SUNDAY SAMPLER - The Nashville Podcast Network (7-14-24)

Hey guys.

Sunday Sampler time on the Sore Losers. They talk about stories from their vacation. We'll get to that. On the Bobby Cast, I talked with the Legend Americana and Texas Legend Robert Earl Keene. He opened up about why he decided to retire from the road after forty one years of touring. But we have a new podcast on the network. It's so good. It's called In the Vets Office with Doctor Josie. Abby Smyers. She is Dan Smyers, his wife from Dan and Jay. They talked about their dog and

Help.

Welcome to in the Vets Office, Abby Smiers. Hi, I'm so excited to have you here.

So happy to be here. Thanks for having me.

You're welcome Anne today.

As everyone knows perfect, she sat right on cue. This podcast is biod and she brought with her the lovely Macaroni.

This is Macaroni. She's so good. Yes, yes, Macaroni. We call her mac. She has the best ear. She's perfect in every way. Yeah, one ear, crazy straight up.

One year down. You actually have attached to it her little years. I love that.

My friend Andrew drew it for me and then I got it tattooed because I love.

Her ears so much. It's so cute. So we have a lot of ground to cover today. Before we dive in, I have to tell one of my favorite stories about you. Abby and I really like to walk our dogs together. And I think it was last summer, whatever, last year sometime you text me about twenty minutes before we're supposed to go on our walk and you're like, I'm so sorry, I'm not gonna be able to come over.

Here's why.

And you send me a picture and it's this tiny newborn baby deer, the.

Cutest thing that's ever existed. It was so cute, it was.

So cute, and I'm like, whatever you do, do not come on this walk.

You must stand vigil safe over this deer.

It did not need any saving, and I learned, Yeah, but I thought I needed saving.

But you stayed in your house all day, yeah, watching this baby deer.

Yes, because I was so concerned something was gonna happen to it. And it's the cutest thing you've ever seen. Yeah, I also am so I love deer. I think they're just really magical.

And Abby has a water bowl out you guys in her front yard for deer.

We're in a drought.

We're in a drought. We're in a drought.

How are they gonna find?

And honestly, the last night, one of the last times I was over your ring doorbell camera, your outdoor camera picked up a deer drinking out of the water bowl.

You were the first person to ever see them because they never use it. They just like look at it and consider drinking it and never do. And then finally my hard work paid off.

I was kind of like laughing at you in my head.

I'm like, yeah, all right, like a deer's gonna drink out of this bowl and then sure enough it did.

Okay, anyways, back to the baby deer, and you're like, what do I do? I'm like, I don't know. They don't cheach us this in bet school.

I'm recognizing that we're going to be talking about animals and I'm like automatically using this like way higher voice.

And when I'm talking to animals and it's I love it. So you called a wildlife person.

I did because I had never been around a baby deer. I love them, but I and it was I don't know. It was just in a very strange spot where our house was situated. There wasn't anywhere for the mom to really go, so I didn't know why I would have left the baby there. It was a very weird spot to leave it, and so I thought it was abandoned. But lo and behold called a wonderful wild deer wildlife rehab.

I never talked to her again, but I know when her birthday is and.

It says like what age too, that's amazing, But love her and she told me so. Now that everyone knows this about baby deer, if they are laying still, which this one was completely silent and with their head down. They're doing exactly by nature what they were born to do. So when they're born, they are born odorless and silent, and mom is obviously not so she leaves to go feed, and they are protected because predators cannot find them. I mean,

Yeah, no, of course, I've never set a camera.

I ustar Ferbo camera and moved it from the dog's room and so I could like watch them outside.

I got an update like every forty five minutes. It was amazing and it was so cute, and so then later that evening you're happy you let your dogs out, is when it goes down. You let your dogs out into the front yard.

Yep, do you use the restroom. They had no idea the deer was there. The deer was on the sideyard. No big deal. I have been watching this thing all day like my own child.

And it's mother, Yeah, I was its mother. And then and then you found out that it had a clearly.

Do not trust me.

Yes, Mom came flying out of nowhere, truly out of nowhere.

Jumps yours do jumps your massive fence, You guys, this is caught on her camera her front house, like security footage. You're out there and then all of a sudden you can see Dan come running outside.

Well, I was in the living room and I could hear him yelling no, no, no, and I thought the dogs are going after something, because they've been known to chase a bunny or two. And he I can just hear him screaming. I look out the window and I see the mom in the front yard chasing the dogs. He's chasing the deer. And it's I mean, it's the funniest.

It was like he kind of already looks like Vince Palm and he's a Steelers fan. He was like going left, fake and right. The deer's like juking him. It's like steps on ghosts. At one point, deer steped on ghosts.

So then I of course called Josie and because you're gonna be okay under different but yeah, and so, but the funniest thing is, I'm like, what was your plan? And that's what everyone wanted to know when they saw the video, like were you going after the dogs? Are you going after the deer? He's just like one or the other, because he at one point dives takes a.

Fall, he took a hot mess, took one for the team, and I just want to say he won dog Dad of the Century for me. It was amazing. I'm gonna have to post this video so everyone can see.

But also I'm like, how rude that I protected.

Your child all day and then you're trying to tack my own. I know all that to say, if you ever find a baby deer and just leave it alone, leave it alone, get alone, go about your wife, your dogs inside.

And keep your dogs inside.

Mac so Abby and I first met because she's super duper involved here in the dog rescue community. How did you get involved? Like, have you always been involved in dog rescue? How did that come to be?

So it's been ten years almost exactly. I was working at Warner Music Nashville, which is right down the road from us, and someone was cooing in the hallway and I was like, what's out there? And there was this puppy and my coworker, Rebecca was fostering this little puppy named Kathy, Sweet Kathy. And I don't know what it was about this dog. I just had. I guess had rescue dogs growing up. My dad rescued a couple dogs, but I just wasn't super well versed in the rescue world,

I'm Biggie from yeaes Sweet.

Yeah, they're wonderful, and so I just started volunteering and then from there Dan and I probably fostered about forty dogs and I just really fell in love with rescue and rescue animals. And now we have four and I would have one hundred more if I could.

How many people do you think found you? Learned you from the Road Goes On Forever? Wait that percentage? That's how I found you. The live version, which I didn't know, oh, was like also the main version. I was like, man, this dude, and I think I saw you at ACL like like I have a history. I have a history of like watching you play and listen to your music.

But I was like, dang, those live records are this good?

But then that was the version when you recorded that or did you know that? Did you have a feeling that that song was going to be the one that pop so hard?

It's a really good question about it, because I really don't know. I can't assess my own songs early very well. I mean, when I wrote that song, I thought, you know, it's up tempo, cool, got you know, some drama in and stuff like that.

But I didn't know to do that.

I didn't know, like that Christmas song would like give me fourteen years on the road of Christmas shows I had.

I just have a hard time.

And I'll say this by contrast, there are songs that I think are really great and they never catch fire.

People know that don't hear them.

But I love them and I think they're great, and I keep doggedly trying to go, you're gonna like this song if you listen to it, but it just doesn't happen. So I don't really have any idea of what really is a hit for some reason.

Do you have songs that were poems that you were like, I got to turn this now into a song?

Uh? Something like that.

One time, I did this exercise where I wanted to write a song that had absolutely no rhyme at all, So I really pretty much wrote it as a poem and then but the end goal was to make it in a song, So then then I added the music. So that was that's about it close.

But nothing rhymed the whole song.

Nothing.

How'd that do?

It's great, it's fantastic.

As a matter of fact, I got this guy, guy Baptiste Harman from France to sing it in French.

While I while I narrated it.

In English with the music, and he's, you know that great French thing. It's just it makes it so sexy when he sings it, you know, and I'm under there, you know, with this under and the girl did this and this, and it's so fantastic. So yeah, it was. It was I've never really played for anybody. It's just somewhere and you.

Know, you just have it, ya.

I just I never number one I wanted to do with it.

I just it's kind of it kind of doesn't fit unless you were like this some kind of deep cuts.

But it's beautiful.

The I have the box set, so I have the whole the whole thing beautifully packaged. Yes, a lot of different things. There's a DVD. There's a song book. I was talking, there's just a lot. There's a lot there.

Why that.

It started, it just became that.

It It was like we started with just music and recording it, and we did record the d v D at the same time we recorded the audio so that all matches, uh, And after that, you know, it was like, well, we've got to have a song book because it's all new.

I'm thinking people should see that.

So we did the so and then I think Claria started talking about like somebody was doing a graphic novel, and I said, well, that would be fun to do. So we started to get into that, and that was the one that nearly killed us because I never that's it's a lot of work, a lot of work people.

The drawing of it.

Yeah, I didn't, you know, I didn't draw that. I I hired that out. But I managed the whole thing, in the storyline and everything. But I even had to get at a dialogue guy to write the dialogue because I because I couldn't be as I wasn't as clever as this guy was.

He was really clever.

So I got so I had the storyline, the whole the whole visual concept, but I had to get that somebody I can't draw that.

Well, So no, I get that.

I wrote a kid's book and I can't draw it all. And you know, you have to go and find somebody who kind of represents what your texture is, right, which is a hard thing to do.

I would say it would be as if you.

Were an artist and you're not talking about you, but any artist who songs but finds a song that they didn't write but still speaks for them. Like that's rare that that can actually happen. But I have friends that are really great songwriters, but sometimes there's a song that pops into their world that they didn't write, and they're like,

Yeah, it's grabbing that feeling. That's that's that's the magic.

There.

You're going and you're doing more shows, but you're not retired.

I guess I never thought you were retired.

Well, I retired. I'm retired really from touring. So I don't have a bus. The band that I put together is the same band that I have, but it's just because I was it's going.

Incidentially they were.

It was I'm lucky that they still have some space in the calendar and then but you know, the thing is was the the grind of touring, you know, just getting off a tour and then preparing for the next tour.

It never stopped it never did stop.

I mean, it's just like kept going, kept going, and I just got to a point where I thought I was wearing everybody out. So I didn't think in terms about like just taking a year off, you know, and that kind of thing. I always wondered why those people take a year off. They're like twenty five years old and they said, I'm going to take a year off. I said, that's because you don't have any gigs. Man, don't tell me that. I mean, you don't have to take a year off.

But I don't know why. That didn't really cross my mind.

I just saw it at that time, and I did feel a certain amount of burnout going on with me. I just felt like I was blazing through a lot of stuff. I wasn't really phoning it in, but I was.

I wanted to go in.

The best I could go out, but well came in, you know, and that was really part of that was a big part of the decision.

Kind good level, cast up, little food for yourself life, ain't.

Oh it's pretty behaved, it's pretty beautiful thing laugh, a little more exciting because man said he can't cut your kicking with full Thing with Amy Brown.

Hey it's Amy Brown from Four Things with Amy Brown. And here's what we talked about this week on my podcast. So just to wrap up the you know, mental health piece and being unhappy at our job or in I feel like it could apply to work or if you're happy in a certain environment and you're in maybe your group of friends or something like that. But just taking that assessment, what are some signs that we look out for. Okay, this is not healthy because sometimes we're just in the motion,

One hundred percent. There's a theory on this called flow, and I always like to give it outside resource, in my own resource. And there's this legendary psychologist named Mihai Cheek sent me high you can never never spell it in a million years, but he's got millions of views on a Ted talk and he described the theory of flow, and he was thirty years in his study of flow.

And I know you would too.

You know, the people we love in our life, we would suffer for it. We would suffer for certain causes. And so that's passion, Like it's not a romantic thing here, this is a conviction like I will suffer. And for me, I realized that broadcasting was something I was willing to suffer for, and I made less money for several years. I didn't contribute to my retirement. I suffered just to get the shot to do what I do now because I know that that's what I was put on this

You could be using what you do best, to do what you love, to produce.

Results of matter in a sucky environment and be miserable because of the people side of it. So if the people are dragging you down. That's a sign get out of there.

It's not your place.

But then it's just not as simple as that. You may have to have gratitude and be patient.

Yes, sorry, I always want to point out I never want people to jump without a boat to jump into.

But my point is.

That's your sign it's gonna kill you emotionally. We did this simple little post amy I don't know, about a year or two ago, and I saw some data and I just posted it. I was sitting in a chair like this and I was just like, research shows that your boss has more impact on your mental health than your doctor. And we posted it. It's like ten million views, like because everybody in the comments on it is what it was just heartbreaking, Like I wasn't excited about the

Who they're supposed to be.

They just can't.

I'm not making excuses for them.

Well, and you're miserable in certain areas, like it's like that self assessment of am I likable? You actually talked about this on your show too of am I likable? And asking yourself that question, and that just stood out to me, and it just talks if.

You're not likable, you should you should probably figure out why because the rest of your life is going to unravel if you stay unlikable. Because I'm just telling you're the problem if somebody did something to you inevitably and somebody said something to you, and I acknowledge that. But there's an old phrase in the church role called hurting people hurt people, and it just couldn't be any more true,

You know.

If you're a working professional woman and that's your gym and that's what you want.

To do, I love it.

If you want to be a stay at home mom, go for it.

It's a crazy job in the world. No judgement either way.

But you better have that meaning and what that role.

Is like, this is who I'm supposed to be at this season of my life. If not, I'm telling you your physical health and the data bakes backs me up on this. Your physical health, your mental health, your emotional health is going to tank.

We're going to do it live.

Oh, the one, two, three, Sore Losers.

What up, everybody? I am lunchbox. I know the most about sports. I'll give you the sports my sports opinions, because I'm pretty much a sports genius, y'all.

It's Sison. I'm from the North. I'm an alpha male. I live on the north side of Nashville with Bayser, my wife.

We do have a farm.

It's beautiful, a lot of acreage, no animals, a lot of crops. Hopefully soon corn pumpkins, rye. I believe maybe a little fescue to be determined. Over to you, coach.

And here's a clip from this week's episode of The Sore Losers. And here's a clip from one of And here's a clip from one of the episodes this week on The Sore Losers. Take this clip and play it. How do you guys always flood? You flooded the last time when Billy was here. That's right, dude, That's why I need a co host.

Man.

Hell of a connection. We get there and we read the guest book a couple of drinks one night. It was a lot of downtimes that we're playing Domino's Chicken leg watching Wimbledon Round one.

Now we're into the semis. Hey, I mean joker got walk over. Well I don't know what happened to the other guy. He got hurt ast hip man.

But anyways, we're reading the guest book and it says stuff, Oh, love the Airbnb. It was so funnier. We had a great time.

Love the Airbnb.

A lot of rain.

Weren't able to.

Use First Avenue. Huh, love the Airbnb. Man careful when it rains. Another comment, Love the Airbnb. It was nuts, except for you can't go on First.

Avenue if it rains. Oh, it's weird.

Love the Airbnb.

It was beautiful, gorgeous, gorgeous, really nice back patio, perfect for the fall weather. But that storm that came in really caught us by surprise. We were stuck inside. That's funny, that's so so weird. And then we got all drunk and we right in there. We're like, we're fucking celebrities, dude. We wrote a bunch of drunks. It was like the most beautiful guest book and then we just demolished it with our We like all signed it. Though Ali's signature

F warre.

We we're on King Street and we're drinking it uptown. Uptown ended up being one of the favorites.

That was one of your spots drink deals, and they you're you're like McKitty, you go to the same bar over and over again.

They're a decent amount of time because it was a block from the place that's smart and they would play Ali's song that she's releasing in two weeks over the speakers and so we'd see if people were vibe into it. And so we leave uptown.

We get into the weed store, but we didn't buy weed a weed legal there or is it one of the other ones? Non THHC got it.

But they also have agent Asian candies, so you don't even have to get the THHC.

Got it.

Yeah, there's like non they're just normal candies from Asia. But you can only get him at the weed store.

I've never been Charleston. Sounds like a heck of a place. Man, crazy.

So we're in the weed store, all right, girls are running in from the water. Dude, there's girls in bikini tops.

So oh my gosh, it's raining.

We get in there there, Ali gets some Asian candies, sucking them down.

I'm like, are you guys getting high?

And they said no, there's no whatever it's called in it.

I don't know.

That's what confused me.

Explain it to me. So we're trapped in the store an hour.

Dude, the biggest drentio comes through people floating by on the water in front of the King Street no less, and so we finally stops, and then we're able to leave. We're stuck in there in the store forever. And I go up to the one dude we'd spent money with and I go, hey, man, I've got to go. I've had to go for an hour. Can I please use ther restroom? And he looks at me dead in the eye and he goes, no, man, we don't have one here.

Okay, so you shut down the store when you got to go pee, you lock the doors and go next door.

I thought we were on a pretty common ground where were all cool. That's all good, man, I'll just piss myself while I'm waiting. So it finally clears up, we go home. We're going home. We get an uber because it's a decent amount of little jog, So we get into uber and we're all just in the bag kind of. We hadn't been drinking in hours because the weed shop had no alcohol, so we're just kind of like sobering up. And then we get to second avenue and they dry

I think you guys said it wrong.

And dude, so then the whole time, sorry, go ahead, So then the whole I'm like, we get inside safely. I believe the girls took their shoes off. I was fine with mine on my own care.

I'm gonna say shirts damn no.

Yeah, the girls getting naked, I'm I was like, all right, cool, all right. So dude, I sit there, I grab a beer. I'm sitting on the barricade, just watching people. I mean it's like, guy orders pizza, pizza, gar won't go any farther. Guy in the pizza. He's wading through water to get his pizza. Guy and girl come home from work. The chick is like in her nice dress thing. She's like, fuck it, I don't know what else to do. So

Are like, what the I mean, what the how did this flood? What the dude?

Apparently anytime it rains where we were Charleston, half of it is under seawater level, so it floods. So if if there's a rainstorm, you're a foot underwater, why don't.

They fix that?

I mean, dude, so your boy.

I mean, I am just sitting drinking Wimbled and playing co Co Coda and it's just one after another. Pizza guy, a couple coming home from work. You got, dude, people abandoning their cars. There was three cars in the middle of the road.

I took pictures. We can put them all up. It was nuts.

I've never actually been part of a flood, Hurricane Katrina style. And it happened in a flash, one one hour. It was flooded out.

That's unbelievable. But then, so did you go to the guest book and be like Hey, people weren't lying about that first avenue.

Yeah, guys, when you said first avenue, you can also say first avenue slash flooded.

Were not one person.

In the guest book used the terminology can hurricane flood like paunch a train breach.

And then like the mosquitoes? How long does it take to get Ford to go down?

Oh we're flooded for about three four hours.

Girls were just inside. You can't gotta go out. Just let the girls are napping. I'm like, ladies, it's getting a little higher.

Call line.

She's a queen and talking and so you know, she's getting really not afraid to feed the episode, So just let it blow.

No one can do we quiet cary Line.

It's time of Caroline.

We're gonna get real podcast again.

Than who doesn't what it is?

Lick you do you feel about a lot?

Do people just want to touch you?

Okay, you know what's funny and okay and not I feel a lady, but like you're you just people want to touch you. Well, I feel very thankful that, like I've been in this business for like since I was seventeen quote unquote professionally, and I feel very lucky that I've never been touched inappropriately by a man.

A man.

Heck, yeah by a man.

So you're holding you?

Do you know?

You the amount of women that will just come up to me and grab my boobs and I'm like, since when is this okay?

You guys? Like I'm I'm.

Kind of like one of those girls that like, I don't hug my girlfriends. It's kind of it's like, are we gonna hut? Like it's just weird. I grew up with sisters and it's like, dude, like, yeah, we hug and we we love each other, but it's kind of like, I don't know, we don't coddle and freaking.

Touch each other. Like it's just kind of I don't know.

But there's been a couple of times where I'm like, is there this new phenomenon with girlfriends just like coming up to you and just grabbing your boobs and your butt And that's just like the greeting now, because it's it's odd to me.

How do you feel I would never strangers dying this year?

No, it's it's.

Like, oh, they're not friends friends, but they're like acquaintances. I'm like, I don't know you well enough for you to, and sometimes it embarrasses me because it's like we're in front of a bunch of people. It'll be in like a circle of people and it's like this girl, they'll just like come up and.

Be like, give me those kitties.

I'm like, what the heck you guys like it's it's kind of embarrassing, and I'm just I get I feel really uncomfortable, and I'm like, okay.

To kind of circle back around, like a conversation that's going on in the world right now, like Taylor Swift talking about Lady Gaga. Everyone's asking she's pregnant, and Taylor Swift lays it, oh wait.

I'm unfamiliar with the Lady Gaga.

Oh well, she like posted a picture and she must have had like a pooch or something or just you know, just a picture where you know, we're not in line exactly, we're not none of us have a flat flow, and

Also, what if she was pregnant? Who cares? I know, So it's like we'll be pregnant, I know.

But see, the thing is, you have one of these bodies though, that is so beautiful that it's hard not to notice it because you're just such a.

Vision when you walk in.

Honestly, I mean really, you are like a vision to see and so it's like hard not to stare at you.

You know, well, I think you know me well enough to know I don't mind people staring at me, and I don't I want to be in this business if I didn't like that. Like I enjoy attention, of course, I totally enjoy that, but it's I get a I don't how to articulate it very well.

It's an interesting line though, because yes, people are looking are beautiful. It's like, you know, celebrities are to be seen. But it's like, where is that line where everyone feels like they have the right to have full access to talking about engaging about maybe even touching someone's body. Who is putting themselves out there?

What is that?

Maybe it's because I'm putting myself out.

There, like, I don't think you deserved it.

I don't know, I don't know, you know, but at least with like girlfriends.

Again, it's very interesting.

This is an interesting science, like I want to I was honestly talking to my husband about this.

I was like, what is this thing about?

Like, Okay, I've been touched more unwelcomed, you know, women touching me and grabbing me.

Then I've never had a man do that.

That's freaking amazing.

You must have laundry, though.

You must put off some vibes that say, like I think to be respected, which is amazing, I think so.

Yeah, I'd like to think like I'm I'm I'm a flirt and I know I love men, I love people, I love engaged in conversation, getting to know people. But I'd like to think I don't put off that vibe like you're not crossing the line with me. Yeah, buddy, yeah, buddy, Yeah, you can think about it.

Don't tell me.

You know, you do whatever you want in that brain of yours. But you know, I like to think I carry myself with that apparently not around girls.

So I'm like, apparently I'm just like, yeah, just come home and touch me. Yeah, go ahead.

Oh yeah, you.

Know, it's just kind of I really want to understand what the science is there.

Have you trying to think about this because.

I I totally agree with like I don't think women's body should be discussed, but okay when Taylor Swift said women's body should not be discussed.

It's also hard.

Tough because like the worst thing I do when I.

See when I see someone, I'll be like, man, you look good.

What is that you have to compliments?

And that makes me feel good, like when my girlfriends say like, oh my gosh, like when I'm actually taking care myself and they're like, oh you're you look amazed and like thank you.

I think it's just so much as focused on women's looks, you know.

I think that that's.

Like I think, because we're fun to look at, so I think it is natural, and I think I do think there is a natural. The natural man, you know and woman is we're physical beings, we're sexual beings, we're funtal. I probably check out women way more than I check out men.

Apparently if you look at.

If you look at boobs, it like increases your exciting.

Yeah, I know that's always having your show who doesn't like looking out a nice parent.

I mean, I do know, ye do.

I mean, it's just you know.

And then but then you could go into the science of like why what makes us think one thing is nice to look at and one's not? Like is that because of our programming in society? Is there something natural? And it's just very interesting.

All that is very interesting to me, I know, I know.

And why do we think the way we think?

I don't know, well, because we're all driven by set ultimately, you know, yeah, yeah, I don't know. I mean, it's such a fine line because like, you want to be sexy, you put yourself out there, but then it's like, what's too sexy when people start like invading your privacy.

It's very interesting because I've always looked at like, look, I'm the first to admit, like, the costumes I wear on stage aren't smartest hot, and I love them, but.

I look like but not.

I'm not to compare each another artists. I hate that when you compare so much another artist. But like I'm telling you, I'm gonna like Selena.

I'm totally ripping her off.

Oh god, you are so sexy. No, she's like one of my biggest inspirations. And for so long I've been I've been thinking about like what actually makes me feel good?

What do I want to wear?

And I've always loved her style always I'm like, I need something to dance in. I need something I can jump around in or be dazzling bras.

I don't feel because I know you've come into owning your yourself, owning your body, owning your image, owning your music, owning your artistry like this has been a last time we talked was like a year ago, and you had just you had left your label. You had come out of a season that was pretty like confusing and lost, and you're coming out of like understanding your bodies orders.

I mean, me too, struggle with so many to eating disorders.

And then you had you were coming into this full just embracing of yourself.

Thanks for listening to the Sunday Sampler. So many episodes, so many Thanks for listening to the Sunday Sampler. All these podcasts have new episodes weekly, so hopefully you find one or two that you like and go subscribe. If you don't mind rate and review, that would really help us out. Hope you guys have a great week.