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
Viral Guitar Riffs and Prison Gigs w/Ben Gallaher :: Ep 61 Try That in a Small Town Podcast
What happens when raw talent meets unwavering authenticity in a music industry that often values trends over substance? Ben Gallaher's story provides a refreshing answer. From his early days beating on soup cans with pencils in Pennsylvania to becoming a guitar virtuoso whose viral riff captured 35 million views across social media, Ben's journey embodies the true spirit of musical craftsmanship.
The conversation takes us through the reality behind the glamour of "getting a record deal" – the regime changes, shelved recordings, and difficult decisions that tested Ben's commitment to his authentic sound. Rather than conform to the pop country trends that didn't fit his rock-infused vocal style, he chose the harder path of staying true to himself. "I'll be damned if I'm gonna go out and play shit that I hate," he candidly shares, revealing the courage required to maintain artistic integrity in an ever-changing industry.
Perhaps most moving is Ben's decade-long commitment to performing at state prisons throughout Pennsylvania. These raw, vulnerable performances connected his music with men at their lowest moments, demonstrating music's power to transcend circumstances. When an inmate who'd been incarcerated for 20 years told Ben his songs "changed my whole outlook on life," it crystallized why authenticity in music matters so deeply.
Now working with producer and beloved TTIAST co-host Neil Thrasher, Ben continues crafting music that honors his distinctive sound – guitar-driven, melodically rich, and genuinely reflective of who he is as an artist. His new EP featuring the single "Bullet" showcases this commitment, while his partnership with Thrasher promises even more honest, compelling music on the horizon.
Ready to experience what happens when authentic country meets rock-infused guitar work? Listen to Ben Gallaher's music, watch his powerful "Bullet" video, and witness an artist who understands that in music, as in life, the journey matters as much as the destination.
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That's the thing. It's dangerous climbing a ladder man. That ladder never ends, you know. So it's a. I find myself nowadays like kind of enjoying where I'm at and always pushing it. I mean, I'm pushing it every single day but not missing where I'm at, because it's dangerous to live on what's next, what's next, what's next and you miss what. You know, everything that got you to this point.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and that's why it's important to get married before. Like you get a record deal, then go ahead and get married that way, before she knows what's going to happen.
Speaker 3:it's good or bad?
Speaker 2:you don't know, just go ahead and lock her in. And kudos to you with Monica. She's lovely.
Speaker 1:Y'all's stuff is so guitar-driven and it's the intro riff. As soon as those songs come on, you know exactly what it is. Yeah, well, that's not really a thing anymore in country, as much right rock things. It was always a thing in rock right. It was so identifiable by that intro riff.
Speaker 3:That's part of the song before you even get to the lyrical hook.
Speaker 2:You know it's a whole musical hook from the top what's it like cutting a record in there, because I hadn't seen that with nil? What's it like?
Speaker 1:well, I'll tell you this I'm upstairs at pat's studio and he's downstairs with pat with a baseball bat hitting the top of the rafter. When I'm not hitting, the note right I can see that that is so clear to see what are you doing?
Speaker 4:That's amazing. I'm not an asshole.
Speaker 1:No, he gets a little Tommy Toughnuts with me out there.
Speaker 6:The Try that in a Small Town podcast begins now. Try that in a small town.
Speaker 4:Do you always do that? No, I'm just starting something new and and Welcome back to the Try that in a Small Town podcast. We have the stopwatch going. We are here at the Patriot Mobile Studios. We got Kayla, we got Drash, we got TK. Tonight is going to be pretty fun, y'all Pretty fun.
Speaker 8:You forgot to introduce yourself.
Speaker 4:I'm Kurt Fondue. Kurt Fondue, that's the nickname Neil gave me. It's very cheesy or chocolatey, however you prefer. Tonight. You know we talk about this a lot. How do we go viral? How do we go viral? We got somebody that went viral. He's got a new EP. He's got a new ep. He's got a new single. It's called what bullet, bullet. Welcome ben gallagher yeah, yes, yes, we were just laughing before we got on here. Dude, how many people say ben gallagher?
Speaker 1:like the comedian. Every single one of them. Yeah, showed up to shows marquee tonight. Oh, no, ben gallagher what are you talking? About. So now it's in the rider yeah, thousand dollar, fine.
Speaker 2:So you got people wearing like trash bags on the front row thinking you're gonna do the watermelon trick on him jaylo, I thought you were gonna bring some watermelon he sometimes.
Speaker 8:Do you get asked that on radio? I mean, like when you're out on radio do they bring up the last name at all?
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was like this is a classic Right before we're going on stage of this radio show and the PD's announcing you know, or somebody comes out and announces it and I'll say like hey, it's Gallagher, it's said Gallagher, but no. Second G Ben Gallagher with no second G oh yeah, got it, got it, got it. He gets up there and he does his thing. He's like man. We're fired up to have you Asheville. Welcome Ben Gallagher.
Speaker 4:Two seconds before we had just talked about it what are you going to do man, hey you know what Aldine had the same problem we were just going to say that Used to be saying it back in the old days. No, they still do it today. Jason Aldean Aldean no.
Speaker 8:Oh yeah, oh, I have buddies that do it.
Speaker 4:All the time. Yeah, I can't tell you how many talk shows we were on. You know, the PR person goes up and says okay, it's Jason Aldean, and then they introduce it.
Speaker 5:Jason Aldean and we play. Okay, there it is.
Speaker 1:So I don't know.
Speaker 5:Maybe you're onto something.
Speaker 1:I could be man, I don't know, I hope. Thank y'all for having me. I'm pumped to be here.
Speaker 8:Tell our listeners where you're from Ben Pennsylvania.
Speaker 4:What is that Pennsylvania?
Speaker 1:The redneck sound of Pennsylvania.
Speaker 4:So Pennsylvania, what eastern or western?
Speaker 1:Kind of central I'm in between Pittsburgh and Philly. Is that where the Amish are? I'm part Amish.
Speaker 5:No, I'm just kidding. We had an Amish Mennonite conversation.
Speaker 4:How much do you know about the Mennonites or Amish? Do you know what a Mennonite?
Speaker 5:is Not a lot. Okay, either do we. We learned a lot, you learn a lot, he would know, more about Amish.
Speaker 8:We learned a lot.
Speaker 2:You learned a lot.
Speaker 8:You would know more about the Amish than you would Mennonites. I don't think there's that many Mennonites up there.
Speaker 1:They're all down here. Well, the Amish won the election for PA. Yeah, you're right about that, really, oh yeah.
Speaker 4:Did you see all those videos? Yeah, no kidding. Oh yeah, I had no, where they say yuns Yuns, yuns, how yuns doing, how yuns doing. Gotta go up with it. Oh yeah, see.
Speaker 5:That does sound Amish. I do. I like those Amish and Mennonites. They really have no chance against the Amish.
Speaker 8:Well, tully called the Mennonites posers. They are posers, I don't know much.
Speaker 1:I don't know much. I don't know enough about they're not sacrificing anything man.
Speaker 8:Mennonites have cell phones and pickup trucks. Some of them have power running to their homes.
Speaker 2:I don't know, I like some Mennonites. Yeah, I mean, they're great.
Speaker 8:I don't know how you could call it Just because you grow a tomato you know, doesn't make you Amish.
Speaker 2:Hey, do you guys know of anybody that has complained or said that they felt anything weird or off after having the COVID vaccine?
Speaker 5:Yes.
Speaker 4:Really yes, actually yeah, kalo. And there's this study, dr Peter McCullough, I just sounded here a study that's called Risk Stratification for Future Cardiac Arrest After the Jab. It's really interesting.
Speaker 8:And there's alarming rates on rise in cardiac events among healthy people. I mean, I've seen, I've seen so many stories and read so many stories about young athletes, you know, having cardiac issues and they're they've never did before. They're perfectly healthy people healthy in shape.
Speaker 5:So a study found that, like little patches of heart inflammation that doctors miss could be building up actually leads to like sudden heart attacks. You know during exercise and you know even when you're sleeping.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's why the wellness company created the three in one ultimate spike detox made with natural ingredients.
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Speaker 8:I mean, he's a top freedom fighting doctor who risked it all, just like we did when we wrote the song. You got to respect the man.
Speaker 5:So head over to twchealth forward slash small town.
Speaker 4:Oh, repeat it, twchealth forward slash, small town. Yeah, you can put it in the code and you get 10% off, exactly.
Speaker 2:Small town, free shipping.
Speaker 4:Small town. You get free shipping, free shipping. No reason not to do it.
Speaker 2:And get back to that pre-COVID feeling.
Speaker 4:So, ben, when did you leave Pennsylvania and come here, and why Give us a back story?
Speaker 1:Yeah, 2011 is when I moved from Pennsylvania. I started playing guitar when I was six.
Speaker 2:Six, and drums and drums. A little research.
Speaker 8:Not even in the US. He played drums. Oh yeah, oh yeah.
Speaker 3:You can find that on the Wide.
Speaker 2:World Web. I found it out this morning.
Speaker 7:The Wide World Web. J-lo did his homework.
Speaker 1:Well good, I started beating on soup cans with pencils when I was five and my folks saw that, so they got me a drum set and then, not long after, they got me a guitar, and I figured out later and your parents are rich no they just didn't want you to play drums in the house.
Speaker 1:That's it okay and no, I just took to the guitar. It just fit me. I had a couple lessons early on but honestly it's a total god thing. I mean, nobody in my family was musical at all and I took to it. And it from then on is when I knew this was what I was supposed to do okay, so go back when.
Speaker 4:When did you start guitar? What age? Six, oh my gosh, I couldn't add it when did you start playing 17? Yeah, yeah, I was.
Speaker 8:I was playing piano as a young lad, we're still trying to get kurt to play guitar on the show. He won't pick one up why not?
Speaker 7:he won't back me up. No, the passion's gone, that's the passion.
Speaker 5:Let me ask you a question when you, when you started, so I started playing around eight or nine okay base, did you have that point where you, um, because I remember I got my first base as eight or nine and I played it a lot for like a few weeks and months and I put it away for a little bit and maybe like a year and then I just picked it up one day and like just never put it down. Did that? Was it the same thing you? Or do you just pick it up at six and just continued, or did you?
Speaker 5:I mean, there was times I got away from it, but not, not for very long but then that moment when it clicked, I remember that specific moment when I picked it up and I never put it back down.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know, which is which is interesting at that young age, you know and I think it goes from like this crazy pipe dream to like for when I was like early high school and then middle of high school is when it flipped where it's like no, like I'm moving to Nashville in like a couple years, that's where it flips from, so did you grow up listening man. I'd be awesome if I wanted to do this, and then no, I'm going to do it.
Speaker 4:That's amazing. Were you listening to country music like exclusively as a kid, or was it kind of everything, or what inspired you strictly?
Speaker 1:90s country yes I didn't get into rock and roll until high school. Wow, because, that's all, that's all my folks had playing in the house, so that's all.
Speaker 1:I was exposed to give us some of the artists like the 90s country show oh, brooks and dunn, and tracy lawrence, tracy bird, john anderson, I mean blackhawk, I got down to all that you know. So, and then that guitar playing in, like you know, some of the alan jackson stuff, brent mason, like I was like what is going? It's a chicken thing, yeah, and my music now does not sound like 90s country at all, but I always thought you can be inspired by music. That may not sound like the music you make but it helps you. You know it's it, you're influenced by it, I love that I guarantee you this this kid right here could sing every word to every song.
Speaker 8:That's been that we've had cut album, Album cuts not singles he knows them all.
Speaker 4:Really.
Speaker 8:All of them.
Speaker 1:It blew my mind. I'm a massive Jason fan and all those records Please continue.
Speaker 2:Extend this segment, but mainly the bass lines inspire you to be a better guitar player, and particularly songs that these guys are a part of. They're like man. I don't really hear the bass lines inspire you to be a better guitar player, and particularly songs that these guys are a part of. They're like man.
Speaker 7:I don't really hear the bass in that.
Speaker 1:I wore those records out. Okay, I love that To the point where they wouldn't even play anymore. Like no shit and I remember looking in the credits and y'all just talked about this recently on one of the episodes on flipping through. You know the book and see that that's kind of not as much anymore, but I think maybe it was. It could have been a wide open record and I'm looking at it and man, this guy's name is on all these songs here's this neil thrasher guy.
Speaker 1:He's writing all these my favorite songs yeah, unbelievable. Yeah, he's pretty he's okay.
Speaker 8:And we wrote one day and I had no idea. Well, how did?
Speaker 4:you guys meet, then yeah, what was the connection? How did you guys so?
Speaker 1:when I was signed at sony. Jim catino actually is the one that first put us together. Love jim uh, yep and this was probably 2015 or 2016, maybe, yeah, right around there and, um, you know, that's a big deal to write with. I mean, yeah, it's a massive deal to write with somebody like that, you know, especially because I knew all the songs.
Speaker 8:It's like holy shit he knew all the album cuts. He was blowing my mind. I'm like he's looking at album cuts that I'd forgotten about.
Speaker 5:You know what's funny? Why did he do them?
Speaker 2:all.
Speaker 5:A lot of people. They'll talk about the my Kind of Party album as the big album. But we hear wide open album. Even my son. That's the album he loves the most as well it's uh like michael jackson.
Speaker 4:Everybody thinks thriller, but off the wall right before it was the one that kind of ascended him there off the wall.
Speaker 5:What a great album, yeah yeah, so jason aldean, michael jackson yeah, see what we did there, ben, is this adding up to you making sense?
Speaker 1:now it's starting to hey. Relentless' record was badass.
Speaker 5:Well, we hit a speed bump with Laugh Till we Cried.
Speaker 2:That was not a speed bump, it was a top five record.
Speaker 5:Look, we definitely lost some serious oh sorry, kalo. Yeah, we definitely lost some momentum.
Speaker 4:No, I'm kidding, relentless was actually. We joke about it, but the actual song Relentless, I don't know what it went to 13 or 15. It kind of stalled some of the momentum he had started with the first record?
Speaker 2:Were you on that one? Telly what's that? Were you on Relentless? Maybe the bass line killed it?
Speaker 5:Yeah, but it's a good thing to talk about though, because even you know. But you know it's a good thing to talk about though because, like even you know, we worked so hard to get to the hick town spot right, and you first number one and they're big song, emerald sky, and you get to relentless and you're like, oh well, no way, this isn't going to keep rolling. So johnny cash, that did well, but it wasn't like incredible. And then it just went like relentless and and laugh to be cried was an amazing song, probably just the wrong time. You know what I mean, timing wise. But I remember on the bus thinking well, aldean was talking about it like well, this might be it.
Speaker 4:We might have. Yeah, we knew if we didn't come out of the box hot on Wide Open and you can relate to this, and a lot of artists can man it's, it's tough, and if you don't keep that momentum going, the momentum the other way is faster and quicker and more brutal, very brutal, and so we knew that wide open had to come out strong. So, uh, neil was all over that one thankful for that now way to go neil.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you did it.
Speaker 8:I remember the first time hearing him sing though like that first writing session that we had and we sit down and we start, we start messing around and and he starts singing. I'm like man, listen to that raw, listen to that rasp that raw it was just, it was a rock thing to me, you know, and I remember it wasn't long after that, even after we got together again, it was like, man, I could put that kid's voice to tape.
Speaker 8:Work his tail off if I ever had the chance, it would have some, you know yeah, because the stuff you were cutting was good, but it wasn't what I was hearing at all, not with you.
Speaker 4:It was just I wanted to get interesting with the voice because it is like a rock sounding voice. But the fact that you grew up listening to all country was your voice always like that. It's very unique. Did you always have that rasp? Yeah, that kind of get developed when you listen to some more rock no, I can't.
Speaker 1:It was kind of always there, yeah, um. So 90s country was like early on growing up, and then Jason and Eric Eric Church and the early Keith Urban records. I got down to big time, especially with being a guitar player like the Golden Road.
Speaker 5:But you're a great guitar player. You're a great and and I always artists like you I wish had would just have the most success because it's it's artists in every sense of the word. You know you're writing, singing, but your guitar playing, that's a whole, nother thing that speaks, you know. So it's. I remember after we wrote the first time years ago, a decade ago yeah, that's crazy dude, it is crazy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, what are you talking about?
Speaker 5:Yeah, well, it happens, yep. But I remember telling Kurt this is really that's a real artist. You know playing guitar. It's really really impressive.
Speaker 4:What were you on?
Speaker 5:Was it Sony that you were on? I thought it was Warner. Then Was it not Warner, it was Sony was warner. Then was it not warner, it was sony.
Speaker 4:Okay, yeah and was it at the end of the deal that we were writing? I can't remember because I was trying to remember the timing of yeah, it was.
Speaker 1:It was like maybe give us the ups and downs, man is that why you didn't finish the demo?
Speaker 5:sorry, bad. Yeah, we never finished that demo, I don't think, but it was towards the end of the deal, so maybe we get back on it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm cutting soon yeah um, I signed at sony in 2014, okay, and a couple months after I signed, there was a regime change. Oh, yeah, so, and y'all know what that means. But for listeners, like, it's like a bank. You know somebody the new guy comes in. A lot of times they'll blow out and clean house and restart with their people, right, I actually made it through that cut, but it was never the same, because the new randy goodman didn't never really have his stamp on me because he wasn't the original one to sign me. Gary overton was yeah, it's like so fast forward. I was there and I had cut 18 songs in that span of time and on the shelf collecting a lot of dust on the bottle.
Speaker 7:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And turned in five sides that I was jacked about and they were all excited. And then all of a sudden something happened and they got cold and said hey, we want you to go back in and cut some more stuff. Um, this whole edgier thing is not. You know, we need you to be this more softer, like the pop. At that time pop country was like smooth, that was like, and after being there for like five years, I asked out. I remember the night I called catino and me and him are boys still to this day and I was like that's it, dude, I'm not. I've been here for this long and you know it's hard enough doing it with stuff that you love. I'll be damned if I'm gonna go out and play shit that I hate. Yeah, it, it's not me. You can't put my vocal on a Dan and Shay track.
Speaker 5:It's just like you have to be genuine. That's the mindset. I swear the landscape it's changed so much. We've talked about this all the time on this show. But I really feel like the type of artist that you are. If the landscape doesn't change, say, covid doesn't happen, or say streaming doesn't um have the foothold it has now, like if this is, you know, like the way it used to be done with radio, tour and radio, and I think you're already way more successful if the landscape doesn't change because you can go out and play clubs, great show, great performer, when you really had to grow things, grassroots, where it doesn't work that way anymore. Grassroots is now done through dsbs, you know, and youtube, versus beating up the road and your work ethic and in your ability. I wish it was like I don't say old days, but yeah sure, I mean 10 years ago.
Speaker 8:I wish you could had done that then because I think you'd already be ahead of where you are. There's no doubt. I mean he, he was. He's been light years away um ahead of these, not that you're not going to get there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, but the frustration is real though the frustration is real, you know, I've been in a van and trailer for like 10 years, um, but you know, you see, all this now's everything's you know tiktok and instagram and stuff and like, and I'm here for it. In terms of like, I think that's a great tool that can be utilized and, and, but that also, uh, opens a door for new artists to skip a lot of steps. Amen, and I've watched it firsthand and it's like there is no substitute for getting out and playing the clubs and learning how to be so frustrating for you, for me, which is probably why when you?
Speaker 8:see that, that these TikTok artists get big. And they just here. You are light years away ahead of them. Live and as far as your chops go, but you're seeing it happen, though.
Speaker 5:You're seeing like it's got to be frustrating. You're seeing new artists come out with a hit and you don't hear from again.
Speaker 3:It's happening, yeah or they're not ready.
Speaker 5:Our new artists will come out, have a hit, and then you won't, they'll disappear and it's, it's. It's happening a lot. You, you don't want that either. You want the staying power. But I think, getting With an artist like you, timing, timing, like just the right time, the right song. You know you'll, it's gonna happen.
Speaker 1:You know, I've always just done what I did, well, done what I do, so I never really chased anything.
Speaker 1:You know, as someone was like man, let's do it how you know, let's do like a Morgan Wallen thing as a writing session, and I was like you can't do Morgan better than Morgan, like that's not what you know, and but point is like I've never, I've always just, and I've like evolved and pushed it a little bit here and there, and I think that's, I think that's fantastic for an artist to evolve in that way, but I'm not going to go out and chase something that somebody else is doing because that's working like I'm going to do what I do that's that's the best way to be unique and stand out is to be yourself and do what you do.
Speaker 4:That's right. Yeah, that's exactly right. And I don't think a lot of people get that, which is why you see some people that are one and done or whatever. It's like they're just not being genuine to who they are and it's such a. You know, I love your story, perseverance, all that because people think you know, oh, you got a record deal.
Speaker 1:You're rich and famous right.
Speaker 4:I mean, that's just what kind of happens.
Speaker 1:I'm worth $5 million on Google. Yeah, it worked.
Speaker 2:I saw that and I think I got to talk to him about this. You're really monetizing those places, aren't you? Damn on y'all.
Speaker 4:Hey, man, that's awesome. Yeah, I didn't know that. Hey, and did?
Speaker 2:I didn't know that. Did you go to Belmont? Did you graduate?
Speaker 5:from there, I transferred in there. Yeah, I'm still paying for it.
Speaker 2:And so wasn't it one of your instructors or professors that sent some of your music to Sony?
Speaker 3:To Sony. That's how it first happened.
Speaker 2:I always think that's interesting because people are always wondering, like, how do you make it, how do you get the published deal, record deal and all that. And it's interesting that even for me, I went to Belmont. I was actually there today, um, for the celebration of life for Ben Vaughn, which is an amazing service you know amazing, amazing guy and buddy and and a huge, huge impact.
Speaker 2:But but such a um, such a moving uh celebration of life service is awesome and but I was there today and I thought about you going to Belmont too and then that professor sending your music and you getting that deal and it's kind of the same for me Graduating itself. The diploma didn't really get you where you're going, but going to Belmont and meeting different people and stuff like that is something that set you on your way. So I thought it was kind of cool we had that similarity a little bit that we utilized not the diploma but but belmont itself no doubt to get to music rail, which is just a couple blocks over, you know for sure.
Speaker 1:No, I think fan 100, and I think too like being out in the field so you learn more doing it than you do in a classroom. But usually we utilize belmont for other things other than that, you know but how many shows you doing this year? We're about to be out all summer, man that's great yeah that's the only way to do it, god, yeah
Speaker 1:that's I'm a I love being on the road man. I remember nights at belmont like I would stay up at night trying to figure out how to get on the road. Formed a band, rented a van until I could buy one and we'd play every place you could imagine on the weekends, just because I was fixated on. I'm a live guy and I like writing songs, but I belong more on stage than I do writing every day strictly.
Speaker 8:It's the cool thing about Ben though Let me chime in here he's not one of these artists that's like I've got to write everything. I've got to be a writer on everything. I mean, if he finds something, he'll cut it, and there's not a lot of them left.
Speaker 4:Well, some of the biggest artists in our genre have taken that that's right. Not a lot of the newer artists do, but the bigger you know established ones. That was the MO Best song wins, that's it, and if not, it's an ego thing.
Speaker 1:I would only want to cut my? Who gives a shit? Dude, cut the best song there is.
Speaker 5:Nobody cares. They forget these young guys, not you, the other young guys. They forget that the people in the crowd yeah, as far as they're concerned, you did. Jason albine wrote all those songs.
Speaker 8:Those are his songs.
Speaker 5:They could care less who wrote them that and that's what it's supposed to be like. The artist is supposed to cut songs that it feels like they wrote. Yeah, but you're right. Do you want some publishing money or do you want a big old live nation touring contract?
Speaker 4:yeah, when you go see aerosmith and they play miss a thing, you're not thinking they couldn't diane warren, oh yeah you're going to aerosmith.
Speaker 5:Yes, I wish more young guys were, were like you. I mean that that's. That's the thing. Like, you have everything it takes to be successful and it's like it's going to get there. But you deserve to get there, like the work ethic and the ability and the want to and the smarts. We've talked about this. You've come out and hung out on the road before.
Speaker 7:I don't know about the smarts.
Speaker 3:Well the smarts.
Speaker 5:Even that's the most basic form of being willing to cut songs that maybe you didn't write. Yeah, because the only people that care about that are on music grow and really I mean honestly, like that's, cut a hit song, go play it and own it and tour on it, have it hit no doubt you know, but uh, but yeah, being you know, you know the poorest we've ever been is when we had a record deal that you don't get poor.
Speaker 5:Then when you, when you first kneel, it's the same thing Like when you you know artists you got a song out like you're going in the hole.
Speaker 4:Oh man Big time oh live in the home. But it sounds so trying to get my ass out. You know what I mean. But it's a trip. It does sound so cool. If you got, you got a record deal, that sounds amazing. That's kind of worth something in itself. Well, you think so, but like I said, you know, most people don't realize. You're a million in the hole pretty quickly that's right yeah you have to do it because you love it it's
Speaker 1:too hard to do it and or it's not. You know, yeah, you're not gonna last, but you have to do it. That's what I've been in town forever, but I do because I love making music, I love playing live, and you know, it's never like about, that's the thing. It's dangerous climbing a ladder, man. That ladder never ends, yeah, you know. So it's a I. I find myself, uh, nowadays like kind of enjoying where I'm at and always pushing it. I mean, I'm pushing it every single day but not missing where I'm at and always pushing it. I mean I'm pushing it every single day but not missing where I'm at, because it's dangerous to live on what's next, what's next, what's next, and you miss what. You know, everything that got you to this point.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and that's why it's important to get married before, like like you get a record deal, then go ahead and lock her in and kudos to you with Monica.
Speaker 1:She's lovely.
Speaker 4:K-Lo is one of the funniest guys I ever met. I'm not lying.
Speaker 5:He really is. We talk about it a lot.
Speaker 8:He gets a little looser on here, he starts getting great K-Lo.
Speaker 1:you're the man.
Speaker 4:K-Lo, you're the man. I don't know. He is the man. Let's take a break, hey, but actually we do need to take a break. But before we do that, I want to talk about this. You were talking about being on the road and one of the coolest things that I think you do and have done. I'm not sure if you still do it, but let me know, you do these state prisons and you do this thing every year. Right, you go do this thing and you do this thing every year. Right, you go do this thing. I know you're doing it in Pennsylvania. I'm not sure if you do it in Tennessee, but talk about that, because that's one of the coolest things that you do. It's just awesome.
Speaker 1:No thanks, man. I did it for 10 years, wow, and I don't do it anymore. It was all in Pennsylvania. A friend of mine by the name of Chris Hall worked at a state prison in Pennsylvania and in 2011 he said hey, man, I got this wild idea everything about bringing in music at the state prison. You ever think about coming in and playing? I was like hell. No. I just yeah went in that first year solo acoustic brought my own speakers, mackie thumps.
Speaker 1:Remember those oh yeah brought those in 250 inmates. In the gymnasium I played, you Could have Heard a Pin Drop. It was unbelievable and it spread to all the other state prisons. So my phone started ringing off the hook with these other state prisons. They didn't want to have me come play, so I started to do a tour of it and I've played about all of them. I could tell you some crazy stories, but it's like you're playing to guys that are probably in the lowest spot in their life they've ever been. I'm playing a heartbreak song and I'm watching a guy in the front that's bawling. There's a dude that's come in in a wheelchair. He's been in there for life. This ain't county jail, this is state max security.
Speaker 5:No shit.
Speaker 1:And a dude. I've yeah shit, that's yeah, um. And dudes. I've told this story a couple times. This dude comes up afterwards. I get to talk to some of them and he said hey, man, I gotta tell you I've been in here for 20 years and I hate country music, but those songs just changed my whole outlook on life and you want make me want to be a better person and chase my dream when I get out of here real soon. Yeah, as an artist and a writer. That's the reason you do it right to connect with, to have a connection like that with a listener and like do a lyric and a melody and like I'll get messages all the time from guys that have since got out, um, or family members and said hey, I talked to so-and-so on the phone last week. I haven't heard him that happy in 10 years. You took him out of prison for 90 minutes and it's like, wow, yeah, that's so cool.
Speaker 2:So it's just a straight-up ministry, then that you're doing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Well, I don't do any more, but yeah, it was.
Speaker 5:Don't upset any of them. So when they get out we call it the oh shit button yeah seriously there's
Speaker 1:a language on there and before the show they'll say like, hey, man, you know you're not really a threat, but like you never know what you know, you can't forget where you're at yeah, yeah and if anything goes down like which it could have, like you're gonna run into that room right there, it automatically locks and you press that button and and alerts all the guards on the whole state prison to come down, and it was like that brings back this one guy and he's like you never would have known and he's like so we were talking guitars, totally normal, like what I thought.
Speaker 1:You know guard comes up to me afterwards he says hey man, I'll talk to that dude. He's killed six people and it's like there's a line. It's a dangerous line because I'm not in there to judge, but you know they're doing time and they're in there for a reason. But you also can't forget where you're at right, where's that, it's like, can trip you out a little bit. And you're walking down the halls and it looks like what you think it would look like. And here's all the guys and I'm walking down with my guitar and everybody's lined up and they're you know, they're on their suits and stuff in this ratty hallway and I'm in there by myself. It's like it's a little bit oh shit, you know, but sure I'm in there doing a thing and they look forward to it year after year it's great, you do it, it's.
Speaker 4:It's fantastic.
Speaker 5:It's great because because what you said, like a song you play or the way you play it, or the way you sing it might change their outlook, even for a short time. That's just it, you know I mean so that's great, great.
Speaker 4:That's incredible, it is incredible. You know, we get to go out and play for people that are there to see us or buy a ticket, man, and you're, that's, that's a hard show, dude. And then you're like tolly said even if you're just changing the one person's life, dude, that's enough.
Speaker 1:That's absolutely no doubt I've learned a lot of things actually doing those shows, because there is no other guitar player, there's no, there's no tech, I'm by myself, you know.
Speaker 7:So you go tech Hold on Tell me Could never do that.
Speaker 2:They.
Speaker 7:We're out Zero.
Speaker 8:Can't do it. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. I'm out of here. I have no idea, Ben.
Speaker 5:Tech slash bodyguard. That's great man. That's inspiring why you're Ben Gallagher, Ben MacGallagher and then, you did the watermelon trick.
Speaker 3:We're here with.
Speaker 4:Ben Gallagher.
Speaker 3:We're live on tape at the Patriot Mobile Studios.
Speaker 4:We've got a couple sponsors we need to get to.
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Speaker 4:forward slash original brands join our original glory family and help ignite that original glory spirit. All right, we're back. Try that. In a small town podcast from the patriot mobile studios we got kaylo thrash, tk kurt fondue. It'll probably end up sticking.
Speaker 3:We got ben gallagher here man.
Speaker 4:Uh, he's got that guitar we're gonna have to talk about, uh, the lick that went viral. This is a man's riff, yeah dude, a grown man's country riff is what this is. Uh, from what I understand, it was 35 million views across socials and all that, and you have people like even peter frampton talking about how awesome this was. Dude, I mean, how did this happen?
Speaker 1:so wild man, I'm telling you get up a little closer absolute. This riff was a huge blessing. Man, you'll get this kurt as a guitar player. We come up with riffs all the time, yeah, and they can get away from you and it's like your phones are filled with all of us are all kinds of different ideas and guitar riffs and bass lines and it's like that one got away from me.
Speaker 4:I wrote it five years prior to posting it and I just had forgot about it and was it like an exercise riff, or was it like hey, I'm gonna use this one day, you know, because joe walsh talks about life in the fast lane dude, dude, dude, dude, dude? That was just like an exercise thing for him and he was playing it, yeah, and the guys were like what the hell's that dude. We need to put it in the song.
Speaker 4:So was your riff like that, or did you always think you know this could be part of a song?
Speaker 1:I don't know that it was just something I was messing around with and I played, played it for a while and I was like, man, this thing feels pretty cool. And then I just, I don't know, I moved on from it and I would sound check and play it a couple times and then years had gone by and I was floating through my phone and I came across it. I was like, oh man, I forgot about this, this is cool. And it came right back to me and I was like I got it down and then I was like I'll just throw this up on uh instagram and I didn't think anything of it. I wasn't looking at the numbers or nothing. I thought it sounded cool, I posted it and seven days went by and all of a sudden my instagram starts lighting up. I mean insane, what the freak is going on here? That riff is getting serious wings and there's thousands of comments.
Speaker 1:Song title, question mark what's the song title? I called neil, who produces my stuff with his cousin patrick, and I'm like you've got to see this. This thing's going completely bananas. And, uh, we got to write label. Wanted this thing's going completely bananas. And we got to write Label. Wanted to write us a song, write a song to it, which we were going to anyways.
Speaker 1:And so we wrote Stomp and the title came to be because the caption on Instagram was boot stomping, because I was keeping time with my boot on a pedal board case doing the thing. So that goes on and I was like, well, maybe I got lucky with all the algorithm bullshit, you never know. So I was like I'm going to post it again, and that one went to 8 million. The first one went to 7 million and every time I got posted it kept going viral and viral and viral. And it was a huge blessing and wild that even a short piece of music with no lyric can still make a lot of people feel a certain way. You know, and that's the cool thing about music is like dude play.
Speaker 5:That riff, I love it. Then I have a question for you, okay, yeah play the riff.
Speaker 4:Hey, play the riff and maybe we'll go viral. No, no, let's hear it, because there's 35 million people have heard it, but let's hear this thing, man.
Speaker 2:There we go. Come on flawless, come on dude. Wow, now that art. On the 50 second take that's, you know, that's perfect dude, that's so what I love about that.
Speaker 5:It reminds you of, like back in the day you're playing playing sessions of demos here. Yeah, like music like that, like corn floss. How to you know play those riffs like that jt, and oh man, that's really awesome. Have you thought about you know, when that went viral, did it cross your mind like maybe like a guitar instrumental project, like an ep? That I mean it obviously connected to what you played.
Speaker 1:I mean that's crazy, maybe that's a great idea I think so I've never thought about doing that 20, you're gonna have the idea.
Speaker 5:But seriously though it's, it's a very like niche thing but like maybe you tapped into something, you know that there's a little side hustle off the artist thing, so the song was called Stomp, so that you ended up recording to that right, neil.
Speaker 4:You wrote that with him. Is that right?
Speaker 7:me and Wendell, yeah, as Neil would say I don't remember getting the, as neil would say I don't remember I live nine miles away no, that's awesome, it's really.
Speaker 4:Who else?
Speaker 8:who else it was, and patrick and pat.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's right that's right.
Speaker 8:I still don't ever think of pat on the song yeah, yeah, that's right, that's right.
Speaker 1:I still never think of pat on song. Yeah, yeah, that's right, it's a great man. We did something cool because it um, there was a lot of guitar players that were commenting on it, you know, they wanted to learn how to play it. So I was like, well, hey, um, I'm a taylor guy and I got with them and said, hey, would y'all want to do a special edition taylor, the stomp taylor. And, um, we're going to give it away to somebody, but we're going to do a contest. I'm going to do a slow-down tutorial on how to play the riff.
Speaker 4:What a great idea.
Speaker 1:And open it up to submissions. And then, just yeah, they had to tag me and Justin Ostrander because I did it with him, he played on the session with us and Taylor, and then they could, there was hundreds, so we got to watch them. But you know, watch them, but you know it's, did you do that oh?
Speaker 1:yeah, that's awesome we did this thing and the guy that won, he was fantastic. Well, he lived in. You know he did not live in the US, I forget where he lived, but it cost like $800 to shoot the guitar when the label was not happy. So now we'll do. We do some more contests still to this day, and now they're and I was like he was the best one. I mean, he was the best one, no, dad had to go to him.
Speaker 3:He was. He crushed it.
Speaker 1:He was the only one that like because it's pretty.
Speaker 5:The picking pattern is pretty intricate yeah, that's a classic label move, though you you know they'll blow $800 on a dinner that no one cares about, but they refuse to have a worldwide thing. Go on, you know, that's where they draw the line.
Speaker 1:I told them. I was like there's people playing and posting this riff all over these crazy countries. I was like it's awesome. Us only we don't want to pay for that.
Speaker 5:That's fucking business. I'll tell you what it is a great riff man. Thanks man, it's still going.
Speaker 8:I mean, it's still blowing up.
Speaker 1:It just went. The other day Some guitar page screen recorded the original post and posted it and it went. It's like the gift that keeps on giving the whole year long Dude. That's great man.
Speaker 4:So talk about the other songs on the project. Right now you have a song Bullet Out like this whole side of the table right? Yeah, oh yeah.
Speaker 2:Oh, I didn't know we were going to talk about that.
Speaker 8:Go ahead, oh, absolutely.
Speaker 2:Go ahead, ben, you got to talk about that, hey man, no, it was my title. We were writing with Chris August and he writes for Brett James, an awesome guy. He's actually an artist himself. Anyway, we were just scanning through all your ideas and I just called Bullet and we just started talking about it and take a bullet for you and all that it's just a love song.
Speaker 5:Great song Tough love song. Great song. Ne needs a little bit better bass line, but that was out of my control.
Speaker 7:I let you tell me I would have called you.
Speaker 2:Okay, kaylo did play the bass, but you know neil was, he was producing and he said no, he wanted a different bass, but no, but anyway.
Speaker 8:But chris aug.
Speaker 2:Chris August had this great melody to it and everything but very old school. And I remember when he played it for Neil, because it was an old school organ, it sounds nothing like the cut, you know. And then, anyway, he played it for Neil and then he said he may change a few things, you know. That's okay.
Speaker 1:It's fine with us Just cut it. I don't care. He put the kneel on it and it's like he did his thing, man, yeah, and it's like you took it over the top big time.
Speaker 8:We left it open too. It's my first thing out writing for these two yo-yos over here, everybody at this table.
Speaker 5:No see, that's why we all posted it.
Speaker 1:Everybody at this table is interested in that thing.
Speaker 5:I appreciate that big time you know what's interesting about that song? For me, it's got a cool like 90's rock thing to it though, too, which I really like. I don't know if you meant to do that or anything, but it's very cool what were you guys thinking when you were thinking about the production of that song?
Speaker 8:well, we rewrote the second verse. Did we? Did it have a bridge and we took it out? Yes. You don't like bridges. Neal. There was a bridge. There's no bridge, Neal.
Speaker 2:The second verse was just softer. You know like it was too. It had the dad in there and everything, and it was just softer. And then Neal got a hold of it and just made it it, and then Neil got a hold of it and just made it better for the title. It was more direct to it and it was tougher.
Speaker 8:And the way the original version that I heard he was singing it. I take a bullet for you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he changed the phrasing of the bullet.
Speaker 8:It was just little phrasing things. Maybe a few notes here and there.
Speaker 5:Really, good though, and that's what I mean, that that to me is a radio hit, you know, and it's like I. I miss the days when um, a stat a and our staff and the label head will say you know, we're going to radio with that thing. Yeah, you know, we're gonna let it see if it grows some legs instead of instead of putting it out the dsps and we'll see what it does. But those numbers can easily be manipulated. And what something does?
Speaker 4:and doesn't do.
Speaker 5:And so it's really we're taking the power of the listener away. For all they know, bullet could research through the moon at radio Research, their favorite word.
Speaker 3:I know Researching.
Speaker 5:But it's great.
Speaker 1:Don't give it a shot though. That's just it, and it's like, yeah, I could.
Speaker 2:Well, this movie, as one of four writers on it, and having a 16-month-old baby, how is it doing?
Speaker 7:I haven't heard anything.
Speaker 2:I couldn't wait for the tonight, just to get the report and, uh, I think you need to call the label for the label. Okay, all right that's right, that's right.
Speaker 8:It was their pick for the single. I had other picks, but I'm like that's a good pick too. I thought there was a when you have a handful of songs that you can put out first, you know it's a powerful song.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean it is, and I said this in a live show. If you've ever loved anybody at all, you can relate to that song, yeah and so the ep is called bullet as well.
Speaker 4:And when can we expect that, or is it out?
Speaker 1:yeah, the ep came out with with the bullet drop and we're about to go into cut uh at the of the month which I'm fired up. Nobody gets me musically more than Neil.
Speaker 4:That's what you need.
Speaker 5:Yeah, Well, I mean seriously, not to toot Neil's horn, but like you know, I think there's a power to having a veteran in the business, a great songwriter, great singer.
Speaker 1:Like you need that, like you know it comes down to songs and you know it's nice to have that. No, big time. I mean, I owe so much to him. I always said like a sign of a great producer is when they pull something out of an artist that the artist didn't know they had in them and they make the artist the best that they can be on tape, best that they can be on tape. I told him he would hate me at the end.
Speaker 2:The first time we ever cut. I still do well, and this is kind of love.
Speaker 8:Yeah, it was mainly for vocal style. I was like you're gonna, when we do start doing vocals, you're gonna hate me. So this is, this is perfect, right here this is good.
Speaker 2:So. So because we were talking about even, I think, our last uh show about co-writing with neil and sometimes yeah, so so you can. You can say, you know, you feel like you've got something and you're about to say something, and he'll stick out his hand and go shh, shh, shh, shh. That means, no matter what you have, I've got something better. So my question to you is in the studio, as a producer, what's it like? Because I've seen him demoing songs and stuff and he's cool and talking to players. He says, yeah, that sounds good, or maybe pick it up a little bit. What's it like cutting a record in there, because I hadn't seen that with Neil. What's it like?
Speaker 1:Well, I'll tell you this I'm upstairs at Pat's studio and he's downstairs with Pat. This is no shit.
Speaker 2:Language.
Speaker 1:With a baseball bat hitting the top of the rafter.
Speaker 2:when I'm not hitting the note right, I can see that, that's amazing, that is so clear to see what are you doing?
Speaker 4:That's amazing. I'm not an asshole.
Speaker 1:No, he gets a little Tommy Tuff nuts with me up there. I love it.
Speaker 8:It's just to lighten the mood a little bit. You know, lighten up the mood a little bit.
Speaker 1:I can tell you what when I hear back the final, you know it's hard because he's right every time about it. You know, and I don't buck him, you know, I trust him completely.
Speaker 4:Like Tully said, I mean Neil. I mean we've been having fun, but he is A a pro and he's one of the most talented people that we all know. I mean you are lucky to have him and it's incredible. We can't.
Speaker 8:I have to. You know, I couldn't do this without Patrick.
Speaker 7:Yeah.
Speaker 8:Because you know my cousin Patrick Thrasher, because he's like I mean he's a monster, yeah. Even he's not just a mix guy, not just an engineer, this dude, I mean, he has changed the direction of some songs that we've done that. I did not hear. I'm like what and I want to. At first I go, we can't do that, you know, and then we do it and I'm like, oh shit, he was right, yeah.
Speaker 4:Patrick, that is Patrick.
Speaker 5:That's part of the DNA, that's it. And you, as an artist, the first thing that happens when things aren't happening quickly is like oh, it must be production, or it must be. This the most important lesson as an artist, if you're comfortable and you think the producer's getting the best out of you, there's no, just stay the course. It's timing, it's the songs, it's whatever, but like it's.
Speaker 5:you know, if you, if you're comfortable, because the label loves that, oh, it must be the production, it's yeah, that's as old as time as they'll blame or blame anything, whether it's in production or it wasn't songs yeah never songs, but I think it's important like just keep doing what feels good I already told ben.
Speaker 8:I was like I'm like you know, if this next ep doesn't doesn't work, I'm like you know who the first one to get fired is right, it's always the producer but you know what I told him.
Speaker 1:That's not happening now there's something.
Speaker 5:There's something to that, though. Even Jason, there were times when we were in a slump and they're like well, jason, maybe it's production. Here's my team. I feel comfortable with this team. It's just timing. Maybe it's a little bit of the label dropping the ball, or all of it, maybe it's all the label dropping the ball, yeah, or all of it, maybe it's all the label dropping the ball. So you know, but if you're comfortable, that's the biggest thing I'd go to war with neon neon path studio.
Speaker 1:I mean, there's nothing that's the recipe for success.
Speaker 4:It's just, it's coming you know, and now it's on tape so you can't take it back and we never edit anything.
Speaker 1:Never See. What's fun to me is Neil's so melodic and when I'm doing the overdub solos and intro riffs, if I'm like, even if I'm not hung up on something, he'll start humming a melodic line and then I'll do it. So me and Pat and Neil are a well-oiled machine and for an artist that's a huge deal, because some guys go their whole career and still don't find that right match.
Speaker 5:Well, if you know who you are as an artist, that's the biggest key. You find that out when things aren't going well. That's when you find out who you are. When it's not going well, it's like okay, well, well, here's what I do. Well, maybe what I do well. Maybe now is not the exact time, but I know this is what I do and it's just getting through that and seeing your way through it, versus trying to change to what you think someone wants you to be blow down or what works, you know, because that that will definitely. Kurt says it all the time If you're not authentic, then the listener sees right through that.
Speaker 8:Luckily, the label still believes in us.
Speaker 1:We'll see. Benny's been a huge believer.
Speaker 4:He believes in you.
Speaker 8:He believed in. Al Dean was people don't know. It's like the same guy that's heading up ben's label was the head of the label that jason started.
Speaker 4:That's who gave jason really without without benny yeah, I mean, none of us are here yeah, benny brown was the head of bbr when jason got signed ben's working and he's passionate about Ben.
Speaker 8:Yeah, I have the utmost respect for Benny.
Speaker 5:Brown yeah, great, benny gave us our first break at producing no kidding. Oh yeah, after breaking with Jason and earning his trust in that way, benny started letting us produce. We produced those Tompkins Square albums and he gave us the keys to the car for a while. We produced six or seven acts over there. So he is a loyal believer in talent and what people bring to the table.
Speaker 8:And everybody at this table has a song on the next session.
Speaker 4:Wow, nice. Which one Love hearing that? That? Which song love is hard. Oh, it's a good song. You know, that is a.
Speaker 5:We are cutting the bass line I played on the. Yeah, send it over. I'm going to recreate that magic so remember that title and um that's a good one and I'm cutting.
Speaker 2:You don't have to tell Myers why not, cause I always get weird about titles you do?
Speaker 8:yeah, it's just called. Where do you go?
Speaker 2:yeah, just don't tell him just don't tell him how we hook it yeah, and it's out there.
Speaker 4:Yeah, if we're so old school like that dude, all these new artists, they post the song they wrote today and they put it on there oh yeah, it's just, we're old I see it we are.
Speaker 8:They post their writing sessions, the audio of their writing sessions, out on socials for the world to hear, like when it's brand new, it's a baby we are a bunch of old men I'm like well, I would never do that ever I call that burning songs let's talk about eagle scouts.
Speaker 4:Oh no, bring it, flip it. Let's go flip that question for y'all.
Speaker 1:So I know in the show I mean you guys have so many hits now it's hard probably to even get them in on your. How long is the show?
Speaker 4:It's an hour and a half. We do 20. How many songs do we?
Speaker 5:do we do 27 songs with almost no talking to?
Speaker 4:get. That's a lot, it is a lot. He doesn't talk much at all and, as you've read the news lately, he just had his 30th number one and that didn't count in some of the ones that were two, five, seven. You know, yeah, there's a lot of hits not being played.
Speaker 5:Yeah, we have to leave some out, we don't have enough time, but yeah, I mean, these days it's 27 cram-packed. I bet he talks two minutes. No, that's what we always try to do, though, is like just play the hits At this point you know for us.
Speaker 1:So this is my question and I get that you gotta play your hits. Do you ever have and y'all would never do this but do you ever have times where it's like man, I'd sure love to play Back in the Cigarette album cuts, texas, some of those deep album cuts that weren't singles like but, and you never, you'd never blow out one of the big hits. You know, you guys, I get that. But do you ever have times where you're like man, I freaking, I love that song, wish we could play it live we did have some of those conversations.
Speaker 4:It's funny you started to mention texas, was you? That was one of the songs that we put in the set, just because jason loved it and we'd play it, uh, but we don't do it much, or we can't now because there's I get it, you know, just there's hits to play.
Speaker 5:We spent years and you this is fun to talk about because I think when you're building a set list every year in different parts of your career, when hicktown was at 40 or 39 and climbing, you know we started with it, played it in the middle and did an 18 minute version at the end. That's not, that's true. So and then we had you know what, why comes out and we had a hit. And so all of a sudden you're but you were, we spent years building a set list with only two, three hits and we get the four hits. And then at this point, like, honestly, I think we use the all the years like going to shows, like I try to go as many shows as I possibly can my whole life as a listener.
Speaker 5:I remember going to hear tom petty and all these people I love and I always wanted to hear the song. I didn't want to leave there not hearing the song. I loved, I think, jason's. As much as we would like to play some b-sides, is it for us? Doing something just for us doesn't seem as important as doing something for the crowd that comes back every year. We've been on the road 20 something years now and they're still coming and it's like this year we put in. We put in y again, which we haven't played in over 10 years. Really old version of it how's it go over?
Speaker 5:great right, and we have. We have so much fun with it because it's been so long since we played it it's it's new to you guys yeah, it's it's fun to do that, but I always like it's probably new to the crowd too.
Speaker 8:I mean, yeah, you know, they know the song they're like. Oh god, I remember this one, you know they lose their mind over it.
Speaker 5:so so it's like and all of us are real cautious about making sure like if we were out there, what would we want to hear? And we're still leaving so many out. You know, we're still not playing everything, so there's some songs that just aren't in there, that you know it's tough to leave out.
Speaker 2:I think it might have been Paul McCartney that said this in some interview. It's talking about what songs he plays. How does he pick out of all the hits and everything he goes? I usually play the hits Every now and then I'll play something new so they get time to go get a beer and go to the bathroom. He said, as soon as he plays something new, they're gone.
Speaker 5:Gone. Well, you know what's interesting these days which this is what I really miss most about albums and records being released in a normal album cycle. So tough crowd. The song we wrote. You know the last album, love that song, great song. So in the old days, like if if we put an album out and it was in stores and bought and people listen to an album, tough crowd, you know, we, we opened the show with it, great song. It never had the impact it deserved because people don't absorb the albums like they used to.
Speaker 5:So that's a great point so it's harder to build a set now like that, because we used to be able to put a song in a b-side in, but we knew they listened to it.
Speaker 4:Yeah if you put in anything from the my kind of party record, it went over the same as a single because that thing sold four or five million records you know, it's like everybody knew every song on the record but no one's really absorbing albums like they used to.
Speaker 5:Where I remember I couldn't wait to listen to an album you know, so I wish you I kind of missed that where I can tell where we started the show with Tough Crowd. What a great opening song and people they liked it, but it didn't connect like it would have had it been people buying the album and going to get them.
Speaker 1:Well, people are pumping out so much music now all the time well, there's no, there's no.
Speaker 5:Um, as soon as they listen to it, it's old. Yeah, you know, you put, you put x amount of songs out and one week later, like when we get more music. Well, you know, yeah, took a minute to create that yeah so it's, it's. Uh, the attention span is definitely, you know, lacking. So when you build your set list, that's so, do you? Do you have some covers you play to? At this point, still do a couple covers we're doing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, if I'm doing like a 75 or a 90, I'll have a handful of covers in there. That I'll kind of what are some of the covers you do I do uh, I'm just telling neil this I do uh old time rock and roll. Oh yeah, it's one of my jams, but in the middle of it drummer kind of brings it way down and I'll start doing this lead bit because I'm three.
Speaker 4:I'm doing a lot of three-piece stuff right now so it's just, you're covering some ground, I like, like it dude.
Speaker 1:So anyways, I'll go into Sharp Dressed man. Get down, get down, get down and then go right into Life in the Fast Lane riff and then I'll go into Layla by Clapton and then find my way back into Old Time. But I like doing that stuff and the crowd loves it and it's familiar. But I'll do, uh, take it easy, uh, the eagles.
Speaker 1:I'll do a rocked up version of old red um and then like that cool I was doing liza jane for a minute, just for a little, it's like about the only really that super country. You tackle some vince yeah that solo is a monster, yeah, people don't realize Vince so good yeah.
Speaker 5:Dude, he's legit. He's on tour right now. He's still slaying. Yeah, Tom Bruggebeck's playing with him. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yep.
Speaker 7:Tom's a monster.
Speaker 5:Yeah, I mean he is yeah, I mean, it's a guitar town. It's still the best guitar players. We've got one sitting right here. I know it.
Speaker 7:We won't play One sitting right here, no passion.
Speaker 4:Somebody behind me Book it back here, I think we should ask our listeners.
Speaker 8:I think we should start a coup, start a coup With our listeners. Let them just light up the message boards.
Speaker 4:Oh, it's definitely paywall stuff.
Speaker 8:We want Kurt to play.
Speaker 4:We want Fondue to start wailing.
Speaker 1:Yeah what's going on, man?
Speaker 4:Oh man, this is a deep question. You might need to put me on the couch for it.
Speaker 5:Here's one of my favorite things. I remember so we were in a.
Speaker 8:I don't know.
Speaker 1:He's a fantastic player.
Speaker 5:I tell you what this is great. We fantastic player, I tell you what this is great. We were in a rock band me, him and rich in the early 2000s, late 90s and back in those days. We would literally sit in the house and we create these crazy songs and parts and kurt comes up with the craziest, coolest stuff and, like he always jokes about not having passion for the guitar, he bleeds passion with the guitar. The thing about it is is like we're absorbed you guys can relate to this absorbed in it every single day, and it's like it's a blessing, but also, like you know, sometimes it's yeah it never, it never ends it's a 24 7 job
Speaker 4:our listeners want it, neil wants it. How bad do they want it. Do they want it for $7.99 a month?
Speaker 2:I did wonder on that, because you're playing generally, you say 26 songs, something like that, 23?.
Speaker 5:Yeah, 27.
Speaker 2:Are you playing all the solos and everything pretty much exactly like the record, as much as possible, and if so, is that why you might not have the passion for it? Because you're not creating something new each time you're, you're playing the same thing you've already created a long time ago.
Speaker 8:Okay, lo, no, I'm just I'm curious.
Speaker 4:I think we relish playing exactly what's on the record.
Speaker 5:that's another thing we learned the most annoying thing you can do to a fan is come up with some terrible version because you're bored.
Speaker 7:It doesn't matter if you're bored.
Speaker 5:They're the one paying the ticket. I always thought that was so disrespectful to your fan base. If you find the need to completely change a song around, we're not the grateful dead no, you know, yeah, go out there and we look, we'll do. We'll do things inside the song to change it up per year you know I mean, but the fans deserve.
Speaker 5:They're going there to hear these songs played, like they know them, like they can sing them. You know I always thought that again, that's always learned from. Like, I saw tom petty 10, 11 times in my life. You know, even when I saw the police on the reunion tour, they still did the stuff. Like you, like you remember it, you know I always thought that was yeah, no, no, I.
Speaker 4:the solos are just like the record. It doesn't matter if it's adam schoenfeld that played the solo or me, it's got to be the solo that's on the record, got to be.
Speaker 1:One of the things I've always loved about. What y'all do is those songs. Please continue, Ben.
Speaker 2:Turn his mic up, Jim.
Speaker 7:This is paywall stuff.
Speaker 1:Y'all's stuff is so guitar and it's the intro riff. As soon as those songs come on, you know exactly what it is. Yeah well, that's not really a thing anymore in country as much rock things. It was always a thing in rock right, it was so identifiable by that intro riff that before you even get to the lyrical hook, hook.
Speaker 1:it's a whole musical hook from the top. Like Hicktown, she's country Tattoos on this town. You know in two seconds what that is. It's so identifiable and I've always loved that. With what y'all do, it's kind of a dying breed in today's country music.
Speaker 4:It really is, and I don't know how to. I don't even think we probably all of us don't know how to create music that isn't like that, because if it doesn't have a hook, musical hook, I don't.
Speaker 3:I can't even fathom that.
Speaker 4:Shoot we go into, it doesn't matter. Bass part he creates a hook. If I'm in the chorus, it doesn't matter. If something's going on, I better create an alternate melody, a counter hook to what's going on.
Speaker 5:That's just the way that I think all of us think wired and I'll give some a lot of credit to nox too on that, because it's easy as a producer to try to interject too much. Michael's a great producer. He's a great song guy. His magic tool is that if something feels good to him, then it is good. But he gives us also the freedom to come up with those hooks.
Speaker 7:You can't have enough of them.
Speaker 5:You can't have enough hooks, and if something adds to the song and makes someone remember it, then that's a great thing.
Speaker 8:We've already mentioned their names, both guys, because both those guitar players are on the session that we're fixing to do Bukovac and Schoenfeld.
Speaker 8:They're the two guitar players that we have on this session coming up, and if you think that me and pat are going to go in there, I think we have all these brilliant ideas about what they're going to play. You let them hear the work tape, because we'll play all the work tapes live. We may play them over, but we'll be playing with them and singing them live for these guys, so they can hear. We won't play demos, really. Yeah, yeah and just so they can use. You know, I'm a higher players.
Speaker 8:For a reason. I've always found that whenever we did stuff with him, if we played, if we did a good live version um, right there on the spot of the song that we were getting ready to do, it lets their creative thinking just. They're not listening to what we think we already want it to sound like yeah you know, sometimes, sometimes the demos are the other way.
Speaker 8:they need to be. Like Love is Hard. We're going to cut that one. It's probably going to be really close to that, so they'll probably hear that one. But on other stuff we'll play it live for them and let them do it, and I'm not going to tell Bukovac and Sean, I'm not going to keep my mouth shut until we get going.
Speaker 5:you know, and that's I'm sure that's what Knox does with you guys, he lets, he gives you all the freedom to be creative well, plus, you know we've talked about before and you know it's this same crew of guys in there for over 20 years in the same studio, in the same chairs, when we do these Aldine records yeah same everything.
Speaker 5:And so there's a you know it's a comfort factor in being comfortable. You know which is a thing that you're figuring out too. If you're comfortable with the system, then it's. There's nothing wrong with that, that's right, that's working, it's. It's never the production, it's never. You know, the songs are great, production's great, it's timing. It's like and I hate to say it, but is the label doing everything on their end? Because today's tough Cutting through all the noise, like you said, the other hundred male acts that are coming out. You know it's challenging to kind of cut through that to really just stay the course, hey.
Speaker 4:So getting back to Bullet, is there a music video for that?
Speaker 1:Yes, Okay, tell us, are we in it? Well, we called you didn't answer. Did you change your number? You got my new number, bed you know what you got?
Speaker 5:my new come on I'm just kidding.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the music video for bullet. It's intense, is it out?
Speaker 4:right now it's out okay, yeah, youtube, is that where we find it?
Speaker 1:yeah, oh yeah, y'all look it up. Okay, the listeners out there check it out, oh yeah.
Speaker 2:It's not what you think it would be, were you surprised K-Lo. Talk to me. I'm very surprised yes, really.
Speaker 1:Well, don't be so coy.
Speaker 2:In a bad way. Assy K-Lo.
Speaker 1:No, I just want people to watch it. I'm giving them teas.
Speaker 7:You didn't like it, k-lo, I didn't like it, have you?
Speaker 4:commented on it.
Speaker 1:No, when he texted me back. I could tell by the way he texted me back.
Speaker 2:No, I gave you a little flame a little fire emoji I gave you a little fire emoji. I gave you a fire emoji and one money bag.
Speaker 1:I'm kind of an intense person so I was looking for like man that was freaking badass. You know it's like I didn't get that.
Speaker 2:I can look it up. I think I gave you one fire emoji and one money bag. That's pretty good, no one? Fire emoji doesn't get it. No, no.
Speaker 5:You neededjis.
Speaker 2:It was late. I was milking the baby Interesting.
Speaker 8:No, it's pretty intense, though, right.
Speaker 1:It is intense. I mean I didn't write the script, but it's intense. I don't know how much I want to talk about it, because I don't want to give it away.
Speaker 8:No, no, no. Let's push people there.
Speaker 1:Tell them it. They're gonna go now. This is. You don't need to push people there.
Speaker 4:Yeah, it gets intense at the end. Okay, um does somebody? Die surprised with the did I just give it away? Did I do an?
Speaker 8:yes, I was surprised that the guy got shot you were.
Speaker 1:Well, that wouldn't come out of baseball bats well, it just wasn't the way that.
Speaker 7:I imagined him.
Speaker 2:He didn't really take. Yeah, he took a bullet. He took a bullet. He's going to take a bullet, whether she was there or not. It's the whole thing. You know what I mean? He's robbed the store. I got to go watch this thing right now. So he got shot? Sure, but he would have got shot whether he's with her or not, because he robbed the store.
Speaker 7:Well, he did it for her.
Speaker 1:What was he doing? Yeah, he was robbing for her For money. Yeah, yeah, he was trying to feed his family.
Speaker 4:Putting getting baby shoes.
Speaker 2:I know no, I.
Speaker 7:I saw it. The point is y'all go watch the video so we do.
Speaker 4:We need to Leave your comment on what people think of it. If you like it, if you don't like it just watch it Stir up something here.
Speaker 8:This is fantastic.
Speaker 1:You didn't like there was a gun in it.
Speaker 2:No, no, I didn't mind that. Taylor Van Dyke guns. Yes, there had to be. Something happened there.
Speaker 4:And while you're on YouTube, leave us a comment as well. Right yeah, Subscribe. Go check out Ben's socials. He's doing pretty good.
Speaker 5:Yeah, he's doing real good, and go see him live.
Speaker 4:You got to see Ben live, not in the prisons.
Speaker 2:At the regular shows.
Speaker 1:That's a fact.
Speaker 2:He is one of the best players and singers Absolutely.
Speaker 8:For sure.
Speaker 2:I mean he's pulled the heck out of Neil. Do you know where you're playing?
Speaker 7:this summer. Yeah.
Speaker 8:Off the top of your head. Can you name a few? Are you going back home to Pennsylvania? No, actually.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, I think we're out with Brantley in Pennsylvania. Actually, in August we're going to Chicago, nice, we're going to Green Bay, we're going out to Idaho, where can they go BenGallaghercom, or your Insta?
Speaker 4:Where can they find all these dates? Well, they're about to be announced this week actually Perfect, perfect timing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so anywhere bengalhercom, instagram, tiktok, tiktok man, that's a whole yeah.
Speaker 7:I don't even get a shot.
Speaker 8:You can't go out on the road until we're done with the EP.
Speaker 7:Yeah.
Speaker 8:I'll have you locked down for about a month.
Speaker 2:In the studio. You're mine for a month and that's when we practice our golf game and we play neil. The day after that thing's done and he's been sequestered for a month.
Speaker 4:That's when we take. Oh, that's when we got to do it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, perfect hey, did you guys get to try that? In a small town tattoos. Yet, kurt, did you get one?
Speaker 4:no, we needed to get to a million followers. We, it was so close.
Speaker 1:I'm a big fan y'all, that's nice.
Speaker 5:We've got three. They're dragging their feet, man.
Speaker 4:You're covered up. He's got no spot. I'll find room, caleb, you can use two.
Speaker 7:You don't have any either. Why do I get the flat?
Speaker 2:He's not going to get one. Well, Aldine was going to design one for us. We're waiting on the design. Then it has to go through approvals.
Speaker 5:I'm still all about it. I love that song and the moment. It always means something.
Speaker 8:A monumental song A monumental song, a monumental song. Thank you, buddy. This is really I mean y'all. We gotta get you a monumental song, buddy. That's what we gotta do. That's the next mission and dude just coming, you gotta you're on right now and I hope you're not working hard.
Speaker 5:You're such a good, good guy, and you know that we love you. I like keep doing it. I know it's, I know you're frustrated you gotta be, you know but but it's like you're in the game and just cutting great music, great producer, great songs. It's like you know it'll get there yeah, frustrating what I do, man if it was easy, everyone would do it totally I mean you know if I didn't love it so much, I'd have been like man, yeah, I'm out.
Speaker 1:You know you have to. I said that before you have to do it because you love it, man. And there's, you know, wading through all the, there's a lot of politics, like in any other industry like any business we talk about, there's politics in everything.
Speaker 4:Yeah, so you have to navigate.
Speaker 1:It's like the hard thing is like I get frustrated on things that I can't control and I have to remember, like I can't control that. But what I can't control is trying to write and play the best I can, right with the gift that I feel like I've been given. Right, that's what I can control. Can't control what all the other shit's going on, and I'm pretty good man with having like horse blinders on in terms of like I don't get hung up on. You know the social media man I do. Got on this or that dude got on like I don't, which is good man, it's a, it's been. That's a blessing too, because I don't get like I don't have I don't struggle with that any of that at all. I just do. I try to do what I do, you know, and just keep plowing forward. I never had a plan b figure. If you have a plan b man, you're already setting yourself up for failure. Never had a plan B Figure.
Speaker 5:If you have a plan B man, you're already setting yourself up for failure Never had a plan B Never. And I do think it's interesting because my son, he's in acting and you know I always tell him like you know, you got to get through all the tough times but a plan B can be too easy to go to Totally and you know, if you believe in yourself and what you're here to do, then it'll happen. You've been working hard for a long time. Your time's coming. I appreciate y'all. I think love is hard might be the one it would go.
Speaker 7:Just fast forward through Bullet.
Speaker 2:Once you get through Bullet, just fast forward through Bullet. Let's not jump off Bullet yet it's not that old.
Speaker 4:I don't know.
Speaker 1:The video Once we get through Bullet.
Speaker 5:I think we're set. We use Bullet as a good step and stand to an actual radio single.
Speaker 2:Do not sacrifice Bullet.
Speaker 4:All right, this has been fun. Like I said, go check out Ben's socials. He's all over. You're in all of them, right? All of them? He's everywhere.
Speaker 1:All of them. Thank you all for having me on. Listen, it's an honor for me to be here with all of y'all.
Speaker 2:Ben, we love you. You're one of the most talented dudes on the planet.
Speaker 1:That is. I appreciate that big time man. I appreciate that big time it means a lot coming from y'all.
Speaker 8:We'll get there man.
Speaker 4:We're pumped for you. All right, don't forget about us either. Go to YouTube, leave us a comment. Go to Insta follow. Show us some love on X. We're trying to, you know, get our numbers up there, so go there, show us some love. Tiktok I think we're doing okay on TikTok, surprisingly enough.
Speaker 1:Better if you start playing that guitar on here. Dude on TikTok. Surprisingly enough, better if you start playing that guitar on here, gary.
Speaker 4:We're using that lick of yours and we're going to see if we can juice our socials. That's what I'm talking about Seriously, ben, thank you so much for being here For Ben. For Thrash K-Lo TK. I'm Kurt Bondu. Cheers fellas.
Speaker 7:We're at the Patriot Mobile Studios. This is the Try that in a Small Town podcast Ben.
Speaker 4:Thank you brother, thank you buddy.
Speaker 6:Make sure to follow along, subscribe, share rate the show and check out our merch at trythatinasmalltowncom.