#88 - Chris Stapleton

Doesn't mind? Those are mine though, ye, no, just me man, just me home. I was. You know, I have from a Room volume one obviously, and some of up two have downloaded and streams of them. What was interesting to me though, was that you had recorded all this before Traveler, like I had all these songs, all the songs. Oh yeah, all these songs pre date that or they're in the

same time frame, So there's nothing. There's nothing new, I guess technically as as far as songwriting goes, does it feel like they're not news they or do they feel news since you just recorded that? No, they're new to me in a lot of ways because a lot of them I have never played live. I've never you know, attempted in bands or anything. You know, they're just their songs that I love and I've had a round and so yeah, they're new in that sense, and they're always

new to people that haven't heard them before. So it doesn't matter if they're seventy five years old. Nobody's ever heard of them. You know, it's it's it's all relative. Would you do this again and do the two records somewhat close together? Maybe maybe not? You know, I sure do like it um because it gives you know, it gives it's my version of content. My labels always looking for content. I was like, well, how am I just more music instead of a cute video piece. I'll just

put out another record. Yeah, that's that's kind of my version of content. That's funny, it's more music. So and we'll come back and back around to the record. I think, do you realize how kind of mysterious you are too? People? No, you don't because you are No I am I Yeah, no, you are, Like I'm telling you, like, either there's this this this mysterious think of me because you know, get to know you over the past, you know, a couple

few years. You're not a guy that likes to be out talking on every microphone, and I think that makes people crave. Oh, like what's he That's not anything that's deliberate, that's just that's just how I am, you know what I'm saying. That's not I mean, interrupt your problem. No, no, no, you know some people might think that's some kind of plan or employe or something. But I you know, I like to talk to people that I enjoy talking to

you and and and I'm okay with that. And I realized that that, you know, I have, you know, an obligation to myself to go talk a little bit, even though that's not the most comfortable space for me. I'd rather be on stage, you know, playing, But that's you know, sometimes talking about myself is hard. You know, that's a

hard thing to do. Like it's a hard thing to get used to, like, well, tell me about yourself, you know, like everybody, you know, if you've never done that before, do you remember the first time somebody ever told you to tell tell them about yourself? Like I think I had to force my Like seriously, I come from a place where nobody wanted to know about me. You know. So I think I always had to make people go, hey, don't, don't,

don't forget about me. So it was it was different from me, like I felt like I had to make people to notice me. Okay, maybe I don't know, I don't. Everybody's experience is different. But I was just never comfortable, like I kind of like to do my thing and just hang out, you know. I'm okay, it's weird you bring that up. I wasn't. I wasn't therapy today. I don't know if you've ever done it therapy. I wasn't

therapy today. I was talking to my my therapist. And it was until I grew up, and I didn't have a dad growing up. He'd left. My mom died of a drug overdose in the forties, and so um, she was an attic and she was an alcoholic, and so I never really had a relationship with either one of them. Like I literally never had a conversation with a parent my entire life, like not a single conversation. So it was, and I was talking today about it, and that's weird.

When you start to kind of dive into these things and you go you try to climb back through these memories, and it was that I always had to fight for attention because I didn't get it because I didn't have It's funny you asked that question. I just went to this today and that was my thing. I had to like crave, fight for attention wherever a school because I didn't get it at home. So when you say that, I just it's oddly. I just had this conversation. I paid a hundred forty bucks to have this. I got

saved a bunch of money, did this. So you're growing up living in Kentucky. But what was it like? What was it? What was it like around the house. Well, it's very different. You know what I had. I had both my parents and both of my parents were very uh you know, kind of straight U folks. And I had great I had a great home life really growing up. And um, so I was real fortunate in that. And so I didn't but you know, I'm so sorry. No, No, I was the hand that I'm just an open book. Yeah,

and I realized that. And I'm realizing I made a comment about drinking earlier, and i'd probably and that's the thing for me too. I have to fake drinking so people don't go Hey, I don't want to because for me, I've never had a drinking alcohol. But it's not because I I want to drink like crazy, like I would love But I know, Chris, I would drink at all. Yeah, well and that you know at this point, I don't know how old you're on, but yeah, probably I would

drink everything. I would just not want to drink. I would have all the drinks. Yeah, and so you know, all or nothing guy, because I go to it. Yeah, I'm an addict for anything. Yes, phones, uh, you know, walking down the street. It doesn't exercise. It's the subway sandwich. I must have the same sandwich every day for three months, right if you like it. If I like it, and it's the same thing every day, Okay, So yeah, so that's why I don't. That's why I don't, you know,

touch it. It's it's smart. Let me ask you a question, all right, honestly, you're gonna be honest. Thing. So, I I guess I've never had drink alcohol, and I've never tried an illegal drug and I have I've never smoked weed. But like I have my stress, My it's it's so hardcore my anxiety, Like like I've been thinking about it. It's it's not legal here, but like these edibles, yeah, I mean they have things in Colorado and plushes like that where uh it's not even like to get you high.

It's just like but what now if we not want to get high though, Like if I were going to probably but you know, if you know, if you're gonna have fun, but something but it not tastes good, well, you know, it's just you know, some of it just makes you want to go to sleep and eat a big mac, you know, or not necessarily in that order or sometimes in that order. You know, it's just you know, but I think it definitely would have you know, if you if you need something to mellow you out, that's

what I need something to mellow me out. I think that that way more than alcohol is. And I'm probably you know, getting controversial or something out of here, but you know, I've I've met a lot more people who are a lot more even on that than than people who are you know, Ebjecquelin Hide on alcohol. I think, um, you know, personally, I think it's a lot safer than alcohol.

I'm not a doctor in here in any way endorsing any medical things about it, but I think that, you know, I think there's enough research around that that it could help somebody. You know, there's a there's real medicinal purposes for even in athletics. These football players are like, hey, listen, you're putting us on all these prescriptions, but this, you know, medicinal marijuana, like you were talking about cutting the pain out and it'd be a natural. Listen. And I've never

tried it, but I'm taking the advocate of it. It's odd. I've never I've never once touched it, but I'm such an advocate. But listen, if it was if it was completely legal and then had no or your rule follower, I'm a bit of rule followers on some levels. But um, if it was legal, like all of a sudden it was federally legal and all of a sudden you could go down to wherever and get it in a non

mind offering way to help anxiety, would you take it? Then? Oh? Yeah, yeah, because it'd be if the doctor was like, yeah, sure, I had trouble because I got addicted to sleeping pills because I don't I don't sleep well anxiety and I gotta addicted to sleep pills, and I had to go, and for lack of a better term, I had to like clean clean up and just go through with all

the with draws and got really sick and so horrible. Man, I had bad insomni when I was a kid, and I had to take sleeping pills, right, didn't have to. I try to take a sleeping pills. They mess you up. It was the worst thing ever. I hated it. Did you ever wake up and not remember? Like as I would wake up and look at my computer and I had like FaceTime like five people. And I never drunk dial with anybody, but I sleeping pill dial people. Well back then they didn't have like Amy. It was yeah

it's Laura, which is kind of like ambient. I don't know enough sleeping pills, but whatever they had me on, I would sleep like a rock for like twelve hours and then the other twelve hours I was like a zombie. That's what That's what sleeping pills did me. And I don't like sleeping bills. I don't like pills in general, you know, but you know they're necessary things sometimes. But I was reading this book about sleep. You feel like you sleep? Okay, no, no, you don't know. I'm I'm I'm,

I'm I'm not a good sleeper. Most of the time. I was reading this book about sleep and they talk about how it's um like oxygen, Like you can't really catch up on oxygen and sleep if you don't get your sleep, you just miss out on it. Like that's the new thing. You can't you know, not sleep for a few days and then catch up on on a Saturday. Right, you just didn't get enough sleep, and so your brain didn't get enough sleep, so it's not going to function as well, and long term it could hurt you. And

so I was just fascinated. And that gives you anxiety because you think, yeah, I think not sleeping. I get anxiety thinking about the anxiety that I might get. Yeah, I understand, you get me. I appreciate that. Yeah. No, man, it's a it's a it's a chicken and egg situation where you just can't you know, you're getting that cycle. It's it's a bad thing. Do you probably exercise and BOS try to try to do everything that I can do to surround the fact that I don't sleep well.

I exercise a lot, I eat pretty much a plus. Yeah, you know, it's the same with prayers even vitamin told Coogan, all that stuff, all that, all that bottom No, no, that's what you hate it, say second prayers And so I do all that and you know, but yeah, to sleep, I can all sleep. I can't take sleeping pills. But all that is that. Anyway, I was running about try like natural, like melatonin, all that doesn't work for me. Like I cover my body and essential oils like all that.

I've tried melatonin, I tried snort and lavender. Well try try to, but I'd take it, take it right in the bloodstream, take it right. No. So you that's the weirdest sentence I've ever heard. You grew up your pants musical My mom uh is a really um kind of pretty kind of Julie Andrews sounded singer, and she was saying, you know, cleaning the house. But um, but not neither of them in my deck and hold tune. But he was more of a radio player, but he liked to play a loud So but did they have music to

teach you? I mean, in the skill of it. Oh no, no, no, no, no, no, nothing nothing to training. My mom could play the piano a little bit, and but it was never um had a knockle play guitar, and he was showing things when I would see him. And you know the cool thing about if you're a kid with a guitar. Any musicians always willing to show a kid something, you know, if they see a kid getting into it, because remember being a kid and some some guy who knew something showing

him something. And so anytime you see kids that are musicians, um, I think every musician is always willing to help them out. So that's that's that's the majority of my education came from that musically. Did that fascinate you when you were a kid seeing the guitar and music? Yeah, you know, I don't remember being fascinated by but my my mother would say that I spent you know, like twelve hours a day play playing guitar at one point, and I don't remember doing that. I just you know, it was

time flies when you're having fun. But you were a really good student. I was. I was better than average students. No, not better than average. That you're a valedictorian that farts true, look at this now, sleeping pills and all valedictorian, I'm blent. Sleeping pills. You can you can downplay it all you want, but you're a valid So were you the smart kid? The kid? I mean, I guess I'm smart enough to

you know, get good grades and stuff. I can always tell when you turned into the humble Chris, because you don't look me in the eyes whenever you start to feel unomfortable. This is the history about it. Like, Chris, I love this song. You know we're talking about songs. You always you don't like it. I don't like praise either. I don't. I feel very uncomfortable and have it again. You don't like praise. You know everybody likes praise to some degree. You feel uncomfortable, like when I say, hey,

you were validic to when you were very smart. That made But you just got dontent on me that millions of people listen to this too. I'm just like, this is amazing that people listening to you. That's some millions of records. Well, I don't know, but I don't you're validic toin and I don't think people would know that about you. Well they do now, So did you give up and give a speech? You do the whole thing where you're like, I'm Christie. Oddly enough, I didn't want to.

I am terrified of public speaking. I don't like I don't like colors. You didn't speak at your high school. I didn't. Let me tell you what I did. I wrote a song and play the song. That's such a Stableton thing to do. Yeah, straight up, play a song. That song. I don't remember, but but I wrote a song. You know, some farewell graduation song. Play the song that was it's probably called outlaw validatorian. That was exactly what it was called. So that's what you did. You play?

How many people in your graduating class in high school? Like two fifty? Okay, that's so pretty. It was. Okay, you know, look at this, a validatory in a two fifty kids. What do you want to be when you were tenth grade? When I was in tenth grade, yeah, like when you're just starting. I wanted to play football, that's all I wanted to do. And you're a pretty athlete. Well, I was okay, yeah, here we go. I was, okay, what position do you play? Um? Linebacker and fullback? Do

you like to hit mhm? See? I played wide receiver and then defensive back because I didn't like to hit m I and you never blessed one time playing defensive back. He never snuck up. Now listen, I'm gonna tell you when I have to I play wiesn't even have to crack back on a linebacker. I just go. I would drop down and go straight to the hicks. I'm not trying to hit any of I was tiny, Like I was five. I'm six foot six ft one but one seventy Now, back then, I was like five nine but forty.

What were you in high school? Black plan weight, tenth grade dead loves great? Yeah, oh I probably you know. I was the same high I am now, but six ft um, you know, two hundred pounds to ten. You're good. I was okay. You like me in the eyes when you said he really to see and I love football still. Well, you know, there was a period in my life where I couldn't. I didn't want to watch football because I wanted to play so bad, you know, so, but I

I just you know, I wasn't. I was okay. I just you know, you get to a certain level, uh in football, and you realized that some of us are not like the other people. You know, like you walk in the weight room and everybody six seven to seventy run into four six forty and you're just like, oh, that's not me. Did you feel like you want to play college ball? Oh yeah, no, yeah that was and I thought, and you know, when you're eighteen, you think

you can, you know, and did you try? I went, uh, yeah, I went on some visits and and I wound up uh trying to walk on play playing someplace, and and it didn't really work out. But it's all right. It's better. You know, all my buddies that played college ball where they played one, double A anything, they all have like these weird pains now from where they played college ball.

And I'm so glad that I didn't play. And I'm so glad, you know with all the because talking about anxiety things, I think I have that thing that all the NFL guys get sometimes, the hard horse of the c Yeah, like oh if I feel like the press or something like that, it's definitely I had concussions. You know, I'm almost certain I had concussions when I played football. But you know, back then, it was like rub some dirt on and get back out there. We didn't get water.

It was a prize to get during two days, but it was the prize to get water. If they had, and now CPS would come and just take all the kids. They're not even their kids. All the coaches have just put it all in jail. It's a different time. It's a different time, and you know, if someone would just said no, And you know, I'm all for you know, stucking it up and playing, but I worry, Um, I

worry a lot about that sport in general. You know, I don't think football as is now because I did a national sports show for a long time, so I'm a huge sports and sports geek. Football doesn't last another ten years as it is right now. You can't have as many people that violent hitting heads over and over again. And we're just not saying we're finally seeing our guys

be sick. We're finally seeing the Jim McMahon's, even the Brett Farves like the people that we grew up watching start to be and so we're going, Wow, now it's a real thing because it's on TV and social media and so yeah, I'm glad I didn't make it to the NFL either, you know what I mean, right, But I would have if I could have, you know, because I love that sport that much and as violent as it is, you know, maybe not knowing what I know now,

but um, there's something poetic about it. You know, there's uh, there's poetry and football, but it's not I don't know, I like it. So you play ball and that was kind of were you writing music? And why as you were playing football? Were you like that not as much? You know? I got more into that when I got into college and didn't enjoy college as much. So, I mean I always played a little bit here and there,

and you know, the different things. But but school. Didn't you move to town into Nashville to go to school here then leave and go back home. So isn't it this weird thing that you were such a good student in high school and you get to college and it's not for you. Well, you know, college is a different deal, you know. You and you pick a major or something, and you know I chose uh uh and engineering, um major and just because my dad was an engine here and you know, you don't know what you want to

be when you're eighteen. I think I think it's really important. I think it's hard for people to figure out. Uh. Some people are fortunate to know what they want to be when they're twelve. But I wasn't onet of those people, you know. And but I was fortunate enough to pick things that I'm just through sheer not wanting to do them. I figured out I didn't want to do and so I took a lot of me trying some different things on. You know, how does this fit? Is this gonna be

my life? Now? All right, let's trust something else. And I think sometimes it's a scary thing to do for a lot of people, but I think it's important to do in order to find what you're really supposed to be doing. So you go up. How how hard was that to go all right, this is not for me, I'm going back home. Was that tough? Um? Yes? And no, not really. It was so like obvious that what I was trying to do everything all the you know, the unise very pay attention to the universal lot, and the

universe was like, no, this is not your thing. Man, you didn't fill doing it, not at all. See you moved back home. Then what do you do? Uh? Well, I went to college in Kentucky for a couple of years, and then I didn't really love that either. And you study what you didn't study the same thing. Obviously, I was in business school for a couple of years. So you're gonna be well, we're gonna be what Chris Stapleton,

I don't know. I was just doing that. You know. Well, I didn't hate it accounting, but I like the economics. You know. Um no, you see, but one for me. So I didn't take I was just like, you know, this is okay. I just I don't want to I don't want to sit in a room and do this for the rest of my life. I couldn't do it like a Sleep Number thing. Yeah, yeah, I'm talking about

Sleep Number one. Second, so we do the show, and it's in the room upstairs in my house, and upstairs in my house also in my bedroom, and so in my bedroom. I want to tell you there's a Sleep Number bed. Now is a great time to visit a Sleep Number store where even this week you can say on the Ultimate Limited Edition bed with sleep i Q Technology and Queen Mattresses star at only six. I wish you could all just kind of take a little lay over in the bed over there. Some of you, uh,

nine out of ten couples disagree on mattress firmness. I'm not part of that because as you hear this just me and the dog, and he's good. The Sleep Number bed let you choose your idea, comfort and support on each side, so it's just right for the both of you, and there's even adjustment for snoring. I do love Sleep Number bed. I haven't had two of them three though, I don't remember bad, but I love him so much. My sleep I score last night was in the I

don't know what it was. My setting is thirty. Sleep Number beds cost about the same as the traditional mattresses the last twice as long and cent of owners recommend them. And right now go in Monday, say on the ultimate limit edition BEDI stores Nation Ony, I call eight hundred next bed and tell him that I set you all right. So you're in Kentucky. You decided again that's not for you, say,

time to move back to Nashville. Well it's not that, uh, you know, short that there was some you know, I've moved into a house some friends and just worked different jobs. You know here are there in Kentucky but not in my hometown, in a different town. What you do? What kind of jobs you do? Oh? I drove you ever see? Uh? At the gas stations like the home city ice where you get the ice out of the cooler outside. We drove to the home city ice truck. We delivered ice

to bice to bad guys. It's miserable to have to ba. I just delivered it, all right, You were one of the higher uppers. Yeah, there are two times did you homes the eyes no buys, the bad guys and we in different ice companies. We get ice from us, and so I back us all day, bad guys all day, and we would be like, oh, there's the fancy delivery guy. It's like when I did at the time you would have been, I'd have been like, oh there's the stable and fell and who thinks he's better than us? That?

And I want to And I was a weeding or a golf course maintenance and we all I'd always look at the cart guys and be like, they think they're better than us because of the car guys. Yeah, so you delivered ice delibered ice. You know ever you ever been in a parking lot and you've got like a coupon for a pizza on your car? Oh yeah, you put those. I was the dude to put them under the winch. Wif no listen, that can't pay a whole lot. It was an hourly rate. Yeah, and I just did

it when I didn't have any gigs. And so you're playing at this time, you're playing music there, Yeah, i'd play. You know, you go play bars, you top forty gigs, you know, the four hour shift, but sometimes you need your money. I happen to live with a guy who managed Papa John's at the time. Like, man, Papa John's not the band, He's not managing the band Papa Johns band called Papa Johns. No, but it sounds like in

this town, you know, somebody's always managing somebody. But no, he was managing Papa John's band or Papa John the guy he was managing a Papa John's restaurant. Yes, And he'd be like, hey, just go coup on some cars for me, So I'd go work for two or three hours. Done that would you would take him and just like throwing like you got a whole stack up him here, and you're like, come on and just like dump them off that a little bit. No, no, no, no, that's

not me. I couldn't do that. That would that would I would feel so guilty about that? It your buddy too, Yeah, no, no, I wouldn't do that to him. What does that pay for? Hour to go ahead? And I don't know. It was medium wage, you know whatever, like six bucks maybe less than that. So you're playing it? Are you doing that? All the cover the cover songs at the bar? Are you?

Are you playing originals? Manly dis cover stuff? You know, whatever gig comes up, you know, we go play the you know, the Army r TWOC is having a ball. We'll go play the four hour Army RRTC gig. Whoever we can find to be the band at the time, you know, I had a couple of group of group of buddies and j T who's my bass player, was in that group, you know of guys um where you know, somebody, Hey, man, I got this gig. You know, alright, cool, what is it?

What we gotta play? All right, let's go. And back then we were so miserably bad at business. We would change our band name every time we had a different gig, you know, just just to be funny, because we thought it was funny, you know, And and and the hindsight, that's there's a absolute worst way to build a following is to change your band name every time but you know,

yeah we did lost. You know, it could be a some kind of a folk old time gig, or it could be a Top forty, you know, playing roller Coaster for four hours? Well, dudes, did cach stands? You know, it's just whatever whatever was playing when you're playing those shows back then, because you're known now for how strong your voice, that powerful your voice is um by the two people that don't know your songwriting, like the people that have in the last couple of years, say I

really enjoyed this, Chris Stapleton. You're known for your distinct voice, powerful voice even then when you're playing in the VFW or wherever you're playing, where people are like, holy crap, or did that take time to develop for you? Uh? You know, I don't know. I mean a lot of things that you play when you're in those modes, uh, you know, the bar band just kind of becomes background noise. You know, nobody's in there really trying to dig into

what the bar bands singing about. Particularly you're saying cover teams are just like, oh, he's all right, you know, he didn't sound like whoever, whoever did you're covering because you're not going to you know, you're just gonna be a bar band version of that. But if you played a bar right now and there are people everywhere, people will stop and go, what is that if you put on like a like one of those prosthetic faces and

you wouldn't sing people, that wouldn't be background noise. I don't know, you know, it would be a good experiment. We could, you know, we could, we could make that happen. I'm sure be like, what's that movie with Travolta? Did you watch that movie? Yeah? Absolutely, Okay, you know what, if that movie is on, I have to watch it. I'm not saying it was a bad movie, but it was a terrible premise. I don't know how movie you

got greenlit. Well I don't either, But we're gonna cut each other's faces off and beat each other and then fight each other. At the time with those two guys in and it was nobody was gonna lose. Everybody was gonna go watch it face off. Haven't thought about that movie since I watched it the first time. What a terrible concept. It wasn't a bad movie. No, it wasn't bad. I think it was. I was on the bus other day, that's watch on my mind. I actually didn't watch it.

I did, I did. I passed over it. There was something else I like better on. I don't know. On your bus you have direct TV in the bush? Yeah, okay, commuted to I have direct TV and maybe I don't know if if the buzzard just suck, but whenever the buzs is moving, I can't keep that thing on solid. It's not even the Chris table does. We can't get direct TV to stay on as the bus is moving. Listen, man, when when a door opens on my bus, my TV

shuts off. So don't If you can get to get just the TV to stay on when your doors open and close, you're doing better than me. What do you do? Okay, I'll be out it because you know, I have eight jobs, right like I'm writting books and I'm just trying to survive. Right. But when I'm out on the road, like I was out where all this weekend, I got so bored. I get bored because you just got to find phil space up because in the daytime you get us sound check.

You got like four hours. But again you have you know what what what naptime? I tried taking nap and I do take a nap sometimes and I even got a but I even have my dog is six, so I think my dog got on the road with me, and so I put a I have the starbus knocked on a diva right now. Not usually usually with swall bunks were all the same. But now it's a starbus. I need my dog on the dog on the road next thing, you know. Yeah, I'm just saying I'm Beyonce, right yeah, yeah, So I tried that. I tried the

nap thing bed. I can hurt him my back. I'm very sensitive. I'm like that lily. I'm like a little lily. The beds aren't great on buses. The box are better. I prefer you know, you're sleeping a buck. I know obvious sleep in a bed because me and my wife haven't have a bed. But you know, there's no version of a bed on a bus that's a to lead big enough for two people to sleep in. But we do it, I think at a principle. But uh, it's uh, it's interesting, you know. And and the roads on in

the United States are really bad right now. They all need work. I don't know how where you've been going through lately, but everywhere that needs work. Yeah, I've been to all those places you're mentioning right now. You from Arkansas. Yeah, yeah, Arkansas is one the worst man one of the world. And you can tell the difference across Tennessee, Tennessee and Arkansas, like immediately when you crossed, it's like, yeah, we were there. This is the past. I think this past weekend. Yeah,

so it was, it's fresh on my mind. Is the one that has potholes. New York City is pretty bad when you roll up in through their New York in general, because I love you. Remember my state is the bad road state. Like I got an there, I got cousins there. It's all good. I'm not picking on just your state. Apology people, Listen, you're from Kentucky. Listen. We should start a go fund Me page for the Arkansas Highways. I

think we've tried. I don't think. I don't think that works. So, yeah, they would like to look at the pictures of the shows. It's been so crazy to watch the growth it's been. There's been two artists that I've seen grow, like like I've watched this grow, this part of you, this this uh chapter of Chris Stapleton, You and Sam and you're

not the same. But it's like nobody kind of came out of nowhere, completely organic, and it's been boom songwriting first, like paying dudes writing songs for for people, Like that's why, Like, is that why you moved? You moved down to write songs? Sound a songwriter? I thought that was that sounded like the greatest job I've ever heard of, the intent I heard of even though singing like you did, you want to like, I can go be an artist that Let's

be honest. You know, sitting in the room playing a guitar for maybe three hours a day and getting paid to do that is probably still the greatest job in the world. Would you rather sit in the room and write a great song with one of your song everybodies or play on stage for fifteen thousand people. I like to play, so that that's hard to say. But I like to write a good song too. But you know, at this point, I probably have to pick playing because

I like playing. I like playing a whole lot. Do you ever get to where I'm getting kind of tired of playing? I just kind of want to write songs for a few months? No, No, I mean, certainly, if you're if you're not feeling if you're sick. You know, there's times I'm sure you get out there, not sleeping and working nine days a week where you're just like him. You know. I wish I could just you know, chill out just a minit, But the fear will keep you going.

The fear that's why I fear. I'm terrified that I feel like and I don't know if you feel this way, because I'm obviously nuts, but I feel like I've been committing crimes for a long time and eventually the cops are gonna catch me, and when they do, my career is over because they're gonna they they've got me, or everyone's gonna figure out that I'm not even some imposter syndrome. You feel like, absolutely, I think I think a lot

of people feel that. Not only a lot of people will verbalize it, you know, but I had somebody that uh and I won't say his name, but uh, you know it was a hero of mine. You have that very thing. He's like, I'm just waiting for everybody to figure you know, figured out, And I'm just like, I was just like, even you feel that way, I was like, okay, all right, do you feel that way, Oh sure everybody,

you know, it was some degree nobody you know. But then you know the flip side, like when I used to say to people when even walking to meet somebody, how you do it man, and be like, oh, I'm far better than I deserved. I used to say that the people. And then I had I met somebody and then they were walking up on the bus and there was another artist and he said, uh, he said, well me too. But you know, maybe we all deserved great things.

And it really made me. It took me back for a minute, and I was just like, wow, that's uh okay, maybe we do. And maybe that makes it okay, you know, like maybe they can make the fear go away a little bit if you if you just think that we all probably deserve great things. You know, not all of us get it, but I think everybody certainly deserves it. Do you get in your own head a lot? Do you feel like, um, I can in a moment, and yeah, I get in my own head quite a bit. It's

probably why I don't talk that much. What's your fear of getting in your own head of talking? Uh? Like, what what? What's the worst that can happen in your mind, what do you say? You know, I don't want to get in my own head, so that's why I don't.

I might get in my own head on on stage sometimes that's the worst place for it to happen to me, you know, like, um, maybe I don't like out something sound in, or uh, I don't like the way guitar fields at the moment, you know, or it's you know, any little thing that can happen, you know, is the danger for me to go completely off the edge and just like not be able to dig myself out of that moment. It's bad when I go down, but I try to avoid it. Will you go down like that?

Because I'll go down like that, absolutely, and they can ruin my whole day and everybody else's whole day. So I try to be conscious of it and not do it for me. My co host Amy can you can notice that, and she's the one that goes boom and she'll try to pull me out of it. Is that what Morgan does for you? Absolutely? Absolutely, because she can see it sometimes or she can see it happening when

maybe you can't, or you're just starting. Absolutely, Yeah, the same thing, just loo very slow because part of the creative part of you needs to be in that space. Well, yeah, you gotta be on the edge, you just can't fall off of it. Do you feel like sometimes you don't want to fix yourself because you'll lose your edge. Do you ever have that thought? Um, I'm not till now. Never mind scotch that because that's something I would be. I like, I don't know if I should get better,

can I lose it? No? You know I used to think those kind of things. Um, but I always feel like there's room for improvement and if something's making your your overall health or life better, it's not necessarily that's not losing your edge, you know. I feel like those things. Um, it's not losing edge. It's just it's making making you sharper. You finish the show, you come off stage, what's the

what's the first thing you do? Finish the show? I thank all the local crew guys for the work, and a lot of times my wife is retired for the evening before the arcle is over, so I'll go find out where she is if she needs anything, and then I'll probably why not hang with the band guys for a few minutes in the dressing room. And then hit the bus and I'll be up till two or three in the morning watching Face Off for the eight time

for the eightieth time. Do you go back and listen to shows like your live shows and then criticized or or love on yourself? No? Not, No, I try not to. I mean, we do record now, and we have a pretty elaborate recording rig. We basically, uh, you know, I'm gonna have as much of that kind of stuff as we can have out there for cataloging, and we're trying to put together some live things. But it's a real uh, well, that microscope is tough, you know, on live shows, you know,

because there's so much other external things going on. You know that sometimes you can be too hard on yourself. So you have to really listen to it in the with a different set of ears, and maybe you would listen to something you're really picking up on the studio.

Will you look at a crowd, and when you look at the crowd, will you focus on the people are having a great time or you see the one that's Like anybody that spending my show knows that I don't look at the crowd a whole lot, because that a little bit can break focus for me, Like I'll look at the crowd when I'm not playing and I'll try to interact with them in that way. But if I do look out there and I see somebody not having

a good time, it can do that thing. And we're talking about or if I see somebody having too good at a time, it will make me smile. It'll may be too happy and I forget what I'm doing. So I'm I'm very a d D that way. So I have to be real careful about, you know, eye contact. I do a very controlled version of it for myself, just to try to make sure I don't lose focus of what I'm doing in the circle of everybody in the band. You know. Yeah, I didn't know that because

I do. I don't seen you play a bunch and you do kind of keep down a bet when you play. Yeah, I'm I'm I'm here, like somebody can see me over the radio or whatever. This isn't but I'm I'm very much in the guitar and I'm in I'm singing, and I'm in with the rest of the band. That's where that's where the stuff's happening. And when it's not going on, then the interaction happens a little bit more in the crowd. Maybe if I take a solo, I'll step out front just for a minute and we can give a little

plant here in there. But for the most part, I try to keep there's just like a little circle happening on stage no matter where we're playing that I'm trying to stay in that circle. That circle. Who is important to you? People in that circle? Absolutely, they're the same people on the record. Absolutely, Why are they so important to you? None of we wouldn't be sitting here talking

if it wasn't for the people in that circle. You know, none of none of this would be what it is, and none of it would be happening at all if it weren't for the people in the sort you really care about him? Absolutely, man, Just looking at your as I can tell you, I feel like with me, I'm as good as the people around me are. Like I try, I surround us the field make me better, right, And that's that's one of the best things you can do if you want to be better, surround yourself with the

best people you can find and whatever. And that extends into you know, when we're on a room with a pretty what I would consider a good sized crew and everybody in that crew is that for us. And I think that's the key to putting on a successful tour is is you get the absolute best people to work with you can find at all times. And uh, that's four on stage. But the four on stage, Yeah, that's you mean, that's that's that's the fist for you. That's

your fist. Yeah, it's the type like right there, those four. I mean, it sounds like ten, but it's it's you four. Yeah, No, that's that's the you know. And then you know, Dave Cobs in there and when he wants to be in there, and uh, you know, make your fails in there when he has meant to be in there, and they've got wherever he wants to be whenever he wants to be like that dude. But typically the day watched the show for things that are really easy travel or very high profile,

those are those are days too. He'll he'll tell you as much he likes, you know, those the best days to go to. You know, this is the easiest things to go to. So, uh, let me talk about Blue Apron for just second. I think if you're listening to this, you like convenience. It's like you know with the Bobby Cash you can hit the button and start and stop whenever you want. But talking about food convenience is Blue Apron.

And if you go to Blue Apron dot com slash Bobby Cast you're listening to this, you'll get your first dinner thirty dollar value. If you visit again, blue Apron dot com slash Bobby Cast comes to your door. Center box has all the preportioned ingredients. You have to eat it right then because you're gonna make it later home cook you make it later. All the ingredients are preportioned, and not only that, it's got a car tells you

how to make it exactly. They're delicious and some of the mills like seared steaks and garlic butter with oven fries and rommate salad, like, let's be honest, you'd never be able to make that. But I put that down with one of the ones that I've made because I look, that's pretty good. I finished. I was like, dangn pretty good. But really it's about Blue Apron said, you're gonna love it. You know, you're gonna be like a chef to whomever

you're cooking it. For don't even tell him using blue apron like to them be like, oh, it's been all days. So they even over this dove blue apron dot com slash Bobby cast. There you go, blue apron a better way to cook? All right? So all right, let's let's switch it up a bit. Uh you you play it for Tom Petty, You got to play it regally with Tom Petty. I don't know anyone who loves music, you know,

just genre lest music that didn't love Tom Petty. If you don't love Tom Petty, I don't know what's the matter with you? Like to go seek some kind of help. It's you know, if you can't find something in some of Tom Petty's music that you like, I'm worried about you a little bit. When you're you're playing before Tom with Tom, did you take a second and like take it in when you want on stage? Absolutely? Well, First

of all, we're wrigley Field. The first first show we played with him was at wrigley Field, and so that alone would be enough to be like, hey, we're playing at wrigley Field. But then you add to the fact that we're there with Tom Petty and the heart Wreckers, it's you know. That's you know, if you told seventeen year old me that that was going down, my head would blow up. And and it still felt that way

a whole lot. You know, seventeen year old me showed up that day, it was like yeah, I was just like, yeah, Wrigley Field with Tom Patty sounds great. You still get excited? Oh yeah, yeah. Every night it's a new thing, you know, because you know, we don't run tracks, we don't do any that kind of stuff. So every night anything can happen, which is crazy because again it's for the most part, it's four people on stage, yes, and you don't want tracks,

That's what I'm saying. It sounds like ten people out there. Well, we're just playing and you and you're playing the lead and you're singing. I watch it and I'm just like, okay, are you are you harsh on? Let's say you're doing a solo, will you pick apart? We're like, oh man, I really I really screwed that up. Well, I'm gonna screw this is this is one thing out of the way.

I'm gonna screw up a solo at some point in a show, and probably two or three solos in the show, but hey, it's that way, you know, it's live, and I've I've learned to just laughing off a little bit, you know, and then and then see if I can find my way back home, you know. So it's um.

Soloing is a very new thing to me. Really. Um. It's really only something I've started doing, um pretty much before the Travel record, because I had two guys in the band quit and it got down to me and j T and Derek and we had, uh, we had three gigs that weekend. I was like, hey, do you think we can cover this? And they're like, I don't know that you have bass playing a drummer, you really

don't have many options except to had. It was out of necessity that that I started doing, and I was like, well, maybe I uncover it, maybe I'll figure something out, and then you know, from there, I've I've learned to forgive myself my shortcomings as a guitar player and and just you know, enjoy it because I do enjoy playing guitar. I really do, as probably as much as I enjoy was saying I enjoy it, so um, you know, maybe someday I'll wake up and be a real boy. You know,

like be a real guitar player. You know, whenever you hurt yourself, you just didn't want to sing. You don't anybody to come in. Was that a like when you hurt your hand, you didn't want to not be able to do both. Well, So much of our show is is like I said, we don't run tracks. There's not a road map necessarily for what we do. A lot of it is very much something we've developed over time of I'm gonna do this here, and you know, like Derek Field, things coming when I'm playing that he can catch.

And so much of our show is that if I can't play, we can't do the show because nobody coming in is gonna have that um you know understanding of the musicianship within the circle of its just not gonna work. There's gonna be something different. And I feel like that's selling a little short. I don't like that when you had to cancel the shows, that suck for you that that yeah, well it sucked worse for the people that

had tickets and plans that did. For me, you know, I had to deal with you know, it's still a little aggravating to deal with, but you know, I felt worse about the people that I was in conveniencing the than Yeah, anything I was having to go through, So it'd be fine, what's up with these You're gonna play the Eagles. That's that's pretty freaking cool. That is cool. I'll say that, be proud of Its pretty freaking cool. Yeah. Man,

it's what's the Eagles with Vince Gill. So it's just like, yeah, you know, I I was trying to talk to somebody the other day. You know, I paid, I saved up my money and when the healths Over tour was out, and I bought me a ticket, my brother a ticket, and we were fourth throw up in Charleston, West Virginia, and they played for four hours, and to this day it's one of the greatest shows I've been to pay

for four hours. They played for four hours, They played us the Eagles for like two hours, and then the Eagles became the house band, so to speak, and they played everybody's solo stuff anything you can think of. Yeah, that was solo stuff, so that you got the Eagles and allers all this stuff. Did you watch the documentary on CNN that like the Eagles multi part document you ever see? That's the first of all, it's like a

hundred hours and way better than Face Off. So it covers like is it on direct TV on the bus and it's probably not on direct TV? Okay, well that's on my only entertainment. I don't have TV at home. What are you? What are you watching? What are you more than watch anything fun? But I'm a huge Game

of Thrones fan. I love Game of Thrones. If I have a show, it's that and Walking Down up to the point I'm not caught off from Walking Dead yet, but those are those are the two shows that I have that are TV shows with I watched Game with Hero. I watched both of those shows religiously with the Game of Thrones, like can they let me ask you too, QUI are you caught up? I'm caught off on Game of Thrones so we can talk about whatever. So I want if you're not caught up, if you're not turning

turn this off for it just for a second. They're related, right, I think? So? No? There were? Yeah? Yeah, it's like Aunt Knuckle, there's and nephews. How do you feel about that? Like do you hope they get to stay together even though there's like this, How do you feel about that? How do I feel about Yeah? Do you? Because I felt like I want them to get to I don't care if they're related like that. Well, but I don't care like a day you know, they're the same back

then Jerry Lewis will do it? Holy go it would Uh what are we even talking about? Um? Yeah, well, you know that's a complicated question because they've set up a lot of this show not telling you that, and you want them to get together. They want you to want to get them together, and then they want you to feel weird about it because then they give you more information and so that's but that's kind of that show. I mean there, but they would kill somebody? Yeah, oh man,

like the Red Wedding. Do you even in the first season? Oh yeah, they killed I was like, has it? I thought the show was about him? I thought me too. I'm still pissed. Yeah. And it wasn't even the it wasn't even the finale of the first season, right, And I was like, what just happened? I kept waiting for someone to come in and say these heads on the chopping block and yeah, when his head was chopped off, I think, like my TV, my my, my charity is

kind of popped up, like I don't trust TV anymore? Right, that was it? The trust was gone at that point. Would you like, what is this show actually about? And I still kind of don't know. I don't wonder if the if the frozen Dragon, you know, and you know, there's a whole thing with the frozen dragons and fight the the other lesson I'm again with on the nerd. We could do a whole hour on on Game of Thrones. Now we're not going to there, but we could have.

I could go down the whole rabbit hole with you. Where are you walking dead? Walking dead? Oh? I don't really know. I'm a couple of three episodes into the current Okay, so you're pretty close. Then, yeah, I know they killed Glenn and then and then maybe may have lost me just just this much, you know, just a little bit when when Glenn got this, don't you feel like they have to Sometimes they'll kill the people that you really like and don't expect what keeps you on

your toes. But not I know, Glum's awesome because from the beginning, Glen say Rick from inside the freaking tank, you know, in Atlanta, back right back in the day. Yeah, there's like there's apocalypse type shows like I'm fascinated. Do you think you would survive? Probably not, uh, you know, just because I don't do enough cardio, so you think your physical limitations would If you know, if I had to run from zombies, you know, because zombie don't get tired.

I just need to do more cardio, I would love it, Like I would love during my life for the world to end like that, Like that would be cool for me? Are you serious? Well? Just think this world has been around for millions of years, right, and if in our blink of the time that we're here, we experience the end of the zombie apocalypse, whatever it is. If we get to experience that, you're not cool, that would be no. Because I got kid is man? That that's not that

I don't. You have kids, you would be You would never ever say the words you're saying right now, probably a fair statement because I don't have kids, but you got to. You got twents comment, right, you do. I don't even know. I don't even know what that is. I don't either, So we'll find out. I'll let you know. How's Morgan. She's pregnant? She good? Is she able to sing the same Oh yeah, no, yeah, she's great and you know she gets tired just but that's that's part

of it. She's got twenty fingers and twenty toes in they're moving around, that's right. Yeah. I don't even especially when you put it numerically like that, it's like just twenty fingers and twenty toes. I don't even know. Let me play some music here, how about it. I guess some of this not made trying to tangle my mind. Come about this song we want to know about? I guess I kind of want to know, like because I hear your songs and I insert my thoughts into your music,

which I think is what music is about. Like absolutely, I was talking about that a different interview. How that's I think that's a purpose of songs. Well, then for you to excuse for you, the listener, to insert yourself into it. Did someone say that to you? Or did you say that to them? Because I said that to them? Because then I don't feel stupid because if I'm if I'm saying something someone else said, I'm just no no no no no, So we're saying cool. So that's why

I felt like I feel like songs. We all have our own identity with these songs. Absolutely they exist. You write it for your reason, but I'm able to sign my identity to whatever you wrote. So I've always think just to know what your identity is when you're writing this song. I don't know that I have an identity when I'm writing a song other than I'm trying to write a song. But I think it's good and then the the identity part of it preachs into it on

ex you know what I'm saying. Does that make sense? And I'm making just an all like yeah, Like I don't consciously give a song and identity, but because I'm writing the song, whatever part of me is in that song is gonna be there because I wrote the song. Is that am I talking? In certain your identity comes out and as it's completed, there you are, but you're

not actually building it in any certain ways. Right. I don't sit down and go I'm gonna put myself into this song necessarily, you know, but but it's there whether you like it or not. That's the other part. But it took me a long time to realize is when you write songs, um, you can think you're writing the most fake song ever. But some part of you is gonna slip in there that somebody's gonna go, that was

you right there. I had I heard that. That was when such and such was going on, you were writing. I know why you wrote that song. You know, even if you don't know why you wrote that song. So I'll plead ignorance on a lot of it. You know my my favor I told you my favorite. I have to a record, Like if I really love a record, I'll give it a hundred listens a record, and I listened to Volume one a hundred times because it keeps

a counting. This song here, I'll tell you this is my This is my favorite song I think that you've ever put out. This is my favorite song that record. I will listen to this song over and over again, like you just I'm gonna tell you what how it makes me feel. Then you tell me how it makes you feel, because I don't want to. I don't want to hear what you say. And then did change with me. Let me tell you, like when I hear this song, it sounds like like I hear like Zeppelin, like I

hear like the The like old that background. That's what I hear here like old Zeppelin types of the guitar volume. It's up, it's higher than your voice at a time, and I love how loud the guitar is to the juxtaposition to your voice. And I think that was on purpose. I don't know the boys on purpose and I but I think you're sending a message with the with the guitar of the tone and how loud the guitar is. And I hear death throw, I can't look up and up and he's like a place in life when you're like,

it's not really done. I don't want to hear death throw their actual prison. Now it's literal to me, but it's like, what's my death throw? Like where am I in my life? Like where I'm in my death throw? I don't want to minimize anybody's experience on death row by standing it's any of us have anything experience like that, but um, but yeah, certainly we were trying to you know.

I wrote this song with Mike Kenderson, who I wrote a lot of songs with and he's a great blues player and this was originally written and more of a blues kind of Robert Johnson style, and that he does he does a lot of great fingerstop blue stuff. I can't really do all that stuff. But we were having a day in the studio with this particular song where we had gotten nothing all day long. We try things, nothing, we try something else that's not it track, something that didn't.

We didn't get it, and so it's this is fairly late in the evening and we were all just kind of whipped and Dave started playing what is the kind of opening acoustic look? And it became what all this kind of built around? And I took that song that I've written with Henderson and sang on top of this, and we were very much trying to live in the Led Zeppelin kind of area, you know, because we all

love that stuff. And I just like it because to me, when I hear things like this, it makes me feel, um, hopefully it feels badass, you know, like I'm looking for something to feel badass. I like songs that make me feel that way. Um. I'm not saying this in particularly, I'm just saying songs like you here, back in Black, that Back in Black will make you feel a certain

way every time. Oh No, it makes me want to fight and I get right and I'll get and I don't know yet, and I still want to fight every time, and I'll get me up every time. That's that's the way it makes me feel. But not in a way that you're gonna actually walk on the door and getting five, but you're like, all right, I'm ready, and things that can get some kind of emotional response out of you like that. Musically, man, that's that's what it's for. That's

my favorite song. Yeah, thank you. I hear that, and I go, what's my death throw? Where I'm out in my life and I gotta get off the death row? Any what you're writing about? That's what I feel that that's my interpretation. Start telling people that telling me wrote that about me and my death. I wrote that song about Bobby, but go on the record, I wrote that song about Bobby Bones and his personal, definite personal death brow.

So if you stopped writing music right now, could you too pop this thing and you just have music come out for the next ten years? Yeah, like, because music still coming out if you if you stop, I don't have things recorded. But no no, But if you stop writing right now, I can stop, right Would you feel comfortable that you have enough quality material that for the next five years you can put out records. That's probably

only two records. So yeah, okay, what if you did two records of a year like you did this year? Maybe do you have a song you're sitting on right now that you're just like, man, I can't wait to cut this one next time? Yoh yeah, there's there's several like that. Yeah, did you have to decide when you cut these two? Was it tough to not put songs

on because you love them so much? No, it's never tough, because it's all you always, whatever moment you're in, it's you're like, this is the time to do this right now, I feel like doing this one. You know. It's never tough to me in the moment. You know, if I have to sit down and make a list and do all that kind of stuff, I can't do that. My wife is great at that. But in a moment in a day, like what do I feel like playing right now? That's never hard, you know. For me, it's just like, oh, yeah,

I'm feeling like this, let's just let's just play this. Well, it's set, let's change now to show it based on how you're feeling. Since you're not you's intraction pretty much do whatever you want. So you'd be like, you know what, LD crazy? Yeah, so will you write up a new set list every night? I do write a new setings every night, and you know, sometimes they very very little

if we feel like we're into crew. But sometimes if you feel like you're getting stagnant in the show, like I don't ever want us to feel too comfortable, to comfortable with the point where you're dolfs like you're going through the motions, because that's bad. Yeah, we're just going through the motions. We're not really focused, right, So we try to try to keep the sets. You know, we'll switch them up, replace songs we haven't played in a while, just to just switch it up. So I listen to

Johnson Brothers. Okay, I'm not gonna lie to you his rock and roll. This is rock and roll right here. Yeah, we were trying to play rock? Was this a Was this a rock and roll band? Here? Oh? Yeah? Absolutely nothing? Roll? Like the goal with the Johnson Brothers West to Blank you play rock and roll? Was it to be the

biggest rock and roll band in the planet. No, I don't think anybody had delusions of that, but you know it was it was girl play rock and roll and you know, to me, rock and roll for the sake of rock and roll was what rock and roll is, you know. But not that I'm any kind of authority on I like, uh, I like that, you know, still drivers up bluegrass here it is, you know, bluegrass rock.

It's kind of it's a rock and bluegrass thing. Would you were you've you feel like that's fair this, yeah, but in general, like still you feel like there were Yeah, we lived on the outside edge of what was acceptably called bluegrass, you know, sou And I'm definitely not in

any way a traditional gluegress singer. And I'm not telling anybody think they think that they don't already know, but uh yeah, we definitely played with the boundaries of what what that means in that band, but not only more than some other guys did before us, you know, Tim O'Brian deel Scott, New Grass Revival, things like that, Tony Rise, lot a lot of cool. You don't warm your voice

up before a show, really, huh, that's so crazy. I might sing a little bit, you know, just mess around with the band, but but you don't really for a for as violent as you sing that would be like, well, I I kind of write the set us a warm up, you know what I'm saying, Like, Okay, that's fair. I put the you know, I don't put the the heavy hitter out of the gate. I put something that I can kind of get loose on. What's the heavy hitter

for you to sing? When you when you put a song, you're like, I'm about to take this one on the heavy hitter. I mean sometimes like Crass always a heavy hit, or h boy, do you hit that? When you play that song, you feel like you have to do that, like you have to do that. Oh yeah, whatever I got I mean is gonna get done on that one. That's when people come. If people like that song, that's what they want to hear. I love that song on

the record too. When it goes like a studio to live you know that part of the uh in that part of that track where it goes from studio and then at the end of like you know, the clapping, Well, that's just the people that were in the room. Are you kidding me? Okay, So in my mind, as you can tell, I know every freaking track, But did you put out that's in people in the room in the studio when you recorded that clapping. Yeah, we cut that track.

We had the record done, we had traveled done, and we invited the people to the listening party at our cia and they all had headphones and then we pulled like this thing. We're like, here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna do one more. We're gonna finish the record right now, and you're gonna be watching. And so we cut that in front of a bunch of press folks and everything. I had no idea. And that's them. Some of them had headphones on and some of them were

just in the room, you know. But the clapping is is those people in the room. I thought that was some kind of weird You did his studio and you you like melded it with the end of a live performance. No, it's an actual live performance with people in the room. Man, did you know that? Look like what you learn when you ask questions? Who knew when you ask questions to learn things? Do you realize how big Chris Stapleton is.

I'm go back to sixt right now. No, no, come on, come on, do you like you're the You're the thing? Because and here's why and it's because you don't try to be the thing. It's Isn't it crazy how cool people work, How the coolest people are the ones that don't try to be cool. Uh well, I don't know if I'm one of the coolest people. Okay, you don't have to talk about you, but okay, would you say to the people that you admire the most in creative Land of the people that aren't out there to be

admired the most in creative Land? Absolutely? You know. I will say the people that I've met that I believe to be cool definitely are not trying to be cool. And that's what people feel about you. You are the the biggest thing in our I'm not eve gonna say you're not even formatty to me, Like, I'm not a format guy. I'm on country radio stations, but I love all music and I've done all. I've done rock and

sports and pop and country and again. I'm a Kiftain Arkansas who grew up listening to Kissing ninety States country radio but also was an alternative kid and a hip hop I sat hip hop record deal you know for you know, so I have all of this, So I don't even consider you in the this you're just a country singer, right. I hope that's okay for me to say that, because I don't know. I don't like labels either,

so you're not bothering me with anything you're saying. But like you are the gold standard now to two artists, like everyone's the next, you know, next Michael Jordan, It's Kobe Bryant, the next Michael Jordan, is Lebron James, the next Michael Jordan. But now everyone is, oh this, this is the female version of Chris Stable, and it's the next Chris Stable. And you gotta hear something that's gotta get back to you, right, No, I don't you know. I don't come into town that much. I don't. No,

I don't running around talking to people too much. You know. When I'm not on the road, I'm out. We bought some land and I'm out in the middle of it. And that's why you're cool. You don't even care. It's not that I don't care. I don't want you to say it's no, I don't care. If you don't care what I care very much about. I don't care about people. That's that was my point. You don't care what people are saying you don't really care about the person you

care about putting out what you feel. It feels good, right, you know, and that's the only thing you should care about. Yeah, I need to take some lessons from you. This, obviously, in my mind, was about Wizard of Eyes, the movie I have to picture and you're watching Wizard of Eyes. Really no, no, but see now, I'm people are gonna be taking it and like turning the volume off of

the Wizard Off. So what people don't know is and I guess we waited too pretty close to the end of it to say this and admit this, but volume two you can actually match it up with face off and turn faces off on it at the beginning and turned full full circle all the way back around. You feel good like you, You feel like your life right now? You feel good? Oh yeah, what makes you happy? What makes me happy? Oh? My kids made me happy, and my wife makes me happy. And you know, just getting

to play music makes me happy. Playing guitar makes me happy. All the folks um I get to work with made me happy. So I'm pretty happy, dude. All that that's pretty much all of my days right there. So you feel like people ask a lot more of you now, absolutely, But I mean that's part of that's part of the gig. You mean, just like, do you get more asked to do things or just both? Do you feel like do you feel like at times Chris and Chris Stableton or

two different people? Sure, but you know not and and also yes, you know like there's there's a there's a dude that everybody. I don't want to talk about myself on the third person or anything. I think it's fair to in the situation though, because I just asked you that Chris and Chris Stapleton, So I think it's fair to. Yeah, I mean, on one hand, I'm I'm I'm just a guy who you know, was trying to raise his family and take care of his family and like anybody any

other guy would. On the other hand, I'm I'm I'm something else or people perceive me to be something else when I'm playing music. I guess that, you know, can sometimes be strange, but it's also you know, like, Okay, um here's what I got, you know, and and if that uh makes people feel good or um, let's people have a good time, but forget about some other you know, terriful thing that got going on for a couple of hours at a show, then that's a real hot calling,

So I'm happy to do it. I got another one. I still think there's a is a Christaltic conspiracy to one album of the Year two years in a row. That's why I think about a m B. That's why I think Volume one. But that's why I think congratulations. By the way, thank you very much. Do you feel like because I mean, that's probably three roads of before from you and I was I was watching you. Is this propectly not your name? Still? Yeah? I mean, do you are you surprised if somebody gives you an award?

I don't like awards. I'm not comfortable with them. I don't Yeah, you don't know what to say. I don't like like. The thing is that when you get an award, like there's the immediate feeling of, oh, I didn't prepare a speech and also I'm gonna say something off the cuff that maybe doesn't make any sense, and then you walk off like oh I forgot this or you know. Um so those things are are funny in those moments,

you know, But no, I don't ever expect them. I don't, you know, And someday my not expecting them will come true. So I'll enjoy it while while we have the U I have have our moment, and and when we don't, we'll look back and go, wow, that was that was cool. Two questions and we'll wrap this up. Question one, what's your favorite picture you have in your house? My favorite picture? Yeah, like you think of your favorite picture? Sure, I have

in my house. We're still halfway. Don't have too many pictures hanging up out Um yeah, yeah, right now it's probably uh my wife, are you talking like a photograph or just like a photograph memory, like a picture? You're like, man, I love it when I see that picture, see that picture. We don't have a lot of pictures up in our house. It's it's weird. We have more like art and you know, weird uh fines. You know. I used to be like a flea market guy, you know, like I have all

these odd things. There's a I guess my favorite one is My wife has this little tiny I was probably six by four framed picture of a rabbit that was given to her and by her I believe, by her friend Paul Kennedy, or maybe she got it because Paul Kennedy. I guess it's a British thing. The first of every month, you're supposed to say rabbits the first thing when you wake up, right that stuffing Paul does. I don't know,

but it reminds her of Paul. And she has this little tiny it's supposed to bring you good luck, I guess. And so there's this little tiny picture of a rabbit hanging in our house. That's beyond that there I have a plate that there's also a plate that somebody gave us for our wedding that's a kind of a full card painting of me and my wife. That's the day we were married, and it's traveled with us everywhere. That kind of hangs in the kitchen. But those are the

two that stuck out of my mind. I'm writing m my second book, and it's on adversity, and it's on it's basically a failure and how that the greatest successes are often the people that have failed the most and have continued to get back up but told no, get out dude again. Learn the told no, get up to it again? Learn Was there ever a point and what was the point for you where you were like, man, this is this is kind of my low. I don't know if I'm gonna able to get out of this

just mentally. Um. It doesn't really have anything to do with anything professional, but um, um, you know, the day that my my dad passed away, I got a call in South Carolina. Was down there, um taking my kids down there to the beach with their other grandparents, and I got the call my brother Carl. So I took a little walk, kind of soaked that in. And you know, I was there two days prior when we played a show, and uh, you told me goodbye or whatever. I could

have stayed. I could have stayed two days. So the biggest regret in there, and I should have stayed. I should have stayed over, but I used some lame excuse like you know what, I got got on the bus, a bus to leaving. You know, I could have figured something out. But so that was a failure in my mind as a you know, a failure of things that I should have done. I don't have any regrets, but I do regret those two days. And for some reason, those two days magically mean more than all the other days.

I could have been there saying hello or doing something, but my dad. UM, that's that's probably for me that was a failure. UM as a son, I guess, but you know, you can't get those things back, but you do learn in those moments, you know, in moments to try to not to let the professional um kind of outweigh the personal or steer it more than it should. And for me that that that, for me was the lesson. Do you feel like it's given you balance with your

family now and how you balance that? Well, we do our best and we're still very much working on the balance because it's a very UM, it's a demanding thing on your time to go to our likely tour or ah. You know, you know the deal. It's Uh. When you have a moment where you you're enjoying some success, you get UM. And I am not complaining in any way, shape or form, but he gets very hard to say no to things because, UM, for so many years you didn't have the opportunity to even say yes to anything.

And then when you get in that moment where there are more things too to have to either say yes or no to than you have time for, it can be an overwhelming thing. But hopefully I'm getting a little bit better saying no to things, UM in lieu of you know, saying no to things under the guys of the preservational sanity and family and UM and just you know, balance,

which I think is an important thing. That the people that I admire the most in this business that have long careers I think are balanced people in that they can they can turn that professional off for a minute and go enjoy themselves do something they enjoy. I had the hardest time in the world going and just doing something that I enjoy solely for the purpose of me enjoying it. One of the hardest things in wonder for me to do. My wife literally has made me do things.

She's like, go do that. You you want to go do that, You'll you'll enjoy it, And she's always right. But I have very little UM, you know, I have a hard time flipping that switch, particularly in the in

the moment that we're in. You know, I'm like, well, there's so much opportunity over here for us to do these things that aren't good professionally, but it's not always the healthiest thing, um personally, and so trying to find that balance and UM, I don't know I've gotten off base with the question A little bit probably, but I don't think there is off base with the question. Well,

let me say this all professional things aside. First, just you know, from a Room one and two and traveler and you know, it's just like you changed the landscape, whether you know, I want to admit you have, and I think I know. I appreciate that. And I also appreciate what kind of you bet to me over the years, because you definitely didn't had to have been well and

that was specification to you. You've always I mean, you've been always nice to me solely on the fact you know that you like me and my music, not because at the time when you were playing things on your show that it wasn't the thing to do. So um, I certainly appreciate that, and I remember that, and I was real the first time we talk, you're in the shower. I always you call me at the house at home and you're like, hey, man, I'm gonna shower. Can I

call you right back? I'm like, why not coming right back? Yeah, So I appreciate that. I appreciate you. I appreciate you and Morgan both. You're always very kind to me. I've said before that we'll be at the biggest, craziest event, and they're famous people everywhere, and you're always like eyeball to eyeball. So well we know each other. So that's different, you know, and that's not you know whatever and all that stuff. You know, it's just like, man, it's uh,

you know, people are good. Good people are good people, and I would rather hang out with good people than you know, a terrible person who's famous. You know, That's that's just me. Well, I appreciate you, thanks for listen. I know that your favorite thing isn't talking on the microphone. We've just been an hour talking on a microphone. That's okay, But I wouldn't be here if I didn't want to talk on a microphone with you. So did was this? Uh?

It's okay. That was great, very comfortable, and you the recliner is a nice is a nice touch. You know. I had, I had an alternate band that I wanted to form. Maybe I shouldn't give it away. But if this band ever comes out, it's called recliner. Where you play in a recliner. Are you're just getting lazy? Now? That's a band that's just a lazy band. Yeah, maybe it's called lazy. Yeah, that's good to see you, buddy, and I hope you, hope you continue doing it your way,

regardless of what cells and what doesn't. Just keep. I hope you just keep. I don't know how to do anything else. Chris Stampleton and from a Room, Volume two, December one, right, I don't have to know. It's a kind of members going by my brain here December one. And people are gonna hear this way after that too. But I hope you get to learn about Chris and go second third layer with that and almost in the NFL. That's what I learned, almost not even close. It's good

to see it. Thank you very much, Chris,