The Imperfect Dads Podcast

Episode 239 | Musician Thomas Csorba

• Devon Neisen • Season 4 • Episode 40

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  • On this episode we have on musician Thomas Csorba!

    We talked life with 2 sons and expecting a daughter, mini van vs third row SUV, being mentally present for his kids, supporting his wife’s art career, balancing his business and creative mental spaces, recording new music, how he wrote his new album, the quiet moments of day to day life, a love of Wendell Barry poetry, and how he handles touring with family life.

    Thomas’ new album Tender Country is out on May 22nd this year.  It’s an album where he explores the quieter moments of every family life and his love and gratitude of them. 


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This podcast is part of the Never A Phase Network, follow them on instagram at @neveraphasenetwork and check out their podcasts like Emo Kids Anonymous  Wasting Time Podcast Certified Fangirl and The Ska Mailman

SPEAKER_00

Welcome to the Imperfect Dads Podcast. This is your host, Devon. We believe dads care deeply about their family and kids, but they don't always have a space to discuss what their life looks like. Our podcast is a space for dads to discuss the ups and downs of fatherhood and how they feel like they're holding it together or how they're not. Thank you for joining us for this episode. This podcast is part of the Never A Face Network. Make sure to follow him on Instagram or go to the website NeverAffacenetwork.com. On this episode, we have a musician, Thomas Sorba, who talked about his life with two sons and expecting a daughter, minivan versus third row SUV, being mentally present for his kids, supporting his wife's art career, balancing his business and creative mental spaces, recording new music, how he wrote his new album, The Quiet Moments of Day-to-Day Life, A Love of Wendell Berry poetry, and how he handles touring with family life. Thomas's new album, Tinder Country, is out on May 22nd this year. It's an album where he explores the quieter moments of everyday family life and his love and gratitude of them. Just like one more thing.

SPEAKER_02

Dad, just start the episode.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, my bad. I'll start with the most basic first question, which is how many kids do you have? Ages? All that good stuff.

SPEAKER_01

I love it. We've got two boys. Oldest is almost four. He turns four here in July. I don't know when this will be released. But yeah, almost four-year-old and uh about a one and a half year old. And then we've got a third on the way. We're yeah, just entered into the second trimester with a little girl. We're uh nice. Yeah, we're stoked. But yeah, we're growing a little crew over here. It's been a blast.

SPEAKER_00

Have you have you bought the minivan yet? Are you still are you like third or SUV? Are you minivan? Which team are you on? You gotta decide, man.

SPEAKER_01

The uh my wife drives an old Tahoe. I have toured since 2020 uh Tacoma. And uh I've put like 150,000 miles on that thing. Um and the second row is a little too tight for three car seats, uh, so there may be a change coming soon. Yeah. But no decision has been made yet.

SPEAKER_00

You still got time. You got time, and like you got this, so you'll figure it out. I I have three as well. I have a 10-year-old daughter, eight-year-old daughter, and a four-year-old son. And yeah, the third one was like, okay, we have like a Hyundai Sonata, and it's like, you can't fit three car seats in this car, man. Yeah. Like this car's no longer functional. And that's always my favorite question to ask someone when they're like, I'm about to have a third. I'm like, you go on third row SUV, you go and let you drive in a boat. What are you doing? How are you gonna fit all those kids in one car?

SPEAKER_01

It's hard. Even the Tahoe, it seems huge, but once you pop that third row up, you can't put anything in there.

SPEAKER_00

Yep. You can't.

SPEAKER_01

Nope. And my mom was a suburban gal. She had just a series of different colored suburbans throughout her life. Back when those were like achievable cars, you know, like they now, like I've, you know, these Chevies are so expensive, all the bells and whistles. But uh, we're figuring it out. We're figuring it out.

SPEAKER_00

Yep. It was a weird, I remember like we rented a van once for whatever reason. Maybe we're on vacation. And um, yeah, like we thought oh, it's gonna be so much room. And then you put all the suitcases in the trunk, and you're like, oh, actually, no, this isn't this is it's still yeah, five people in one car is a lot of people. It doesn't matter what type of car you have, it's it's a lot of people to account for.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, we do my wife's a painter and she's two big art shows every year, one in the fall and one in the spring. And she paints these big western kind of you know, oil on canvas, and um, she's really good and has these massive six-foot canvases, and we start renting a van every year or every show for that for that um for that big road trip, bring all of our stuff down to uh the hill country. And my our oldest, he just loves the van. Like he just wants to play in the van, hang out. Yeah, you know, it's a it's a treat to have that much real estate on the road. Um but then we've got you know, some of our best friends have five girls and uh White Dude. Yeah, he uh he's the best. I mean, such dear friends.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

And you know, he played football at University of Texas and we got drafted to play for the Ravens. Like the dude is a he's an ox of a human being, and all he's wanted was a son, and now has four girls.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, of course.

SPEAKER_01

But they're the best, and they drive they drive a big old Mercedes Sprinter van. He was like, We're not doing the minivan, we're we're jumping all the way. So road trips with them are crazy and fun. Yeah, they're a fun crew.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I I have a friend, his name's Ron Ortiz II, and yeah, his wife is his tour manager, and they have five kids. And yeah, they just live in a sprinter van. And whenever they tour, they bring all the kids with them and stuff. And yeah, I'm like, you I know they have to have a system of some sort where everything makes sense, but on the outside, I see that many kids piling into one van, and I'm like, that makes me anxious. I know you guys know what you're doing, but that's a lot of kids in one car to keep entertained and sane.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, yeah, it's a lot. I mean, I with my touring stuff, and I'm sure you've talked about this, you know, in buds with some people you've had on the podcast. I listened to uh uh your interview with Tony Camill, um, who's a close friend of it.

SPEAKER_00

Great dude, yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, you know, a lot of people probably talk about this, but there's such a balance between that like normal, uh structured, I say normal, um, but I'm a pretty I'm a creative, but I'm a pretty structured guy, pretty business-minded and pretty task-oriented. Not this like, you know, freewheeling, brooding songwriter like maybe the stereotype is.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

And uh as my kids get older, I certainly want to disrupt less of their weekly flow. And some of that's inevitable, but the older they get, we're kind of in that zone where you kind of can't bring them, you know. When they're baby baby, you know, they'll sleep a lot in the car, but three and a half when you're potty trained and you're you know having to take uh rest stops, and um we've got boys, so we do some potty breaks on the side of the highway every once in a while.

SPEAKER_03

Yep.

SPEAKER_01

Uh but um uh yeah, it's an interesting thing. We we haven't I've been doing a lot of weekend warrior stuff and five days max at a time. Um and uh usually it's better for all of us if they just stay home and um stay part of their their weekly flow, you know?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. I think it's easy to think like it's romantic or fun or it's a big adventure to be like, hey, everyone, let's go on the road. We're doing this all together, we're a family, we got this, and then whenever it takes like a week for everyone to reset because you just disrupted all of the order that you spend all your energy to make, then it's like it's not that it's not worth it, it is worth it to do it. But it is kind of like I need to be, I need to remember this week of resetting everyone, of getting everyone back into the rhythm, as much as the excitement of having my whole family with me.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, and we're down for a road trip. Like my grandmother turns 90 this weekend, so we're going down to Houston with all of her great-grandkids. There are probably 15 of them around the country at this point. We're all getting together for the big family reunion. And that's cool. You know, our boys do good in the car, and um you know, I I'm very grateful. Um my wife and I have to remind ourselves that we we've been given so much of what we prayed for, and there are moments that you can complain about the travel or about the disrupted nature of of our jobs, but it's really good. My kids get to grow up and know that daddy's work is going to share music with people and mommy's work is creating beautiful art, and that's a really fun position to be in. And it'll be interesting to see how my boys and and this new girl view that as adults. It's like my parents were crazy, or uh, you know, this was a really sweet, really sweet thing. I'm sure a little bit of both.

SPEAKER_00

It will be. I we try to always lead with like just talking to our kids like they can understand us and like they're adults to some extent, and like being like, hey, here's what we're doing, here's why we're doing, or like um, I feel like we spent a lot of time explaining our intentions to our kids, you know, and being like, hey, we're gonna like uh this summer, I'm originally from Indiana, so we're gonna spend like two weeks in Indiana, then we're gonna spend like two weeks with my wife's family on the Philadelphia area. Like we're gonna, the summer's gonna have a lot of travel to it, which is a lot already the summer at home with three kids, a lot of like how do I maintain a normal schedule whenever I'm trying to entertain three kids at home. Uh I'm a stay-at-home parent, by the way. So I stay home with the kids. So whenever they're off school, I'm full-time, you know, everything. So yeah, but we try to be like, all right, guys, this summer, here's what we're doing, here's what we got. We want to be able to see, you know, your dad's side of the family, your mom's side of the family, and here's who I all know will be there. And like just almost overexplaining. So if anything, I hope my kids will be like, God, they just talk so much. They just wouldn't stop talking. My parents just explained everything to me, and I was I got it the first time and they kept on repeating it over and over and over.

SPEAKER_01

Well, it's fun. You you know, around that, you know, age two and a half, maybe three, you know, you see kind of the light turn on in their brains and they can they get it. Even my, you know, oldest being able to pronounce Houston and know that certain grandparents live there and some live here. You know, you know, we go fishing in Colorado. It's like, you know, he he's understanding location with activity, and uh it's it's fun to watch. Fun to watch.

SPEAKER_00

It's really exciting. Um, my four-year-old, yeah, he's four and a half, I guess. He would tell me he's four and a half, he's not four. Um like his critical thinking is like fascinating because like he will be like, you'll say, like, um, my dad's in town to like help out with some stuff. And he was like, Oh, grandpa's in town from Indiana. Did he fly here? Did he fly here to here? Because we told him like what a flight path was, and like he remembered it and asked about it later. And I'm like, So good. One, you're listening to everything, that's good to know. And also, I need to watch my mouth more. That's what I'm saying. Yeah, totally, totally.

SPEAKER_01

It's fun, it's really fun. And I mean, uh yeah, this season is crazy. Um, and you know, especially this spring has been wild. My wife's art show in March, and that comes right on the tail of South by Southwest, which I always put on a showcase there. And more than just being an artist, I'm I'm kind of producing some events and I've got a record, you know, coming out here at the end of May. It's it's a busy season and a lot of travel. And my wife and I keep telling ourselves, you know, this is uh um this is what we have kind of been asking for. And uh it's good, it's crazy, but if there's any time to be sleep deprived, if there's any time to be stretched, then um it's right now when we're you know, jumping from creative endeavor to creative endeavor to present dad, you know, to um present mom, you know, like that that's our focus right now. And I I think that like aligned priority list, you know, really helps me in my life. No, okay, this is what we say no to, this is what we say yes to, and each touring opportunity comes with with a conversation, which is cool, you know.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

And it's the older I get, the more I realize like a family calendar, making sure you guys agree on stuff is necessary. But like you do have to almost sit down and be like, okay, cool. We said we value family time, but we also value our careers. I have a potential to go on a two-week long tour. Does that align with our values or not? If no, how do we have this, how do we work this out then?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01

And I, you know, I'm realizing, you know, I'm almost 30 and have you know I'm pretty young to have as many kids as I do. And um I understand that. I round up a lot of my friends are older, you know, just because it's stage of life stuff these days. That's kind of how a lot of your friends kind of come together, um, and the people you spend time with. But uh I f I I think that my the things I valued when I was 18, the things I thought that I wanted, um, I no longer want, or at least those are refined, right? Like I don't want to play 200 shows a year. I don't want to live out of my truck. Um I want to make eggs for the kids in the morning, you know. I I want to be there for bedtime. And so there's kind of this tension between um ambition and maybe the dangling of the carrot that the industry and the and the the transient world maybe tells me I want. But then there's this the very sacred and very long-term and important moments around the kitchen table um that are uh quite frankly so much more important. Um but uh you know, blueberries are expensive and I gotta go sell tickets and t-shirts and records, you know.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. I I think Tony honestly was very honest about that whenever talking to me of like loving his trade, loving what he's doing, knowing he's good at it, but also loving his family more. So trying to figure out like, all right, I want to make new music, I want I still have this desire to create, but also if it's at the expense of missing my family, that's not I gotta I gotta figure out what this relationship is like. And like I think no matter what your job is, you have to have you have a relationship with your career and you gotta figure out what it means to you.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, and not even missing my family. Yes, that's part of it. But you when I was single and touring, I was saying no to, you know, certain things socially in order to go tour. I wasn't, you know, when I was in college, I wasn't part of the college scene. A lot of my friends were entrepreneurs in postgrad and other musicians, and that was a path I I took. That's a different calculation maybe than than saying no to, you know, you know, the the the sacred things around the house. And so um, yeah, my my my priorities have shifted certainly. Um, but I really want to be 60 years old and have a stack of records that my kids get to look at and be like, this is what dad was up to. And there's a financial aspect there. I know that in order to keep making records, um, I've got to be shelling away some cash in order to go in the studio and make records the way I want to. Um and uh so there's a a kind of a tension there between how do I grow my business in order to achieve this long-term goal, while also, you know, trying to be home as much as much as possible. Yeah, those two things just kind of seem at odds with each other at some time, at some point. But that alignment between myself and my wife certainly, certainly helps.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. It does. And I think there's some like the re I think the reason why some people do tour like 150 nights, 200 shows a year or something like that, is because it does get your music out there. It does make people know who you are. It's logical to think, oh, the more I pour into this, the more my career will succeed. But also though, like if it means you miss a lot of doctor's appointments or softball or baseball games on the weekend, like there's gotta be it's gotta be another way to do this. So it's I'm sure it's really fun to figure that out. And I'm grateful that you have a good communication skills with your wife, in which you know because that's who it matters to most, is you and your wife figuring out what this looks like.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

And from a business perspective, you know, have you interviewed or do you know Robert Ellis? He's a he's a Texas guy. No, that name sounds very familiar, but I've I've not talked to him now.

SPEAKER_01

Robert Robert's phenomenal. He's a savant, you know, just like one of these gifted people that can play any instrument, and he's produced a record for me and a close musical collaborator. And you know, he's got a few kids, and um uh we've talked about this a lot. Um there are people that, you know, some friends of ours who tour so much that their their business, their music business is built on and contingent upon touring. And you kind of dictate that, you know, you can kind of dictate what the pie chart looks like financially or with your time. And I think there's a romanticized version of what we do that you must go do, you know, I say 200 shows a year um or whatever in order to make this thing work. But I'm kind of sitting here like, no. Like I I think you can there are other ways to, you know, sustainably build a career. And I'm no longer, as I mentioned, my priorities aren't what they were when I was 18. I don't really want to be famous, you know. Yeah, that's not the goal here. The goal is here to continue making music and because I believe that's what I was made to do. And yes, I love the thrill of getting to play a song, um, getting to play a set in a room of people that haven't felt that way, or I'd be to share my perspective. But uh I that's that's not the end goal. Maybe it's selfish, but like I'm making music for me and my family at this point. And and that's that's really different. So I'm kind of in process and trying to figure out exactly what that pie chart looks like. And, you know, I want to be prolific, I want to be putting out a lot of music, but it's yet to be determined how I get to that 50, 60 year mark, you know, that 20 record mark that I want to be at.

SPEAKER_00

Do you do you know who Joe Pug is, like the singer-songwriter who's based out of Maryland? So the he basically he pivoted, I think he's been doing his podcast for 10 years now. Where yeah, whenever he had, I'm pretty sure he has three kids. He that's why he started doing podcasting. So he was like, I don't want to be on the road 100 nights a year. I mean, maybe 25, maybe 50, I can make that work. But like I got to figure out different revenue streams so I can make the music I want to make and be available for the family, for my family the way I want to be available for them. But it took a lot of intentionalities for whenever I talked to him, it sounded like to be like, hey, this is like touring that much is not gonna be sustainable if I want to still stay married and my kids to know who I am. So what are the other options? How else can I diversify, for lack of a better way to put it?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, totally. Yeah, I think everybody's got their own path. And, you know, it's it's the Wild West again, you know, like I own all my music, you know, and thank you. It's a hard path, but it's not that I've been offered some insane record deal from Atlantic or something, but um that's that's kind of the path. And I think everybody there's you know, Joe Pug on one of the spectrum who I really uh you know adore from afar. I've gotten to spend some time with Joe, play some shows with him. And then there's like BJ Barum of American Aquarium, who's a great dad, but is playing a bunch of shows, you know, and he's figured out how to make that work. Everybody's got their own path, and we we live in an era where, yeah, there are side jobs and you know, uh there are there are different ways to skin the cat, you know. Um and you have to be very confident and um at at peace with yourself and maybe your own calculation in order to, you know, go down that road and figure out what works for you and your family.

SPEAKER_00

Yep, pretty much. In relation to that, are you like uh holding off on tour or anything? I haven't looked at your tour dates. Are you trying to make sure that you're around for like while your wife is pregnant, that you're around for like, you know, the ultrasounds and all that stuff? Are you trying to make sure to be around in town like based on those days and stuff?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I've you know, it's funny with the first kid, you're at every appointment, you're hearing about every feeling, every like, you know, every tingle, everything, you know. Uh with the third one, it's a little bit different. I've been there for most of the most of the appointments and the big ones, anatomy scans and stuff, those are yeah, big on the calendar. But you know, I was in Austin on Monday for a a day trip for some press stuff, and um, you know, she had a an appointment, and and uh it's like, hey, call me immediately, good or bad. You know, like I know I can't be there, but you know, um uh so yeah, it's it's a little bit different this time around, but yeah, the big ones I'm there for for sure. Um luckily you know, I'm a big part of my life right now is that it's flexible. You know, here I am at you know, 1123 Central, and we're sitting here talking about, you know, creative endeavors and and my life and stuff. I gotta sit here and talk for an hour about myself. Like my kids are in daycare right now, and I'll I'll get to be there to pick 'em up, and we'll go to the park after school and yeah. I'll have some stuff to catch up on this evening after they go down, but you know, I I I wouldn't have it any other way because I get to I get to be there. So I have a lot of friends that work nine to five jobs, make a lot more money than I do, um, have to travel for work and see their kids a lot less than I do.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Whereas you would think as a as a musician that you're always on the road and always, you know, um chasing this thing, but uh it's it's different maybe than practically than maybe people expect.

SPEAKER_00

Yep. Yep. I've talked to a couple dads about that also, where like, yeah, you might be gone or have like a busy touring month where like every weekend you're gone, but then you might have a month where you're home the entire time. Yeah. And like so, but yeah, I also know people who work 70 hour work weeks because it's what it takes to maintain their lifestyle and it's what sometimes is honestly what a job requires of you, whether or not it's healthy or not.

SPEAKER_01

And it works for some people. It's just not how I'm wired. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. And I think that's like to me, that's a really big part of being a parent is you do try stuff. You do try what am I like whenever I do this, what's it like whenever I do this. And if you constantly feel dissonance inside yourself, if you constantly feel like, man, I'm not doing right by myself, by my family, or my wife, figure out what the changes you can make are. Like, hey, how does this look different? And like don't ignore that. If you feel that, man, this makes me feel like I am not being how I meant to be, listen to that. Your body's screaming at you that something's wrong. See if you can make some changes. Yeah, totally, totally. Yeah, it's cool.

SPEAKER_01

It's a different, different calculation, but you figured out you f you build a plane as you're flying it for sure. Yeah, pretty much.

SPEAKER_00

How do you feel about like having a girl? So we we went girl, girl, boy, and whenever we found out we were pregnant with a boy, I think our first reaction was like, we can we can make boys? Like I didn't know, I thought it was only girls. I didn't know I didn't this isn't possible. How do you feel about knowing you're gonna have a girl after having two boys?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, it's it's different. And my wife is so selfless and sweet, she keeps saying like, you know, she's excited about what that means for me as a dad, you know, and as a person to get to have a girl and do daddy daughter stuff and you know, all that. But we were we were hesitant to say that we wanted it to be a girl, I think, you know. But once we found out we were girl, we were having a girl, we we were, you know, obviously over the moon. And obviously the first the first hope and prayer is that that we we'd have a healthy kiddo and um you know, so box checked there, like everything's been great.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

On the scans and everything. But uh yeah, I mean, three boys would have been crazy and fun.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

But it's kind of opened up my mind to like, whoa, there's a whole other world of activity. And you know, I have a lot of friends that have girls that I'm like, oh, we'll get to do stuff as as dads with our daughters that maybe I yeah would have missed out on, you know, with just having having boys. So it's it's it's a huge, huge blessing, and we're we're over the moon. We're so excited. That's the I'm excited too.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

I'm excited too what what my boys will get to, you know. I I'm the youngest of four. I've got two older sisters and an older brother, and so it was good for me, right, as a as a human to be around girls, you know, in a house and be around my older brother who was wrestling me and you know, beating me up in you know, the ways that older brothers do. And it's exciting to see and to know that they'll get to be kind of caretakers and learn how to treat a treat a girl in their house, you know.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. I feel like realistically, where the most tension comes from is like whenever they try to choose a show. Because my son wants, if it has a train, a car or anything like that, he's like, How do I watch this? How do I watch this? And they're like, No, we want to watch Babysitter's Club. We want to watch these like more drama conversation-filled things. And so that's a fun thing to negotiate sometimes. It's like, okay, tonight we watch whatever this more female focused show was. Tomorrow, Josh, then you get to choose what you will. So like it's a different you already have to negotiate whenever you have kids with your kids to keep the peace. But then adding that aspect is just humorous to watch both my girls be like, I'm not watching a truck show tonight. I'm not doing it. And I'm just like, all right, what's the move where I'm here? Let's talk about it. Let's talk this through. Let's find that's fine.

SPEAKER_01

I I forgot who who I've heard this from, but there's some psychology just in the DNA of going boys and girls of you know, boys are usually more drawn to things, you know, and like it's it's why there's usually more, you know, by and large, most engineers are men, right? It's like, you know, there's just the thing that guys have to tinker and to fix things and whatever.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Girls seem to be more tailored towards people and relationships, and yeah. So that's probably why they're like, yeah, I want a drama, I want like a good story.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Whereas like my boys are like monster trucks, you know.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, spy the inference.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, yeah. So it'll be cool to see how that kind of, you know, all coalesces together, and I'm sure there'll be some fighting, but they'll it'll be fun, yeah, right? Yeah. To see how they interact with each other and die to themselves a little bit and have to be selfless in certain ways and their own their own interests or their own preferences.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, pretty much. Um I think I forget, I was talking to someone the other day of like girls are like more willing to negotiate, but they remember everything that they were promised in the negotiation. And I feel like boys are a little easier to distract, to be like, okay, cool, you want to do this one thing. Let's go run outside real quick. Let's go run outside real quick. Like, if I make a promise to my girls, they'll be like, hey, no, no, no. Last night you said we were gonna watch 35 minutes of such and such movie. And I'm like, you're correct. Those are the exact words I said. And now if I don't follow through, that creates a different problem. So yes, we are now watching it, and here we go.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. You gotta be careful what you promise around here. You do. But it's it's fun, and you know, obviously we're learning a lot. Um I've I've uh this not only you're raising kids, but you're watching your spouse kind of evolve and change, and you can be surprised um a bit by your spouse just by circumstance, and you have to remember that nobody is stuck in their ways. We're all kind of evolving and all being changed by circumstance, and you know, both for me, for my wife, and for each of our kids individually.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Yeah, I think comfort techniques is where it was like the immediate uh like ego check for me. Because the comfort techniques my first kid liked, second kid hated. The comfort techniques my third kid liked, my first and two kids, my first and second kid hated. So I I it's I think kids just keep you constantly um curious or just realizing like, hey, I thought this was the right thing to do. It clearly wasn't. So how do I figure out how to get back up there and try it again? Because that's what it that's the tough person I want to be.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, totally. Totally. Yeah, it's super interesting. And we're all doing it for the first time. You can read every book, get every piece of advice, but you know, in real time, you're figuring out what's what's the right thing to do and when and how to put your foot down and pick your battles. And it's uh you gotta figure it out while you're while you're while you're going, you know.

SPEAKER_00

Yep. And that hopefully you have the mental space and the time at the end of the day to like debrief with your wife or partner and be like, hey, that how whenever we came into that moment, and this is how we dealt with it, that's how we wanted to deal with it, right? Because yeah, how you react in real time, you might look up later and be like, Oh, I was I owe some apologies to some kids and like stuff like that. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I've got this, you know, this record comes out at the end of May, and it's pretty the record's called Tender Country, and it's mostly, you know, the spirit of it is, you know, uh about kind of these sacred small moments around the house and the season of life. And one of the songs is called Homemade Margaritas, and it's it's about kind of that ritual of putting the kids down and having some unintentional time with your spouse and um be it a margarita or a cup of coffee or going on a walk or whatever. There are these rituals that I think are important and sacred um in our our lives as parents in order to kind of like remember that like I I I chose her, right? And she chose me, and um we are we're in control uh of how this household is run if we recognize it and if we act that way, right? And so yeah, homemade margaritas is kind of a tongue-in-cheek way to talk about you know that time of day when it's just us two and how to be intentional about that time. So maybe the only drinking song that's not about getting drunk or being sad, you know.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01

But uh yeah, the the record's kind of riddled with all these all these little moments like that. And who knows? I I hope people listen to it and resonate it resonates with them, but it also feels a little bit like you know, career suicide to put out a record as like unassuming and and about like pretty real subject matter that's not like you know straight country music, Gavin Adpock, Charlie Crockett, you know, stuff that people are eating up these days.

SPEAKER_00

Well, I think like as someone who's listened to music for, I mean, my entire life, obsessed over it, listened to a lot of singer-songwriters. As I get older, I'm I'm 38, got three kids, getting older in life and everything. I'm more looking for the people who talk about day-to-day life stuff. Like I'm not in a place in which like my I'm not having my heart broken in a relationship. I'm not having like all this drama from that. I'm more like, all right, cool, uh, my kids are running around outside chasing fireflies. That's adorable. That's cute. Like, where's the where's the music for this time of life? You know, because I'm not there's drama in every single day, but it's like this quiet moment drama. It's the little fights between kids, it's the spats, and like to me that's real life. Like real life is the small moments.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. And I I've found as a music listener that, you know, what do I listen to and what do I want to listen to? You know, what am I folding laundry to and doing dishes to? Right.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

And it's there's such a a magic in them these mundane things, right? Like these household chores or like calendar management or like putting kids down and reconnecting with my there's so much, so much magic in those moments. Um, and I feel like this record is kind of double clicking into those little things. Say, like, oh no, people feel this and and you know, it's it's worth embracing and recognizing, you know. Yeah.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

I think it's it's pretty meaningful and pretty uh you know, I think I'll be proud of it long term. Hopefully some people listen to it and buy the record. Maybe unluckily the the demographic I'm a this record appeals to are not like concert goers necessarily or ticket buyers. Because you gotta buy get babysitters and you do, man, yeah. Do the whole thing. So and I've made it a point of my shows to thank people. It's like, did any anybody get a babysitter tonight? Because I didn't realize how big a deal it was to go to a show until I had kids. It is a lot of coordination. Yeah, it's always fun uh, you know, to be that for parents when they could come to a show and it's their respite, it's their time to, you know, reconnect and go see some live music. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

I I think the quiet day-to-day moments, keeping a routine, maintaining a house is filled with a very unique depth of love. So like songs about it is like really, really cool to me because I think there is so much stept there. It's very easy to get mentally in like the oh man, this is really mundane. I have to fold more laundry, I have to buy go to the grocery store again. I'm like, yeah, for your family, for your wife, for yourself. Like, there's so much, like, there's so much you're building every single time you do those little actions. And I think there's such a beauty and depth there that's very easy to overlook because it's it's not always the most exciting. Like, yeah, because you're doing just stuff to maintain a little bit, but it is, I think there's a lot of beauty to it.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. Are you familiar with Wendell Berry, who's a writer? Yep, yep. I'm a big Wendell Berry fan. He's got this quote I've always carried around with me. He says, There are no unsacred places. There are sacred places and there are desecrated places. And that's something that my wife and I um really try to embody is that like that moment around the kitchen table, bedtime, walking to school, heck, being in the car and sitting in traffic with kids that are screaming is like that is a sacred endeavor if you choose it to be. Yep. And it's a sacred place. And so I think that's been a guiding light in ways it certainly brings a level of gratitude and a level of intentionality to all these little things that we do. And even folding laundry is like I'm not gonna get to fold laundry for these boys forever, you know? Yeah. And so when I'm doing it, it's it's an action of love and intentionality. Um and I I think it means something to do it well. And you know, our our oldest son, he wakes up in the morning and he's in a uh big boy bed now, and he's got a little light in his corner on his sound machine that turns green when he's allowed to come out of his room. And we never taught him to do this, he's just wired this way. He wakes up and puts his clothes on for the day and comes downstairs. Usually it's like the worst outfit you've ever seen, like green sandals, green shorts, and an orange shirt. It's yeah, it's it's awful. But it's so cute and so yeah, you know, you get to see his personality a little bit. But I think there's something there with like, you know, if I am going to care about how we fold our laundry, how we hang our clothes, he then will take pride in the manner in which he keeps his room and the manner in which he dresses himself and carries himself and speaks to adults and all these things. That intentionality certainly bubbles over in a way that, you know, shows up by example, I think, more than just just telling them. I think both are important. But mom and dad being intentional in everything they do certainly helps you helps your kids understand that the little things matter, you know.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. And it is like the immediate realization of um your kids are watching everything you do. So like you're standing in line at a grocery store, how do you treat people whenever you're frustrated that things start moving faster? How's your body language? How's your tone? How's every aspect of you is you are teaching your kid what's acceptable and what's normal. And some days you're afraid and you don't have it in you to know how to be a little bit kinder, but hopefully for the most part, you are aware of the example you're setting constantly and setting one that's worth following.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, it's easy to rush from thing to thing. Um and we gotta go drop off school, or we gotta go pick up this thing, or we gotta run this errand, or um, or even let's rush till to bedtime. How do we kill an hour before you know these kids are driving me crazy, right?

SPEAKER_02

Yep.

SPEAKER_01

Um and uh if if you can embrace the idea, I heard a stat the other day that like toddler, you know, baby to toddler stage will only take up two percent of your life as a parent. Yeah, right? And it's like, oh geez, I better soak it up. Yep. Embracing that kind of like finite the finite aspect of each stage of of of you know these our kids' lives and our relationship with them as parents, right? Makes you really want to make the best of it and kind of use everything as a as a beautiful and magic, magic moment, right? Yeah. So it's certainly something I'm learning, you know?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, it makes me want to learn more about like child psychology because whenever I'm frustrated with the kid, it's like, why don't you understand this? And then I'm like, well, developmentally, where are they? Like, are you setting a realistic expectation of them? Like, yeah, your four-year-old can only conceptualize the world so much. My four-year-old can only conceptualize the world so much. So I'm I understanding where they are, and once I put more energy into that, then I'm like, oh, now I understand where you're acting the way you are. You do want control, you do you are exploring your own ego because you just found out you have the ability to control something. So you're intrigued to know what this looks like. So they aren't, I don't view that as like, well, I mean, sometimes it's defiance, but like for the most part, like, no, you're just understanding what your relationship with this aspect of a personality is. And once I understand that, then I know how to uh talk to them a little bit better, as opposed to me just being like, no, I'm the one who needs control here. And it's like you already are in control, you're the dad, so stop it.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, like yeah, totally. Totally. Yeah, that's that's that's cool to think about. It's a crazy big and interesting, interesting process. Smack dab in the middle of it, figure it out, you know. Pretty much.

SPEAKER_00

Before we wrap up and everything, um, anything you want to say? I mean, you already said quite a bit about your album. Um, I guess the main question I would want to ask you about is like, um, how'd you record it? Like, did you go into a studio to record it? Do you have a home setup? How'd you actually like find the time to record an album as a dad?

SPEAKER_01

It's a great question. I like making records kind of old school with the whole band in the room.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

And uh I've I've produced this record myself. I say that with an asterisk just because you know I had such amazing players, people who have, you know, my guitar player and Keys play both have produced records for other people, and one of them, you know, Robert produced a record for me. Uh so there was certainly a lot and a lot of help. I made a record at this, it's a studio out in Fort Worth called Nile City, this wonderful old, I say old, it's just old style, right? Like uh fantastic vintage gear and one big great room where the band can play. Um, and then I'm up in kind of the elevated control room with the engineer recording my vocal and acoustic separately. I did a lot of the pre-production myself, which is basically editing songs, understanding kind of a general direction for arrangement and stuff. I've made a record like this before. You're doing one or two songs a day, you know, it takes a week to get, you know, you're blocking out a lot of time. I booked this session, I booked two days, and I was like, let's see how many songs we can get done. And we tracked nine songs in two days, you know.

SPEAKER_00

Nice, yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Part of that is, you know, hey, I don't have a week to give, you know. But the other part of it is comfort and, you know, creative direction and and uh kind of like kind of a self, yeah, direction, not self-belief, but like a direction into what I what I wanted. You know, I was very sure of the the references I was going for, what I wanted the record to sound like. And I knew all these players really well too. So whereas a record in the past, I was kind of sitting there kind of waiting for when we were ready to start the new song. Whereas this time it's like, all right, Aiden, you've got 10 minutes to go smoke, we're starting the next song. You know, like chop chop, you know, hey, fix this and this, let's c let's cut another one. And yeah, there was a level of social comfort that we all had and you know, a common goal. So we recorded this record really quickly, did a little bit of overdubs afterwards. My sister sang on the record.

SPEAKER_02

That's cool.

SPEAKER_01

Which was really sweet to make a record about family and have her be a part of it. But uh yeah, it it felt like it came together quite quickly, and I think a part of that was being really confident in the songs and you know, kind of the sonic references and knowing what I wanted the end goal to be generally, and then trusting these musicians to come in and fill the gaps and make this you know make it all come together. So yeah. It was it was certainly different than anything I've done before, but man, I'm so proud of it. And I I think I look back at my catalog, I will look back at my catalog and be really proud of this record. You know, I I really want to make timeless music, and and I I think there's a lot of universal truths, be it so specific, some of these lyrics and some of these images. I think there's a lot of you know universal and uh timeless truths that are on this record. So I'm really excited about it. And uh for the first time, I think in my life I've I feel less precious about the end result of how well this record does.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

In a season when it feels like more is on the line than ever, I oddly feel like, yeah, it's just a thing I'm doing, you know? And that kind of comfort is uh a really new and freeing feeling.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

That's awesome. That sounds like you had a I think every album has like an energy to it, regardless of who's making or whatever. And like you can tell, like, is this song, is this the vibe of the whole album? So it sounds like you were in tune with like this is the vibe of the album, here's what I need here, not what I need to sound like, here's what I'm expecting these songs to sound like and how it's represent these songs. And then you probably went to studio and we're like, yeah, this is what it needs to sound like, and here we go. And if anything, frayed from that, you're like, nope, let's bring it back in, let's sign it back up. And then you yeah, whenever you have that energy going into a creative session, you get to the end products and you're like, Yeah, this is what I wanted. And like, yeah, if do I want to sell a million copies? Of course I want to sell a million copies. But you know you did right by those songs, you did right by those recording sessions, and you did right by you and your band.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. I think a lot of people feel like the recording is the ultimate version of the song, and I feel like I let go of that. You know, I recorded some stuff at 15, 16 years old that I'm like, not my favorite recording, not what I would have done. But I still got to play those songs live, and they mean something to me now different than they did 10 years ago. And, you know, they they still have legs to move people, right? And so I've learned over time the song is much bigger than myself, and the song's much bigger than the recording itself. Which is different and also liberating. I know that I'll go record some of these songs again one day as like an acoustic record or in a bluegrass format or something, and there's no final version. And I I think that's pretty fun. So and it definitely makes you, you know, loosen your grip a little bit on what the what the recording will be.

SPEAKER_00

It does. I got to record a couple times at uh whenever I was in undergrad at RCA Studio B, like in Nashville. And like you literally place physical baffles to like, you know, sound damp and all of that. And I think that was the first time I realized like how much of a recording can, or in my opinion, should be, just capturing what the energy was in the room that day. So it's not like here's this perfect representation of what a song is, it's perfectly tight and everything. It's like, no, man, you got five or six people in a room and they found the energy of the song and they played it, and here's what it was that day. And so it makes me listen to music a little bit differently. Because I also can have the perfectionist mindset of like, this is the most perfect version of the song. That's what they recorded, that's what they were aiming for. And it's like, no, it's just a version of it. We live in a world where we're where perfect music, quote unquote perfect music is the norm, right?

SPEAKER_01

Like auto-tune stuff, melodyned, you know, guitar parts or whatever that just like fit perfectly. And if it's too perfect, it doesn't feel right, you know? And um my favorite stuff is like the 70s Don Williams stuff that's like very unassuming. It sounds like he's sitting down just like telling you a story, you know. Those recordings are not perfect by any means, but man, they feel fantastic. And I think if you can come in with good songs and good musicians, you know, you're kind of off to the and a great engineer. I mean, Jimmy Bauman who engineered this record, it's just like it's like, oh yeah, I know how to capture this thing.

SPEAKER_00

That's awesome. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

So it's pretty fun, and I've learned to embrace kind of the messy feel of some of the stuff. You know, I look back, I'm like, oh, I kinda wish I sang a different word there, hit that note perfectly. But I think in a world with, you know, AI and studio tricks and whatever, um, that the more human stuff will stand the test of time and stick out in a good way. Yep.

SPEAKER_00

Yep, I agree. I have the exact same mindset of if I hear a drum kit and the snares perfectly on the two and the four, I get suspicious. I'm like, no, that's not that's not you can't, no one should like it's just it's too robotic, it's too programmed. And I'm like, oh, where's the life? And it's easy to assume the more that perfection will stand the test of time and it'll be without criticism. I think it's a very easy assumption to make. As I get older, it's like, no man, your your imperfections are worth uh communicating and exploring.

SPEAKER_01

Totally. Yeah. I mean, that's the whole thing. It's the reason why my favorite recordings are what they are. That great there's a great example of Johnny Cash's walk the line, I think it is. Um in between verses, he's you know, changing, you know, how he's he's changing the note on which he delivers that, and you hear him humming, you know. You you remember this? That is him that's him trying to find the note for the next verse, right?

SPEAKER_00

Like I didn't know that. I didn't know that. That's amazing, yes.

SPEAKER_01

Could have done it off the mic and it would have sounded, you know, kind of like it was punched in or something.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

But instead it's this live, real thing that's like, oh, that's kind of the whole shtick on the song. Yeah. Like that's what makes it fantastic, is you're toggling between these two things.

SPEAKER_00

You know, it's really cool. I think Bonnie Verde's album for Emma Forever Ago, slight like almost all of it is just slightly out of tune. But also recording in a cabin with an SM57, you're gonna have some serious imperfection. It's special.

SPEAKER_01

It's special. That's a great yeah, listen, I loved it. I love that record when it came out. And yeah, it's because it feels real and feels cool and it's very hem, you know, and there's a lot of identity in it. Um that's that's my favorite kind of music when you can hear something maybe sonically or lyrically, that's like, oh, that's a unique perspective. Yeah, you know.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. How I end every episode is ask every guest a series of five questions. If you've listened to a couple episodes, you should have some framework for what they will do. Yeah. So the first question is Did you have any backup names for any of your kids? Like, did you have anything you almost named them?

SPEAKER_01

Our first kid is named after my dad and my grandpa. We struggled with boys and boy names.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

I feel like it's pretty been pretty cut and dry. I mean, I I like don't giving a a human a name is a big deal.

SPEAKER_02

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_01

And I I'm I'm much better at saying no to things, you know. And so we didn't have like a lot of options. Like it would we'd just be rolling through names and rolling through ideas and you know, finally be like, ah, that one seems to work, you know. Um, and then we'd kind of run with that. Uh and I I guess that's how I am creatively too. It's like you find something that works and you chase it, you know. That's kind of how it was with naming our kids.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

But m our oldest son is is the first. You know, my sisters have kids, my brother doesn't. So our son is the first to carry on the Chorba family name, which is a very sacred and cool story for for our family. And my grandfather's story is just amazing, is this refugee from Hungary. So when we found out we were having a boy, it was like we've got to pay homage to to the family history. And so um, he's got a very Hungarian first name. But uh Yeah, it's it's sweet. And yeah, I guess with our second, which was kind of a name we liked and felt classic, and we're still figuring out what to do for this girl.

SPEAKER_00

It feels like a lot of pressure. It is. Well, I I always thought that like girl names can be cute and whimsical and fun, and boy names are usually just either really straightforward. Because like, or they're just slightly quirky, you know? Yeah. So it's like whimsical for girls, but boys is like, nope, Tom, Thomas, Frank, Jim. Yeah, you know, like it's these very standard names.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, yeah. Also with the you know, if our daughter gets married one day, you know, there's a chance the last name changes, and that's yeah, that's a thing to think about. Anyway, there's the whole calculation. There is.

SPEAKER_00

Next question. Do you have like a favorite TV movie or like dad in a book? Dad in a book.

SPEAKER_01

That's cool. Um Atticus Finch has always been one. Um that's probably an easy answer. Um Wow, that's a really hard question. I don't read much fiction.

SPEAKER_00

I've never like you can do you can do TV or movie also. More like just like fictional character dad, or if there's one that comes to mind for you, you know? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Um, that is a really good hard question. Yeah, I mean, Atticus is the is the easiest one for me to gravitate towards for sure.

SPEAKER_00

Um Andy Griffith, maybe? Yeah. Yeah. Classic answer. Yeah. Next question. What's your replacement curse word? What's like stub your toe, someone cuts you off in traffic? What do you say instead of the curse word? Or do you just say the curse word?

SPEAKER_01

I don't say the curse word. Yeah, it it depends on what it is I'm I'm trying to replace.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. We've taught our kids so many different like weird words. Like instead of dad being stupid or dad doing something stupid, we call him a ned, K-N-E-D, Ned, which is like something my high school buddy came up with. And to hear a f a three and a half year old call me a Ned. Dad, are you being a Ned?

SPEAKER_00

Are you being a Ned right now?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, um, that's pretty fun. But uh yeah, we try to keep it pretty clean. Obviously, they've heard I backed into the garage door the other day and just, you know said a bad word with with my my kids and my nieces in the car. Fantastic.

SPEAKER_00

Nothing all around.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. My sister was there for it. She's like, it's okay, I've done it too. They've heard it before, you know. And my sisters have kids a little older than ours, so they've they've gone before me and have made some you know, made some headway. But yeah, I don't know if there's anything specific. But yeah, we try to avoid it. I mean, I I just think cussing's kind of lazy, you know, like Yeah, it can be, yeah. I'm an English major, you know, and I okay work and my job and my mind is it works around language, right? And so let's be more creative than just like throwing out a cuss word as a filler, right? Like there are better ways to explain things, and I think there's some tact that we can use in our language, you know?

SPEAKER_00

Yep. Yep. But also, whenever you back into the garage door, there's only two or three words I know how to say. Yeah, totally. Totally. Yeah. But I'm with you. I'm like, no, if I want to curse, it's probably more about me being angry and wanting to just get to the just like br or something like that, then actually think about how other else I can approach the situation.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. We're definitely at the age with our oldest where it's like you're gonna get frustrated. This is how you get frustrated, you know, so it's certainly front of mind. Um, and kind of giving him a playbook, we've got to set a good example.

SPEAKER_00

It's interesting to realize that like you need your kids to know who they are when they're angry and how to act when they're angry is an interesting thing to coach. It's like, oh, you're you're pissed because you didn't get the toy. Here's how you act when you're pissed, here's how you readjust and all that is an interesting thing to coach. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

And still in them is like, yeah, we're gonna get frustrated as part of the deal. But we don't hit kids, we don't hit our brother, you don't rip things out of his hand, you don't scream, you know. So yeah, we're all we're learning as parents how to deal with that, and he's learning how to regulate emotion, you know.

SPEAKER_00

Pretty much. Yep. Yeah. And then um next question, what's like your favorite toy or activity to play with your sons?

SPEAKER_01

My oldest, I've gotten him to start playing golf, which is cool.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

He's really bad. And I've played golf a lot as a kid, and now that he's old enough to come out and we've got a little municipal golf course here in the neighborhood that you know, I'll I'll you know, I'm I I walk. I think uh maybe it was Jack Nicholas or Arn Arnold Palmer that said it's a sad sight to see young, able-bodied kids riding in a golf cart. And I I think that's a good point. So I'll I'll go walk, you know, five to nine holes with with my boy and you know, bring a bunch of snacks and let him run around and hit a couple golf shots. That's given me a lot of joy recently. They both love to be outside. We've got a park close by the house, and you just see their spirits lift when you can get out of the house. And we're we're not big toy people. We don't like our house is pretty boring compared to some of their friends' houses. Yeah. Um uh we try to buy less but buy better, you know, and um I think a lot of it can become kind of a distraction. So we try to spend a lot of time outside, and um, you know, our our almost two-year-old, one and a half year old is uh he loves swinging on the swing. Like you gotta hold him, you know, because it's not like a bucket seat you can put him in. And uh he just loves it right now. So lots of being outside.

SPEAKER_00

That's sweet. And then last question for you is when you think about like your kids getting older, next phases of life and all that, is there like any moment of your kids' life where you're like, man, I can't wait until they enter into this phase of life? I can't wait to see them like enter into this aspect of their identity.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, that's very great question. When I look at my boys, I see not only cute boys, right? Yeah, cute kids, but I see future husbands, maybe future dads. You know, like I'm very conscientious of of those future identities that they will have.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

I also think there's this whole thing that I just despise, which is when parents are like, just wait till they're two, like terrible twos, just wait till they're thirty teenagers. Yeah, it's like, or like uh I think it's Bill Burr or something. Somebody's like, oh, you've got a girl, just wait till she's a teenager, and Bill Burr's like, you only hear bad parents say that, which is like, you know, kind of very Bill Burr, but Yeah, yeah, yeah. I really hate the fear-mongering that comes with each stage.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

I really have enjoyed every new season, every new step is like a whole new world of activity, a whole new world of personality. Things are changing so quickly. Um now it's interesting because I see our oldest about to become a big brother to a little girl. So while he is, yes, getting older in his own activities and his own preferences, and you know, maybe there's baseball practice, maybe there, you know, all these activities and things, there's also a new identity that he will have as having a little sister, you know, and so to see those roles come into play, to see our now middle child become a middle child, you know, there's a nature versus nurture thing there and pecking order and personality stuff, but yeah, that's that's all gonna influence it. But man, I I'm just so excited. This whole ride is such a blast, and every stage of life I think just gets better. Um uh it's just more full and more fun and more crazy. Yeah. Yeah, just grateful for it.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, that's awesome. And then last thing for you, just moment for self-promotion. How do we find your music? Instagram, all that stuff. Uh remind us when your album's coming out, all that good stuff.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, the record is called Tender Country. It comes out May 22nd. You can pre-order the record now. I don't know when this will air, but you know, yeah. The record's out there. I got vinyl and a bunch of merch and tour dates here and there. Um, I'll be in Boston next week, I think. So I'm traveling a good bit when it makes sense. My name is Thomas Chorba, which is difficult to spell, but you'll figure it out. And uh yeah, I'm I'm everywhere I'm supposed to be, all the social media and my website. And I'm just thrilled to get to have a platform to share music and to have team members, a great manager and a great label team that's you know helping me share this music with the world. Um just really grateful and really excited for what's to come of it. And anybody who'd like to come along for the ride, hop on board, you know. Come on.

SPEAKER_00

That's awesome. Yeah, man. Um I appreciate it. Thanks so much for your time to do this. If you are ever on Denver area, I'll try to keep up with your tour schedule and see if you come up to Denver. I'll come, I'll come heckle you at a show, all that good stuff.

SPEAKER_01

Please, please, please. We need more hecklers out there in the world.

SPEAKER_00

That's right. Someone just to be nonsense in the crowd, something, you know? That's right. Keep it interesting. That's right. BMAN, um, go enjoy the rest of your day, and um, thank you so much for your time. I really appreciate it, and I'll see you next time.

SPEAKER_01

Much obliged. Thanks so much.

SPEAKER_00

Perfect. See you, Thomas. Bye. Thank you so much for listening to the episode. Make sure to follow us on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube at the Imperfect Dads Podcast. And make sure to give us five stars wherever you listen to us. Music, editing, and production is all done by me. Make sure to tune in on Mondays and most Thursdays for nepisodes. This podcast is part of the Never at Face Network. Make sure to go to NeverAfacedwork.com to learn more about it.