Turning Rough Ideas Into Records :: Ep 101 Try That In a Small Town Podcast

A great country song doesn’t start as a “record” it starts as a messy idea, a half-formed hook, and a room full of people willing to grind. We’re fresh off a write and still riding that song high, so we get real about why we keep our circle tight, how we know when something is truly an Aldean pitch, and why we’d rather walk away than finish a song that doesn’t feel like it has a life.

Then we go full Nashville inside baseball: demo production, track building, mix tweaks, and the pressure of sending a finished demo to an artist who can say yes or kill it in three and a half minutes. We also talk about why production can absolutely change outcomes in publisher meetings, why some modern country ends up sounding like wallpaper, and what it looks like when an artist has a signature sound that cuts through.

From CRS and radio suites to a new wave of young country guitar slingers bringing shuffles and real playing back, we hit the state of country music today. Plus: a near-miss on the interstate that shook us up, our “idiots” list for airport drop-offs, and the most awkward cold-call guest invite ever when Philip Rivers actually answers the phone. Big news too: we’re teaming up with Crossover Media Group, and we tease a return from the man himself, Jason Aldean.

If you laughed, learned something, or just like the chaos, subscribe, share the show with a friend, and leave a review so more people can find us.

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Transcript

Cold Open And Studio Vibes

SPEAKER_09 0:29

I've had one one guy uh fall asleep during a right and it was a long time ago. It was me and Ashley Gordley in there and he was an artist and uh he came in and he brought a he brought a salad and a phone and uh and he he laid down on the couch. You know? No, I haven't heard. No, I don't think he does.

SPEAKER_02 0:49

Please say who it is. I have seen a new wave of country, these some of these young, like young country artists, guitar slingers, that they can play their butts off and they s and they're and they're they're locked, they're like Haggard fans.

SPEAKER_09 1:03

Yeah, you mentioned one that that cut an older song of yours that was written like Bone Country, right? And then you guys are just right now.

SPEAKER_02 1:09

I mean it's the countryest thing I've ever written in my life, and we said that song will never get cut, and this kid freaking cut it last week. What?

SPEAKER_07 1:17

Fewer miles down the road, you might have seen me on the side of the road. Well, you were definitely doing the speed limit when I passed you. I am the very safe driver right now in a Maserati.

SPEAKER_09 1:26

Yeah. This was after you and Kurt both uh cut through a condo complex that you don't live in.

SPEAKER_05 1:32

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 1:37

Try that in a small town podcast. Big yeah.

Writing A Song With The Crew

SPEAKER_10 1:46

Alright, here we are. Try that in a small town podcast for episode 101. 101 Dalmation. 101. Big things coming though. Yeah, yeah. Very big things coming. Coming here from the Patriot Mobile Studios, powered by eSpaces. Oh, by the way. I got some I'm killing two in one here. ESpaces with some Peacemaker coffee. Mm-mm. Nice work. That's a Peacemaker and Crown? Maybe. Perhaps. If they sponsored.

SPEAKER_02 2:17

I get my Peacemaker mug with some.

SPEAKER_10 2:19

Those are great, by the way, man.

SPEAKER_07 2:20

And then I love the I brought mine to our right today that we had today. I did see that. A glorious day we had today. I'm not gonna tell you what's in there.

SPEAKER_10 2:28

Thrash, Kalo, TK, I'm Kurt. Of course, this is a try on a small town podcast. Totally, you did. You brought it up. Maybe we should talk about that a little bit. We had a great day today.

SPEAKER_07 2:37

I'm on a song high. Song high. It's a great day. We wrote together today, got a killer song. I already texted Al Dean about it. I'm like, Really? You gave him a hit. Yeah, when I I think I think when we get this one completely done, it's gonna be really cool. I just have that feeling. I don't think it is. I know it is. Yeah, I like it. It felt good. It was fun to get in the room and it was fun.

SPEAKER_02 3:01

It's a good little idea that Caleb brought in. It was. We won't reveal it, but it's gonna be a good one. No, we can't.

SPEAKER_09 3:07

It's gonna be a good one. Yeah. Very exciting. Yeah, it was fun for all four of us. That's it's been a minute since we've been in the same room at the same time. I know it's great. Other than a worked on it, yeah. Well, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:17

It felt good to get back in the studio. Yeah, it felt great.

SPEAKER_07 3:21

It also felt great. You know, people ask all the time, like, why don't you you know, because we write with only a small group of people, you guys and a couple others, and they're like, why don't you guys write with different people? And we're like, no.

SPEAKER_01 3:33

Why?

SPEAKER_07 3:33

Why? We love writing with people who we love.

SPEAKER_10 3:36

Well, Klo, you do. You kind of venture out. Klo ventures out.

SPEAKER_09 3:40

I do. I've been writing with a lot of, you know, and well, because you know, I was with a new publisher now three years ago, but but you you just start writing with with who they put you with, and there's so many new people, there's so many talented people, and actually last couple weeks I've written with um like yesterday, it was David Lee Murphy and uh Justin Weaver, which I've never uh Justin write for you guys, I believe, right? Yeah. Uh anyway, I'd never written with him, and he's a great guy and uh great bartender, actually. It was it was a bad week.

SPEAKER_10 4:08

He is a fabulous.

SPEAKER_09 4:10

Bad week for me to uh stop drinking because uh we love weaver.

SPEAKER_07 4:13

He he's part of our triple play team, you know.

SPEAKER_09 4:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 4:17

Um was it a good song?

SPEAKER_09 4:19

Yeah, it's cool. We're not we're not done with it yet. But uh anyway, just and then I didn't sound good. No, no, it's no, it's great. It's not an Aldine. It's not an Aldeen pitch. Oh, okay. So uh but yeah, but uh but yeah, I think it'll be How's it not an Aldean pitch?

SPEAKER_02 4:33

It's just not let's tell the listeners the difference between an Aldean pitch and a non-Aldean pitch.

SPEAKER_10 4:38

Good idea.

SPEAKER_09 4:39

Good song versus uh It just wasn't uh it's it's more it's more fun, borderline, you know, has too much of a smile, not not tough enough lyric uh for me for me to say, hey, I think this is an Aldeen thing. Right.

SPEAKER_10 4:53

With David Lee Murphy, it's of all people. Yeah.

SPEAKER_09 4:57

It's more it leaned more toward uh like like Kenny, but but maybe not even Kenny, maybe a little too light, maybe too on the nose for Kenny, but it was kind of you know kind of beachy, just drink fun song, you know. Oh but uh but yeah, I write with the a lot of new guys. There's a uh kid named Luke Stevens, just wrote with him, um Damon Osborne, Nick Walsh. Nick Walsh is great. Uh I mean he's he's not a new guy or anything like that, but it is fun writing with those guys because there's just there's so many people, and there's people that have had hits on the radio that you you hear their name or maybe you don't hear their name, and you Google them, you look them up, say, Oh, who the heck's that? And then you look them up and say, Oh, okay, they've got uh uh two songs on the charts right now, which I don't have, so this ought to be a good thing. So uh so it's always it's always good. I don't know, it's kind of good for me because it's uh it's interesting, I think, too. I was I'm glad you brought that up because the I think the new guys have they have a lot more uh um not courage but like uh confidence in in their abilities than than I certainly did getting in a room with people who've had success.

SPEAKER_10 6:03

Good confidence or false confidence?

SPEAKER_09 6:05

Most of the time it's good, it's it's good, you know, and it it catches me a little bit off guard sometimes, you know, because you'll throw something out.

SPEAKER_02 6:11

Did this new kid know your track record?

SPEAKER_09 6:14

Yeah, and and and actually the people I've been writing with as of late have been you know very respectful and they know their they know their music and their and I'm they did their research before they got there. That and I've ran into a couple of them that that really know country music, like they like old school country music. Yeah and and uh which that's been kind of fun.

SPEAKER_07 6:32

So yeah, it's and it's not really the anti spreading the you know getting out there more. It's just we're so busy and when we write, we're so zoned in on what we're doing, and we're so locked in right now in what we're doing that we we just have to make every day count. Because you know, when we after we write something we love, it's not over for us. Like, you know, Kurt starts building this amazing track, we gotta put parts on it, and it it's not just like a day's work, it's like it's days, many days of work. And you go through the mix and you get all of it done, and you and for us, like we when we send it to Jason, it's that moment where is he gonna like this or maybe he won't, and then then all that work is you know, you kind of feel like, okay, though that's a bummer, you know, because you put a week's worth of work into it or so of time. And um I know it turns into your baby and you're all fired up and it's done.

SPEAKER_02 7:27

I know and then in three and a half minutes, you're let down.

SPEAKER_07 7:32

You know what we do, honestly. And uh it's funny because um uh you know, a guy that we know and love, Rodney Clausen actually uh I'm about to tell you this, it was in Australia and Rodney uh texted me. He goes, Hey, whatever happened in the song we were it's a song we wrote three years ago or so that that Neikurt and John Morgan and Rodney wrote. And and Rodney's an incredible writer. Oh yeah. And I a great guy and killer singer, cool vibe, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_10 8:02

Absolutely. Was it something we didn't finish?

SPEAKER_07 8:04

Yeah, and and it's just like we didn't finish it because it it didn't feel like a hit. And unfortunately, that's part of writing with us. We we actually tell people now, like, look, if you don't get the demo, there's a reason. We probably didn't think it was it didn't get in the priority list. Right, because we believe I I I think the difference is like when we do these what we call demos of the initial song we write, it's not like we just hobble, you know, cobble them together. It's like a lot of parts, a lot of thought goes on.

SPEAKER_02 8:36

But I need I need to tell everybody though, it's like you take a you take just a rough work tape that we recorded on our phone into you guys, and people gotta understand this thing doesn't have a lot of life in the beginning. I mean the lyric could be solid as a rock, and the and the it's so rough because if I'm playing it, it's gonna be really rough because I'm not a guitar player per se, you know, and it's like and then but when it gets to you guys, well, I and we come in for the first time and hear that thing come to life, it is inspirational. And it's like everything sounds like a hit when it gets too much.

SPEAKER_10 9:09

It's nice of you to say, but I think when Tully and I like say if you do send a verse or something like that, there is life there. Oh, yeah. And we you know we can hear that and go, oh, this is this.

SPEAKER_02 9:20

Yeah, you don't have to have the you know the whole kit and caboodle sent to you.

SPEAKER_01 9:25

It's like you get the you get the idea, it's like especially what we do with Jason, and that's and that's what we and that's what we do.

SPEAKER_07 9:39

Like we we write we we love it. Like we're in a band and we write for our band, we write for our for Jason for our artists, and it's very liberating you know what he likes. And and so we do have an idea when it comes with Jason, you need a strong lyric, a cool hook, a great melody phrasing, but you also need other musical hooks. I know it's and you can't just finish a demo in a day and call it good and you guys are so good with that stuff too. And some artists some artists are different. Some artists, you know, they're they're different where they can they don't need all the musical hooks, but that's what we love. And a guitar hook sometimes is as important as a lyric. You know, you need all those things together. You know, you can have a great lyric, but if there's no musical hooks, it doesn't work together to make this perfect kind of combination, right? And that's what we work for in every song. So honestly, we're better about it now because we really are comfortable just writing with our with our crew. But a few years ago, you know, we'd write, and then a lot of like I say what, 95% of the songs didn't get done because we're like, not a hit, wasted day. Very upsetting. Well, I mean you kind of know.

SPEAKER_02 10:50

I mean you can kind of tell that day when you're on it and you're like, you know.

SPEAKER_10 10:54

You have the same thing. It's like you know when you're on something. That's right. You know. Absolutely, yeah. And what for the most part, we're not here to meet our quota. For people that don't know, you have to write a certain amount of songs every year.

SPEAKER_09 11:09

But most most everybody's gonna be.

SPEAKER_02 11:12

No, you're not. We're tweaking that.

SPEAKER_10 11:15

But listen, most people have and you have to finish songs. Like for the most part, we don't I know Kaylee, you do just because you're with a new publisher, but so why finish a song that isn't going to have a life or a life, you know, that you think it can have. So we we do that or we did that a lot, be like, eh. This one ain't it.

SPEAKER_09 11:38

Well, just to give uh props while we're on it, I was reminded yesterday um of how talented well all all of you guys are, but it was a song that we had had going a good while ago, but we just finished and got all the parts on it, all that stuff. Or I think you've just done the vocal or something, and and and I've been getting so used to like like end-of-the-day demos, like like a Suno thing, you know, or whatever. And you drive home and you listen to it, and you got an artist vocal on there, and it sounds pretty good, you know. And uh so they oh cool, there's a kind of a workhorse day, sounds good, we'll see what happens. But then uh yesterday, for the first time in a long time, I got a real demo that sounded like a record from from you guys, you know, from from Curtin Tulley. Y'all have been building it and working on it and everything, and with Neil's vocal. And I listened to that, and and and it keep in mind, guys, that listeners out there, this is just a demo. There's no money that's gonna come off this demo, but I called every one of them to tell them what a great job they did on it and writing it and recording it and everything else, because I was so excited because of how fantastic it sounded.

SPEAKER_10 12:37

So well, that's nice of you to say. I mean, obviously we all care a lot, and I think I was saying that. Everybody puts so much care into the song, and if we're not doing that with the demo, we're doing a disservice to the song.

SPEAKER_02 12:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_10 12:53

So it you know, I think we all feel like that. We're not there to just uh punch the clock.

SPEAKER_02 12:58

No, I love the process too. The process is what's so much fun. It's funny as long as long as we've all been doing. And I hate to I hate the wait. I hate to wait on getting the mix back. Well, yeah, and then I just I I can't stand it. I still get the first room.

Building Demos That Feel Like Records

SPEAKER_07 13:11

I still get that. Uh and and and Patrick, your cousin, Patrick, Patrick Athasha, did a does a great job mixing all the stuff that we do. The demos. Yeah. And I still get that nervous feeling when I open a first mix. Like, okay, is it gonna be close? Are we with gonna be within even though I know when Patrick sends it, it's gonna be pretty good. Yeah. But I still can't help myself but to get that first initial nervous like hit play. Is a spirit there? Are we miles away?

SPEAKER_02 13:41

And then that's the producer in you, man. I mean, that's taking the that's just that's loving what you do. And yeah, and you were you that's just not something to learn. You were born with that stuff, man. Yeah. Both of you guys were.

SPEAKER_10 13:52

Do you think it matters what's what's that?

SPEAKER_02 13:54

It does to us.

SPEAKER_10 13:55

The production of a demo.

SPEAKER_02 13:56

Uh I don't I don't think yeah, oh absolutely. Well you know better than anyone that matters.

SPEAKER_10 14:00

Well, I know what you're saying. I know I know exactly what you're talking about.

SPEAKER_02 14:06

Does it really matter in the big Yeah? But it really does. It's I talked to Pat about it. I'm like, um Pat, are you ever done with the mix? He's never done with the mix. Even when he's done with the mix, he's not done with the mix. Because you could always tweak it. We could always tweak on it. I could always just like this last thing. I wanted to go back in and resing it. But it sounds good the way it is. Yeah, but that's I I was hearing things, I'm like, God damn, what a song.

SPEAKER_07 14:28

But that's what I love about everybody at this table though. Like, and I tell everybody, especially you, Neil, like like I tell everybody, like, you know, the success you had and what uh your voice and what yeah, all the great things you've you've done. You've done amazing things too, obviously. We all have, but like you know, I love your willingness to grind. Because there's one of my biggest things, one of the reasons we stopped writing with people, a lot of people, was we show up, you know, we show up, it's a serious business for us. Like we show up to write, and and there was I remember a couple of times we'd write with this particular writer and they show up in a in a golfing outfit you know 1045, and that's fine. But then I know what we're talking about, Neil? No, no, no, no, it's not it's not it's not that wear golf clubs, it's never that they're wearing it. The small channel was started in golf clothes. I know, I know, I know 100% what's gonna happen. And it always does. Well, I gotta leave about three. Well, if you want to go play golf, get all your nine holes, eighteen holes in, that's and and and uh we have accessed people out of our I just not gonna be on a on a time crunch. If it takes a lot of our some of our biggest songs have taken a couple writes.

SPEAKER_02 15:46

We were in the studio a lot longer than I thought we were gonna be today. Yeah. We were. I didn't think we were gonna be in there, but but it just yeah, we grinded and it took that long to get it to where we wanted it. Oh I was oh sorry, I would and I would never I would never like have a tea time after a write. I would never do that. No, no, I'm just saying. It would always be before, like, hey, can we write at one? Yeah and I'm teeing off at nine, I can make a but I'm talking about when we go when we go to the office.

SPEAKER_07 16:12

Yeah. You're not gonna come to the office at 10.30 and say you you know you got a tea time at 2.30. You would never do that. I know you wouldn't do that. And so it really, for some reason, that kind of thing just ate me alive. Like if if if that's where your priority is, then you're in the wrong. Right. We're done here, we're done forever. We're done forever. You know, that that's yeah, it's just because that's how I think I probably take I think I take things too seriously, but that's just how I'm it's no you can't, you can't. It's what we do, you know.

SPEAKER_09 16:44

Well, and I was gonna go back real quick before I forget on Kurt's point, talking about whether production of a demo matters, and and it and it depends, like whatever relationship you have with an artist, you know, uh, or the or the song person, whoever you're pitching it to, it depends on their their level of how good they are at hearing through a hit song, or they can hear on a work tape just a guitar or pen or whatever. But but I have heard from publishers, more than one, that they're sitting in meetings and and they're playing, you know, like the Suno demos, it sound pretty good sometimes. And the and the producers that are working in Suno demos, those are gonna sound pretty dang good, you know. Because uh, but if you have if you had me, just a non-producer, just write a song by myself and do a uh pseuno demo where I think, hey, that sounds that sounds pretty good, and then they play it in a meeting up against the one that came from you guys yesterday. Even if my song is is as good lyrically or everything else, it's gonna sound so much worse than that one. And because because, and there's there's a couple reasons. One, just sonically, it's just gonna sound better. Two, not everybody in Nashville knows exactly what a hit song is, so the one that just sounds better overall, they're gonna like that better. You know what I mean? So it just it just depends on the listen, but I do I do think uh I do think production matters for sure.

SPEAKER_07 18:06

Okay. I will especially one million percent with what we do with with Jason, because and and I love this about Knox too. Like I really do. Michael Knox, Jason's forever producer, and a lot of the reason we're all here, right? Um I thought we were the reason he was here.

SPEAKER_02 18:22

Well I just tell you, yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_07 18:25

But you know what I mean. Like like I love you, Michael. He's uh if he hears like we know that if we come up with a with a really cool hook on a guitar, that's gonna make the album like it's a lot of the reason that he will like a song. And sometimes you gotta you gotta understand like the people, and this is one thing we've learned from almost 30 years of doing this on the road, is like the crowd, like they're not necessarily gonna hang on every word. Like, don't I mean I think you gotta give them more than that. And I think some sometimes it's like the music and the hooks and the guitars, that's part of it. Like you need more than just the lyric. You gotta have a good lyric, but it's gotta all be there. A hit song is is generally now there's some songs if you look back on that are just incredible lyrics, and you can you know, yeah, it wouldn't have mattered.

SPEAKER_02 19:14

Yeah, the house that built me, it wouldn't have mattered what was underneath that.

Why Modern Country Can Sound Generic

SPEAKER_07 19:18

It wouldn't have mattered. Right artist, right song, that's right, right vibe, right? I see. But for what we do, like man, sometimes you it it's all the things. It's the melody, it's the lyric, it's the guitars. Well, I hope it's all the things. I mean, that's the kind of music we grew up on. It's all the things for for what we're doing. Yeah. Like it's not all the things. I'll tell you this right now, it's not all the things on the radio. No. Because everything sounds, you know, I think that's why, you know, look, we're we're way into this with Jason. Years. 31 number ones. Right? 31 or 32? 31. 31. I mean, there's a reason why we're still kind of still moving up. You know, we'll you know, it's it's i i it's like it sounds different. There's thoughts there's thought into the music. Um I just don't think it's it's wallpaper, you know, and I feel like when you listen to a lot of stuff on country radio, I may understand wallpaper. But I feel like a lot of it's I feel like a lot of it's wallpaper. Um I'm not saying it's in good wallpaper, and the some of these players the players in this town are incredible. Um but some of it just sounds like wallpaper, like it's just put together, you know, and there's not much of a a um identifiable sonic sound to each artist. That's why I love Stapleton. You know, Stapleton uses his guys on the album, it's got a very signature sound to it, sounds very old school and raw. That's a sound. You know, Eric Church has a sound, same same kind of thing. But a lot of the new guys I feel don't have that identifiable sound. And I think it's just it's uh you know, it's uh not for lack of trying. I just don't don't think they know how to get there per se.

CRS Week And How Radio Works

SPEAKER_09 21:04

Well you mentioned um radio, so it would be a good time to talk about CRS, which is uh country radio seminar, right? Yeah. So so tell tell the listeners a little bit about what that week is. It used to be a week, is it a whole week still?

SPEAKER_07 21:17

It is a whole week.

SPEAKER_09 21:20

I know, yeah. Like like all the programmers and stuff from nationwide.

SPEAKER_10 21:23

They fly them in from all over the country. Basically, the label's due to it's kind of a schmoozfest. You basically, every label, like last night, uh BMG, Broke a Bo, Stony Creek, all under that umbrella, had all the radio people in their suite. They played them. A lot of the new artists on the label were there playing their songs. A lot of the people on the artist, or a lot of the artist on the label showed up to just shake hands and say, Hey, how are you doing? Thanks for playing my record. Uh, but this has been going on for shooting, I might know how many years. I mean, we were doing it twenty. I was doing it in town, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:02

Oh, yeah, I was doing it then.

SPEAKER_10 22:04

And it was long 30 years. It's been an every year thing. Yeah. People wonder if radio still matters. It apparently does. Oh, absolutely. So we were down there last night uh with Mary Cutter, who we just had on a little while ago. She was playing her stuff for the radio people.

SPEAKER_07 22:20

That was fun. And we uh yeah, introduced her and and hung out with some people. You know, some guys, you know, radio guys still remember us from the Rushlow days, so it's we'd joke about that a little bit.

SPEAKER_09 22:31

Yeah, yeah, I love that.

SPEAKER_07 22:32

You know, talking about our old photo shoots, which you should bust out some of those old photo shoot pictures of Rush Love. But uh but they you know they they're played some new Jason stuff, and those people in that room have been so supportive, really, of us. And even even Broken Bo, like we've been with those people since Broken Bo was in a tiny little office in Cumin Station downtown, you know. So we're talking about 03, 04, 05, you know, back in those days. So it's cool for us still to be with the same squad, you know, making music and creating together. So yeah, Mary was down there, you know, radio loved her, and that was great.

SPEAKER_10 23:08

And you know, it was new news with BMG and Broken Bow. Brantley Gilbert just signed over there. Oh no. And Brantley's a obviously a good friend of ours. And he, you know, he mentioned last night he saw Tulhe right before he went up and was talking to radio. And he was giving his heart belt uh just uh talk to all the radio people both radio people about what it meant to him to be on Broken Bow. And he was going back to Broken Bow changed his life. He s sent Dirt Road Anthem and My Kind of Party to Jason before Brantley was really anybody. Yeah. And you know, those songs blew up, obviously. But it was good to see Brantley. What a great guy. He's such a great guy.

SPEAKER_07 23:55

Brantley's a is an amazing guy, and he's got we'd love to have him on. We we will, and he's another one who's just got his thing. Like he's just got an identifiable thing, which is we always tell people like this is not a uh Neil, you're an exception. You're an incredible, incredible singer. And there's a lot of incredible singers, but you know, it's not always a singing contest with with artists, like it's you know, Brantley's Brantley's got such a cool thing. You know what I mean? He's an artist. He's got his identifiable thing, he's very comfortable with it. He's gonna write what what he knows, what what his fan base uh likes and what they're used to.

SPEAKER_02 24:32

And that I really appreciate that about I got to write with him one time and it was it was quite the experience. I mean, I'll I'll I learned a lot from watching him. Was it and I'd been doing it all quite a bit longer than he had just doing the what I do but um he wound up cutting the song and it made the record. But but but watching him work and his process, I mean it was his him, he is on. When it's right time and he's in, I mean he is going. So you better just hold on and keep up and do because he's doing his thing, right? And you gotta adapt to his thing when he's doing it. I'm ready to roll, man. Let's go. I love this. I love his process. We gotta have him on here.

SPEAKER_07 25:12

Yes, no, we will. Yeah, it'll be great. I just had a memory. Remember, God, it's probably 15 years ago. I think you were out of town, Kurt. I can't remember what was going on, but I wrote one day with uh Rich Robinson from The Black Crows.

SPEAKER_10 25:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 25:29

Why remind me of this and talk about someone being on, you know? And then there's those who are just off. You know? And I remember so we get up to our one of our offices years, and we mean we bounced around offices forever, but like it was above like I think soundstage studios, I think. And and I show up and and Rich from the Black Crows, who I'm a huge fan of, and he's up there. And he literally just laid on the couch and fell asleep. And I'm sitting there with an acoustic, you know, looking at my looking at the time, thinking Was it just the two of you? Yeah. Yeah, it was just the two of us. And he wow, I remember he looks at me and he goes, I want I want to write some some some country stuff. I'm like, okay. So I start looking at my hooks and ideas, and he just starts, he just laid out on the couch and uh and just dozed off.

SPEAKER_10 26:17

And I'm like, Let me know when you got something.

SPEAKER_07 26:19

Yeah. I'm like, well, this is wake me when you get something. You know, this is fun, you know, but and they'll never do that. That I don't miss that kind of stuff. I tell you what, not gonna happen.

SPEAKER_09 26:28

I've had one one guy uh fall asleep during the right, and it was a long time ago. It was me and Ashley Gordley in there, and he was an artist, and uh he came in and he brought a he brought a salad and a phone. And uh and he he too laid down on the couch. You know, no, I haven't heard. No, I don't think he does. Please say who it is. And uh I don't, you know, I I don't well I don't exactly remember his name. I just know he was related to like Julio Iglesias Jr. or something. It was somewhere somewhere in that line, you know.

SPEAKER_02 26:59

I know you're talking about I wrote with him.

SPEAKER_09 27:01

So anyway, nice kid, but he came in and he talked about it, he goes, Man, I had a late night last night, and and uh, we've got this thing going. You know, Ashley already had something rolling. I had an idea, and Ashley's already rolling on it and threw it out. And he goes, Yeah, man, I'm into that, you know. So so I mean we started writing on it, and and then we woke him up about I don't know, about two and a half hours later. And and uh we videoed him. I've I've got it in my in my phone. I videoed him, you know, for a long time sleeping. You know, and and we finished it and we woke him up and played it, you know, at the end of the day, and he said he said, Yeah, man, I says I'm I'm feeling that. He he didn't even say anything. He didn't even say, hey, sorry dudes, I drifted off. He didn't say anything at all.

SPEAKER_02 27:39

Wow When hey, when did the uh I don't know if y'all recall this, when did the big push to get every artist that got a record deal to start writing? When did that push start?

SPEAKER_10 27:49

I've been a long time. I have a theory. Okay, good question.

SPEAKER_02 27:52

And I I mean, because it did, and I but I don't remember when it was, but I rem I can I rem kind of remember when it all started happening and this wave of new everybody that signed a new artist, every record label started pushing all these artists, whether they were a writer or not, to get in the room with writers. And every one of them, whether they could write, and they, you know, hence fell asleep. And that's usually the story.

SPEAKER_07 28:14

Which is funny because you know a lot of our biggest artists, like that's I tell everybody, like, when you get out there when you get out there on the road. Like when when people look at Al Dean, they don't when we're playing the big green tractor, they're not saying, Oh, I wonder who wrote it's Jason Aldeen. They're not even thinking about it. No, you know what I mean? He wrote it, as far as they care. Yeah, it's like people get too artists get too wrapped up in what goes on in Music Row on two streets. They want whether whether they want the credit for it or they want to be looked at as a real artist. Yeah. Trust me, like, if you're talking about publishing money or a ginormous Lib Nation touring contract, it's not even comparable.

SPEAKER_10 29:00

No, it isn't, but just to be just to argue for argument's sake, maybe that happened when the labels started taking away all of the artist extra money and putting 360 deals in place where they took a part of their touring, took a part of merch, took a part of everything, and the publishing was maybe the only way they felt like they could make some money.

SPEAKER_09 29:23

Well, I think that's that's a that's a really good point, but I I think it definitely happened before that, and I would imagine it was came from the publishers and not the labels. Because the publishers, I mean it's pretty brilliant, really. So if you have, you know, if you if you're a publisher and you have an artist and they're brand new, you know, so but they've got a record deal, and they can get that writer or that that artist to write with anybody in town because that's their quickest way to get a song recorded. And the artist is just kind of going along.

SPEAKER_02 29:56

When did that trend begin? What I was I'm trying to remember what decade that trend started. I mean, I've had a 30-something year career and I've had 20 plus hits, and I'm like, two of those hits had the artist on it. 18 or so of them, they were just songwriters.

SPEAKER_07 30:14

Well, it's because you're looking at you know the guys, and it's you're gonna mention these names. I'm just telling you that because I've never had not much success. Think about who you're talking about. Aldeen, Chesney, Blake, Flatch, McGraw. They weren't they didn't care about writing. I'm just saying.

SPEAKER_02 30:28

They wanted great songs, that's all they look for. George Straight. What do you George Strait? McGraw, Reba.

SPEAKER_07 30:33

The list goes on. But the list goes on, and but what's funny about these people, and and and and Urban cuts a lot outside songs. Yeah. They're still huge.

SPEAKER_10 30:44

They're still the biggest. And then to uh even go further, sometimes those artists, when they do jump in the room, it it weakens the song, actually.

SPEAKER_02 30:56

It's a it's a lot different though, like Kalos situation, it's a lot different when you're you and Brad live right there together. You're with him all the time. I mean that's the thing.

SPEAKER_09 31:05

Yeah, and and he's a great writer and he knows he knows his brand, like Aldi knows his team. He is a writer, right? And so you're just there. That's a that's a a blessing for a it's just like me and the flats.

SPEAKER_02 31:15

I mean, me and Gary. I mean, it's like we've written a bunch of stuff together.

SPEAKER_09 31:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 31:18

You know, it's the same, yeah, it's a friendship kind of thing. It's you know, I signed with Tully and Kurt and Jason's company, and it was like I want to be, I want to be on that. I mean, because we all know each other so well, and we've got we've got a past, and I wanted to be part of that.

SPEAKER_09 31:35

And they've got great snacks in their studio. Well, you know, we are they don't have a coffee maker that works in the studio though. We have to go, we have to walk through the kitchen. And Kurt would goes and gets it sometimes and it brings it and he's very just call me flow. Just bring stuff back and brought some edamame back. So nice today. It's a nice touch.

SPEAKER_07 31:54

I thought I thought about that today though when we were writing. Sorry, Kurt. No, go ahead. That how much I love writing and how much I love writing with people that I love and that you can just be honest with and say, that that for me, I need that comfort factor where it's like I'm gonna throw shit out, or we're gonna talk shit to each other, and we're gonna get we're gonna get there in the end, and it's gonna be great. There's no I don't like the feeling I'm I'm I'm been doing this too long in this business to go through our feeling out process. Had the same band forever, the same artist forever, same producer, same all my things. I like that for me. I don't like to venture out and have the feeling out process. I just yeah, it's it's that's that's tiring. Those days are over. There's no more feeling out.

Young Guitar Slingers Bringing Shuffles Back

SPEAKER_09 32:38

Like it's no, you're just you're just you're you're and you're right, you're just in it, you're in a good spot, you know, and you gotta be thankful when when when you're in those spots, you just gotta be thankful and just keep working as hard as you can, you know, because there's just not a lot of those spots, you know. But when you're in them, man, just keep working and working, and and anyway, it's just a great place to be. Because outside of those things, for the majority of straight-up writers, I mean, it is it's difficult. And your only hope is to write with everybody you can to try to find that that next artist or that next chemistry co-writer to where it's like, well, man, this guy's that's a that's a young Ashley Gordy right there. I'm gonna I'm gonna write with this guy because he's gonna, you know, or a girl, whatever, uh, because they're gonna catch fire, you know.

SPEAKER_02 33:20

So um I have seen a new wave of country, these some of these young, like young country artists, guitar slingers, they can play their butts off and they s and they're and they're they're locked they're like Haggard fans.

SPEAKER_09 33:33

Yeah, you mentioned one that that cut an older song of yours that was written like bone country, yeah, right? And then you guys are gonna write now.

SPEAKER_02 33:40

I mean it's the countryest thing I've ever written in my life, and we said that song will never get cut, and this kid freaking cut it last week. And I'm like, what? That's good, yeah. No, it's like shuffle country. I mean it's it's like yeah. Now folks you don't hear a lot of shuffles. No. And and and this kid, Cole Goodwin's his name. And he's he's one of those young country sing I mean, sings his rear-off players. That's great. Nice, plays a telecaster, like I mean, it's unbelievable. He's so good. And there's and there's a handful of these new guys coming up, and and I'm getting the I'm getting the the feeling that these kids are gonna cut the best songs that they find.

SPEAKER_07 34:20

It's probably it's probably back around. It's probably cycle like it always is. Well, because if you're if you're smart, if if they have these young artists today, I I'm telling you, it's it's it's a challenge because it's it i it's hard to get them to understand. It's like, look, you don't have to write it. But there's nothing better than selling out when you start going to sell out your first club and you sell out, you know, your first theater, then you sell out your first small hockey arena, then you sell like that is a way better feeling than uh forcing to write everything and not having a hit, not having success. That's right. You know, just if you write it or not, if you pick the the right ones and and really you like we I I think we're good about this. Like we know when we've got something good and we know when we don't. If you think everything you write's great, then you're you're you're already off on the wrong foot. Like be honest with yourself, especially if you're a young artist, like cut the best stuff. I know.

SPEAKER_02 35:24

And I don't mind working with those young artists too, because especially the ones that want to learn, especially if if if some of these young guys want to learn the craft. I was there once. Yeah, I wanted to learn how to write a song. I wanted to get in the room with some of these bigger guys and pay attention because I cared and I wanted to learn. You know, some of these new artists that we've been with, some of them didn't give a crap, like the guy that went to sleep. You know, but some of these guys actually want to learn.

SPEAKER_04 35:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 35:48

And I love working with them kids. I mean, they don't have to, you know, participate that much in a song or whatever, but it's like if they want to learn, I'm more and they're talented, I'm in.

SPEAKER_09 35:57

And they know what they want to say. You know, a lot of them are are coming in and saying, Uh, here's what I here's what I do. Yeah, they know they'll play you a couple things, which is very helpful, you know, so you at least have a something to chase.

SPEAKER_02 36:06

Yeah. That kid Presley Barker, we wrote with him, he's on MCA. He's one of the new guitar slingers, one of the new young guys. He's like George Straitish kind of guy. Really, really cool singer. Cool. Yeah, I'm all in with these new these new young guitarists.

SPEAKER_07 36:21

I'm glad it's swinging back that way and getting away from where every new artist wanted to be a pop artist.

SPEAKER_02 36:26

Well, Zach Topp opened that door for them guys like big time. It's kind of made everybody want it again.

SPEAKER_07 36:32

Yeah.

Crossover Media Deal And Sponsor Break

SPEAKER_09 36:32

Yeah. Well, I think we have uh we were talking about it a little bit, but uh we can now announce our news of our new signing. Can we? We can. I think we text it earlier. Are you sure? Yes. Yes, if not, uh Wade would be in trouble. Um but uh but you want to go ahead. So anyway, it's called a crossover media group, and they're gonna help us in marketing, advertising, and hopefully getting our podcast out to more people so more people can either like it or not. Very excited. Very excited with them uh uh working with Scott and his team and everything. So they're gonna uh just pumped. Let's go, team. It's very exciting. So we're not sure what everything means yet, but we know that we're excited. And it's gonna be great, and we can't wait to get it going. So uh crossover media group. Let's go.

SPEAKER_07 37:23

I like it. Yeah, definitely uh excited about that.

SPEAKER_09 37:28

Yeah, it's gonna be great. So it's gonna be great. Yeah. Well go ahead. No, go ahead.

SPEAKER_10 37:32

No, I was gonna say let's pay some bills first. Yes. Um let's uh let's get let's do that. Are we doing that? Can we do the car? Yes. We definitely are coming.

SPEAKER_07 37:41

Do we have enough in the account? Can we pay some bills?

SPEAKER_10 37:45

Jim, is your camera back to normal or are you still fuzzy?

SPEAKER_02 37:49

They don't want to see you blurred, man.

SPEAKER_03 37:51

I got it right.

SPEAKER_10 37:52

You should do like an emoji instead of your face. You know, just have it feel like a poop emoji. I gotta say that.

SPEAKER_07 37:58

That is a tightly manicured beard. Thank you. You're doing the shape on the side, or is that just how it grows?

SPEAKER_03 38:04

I uh just trimmed it this morning.

SPEAKER_07 38:05

So do you usually go down like a sideburn thing, then cut over?

SPEAKER_03 38:10

Uh yeah, pretty much.

SPEAKER_10 38:11

By the way, do you guys notice Jim, who does all of our clips, he does an amazing job. He did a clip this week that was of Jim. No, I didn't see that. Oh, you didn't know that's who talking about Jim. Who approved that? Jim! Jim?

SPEAKER_03 38:28

I took creative license on that one, Neil, and uh ran with it. Okay. We're talking about the 5% of the podcast.

SPEAKER_07 38:34

Interesting. Yeah. Yeah, he waited until I was out of town in Colorado to sneak that one in.

SPEAKER_10 38:39

Anyway, let's do it. Let's take some bills. We'll be right back. Let's just try a small town podcast. You know what goes great with small town stories? Original Glory. America's beer right here.

SPEAKER_02 38:51

You know, I've been drinking this every songwriting session today.

SPEAKER_09 38:54

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SPEAKER_10 38:58

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SPEAKER_07 39:03

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SPEAKER_02 39:05

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SPEAKER_09 39:12

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SPEAKER_10 39:19

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SPEAKER_00 39:24

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SPEAKER_03 39:47

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SPEAKER_10 40:03

Welcome back to the Drive It Up a Small Town Podcast. Uh during the break, we just had some bonus content that we'll charge you$9.99 for. It's gold, Jerry. Maybe, maybe not.

SPEAKER_06 40:15

I don't know. That's great. What'd you say?

SPEAKER_10 40:17

It's gold, Jerry. That's great. Very good. Uh Patriot Mobile Studios powered by eSpaces. Let's let go. I know, and we've got the Peacemaker Coffee. Original Glory Beer. We got some new sponsors coming in. Yeah. You guys don't even know about it yet. Oh, really? Oh, really? Yeah, you don't. Yeah, me and TK just landed something.

SPEAKER_07 40:40

No kiss. Yes. Please. Oh, that reminds me. I've got did you get the shirts? Yeah. Okay, I got the shirts too.

unknown 40:46

What?

SPEAKER_07 40:46

Okay. Can you talk about it? I forgot to bring it up. Wow. What exciting?

SPEAKER_02 40:49

You can't just throw it out there and then I actually think we have to wait.

SPEAKER_07 40:53

We have to wait, but it's something we closed out in the road last year.

SPEAKER_10 40:55

It's cool. What are you talking about? Okay, I like it. Well, because there is a you know, there's contracts and stuff. There's a we had to sign an NDA. Cheers to us.

SPEAKER_02 41:06

To us. But would you be big? What if you and I found something? We're going to keep it from them? This was like we'll tell you often.

SPEAKER_09 41:12

We'll tell you, I mean if you and I actually ever did land something. Then we'd have some news.

SPEAKER_07 41:18

Good point, Caleb. No, this is gonna be happy. Jim, I'm sorry it doesn't affect it doesn't really affect you.

SPEAKER_06 41:24

But good times over here. It indirectly affects you. It affects you because we can keep you employed at half rate.

SPEAKER_10 41:32

Anyway. We're joking. Where did we leave off? Where are we going? Well, we've we've kind of given the people some inside baseball today, which is awesome. A day in the life.

Getting Run Off The Road

SPEAKER_07 41:42

We can live a career in the life, but um something unfortunate happened on the way home from our beautiful ride. Okay. Let's get to it. So this happened after I passed you on the internet. Today. Yes. If you passed me a few more miles down the road, you might have seen me on the side of the road.

SPEAKER_02 41:59

Well you were definitely doing the speed limit when I passed you.

SPEAKER_07 42:01

I am the very safe driver right now.

SPEAKER_09 42:03

In a Maserati.

SPEAKER_07 42:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_09 42:05

This was after you and Kurt both uh cut through a condo complex that you don't live in.

SPEAKER_05 42:10

Yes.

SPEAKER_09 42:15

They don't know which one it is. How do you know I did? Because I saw you out behind me. I said, I said, where are they going? I thought my my mind went to a terrible place.

SPEAKER_08 42:29

I saw Kurt's Jeep go in there and I thought, God, is he having an affair? He's having an affair. I can't believe this. And then and then Tully fought hit me. Oh my god. They're both having affairs.

SPEAKER_07 42:45

That's our little secret. And it was a cut. No one needs to know about that because it's a Yeah. And I gotta tell you. It does cut some time. It cuts a lot.

SPEAKER_09 42:55

Well, today I let you in. Did you say you know it was me? I was the one that let you in.

SPEAKER_07 42:57

Yeah, I know that was you. Yeah, that was very nice. What happened to you?

SPEAKER_09 43:00

Your story.

SPEAKER_07 43:01

Yeah.

unknown 43:02

What happened?

SPEAKER_07 43:03

So people know a couple months ago, I got hit on the interstate. I was you guys know this, right? I was driving down 65. Driving down 65, and a woman came over, didn't see me, and took me out, just hit me and crashed up my car, had to get it f all that stuff.

SPEAKER_09 43:23

And you inappropriately hugged her on the side of the road out of kindness.

SPEAKER_07 43:26

I was trying to be nice, and then I take it all back because she tried to change her story, but it's alright, it all worked out. So I got my car all fixed, it's better than it ever was. And today I'm going home almost the same exact spot. I'm that maybe a little farther down. Um maybe just uh maybe three miles from Cool Springs, you know? I'm in the right lane driving very safe and a a pretty good sized truck, um not like a semi, but like a regular pickup truck lifted up, didn't see me and came over and ran me off the road. I didn't get hit, but I ran uh went into the rumble strips and then onto the grass. And I was driving. I was my and my car, if you know my car, my car rides really low to the ground rider. So once it hits the rumble strips, dude. Once it hits the rumble strips in the grass, I'm bounced. I lose control and I'm thinking to myself, this is gonna flip. And my and at any moment, I'm thinking it's because it's all The Roman strips, and you know how that section between the shoulder of the road and then the grass comes, and it's like a little drop-off, right? Went in there. I was driving through the ditch about I don't know at least 50 feet, probably. I lost control. Wow. And I finally it finally stopped. Like I I got my foot off the gas, and I'm I'm thinking to myself, I just trashed my car again. And the guy is long gone. He he didn't mean it. He just didn't see me. I ride really low to the ground, like really low, and his truck's really high. Um it freaked me out though. I was like, and and I don't think anything happened in my car cosmetically. The bottom's definitely messed up. Oh yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_09 45:13

I just wouldn't look under there. I wouldn't look under there.

SPEAKER_07 45:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 45:17

Why can't you just like have a smooth sailing after all? I mean or get something else. Get another car or a truck.

SPEAKER_07 45:27

I don't want to get another car. I like my car.

SPEAKER_02 45:28

That's a nice car.

SPEAKER_07 45:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 45:31

It's costing you an arm and a leg.

SPEAKER_07 45:33

But it wasn't his fault though.

SPEAKER_02 45:36

It it kind of is. If you'd have had a if you were up higher, he would have seen you.

SPEAKER_07 45:40

If he was lower, he would have seen me. And it's it reminded me of the kind of truck a new artist would have. You know, the new artists when they get their first. I need these new artists. No, the new artist truck. You know what I mean? They get the first streaming hit. The F-150. And they get yeah, it's like, you know, you can't even get in it, that kind of truck. The ones you can see him driving around Music Row because they can't park anywhere. I love those trucks. Looking for a place to park. Your truck is really nice. Yeah. You actually, yeah, it was nice for you to look in today. But anyway, that was exciting. Um and I I was waiting to flip over. Yeah. I'm glad you didn't. Me too. Actually, it actually, honestly, was like I was a little shaken up after. I can imagine. I had to drive my little car, like a go-kar, up through the grass, back on the interstate.

SPEAKER_02 46:27

It's probably okay.

SPEAKER_07 46:28

No, I looked at the outside. It's probably okay. The outside you can't tell, but I looked underneath and some grass. It's just grass.

SPEAKER_02 46:34

It didn't hurt nothing.

SPEAKER_07 46:35

I'll take it to our guy, our guard, Bub Lloyd. He'll uh I already called him, I called him right away. Said you have to look at the bottom of this car. So but anyway, you know, but I thought I was gonna flip over.

SPEAKER_10 46:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 46:47

The adventures of Tullic Anadot.

SPEAKER_10 46:49

Yeah. Behind the wheel.

Ski Trips And Spring Break Debates

SPEAKER_09 46:50

It never ends. Well, uh speaking of speaking of unlimited money, where'd you guys go on your spring break? Jeez. I went skiing. Just looking for a transition. I didn't know where y'all went, so y'all did go skiing. Yeah. Okay. Yep. Did you go skiing? Did y'all go together? Did y'all go to the same we did not? I went to Florida when we were.

SPEAKER_10 47:09

You went to Florida. Okay. All right.

SPEAKER_02 47:11

There's no snow in Florida.

SPEAKER_10 47:12

No, there isn't. Exactly.

SPEAKER_06 47:14

Sunshine's one of our biggest differences.

SPEAKER_09 47:17

It's one of our few and only differences. I get it. I would gravitate toward the sun every time. I've never understood.

SPEAKER_02 47:24

I do love snow skiing though.

SPEAKER_09 47:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 47:26

But I'm sick. I'm tired of the cold right now. I gotta do it earlier in the year.

SPEAKER_07 47:30

I'll tell you what, skiing in uh Colorado in March is amazing. Warm. You know, it wasn't the great ski season this year, the record low snowpack um in the Rockies ever this year. In Utah too, but um it was still great, but not like usual. But um yeah, it's 35, 40 degrees.

SPEAKER_02 47:52

I love it when people go skiing and they they send you selfie pictures and they have their helmet and goggles on you don't know who it is. Like if you're gonna do that, at least take your helmet off. Fix your hair, get the snow in the background. I'd be like, Telly, probably. You you can't tell it. You don't know. It's just a skier in a helmet. That's all it is. It's nothing you want to keep. Well maybe you'll keep mine if I send one. I wanna I w I want a picture or a video of you falling. That's what I want. Skip, I don't think you're gonna get it.

SPEAKER_10 48:23

Telly is way good on the telly.

SPEAKER_07 48:26

Very good. I did uh I did take a little tumble this uh this trip. I was going down kind of a just some moguls and just want to get in there for a minute and misjudged and took a header, but it's alright. It's alright. Still good.

Calling Philip Rivers For A Guest

SPEAKER_10 48:43

So anyway, what else have we got to get to? Uh you know, this is episode 101. We're starting our new 100 and today we gave you a little, like I said, a little inside baseball. Next episode. Don't want to let the cat out of the bag. Should we let the cat out of the bag or let people be surprised? You can let the cat out of the bag in a little teaser. Yeah. We're gonna have the man back on. The man. Oh yeah. Jason's gonna come back on. It's been a minute since he actually it's been a while since Jason's. It's been too long. So he's gonna Kayleigh, you were talking um a little bit. Uh uh tell people how we how we round up or round up some of our guests.

SPEAKER_09 49:27

Oh, yeah, this uh this is a good story. I don't even know I don't think I've told any anybody this, but um, you know, and a lot of times it comes from people that you know that that we know, whether it's writers or artists or people out there that are, you know, you guys are on tour and they're you know, they come and they're fans of you guys and Aldi and everything, and and you ask, and then sometimes, you know, you guys are great about sending DMs to people, just you know, just cold, cold calling, asking, you know. But uh, but my my mom, um, who you know, she's uh she's 80 years old and she's in a Sunday school class, and these these ladies and they're are super close friends, and mom's always she's proud of her son and all that, and always talking talking. And you know, all the moms are. Um so anyway, this is Does your mom listen?

SPEAKER_10 50:11

Sorry, I can't. She does.

SPEAKER_09 50:12

I don't know if she's caught up, you know, but but yeah, she definitely she definitely listens. And um, and so so uh yeah, hi mom. So um anyway, so so one of her really close friends uh happens to be Philip Rivers' um mother-in-law.

SPEAKER_10 50:26

So are we gonna get Philip Rivers on then?

SPEAKER_09 50:30

So so anyway, here's the thing.

SPEAKER_07 50:31

Yeah, are we are we it's just if you're not gonna end the river, just stop right back. You asked me to get him on. I don't want to hear the earth of it if Philip Rivers doesn't come me on because he's amazing. Please make this.

SPEAKER_09 50:45

Well, I'm telling you the story. Yeah. How's it end? This is this is No, this is like when Neil asks a question. Say, hey, what's your Mount Rushmore country music? And and Kurt says, says uh Garth Garth Brooks. He goes, No, Garth Brooks ain't even close. You ask me the question. Everybody, our listeners, this is how our rights go too. Anyways, so so the short version is so mom started talking about said so my you know son is he's a songwriter, has a podcast and everything, and and she and my mom is a huge uh Philip Rivers fan. Yeah, and he's got this great story, you know, he's called back up, you know, he's playing uh again, he has so many kids, he's just a he's just uh just uh just great values, but very much like like us, we share a lot of things in common, and especially our athletic ability.

SPEAKER_04 51:28

Especially that.

SPEAKER_09 51:28

And so anyway, so so mom got you know they got talking, said uh said, Yeah, he'd he'd probably come on the podcast. So I got an em an email from him or an email to send, and this was two months ago. So I put together a nice email. Everything put together, mom kept asking, you know, said if you have you heard anything back, and I said, I said, no, and I said, I said, but don't don't don't press her on. I said, I'm I said, he's probably never gonna respond, you know, and and uh but but she had you know talked to her again and and got got a a number, you know, and said said because I guess the his mother-in-law had had mentioned it again, said said so I never got an email or whatever, so so and I wasn't thinking any that I was ever gonna get in you know in touch with him. And and anyway, so mom says, says, Hey, and she texts me and says, Hey, I've got it, I've got a number, and I think it's his I think it's his number. And what you're supposed to do is to call him, leave him a voicemail, and then he will text you back a good time to call. And I thought, I thought, okay, well, I'll I'll do that. And that drug my feet a little bit for a few days because I was thinking, well, what if he answers? You know, that's gonna be weird. You know, so I was thinking about that. So, but mom kept asking me, so I said, All right, I gotta do it. So I did it mainly for mom, you know. And so I prayed right before that. And I said, because I was thinking, my luck, he's gonna, he's gonna answer, and it'd be very awkward. You know, I had to get a call and says, Hey, this is Joe from uh the tree determined company.

SPEAKER_08 52:42

You're Kelly loves us. So, yeah, well, where's the confidence?

SPEAKER_09 52:46

It just doesn't carry a weight around the globe.

SPEAKER_06 52:48

You know, we're not going around the globe, we're going to San Diego. Yeah.

SPEAKER_09 52:51

I know, but that's a long way away. But anyway, so I so I said, Hey Lord, give me the right thing to say, keep it, keep it short and everything. I said, especially if he answers, you know. And I said, because I'm about to call him, like in a few minutes. I'm gonna call him, maybe in a few seconds. So then Jesus' name, amen. And then I sit there and I thought, don't want to do it, don't want to do it. Then I then I called him. Third ring, you know how you hear it stop ringing, and you can tell somebody answered, and I went, Oh crap. Sweet mother of God, he answered. And he goes, Hello, like that, that, that, that hello we have. And I said, I said, Oh, oh God. Hey, uh, Phil, hey, this is this is uh Kelly Lovis, uh, I'm uh from Try That Small Town Podcast. Like, I know, I know right now you're wishing you didn't answer this this phone phone call. And I said, if you want to, yeah, and I said, I said, but my mom my mom, my mom knows your mother-in-law and talked about you getting on the podcast. I sent you an email. I said, if you I said, if you want to, you can just hang up the phone right now and I can leave you a message and then you can check it later on. You gotta be kidding me. Maybe don't call any more people. No, but here's the thing.

SPEAKER_08 53:56

Terrible backing up awful setup. Yeah, but no confidence. It's a confidence thing, bro.

SPEAKER_09 54:01

It worked. Oh, it's coming always coming. I don't know. Good job, Ken. No, I don't know. Just like we wouldn't. No, I was just trying to give him an out, you know, because he was No, it's horrible. He entered the phone. I can't believe it didn't end up in the friend zone with your wife's. I was thinking of me. I was thinking, I would hate to get this call. Because he doesn't need to come do the podcast, right? So anyway, he said, he said, I know I'm sweating. I'm sweating right now, again, like I was. I was soaked that day. Anyway, so I said, uh terrible. So he goes, he goes, hey, you know what? I've got a couple minutes. And and I said, I said, oh, okay, great. And so then I kind of settled in and told him about the podcast and stuff like that, and uh talked about Jason and and everything, and then we talked about it.

SPEAKER_02 54:42

Did you tell him you wrote songs for a living? Oh yeah, yeah, I told him.

SPEAKER_09 54:45

Yeah, yeah. No, but I I I gave him the brief thing, I didn't give him my whole bio or anything. That would have took forever.

SPEAKER_05 54:53

I'm kidding.

SPEAKER_09 54:54

I'm kidding, I'm kidding. So uh, but anyway, it was good conversation. We and he has a uh mutual he goes, well, the only songwriter I know is Don Sampson, who Don Sampson are my really close friends. We wrote a lot of songs uh together. He wrote Midnight Montgomery, all the things. And so so I said, Oh yeah, Don, and we talked about him. And he has a Don has some interesting uh just uh personal characteristics like like Neil, which everybody knows about, and so we laughed about that. So we had we had a couple moments. Did he just era? No, is it just there's interesting, it just uh just a little peculiar, peculiar maybe, but uh but anyway.

SPEAKER_07 55:27

What is happening, right? I don't know.

SPEAKER_09 55:29

So anyway, so he just said uh he said, well, he goes, hey, you know what? He goes, he goes, Did you where did you send the email? And I told I told him and he and he found it, and he goes, he goes, Oh, he goes, he goes, you know, here it is. He goes, I guess it just went to the junk. He goes, he goes, I'll check it out and uh and I'll either get back with you. And it said, and said, and then if not, you know, it's been good talking to you. And went, oh, okay, well anyway, well, thanks for talking. See you later. Bye. So we'll see. I don't know. No, it's a no. It's a no, but it's a no.

SPEAKER_05 55:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_09 55:54

There's nothing I could have done to get a yes on that. No, no, no, no. The intro could have been a lot more called. It actually, it actually was I mean, I was actually pleased with my performance on that day. So it may not have come across right now because it's been a couple weeks. I forgot to tell you guys. But it was as it was as as comfortable as it could have been in an uncomfortable situation because he picked up the phone call not wanting to answer it. Like he doesn't want to hear that. Hey, do you want to come do something for free that won't help your career at all? Yeah. I mean, who wants to get that call? Nobody. Right? So, anyway, I thought it did great. We're gonna take a break. I mean it isn't coming on.

SPEAKER_08 56:33

The deal is not closed. No, it's not closed, but what do you I mean you can give me a give me? I think you're gonna have to do that. Give me his number. Give me his number. No, no, no.

SPEAKER_09 56:41

Oh, yeah, but he's still but he still might be. I can fix this. We can get him called. He still may come on the show. He'll be on next week. We have an intro.

SPEAKER_10 56:48

Why don't you text him?

SPEAKER_09 56:50

Well, yeah.

SPEAKER_10 56:53

Can you call him live on there?

SPEAKER_09 56:55

No, I'm not gonna do it right now. But but anyway, but but the ad has been made.

SPEAKER_10 57:03

That's actually a good idea for a segment.

SPEAKER_07 57:05

Oh, we gotta do it. So we're we are we are huge, huge Phillip Rivers fans. It would be awesome to have Philip. Please come on. I'm I'm sorry, Caleb is super awkward. I think that's a good idea. It wasn't really awkward. I did.

SPEAKER_09 57:16

I talked about Brett Favre, I talked I talked about uh Herb Street, I talked about Hulk Hogan and stuff like that. I I dropped some you know some names where he'd know that we've had, and I told him I told him we had a hundred episodes, so it says we've been been rocking for a while. No, I didn't. We weren't mentioning overrated quarterbacks. So I'm kidding, you gotta listen to all these.

SPEAKER_10 57:40

Yeah, that's a crazy thing to say. That was fun until you told us he wasn't coming on. Yeah. That was fun until you told us what you said.

SPEAKER_07 57:48

Well, you asked how we I wish I hadn't. It's how we get it. Is that how you used to ask like when you were dating girls in high school? Did you say no?

SPEAKER_06 57:56

You could say no. I know you don't want to hear from people. It's a little different.

SPEAKER_09 58:00

It's a little different. You can be friends if you want. It's a little different.

SPEAKER_04 58:03

No, it's not.

SPEAKER_09 58:04

It is a qu it's a little different. It's not. It's the same. And actually, I'm just telling you, in like in the moment, it was as good as it could be. That's not good. Within my personality. That is not good. So I'm not a hard person.

SPEAKER_10 58:16

That's a rough thing to hear, buddy. Well, you ever see the movie swingers? Yes. When Mikey calls up the girl and he keeps leaving her a message and it accidentally hangs up and so he calls her back. It's like 20 messages.

Idiots Segment Airport Drop Off Etiquette

SPEAKER_07 58:32

Yeah, I didn't do that. You're so money, you don't even know it. I didn't do that. You're so money, you don't even know it, Kallo.

SPEAKER_10 58:37

All right, so money. Let's pull this thing to a close. Should we do it? Does anybody got an idiots they want to talk about? Any idiots? The guy that ran him off the road today.

SPEAKER_07 58:46

But I don't know if that was to be fair. I don't think he saw me.

SPEAKER_02 58:49

Um You're such a nice guy.

SPEAKER_07 58:51

Yeah, I am.

SPEAKER_02 58:52

No, you are. That's great. The grace, the grace that you have.

SPEAKER_07 58:57

If you're gonna see me bouncing around my car in the grass, it would be so graceful. Really sad, man.

SPEAKER_10 59:02

How about you, Kurt? You got any uh I've always got some. Yeah, what do you got?

SPEAKER_06 59:06

Give us one.

SPEAKER_10 59:07

There's one every day. Yeah, it's like there's so many. I this isn't the best one, but it just happened today. Today. So it's timely. I live in a neighborhood. I'm pulling up there's a car in front of me who or I'm driving, there's a car in front of me who is now stopped to talk to the person that's in the car coming the opposite direction. They're having their conversation in the street, windows down, people behind them. Lay on that horn. And with a car your size? They didn't move though. It's like it's one thing to say, oh hey, Bill, blah, blah, blah, blah, but there's somebody behind you. I'm just waiting there. I'm literally waiting there. I started to get out of my truck and then they left.

SPEAKER_07 59:55

I got I got an airport one. Maybe good time. Airport and airplane.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:02

We could start a whole new podcast on the airplane.

SPEAKER_07 1:00:05

I'm not even gonna go inside the airport, I'm gonna go to the new true dipshitty at going to the airport when they're when you're dropping someone off at the airport.

SPEAKER_10 1:00:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 1:00:14

Look, there's a protocol. If you're dropping someone off, you pull up and you move, you get out, and you gotta help whoever get the bags out, get moving. It's a if it's a pure drop-off, get them out quick hug.

SPEAKER_10 1:00:32

It's like a pit happy. You gotta be a good thing. It's called common sense.

SPEAKER_07 1:00:35

Let me tell you something. It is not a time to visit. Put your flashers on and leave them on. A prolonged hug. A prolonged hug, open a present, or you wait, or you're looking at your phone and you're taking pictures. It is way this national airport is way too busy to have a meet and greet. Departure. Yeah. Drop off. Get out. Get out. The line's all the way out to I 40. It is Oh, it's so bad, dude. They're having a party. You gotta get out. It's so annoying. Just get out. Get moving. Get the bag. Say give your high. And then you gotta get, you gotta it's a pit stop curtain nailed it. You gotta hurry back in that car. Close your door, blinker on, you leave. You leave. You don't wait because we're we're getting doubled up. And now it's it's a mess, and there's a protocol. It's a airport protocol, so just drop them off. You're gonna see him again.

SPEAKER_08 1:01:34

I like it.

Sugarless Candy Disaster And Snack Confessions

SPEAKER_09 1:01:34

I like it. Um I was gonna ask a question because this falls into this category for me. Like I don't understand, and maybe somebody does out there, sugarless candy. Because I started getting on sugarless candy. Oh God. But when I ordered it, I ordered a bunch of came and sugarless. I ordered a bunch of it, like, you know, online because I thought, well, that'd be a good snack at night, you know, because I get super hungry for something sweet at night. So I got I got sugarless. I thought that'd be great. I wouldn't have any calories or anything, any carbs, it'd be fantastic. Um but there's still there's plenty of carbs in there. And worse than that.

SPEAKER_10 1:02:10

I'm with Tully, uh the sugarless stuff I don't understand. Just I don't understand because of no carbs. But you're ingesting horrible chemicals. Just take the sugar. I don't even think about it.

SPEAKER_09 1:02:22

And not just that. Uh just a note to listeners out there don't eat, say, 30 to 40 butterscotch pieces that are sugarless. Oh my God. Um dude, because it's a good thing. It's not just upset.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:42

No, I he he he'll buy a sleeve of like whatever gum, one of the long ones that has 40,000 packs in it. Yeah, he'll chew it all in one sitting during a TV show. What's the what's it? He'll chew it until it's gone, he'll spit it out and put another piece in it.

SPEAKER_08 1:02:59

Sorbitol is a big thing.

SPEAKER_09 1:02:59

No, it's a different one that upset your stomach. Maybe it's a sorbit. Is it sorbital? That's what it's telling us. But anyway, I didn't know I didn't know that. It upset your stomach. Oh yeah. No, we and we were in Florida, Naples, and and at a and this was the the the morning after, and then we went down to to the uh have breakfast and everything, and I liked and not made it back to to the room. Yeah, it's horrible. Yeah, I look just get some good dark chocolate.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:26

Yeah, I don't understand. He he he has sent me pictures before when we've been on the road doing a corporate show or whatever. He sent me he sent me pictures at two o'clock in the morning. And he's got he's got all his snacks lined up at the head of the bed, like like he's a king. And all the snacks are around him, and he will kill every one of those snacks before the morning.

SPEAKER_09 1:03:49

Well, I just like to try a little bit of each one. It just thinks that you don't have to be a little bit more than a few. That would crush. Uh but I mean I've I've been training for it my whole life.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:57

And you were talking about my tendencies a while ago. Yeah, he did.

SPEAKER_09 1:04:01

But those are different, those are not related to food. He was talking about personality tendencies. Yeah, just personality things, nothing bad.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:08

It sounded pretty negative. Oh, it's not negative. No, it's not negative.

SPEAKER_09 1:04:12

Oh, it's not negative. We'll come we'll we'll clarify that on the next podcast.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:16

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_09 1:04:17

But anyway, I was curious about why I mean, is is it just because some people just can't have regular sugar? Is it diabetics and things like that? I because I don't understand the sugar list or uh uh candy because it still has carbs. So what's the point? Is it just less carbs? Like to show you. Well, theoretically, I mean I think it is less sugar.

SPEAKER_07 1:04:38

But it's so bad for you, like the the chemicals in there that actually drive your cravings more. So it's you're better off to have just a couple pieces of sh have a couple pieces of regular candy versus 40 pieces of the bad candy.

SPEAKER_09 1:04:52

Well, and Kurt let me know that that these energy drinks that I got onto because I saw you cool band guys drinking them. Oh, these are time. They're horrible for you. And now Kurt says I shouldn't be drinking them. I only have them on podcast days. Three a day. One a week.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:06

Do you that's only on the weekends do you uh have you do you drink any alcohol anymore?

SPEAKER_09 1:05:10

Or do you think uh not currently I'm I'm I'm doing the uh the like I'm doing a year. So I'm like in maybe halfway through eight eight months. That'd be a good thing. But it's actually impressive. Yeah, red wine, great. Yeah beer. That'd be my go-to. Hold on, you do drink wine. No, I that was my go-to. If I were drinking something, that'd be my that'd be my go-to. Or if you're if it's during a like something you're slow sipping, I would do tequila or something. But I like that. That's actually impressive.

SPEAKER_10 1:05:37

You still smoking pot?

SPEAKER_09 1:05:39

Uh no.

SPEAKER_05 1:05:40

Did you kick that solid? That I would like to see.

SPEAKER_06 1:05:43

Did you kick that meth habit though?

SPEAKER_02 1:05:45

No, that's another I would love to see Kalo high.

SPEAKER_06 1:05:48

No, let's let's do Kalo on Drugs episode and bring all different drugs in.

Hot Wings Challenge Idea And Closing

SPEAKER_02 1:05:53

You know what you should do? You should go get all your plethora of snacks that you that are your favorite, and we'll spread them out on the table so everybody can see.

SPEAKER_07 1:06:03

Hey, Kurt has a good idea though. Let's let's recreate that hot one show. Oh my gosh, you guys ever watch Hot Ones?

SPEAKER_10 1:06:10

Yeah, uh I love that show, dude. I don't watch it. I gotta watch TV.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:14

I got a life.

SPEAKER_10 1:06:16

It's a guy, it's just a guy. And another and it's a good show. Take this person on the other side and they eat hot wings. Uh it's hotter and hotter. Hotter than the next. And they have a conversation. And they have conversations through it.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:26

So you want to do that on here?

SPEAKER_10 1:06:28

It'd be fun as crap. It would be. I don't know. Yeah, it'd be good. It'd be fun. Maybe we'll do it with Al Dean because he loves that show too. We really should try to do this because it'd be super hot.

SPEAKER_09 1:06:40

Yes, but but like I'm not I'm not the one if they have hot, super hot, and fire, I'm not gonna gravitate towards the fire.

SPEAKER_05 1:06:48

Will you eat it? Where do we get it?

SPEAKER_10 1:06:51

My brother would eat it for sure.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:53

What if you had tap out?

unknown 1:06:55

For people tap out.

SPEAKER_10 1:06:56

No, you can't tap out. There's no tapping out. No, no tap out. No, first one to peep out. First one to puke. That's not bad, though.

SPEAKER_09 1:07:03

That's not a bad idea.

SPEAKER_10 1:07:04

There's no tapping out.

SPEAKER_07 1:07:05

No tap out. We don't tap out here. Tap in. That would be great. You think you'd do it? You think Al Dean would do it? Oh, he would definitely do it. We gotta get him, you gotta get the sauces hot though. And I don't know anything about this. We'd have to test some stuff before he actually did it. No, before not, it's just no, it's hot, dude. It's this you gotta take part in this, Kayla. Something you can't plan for.

SPEAKER_09 1:07:25

You gotta be ready for the But do you know but do you know which hot sauces to get? I don't. That's what I'm saying. Jim's gonna tell us. That's what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_07 1:07:32

We have to plan for Jim for.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:34

Okay.

SPEAKER_07 1:07:34

Yeah. All right. That we should do. Okay. Because that's that will be really fun. We just talk about everything and we're re yeah. That'd be fun. Oh, that'd be fantastic. Bring the milk.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:44

Milk apparently helps.

SPEAKER_07 1:07:46

Or we make a room and can't bring it.

unknown 1:07:48

I like it.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:48

I'm lactose intolerant.

SPEAKER_10 1:07:50

Me too, but we'll bring you almond milk or something. Okay, it's been fun. It's been fun. It was a good one. Good time. You guys think do you think people like us? I hope so.

Superfan Ed Shoutout And Farewell

SPEAKER_07 1:08:01

I think so. I like us. I like us. I mean, it's nice uh for the people to tell us when they like us. I like the hate.

SPEAKER_10 1:08:12

Real quick, do you want to talk about uh Ed real quick? Yeah, yeah. Give Ed some love, guys. You guys know but keep it short.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:20

Yeah. Yeah, it worked out where Ed was in town uh for a sporting event with one of his kids. And um Ed's our super fan. Yeah. One of many. Yes. Ed's is but Ed's the original, he's the OG. And uh he he got a hold of Lana and we worked it out where we got to actually had the afternoon. You guys were at this table. Yeah, we brought and he met us here that's great at the studio. He must have loved that. Oh, it was fantastic. He sat right here. In your spot. Yeah, we we actually should have had we should actually should have had it all going because he was like, man, once we once really he started telling us what he did, and we can't talk about what he does. It's like highly very smart dude. Very smart secret. I can't even say who he works for.

SPEAKER_06 1:09:03

Obviously.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:04

We'll tell you when when we turn off the cameras, we'll tell you. But it's it's like Ed's story is like super badass. Incredible. Ed loves golf. He knows uh Ed's a good guy. He was good. It was such a good it was such a pleasure to get to meet Ed. And we appreciate Ed. And I hate you two missed him because he he hated missing you guys.

SPEAKER_10 1:09:26

Yeah, I would like to see.

SPEAKER_09 1:09:26

Yeah, because he he l he loves uh the podcast, he loves all you guys, and uh and and it now now Ed Ed's a buddy now, so we because he's close to DC area, right? So so we and we have a corporate show. Like if we if we actually if that ends up coming through, we're gonna try to play golf with him and stuff. He's just a good hang guy and hugely supportive of our podcast, as you guys know. And he's he's very a blessing to get to hang with him.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:52

Maybe I'll get permission from Ed. Maybe we can get permission to No, we can't. He said we can't. He said we can't see. Okay. We can't talk about it. He'd have to kill us, yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_10 1:10:02

Ooh. That's awesome. Thank you guys for listening. Uh make sure, like Ed. You're leaving the comments. Ed's always good about leaving the play by play. He gives us tons of comments. Who's it? Rhonda Kay. I think she's on there a lot, uh commenting a lot too. Uh try to keep up with these people. Uh, who do we got to thank? Patriot Mobile. Go to patriotmobile.com forward slash smalltown. Put in the code SmallTown. Get yourself a free mup. It's awesome. I now have full Patriot Mobile service. Glad I did it. Wish I would have done it sooner. ESpaces has been fantastic to us. Yes. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_08 1:10:45

Original glory. Yeah.

SPEAKER_10 1:10:47

Original glory. And Peace Banker Coffee. We've got some really cool stuff coming with that. Uh so be on the lookout. Okay, next week we got the man himself, Jason Aldean. You're not going to want to miss that episode either.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:01

Uh oh.

SPEAKER_10 1:11:02

Berthrash, Kalo, TK, I'm Kurt, and Jim. Nice being to try that in a small town podcast.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:09

Make sure to follow along, subscribe, share, rate the show, and check out our merch at try thatinasmalltown.com.