Backstage to Halftime: Country, Controversy, and Kids in a Digital Storm :: Ep 77 Try That in a Small Town Podcast

The week’s conversation jumps from living rooms to locker rooms to writing rooms—and the connective tissue is culture moving faster than conscience. We start with the tough part: raising kids in a world where a phone can outtalk a parent, where algorithms dress up confusion as entertainment, and where being “plugged in” feels like the tax for belonging. We don’t offer fear; we offer a plan—clear boundaries, more time together, and the old medicine that still works: muddy shoes, late-night talks, and parents who choose presence over passivity.

Then we head backstage. The Aldean tour felt like four shows wrapped in months, proof that joy compresses time. We celebrate a new single’s massive “most added” week at radio and unpack why it cut through a crowded dial: honest story, melody with backbone, and a voice listeners trust. From there, the debate turns sharp: the NFL’s halftime pick, Roger Goodell’s calculus, and what happens when a brand forgets its center. We don’t blame artists for taking a stage; we challenge institutions to remember the room they’re in. The alt-solution is bold—an independent, live halftime stream led by country heavyweights, built for fans who want music that matches the night.

We dig deep into the “what is country” question. Traditionalists like Zach Topp, crossover juggernauts, and the space in between deserve fair lanes, not a forced fight. When award categories blur, mediocrity sneaks in, and everyone loses—fans, radio, and the songs themselves. Our fix is simple: clearer categories, braver curation, and labels backing artistry over algorithms. We get nerdy about songwriting in a 30-second world—front-loading hooks without dumbing down stories, crafting lines that punch without pandering, and still chasing that “song of the year” feeling that makes a room go quiet.

It all lands on the same point: keep the main thing the main thing. Better songs. Truer brands. Stronger families. If you care about American football, country music’s future, and raising kids with spine and heart, you’ll feel right at home here. Hit play, tell us where you stand on the halftime choice, and share the show with someone who needs a steady voice in the static. Subscribe, leave a five-star review, and drop your take—we read every one.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Cold Open: Kids, Phones, Culture Shock
• 2:08 Banter, Hugs, Tour Energy Returns
• 7:10 Ohio Kisses and Road Stories
• 7:27 D.C. Trip, Songwriter Policy Wins
• 8:58 Remembering Charlie Kirk On Tour
• 10:50 Bad Bunny, Goodell, and Halftime Backlash
• 15:42 Alternative Halftime Show Idea
• 17:18 Money Talk: Podcast and Advertising Reality
• 18:13 SNL, Language, and Audience Fit
• 19:55 Aldean Tour Recap and Time Flying
• 22:35 Graduation Gifts and Growing Up
• 25:17 Zach Bryan, ICE, and Political Lyrics
• 29:12 Beer and Sponsor Breaks
• 29:37 New Country vs Traditional: Lines Blurred
• 33:56 What Counts as Country Anymore
• 36:41 Labels, Virality, and TikTok Pressure
• 39:49 Artistry Still Matters: Radio and Hits
• 43:40 Songwriting Craft, Bridges, and Hooks
• 46:53 Hall of Fame, Whisperin’ Bill Stories
• 51:22 Can We Still Find Good News?
• 52:33 Faith, Division, and What Heaven Means
• 57:12 Parenting Through Social Media
• 1:01:42 Phones, Boundaries, and Outside Play
• 1:05:22 Holidays Ahead and Sponsors Thanks

Transcript

SPEAKER_03: 0:32

It's a social media problem. It's poisoning the kids. It really is. It's them at this point of their life having to figure out how to balance what you know what they know is right or wrong, but they're still exposed to things that I wasn't exposed to at being 14, you know.

SPEAKER_10: 0:52

Roger Goodell is to blame for all of this. He's so out of touch with his fan base and the NFL fan base, and some of the players are speaking up. I think that there's a chance that it may get canceled. No. No, no, no. I really do. I think there's a chance. I'm not saying it's going to. I'm just, I think that there's enough, there's going to be enough backlash that he may change his mind.

SPEAKER_02: 1:16

There's like the thing on Netflix now. Have you guys hear about this? It's a cartoon, it's a kid's show, and it's basically glorifying transgender. And it's.

SPEAKER_11: 1:26

It's like, I wouldn't even think to think and look at that.

SPEAKER_02: 1:30

But you have to as a parent. It's just there are obstacles and there's more things being thrown at the kids.

SPEAKER_01: 1:36

The Try That in a Small Town Podcast begins.

SPEAKER_02: 1:45

Alright, welcome back to another episode of the Try That's the World.

SPEAKER_10: 1:49

When you say welcome back, do you mean welcome? I mean you are fired. But do you mean it's like welcome? Of course I do. Or is it just like like how you doing? And you really don't really want to know how somebody's trying to have a professional intro. You mean welcome? Like seriously.

SPEAKER_02: 2:06

Here's what I mean. What? Welcome back to the podcast.

SPEAKER_10: 2:10

Whatever.

SPEAKER_02: 2:10

We're at the Patriot Mobile Studios powered by eSpaces. And as you can tell, there's a little bit of energy in the room. I think it's we haven't been together in a couple weeks. We put an episode out every week. Everybody knows that.

SPEAKER_10: 2:25

Do you know what it is? It's I miss, I miss everybody. I've been missing everybody. I really have. Full frontal? Yeah. I don't like coming. The side thing is like a freaking dog. I'm tired of it.

SPEAKER_03: 2:41

I'm in the cuntal with the full frontal hug.

SPEAKER_10: 2:43

I've missed y'all that bad.

SPEAKER_03: 2:45

I really have.

SPEAKER_10: 2:46

I'm just not.

SPEAKER_03: 2:46

Interesting. You do have it live.

SPEAKER_10: 2:48

Why aren't you why aren't you kind of like?

SPEAKER_03: 2:50

There's no reason to do a full frontal hug with a dude. I'm coming in at an angle. And you can reason a pat.

SPEAKER_10: 2:56

It's so stupid. It's so stupid. Bring it in.

SPEAKER_05: 2:59

You can bring it in a funeral if you've lost somebody, maybe. Like a full frontal pat on the back, you know. Yeah, it's different. Life is short, guys.

SPEAKER_10: 3:06

Let's start hugging each other. Okay. I hug, I just don't do full frontal path. I'll do it. I'm a squeezer. Oh my.

SPEAKER_06: 3:13

Okay. Alrighty then. Hey, where did we get this rock and roll apple?

SPEAKER_07: 3:17

No, no, no. No, no, no, seriously.

SPEAKER_06: 3:19

He's he's grasping me.

SPEAKER_07: 3:20

How many times have I hugged you like really, really tight?

SPEAKER_06: 3:24

Uh many times, and you hold on a long time. What's the limit? What's the time limit? For me, like a second and a half. You know, like hey, you know, you know, then you're off.

SPEAKER_10: 3:33

And then you pat me like a dog. Pat means I know exactly what that means. Okay, I'm done here. That's enough. Okay, okay, that's good enough.

SPEAKER_06: 3:42

I'm good with the bro. Yeah, but you hold me longer because you know I'll be uncomfortable, and that's why you do it.

SPEAKER_10: 3:49

I do mess with my own. But I do I do like uh I have missed you guys.

SPEAKER_02: 3:54

We missed you guys. Is the tour over? Uh the tour is officially over under the full thoroval name. And it was a good one. Just for this year. The crowds were this year.

SPEAKER_03: 4:10

It was a really good one.

SPEAKER_10: 4:11

You guys look good. You look you look good. This tour didn't age you a bit. No, it didn't.

SPEAKER_06: 4:17

It was all age us. Well, we were talking about it beforehand. The the latest jump that Kurt has on stage appears to be ten to twelve feet high.

SPEAKER_04: 4:27

Appears is the key word.

SPEAKER_03: 4:31

But but don't let him fool you. I mean, back in our basketball days on tour, he he he can jump pretty good. Like it's pretty he's from Iowa, so everyone from Iowa can play basketball. It's just that's what happens when you're from Iowa.

SPEAKER_02: 4:44

Right. Yeah. I don't know. Angles are everything in photography. And hugs. Yeah. And is all I'll say to that. Anyway, it looks amazing. Thanks.

SPEAKER_10: 4:54

I'm just giving Alabama hugs. That's all those are. I did go to Ohio one time with Lavox.

SPEAKER_06: 5:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_10: 5:00

And I did a show with him up there in it in uh Gary Lavox from Rascal Pilature. Yes. And everybody in Ohio, at least from his section of Ohio, those people will kiss you on the mouth. They will too. No, no, no. No, no, no. I'm not kidding. This is from gay town, Ohio. No, no, no. No, no. I'm talking about the women. I'm not talking about the men. I'm not talking about the men. Not the bad bunnies.

SPEAKER_03: 5:23

Jim, don't look at me like that. You can say gay. I think I think that's the correct. That's the correct word, isn't it? I'm talking about the girls. It's in the letters, the line of letters.

SPEAKER_10: 5:31

It's nothing LGBTQ. It's nothing sexual at all. But they hug and they will kiss you in the I mean, it was so uncomfortable. I was I'm hugging his friends like from high school, and they're you know, they're like a figure. And they're coming in and I'm going, oh, oh, she did she mean to do that? And I'm going, whoa. And no, and she's chasing my face. Chasing. She lands one.

SPEAKER_06: 5:55

Oh, but now what did your wife say? No, it's a girl. What did your wife say when you're getting kissed by another woman as a married man?

SPEAKER_10: 6:01

It's like a it's all friendly?

SPEAKER_06: 6:02

No, no, no, no, no. My wife would not say that. No, no, no, no, it's friendly, baby. It's friendly.

SPEAKER_10: 6:06

Lena hates it. She doesn't like that. Who would? What normal woman would? But it's like they kiss. Most people they kiss on the mouth, not a cheek thing, and it's nothing like that. It's like they pull you in and it's so good to see you. And they plant one on you. It's not a long thing or nothing. Maybe it was just you. No, no, no. Did you see it was everybody? Are you sure? No, we know a couple of people who saw it.

SPEAKER_06: 6:27

Yeah, did you just play Fast Cards and Freedom on the stage or something? Because that gets them riled up. That's no lie.

SPEAKER_10: 6:35

No, it wasn't that. All right. This was all pre-show stuff. Wow. Pre-show in the kissing you already. It was crazy. Hey, didn't you go to Washington? I did. I went up to Washington. I'm sorry, I got a checks mix in my mouth. I went up to Washington and played uh for the Ways and head of the Ways and Means Committee, Jason Smith, who's a good friend of mine. Missouri. Yep. Congressman from Missouri. And he's uh he heads all that up, and I went up there and told him keep the capital gains tax down for the songwriters for the next four years, or I will pull your you know what off. So anyway, I went up there and uh we're good, buds.

SPEAKER_02: 7:11

Was it just you or a group of people just me?

SPEAKER_10: 7:13

I went up with Bart Herberson, head of NSAI yeah, and sang for him and sang for uh Marsha Blackburn in her office. She's great. Our friend, our friend, she's been on. We'll have her on again. Yeah. And um it was a great trip. And actually we were up there the day that Charlie Kirk got shot. Oh my god. And so Len and I, we were standing at the rigs downtown and we walked up, you know, five or six blocks that day, that evening, right before right at dusk, right as the sun was going down. Is that dusk when the sun goes down?

SPEAKER_02: 7:45

Or is it just dawn is you're a hunter, you should know that.

SPEAKER_03: 7:49

From dawn to dusk. We walked up to the White House when we're from Dusk till dawn, which is a great movie. Yeah, it is a great movie. The first half of it. Sorry, Neil.

SPEAKER_10: 7:57

No, you're good. We walked up to the White House.

SPEAKER_03: 8:00

Tarantino. Sorry.

SPEAKER_10: 8:04

I'm trying to say something meaningful here. I know. Please, please. I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_03: 8:09

He's just so happy to be off tour. Uh no, maybe I I I love playing. I but I love uh I love we're talking about movies. At least I was. No, we're not talking about it. We're talking about Neil. We're talking about movies. Let's go here, Charlie.

SPEAKER_06: 8:20

Let's go let's finish.

SPEAKER_03: 8:21

No, it's like no dawn by quitting Tarantino.

SPEAKER_10: 8:26

We walked up to the White House that evening. Uh the day he got shot. And and it was it was very, very surreal and very quiet, very moving, very somber, and a lot of people were gathering around the White House that night. And I've got some video that we'll show uh that I took right there at the White House, and people are hanging up signs we love you, Charlie Kirk, and all that. It was very it was very surreal. It's still very surreal. And it was very, it was very um it was it was surreal being there when that when that happened. But we just so happened we were there when it happened, and um but we got a lot done for songwriters when we were there, I feel like. That's awesome. And uh you got you're welcome. Yeah. Thank you, Neil. So we're trying to we're just trying. Yeah, you know but but it's all Bart Herbison. We need to have Bart on sometime, the head of NSAI. And uh we need to have him on so he knows about everything. Yeah, he's gonna be a good one.

SPEAKER_06: 9:17

Very smart man and a huge advocate for songwriters like Marsha Blackburn that you're mentioning.

SPEAKER_03: 9:22

I talk about Charlie since he's passing, uh uh Alvine's done something really cool every night. Kind of opening the show, the Toby Key song, and then showing Charlie. It's red, white, and blue, and then is a song. Yeah and then it's Charlie up there on the screens before we play. I got a video on the on time. Yeah, it's really good.

SPEAKER_10: 9:42

I've seen it on on the other side.

SPEAKER_03: 9:44

Yeah, it's it's really and and we we did it a whole uh since Charlie passed, um all the way to the end of the tour. So it was it was it was good. Um people seem to really appreciate that. So it's a little sad, really, really sad. I know.

SPEAKER_06: 10:03

Yeah, the uh the turning point is it's growing so it is incredibly sad, but it's growing so fast. I mean all the new chapters out of the way. It's really crazy. Yeah, and um it's really amazing to see. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03: 10:18

Can we segue into the bad bunny thing? I don't think we can segue, but you can move to the move to it?

SPEAKER_08: 10:26

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03: 10:28

What is going on? I thought it was a joke at first. It's not a joke. It's happening. Is it bad bunny? Bad bunny? I told you. Is it bad bunny or bad bunny?

SPEAKER_10: 10:37

Bad bunny. It's I think it's like Michael Jackson bad bunny. Just bad bunny. Like he's bad bunny. So it's not bad. It's just bad bunny ass.

SPEAKER_06: 10:46

Yeah, there's not like a comma or anything like that.

SPEAKER_10: 10:48

It's just bad bunny. He's bad bunny. Yeah, he's a bad bunny. He's a bad bunny. Which I don't know what that is.

SPEAKER_02: 10:55

Bad bunny? Bad bunny. Uh so yeah, to catch people up, he has been announced as the Super Bowl halftime entertainment. Neil and everybody's been talking about. Yeah. You love it, don't you?

SPEAKER_06: 11:06

He's got three Grammys, I think.

SPEAKER_02: 11:08

You love it, don't you? Wind you have it. No, well, he is probably the world's biggest pop star.

SPEAKER_06: 11:13

World's number one in streaming of all genres. He's really huge. No, easy is huge.

SPEAKER_02: 11:20

Uh but if you just were strictly going off American numbers, USA numbers, he's probably somewhere in the middle. Well, and it's football, American football. It is American football. But there, you notice the NFL is trying to deprioritize.

SPEAKER_10: 11:36

You know what? I don't blame Bad Bunny. I don't blame him. I blame Roger Goodell, who's who's heads up the NFL.

SPEAKER_03: 11:43

Now, but Bad Bunny did say he wasn't going to play anymore in the United States, though. Because of ICE. Yeah, didn't he say that? Like he w he wasn't going to play anymore. Except now he's going to play at like our greatest sporting event, you know. Um Roger Goodell's to blame for this. I agree, and it's not it's not the NFL.

SPEAKER_10: 12:01

I don't blame anybody that comes in underneath Roger Goodell and knows how to wave their magic wand and hypnotize Roger Goodell and make him believe that this is a good thing. It's his freaking fault. It's no different than a record label head signing a numbnut artist. I don't blame the artist. I blame the guy who signed him and who approved it. And Roger Goodell is to blame for all of this. He's so out of touch with his fan base and the NFL fan base, and some of the players are speaking up. You know. And and I think that there's a chance that it may get canceled. No. No, no, no. I I really do. I think there's a chance. I'm not saying it's going to. I'm just I think that there's enough there's going to be enough backlash that he may change his mind. Jay-Z has so much power over this. Exactly. Why don't they b make him commissioner then? Watch what happens then.

SPEAKER_02: 12:56

I'm just saying, since he came in, whatever it was, 2020, yeah. I mean, he the the statement was he was going to make the halftime show more diverse and culturally reformed.

SPEAKER_03: 13:12

So I'm so tired of this. Can't we just have our sports and just not think about all that and just have fun and no sir. You shove it. Just let it let you can't.

SPEAKER_02: 13:21

Just let us have our sports. Okay, so my wife's here, and she had this, and I've seen this uh online as well. She's here, Kelly. Come on up. Come on. Come on up. She said um somebody should do an alternative halftime show. I saw that. Yeah. And I've seen it. I think it's Brian. It is Brian.

SPEAKER_06: 13:38

Oh, it's the two uh contemporary Christian artist and producer. Yeah. Um I forget their names, Frank, and uh the last other guy's last name is is uh I think Queen. And um But yeah, but go but go ahead and just read that today.

SPEAKER_10: 13:51

Somebody pay Morgan Wallen a ton of money to do something that would be lineup, they would be they would be changing the channel so fast. Of course they're watching that. Oh my gosh. And I wish maybe Al Dean could do this.

SPEAKER_02: 14:05

Oh believe me, he he would love it. But you know, if you take on the NFL, that's that's pretty big.

SPEAKER_06: 14:10

I gotta thinking about that. Like and you think logistically, how would so so let's say you didn't want to watch the halftime show that's actually at the Super Bowl and you say, hey, we're all gonna go to this channel, like they'd have they wouldn't have advertising dollars because everybody's paid for the advertising dollars on the for the oh they could they could drum it up now.

SPEAKER_10: 14:30

If they started now, they could drum it. I don't know how they'd do it unless they could drum it up now. It's a live stream thing that you'd have to do. It would have to be a live stream, yeah. You know, that's what it would be well ahead of time. It would be it would be huge. It would be. How much money we got in in our account down podcast?

SPEAKER_06: 14:44

If we could be one of the advertisers, we are uh and I have an update on this, we are getting really close uh to breaking even each month.

SPEAKER_08: 14:54

Really? Wow. Yeah, no kidding. Yeah, yeah. So set the world on fire.

SPEAKER_06: 14:59

So feeling like I mean, we're at uh episode 76 that's dropped, something like that, right? So yeah, so yeah, we're close. We're close. But I don't think we have enough to kick off something like this. Okay, part of the time. But I'm just asking, but I'm liking it. I don't do I don't do numbers.

SPEAKER_10: 15:18

But about numbers, I do words. I don't know.

SPEAKER_03: 15:22

Caitlin, what about like in our like rainy day fund? Is there a hidden like what do they call it in the in the real business world, like petty cash or something? Yeah, I've heard about business people say these words petty.

SPEAKER_06: 15:33

We're negative on the petty cash product. Okay. Just to be clear.

SPEAKER_03: 15:36

Yeah, it's so not a big uh lump sum waiting.

SPEAKER_06: 15:40

I do not feel that no, we we don't have anything like that.

SPEAKER_10: 15:44

I just want to know how you how y'all see the bad bunny uh performance going. Like, okay, so you know you're sitting there watching the game and the halftime comes. Just out of curiosity, you want to watch it. How's it gonna go?

SPEAKER_02: 15:55

You're gonna sit there and not do you know any songs from Bad Bunny?

SPEAKER_06: 15:59

I had to look it up today, and I will say when you Google Bad Bunny, a lot of things pop up. So I mean, I mean, because I didn't know I knew we were gonna I knew we were gonna talk about it, you know, because because I knew Neil's fired up because I can't wait to talk about Bad Bunny and I'm like, Bad bunny? Who the hell's Bad Bunny? So anyway, so I Googled it and that's that's why I love you Caleb.

SPEAKER_10: 16:22

You're living and doing your family thing and you're not paying attention to what's going on in the world. I love it. You're not a worldly man.

SPEAKER_02: 16:28

So what was the thing he did on Saturday Night Live? Did you guys say it? I think it's compliments. No, it's a compliment. Big time. Did you what he was on Saturday Night Live?

SPEAKER_10: 16:36

Yeah, I didn't see the clip though.

SPEAKER_02: 16:39

He said something in Spanish. Thank you. This is good. You can finish all my and we're not using cue cards. We're not using cue cards, guys. This is amazing. Uh but he said you better get used to it, right? Basically. So you're gonna watch it and you won't understand the song. Oh my god. And believe me, we're old white guys talking about this. I'm sure there are people that are excited. Old ish. There are people that are gonna be excited about it.

SPEAKER_06: 17:03

I would say a lot of people would be excited about it, and it will be of the NFL maybe not doesn't line up.

SPEAKER_09: 17:11

Well, maybe Roger Goodell's brilliant. Maybe he's brilliant. Maybe he knew this was gonna happen. Well, they are the curse, you know they're just gonna be.

SPEAKER_03: 17:22

Which I hate that too, is like taking games away.

SPEAKER_02: 17:24

Who put Jay Z in in charge? Well, I'm sure Goodell. Was it Goodell? Yeah. Because I know the owners didn't. No, but Goodell works for the owners, technically, so Jerry Jones is not happy. Well, just more money for the owners, yeah, the bigger it gets, you know.

SPEAKER_03: 17:42

So we know from Jerry Jones.

SPEAKER_02: 17:45

They talk out of both sides of their mouth, really. Ed Werder being on, they just want people talking about it and look at us. Look at talking about it. Look at us, yeah.

SPEAKER_03: 17:52

Hey, speaking of Jerry Jones, I mean Dak Prescott. They're playing pretty good. He's a quarterback. He's playing pretty good. He is, I agree. I mean, right now he's about damn dumbass.

SPEAKER_02: 18:05

Well no, it'll fall off. It'll be about damn dummy. He uh he played good last year. But until the yeah, yeah. Until he didn't. We'll see what happens. Yeah. Never mind. I know. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06: 18:16

You know. Those two guys you're talking about, it's uh Forrest Frank and Josiah Queen. Oh, yeah, Forrest Frank, yeah. So if anybody out there knows those guys, we'd love to have him on and talk about that. That'd be fun.

SPEAKER_10: 18:29

You think we could get Jerry Jones to come on here? I think so.

SPEAKER_06: 18:35

Probably not. We might have to travel to him at least. Wait in the lobby for the five years.

SPEAKER_02: 18:40

Not after Tully talked about him giving us chicken for Thanksgiving.

SPEAKER_03: 18:43

Well, I don't really know if he might not have had that on if he pushed that button, but it someone someone didn't ring the bell that.

SPEAKER_10: 18:50

Hey, I want to go back to the tour. Okay. The Jason Aldean tour, the full throttle tour that you guys just came off of. And I want did it go by fast or did it go by slower than normal? Or does it get faster every year? Like football, like football season goes by so quick when it's once it's a few years.

SPEAKER_03: 19:08

It felt like we played four shows to me. Really? Yes. It it was it started and what happened was we started early in late May too with like two shows or three shows and we're gonna do Fenway the next weekend, and Fenway canceled because of the staging problem. So it was a weird start. And then after because after that weekend canceled, we had like two or three weeks off before it started up. Actually, we didn't start up again until end of June. I'm bad at this game. Something like that. Yeah. You know? But it was um I don't it didn't feel like we played we played a bunch of shows, but it just went by really it was so fun. Yeah, it's because you're still loving it. Yeah, it was so fun. But it just it did go by really.

SPEAKER_10: 19:53

That's what I want to I want to ask the listeners. It's like it's like because the older I get, and I know that I don't know if y'all are the same way, the older I get, the faster the days go by, the faster the years go by. Yeah, 100%.

SPEAKER_06: 20:03

For sure.

SPEAKER_10: 20:04

Is is that a normal thing? Or is it is it is it that been is it been that way for generations? The older you get.

SPEAKER_02: 20:10

I think it's a pretty much a normal thing. The older you get that thing. I think so. Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_10: 20:15

Everybody, everybody, there's a con there's a common consensus on that. Okay.

SPEAKER_03: 20:20

Well my favorite my favorite time of year is here, fall. Fall rolls into Christmas. Oh, fall in Tennessee is beautiful. My favorite time of year.

SPEAKER_02: 20:26

That three weeks are amazing. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03: 20:28

Every in every October, November, and I've always say, God, I can't believe how fast it went. And it does go by fast. It the year, the older you get, it just goes by fast.

SPEAKER_02: 20:41

I know.

SPEAKER_03: 20:43

It feels like I don't know why this is like it feels like the last five or six years was just like that.

SPEAKER_06: 20:51

I don't know why. Yeah. Speaking of that, um when did uh Keller did he grab when did he graduate? What month was that? Was that May? May um I found today in my console, in my Tahoe, uh the uh you know the graduation thing, and then I've got a little post-it on it. Get him a graduation card, send him some money. So uh if you're listening out there, uh you sent Tully's son some money? I haven't yet. That's Tully's got plenty of money. That's the thing. Uh but but you got to send it to the kids. You do. And uh thousand dollar minimum. So he's gonna get a little bonus. We said a minimum. It may or may not be uh a thousand, but he will get something in the next couple weeks.

SPEAKER_03: 21:31

You know how most people say like nothing over twenty? We say nothing under a thousand. Whoosh. No, I'm kidding. Okay. You don't have to do that, Kayla. It's very start. What's that?

SPEAKER_10: 21:42

All the money coming into these graduates, these kids. That's a long time ball. They don't know how to handle that.

SPEAKER_06: 21:48

It's a whole different ball game today. Like we should get a hundred bucks. They they get a couple pairs.

SPEAKER_10: 21:53

I got a two dollar bill when I graduated.

SPEAKER_06: 21:56

Well, for losing the two. Confederate money, too.

SPEAKER_10: 21:59

And and then it was like, hey, hang on to that. Don't spend that.

SPEAKER_02: 22:01

It's gonna be worse than that.

SPEAKER_08: 22:03

It's still worth two dollars.

SPEAKER_02: 22:06

Bonds from my grandmother. Are they still good? Really? Yeah, they didn't age like that.

SPEAKER_10: 22:14

I thought you were gonna say from the old railroad bonds. The kids today get a hundred dollar bill, a hundred dollar bill, hundred dollar bill, another envelope, hundred dollar bill. Oh, they're getting twenty bucks for the 30 grand before they even go off to college in cash.

SPEAKER_06: 22:28

I need I need to start over.

SPEAKER_10: 22:29

It's like an NIL program for you know kids that don't play sports.

SPEAKER_06: 22:32

It's ridiculous. That may just be in your bubble, though. That may not be a good thing.

SPEAKER_02: 22:38

Yeah, it's possible in our county that's a little different than some others. Yeah, I feel so shame. But the kid is a good idea.

SPEAKER_06: 22:45

Well hey, we'll we'll edit that part out.

SPEAKER_03: 22:47

The kids though, they they they need that though, because they're going off to school and and they I mean they're on their own. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06: 22:54

True. I know you're thankful for it. Gotta have that beer.

SPEAKER_03: 22:58

The cash in the case. I mean, it's it's it's great.

SPEAKER_06: 23:00

Does it go to him or does it go to the parents for you to catch up and recoup some of the colleges? I don't do a recoup on the arc. That's a good idea, though. That's not a bad idea though. I don't know if it's kind of like in a like an advanced like a built-in recoup for life.

SPEAKER_03: 23:15

Listen to what we're saying. Listen to what we're saying.

SPEAKER_06: 23:18

It's kind of funny. Uh Lucy's my 19-month-old daughter. For whatever reason, she calls a belly button a bum, right? But now she just starts saying, like when I walk in a room, one of the first things she'll say, whether you got a shirt on or not, she'll say, bum. And I said, I said, Lucy, I'm I'm technically not a bum. I get an advance or what's called a draw. It's not a salary. And she says, bum. And I said, again, it's too close to home, doesn't it? Again, it's it's it's I'm I'm getting the money now, but I'll have to pay it back. She's bum. And I said, I'm out.

SPEAKER_10: 23:46

You're gonna have to talk to your wife. I think you might be too. I might be behind. Every time your daddy walks in, call him a bum. I need to spend more time at home.

SPEAKER_03: 23:54

Hey, it is good though, like the the college and I'll say this because you haven't set the money yet, but this really helps out. No, I mean it it it I actually and we give like all Keller's friends, and you know, as much as you he gets, like you end up giving that much because you give, you know, you give to yeah, you know, 15 or 20 kids or more when you I mean the the the announcements just pour in. That's too many friends. And I got them from up home. Like where I'm from, too. Like all my friends sent me their kids, so I'm like, you know. But the recoup that's not a bad idea, though. It's not a bad idea. Maybe you should recoup at least what you give your kids friends.

SPEAKER_06: 24:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03: 24:35

I like what you're doing there. That's pretty good. Well, and and speaking of go ahead.

SPEAKER_06: 24:39

Speaking of giving, like I just learned this last year because my brother did it on like uh October 31st, Halloween. Do you guys give away like full-size Hershey bars? Because that's a big thing. Like to be the popular house, and you have to get there early and you're gonna want the king.

SPEAKER_03: 24:57

It's a big deal. We don't.

SPEAKER_06: 24:58

Should I do okay, I wasn't sure if I should go with 'cause I didn't last yeah.

SPEAKER_03: 25:01

Well, you need to because I mean you know, you kind of you you did right try that in a small town. Yes, you did. Yeah, and I think something hard to give out a small candy bar when you're trying that in a small town.

SPEAKER_10: 25:14

Let me ask y'all something.

SPEAKER_03: 25:15

Yeah, I shouldn't give the miniatures.

SPEAKER_10: 25:17

That's the problem.

SPEAKER_02: 25:18

Yeah. What do y'all think about the Zach Bryan thing? Oh, so I actually don't know the details. Give me the details. Are you still talking about the fight thing or is that a new thing?

SPEAKER_10: 25:28

He just wrote some anti-ICE song.

SPEAKER_06: 25:31

Oh, I had I have not heard of that, so I don't like it.

SPEAKER_03: 25:33

He's already walking it back though. He is? He's already walking it back. Oh yeah. What do you say? I I mean I well, to be fair, I haven't like like read everything about it, but I do know the song came out and it was kind of anti-ICE and anti- Who the hell is telling these artists that's a good idea. Well, he wants to be, he wants he he thinks it's cool to be like Bruce Springsteen. So that's what he wants to do. Really? He wants to find a big thing. It's all sad to me. It's all sad to me anyway, because it's it's it's all depressing. But um so he took some flack for it, but he put a statement out saying how much he loves a country and he wasn't in the military and he's walking it back.

SPEAKER_10: 26:14

I don't know You cannot when you say the fading red, white, and blue as a line in a song, yeah, and you're gonna try to walk that shit. He's walking it back though. Sorry.

SPEAKER_06: 26:22

But what's the context? I wish we had the lyric right here, because I have not heard it at all. I wish I'd totally hit it on the head.

SPEAKER_10: 26:27

He's trying to be like Springsteen. He's trying to think I'm gonna be cool. He thinks it's cool to do. He thinks it's gonna be cool. Because he he doesn't have anybody mentoring him and tell him what he should and shouldn't do, and he's a dumbass for doing it. And he's not and he's listening to the wrong people. He he's out of touch with what's but he's doing great though, right?

SPEAKER_06: 26:43

I mean, we'll see.

SPEAKER_10: 26:44

I mean, forget this song it doesn't matter what he's he sold he's sold.

SPEAKER_03: 26:48

I mean, I think he sold his his catalog for uh an unbelievable amount of money. So it doesn't matter.

SPEAKER_10: 26:54

Is it all about money? Is that what we're doing in now? Is that what it's all about?

SPEAKER_03: 26:56

I just think at some point I just think at some point. I know it is, but really, I'm like some.

SPEAKER_10: 27:06

But if you're not sure, but if but if you truly love your country, you're not even gonna sacrifice put something out there just for numbers and in a dollar bill. You're not gonna do that. If you truly are a patriot and you love your country, you're not gonna do that.

SPEAKER_03: 27:19

I think he's regretting putting it out.

SPEAKER_10: 27:21

I think that was what's why he's trying to only because of the yeah, only because of the backlash. I don't know the backlash is gonna get it.

SPEAKER_06: 27:26

I can uh maybe if we take a break, if we take a break, we can read it. I definitely don't want to say anything about it because I don't know nothing.

SPEAKER_03: 27:35

I haven't read the lyric either. I've just been looking at the bullet point.

SPEAKER_10: 27:38

It says country star Zach Bryan, who usually avoids political content in his music, has unleashed a new song ripping President Donald Trump's POTUS crackdown on illegal immigration and attacks immigration and customs enforcement, ICE, at ice.gov for enforcing U.S. immigration laws. That's what he did. That's what the song is about and against. And he's trying to take the Bruce Springsteen route. I hope he trips and falls on stage. I don't want him to get hurt, but I hope he trips and falls on stage. And his scene is ripped.

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SPEAKER_03: 29:31

I don't enjoy any of this crop of I don't enjoy it. Who do you like? Us? No, I mean I like a lot of you know I you know who I like in general?

SPEAKER_08: 29:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03: 29:43

Or just newer newer artists. I tell you right now, one of the my favorite art new artists is a kid named Sam Fender. And he's he's out of the UK. I I gotta tell you, every now and then like an artist comes along, he's a young guy, he's writing really incredible lyrics, real life lyrics wrapped around great music and melodies and it's it's And that's more pop stuff, right? I hate to even use it. I mean it's not country. It's not country, no. But but there is a lot of country artists I like too. I mean I don't you know love a lot of the uh brand new stuff. Like I don't love Okay. Everybody likes Zach Topp. And I think he's cool, but we've already been there to me because I'm older. And so I remember I remember when country music was that and I really liked the like those artists. And I appreciate Zach Topp. It seems like to me was Zach Topp. This happens about every four years. Let me be let me be clear about that. I do think he's good. He's awesome.

SPEAKER_02: 30:55

Yeah. And there's always this nostalgia moment or people go, oh my God, this is amazing. This is traditional country music. And there's been a few artists that have done this, and then they've kind of just either fallen off or become more pop, modern country.

SPEAKER_06: 31:10

Yeah. I do like I do like it though. Like and I hear what you're I hear what you're saying. Like we've we've done that. We were just there not that long ago. But it it's I mean it it's refreshing, and it's kind of the same as the world, like like you know, the old is new again. It's just the way that is. I don't think he will be an artist. And I don't know him, I haven't written with him, uh, but I do like his voice and his playing and he's having success. But I don't think he'll change and chase like if if the traditional stops working, I don't think he'll chase a more modern country pop. I don't think he'll do that.

SPEAKER_02: 31:42

It seems like seeing a lot of those guys that have come along. Yeah, and I do like Zach a lot. Yeah. But I remember Party was another one, John Party. It was like when he came out, oh, this is traditional country. This is great. Dustin Lynch, actually, when he first came out, this guy's country.

SPEAKER_06: 31:55

His biggest hit hit hit, really. I mean, Cowboys and Angels, and that's still probably.

SPEAKER_10: 32:01

I just texted everybody in our thread, I'm gonna try that in a small town thread, a picture of what country is and what country ain't, in my opinion. And what they're trying to force down the country music listener's throat. And I'm like, and when you see these these two pictures back to back for a new artist, new country artist of the year, whatever, ACMCMA or whatever, I I look at it and I go, I think, I think, I think Shaboozy is talented for what he does. But when you put him and Zach Topp next to each other, when you're talking about country music, I'm going, what are we doing?

SPEAKER_02: 32:43

Does Shabuzi have another hit besides the massive one?

SPEAKER_10: 32:46

No, I not that I know of.

SPEAKER_06: 32:47

He does have a single out, but I don't know if he's gonna be able to do it.

SPEAKER_10: 32:50

He's got his own company going. He's got his own label going.

SPEAKER_03: 32:52

Yeah, technically, um, I believe it went number one, the second one, but it sounds uh my biggest problem with Shabuzi isn't Shibuzi, it's just I can't stand the song. Tipsy, a bar song. Huge song. Huge, massive.

SPEAKER_10: 33:06

Yeah, I've always told people I don't know what a good song is, but I I mean I know what a good song is, but I don't know what a hit song is. And you can't argue with a hit song.

SPEAKER_03: 33:14

If something if something's that big, then I must be the one missing it. It's not my it's music's objective. You're thinking it's like every song that's not my own. It's not my favorite.

SPEAKER_10: 33:24

I'm just I'm just going when you when you have a category of new country art new male country artist of the year, and then you've got Shabuzy and Zach Topp sitting there together. I'm like, Zach Topp is as country as it gets. And the guy is a freaking talented dude. Oh, yeah. Especially on the guitar. I mean, he's ridiculous. I mean, he doesn't shade a pitch, he's incredible. You know?

SPEAKER_03: 33:47

No, he's really he's really good.

SPEAKER_10: 33:48

Like I I I wondered as a I'm but I'm going to go. Here's a dreadlock, and here's like a dude that's a actually true country. So why can't we have more categories?

SPEAKER_02: 33:58

Well, maybe that's it.

SPEAKER_10: 33:59

Like a semi-country male act.

SPEAKER_02: 34:01

We've had this conversation with the wards that have gone on already with Beyonce winning and what was the other one that was just like, oh my God, are you serious? So it that's not new.

SPEAKER_10: 34:13

What do you what do our listeners think about this?

SPEAKER_02: 34:15

You know?

SPEAKER_10: 34:16

I want to know. I want to know what they think. Well, we know what they think about the Beyonce. I know that that's for sure. But I want to know about the shabuzy Zach Top thing. Yeah, at least.

SPEAKER_06: 34:26

I mean you could have it. Let us know. Yeah, at least uh like a category split. They're so different, it's not even like if you had uh pop traditional. Yeah, which gives you gives you a lane because it is it's hard to to to vote on that's just there are two other ends of expected.

SPEAKER_10: 34:42

Heavy metal is heavy metal. There's no leniency there. Heavy metal's heavy metal.

SPEAKER_03: 34:47

Well, pop, but pop music, if you start talking about pop, rock is is broad. Rock's broad, pop's very broad. What's pop is pop is very broad.

SPEAKER_10: 34:54

You know, you can it's country used to be right here. Now country is like whatever you want it to be. And I don't know if that's good or bad. No, me either. I hate it.

SPEAKER_02: 35:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_10: 35:04

I think we have we should have our limits. I'm just I'm sorry, but I do. It's like we're we're allowing we were the first genre to uh to start asking pop artists to come do compilations and collaborations with us because we wanted to look cooler. It's country. We were the only ones that didn't. I think they're trying to just expand. They didn't call us. They didn't call country, they didn't call Nashville, hey, y'all come collab with us on this record. You know, they didn't do it. LA did not call Nashville. Hey, we want some of you guys to come out here and collab with us to make us look cool. They didn't need us, but Nashville got very desperate and started calling LA, hey, what do you think about this? What do you think about this? And once one of our country artists got big, they were like, Yeah, I'll go do that, just to make us look cool because we were that insecure. Tell me I'm wrong.

SPEAKER_06: 35:52

I think they've always done that like on the award shows and stuff. They'll always get try to get people from the pop world, Hollywood, stuff like that, to to cool up.

SPEAKER_10: 36:00

But we were the we I'm just all I'm saying is we were the first ones to do it.

SPEAKER_03: 36:03

Well, also, I also think a lot of that too is there was a time a few years ago, um, it felt like anyway, where the artists, the new artists we had in the genre didn't want to be country. Right. The artists wanted to be pop.

SPEAKER_02: 36:16

I know. That's a good point.

SPEAKER_03: 36:18

You know, that's what it felt like to me, like even when we were writing songs back then for some of these guys, like, okay, well, it felt like I'll use uh the FGL example real quick. When they came out, and I I love both those guys, honestly. I really do. They they came out opening for us, they were killing it on the first album. It was great. It was it country and rot mixed together, it was awesome. It was great, it was really good.

SPEAKER_09: 36:43

It was great.

SPEAKER_03: 36:44

But then, but then you know, saw Tyler a couple years after that, and he was like a hip-hop artist. So we I I don't I'm not saying I'm just using that as an example.

SPEAKER_10: 36:55

What is this? What is the what is the Glock pistol thing that everybody in country started doing? Yeah, like this. What is this? I don't know what this shit is. So that kind of like infected us. You know, LA infected Nashville with this. What is this? What are you doing? Why?

SPEAKER_03: 37:15

Why do you got to put this in the middle of the house? I know, but listen to me. But language, you should feel you should feel you should feel better though.

SPEAKER_10: 37:23

You got all these videos, everybody's doing these videos, and they're doing this. That's what they do. And it's so pathetic. It's so unauthentic and pathetic, it's ridiculous. Like they're in the gang, like they're in the blood.

SPEAKER_08: 37:34

Like in that blood crippled in the blood.

SPEAKER_06: 37:38

For all you people that are just listening to this podcast, I would urge you to watch that portion of it. That was pretty good.

SPEAKER_08: 37:45

That might be my favorite bitch for Neil to feel better. I think that's a gun. George Jones didn't go, yeah, he stopped loving her today, bitch. Really?

SPEAKER_03: 37:58

But now you gotta feel a little bit better though, because now I feel like the Zach Topps, I feel like people are starting to feel like it's cooler to be more country.

SPEAKER_10: 38:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03: 38:08

Which is still fine. It's just like end of the day, just put out good songs. Please. Put out good songs and and find your brand. And if that's Zach's brand, stick to that brand, and I feel like he will. Yeah. So that's great. Chris Stapleton's got his brand. Love it. Stick to it. I love, I love Chesney, I love McGraw. I love the main stage. Yeah. Because they've got their brand. It's like it's like Al Dean. Find our, and look, we're gonna do some experimenting along the way, but like, just do your thing and put out good stuff.

SPEAKER_10: 38:41

And then and then it's when's the last time you saw Chesney or McGraw do this. Never. It doesn't happen.

SPEAKER_03: 38:48

But but a lot of those guys that are doing that, like they're they'll they'll they'll they'll kind of come and go.

SPEAKER_10: 38:54

They all got the same swing too.

SPEAKER_03: 38:55

It's like you're right.

SPEAKER_08: 38:58

You know, they're doing the video, and it's like they tuck their pistol. What the get really? Get out of here.

SPEAKER_10: 39:08

Freaking go open up for Bad Bunny. Bad bunny. Bad bunny. Yeah, that's it.

SPEAKER_03: 39:14

Now you got me send me down the wormhole, Kurt. Oh my god. Please. No, I I I love I I do there's a lot of good stuff out there. I unfortunately, for some reason, in the country genre, mediocrity can rain.

SPEAKER_10: 39:32

It does. You're right.

SPEAKER_03: 39:33

And I don't understand. That's one thing I don't understand. I'm not gonna name my own.

SPEAKER_02: 39:38

But there's like there's like so don't make me name this. Yes, I do want to name it. Mediocrity has gotten away in all genres, but I think country used to always be quality music because of the songwriting. They didn't have it. Because of the lyrics. Now country has allowed mediocrity to have its day, I think. Where I think that's what used to separate us.

SPEAKER_03: 40:04

Yeah, I I really you know, we have a song on the radio right now. So I'm I've been listening to the radio a lot.

SPEAKER_10: 40:11

That's actually a good song, by the way. Thank you. That song right there is really good. But here's when we do have a song out there. That's a badass song.

SPEAKER_03: 40:18

I like to I and I and to be fair, I listen to the radio, country radio a lot because I want to know what's out there and what are we writing up against? What is it? And I was last week I I spent a good couple days like just listening, going back and forth between the two radio stations here in Nashville, and I was really stunned at some of the songs. I'm like, wow. No wonder our song's flying.

SPEAKER_08: 40:46

No, we're not gonna be aware of it.

SPEAKER_03: 40:47

Because no offense, I'm not saying we wrote the greatest song ever. I'm not saying that. I'm just saying I think sometimes people just want to feel something, and a lot of these songs, you can't, there's nothing to grab onto emotionally.

SPEAKER_10: 40:58

Let me ask this was y'all's song, this new single, was it the like the most added he's ever had ever in the first week of the year?

SPEAKER_02: 41:06

Not only was it the most added, and for people that don't know what that means, an ad means a radio station will put it into their playlist and start playing. So there's a hundred and I don't even know what there is now. 70 something, 1820, whatever radio stations that count as far as the charts. Yeah, reporting stations. And it was the most added song not only Jason has ever had, but the label has ever had. Isn't that amazing? Yes.

SPEAKER_10: 41:32

Now, now now let's let's talk about this for a second.

SPEAKER_02: 41:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_10: 41:36

After the backlash that try that in a small town got, and the and the you know what I'm saying? Yeah. Trying to kill it, and he comes out, and this and y'all that song y'all y'all wrote is freaking great. I love that freaking song. It was a great first choice. Thanks. It's amazing that he got the most added song he's ever had and that the labels ever had after all the backlash that he got year two ago. But you know what? You know, and I think about that. No, I mean it's like it's like But I think it helps. No, everybody's start everybody's starting to go, it's starting to switch a little bit, it's starting to change a little bit.

SPEAKER_03: 42:08

The thing about Jason, which you have to I've always appreciated, Kurt, and I know you do, and I think is that Jason's very authentic and true to himself, sticks by what he believes, and there's nothing wrong with sticking by what you believe. I think radio people that maybe had turned their back on him, I think they feel a little bad. And it was a wee and it was I do. I think I feel like you feel a little bad. I feel like it was it got a little out of hand.

SPEAKER_10: 42:35

And I like that. I like that theory.

SPEAKER_03: 42:37

I do. I just feel like it I feel I feel like the whole thing got a little out of hand as far as like the after that um try that stuff. I feel like I feel like it it got a i it it you know they made the song, not radio, but the media made that song into something that it wasn't, we all know this, we lived it. Which didn't even do anything but help it. I just feel like radio appreciates Jason, I guess what I'm trying to say. They do. He's so authentic and so rich. But he listened to the radio the other day, I was like, well, no wonder they all added it. They're looking for stuff to add. I'm telling you, it's it's it's it's some weird stuff out there right now. I think a lot of people are not sure what to write. I'm serious.

SPEAKER_10: 43:19

No, I think I think it's they're not sure what to put.

SPEAKER_03: 43:22

They don't know how to write. Well, I'm just saying that the artist, like whatever's going on, the the artist. AI is doing it all for them.

SPEAKER_10: 43:29

It's like that's that is that is absolutely taking off, and it's hotter than it's ever been for people that don't know how to that aren't creative. It's AI. Don't get me we don't have to go off on the AI train yet.

SPEAKER_06: 43:42

I don't know about that. I I don't want the listeners to think that that because I don't think you think that there's hit songwriters in in Nashville having really do their lyric.

SPEAKER_10: 43:54

No, I'm not gonna talk about people that don't know how to write a song. I'm talking about those people. They can put everything they have into the computer and get get out a finished product. All of them.

SPEAKER_03: 44:04

But as long as we have artists like Jason, I'm I'm I mean this really sincerely, there's always gonna be a home for great songs. I'm not saying it's gonna be that that way for all the artists, but you know, I love the Stapletons. And Kenny puts out great songs. Yeah, and I think you know I mean I really do think that there's a there's a top-level artistry that's going on. I think my biggest uh thing I've noticed one of the great things about country music to me in this genre is as an artist, you don't have to be a Jason Aldean or Luke Bryan or Kenny to have a good career. You can be a nice mid-level act and have a nice 20-year career, put out great songs, fly somewhat not under the radar, but in the middle. You guys know what I'm talking about. Yeah, like you know, we have our six or seven huge acts, and we have our 20 middle acts, and it's great. That's what's great about country music because the fans are so loyal, very loyal. So they'll grab on, for example, like Billy Currington, who we've known forever. Billy will come out with he's been out forever, comes out with a song every couple years, has a number one, yep, play shows. Just a just an example. Yeah, you know, absolutely I do love you Dirks. I've always loved Dirks, you know, but he's had a great career. Generally, I think he's he's tried to put out good songs and he's got his brand. He's experimented. Yeah, but every artist experiments, every and they're and we should be allowed to do that, but I I believe that some of the problem today is these new mid-level guy artists, they are putting out some really horrendous music. And I think I don't think they know who they are. Well, they they can't because all they worried about is views on TikTok.

SPEAKER_02: 45:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03: 45:52

So if they put something out, it's funny we should be talking about this. Because this week we're playing a show with none other than Warren Zeters, who you love that guy. Oh, yeah. It's not that I Y'all go hang out. He's probab he's probably a f a great fun hang.

SPEAKER_06: 46:06

I hope he doesn't Zach Brandian climb the fence. What are you gonna do?

SPEAKER_02: 46:09

And just to make people uh understand, we the tour is over. This is just an extra. Yeah, it's a it's a festival, it's a festival.

SPEAKER_03: 46:17

I think he's a victim of having to gather views and likes on TikTok versus great songs. So if you put a song out and he's in got a shirt off and he's singing it into a hairbrush. He's trying to make his label happy, he's trying to have a career. You can't fault him for that. But I think what happens is you start worrying more about views and likes than you do about lyrics and melody. Well, sure. Absolutely. And so and so you that that becomes the hit versus the song.

SPEAKER_10: 46:46

It's a temporary fame that they're gonna latch on to. Which is so temporary, but but it could be huge.

SPEAKER_03: 46:51

And they're just trying to have a career. There's no fault in that.

SPEAKER_02: 46:54

I get it. Our musical history is littered with that. Pop music, uh there's a reason people say one hit wonders, because there's a thousand of them.

SPEAKER_03: 47:03

And look, if we wrote a song, if the four of us wrote a song tomorrow, and Warren Zeters heard it and said, Man, I gotta cut that song. We're like, please do, bro.

SPEAKER_08: 47:12

We're gonna lay.

SPEAKER_03: 47:12

You're the best thing ever. Yeah, we're gonna. Put it out. Yeah, we're gonna of course. Everybody wants to make a living, and it's a brutal business to do it, trying to get through. It's not it's not his fault trying to that goes back to my point.

SPEAKER_10: 47:24

No, I was about to say that goes back to my point. I don't ever blame an artist for for their whatever happens to their career, how big they get, or how whatever. I never blame. They're just following their dream. That's they're just doing what they've always wanted to do. The powers that be that sign some of that shit that's out there, they're the ones to blink.

SPEAKER_03: 47:42

But they're signing it because they're signing it because maybe it is going viral to an extent.

SPEAKER_10: 47:48

Yeah, I get it. And that's that's what they're held to the wall for that. The powers that be are held to that standard now. I mean, that's the new standard right there. You know, how many views, how many TikTok, how many followers, how many streams, whatever it is. I get that.

SPEAKER_03: 48:02

Which I do think if you're I do have to raise a flag for uh Brook and Bow and Aldean's label Night Train. I I really do feel like there's still a place for artistry. I feel like they'll give a shot. We got John Morgan out there who's doesn't set the world on fire with social media. Yeah. One of the, in my opinion, one of the best singers we've got.

SPEAKER_10: 48:21

Absolutely. It's gonna take a solid writer, also. It's gonna take a look at the John Morgan's badass, man.

SPEAKER_03: 48:25

It's gonna take a a little bit different approach to get him uh because he's not gonna like dance in front of this truck with the headlights on.

SPEAKER_10: 48:34

No, he's not. He doesn't have to. He's like, he's like freaking Tom Petty, man. He's just laid back, he's gonna do what he does. And so my point is like Al Dean was he is exactly.

SPEAKER_03: 48:42

So my point, there's a place, if you find the right place, all you young artists out there who uh uh Ben.

SPEAKER_10: 48:48

Ben Gallagher. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_03: 48:50

We love we love we love Ben. Works his ass off.

SPEAKER_10: 48:52

Yep, he works his ass. Nobody works harder than that song bitch, and he wants to work even more.

SPEAKER_03: 48:57

And that's all you can that's all you can hope for. But like these guys, you know, they're not comfortable taking the route that Warren Zeters took, where you're just dial into the TikTok and use some sort of social media all the time. It's but but some of these guys, I mean, they they find it and it works and they do it, and that's provides kind of instant success.

SPEAKER_06: 49:19

Yeah, yeah, and to some to some degree, I mean, it it is just different, like some the artists that you mentioned earlier, like the Chesneys and McGraw and stuff like that, they had so much more time to build that brand out there. Yeah, but and now it's just it it's just different, you know, and they're forced to put out content, I mean, just so quick and so fast, and they don't have a a year and a half to write or two years to get everything right and do the whole album. I mean, I think they're there's a lot of pressure on the new new guys because the consumers, I mean, music is so disposable now. You know, it's like it's just it's just all the like you know the time and effort we all put into to doing that, and you get you know a 30-second listen. Like you can't have a complicated song, like like say, Oh, we're gonna write a song at the other day.

SPEAKER_02: 50:03

How many times said, should we save that for the second chorus? Or and you're like, you can't?

SPEAKER_06: 50:08

Yeah, or I said we'll we'll wait and we'll nail them on the bridge. We'll get but you can't do that. They won't listen all the way to the bridge.

SPEAKER_10: 50:14

And once you when once you realize I'm against bridges, and I will say I know and it works.

SPEAKER_03: 50:18

And I know we all know this, and and one of the things we enjoy, and actually I I enjoy having to to I know we all do, enjoy having to kind of bend a little bit. So, okay, you can still write a great song, you may have to hit it a little square on the head. You know what I mean? You may not be able to wait to flip it at the end of the break. You know, right? You may just have to hit it square in the head. You can still write a great song doing it, you just it's a different approach. But I think, you know, I enjoy the challenge of that, of like, okay, we talk about it all the time, like, you know, writing Song of the Year is something I I I would love to win that. That's the one it's it's hard. It's hard to do it.

SPEAKER_02: 51:00

I would just especially in today's climate.

SPEAKER_03: 51:02

It's really hard.

SPEAKER_10: 51:03

You have a song of the year in Ask Cap or any of the CMAs, ACM, do you have Song of the Year?

SPEAKER_06: 51:08

Well, I don't like to talk about it. You got nominations. Um But uh actually when the I have Song of the Year for, and I don't know if the if this award show is still around or not, but it's called the Music City TNN Music City Awards. Isn't that right? You said that was a long time ago. And at the time it was uh it was I count and it can't pretty much count but outside of that, just nominations and what song was it? Yeah. Uh he didn't have to be a good thing. Yeah, Neil does, right?

SPEAKER_10: 51:36

It got nominated for Song of the Year at the ACM as we went to Vegas and for nothing.

SPEAKER_06: 51:40

Didn't we lose up as an honor to get nominated though?

SPEAKER_03: 51:43

Song of the year. Right.

SPEAKER_10: 51:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03: 51:46

We lost Song of the Year to uh to oh, I forget. Uh are you talking about the Grammys?

SPEAKER_02: 51:55

Y'all don't lose I Didn't Love You was ever. Well we did. It was somebody oh it was um Brothers Osborne of a song that wasn't even a single. Yeah. I don't think we know why we lost. It's fine.

SPEAKER_10: 52:10

I we know why. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06: 52:12

Well, going back to to uh to me, um uh just uh nice Caleb. Just the other night they had and you mentioned Bart Herberson and NSAI, so they did have the Country Music Hall of Fame uh songwriter, Hall of Fame dinner.

SPEAKER_10: 52:27

I wasn't able to to go, and I don't think you were no I had a seat too because I made sure I won I was gonna y'all know the story. Yeah but I won't go into that another day, whatever.

SPEAKER_06: 52:37

Well, and so to so our good buddy Tony Martin, you know, he's a man just a brilliant uh songwriter, uh Jim Lauderdale. Yep. Um Steve was Bogey there, and Steve Bogart. Steve Bogart and uh a couple other people, but Paisley was there. Brad Paisley was there, he got uh you know, he was the art artist writer, and and Bill Anderson actually performed, he didn't have to be. Oh man, which which when I I learned that for many reasons I wanted I wanted to be there, but I couldn't. But I thought I thought that'd be really cool watching because I really love Bill Anderson. And he just said, did he whispering uh I don't I don't know. I imagine he did as uh Bill Anderson could see.

SPEAKER_03: 53:19

Can I tell you my Bill Anderson story, which you guys are part of?

SPEAKER_10: 53:22

Well, I had lunch with a dude like like six months ago in old Natchez all by accident.

SPEAKER_03: 53:27

I don't know if I ever told you this guy. So last year we're playing the event at the Ryman. The was it ten songs I wish I'd written event that we were lucky enough to win that and play, right? So remember we had that dressing room way upstairs? Yeah. So I don't know if only so before we play, I had to go upstairs to grab my jacket. Tell everybody where we're at first. The rhymen. We're at the ryman auditorium. The church. I'm gonna run up to grab my coat before we play, and we gotta play, and it's like it's like 10 minutes, but I'm like, I'm gonna grab my coat and I don't want to forget it, you know? And so I grab my coat and I come out and I start walking down the steps, and I get right behind whispering Bill, and I feel and he's he's very nice, and we talk for a second. And I'm looking at the time saying, ooh, they're coming to get us in like now.

SPEAKER_08: 54:25

Oh no.

SPEAKER_03: 54:26

And I'm and I'm behind him, and he starts talking to me, and something inside of me wouldn't let me pass him. So I was behind him the whole way down the steps, and it took a minute. Dude, it took between the chatting and just like he's moving a little slower down those steps, I barely made it. And I think I told I think I told you guys I got caught behind Whisperin' Bill at the riven.

SPEAKER_10: 54:51

And if the if the crowd out there would have known that you were talking to Whisper and Bill Anderson, it would have been final.

SPEAKER_03: 54:56

But it was so funny because you can be as late as you want. I could have easily gone around him, but I didn't feel right about blowing. I didn't, I didn't feel right about raised up right. We went we went step for step, me and Whisperin' Bill, down those five or flights of stairs. No, it's fantastic, dude. There's a and there's a lot of flights, easy, like four flights. Yeah.

SPEAKER_10: 55:15

Did you make him carry your bass?

SPEAKER_03: 55:17

No. I mean, you won't carry it. But I kept saying to myself, this is this is cool. I'm like, it's just me and Whisper and Bill walking on these steps. It's amazing. And he was that's like so cool, but I I couldn't pass him. I was like, I might be late. Yeah, you did you did the right thing. And I did of course I didn't have a tech that night to tune my bass, so there's that anyway.

SPEAKER_10: 55:36

I never got to spend any time with Bill Anderson, but it was like I was playing golf with Scott Hendricks at Old Natchez like six months ago. And we get done with our round, we go in the clubhouse, and Bill Anderson's in there. He'd been playing golf. And I'm like, oh my god, it's Bill Anderson. We wound up sitting down with him and having lunch. And had a I've had a beer with Bill Anderson, so I'm it's another bucket list thing that I can mark. That's awesome. He was fantastic. That's awesome. Yeah. He's a legend. Absolutely. If you're a songwriter in Ashville, that's like legendary.

SPEAKER_06: 56:07

And still writing. I know he's still doing it. Which is amazing.

SPEAKER_10: 56:10

I should be ashamed for wanting to retire. Do you know how old he is? I don't I don't know, but it's not.

SPEAKER_06: 56:14

He's gonna be 80s, I would have to do that.

SPEAKER_02: 56:16

I thought it was late.

SPEAKER_03: 56:18

Can you look it up? I thought it was 88, but I could be wrong.

SPEAKER_10: 56:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06: 56:25

He still loves it and worked hard. You know, 87 is still rocking. That's amazing. Looked like a million bucks. Looked like a million bucks.

SPEAKER_10: 56:36

It's crazy. Yeah. Amazing. The Opry, there's something about the Opry guys. Keeps you young.

SPEAKER_02: 56:43

The Opry keeps you young, man.

SPEAKER_10: 56:45

The Opry keeps you young.

SPEAKER_02: 56:46

Oh, I think we're yeah.

SPEAKER_10: 56:49

Fantastic.

SPEAKER_02: 56:50

What else you guys got?

SPEAKER_10: 56:52

Dude, let me tell you something. I could bring up more stuff tonight and we can save it for next time. But I've got so many things.

SPEAKER_11: 56:59

Well, yeah. Do you want to end on something good? No.

SPEAKER_10: 57:03

I want to end on something good, but I can't. There's nothing good. It's hard to find good things. It's hard to find. I want good news, and good news is boring.

SPEAKER_02: 57:12

Do you think we're ever going to get good news? Or are we just is it just a further and further dividing of the country?

SPEAKER_03: 57:19

Is there any I think I think we've been here we have. We've been here before in this country, haven't we?

SPEAKER_10: 57:26

I don't know if we've been here. No, we have not been there.

SPEAKER_03: 57:30

But I wasn't allowed, but wasn't it, wasn't it, there was times in in this country when there was division, maybe not the exact same division.

SPEAKER_02: 57:38

But not I don't think it was anything like this. Obviously, I can't speak to it. Yeah, I don't know either. Obviously.

SPEAKER_10: 57:46

No, absolutely. There's nothing like this divide. You know, I laugh when I say when I hear people go, why can't we just all come together? And I I I literally fall back in my recliner all the way back laughing at that comment. Why can't we all just come together? No, it's a spiritual battle. We're not going to come together. The divide is keeps doing this. It's like I said before, Jesus didn't come here to unite. He came here to divide. And that's exactly what's going on right now. The divide is so wide, you better pick a side.

SPEAKER_06: 58:18

I just feel like we still have to talk about that one time because you've said that twice that Jesus came to divide. Yes. But that that goes against what what I know about the Bible.

SPEAKER_10: 58:31

No, we'll look it up in scripture and I'll show you.

SPEAKER_06: 58:33

He to seek and save the lost. He wants everybody to come to repentance.

SPEAKER_10: 58:36

He would love that, but it ain't gonna happen. He knows it ain't gonna happen.

SPEAKER_06: 58:40

There are Democrats in heaven right now. I know it surprises you. There may be Democrats, there ain't no liberals going to heaven.

SPEAKER_10: 58:46

I can tell you right now.

SPEAKER_06: 58:47

If they stick to their guns, I know this. They're not going. When we get to heaven, we're gonna be surprised to see some people and they're gonna be surprised to see us.

SPEAKER_10: 58:56

You're gonna have to elaborate on that. And we can talk about this next time, but you're gonna have to elaborate on that. I think it's a good idea. You cannot be pro-abortion and stick to your guns and think you're and think you're gonna get in because that's because that that doesn't that doesn't happen, dude. It doesn't happen. You can't you can't have it all. Then then it's a free-for-all, then. If you say that liberals are gonna be in heaven the way they believe, then shit, I can do anything I want to. There's no rules, there's no biblical rules, there's no spiritual law, there's nothing. I can it's just a free-for-all. Just because of God's grace, I'm gonna get into heaven. I can do anything I want to.

SPEAKER_06: 59:35

Well, no, that's abusing grace.

SPEAKER_10: 59:37

Like you're yeah, and it that's that's a whole nother. You know, people it's a big topic. Yeah, we can and we can talk about it next time, but and there's I don't see how the liberal, the Christian liberal is such an oxymoron to me, it's not even funny. I don't I don't get that.

SPEAKER_06: 59:54

And as far as the far left ones, I I would agree, but but but uh anyway, it is not a good thing.

SPEAKER_10: 59:59

You'll have to you'll have to prove you'll have to prove it to me.

SPEAKER_02: 1:00:01

You'll have to show me, you'll have to prove it to me because Alright, you guys bring your Bibles next week and we'll Yeah, the little John McCarthy Bible.

SPEAKER_10: 1:00:09

No, there's supposed to be a divide right now. Yeah. And and it's happening. You're seeing it, right? I do I I do.

SPEAKER_03: 1:00:15

Wait a minute. Yeah, but we should all be really concerned about that because unfortunately, you know, we're older guys in our fifties and we're soaked up in it. And what I hate about it is watching our kids have to deal with it. And it's awful selfish, awful. Selfish of everybody to just assume that your kids aren't being affected by all of it.

SPEAKER_10: 1:00:38

Yeah, but it it all depends on what kind of parent you're gonna be.

SPEAKER_03: 1:00:40

Well, I mean you can it all comes down to that. Here's the bottom line. Like you we're all great parents. You try to do the best job you can do. Your kids are exposed to division and hate.

SPEAKER_02: 1:00:53

It's true.

SPEAKER_03: 1:00:53

And it and it it's having an effect on them because at some point we have to find a path to come back together because it's just affecting our kids. You're right.

SPEAKER_02: 1:01:04

And I know a lot of great parents, biblical Christian parents whose kids have fallen, and it isn't because of the parent.

SPEAKER_10: 1:01:11

Yeah, right. I'm so I'm I'm really, really blessed that both of my girls uh have turned out the way they have and believe the way they do and think the way they do. And I attribute it to backing from my wife. I didn't ask them what they wanted, I told them what they were gonna be before they knew what they wanted. This was before they knew what they wanted. Well, of course. I told them, I said this this is what our family's about, this is what how we were, this is what we're gonna do, and this is how we're gonna be raised, and this is what we believe. I didn't say, I didn't give them a free choice until they were adults. Once they're out of my house, the the stage has already been set for them. And and you pray and hope that it takes. And thank God that's a good thing. That's what you do as that's what you do as parents, but you gotta but I had common sense and they saw that in me when I came up. They saw the way I treated my wife, they saw that I understand their mother.

SPEAKER_03: 1:02:05

But listen for one second. Go ahead. That's what we all do. Proud parents, you raise your kids with God. But luckily, you and luckily my son's older, and your girls are older. Yes. I'm talking about the kids that are 13, 14, 15 right now. It wasn't like this 15 years ago. There's a there's a there's a social media problem, it's it's poisoning the kids. It really is. It's them at this point of their life having to figure out how to balance what you know what they know is right or wrong, but they're still exposed to things that I wasn't exposed to at being 14, you know. Um that that you know, even my son wasn't he's eighteen, so he's a little older, but he can it's easier for him that he's you know, he he they both know right or wrong, but you don't they're exposed to it and you don't you hate that. Yes, yeah, you you hate that they're what's when when Lucy's five or six, what's it gonna be like? Hopefully way smoother. You hope I don't know. I hope I I'm with you, Kurt. Like, is it I I thought it was smoothing out. I really did. You know, and then it just the band-aid got ripped off again.

SPEAKER_10: 1:03:17

I totally get all that. We were I was exposed. I I look at the uh the the uh what they're what what they're uh exposed to, what all the kids are this next generation are exposed to, what they have uh access to with these things right here. It's really I'm holding up a phone. Is this a cell phone?

SPEAKER_06: 1:03:39

Yeah, in case in case you're listening and not watching.

SPEAKER_10: 1:03:41

I I think back to when I was young, I'm like I was exposed to a lot of things too. And I remember having the decision to make I probably shouldn't do that, but I want to do that. And sometimes I did, but I had a guilty conscience, and the only the only reason that I had a guilty conscience about it was because of my parents. That's the only reason. I wasn't given I wasn't given the freedom to think like I wanted to think at 14 years old. I wasn't it is it is different though. It is hey, uh you know what you can see vile stuff on this. We had penthouse phone.

SPEAKER_03: 1:04:17

Oh, that was way different, Neil. We we had we had not even close. You had to go, you had to go. I had a fold-out Playboy, one center folded center food, one picture stuffed into a puzzle box. Yes. That's it. And you stared and you stared at it. That's being that's being a 14-year-old boy. You're there is it's you can't even compare what these kids have to get through and what they're exposed to to what we did.

SPEAKER_10: 1:04:46

I'm just I'm just talking I'm just talking about I'm not talking about I'm not talking about I'm not A-B and Playboy to what's on social media. I'm talking about when it comes down to a decision to make, should I be looking at this or not? That's all I'm talking about. I'm however vile it is, whether it's on a phone or in a Playboy, I don't care. National Geographic, I don't care. Should I be looking at this? What would mom think if she knew I was looking at this? What would God think if I'm looking at this? That was instilled in me at an early age. And it stuck, thank God it stuck in my head. I'm like, even though I wanted to, I could get hooked on porn just like that. Just like any 14-year-old kid today can get hooked on porn just like that. And it's and it's it's a battle. It's not it, I I hear what you're saying, it's different because they can see it visually, the the more violid it's the whole thing.

SPEAKER_03: 1:05:38

Well, it's more just the whole, it's more just a lot of people.

SPEAKER_10: 1:05:40

But it it all at the end of the day, no matter what you're looking at, it comes down to a decision. Do I need to be looking at this and infecting my brain with this or not? It comes down to that at the end of the day. No matter how violent it is. I agree.

SPEAKER_02: 1:05:53

And this isn't a porn conversation. No, no, no, it's not at all. It's you everything the evilness looks you in the eye and you don't know it's evil sometimes when you're 14. So it that it is uh it's a different road to navigate. You can't you can't walk. But I do agree with you. Of course, as parents, you you can only lay the foundation and pray that they take that.

SPEAKER_10: 1:06:18

You know what I told my girls? I I told them, I was like, I was like, look, I was faced with the exact same temptations that you are at your age. It's no different. My parents told me the exact same thing. It just gets worse. We have more access to vile depraved stuff on these things than we ever did, for sure. I get that. But it's it's no different. It's it's all about like if they know that you're on the same playing field that they were, and that you've experienced the exact same things that they've that they're experiencing now, then they can relate to you. And then then then it makes their decision making a little bit easier.

SPEAKER_03: 1:06:58

I'm not worried about my kids' decision making at all, just to be clear. As a matter of fact. No, no. As a matter of fact probably what I'm most proud of. What I'm what I'm upset at is society and how we don't seem to care about all the hatred like it's not affecting our kids, and then you the the parents can is i I've seen it where parents they're raising their kids they want to be hated. They want to be their friends and not their parents. And it's it's it's it's really I just it breaks my heart to see what these kids have to hear and see and not we did not have to go through it. You didn't go through it we didn't go through anything like this and uh the Kurt's son's thirteen. I mean they shouldn't be thinking about politics or thinking about anything except just being 13.

SPEAKER_06: 1:07:57

Yeah. Yeah, it's not I mean to to me, Neil, it's not and I hear what you're saying, and I both of your girls are amazing. Like the old guys used to say, hey, if you live to be 25, you got a good chance of living to have having a ripe being a ripe old age, you know, so you didn't do anything stupid and get killed or something like that. But but like this day and time, with with all the socials and everything, in every way for a kid, it is more challenging. Like the Lord out Lord lead me not to temptation. There there's more temptation now than there ever has been. Absolutely. You know, like we had we we may not have messed up as much, it's only because we didn't have as much opportunity. Yeah. I think. I mean, thank God. I I'd I'm glad I grew up when I did. There's no telling. There's no telling what I would have done. I couldn't have run for politics.

SPEAKER_10: 1:08:42

I had plenty.

SPEAKER_06: 1:08:43

But I'm just saying, part of your girls growing up unscathed and they're and they're adults and they're married. By the way, but my my saying is a lot of that, you're blessed that that that that happened. Absolutely. Good raising, but you're also really blessed because the same parents, if you'd had three kids, one of them may not be here, one of them could be uh think completely different than you, and you raise them the exact same. You know, I'd so I just I just think and I know you're a good dad and Lana's a good uh mom and all that, but sometimes a kid is just gonna do what they're gonna do and they make mistakes.

SPEAKER_02: 1:09:17

And it just comes in disguise to me. It's it's not so apparent what is evil these days. Uh there's like the thing on Netflix now. Have you guys hear about this? It's a cartoon, it's a kid's show, and it's basically glorifying transgender. And it's it's like I wouldn't even think to think and look at that. Uh but you have to as a parent. It's just there's more obstacles and there's more things being thrown at the kids. Yeah, we didn't have furries in school. No.

SPEAKER_06: 1:09:48

Well, that and the depression and the anxiety, like at a kid, and it's you know and you have AI that's talking kids into kids. AI is actually really scary. Like it's it's being a guy. Because that is the devil industry.

SPEAKER_10: 1:09:59

I mean, that's it's not yeah, anyway, it's a if you can't take this little bitty four by six piece of square technology and take it away from you. If you don't have the power to take that away and limit that from your kid and and use it for something that's beneficial.

SPEAKER_02: 1:10:18

Well, I agree. The the phone, I agree with the phone, but it's everywhere. It's it's on TV, it's on your phone, it's in the schools, kids, you know, everything.

SPEAKER_10: 1:10:26

These kids today, this is their life right here. Yeah. And some adults too. I do agree with that. I mean, it has become, and it's like there's there has I mean, you gotta step in at some point, go, get your ass out. Boys should be outside running and playing till they're sweating and muddy, till they can't, till their tongues are hanging out. That's what we used to do. That's what boys still need to be doing. Jordan Peterson said it. You know, he's like, he's like, these boys today are so they're feminized and they're and they're hypnotized by this right here because their parents aren't making them go be boys. Just go be just go be a boy. Go outside and tear shit up. Go get muddy. Go and go, you know what I'm saying? Yeah. And they're not, they're they're hooked on this stuff and they're hooked on gaming, they're hooked on all this stuff, and and that's all that all comes from parent parenting. All of it. In my opinion. Tell me I'm wrong.

SPEAKER_03: 1:11:26

Well, there's all I mean, look, life changes. I mean, things change. You know, it's like you go, okay, well, the old days people didn't have TVs and you had one TV in the house. Then everybody had TVs in their bedroom. Life changes. Then you have video games, video games come and they weren't there, now they're here. I remember when I started playing video games, I wanted to play video games. Yeah. I didn't do that. And then I started playing guitar and bass, and it's like it worked out, but like everything changes. Life changes. Like, you I mean, you can't compare, it's just different challenges. The phone's a challenge. Your kid may not, you can limit the kid's phone.

SPEAKER_10: 1:12:00

You can't.

SPEAKER_03: 1:12:01

You can limit it and they'll go to their friend's phone.

SPEAKER_10: 1:12:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03: 1:12:04

And you start limiting, okay. Well, you can't hang out with your friend anymore. Probably go to his spin at his house and get his phone. That's right.

SPEAKER_10: 1:12:09

This has become a pacifier for a lot of parents. Yeah. Just give it to them. And they get they're giving them to them at four years old. I mean, it's like it's that's insane. Yeah. For a four-year-old to have this right here. That's insane. That's absolutely insane. And it's a pacifier, so they don't have to deal with it.

SPEAKER_03: 1:12:29

I remember when I I mean, we only had one TV in the house growing up, and then and it was great. We'd all watch TV shows together. Yeah. And it was a Thursday nights, Friday, it was a big night. And you got everybody sat there and you watched it. And then, you know, you then I got a little TV, then I got video games, and you life changes and technology changes. And you remember how to have a phone in your room. Remember when I got a phone in my room. That was a big deal. Because there was only one phone. Now I got a phone in your room. Oh, yeah. I remember being 13 or so, got a phone, a phone line. It's like, wow, this is amazing. You can't add money. You know.

unknown: 1:13:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03: 1:13:07

But it was one line so you could pick it up and hear everybody. Right. But I just think everything changes. It's just it's not as innocent as it was.

SPEAKER_10: 1:13:15

Life, I mean, I want more boys to go outside and go kill shit. I think there's a lot of that. I think that's just go freaking. Talking about animal hunt, wild animals. Go get a hunting license and freaking dads. Go take your boys hunting. Get them outside. Let them see what God created. Go let them kill stuff. You know, and bring it home and eat it. It's so grounding, it's unbelievable.

SPEAKER_02: 1:13:40

Speaking of that, when are you going to bring us some venison?

SPEAKER_10: 1:13:43

I'll make some I'll make some more jerky, venison jerky for you guys. Okay. I'll bring you some. It's Christmas time's coming up. I'll bring you some God sustenance. You guys ready for the holidays?

SPEAKER_02: 1:13:52

I am doing this. Almost ready for the Christmas episode. Amen.

SPEAKER_06: 1:14:00

I only made Halloween stuff up yet.

SPEAKER_02: 1:14:02

Jim Bean. What's wrong with you?

SPEAKER_08: 1:14:03

Eggnog.

SPEAKER_03: 1:14:04

That's what we'll do. Oh, I can't wait for that. Oh, it's coming. We're close. Yeah. I may eat more than I ever eaten on Thanksgiving this year. I may set my own record.

SPEAKER_10: 1:14:14

I want to see you with a gut.

SPEAKER_06: 1:14:15

Oh, yeah. You're supposed to be getting into your weight gaining stage here soon. You know what's unfortunate?

SPEAKER_02: 1:14:21

I didn't get to my weight loss stage this year. You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_03: 1:14:26

You know what's unfortunate is that we keep jumping, Kirk. We've got all kinds of things still going on. Usually this time of year, like we just close up and we can like just start ordering pizzas. And this we got showing. Pizza sounds good. Let's order pizza on the next podcast.

SPEAKER_10: 1:14:41

I'll bring it. I'll bring it in. It'd be amazing. I'll bring the pizza in. We're gonna do it. We're gonna do it.

SPEAKER_02: 1:14:46

Let's uh let's thank Patriot Mobile. Uh go to them. If you go to Patriot Mobile, put in the code SMALTON, they'll give you a free month of service. Great people, great service. Do it. Great people.

SPEAKER_03: 1:14:58

Come on.

SPEAKER_02: 1:14:59

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_03: 1:15:00

You know what? I will miss seeing the Patriot Mobile guys. I know. They've been fantastic. They are the I talk about great people. They're front huggers. They're gonna bring it around. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 1:15:15

They're amazing people. They are. Let's go to original Glory Beard. Those guys have been fantastic to us. And you don't even have to sell it to people. Go get beer. Go get original glory beer. Who doesn't like more American than beer? We're involved with so many Patriots it's not even funny. And then we got give me what the Espaces. Espaces has been incredible.

SPEAKER_06: 1:15:37

We love the studio, love the space. I mean, it's it's it's it's really cool. They've been really good to us. Pearl's been great to us. And uh we're thankful.

SPEAKER_02: 1:15:45

We hope you guys like the studio. I think it's I think it's been a hit.

SPEAKER_10: 1:15:48

I've missed you guys. I love you guys, and I've missed you guys.

SPEAKER_02: 1:15:51

You knew you had unmatched energy tonight.

SPEAKER_10: 1:15:55

It's been a long week, and we'll talk about it later.

SPEAKER_02: 1:15:57

All right. Let's do it.

SPEAKER_10: 1:15:58

I had a lot. I got more too.

SPEAKER_02: 1:16:00

We'll get to the on the bonus episode. Okay. All right. Thanks for listening, everybody. Hey, uh, watch on YouTube, download, do that for us, leave us a comment. Five stars. We appreciate you guys. Thanks for listening. So try that in a small town podcast.