100% Humboldt
Humboldt County CA USA is the home of some of the most iconoclastic, genuine, and interesting folks in the world.
We are getting curious about the movers, shakers, and difference makers in Humboldt County CA-Home of the giant redwoods, 6 Rivers, and the vast Pacific Ocean.
We will discover what makes people live/evolve in the beautiful, diverse, isolated, and ever-changing Northcoast of California 100%!
Listen in and learn what it is to be 100% Humboldt
Learn More at https://100humboldt.com/
100% Humboldt
The Outlaw Country of Humboldt: Brett McFarland's Journey
Step into the extraordinary life journey of Brett McFarland, a musician whose path from Midwest farming to Humboldt County outlaw country is nothing short of cinematic. This deeply moving conversation reveals how Brett's search for a fresh start brought him to Northern California's emerald triangle, where he established himself as an organic farmer before becoming entangled in the cannabis cultivation that defined the region.
When federal agents built a conspiracy case against him based largely on hearsay, Brett found himself serving nearly four years in prison—a crucible that would transform him forever. The raw vulnerability with which he shares his incarceration experience is breathtaking, particularly as he describes discovering a Hawaiian forgiveness prayer that helped him release the bitterness threatening to consume him: "I'm sorry, please forgive me, thank you, I love you."
Music became Brett's salvation behind bars, playing on battered guitars for fellow inmates, creating moments of connection amid dehumanizing circumstances. Yet his return to society brought new challenges, as post-prison trauma strained his marriage to the breaking point. In a moment of profound honesty, Brent reveals how therapy helped him recognize his hypervigilant state and ultimately save his relationship.
The conversation's most powerful revelation comes when Brent describes finally overcoming his fear of "not being good enough" to embrace music publicly. After seeing Willie Nelson perform in 2023, something clicked: "Not next year, today." The floodgates opened—from opening for blues legend Earl Thomas to recording in Nashville, his authentic outlaw country sound quickly gaining global recognition.
His performance of "How We Do It In Humboldt" captures the spirit of a community that embraces outsiders and second chances, written by someone who has lived its highest highs and lowest lows. Don't miss Brett's upcoming shows in Sebastopol and Trinity Center, with hints of a special Eureka Theater performance coming soon.
About 100% Humboldt with Scott Hammond
Humboldt County CA USA is the home of some of the most iconoclastic, genuine, and interesting folks in the world.
We are getting curious about the movers, shakers, and difference makers in Humboldt County CA-Home of the giant redwoods, 6 Rivers, and the vast Pacific Ocean.
We will discover what makes people live/evolve in the beautiful, diverse, isolated, and ever-changing North Coast of California 100%!
Listen in and learn what it is to be 100% Humboldt!
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Ladies and gentlemen, friends and neighbors, it's Scott Hammond with the 100% Humble Podcast with my very new best friend, musician Brent. Mcfarlane Brent how you doing. I'm smiling. Take it away, Brent.
Speaker 2:Thank you, brent. I played this song a few different ways, but acoustic guitar is how I wrote it at home, nice, so it kind of feels good to be bringing it back to the roots like that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, bringing it back to the roots like that. Well, I built my home with my own two hands, help from my friends and trees from the land, food and shelter the best I can.
Speaker 2:This, right here, is where I make my stand, cause we still got butchers and we still got mills.
Speaker 3:Got a whole lot of folks with a whole lot of skills. If you ever need help, ever need a favor, Well around here, still call on your neighbor. That's how we do it in Humboldt. Yeah, we do it in Humboldt. How we do it in Humboldt. How we do it in Humboldt.
Speaker 2:We got trees like you ain't ever seen, clear blue water straight out of a dream.
Speaker 3:And you don't have to go and look too far To find yourself a shooting star.
Speaker 2:You can be a weirdo, you can be a freak, you can be straight-laced seven days a week.
Speaker 3:Cause we got guts and we got pride. We got what matters on the inside.
Speaker 2:That's how we do it in Humble.
Speaker 3:Yeah, how we do it in Humboldt. Yeah, how we do it in Humboldt, how we do it in Humboldt. The sun was setting on 68. It was the summer of love down in the hay. War was dragging, it was getting late. Back to the land sounded great, and that's when Redneck made love with a hippie, had himself a child to name her Gypsy. That's how we do it in Humble. Yeah, we do it in Humboldt. Yeah, we do it in Humboldt. How we do it in Humboldt.
Speaker 3:But it ain't all flowers and peace and love. You know, the history is stained in blood Everywhere, from Hooper down to Table Bluff, klamath to Bear River. Man, they had it rough. It's the same old story all across the land. One of them things I just can't understand. So I do my best to show respect, tip my hat and I won't ever forget. That's how we do it in Humboldt yeah, how we do it in Humboldt, how we do it in Humboldt now, if you wanna talk shit on California, go right ahead.
Speaker 2:But I got to warn ya.
Speaker 3:We'll hold it down around here. If you live in this country and you ever smoke grass, you can thank Humboldt County for risking their ass. A fighting camp since the 80s and a going strong. We're just a Kip on grow until the laws caught on. Yeah well, the only way to say it is to put it bluntly there ain't another place more outlaw country.
Speaker 2:That's how we do it in.
Speaker 3:Humboldt. Yeah, how we do it in Humboldt, how we do it in Humboldt, how we do it in Humboldt, how we do it in Humboldt.
Speaker 1:Woo-hoo-hoo, yeah. Ladies and gentlemen, brent McFarlane, thanks for coming today. How you doing.
Speaker 3:I'm doing good.
Speaker 1:It's been a good day that's how we do it in Humboldt, man. Wow, that's how you do it in Humboldt. Thank you for that. Yeah, amazing, cool. Oh, by the way, humboldt County, the Metzger map that'd be fun to give you one of those. I actually have one at the office. Maybe I'll figure out a way to put it in the barn or something. So I want to hear your whole story. Tell us, where were you born? Where'd you grow up? What's the Brent story?
Speaker 2:Well, I was born to Mike and Gail McFarland and my dad was in the Army and my mom is a nurse and I was born in South Dakota and we lived all over the place. My dad was in the Army so we kind of bounced around to different military installations but we always went back to the Midwest because that's where their families are from. Both my mom and my dad and my grandparents were farmers and yeah, I actually we ended up moving back there when I was in high school. Oh, wow, and I actually get this. My dad's parents are from Humboldt, south Dakota. That's where my dad's mom was from. Was Humboldt South Dakota?
Speaker 1:And there's Humboldt, iowa, where I'm from. Yeah, sioux City, iowa, nice For the Northwest, what part of?
Speaker 2:South Dakota. It's just pretty near Sioux Falls. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, pretty near Sioux Falls, like.
Speaker 1:Yankton. Or well, sioux Falls is not Yankton, but yeah yeah, we're neighbors, kind of in that way.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's.
Speaker 1:Humboldt Iowa. There's Humboldt Nevada too, go figure. So how did you guys wind up in Humboldt County?
Speaker 2:Well, basically I ended up in. So I ended up in South Dakota after high school and then I ended up in Humboldt. Because I was farming in South Dakota. We had a really tough year. My brother and I and our crops froze out. There was, like this early spring or this early fall, frost. And at the same time I had a friend that called me up and was like hey, brett, I want to move to California and I think you're the only one crazy enough to do it with me. And so I started looking at schools that were on the exchange program. I saw Humble and I was like, all right, well, let's go check this out. And we, and so I actually came out, road tripped with him. I flew to Reno, was was where he was living, and then we road tripped out here. And then he didn't end up coming, at least not at that time, not for years. But I I took one look around, I made it to the Arcata farmer's market and I was like yes, nice.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Nice, which you still sell stuff at right At the market.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we still. So I mean, I went there, I saw what was happening and I wanted to come back and I did. I moved out a couple of months later and actually was leasing some ground in the bottoms in short order and started selling at the that Farmer's Market 20 years ago. Midwest guy.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and when I showed up and I was trying to make it happen there were so many, I remember I saw this. There was a kiosk outside the co-op. This was before Craigslist was a big deal. I remember that, yeah, and there was somebody that had gone rogue. You know, you're supposed to put like a card at the Arcata co-op and they would write your stuff, but somebody went rogue and they and they pinned a notebook sheet of paper up on outside of the on that kiosk and it said farmhouse room for rent in a farmhouse. And I saw that and I was thinking, well, shoot, farmhouse, there must be some farm land in a farm, you know. And so I tried to and they had, but they had written the address down wrong and it was. This was actually this is. I ended up moving into a place that's pretty legendary place. It's called the Salmon House.
Speaker 1:Okay, and I mean this was this was.
Speaker 2:It was out. It was out on the corner of Janes and Spear Sure and I mean so this is like Sublime used to go. It was a, it was a. It was, you know, they played there. It was a. It was a kind of a. It had been a party house at different iterations. But yeah, I had.
Speaker 2:I remember trying to find this place and I couldn't. Every once in a while people would be like, oh yeah, I know of that place. I remember there was even somebody. There was even like there was even somebody. There was like a. There was a woman working at that time in produce and she's like, oh, I know that place. And I was like, oh my God, I'm like I'm. I told her my story. I'm like I'm just here Any way, you would, I'm like, any way, you would just like drive over there. And I could just like, you know you could show me where it was, I'll just follow you in my car. And she's like, no, not happening. And I kept striking out and I but I but I got.
Speaker 2:I remember that first night I was over, I went to the hotels in Giantoli and I was going to climb. I was like, I was like at that time, I don't forget it was like 40 bucks or 60 bucks for a hotel and I was like seemed like a lot for what I had on me. So I was, I was like just about to climb, looking if I could climb under my van and just like sleep out of the drizzle, and somebody that I just met else that I met at the co-op, was invited me to come. They kind of knew. Well, you know, I told them I was looking for farmland and they knew I just came to town and they let me sleep on their floor and that was my welcome to Humboldt.
Speaker 2:So I, you know it was, it was, there was generosity and I spent the next few days trying to find that place and eventually I did and I was able to start a farm there and start selling at the, the farmer's market. But that process, you know that being there, that was, you know, when I was there, we started selling these vegetables and I would have these people come up to my vegetable stands and they had like fat, they would like pull out a stack of cash to pay me and I was. I couldn't help but ask some of them after yeah, like what are you guys doing we're farming? Yeah, that's what they told me. Them after yeah, like, what are you guys doing? We're farming? Yeah, that's what they told me. And I'm like dang man, our wallets are looking very different right now.
Speaker 2:And they ain't carrots, yeah, so you know, but I started having people like from Honeydew and Southern Humboldt that would stop by our stand and they were good to us and that's one thing I will say. That's one positive thing that I can say about, you know, the cannabis community in Humboldt is that there's been so many wonderful community from you know schools to all kinds. There's been a lot of blessings. You know there's been some stuff that's not that amazing, but there's been some really wonderful things that came out of that. And that was one of them was like I remember these, like I had people that were like well, you know, you're working your butt off and we're going to, we're going to support you and they, you know, and they would, they would come over and make sure they would get their vegetables from us and tip jar.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, that's great. So how'd you wind up then? Did you actually go to Humboldt State at the time?
Speaker 2:I went to Humboldt State ceremoniously, really just to let my parents down easy, because if I told them like hey, by the way, mom and dad, I'm moving to the left coast, I'm moving to California and I'm dropping out of college and I'm going to farm vegetables I think organic vegetables yeah.
Speaker 3:I think a Maybe too much.
Speaker 2:Organic vegetables. Yeah, I think A little too much, yeah, so I had to just let them down easy, Take care of the folks. So I did a semester at Humboldt State and then I told them I was taking a break to focus on farming, but I really got just the whole Humboldt, you know. Yeah, I just got immersed. What year was that? Yeah, I just got immersed. What year is that Guessing? 2004 or 2005. What is it? We're in 2025 right now.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So early 2000s? Yeah, I think 2005 is when I showed up. Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, I think 2005 is when I showed up.
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah, yeah, you know, the CEO of St Joe's was here last time and talked about that community thing that you just alluded to. You inferred and that's. I think that's who we are. That's a lot of our identity and how we roll. And I remember the same thing, coming up in 78 from San Diego, just hard to see me with long hair, but it was pretty long, and I was all that in a bag of chips and uh yeah, my hair was down to here. Right, yeah, right.
Speaker 2:I was growing it out for locks for love, oh cool.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's cool.
Speaker 2:And when I and when they're, when I guys, but here all kinds of people did in dreads I'm like, all right, this is done.
Speaker 1:This is done. So you became a farmer, and so where'd you? Did you meet your wife back then, or was that after? Oh, it was years later.
Speaker 2:Okay, I met my wife in 2012.
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah, so did you primarily live in Arcata?
Speaker 2:Did you end up in the hills or I lived primarily in Arcata, although I did, I did. I was able to get some land out out in the Matole and I built like a little cabin. It was like it had been a it had been like a.
Speaker 2:There'd been like this I didn't know this when I bought it, but there'd been this whole like diesel generator grow thing on it and like so I just a lot of trash. So I spent like years like just cleaning up, wow, like you know, all kinds of garbage, and they had there'd been a fire out there. So I was just like, but I started to like see what was happening with people harvesting their own timbers to make their homes and all that kind of stuff. So this is off grid.
Speaker 1:Then yeah, far, far away. Yeah, in a galaxy far, far. Away.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:That's cool. A lot of people wanted, I mean. That's why people came up in the 60s from wherever.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And started living in the hills and off the land, and that's cool. I really don't miss chopping wood and starting fires myself. I hit this button at my house in McKinleyville and there's heat and I really like that. Now.
Speaker 2:Oh, I'm obsessed with fire. Yeah, you like to?
Speaker 1:chop wood yeah.
Speaker 2:I like to burn it anyway.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's cool.
Speaker 2:I'm like chopping it. I could get down with, but really like to burn it, the fun part.
Speaker 1:My daughter brings madrone and manzanita from Southern Oregon to our friend Dave here on Fickle Hill. He loves that wood.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I think he's also a burner yeah, that burning hobby, so, yeah, so, tell us the rest of the story. So you became another type of farmer? Yeah, so.
Speaker 2:I started growing, I found I started seeing what was happening in Humboldt, just a little bit Like some of my housemates. All of a sudden they had these little gorilla gardens up in the forest and one of them told you know? And then I, oh yeah, then it was. You could get a 215 card. Back then I had to drive all the way to Ukiah but you could get a doctor's recommendation. And that was blowing my mind. I was like what, legal? Yeah, because it was. So I think it's easy for people to forget how illegal it was. And it still is illegal, mind you. It just doesn't feel that way because it's kind of it's state legal, but federally it's. Nothing has changed, correct, not actually. I mean, they're talking about moving it from a schedule one to a schedule three, but you know, nothing has changed actually. So it is still federally very much illegal.
Speaker 1:So in Idaho you get a lot of trouble for having weed.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you could somewhere some state that it's not legal.
Speaker 1:You have to drive over to Ontario, oregon, to get all their weed and come back, and so the dispensaries in Ontario are very successful.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, there's a lot of that kind of stuff going on. But yeah, so I, you know, my um, yeah, my, my roommates. I remember seeing, like a little, there was a little note on the fridge that just said doctor, and had a number and I was like what's that? Someone was like, oh, that's the, that's the guy, that's the doctor you know. So I went and saw the doctor and and, uh, um, and they wrote me a prescription and all of a sudden I was like, oh, wow, you can, this is this feels, you know, legal, and it was quasi legal. You know what was your condition, what was my condition? I would say there was a lot, you know help with anxiety, sure, helps with, helps with a sleep aid, all the things.
Speaker 2:Yeah, all the things, yeah, yeah. He came and hit my knee with one of those little rubber mallets in it. Right, I mean, they were writing very fast, I'm sure they were.
Speaker 2:They were writing very fast, they were asking questions quickly. But yeah, that was kind of that was the start for me and I started to, yeah, see how it had helped certain people in my life, Like there were certain people that who are sick and it was really helpful to them and and and I, I, yeah, I felt well. First I had, I had started to consume cannabis, you know, before this and in South Dakota, where it was not, you know, Super illegal yeah, you had to keep it a secret, you know.
Speaker 1:And.
Speaker 2:I had long hair and I had been. I had experienced being profiled Like I had been. I watched like if you, you know, it's like you drive a dude with long hair like pull him over, you know, right, right. I remember getting searched, being frisked, having him touch my privates and stuff, whoa, that's kind of Just for weed, just for having long, no, for having long hair.
Speaker 1:Oh, worse yet.
Speaker 2:You know, but that's what they were looking for, that's what they were looking and that's what they were looking.
Speaker 2:There's some people that had a real, that had. You know something, really, there still are people who are very afraid of marijuana and who are very afraid of it and, you know, it's still and I think it's been part of the culture war for a long time. It's like okay, even though there's people on both sides that partake, it's been fodder. I think that's changing. But, yeah, I, that's, that's, that was, that was, uh, that was the entry, you know, and, um, yeah, flash forward, I, I, uh, uh, at one point, you know, it was like there were federal police here in town, you know, looking for people. Um, I wasn't even one of them at the time when they came, but I soon became one of them, as they, you know, as they're following their little cookie crumb trail. But my whole case started with one person getting pulled over with some cannabis. That was not mine, never said it was mine. But he told those authorities that two years prior I had sold them two to four pounds of weed on two occasions. That's what the official police record says. And so they built this whole case. That was a conspiracy case and so the conspiracy is just, people's is like people, you know, you can do the whole thing with hearsay. So they never had any, they never had any plants. There was no, there was no drug bust, there was no wire tap, there was no, there was no drug bus. There was no wire tap. There was no, there was no pot. For me, um, there was really nothing other than you know someone's words, you know, and they've started, and they started and they put a lot of, they spent a lot of money and a lot of time trying to, you know, find people who knew each other and eventually they found, oh, someone who's you know was a trimmer and I, you know, was a trimmer and I, you know, or this, like I remember I listened to one of these. They let you, you know, you get, they call it the discovery, it's all the evidence have against you and you're supposed to be able to and they don't. You know they're supposed to give it to you and I don't, they don't. Sometimes they hold little bits back, you know they're smoking guns and stuff, but they, but anyway, I, I listened to this one, for example, I listened to this one person and the agent was asking him, oh yeah. And he said oh, I visited Brett back in 2006 in Blue Lake and they said and the officer said, well, did he have any marijuana growing there?
Speaker 2:And this person said yeah, and the officer said, well, how many plants he goes? I don't know, maybe 20. And then I, and then I heard the agent go and how big would you say those plants were? What do you think About? Five pounds a piece. And the person's like I don't know, I mean I guess Five pounds a piece.
Speaker 2:I was literally like man. Those things were like three ounces of moldy.
Speaker 1:It was like that was not happening.
Speaker 2:No, no, but they wrote down 20 times five. There was 100 pounds of weed, Crazy. And so I got charged with conspiracy, you know of, to distribute this amount of weed, and they basically made up this number. They said, well, you've been in Humboldt for nine years and we think that you, you know, grew at least 20 plants every year, and we're going to count all those up and we think that's so. They came up with this number of a hundred kilos, which is 220 pounds, which you know they already had 100 pounds from that dude one year or five, you know, Right, and so the whole thing was just like that and I couldn't believe it. I could not believe that.
Speaker 1:Were you alone in this? Were there other people being charged with craziness? No, there was other people.
Speaker 2:There was other people that were charged?
Speaker 1:Yeah, there was, other people Was this post-camp days Was camp still alive.
Speaker 2:They were not really as prevalent. I mean people. They were still alive in people's minds. It wasn't like they ever went away. They hadn't gone away Like now they've now they're gone, but like cause they would still fly. You know, whoever it was that was still had the money and I think they actually camp was still flying. They just like they didn't have a lot a huge budget. So they would just do like Flyb, just do like flybys, well, or they'd go like they had a couple weeks of worth of money and they were going to go hit it up right about now.
Speaker 1:You know, and right right you go, you know, scare some people, yeah, and harvest and get as much as they could, and that would be that so so if you're just joining us, my new best friend, brent mcfarland, uh talking about his life, uh, as a farmer and, um, and life at humble and, uh, life as a musician, I'm sure we're going to get to that pretty quick, um, but you did time in the meantime, so you did, you did go away. So they, they, they made their case, yeah.
Speaker 2:So eventually um, yeah, eventually it it became clear to me that you can't win. The game is rigged and you can't win if they, if they, you know, if they want you, all they need is a couple of people talking and it's their word against yours, and and and and. The whole point is to try to get you to be one of those people talking. That's the thing. I was charged under mandatory minimum sentencing laws that were actually really ramped up during the Clinton administration, laws that were actually really ramped up during the Clinton administration. Not that they were the only ones that did it, but you know, I think Reagan was kind of tough on, you know, wanted to be tough on crime and tough on drugs in particular, and then Clinton saw that as a winning, you know strategy, yeah, so he started doing the same thing and they were doing that's when they were doing all that stop and frisk, you know, and all this kind of horrible things that so many people.
Speaker 2:But what happens? What a lot of people don't know, is that, with mandatory minimum sentencing laws, the power has been taken away from our judges and it's been given to prosecutors, to the district attorneys, and what they do with that power. And, mind you, this is only at the federal level states. This case would have never flown in the state you would have needed, like some other evidence. States would not allow because it's too risky. If it's just somebody's word, it's like, and especially if they're being rewarded and that's the whole thing. But that's what they do is they use the DAs will use this as leverage to get people to snitch on each other and tell on each other to rat Huh With the hopes of a really, really big bust.
Speaker 2:Or just keeping the game going, keeping the party going, you know, getting more. You know, because they got money, they took property, they took land, they took all kinds. There was forfeitures, that happened, you know, and they got to joyride around in helicopters and do all kinds of stuff.
Speaker 1:I remember the sheriff told me that he said there's 4,000 grows today, Scott, and if we get 40 of them we'll be lucky, and it was just so prevalent.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's like— when was that?
Speaker 1:15, 20 years ago.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's like when was that? Um 15, 20 years ago.
Speaker 1:Yeah, cause I don't think there's that many. No more, no, no, no, they're gone, no, boom and bust. Right, yeah, yeah, we'll talk about that too. I would love to talk about the current state.
Speaker 2:So so you did federal time then, yeah, I got a, I got a five-year sentence, um and uh, and I did almost four years.
Speaker 1:Rad, okay, where'd you here at the state?
Speaker 2:I was in Hurlong, which is outside Susanville, for a while, and then I ended up in Sheridan, oregon, which is just south of Portland.
Speaker 1:Right, right, right, okay, and that was, how was that experience? Hey, how was prison, brad man?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was awful, like the whole thing leading up to it was pretty awful. And then I mean, you know you learn, you know in time it was bearable, you know in time I claimed it. But to be held against your will, separated from your family, I mean I lost loved ones. During that time I was unable to go. You know, I lost my grandpa, I lost my uncle. I could not go be at those funerals. I had cousins get married, there were babies born. I was separated from my wife, I was separated from to do that time, you know, and I just thought the whole thing was so. It just did not sit right with me. I just didn't feel like that's not. This doesn't look like justice to me.
Speaker 1:Not at all.
Speaker 2:And then, once you're on the inside, there's like there's something, there's a lot, there's a dehumanizing about the whole thing and, yeah, there's this kind of bureaucratic indifference from from the guards and from all the people that work there, where it's just like you know it's, it's uh yeah, another broken system.
Speaker 1:I'm. You know, here's what I'm hearing. This is. This will be weird maybe to hear, or not.
Speaker 1:So last night we have a home group where we gather with friends and Pastor Bethany and Jason from Catalyst Church, next door to the co-op, and we were studying Genesis 37. Everybody read a passage and it's all about the life of Joseph, how his brothers pretty much narked him out and threw him in a pit. He got slaved, he went to Egypt and he did time. It threw him in a pit, he got slaved, he went to Egypt and he did time. And then he actually got accused falsely of trying to grab Potiphar's wife. He didn't and the record shows that.
Speaker 1:He was put in prison unjustly but he came out and it's this arc, the story arc is beautiful and it's kind of like yours. I'm going to jump out there and say that Because it was the story of redemption, how he came through this in this really beautiful way and really saved Egypt's ass, because he could interpret dreams and the way that he did it, because they were going to have seven years of famine, seven years of plenty, seven years of famine. The pharaoh goes here's my scepter, here's my ring. Make it happen, man, and he did, and he saved millions of people. And so the story goes on of this life of brokenness and redemption. That comes back and I kind of I'm going to jump out and say I see some of that in you and admire that and it's cool anyway, so please be encouraged. Um so, so, tell us more. So you got out and were you playing music in in, uh, in prison?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I played. I played music. Uh, I actually started playing music right before I went. I mean, I played music for a long time, but I started playing music in the community right before I left. I was I had already been charged, I hadn't been sentenced and I was like I was. It was there was like this kind of year in limbo and I started playing music and more and more and, and then when I went in, um, like my first, my first experience in there, within hours, you know, it's like they, yeah, it's very, it was very surreal. I went, I went behind you know the security and it's like I was in and I was in a prison where I I ended up. That's not where I was going to spend my time, but I was, but it was part of the experience. You know, it's like you go to different facilities. So the facility I was in was was a was a more heavy duty security prison and and um, just that feeling of being behind all us, just all this weird um security.
Speaker 1:Is this.
Speaker 2:Susanville. Now this was, this was in Hurlong, outside Susanville, and anyway, they, you know, they strip you naked and literally take everything away from you. You have nothing, you know, and they and, and that is sort of, and they, I mean, and you have somebody else telling you like that they're going to look at your private parts, and this kind of giving you orders or how you know, bend over cough, all this kind of shit, where it's like sure I'm, I, I appreciate autonomy over my. You know what I mean, I wouldn't be, but I know I have to comply. You know what I mean. I know that not complying is going to be.
Speaker 2:So there was a lot that was challenging. But you know, eventually it's like they throw you this like little you know prison outfit. And the next thing, I know I'm just like I'm alone in this all cement, cell, cement, bunk, just cement, you know. And I was sitting in there and and I started humming and the reverb in this thing was like it was tremendous and I could just, and I started just singing in there. It was like Whoa, this was just, you know, and that was really the start of music being a healing force while incarcerated. It was right then. It was right then Beautiful, and over time it grew. You know we had access to some. They were pretty janky. I'm not going to I don't want to like overplay this, but I will put in quotation marks.
Speaker 2:We had access to some guitars you know that were like kind of patched together by inmates and a lot of times, you know, it's like we didn't really have the rights. You know, we were like we'd be lucky if we had electric guitar strings for an acoustic that were three years old and like they did not get changed unless they got broke, because you couldn't really the institution, that kind of, was putting a crack down on getting guitar strings because there were some folks that were using them for tattoo guns and they were Crazy stuff. Yeah, yeah, and they were crazy stuff. Yeah, yeah. So anyway, um, but we did have, I did, I was able to play music for the guys in there and and there was a lot of magical special moments that that were made, um, just playing for just playing, whether it was like, you know, after after hours, you know it's like there's like the yard would be open and and of the staff would be gone, and like we could sometimes sneak a guitar back into the unit and do some play for the guys. You know.
Speaker 1:That's really. I like that, that's cool.
Speaker 2:And that's where. That's where. That's where, like some of the music from on the Humble album came from that, from that and I actually have, I have a bunch more music that I look forward to releasing. Uh, on my upcoming album, free the Hustle, that that that is really about that. And I, I, um, yeah, musically, I, I, there's a lot that I, there's a lot of places I want to go. There's a lot I, I, I aspire to do. But you know, and in some ways I would love to be just going forward, but I need to go back and and and and dig up, you know, some of those songs and the feelings and and and, uh, yeah it's. I just know it's like that's. That's the journey.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's what's next. So if you're just joining us, uh, brett McFarland, new best friend and masterful humble musician, is Outlaw Country. Is that fair, is that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's fair, yeah, that's, I mean, I don't want to categorize too much, but Well, the thing about Outlaw Country is it's it changes. You know like what that is. You know it's like it's not conforming to whatever the mainstream is. So it could be anything. It could be pretty wild stuff.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, if you looked at, I mean, for example, you know you look at Willie, or you know Waylon and but like, even look at Willie, like he, he was outlaw country, but you know he is outlaw country but he's played man, he's playing with Ray Charles, he's playing with Snoop Dogg, he's playing, you know. I mean it's like he's like it's it's not confined, it's not so confined. You know, I think the part that's important is the authenticity. Yeah, yeah, you know you're not just writing like what's gonna sound good, it's, it has to be something that is meaningful.
Speaker 1:You know that's true I think we hear a lot of that from you for sure. So tell me getting out, coming back into society and then getting into the music piece and then farming again. Tell us a little bit more about all that part of the story arc.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So while I was in, first of all, I went through a transformation during the time, during the years I was in. When I first my, when I first arrived, I was grief stricken. I had a lot of anger and resentment towards the government, towards the snitches, towards the police officers that were that some of the agents and you know there was.
Speaker 2:When they came to my house and I this might've been the local boys, by the way, I don't know, you know, but somebody when they came to my house I was not there, they where they thought was my house. They kicked in the door I was, I'd rented out, there was, there was. There was like four or five 20 year old, you know, mid, early twenties, mid twenties, young women in the house and the stories they told me were horrifying. But one of the stories that they told me was that some of the police that came in had matching patches with middle fingers on it that said fuck you, fuck you, fuck you, fuck you Like. And I don't know if that was our local. I hope it wasn't. That's weird, I can't, but I just it seemed really disrespectful to like, if you're the law enforcement, to have a matching patch that says F you, f you.
Speaker 1:Who's got that patch?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, but they did. And so the women, the women told me they were shocked. They literally kicked in. They like they kicked, like actually kicked in doors, which was unnecessary. You know, they broke doors in the house but one of the women had cancer and they pulled her out in her underwear outside in the morning and for quite a while. And then she, you know, and then they used like an assault weapon to like peel back the covers on her bed for some reason.
Speaker 2:It's just kind of stuff like that where it was like, you know, and this is like, and I I think there's a lot of tremendous law enforcement that do a really good job and who have integrity and who are kind and respectful and serve and protect, but stuff like that it does happen and it gives it kind of gives. You know, it's like cause, you know, like even my dad, when he, when he went and talked to the, he actually talked to the one of the agents involved that was from back and he goes, you know, cause my dad's an army guy and he goes. If you did one shred of recon, you would have known you had some peace, love and pot smoking hippies on your hand. You didn't have to come in with all this force and all this. You know what I mean. And I remember that young woman who had cancer. She told me she goes, man, I said, brett, he better have, he better have hurt, he better have killed somebody that's what she said. For them to come in and act like this, with that act of force, yeah, yeah, like, just like it was just totally unnecessary.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know, just be kind. But when you, yeah, I think that I think, like I said the patches with a middle finger that said F you. So that was kind of that start. This is this trauma. It was scary. There was assault weapons pointed. You know what I mean, like. So that was the start of that pain and that grief was feeling this like kind of like almost like an over overkill force and um, and then, uh, uh, uh, and then and then, and then everything that happened in incarceration. So I had a lot of resentments and I saw people that had been doing a lot of time that also had those resentments and I could see how like bitter they were. And I'm like man, I don't want to be like that.
Speaker 1:Not that guy. I don't want to end up like that Gross.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's like he's stewing in that hatred. Root of bitterness man. Yeah, so that was. You know I started there was these inmate run classes of. First I went to like a yoga class and then there was a mystery school in prison that I went to. They did yoga, metaphysics or the yoga, meditation and metaphysics, and I started going to these classes and they actually really, you know, I had a lot of resistance to them Cause I, you know some for a while I'm like this is just like some, this is like some new age.
Speaker 2:Yeah, hippie crap, but I'm like, oh man, but I sat with that. I sat with with everything that they were sharing with us and, um, I felt my heart soften, I felt healing happen. As we did, like we did different, you know, we did different meditations that were and prayers that were working on healing and forgiving, like we remember working with this Hawaiian healing prayer called Ho'oponopono, and it's taking responsibility for everything in the world, like even all the things that you don't like to see, and uh, um, yeah, and so I would think about those people that I had that anger towards and I would say this prayer and it would. It goes like this I'm sorry, please forgive, forgive me, thank you, I love you. Whoa, I'm sorry, please forgive me, thank you, I love you. And actually, when I first started saying that one, actually I said I forgive you, but that's not the prayer, it's not to forgive somebody else. It's taken, it's, it's, it's um, yeah, it's hard, it's, you know, to say sorry to someone who you think did you wrong. You know that's not.
Speaker 1:Flipping that script.
Speaker 2:Yeah, You're like, wait a minute. They should be telling me. You know, some of these people sold my freedom and they kept their own. They're over there comfortable. I'm on a steel bunk with fluorescent lights that never turn off for years. Right, and so that was. But that was, that was a big, that was, that was that was the. That was the journey. That was the journey. It started. The healing and the self-inquiry and self-exploration and even the manifestation practices that I developed in the mystery school in prison are what led me to be sitting here with you today and what led to all that music, Because, yeah, I know, without it, it would have never happened.
Speaker 1:Did the work man Forgave him. It's so powerful's so power.
Speaker 2:forgiveness is pretty powerful man, and it's hard yeah and you can think you've done it, and then you end up going like oh, I still got resentment turns out I'm still bitter, you know, I actually I one of the one of the people that told on me.
Speaker 2:I used to like think that I would see them in town when I came home. I would like see somebody and I would like the backs of their head and I'd like run over to them and like, if I was driving, I would. And one day, actually I got off, when I finally had gotten off of probation, my wife and I we went to Mexico and we spent like a month down there. Wow, and on our couple weeks, uh, or a couple weeks, I don't know, it was a well, it was a longer trip. But on our last day there, sitting there on the beach, I hear somebody say my name and I look up, no way. And there he is on the beach, walking up to me in mexico, walking.
Speaker 2:If my wife hadn't been there, I'd think this was you know, but it but um, yeah, he came up to me and he was like hey, how are you doing? You know what I mean? And I'm like Whoa man and I, I, uh, how'd you do? Well, he spoke Spanish and I spoke Spanish, I talked to him in Spanish, but but what I told him more or less was like wow. I can't tell you how many days I thought about what I would say. I bet what I would do if I ever saw you again.
Speaker 1:And random in Mexico. Yeah, Nothing random about it. Providential.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm like everyone. I went to sleep on a steel bunk knowing you were out there. You are out there and I told him. But I actually recited that prayer to him.
Speaker 1:I just looked at him oh boy, good job.
Speaker 2:And then I told him and I said, and now, that being said, I go, I have nothing else I ever need to say to you in my life. I'm like we have nothing to talk about, wow. And I watched life I'm like we have nothing to talk about, wow. And I watched his face go from from like excitement and curiosity to anger and he started telling me he's like, oh, you have no idea, you know what you know. He told me that and how stressful it was and he had gotten he, he was a Canadian citizen and he had been deported and his and his mother died during this whole process. And I said, yeah, you know, I listened to him, I just let him say his piece. But I told him I go, well, I go, yeah, it sounds like, yeah, you know, you also went through a lot, I go. But it sounds like, yeah, you know, you also went through a lot, I go. But we had decisions, we kind of made a. We were faced with the same situation and we chose to do things differently.
Speaker 1:Yeah, consequences.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Good story.
Speaker 2:It was kind of it was insane when it happened. I like couldn't, I could not believe that, that the random beach it was like of all the people in the world, you know what's our, what time is it?
Speaker 1:We got, uh, we're good, We've got about six minutes till five, so we're we're cool on time, Um so so let's talk about the music business. So you came back and kind of launched into this chapter.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I came home and, um, I basically was just hustling to try to put my life back together. Things had kind of deteriorated in a certain area. There was just I was gone, man.
Speaker 3:I was gone.
Speaker 2:And my wife did a wonderful job of holding things together. What?
Speaker 2:a saint, yeah, amazing, but it was not easy and there was a lot that you know just kind of was left undone, and so I just was hustling, you know, really, for years, and I had that intention to share music because I'd seen how powerful it was and how it uplifted so many people and I, just, when I got home, I just kept, you know, I was always like, well, maybe next year, maybe next year, maybe next year, maybe next year, and years were going on, and yeah, it was too. It was too the music was just touching something that was so raw, which was all of that grief and all of that suffering. Even songs that are playful you know what I mean Even songs that have a sweetness to them, you know, they still can touch that place. And yeah, I just, I think I just like, in a lot of ways I wasn't, I was not ready.
Speaker 2:Just a few years ago that things kind of came to a head and I, you know, there was a day in particular where I, you know, as you know, we farm over in Blue Lake and so we raise grass-fed beef, but we also raise a lot of apples when we make cider, and anyway, I had been having these issues with this bear that just kept getting in the orchard and we have electric wire but this particular and usually it's like bear gets in. You know, your system's down, you figure it out, you get it patched up and, like you know, we've never had to resort to any kind of lethal measures. But this particular summer this bear was like, it was like a ghost. It just kept showing up and it was just, it was destroying the place and and, um, I would get every. You know, I'd stay up till midnight, get the fence patched, and then I would, and then it would be good for a few weeks or a few days, and then I'd be back and I remember being really angry, you know, or like shouting at God and stuff, like, ah, you know, when you go there and see the bear, yeah, when I'd see that it made it back in, and so, anyway, I actually I had, I had finally I'd gotten ahold of the trapper and and he came over and set this culvert trap for the bear and and I was doing paperwork and I looked over and I could see my wife. She was like pacing. I knew something was wrong. She was like pacing.
Speaker 2:I stopped what I was doing. I go check in with her. I'm like, hey, honey, what's going on? She's like no, I see, you're just finished up with what you got to do. And then I saw someone come and this person that would help us with our child care, and they came in the mornings. But they came and picked our daughter up and were like bye. And all of a sudden, like our daughter's gone and it was. This was the day before my wife and I's ninth year wedding anniversary and we, like, we've been through so much, you know, but you know I finished up with that. Uh, I went and sat down with my wife and we were sitting outside in the, in the, in the yard, and she was just like, hey, I'm done, I want a divorce, I'm well, I'm out. Wow.
Speaker 3:And I was like Whoa.
Speaker 2:You know, I was like I really want to work on this and she was like I don't, whoa. You know, I was like I really want to work on this and she's like I don't, whoa. And she left and that night I kind of went to the dark side. You know, I started thinking really dark thoughts and I was like and it was very ironic in a way, because we had just had Discovery Channel out to our house with their whole film crew, with Magnolia and HBO and all these people with the Craftsman we were a guest on I don't know if you know that show the craftsman with blue ox mills, but they had Eric on the show, yeah, so we were a guest, we were a guest on that show, so we had just.
Speaker 2:So the point is like life's picture perfect on the outside, but on the inside it's fucking falling apart you know, and I've been doing so much work for so much, so many years to put things together and got a lot of external validation. People like like, oh, yeah, it looks like, wow, you came home and you're doing good, you know, and. But there was some. You know, there was some things in that next day when I woke up, it was like wax or something like you know had fallen out of my ears and all of a sudden I could hear all these things that people have been trying to tell me, especially that my wife had been telling me for years Wow, Like she'd been saying you're different since you came home and not since I left. She knew me, she used to come. You know we maintained contact. You know whether it was through writing or phone calls or visitations throughout time. So she's not saying you're different since you left. She goes, you're different since you came home. And I was.
Speaker 2:The truth is, I was on edge. I was more on edge after I came home and so I was just like you know, I thought I was fine. You know I'm like whatever, I'll just grit, I'll just grit and bear it. You know it's like, but yeah, I was quicker to be, I was quicker to frustration. I was quicker to you know, it's like, but um, yeah, I was quicker to be, I was quicker to frustration. I was quicker to you know, anger, and she wasn't liking. She was like, sure she, and she knew me before all this too.
Speaker 2:So she's like this isn't who you are, yeah and regardless, I she's like, I'm not with it, I'm not down you know I'm not hanging out for this.
Speaker 2:Furthermore, and she had been telling she had been years trying to figure out how to get through to me you know about, about changing our relationship dynamic and and, um, yeah, I found her that next day and I'm like, hey, oh, my God, I freaking, I and I like I hear what you've been trying to tell me all this time. She'd been wanting me to go talk to somebody and I'm like, you know, therapy's great for other people, for other people, man, I'm good, I got my men's group, I'm good, I, I, I, I don't need that. And um and uh, and like we'd even done some couples counseling one time and like, man, I feel like it felt like it was like aggravating, it was like I thought we had dealt with this, you know, just anyway. But now I was ready, yes, you were.
Speaker 2:I'm like I had the, the, the fear that I felt when I saw my daughter leave and when I saw my how that that could go, you know it's like was greater than my fear of therapy or my fear of, of, of whatever you know, and I was just ready. So I found, I found her, somehow I was able to found, I found Julia and I and I told her I'm like hey, I've I heard you. I'm like I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm ready to talk to someone and she's like good, you're fucked up. She's like you need to talk to somebody. Good mess, I'm not, I'm not Honesty.
Speaker 2:She's like I am not you know, and um, that was really really hard to hear and it was really scary and really sad. I remember feeling at that time like, oh my God, I was like here's another thing I lost, to this whole war on drugs, to this whole, you know, to the feds and all this stuff Like wow, you know to the feds, and all this stuff like wow, cause I knew it was tied to that whole thing and it was like I had been home for, you know, year at this point, years, and this is what you know was the precipitating. But I, I had been part of this restorative justice court up in Oregon. That's actually that was actually working to help people like who've been incarcerated. And I say actually because most of the things that I saw were not designed to help people. They were designed to punish people and oftentimes they come out worse than they went in and become repeat offenders because it's it's so messed up that it messes people up. So they are going to yeah, so, um, but I, I called this, I called these people at these re-entry court and I'm like I need to talk to somebody. And they started and they found they just found resources for me. You know, they were just like they were. I mean this there there were like they were very helpful during that time.
Speaker 2:You know, and I uh, I just basically, I basically was able to. You know, I got, I got clear with Julia what she needed and we separated for a little while. I'm like I moved out. She was going to move out. I'm like, let me, let me move out. And I did. But I came. I just made sure to keep showing up to see Amelia when I was to see my daughter and chop the wood, carry the water, take out the trash, do the chores, do the chores, be humble, keep your head down. It's a good plan. And it seemed like it was forever. It really was. It really didn't go on that long, I think, but it seemed like forever. But finally, at one point, julia said well, you know, my heart is still like, it's kind of like I'm still not in love with you, but you can sleep on the couch and I'm like.
Speaker 2:I'll take it, you know, Go ahead. Yeah, you can sleep on the couch and I'm like I'll take it, yeah and so. But what happened through this process was that I did start talking to someone and I started working on healing and I figured out I was in a trauma response. I was in a fight or flight response and I mean, I'm not a fighter, so I was just fighting out and I was working a lot of hours and just trying to provide for my family, thinking I was doing a good job providing and I did. I was providing for them materially very well, but emotionally I wasn't available. My wife needed to be able to talk to me about stuff that she didn't know, Like our fathers before us. Such grandfathers.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the workaholic model, yep, yep Doesn't work.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, that's what that's what I, that's what that's what I, that's what I was doing and through this process of of going and and and working on myself, um, I, I, this, this, this therapist I was talking to, after like a year, and we kind of, you know, we started off with incarceration and relationship and I want to talk about childhood. After a year, I felt like it was just like we're just hanging out in the present and I, and I told her one day I, you know, there's something I really messed up about. She's like well, what's that? I told her music. She goes. Well, what do you mess up about? I'm like well, I want to be doing it, but I'm not doing it. And she's like well, why aren't you doing it? And and I said, well, she goes, surely you could find some time. And my wife had hit me with the same thing oh, if you want, surely you could find 10 minutes a week or something. Sure, I'm like no, no, I want to be performing music in, in, in, in, in for the community, and I, I need to. I know I need to be able to like practice, um, to be at a certain level, to be where I could do that Right, and and uh, she goes, she goes.
Speaker 2:It sounds like you're afraid to make it. She sounds like you're afraid to make a mistake. Whoa, and I'm like, yeah, I just told you that. Yeah, like she knows you, I'm like I just told you I could listen, I could play, that I could listen if I wanted to hear myself talk. I would just play, I could just record myself and play it back. But so it's kind of a little it was like ticked off about her response. But I thought about it for a week and I thought about, okay, yeah, okay, so I'm afraid to make a mistake. And then I just got curious. I'm like I wonder what's under that. And then I realized, nice, some part of me did not think I was good enough. Ah, I'm not enough, I'm not good enough. And it wasn't not a conscious thought. No, no, that's counseling right there. It was like it was subconscious. As soon as I could realize it consciously, I'm like Get it out of the tube.
Speaker 2:I'm good enough to do something I love. Like you know what, I might make a mistake on the guitar, I might sing a wrong note. I do those things I might. But I love music and I love to sing and I love to create and I'm going to give it my best. I'm going to do that for me and if other people like it, great, but I'm going to do this. And so I, as soon as that happened, I booked tickets to go see Willie Nelson and I went to go see Willie. On my way back, this was like just this was like only two years ago, just about, maybe a little more than that. But, um, on my way back, I uh, uh, uh, yeah. I remember I remember telling Julia like, oh, I'm going to play music next year, in 2024, you know, and, and, and, uh, not that long ago, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:It was April of like 23.
Speaker 2:I think this was so in the middle of 25 here.
Speaker 1:That's crazy. Yeah, that's really recent.
Speaker 2:I, I, I woke up the next day. I'm like, no, not next year, today. So I started playing music. I just started playing my guitar again. And then I, I made an Instagram account, which was weird. I'm like I don't really do social media, you know, I didn't have, and like, you know, but I did that. And then I made a few posts and then one of my musical heroes who, yeah, somebody I really looked up to, he contacted me. Really. Yeah, he's a legendary blues musician who sometimes comes to Humble. His name's Earl Thomas. In fact, earl Thomas listeners, earl Thomas is going to be. He's going to be playing this Saturday At the Playhouse in Arcata. Yes, he's going to be at the Playhouse this Saturday with the Anthony Collins Band and they are so good Really, oh yeah, anthony and his band are phenomenal.
Speaker 1:Is Earl from.
Speaker 2:Humboldt, he went to school here but Earl, earl, like a lot you know, he, he got when he went to school, he did, he went, he did like their thesis or whatever, or whatever their senior project was. They made a record and they it was a demo and they sent it off and he got signed by Frank Zappa, Go figure. And he went and you know he's toured with Etta James and like he's, he's, he's, he's done some incredible stuff.
Speaker 1:One of the stones of the Beatles. When they visited LA they'd go to see Frank. Frank was a was an obligatory stop.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Cause he was genius. Genius, I guess. Yeah, Wow.
Speaker 2:Well, yeah, that's, that's that. That was, that was an incredible. I had already chosen myself, but that was an incredible way for the universe. All of a sudden, you know.
Speaker 1:And he reaffirmed what you're doing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was like whoa, that's cool, you know, because, yeah, earl was, you know, he was on the other side, you know, right, so it seemed, you know, or so I had maybe previously thought, but yeah, he asked me to do a show with him. I hadn't played in Humble. That was my first time playing in Humble, you know, in a long time, and that was the first time I ever played the song Humble. I played that and a couple others at Humbrews. I opened for him. I came out with my acoustic guitar and the crowd was, it was wild, it was a wild experience and it was.
Speaker 2:I remember I didn't sleep for like two days Humble, humbrews, man, oh, I did two shows with Earl. I did a show in Trinidad or like a private event, and then, and then we did, and then we did, yeah, then we did humbrews and and then, yeah, after that I kind of started to like post. I made a YouTube channel, I started to post. Like, actually, I kind of started to like post. I made a YouTube channel, I started to post. Like, actually, I think the first video I posted on YouTube was is from that show with Earl, and then, and then, you know, so that's, that was, that's moving towards. That was like the. That was like the fall of 2023.
Speaker 1:And then last year, in 2024, in February Saw you at the Cider Place at Wrangletown.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, I played there in December. That was the first time I played with a band and we were just a three-piece. You guys are great. And I think we had played with the bass player four times, candice Ways. She showed up and so it was all just like put together and that was and that was, for that was a community minded thing. You know, my friend Pat was looking at trying to find, you know, find ways to keep her cidery open and I said, let me go, let's, let's, what's your plan? She's like well, to have events. I'm like, well, sign me up for one, I'll come play. That's cool. So that was my.
Speaker 2:I did that after playing with Earl, and then we had a couple of videos from that night and plus some acoustic stuff, and they had been edited months prior. But but, um, yeah, sometime around February of that year, where I live, our home ranch had flooded, oh wow, and we were in the middle of a mile wide river like our like, just like, can't go, can't leave. It was pretty, it was kind of frightening in a way, it was kind of exciting in other ways. The mad river, yeah, the north fork, and the main stem.
Speaker 2:We live between them, right, it flooded pretty good. I remember, yeah, so we were in that flood and and I didn't sleep for like a week after that because there was so much adrenaline from that experience, from being there and also like there was so much damage that had happened, I had to fix fences to try to keep livestock in and stuff. And then I I had around that same time I posted some that music to the on YouTube or whatever, and I but I was not on line, I was, I was, I was offline, I was, I was, yeah, I was like working from sunup to sundown and then some and like trying to just like and like there was been so much change that had happened with this amount of water. And uh, anyway, I went back after that and all of a sudden I started my. All of a sudden I'm getting like messages from all over the world, crazy like a flood of messages, huh, and that was like whoa, that was the universe was answering yeah, I had people, yeah, just you know, starting.
Speaker 2:a lot of people, just you know, were touched by the music. But then I got reached out to by somebody by the name of Dean Miller, who just reached out and was like hey, brad, my name is Dean, I'm a producer out of Nashville. If you ever need a producer, I'd love to work with you.
Speaker 2:You know go to my website if you want to see who I worked with. So I'm like I was just kind of curious. I go to his website and he's got, you know, he's, he's, he's pictures of him and Willie and Dolly and you know, whatever, all these, all these, all these folks and and uh, real deal, what's going on? And before I could even respond to him, I had somebody else call me and ask me if I would headline a festival in Golden Gate Park for 30,000 people Sweet. And I'm like I didn't have a band At that time. I like barely had a band. You know, headline Number one band.
Speaker 1:That's what they asked, crazy.
Speaker 2:They said. They told me, hey, we feel like you know. He said you know, anyway. So I actually went to Nashville, I went in and recorded at this really cool old historic studio I think Johnny Cash might have had something to do with starting it. I mean, there's pictures of Johnny and Willie and Waylon and, you know, chris Stapleton and John Muir and frigging Taylor. It's a tiny little hole in the wall place, but all these people have come there to record. I think, oh, brother, we're out.
Speaker 2:There was, you know, the whole the, the, the soundtrack. Yeah, they recorded that movie. Yeah, there's, all kinds of stuff had happened. So you get, so you get the vibes and yeah that. You know, I got cancelled and I never ended up playing that festival. They cancelled the whole thing. It was in Golden Gate Park and it was one of those things that was kind of the fallout of the collapse of cannabis. I think the funding was cut for this thing, but it didn't matter, it didn't matter. I'm like man, I'm, and so it's been. And then you know, it's been, yeah, it's been, it's been incredible, and so I've just been, yeah, the more that I've been putting in music, the more that people have been responding.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's funny how you let it come to you and you got curious. I love that. I love that. That says a lot about you the man, the myth, the legend. So I want to honor your time and get you going here. So I always do a coffee card here from Dutch Bros and usually I do a whole quiz about your favorite restaurant and everything. I'm probably not going to do that, so you just get a Dutch Bros and thanks Dutch Brothers. Yeah, no, I want to hear more. And so if we want to get a hold of you or your music, um website yeah uh, brettmcfarlandmusiccom.
Speaker 2:Okay uh, youtube brett mcfarland music. Okay, instagram brett mcfarland music. There you go. Uh, yeah, I'm on spotify you got an album out already, right yeah, the humble album is streaming everywhere you can stream, so we can buy it today. Yep, you can, you can, you can buy it, you can stream it. Can you vinyl it? I have vinyls. Yep, no way, yeah, I got vinyls.
Speaker 2:Um yeah, I'm working on getting those up on our online store on the website, but uh, we'll definitely have them at at upcoming shows. We do. We do not have any local shows on the books. However, there have been some whispers that there might be a show at the Eureka Theater, sweet Okay In either December or March. It has not been finalized so that is not for sure, but I think something's going to happen. I think something's going to happen in December.
Speaker 1:And you're playing in Sebastopol or somewhere, right?
Speaker 2:Yeah, we play in Sebastopol in October 12th, sweet and Trinity Center on October 25th and yeah, and right now that's kind of wrapping the year. I mean, we had some tremendous shows this year at the Arcata Theater and Lounge and at the Humboldt County Fair.
Speaker 1:I know the fair was fun man yeah, you guys knocked it out of the park. A lot of theater.
Speaker 2:We had a lot of space to fill up out there, you know.
Speaker 1:It was fun.
Speaker 2:And that's what we did. There's going to be a lot of videos that come from that, you know, in the months to come.
Speaker 1:Yeah, big venue there. Hey, thanks for coming.
Speaker 2:Thank you for having me Appreciate you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I know you've got to be somewhere, so I'm going to rip this and go. Thanks for listening. If you want to comment, like us, make something positive, subscribe. That'd be great. 100% Humboldt and my new best friend, brent McFarland.
