Ep. 85: Cledis Burgers and "Where I Find God" with Larry Fleet

Yo, what's up? You're off in God's Country with your boys.

Read and Dan isbel also known as the Brothers Hunting, where we take a weekly drive to the intersection of country music and the great outdoors. Two things go together like a good burger joint and greasy, slippery floors.

You can smell it just.

One spot though, lift licked that grease off that floor.

Or four wheelers and two tracks to the river brought you body Meat Eater. A little late today, Ray right, wake up right, little late today?

Right? Get on, wake up? Raised another going. I thought that's a good name for you to come up.

A baby to come us, thanks for still sponsoring the show.

A baby.

Apparently they making jeans and not only boots. Larry had some one.

I'm thinking we need some too, so to come sponsor in the show now, Baby.

I couldn't hear the tempo. I don't know if I couldn't hear the tempo, I couldn't hear the clique.

There's no clique, bro.

That guy was cool man. He was just like us, grew up a lot like us.

Mister Larry Fleet was in God's Country in the top three that passed the fastest, like I looked down at it, easy ten easy Converson, and I was like, it feels it literally got to get out of here.

It literally feels like we talked about our childhood the whole time.

We were forty five minutes in and I was like, we didn't even started.

You know, you kept on trying to skip things. I had to. It's gonna be four hours long. Man, Tennesseean grew up hunting, fishing, singing. That's a saying something. Yeah, he does a.

Lot up Man where I find God just blew his career out of the water. And it should have too. It was that good of a song. Yeah, connected that one he does. He does it on the show, and he's a good player. You could tell he had tone in his fingers when he was picking it.

He could he he's yeah, he's a real dude, believes in real things. The kids.

I think he's sandbag on the like the hunting stuff. I think he's way more like the way he was talking, you know how he can immediately tell if somebody is like a real hunter or not sure immediate Yeah, there was no We didn't talk about duck hunting much and that's that's Yeah. I should have asked him the question that if you had one thing.

There is a part where.

I picked this up, and he said, oh, I can get down on that too, and you didn't let him. I tried, but you were talking so much. I was talking so much, so much?

Ray? Did he talk too much? Wake up? Raise? Give me a sound of my performance today? Ray? All right, now, Dan's egle flying across the sky for freedom.

I feel like I did good today. Yeah, maybe I'm like maybe just like I feel like you didn't do anything. Maybe like burger joints just a little too much, but not. Hey, thanks for thanks for tuning in, Thanks for following us on the socials. Be sure and hit the subscribe five star roast or just five star nice and uh and it helps us uh put the roast on the table for our kids, if you know what I mean. I've said that before. I'm gonna keep talking until this thing dings.

The roast hit. It's too done.

It's like actual time for if you ever put roast in the microwave for that long, it's leather microwave.

It it does kind of sound like a microwave.

All right, God's Country work Camouflage. Yeah, I can't read the entire title, so if you're gonna make a title, make sure it's shorter than this one, because it just says where camouflage from Colton?

H Are you sure? Is that a picture of it or kids? A picture? Yeah?

I'll try to I'll try to find though. Oh it doesn't really matter, keep going. Listening to God's Country feels like getting trapped in a deer blind with two buys, two guys who two buys with two guys who won't stop talking about their own mixtape. The host basically turned their truck cab conversations into a podcast, and somehow forgot to bring anything new to say. If you've ever wondered what would happen if a bass pro shops catalog game

Gosh, this is a good one. Full disclosure.

I love this podcast, and chat GBT wrote this review for me.

Full disclosure. That's a good one. Though.

That's apparently chat he's really good at that, because that's kind of true.

Did I ain't ever? I ain't ever. I have never typed anything into chat I mean either.

And people say, do you have it on your phone? I'm like, I don't know. I don't know how you have it on your phone? Isn't an app? Is it just an app?

Ray? Is it an app? Do you use it a lot? He's a techie guy, though, Yeah.

I feel like that part of the world existence is passing me by.

It's kind of terrifying. Do I need to learn how to do it?

Ray?

Okay? Ship? Which one is that? What do I download? Is it not just Google?

Ray?

Is Google not doing the same thing?

When I when I type things into Google now like a question? It types like AI, pops up at the top and kind of gives me a full rundown of way too much to read?

Who does.

Larry Fleet Larry Fleet Killer, gonna love this episode. Thanks for sticking around. Well, we'll catch you next time. See you, Thanks by, Thanks, thanks by? Thanks Ray?

We speed No, not you big brother stuff. I was like last I checked, I'm your big brother. We say speed Larry, We're legit around here? Did you that's a new guy? Ray?

If he if if your headphones aren't working or it ray say something. Hey, man, we've got it. He's also not new he's been here for ever.

Yeah.

Hey, this is how I know Dan doesn't read the sheets, the homework sheets that we have on our guests. Is because right when Larry walked in, Dan asked him where he's from.

No, us, where you're from?

And it's literally the literally the first thing Native Tennessee. And then it says two lines down from White Bluff. And then you asked about his new song coming out, and you asked if it was a whole record. No, I didn't know if he was the name of the what's the name of the record? We don't know yet.

It can't come out yet.

We got a Native Tennessee and he's a songwriting man, made a bar Eric Church and Morgan Walling where I find God freaking great, big deer hunting dad and the too.

I like that uh huh right there on that one.

Uh fishing mean shirt wearing by the way, this dude that that that shirt goes hard.

Uh.

He's a man of faith and some singing. He does some singing. We got Larry Fleet in Guy's Country today from white right down the road, dude, coming in looking good. Man. He kind of bleaned out a little bit too.

You know, I'm going for the sort of like hunting Texas oil man.

I like that.

Yeah, I try to land there too, So I like that. I like that. You smell good. We did a little bro hug girl. You smell good.

Thank you.

Well do you all know each other?

No, I just we just went in for the We just yeah, right, I think. I mean I can hug a man that looks that wears that shirt because I feel like we're foundationally on the same page.

Right.

What gives you that inclination? The Mallard's on his shirt. People listening can't see people.

Watching can see it. There's Mallards.

Guy comes in with a camouflage shirt that's got a drake and a and a SUSI on it.

All.

Thank you. It feels good, right, Yeah.

What's what's up? We your hat? What is Kleatis?

I'm glad you ask.

You know, It's not like I do this for a living or anything. It's uh so Kalidas is a burger joint. I don't know if you have ever been, but we got to. Well, so I'm a partner in it. Now, come on and Uh, well, I mean every country singer got him a bar. I thought, well, what does America really need? Not more bars? No? Huh so good is we do sell beer over there, so you know whatever.

But uh, where is over there?

Well, we got one, and we got one in Bellevue right here west HAWMN.

There's one on a couple of establishments.

Yeah.

I mean, if you're gonna do it, you know. But uh and I act like I did something.

I don't.

I don't do anything, and then this is what you're supposed to do, what you're supposed to be doing right now?

We got one over and uh, I guess it's Elm Hill Pike Fester's Lane kind of right over there. So that's the the o G of the original's kind of old block building. And uh, you're like, what is that?

Is that?

A is that an old empty like maybe a toe lot? You know what?

That's what you want? That's what you want? A burger spot exactly. You don't want to go Yeah, and you're like, you smell the goodness and most burg joints too flashy. No, you want you want a kitchen and a couple of chairs, tables.

Real greasy you right, And you want to smell like grease, and uh you want to slip around on the floor a little bit.

I walk in almost break my hip. I'm getting to take a seat. It needs to be right before you get to the bathroom. There needs to be just looking.

Pops.

You.

Yeah, that's when you know that's our our burger place over there.

And uh so is it because it Lets Burgers? Yeah.

So the guy started at his granddaddy. His name was Kletis and uh, hell of the name name, and uh so he kind of started it, you know and remember to him or whatever, I guess, but then it kind of took off. And when they invited me over and to talk about, you know, coming in on it or whatever, and I said, let's let's talk after we have a burger. Let me see if it's any good.

Oh yeah, yeah, that's the first thing.

Halfway through I said, where do I sign? Where I send a check?

You know?

And so, uh that's kind of how it got started. But he's got a good thing. And we go down here and we once a month we'll we'll feed the homeless downtown Nashville whatever. So we bring out black stones and get to cook. And first the first time I cooked three hundred hamburgers and uh yes, smash burgers did.

I was sweating.

I love a smashing. It was good.

But I mean everybody lines up and you know, it's pretty cool. So that's cool, man, they get back, you know, yeah, that's awesome, dude.

Clean.

Here's the trouble with with restaurants today, with feeding the homeless, is that everybody. And it's not even necessarily just restaurants. It's kind of just like life in general. And maybe it's because of the phones and everybody wants you to get an app now before you can do anything in their establishment. Yeah you're doing too much, man, Yeah, you're doing too much.

It doesn't need to be this.

I don't need thin sliced grilled avocado on my burger.

Man, I'm leaving if I even see that. That's what I'm I don't like it.

You're doing too much.

Bro.

Like, give me a patty with some salt and some cheese and maybe a little bit of bacon.

I mean, if you want some, I'm ana catch up, man, have that over. And I want to see one of those bottles that's just old red squeeze bottle in there a minute. You don't know what's in it?

You don't know? I want to shake it up a little good. I want to eat a burger. I want to eat a burger and look like I murdered it with my face. Dang right, and in your beard. That's right.

You need a shower afterwards, dang right.

Really, you need to have a shower after you eat.

I ain't trying to eat a burger and not look like I eat a burger, right, I mean, that's that's too he's fancy. Yeah, that's expensive. It's expensive. I'm for the working man.

Okay, So how much does the cheeseburgerself for?

Well?

Uh?

And could you look that up my manager here in the.

Corner determine whether or not I like the restaurant. That's right.

When you when you when you're partnership in a restaurant, you got a guy to look up stuff about your restaurant.

He's sitting over there. It looks great.

And they got cheese fries like Caso fries, and uh, it's kind of like the ball Field fries and uh, yeah.

Give me. You can't go to Taco Bell and get a taco tried.

The other day.

Didn't work that.

You want to completely affordable.

One bill, one bill affordable. I'm a burger. I love well, good by there, let me give us which is cool.

I wear the hat and stuff and people ask about it and stuff, which is part of the plan. And I have a really big head and so yeah and uh, but people ask about it all the time, and I'll talk about it, and then it's kind of cool. We'll see people coming from all around, out of town whatever. They'll come to Nashville to visit, and they go check out cletus because you gonna see me wearing a hat, and I'm like, well, then they'll take a picture and tag me to it.

Come on, I wonder as a as a jingle, it needs one. Come see only we need to see if you need.

It, drop if you need to burg.

Cool and see we got catch you can catch you down cle.

I don't think you the clean. It's not down here at cleats down here to try the whole thing again, to say, if you need a burger, if you need it, I don't want one. If you need it, berg.

Come on and see we got pepper, oh, pepper and Jack and ketch up down here.

I was singing the hard.

Clean. Yeah, we can do something like that fries and can fries cady so greasy floors in the bathroom, the bathroom.

I don't know nothing. I didn't know where to drop d Sorry, that's my bad. That's all good.

Hey, we like to do a little thing. That was a little glad at section. We're gonna like to do a little thing we call mad at section. And uh it's another little jingle we did. Yeah, we're doing this. We're doing this way.

Are you singing? I'm just trying to find what you're mad? Just tell us what it is.

What you're mad?

Is it your in lost kids, might be a boss man or your neighbors cat.

Just tell us what you mad.

Tell us what you're mad singing? Get that, oh, man, tell us what you're mad?

Flat because I started, you know what, Let get started, get started so much mad at.

I'm gonna tell you there's a few things. But uh, one thing is these kids these days coming.

Up with these dang the kids, these the.

Shortening words and making up their own words for stuff. Give me an example, what happened to saying, man, that's cool. I say it all the time. I do too, But then now it's like, dude, that was fire bro fire bro Bro, no shot.

I don't know what that means.

No shot means shoot that deer. I ain't got no shot.

Well, yeah, you know what I'm saying, no shot is like no way, like no shot no or something. Yeah, I kind of like that something cap.

I don't know. Somebody said something like cap.

You see we got nephews, and so I know, I know cat cappin is like you're lying if you're capping your line, but you don't.

Say, like, don't be capping. What do you How do you saying? No cap? Don't no lie? Oh like no lie like Peensburger is fire no cap.

Yeah that would mean like me, you're not want you're telling the truth on that Yeah, no cap.

Yeah.

Way, this is like years old. I talked to to Graham by the way we went to the river. Graham's our nephew. He said, fourteen, fifteen sixteen, he's fifteen, about to be sixteen, and his younger brother. But even the younger brother, Dean, shot at Dean. He's twelve, twelve eleven.

He says.

He said that that language is on its way out. Though okay, he says not. I know I know because I did a check. Is getting worse getting out like they're not doing it as much. It was kind of just like this little but for a while.

Where did it come from? Wow?

What?

I think it's like a lot of TikTok stuff.

Yeah right, yeah, yeah, that's kind of it.

What were you going to say? Well, is your pinky still broken?

Hell?

Yeah, this for six weeks? Sorry, keep getting update on. See how's doing that? Not yet? Keep taking it off in a while. That's better. It ain't moving.

Yeah, well, I mean the knuckle still looks a little. I mean, this guy's you know what I'm saying. Yeah, yeah, all right, so it's on its way out. Yeah yeah, I heard that. I just for our listeners, our age generation. That's the annoying section of conversation is kind of just kind of sliding.

I think it means we're getting old too, I think so, you know, it's just like getting brother, I'm old. I'm just saying there, I done got yeah, done there, I've been done there, done there.

I don't know. It's a few of those words.

I'm just saying, I don't know what you're talking about, and why not just speak normal? You know that That's that's things that really grind my gears. But then another one is it's kind of a pet peeve of mine and my wife does it all the time. Is put stuff on the console of the truck, just like sets it up there, like you know where your arm goes, and then I take off and it goes flying across the truck and then looks at me like.

Why'd you go flying off the truck.

I'm like, well, it's a it's a notebook full of papers and coke. Yeah, exactly, yeah, brother, Like you're driving like an idiot. And then you'll say you have a do you have a debt perception? Like uh issue or something. I'm like, you didn't see them stopping fourteen miles up the road? Like I didn't know. I was looking at that deer across the road over there, and yeah, and then I hit the brakes a little too hard. Don't get anyways, Like I said, don't get me started.

Did we stop? Did you die?

Everything?

We're here?

I mean, That's what I'm saying.

And it's usually not even like a. It's usually not even like a whoa. It's like it's like.

Yeah, or the or just the silent handle hole, like the.

Like put her foot down, like yeah, yeah, just it's a stop signing.

Said I'm going around.

A curve like yeah, it's always one of those upon the dash if you put stuff and it goes flying around, it drives me nuts.

I don't know why.

But with that, dude, you got kids.

Oh yeah, I got boy and a little girl.

I got My little girl's turned four and my boy will be six in August.

That's so I'm six three well five three ten months, so I and then he's got we're.

All got three. I got to be too. Yeah.

My I can't stand when shining passively aggressively doodos on me by telling our kids something.

Like like this, like I'm glad you finished that since.

Like, oh, let me see exactly how she would do it. She would go, well, your dad's driving crazy, so I got it, and it's like a happy tom you know, And I'm like it just makes me want to just.

Am I driving crazy crazy?

But my kid's got my back, see because I'm the cool parent.

Yeah for sure, no doubt.

Yeah, so you know my wife will say something like that my boy mama quip being mean to daddy.

I'm like, I gotta get that.

Yeah, yeah mom, Yeah he's going fishing later.

Yeah, and this guy and my girls the same way. Yeah, that'll you can. You can tempt them with a lot of food, you know, popsicles and diet coat color color cheerio anything fruit loops in our house called color Cheerier.

We don't have, but it's like it's like a treat to get cher.

My dad, Grandy's kind of famous on this podcast. He knows that too, because my mom got romand at me the other day because he pulled up and reads kids and my kids they were playing the yard and they just completely disregarded what they were doing, and it.

Was like, will want this chocolate factory truck.

Wars the early two thousands white f one fifty grand and they all just like take off in like in a hord run and uh he pops out with pets and so annoyed skittles. I was like, hey, he's like come take a ride with Grandy just in the in the driveway. So they're all running to it, and I'm like, hey, hey, he's not even stopped it, like let him park the truck.

And my mom was like, dang, just let him go, and I said, well, they're running aft there like a bunch of crack fans.

Yeah, he's got Skittles snack fans. My little boy, he'll go out on my grand like my mom. She wants to be called something cool, like you know, Gigi or or whatever.

What do they call her.

I was like one day, I said, it's old Granny and they and they started laughing and this, and she was like, no, please know and they were like, but Granny comes and gets them, and uh so it's oh yeah, they love Granny because Granny lets him drink dit coke and uh so it's died though, right right. You can't tell my mom any different, you know. But so they come up the other day and they said we're gonna

They was gonna have a good time.

That's awesome.

Yeah yeah, so uh they're going to hang out.

Oh well, they show up and gets in the car and they get on stuff and my wife's like, hey, uh, you know, here's their water bottles and everybody's got fourteen water bottles.

You know that.

I got so tired of water.

Thirty with their names on them. Can you have every color color?

And so they, you know, here's all their water bottles and their little goldfish snacks and this that and the other and other healthy stuff and little protein bars. And then Granny's like, we don't need any of that. We all take care of him. I was like, I don't know, and I'm pretty here anyway, she just dumped their water out and filled them up with Dike coke and then she was like wailing.

My boy.

He comes home, He's like, Granny, let me drink that coke. I was like okay, and he was like I didn't drink any water at.

All the whole trip, just DK coke. And then this is the two day sugar crash.

Yeah, I hate twigs.

I just had whatever ice cream for supper.

Dude.

Yeah, they sent me a picture. He had his shirt off. He was just like flipping burgers and hot dogs on the grill and I'm like, my five, that's awesome.

Man.

They come home and I was like, I can't handle it. You know, it's the three day detox. The trumble takes them a while to like they need a couple of naps to.

Recoup, especially when like they're not used to having it, right, like like it sounds like your kids aren't used to have a Mine arn't either, so when they get it, it's like one skit on they're like.

Then the next morning they went to waffle House, which is you know, hey, it's a great place, but uh, pretty sure.

My dad and my son are at waffle House at this moment right now. He came over to get him. Yeah, he said, we're going to waffle house.

My little girl, who's she's like, hey, let's go to waffle house. Have like uh the father daughter, you know, date or whatever. It's at the waffle house.

Exact same. I love it, exact same.

They went over there yesterday morning, I guess whatever, Yeah, yesterday morning, and uh, after their sleepover at the cabin and drinking Dike Coke all night to to kind of yeah, yeah, to get back and you know, in the right mind frame there, they went ahead and had some Sprite for breakfast. You love how follow full flavored sprite.

You know how to get anose over over? Just drink another beer, dude, Larry. We can just do this all day. Oh yeah, here's what I'm mad at. We just got back from the beach. Is awesome time, great time. Not telling you where we went because it's kind of hidden. I'll tell you after the show. But it's a great spot.

Uh nopee.

But so we stayed in a in a nice beach house, you know, and it's got the little nest, you know things. It's it's hot, humid at the beach. So we get there, I crank it down. I like to sleep cold, my kids like to sleep cold. And I go sixty eight. You know, maybe you feel like that's cranking it down. Maybe go sixty Maybe go sixty six at night, just let it get down there a little bit.

It's getting down there at the beach. Your sun burn a little bit, maybe, no doubt.

So the first couple of days, dude, house feels amazing, sleeping great. The like the third night, I go to rip it down. Walked locked at seventy, no swear seventy locked locked at seventy. I wont her go and I couldn't. I couldn't you couldn't do it. It would it would just go and dude, I sweated the rest of the week. Every night I sweated and didn't sleep as well as I did this. I didn't want to pop the homeowner just to see if maybe.

Because they're paying that bill, that bill, I'm.

Playing way more than that bit exactly. I'm paying that bill for the whole year.

Yeah, let you have a little air, you know, absolutely.

Let me sleep a little that It was kind of I was kind of like like looking around, like, yeah, don't do this to me. They can see you, but I hope not they can't see if they say a.

Lot more they say, y'all love me, because I like to be comfortable that beach. I you know what I'm saying.

I mean when your sun burnt too, like you said, that's a couple of extra degrees you're putting off for sure. I know I do shoulders. I felt I felt a.

Little cage, man. I felt a little a little lot cage.

Yeah, yeah, and I think that's wrong, like, uh, you know, not yours for the week, and uh, if you want to run it now, I will say I've burnt up a few like bus uh, you know, getting too cold. Sixty six is that's the least you can go.

Exactly?

Yeah, And uh this weekend it was so hot too, you know, he was out so hot. We was in Virginia, Baltimore, and then uh that barefoot thing up in New Jersey on the boat.

You weren't in the South. No, it was one of three. Heatn't existerday.

Now last the weekend before last, I was in Alabama and it was like central Alabama, somewhere the devil's armful. I brought the kids and everybody's just just sweating and burned by. They had a bouncy house. I'm like, that'll you'll get burnt up in that?

Do you know? They'll stay in the same place. Don't fall down in there.

Keep you you know.

It was bad.

Why do you want to jump that thing? You're out in the middle of the field.

You know, no doubt that ain't a shade tree or something. Don't take socks off in that jump ouse. Keeping Oh yeah, you'll stick stick.

Yeah, you know. All right, we got to get to some stuff. Yeah, we get this all day. Uh.

So you're from White buff What did what did the outdoors look like?

You look for? You look like for you when you were young.

Yeah, Uh well I just looked out the front door and it was outdoors where it was, and uh we lived some my I'm.

This dude, I got all.

Yeah, their fire, their gas, dude, yeah they're lit lit bro Uh no, cap is that right?

I don't know.

You must be sound a big loud, you know, and uh.

It's but no.

We would open up the door and literally thousands of acres in front of our house. It wasn't mine, but uh yeah, yeah, like I don't know who's it. Nobody ever knew who's I'm not sure it was anybody's And I was just there. And so my grandparents they lived next door, and then like all the family sort of lived on this street, you know, and so we had, you know, five or six acres. It was kind of right there, which as a kid, five or six acres feels like five hundred.

You just run.

Ain't no doubt.

My granny would have like them clothesline with like every my granddaddy all he ever wore was a white pocket tea and that's all he wore.

Was like a hain table of a granddad right there.

Forty seven shirts up there and a couple of sheets and we'd run through it with the bicycles four whelers.

You know why I wore that one because it didn't cost much. Yep. Two, it is the most comfortable one.

Sun protected the shirt and like that does not That is the coolest shirt you're going to ever mow the yard in Oh it's a white pocket was to do the same thing.

He was in a logging business for most of his life, you know. So it was like he's out in the log woods running.

You know.

He had old log truck and stuff and he would haul me around in it. And uh, every time we would go, we would come back with like a three wheeler at some flea market or something time ever, you know. But like the outdoors was, I could just drive across the road. I had a little fifty four wheeler.

Yeah.

My mama, she'd be like in there on the phone.

Yet we had one of those like phones that was in the kitchen with the cord, you know, and I'd be like, Mama, keep cranking a full wheeler, and She's like a crank it up. And then I just ride and I go to my granddad. I'm like, I'm out of gas. He go up to the store and get some gas and then complain about a dollar a gallon go par a premium. Remember fifteen cents par a premium. That's what he said at ninety three. I hadn't have that par premium to put it in the dark bit.

We had to go.

My brother had got a younger brother's four years younger me, and he wouldn't that's what we are.

Yeah, So he would ride a go car the full whiller s awesome.

Is he way better than you had? Everything? No?

No, I'm way better than him. Yeah, he's good.

He's got a whole slew of kids, and it's you know, it's just fun when we all get together.

Stuff.

But we look a lot alike and uh beards and all that stuff, and here's talk and it kind of makes sense, be sure. Uh but yeah, so we would we get on fold and stuff. But there's always these trails through the woods and it would go down the Harparth River, and so you could ride from our house to the harp with which was thirty minute.

Right, super similar. Man.

We grew up next to the Tennessee River and you could we call it the bottoms. Yeah, and We lived in a in a neighborhood where you could go out around the neighborhood and go through the back of somebody's yard and go through some trails that we cut down to the river, and do we ride those bean fields and those gravel roads down there and go down the river and get rocks or drive all the way to Craven's.

Here's my question, would you let your kids do that to the all?

I don't no, probably not, but yeah, I mean, I don't know. Maybe we've gotten soft. I don't know. It's well, my kid broke his arm the other day, Like, I mean, he was just out in the yard, so I don't know if I could trust him to go to the harp with Yeah. Yeah, yeah, but I mean we were gonna get bit by fourteen snakes and then you know.

Well, we're we're our parents saying that because we definitely wrote Arthur Wheel.

We had a set.

I don't think they loved us back then, Like maybe not. Maybe we love our kids more than our parents. My dad was my dad was fishing, Yeah, yeah, yeah, fishing. He's like, hey, you want to go down the river today.

I was like yeah. He's like, I'm gonna go fishing. Here's a four.

Yeah, we got swimming.

We go swim in the Tennessee River river base. We're probably ten though, ten. Yeah, so we didn't have no air tags in our souls of our shoes.

We used to get in the boat, me and my cousin, and we were about two years apart.

But I remember getting pulled over by T. W. R.

A at like twelve years old in the flat bottom boat on Tennessee River, Mason's boat docking. It was over there, and it was like this little slit is called a little little richland or something that was over there, and it's like this little slough and we just get we catch shell cracker and stuff over there, and like we'd just be out running and our parents are like out drinking beer or something, and we get pulled over by a game ward and they're like, well, where's your license for We're like.

Twelve life jacket, Yeah, check it out. And uh but yeah, so I was it was.

It was a different times, but you know, between we would hunt turkeys and deer and run up down through there all the time. And just I mean back then, my granddaddy he gave me my first gun, was a little four ten, like, uh, the cheapest fourteen you get the palling shop right, and I still got it.

A great squirrel gun.

And you know, we always had some old mutt dogs or something we'd bring out there and they'd run around through the woods and catch squirrels. And so we just had a big time. That's how we grew up and lived here.

It's awesome.

My neighbor across the road the same age as me, he had a fool or two.

So we just ride. We camp in the woods like we would go out for days. Yeah, just camp with nothing, build forts out there way too high.

Yeah, take the lumbers and nails and oh, just one piece of plywood at the very time.

On somebody else's land.

You know, we don't know who owned it, and uh, we just showed up and then we acted.

Like it was ours. We're like, don't you come over here on my land.

But I don't know if we were squatting, you know, maybe that's what we were doing back then. But it was a good time. And I mean, I wish it was still like that for my kids. I wish I'm just ternable, which they're young. I'm not turnab loose anywhere, but uh, and maybe when they get a little older, it'll make sense to just go have fun.

But you're trying to get them in the wood, you're trying to hunt whaling.

Well, they both got their lifetime license. I made sure I.

Got that same.

Why didn't my dad do that?

Don't talk. We thought we were moving to Mississippi, That's what said this.

My dad will one day pass away, and when he does, as well all of us. I'm still gonna be mad about him not getting my life on license. I've told him, I'm not forever mad at you for not getting on And here's what I found out.

Did I tell you this? When I went to get boons my latest we barely squeezed those in, didn't we barely?

No?

I was you got to get on them. It says in there even if you move said it sees, oh yeah, you can still keep your resident license. Really come back and if you moved to Texas with your kid, come back and hunting Tennessee for.

Free, oh man, for the rest of their lives.

Well, and because that's my dad's excuse, is that, oh I thought we were moving to Missisippi. And what is it two hundred and eighty bucks three hundred bucks, and now a sportsman's license a Tendessee is which they're not going up on the prices this year saw.

That, but it's right about two hundred dollars eighty nine dollars.

Yeah, it's crazy, crazy.

Yeah, So I made sure I got both the kids because I wish, you know, I had a dad that loved me.

Say you like you said earlier, we love our kids more.

I know we really did.

You're proving it right now.

So they probably thought we're going to drown the river at seven. Yeah, they're not gonna make it hundred bucket. It's fifty bucks back then.

Oh yeah, probably.

I remember the first hunting license I bought was like thirteen dollars whenever I was out a kid, you know. But I mean, so I'll take whaling. He's, like I said, he's almost six, and we got little blinds and stuff, and I'll take him hunting. And we went deer hunting because you know, in the blind, I can bring an iPad if I need to sure, And so we'll set up there it's cold, and I have a little buddy heater over there, and he's you know, I have like I mean, they're getting soft and telling you.

I said, we got a blanket over here.

We got it, you know.

It's uh so we're all hacks. Yeah, and deer moving around. As long as deer moving, he's good. But we got snacks, we got diet cokes, whatever you need. And it's uh so he's sitting there and once it gets a little slow, he can watch his iPad for a minute. I got my little headphones he can put on, and then when I see a deer, I'm like, hey, get up, you know. And so the I took him hunting all last year. We went all of but we've seen, you know, a little bucks and all this stuff, and doze every week

I come home and he was pissed. It's like you didn't wake him up.

But I tell you, one of his favorite part of hunting, I think is getting up before the sun and going to the gas station and getting a biscuit.

That's the best part of it.

That is a good part.

Yeah.

Well, I think about like, yeah, me growing us growing up and our dad doing the same thing. Dude, that was that was some of the best even like heading heading to church if you got up early. Just about to say, that's the only way he got me to It's like you got to go get a sausage biscuit at mc donald's. And but yeah, man, I remember, like especially on Turkey days when we go turkey hunting, and we go turkey hunt in the morning and we come out for lunch and we get uh we get burgers

Yeah, dude, it is. That's food is a part of that.

Well.

I think that's the whole experience, right, It's so much more than just the shooting or the sitting.

It's like it's a whole.

When you're going hunting, you're cool looking clothes, awesome boots, usually a pretty cool hat, and then you're definitely getting some sort of gas station breakfast or it kind of makes you feel like an old man and when you're young that you don't even know, like you're getting up early, you're getting a biscuit from the thing carrying a gun around. You kind of got you know, you kind of puffed up your chest.

I think it's just.

This, like.

You know, primal man hang thing that happens as a kid, and you're just.

Like, man, it's just me, and that it's just us to say it's a boy.

It's the boys.

I've always sad the woods grow you up. Oh yeah, yeah, they.

Want to teach you all kind of I mean all sorts of lessons out there and just walking around. I'll try to not getting too much for a hurry, you know, so I'm like, hey, look over here. Then you know there's a shed. You know, there's no point to be in a hurry. We're just ain't changing. It ain't gonna be different tomorrow. And he'll see it's like you know, a scrape or something. I'm like, well this, and I'll try to explain it to him and then like a rub on a tree or something, and then he'll go

Will, Yeah, I think Will.

She wants to do whatever I do too, you know, and uh, you know she loves to fish, and we'll go fishing.

That's what I'm saying. Though you're covered.

No, yeah, I mean you ain't got it when you when they're thirteen, you've rolled out there on that April second day. You hadn't got to go get on your phone and try to buy a license real quick before.

The game when it comes side of the late down there. Yeah.

Well like Stella when we went the other day.

We're doing a little video and uh she was out there fishing when in this pond and she was just snagging them a little little gil just pulling out.

Oh man, that's it.

Whalen sitting there, he's pissed because he's like, why an't I catching one. I'm like, what you ain't the right spot, I guess. And so he finally hooked on a couple of little bass and stuff and I got I got a I got a new war Eagle boat last year, center console black Hawk.

Dude, it's great.

And uh so the other day boy's trip, I threw him on the boat and I said, come on a way, let's go. We went over down Chickamauga Lake over Chattanooga, and so was out riding and having to get Oh, he hooked on about a three pound bass on a you know, a little snoopy pole.

He was on it in the right of his life.

And I had a video.

Who's going, Oh, he's all big Bubba, that's what he's saying.

Say when do you get that from Big Bubba?

Get to him, get him in now.

So he got country or as the fish.

That's amazing.

It was all.

Get that man, it's all slugging down Dick coachs just making granny happy.

Oh yeah, you know what I've noticed. It's like even I'm literally crying. I was laughing's had a big boa. I love Big Boba. I love got country is. But that is the truth. That's the truth. So my daughter is we got her a little four wheeler right, Well, she has no independence at this point in her life.

She's five, you know.

So every now and then I'll take a bungee strap and I'll strap on my turtle box to the back of her four wheeler and put on like the Miley Cyrus video or the movie the Annamontana movie soundtrack.

Yeah, bro, she will be attitude chain.

I do love getting because we share the same trail camera. We got like fourteen of tactic cams all over his property, yeah, and all of the properties, and we look at all of them at the same on the same thing. And I love going through your really going through trail cameras at night before I go to bed and seeing Liza just she'll be saying it should be a hand up flying, but she'll pull up and say, like, are we going to the fire on the mountain?

Daddy? More country or yeah than she normally talks.

And I think, once you like do something country like four wheeler or big Boba, you know, you take on that persona and Shell and I And maybe it's just she's just trying to talk about handimon town and maybe a little bit, but it's real.

It's it makes me real proud.

Yeah, the rednecker, the better.

Oh.

Yeah.

We were at the beach and and I went and got some I went picked up pizza or something and was coming back and there was some deer eating just in the grass, like small island deer, and uh.

I went, are they smaller over there? Honestly? Yeah? Yeah, a lot smaller. Yeah.

Uh, I mean in Florida. I mean, I'm not trying to tell we all were, but you were. We were on the cust of Georgia's Yeah, and they're they're small the same thing. They're like the smallest keys, like keys, deer, but they're smaller.

Yeah.

But I got back home and I was like, Griffin, that's my little girl. I was like, I was like, I saw five deer, like you did. I was like yeah, I was like, I was like, I saw a couple of mamas.

She was you see a buck? And I was like I did, She goes, Did you shoot it?

No?

I didn't, but I will I will. Yeah. I love it, man, I love it. Yeah.

There's all like whales's all the time.

Like yesterday, we's got some deer out in front of the house, which I can't shoot anything by the house, you know.

And uh so they're out there running around.

I put a salt block out and some corn, you know, mama deer and a couple of babies. It's fun to watch watch Wayne sitting there and we got like this little pond from he just you know, real good spot. Put a deer stand. I said, where is that? He just right over there by that pawn and I was like, right there by the feet.

Yeah.

I was like, yeah, yeah, that would be a good spot.

You know, you can do the heng of u s.

Yeah, Mama gonna let her shoot them deer out of the front.

Yard next year. Next year. They can't do it this year, but next year, bade them something. Guys. Oh yeah, oh man.

How do you feel about baiting dude, how do you feel about hunting over feeder in Tennessee?

Do you care?

Don't care?

Because well, here's my deal with it, is you I think I can see it both ways.

I mean, yeah, is it cheating could be.

But at the same time, maybe that would allow people to let deer get bigger, because if you think about it, like if you go out somewhere, people just get excited when that little deer comes.

That's a good point. The first thing.

Yeah, they ain't really seen many or and I remember being that way as a kid, like We're sitting out there and look up, what was that? And here comes like a little old, scraggly four point god huge, and then you're like, I just shut this little four point or whatever. You know, and you know you're younger. It is what it is. But I think people get excited

Because you got two seconds when it crosses.

Don't mean they're going to be there when you're there either. I mean, but I think that it would. It might help people let deer get a little bigger.

Interesting. Yeah, it's an interesting it's hot take. I like that. I like that. Yeah. I can just sit here and talk hunting for hours today.

Give us the rundown on on your journey to Nashville.

Where where'd you grow up?

White Bluff?

So sorry, oh, I know it.

Said something about Chattanoogan. You're talk about Chickenmago earlier.

Yeah, we lived in Chattanoe.

So I grew up in White Bluff, which Dixon County is about thirty minutes west of Nashville here, and whenever I went to U. T.

Martin West City out there and.

Present, Yeah, that's where we're from. Do you know any signing boys Hardy County? We had a ton of people over there.

When'd you go?

That would have been like two thousand, so I made it about a year people, but two thousand and seven, I believe it was. How already thirty nine, okay, and just turned thirty nine and then some My wife is, uh she was from out that way, kind of Memphis area, and then she's moved around a lot, but a lot of her family moved to Chattanooga. So we had met when we were in Martin. That was the best thing,

And the music or the relationship.

The music and relationship.

Fine.

We met it the Cheddars and had a nice thing.

It was, yeah, you can't have money.

I.

Know, good food, and uh so we we kind of, you know, start hanging out and stuff. And then uh, she lived and she moved to Chattanooga and uh after school whatever, and she said, well, come over, So I did, and I was like, man, I like it over here. So we get to eight and stuff, and I was spending more time there once we got married.

I just moved to Chattanooga. Loved it.

And so it's a great spot.

No, it's been awesome and so gright out door spot too.

Man.

Yeah, oh it is.

We're all around the mountains and stuff there, and so we just kind of, you know, was living out there for a while. And then I got a record deal and I was out playing music and writing songs and doing all this stuff. And then so I was driving back and forth to Chattanooga every day.

And uh.

Then we bought a house out and Burns over here, yeah, and then lived there for a few years and then just bought another house over in Chattanogga. So I just I'm drawing to the mountains. It's like East Tennessee. But so that was kind of our our thing. I was, I was over there all the time, but I was writing songs. I was coming to town every week, and you know, touring and doing everything. So it's not that bad. It's two hours dry out, No, it's easy. Yeah, too bad.

So, so you got a spot here in the spot there.

I just sold this one over here. I probably get some I mean I got some land and stuff over here.

Yeah.

I sold the house, pardon not. Might had to have.

It, you knowing exactly.

That's why I look at it. And uh so we just we bought another house in Chattanooga. So I've been out there and the kids go to school, they like, all their cousins and stuff are mostly over there.

So you in for the week, right and back on Thursdays?

Yeah, where I just I'll just drive over.

I'll leave in the morning because we're in the Eastern time, so I pick up that hour coming back and I'm already up, so I run, I run back and forth.

And it didn't matter.

Uh yeah, my old diesel truck this morning, been paid for it ten times, and yeah I was there this morning. So yeah, oh yeah, I just to be honest with you, though, living farther away from town has done me a lot of good as a songwriter because that's where I do

I'm a title man, you know.

So I'm just writing stuff down on my phone, coming up with ideas, listening to stuff, podcast whatever.

And I'm just my mind is going.

Then I'll ride these back roads, go like through mcmanville and stuff, which is farm land.

Yes, I've been that way, man.

It's beautiful. So I'm I'm doing thinking.

Man, I've got you know, I got a little Bible app I do, know I do. That's just like where I find God, you know, I do my praying and stuff. On the road or in a deer stand or whatever. So they that's when I yeah, I'm talking to God in a lot of those places. So, uh, it's done me better to be away from town a little bit, you know.

So I completely agree.

We live thirty five minutes south and honestly, bro, if if my family wasn't there, yeah, there ain't no telling where I'd go. I mean, like I I'm thankful for National I'm thankful for this industry and what it's what it has given me and and and hopefully gives me,

It is.

That's I mean for me, that's kind of I got friends and stuff over there, and they don't. I mean, people know who I am, you know over here. They know me over there too. But at the same time, over there it's like, hey, man, you want to go deer hunting? You know, Like there we talk about deer hunting instead of what song that I write? You know, And uh, you know, it's a really cool people think what I do is cool because it is cool cool. It's awesome what we get to write songs for a living,

But I don't know.

I just I've got like a church group away from town, you know, and it's like, you know, my wife's uh uncle is a preacher. So amongst the church and all the other people that like I got connected with, they're like just good dudes. We'll go and eat breakfast and have a Bible study.

You know.

It's like it's it's things like that, and yeah, I get to raise my kids that way and around the mountains and the water and around God and church and having a bigger family, you know kind of what is it like a support group, you know, for my wife whenever I'm gone with so it's like everybody over then there's neighbors, like everybody's just kind of looking out for one another. And not that it wasn't over here too, sure, it's just that's where we feel more at home.

And if you're gonna be leaving her a lot as far as hitting the road, you want to be somewhere comfortable exactly more than we're ten minutes from my wife's parents too.

Oh that's nice. It helps some time, dude, Yeah, it does.

And I always feel bad leaving because I don't like leaving my family at all. But you know, when you leave and you got them out in the middle of the woods over here with nobody around, like, yeah, I got a security system in a Bloodhound that let them know,

If I need something. Yeah, it's really nice to have.

Let's be real, though, a bloodhound is gonna let them know. It's gonna let everybody know that something's going on. She ain't gonna do nothing about it.

Ain't gonna do nothing.

I got. I got a bloodhound too, and shed.

If a person came up with a with a forty seven trying to get inside, she'd go oh and then stop.

Just watch them.

I wish my dog would start barking. I'm gonna be honest. We sent her to training and I want to pick her up. She's just a big pibow. Looks terrifying, but like, same, not gonna do nothing, Bro, she doesn't bark it nothing. I'm going to pick her up from training, and the guy goes, is this dog ever? She been there four weeks?

She goes, especially coming from Remy, that she stark at everything. I know. She goes this. He goes, does this dog bar? I was like, bro, maybe I've heard her bark twice.

Remy was soft as a pillow something, but she she'd scared the socks off a strange a little little little pit like a pocket pits what they call it. Yeah, Yeah, she was terrifying, and uh she was. But this dog's ninety pounds and it's like.

Shoot, let me tell you about Melvin. So Melvin great name, Melvin Tillis. Is Melvin your bloodhouse my blood? I got Maybell maybe, Yeah, that's that's my blood. When you get Melvin and maybelled again, well, it wouldn't happen.

Yeah, just have a good time after there now.

And his little coin purse, it's just like a little it flaps around in the wind and crown yeh yeah. And uh, but so he's a he's about one hundred and thirty forty pounds, big boy. And uh and he's like a red color, you know, it's kind of tan, but it gets considered red red bon and man it ears long, slobbery, just a real big you know. He's about seven or so now, and he is massive. But the kids love him. He loves the kids. And I thought about getting rid of that dog so many times,

Yes, he's been living.

I ain't changing. I am changing. Yeah money, yeah, and I did. And it was so I called up these people and people are, yeah, man in this one. He They said, yeah, we're the best there is And I said, well I can see that by your price sheet and uh and they but they they are. They have like this record of training these like world class dogs and we can train them any age, you know, from six months to six years old. Went over. I was like, well,

No, I won't do nothing.

And uh they finally and they said, you know what, we've never had this happen, but we're gonna give you some money back. So I got money by on Melvin and they were like, he's a sweetheart, and he is. He's a good dog, but he couldn't hit about it. He's not maybe so smart, I don't know, he's he just couldn't figure maybe.

Too smart, maybe that real smart.

But anyways, he he uh, he was untrainable. So uh but he he knows and we have like a little collar thing kind of pointing. He'll do some stuff, but just don't listen very well.

See I got a I got a chocolate lab and a and a red bone and uh, chocolate lab.

Man all he wants.

He's he's Merle and he's five years four years old, five years old now and.

Dude's still a puppy. I ain't you know. He's he's wild.

We just took him to the beach with us too, oh man, and uh and so like he'll you know, if you call Merle, he'll come back to you like he's saying, what you know, like let's go throw me a ball, throw me, freeze me anything, maybe I'll do. She'll be walking out there on the beach, going to heading toward another some more people.

I go, Maybell. She stopped. She turned around and she she had fingers.

She'd be like, yeah, yeah, and and just just keep all she's bin.

Because she's my deer dog. She'll trail deer.

Oh yeah.

And that's the one thing about I mean, their their bloodhounds, the scent dogs, but they can waft that stuff up.

Man, they can smell.

I had one before, Melvin, and we killed a deer and had you know, got it at all the meat and everything, just had some bones whatever, And so went off in the woods. We got some codies, you know. So we I drove this thing probably two and a half miles or so back in the woods, off this thing, through it, through it back there. Well let's see who was that. That would have been Delmer and uh Delmer. He got out and he found that blood, tracked it

Yeah, I brought it back for you.

That dog could sleep on the couch for thirteen hours without getting up to pee.

A dog.

Hey, let's let's talk. Where do I find God? Man? How did how did that whole thing go down?

Man?

Remember where you were? You had the idea?

What I remember?

So, because that's kind of the song that started it for you, right.

That's changed my life. And uh so what happened was what a great song to do that too? Man, not like not cutting cut or not just like that. Man. We was uh So I was doing this thing like I was getting started, and I was trying to build my social media because that was you know, you got to have your social media up. So I was like, all right, well I don't know how to do that.

I said, okay.

So I started going to church and I would come home and play whatever song we played at church, and that was and I called a gospel song Sunday. And so that's kind of how I started doing it where people got used to it and they liked it and they got to talking about it, and uh so it kind of grew from gospel song Sunday. But then Connie Harrington hit me up on like Facebook or something. She was like, hey, oh yeah. She was like, I would

Yeah.

Boom boom boom, you know deer stand Hey my boat, yeah, interstate.

Back to Nashville, like all this stuff.

And then hers like she has a little lake house and stuff and we both spend time on the water and she was like out on the boat, you know, and all this stuff. And I was just thinking about whenever I was growing up, you know, me and my brother be on the boat with my dad.

He just like boys, be still, just be still, And.

That was a line in there, and then I said, well, I see this as kind of being like a good old boy's prayer too, you know, like, how does how does a good old boy that is not a preacher or whatever, how does he pray for?

Yeah?

Exactly, And that's why at the end of one of the verses says thanks for everything.

Well, that's kind of how I would do it.

Especially, you know, it's like when you're new in the faith that you're you're you're brand new and you're just learning, like, you know, trying to be a good Christian, you know, trying to figure out how to talk to God, figuring out how to talk about, how to pray like you're not going you know a lot of people say thanks for nursing my body.

We don't talk like that. How does a good old boy pray?

Thank you?

Thank you for cle and uh and thanks for everything.

Amen.

And that was where that line come from, which has become a huge line at the show. So I'll be playing that, you know, live or whatever, and I'll get to that and I was kind of back off, and there he.

Goes, thanks for everything that give it to half step down.

I need a apo boys work.

Yeah, it's nine o'clock in the morning.

You need a capo getting it up there. Let's see because it's in like b or something now they plays anything in bed.

I agree with Cabo boys.

Day out on the water fish just for by. I put my pole down for around. It's just so quiet, not old man. The same song that s beasted. You can't find these slide bottle are great. Line in front of the Boston to a room Someday morning at the church bed and a day stay or hey fet and then it stay back to the last week. She'll lay when it's time. Me and him was trying around sometimes whether I'm looking for him, No, that's where I find God, that the wonder that was up.

Keep going, keep going, keep going.

Sometimes Lady nine.

Live in.

Listen the sounds of her hardy the song crickets you sing, I don't know Dad sing, sounds like him. Ben Ah, I too good, pray out here, thanks.

For everything, or one more course, one more chorse get.

It in from a bostall in the room Sunday morning and the church people stay, then stay back.

To natch me.

And him stride an sometime when I'm looking for him.

That's out. Keep it, keep it, keep it, keep it, keep it, keep it. Okay.

I remember running Back. I remember the first time I ever heard that song. Do we need to pay him for if he keeps playing?

We have to do well.

He's got a song out, he's got a song, he's got a new song out, and maybe he needs to do that. Maybe not, it's up to him, but maybe No.

We were having uh get down that I was at Uh.

I was.

I was at Combs's house and we were they were they did this thing called Pizza Fridays, and I was making a pizza and this is this is a few years ago whenever it just came out, and he was like he was playing just songs on He's a big bluetooth guy, loves to pull songs up on his phone and play it and uh and he said, he was like, hey man, he's like, have you heard this? I was like, what is it? He's like, new guy Larry Fleet this

Yea.

I remember him playing that bro and being because there wasn't nothing like that out on the radio or kind of on the scene at all. And dude, that song crushed me in the best way. And I've been a huge fan of that tune ever since.

Man, that one like it did.

It changed everything because we had we had a few songs out and we were doing all right, you know, we're selling a few tickets.

And then I put that out and it happened.

We happened to put it out on I wanted to put it on Good Friday, you know, and I.

Thought that'd be pretty cool.

So we had it all planned out and everything was going to come out on Good Friday. When the world shut down in twenty twenty, right before it come out, I didn't know, you know, you had to plan these things out. We had to cut it years, sure, I had, because we cut it in twenty and nineteen. Really yeah, I didn't get a record down until like eighteen or nineteen, and I wrote that song probably seventeen or eighteen or something like that, and it was on Hole with a

And I was like, guys, this is there's a good song.

This has got something to it, you know, And finally I said, let's put it out on Good Friday.

So we did well.

As soon as we did, we went down to Late Martin and Alabama and h took My little boy was about maybe six months old at the time, and so me and him was riding around on the little mule, you know, Kawasaki mule downtown on the waters, you know, a little ponting boat let a little center con So we just kind of I just had a couple of guys come out, buddies of mine and uh Matt Paskert and he brought a friend, and they just had a little cameras.

Nothing big.

No, we had no money, yeah, yeah, and the labels like we got like three grand. You can't do a music video for three grand, but we did. And then we did a bunch of theat on that boat.

Yeah. We just did it all.

Around Late Martin, just down the church, just what we would do on a normal day. So we made this thing and put it out and it got like a million views or something in the first few weeks or whatever. It was just blowing up. Well, then radio stations started playing it. That's how it got to radio, because you know, nobody was ever thinking that would go to radio. It's a double first verse ballad that's true where I Find God and so, and it's four minutes long. It's four minutes,

Uh. It kind of crossed over a lot of different things.

And it's country too though, man's very it's a country's.

Song, but it was like, it's it's gospel, it's country, it's whatever, its soul. And so the YouTube thing, that's been my biggest thing. I got a big YouTube following, and so I just put out stuff like that and it starts popping off and you kind of know if you've got something, well, that's that song blew up my YouTube following and then so next thing you know, we're out, we're playing it and people were coming up like, dude,

That's you know.

I've talked to my preacher buddy, and he's like that you got a way of touching millions of people of that, And so I was like, and it has.

I mean, we remember where we were the first time we heard it, and like, there ain't a whole lot of songs I remember that with, and that's one of them.

And I've heard of these ears, heard a.

Bunch of I think one of the greatest things, just like listening to your music, man, is like you get to write about your life, right, you know, you get to write about your kids, and you get to write about church and God and fishing and hunting and and and then I mean, like it's inspirational because it's real and it's true and I got it made.

Man, I know who and I know what I'm doing and I get to do what I want to do and I sing about what I live every day and it ain't and it's my my brand, as they say, everybody looking for your brand, like I am who I am like that and I get to sing that.

And it's awesome, favor I say that all the time.

And it seems like if you can build what you do on who you are, then you don't ever have to like put on a front and a gimmick and do this song and dance thing like you just do what you do. And it's so it's so authentic, and I think people can recognize immediately. You know, they know what's a show, and they know what's legit, and man, you're legit, dude. Everything you've ever done that's very respected in this town and well we all think a lot of you.

Well you know, and that was I never really cared about being a singer. I want to be a songwriter. I want to be respected amongst my peers. Sure as a songwriter and be like a bona fide songwriter, you know, And it was like that was all like that was so like winning a CMA or whatever, like that's cool. We I've written some songs that have gotten nominated and

That is to me, I'm like, gole Lee, like we did it.

We freaking Look, I think we all have this bone in us that want to write songs that move people, like songs we heard back in the day that moved us, you know, And so that's always been my goal and that's what we what I set out to do is just try to write songs that you know, people love, man and and and help people.

Out and make a different Yeah.

Man, that's kind of a great transition into graver. And honestly, when you talk about songs at Affect, we're not there yet, bro.

We got to be there. We've been there an hour. My god, just put out a song, bro, you got nothing else to do.

And going to eat lunch? I mean, yes, it ain't even lunchtime.

Let's get into uh, let's get into now. You just had a song come out somewhere in the South. Yeah, kind of the same same things.

Man.

You're talking about kids and and all this stuff. Man, how to walk us through the creation and of that tune.

Well, so we got on a roll. We went and wrote. So sometimes I had I had like a little group, me and Rocky Block, RTT Tyler, Jordan Doughzy. It was us four and like we were out. We wrote man made a Bar. We wrote things that tay for granted the same day. So we had two of them hit the radio. Two songs and one day that we wrote that both went to red and then everything else was write.

We were just cutting it. We were just on a roll.

Man.

We had a good little group. Stay high, Stay high. I was like, come on, boys, back out, you know. And so we ended up righting somewhere in the South. And I to me, I was like, man, one of my biggest influence. I remember listening to I mean, I listened to Hank, I listened to Willy, like all this stuff, but it Alabama was one of them that I was like, Man, that was they sang real stuff, but in a Southern way, and they were proud of it and the South exactly.

You know, if you queen, what would you get right now?

Well, I'll tell you because I had it yesterday. It was the Royal New York Cheesecake Blizzard and they put like the little strawberry stuff in the middle. It's got the graand cracker all mixed up.

So I'm just O G chocolate dip cone. Dude, give me O G chocolate dip cone. I have some chicken fingers. I take some chicken. The opposite of soft serve, I guess would be hard serve maybe, is what they call it. They used to just the regular old scoop chocolate ice cream. Oh yeah, give me that too, scoop on conn and I don do it. I don't venture out much, man, I'm pretty. I'm pretty stay at home ice cream eater. There's nothing wrong with that.

We talked about being comfortable earlier. It's being comfortable.

Be comfortable.

I think by the time you should click forty. It's just like I'm just gonna kind of do what I want to do and you can kind of.

Can you give us a little taste?

Yeah?

Not a dairy queen, but yeah, Buddy River on.

A lighting bun bun, the sun saying gone going down.

The smooth low fly side, the.

Church bells ring summer he's staying. Bull Frog sang a Dix may Too.

Song.

Somewhere in the South kids are run and around almost mad Sup and Daddy is on his way back to the house fixing Lord and got the beers up.

Smart.

Now there's somewhere in Signe.

Well there's some tough.

But ain't that reminiscent stuff? Man brings me back, like you know.

Like was it uh not? Crawler on a cane pole, dairy queen and the cake cones. Yeah, man, climbing up on a fence, froom, Honey sucking Blue, young Love on the bench, c the promise on the class room. That's a small town big dream still comes true.

Yes, yes, yes, true, true, true, true true is awesome.

I mean it's like that's small town stuff. Man, it's everywhere, but for me in the South, that's what I know.

That's it resonates with everybody, and it resonates with everybody from a small town and even not even even in the South, man, I mean you all country wide, you know, is feels that in their own version, right, Yeah. And you make a great point that everybody loved Alabama even though they were specifically singing about their home.

Right the South.

My mom and dad got married to a Alabama song, which was was that uh sometimes from morning.

Coffee is way too strong? Sometimes was she said? She says all wrong.

Right along, she says, sign me like only friend of the that's close enough perfect for you.

Know, like that kind of stuff.

And they had they had a home movie like it was like he got a video camera for his like for the wedding shoulder. Yeah, and they had like this old tree out man he would like he would get my mom like video and they were like, he'd probably be embarrassing me. I'm gonna say anything. But they had an old record player. They would play Alabama records. It was, you know, close enough to perfect. He would like be smoking a Marlborough with like a Marlborough had Marlboro tacket.

You know, he's like leaning back.

He's all of one hundred and twenty pounds, you know, got his cowboy boot's on, no shirt, and he's leaned up against an old tree. Then he'd like, you know, jump on a you know, a tire, swing like swing across or it was like a grape vine, you know whatever, he like swing across. Yeah, he was out there like and he was like singing his own music video, like he was Alabama singing it. And I know my mom's like yeah, you know, like he had an old sixty seven Mustang which belongs to me now. It was his

Yeah.

But so that was kind of all the stuff that we grew up listening to, and it's very much instilled in me and that's where all the everything comes from.

It's awesome family. What's next for you?

Man? Where you are you playing shows all year? Where you're gonna be this fault? Where can people see you?

We're in Yeah.

This summer we're just kind of, you know, hitting the festival stuff and popping around. But uh, in August we go to Europe, my first headlining like tour come on there and just sold out Ireland pretty cool with me. Good for you these I mean some of them are smaller runs, but country fans over there, man, dude. Yeah, some of these places, I mean they're a whole fifteen sixteen hundred people, which pretty good for never really going there.

My kind of guy. You fit right right, you dang right well, dude, thanks for coming on. Yeah, man, that was that was awesome. Uh do you want to play a Gravst song? You played a bunch of songs right then, do you got one? You the guy sticks out?

Man, it's hard to pick, you know, yeah, because I've been influenced by so many.

Man for me like you ain't got to but do it. Uh. Yeah, you're a good singer. We want to hear you. You're a killer.

Trying to think of one, uh, all of them crime leading leading in when I was there young, and now I had dreamed my father and passed on gone. My world revolved around him. I couldn't lie any and so I made my way down min Her Hall and taped balls door.

And now I said, Daddy, I'm suffree.

After that, I go home. You're gone that way. We're crying anymore, So may I stay with you? He said that my job asked what I do, and everything I do it's because of to keep you safe with me. That's my job.

You see.

What a great song?

Yeah, dude, you're You're real as they come, bro, and we appreciate you for it. I'm a huge fan. I'm a huge fan of your tunes. You're writing, uh everything you stand for. Man, thanks for coming on.

Uh remember how to play that one?

Now? That's all we do this time? That was off.

Yeah, man, you have to come back and talk stories and and yeah, I want to hear uh we hear about your fall. You you're gonna kill some big deal this year.

Yeah.

Man, we got a couple of camera.

Already running getting always Yeah, I mean I got attack the cam man has changed the game. It's nice to be able to just you know, get a dang on your phone. Oh we got a deer you know that. And you know I listened on X and stuff. Man, we used to just wonder where we were at. Now you know, we're crossing this and.

So you know, I've got all this stuff.

We got all the technology now, you know. And like I said, me and the boy, we're looking forward to this. We'll we'll definitely do some deer hunting. And uh, but duck season, duck guy. I'm a duck guy, man, And I think the reason why.

It didn't even talk duck hunt my bad.

Well to me, Like you know, I grew up in Middle Tennessee. We had to cheat them game reserve where you went out to like Camden, you know, hit the bottoms.

Yeah.

Now, like I got you know, a bunch of buddies and we all got places over in Arkansas. I say, we they got them. They're richard than I am. They've bought up some land over there. That's the ticket exactly.

And I'm their friend.

You know.

Yeah, you play some songs.

I play songs, you know, And so we go over there and hunt h kind of northeast Arkansas all the way down stuck guard and everything else. But we'll make trips out to Oklahoma and different places. Just I mean, I think for me, it's uh, I love water. That's one around the water. If I'm waist deep in standing waiters in muddy water, I'm okay. And uh and I just I think ducks are cool. There's so many different kinds of them. They're pretty. Uh they look good on my wall and eat and it's uh so to me,

Being in the water.

Makes you a better better man, too, man, better husband, better dad.

Let's uh, let's let's group pont sometimes man some turkeys. Let's catching big bubbas.

Hey, you want to go catch a big bubba. I'll get on Instagram. I want to say that did we put it on that? I don't know if we put it, I don't.

I want to see that video before get I'll shut it to you.

Oh man, Yeah, what you.

Said the.

Man. That's awesome. Hey, thanks for hanging out in God's Country. Oh yeah, we.

Got you at some more. Look you got some more, got some coves for you, absolutely, brother, thanks for coming on, Thanks for hanging with us.

Man, you're great. Thank you.

Yeah, thanks for hanging out God's Country. We'll check you next time, Larry se Go, check you out. Check out this new song somewhere in the South. Peace Appreciate you.

Thank yeah.