do you

got nothing? What do you got nothing? And so I'm just thumbing through like a music Row magazine or something, and I flipped to this page and the Governor of Arkansas, Mike Huckabee was was in Music Row magazine that I guess he plays bass and he had come to Nashville and played on somebody's record and it said Huckabee comes to town or something like that, and I misread it and I thought it said I thought it said Huckleberry, and uh, I said, how about this title? How about Huckleberry?

And you know, he was like, what's that? And I was like, I have no idea. All I know is that I heard it in the movie Tombstone that dr always said Huckleberry, And so we tried to We fiddled with that for a minute and I was like, I don't get it. I don't know what this is. And then uh, the I'm your Huckleberry turned into I'm your honeysucker. I saw what about honeysuckle? And He's like, Okay, what's that?

And I was like, well, if I'm well, if I'm a honeysuckle or you're a honeysuckle, then what could be the opposite? And that's how honey Bee came about in the in the title and the idea was so different that we knew we had to write it kind of funny because what romantic song are you gonna hear with a guy and a girl sitting there? And he goes, hey, you'd be my Mississippi and I'll be in Louisiana, you know.

And so we kind of had ache in mind, I will say for that when we we sort of had black in mind, because again, like boys around here, who else can we can be wetty wetty and and pull this off? You know? And then uh. I remember playing the work tape for Thomas Rhett because I thought I didn't think it was that good, and I was like, you think we should demo this thing? And he said d He's like, if you don't demo this thing, I'm

gonna I'm gonna do something with it. Um. And so we demoed it and sent it to Blake and he just flipped over it. And so that one, I think is the best combination of of lyric, a cool idea, and a melody. I mean, I've had a lot of songs that the melody were great and the lyrics, like you know, lyrics are great, melodies stock or whatever, it's not anything special, but that would just seem like that one just was everything in one When you came to town.

What was the goal for you to be artist? Um? Yeah, but I mean a songwriter also. I mean I guess always in the back of my mind, I was a songwriter first, but I did want to be an artist. I mean from the time I was six years old,

old enough to know anything about music. Um, I just you know, there wasn't the Internet or anything back then, so I just religiously studied album covers and had kiss posters all over my wall, and I was just very I stayed up late at night watching Friday night videos and night tracks and you know what there was we didn't We couldn't even get MTV, and when we did, that's all I watched. So I just I kind of

idolized singers from a young age and football players. I'm a huge sports not too but football players and musicians were like from Mars and and that's where I wanted to go, So you moved to town. You know. When I was growing up, this is massive and I listened to U S nine seven Kissing ninety six Franks later rock stations. I mean, I can vividly remember this song and radio. It's part of my childhood. Yes, weird how that one has hung around. I mean, you never know.

I still play the song today on my show. I know I heard I heard um, you know obviously once every two weeks or something like that. But I'll have people lot of time ago. Man, I heard that. Ain't my truck this morning on the way in. I have absolutely no reason why. I mean, there's you know, there's a lot of great songs from the nineties, I mean, super giant hits from Garth, Allen Jackson, everybody, and for

some reason, that one has has hung around. Thank goodness, you still have the itch to go and play these big shows. Ah SOMEO. I mean the Luckily for me, I still kind of get to do it. So it's not like I'm a songwriter only because I go on the road all the time and write. Anytime I'm out with Thomas Rhett. He always brings me on stage and and I sing that and maybe a song or two that he and I wrote or something else that I've written. And uh, I go on tour with Luke Brian every

uh fall for the farm tour. Uh the peach pickers to me been hey slipping Dallas Davidson. And our primary goal is out there to write. We're right with Luke or whoever is opening the show, but we do uh, we have we bring a full band, and so we've been opening for Luke since Too was in eleven. And it's freaking it's it's really weird because you know, most songwriters,

they don't I don't. I don't think they. We get stuck in Nashville and we're stuck on these two or three streets on music Crow, but we don't ever go out and see what's really happening in mid Iowa or somewhere. When you're out there on a farm tour in a field on a dirt road, we're literally half the people miss half the show because they're stuck, you know, But to sing for twenty thou people the songs that that we wrote, and they just we don't. We honestly don't

have to sing. I mean they literally scream every word back. And uh, that's pretty awesome to be able to still get to do it every now and then. But I definitely don't want to be on the tour bus. I did it fifteen straight years. I mean I was on the road from so about two thousand and ten or eleven, and UM, yeah, I don't have the desire to be on the bus every weekend, but I do like doing it, you know, once every six you know, four to six months. I just went on the road with Midland, like a

couple of weeks ago. I went from I went to California for five days with John Party and flew to Ohio. Midland. You talk about two two bands that will warry out. I'm good friend to John. Yeah, like I love that dude. He's he's awesome. And you wrote this one. That's it. That's a a jam. It is, But that's another one that I walked out of there never. I didn't even think about it. And you know when I left, Um, the boots that I'm wearing now, the boots that I

wrote this song. I've been wearing these boots since two thousand and ten. Um, and uh, we wrote this song like at eight o'clock in the morning before we went to our real rights, and um, well, I mean I was about half asleep and and uh we only had like two hours, couldn't think of anything to write. And I'm just looking down at the ground on my boots and I'm just like, same boots. I'm like, what about dirt on my boots? You know, stupid whatever, But we

don't have anything else. And Jesse's track was so but you should hear the demo. Man, it's like banging. If you think this is banging, Jesse's demo was banging, and and we wrote it and you know, it's not a fantastic title or anything. Um and uh so I just walked out of there and going, who knows, man, it's so hip hop and and pop and it's called Dirt on my Boots. I mean, I don't know if he mal dig this. I really didn't think about it again, and I don't know a few months later they said

John Party was gonna cut it. And I've been writing with John since like two thousand nine, like I and he's just now, you know, really hitting it. And um, I was really excited that he loved it. And then right after I was excited that he loved it. I got really unexcited real quick because I said, wait, wait, wait, wait, John can't have the song, and they're like, why not? And I said, what his biggest hit he's ever had is called head over Boots. That was the big deal. Yeah,

I'm like, he said, he's not gonna cut. He's not gonna I said, even if he cuts it, he won't put it out. There's no way they will put out two Boots songs on a record. And uh, Mike Dungan was just like, I don't care if you say Boots five times. He's like, you want two back to bat hits. We're putting out dirt on my boots. And thank goodness for Mike Dungan that he just didn't care. He's like,

I don't care what they say. It's a smash. I remember John said he we have two Boots songs, like our next song is about to be booted And I was like really, and so now nobody even thinks about it. Yeah, he's got a song on his album called Cowboy Hat and I think you just cut a song called Pearl Snap And I was like, we're just going what do you want belt buckle want he wants spurs. What what else can we do? You played ball in high school? Did? Yeah? I have a big sports guy too. I had a

national sports to talk show for a long time. Played ball of course in high school. But um, that's my passion music and sports. I think every singer wants to be an athlete, and every athlete wants to be a singer. I like to be out the one. Well, I went to the University of Georgia and I played in my freshman year, and well, I would say played, I practiced. I did my granddad who played at Georgia in the forties. We had season tickets my whole life. You know. I

met herschel Walker when I was ten. Um for me, I grew up in Valdosta, Georgia, which is the winningest high school football team of all time. You can get state. So I grew up in a town where our high school quarterbacks were more famous than me than Terry Bradshaw or Roger stall Back. I could go see then. I remember I shook buck Baloo's hand when I was like eight, and he was the voudoustar quarterback, and then he won the national championship at Georgia, And to this day, that's

one of the biggest handshakes I've ever had. Was Buckaloe. When I was eight, they were gods where I was from. And then he goes to Georgia and then Herschel as a freshman, and then you're ten years old and all this is happening is from your hometown and it's your college team. I was. I was like, you know, I was just as much as an aspiring athlete as I

was a musician. But but a musician is something that couldn't happen, And that was just there's no way I could be a singer, but I can play football, So you thought you had a better shot to make a CREDI an athlete. Well, who could be a singer? I mean there was no American idol or YouTube or or any way to even make it. I mean, I don't know anybody. No, but I don't know anybody that can sing. There's nobody from around here that's ever gone to do it. So that's out. I mean, I'll just be sitting on

my bed playing my guitar. So when did you make that turn though, where you go, Okay, I'm gonna try this because at one some point you have to go. I'm gonna take the shot. I always played like I took my guitar to football camp every year, and I was always very good. Well I wouldn't say I was good, No, just nobody else could play, so they thought I was awesome. I'm very I was always good at listening. I can't read music. I was very good at listening to music

and just moving the needle back and forth. And you know, after a little while, I could fake anything. I could play any skinnered song or George Straight or whatever. So I always played, you know, at football camp and parties. Everybody like get your guitar and and um. It was after I came home from Georgia and I moved back to aut Austin and I was working for my daddy, and uh um, I ran into an old high school buddy and we said we should get together like we

did in high school and just start playing somewhere. So we played at a little restaurant and at the Holiday Inn for like a happy hour and stuff. And um we did that for about two years and it just kept growing and everybody, I mean it kind of became a thing like rhet and Hall are playing at the holiday and on Thursday night, and I mean it, it was like getting packed in there and I would throw in one of my own every now and then. Um and everybody, you know, of course, when you're in a

small town, everybody's like, man, you're better in Garth. Man. You you know you're as good as Alan Jackson. You want to you want to move to Nashville? And um, so about when Thomas Rhett was right about two, we moved. We moved to Nashville and just said, you know, thank goodness, my parents and everybody where cool with it. And uh, I just said, I'd rather go try it and fail than be ninety and wish I wish I did it. You know, never would have dreamed you know I'd still

be here doing it. You always call him Thomas Rrett. Do you call him Thomas when you're not talking about him? Thomashrett. That's that's been his name since he was born, So it's he's always Thomas Raett. That's not a thing you're just saying because we're talking about his name is Thomas Rtt. Most people think his last name is Rhett. I don't even call my name is Thomas Rhett. I'm Thomas Hredd Aikins Senior. He's Thomas Fredd Aikins Jr. And from the

moment he was born. That's kind of a Southern thing. You know, he's been timing. We called him Thomas Rrett since day was born, so I call him t R. Yeah, I call him TRS too, Yeah, but but that's mostly Thomas Hrett. Yeah. But most people that that that don't know anything about me or whatever, they think that that his last name is Rhet And so the funniest thing ever on Instagram or Twitter one time, the fans got into an argument about his last name and they said.

One person said, because Lawrence Instagram is like, aren't Aikins or whatever, And they were like, I think it's so sweet that Thomas Rett took Lauren's last name when they got married, Like he loves her so much that he ditched his last name Rhett for Aikins because his Instagram name is Thomas Red Aikins. But they don't. But they're like, what's the Aikins thing. His last name is Rhett, so he took his wife's name and made that his name.

And then the next person said, you're so stupid. They're like They're like, his his his name is, his name is Thomas Redd Aikins. Duh, his dad is Rett Atkins. Like like, I've always been called you know, every nobody can get Akins, right, it's been Atkins since I was in first grade. But it was like, no, his name is Thomas Red Aikins because his dad is Red Atkins. I mean, it was the dumbest argument I've ever seen

on social media. But um, was that a conversation you guys had where yeah we did, because yeah, he just you know, obviously there was Chat at Hims who started the whole thing. Then you had me, Trace Atkins and Rodney Atkins. And now you're gonna have you know, Thomas Red Akins whatever or whatever his name is gonna be, you know, Thomas Akins. And I just said, dude, I said, not only do we have we called you Thomas rhet since the day we were born. I just think it

sounds cool. It sounds like a stage name, you know what I mean. It sounds like a cool name. So and you're not gonna get confused with me or Rodney or Trace or anybody. And and so that's they were

cool with it. They're like, yeah, let's do that. It's been interesting because I've been here long enough now to see him early early and then see him now turning to the star that he is, but also have been there since the beginning to where it's we have a relationship because I was starting to I mean, I was just a little junior turd, you know, right about the

time he was starting to blow up. And so man talk about someone who is in five years completely turned into a superstar, Like, that's the one where I go, I've I watched someone go from a new artist to a superstar. That's the one. Yeah, it's still weird to me, Like I still don't believe it, Like like I don't, I don't totally. I mean, I know he is one, but I don't. It's hard for me to think of him. I still think I can tell him what to do, you know what I mean, it's like, why are you

doing that? Stop doing that? You know? I mean, I don't think of him as Garthur. I mean, obviously he's not that big, but I still don't think of him as uh as a star. I still think of him as you better be home by eleven o'clock, you know whatever, or did you change the all in your truck, you know, because if you didn't change the all in your truck, you're not driving it. Driving it this week. Um it's

weird to go on tour with him. And the first show I went to last year on his first headlining gig was was in Illinois, and when we pulled up to the venue, I couldnot wrap my head around that Luke wasn't playing tonight. I could not get it. I was like these people, like look at these people. I mean it was fifteen thousand cars out there, you know, and his name is the one on the market. It's not Luke Bryan and Ama Shrett. It was like Thomas Rhett tonight. And um, I was like this is this

is weird. And what was weirder was going to catering because I'm used to going to catering and seeing a little big town or Miranda or somebody sitting over there in their sweatpants, and it was him, you know what I mean. I was like, this is your spaghetti? Like you shared the sitt in Blakes, Like you're paying for this, Like you have a full time caterer out here, and um, it was it was just like nuts, what advice does he hit you you have thirty number ones? So what

advice does he hit you? I about when he's like, hey, help me out with this. It's different than it used to be, you know, when like when he first started, he didn't know anything about what's the publishing deal? What's a you know? Is this look right in my contract? What? What? What is my manager supposed to do? Um? Real naive questions back then announce you know, dad, what song should I put out next? Or Dad? Do you think I've piked?

You know what I mean? Like he Thomas s Ratt, He he thinks pretty deeply about his life and his career, and like, I think that's what God wants me to do. Like do you think I'm not spending enough time with Willa? You know it's it's like real questions. It's not because he's got his manager and booking agent and label and he didn't have to worry about He didn't need me to tell him all those things. She just like that when you came home off the road, like were you

just exhausted? Like was I bugging the crap out of you to play soccer or throw the football? And you just didn't want to, you know, like real real questions about especially since he has kids. Name. Um, yeah, that's pretty I mean we've always been really close, but um, it's really cool for him to finally, you know, now that he's a dad, that we have a relationship like on a different level, Like we can compare notes on on kids and things. You know, do you see you

when you see him start? Not as much as everybody else does. I mean everybody. I walk in the room and they, oh, my god, you look just like Thomas Rudder. They tell him, you know you it's just like your dad. Um, if I was thirty pounds less, maybe, But because I I when you look at an athlete, you I don't see tr I watched the box and you know he didn't. He didn't gravitate towards sports as well as I did.

I think one thing is when you grow up in the in the South, in a small town, especially like Valdosta, who's one se many football games, it's like what you do? I mean, it is like not even a question. You come out of the womb, you're a boy, you're playing football, and in Nashville there's a thousand high schools here. Like I was so disappointed at every game I would go

to see him play. There would be three hundred people at the game because Nashville is so spark I mean so spread out on a normal game for us, I mean on a game that we know we're gonna win, fifty nothing, ten thous some people in the stands every Friday night. I used I used to do play by play for at the time, it was Division two Soldi State and they still maybe and they maybe. I don't know what they are now, but I used to do play.

We used to go down to All dust because I did play by play at Henderson State University as I went to school and play in the same conference. So we traveled down to All Dustin and we would just get crushed and we go lose seventy two, and it would be the most miserable thing calling a college m where you getting cushcare. There's nothing to talk about when

you're getting wood. There's nothing to say that you haven't said al and you're two minutes into the third quarter and you're down fifty five and nothing, what do you say? And that's not worse that. Those are my worst memories of doing because on the road since and I was it was I was a paid play by play guy. And this is before I started doing Fox Sports. But I didn't have a color guy on the road because

there was a money. I have a color guy at home, but they wouldn't send a color guy on the road. So I do play by play and color losing seventy to two. So, um, alright, I formation one to the left. Oh sack, Well that's the nineteenth sack of the day. Yeah. Well, he didn't grow up in that type of situation. And so because you know, high school football wasn't as huge in Nashville as it was for me. He it just wasn't. He didn't grow up in that environment to to to

die to play football, you know what I mean. And he also Thomas Shrett I could take a lot of abuse. I mean, number one, I played quarterbacks, so I got hit all the time. But our coaches, there's no way in the world, our coaches from the eighties would have a job more than one day to day. They would get fired, wouldn't. We didn't get water, they would say on the water unrewarded. You only get water when you

earn it. And that's and now to even say you can't get water all the time, it would be ridiculous. There were people throwing up. I mean we would do rolling wind sprints and people be puking out of their face mask, and um, somebody got hurt. The coach will say, you know, get off my get off you're killing my grass. But we'll get off my field or somebody's laying there and they go move the just move the huddle over

and run the run the playing again. And uh, for some reason, even though I didn't like it, I could take it. And Thomas Drette could not. He he had to his high school coach, his little league coach were rough, and he just he couldn't. He didn't like the the verbal abuse of of sports. Duke playing ball. Thomas Jurrette came along. Yeah, yeah, well and I flunked out of school. Flunked out of school and you got a kid, it

kind of kills your football career. But um, you know I went to Georgia and uh, you know, I was on the scout team. I played, you know, scout team, quarterback, scout team, the offensive the other team. Every week. Yeah, if we're playing Old Miss that week or whatever, I was, I was doing Old Miss and I was having to tackle when I was playing defense, I was having a tackle. Rodney Hampton and Tim Worley like guys that went pro. When I was on When I was playing quarterback, Bill

Goldberg was the nose guard. You know. It was like Bill gob played at and I'm telling me, I got killed. So what was he like as a ball player? Gold He's a beast like but but back then he wasn't as ripped. I mean he was just more bulky, you know, but now he's he's ripped. But when you would see him w CW. Because I'm a big wrestling fan too, I mean, I grew up a freaking Arkansas. We're talking all my favorite things, wrestling, football, music. Did you watch

wrestling at all? Well, I mean yeah, every every single Saturday night from the time I was seven to us about seventeen. So if you if you know wrestlers from the seventies to about eighties seven all that Once once I got out of high school, I was I wasn't I know Stone Cold, Steve Auston and the Rock and all that stuff, but I don't follow it. But did you watch the Goldberger area at all? Because you knew Bill? Yeah, I watched the Sun, but I was like I'm talking

about Dusty Rhodes. I remember, I mean the American Dream was one of my favorite ye roads. Rip Flair, Um, Lex Luger Sting, Uh, Tommy Wildfire Rich Junkyard Dog. I went to those Grand Dog, I got a Memphis and like the first it was Georgia Championship and then it became uh, I guess w c W. And my granddaddy believed it so like so much that the ritual of my my grandmoma's house was Lawrence Welk. Yeah, Lawrence Welk Show Porter and Dolly and wrestling. And I'm talking about

my granddaddy. One. There's no doubt that that Dusty got hit in the parking lot with a chair and he's out. Like he took me to see Abdulla the Butcher and Andre the Giant when I was eight, and then we saw Tommy Wildfire Rich the Junkyard Dog in the Fabulous Freebird Fatherous Michael P. S As And then when I was about seventeen, we went to Tallahassee. It was one of those huge, like all night thing where you had the smallest of the small and it was like, uh,

who were the guys that were the real college wrestling outfit. Yeah. Then they fought the Road Warriors, and then it was Lex Luan Animal, Yeah, Lex Luger and and then the main event was Dusty and Rick Flair. And I remember touching Rick Flair's arm as he as he walked down the aisle to get to the ring, and I was like, that's That's the greatest thing I've ever done. And then and then I have Ric Flair's phone number, like I met him. I went on tour with Brantley Gilbert Um

a few years ago and he played in Charlotte. Brantley came off the stage. As soon as we walked back going to the buses, Rick Flair walked by and I literally tackled him. I went whoa, And I mean I went up to him and just bear hugged him and he wooed back, and it was it was a woo contest for like, it was like the Wou Tang Clan, Me and Ring Flair wooing each other and um, dude, we hung out with him all night. He gave us his phone number and I've texted Hiven and called him

a few times. Do you watch the documentary I did? It was awesome, Well, it was awesome and really sad. I felt it was excellent entertainment for a wrestling nerve like me. Yeah, I really thought it was fantastic. But man, I felt so bad for him, but he was awesome. And I talked to Dusty Rhodes on the phone one time. Buddy of mine kind of knew him and has his

phone number. We just said hey, and just as you know, I think I imitating him or something, you know, but um, if I have a I wrote Black Shelton's new song and the whis called lived It and the and the lyric in the second versus, Uh, the mold Duke Boys were flattened in the hills. Hollywood was fake and wrestling was real like we really I believed in my granddaddy especially believe it. Man, I could do a whole show

on wrestling like I could do that. Only Tray the Giant documentary be seen the previous for that, I haven't, dude, that's amazing. Yeah, I still having the key to call off T shirt like a Russian I've got it's got the Russian sickle and he's just standing there with his fist up or whatever. My brother has a Rick Flair sure, we can't. I have all my cons Sharat tickets, all my tea I have in a band in my house

right now. I have Molly Crue, def Lappard Whalen. I have every concert t shirt ever ever went so and all the tickets. So I was like, I've always just been the most Like I just idolized. I've always just idolized music and athletes. When I wrote my first book, I wrote a thing passage you about Sting because I talked about things that as I was a kid, and I preferred the blonde haired Sting more than that the raven or whatever that ended up being. And he wrote

me a nice note that what got to him? He wrote me a nice, nice note and send it back to me. And the people that you see as a kid that were cool are always cool to you the rest of your life. Because for me, you know, I'm friends or I'm acquaintances with these massive artists and they're just there's just folks. But I got on an airplane once with Barry Switzer and he was on the Southwest fly and I was the whole time. I was like, you got out of your mind. He's a former raisorback

he you know coached the Cowboys held Oklahoma. I don't care about Oklahoma, but those staying, the Barry Switzers, that you know, the g Arts, those are the people that I really still go Oh, that's that's it. That's who I idolized me too. I definitely have my heroes and I've met Um, I've met. I've met all the people on my list. The only person I haven't met that I have to meet is Paul McCartney. But Make Jaggers my all time. I picked Make Jagger over anybody on Earth.

I met him, uh two years ago. And I always try to not meet my heroes because I don't want to be disappointed and I don't think it's fair to put all of your hero hope into one meeting. So how did it go with? You know? I was disappointed to Nick because I felt like he talked with me too long. I felt like that he lowered himself talking to me more than one minute. It's you know what I'm saying, it's the old cot be a part of any group that stop like like, seriously, you should have

quit thirty minutes ago, thirty seconds ago? Um, do you get a picture? No? Because I couldn't ask you, I just you don't want to run the two cool moments that I could not ask him. Um, but Keith was taking pictures and I went over to ask Keith if I could get a picture with him, and his bodyguard said, we gotta get him out of here, dude, you know, so they kind of rushed Keith out. Um. But I met guy Greg Almas, one of the biggest heroes. I met him a couple of times. And Hank Jr. Is

my biggest country here. We we got to be buddies and we fished and hunted together a bunch. Um. But Paul, you know, he's I would love to meet Paul. Oh, let me talk about this, So I'll talk about Warby Parker for a second. Have many many pair of Warby Parker glasses. They have a free try on program. They send it to your home. You can order five pair of glasses. You try them off for five days. There's

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Matt facial features us, all these measurements cool. So Warby Parker dot com slash Bobby obviously, I love them, war Um all time, Warby Parker dot com slash Bobby to check it out. Okay, so let me just ask you got the format for a seconds? I think that something everybody talks about it, like, how do you feel the country format is? Right now? I think it's awesome because there's so many different I mean, everybody's got a shot man.

I mean I really do. It's it's from the most traditional to the almost hip hop, almost pop. I mean as you can get. There's literally because I grew I mean I love it because I grew up loving everything. I mean, I love um Hey Williams Jr. Is much. I love Ozzy Osborne and Bill Monroe and run DMC. I mean, I literally grew up going to concerts and watching videos and buying records of everybody. It doesn't it didn't matter who it was. If the song was good, I liked it. I didn't care, if you know. And

so I think the country is now. The country is um you know, branched out into so many fields. I mean, Thomas Redd has pushed it as you know, he's on the line there, he's way over the line, but he's on. He's pushing against the next line, you know almost. And then you got Midland coming in and going back all the way to you know, seventies country, Um got came Brown killing it, you got Luke. You know that's that's still country is crap, but but can rock and pop

it up a little bit. I mean it's just I mean, as you got everybody. So when someone says with that a country yeah, I say that all the time, you know. I mean, I still I grew up in South Georgia. I mean my heroes were Hank Jr. And Whaling and will In those people, you know. So yeah, I mean a lot of the stuff that's out right now is not country to me, um, from where I came from. But I love me, but I'm just not a I'm not a country music snob like that, because you know,

I would drive, I would go to high school. And I have on a Hanking junior T shirt. I have OZ and you written on my fingers like and knuckles like he had. Yeah. And I let it, you know, kind of fade out like you. I wouldn't wash it also fade just right on my note I still my mom still has my my notebooks. I'm drawing the Van Halen logo right here. I got the rat logo written

right here. I got Whalen's w right right here. I run D M C. I mean, I can't say, you know that ain't country, you know, because I loved it all. I still love it. I listened to just as much hip hop now as I do. You know, country, Um, I listened to pop. People have always been saying though, regardless of what the cycle is and whatever it is, that it's not country. Would you think that that's fair? Was there? Kase I talked to Garth and Guard said, hey, I when I came to town, people were like, I'm

not country. Yes, I's the country's thing. Ever now compared to you know, we were. But I mean this, you could have this debate for ten years. I mean, do you think Jimmy Rodgers thought Hank Williams was country? I mean they didn't want Hank Williams to play on the opera because he had a snare drum. You know that wasn't country. You gotta play doghouse base and that's it. Do you think Hank Williams would think that Whalen was country? Um?

Buck Owens told me one time, he said, man, he said, you know how long it took me and Whalon to make it? He said they hated us because we played electric guitars, you know, because we were loud. Man. And now, I mean, you don't think of anything but country when you think of buck Owens or Whalen. Um, there's you know, Merle Haggard wouldn't think, you know, Garth was country and Garth don't think Thomas Rutt's country, and Thomas Rutt won't

think the next exactly. So it's it's always. At my point is when I talk to the the magazines, there someone to call and say, hey what you say? Hey it? This will always be the question for the rest of time. It's always going to be the cycle and the question, and the next one up isn't compared to the last one out. I mean Frank Sinatra, you know, he didn't like Elvis coming along and messing up the flow, and the Elvis didn't like the Beatles coming along and messing

up the flow. I mean, they're all jealous and they're all you know, it's taking up and that ain't real. I'm sure that. Uh, all the jazz purists thought Frank Sinatra was not true jazz, you know. And if it ever does stop, don't you feel like it's it's broken. Then if it ever does stop, and just sit And that's what I say a lot of it. If you if you want the same thing forever, you're just gonna get the same thing and it's not gonna there's gonna be no growth. I mean, I am a snob and

some things like like I love old bluegrass. I want Bill Monroe, I want Stanley Brothers, I want ancient. The only new bluegrass is out, I'll kind of I really like like Ricky Skaggs doing like ancient tones and bluegrass rules those albums. That's new, but it's still the old. I don't want to hear new bluegrass because that's what you grew up with. That's I grew up, and I like,

I like, and so I get it. I mean, I'm I mean, I'm no different than any fan out there that goes that ain't country, that ain't hip hop, that ain't what rock music is, because I think you define what real music is from from what you grew up listening to. You know, I you know, I love rap music, but I don't like it as much now as I did.

That's what I was gonna bring up. I wish that they were still Nelly and Um, I mean, I still wish that there were melodies and courses in the song You Can Still Be Tough was still hard, but his melodies, but you had girls bumping it toft, you know what I mean. The hip hop analogy is great because people now older go, hey, dude, that's you know. The twenty one savages, the post Malan's you know it's a mumble wrap little yachts. They're going, that's like hip hop. It's

it's not just our format where this is happening. And some people do think it's this country, oh country, but it's it's every single format. It was funny. I guess I could say these names. They were curious funny. Uh. This year on Thoma Stress Tour, daniel Bradberry and Kelsey Ballerini were out on the tour and so after the show we were all on toom strets Chessing Room and and uh, I was like, I want to be DJ tonight.

You know we always hang back there and crank music whatever, and uh, so I was DJ that night and I was playing nothing but Nellie and um, you know nineties rap and eighties run DMC uh Hohodini. I mean I was playing like I was playing what I think it's real rap music and Danielle and Kelsey were dancing and they were having a good time. But finally they came over and said can you play some rap? And I was like, what do you think I've been playing for

last thirty minutes. They're like, Daniel was like, you playing me goes, you know, like I mean, that's like somebody going you know what I mean, Uh, I'm playing George straight all night and they're going, hey, can you play some country? You know, it's a it's a generational all art always evolves and every generation fills their art is what's the truestest art. And I don't think that you're that anyone's wrong, But I do think that to think that you're right is wrong. That Like, I know, if

I go, oh, that's that country, I'm not wrong. I don't think you can have a creative opinion that's wrong. But if I go for sure I'm right about that not being country, I'm wrong because I'm not for sure right or wrong. Yeah, Well we're Gonnato the whole philosophical about art. It's all. It's all an opinion. But you know there are I mean, you got every avenue in the world to listen to what real country is, what you think real country is? You got it at the

touch of your phone, now you know? And why for ten years and people go why w and make songs like Whalen. Well, it's all there and there are people that sound like whalon to all you have to do is do Man, if you heard so and so, they sound just like whaling, and I'll go, what's good about that? I mean, it was like, why is that great? You know, like like friends of mine, you know, they'll go to some local bar and they go, hey, man, I'm gonna see you this video. This dude sitting up on the

stool playing at the bar. Man, he sounds just like Alan Jackson. And I'm like, but why is that good? Why didn't he sound like what his name is? You know, that would that would impress me more than he sounds like Alan? You know, I mean people like familiar familiarity though, I mean, I get it, but um, I just think nowadays you can just if you want to listen to old blue grass or new bluegrass, just get on your phone pick it up. Man. But you know this is

commercial radio. You know, I write. You know, I questioned myself all the time. I'm like me, should I try to write a song for the radio or should I try to write something I really want to write? You know what I mean, because I'm in the music business. But you know, people out there riding around their car, they don't care about that. When you say you wrote a song for the radio. What comes to mind? What song did you writ for the radio? I'll tell you a song that I didn't write for the radio was

was I Lived at Blake's new song? We wrote that on the Farm tour two years ago, and we said, let's write the realest song we have ever written, so country that no nobody that was born after nineteen eighty will get it. Nobody's gonna cut it. Let's just write it because that's what we want to write. And that's one of the rare ones that that somebody recorded and and put out. But you know, I mean, it's like you get. We write a lot with tracks you know that we go in. I don't it's not every day.

We just go on with a guitar piano. So we're sitting there and obviously if somebody's playing a track and there twenty five years old, the majority of it's gonna be sort of poplin and you know, and um, you just kind of know you like that sounds like the radio or you you play something, you go that one.

I don't know if radio would play that, you know what I mean, because radio is pretty safe, you know, as as as adventurous as they have gotten in country music, it's still pretty safe and mean they they want to know they do a lot of testing. Oh, we do a lot of research. And that's why a lot of trouble because I don't do a lot of research. I just play whatever. Right, Yeah, you've done great with that. Not all the time, because we do have someone that

programs doub music in general. But I get to go and my company now lets me just go on my own and if I think it's you know. But what sucks is when you write a song like Farmer's Daughter that I wrote for Rodney Atkins went to number three because it didn't go one because of San Francisco station in the l A station wouldn't play it because not because it had cuss word in it, not because it was offensive because it said feeding the hogs, because what

people in San franciscut Because in San Francisco. I'm like, if you drive five miles out of San Francisco, their feed knocks like California is the biggest farm in the world, you know what I mean. That's see. I wasn't in the format then, so those little petty things like that don't happen. There was a station in New England that wouldn't play that ain't my truck because they said, nobody up there, uh drive trucks. They all drive cars and it didn't relate to their fans. And thank goodness, I

wanna call her out. Lee Adams, who who was my rap back then now is the head of broken Boat promotion. She went. She called every Dick car dealership in New England and got their numbers and trucks outsold cars. She she caught. She sent it to the program director in New England or wherever they were, and said, well, you're wrong about who drives trucks and cars. But I mean,

when you do this for a living. If I was just writing songs because I wanted to write songs, I wasn't getting you know, paid, or writing for a polist and company, you know I would write whatever I want. Is nobody's gonna hear it anyway. But if you're doing this, you know you're getting paid, and you know it's like that that bothers you. You think about it, you go, I really want to say this, but because San Francisco wouldn't say hogs, can I put this in the song?

You know what I mean? It's like, is this gonna deter a radio station playing this, is this gonna turn the tur Luke Bryan from from cutting this song? You know, so it's it is a thought that you happened. Then some there's some days I succumbed to it and I go, well, I really want to say this, but I guess we'll say this, And then there's some days I'll just gonna screw it. We're saying, I'm saying what I don't want to say. I don't care if it gets cut or not.

What about this one, because this is a really country song that was That was one that Luke was really scared wasn't gonna work because it was two country, two country and hunting. You know, it's just weird. You know, we just lived in a different time and when I grew up, I mean hunting. Never once in my life that I think hunting was a bad thing until I moved in nationally and and me either because we and

I hunted a lot growing up. And that's a couple of things I want to branch it to is because I grew up in Wet, I grew up poor, and we ate it or we gave it away, or we even with fish. We either ate it or we gave it to somebody that needed to eat. And even with what's happening with guns now, I don't think the two sides understand Because of how I grew up in the South, guns were at this amazing thing where we looked at them in fascination like people who aren't around me too,

you know me too. So it wasn't a guns weren't this thing from television. They were really just a part of our every day. So it wasn't We're gonna take a gun and and go do something crazy with it, because guns weren't crazy time. I mean getting a four tim when I was ten years old, natural thing on earth. I've never won. I've never questioned what I ate until I moved to Nashville because I'm fried Chicken. I mean, I want to go to Sweats every day, which is

a restaurant here and down the soul food. I mean, I want to go to Sweats. I want to go to Arnold's. I want to I want to go uh to any country place. You know. I don't go to Arrago and I don't go to big fancy restaurants here in town. I wan't fried Chicken. And you know, I'll drive to McDonald's probably on the way home. Um, but it's like you're you're righting with people from l A. And and they look at like they look at you like are you crazy You're gonna eat McDonald's. Like I'm nuts,

you know what I mean. I've I've written a lot of and l A. You ought to see me in l A. I might as well just walk in and go. Y'all think I voted for Donald Trump. I know, I get it. Whatever, you can just look at me and you assume who I voted for. But I was in l A writing with a bunch of pop guys, and um, they were like, Hey, we're gonna order some food, you know,

And I said where we're all getting? They wanted sushi and you know, salad and all this kind of stuff, And I was like, is there ay where I could get a Snickers and a coke and a pack of Red Man And look, dude, I felt like I got Like the next day when I wrote with different people, I hid my coke behind my chair because I felt embarrassed. If they think that I'm drinking a coke, they like

I'm bad person, Like I wrote. I wrote with Andy grammer out there and we went and got something to eat, and he got a salad and all this kind of stuff, and I ordered a hamburger, you know, and he was like, dude, I haven't eating hamburger in ten years. I think someone like that because I do spend a lot of time and again, again, I don't know if I'm someone's mental healthy. I know it's not the healthiest food in the world.

But I grew up in that environment and and like I went from a four ten to uh at a twenty two to a twelve gauge to a thirty OT six. That was the big one for me when I when I finally But then I have friends that have never had any gun at all, and because they didn't grow up with them. It's this, it's a it's a TV thing, and where if you're if you're not right in the head and you want a TV thing, you want to

do TV things. And so I see my friends and are so piste off about what's happened with the guns. They're like, don't take that the guns. I grew up

with them. It's not even a thing to me. When uh my buddy Dallas Davidson, his wife is from Australia, and um, they had a kid a couple of years ago, and Luke Brown and I got together and said, you know, when she has the baby, was coming with a cool gift, you know, for Dallas, Dallas's baby, and um, the first our first thought was let's get him a gun, you know. And so I went down to this cool gun shot and bought a twenty two, like a nineteen seventy pistol,

nineteen seventy. And I think Luke got him shotgun. So he can't do any of this for twelve fifteen years. But but Dallas's mother in law was just because she's from Australia and I guess you can't have guns at all, and you know that's just not part of the culture. Like she was just almost mad. I also, how in the world could you think of buying my grands on a gun? And it's because the sides are so different that they can't agree on anything. That's the crazy part

to me. Well, when the as soon as you say gun control, it's over and the conversation is ever. I think we've got to have a way because I'm not into I mean this, this whole what's going on with these shootings and stuff. It's just it's just unthinkable how you feel about I hated the big right because I'm not a big fan of people having these rifles. I

don't think there's a need for so either. I mean, I've never had I've never owned anything but hunting, you know, bow and arrows and shotguns and uh and a dear you know, dear rifle. I've never owned the a r or anything uh like that. But we've got to have enough in form. Both sides have to have legit info to be able to have this discussion, because the first thing you think is I ain't taking my guns, and that's what all my friends think. They go, They're not

taking my guns. To them, it's a natural part of life. And so two people I have other friends that live in Boston, for example, they're not They're no, no, nothing about guns. And so again to them, they don't think anyone should have a gun because they haven't seen it be a tool of everyday living. And both sides create

their own information. And what's happening is nobody does anything in the middle because if you give, then you're giving, and we never come to any solutions because both sides are so freaking dug in when the real the reality of it is for me because I'm one of the few that we'll talk about this. What do you feel like gun control? I said, First of all, I don't say the words gun control. I'll say gun education, or gun anywhere you want to put insert. I don't say

control though, because that has such a connotation. But I say, let's imagine that I'm driving a truck down the road. Now. I had to get the sixteen and pass the test to drive a truck, so I went to Hunters D. I didn't did that in school. I did the things I needed to do to have a four ten or two. I said, but I can't just go from my truck to drive a bus without some sort of education improving that I know how to drive a bus. And I

felt the same way about freaking weapons. You shouldn't be able to get an a R unless you get the bus license. And that bus license might be military, it might be, but I don't think you should be able to go and buy freaking a art right. And we've gotta have more mental checks too. I mean, there's gotta be if if, if somebody, if you're a therapist or a doctor or whatever, and you know this person, something's missing.

You know with this person, I think you've got that information has got to be somewhere where gun stores and places can see that. I don't think they don't care. Gun shows happened, and I've been to gun show, and I'll admit I've been to many gun shows, especially when they're younger. When I was younger, they'd pop up Oliver, Arkansas,

so I would go. I didn't realize exactly how it was so every day did until you get away from it and you see others perspectives and you go, oh, I get white people can just walk up and just take a gun. Well, that's why the song Hunting Fishing, we were all scared of it. You know, we were like, this is really us. We're not lying about this song. There's not one. This was a song that we didn't go you know, maybe we should we should tone that

down or what. We didn't really say anything offensive in it, but it was just like Luke was, you know, like, this is me, this is us, this is what we grew up doing, this is our lifestyle. You know, I'm an artist and I want people to know how I grew up and that that was a big decision and how my boys, you know, how I raised my boys and stuff like that, and so Luke was like, uh, you know, boys, uh, this one might not make it.

You know. It went to number one, you know, but we really were thinking it might die fifteen or something. You know. I gotta tell you, I never I never heard any kickback on I didn't from my position a song that there was a lot of thought it into should we can, we will we? I never and I hear kick back about everything. Yeah, you know it's weird.

This song and Dirt on My Boots are the two songs that I get nothing but dude, I love that song from l A Riders and from people who don't who don't write songs that country, you know what I mean. They're like when that song came on, you wouldn't believe how many songwriters and tern were like, dude, hunting fishing this bomb man and Dirt on My Boots is freaking awesome. I was talking to Katy Perry because I'm doing Idol this season on the Mentor, and so she said, I

didn't know anything about Luke Brian. I just know that one song, Hunting Fishing that's what that was the one song she said she knew that Luke did. Was that because I heard this one song, I didn't even think it was real. She goes, it was like hunting and fishing and loving. So yeah, that's the one. Even her like,

that's the one. But I think that others are like when I hear when I hear a rap song or a rock song or whatever, I mean, why do people why did why did young seventeen year old English kids in the sixties decide that a sixty year old black man from Mississippi is what they wanted to listen to? They have nothing in common at all, but they heard it and they went, dude, that's real, you know what I mean? Talk about that specifically? Why did Keith and

Mick and Eric Clapton and Robert Planting. I mean, these kids have nothing to do with the South in America and they and they they built their career on on these songs. And I think, you know, when something's real, I think when I think, like, there's probably a lot of people out there that they don't like country music, but if they heard hunting fishing, they might not understand it, they might not agree with or whatever. They go that was real, man, you know what I mean, they didn't

they didn't fake that. I mean, you couldn't make that up. I think that's what draws people into other genres, you know. So um, I was proud of that song because we were really scared, you know that, that we weren't gonna be allowed to let the let those words be heard. But thank goodness it did. I mean, I gotta I'm obviously here to the whole library here, but man, you got a bunch of on I mean printing money. You got money factory at your house, and I don't spend

any of it. Are you pretty tight? I'm still drying well. I did buy a truck last year, but I still have my two thousand and eight for um. But I've type with you know, hunting me and stuff. But I didn't want to. I didn't really want to buy a new truck. The only reason I bought one is because I researched it for like three months until they got so tired of me that I think they sold it to me for ten thousand less than the sticker to get rid of us. This one. I was honestly surprised

it wasn't for song of the year. I really was. I thought it should have been It's hard to was a four week when what I heard it was four week number one, but it was. I think more people in America heard that song this year than than any other. The audience impressions were We're the biggest or body like a back road maybe was finished by the time this came out, because nothing beats that really an audience impressions, But I guess for two thousand and seventeen that song

was the biggest. That was another farm tour song. Wrote it in the back of the bus in two thousand fifteen on the day that the farm tour got rained out, So we were sitting like uh back hose, I mean uh bulldozers were literally pulling the buses out back backstage, and we just sat in the back of the bus and and wrote this, and um, I was a little

tired from the night before. I just put one pass down on the microphone and I told Kyle, the guy who was recording it, I said, UM, when we get back to Nashville, I'm gonna put a real vocal on that. You know, I'm gonna sing it really good and all that. Once again, as another thing, like Boys round Here where

it got pitched. I didn't want it to be pitched because I thought I sounded terrible on it, and um, Dustin loved it, and uh, when he went to sing it in the studio, he sang it, and the label and everybody were like, it's good, but it sounds too good, like we've fallen in love with the demo and Rhett's

lazy voice. Can you can you uns sing it? And so when he went in the studio to sing it, he laid on the couch while he's sang while he's sang this vocals to to make the annunciation be more lazy, and they just said, just don't care, just sing it, you know. So that's weird how what I think sucks other people like, and then sometimes what I like other people sucks. You just suck your stuff. Ross, we were talking about our friend Ross Copperman. One of my favorite

Ross quotes. Um, he's a songwriter producer in town, and um, I do the same thing with Ross, but hey, let me come back tomorrow and I'll re sing that or whatever, and uh, and Ross was like, when we started getting more cuts with my terrible vocal, what I thought was terrible. And I asked Ross and said, why do you think, Why do you think these people are cutting our songs

with my vocal is so bad? I said, Is that you think because I don't care and maybe I'm singing it just with more emotion and I don't care if it's in tune and this, and that you think they're like buying into my real natural singing voice better? And he got no, I just think they think it's bad and they can sing it better than you do. I was like, thanks, Ross, I thought I had. I thought I was pouring out in my heart and soul here,

but uh, I was talking to Ross. I was with Ross over the house his place before I came over here. I said, hey, you know, I don't I don't really know. We've we've met in passing a couple of times, very briefly. I don't really know him. He kind of looks like he beat me up, Like is he He's like, Oh, he's the nicest guy, dude, He's the nicest guy. You're gonna love him. I was like, he's funny. He is funny man. We we just make fun of even joke with him all the time. And he's fantastic writer. This

town is full of talent, man, I'm telling this. I don't know if there's any other city on earth with there's a much songwriting talent, especially capital in an area. Yeah, I know l A's full, Yeah, New York, London, all of you know, Austin, Texas. But there's there's something about about Nashville. It's like one big high school, you know what I mean? Good and bad. Yeah, It's like, you know, I heard something in this co write and then tomorrow I told what I heard. They singing edge. You know.

It's like going from English to history classes. You hear bradon Jenny broke up. You know what I mean. It's like rumors. No, you can't say anything and without the whole road know it in in thirty minutes, you know, But it's awesome. I'm gonna run through a few of these. He wrote this for Thomas Rrette with Thomas Ratty Change, Did you wake up? Change? I don't think I care. He texts me about that long a couple of weeks ago. Can we think about this song? I think I think

it's a great song because I think it works. It's like, yeah, of course it works. Yeah, that's a real one man. That's that. That was what he said. He said, is it too real? I said, you can't be too real, but there's not something it's too real. Yeah, he's a warrior man, just like you know they, I mean, all artists. It doesn't matter how successful I've I've I've been around the most successful people in cometry, music, and you know,

and got to know him really well. You know, on the fans think, God, they just got it together in their lives awesome and they don't worry about nothing. I was like, dude, you have no idea how much your hero worries. I wrote, I just metched my second book, and I wrote a whole thing about it. That where that doesn't matter how big the artist is. They're still reading the the negative think somebody says on Twitter and calling their other super famous friends, going, man is really

bumming me out. Humans are human deleted. He hadn't been on Instagram in forty days, you know, because he can't. He could have little. He gets five hundred thousand likes every picture he puts on there, and you know, twenty thousand comments or whatever. If nineteen thousand, nine hundred ninety nine said you're the greatest thing God ever created. And one dude says you ain't country. He's done. You know what I'm saying. It's like that's that's the one comment.

But I was like that too. It was like that one that one guy at the show that just wouldn't tap his foot, that was just staring at me, like you suck. You know. I thought about him the rest of the night instead of the other people that that like the show. And I just think that's created of people. These are our babies, you know what I mean. It's like, I mean, you're an artist, just like you write something, you play something, you do your show. When one person

calls in, it was like, dude, you're terrible. You know, you're not funny. Whatever, it does hang with you, it bothers you because this is your baby, you know. So, but it's cool that that that our biggest heroes in our favorite artists are just humans. Also, yeah, you don't grow out of having natural human feelings because they had Our heroes had them as they were in their less than mature stages of artistry. And they don't go away. If anything, they may get worse. And so man, let

me don't do the baby made you a couple of blocks. Aldine, Man, I get this guy? How about got your heads? I don't want let me ask you this. Are there any number ones that you just don't remember writing? No, because I'm um, well they all everybody calls me the you know, human jukebox or as rat. He knows you know what I mean. I don't know why that. My brain always just remembers songs and things. Um, I guess because I'm so amazed that we wrote something that worked. I do

remember pretty much every situation. That's one of the first songs we wrote with uh with Luke. We wrote that, guys in like two thousand nine or ten. What about writing with Thomas right? How is that? How is that dynamic? It's awesome, man, It's it's never we've been right. I could send you pictures of me and him, videos of him when he's eight years old and we're writing songs together.

We've always done it for fun. Never in a million years, you know, did we think we'd be doing it professionally together. But it's not weird at all. You would think, you know, we're writing a love songs. It seems weird, like, let's writ let's let's write a love song with your son or with my dad. I don't know what's weird, You're like, write love song my dad right now? You know what

I mean? But um, we're just buddies. I mean, I'm still his dad and I you know, and we still have that role where he's my son and I'm his dad. But but at the same time time we've grown to beat buddies also, you know, And so we can just sit in the room together and and and write anything and and uh, life changes was one of those where we just told the truth about his story. Yeah, you know, we wrote that in two thousands and tens. There's no

demo of it. He found it on YouTube. So he found what he found himself singing it at a radio station in two thousand and eleven. Yeah, and thought, oh,

I forgotten that song. And a lot of his fans had had searched all his YouTube videos and they found it that when you're gonna put Start of the Show out, you know, and so um, when they did the deluxe package on on his last album, um, he said, yeah that dad, this song has just been sitting around and all my fans here and they requested in my meet and greets and stuff, and he goes, let's do it.

So he thought, you know what, he thought it was too progressive, you know, like he that doesn't sound progressive. I mean it sounds a little pop, but it doesn't sound way out of the box. But in two thousand ten or eleven, gosh, that was that was like Bruno Mars or something. You know. Most nervous ever been by the song of my Life this one, because Thomas Shredd

had already had two singles out before this one. He had beer with Jesus and uh, something to do with my hands and they both went to about fifteen and um, he was worried the label. You know, it's like, we really got we need We've done good and we're happy with what we've done, but we need a smash. And um, I think I heard you played it the first time when you when you said, okay, guys, you know this is brand new one from Thomas hreett Like I almost

threw up not a lot Land. As soon as I'm bound out here, I was like, this is not a hit. It's not a hit. It's not a hit. I was like, I've ruined my son's career. He's done like, I was panicking when you played that song. At what point did you go cat we got it? When he played um. I went on the road with him and he played in Missouri at this little club called the Blue Note, and this song. I mean, I don't even think it was out of the thirties or whatever. It was probably

a six hundred seat college crowd. They went nuts as soon as as soon as they went those drums came on and the down down the crowd went nuts and sang every single word. And that's like, okay, you see the upcoming hit that, yeah, exactly, But that one worried me. I mean, I'm nervous. I'm nervous every time one of my singles comes out, but it was when it's on your with your kid, It's like, if it fails, then I you know, I ruined my son's life, you know.

I think about that with every artist. I mean, if if Luke puts a song out, I'm just like, gosh, Lord, please don't let this be the one that doesn't work. You know, I don't want to be the guy, you know that screwed Luke Luca. But it's very nerve wracking when it's your own kid. It's like watching him pitch in the World Series. You know, you can't watch it, but you have to watch it, and you're nervous of everything they're doing. Well, I've enjoyed you coming up with

the house. I appreciate that. Well. I think we're hanging out again coming up. I think we're going to this wrestling. Oh that's right, Yeah, we are. If you're going, Yeah, it's Mankind, Foley, Yeah, whichever the mini names. That's funny because we are going to do that. Speaking of wrestling, I don't even think about that. Yeah. Yeah, he's telling a story and it's like a at a comedy club.

But it's freaking Mick Foley, Mankind, Cactus Jack remember the cat Jack days when he was Captus Jack barely And I think I was out of us and by that point, you know, but I don't. I don't. He wasn't George, he wasn't huge. And the Southeast I don't think it's it's funny when you said that, you know, Georgia, what was because Mit South is where I was Georgia Championship Georgia because we had like Bob and Brad Armstrong. It

was mostly local Atlanta Wrestlers. But that's what turned into WWS and then Turner had it because it was in Atlanta. You know, TBS was in Atlanta, which turned it into the national just like the Braves. You mean, that's why the Braves were the America's favorite team because everybody got to see him. I tell I knew who Del Murphy was exactly he was. I was a huge Dale Murphy freak man. Saw M a direed Cubs fan, partially for the same reason because w g M was in everybody's house.

You go up in Arkansas, you don't have a team. And so my stepdad, with a huge Cubs fan because he got to watch them, pass it on to me. So the same thing. I watched the Braves because the Cups never play at night. This is still day game only because they have lights. So I watched the Cups of the daytime geting from school and I watched the Braves. Grandma got w g M two, so we watched them and like Bozo the Clown and Dude Bozo the Yeah,

the Great freaking Grand Prize Game. We thought the six Cups and I would have never seen it without cable TV. If you get number six, I know exactly what you're talking about. Well, let's I appreciate you coming by. I know you got some hit songs to go, right, but a good talking to you. And now when I see I'll be like, hey, yeah, remember me, it's Billy. I mean he came up with my house. Yeah. Welcome back next time. And by the way, check out Christian Bush's

podcast called geeking Out. Just search forward and we'll see you next time here on the podcast m