#127 - Brett Eldredge

When I post a picture and there are people like at a show of mine, it's exciting to me because people care, and I'm like, check it out, people actually care. It's to me a bit it's a bit self serving because I want to I'm just like, wow, I can't believe people care. But there's this picture you and you're kind of singing into the crowd and everybody has their phone. Everybody has their phone up. Yeah. It had a little bit of a double meaning, honestly, because it is amazing.

But then I'm sitting there also looking at like, oh my god, there's so many phones. I mean so many, I mean, and you can see how happy everybody is. But also I mean I was just I was looking at like old pictures in the crowd of like when people didn't used to have phones, and then I mean you just maybe somebody had like a little camera. But now it's just like that picture blew me away. What do you think about the phone thing? Some artists fighting like they really hate it. I'm I'm in the middle.

You know, it just depends if they're watching and filming. Are there film you know what I mean? Like some people literally watched through their screen and they're not even really watching the show. But to be Devil's advocate on that, if that's how they watch a show, isn't that how they watch a show? Yeah? Now, now I'm gonna totally contradict myself because we do two different things. You go out and you play music and you play songs that people knew. Now I go out and I'll give you

an example. I did two stand up shows this weekend. I don't let people record my show for the first of it because if my material gets out, it's dead dead. So there are no phones. And it's so hypocritical because I go, if you're a concert, record the whole show up, But for me, then I go, no bones. So I'm trying.

I literally I'm kind of the same way. I see both sides like part of me is like, I think it's awesome because then there's they're showing they're having a good time, and then their friends might want to come and have a good time and see it too. The other side is are they actually watching the show? Are just mad? Or if they're really watching this show? But do they even have to watch? Can they not watch with their ears experience? I'm like I said, I'm both

agree on both sides. I'm like, part of me they are there at least, you know, I think it's it's it is what it is at this point. Um, some artists will be like, you can't fight it. They're like, Kip hates it. Oh he hates it, he'll tell you right he But it's almost like when artists would fight downloads like you no, you know, or fighting streaming. Then it was fighting you can either get with it or have it leave you. And we have a picture of this up now. I mean, look at this every but

that's just the culture. What you're seeing in this picture is the culture right now. This one girl by the way, and we'll have a video up, but this one girl has a phone up but she has the cash in the back of her phone, like Oh yeah. I called her out on this balling with the cash right there. I told her that, I said, you don't drop that cash. She had like three twenties in the back of there. If I had three twenties, she's pretty young at that age,

I'd be like, I'll be living big right there. But look at again, something else and noticed in this picture. Look at all the females, Like, if I were a dude, let me just speak to the dudes that are watching this. Yeah, go to a Brett Eldredge show because there are a lot of females and Brett Eldredge show. Yeah. Look, you see there's some dudes with their way in the back. There's like we see the dudes are all three of them.

They stick out like short dolls. The guy's mouth wide open like and I was like, there's so many beautiful girls here. Look at that. That's it's wild though, I mean, like I said, it's it's it's I posted it because I love the photo. But also it's like this is literally where we are. You're right, this is this is the culture of it just is what it is. And and uh, I mean you can't really you could. I guess you can fight it. You can fight it, but

it's gonna be a punching the water. Eventually, the water always wins. You can be a mountain. Okay, good for you, mountain, but the water is eventually going to wear you down. And that's what fighting technology as an artist is. Like, you're just fighting the water. Can you hold it back a bit with a damn? Sure? But okay, see what a water does over ten tho years. But yeah, that's a pretty cool pictures. So what what is that picture from? That's uh, that's an iowa uh at at a at

a festival. I remember sending you a note and I don't you were somewhere in the Midwest, I believe, and you were playing a like an amphitheater and you were you were headlining, and I was watching you and I said, you know what I was like, man, And I would say, you and I are friendly. We don't not know each other, but we don't hang out. I don't hang out with anybody, but but but I feel like I was proud for

you because you were headlining a real life venue. And I said, you know what I was like, dude, I know any boys or anything, but a little bit of me like my heart's warm for you right now because I felt good for you. Well, uh, it is. It's it's a journey. I mean, you know, just like you're

not just like me. You you you fight so long to go, you know, speak or play in these little places for so long, and then and you're a lot of the time, I've been opening for somebody for so long, and and you play forty five minutes and don't getting wrong at those forty five minutes have been huge for me. But I waited a long time to get to the headline. Or people are gonna show up, I don't know, hopefully, and I know some are gonna show that a thing though,

because I go through it too. If I announced a tour, yeah, I go, I don't know if anybody's gonna come. And you're kind of embarrassed, and you're wondering if everybody else is gonna be embarrassed if you don't sell to oh,

I know, it's like an insecurity and yourself. You should probably yourself credit that knowing that there's a lot of people that love you, but at that point, you feel like no one knows the hell you are at that point, So, uh, it is a scary feeling and then you know, then you end up showing up in these people know every song and they're so passionate and and it's not just forty five minutes, it's an hour and twenty or hour and thirty of even the even the album cuts, even

the ones that you know no one ever hears live, and you get to play and you can tell those stories, and that's that's pretty special. You know, talk to me for a second, because a lot of artists, especially when you play a big place and you have the middle to late slot, you'll put these things in your ears whatever you're called monitor mirrors, you know, so you know when I use them too, But I'm not real. You know, when when my band plays, we're not real. You're real.

You're entertaining though, okay, but listen, we're not real. You're real. You're a real band. Really, But so that pretty much seals off the sound, right. So when you have when you have them both in what can you hear? Actually, it is one of my least favorite things about playing live and great things because you you you don't blow your voice out as much because you're not pushing as hard. Well I mean, but there's also artists Blake still sings

with just with wedges. Blake doesn't use yours, Is that right? Yeah? I didn't know that he's still uses wedges, and I was like, how do you do that? I kind of love those days because you cranked it the wedges and everything, and he hasn't like side fills and as he walks in the thrust, he's got to remember where Sometimes. I think that's awesome because you can hear the crowd. And he says that, Man, I just tried the years before and I took him out because I just couldn't do it.

I used to do the one year and that's terrible for your in. And what I started to do is I had him. I haven't put a crowd mics in as long as you have no fans singing into the crowd mics. I've been I'll be like singing a note and all of a sudden. Man, Also, I just totally lost the key that I was in because some fans slinging away up or something into the mic and then don't even really realize it. So that's the way you you can compat and you can also put little holes

in them. Um, I can't win with what they're called, and that will bring in some of it, but it is it is a tough battle because you can be in a really crazy loud crowd and not even realize how loud there because you got those ears in. I'm playing a little ignorant because I like to hear your perspective of it. But for me, it run my ears a bit to wear one ear because we were playing, you know, three nights a week sometimes and there'll be two three thousand people in our show, so I wanted

to hear the crowd. So I, okay, I'm gonna take one year, and well then I started to have some sort of odd balance issue where one year was really feeling it, one wasn't. And that's where all your balance is was vertigo comes from. So I'll get on the bus and I would be like, I feel like I was csick at times. So I go, okay, I'm done with this. So I put both ears in and we

put mikes in the crowd. But here's the problem, because I, again, I don't have the skill set that you have where I'm seeing, I can seeing in a rhythm that kind of thing. Um, the crowd is about probably a quarter of a second delay coming through, so I would start to hear them and it would totally bess me. And my point with this question is sometimes because I would be like, yeah, I don't know if the crowd is yelling back her eyes, I just have to assume they are.

I'm like, let me, Harry, they certainly have to be screaming, and they could all just be doing this with their mouth and actually making no noise, and I would feel like they were cheering because I really can't hear them because the seal them all. It's a it is a real it's a real thing that I think. I guess, I guess what I always have to think of the fans out there have no idea that that's going on here.

So you just, I mean, definitely the most insecure times when were you're on stage and you're hoping that everybody's gonna be going crazy and you don't you don't know what. Every crowd is different. Every crowd might be a little harder to work. Even you know, the biggest stars in the world, they're they're gonna notice some crowds that aren't as crazy as others, but you know that they're that you know you're up there for a reason, and you gotta scream it out, but it is. It is a

weird feeling. Sometimes you're like and and and it's It's been one of my biggest struggles as an artist with with the ears and I and as you know, you watch every award show, you watch every TV thing, you see somebody pulling ear out, you put one back there and pull the other one out because it is you want to be there, and that's what that is. When, which is my point of this, whenever you see someone pulling ear out, it's because they want to feel and

hear what's actually happening in the room. Maddie Poppy, who won American Idol this season, because I was on that show a bit and so we became friends that she wanted. I was talking to her about wearing ears for the first time because a lot of brand new to them, and I said, hey, you're gonna put these ears and it's gonna seal you off and it's gonna feel so weird at first. And she's like, yeah, what's so what happened?

And said, Well, you're gonna hear everything perfectly, all all the instruments, and you're gonna get to mix it how you want, you want more bass when we're drums. All of that, I said, but you're also gonna hear all the flaws and you're gonna think something's really going wrong whenever the crowd has no idea because they're getting really the macro they're getting from Afar and they're taking it

all in all together. You're gonna hear all the little bit puzzle pieces together your if your voice is a little tired, you're gonna hear that, and you're gonna you're gonna start thinking about that more. They're not gonna hear that near as much, and then you start I used to have a large problem with that. Have you do you feel like as you've gotten more success and we'll use success relative term, but you have six six, seven

and one six months like that? Do you feel like the more successful that you've become, the better you're getting just simply because of confidence? Oh? Yeah, yes and no. Here's a couple of reasons. Um. I think one. I think that that the headline tour is big for me because you know, when you don't feel like you're you know, I mean, like I said, I'll never put down my opening slots, but when you never when you always feel like it's not your fans, or at least all your fans.

You want to win them all over, but you have a little bit of I gotta always prove something. I always prove something. When you get your fans out there, you feel like you can really a hundred percent be you even more and you get more in a comfort spot, and so that feels awesome. Um. I've definitely gained more confidence. I've I've I've you know, to the years. I mean, I'm I'm kind of introverted, a lot of people don't

know that, but in ways I am. Um, but when I go up on stage, I've if I can get that energy, it' it's it's it's, it's it's fuel for me. I've had times where I have no voice, um, and I think there's no I'm gonna make it, and I the whole time before the show, I'm warming up and it's cracking. It's you know, when you start thinking about that more and more, and then you hear the crowd and there's something about it. If you got your crowd out there that can pull you through. Every time you

make it. Somehow it might not always sound the best, but you make it. I think that uh, well, the times I've ever ever struggled with the most or when I can't reach out and touch the crowd, like with the white chairs at festivals or whatever, which is sometimes tough. Um. And what that means is it's some festivals to p there'll be some white chairs, but the vps are so cool they don't want get there till late in the night, so they're not always there. So they're not always there.

So you're the first fifty yards, it's splitter, splatter people sitting in chairs or just white chairs because there might be twenty people behind those chairs. But then and so I used to really struggle with that, and it's still gonna be weird. I mean, even even if you're the headliners, sometimes they're not all there or whatever, and so that's

that's still a little strange. But I think definitely confidence is key, even in your voice, because if you feel a little bit uncomfident before you hit that stage, yo, you might you might put over comments sate on your voice and push harder in your worn out before you even get there. It's funny we were talking about kid with the phones and I've kip and I have a friendship that has grown over first fighting spot and then like, hey, we're both weird, introverted people, let's probably be on the

same team. We had. We had the same team talk at a coffee shop one morning. Our relationship has gotten actually really good since then. So I say this as a friend. But Kip and I were sitting and I think I do Kip does, I don't know. Probably you because you're an artist at heart. We have huge insecurity issues, like we may be these larger than life characters on stage behind the microphone, but really it all comes down to we're searching for some kind of love. Yeah, we're

in some place searching for some kind of love. And Kept and I were talking about watching a crowd and for me, if I'm doing stand up, I can't look at faces because if I see someone's face and they're not laughing, yeah, I go oh, I must be bombing. So I just look at four heads. I can't look at face, and kipt will go oh, I'll see someone not having a good time, and it'll throw me. It will completely throw me from doing a show. Do you will you look down and see people not feeling it,

and do you let that affect you. Oh yeah, I've had times where I really affected me. That my my thing that I've you know, you have certain fans that are almost always have fans that I know we're gonna be repeat fans, like for different shows, and if I know they're there, and if I'm feeling like if I see some people that I don't know if they're really totally into it kind of messes me up. I I

because I struggle with that for a while. Then I would start looking at my fans that are my die hard fans that are always there for me, and I see them singing the words and like, oh man, they care the care and so I tried it. That's how I've tried to figure out how to shift it, and that's helped me. But yeah, that's that is a that's a weird feeling because you're giving everything of yourself and you know and somebody you want every single person to

feel as passionate about it as you are. And the truth is this, it is never gonna be No, there's never been an artist I can do that. And I do feel it's a bit unfair for us as people. If I want a stage performing to judge people based on just their outward reactions. Because if I'm comparing myself or yourself, we're watching a movie, and let's they were

watching the same movie. We may react absolutely different to watch an old school I may be laughing out loud, you may be enjoying it the same amount, but laughing in a different way inside. But that doesn't mean somebody's not enjoying it as much as the other person. But when we step away were it's so easy for us.

You can't disconnect from that in a show. But we just feel like, oh, I haven't thought about that, and that's that's really good to talk about that because it's a it's the hardest thing to explain to anybody, and there's so many people that get And I mean, I've I've never really talked about this, but I used to get nervous about I used to be I'm a I've born a warrior, like worried anxiety all that and I and so I used to I was never afraid to go on stage. I'm not like I'd love to perform.

I'm actually the most comfortable during that a lot of time. But before it, I was like if I was worn out, I'm a terrible sleep. I would used to be a real bad sleeping and all this stuff, and so I had this little period where I was not sleeping much, and then I would I'll get to the point where I's about to go on stage and I would get short of breath. I thought I was gonna pass out. I have because I was thought, Okay, I'm gonna I'm

gonna fail in front all these people. I'm gonna pass out or something, which you know, you're not gonna dive from passing out in front everybody, and I'm probably not gonna pass out, but I was telling my off that. So it's learned that. So I had all these these things and all these things because you're about to go give all yourself and you don't want to see yourself fail.

And I don't have that anymore. Really, I mean, you still have some days you're like, God, I'm so tired of because you know, sometimes you're headlining at festival or show at eleven o'clock at night, or wake up at seven o'clock, so you have the whole day to think about a show, and I've had to try to figure out ways to keep your mind busy. You're here for a reason, You're you're playing this show because people are coming here to love you. But it is it's a

complete mind game as performer, he gives. You know, it's a major sacrifice throughout that all day to be up there for an hour and a half and you and you have to get your mind right to that that point of the show. You know, athlete even you know, it's a lot of downtime ninety minutes to perform, and it all is inside that ninety minutes. And then if you don't, you got a lot of game tape to watch the next time, and you're gonna think about it. You can't not think about it, you know. Let me

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otherwise miss. Go to LifeLock dot com or called one LifeLock and use the promo code bones for an extra ten percent off for your first year. That's the promo code bones for an extra ten percent off. Alright, So you talk about sleeping. I have. I've had real bad issues with sleeping, and a lot of mine comes from a mild PTSD stuff. I got jumped and robbed a gunpoint stuff like that. You know, Uh, anxiety issues from that work. What's your issue with sleeping? What was it? Anxiety?

Just just worrying about what? Do you know? Dumb stuff? I mean, you know, I thought, honestly, I so, I mean, I I tried everything. I mean, I would try a medication, I would try whatever it was um to try to get sleep. Never like a problem with it. I would just you know, I try to figure it out. Just stay sick. I stayed sick, constantly run down. It wasn't getting and if if you feel like you're never going

to get out of it. And it's not like I still don't have bad nights sleep and I sleep great last night, but it doesn't mean like you know, if you tell yourself you're not gonna you're not a good sleeper, You're not gonna be a good sleeper, you know what I mean. Like a lot of the time I think where you close your eyes and you go fall asleep. Right now, I get five yeah, and then then then another hour goes by, and then I got this seconds. So I tried the I tried and under presents for

a while. I tried um u xan X, the pras Lin for a while. I've tried. I've tried everything but smoking weed. And I I was talking to a friend even today because I've I've never drink our cahol or smoke weed. But I want to do both. But I just know I would do all the both, Like if I started, I would just do it and I wouldn't stablished me, Like I'll take that and I'll have all of that and go ahead and give me the rest of all of that. That's just how I lived my

life and everything. But I went to the dentist today just to get a fix. They put a temporary on and they gave me the laughing gas. I got so high, and that I don't. I don't relax that have a troll of trouble relaxing in general. I got so high. I became so relaxed. I started to have these really deep emotional sharing within myself thoughts, and I'm like, man, if this is what it's like to get high, I gotta do this. And and I felt like I could go to sleep or I could stay awake. I just

felt great. So I'm talking to her friend and she was like, you should try the gummies. But I hear a Snoop dogg to talk about this stuff and he's like, don't eat it. He's like, you can't control it if you If you eat, you can't control it. Man. I just don't like. There's too many there's too many bad eating. I don't. I don't like this. Smoking anything seems like it would just be pain on the lawn. I don't a cigarette. I've actually never spared a cigarette. That's that

that heat going into them. I don't like I don't drin coffee, yeah, because I mean I've tasted coffee once. I'm not against coffee. It's not a moral thing. Church of coffee you have is she's with sleeping. But it also sounds like when you talk that have you been a therapy because you sound like, okay, I can because again I'm just looking at I'm not. I'm very and I'm I've just recently started becoming very open with it because I mean, I feel like everybody should go to therapy, honestly.

I mean it's it's for me too. And it's not like you're not crazy, you're not whatever. We all have anxieties, we all have worries, we all have I mean, it's human, the most human thing we were. This is how we're built. And for me, it got to a place where I was like, I'm not I'm really good at covering that up. And I wasn't like depressed or like major, and I was just always worried about stuff and it totally throws your body out of whack, and so I was I was like, I'm I'm tired of in this. So I

actually got into mindfulness. So meditating really helped me a lot be able to do that. I have trouble. It's hard. I have trouble. It's hard. I mean I've been doing for like a year and a half transidental like what kind of meditation, just like mostly just sided Like so I did the apps, So I did I started with headspace about that. I've done the sleep app. I haven't done any meditation. Head Space is great. It just kind of walks you through. It's not like one of those

things you're feeling very sleepy or you know whatever. It's very much like all right, um not take your now now you might feel yourself your mind wandering and having all these thoughts throughout the day or whatever. I'll take it back to the breath and so you you switch your focus back to the breath and you and you just focus on your breath. It's pretty much just training your brain to see thoughts is just thoughts, because we have thousands of thoughts every day, all of them, almost

all of them are crap. They're just worthless, you know what I mean. And you can tell have studied a lot of this, but it is the truth. We have so many thoughts. So I think the most of that it's taught me is to not sweat that stup as much. Not that I don't still, I mean you still. You never get rid of things out. You just have a different relationship with and I think through a lot of different things, I've I've got a different relationship with it.

And I used to not be able to enjoy tour and all that kind of stuff in here as much because you'd always be worrying about worrying about feeling this way. Then you're feeling more that way, and it's like it doesn't have to be that way. And so I think now to more I've got uh And I mean this is really of most of the when I've ever really talked about it, but I've got way more. I want to help other people realize that happens to everybody. It's not a big deal. It sucks, but it's real and

you can you can get through that. So you know why it sucks? Is it not enough people talk about it? I know I grew up like you in a really small town. Therapy wasn't a thing. It was more like you gotta pay the bills, so therapy doesn't matter. You know, when you're trying to buy man, which there's not money for therapy or even to know that mental illness is like a real life thing. And I'm not even my mental illness. I'm just talking about any sort of therapy

like it. Just so I remember going and I was like, this is not my insurance. I can actually go talk to someone, And it was talking to someone who did not have a bias that would call call you not only on your crap, but also tell you when things were good, so you could trust both. And we're both in a position to where we're in a creative space where if we're doing well, there are a lot of people tell us how cool we are, and it's it gets harder and harder to separate. I wrote my new

book that came out this week. I have a whole thing about trusting a certain few people that will tell you suck. But everybody will tell you suck. But if you find the people that you trust to tell you suck, whenever they tell you that you do really good, you can believe them. And that's the hardest thing. It's not hard to find somebody to tell you suck. Trust me. All. I gotta go to Facebook right now, and I got a thousand people telling me and we naturally search for

that stuff too. It falls right in our lap and we can stare at it and people are loving us all around us, but we're looking at this little angry monster. Were like, what's up? You can glad you came to see me. But if you find someone that can say, hey, I don't know about that. But then when they do say, oh, I do know about this, you trust that good because they're able to tell you whenever they feel it's not good. I found that with therapy. Then I've started to be

able to find it with friends. But I had to find it with me first before it was anything else. I had to go in and trust the process of bit a little, only a little, trust that it was the process. But therapy changed me. And listen, I'm still in my thirties, I'm single, i'n't married, I've got no kids. Like I'm I struggle with relationships and trust I do, yeah, and bridges raise his hand too. But for me, it showed me that I'm struggling. Before I just didn't know.

I can like, what's the problem, Why why am I? But now I see there's a struggle in the first and best way to talk about this. And as you were saying these words, the words that I hear all the time because I read about it and I go to therapy, I'm like, oh, he's had some sort of self reflection in some way, and I like that, and I commend you for that. Yeah, well, the same here.

And I think I think it's it's up to you know, each of us to try to get everybody to look at that and just say you're not crazy for going to get help from orders, telling or even going to a friend or whatever. I mean, does it happen to normal?

You're normal to have this stuff, totally normal, I mean, but nobody talks about it, so then you feel isolated and alone when you're feeling these well, I'm the only person that hasn't feel like No, try hun of millions of people nobody's post on Instagram, so I can't be real. Yeah that's because they know that. Yeah exactly. And I you know, I think it's easy to focus on all those things and and so I got into the gratitude stuff.

I don't know if you get into that at all, but that's also helped me of, you know, instead of focusing on the things, all the the bad things that you see or whatever. I've got into the gratitude journals and stuff like that, so I would Yeah, So I went trying to share that a lot, because not only that also has I also hold myself accountable to try to keep up with that. But so I got this.

I got this journal called the five Minute Journal. Um. I've done it in different ways, but I like this one, and it's I've got tons of people to get it. Just just said this is a good one to try out. It's not like I'm sponsored by five minute Journal thing, but I just I like it. You you start your day. I read a lot of self help books. I try a lot of different things, but this one. You start your day, you name three things that would be um, there would be uh, well we'll make to get today great.

So I'll be like, Okay, um, I want to I want to help a stranger today or whatever, you know what I mean. Or I want to I want to have a great talk about Bobby today at at the on the podcast. Whatever it is. Certain things that set your day where you might be worried or something that you're gonna put yourself out there or whatever it is, or you might go outside your comfort zone or whatever it is, push yourself to go and doing certain things. And and and also say, okay, what great happened today?

And you say, you know, I got I talked to my brother for an hour on the phone, or I called to a friend and tad to him or or someone, Uh, send me a message, is said. This really helped me through. This song really helped me through my life. Whatever it is, the simple things that you don't always focus on. You focus on the things that are bad. And that's really started to help me too. So a lot of these things altogether, I guess, Yeah, therapy, all those different things.

It's it's it's a battle. You're gained like little per cents, you know, over weeks the stock market. Yeah, and and it's funny talk about that. And listen, I can talk about this all day because you're in my zone. Like I felt like this is the spot I can just go. But we only have so much real estate up here time. First of all, in the day and then in just

our thoughts. We have so much real estate. And if we're investing that real estate into a positive X, that means there's less time for a negative Why to get in there. That doesn't mean why it's not knocking on the door. It doesn't mean why he's not gonna come in and have dinner occasionally. But the more and you talk about your journal, the more you can focus on those positive X is that just mathematically is the less

times the negative why can get in there? And so, yeah, maybe did you post that today, the five minute journal in your institution. I've been posting almost every day. I just story, Yeah, that's when you said five minute journalist.

I just saw that. I felt like from watching your in'st a story though, that I know you better than I do, which is weird, and I think we probably all have someone like that that we follow, and I think that's why I was compelled to reach out to you and go, hey, dude, I'm really proud for you. I know we probably hung out like an hour and a half in our life, but like, I was really happy to see that show and I could tell in your eyeballs that you appreciated that use your headlining show.

And it wasn't like Iowa, Michigan or wherever that show. But I watched these as of stories and you're one of them. Where I go Mike I gotta know him. Yeah, do I really maybe more than I did, But yeah, I think you do a good job at effectively putting across your message. So I trying to do honestly, Like I mean, even like I said, I'm sharing more now than I probably ever have even right now. But for me, it's just uh, yeah, I think I think if you really, I want to show more in social media and all

that stuff. And I've always kind of been my you know, goofing off self and stuff, but I also got the serious side too, and and and I'm trying to show just how you know, ridiculously fawt I am, and and trying not to just show all the great stuff, you know, And I think that's what we do as a culture. We show a lot of the great stuff, and you still want to show some of the great stuff because it really is great, you know. But also you know,

I think that it's helped. It's helping me to definitely even right now, to talk about it more and to and and knowing that we you know, hopefully this conversation we're having right now people can someone who can be like, oh well, I thought I was only one and there is because I feel like with us. Here there's an empathy, not a sympathy. There's an empathy and there's a difference and and you're absolutely right here. So here's something that happened to me. So I go and not to harp

on this thing. But I write this first book like two and a half years ago, and I think to myself, no one's gonna understand because my stories that come from a town of seven hundred. Um, my mom was a drug addic and alcoholic. She had me when she was sixteen. She died in her forties from drugs and alcohol. I never knew my dad. But I'm talking about my mom and I'm writing about these stories. And I'm not embarrassed in my story because I'm proud of where I come from.

And I think I'm stronger because of the struggle that I I've been through and I think now I'm at the point where I can help people because of that. But I'm writing these stories and I'm talking about some of the real dark times when I was dealing with addiction with my mom, and and I'm going people are a gonna not care or be just I'm gonna be the big sympathy bear. And I don't want to be that, but I would. I'll tell you, but I would go and I would because I meet everybody at my shows.

There'll be to tell people that three I'll meet everyone of them if they want to hang around, and they would come up. And it wasn't the crazy stories or getting fine a million dollars or the It was it was the hey, do you know what I actually related to? And it was the most personal, deep stuff about that I thought no one would understand. They weren't feeling sorry

for me. They were actually empathizing with me. And that's for me when I shifted a bit of my narrative of oh, I'm telling people this not so they feel towards me, but with me, and they can fill with other people. So if you talk about this, and I can tell it's new for you to talk about, take it from me because I've been at after about five years, like really getting down it really does help people. And

you'll think at times you're yelling in a cave. You know, I don't know if hebody's hearing this, But then you'll be somewhere in Modesto, California, and someone will come up to you and go, I just went to this with my my brother or my mom. And because of your story, it helped me and you go, that's why I did it well. And everybody sees yeah, everybody sees that person on the screen. They see you, and I mean and not that that isn't you where there's so much more that.

But you gotta try to live up to being yeah, the stoic guy in this photo or whatever, and uh, you know what I mean. And I like to be that guy, but I like to be the guy that was goofing off on the side over there or you know, maybe it was you know, freaking out moments before that was. And I wasn't on that photo shop, but there probably was on you know whatever. I'm easily pretty laid back, did anything professional. I'm always but you know, you bought

all those things up. You get worried about things that you don't tell anybody, then you're just gonna get worse. And then it's it's really kind of hitting it head on. It's really helped helped me with that at transparency to also connects so hard. Even when we use the word flaws, but it's more so instead of a flaw, it's more of a normalcy you know, I think we have to say it as a flaw because I do it to it like I'm super flawed. But you know what, I'm

just super normal. And I think if we start and I'm going to I just I just fish your self help book are writing one, So I'm like, I'm totally in the head zone right now, and I've been studying it for such a long time. I think it's even how we address these things and just talking about them and in places where you go, oh man, I'm really putting myself. You're actually just being normal. That's the being vulnerable is actually being freaking normal, which is crazy. Anyway.

I know we didn't come in and talk about this, but um, I like it that. I like where you're going because you're gonna help people and it's gonna feel weird sometimes, but you're really going to help people because I've been able to the most important the whole reason for my existence is for me to build a platform to help people. Like That's what I feel now at this point in my career. That's it. Like I have swimpool now, that's cool, but you know what, I get

to help people. Yeah, Yeah, it's way freaking cooler. Let me talk about sleep number for one second. So if you've spend any time listening to me jibber jabber, you probably have heard me talk about sleep number and how my sleep number bed has improved my sleep quality. Yes, so, yes, it's true. My sleep number setting is a thirty. That's right. Maybe you've considered a sleep number bed and thought to yourself, I don't know if I can afford this, but can

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near you. Okay, so you go out. Let's shift to the music for a second. You go out, what song is it? When you hit it early, like first couple of notes, the crowds like jam like immediately, Um, I go, uh. I think people I play you don't ship pretty early,

and I think that's that. Probably it is. Probably it's probably that was in two thousand thirteen as my first number one and it but I feel like it's almost has a bit of It's not like it's a class older or anything, but there's a little bit of nostalgia, like the kids that were listening to that in high school now in the crowd, and that they were in high school then and now they're a little bit older, and that it kind of takes them back to that

summer when they were listening to song. Whatever it is, that song always puts people in a great mood for a show. So I played early and uh, but they go oh yeah yeah and it You know, I wrote this song Christa Stefano and actually Gorlean we sang the vote. I wrote it in this little building on on music road, and it's I think it's been flattened now it's total um. But just Stephano just got to town. I think he

just moved here. And and uh Gorlian I've been singing demos for him for years and of course he was having hits then, always had eight hundred number ones or whatever. But I did the vocal in the room. But that day the first time I've ever done that. But it was so real and it was and we just nailed it, like right there. We had that track, we had that song, um, and we just knew that this was something that could kind of get me out there because I had Raymond

was my first one. Um, it was about my grandmother had Alzheimer's. That went to number twenty three, which isn't terrible, but it's not gonna get you to a crazy place. Um. Then I had my second song it's called it Ain't Gotta Be Love and never even charted. I don't think. So you put out Raymond then and it gotta be love. I don't know it ain't gotta be loved. No one does.

I don't think it's even online. Oh really yep, Um, so that's gotta be a downer though, right, Like, you put out a song, it doesn't go number one, but it's your first song and it does make the top thirty. So you're feeling yeah, and you're feeling like, okay, like I'm in the game. Okay, I might not have one that round, but I'm in the but I'm in the game. But then you put out a second one and it can't takes you back to earth. Huh. Yeah. When I

was spo Josh Zito, it just moved to Nashville. I was his first signing it and uh, I think it was Oh Night. He runs the Warner Brothers record, by the way, Yes, so I think everybody. Uh he he runs the Winner, and he just got the town. He had. He came from New York, you know, totally no natural experience, but a great music guy and a very smart music business guy. It shows up to town and and uh we hit it off right away, and he just I

was his first signing. So we've always had this kind of family, um, you know, like we've been in this battle together from the beginning. And so he stuck with me. Somewhartists get two singles and they're gone. You know, he

stuck with me. And then then I got I got almost pissed, not at anybody, but mad that I was doing something wrong or something, because you know, my if you sign a record and you're like, oh, I want my first song to be number one, and then it's gonna take off and I'm gonna be huge right away overnight. You know, that's what you think when because you're green

at that point, you're just a new artist. No one has any reason to know you yet, but you think everybody should know or do you want everyone to know that theyre think that you're great or whatever, you know, because that's what you've been striving for. So I put those two songs out. He sticks with me. Then I get kind of man, I was back then, I was out of shape. I mean, I look more like a like a like a bigger tight end or something. You know. I was a little bit athletic, but there was a

little yeah, I was. I was. I was chubbier and and and I was I would just was. I didn't look like I cared as much, you know, And so I was like, all right, I'm gonna take all the nose um And I was having fun and everything. I just you know, I could have been healthier, and I could have been I could have been working harder or something. I'm always a perfectionist. That's part of my reason why, you know, I've always worked about stuff because I'm always

wanting to be the best of myself. Not really, it's more like an inner competition with myself. So I'm like, all right, I'm gonna turn all the nose into yeses. So if somebody says uh, and no one really said, hey, you're you could be in better shape and your style could be better, but that's that could be it. So I'm gonna go getting I got. I went and got in good shape, and I and I try to no no one said that, really no one did, but I.

But I just gott so driven. It's like I don't want to get this close to making it and never know what it's like to So the main thing, but even beyond all that, it probably could have worked without that. The main thing that worked for me was I just I got so driven to right as many songs that I could really connect with. And that's when I just got I started writing like two songs a day. And that doesn't always work because then you're just writing songs. But I was so driven in a way that is,

I want to be heard. I want to I want to get some songs of connect with people. So I started writing with people that I didn't usually write with, and uh, kind of outside my comfort group of writing. And I started making these connections with people, and I started writing really special songs, like I wrote, uh, be the music, don't you mean to meet? Several of those songs within a pretty like a six month period once.

I really just kind of drove, and then I just started going and going and and uh yeah, this kind of started hitting. I was playing a songwriters round and they bring me into kind of be you know. I played some DOPEI songs and do some jokes. You know. It's and I get to play, luckily some pretty heavy songwriter rounds because you were like, oh it's b um, but I know my place too, and I tell some jokes. Bay a minute a half. But I was playing with Heather Morgan and she and you guys have written and

so what have you guys done together? Piece of the music. Lose my mind? Uh, he's the music, there's my mind and my single right now? I loves them? Is that right? She played bet to the music. Yeah, and she was talking about you. That's three songs. So is she and that Brett Elders camp? We have camps. Here is she in the camp? Like if it's like we have some of new project, we're gonna start writing for it? Do

you call Heather? Heather Morgan has more songs on my record than any other writer on my new record, she had five songs. So how did you guys get to be you? Two? Though? Like this this team that writes you? Um? Ross and Heather and I we couser songwriter. We who I wrote. We wrote all the songs that we wrote with Heather. I've been singles together, Mum is she? She and Heather Ross and I. We were all kind of coming up together, uh A songwriters. I remember we're there's

an ask Cap Awards. One night. We didn't get to go to ask Cap Awards. We thought we'd get to go to the Atro party. We were all I don't know, we all had publishing deals or not. I think I just got it, maybe a publishing deal. I was working on it and they were working on it, um and we we didn't. We got kicked out of the after party because we weren't were on a list or you know. Yeah, so we went over and we threw up. We didn't throw a party. We just went into the publisher that

I was just signing with. They had this old, kind of dated kitchen which is now shock to Yoga. Yeah it was. It was old Famous Publishing and then it became a couple other companies. But anyways, we went in there and they had like a old bottle of tequila.

And back then, you know, I was just like twenty early twenties, um, and so we had like there was a bottle, old bottle of quila and had the worm in the bottom, you know, we were, And so we went there and had a couple of drinks of that really cheap, crappy tequila, talked about how we wish we were at that party, but at least we're doing this, and then we just kind of bonded and the next thing, you know, we started writing eventually, and it at we

just kind of had that connection of knowing somebody when they were at the very not very bottom, but at the early stages when they didn't have anything, and known and sharing that same thing with that person is is the most powerful thing to make you inspired to get success with that person and and celebrate together like the freshman class going together and you made not you listen, you're not in kindergarten. I mean, you're in a freaking

ninth grade or you're a freshman in college. But then you're about to go to this whole new world together. And now, just for reference for people listening to this, Heather's got multiple Number one's great singer too. By the way, Ross Copperman went Songwriter of the Year last year, maybe two years. Yeah, So I mean, and here you are

with all these number ones. I mean, so you're talking about in this five year period or so, you go from you can't even get in the afterparty much less than the awards get the afterparty to all three of you guys actually come into some sort of ascension there. And that's pretty cool when you can do it together and you can actually at times ride each other up

and help each other. Because what I realized through working with my friends, because I've hired all my friends, my whole show and just my friends, and they're all fantastic people, which is why they're so good at what they do. But there are times when I'm struggling and I can grab Amy and she'll just take me right up with her, or if or if you know Eddie struggling, we take each other up. And it's cool to have those people.

And that's what it's about. You started to think for a minutes about trophies and about number one, but then once you go, huh, like what is this really? It's like when the circus leaves town and it's all gone and all it's slept is you know, streamers and trash everything, who's still there standing next gen? You know what I mean? Like, that's that's the most powerful the So you have this second song and it bombs out, and that was then when I got the warner. Are you done in your mind? No? No, no,

you know I was. I was far from done, you know at that point. Some would say yeah, but I I just felt, you know, And I will say that I had a lot of great you know, like my manager, he was my attorney. He left his management gig too two uh to manage me. He left his attorney gig to manage me and just dropped all of that and just take a bet on me. My day day manager came from Atlantic the Record decided to come work with me. My parents and my brother moved to town. Um, my

brother's my business manager. Back then, he wasn't my business manager. He was just helping you, my business manager with me, and like all these different things, all these people came around and we're supporting me. Um and and so I was. I was just like, I just need some time to get this right. And like I said, you know, some artists don't get that much time. And it's like it was a really long time, but I needed a minute

of like, hey, don't don't give up on me. Just just watch what I'm gonna do kind of thing, you know, and people that that know I've got more in And you still need those people, you know, a hundred number ones or whatever it is, or or all the success and all these things, you still need those people pushing you and and being there for you when you reach certain accolades. Otherwise you know you're gonna stop. What do

you think about Nashville? What do I think about it? Um, it's different from what I mean, I've been here for I was here, oh six. So I got here. I was going to empty. I transferred from Elmhurst College UM in Chicago, and I got and I went to Mt s U and then I would drive back and worth to Nashville every single day from Murphy's borro every day. That's like a depending on traffic depends, would be an hour forty minutes to an hour, just depends on the day. So what I would do is I go to class

um and I would go. I was like, I'm gonna I'm gonna finish. When I started, I'm moving to Nashville to be a musician, to be a singer. Even before a songwriter, I was gonna be a singer. I didn't even know how to write songs, right, So I moved. I'm gonna move to Nashville. I'm gonna be a singer, but I'm gonna finish school, got two years left. I'm gonna do all this. So I go. I drive to Nashville to sleep on her friends couch. I would take guitar lessons or I would write with random people um,

and then I drive back. I go to class and I would I started getting this relationship with the teachers that they were I'd be like, I really want to do well in class, but up my what my dream

is to be a singer. So I would literally bring in demos and playing like almost all my teachers were very supportive of my music to the point where, like they knew, they would stay after class and help me if I wasn't getting something, because I knew I was putting a lot of time on that, but I really cared about getting the class, getting through the class, and I went and sang it like one of my teachers, what was it like morning, I don't know what it was like, almost like a church group or I don't

remember what you call kawanas whatever, one of those things I developed with the relations to these people because they really cared, which is great. You don't have teachers like that, and I'm such a supporter of education and teachers. But they stuck with me, and so I when I was supposed So eventually I got a publishing deal before right

before I graduated to write songs. I learned kind of about songwriting within a couple of years, and then I signed a publishing deal right before I was supposed to walk in graduation. I was playing at q West that songwriter festival when I was supposed to be walking, So it kind of just from that moment I was in it. I've never I still have those dreams all the time. That I didn't finish college because I didn't have closure

on the fact that I didn't. You know, you know that I feel like like even with high school or whatever it is, I get those dreams all the time that I that I didn't study for this chiantest, I'm about to fail or whatever. Well I got my I got my di poema somewhere. I still have no idea what it is. You should probably hang it up next to my awards because that's just as important. But even if I don't ever use it, at least I finished it.

But then I that's not a publishing deal. Grinded around and yeah that like I love I still love Nashville. It's just so different from what it was then. I mean, do you learn, for one, the music business side. You learned so much more about the music business. But then it's like seeing Disney World, and do be wrong. I still love the music business. I love. There's certain things I don't love about it. Obviously, there's all of us don't love all the aspects about it. But you know,

it's like seeing Disney World. And then then when you really dive into the music business, you see all the all the things behind the curtains and all that. You know that you with that his head. Yeah, yeah, oh yeah, this is what so you grow up pretty quick in that. And uh then I and this town has been amazing for me. It's just it's just it's for one, it's grown that crazy. It's different, but I think it's still it's still got, you know, some of the still it's

still got the community that it's it's different. You know, we don't we don't go in and record demo sessions the same way we used to. Everything is always going to change, no matter what line of business, the way things are done, it has changed. As long as you're good with adapting with from that. They might take a minute to get used to that change, but you're used. Yeah that was not that. I mean, it's it sounds

like I was two hundred years ago. But when I first started, you didn't see that many phones back when I was first record two thousand and ten the Pony Express. Ye. So but I still there's still a magic in in in Nashville. And uh, I still you know, look at the the city skyline and thing, this is a this is a magic place. And I and I still see myself as a kid driving through here, going to Destin, Florida on vacation, seeing do you know the Batman Tower

and thinking how cool? And that's music city. That's that's what I'm you know, I'm a I'm a music kid. You know that That like and capsulates who I am in some way. I don't even know what. I've never even gone down Broadway, but I see that and I think there's something magic about it. Then you get and you eventually get to see it and and uh, it's gone pretty well. Yeah, it has gone pretty well. Let's run through a list of these songs real quick. So let's see. Let's up first, Why don't we hit a

little Raymond that we mentioned earlier. Here's the first thing here is don't you? Because I can see you a little closer closer, girl, I gotta get to get to know you, know you everything a batch it makes me, won't you? Won't you know what you're doing? Baby? Don't sit, don't ship be to the music right here? That song you know that you mean to me? And then he jam after jam you like you know this song? Dam

I remember when you came in by this song. He came into the studio and it was a first, I think we've premared on the show, and I was like, man, that song is a freaking jam. I remember coming in and playing part you. I remember you saying that you were I won't compliment something if I don't really feel great about I'll go, hey, how about that? Like look at you? How about that you made a new song,

But I won't. Yeah, look that music thing you do put this song to me was such a jam when you brought it in that it's this one's really fun to play live. People literally lose their mind just because it's kind of a really bottled up energy that it's so fun to play live, drunk on your love drunk. I'm good at singing this one. This long Yeah, I want to be that song. I want to song. 're talking about this The Long Way Here. Of all of your songs, this was my favorite, just pure song like

it made me feel something. And this wasn't number one song, but it's funny how this happens, and this is my this one is my favorite, The long Way right here me? Did you write this one? Okay? You're you're saying these words and I'm going, good, God, Like, this is how I feel. This is how I feel that I want to feel one day. That's that's the first pective I write. It's how I feel that I want to feel. And you're singing this and I'm going, oh, I understand the

words he's singing. That doesn't happen to me with a lot of songs. But when I heard this song, I go, oh, I want to feel like that's exactly how I feel I want to feel. And I know it didn't hit number one, but at this point, who cares, right, But I'm just letting you know. As a songwriter, it's hard to really touch. There's only been in a couple of songs in my life where I go, oh, I get I get that, not not just sing along, but I kind of feel it like in your your ribs. This

was one of them, man Like, it really was. And you know where you'll end up hearing all the songs all the time, so yeah, you know. And I think that you hit it on the head of yet even if you're not feeling that, you want to feel that. I mean, everybody has that longing for a connection. Love that. And yeah, I'm a single guy too, and and and

that's how I write loves. I Think I'm Home was kind of scared when I actually do fall in love, Like will my love songs be is good because I write from a standpoint of this is how I feel love, how I picture and how magic it can be. And I know it can be magic. I mean I know it's I know it's a real thing. But how when I'm writing a love song, I'm I'm describing, you know what I what I feel like. I would love to

have much with the long way. It's you know, I want to get to note, yeah, the heart of a person and in a more depth way of of seeing all the stuff that you know somebody might not ask him about and you want to want to get to know. Does that make sense? Like there's a to me I out here and I go, oh that it's not what I it's what I want to want. But that song, like, that's one of the few over the last five or six years in my little run here where I go, oh,

man like that kind but I feel that one. So if there was a b c M, like a Bobby Country Music award you that that that was a good one. The love someone here's this song right here's doing? I think, yeah bad? Just put it out O what's that tell me about this one. Yeah, you know I wrote this with Ross and Heather, which we have a way of writing.

I think are kind of our wheelhouse is writing these feel good kind of songs like this to be the music you know, Uh, there's my mind, but this kind of d be the music, kind of van kind of song where it's it just feels good. Uh. You know, I came off I want to be that song into the long way, and I felt like I want to

the right song for the moment. It was this, you know, when I when we were cutting this album, I knew I wanted to get this song out, um because I, for one, I love to I love certain songs that just feel great when you sing him live. And I love songs what you turn it on you don't have to think about too much. You just know that's gonna make your smile, it's gonna make you feel good. And and I think feel good connects with a lot of people, especially when it has some when it has heart to it.

I feel like this one has heart to it. You don't have to think about a lot. And I just I just I woke up one morning. I literally, um, I woke up and it's like, hey, Alexa, play Love Someone. I was trying to pick pick a single, which is the worst experience sometimes when you're trying to decide between songs, um, because you're so in the middle of all of that. It's hard. Yeah, and you're picking a song that you're hopefully going to be singing for decades or whatever. You know,

so if you want to love it. So I told Alexa, I said, play love Someone. And I just laid there in bed for a minute. I just felt good, and you get you gotta you gotta feel in your heart like you gotta feel really good in your heart that that with the song you're releasing, like you don't have any regret. And I remember playing telling Alexa to play it, and I heard it and it was between that another song and uh, and I just it was it was a one simple is that? And people love it live

and the crowd. That's uh, one of the probably the most favorite live songs. That's not a single. It's definitely a smiley faced song. Yeah, those songs I feel like when you hear let's go, oh, I feel good. Yeah, you don't have to really think about it. I look at you with all the songs and the beard, and yeah, so do I'm never only one time. I've never had my beard in my career. Um, since I mean I like a really short beard when I first started, but was I want to be That song video was the

first time I didn't have a beard in years. I shot all the stuff of playing my original self in the music video with my beard and everything, and then we shaved my beard completely, and I mean we people were so freaked out. It's so only because I only know you as a beard. Yeah, so if everybody only knows you, it's like if your friends completely chase their head or something like, I don't know who that person is. I mean you can literally a person can literally change

in your mind. Their personas can probably change if they change there then eventually get used to that and it becomes normal. Of course, I wasn't gonna stay with that because I liked the beard because there was weird. I looked like I was twelve. But um, I've always had the beard other than that video, and I scared a lot of people and uh, but it was fun. At you What do you tall? Are you six almost six five six four and a half. When did you stop growing? Uh?

I started growing like uh into sophomore in the junior year high school. So like I was, I was playing basketball, baseball, football, and then I quit football and basketball. I think through the sophomore year I quit basketball. I think football out refreshment because I didn't get big yet. Then I got big, and that was that was a pretty good athlete. But I got big, and so I already quit those I still played baseball for four years and uh, it's like

I'm just gonna stick with the music thing. I still love to play sports and everything that. You know, I didn't have the high until later. I'm throwing out the first pitch at the Cubs game in a few weeks. So I'm a diary Cubs fan too, Like, yeah, I saw you wearing the Cubs hat like maybe yesterday or something. Yeah, I'm so done yet I haven't because I haven't been cool enough. And not that I'm cool now, but people

think I'm cooler now. I'm no cooler. I just now have more active so people will go so it must be cool, right, So They've invited me to come and throw out the first pitch and so I'm gonna go up. But but like I'm a fan from like my favorite player ever was Mark Grace. Yeah, uh so Mark gret But I mean for me, it was like Mark Grace, Ryan Sandburg, Shawn Dunston advanced, Damon Barry Hill. You know, Joe Girardi was catching. I mean, I can run through

all the lineups, even Leon Durham before. I'm hard at core Chicago Cubs fan, and so it was kind of cool watching another Chicago Cubs fan that I know get to experience it because that's your hometown, that's your home team. And when they won the World Series, like I skipped them as you went. I skipped and watched it at home, but you went and skipped them as to go to the game. That was a big It wasn't that at

best decision of my life? I would say I went to Game five and they lost Game four, Game five, whatever is it regularly? Game five and they lost. Um still the greatest experience Wrigleyville. You couldn't even walk in the stadium. You couldn't walk, and everyone was bumping in each other, but it was the happiest bump in. It was like it's been nine we've even been here. It wasn't it awesome? It was magic man? And I I'll send you a clip of it. I don't know if I ever puts it or not, but my so, I

got to bring my dad. I literally, um, I was supposed to do something for the words. I can't remember, but I had this really nice like tom Ford tux or whatever, like something really nice for the show, all this stuff picked out. Uh, we win game six whatever, and there's like, I call my management everybody like there's no way I'm not going to this game. I don't care whatever. You know, my whole, my grandfather, all those people be rolling the graves right now thinking that I'm

not going to this game. My whole. It's part of you know, who I am. And so I got to call my dad and say, I don't know what you got going on, but you're going to the Cubs game. And my brother and we all got on a plane. I hung up the tucks in the in the closet and I put on a one of those old like uh I eat white blue Cubs jackets and and went up to Cleveland and you got to do it with your family. Yeah, And that was crazy. My so, my

Cubs history comes from my stepdad and his dad. And you know, I didn't have a dad until I got you know, sixth seventh grade or so. But you know, in my family, like, I've never told another human that I loved him. I had these issues, therapy issues, but my mom we didn't have a communication, we didn't talk.

But my stepdad came into my life. It was a big influence on me and was the first real stable thing that I had in seventh six seventh grade, right, And so he was a huge Cubs fan too, and I said, hey, the first thing, the first time when I started making any money at all, I said, hey, we're gonna go. He'd never been regularly filled. So I went to regular film and it was the coolest first of it was the coolest thing for me to get to take him. It was the coolest thing for him.

And it was the only time we've ever hugged each other really, and it's yeah, and you still that's always absolutely and the reason and you can go back layers, but the reason that we hugged is because of the Cubs, which is because of sports, which is because of the bond I mean, and that is really one of the things that I so after the Cubs game, and you'll never forget that, never forget it talking about you when you say, you know you get your day, Like I'm going,

oh yeah, well yeah, Like I totally get it. That's so. And I mean Wrigley Field has that certain magic about it and just but yeah, I think baseball. You know, if you break sports down, you don't you don't want to overthink it. But you know, with sports, like with baseball especially, I think the fact that it has so much history to it, in the in the classic nostalgia

of it, there's some kind of magic to it. I feel like you tie all that in, you tie in passionate somebody something that they're really passionate about like that, and you can share that with somebody that's that's there's something really special about that. And also losing with people for a long time. Yeah, hit on the head of that, Like like they're only a couple of years in our lives as Cup fans where we got to experience any sort of winning at all, not even a championship like

for those of our sports fans. Nineteen o eight was the last year when Brett talks about his grandfather's grandpa to watch a Cubs victor. Whole life, there was Cubs World Series they were the longest professional American team to not win a championship in any sport ever. And so you know who your people are when you can lose with them like that, you can win with anybody. And I'm talking about this is a metaphor for life too. You can have number ones with anybody. That's the easy part.

Who are you gonna be with when the song is taken out when it doesn't even chart. That's being a Cubs fan. That's going through all the Tank songs, through all the years, and then finally you got that number one. That's that much? Is that much sweeter? And now people are like, Joe Man sucks, shut up, get shut up. Yeah, let me look at this. We've been how long we've been talking? An hour in six minutes? Look at that. We just might as well date. How long do we

have now with Infinity? I? Um, I got on Bumble today terrible. Well, Mike met his girlfriend bumble birthday we're talking about on the show this morning? Is your birthday too? Yeah, d have a birthday? And then yeah, I got do you get on this stuff? I'm not on bumble. I got on to Yeah, I've been on that. It's even worse. It's it's it's a similar, it's like a it's like

video game or something weird. I don't know. The weirdest thing for me is I get on Ray and people are I see people from here in town, and I'm like, well, this is awkward because now if we don't match, if we do match, if you have to pick them. But I think I'm about to get off. I don't think

I'm gonna stay on this thing. I feel like, I mean, I mean, then there's great stories where now they're a happy couple and everything, and then you know a lot of people meet on there, and then there's also the fact that you just sit there and you stare to screaming and start believe in all these false you know, certain things or whatever. It's it's it's weird. I don't

you don't have to say who it is. I want to show you one of these person I saw today and I was like, and then you see him in public? And do you bring it up here? Me find it? So this is you're probably I'm sure you'll know who this is. For sure, you'll know that. Ye. So I see her and I'm like, well, what if she sees me on this thing, and then we see each other, do you bring it up, like, Hey, I saw you on the date dating a half. I mean, I feel like anybody that singles on because I've never been on

one until now. I just got it and I don't do anything. So I got all of them. It was like, let me sign up. I mean, I don't know what I feel like at some certain I mean nowadays, which is so strange. I mean, can you imagine like or even our parents or ain't any duration about ten years ago because it didn't exist, you know, seeing this stuff, like what in the world? This just but um, I mean maybe it's a maybe it's a good thing. It is. Get busy living or get busy dying after we're talking

about the whole time. I get with it, or you might as well as go however you find it, you find it, that's right. But listen, listen. We've we've said a lot here. It's been good, really good. I've enjoyed that. We we've always talked about playing racketball against each other, and I feel like we're we both isolate ourselves in our tiny circles and we don't out of our circles. Both of us still let's make the pack now. Then we're going out. We're going outside of our zones. Yeah,

I think we probably should. I haven't played in a long time, haven't. I mean you can pick it different sport, No, no, no, I think that's the one that we both have probably equally away from and suffing. So um, yeah, I think that we we probably could be friendish. Yeah, I mean we're both kind of odd, probably a little odder, but yeah, I think they'll listen. It's a good talk for like about So anyway, Brett, you probably if you hear this, it's June when this is going up and when we're

cutting this. But these things last three years and years. But I'll say this his latest current song, it's called love Someone. He probably has ten number one since then. You probably listen to this and get on your jet pack and just play it. You know, it's in the Eldridge Museum right now and they're playing this back over the speakers. But congratulations on your success. May Oh yeah, yeah, how about that. I wonder I asked for sales Nomber you boy, you look at record sales like, oh, of

course you can't notot. I mean it's it's hard. I think you look and then you try to not look, but you're always gonna you'd be lyve no one. But I just got the numbers. And here's the thing. So I don't know how books, you know, I don't know how books work. So so um, i'll I'll just compare to So nowadays, if you sell, I mean a big record week would be in your mind what now? Uh, I don't know, used to be like listen in two

thousand two is a million? You know, if somebody does a hundred thousand, that's a huge week if you do, like I'd say, Like, so I had mind compared to album sales because my first book did well. It was the best off for four weeks. And I was like, oh, they say sequels never, it's not my second book, self help book. It's not a it's not a story book, but it's not the same. But it's still me, you know, it's pretty idiotic. Um So my second book actually better

than my first book. So if it were comparable to record sales, they broke it down. It'd be if I were to sell a hundred and thirty thousand records week one, which is really freaking good, especially for someone like me who's not I don't. I'm not a good writer, but I think I write much like you do with your song. I think I write to and for my people. I don't try to write above them because I'm not above them. And if I try to write above them, I'm trying

to take something. See you right, Yeah, yeah, they'll call you out on it, right absolutely. So yeah. Just I mean as we were talking, I just saw a text. I was like, so, what you so it was equivalent, it was it was bigger than the first week. Yeah. Thanks, I appreciate that. Um, I love someone Red Elder relatest song. If you're in Mars. Thank you for listening. Until next time, my friend. And this has been episode. Let me thank our sponsors Live Flock and let me thank our sponsor

also sleep in number and thank you very much. Bred elderde episode one twenty seven. Until next time, everybody, m