When the Good Guys Win: Behind the Music

I have a couple days off. We're gonna leave here tomorrow night. I'm gonna go to New York City. The band is going to Albuquerque, and then we all meet in Las Vegas the day after that. And then things get really crazy, really crazy, because we have an album coming out October the twenty seventh, that's in a few weeks, and I thought it would be pretty cool for this episode to tell you the stories behind the songs and not you know, fancy stories like I would say on

the radio. I'm talking about digging deep and telling you where these came from, how they were built, crafted, created, and why these are the ones that made the cut. I'll tell you now this album called When the Good Guys Win. The theme of it is living for today because tomorrow is not guaranteed. That's been the theme all along.

It started about a year ago when I fell off the stage, broke a couple of ribs, punctured a lung, and so much of that made me think about life and made me wonder why we all always worry about tomorrow and the next show and the next album and the next tour. And I've been preaching to my band and crew this whole year. Let's enjoy this tour that we're on today. Let's enjoy the show we're about to

play tonight, because that's all we have, right. And so as I tell these stories, as I talk about these songs, I have some help here in the room with me. Say hi everybody, Hi everybody. These are my two kids, Lincoln in London, and they know these songs better than anyone, So it only makes sense that they help with the podcast. Right, do you guys like this album? Yeah? All right, let's get started. Hey DJ, Hey Sunset, Hey full Moon Creeping up over then find in the Distance, Hey Summer Breeze,

Hey to Lane Road. I Got a girl that means the world to mean, if you wanna help me, let

her know. Gimme Something is the first song on the album, track one, and I think it's a great way to lead into the songs because here we have this very innocent, descriptive narrative from a guy out on a date with a girl and he really likes this girl, and he's calling for help through all the signs in the night, the stars, the moon, the radio, as if they're all friends of his and they can help have influence on

her and how she feels about him. Gimme something, she convanced to throw up her hands to hunt through her hair, falling down, Jimmy, Something that'll take your breath to win and make or think that Heaven dry here right now. Something that'll get those eyes something at me back. She's falling Carter down, the stars tonight, anything in turn the space that's in between us in and nothing come will give me something. Yeah. One of the on the song's

name is Justin Wilson. You're going to hear that name a lot because he had a hand in six of the songs on this album. He's a genius writer, he's a brilliant singer, and he sang the demo on the song originally, and it freaked me out because then I had to go in make this record and sing it and know that I wasn't going to be able to do any justice to what Justin did. But man, he makes me better and I feel lucky to be able to soak up anything I can from him. Gimmy something, givy.

Some said this album is number nine for me, and people want to know what makes this album different from the others. Well, that's pretty easy. See. I was touring constantly during twenty sixteen and seventeen, so the only way I could make this album was on the road, writing, editing. A lot of the recording, believe it or not, was

all done on the road. I sang every song at home and it's not a studio, it's really a closet, and and I recorded the drums and the bass and some of the bigger guitars in the big studio, but

everything else was on the road. And I think that's really going to reflect back on the songs, because here I am sitting on the back of the bus and I'm parked in a parking lot watching people pull in and they're getting out and they're lining up in the venue that I'm about to play, and I get to look at the exact people that I'll eventually deliver these

songs to. What better way to do it? And on top of that, I get to have writers out on the road with me and we go and they watched the show that I'm about to play, and then we go back to the bus and we say things like, A, you did this and it was amazing, Let's do more of that, or be you know, I watched the whole show and I didn't see very much of this. Let's write that, And I think that's how I ended up

recording You're in It. You're in at this track two on the album, and it's got this beat that's perfect for a live show. It has energy, it has some mystery around it, and yet it's still a country love song, just as that bojo that you know on a Saturday night a packed house and the lights come on in the front of the stage. It works. You read it every single good time. We're in a redvine in my mind, jam fine, you read it every down of what could beat? All?

I see you and me not reading everything. I don't know what the USU hoes all. I know is Gerl you're in One of the writers on this song. His name is Justin Adams, and he's an artist himself, a great dude and a great artist, and this is his first major cut as a songwriter. So I'm so proud of him for that. And you know, that brings up something that I've never felt before, and that's the responsibility

of singing another songwriter's song. And as a songwriter myself, I know how impactful that could be, and I know

how important every cut is. And so here I am out on the road writing and bringing guys out with me, and inevitably that one of the writers would say, hey, Granger, you know, I want to play something we wrote a couple weeks ago and see if you dig it, maybe you could help finish it for me, And so they would play it, and several times I would think that song is amazing, and no, I'm not going to help you finish because it's already done, but I want to

record it. And then I kind of get this new ownership in the song in a way that I've never felt before, and I feel this responsibility of thank you for allowing me to be the voice of your idea, your baby, and they're thinking, thank you for giving my song a chance. And so it's this mutual camaraderie that's such an amazing feeling. It's like having a teammate in this crazy music business, and that's awesome. This podcast is

brought to you by EEE Energy. My name is Granger Smith, and I'm talking about my brand new album that comes out October twenty seventh to the world called When the Good Guys Win. And I got to tell you guys, in case you didn't know, I understand in this crazy world of streaming music, which is great. You know. I'm all about people hearing the music however they can, and streaming is very important because it gets my name out there. It spreads the message so that hopefully you and your

friends could come see me in concert. But I also want to talk about the few people that actually still buy records and what that does to an artist and the team around them. You see, it helps build our story, it helps build our reputation. It allows us to have bigger tours and deeper spots on festivals. Buying the CD itself is actually a really cool piece of memorabilia you could bring to the show. When we could sign for

you too. So if you're one of those people that still buys records, God bless you, and I hope you know that you're keeping our dream alive. I want to get back to this track listing on my brand new album When the Good Guys Win, and to talk about that a little bit more. I have two people sitting with me right now that know these songs better than most because they've been listening to these songs since they were just demos. They're my two kids, Lincoln in London.

They're six and three. Okay, so you guys can sit on my lap. Wait, first of all, do you guys like all my new songs? Yes? What's your favorite song of mine on the new album? Ooh ooh? I know what? They rocket you out? You're in it? What do you like about your in it? I like it because Lincoln always gets me and dance moves and he always says MoMA on the front porch rocket. Yeah, Lincoln seems to be like in rocket ships. Right now. That's a battery, Boddy.

You can't put batteries in your mouth. Why do you like that one? Because? I like it because it's funny and it has lots of dance moves. Well, that's the second time you liked the song because of the dance moves.

I'll be honest with you. On track number three called raise your Glass, dance moves is not the first thing that comes to my mind, but a really cool song with a great message about celebrating the good times is could be in me on it song, Boys, I got the first round, could be the last second, hell Mary, game winning touchdom, could be hitting it off with the one that you're hitting on, turning the page new day,

finally moving on. Whatever it is, Yeah, whatever it is, Raising your Class made the coast to all of the times and me the most. Go on and let you worries roll out off your beasts. Still got some man to make, a whole lot of shots love to take, so let's hold them high, lil tonight like it's out last, Raising your Class. So this whole album was produced by Frank Rodgers, Derek Wells, some stupidly talented guys that are

some of my good friends and me. I'm way too OCD and way too too much of a control freak to not also produce all my albums too. And I remember on raise up your glass and keep in mind that this is all edited on the back of my bus. I'm talking to the to the guy building the beats, and I was like, I wanted some kind of Grandfather clock like and he found it and it worked. This song is one of those songs that could have been about it. It could have been stripped down one guy

and a guitar, but we gave it this energy. So it's strong and powerful, and I think the message is strong and powerful. And we're gonna be able to stand up there and play this live and although it may be a little sentimental lyrically, sometimes we're gonna be able to stand up there on stage and deliver with power and I love raise up your glass. What a good message to take mess? All right, what's next? Track number four? It's the first time I get to talk about SGOP. Now.

There's a group of buddies that I've developed a relationship with over the last few years, starting with at the boot fits announced these guys Andy Albert, Jordan Schmidt, my buddy Justin Wilson, who we talked about at the beginning, and me. The first tour that we took together US four was when I was on the Florida Georgia line tour in Canada last fall. We brought these guys out and we hit it off immediately creatively and as friends. So when we got together on the bus with some guitars,

it just felt right. We wrote a bunch of really good songs, back to back to back. At one point we decided we needed a name for our group. You know, every great group of songwriters. Not that we're great yet, we're trying to be, but every great group of songwriters has a name. After a bunch of beers and a bunch of songs and a good day of writing. We were at dinner and talking about how we're wanting to make a name for ourselves and we haven't established anything yet.

Somebody said we're just a small group of people, and for whatever reason, that stupid name became stop and it stuck, and we've been saying it ever since now. Out on this tour, one of the members of Florida Georgia Lyon Tyler Hubbard. I think it was a little bit jealous because we were writing songs and he wasn't. And he's just a very, very creative guy. He loves to be right at the center of creation, so he came to

me one morning. He goes, hey, hey, Grange, if you guys are writing songs and you get on something today, will you please let me know? Will you send me a text? I said, sure so, sure enough. After breakfast we came back, we started writing a little bit, and as soon as we got a groove and we got something feeling right and we got a few words, I texted Tyler and I said, hey, man, we're on something.

And thirty seconds later he was coming in the bus, put his reading glasses on, pulled out his phone, pulled up his notepad, and we were off to the races. Here's what we wrote, in order a drink. It goes down smooth before you can blame. It turned into the first single on the record. Happens like that. It started with the first line, It led to the second line, and then the third, and it was just some guys with guitars, grooving, not knowing where it was gonna go.

And sometimes good songs happen like that. It happens love that out of the Blue scatters in the blood lash. Yeah, when it happens like that, nothing the loss right into you. Judy. All you can do just to keep her around soil, The moon goes down in your back at your house. One thing will do another. You love each other when looking you never loved back. It happens like that. This song will always be special to me because for the music video I used my wife and our little baby boy, River,

who was one year old at the time. So happens like that is a very personal song for me. I'm die Kanja the kiddy Cat. Well, I don't. I don't have a kitty cat song on this album, but a candy cat song. Well, what we're talking about cats? Oh, it happens like cats. Yeah, well that's a parody about happens like that. So it happens like that, your favorite cat? All right, what they're talking about is I made a parody if my own happens like that, called I happened

to like cats? Trying to make the kids laugh, being silly. I'll make a funny video one day it goes like this. It's Saturday night. What could be better than crocheting cat names all over in my sweater. I've never been a dog kind of got chet's in their tails, scratching themselves and barking all night. My best friends are at my house, are in around cloning my cats ride me out. I happen to like cats, the ones with the blue, blue lives,

even the green. Yeah, I happen to like cats. Give me a feed line over a cane and they got nine lives. You need to spouse when you got putsy Katz all over the house, Milo and sprinkled snowball and mister Dingles. Yeah, it's a matter of fact. I happen to like the care it goes on. But I'll spare you. I'll spare you from the rest of it. But it's kind of sad that my son Lincoln, that's his favorite song on the album, even though it's not on the album. But I'll put it out one day. I'll make a

I'll make a video one day for it. Speaking of Lincoln, he has his singing debut on this album. And this is a song that I wrote with SGOP. It's one of my favorite songs I wrote with them, and one of my favorite songs now to play live. We've been playing it live and it's a song about the good old things in life, the things that no matter how much time goes by, they still hold up. Now. When

I first made the demo of this song. Lincoln loved it and he sang it all the time, so I thought he deserved to start the whole song off on the album goes like this, that red paint good bad tractor, massy red paint takes a couple more cranks these days, but it still holds up. Yeah, still holds up. Bat forty five wax wheeling song. Every time it comes on. If mind having a little crackle in the bottle, but give a little time and it'll get you down deep

in the gut. It still holds up. It feels good, still turn like a kitten, like a deep draw edge and like a cold last bottle cold, and my chicking in the kitchen man and never get sold my shoe I am, and where I'm from? Damn right? Sure know you old country music. I love the way this one feels. And the idea was very simple. I was with Sgop. We were on the bus and we were listening to the songs we wrote the day before, you know, test

them out, see how they were. And sure enough, Andy Albert goes, hey, they still hold up, and I said, yes they do, and that's the title we need to

write today. And recording it, we put some good old Waylon Jennings Phaser guitars, and I hope that in thirty years people could look back on this song too and say, still, you know, music has always been healing for me, and no matter what event I'm going through in my life, good or it seems like music is the first thing I turned to, especially songs that make me feel good. And that's what this next song is, track number six. It's it's a song that every time I hear it, it

it just makes me smile. And so much of this music business is about getting more people to listen to you and evolving your sound. But this song is about the good guys, and it makes me think about all the good guys in my life. Dad, uncle's, brothers, Grandpa, and I think there's something to say for cutting a song on a record that that, if not for any other reason, just makes me feel good. He's a greasy ranch turning on a big black Chevrolet first in, last

out every day. He's a mega dollar give a dollar if you need me hot or kind of good old boy. There's a single white trainer, couple lakers on the edge of town front for Sun Going Down and Matth Brooded, Thanks Swinging and the swing like a dream is where it is? Don't you love it? Win the Good Guys Men. Don't you love it? When and shit comes in? Yeah? Man, every now and then what goes around comes around again? Don't you love it? Long Shot? Prayer on your Dog on a hill of a tear, he wants to kiss

and she leans. Don't you love him? Win? The Good Guys Win? I think this song has got my favorite line of the whole album. He's a make a dollar, give a dollar if you need me holler kind of good old boy. I know some guys like that. I'm sure we all do. When the Good Guys Win. Is also the title of the album, but it wasn't always the title. It actually happened last minute albums in the past. A lot of times I've known what the title was gonna be before I wrote the first song. This one

was different. I had a title, I had a working title, and we were just about to go public with a press release, and just a few days before something happened that changed the course of this record Forever. Hurricane Harvey hit the coast of Texas. We all watched it on the news, and we saw the strength of people. We saw the strength of my home state. We saw the

good guys. We needed to recognize the good guys. Right then and there, watching the news, it became very clear I would now rename the album When the Good Guys Win. February seventeenth, twenty seventeen. I'll never forget that day. We were on tour in Riodoso, New Mexico, playing a show

at a casino called Inn of the Mountain Gods. At that point, it was about two and a half months after I had fallen off the stage in New Jersey, broke my ribs and punctured a lungk I spent three weeks on the couch, in six weeks recovering before I could start playing again. Now, the reason this date was important to me is because I was gonna go snow skiin. And this is a truly redemption thing for me because

snow skin is one of my favorite hobbies. And as much as everyone said, man, you just broke some ribs, you're still kind of recovering, you probably shouldn't go get on a mountain, I needed to. You see, snow skin is one of those things where I could shut the world off. I could feel the cold wind in my face, and the snow under my boots. I could see views that I feel like, man, it's not supposed to see at that kind of temperature and that kind of altitude.

It's God's gift. And no matter what people said about my ribs at the time, I needed to be on that mountain. And that morning was cold. It was really cold. There was a snowstorm that had moved in. The visibility was pretty much nothing there in the blizzard, and I was at the very top of the mountain, which is twelve thousand feet. I decided that I should wait out the blizzard or twenty minutes, so I found a lodge at the top of the mountain and cruised on in.

Kicked off my skis, found a fireplace in the corner and a table, sat down, took off my goggles and kind of shook off the snowpowder and then brushed away the drops of water that had formed on the table from my hat. I pulled out my phone. There was barely any service. I noticed that I had an email for my producer, Frank Rogers. I can't make this story up, y'all, this is exactly how it happened. I pulled up the

email and he had sent me a song. He said, I know we're not looking for songs right now, but I think you need to hear this. Now. Keep in mind, Frank doesn't send me songs very often, but he's got a good ear. And when he does, I'm gonna listen. And I've got some time. I was sitting here by this fireplace, put in my headphones. The download takes forever,

but I finally get it. I hit play, and there it was the moment when the perfect song meets the perfect moment and the perfect time when the listener was needing to hear them message. And right there at twelve thousand feet sitting by that fire, I started crying. Everybody's got a first kiss, but not everybody makes it last. Everybody's got a long list. Some someday I'm gonna do that boom, but nobody needs time to let run's out. Oh so why take a left when you can take

a ride now. Everybody's got a beuture, but not everybody makes a beast. Everybody's got a chastity, but some don't take until it's too late to take it back. Everybody's got a last friend, but not everybody brings it. Everybody does but not everybody lives. Not everybody lives. Everybody lives hit me like a ton of bricks, and I needed to hear that. I struggle so many times with being a musician, and is what I'm doing worth the cause,

worth the effort, worth the travel. And there on that mountain, I got that message again that I'm on the right path, I'm living, I'm following the dream. And although I didn't write this song, I feel such a huge responsibility and a big ownership than this because it impacted me. And now I have to deliver the message because if there's someone out there that needs to hear it, and I could be the one that gets that to them, someone that might be on that mountain my guy was at

the time, then it's all worth it. It's worth it. Track number eight is a song called Stutter. I wrote this with SGOP and I was wandering from the very beginning to write something different, something that was a whole new flavor for my live show. I mean, it was so different when I wrote it that even the guys in the stop said, hey, we got a bunch of good songs that are you sure you want Stutter? And

then they heard the final version of my recording. They said, oh I love it now who I'm stumbling, bumming, bumbling my words like wood, Yeah, I'm ben slipping up girl. You're making me stutter, stutter, Yeah, you're making me stutter, stutter and the studio stutter was a challenge for me because there's so many moving parts. I could produce a song like still holds Up in my Sleep, but this one is a lot more involved and it challenges me. And I like that about Stutter. I'm very proud of

the way this turned out. I'm glad I fought for it, and I still think there's something really really special about this track. You're making me stutter, stutter, Yeah, you're making me stuttered. My question is do you think anybody else out there needs to listen to this album? Me? Lincoln has an answer, go, I know what elephants. You know what elephants eat water? Well, they eat water. Yeah. So the question was with their trunk, But the question was

do you think anybody should listen to this album? I would say yes, why because you're a singer and you have fans. Shouldn't there be more than just me being a singer and have fans that someone should listen to this album Hold on a second, Lincolns got go ahead, buddy, Thank you Lincoln. I'm glad we got that straight anyway.

Track number nine is another SGOP song, and the story behind this one is we were in Vancouver, British Columbia, and it was Andy Albert's birthday and I told him that day I said, hey, man, we got to write your birthday song. And everyone kind of giggled. I said, no, I'm serious. Need we need to write Andy a birthday song. And they're like, well, what, how do you write a birthday song? Where do you put birthday candles in it?

And I said, yeah, we can. I said, what if we write a song about living life to the fullest no matter how old you are, And we certainly feel young at heart, So what if we had a song called never too old to Die Young. They never too old to die young, never too tall, never too lad to get to living cause you only kid one, never too good to be back, They never too scared to be tough. Don't count them candles on the cake, over the trips through around the world. I never do old

die jump. I never do old jump. Don't count the candles on the cake or the trips around the Sun. There it is Andy. We got your birthday song and we even got candles in the cake in the lyrics. That's not easy to do. And I love this song that the message is part of the backbone of this whole album Live for Today. No matter your age, you're never too old. I never do olda die jump. Yeah, I never do old jump never. Justin Wilson is part

of s g OP. But if you remember, he also wrote the very first track give Me Something Now, the first time I ever had him out on the road with me. We're gonna sit down and write and he said, so, man, what are we gonna write about? And I said, Justin, do me a favor. Watch the show tonight. They were about to play study the show and see if you if you see anything that I'm missing. He said, okay, good plan. That night. I get back on the bus after the show and he's like, man, he had he

had a guitar out ready to go. He goes, I got something. I watched your whole show and man, I dig it. I dig the energy. But you know, I know you and your wife, and I know the love that y'all have. That that innocent love that you guys have. And I don't see that at all in the show. I don't see you stand up and delivered that very personal love song. And I've got an idea for you. And I said, what he goes, Love ain't blind? Because I see you. I said, brother, you're a genius. And

we got to work. Loving blind and I see it all the time and night. It's wearing a dress making me smile, stealing my breend. I used to think it was true. I but baby, it's a lie. Loving blind because I see it was the perfect song. But I needed one more thing. I needed to convince my wife Amber to make an appearance. I see, and I got her. Here she is at the end. You know. Putting the songs in order on an album is called sequencing. It's

kind of a lost art. It used to be really be important when the only way to consume music was on an album starting at number one and going all the way down the bottom. It's not like that anymore. Because of streaming. You could pick the single that you want and you play them all out of order, so the sequence doesn't matter as much. But it does to me. And maybe I'm just old school, but I still think it's important on what songs go and what order on

this album. I took a piece of paper and I wrote fourteen titles on it, and I cut them into four fourteen different rectangles, put them on the table, and then move the order around until I found the right order of moments, right the peaks and valleys of the story that I wanted to be told, whether it was music or lyrics. The order is very specific. I put it there on purpose. I wrote in the album notes on this record that a few of these songs will be heard by many, and many of these songs will

be heard by only a few. And that's okay. That's something I've accepted because that's the reality of the world that we live in today. People want one single, maybe two, and they don't consume the record. But if you did, and if you listen to the whole album, and if you listened in order, you're one of the rare few, and you're someone close to my heart. Thank you for that,

and I really hope you enjoy it. We been lost in streets and me on a concrete cree then in somewhere up there is a sky full of stars, but we can't see Homan. Enough is enough. Let's pack up in point this truck where the moon shines down on a little tin move too, cabin in the pines and the joy sound. It's just me and you setting too large offside. Let's move we out where the black side fens, where it takes my time to get us in the paradise. There's a little house and a battery life at the

end of a four wheel drive. Or here's a moment on the album called four wheel Drive, and it really speaks to that longing to get out, to get away from the creeld and to start over. I love the piece that it brings a thinking about this cabin out in the woods in the middle of nowhere. I wrote it with Frank Rogers and Mike Fiorentino in College Station, Texas. This was Frank Rogers saying, man, what if we have

a song called four wheel drive? And I said, I mean, I'm not really interested in a song called four wheel drive. Haven't we already done that. We've had a backgroud song, we have a lot of songs like that. And he get says, no, no no, no, no, it's not about a four wheel drive truck. This is about a house that's out somewhere so far off the beaten path that you need four wheel drive to get there. But the hook is referring to the driveway the house at the end

of a four wheel drive. I thought that was so cool. I got out my guitar and I started playing the little lick da you know, and it became the thing. And at the very end, if you listen close enough, I talked to Amber into singing one more time. Here it is four wheel drive at the end of a four weeks trn boy Slave, little Fine wait to dip back. Take me to the end of the four wheel bang take me. I'm glad I'm doing this podcast. It reminds

me that I love these songs. I know that sounds funny, but not to get caught up in music business and industry and I forget that. The reason I'm doing all this is because I love these songs, and I hope that you love them too, And I hope that by me talking about it and explaining them helps you understand them on a deeper level. And that's pretty cool. Moving on to track twelve, this one has the most different path of any of the other creations on this record.

Now there's four writers on this song. I'm one of them, but I was never in the same room with any of them at any point of writing this song. Jordan Schmidt, a member of SUOP, had been working on the song called Repping My Roots. He emailed me what he'd been working on and he said, hey, man, I was thinking about you when I was writing this song. It kind of feels like something you would do. What do you think, To be honest with you, I didn't listen to it

right away. It took a while, and then my brother Tyler heard it and he said, hey, man, that song Wrapping my Roots, Man, I think you could do that. So I was like, okay, let me dig into it. So I pulled it up. I listened to it, and immediately I started envisioning my version of the song, my lyrics of the song, which was a completely new second verse full of new lines in the chorus, and a new first verse. So you know, he got to this point where I'm thinking, I'm about to change this whole song.

I hope these guys, the other three writers, aren't going to be mad. But the compromise is that if I make it my song, then I can cut it, put on the album and if I don't cut it, then they could have their version back and go pitch it to anybody else they want to. So here I am sat in the back of the bus and I pulled up the microphone and I didn't even have to use a pen and paper. It was just all in my head.

I turned on the mic and I started singing, and I sang my version sent it to Jordan and he said, dude, that sounds like a smash, and I was relieved. I were that read and wide on a Friday night, when my hometown takes the field, I say, yes, sir, Yes, ma'am trying to beat the bench man. That's how I feel. No matter where my heart runs, I remember where I came from. Still got that rais ride, that's small down bride that flag red, blat and blue. Got that trust

from my handshake. Thats from a long base, hard work gone, my boots. It's those friends still don't got with me? Is that down? It mean those memories still don't got a feezing me? Yeah? I got a piece of ban too. In everything I do, fpen my rooms. I'm reveen my room. I love it red and white from my old high school football team made this song my grandpa's Les Paul guitar, my dad's old truck I fixed up when I was sixteen, And I love that we talk about trust from a handshake,

which is something that's so important to me. You can learn so much from a handshake. I love all the images that at colored are wrapping my roots. It's those friends still don't got with me. It's that down it made, those memories. Still don't got a feezing me. Yeah, I got a piece of bin too. In everything I do, besides playing all these songs, I feel like I need to also explain the cover of this album, the cover of When the Good Guys Win, because it's a little

bit different for me. It's two gloves, two work gloves. If you haven't seen it, black and white laying on a table, and a lot of you are probably thinking, what the heck did the gloves mean? Well, let me tell you. We were in New Mexico. This was actually the day before I went to Riodoso when I heard

everybody Lives remember that story. Well, we went to New Mexico to shoot the album cover, to shoot the pictures, and we got with our favorite photographer, Eric Ryan Anderson, my brother and I and we went out to the middle of nowhere and we started snapping away, taking some pictures that we hoped would be the cover of this album.

When we got back, we looked at him and we kind of got with our graphic designer and we put some things together and we put the you know my name on there, and we laid it out and we had about three different choices of what could have been the album cover, all with my face on it, and you know, they were okay. I could have gone with any of the three. And I told Tyler, I said, you name it, that it could be. Okay, it looks like another Granger album, but I wondered if there was

something more, something cooler. And I started thinking that night, and I started thinking, you know, my parents. My parents' place is out in central Texas. My mom lives on a small cattle ranch. When dad passed away in twenty fourteen, we got Eric Ryan Anderson, the photographer, to come out there and to shoot a bunch of pictures, just iconic

images from my dad. You know, his tractor, his hats, his tools, his work bench, his grape vines that he used to make mustanger rape jelly with all kinds of things that were just special to my family. But as I started thinking about these images, I told Tyler, my brother, I said, what if what if the album cover is one of these What if it's the gloves? Like, what what better way to represent the hard work on an

album than my dad's work gloves. Of course, he he would be He would say, Granger, why are you using these old work gloves for your album cover? He would he wouldn't think that made any sense. But it's special to me. And then when the when the album title became, when the good Guys Win, And now I look at that title and I see my dad's gloves when the good Guys win, man, that makes it, That makes it personal,

That makes it special to me. And I also hope that by seeing the gloves, it helps separate it from the other albums I've made in the past, and you'll remember it by that. And if you're one of the few that actually buys this record and actually has a physical copy, then you can open it up and you could see a lot of these other images I'm talking about. The headlights from Da Tractor is the CD itself, you

could see one of his old fencing tools. You know you when you open up the cover, and this album is a piece of me, but it's also a piece of my family. That makes it special. I got one for you. Don't tread on me. I love that. Why that's Arl Dibbles because I like it because you look funny in the costume. Well, it's not a costume, that's a that's Rold Dibbles Junior. That's what he wears. You look funny, Lincoln, What do you think I look funny in that quote? Well, whatever your opinion is about his

overalls and muddy boots. Track number thirteen features an old alter ego of mine named Earl Dibbles Junior. Now, the challenge with writing a new Earl song is always where do we go from here? Have we not already covered at all? With Earl? He's a simple man. And it was my tour manager, Chris that kind of sparked this whole idea. He said, man, what if the title was come and take it like the old revolutionary War in Texas? Revolution slogans you know the flags and people bring to

our show all the time. And I said, dude, that is perfect and we'll use it. But there's a slogan even closer to Earl's heart than that, don't tread on me. I'm a survivor, you damn right. I'm a fighter. I'm a big bukiding trut I'm bringin ain't you. You're discaple, So don't you be offended when Granddad needs defended this bag I'm waven says, I'm staying ring. Don't tread on me, No,

don't tread on me. No. We went in the studio and cut it with the loudest guitars and the loudest drums we could possibly do, because that is what Earl does, and like anything Earl does, don't dig too deep on this one. It's nothing but fun. It's the anthem, it's the I don't cry ye yee and don't tread on Me are synonymous. It's the same thing. They go hand in hand together, peas in a pod. It's like if you have one tattoo, you might as well get the

other on the same arm. There's fourteen songs on this album. You know which one's my favorite. Don't tread on Me, No, tread on me Ye. In the past, when I've had Earl songs on records, it's always the last song. That's not the case for this one. I felt like there was one more message that needed to be heard, one more idea that needed to be consumed before the book

was closed. I was on tour in Connecticut last year with Frank Rogers, just me and him were sitting in the back of the bus, and he said, can I talk to you about it? A little idea that I've had about a song. I don't know if you'll like it or not. In fact, I don't know if anyone would like this for a song. But I was in New York City a few days ago and I was up in the hotel and I was looking down out of the window. I saw all these people and all

these cars and crazy neon lights. Everyone was in a hurry. And the first thought that came to my head was we're living in a fast food world, dying for a home cooked meal. I said, oh my god, Frank, I want to write that song right now. And the song we finished was beautiful and it's never going to be a big radio hit, but it's a story I needed to tell. This city's moving faster than the speed of me on light. Night turns in day, and then it turns back in tonight without rest. I guess that's what

we wanted. And it's a fast food world running in a gunning twenty four seven three sixty five. Order it up and get what you like. Yeah, surely is something, but here's the deal. Nothing's read. It's fast food world dying for a home cooked I'll hit the podcast with that thought. Thank you guys for listening. I hope you enjoy when the good guys win as much as I did make in it Lincoln and London. Do you got guys, have anything else to say? Thank you everybody for listening

to this album, and I hope you really like it. Yeah, thank you everybody. Welcome to this album. What did you like? Say? That was perfect? Buddy, Welcome to this album. We'll leave it at that. Love you guys, Bye bye bye bye bye bye