Try That in a Small Town Podcast
In 2023, Jason Aldean's groundbreaking song and video "Try That In A Small Town" resonated with a resurgence of conservative values in America. The writers of the song, Kurt, Neil, Tully, and Kelley, took the opportunity to launch the Try That In A Small Town Podcast. This platform allows them to reveal the true inspiration behind the song and discuss the importance of common-sense values. With a lineup of influential guests, the hosts will entertain you with the stories behind their music, while also addressing challenging topics affecting our communities and country.
Try That in a Small Town Podcast
Cledus T Judd - Addictions & Redemption, and a Country Music Journey :: Ep 53 Try That in a Small Town Podcast
From competing in the World Championships of Hairdressing to contemplating suicide on a bridge in Florida, Cledus T Judd's journey to Nashville stardom defies all expectations. In this deeply vulnerable conversation, the country music parody artist takes us behind the laughter to reveal the demons he battled along the way.
Standing in his mother's double-wide trailer, watching Vince Gill win at the CMAs, Cledus made an impossible promise that would change his life forever. With nothing but determination, he slept in walk-in closets, under parking lot lights, and drove through ice storms with frostbitten fingers – all while pursuing his unlikely dream. The turning point came when he heard Tim McGraw's "Indian Outlaw" on the radio and spontaneously created the parody that would launch his career.
What makes this episode extraordinary isn't just Cledus's comedic talents, but the surprising kindness he encountered from Nashville's biggest stars. Vince Gill fulfilling a promise to meet his mother. Toby Keith offering a private plane during family emergencies and championing him to arena crowds when he couldn't be there. These aren't just celebrity encounters – they're profound moments of humanity in an often cutthroat business.
Most powerful is Cledus's raw account of addiction and redemption. Standing in a hospital bathroom the day his daughter was born, cocaine in hand, he made a choice that would save his life. The quarter he dropped that day still sits in his wallet – a reminder of the moment everything changed. From reconciliation with his estranged father to heart-wrenching final conversations with his mother, Cledus reveals how the deepest pain can become purpose when channeled into helping others find recovery.
This conversation will make you laugh, cry, and reconsider what you think you know about the people behind the music. Listen now and discover why humor might be the most powerful survival tool of all.
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The biggest show I ever performed in front of my entire career was. I ended up being good enough to compete in the World Championships of Hairdressing in Dusseldorf, west Germany, and Whitney Houston was down on one end singing One Moment in Time and there was like 100,000 people in this big house cutting hair. I just went into a realm sleep. You know, just dozed off on that, ambien. You know, eyes out sleep, you know, just dozed off on that, ambien you know eyes out and all of a sudden whoop whoop intruder.
Speaker 1:Brenda, seven, whoop, whoop, door eight, looking in a mirror, as ugly, morbid as I'd ever looked in my life, and I thought you, son of a bitch, all you've ever wanted was a kid, all you wanted to be was a daddy, because you didn't have one, and you're going to come in here in this bathroom and do what you're fixing to do. You don't deserve that kid.
Speaker 3:The Try that in a Small Town podcast begins now all right, welcome back to the try that in a small town podcast here at the patriot mobile studios. Okay, low thrash. We got tk. Tonight's gonna be fun y y'all. We got a country music legend in his own right.
Speaker 4:Oh, come on, dude. Who do I owe money to?
Speaker 3:Listen. Two million records all along the way making fun of some of our best artists like Tim McGraw, shania Twain, toby Keith. We got. Cletus. T what's?
Speaker 4:up.
Speaker 1:I fixed a lot of those people off along the way.
Speaker 3:Welcome to the way I promise you.
Speaker 7:Welcome to the club.
Speaker 1:Man. You know, I only had one person in my entire career when I was doing those at the high level. You know, and you'll never guess who the one guy out of all the people that we know came up to me and said hey, I got a problem with this.
Speaker 3:This is great. Get right to it, garth Brooks.
Speaker 1:Of course.
Speaker 3:I was at.
Speaker 1:Hermitage, golf course, and I just uh some kind of tournament out there and I walked into the parking lot and he's like, hey, are you Cletus? And I said yeah and he said, well, I'm not a fan and I said, well, get in line, you know, and he laughed a little bit or whatever, and he said look, I know you got this song.
Speaker 1:They had did him. And Trish did a song called in another's eyes remember that one? And I did you need another size. And gar said man, that thing's up for a grammy, we don't want anything to compete. Going up, and when he said compete my chest bowed out, you know, and he said so.
Speaker 1:We'd appreciate if you just you know, hold off till after the awards. I said are you kidding me? You've sold more. Till after the awards. I said are you kidding me? You've sold more records than the Beatles and you're worrying about some lowly comedian keeping you from winning a Grammy? Sony didn't give me near enough advance money if I got that kind of time. And I did the song anyway, and he won the Grammy, so it all worked out.
Speaker 3:It all worked out. How did that relationship end?
Speaker 1:It's really good, know, really been. Uh, you know, paul mccartney told me to never name drop, but I'm gonna, I'm gonna do it here. He's been really good to me any any time. I interviewed him a couple years ago. When he got on the phone I said man, look, I'm trying to buy a truck down here and and in ashland city. Could you co-sign? I mean mean.
Speaker 3:I just need a little help Out of the blue you said oh yeah, I just asked him.
Speaker 1:He said where are you on my HR? I'll help you out. I was just kidding, but he was going to do it. I think he was going to do it anyway. He's got plenty of money.
Speaker 3:You've heard a lot of stuff like that as well. Yeah, you know, we got. We got a great car store. We'll have to tell on a different episode.
Speaker 1:Oh thank you for having me dude. I appreciate it very much. Thank you.
Speaker 6:We're pumped to have you and I was kind of curious like um, like when you moved to town, so did you come to?
Speaker 1:be a parody artist, Did man my journey here, and I'll just go ahead and preface this up front. It's very rarely that I can ever get through any podcast that we talk about that at some point I'll cry like Chris Cagle, so I'm just going to let you know, man my journey wasn't easy. Nobody's is.
Speaker 1:You know, when you come up here it's tough. I didn't have no TV show. I had been involved for years. You know I was a full-blown drug addict. You know I played college basketball for a while. You know went into the hairdressing business. I still got my barber license. The biggest show I ever performed in front of my entire career was I ended up being good enough to compete in the world championships of hairdressing in Dusseldorf, west Germany, and Whitney Houston was down on one end singing one moment in time and there was like a hundred thousand people in this big house cutting hair and man.
Speaker 1:It's just a surreal moment. That was in 1987, when that was, and right after that man, I found something that I, you know, I wished I'd have never found in that world and became a full blown drug addict and ended up losing everything I had. I'd had cars and money at the time and what I thought was money you know nothing compared to, by the grace of God, what came later on. But I think he kind of prepared me for that at that moment, you know, because it got really bad to the point where I was living I'd lost everything I had. I was living in Ponte Vedra Beach, florida. I didn't even play golf at the time down there at Sawgrass.
Speaker 8:You did not play Sawgrass.
Speaker 1:No, I did not, I didn't have enough money to buy a golf ball and I was living with this dude. He would book me classes and I would go out into the field and do haircutting seminars. And I'll never forget it, man, I called him the refrigerator Nazi because every day he would come home. He's like looks like you ate one of my chicken pot pies.
Speaker 4:I'm like damn dude, I'm starving today. I ain't got no money. I broke no dun me for the pot pie. Okay, and man, I'd had enough.
Speaker 1:You know, life had about got me. I was embarrassed, I, I, I wanted to be somebody. And how old were you at?
Speaker 3:this time I was there.
Speaker 1:Well, it was in, that was in 1990, so I would have been. I was born in 64, neil, wasn't that?
Speaker 8:okay, who's good at math like that?
Speaker 1:you're a tick older than me, go ahead and I found myself, uh, and you might have saw this on TL's podcast, but I found myself on a bridge in Ponte Vedra Beach, florida, for about six hours one afternoon on a Friday, you know, contemplating, and I always say, if you want to do it, you will. It was more of a cry for help on my end, you know, and I never forget. While I was on that bridge, man, I kept thinking you know, this is the weird side of me. I'm thinking, if I do this, I'm going to back traffic up and if I go here, I'm going to. It's just all the every reason in the world to not do it. You know, and by the grace of God I didn't. And a friend of mine, um, they got me down off there and a friend of mine flew me home. I left my car down there. It wouldn't run. It was a Honda Prelude and, believe it or not, man, that's when my journey started to get here and I was sitting in a double-wide trailer, my mom's house, 477 Crow Springs Road, and I was sitting in shag carpet, that was. You could make snow angels in it. It was so thick, you know.
Speaker 1:And the CMA awards came on and Vince had won a um, uh, song of the year for when I call your name. And I turned around and I knew nothing, knew nothing about that world, our world we live in now, or whatever. And I turned around, my mother was crying and I said mom man, why are you crying? And she said I don't know. Son, I would just give anything in the world to meet, meet that man. I think he's the most beautiful human being I've ever seen. And I said you want to meet Vince Gill? And she said oh boy would I. And I said I can make that happen. And she said, son, you've done a lot, but you can't. You don't know, you can't sing silent night, you know. So you probably ain't going to be able to make that happen. I said, let me figure it out.
Speaker 1:And a few weeks later I went down to the Buck Board Country Music Showcase and I did an amateur night. And the same guy the same night I did it. Another Hall of Fame member, opera member, was on there, mark Wills was on the same. I beat Mark that night and I say he he's a member of the grand old Opry and I'm a member of Sam's club, you know. Uh, but that started my journey and uh, for the next four or five months, man, I went down there and did amateur nights, wrote horrible rap songs they were. I didn't know what I was doing.
Speaker 1:And my mother gave me $600 and a T Graham Brown and Bruce Burch, if y'all remember Bruce. Bruce had watched me a few times. He said, man, you got to come to Nashville. You got to come to Nashville. And so mom gave me, bought me an old pickup truck, a Toyota love truck, and I took off to right here where we sit and you know it had the speakers in the doors with a sheet metal. There was no speakers, no air, no heat, no anything.
Speaker 1:And for three years, man, I drove that truck and I'd get on a Greyhound bus and my mom would pick me up in Chattanooga and I said I don't want nobody to see me, I want to go home and see my buddies until I make it. I don't want nobody to see me. And I'd go home, sit in a double-wide trailer with my mom and I'd go back and finally I'd sleep in a walk-in closet. If y'all remember Vern, dan, I don't know if y'all remember Vern, vern has it and some other things with Bruce and Vern had a walk-in closet and he said, man, you got no bedroom but you're welcome to a closet. And I put me a big Budweiser headboard in that closet, a blow-up mattress, and I stayed in there. When I didn't stay there, if you remember, where Ruby Tuesday's was out on Donaldson Pike, by the airport, they had these big old lights in that plaza and they were massive. I'll never forget them, man, as long as I live. And I would take that truck and I'd park on those lights because I wasn't afraid, you know, the light was shine, I was. I felt safe there, you know, and I'd cover up under my my clothes that I had, and I'd go to YMCA the next morning I'd take a shower and then I'd go to music row and I'd beat it up, try to meet somebody and, uh, do the best I could well.
Speaker 1:Finally, if y'all remember, in 1994, the ice storm came through. It was a really bad ice storm and I was living with the late Darren Norwood, if y'all remember Darren, great singer, and he helped me get to Nashville as well, and I was driving home in that old truck and I didn't have no defrost in it. I was coming down 440, going to White Ridge Road, and I'll never forget, dude, as long as I live I had a CD jewel case and I was scraping the windshield going down the highway and I'll never forget looking through that windshield and it was a Mark Chestnut CD and the single was too cold at home it's a hell of a lot colder than this truck is at home, I tell you, mark. And when I got to Darren's house a few days later, I got frostbite on these three fingers and I went to a med I didn't have insurance, of course, and I went to a med first or whatever, and the doctor said man, I lost these three fingernails. The doctor says there's a chance you may lose a couple of fingers. It was bad Frostbite was really bad.
Speaker 1:And so I had it all wrapped up and on a sunday night, man, I called mom collect if you remember collect calls and I said, mom, I can't do it. I said you gotta come get me and she said are you sure? I said ain't never been more sure in my life. I said I'm hungry, my clothes are filthy. Uh, I ain't got no transportation. I tried it's time to come and get me. And my mother said are you sure? Twice, I'll never forget it, and she'd only said it once I wouldn't be sitting here, but she said it twice.
Speaker 1:And in that meantime in my right ear I heard on a little transistor radio sitting on a desk I heard Tim McGraw doing Indian Outlaw. Transistor radio. Sitting on a desk, I heard Tim McGraw doing an Indian outlaw. And by the grace of God, the first notes out of my mouth were there. My Indian in-laws came to visit me and my squaw been here for a month. Y'all about to lose my mind and I went damn, that's pretty good. I said, mom, I got to call you back and she said Am I coming to get you? And I said I'll let you know in a month. And I hung up and T Graham and Larry locked me and me and Jody Jackson and Bruce finished writing Indian Outlaw, indian In-Laws. And I sit at Bruce's house with dual cassettes.
Speaker 1:Remember that you had a master on one and then the other for days making Indian in-law cassettes and I'd put them in an envelope and I'd mail them out to all these radio stations and 195 or six of them started playing it. And the next thing, you know, man, my career took off. I did If Shani Was Mine, and this is leading up to my mom. But when I did If Shani Was Mine, I'd already lost, sent one video to them at CMT, said this is awful, don't send back, we're not interested.
Speaker 4:We had one of those. And me and my buddy.
Speaker 1:Chris Clark wrote. If Shani Was Mine, we recorded it. I did a video for it. David Ball was in the video with me. That's back when David was hot on a firecracker and we sent it to cmt.
Speaker 1:And I don't know if y'all remember tracy rogers she was head of programming there and on a friday they used to sit and take, you know, in a big room like this and they would watch all the videos and go, okay, that's uh, he's not in. You know, we're gonna add jason or whatever next thing you know. And so they got to mine. Everybody said, said, oh hell, no, that ain't happening, done out of here. So my manager called me. I was living on Edmondson Pike, I was laying sideways on the couch, nothing like this. And he called and he said it ain't happening. They said no, and I never got rolled off the couch and just started bawling because I knew it was over at that point. The record company won't give me no more money. I didn't have no more other options.
Speaker 1:And you, talking about defining moments in a man's career, tracy Rogers took that damn VHS tape and took it back in her office that afternoon, on a Friday afternoon when everybody's ready to go home, and she put that thing in a cassette in the Vhs and watched it again, called a meeting of the higher-ups at cmt back in that office, like this right here, and said I've never done this, but I'm gonna overrule the committee, I'm gonna play this kid. I think he's got, I think there's something there and she put that thing in jamming country the next weekend. It was the longest running video that cmt had ever put out at that point and in my my life changed uh, because then I followed up with butt bigger than the beatles and, uh, cleatus went down to florida I started selling records and man, you know I mean I, you know it was unbelievable.
Speaker 1:So fast forward to the hermitage golf course. I know we've all played. I came in on a off the road, I was doing shows and things were good and I got a phone call from a lady at the ACMs that said we need one more celebrity to play in the golf tournament at Hermitage. Will you do it? And I said no, I done. Got cocky by this point.
Speaker 4:I had a little money, I thought I was going to go my way around and say no to a golf tournament.
Speaker 1:And she said if you'll come and do the golf tournament, fill out the last four, some, or five, some, we'll give you a spot at the ACMs. We'll let you present at the ACMs. I said, done, all right, I'll do it. So I go out to the Hermitage on Monday and I'm looking, I put my bag down. You know how, neil, they got all them boards hole one, two, one, two, three, four, yeah, I go all the way down to 16a, never forget it, 16a. And it had so and so, so, and so cletus t, judd, vince, gill, and I went oh my god, now's my chance. And one guy that was in the group said well, I'm riding with vince. I said, okay, yeah, go ahead, I'll beat you with this four iron, I'm going to shoot you to death with clothes being filthy.
Speaker 1:I'm riding with Vince Gill. I got in the car with Vince and I spent the whole day with him and I told him about my mom's, the whole thing, and I said, man, would you do a video with me? And he said, buddy, consider it done. And so about five years after I walked out of that double wide trailer, I, in an old, beat up Toyota pickup truck, I sent a limo to home to Georgia to pick my mother up and brought her and her rep, my relatives Myrna Wyatt and Bobby Terry Not Bobby Terry, but Bobby, I think her last name was Terry and I brought them all up to the to a video shoot.
Speaker 1:And the whole crew knew what was happening, they knew the story. And there was a knock on the door and the whole crew stopped and john lloyd miller, who was my video director, he said moselle, why don't you grab that door? And she said wine. He said, just grab it. And, man, I hope alzheimer's never gets me because I remember watching my mama's footsteps she had on house shoes walking across that floor, man, and with every step she took I thought, man, I've done it.
Speaker 4:You know I literally am fixing to change my mother's life in about 15 more steps.
Speaker 1:I come up here and beat the piss out of this place for this one moment in time, isn't that good.
Speaker 4:And for a moment man, my world stood still.
Speaker 1:It was a surreal moment. And my mother opened up that door and there stood Vince. I said I told you I could do it. And she jumped up in Vince's arms. She tried to stick her tongue down his mouth.
Speaker 4:He turned his head and you know it's like that was just a moment of.
Speaker 1:you know, I can't believe I pulled this off you know I mean and it was by far out of everything I've ever done in my entire life. You know it was by far the biggest monumental moment. You know there's always defining moments in people's lives as artists, but that was and Vince is still a very close friend of mine to this day Wow, good night.
Speaker 6:Was that a good lead-off question, jeez?
Speaker 8:I got to tell you this I had something really really strange happen.
Speaker 7:Say next and I'm a firm believer that nothing happens by accident Can you rewind a few minutes? And you're talking about scraping your windshield with the mark chestnut cd. That's one of my favorite records, country records. I love that album. I had no idea about that story, by the way, no idea, thanks. So weird. This morning, the earliest morning alarm goes off eyes open. This is really weird. I woke up singing that song to call the home my head, this one. Oh my god, I'm not kidding you, wow, and I haven't now. I haven't thought about that song in years. Really, I mean really strange.
Speaker 4:It's it's like no, I mean, I get it.
Speaker 7:No, it's like the odds of that though.
Speaker 1:It's embedded in my, you know we were talking.
Speaker 8:Why didn't you scrape your windshield with a Garth Brooks record?
Speaker 1:I scraped something else.
Speaker 4:You know man it's.
Speaker 1:I don't know. I don't know how that happened, you know, but I just know that I was on a mission and that's what drove me was to do that, because it's hard up here. Man, Y'all know what you did, Is that?
Speaker 7:emotion that you just had and moved the song. I mean that was amazing. That's what's missing in today's Nashville to me. I miss it.
Speaker 2:That's what's missing in today's Nashville to me. I miss it. I do miss it.
Speaker 7:The stories, the sacrifice, the true appreciation for it. That was great. That was a great moment. Thank you.
Speaker 1:There's so many of those that I've made it a point later on in life and then y'all can ask me whatever, but there's stories that need to be told that will never get told unless I tell them, because I was there, just like you were there, and you were there with Brad and Jason and everybody. Man, there's people in this town that have done so much for somebody with so little talent that didn't have the looks. If you, if Neil Thrasher pulled out a million dollars out of his account and said sing a harmony part right now and I'll give you this me can't do it because I can't hear it. You know I can. I can't sing in key but I can sing in key. Funny, if I character it, I can. I can get closer anyway, not good. But you know from the friends, there's times when I get alone and Neil and I were talking. When it gets quiet is when I have to be real careful. People say you shouldn't live in the past. But I do, because it was a great time in my past in this world, because it was hard, it was rewarding and people helped me. This world, because it was hard, it was rewarding and people helped me. You know, uh, billy ray cyrus. You know I can't, I can't describe. You know, my dad.
Speaker 1:I was on number two at her at uh, um, old hickory, um, not old hickory, but the golf goal, nash, uh, nashboro village, nashboro. Yeah, I was on that par three and and the ranger came down there and said man cle Cleet, I got to get you in the car cart. I said why? And he said got to get you in the cart. And I said man, my mom all right? And he said mom's, fine. I said my dad all right. And he said I got to get you in the cart. And I knew then and I lost it. I laid on the number two, green Ashboro Village, just kicking, screaming, crying, and they got me to the clubhouse and the first person I called was Billy Ray Cyrus. I don't know why. You know you become a friend. And I called Billy and you know what he said. I said Billy, man, my dad's died. I'm over here at a damn golf course. I can't get home, my mom's home by herself. I don't know what to do. I was hysterical. And Billy Ray, just as calm, said I can't get you no airplane ticket, buddy, but I can get you a damn airplane, I can get you home real quick. And I thought, man, here's a guy he couldn't get me a $125 airplane ticket. He'd get me a jet and never flinched. I didn't take him up on it, but just for somebody to think, enough of you that quick, you know, to just say I can't get the plane ticket but I'll hook you up with an airplane real quick. And he did the same thing for me in Tampa, florida.
Speaker 1:When I moved to Tampa in 2005, I could feel the demise of my career kind of happening. I went to Tampa and I was knocking down some money, but I was away from my kid. She lived in West Virginia and it was brutal man. I used to call the ceiling a big-screen TV because I'd lay there at night and watch life leave. I'd sit there and go. God look, I got a couple hundred grand in the bank. I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll take it to the YMCA and I'll give it to the homeless shelter, if you can make sure that I don't miss that daddy-daughter dance coming up this weekend.
Speaker 1:And I learned in Tampa that once a memory is gone, you can't buy it back, no matter how much money you have. You know it was unattainable at that point and I was down there and I interviewed Billy Ray down there and after the interview this was in 2006, I think Billy had his hand in his pocket and the interview was over and we were standing up in the control room and I kept hearing him fiddle with keys and stuff. You know he was asking about Caitlin, you know, and he's like well, where do you stay with her when you go home to Flatwood, you know, because that's where he's from, flatwood, that's where I was living, you know, or where Caitlin was living. And I kept saying, yeah, you know, hotels, I go get her and drive back home, take her to my mom's, and whole time he's in his pockets.
Speaker 1:I'm thinking damn what the hell is going on, it was loud, and then he.
Speaker 4:Then he's still talking to me.
Speaker 1:He pulls out this big like a old service stain service station key chain with like 50 keys and a rabbit's foot and he's taking. I'm looking at it, I don't know what's going on. He's asking me all these questions and he takes that key and he's got one key in his hand. He puts it back in his pocket and he says don't ever keep that key in the motel room. Again, I got too many houses and he had that schoolhouse out there and he said that's the key to the schoolhouse, call Mickey. Mickey will give you the code. You don't ever sleep in the motel room with that daughter. Again, you understand me. I mean who does that? You know who does that to offer something like that up to just some old guy like me trying to give me a place to keep my daughter.
Speaker 6:You know out of a. Yeah, I'll tell you what one thing in that story which is great my thought went to when he couldn't get you a plane ticket. But he gets you a plane, his assistant must have absolutely sucked. I mean, who couldn't?
Speaker 4:get a plane ticket. He don't even know how to set up a voice. Man, he's got a plane, he's got employees, he has employees.
Speaker 6:He has to Now that was all.
Speaker 7:Billy Ray just saying I'm going to get you there quick yeah.
Speaker 1:And he just says I can get you a plane.
Speaker 7:And these are great. Stories like this is what I love most about this town and the stories that not everyone gets to hear. Everybody makes opinions of people you know they don't. They don't know anybody. But these, these stories, and these are real, natural stories, the way that it was it happened.
Speaker 1:You know it did happen. Toby was, uh, you know god, god rest his soul. You know, man, I, I met toby and um, I did, how do you milk a cow? I wrote when he did how you like me now? And I did that, took it over to tk's office and tk said there's a good chance he's gonna sue you. And I said well, I got a cutlass with a t-top missing. He's welcome to have it before you finish.
Speaker 3:Did you have to get permission in those days to parody a song? Oh, okay, so it was ask for goodness.
Speaker 1:Like you know, the way it works is if I do a Kelly song or Neil somebody's song, if I sold a million copies, they got all the money. I got nothing, the writers and that was fine, you know, because it helped me to do live dates.
Speaker 1:The only person believe it or not, not throwing anybody under the bus. The only person ever came to me. I said I'll give you some publishing on. That song was funny, funnier than hell, and you'll never ain't. No way you could ever guess who it was. The legend, the legend, tom t hall. I did uh, itty bitty, you know, and I did mindy mccready uh, god rest her soul. And tom t said man, that's the funniest shit I've ever heard.
Speaker 3:You can hell, I'll give you the publishing on all of it. You know, just do it and uh, sorry for interrupting. I'm sorry about toby. No, I mean I.
Speaker 1:I that was a cool thing. But you know, on the toby thing, and toby and I did a cmt thing together. I'd never met him before, you know. And uh, the next thing, you know, we, we came a little bit of friends and then, and that's when the brooks and dunn, the first year of the neon circus 2001. It was, and I'll tell you how I got on that tour. I was afraid to fly. I didn't fly on airplanes. I was in a real bad air flying incident Broke my nose, ribs and stuff when I was out with Kenny Chesney and flying into Orlando, and so I was really afraid to fly. I was on an Amtrak train going to California.
Speaker 3:Listen to me. Is that how you went gig to gig?
Speaker 1:I left out of Memphis. I looked like Catherine Hepburn when I got there. Yeah, just shaking and bobbing, and you should have saw me, I had no computers, that was in 2001. I had no computer. You should have saw me writing a letter to Ronnie Duggan.
Speaker 7:It was like when you do a lie detector test.
Speaker 1:And I wrote this note to Ronnie and Kix and I said you don't know me, probably, but I got a song out and I'm selling some records and, man, if you'll put me out on that Brooks and Dunn tour, I'll host that thing for you and I'll emcee it and you don't have to pay me nothing, I'll go for free, you don't have to pay me nothing. I faxed it from New Mexico, albuquerque, new Mexico, when we stopped. I faxed it from New Mexico, albuquerque, new Mexico. When we stopped. I faxed it to Clarence. Oh yeah, and I sent it to Clarence. And when I got to LA, san Francisco, I forgot where we were going. The people downstairs said we have a fax here waiting on you if you'd like to come down and get it. I never put the two together. I went down, got the fax, took it to my room, opened the envelope. It's from Ronnie Dunn. Ronnie said my friend, if you think enough about what we're doing on this tour to work for free, then I think enough of you to pay you. Oh wow.
Speaker 7:And I tell you what that's amazing. And also like Clarence Spaulding.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Clarence and Ronnie's my best friends and one of my mentors.
Speaker 7:I love Clarence and Ronnie and one of my mentors.
Speaker 1:You know I love a good man and then and ronnie, and they're all that's such a good. I don't know what happened to that letter because you know I didn't I didn't keep it or whatever, didn't think nothing about it. But I, what inspired what transpired? That that summer was the best four months of my life ever. And I've done, I've been suicidal, I've been an alcoholic, I've been a drug addict, I've been a star at some point for whatever word that it encapsulates or whatever, but what transpired that summer was something that I can't remember a lot of. But the best part of that is I became and Goose will tell you back there me and Toby Keith was inseparable for a long time. I don't know why I fell in love with him. I think he fell in love with my humor because I made him laugh. And I'm going to give you two things that that man did for me. He was good to my mother. He like he would call my mom and talk to her and we, we spent a lot. He bought a Versace, him and Tricia bought a Versace rocking chair for my daughter when she was born, which probably cost more than what it was to deliver her. You know it was a very expensive rocking chair and when we were out on that tour my mother had a heart attack.
Speaker 1:When we were in Bakersfield, california, I was as far away from Georgia as you can get, you know, and Toby knew I didn't fly and so I was bawling my eyes out in my bunk and no eagle I had out there, you know and Toby came, came onto the bus and pretty much got in in the bunk with me and he said look here, hoss, and you can hear him say it. I got this envelope here. He said I know you don't like to fly, but he said what I've done is I've bought you plane vouchers all the way back home. If your mom gets sick in Albuquerque, you can fly out of Albuquerque. If she gets sick in Phoenix, you can fly out of Phoenix. If you make it to Dallasallas, you get in dallas, go to love field. If you go to little rock, you can go fly on. He had this whole thing, him and david mile. Y'all know david mapped out the whole way and man, I just bawled my eyes out.
Speaker 1:Well, here I, I got on that bus at old eagle and we drove all the way across the country. Three and a half days three days, I think you know, to get home and the Sunday I missed the last weekend of the tour. Now you gotta understand. I had the best four months of my life. And here I am in Georgia on the last night of the tour, when O'Connell and everybody's out, you know, and doing doing their thing. I was so hurt, I was sad man and I went and got everybody's CD that was on that tour and Alan Jackson had sold me a yellow Corvette while I was out on that tour and he said I'm going to sell it to you at a good price, just don't sell it, keep it, because someday, you know, just keep it. I did the pop-a-top video with him, video with him. So I bought it. I said will you sign the visor? And he said, by God he signed Allen's.
Speaker 4:I sold that son of a gun. In three weeks he made a fortune. I ain't going to. Time is tough. I'm going to save all my money, like I should. That's amazing.
Speaker 1:I was in the Corvette that Allen gave me or I bought from Allen and I rode around that whole Sunday and I put in the Corvette that Allen gave me or I bought from Allen and I rode around that whole Sunday and I put in Eddie and Troy, I listened to Montgomery Gentry, I take it out, put in Keith Urban listened to it, put in Kix, ronnie listened to it, everybody Toby listened to it. Well, about 6.30 that evening my phone rings and it was Joey Floyd. Y'all remember Joey. Joey was Toby's acoustic player, right-hand man, and I thought man, why is Joey calling me? He should be on stage right now. I answered the phone, it was just loud and I said hello and Joey said shut up and hang on. I thought what the hell?
Speaker 1:And the next thing I heard in the background the late Toby Keith on that microphone saying it was in virginia beach, or or I think it was virginia beach and he said hey, everybody, about about 15 000 there. Probably we're missing a member of the show tonight. I'll try to get through this best I can. He said cleatus t judd hosted this entire tour and he was not able to be here tonight. His mom's sick and he's in Georgia and I was just wondering if all 15,000 of y'all could give me a little Cletus chant just for a minute. And man, what I heard on that phone was Cletus, cletus, cletus, from 15,000 people and Joey handed Toby the phone. Toby said love you, pal, see you later.
Speaker 1:And man, you know who does that for somebody. You know it takes that time. You know, in front of Toby was making 50 grand a night on that tour at that time. I know exactly what he was making. But Toby was a bigger-than-life figure, you know, and he did that for me. He knew and we remained super close for a lot of years. Now, towards the end, you know, we didn't spend as much time out of sight, out of mind. The story with the one you heard on TL's podcast, me and Toby and Scotty Emmerich was out one night in TK. This was in 2003 or 2004,. I think we was eating steaks downtown. What's that, morton? Toby was paying because hell, I couldn't pay them yet too much. Scotty was there. He's so tired he squeaks.
Speaker 1:He sure wasn't going to pay. So we were all sitting there. Some dude come over to the table and was like let me have your autograph. Talking to Toby, toby said I'd be glad to sign your autograph after we get done eating. He said, thank you too good. Toby said nope, just letting you know I'll sign it after we eat. The guys know where to be found, you know, and me and Toby and Scotty go somewhere else. Tk goes home. We're at another bar downtown drinking a little more hammered at that time. Here comes that guy again. He goes up to Toby. He says something to Toby I don't know what it was, but Toby said no and the guy left. So about 1 o'clock in the morning, brenner's Alley when does that place flat started? Oh yeah.
Speaker 4:Fiddling Steel Fiddling.
Speaker 1:Steel. Well, nobody left but me and Toby, the last two men standing, and we were sitting at a round table and there was about eight people in there. Tk says Eric Church was in there, but I don't remember. He just gets started if that's the case. But me and Toby was at a table away from the bar, I was in a chair and he was in the other chair. We were just talking, just friends, you know, just hammered in the time of our life, here that guy comes. I thought this ain't going to be good.
Speaker 8:We all hammered. He's hammered, it ain't going to be good.
Speaker 1:This guy wasn't five foot nothing. He comes up to the table and says, uh, how much you and your buddy there talking about me, how much y'all pay to get y'all's hair bleached out. Look like a couple of wrestlers on the on the nwa. Oh no, I thought it was funny. Toby didn't. And toby got up and he got that guy in the offless position I've ever seen, like when you carry a 12 pack of beer out of convenience store. You got he had him by that guy's belt loop and that guy was just kicking, you know, and Toby was walking him out and Toby dropped him and I thought, okay, I got two choices. I can sit here and watch Toby just brawl this guy because he's got it under control, or I can go over there and get me one good lick in, just so toby knows that I got his back because he can't get to me, so I ran over there, dude and I drawed back and I come up under and I mean I hit.
Speaker 1:You could have heard the loudest splatter.
Speaker 4:My hand exploded blood whenever toby's like don't kill him, they'll put us in prison, don't put us to put us in for homicide. And I said, I got him, toby, I got him and Toby walked him out of there and he comes back.
Speaker 1:I'm at the table, the waitress over there, wrapping my hand up blood all over my clothes, and Toby said what'd you do that for fool? I said I wanted you to know that, for all you've done for me, that tonight I had your back.
Speaker 4:And he said, man that means a lot and I never had the chance to tell him that I hit the damn concrete floor. I never let a hand on that dude.
Speaker 1:I mean I was buried in the floor.
Speaker 4:And I never for 20 years. Hey, it was a thought that counts. Yeah, I just let it ride.
Speaker 1:That's amazing.
Speaker 3:God before we go to break, because we're going to do that just a little bit and then come back.
Speaker 4:I'm sorry if I talk too much. No, you're good.
Speaker 6:But the Toby.
Speaker 3:Keith thing is great and we've had the ultimate pleasure of knowing Toby a little. And then we had the wonderful honor of seeing him not too long before he passed. He came out to a show and we spent the night with him. It was unbelievable. But the uh, the remake and the rewrite you did in honor of him. You want to talk about that, because that was, that was fantastic. Don't let the old man man.
Speaker 1:You know, uh, I was in a hotel room in elizabethtown, kentucky. I was coming to town to to write, to record, do a demo or something. I don't know what. It was, some, some little silly song, and it was the day after Toby had passed away and it really, really felt like all of us, you know. I mean it bothered me a lot, I mean it was just horrible and I thought you know what, I'm going to do something for Toby, I'm going to rewrite. You know, most of my parodies have always been funny, but I'm going to sit here, I I'm gonna call a buddy of mine up and I'm gonna, I'm gonna write it over the phone with. I think I called, uh, I forgot his shea smith, some friends of mine, you know and uh, neil wouldn't answer and and you know what, and all of a sudden I thought, no, no, I'll write it by myself, because Toby would.
Speaker 1:Toby wrote his by his self. I got, I got a man up see if I can do it. So I wrote it that night and, um, rewrote it, wrote it, rewrote it. You know how the how it goes and it may not sound like it, but, uh, I went in the next day and um, and and cut it over at, uh, larry Baird's place, you know, and it was probably the most, one of the biggest videos that I'd ever done, you know, and, like I say, I'm not a good singer or anything, but I felt just some kind of tribute, you know, to somebody that again, man, when it gets quiet on me, all of these things, you know, come back and I think, how, how well, that was beautiful, my brother, seriously that was, that was an incredible song.
Speaker 3:And I appreciate that. Um, this is a great conversation. We're here with Cletus T Judd. Uh, hold on, we gotta, we gotta get a little couple of words from our sponsor. We gotta pay those bills, man, oh yeah.
Speaker 1:Where do I pick my check up? There you go. We'll let you know in the break. I just want a round of golf.
Speaker 6:It's coming, it's coming.
Speaker 7:We said yeah, clarence has it.
Speaker 3:That's easy. That's the easy part. Anyway, stay with us, we'll be right back.
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Speaker 3:Join our original glory family and help ignite that original glory spirit. All right, welcome back to the. Try that in a Small Town podcast. We're here in the Patriot Mobile Studios Kalo, thrash TK and, of course, cletus T Jed. We had to wipe our eyes.
Speaker 1:We're all good. We refreshed our makeup. You should be in this brain all the time. Chase Brooks told me I could be up for duo and group of the year.
Speaker 4:I had so many personalities. I'll tell you how bad it got. Listen to this.
Speaker 1:This is going to kill you. Right here Some people know this story there's a dude sitting behind me back here. He's been one of my best friends for 25 years. He works for Morgan Wallen. Now We've been running together for a long time.
Speaker 1:Right in the middle of my heyday when I was knocking it down long time, and right in the middle of my heyday when I was knocking it down, I went and bought a big, massive a-frame house out in Temple Hills right around Susie Boggess she was my neighbor big and I went in and redone it. You know I've been known to. I mean, I remodeled them things. I turned them into the most unbelievable pimp pads you've ever seen.
Speaker 1:But there was a problem with that. My mentality would not allow me for years I'm not talking about just at this point For years to sleep in a house or be anywhere by myself. I've told you all along. You know, when it's quiet it's really loud for me, much louder back then. I've found ways to quiet some of that. But when I lived in Tampa I lived in an apartment, a post apartment, which is very exclusive and gated, and I literally would put a pot underneath the door knob and would put a spoon on the door knob in case somebody ever tried to turn my door knob. It'd land in the pot and I'd wake up. So it was a two bedroom apartment.
Speaker 4:I'd sleep on this end for about an hour and a half and I'd walk down the hall and sleep.
Speaker 1:I would make sure there wasn't nobody coming in, you know, through the windows. I wouldn't ever say I was paranoid because I wasn't doing drugs at this point, but I was just really afraid. My whole life, my entire life, I've always been afraid to stay by myself. It is what it is. It's better now. But I bought this house in Temple Hills, I remodeled it and I never spent a night in it, never. And I was getting really tired and I called Goose back here and I said Goose man, you come stay with me, you know? I said I really want to spend a night in my own house, if you could. He understood he knows me better than house. If you could. He understood he knows me better than anybody in the world. He said, absolutely, I'm in. I said you know, I got this really nice house. I overlooked the golf course, you know, and I had a security system, that thing that Dan Bongino would like to have. Yeah, you couldn't get in it.
Speaker 1:I'm just telling you right now, it was rock solid, I mean that thing had buttons and I was connected to the police, the fire department, the CIA, and so me and Goose hung out. We went downtown, got about half hammered and come back to the house, and we hung out for a while, had a few drinks and then Goose went to his bedroom and I went to mine. Big old, big big. I just went into a realm sleep, you know, just dozed off on that, ambien. You know, eyes out and all of a sudden, whoop, whoop, intruder.
Speaker 4:Window seven whoop, whoop door eight dude, I'm telling you, I come up out of that bed ran to that keypad.
Speaker 1:I could see where they was coming in at you. I hit the number, the 911 number. I literally rolled across my bed like Hutch did I rolled across my bed and I always left my window. I was up real high. It was an A-frame. I was up high. I always left my window, cracked about that much so I could get out that much, oh my God. And I raised that window up all the way and I jumped out that window and I was screaming goose, get out, get out, they're in here.
Speaker 4:They're in here. And I landed in shrubs and tore my legs. I was bleeding like a stuck hog. And I raised up and it was that fool went out the door trying to go see his girlfriend and snuck out the front door and I cussed him. I said I've called the law, the police. He said I'm a grown man and if I want to leave this house, I'll leave it. I'm never coming back.
Speaker 1:And he left and guess what I did? Went to a motel, oh my.
Speaker 3:God, still never. I was going to say did you ever spend another night there, one night? I don't know if y'all know Mike or not.
Speaker 1:Mike, it may be your account, I don't know. Yeah, he is. Mike called me and he said, hey, sell it. Motel bill is more than a mortgage and I sold it. I never spent an item. Then I moved from there to the Governor's Club because I felt, you know, I've got a couple of gates there.
Speaker 4:Joe Don's right down front.
Speaker 1:You know I literally that's the first time I ever looked down on Joe Don. Fred Miller. You know from the Titans. There, man, I had all. I was safe First night. You're going to ask Goof First night, couldn't do it.
Speaker 3:What do you think that's from?
Speaker 1:I don't know, but I called if you remember, if y'all are associated with the Flats, and I remember Larry Jones.
Speaker 8:Flats who's that? Oh, if y'all are associated with the flats, and I remember larry jones flats.
Speaker 1:Who's that? Oh well, they're trying to start up. Larry was gary's bus driver, you know, for years and I I was out with him at the time when I bought the house. I said, larry man, you, if you'll move in with me, I'll let you live for free. I got a big old spread over there whole. You don't ever pay a nickel, just be there for me. And one night man I heard something. I thought somebody was coming in again and I ran out in the big old living room and I looked up on that catwalk and Larry was walking up back and forth the catwalk with a gun in his hand, said I ain't going to let nothing happen to you, boss.
Speaker 1:I got two gates in front of me that there ain't no way you can get to me. And Larry's walking the cat, walking the guns in. Ain't nothing going to happen to us in here, but guess what.
Speaker 1:Sold it. Oh my gosh, Sold it. It got better. It got better. I don't know it got better, I don't know the addiction. By this point the addiction thing had gotten. I'm sure that had something to do with it, although it had dissipated to some degree, you know, it wasn't near as bad, because it was really dangerous for me to make money and had been an addict, so you were using through the early stages of the career.
Speaker 1:Up until what I'm going to tell you. Okay, I was married to, if y'all remember her, a great singer up here, one of the best, I think, julie Reeves. Back in the day, julie and I became great friends, got married and got divorced soon after. It didn't last long three or four months and I actually went up to Ashland to the Paramount and surprised her we were still friends, you know and I went up there and watched her sing one night and surprised her and she's like, well, where are you staying at? And I said, well, over at the Ashland Plaza. And she said, well, I'll just come and hang, we'll catch you up, and that $189, we'll catch you up and that 189 hotel room cost me 250 000 in child support, because that's what I paid.
Speaker 1:But julie got pregnant, which was all great best thing that ever happened to me. But um september 11, 2004, julie went into labor and we went to vanderbilt and and Caitlin was born in the wee hours of September the 11th and standing in that hotel. In that, in that hospital room, I had $1,500 in cash in one pocket and I had a half ounce of cocaine in the other pocket and after Caitlin was born, I said you know what I? I got to go use. You know I got to, I got to calm down. It was a big event. You know what I? I gotta go use, you know I gotta. I gotta calm down. It was a big event, you know whatever.
Speaker 1:So I went on I think it was a sixth floor, vanderbilt and I. It was three, four in the morning and I went into this bathroom at vanderbilt and it was and y'all know the kind it was old tile floors, the, the stain, the chrome mirror and the, the doors and nobody was in there and I took the bag of cocaine out and I had a quarter in my pocket and I I dug the quarter down into the bag and I got about right here and I thought oh, somebody's watching me, I'm busted. Yeah, I'm busted. I'm busted. This is it, and you'll never guess who was standing there Chris Cagle Me. Looking in a mirror.
Speaker 1:As ugly, morbid as I'd ever looked in my life and I thought you, son of a bitch, all you've ever wanted was a kid, all you wanted to be was a daddy, because you didn't have one. And you're going to come in here in this bathroom and do what you're fixing to do. You don't deserve that kid. And I took that cocaine and I slung it against the wall in the stall. I slung it up against the wall and a half ounce of cocaine is a lot and it went everywhere, everywhere. And I got down on my knees here. I have sold millions of records, know people like y'all, knew people like Paisley and Toby, and done things that I never imagined. And here I am in a bathroom, on my hands and knees, with my hands in the toilet, throwing water up on a wall to hide the evidence of 15 years of addiction. The evidence of 15 years of addiction. And I was throwing the water on the wall and I thought you know, while I'm down here, I might need to fix this. And on my hands and knees in the bathroom at Vanderbilt Hospital, I said God, I appreciate it, man, if you help a brother out. Man, I just want to be a dad, I just want to be a good dad.
Speaker 1:And I stood up out of that floor and I dropped that quarter For some reason, I'll never know. Maybe y'all will write it one day. I'll never know the significance. I dropped the quarter in the floor and I leaned up against the sink and I watched that quarter on its side. You know just where it hit. It was just going round and round in a circle and the circle got smaller and smaller and I said when that quarter stops, so do I. The quarter stopped. I picked it up, put it in my wallet, where it sits today since 2004,.
Speaker 1:And I never used it again, ever. No relapse, no, uh-ohs, no, nothing. See, my love for my kid was stronger than the love for the drug, but that's not the case much anymore. You know so many people I work in recovery, some to help other addicts, you know, to have some kind of life and let them know that they matter. You know, with Lawrence County Recovery up in Ohio, where I live at, and, uh, I was a lucky one. You know she she saved my life, man, my daughter saved my life and gave me a chance to to be a dad because, like I said, I grew up with, didn't, didn't have much of one, so I try to be a decent one now.
Speaker 3:Oh my God, so are you working? Did you say you're working with addicts or recovering?
Speaker 1:I do you know a couple of days a week. I do a podcast called my Road to Recovery where myself and Kathy Ross and Donna and we, we interview addicts and we let them tell their story how long they've been clean. Let me tell you something, dude, and we let them tell their story how long they've been clean. Let me tell you something, dude my story. I shut up because it fails in comparison to what those people have been through.
Speaker 1:We don't have enough time, we have to do two episodes, but I give them the outlet to let them know look here, this hood right here can do it, and I know that's so cliche and people use it. If I can do, hood right here can do it. You, and I know that's so cliche and people use. And if I can do it, you can do it. But man, I gotta be some kind of beacon of hope for these people because they they're the forgotten ones. They're swept on the rug, they're left to die and I'm, if I can, uh, if I can just make sure that maybe one of them, one of them, gets a day or two clean. You know my, my story. You know when they did my Inside Fame on CMT, remember the Inside Fames? I was actually out on my first year with Brooks and Dunn and I watched that Inside Fame my story with Brian O'Connell, with Kix, ronnie Toby, keith Urban, troy and Eddie on one bus watching my fat ass on this big old television.
Speaker 3:There wasn't no flat screen at that point.
Speaker 1:And you know, the weirdest thing was we watched the whole thing and none of them ever said a word. They didn't know what to say when they heard the stories. You know, and this before, I wasn't even clean by this point and I came home to remember Shoney's Inn down to Mumbray Hall of Fame behind it. I was in the Hall of Fame lounge and a girl come up to me and she said oh my God, are you Cletus? And I said yeah, she's young, you know, 20s, whatever. And she said my name is so-and-so, that's going to get you. She said my name is whatever it was. And she said I'm a songwriter from Seattle Washington. I moved here about two years ago. She said I've done everything I know to do. She said I finally just said I can't do it.
Speaker 1:So last Saturday I was packing up all my boxes and I called my mother and my dad and I said just bring the U-Haul, it's going to take you a few days to get here. And she said I was. I was packing my boxes and I had CMT on. And she said I was watching your inside fame. And she said after every commercial break I was unpacking them boxes. She said I went from packing the boxes to go home to unpacking them to say I can do this. If he can do it, I can do it.
Speaker 1:I don't know what ever happened to the girl, but maybe, just maybe, whoever she was, she might have stayed around an extra year or two to give it a shot. So, yeah, it's worth it. All the heartache, the craziness, the whatever you, the mentality, all that, it's worth it 100%. I'd do it again, just exactly like I did it the first time, to help somebody not have to go through what I went through. Take one for the team Jesus did I can do it too. So there you go, you one for the team Jesus did I can do it too.
Speaker 8:You know so there you go, you look fantastic, feel all right.
Speaker 1:You know, I would say, getting a little older, love golf man, you know, with a passion.
Speaker 8:What's your handicap? What's your handicap?
Speaker 3:Uh-oh, no handicap Scratch. We got a couple Four.
Speaker 1:Four Six from the back teams, but we could use him on our team against Neal.
Speaker 6:We could. We could use you on our team.
Speaker 1:Neal would be better than me. I love to play with a passion. You know, man, if it weren't we were talking off there, if it weren't for golf, man, I don't know what I would do. I was the oldest guy in the state of Kentucky, in 2018 to qualify for the Kentucky State Am and 18 to qualify for the Kentucky State Am, and all my buddies are like why do you do that? Why are you going to go waste a couple of days knowing, damn good and well, you can't do it?
Speaker 1:I said, man, you're talking to the wrong dude, that's a fact, yeah you're talking to the wrong, because what I think is, man, the minute I try, the minute I stick the T in the ground first, t, nerves, jitter and all that I won because I made the effort. You know, I made the effort. I made the cut. Last year I finished second in the West Virginia Senior Open. I love to play. We were talking about Rory yesterday. You know watching the Masters and man, I could so relate to Rory. When he hit them knees, man, I bawled, I told my wife, I said that's what I feel like when I lose a hole with Gary LaVox.
Speaker 1:Right there I'm on my knees, I'm crying, you know. So I felt for Rory because, like you said, man, that's a lot of years of trying and then when you finally do something worthwhile, man, when you finally go man God, like my mom, it's like I get the emotion, I get it.
Speaker 8:It's just unfortunate a lot of people won't show it. You know, I don't know if I want to play you now.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, you got me. You know, I play with Joe Don a lot, I think you're lying when you say four, your handicap's four.
Speaker 8:I'll show you on the map there I think it's a lie. You haven't been turning scores.
Speaker 4:I turn them every one.
Speaker 1:You want to. I'm not talking about everyone. I was trying to think who the best golfer in our I can tell you we were talking about. I can tell you who the worst texters are in our business. If we want to go down that route and number one on the list is your buddy Levox.
Speaker 4:Oh yes, oh yeah, single-handed. I hope you're watching.
Speaker 1:My will was made out to Gary when Caitlin was born. You know that's how much I loved him. Love him now to this day, because I knew if I died Caitlin wouldn't have to get on the pole.
Speaker 4:You know Gary would step in and take care of her. But now the problem is my wife getting to him to say hey, caitlin hung it. You know, barry died. His will's mad Because he won't return the text You've got to understand he doesn't return his brother's text.
Speaker 8:I know it's unbelievable His only full brother. He will not return his text. He doesn't return my text, he's on his own deal.
Speaker 1:Here's a conversation text-wise text. I've known him for 25 years, so you know as well as I do it's unbelievable.
Speaker 8:Now here, here is a text we can call him out right now. This is good, this is really good here's a group text with the flats.
Speaker 1:I'm gonna tell you how it goes. Okay, put them all on there. I'm lucky to have their numbers, just like y'all are hey guys, what's going on?
Speaker 4:jay doing great man, joe don yeah, man, kip got to play some golf uh, gary, yeah man you know, uh, tara, bernie brooklyn, everybody's good, awesome, hey, um great show. Last night I saw the new video. You know, fast cars and free, yeah man, it was great, yeah, you killed it yeah
Speaker 4:thanks a lot, man, that's Don. Oh yeah, we got to get on that golf course Next text. Hey guys, that song we wrote last week. Any shot at Crickets, crickets, y'all there, yeah, we do hey hey, and then two years later, Joe Don will go nah, I don't know what man is referring to. That was two years later. Joe Donnell goes nah, I don't know what man he's referring to. That was two years ago when I asked him a question Cletus, I learned that lesson a long time ago.
Speaker 8:You never ask an artist about a song that you pitched to them or wrote with them. Oh, I know you never do it because they cannot stand. They hate telling you bad news.
Speaker 4:Well, buddy, they don't hate telling me I wrote a hundred with them.
Speaker 1:I finally got, you know here's the thing. I wrote this thing with all three of the guys one time it's called the Way and Gary Conn said yeah, man, it's on the record, We've already cut it. Jay produced it. Man, I was living in Tampa. I called every friend.
Speaker 4:I had told them it was on the record.
Speaker 7:I know y'all probably all had one on there. I go to the store to get it.
Speaker 4:Bonus track, oh, bonus track. Cracker barrel special. Oh, it just made me want to throw up.
Speaker 1:You know it's a great song, I'm glad to have it right, but then when gary did his solo thing, you know, I rode the thing with him working on uh, working on sunday, you know, and oh that's a good one and uhantley, you know I can't say and tell y'all, compared to what all y'all had cut, but Brantley, um, he cut a thing called three feet of water.
Speaker 7:I wrote my 14 song titles tonight.
Speaker 8:You know that, right man.
Speaker 1:I hope that's the hardest thing I ever done in the in the business. No question, joe Don signed me to a published deal in 2000 and 2008 or nine. He called me and said, man, there's more more to you than what you're doing. And he said I want to. I want you to write for me at Sony and Troy you know Troy was over there at the time and they signed me and I stayed there for three or four years and and didn't have a lot of success.
Speaker 1:Um wrote a lot, you know, a lot of funny stuff. Then I went to warner chapel, alicia and those guys and and um man, when, when I, when I got baptized several, several years ago, I was, I was. I never had a lot of success song, right, you know, about whatever reason, maybe I just suck, I don't know but right before I get ready to get baptized, man I I've standing there had this Caitlin was only seven or eight years old and man, right right before I was getting ready to go go into water, I had this Quentin Tarantino moment of every bad thing that I'd ever done in my life the abuse, what I went through as a kid, my dad with guns and the money and the drugs and every negative thing a man could relive in his life and it was the damnedest thing. It was all in black and white, it was just all black and white. And then all of a sudden, man, it's like I'm going to leave all that and that three feet of water right there, fix it, set it down. I'm going to go in this water one way, I'm going to come out another way.
Speaker 1:And I went in, came out and two days later I had that idea called Bussy, jace, hine and Brantley and we wrote it and it was really the first gold record that I ever got for writing. But songwriting is really hard, you know, so hard. I got so much respect for people that do it on the level that y'all, you know y'all have been able to do it on and um, it's, it's hard and uh, I never. I still love it with a passion. I love the creative part. I love to be around people that are creative and don't think for a minute and I'll tell you when it's written it'll get pitched. I'm going to tell you right now I'm the best damn song plugger in the world.
Speaker 8:I'll call them up at midnight, hey you know how many song ideas me and Kalo have gotten on the golf course. Oh yeah, there ain't no telling that that means we're gonna we're gonna have to play a lot of golf together, because I think, I think you're full of great ideas great titles, I don't know.
Speaker 3:But are you writing? Uh, so is it mostly like original songs right now, or is it still some parodies a few weeks?
Speaker 1:ago and you know, on, lucky man, you know I wrote it, uh, me and my buddy chris, and man, I did a video on that snucky and went covert in bucky's and right outside of lexington with an iphone and, uh, and had ear pods in. I was, you know, acting like I was shopping. We shot the video for 300 and that thing, as of yesterday I think it's got a million eight hundred thousand views, you know, and. But but I will tell you this, hey, and I'm gonna tell you straight up, it does not. I've done it so long and had so I did, man, I was on sony and warner brothers and curb and I mean, I've been so fortunate to have record deals. Man, it's unbelievable. Here again, can't sing a damn lick nothing. Yeah, I was, if I was in, if y'all remember Luke Lewis, I know, y'all know.
Speaker 8:Luke, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:And when I got dropped at Sony I called Luke. I wrote a thing called the Chicks Did it and I called Luke. You know Luke had them and I said man, can I? You know I'm selling some records. He said, yeah, come, you know, right there, with all that glass there, right there on the left on I guess that's 17th and I played it for Luke and he listened to it. We talked for a minute. Halfway through it he hit that button, pulled that CD out and broke it in half.
Speaker 4:Bam broke it. Don't you bring this horse in here to me. What do you think I am? I got these girls under contract. Make amends, you idiot, don't you? I said, luke, I'm just trying to get a deal, I wasn't trying to get no fight, nothing.
Speaker 1:He said but here's what I will do. I'll give you $100,000 out of my bank account. You go, cut your record, you sell it. Do split the profit. How's that? Ask him Sitting right there in his office.
Speaker 4:What kind of man does that? For me, I'd blow 100 grand in no time.
Speaker 1:I'd be out at the strip club with that.
Speaker 4:But Lou.
Speaker 1:Lewis literally said I won't give you your record deal. But I will give you 100 grand out of my bank account. You go, do the record, sell it and recoup, Recruit my money let's profit. I didn't know what to do. I didn't take it. I didn't know how to do no record. I didn't know how to do it, but that was cool of him to do that.
Speaker 3:You know, I was talking about that and I just started thinking about when you first did the Indian In-Laws and then, well, shouldn't I have the second song?
Speaker 1:The way it went was Indian In Laws was first, and then I did a thing called Gone Funky on Alan Jackson, that's the one CMT sent back immediately. And then I got a record deal at Razor and Tie and they gave me $13,000. I still got the contract. They gave me $13,000 to do the record. I spent $7,800 of it and sent the rest back. I didn't know I could keep it. I was starving to death. What?
Speaker 4:are you doing? What are you doing? Send it back, send it back to me that record sold.
Speaker 1:I had a $7,500 budget. It sold, I think, right at $900,000. That's amazing.
Speaker 7:My favorite title, though I remember laughing when I saw this. You have to tell me what year it was. Did I shave my back for this?
Speaker 1:Oh, I got the best Dana Carter story and I love Dana, dana's so sweet. She was great too.
Speaker 7:What year was that? Because when I saw that I remember laughing so hard I was like this is amazing, this is amazing. I think I tried it in 2000. I was on Sony.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Dana did the video with me. You know, man, Dina knows the story, so I'll tell it anyway. I love Dina Carter with a passion. She's a dear friend. I had the odds for Dina, Well who didn't, I know.
Speaker 4:But you know I'm heavier, sam.
Speaker 1:You know, I didn't have much of a chance like some of them did, but I talked, did. But I talked to dean on the phone, you know, and we would talk, and so I asked her. I said, hey, you know, ladies, music, road golf tournament's coming up this weekend, you know, or monday, you know. What do you think about me and you uh riding out there together, you know? And she's like well, I'd love that.
Speaker 4:That'd be great. That'd be great.
Speaker 1:That's how she said I thought oh me, and goose talking about this coming over here. I thought, well, I well, I'm taking Dana Carter on a date, I better go buy a Porsche. So I went Sean Petty, I think it was Sean at the time I bought a 911. No way Porsche, I swear to God ask Goose.
Speaker 1:Bought a 911. Picked up Dana in it Going down the road I reached over and put my hand on her hand. She put her hand on top of mine. I thought I'm in, I am in. I'm strawberry wine, liquor, whatever. I am in with Dana because she touched my hand. I was like this is unbelievable. When I'm at 911, we get to that ladies' museum, I'm like I'll see you afterwards. You know, enjoy your day. I'll go do my thing, meet up back here. I'm thinking the whole day oh, where am I going to take her About 5-30. Anybody seen Dana? No, I ain't saw Dana. I think I know whose bus where Dana was at. She says she wasn't. But I sold the Porsche the next day. I lost $15,000.
Speaker 8:Did you tell her you bought the Porsche? Oh yeah, strictly for that date, really Absolutely. You could have rented it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I know, I didn't know I was mad at you. I was fixing to pick up Dana Carter. I literally bought it from Sean, kept it for three or four days and then sold it somewhere. I think I lost $10,000.
Speaker 7:So the feeling of we all know that feeling of victory when she put her hand on top of yours, I'll never forget it.
Speaker 1:I'm thinking about it now.
Speaker 6:That makes me think of his other record called Cletus Envy. Yeah, that was a fun one, that was a good one.
Speaker 1:Cletus Envy. Then I did Bipolar and Proud. But the chain of events were like If she and I Was Mine Butt Bigger than the Beatles. I wrote with Billy Lawson If y'all know Billy, he wrote it in the shoney's parking lot, in that, uh, in that old truck. Uh, cleatus went down to florida, uh, mindy mccready, and then after that man I left from razor and tie, which was in new york, uh, and then alan butler and mike kraski signed me at sony biggest they gave me, they gave me a 125 000 advance and said welcome to sony and they kept me for two years did, okay, you know, great day to be a guy, uh, the christmas record I did at sony's best record I ever done, ever put it up against.
Speaker 1:Yeah, cleed us navidad. Yeah, it's the best record I ever done funniest record I think I'd ever done. Well, I left there, ended up going to cotch. That's what I did. I love, love NASCAR and that one that one got mom out of the trailer there.
Speaker 6:Yeah, that was a good one that charted, good.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it did.
Speaker 3:It did, so when did? But when did it like end Did McGraw? What was the point that it became like a badge of honor to these artists to be buried? I think when I did.
Speaker 1:Everlight in the House is Blown. That's the best one which is great Trace did an interview and said hey, when Cletus does one of your songs, you know you've made it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so like, did McGraw reach out, or was that too early in the game? I became friends.
Speaker 1:Again, man, those songs were my lottery tickets. You know, man, you know what I'm pissed that you never did one of mine. Which one? I can pick one off the wall and do it.
Speaker 4:I'm really, really pissed, but now I've done it for so long I almost published.
Speaker 8:Yeah, I'm kidding you're not, I'm totally not, we're not.
Speaker 1:We're never too late but, yeah, you know, mcgraw, but if you think about it, when I went to Curb and I did that Ray Stevens tribute album for three months leading up to the recording of that record, they told me that it would never happen. They said what you're envisioning, we'll give you the budget, but it'll never happen. I did it on Koch, which was not a big label at the time. Bob Frank and those guys Chuck Rose, my dear friend, and I listened to nothing for three months, nothing in my car, ever, nothing other than Ray Stevens records, every one of them. I mean I had his inflections down, I mean I had as close as one can get to his idol. Because Ray was my idol, you know, know, he was my, he was my, somebody that I, him and Weird Al, you know, is who I looked up to.
Speaker 1:And so I went in the studio with this vision of you know, I wonder if I could get Winona. I wonder if Winona would come and sing, you know, on Everything's Beautiful. I wonder if I get Michael English. I love Michael English. I wonder if Michael would come and sing on Everything's Beautiful. I wonder if I could maybe Trace, you know, might drop by and sing on, and I wonder if I could get Joe Diffie to sing with Jesus Wearing a Rolex. Oh no, joe won't do that. I wonder if Vince Gill and Sonia Isaacs might sing Misty you know, the next thing.
Speaker 1:You know, man, every single one of them. People walked into that studio. The flats sang on everything. It was beautiful, it was overwhelming. And then the last song I did was the Streak and Ray.
Speaker 3:Stevens walked in.
Speaker 1:I told my buddy, chris Clark, who helped produce. I said shit.
Speaker 1:I'm going outside, dude, I can't do this, I can't watch it, I can't do it. And Ray, somebody you know as a kid man, you know, ray Stevens, is in a vocal booth on some tracks that me and my buddy Chris cut, and he's going here. He comes boogie-dad, boogie-dad, and I thought another defining moment in a man's life. You know, it's a big deal, it's a big deal. Sometimes I get that record out and listen to all you know Daryl Worley sang on it Trace and Vince, and that version of Vince and Sonja Isaacs did a Misty I thought was Grammy award winning man. They nailed it.
Speaker 8:What's the Brad Paisley story Auto-fool? I just want to know because you know K-Lo's here they have a huge history.
Speaker 7:I don't want to pull a prank.
Speaker 6:Oh the prank. Okay, I thought you were talking about the Dixie Chick song. No, no, no, a prank. Oh the prank. Okay, I thought you were talking about the Dixie Chicks song. No, no, no, I want to hear about the prank.
Speaker 1:The prank was when we were out there on the Brooks and Dunn tour last night. The tour and you know all them buses, about 15 or 16 or 20 of them lined up down through there, we all ready to go. It was the last year I was out there. Who was on that tour? Do you remember?
Speaker 1:I don't know Brad and the Flats, I think were the next, I can't remember, but I know Brad was on it and we all got ready to leave. You know they all wanted us to go at the same time. You know all pulled out of the venue at the same time Last night, everybody ready to go home. I'm on my bus. Oh, don't tell me, the bus ain't going to crank. Kicks his butt, ronnie butt. Come Paisley's bus, ride Down the side of him.
Speaker 1:He done unhooked everybody's jumper cables and none of the buses would crank. He wanted to go and get out first and he got out first and we all sat there with dead batteries in a on our tour buses.
Speaker 4:so thanks, brad, if you're watching yeah, thanks, brad, you didn't have nothing to do with that I did not you know, kelly wrote a song that I I cut.
Speaker 1:You know, uh, not I guess how long ago, three or four or five months ago.
Speaker 6:No, I'm sure I did yeah a bunch of them.
Speaker 5:They were already. Did you do one of his? No, I'm sure I did.
Speaker 4:Yeah, a bunch of them probably. They were already parodies. I've had that too.
Speaker 6:They're kind of worried.
Speaker 8:Big ass parodies.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I had to do some of y'all's along the way? I'm sure I did, but I was in Tampa going down to do a show and I heard a song on Sunday. Brad was singing it and I thought man, it was playing on this guy who does a Christian show, you know, and it was Brad's song. I thought let's do about a verse and a chorus and I thought, hell, Brad's an atheist.
Speaker 1:I mean, I didn't ever knew that, Brad could, brad cannot be a Christian, me listening to this song and then I thought, now I know Brad Paisley well enough. No, there's going to be some kind of hook in here that's going to get me saved, you know, and I listened to it and and it moved me to tears. It's called those crazy Christians that that they wrote.
Speaker 4:And wow, look at this, he was ready for this story.
Speaker 8:I wasn't going to bring it up myself, but you know I'm going to ask you to sing this. You know I may ask you to sing this. You know I don't know how to sing it.
Speaker 6:Did you sing it? No, it's an old song, yeah. I like how you got two pages but only three lines. Well, it's because I was in a hurry and I didn't have this to find I was doing good on until it got to, and I'm glad you pull this out.
Speaker 1:When it got to, cause I you know it was first time I ever heard it, so I didn't know where it was going. I just knew that there was something's fixing up. Yeah, Make me pull over. Is y'all know how I am? It's going to be the end when it got to the part where it said and every now and then they made up.
Speaker 6:I can't do.
Speaker 8:You got to.
Speaker 6:Well, and while you regather, the reason we wrote that is and we did write it from the perspective of a guy who's not a believer, right, and so he's irritated about all the church groups. And I waited tables, you know, with all the church crowd and the church crowd didn't tip anything, you know, sort of like started there until you wrote it from a non-believer perspective and that's why you thought, oh, oh, he's an atheist, which of course he's not oh, no, and so you're just doing it to build it all the way down and I knew, you know, knowing, because I looked who wrote it and and, and I knew that it was going to get me before it was over.
Speaker 1:But the, the chorus where it says and every now and then they meet a poor lost soul like me who's not quite sure just who, or who, or what or how he ought to be, they march him down the aisle and the next thing, you know, they dunk him in the water and here comes up another one of those crazy Christians, k-lo, how good is that?
Speaker 4:That's pretty strong. I hate your guts. That's pretty strong, brother. That's so good.
Speaker 1:Every line of that and I text Kelly and ask if I do it. I text Brad, ask if I do it. Text Brad he's about like the flats he got back to me.
Speaker 4:I didn't know what song he was talking about, you know, I had to go back to my text and look, but it that's.
Speaker 1:I mean if we had lyric sheets on the stuff y'all wrote man it's sick.
Speaker 8:That's what. That's what country music is all about. Right there, it's unbelievable. When it cuts your soul in half. Like that. I can't.
Speaker 6:That's what it's all about and he cut a record on it. He just did. He cut a great record on it.
Speaker 1:I want to do a video on it but, man, you know, if I could just sing better, I would have more confidence in doing it, because I didn't want to do anybody any injustice, you know, in doing that. But it's such a powerful song, you know, and so well written, and I'll eventually try to do a video on it and do my perspective on it, if possible. John well done, my friend.
Speaker 6:Thank you my honor that you cut it.
Speaker 1:Oh Lord, that's awesome. So good. Yep, so good.
Speaker 3:Ooh, this is one of those nights that you feel like we could do two or three episodes.
Speaker 1:I know I apologize, I'll get on a tangent. No, brother.
Speaker 3:If this has been, do we? Somebody got anything before we?
Speaker 8:I just want to know when we're going to play golf.
Speaker 3:Okay, let's get to that.
Speaker 8:Let's lighten this up and talk about money here.
Speaker 1:I need to know You're going to need to give me some shots. No, no, no.
Speaker 8:If you're truly a four, then I got to give you two aside.
Speaker 1:Oh, you're a two, you're a scratch. Yeah, oh yeah.
Speaker 8:No, no, no, I'm calling bullshit on your index.
Speaker 1:I love you like a brother, but I put in every score. You don't have to show me I believe you. Okay, you're going to hell if you're lying. It's a three. It's a three.
Speaker 8:Oh, look at that You're now a three, so I give you a shot and a half aside. That'd be four. Before I see you again, I may be retired. Before I see you again, I may be up. We're actually doing a. I I'm playing the three of these guys and we're going to video it. All right, I'll tell you what we'll do?
Speaker 1:No, no, no, no, no. I want to play with these three Come on. Against you Straight up. That's not even fair I know, that's great.
Speaker 8:It's completely fair.
Speaker 6:That's better than what we had, because it was just us three against them so this is a lot more fair.
Speaker 4:I think.
Speaker 8:I'll never win. I'll let you play with them. You can't get a stroke. No strokes, all right, zero strokes.
Speaker 1:Oh, I love this idea.
Speaker 8:Is it a low ball or a scramble? No, no, no, no, it's me against. It's straight up. I hate a low ball. No, it's straight up, straight up.
Speaker 4:Toad's going to look fantastic.
Speaker 7:No, I'm really bad. No, I'm really bad.
Speaker 4:He's going to look good.
Speaker 1:The only question I got on all this is I'll have to do it and I've got to wait and see when my royalty checks come because, I know it's higher than hell.
Speaker 8:Out here where you.
Speaker 4:No, I got you on the Done deal. That's free Next week.
Speaker 8:Done deal They've got to pay their way, but I got yours Hold on what just happened.
Speaker 4:That's awful. What just happened, man?
Speaker 1:I just want to say in the end first thank y'all so much I watch the podcast.
Speaker 1:All the time I watched one, gary, was on. All these people that we talk about, man, I love them dearly. They are dear friends of mine. I can't describe enough how much I love them dearly. They are dear friends of mine. I can't describe enough how much I love them, all of them that's ever been kind to me, even the ones that hadn't. People like y'all that I have so much respect for what y'all do, for what y'all do as musicians and man, I appreciate y'all. Letting me jump on here Serious what a night we're going to have you back on.
Speaker 8:I appreciate y'all letting me jump on here. Seriously, what a night. We're going to have you back on.
Speaker 1:I appreciate that.
Speaker 8:I want to hear the rest of the story oh man, there's so, there's.
Speaker 1:So the only one I'll have to tell you about can I tell it?
Speaker 3:Yeah, tell it please.
Speaker 1:Last story, last story.
Speaker 3:We got 45 minutes.
Speaker 1:Last story I was we got 45 minutes. Last story I was telling you when Caitlin was born. I just want to be a good dad, just because my dad was never a dad. God rest his soul. There's a moral to the end of this.
Speaker 1:But, man, as a young kid he was nonexistent, you know, rubbed alcoholic the whole night. I'd go down at Christmas and he would slide money under the door, wouldn't let me in the door. When I was 18, he called me and he said hey, look, I know I've been a horrible dad, I get it. I get it. But he said I went and got you a Corvette at Day Chevrolet. I paid for it out of my retirement money from Lockheed. He said I know it ain't going to make up for all the years of disaster that I've caused for you. He said but it's just a little token of my way to say hey, I'm trying to do a little better. And I called my buddy, michael Crumley, who's a Navy SEAL retired Navy SEAL. Now I said Mike, I can't believe. Man, my dad got me a Corvette. Will you drive me down there to pick it up? Mike's like yeah, man, let's go. We got in. Mike's old Thunderbird drove down to Ackworth, georgia, pulled in the parking lot, my dad's little lake house and no car, no Corvette, no mention, no mention of it. And I looked at Mike and Mike said well, what do we do? I said we go home, nothing new to me and went back home. And so I hated him. You know that will make you, you know you hate somebody. And I didn't speak to him for several, several years, you know. And when we did it was awful, you know.
Speaker 1:And so when I was in Tampa doing radio in 2008 or 98, I think, my mom called and said hey, I'm just going to give you a heads up. Your dad has cancer. I said, well, I'm going to call him. She said I probably wouldn't if I was you. And I called him and he answered and I said why didn't you tell me? He said you wouldn't have answered anyway. And I said well, here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to have my engineer at the radio station load up my gear and I'm going to come home to Georgia and I'm going to do what you didn't do I'm going to take care of you. And he said no. And I said no, you don't have a say. So I'm a grown man now I'm coming home and I'm going to take care of my daddy. So I went home, my engineer, they set up me a studio in his basement and for the next three months I bathed him, I held his hand. He's mean and ornery.
Speaker 1:One Monday night, it's in the evening about 5, 30, or 6 o'clock in Georgia. He lived in a ranch over a basement house. I was in the basement and I heard some footsteps up there. I thought, oh man, I've got to go up there and see what's going on. I walk up the steps and it's down a hallway and there was one dim light, just an old 1980s light, in the hallway with probably a 40-watt bulb in it, and my dad his bedroom was in the back left and there was nobody in the house but me and my dad.
Speaker 1:And he walked out of the bedroom and he turned towards me and I looked down and he had a pistol in his hand and I said these three things can happen in this hallway he's going to shoot me, he's going to shoot himself or he's going to shoot both of us. And I said, daddy, why do you have that gun? And he starts walking towards me and I said I didn't back down, didn't move. I said why do you have that gun? And he said you know why I have this gun? And I said no, I don't. Why do you have it? And he said as a boy, I had to watch your grandmother die of cancer. As a grown man, I had to watch your granddaddy, my daddy die of cancer. And he said now you're a grown man having to watch your daddy die of cancer. And he said I have suffered long enough.
Speaker 1:And he raised the gun up with a trigger pull and he said kill me. I said Dad, I can't kill you. He said I don't deserve to live. And I said give me the gun. I don't deserve to live. And I said give me the gun. And that's when he took the thumb on the trigger and he let off the hammer and he said if you won't kill me, will you do me a favor? And I said man, whatever you want, he said I never get as long as I live. He said would you mind sitting down at the dinner table with me? Because he said never done it before. And I said yes, sir, I'd be glad to.
Speaker 1:And me and my daddy, at 48 or 9 years old, sat down at a dinner table in Cartersville, georgia, for the first time in my entire life and he looked at me and he said would you do me a favor? And he said you don't have to do it. I didn't know what he was talking about. I said yeah, whatever. And he said thank you. He said it just like I'm going to tell y'all sitting here. He said reckon. He said reckon you could find it in your heart to forgive me. And it was all that I had ever wanted to hear. My whole life was just something of forgiveness without an agenda. Not, I'm sorry, I got drunk last night. Forgive me. He just looked at me and said would you forgive me? And man you talking about songs like this? And I came up out of the water, raised my hands up to the Father. I'm telling you right now it was the most easiest thing I'd ever done in my life to say forgiven. And he said thank you. He reached in his pocket and I thought this somebody's going to shoot me after all. He reached in his pocket and he pulled out a hundred dollar bill and he said go get me and you a steak at texas roadhouse and stop by the beer store and get me a beer I'd like to have dinner with my son, and I ate dinner with my dad for the first time in my life, and he died a few weeks later. What a gift. Yeah, and that was a gift, dude. Are you kidding me? That was a gift from God.
Speaker 3:It's also a testament to you, that I mean. I'm sure you did have resentment built up. Oh, if he would have died without that conversation in that hallway.
Speaker 1:Oh, my life would have been awful. I'd have to live with that the rest of my life.
Speaker 3:But at that moment you're right, it was a gift from God and you got to experience that moment. Yeah, Because a lot of people don't get that?
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, it could have went either way, you know, but those are, you know, sorry, no.
Speaker 3:Are you kidding me Wow?
Speaker 4:All right, I'll say no.
Speaker 3:No, but also last question, because it's all emotional and it's overwhelming to a point. But when you were talking to your mom you had the frostbitten fingers right and that moment clicked and you heard Indian Outlaw on the radio. What happens to Cletus T Jeter? You might be James Barrier or whatever at that point if you don't hear that song.
Speaker 1:I don't know. Yeah, I don't know, I don't know. Sometimes I wonder humor and sometimes I wonder humor saved my life, you know because. But the problem with the humor is I can make Neil laugh. I can totally laugh. I can make Neil laugh like Tully laugh, like y'all laugh. But I had a hard time. To this day, as my friend sitting here at this table, I have a really difficult time making me laugh. There were times that I would walk off the stage in front of thousands and who's to tell you, I'd go to my bunk, close my curtain, cry like a because I was hurt, just hurt. I don't know, I don't know where it comes from, you know, but I've tried to turn that hurt into help, you know.
Speaker 1:Let me hurt, I'll deal with it. You know, I had premeditated my suicide as a young boy, premeditated that when my mother died, I die If I'm six, eight, 10, 18,. Whenever she goes, I go because I would not be able. I knew that I would not be able to live without her and God gave me Caitlin and took that away. So that's, that's never been an issue.
Speaker 1:My mother ended up getting Alzheimer's later on in life and my mother was, you know, as we've told. The story meant everything to me and when she got Alzheimer's I would go down to the nursing home where my grandfather and my grandmother both died, in Cartersville, and I would sit there for weekends and weekends and I would try to talk to her. It got to the point where she didn't know me anymore and I promise we'll stop after this. But it got to the point where she didn't know me anymore and then I would go down there and she started talking to me as if I was her uncle. You know well, you know, uncle Dole, where have you been? I didn't know. And she would talk to me as all these different people, but she never knew me and I thought, okay, I got two choices I can let this kill me or I'm going to become the best damn actor that's ever lived and I'm going to be Uncle Dole, I'm going to be her daddy, I'm going to be whoever she thinks I am at that time. I'm going to play that part better than Denzel Washington ever played a role. And I did. And for months, man, I'd sit there and I'd be Brent Matheson, my best friend. She would have all these visions of different people, but she never knew me.
Speaker 1:And so, six months after I had been doing all that, I went down there, stayed for a weekend and one Sunday evening I was getting ready to go home and mom was in the bed and I was over, washing my hands in the sink, you know, and my glasses were on top of my head and they fell off into the sink. I thought, oh my God, I woke her up, you know, and I didn't want to startle her. And I looked over and she raised her head up at me and I looked dead at her, as I'm looking at Neil right now looked at her and she looked at me and she said and it's in the book. She said, god, is that you? And I thought how do I play that part? How do I play the part of the Almighty. And another one of them, moments where I just had so much peace and I just felt like God would have said yeah, let her know, let her know. And I said yes, ma'am, it's me. And she said, god, as I'm sitting here as my witness, she said so, I made it, didn't I? And I said yes, ma'am, ms Rutledge, you made it. And you know my mother.
Speaker 1:Never once, who was my best friend ever, I'd leave out. She never opened her mouth again, ever. And I'd leave out of that nursing home and I'd cuss. I cussed the good Lord, I cussed everybody. I was hurt, man. I'm like man. I done gave my mom a house, I've wrote cards to my mom, I've took care of my mom. And God, you say you're a powerful God, but yet you won't let my mama talk to me again. What are you? You ain't no God. I don't believe in God anymore. I mean, I was very hurt and they called me on a Sunday night and said hey, you might want to come home because time is up. And I went down there on a Monday, sat with her all day Monday, monday night. She never opened her mouth.
Speaker 1:Tuesday, tuesday night, wednesday, wednesday night, thursday night around midnight, my back dude, I'm telling you it was broke from sitting in those hospital chairs and I went over, I pulled the chain light on. Mom was laying there, had her eyes wide open. I said I know you can't hear me, I get it. But I said I gotta go take a shower. I'm gonna go over my buddy Bert's house, I'm gonna take a shower and I promise I'll be. I'll be back here in an hour. I said, whatever you do, don't you die on me till I get back. And I said I love you so much, mama. And she looked at me and said well, I love you too, son, as Mama. And she looked at me and said well, I love you too, son, as plain as I'm looking at y'all, I'm telling you, as God Almighty is, my witness said I'm not talking about in a whisper, a struggling dying. She said, like why are you being so desperate? I love you too, son. And I looked around the room and I thought did anybody? And I knew that nobody heard it.
Speaker 1:That was a moment between me and my mother and when I went to walk out of that room I felt like it was God saying for the times you didn't believe, for all the things you've done, for the relationship you didn't believe, for all the things you've done, for the relationship you had with your mother, for all the good, the bad, the indifferent and the ugly, and even for you not believing in my ability, I wanted to give you that last gift to show you how powerful I am, Because tomorrow she's going to come home and be with me and she died the next morning and I was. I was standing over my mother in closing. It's a great way to close it. I'm standing over and I'll never forget if y'all been buried a loved one. My tears were coming out of my eyes. There was nobody in the room and they looked like slow motion. It's just a surreal moment. I just lost my whole life, you know, and I could watch the tears and they would go real slow and then they would hit her cheeks and they would just just like blow up. You know the tear, they just exploding and then all the sudden and y'all will probably laugh or giggle, but so help me, god in my hand on the Bible, if you had one.
Speaker 1:I heard Morgan Wallen I mean Morgan Freeman say so is the life of Francis Moselle Rutledge. I promise you, god is my witness if he takes me out going down these steps. I heard it. Now, I've never met Morgan Freeman. I don't know Morgan Freeman, but I heard it in my head Maybe I'm. And I called Winona the next day and I said why you ain't going to believe this? Because you know she's a like my sister. I said here's what happened. And I said and then, morgan Freeman, she said you are a Judd because you're crazy as hell.
Speaker 1:But I promise you on my life that I heard Morgan Freeman say. So is the life of Frances Moselle Rutledge. Again what a great gift. What a great gift Just when I thought it was all over never going to get another shot. Mad at the world. He said I got you, I got you, I got you. I'm going to give you this. Mad at the world. He said I got you, I got you, I got you. I'm going to give you this little gift right here. All right, I'm leaving.
Speaker 7:I'm leaving. I tell you it wouldn't surprise me, though, if God used Morgan Freeman as a vessel for that, because I always say that voice.
Speaker 3:Oh, unbelievable. I mean, I thought the same thing.
Speaker 7:You know if I swear, I heard you say something that makes complete sense to me, but it was so funny.
Speaker 1:I thought she was going to be real and she said yep, you're a Judd because you're crazy as hell, cletus, I thought we were going to have you on.
Speaker 3:We'd be laughing all night.
Speaker 8:I know right, this is so good.
Speaker 1:No, it's amazing, that was absolutely powerful, absolutely powerful. Thank you.
Speaker 3:I've never met you before, but I can tell you right here I love you, brother.
Speaker 1:I know.
Speaker 7:I do and I'm very appreciative. I heard the voice of Morgan Freeman and I wish I could do that.
Speaker 3:Make sure you overdub.
Speaker 4:I just want Aldine tickets, if y'all want them. That's what this is all about.
Speaker 1:I gave him a shotgun a couple of years ago on the bus you know, thinking he'd give me an all-backstage pass. Trevor Jones. He's a good friend of mine he gave me a shotgun. I think Travis Tree had had it one time. He gave me a shotgun and said, hey, give this to the next Georgia guy and we'll pass it along. And I gave it to Aldine.
Speaker 8:Blah, blah, blah. I don't know about Georgia. Yeah, whatever Georgia, we have enough Georgia on here, me and Aldine. Yeah, so I gave it to.
Speaker 1:Aldine, but I don't think he gave it to anybody else. I think he still got it.
Speaker 3:Oh, he probably kept it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he probably kept it. That's one thing we have in common. The socials.
Speaker 3:Can people find you on the socials? Just cleatest stuff. Just jump on, follow along, follow them everywhere, watch the madness. There you go, uh, and if you're watching us on youtube, make sure this is a five-star one, right better be better be your deal, just like when I cut bad songs you know, we've been thinking this ain't working out, but please leave comments, review, download, do all the stuff Follow us at. Try that Podcast For Kalo.
Speaker 1:Somebody said you got a free putter with the SI.
Speaker 8:Hey, take your pick bro, take your pick.
Speaker 6:None of them work. I hope we do. I don't either. Ain't that funny. None of them work.
Speaker 4:Take your pick. All right, I love y'all, kevin. None of them work. Take your pick.
Speaker 1:All right, I love y'all. Kevin, thank you for the hookup. Thank you so much, man From the Patriot.
Speaker 3:Mobile Studios. This is Try that in a Small Town podcast. Thanks guys.
Speaker 5:Make sure to follow along. Subscribe, share, rate the show no-transcript.