Eli Mosley | Ranching, Country Music & the American Dream

Country music artist Eli Mosley has built his career on authenticity, grit, and a genuine connection to the western way of life. Born and raised in Central Florida, Mosley wears more than one hat—he's a singer-songwriter, United States Marine veteran, and working cattle ranch manager. Rather than simply singing about country life, he lives it every day, and those real-life experiences shape the stories found throughout his music.

Inspired as a child after seeing Tracy Byrd perform live, Mosley pursued music while remaining deeply rooted in the values of hard work, faith, and family. After serving in the Marine Corps, he began recording in Nashville, producing multiple studio albums at legendary studios including Ocean Way, Sound Emporium, and Studio West. His blend of traditional country storytelling with modern production has earned him a growing national audience.

Mosley's original music has received national radio airplay and streaming success. His patriotic ballad "Soldier's Wife" has surpassed 140,000 streams, while his single "Doin' Alright" reached No. 77 on the MusicRow CountryBreakout Chart, marking an important milestone for the independent artist.

A relentless touring performer, Eli has shared the stage with country favorites including Tracy Byrd, Tracy Lawrence, Joe Nichols, Tyler Farr, Jana Kramer, Parmalee, Jake Owen, and Maren Morris. His live shows combine high-energy country music with the authenticity of someone who spends as much time working cattle as he does performing under stage lights.

As a songwriter, Mosley collaborates with some of Nashville's most respected writers, including Steve Dean ("Watching You" – Rodney Atkins) and Frank Myers, whose catalog includes classics like "I Swear," "I'm Already There," and "My Front Porch Looking In." These collaborations have helped sharpen Mosley's songwriting while allowing him to maintain his unmistakable voice and perspective.

Whether he's touring the country with his band, writing songs in Nashville, or managing a Florida cattle ranch, Eli Mosley represents the modern cowboy—grounded, hardworking, and committed to preserving the traditions of country music while carving out his own path. His music resonates with fans who appreciate honest storytelling, patriotic values, and songs that reflect the everyday lives of hardworking Americans.

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🎵 In This Episode:
• Eli Mosley interview
• Indie Country Artist
• Ranching & Music
• BMI Songwriter Fest
 

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Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:00

All right. Ain't nobody ready. You can't prepare to fall for somebody halfway into one stair. But I got grandma's diamond in the top drawer at home. I've been telling the Lord I don't look good alone. If you're feeling the same, let's hit that four a. We got 50 years to go and 50 bucks to our name cost. With some love and a truck, a little money. The rest of our lives ain't a little bit of money. Long as we breathe it air, we can go anywhere. It's just you and me all a ring in a prayer. We'll start out with nothing. Little some light, a little party, tryna get by. Scrimpin, save all our pennies, buy an acre two. Thank God for the plenty. Seeing it's true. Leaving is easy. The land of the free. Whistle in a truck, a bit of money. The rest of our lives ain't honey, a bit of money. We can go anywhere. It's just a you and me. Honoring a brushing. The rest of our lives and a little bit of money. Long as we're breathing out. We can go anywhere. Long as we're breathing out. We can go anywhere. It's just you and me on a ring and a print. Alright.

SPEAKER_01 2:17

All right. Eli Mosley. Right? Absolutely. I want to make sure I got that right. Hey, we are in Key West, Florida. Key West.

SPEAKER_04 2:26

Holy moly. Let me go set this guitar down here.

SPEAKER_01 2:28

We're at the Key West Sunrider Festival. And we just met Eli. He he uh played a set at the um at the southernmost beach, and uh was great. And we got introduced to him by another gentleman we just met today, Quent Quinn. Quentin. Quinn Quentin Hall. Quentin Hall. Quentin Hall, y'all. And um and we took advantage of the opportunity to sit down with you. That's what we're here for. We're here for a songwriter festival. You you're performing here at the Songwriter Fest. I love it. Thank you. This is such a cool place. And uh Quentin's actually a Florida resident. Were you born and raised here? No, I'm a Florida resident. Quentin's not. He's not Eli is a big one. Eli's a Florida resident. No, we're good. Eli lives in Nashville. Eli lives in in Florida Florida. Quentin lives in Nashville. Good.

SPEAKER_04 3:14

I know because I go stay with him every time I'm at National.

SPEAKER_01 3:16

That's what he told me. So we got the chance to visit with Quentin, and then he introduced us. We got to catch your set, was really cool. Well, thank you. Thanks for that song. That is a ring and a prayer.

SPEAKER_04 3:27

A ring and a prayer, yep. That is a new one. Uh, I don't feel like I did it justice today because my voice is a little shot. I got just started getting over a sinus uh issue, you know, allergies, whatever. And then all of a sudden I go up to Nashville for a week and that derailed me. And then I got done with that and I came back and that derailed me. And now I'm down in the keys. I'm hoping that'll cure me, but we'll see.

SPEAKER_01 3:47

Well, the humidity is definitely high enough, right? But you know what? We left 45 degrees in southeast Idaho two days ago, drove to Salt Lake, caught a flight here yesterday, and last night we were gonna go catch some music, and we were so spent and wore out, we went to bed. So, so we have this is the first music we've got to listen to today. And uh, but we love this place.

SPEAKER_04 4:10

Idaho, I'll tell you, Idaho's got some strange weather even in the summer. We did a show, we played the Cody, uh the Cody Rodeo, and I remember we flew the band out of, I believe it was Bozeman. Okay, and uh then we we had a radio tour, so we were headed from Bozeman to Idaho Falls to hit a couple radio stations over there and talk with them and do an interview, pushing a new song. And um, I want to say, yeah, we somehow we went o'cross and then down, and well, right when we started coming down, it was like you know June. Oh yeah, and beautiful 60 degree weather, and come around a bend, and there's two two inches of snow on the ground, and I'm going Welcome to Idaho in the middle of the summer. The world is happening here, yeah. It's kind of like Florida in the wintertime. I don't know if you've ever been through a winter in Florida. Um, not just like a little bit, but like the whole thing. You know, we'll we'll go, it'll be it'll be 85 degrees on Christmas Day, 95 degrees on Christmas Day, and then the next day it'll be 30.

SPEAKER_01 5:08

Yeah, yeah. Well, it's a little it it's a little fickle. It doesn't matter where you're at. I've been in Denver in January at 65 degrees. That's so weird. And wake up to a foot of snow the next day, right? So absolutely. So yeah, the the the whole the whole deal is that you just never know, right? And so we had some beautiful weather this winter in Idaho, and we're unseem unseasonably warm, and yet we're in a drought, and so we needed the snowpack, and and it's an issue.

SPEAKER_04 5:32

So I got a I got a buddy who has a uh ranch out in western Nebraska, Kimball. It's like 45 minutes. I've been to Kimball, actually. 45 minutes from Cheyenne, Wyoming. And uh yeah, he said the same thing. He said it's only been below 40 like one week, and and that's where they get their moisture from. And he's a farmer, he's a farmer and a rancher. Yeah, and I was asking him about because he's got he kind of split in half. I said, Well, how are you making how are you how are you planting? And he goes, We can't, it'll all just blow away. There's nothing we can do about it.

SPEAKER_01 5:59

And so yeah, it's uh it's tough out there this year, and the and the uh commodity prices are terrible. And so we we uh we get to talk about ag because not only are you a songwriter, singer, songwriter, touring artist, you also help run a ranch. Correct. Yeah, I'm a yeah, I'm a ranch manager, ranch foreman. Yep. Uh in in up by towards Tampa.

SPEAKER_04 6:21

Near Tampa, yes, right between Orlando and Tampa. We've got uh a little over 3,000 acres. We've got 3,000 acres in one location, and we've got um uh about 150 in another location. But it's kind of weird because you know what's nice is that we are I can hook up my boat and be fishing out in the bay in Tampa Bay in about 45 minutes. Okay, and that's nice. Simultaneously, we could also be in Disney in about an hour, right? But where the ranch is, it's interesting. I was actually working on a uh AC unit, which you know sometimes on tractors they'll put the AC systems in the roof. Right, and so you gotta all the work at work from some of the stuff up there. And I was standing on the roof of a John Deere tractor that we have, and I just you know was crouched down for a while, and I stood up, just kind of stretched, and I looked over, and you could just see the peak of the Disney Castle, the Cinderella Castle. Oh my god. Way off in the distance. It was kind of a crazy, crazy moment where you're just like, wow, we really are that close.

SPEAKER_01 7:16

That is that is crazy. Well, and and and if you've ever been here to Florida, there's stretches of it that are very, very remote. Oh, very uh, and and very open, and there are a lot of cattle in this country, right?

SPEAKER_04 7:29

And people people don't realize, you know, they think when you think cows, you think Texas. And they don't realize that we, because of our our temperate climate or our moderate climate, what do you want to call it, is um, you know, we get basically we have a birthing season for calves year-round. So what winds up happening is you wind up having a um uh a higher calf crop in comparison to other places of the country. So we we produce calves that we sell to feedlots, and so like we'll get we'll get a calf and we'll wean it off its mother about 350 pounds, right? And then we'll send it out to Texas. Okay, and then Texas will put it at feedlots and they'll fatten them up and then they'll send them out west to the slaughterhouses. Right, right. Now, what's interesting is that Texas, though, will sit here and go, Well, we're the number one cattle production state there is, and it's like depends on where you want to put that metric because you're if Florida stops sending you calves, you'd be in trouble real quick, right? Real quick.

SPEAKER_01 8:24

Well, not only Florida, there's lots of other states that that send cattle to Texas and to those big feed yards. Yeah, and we have some big feed yards in Idaho as well. Sure. Uh big big ranches in the West. But yeah, and I love that part of it because I'm an Idaho farm boy, always want to be a cowboy. We talked about that earlier, and uh, and and that that world has always really intrigued me, but not as much as the music does now. At this point in my life, we love the music scene. We get to go to these songwriter festivals and get to meet great songwriters like yourself. Let's talk about your your your songwriting career and your music career. But yeah, so how old were you when you picked up the guitar?

SPEAKER_04 9:01

Uh I want to say about 12 or 13. Okay. So I had a very, very dear friend of ours. Um, he was friends with my dad and uh their co-workers, and this guy could play, he could play a draft table, a drafting table. One day we walked in, he was an architect, and he was sitting at a drafting table. You know, they got that they got the wire at the bottom of it, and it was right around Christmas time, and he's just sitting there playing all sorts of Christmas carols on the drafting wire, the bottom of the drafting table. Um, this is of course before everybody was using computers for everything. And um, but he uh he would he could play anything that had strings. He could play mandolin, he could play ball aika, he could play guitar, whether it was bass, acoustic, electric, didn't matter. Uh he could play anything there was, and so he really inspired me to want to. I mean, he was that guy that every time he walked in, uh every time he walked in a room, he was the life of the party.

SPEAKER_01 9:52

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 9:53

And if he had a and if he had a guitar in his hands, he was even more the life of the party. And he always made me kind of want to emulate that. And um, so I picked up guitar and really learned to play. I'd had a childhood dream since I was like six years old. I saw Tracy Bird play at this big festival down in Florida, and then I always wanted to do that. I always wanted to be be Tracy Byrd, right? Sure. My parents can tell you about times when I'd be sitting on the picnic tare, standing on the picnic table in the backyard, singing, Don't Take Her She's All I Got, you know. Uh, trying to pretend like I was Tracy Byrd, and uh now fast forward, we've opened for him a couple times, and it's uh it's kind of kind of cool, kind of cool to have those moments, those full circle moments.

SPEAKER_01 10:34

Yeah, well, I I had the opportunity while we were kind of setting up waiting. I did a little read I did a little deep dive as deep as I could go, kind of a thin dive, actually, uh, about your career. So you served in the military, you're a Marine. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Marine and your dad was uh re is retired uh Army?

SPEAKER_04 10:54

F prior service, yeah. He didn't retire out, but he served in Vietnam. Okay, and um he was yeah, he was an officer in Vietnam in the Army. Uh and my brother is actually a captain in the Marine Corps. Wow.

SPEAKER_01 11:04

So So it's your family has deep patriotic roots.

SPEAKER_04 11:07

Yeah, I've got a cousin that's a naval commander. I've got my grandpa was a um he was a pilot in World War II. Wow. And he uh back when it was the Army Air Corps, not the Air Force.

SPEAKER_02 11:17

Sure.

SPEAKER_04 11:18

And then he retired, of course, out of the Air Force back in uh oh golly, I want to say probably the 50s, 60s, something like that. I'd have to I'd have to get the dates on that. But I mean he retired as a colonel. He went in, he's one of those people that went into the military as a private and graduated and retired as a colonel. Wow. So he's um pretty pretty neat to to have that military history. But yeah, I I served six years in the Marine Corps and um I was a diesel mechanic, which has been the most beneficial thing possible, not only as a rancher, but also as a touring musician, because we have a Mercedes sprinter, and uh here's a plug for Mercedes, don't ever buy a sprinter. Uh you're not the only guy I've heard that story from. They're expensive and insanely hard to fix, and it's insanely expensive to fix.

SPEAKER_02 11:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 12:00

And um uh, but I I because we have a Mercedes, I wind up using my diesel mechanic skills all the time. Wow.

SPEAKER_01 12:07

Well, that's a great skill to have because you're not the only one. We just we just talked about uh Chanse Williams a little bit ago, and I I see Chansey, he's a he's a ranch guy from uh uh eastern Wyoming, and uh his his prevost bus was broke down on the side of the road the other you see that and Chansey was out there with his wrench and he was wrenching on that prevost.

SPEAKER_04 12:26

Yeah, yeah, it it's a thing, you know, it's funny because I think that's where and and and good for him, right? Good for him for for having the opportunity. But I think that's where the the the Nashville guys that show up to Nashville and they are basically handed everything because they're a really good artist, and then they just get their ticket written for them, and they ne they don't know what it's like to change a tire on a trailer on the top of Vale Pass at 1 a.m. with snow on the ground. They don't know what it's like to have to wonder about how are we gonna make the next show uh because the engine blew and how you're gonna pay the band, right? Right, and you don't and you don't have a record label just flipping a bill for you saying, Here, we'll take care. Don't worry about it. If the bus breaks down, we'll send a jet.

SPEAKER_01 13:19

You know, I know I know Yeah, independent artists are a way different in a way different situation and category than than those uh artists that that get the opportunity to play for uh a a label.

SPEAKER_04 13:30

Right, and and don't get me wrong, I would sign to a label in a half a second. Sure. But I I am thankful for the opportunity that I've had to it it's crazy. It's like the like the song God Bless the Broken Road, right? It's all the trials that have led me to where I'm at. It's knowing the shows that we put our last penny into the gas tank, diesel tank in this case, to show up and five people were there. And with the promise of a thousand. Yeah. And we're getting paid for the door. And it's it's the times where we've had somebody who said, Oh, I'll promise you the moon and the stars and everything else up there uh as a manager, and they're gonna push you in a huge way, and you put a song out, and they did nothing to follow through with it. It's and so it's it's it's a heartbreak, it's the it's the grind, it's those people, those are the people that I really respect. Um, that's why I I really respect people like well, like Cody Johnson, even though he's got this record label now, it's pushing him. I mean, he earned he earned his stripes, he paid his due. Yeah, he pays his dues. Aaron Watson, another one. Ian Munsick, another one, you know.

SPEAKER_01 14:39

These are all guys that maybe now they're having some Nashville success, but but started out as independent artists and foot the bill, or had or had an angel take care of him and give them some help and some uh push along the way. Well, and I think that's really important. I don't think people realize that everybody thinks that once you've made it, you've made it, right? Yeah and and and yet I think the majority of the artists that are outperforming today around the country that we've met are are independent, or even a handful of them that have label deals are still those label deals aren't aren't a guaranteed golden ticket. And we've seen men interview interviewed plenty of them that have had record deals and then lost them, right? And then got another record deal and then lost it, and so they've ended up going the songwriter route. What what's your real true love of this business? Is it the songwriter side of things or is it the touring in the artist part?

SPEAKER_04 15:34

You know, I used to say I'm not a songwriter, um and I I I think I was hard on myself. Um I I think it's interesting. I wrote a song a couple of years ago. My wife's family has a condo, they they go down to the beach once a year. It's kind of a timeshare sort of a thing. And it's right on the beach in this place called Anna Maria Island. And it's kind of the Central Florida Key West, right? Okay, yeah. And all the Central Florida people go to get away there. And um it's this beautiful place, but I'm I I always wake up early in the morning and I I'll sit out on the balcony and I'll watch, I'll watch the um essentially I'll watch the beach come alive. Sure. As the sun's coming up, you've got your fishermen that are they're they're going by and they're chasing schools of of tarpon or or or whatever they're chasing. And then as you and then as they go away, you've got your early morning exercisers who are running up and down. And then as they go, I started writing what I was watching, essentially. Sure. Just every word, every line was just something that I was saying, and um, or that I was seeing, I should say. Sure. And I wanted a songwriting award for that.

SPEAKER_01 16:43

Wow. Well, because you're able to visualize something and put it on paper or put it into a song, right? But I I almost didn't cut the song.

SPEAKER_04 16:52

Really? Yeah, it was funny. We were down to we were down to uh we had nine songs for a 10-song album. One of actually making an 11 ironically, but we needed that that 10th song. And I was just I didn't think anything of the song, and we were in a standstill in the in the studio and uh doing pre-production and trying to figure out what is that tenth song gonna be that we're gonna record in a couple of months. And I sat there and I started noodling on my guitar and I started playing the song that I'd written, which to me was just I didn't write it with a hit writer like Steve Dean. I didn't write it with somebody that knew it was a theory just genius like like Billy McLaren that I write with, um, or a Chris Cho or a Quentin. Quentin's a Quentin, our friend that we linked us up. This guy is one of the most intriguing songwriters to write with because he focuses on the on the big picture, and then it's so funny, he'll bring out a whiteboard. I'm not kidding you. Like like you're in a high school class, he'll bring out a whiteboard, and the first time he did it, I was like, this guy cannot be serious.

SPEAKER_01 17:56

And after we were done, by the way, folks, Quentin's behind the camera over here.

SPEAKER_04 18:01

It's true, I didn't realize he was in one, I thought he left. But seriously, I I I and it's the coolest thing ever. Sure. But there are there are there are people that are writers, and I count Quentin right there with Billy McLaren, Steve Dean, Chris Chota. These guys are these are writers. I wouldn't count myself as one of those. Well, I put this song out, or I'm I'm in the studio kind of noodling on this thing that I wrote, and my producer goes, What's that? And I was like, Oh, it's just some beach bum song, and I just can't get out of my head. And he goes, Well, we're cutting that. And Kip Allen and Mitch Fur, they're my two producers uh at the time here, and they were they and they still are, but they they um they're just like, Why don't we cut this? And I was like, It's nothing. And they were like, and they we have a rapport now. We worked together for about eight years, and they just go, That's dumb. That's something. We're gonna we're gonna cut that.

SPEAKER_01 18:54

What's the song title?

SPEAKER_04 18:55

It's called Anna Maria. Okay, and we wound up cutting it, and I gotta be honest with you, I cried the whole way through the session because we've got these people like Janae Fleener, who's now George Strait's uh fiddle player, um, and she plays with George Strait every live show he does, and she's also played on all like heartache medication for John Party and all the Cody Johnson stuff and all the Aaron Watson stuff in the last several years, and so she's a world-renowned fiddle player, and I've got her playing, and I've got Mike Johnson, who's Reba's steel guitar player, and he's played on a lot of Brad Paisley stuff as well, and I've got him, and I've got Morgan Wallins guitar player, time Tyler Tomlinson, all these people are just killing it. Kip's playing drums, and I've just got this incredible studio crew. And what was so weird is when you work with a producer for so long, they hear your heart, and you don't even have to tell them. They just go. And um, it was so crazy because I'm sitting here and Kip goes, I I just I've kind of given everybody general direction, let's see what happens. And uh what was in my head when I wrote the song sitting on the beach watching this happen, is what came out in my headphones as I'm watching it get recorded in real time. Exactly, not roughly, not kind of sorta, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 20:10

You know, we have heard those stories about those session musicians who who when when these artists walk in and go, Well, this is my song and this is this is how and they well hummus a few bars. Is this it? Yeah, okay, we're ready to go.

SPEAKER_04 20:22

So our our people, they don't, they they will not listen to the song before they get there. They will not listen to the song before they walk in the studio, then they will listen to it once and follow along with a chart and just go, cool, they'll make a couple notes. From the time they first hear the first note to the time what's happening in your headphones or on your car radio that you hear is usually three minutes. Right. Three minutes.

SPEAKER_01 20:50

It's amazing.

SPEAKER_04 20:50

It's amazing, it's insane, it's insanity, and they're so gifted. So when you're surrounded by people like that, it's really cool. But anyway, so going back to the original question, I would usually say I'm not a songwriter, but I'm starting to feel like a songwriter, and a lot of that's because we're starting to actually write about things that matter. The reason why I like being an artist is because you get to go out and you get to entertain and you get to sing songs that that reach people.

SPEAKER_02 21:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 21:15

And that's why I like being an artist, is because I get to meet people, I get to meet the farmers, the ranchers, the factory workers, all those people that that keep America going. And I love what I get to do, and that's been my favorite part. But now as I get deeper into writing, and I'm not scared to offend the Nashville machine, sure. I'm I'm writing from the heart, and people are going like we we we played a song earlier today called Slipping Away, and it's about basically talking to God as you're watching your daughter go through a medical medical uh disaster, essentially. And um I I'm I released a song because I I thought it would mean stuff to people, and the amount of messages we've gotten about that and the people that are commenting, the people are going, sure, I've been there. Okay. And what's funny is it's going to be kind of funny because I think the song is going to be one of those songs that's not going to perform well for streaming numbers, because usually the people that haven't been through it don't get it. The people that have been through it can't stand to listen to it more than once or twice. Right. And so it's one of those things where they hear it and they go, Yes, never play that again.

SPEAKER_01 22:22

Yeah, because it makes them cry.

SPEAKER_04 22:24

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:26

Well, so is that the song that you wrote about your own personal experience? Yes. Okay. So let's let's share that with our listeners because that song was really technically happened to you.

SPEAKER_04 22:38

Yeah, so when I was so the song is about if I was a dad, if I was a dad and my daughter was slowly slipping away in a children's hospital. Think of like St. Jude, or in this case, Nicholas Children's Hospital in Miami, where where this happened to me. But if I was a dad, you know, you get to a point where if you if you have faith and you trusted God and you have a relationship with God, I I don't think you're scared to tell him what you're thinking, because he already knows anyway, right?

SPEAKER_02 23:15

Right.

SPEAKER_04 23:15

So why sugarcoat it? And so, you know, it if if you want to kind of have a gloves-off conversation, if that's how you feel, have that conversation. And um, so I was kind of the the way the song goes is kind of a dad walking out to an open field and saying, Hey God, what up? Right. Let's go right now. What are you doing? Why are you doing it? This is a kid. This is my kid. Don't you know what it's like to lose a son? You do know what it's like to lose a son, so why are you putting me through it? And it is really kind of what I say, chesting up to God. But I think the part that's and so that's what the song's about. But the real life story behind it is when I was four years old, I was diagnosed with a brain tumor. I was acting weird, I was acting funny. Well, they that acting funny and kind of clowning around turned out to be seizures that I was having, epileptic seizures. But we hadn't been through that, so my parents had no idea what would what that looked like. And so they finally I was at a doctor's office one day and did it, and they were like, whoa, hey, hold up. And um, long story short, is it was a four-year journey of trying to chase every medicine, everything, all that. The the diagnosis was I would never live to be past 11 years old. And then there was a surgery that had a 70% chance of leaving me blind, deaf, mute, totally paralyzed, basically a you know, just uh what do they call that? A coma comatose, right? Right, right, just no function, the non-functioning human. Um 70% chance.

SPEAKER_01 24:54

So basically a 30% chance of survival.

SPEAKER_04 24:57

Survival and having some form of normality. But there was no percent chance that I was gonna live a normal life, ever get a driver's license, ever join the Marine Corps, ever be a country music artist and a rancher, are you out of your mind? Like that's crazy. Through God's grace and God's grace alone, it happened. And we go through the surgery, super dicey surgery. Um, and um it was interesting because there are several moments where if you you ought to interview my dad sometime, but my parents would have these moments where things were just not happening, critical things. Like when they were they they ran before the surgery, they ran a um uh a test on me. It was a 24-hour test, and I had to have a seizure in 24 hours. Now you gotta keep in mind I had been having seizures three or four times a day, grandma's seizures, right before the surgery. And um I had to have a seizure for them to monitor something, to gauge, to basically calibrate stuff. Well, long story short is in 24 hours I didn't have a surgery, I didn't have a seizure. Let me rephrase that. In 23 hours and 55 minutes, I didn't have a surgery. I mean I didn't have a seizure, and I had to have one in 24 hours, otherwise they were canceling the surgery that took years to line up. So you go into this this um uh this scenario and go, this is a lost cause. Well, five minutes before the time is up, a prayer meeting commences at our church, and the whole church prayed. And you know what happened? I can guess. I had a seizure five minutes before. Those are the moments you can't tell me that was coincidence. Those are the there were so many of them. So that's my story, that's my background. And I'm just you know, I'm I'm writing this song because we find out we're expecting our daughter, we're super excited, and all of a sudden, and all of a sudden the thought hits me. Am I gonna go through what my parents went through?

SPEAKER_02 27:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 27:12

And so I started thinking, what would my dad have said? If I were my dad, what would I say to God? I'm not trying to put words in his mouth, but if I were to go through that, what would I say to God? Right. And so that's where that song came from. Yeah. It's dark, it's deep, but it's real. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:36

Yeah. Well, stories like that touch people.

SPEAKER_04 27:42

Yeah. And yesterday, well, back up a little bit. I had put a video out. Somebody had challenged me to start telling that story. A friend of mine in the industry has challenged me to start telling that story. And I've always been hesitant to tell about my brain surgery and all that because I don't want to come across like I'm going, oh, look what I've got as another thing to get attention. So I'm always very careful about that. And so I haven't put my story out there. Well, he challenged me. He said, I want you to put your story out there. So we did. And then as I was putting the video out, I thought, I'm gonna reach out to the hospital and just see if that doctor is even still alive. And I called the hospital, you know, 1-800 number. Somehow, miraculously, about three days later, I get a call from Miami, and my heart sank because I knew the area code, and I just went, and I was like, they're gonna tell me that he won't, they're gonna tell me, they're gonna tell me he's not gonna meet with me. Right. You know, thanks for thinking of us. But right, right, you know, he's the chief of surgery now, and I'm like, this is crazy. So I get a call, and it's him, and he goes, I want to meet with you. Let me know when you're around. I hope you've been great. I want to hear all about it. So yesterday on the drive down here, we stopped by and I met the brain surgeon that saved my life 28 years ago. Wow. I shook his hand, I gave him a hug. He met my daughter. How old is your daughter? 18 months. Oh wow. For a guy that was never supposed to live past 11 years old to come down on the way to play a songwriter's festival as an artist with BMI between tour stops, national tour stops, promoting his current single to bring his wife and daughter in. Great story. God's great. Yeah. And Saint and um God's great. I was gonna say, in places like St. Jude, but really, God's great, and the doctors that worked on me at Miami Children's Hospital at the time, now Nicholas Children's Hospital in Miami, they saved my life. Yeah, they did. Well, yeah. It's a lot to unpack. It's crazy. It was such a dicey surgery. There were two surgeons that could handle it. It was him or Ben Carson.

SPEAKER_02 30:08

Wow.

SPEAKER_04 30:08

Wow. And they were gonna, and they were going to Ben Carson had got called into something that was more immediately life-threatening. Sure. And so it bounced to probably for a reason. Yeah, I'm sure. I'm sure. But you know what? I mean, you can't tell me that God doesn't have his hand on all this.

SPEAKER_02 30:26

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 30:26

So, so so you start out eight years old. I'm a brain surgery survivor, okay? Ten years later, I joined the Marine Corps. Get done with the Marines. While I'm in the Marine Corps reserves, I'm getting my college degree in music business. Go to um get done with music business degree, hit the ground running, start playing every fair festival, open mic, honky tonk, anything, barbecue festival, whoever will have me. I remember we played a four-piece band, five-hour show for $200. Full sun. By the way, noon to five. Oh my god. You want to talk about grueling? Yeah. Ah, those were the days. And now, yeah, and now you fast forward, we're playing Cheyenne Frontier Days. Yeah, how can we do that? We're playing, we're playing Pendleton Roundup. Cody. We're playing, and and and we're we're working on, we're working on and praying for a grand old operator to be your sin. Oh. And there's some things in the works on that. And it's just like, guys, to go from an 11-year-old, or I mean, sorry, a an eight-year-old kid who's never supposed to see 11 years old. Right. To that.

SPEAKER_01 31:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 31:41

Definitely God's hand was in it. Correct. And that's why I that's what keeps me going. And that's fine, because conversations like this, while I'm telling you this, I'm reminding myself this. That's why I keep going.

SPEAKER_02 31:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 31:52

Because there's a lot easier ways I could ride off in the sunset, so to speak, and literally at the ranch, hang this all up, sell the music gear, and go buy a nice fishing boat and call it a day. But there's a reason we're doing this. Sure, there is.

unknown 32:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:06

And so that's that's so so back to the to the I love that story, and thanks for sharing. Um let's talk about the music so I don't get so choked up. Uh, have you had have you had any major cuts? I know you've got to open for some big artists. So you got to open for Maren Morris, right?

SPEAKER_04 32:28

Yeah, yeah. We we've we've had a bunch of those festival gigs where we've been on, you know, the opening slot or whatever. And we're doing a couple this year. We're opening for uh it's kind of fun. This year we stepped from like the prime B stage or side stage slots, right? Okay, and now we're stepping into the main stage, the main stage slots. So like it is in June, it's gonna be um um it's gonna be or it was whenever this this episode comes out.

SPEAKER_02 32:53

Yeah, sure.

SPEAKER_04 32:54

Uh but it it uh in in June we're it's us, Drew Baldridge, Mitchell Timpenny. Oh wow, main stage, and then that is where and that's in Minnesota for kicking kicking up country fest. And then in August, it's us direct support for Midland. Oh wow, and we just did a direct support for Tracy Bird, and then um and then we're doing a Fourth of July gig. Uh and and so yeah, we we've had a handful of people, and you know what? Most of them have been really great, but uh, but it's been really fun to open for them. But no, I we're going back to the songwriter question about cuts. I haven't had any major cuts. Um it's interesting. It's not really been a goal of mine. Sure. Maybe financially it should be a goal of mine.

SPEAKER_01 33:36

It's interesting to me because we've interviewed a lot of a lot of of artists that really write for themselves. Right. The goal was never to get a cut. Right. Now, not that not to say that they wouldn't be thrilled if Cody Johnson didn't cut one of your songs. Absolutely. You you've written with some some songwriters who have had some major cuts and got to play with some. Um, you talked about on stage this morning. You you uh you had was it did you just play with him in a songwriter festival or did you write with him that you said had cuts with George Strait and and uh you told that?

SPEAKER_04 34:07

Oh Steve, Steve, no, he's yeah, I say this a little exaggeratingly, but he's written half my catalog. But no, in all honesty, in all honesty, um golly, uh he's probably he probably has written a third of my catalog with me. Okay. Um, he's one of my favorite writers. And I'll tell you the way it the way it happened that I met him, I was invited by uh who the former one of the former VPs of BMI who just retired, Dan Spears. Um, he's great guy, great guy. And he invited me down to play this songwriters festival called Island Hopper. It's in Fort Myers and it's in uh late September. And so they kind of it's kind of like a fall getaway for the Key West here in the spring, and then you got fall. Yep. And um there's this big reception, right? Big reception hall, and all the writers are there, and everybody knows each other. And I'm the new guy, right? So it's always terrifying because you you you look over there, and there's the guy that wrote Friends in Low Places, talking to the guy that wrote, you know, Chattahoochee. And it's like, right, who am I to walk into that conversation? So I'm standing there really intimidated, and I and I I walk over to um, I see this guy standing by himself, coming, it kind of came in and just kind of standing by himself. And I said, walked over, I said, This looks good, he looks friendly. I'm gonna go talk to him. I said, Hey, my name's Eli Mosley. I'm brand new at this whole thing. I'm just terrified, and and you know, you you look like you don't have a like a friendly face. Yeah, and he and he was like, and he was like, Yeah, hey, I'm uh my name's Steve Dean, and you know, I'm new at this whole thing too. And I thought, that's cool, great. I found this guy, we got two new guys here. He gets up a few minutes later, there's a few mics up there, and guitar, he grabs his guitar, walks up on stage, he goes, Yeah, I'm new here. And I'm going, Yep, yeah, me too. And he goes, Here's a song I wrote called Roundabout Way for George Strait. And I'm like, New, huh? And then he gets up and he sings Southern Star for Alabama, Walk On for Reba. And then his big final was uh Watching You for Rodney Atkins. And he comes back and he sits down at the table, and uh I look at him and go, New, huh? And he goes, Well, you know, new to the festival. I was like, great. He goes, and he looks at me and he says, Hey, come to my house next week and let's write. Oh, wow. And don't you know we did? Cool, it's not an idle offer, it was every bit genuine as it gets. And we went and we wrote, and Steve and I have become very good friends. If there's a time when I'm in town that he's in town and his writing schedule's booked, my wife and I will just go over and have dinner with him. Perfect. Or we'll go out to dinner or go out for margaritas or something. Like he's just a great sweet guy, and um, so yeah, Steve is one of those guys that I've written a lot with and learned a lot from. Sure, sure.

SPEAKER_01 36:49

So well, cool. Well, listen, you you uh you've had quite the life and and and a story worth telling.

SPEAKER_04 36:59

I appreciate that. It's it's a blessing to be able to go uh yesterday. Yesterday was a great, great ver a great example. You know, yesterday I go out to feed my horse and there's a wild boar. And so I get out of the car and grab my Glock and just start shooting the it's a it it it's 75 yards away, and I've got a you know short little glock, and I'm just trying to at least do something. Scare him out of there. So he's he's off and running. I get in the car, go feed my horse, get back, head down the road, go meet my brain surgeon, come to play Key West Songwriters Fest, play a show last night. In 24 hours, I'm hog hunting, ranching, meeting my brain surgeon and playing the songwriters festival in 24 hours. And being on a podcast. And being on a podcast. How cool is that? I mean, you know, those are some really it it it's a we're very blessed. Yeah, I don't take any of it for granted. I don't think that I deserve a single bit of it. Well, I agree. It's really cool. Yeah, it's really cool.

SPEAKER_01 38:02

Thanks for sharing. Uh, we have loved getting to meet you. Thanks to Quentin, Mr. Quentin Hall back there from Nashville. Uh let's talk real quick about you you're you're one of the few, not few, there's a lot that do this, but you you do not live in Nashville, you're not a Nashville artist, but you do travel to Nashville, spend some time recording, songwriting, and hanging out in Nashville, and then go back home to the ranch and do your job. How often are you going out to Nashville?

SPEAKER_04 38:29

I'm there about a week a month. Okay. Give or take. I'm there about a week a month. Um and it's funny, I was actually a few years ago about to move to Nashville, and um I started talking to different buddies I was running circles with, right? You know, we were in the same we were in the same riders' circles and we were in the same, you know, the same uh groups. Sure. And I would go out to this writer's round and I'd see them there, and then next month I go out to the same writers' round, I'd see them there. I'd be like, man, man, how many what what have you been doing? Like, oh, this is the first time I've been out of the house. And I was like, well, goodness gracious, the people that are living in Nashville aren't doing most of them aren't doing more than I could do in a week. And so like when I when I go to Nashville, I take, I'll take uh, I'll have a late night songwrite, I'll have a late afternoon meeting, I'll have a mid-morning songwrite. Sure. I'm sorry, I'll have a late night songwriting session or uh showcase, like a songwriter's round.

SPEAKER_02 39:31

Right, right.

SPEAKER_04 39:31

And then I'll have a meeting before that, and then I'll have a songwrite before that, and then sometimes I'll have a breakfast meeting. And so my days in Nashville may be 12, 13, 14 hour workdays.

SPEAKER_00 39:40

Sure, sure.

SPEAKER_04 39:41

And just going. And you know, you can accomplish a lot in five days of that.

SPEAKER_01 39:46

Yes, yeah. Uh agreed. And we've met several artists, songwriters that do very similar way, and and and of course, several that have made the move, went to Nashville. You know, they don't call Nashville a tenure town for no reason. Right. It's but if you're only if you're not out of the house but one week out of the month, it's pretty easy to turn something that in in real likelihood. If you'd get out and network and hustle, you could shorten that time up. I think I've met you know, a young lady from Washington originally, she lives in Nashville now, but she says, Byron, I'm guilty of not getting out and networking and doing I can do more as far as building my network and that and that's why we're here in Key West is to build our network. That's Quentin was standing there holding his drink and his glasses, and I said, Here, come set that stuff on the table, and oh, you mind? And then we just got to talking, and before you know it, you're on stage playing. He goes, Yeah, I know that guy. Oh, by the way, I co-wrote that song with him. Yeah, and and he goes, I'll introduce you to him. And I said, Man, we do a podcast, that's why we're here, but that's why we're here to hear those stories.

SPEAKER_04 40:51

Yeah, yeah, it it is one of those things. Um, I think for me, the hard the hard part is, you know, I realize that anytime you try to set up a meeting in Nashville, it's a month out anyway.

SPEAKER_01 41:01

Yeah. So let's just let's just go out there when that meeting happens and set up as much stuff as you can.

SPEAKER_04 41:07

Yeah, we're exactly. And we and we really do. And you know, it's crazy because you think that you get in town and it's a cluster and everything's going this way. Yeah, it's all planned out months ahead of time. And so, and so it's very calculated. It's there's a you know, just with any business movie. Sure.

SPEAKER_01 41:20

So I like to ask uh artists this question. I two or three other questions I like to ask. Number one, what is the song you wish you had written?

SPEAKER_04 41:28

Oh goodness, somebody else cut it or I cut it? No, somebody else cut it. Oh, goodness gracious. I mean, some big monster hit. If it was a new song, I would say I Never Lie by Zach Topp. Oh, what a song, right? You who wrote that? Did Wyatt McCoven?

SPEAKER_01 41:48

I actually have no idea, believe it or not. I think Wyatt maybe I just know I didn't. Maybe he didn't, but Wyatt had four songs on the album that just became album of the year. Or no, he won a Grammy for it.

SPEAKER_04 42:00

Okay. He won a Grammy for that.

SPEAKER_01 42:02

Uh Zach did. I love Zach Top.

SPEAKER_04 42:03

Yeah, I do too. And I've interviewed Wyatt.

SPEAKER_01 42:05

Wyatt's been on the podcast.

SPEAKER_04 42:06

Let me let me tell you why. Let me tell you why I like Zach Top. Every so often I'll reach out to artists. My level, higher, lower, you know, with within that realm, right? I'm not gonna reach out to Brad Paisley, but every so often I'll reach out to artists. They're in my, you know, roughly kind of sort of where I'm at. And if I hear them and I just love what they're doing, I'll just send them a message to be like, hey, yeah, love what you're doing. Thanks so much. 98% of the time they'll never respond. Right, right, right. Zach responded. Zach responded. Zach said this, and whether it was full on bull or not, right? Only he knows. But I sent him a message that this is right before. Right before, right after there, there's the sun released. Either way, he hadn't built up. He was maybe 50,000 followers on Instagram. He wasn't, he wasn't huge. Sure. And he's building, and I said, Hey man, just want to say thanks for keeping country country. Love what you're doing. Um, really appreciate your music. Keep it up. He sends me back a message that says, Dude, I've been following you too. Love what you're doing. Same. And I was just like, now that may be 100% bold. I don't know. What's the matter?

SPEAKER_01 43:27

Oh, Wyatt did not write that one. Sorry.

unknown 43:30

Zach talk Arsenal.

SPEAKER_04 43:32

Uh okay. But either way, yeah. So Zach Zach responds, Zach responds to me.

SPEAKER_02 43:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 43:40

And even if it was 100% bull, he didn't need to go through the effort of doing that. Yeah. And that is why I will forever respect the man.

SPEAKER_01 43:46

No, that's cool. Okay, so I also like to ask this is a two part question. If you could work with anyone, dead or alive. Now, two part question. So you gotta give a dead one and an alive one.

SPEAKER_04 43:58

Okay. Okay. Um, now you gotta keep in mind, I'm gonna go off of personality. I'm gonna go off of um who I think would be fun to hang out with. I think the first one alive, anybody. And I'm trying to just live out of the world of like I want to say I'm trying to live out of the world of remote possibilities, right? Sure. Because I've got some people that I probably could work with that I really respect the hell out of. Like Mark Wills. Yeah, he's a great guy. He's a he's a friend. He's a friend. Um, he he's been great as a mentor. I would love to cut a song with him someday. But if you're talking like shooting for the moon, yeah, I'd probably say it would be a tie between Kix Brooks and George Strait. And I'll tell you the reason why is I think Kix Brooks and I would hit it off and we would just become friends instantly.

SPEAKER_02 44:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 44:54

Um, we just he he's we we met one time at a when at his um I got invited as a CMA member, I got invited to his uh Hall of Fame induction. Brooks and then got inducted. And Anna and I, my wife and I, we we met Kix and he was so excited to hear about touring and about our spinner van and about all this stuff. And it was just like it would it threw me because I was like, I'm supposed to be asking the questions, right?

SPEAKER_01 45:22

Right.

SPEAKER_04 45:23

And he was just so genuine, made you feel real. He made me feel like he like like like I was shirked, and I was like, what happened? Sure. I love people like that. So that would be one George Strait, obviously. He's the king, he's my biggest influence of all time, but like I would be, I don't know. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 45:41

Okay, well, that's two great ones dead, dead, dead, goodness gracious. Um we know that ain't gonna happen, but right, right, right. Um maybe in the next line, said right.

SPEAKER_04 45:56

I I don't play by the rules all the time, sure. I don't intentionally try to be mischievous, but there are some times when I just do stuff that gets me in trouble and I can be a little I can be a little obstinate. I think Johnny Cash would probably be it. Cool.

SPEAKER_01 46:12

We're going to uh Cedar Edge, Colorado, the first weekend in June to their songwriter festival called um, and I'll think of it here. My producer's back there wrinkling her nose. Um David Starr puts it on, and it is called Grand Mesa Songwriter Festival. But you know who's headlining it? Who? Rodney Crowell. Wow, how cool is that? Wow. Can you imagine the stories? I'm I'm pretty sure I'm 95% sure I'm gonna get to have this conversation with Rodney Crow.

SPEAKER_04 46:42

That would be really cool.

SPEAKER_01 46:43

And can you imagine the stories he has to tell about Johnny Cash? Being married to Roseanne. Yeah, fingers crossed, Rodney Crowell. We're hoping to sit down with you. But wow, um, yeah, what what a what a cool experience. We've been really blessed. This has been great. Thank you. Appreciate you.

SPEAKER_04 46:59

Yeah, thanks for thanks for having me on.

SPEAKER_01 47:02

Thanks, Quentin. Appreciate you. We'll get out to Nashville and we'll get to do it again. Sounds good. We'll uh reserve the right to do it again. Sounds good. All right, hey, from Musical Miles Podcast, I'm your host, Byron Duffin, here with Eli Mosley. We'll see you somewhere down the road. Adios for now.

SPEAKER_00 47:20

Fun. Really fun. This episode of Musical Miles Podcast is sponsored by Stetson, a true symbol of Western heritage and American craftsmanship. For generations, Stetson has stood for quality, style, and authenticity. Stetson, built for those who live the music and the lifestyle.