Tim Parks - Building A Gun Dog Community While Championing The Creekers’ Rise

#67 A small mountain town asks a big question—why not us? That spark turns into a blueprint for culture, community, and a band that’s suddenly everywhere. We sit down with Tim Parks, Manchester’s tourism director and manager of The Creekers, to unpack how a tight-knit team moved from free hometown shows to major festival lineups without trading in their roots. Think practical strategy—agents, labels, radius clauses, and routing—blended with the soul of Appalachia—accents, garden rows, deer season, and four-part harmonies that hit like home.

Tim takes us behind the curtain of a modern music breakout. He shares how The Creekers chose WME and Warner for a plan, not just promises, and why TikTok momentum only matters if the live show is bulletproof. We talk DIY recordings that punched way above their budget, a forthcoming studio album, and the surprising way a free local festival can fuel real economic growth. This is more than a music story; it’s a case study in how authenticity scales, how to protect family while touring hard, and how to build a national footprint while keeping your neighbors in the front row.

Along the way, we keep the Gun Dog Nation heartbeat strong—heritage, training, youth involvement, and the gear and partners that make working dogs thrive. If you care about building something that lasts—whether a kennel program, a festival, or a career—this conversation gives you a roadmap shaped by grit, gratitude, and good sense. Hit play, share it with a friend who loves real music and real dogs, and drop a review so more folks can find the show.

Gundog Nation is Proudly Sponsored by Waterstone Labradors.

Chapters

• 0:02 Vision For Gun Dog Nation
• 0:38 Sponsors, Music Credits, And Merch
• 1:57 Introducing Guest Tim Parks
• 3:13 From Coaching To Music Promotion
• 7:40 Birth Of Manchester Music Fest
• 12:15 The Creekers Form And Level Up
• 17:49 Choosing A Booking Agent And Label
• 22:40 Viral Growth, TikTok, And Real Musicianship
• 28:05 Crossover Dreams And Mainstream Strategy
• 33:10 Culture, Accents, And Appalachian Pride
• 40:30 Economic Impact Of Music And Tourism
• 46:40 Fame, Fans, And Boundaries
• 52:25 2026 Tours, Festivals, And Radius Clauses
• 1:00:45 Proof Of Demand And Sold-Out Markets
• 1:06:00 Giving Back, Youth, And Free Festivals
• 1:12:35 Songwriting, DIY Recording, And New Album
• 1:19:10 Keeping Family First While Scaling Up
• 1:26:15 Closing Thanks And Where To Find The Creekers
• 1:33:31 Final Sponsor And Patreon Invitation

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:02

I'm Kenneth Witt and welcome to Gun Dog Nation. Gun Dog Nation is much more than a podcast. It's a movement to build a community of people around the world that like to watch a well-trained dog do what it's bred to do. Also, we want to get our youth involved into the sport of gun dogs, whether it be hunting, sport, or competition. We want to build a community of people united to preserve our gun dog heritage and to be better gun dog owners. Tune in to each weekly episode and learn about training, dog health, wellness, and nutrition. We will also offer tips for hunting with dogs and for competition, uh, hunt tests, field trials, and other dog sports that involve gun dogs. Please go to our website, gundognation.com, and subscribe to our email list. We will keep you informed weekly with podcasts that are coming out. We also will be providing newsletters with training tips and health tips for your dog. You can also go to patreon.com forward slash gundognation and become a member. There's different levels of membership on there. Just go check that out. Also, we'd like to thank Sean Brock for providing the music for this show. The introduction and the outro is Sean Brock. He played everything on there except the banjo by Scott Vest on the Dobro by Jerry Douglas. Sean is a neighbor of mine from over in Harlan, Kentucky. I'm just crossing the mountain in Hyden, Kentucky, and he's a super talented guy. But most of all, want you guys to check out the Creekers. They are also from Hyding, Kentucky. This is an up-and-coming bluegrass and country band. And these guys are hot. They're all over TikTok and YouTube. You will hear these guys because in a year or so they will be on the radio. They are very talented. Their videos are going viral on the net. These boys are family. Two of the lead singers, one dropped with my daughters, and the other one is my cousin's son. So he's family. But check them out. Check out the Creakers. Also, last but not least, if you want to buy a hat, koozie, t-shirt, or even gun dog supplies, go to shopgundognation.com and you can purchase any of those items. Thank you so much for listening. It's a privilege to have people that want to put up with me talking about dogs all the time. I actually enjoy what I do, and I'm so glad to have this opportunity. And thank you. Hey, it's Kenneth Witt, and welcome back to the Gun Dog Nation Podcasts. I've come to you today from the ranch in Fort McCabot, Texas. And I've been uh chasing this very busy man around for a while trying to get him on here. And it's a huge pleasure and privilege, not only because of who he is, what he does, but where he's from. You know, I'm from Leslie County, high in Kentucky, and proud. I've been in Texas for a long time. But uh I spent many years in Manchester, Kentucky, and Clay County, which is the next county over to us, and that's where this young man is from. But anyway, Tim, you're more well known than I am, brother. But let's let's introduce you. Tell everybody who you are.

SPEAKER_01: 2:37

Well, I don't know about all that. We still hear Kenneth Witt stories all the time. But um, yeah, my name's Tim Parks, and I'm from uh Manchester, Kentucky. I'm the tourism director, uh, the first and only one that's ever been here. Um born and raised here, played some college ball over in um Pippa Passes, Kentucky, Allis Lloyd College. Uh first year I went to Georgetown uh red-shirted. I was always on academic probation, went back to All Sloyd. But um, you know, and then uh managed the Creekers, you know, been with those guys a long time. Um I know they're fans of the show, fans of Hugh Kenneth. And uh it's you know, we've been I've known Tanner. I always like to say since he was pooping green, I guess. You know, he he was coming up here. Uh I live on the property of what's called the Ponderosa Pines, and um he's been doing some picking here since he was a young man, probably 12 years old. Um probably met Alan the first time. I don't know, he was probably, you know, he's he wasn't drinking agent, maybe, you know. So um, yeah, and and just and done a lot of walk work around the state. I, you know, I was a music promoter up until today. I'd resigned from all my duties uh today, actually. And uh, you know, one year I did 17 music festivals across the state and other states. So um, you know, 43 years old and um with kids that's active and uh creatures going on, and my my day job is Manchester Tourism. You know, I was waking up every day just like felt like I was drinking out of fire hose. So it's time to let something go and and and not be neglectful to something, especially my family. So yeah, and here I am, man, and I it's a privilege and honor anytime I can get on a podcast and speak about Eastern Kentucky and the creatures or anything um involved in that, you know, I appreciate the uh the opportunity.

SPEAKER_00: 4:13

Tim, I I appreciate it. Tell me something. How does it how does one go from being a college basketball player to promoting a Warner Brothers recording act? Because that's a I I I I first of all, you know I'm huge fans of you and the band and what you've accomplished already, and you're really and you know this, you're just getting started. You guys are really have just hit it. I mean, you've been big on the underground for a while and had a huge following. But uh Tim, I mean, it's it's heck I um how did it all happen?

SPEAKER_01: 4:53

Yeah, if you'd have looked at me as a senior in college and um said, you know, you're not you're gonna have a beard and you know, I I ain't got the long hair anymore, but you're you're gonna promote music just in general. If you'd have said that, I'd have said, well, you're on that good, you're on that good Clay County and Lacebull County dope, buddy. You're crazy. Um, you know, I I just always wanted to kind of be a basketball coach, Kenneth, and that's that's what I did for years, you know, at uh Knott County Central, um Jim Buchanan in 2010. I was uh 14th Region Coach of the Year over there that year with a small school of uh 90 high school students. And um, and you know, and I still coach elementary basketball. I still coach sixth grade, seventh grade. My son plays, but you know, that's a that's an interesting story, and I and I tell you how it really got started for me uh leading into the creakers is when I was working for the highway department. Um I I didn't I found out I didn't like teaching. Um I just you know, being in that classroom every day is just like losing your record deal or something. You know, I just didn't like it. It was getting harder to discipline kids, you know, that you send them to detention, detention was full. The way that me and you got disciplined in school is not the way you've disciplined anymore. It's a whole different world. So um, so you know, and you got to be careful what you say to them. I wasn't the best that, you know, sometimes I I wanted to, you know, just throw them out myself. And, you know, you you had to be careful. So I was like, this ain't no place for me. Like I just and to this day when I walk into a school, uh, and I'm getting better at it, it's like, oh my God, I I hate I hate what I see. Not and not saying that we don't have great teachers. Uh my girlfriend's a great teacher. We we got great teachers. It's just the the the way it used to be the way it is now. And I I just hear my daddy say that. I'd say, oh, you're just old. Well, maybe we're just old, but um, it's just so much different uh than what what it was when how we grew up and um so much different structure. You can't even get in the front doors. It's like security and uh so many rules and red tape. It's just crazy. But um I remember going with my friend Kenny Bowman. Uh Kenny was a Manchester Music Fest director for a long time with us, uh, played in a band called Bourbon Branch, played with Rye Davis music. Uh actually was played bass on the first Creekers recording that was in Tanner's living room, uh our bedroom that is no longer available on, but Kenny was the bass player and helped help do that. So we go to Somerset to the Moonlight Fest. Boy, that was crazy. The creakers just head aligned. It used to not be called the Moonlight Fest, it was called the Harvest Moon Fest. Down there by the big fountain and all that, and um we watched Chris Knight and um we love Chris Knight, big Chris Knight fans. All the boys and the creakers love Chris Knight, and um and the lady, I think Anna is a big Chris Knight fan. So I've been able to book him nine times now, but why I I remember going there 40 minutes from Manchester saying, dude, why can we not have this? Like, you know, I know the lakes here, but so be it. Like, we why this is we're capable of doing this. We're a wet city, we have restaurants, we've got Pat Snack Bar that's famous. We've got uh tourism board that was brand new. So the first people that ever asked the tourism board for money was me and Kenny and a and a group of friends that we put together to start Manchester Music Fest. And they looked at us, and you gotta think at the time I had hired into like it was down to here, man. Kenny had big long hair, and we we both had the beards and didn't have this in college basketball. I was clean shaved, you know, just didn't even look the same guy. But they awarded us money to do it, and they said, You got two weeks to get this together. I that's when I became the lowest paid promoter in the United States. Um and our first year, fast forward, we had a group called Hill Billy Jed that featured um a hub of Allen and Tanner. Yes. Um, and and and I'll tell the backstory of that. But the first year we had Chris and I, Ray Wiley Hubbard, Dewey Roberts, uh, and the biggest man was Whiskey Myers that we paid$8,000 for. That's now a$200,000 ban. And it blew up, man. Um you know, that thing's been crazy. We had Red Quase Trays open for Sunday Best, and I was Sunday Best Road guy for a while and still great friends with them. Um you know, they opened for Sunday Best at$5,000. But Alan and Alan and Tanner, and nobody likes to tell this story, and I and I would I love to tell it. Those guys in that band Hill Billy J were great guys, like the the drummer. The drummer's my cousin. Doug. Great guy. Um uh Eddie Fee. Great guy. Um and uh we were all thinking this was the next band because there were three vocalists. Yeah. The lead singer did not like that Alan and Tanner was singing. He wanted to be the main guy. And to me, when you tell Alan Hacker you don't need to sing, it's like telling um, you know, it's like telling the Pope you don't need to you don't need Rome, brother. He's like, Oh, you you don't need the church. Like that's he's the top five in the world at singing at what he does. Um so they leave that band um based on that conflict. And then 2019 I booked Tanter and Alan as a duo. Um because the first year was 18. And um so so we've had a long history, if you see where, you know, but yeah, I I and so then, you know, moving forward, they kind of didn't do their duo anymore. Alan, Alan might play a solo show. Tanner was playing a lot of solo shows, played everything up here at the Pines. He's got a fan base up here, it's crazy. Um and then I remember seeing this four-piece at a birthday party opening at the Pun Rose Pines, opening for Cole Cheney and a Nicholas Jamerson at a birthday party, private event, snow on the ground, and everybody like Cole and Nicholas was blown away because they hadn't seen it. And I told them no that day. Shane was like, You gotta do it. You know, Shane, he's he's he was just right up mayor. And I'm like, Shane, they're not ready to go on any kind of road. Like you've got to be wanting, you gotta be really ready to be away from family and do this, and you can't be late, you can't leave fans hanging, and they just wasn't there. Some of them may have been, but they it wasn't their fault, they didn't know. Right? And we're still learning. Uh then a year later, I seen it somewhere, somewhere up here at the pines or whatever, and I said, Hey, I'm ready. But I need all in. Like, you know, uh, you you you bought in and to this day, like you guys have bought in, but I need you to stay in. Um stay in is the most important part. Buying in's easy. Um, staying in's hard when things get tough and you're on the road and it's a grind. Um sometimes things don't go well, you're tired. Um so long that's a long story, and I could go on forever because it's so beautiful, and we're really genuinely friends. I mean, we real have real arguments. Um, we was all arguing with Tanner yesterday. Okay, but but it's over now. Like it's one of those things where it's like, hey, speak your peace, man. Get it out there. Um and then we'll speak our piece, and then the next day it's over. We just let it go. And that that's what friends and relationships do. So um, you know, here we are now. Um I knew Kenneth when this thing happened, it went viral. The first thing we had to do was booking. And these guys have wanted to call a hundred meetings before. And I never would have let them have a meeting. Because if it was the case, we'd be meeting about everything. Even in tourism, even in the city of Manchester, City Hyde, people meet too friggin' much. I mean, man, I was going to so many meetings when I first got in this job. It was, I mean, it's like, and you're like, why am I here? It's the same stuff over and over and over and over. If you need a meeting, you need to have a meeting when it's very important. Um so the first meeting we ever had was about booking. And Tanner knew a little bit about it. And Anna definitely knew she's she's a road dog. Uh, but no, I don't think everybody else was like, all right, do y'all understand what a booking agent does? They're like, ah, shit, I don't know. And so I said, this is important. These are the people that make you. I cannot put you in Missouri, I can't put you in Texas. I can give you, I can get you a lot of good shows in Kentucky with my connections for a year or two, but it's over. Uh, these are the guys that has the connection. So we had a man of for about two weeks interviewing CAA, Washerman, um, WME that we ended up with. Um all the major ones. And we love WME because they had a strategic plan. Our agent Cannon is unbelievable. I mean, absolutely unbelievable. He's got the Red Clay Strace that I just mentioned. He's got Brent Cobb that I just had the festival this year. He's got the Creekers. He he he strategically put a plan in front of us where everybody else was great, and I knew they were great because I'd worked with these people. I knew these people from booking shows, but they got caught up in the accents and the and like, oh, we can have a Netflix series, or they just started because you know the boys are funny. You know, they walk in a room, they own the room, and so they got caught up in like the charm of the creakers, the creakers charm. And but the creakers are also smart, even though it might come off as a bunch of hillbilly stuff, they're also very intelligent people, and they and they understood that this plan was the best for them. And nobody else really laid out that plan that Cannon and WME did. So that's that's where we went. Four months later, you know, we won a record there. We interview everybody. And the greatest story on this one, and I and and I could go on because this this has been a process. Uh one of these days I'm gonna write all this down, but you need to. Here's RCA, here's Sony, here's um Capitol, um Columbia. Oh my god. I mean, just everyone you can think of. And we're doing all these Zoom calls. Some of them don't understand the voice at all. Like they don't understand the accent. So if you hear my accent, I was the I was the damn translator. It's funny to think about. So I don't remember who we were on the phone with. It may have been Alamo Tanner trying to explain that. Um Ash that that Jagger and Ashton's or Jagger's wife. I guess I don't know, I can't remember. No, that Jagger and Ashton's cousin was Bree that's married Alan. And he said, well, it ended up, but Alan just ended up marrying his cousin. But he said, and and he said it wrong, but we all knew what he meant. Yeah. And then this dude from Alamo, like his eyes got big as back hole tires. He's like, Oh, you guys, you guys are a real family, right? And I was like, Oh, oh, oh no. Um, so I'm like, guys, do you want to have a translator in a room with these big companies? Because they're from Los Angeles, they're not speaking your language. Here comes a lady named Kelly Bolton. That nick that Christopher Bentley with Sunday Best put us, she wasn't the first Warner meet. Jake Kenny, which is one of our ARs, had to give me a call, but we didn't have a great first meeting with Warner, and then Kelly came into this picture. Thank God for Christopher, who's a great friend of mine. And Tays Creek High School, Lexton-based. Her husband's from Pikeville. Her grandparents are buried in East Bernstadt. Okay, now we're getting now we're getting somewhere, right? And it's the only female that we've talked to, and then Anna felt comfortable. Like she got another female involved. Um, we felt comfortable with Jake. They they kept coming here to Manchester. They've just they've just had Warner people here for a photo shoot. I don't even tell my town when these people come in because I don't want them aggravated. So but they're staying in these Airbnbs and they're eating here and they're drinking at Pats. Like it's it's helping the economy. Nobody really under nobody knows it. So we felt comfortable with that with Kelly. Uh and then we had a and then the the main boss calls me up one morning. She's like, here's the deal. If you cancel, because we had some deals in front of us, we didn't like any of them. And she said, if you cancel all your appointments this coming weekend, is going to Manchester Music Hall with Sunny Best. She said, Here's the offer. She said, Here's the offer, but it just stands only if you cancel the appointments by the weekend. And it was it was a lot better offer than anybody had made us at that point. So I call her lawyer, named Scott Stafford from Bowling Grain, another Kentucky guy. We made sure to do that. And I'm like, Scott, what's this? He's like, it's a hell of an offer. Let me get him even better. He said, because you got leverage right now. We got to get this offered to here. And the rest is history. We, you know, he said, Tim, if you can do it, you better do it. Now, the hard part was I had to call all these agents, uh, all these people. I called them by phone, the people that court us, and I said, Look, you know, I think this is the manly thing to do. We're we're not, we're gonna go a different direction. Thank you for all the free beer and steak that you fed us. Um, we've enjoyed it, we've enjoyed your company. This is how we feel we can move forward the best way. Um and we ended up the next week with a business manager that also represents Chris Stapleton, and he's the Kentucky guy. So we have this strong Kentucky clientele all around us that understands us, understands Clay County hiding, you know, a little bit more than Los Angeles does. And um, I'm proud of that. Like I'm proud to keep that, you know, outside of Canon, you know, which he we don't there ain't any Kentucky agents that I know of. So yeah, man. Um I said a lot to say a little that we are blessed to have the team. We have a real legit team behind us.

SPEAKER_00: 17:54

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SPEAKER_01: 20:48

Yeah, yeah. I mean, I've never really thought about that, you know, until you said it. And I know things are moving quick. I think about that every day to protect the boys. You know, so they're my job is to number one protect them, but number two, also be real with them and say, you know, you got obligations here.

SPEAKER_00: 21:03

You know, you're a school teacher again.

SPEAKER_01: 21:05

It's the worst, yeah, it's the worst. And sometimes because you got to say, hey, I, you know, I I know you probably may not want to do this show, but majority voted that you have to do this show, or I know that it might be rifle season, but you got this show and it's for a lot of money, and everybody else needs to eat, everybody else has got kids. So, you know, it ain't just one person, you know, and it's the whole band. It's like Ashton and Jagger quit their jobs. That was nice jobs to to pursue this. Scott had to let go of a lot of stuff to pursue this. Anna had to let go of a lot of things to pursue this. Um eventually, maybe I have to let go of things I already have, I guess, to pursue this.

SPEAKER_02: 21:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 21:39

Um, so if we're all gonna be, you know, like I said, if we're all gonna buy in, we gotta stay in and and do it because fans and promoters pay good money to see you. Uh, and let's make the right decisions and do the right things. And it's and it's an educational thing. Like you, it's it's these guys have not been on the road like that, Kenneth. And they're about to get it. And um, I can't say that I ain't worried because it can be, man, I know a national act right now, and I ain't gonna say a name. And her buddy messaged me last night, and he's like, She's got problems again. She's back to this, this, and this, and then they wore out, man. I'm like, look, everybody has the right to say no. Let's take some time off. Um, but yeah, as far as going quickly, um, man, it's it's I think it's the TikTok thing, right? I mean, it's a different world again than we grew up. You used two, you had to pay your dues. If you got to pay it, play in Nashville, you just you still don't make no money down there, but like you would get to play in Nashville and it was a big deal because people saw you. Well, now you can be on TikTok and and it's a good thing and it's a bad thing. Because you can be on there and get a million views sitting in your underwear eating Cheetos.

unknown: 22:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 22:43

Singing Hank Jr. song. And I put those guys on stage before that the mayor, somebody from a town's like, hey, we got to get this boy, he's got a bunch of views. And man, they brought a band up there and they sounded terrible. The difference in the Creekers is they are top-notch first-class musicians. They've they've been doing this for years and years as as boys. They have one of the top vocalists in the world. And then you add Tanner's vocals in on it that's as more of the boygrass and folky and the and the storytelling stuff. It's just unheralded to be that great of musicians, that great storytellers, and then have a singer that sounds like that. Um, and you know, Tanner rip a guitar solo off. Anna's ripping off a fiddle solo, Scott's ripping off a banjo, Jagger singing like those four-piece harmonies and that tenor harmony. Like Jagger is the is the forgotten man of the band that if you don't have those harmonies, man, what do you do? Like if he gets sick, it don't sound the same because you don't have his harmonies. Um, and then Ashton, you know, I would rival him with like Christopher Bentley as the premier box cajon players in this whole area. Uh, or maybe in the world, I don't know. Um, and that was his hero, was the guy that he got to play together now, and he he buys the cajones off Christopher's brother that's handmade. Man, I I don't know. I think the TikTok thing, you know, here's another thing the strings is coming back. Like it's it's one of those things that's like everything's a circum in life. I mean, eventually we'll be wearing corduroy britches again, unfortunately, I guess. But you had like Tony Rice. And people at the time, some people didn't like Tony Rice. Like he's too modern or whatever. But then they loved him. Now he's known as the best flat picker in the world. Then it kind of hit a little. Then you had old brother War Arthur. Right? Boom, it boomed, it brought it back up. Then you had like little dad period. Then you have a guy named Billy Strength. And then it's like it's it's it's like rising again. Um so I think we're at the right time. They had a great song that went viral, that was a trend, that all the young ladies did the outfit of the day. Uh that was we were blessed to have that. They're great musicians. And they are even different than Billy. Like Billy's shows are a, and I love Billy's strings, we all do, but he's a celebration of instruments.

SPEAKER_02: 25:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 25:10

Like it's unbelievable how good those are. And it's kind of got this grateful dead vibe in the string world. Yeah, yeah. The jam, the jam grise type deal. Yeah. The Kriegers are like family things. Like, dude, there's kids loving this stuff. There's like African Americans loving this stuff. There's uh Mexican people loving this stuff. There's all the white people loving it. Like it is hitting every pocket of every dynamic in the world. Um, and like old folks, young folks, uh, college-age folks, people minding your age, like it is hitting like this mainstream pocket. And I feel like Ricky Skaggs was the first to really do the mainstream switchover. And I feel like we're gonna see it with them.

SPEAKER_00: 25:56

That's a great comparison, Tim. I see that. I I remember uh we lived in Lexon. Was my dad was playing music in Lexon when Ricky Skaggs did cross over. One night he went from playing a holiday in JD Crow, and the next night he was in, you know, in Nashville. And so was Keith Whitley. And I was living there as a kid at that time and going to watch and play with my dad. But you're exactly right. I think that's a great analogy.

SPEAKER_01: 26:20

Uh yeah, I mean, I just I just seen on my screen it popped up the Dell Fest announcement today. So um when we get off here, but here's the crazy thing. We just left, uh it's sitting here on my kitchen table. We just left the Luke Combs bonfire or bootleggers bonfire fan club party. So Luke Combs, you know, he's on the radio. Like he's a he's the ultimate radio, like he's the big dog, right? And then we get down there and they're like, his band's like, dude, we've had to listen to River Rat like two straight hours. He's worn us out with it. He loves it. And there's some more stuff coming with that, just stay tuned. But and like, so Luke Combs was an actual fan. That's why we get the invite. We meet his management, we meet all his team, we meet his band. Like, it's amazing. And then I'm like, huh. Well, there's potential to do Luke Combs shows here. Then you get Dell Fest with, and and there might be some potential with uh Travel McCurry's. I've got an email back, but that's the bluegrass band, right? It's like you can you can do both ends of it, and then there's gonna be people hate, just like when you sign with the label. They're like, oh, you sold out. Well look, if Tyler, if all these guys sold out, that's millionaires, we'll see, we're gonna sell out. Just go ahead and say Tim Parks on the record has sold out. Guess my eyes. We've sold out. Uh sign me up. Sign me up, man. Yeah. So yeah, I feel like that crossover stuff's coming. It's like they're playing them on the bluegrass station. And also you're hearing them some mainstream stations now. We don't hate that because a lot of us hasn't liked a lot of mainstream music, and we want to be the people that change what mainstream music is. Put us on there, we're gonna change how you look at main. We play our own instruments. We don't have quick tracks. We do it, we do it the right way. Um, and that's something I'll help the boys do. Like, I'm that guy that whatever they want to hit, if you want to change mainstream, I'm calling our label and saying, My God, we won't change mainstream. Um how do we how do we do it? And Anna Blanton made that statement to Warner when when Alan said, I'll never forget it. And it made Alan said, I don't, we're just not mainstream guys, you know. And and Kelly Bolton said, Alan, do you guys want to play stadiums? Kelly's from Warner, and um everybody's like, Oh yeah. She said, if you're playing stadiums, you're mainstream, buddy. And then we all just looked at each other and said, Well, it'll just be mainstream then because we want to play stadiums.

SPEAKER_00: 28:34

And you know, Tim, uh probably you I'm way older than you, but Newgrass Revival did that.

SPEAKER_01: 28:39

Yeah, man.

SPEAKER_00: 28:40

You know, they they crossed and and and hit the mainstream country.

SPEAKER_01: 28:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 28:44

And we're pure straight up bluegrass, man. We're all bluegrass guys.

SPEAKER_01: 28:47

So yeah, I mean, and there's there's a million bands now that's doing it. I booked them, Brothers Comatos, Hog Slop String Bands about to open for us. It's like, that's been some of my boys for years. And when I tell Tanner and them, like, hey, they're opening for us in Georgia, North Carolina, along with another band called the Bank Shouts that was down at the Luke Combs thing. He's like, they're opening for us. Like they they were like Gabriel Kelly, Kevin Martin, that group to us is the ultimate string band. And to know we're gonna get to be on the road with them and like to open their opening, it don't even feel right. Like we feel like the road should be reversed. Um, or we talk about Chris Knight, and we're it's all of our heroes, and we know I know how much money some of these people make. And and to know how much money sometimes we're getting compared to what they're getting, and I'm just like, this don't even seem real. Like these are our heroes, you know? Like, um, and and so I all I ask the guys to do is like, hey, let's just work hard, let's be humble. Uh it's it takes me a minute to wake up in the morning and get these calls and pinch and say, okay, this is real. Um get go do your job. And uh, and and all of us knows that we're blessed. And we we all are thankful. And I think uh we will always be blessed and thankful. Hey, if it ends tomorrow, we're blessed and thankful. My kids will get to see videos of me on stage with one of the hottest bands in the world and bit backstage footage. Like, who who gets to do that in a life? You know, not many. Um, so we we understand the assignment. We're gonna do the best we can to for our fans and our family to carry out that assignment.

SPEAKER_00: 30:22

Tim, something that I love about it so much, and and I I so me being away from home for 13 years here, two years in Pennsylvania, so 15 years, uh during that period of 15 years, I lived back in Leslie County in 2016 and 17. But anyway, um I you know, and I I still have banjo in the house, you know, and I still mess around with but I'm proud of where I'm from. But my point is, instead of me rambling on and on, is I'm out here in West Texas, I've got a huge, you know, a lot of friends and stuff, and where I hunt all over the country. I people don't understand our culture. And I've got so some of my best friends are from Louisiana and they're Cajuns, and there's a word for that that they call coon to ask, you know, we want but but you know, they they're a subculture too. And my I've got some of my best buddies are are are from Louisiana, and we we I work with them. So anyway, I think it's so cool that the Creekers and you are introducing the world to Appalachia, to our culture, the way we talk, the way we live. Uh, you know, it's I'm proud of it, and and you guys are doing it through music. Hello, this is Kenneth Whipp with Gundog Nation, and I've got to tell you guys about something that I've gotten hooked on lately. It's Folicious. These are gourmet instant faux and ramen bowls that actually taste like the real deal. But I'm out in the field all day, and the last thing I want is to sell for bland camp food. Folicious is what I go to. It's authentic, the flavor, it's real ingredients, it's ready in just minutes. It's perfect for hunters, fismen, or anyone on the go. And you can get them over 1900 Walmarts nationwide, your local HEB here in Texas. Or you can just go online at folicious.com. Trust me, once you try it, you'll keep a few stocked in in your bag, your packpack, or for your next adventure. I just want to say this, I want to add this to this commercial because I know the owners of this company. They've hunted on my ranch. Uh Joseph, uh, he and I were actually met in Colorado on a hunting trip uh that was a real adventure. They are true hunters. They've hunted the ranch, you know, and I've I've hunted with them. And Anna, she is just amazing. She is the one that came up with this idea. They were both on Shark Tank, they are amazing people. So it's I love seeing people like this have a business. And I just had to say that in addition to the commercial because I really believe in the product and I believe in the people that made the product. Be sure and go to Folishious.com or go to Walmart or H E B and try their product. I promise you you will like it.

SPEAKER_01: 33:05

Yeah, man, you mentioned that Cajun thing, and and I've used this analogy speaking to crowds. Um uh real hillbillies like us, right? Well, I always tell people the state one time offered me a job to travel and like speak and international travel to do to be a real hillbilly. The beard, the higher the accent. And I was like, you know, I I don't, I'm not a wrestler, I don't play a part, you know. But uh I I just I love that that we're in this pocket. We're in a pocket. From here, there's not a lot of difference in somebody sitting on a couch in in Manchester and Hyden or Floyd County today. There's not a lot of difference in those folks.

SPEAKER_00: 33:42

No, sir.

SPEAKER_01: 33:43

But if somebody's on a couch in Barstown or Lexton or Louisville, there's a little difference. Because we're in that, we're in that Eastern Kentucky pocket that unless you're in it, you don't understand it. Your buddies that's Cajuns, everybody like swamp people brought on to that culture, that pocket. Everybody in Louisiana don't say, shoot them. You know, that that's just a pocket of those people in that in that one area. And it's it is really beautiful that those subcultures, as you said, still exist. And man, we are let's not let's not um sugar coffee, we're a polished area. Uh everybody, a lot of people's on government funding. And um we rely on that government a lot. But as now as the years are progressing, things are getting because we relied on coal so much. And then coal's gone, and everybody looked around and said, Oh, now what do we do? And we're like, all right, it's tourism, it's the music, it's the arcs. And that's really carried Eastern Kentucky in the last few years. It ain't been no super politician that had the right ideas. It's been your tourism people that's gotten on the ground, ended up putting a tax in, saying, Here's we're gonna bring this to our town. Dude, we we turn in the Creekers this year at Manchester Music Fest in a town of 1,200 people. Had about 4,600 people down there on Friday night. So start thinking about your economic impact for a weekend of that many people, of probably 7,000 to 10,000 people in a town. Everybody's eating, man. Everybody's eating. Everybody's everybody our economic development's blooming. And Pat Snack Bar can stay open six months because of what they make from that show alone. So I'm proud of that. But like these other towns need to see that. Yeah. And everybody worries about if there's alcohol in the street, dude, we did over$10,000 in profit of alcohol this year. If you're gonna go to a creaker show in the future, you're gonna see an alcohol sale. It's just something we have. And I told you before we started, I still think I've got um wanted posters and every Pentecostal church over here because we sell beer out in the streets. It's a common thing that our people are not accustomed to because they're like, we can do it anywhere else but Clay County or Leslie County, or sometimes Floyd County. They're getting a little better. Like it's it's for people like me and you and the other tourism people to educate people on what we have and be proud of your accent. Be proud. Here's the thing, we talk like this, we're educated folks. I've got a double major and a double minor. It don't mean we're dumb, we have an accent. There's people from England that's smart that's got an accent. Don't mean they're any smarter than us. Um, and I think the whole wholesome authentic authenticity of the creakers is another thing like that sells them to the public. The Tanner Horton ain't never gonna change, right? No, I mean you get a you get one of the bigger deals Warner can give out, and you go buy a herd of sheep and a damn donkey, you ain't changing that guy.

unknown: 36:31

Right?

SPEAKER_01: 36:31

No. That's gonna be the guy that he is. Most, you know, and Alan Hacker, you ain't changing him. Like it now, Alan, Alan's the, you know, he don't do the same stuff Tanner does, but Alan's family-based. Um, you know, very, you know, mild mannered, keeps to himself, just sticks around the house, you know. Um Ashton Jagger, we ain't changed him. Anna, she's been there, done that. Like Scott, you know Scott. Scott's always gonna be Scott. He's gonna tell jokes, he's gonna make funny.

SPEAKER_00: 37:04

Tim, I just thought you've you made me think of something, man. It kind of helped you and I know this, but to help people that's listening to here, because you know, I've got listeners in 54 countries. And so we you and I live are from uh the east, the Appalachian Mountains of eastern Kentucky, but you can go 110 miles. When I was a freshman at the University of Kentucky, I was in the I was in the dorm. Matter of fact, I lived in the dorm, uh, same dorm at Judge Alan Roberts from Clay County was lived in that dorm with us. And uh uh there's another boy from Clay County, Robbie, he's an architect. It'll hit me in a minute anyway. And then me and my roommates from Leslie County, and I told them boys in the dorm, you know, on the floor, I said, hey boys, I'm gonna go downstairs and get a pack of nabs. What? And I said, I won't get a pack of nabs. You know, I they didn't know what I was talking about. Tim, I'm in Kentucky, my home state, and they don't and I had to explain them what nabs were, and they went, How do come you call them nabs? And I had to think about that. And then I realized that back home in the machine it was by Nabisco. So Hillbillies, we called them nabs. And uh, and then again in my home state, I was at law school up in Northern Kentucky, and I told them on Sunday at the house, y'all fix some soup beans, y'all come over. And they went, This is my home state. Soup. Right. You mean like bean soup? No, no, no. So I finally explained pinto beans, but you know, it's a subculture, right? I mean it is. We say things that people in our own state don't understand. And you know, when I moved, when I finally left Kentucky, I went to Pennsylvania and worked for Shell Oil. True story. Went through the drive-thru at Starbucks. Well, I'd never been in a you know, they don't have Starbucks nowhere. Back then, there's one in London now, but they went to Starbucks in two hours from hiding. So I left Hyde in Kentucky, went to Pennsylvania, worked for Shell Oil, just about 40 miles, 30 miles out of Pittsburgh. Tim, I swear to gosh, I'm telling you the truth, for the first four days on Monday morning I was driving to work. I thought I'm gonna stop and get some coffee right by where I lived. I was in, I was in the drive-thru machine and they couldn't understand me. Now I've had to change my accents, softened a whole lot because I had I had to. People couldn't understand what I was saying. So uh finally, this they could understand me, maybe come to the window. This one, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and on Thursday, I come through again. I'm at the drive-thru, same place, and I'm trying to order through the one through the drive-thru speaker. And I could hear them, hey, hey y'all, it's Ken. It's Ken. Come here, listen. And I said, Hey, y'all, I hear you in there. Y'all know what I'm ordering. I said, Y'all just messing with me. And they dying laughing. And I pull around, but you know, uh, it's just, you know, and and like I said, I I've lost a lot because I've I've honestly I had to speak where I could, I got tired of the city.

SPEAKER_01: 39:51

Yeah, but you still understand it. Like, and here here's the thing like my if you want to meet, if you really want to dig into it, uh Jake Kenney with Warren. Or got like we he was at the Osborne Brothers Festival and we had our big crowd here from the Pines, and there was an older guy talking to him. He came over to me and said, Tim, I don't know anything he just said. We've talked for 20 minutes. I said, Yeah, I can get that. But if you want to meet some of the older folks, and especially if they get to drinking, I mean when I when I when a heel bill gets to drinking and gets to talking, buddy, because I I've done it at some of these conferences. I had a girl from Kentucky Lake one time translated me in a hotel room to some girls from Barstown that did that was on like the Chamber of Commerce or something. They're like, and I'm like, y'all can't really understand me. And I didn't care at that time. I'd been drinking, but um, I was like, it's funny that you you understand my language. We've been together like as partners, not partners, but like business partners, and we'd work together where she'd been around me enough. But you go to my mother's house and you're from Chicago or LA, and you ain't gonna because first thing the old ladies would do is say, Hey, are you hungry? Um, me make you something to eat, but that don't really mean are you hungry.

SPEAKER_02: 40:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 40:57

Like that means sit down here for a while and let's talk. Um, and if they do make you something to eat, you better eat something. Yes, sir. Or my mama and mama watching McCallet all the time. Now there about watching the call's house, you know, and I don't have a clue, and I'll be like, Yeah, but sometimes I do know who she's talking about. Hey, then you just have all these old, old sayings, man. Um and Tanner uses those. Yeah, all the boys, and we don't realize it, but it's it's something to be proud of because they're not teaching that anymore. You know, my my brother moved out of here, he's been out of here forever, military guy. He's his accent, you'd think he's from somewhere else now. But when he comes in for a couple days, you can hear him trying to get that thing back.

SPEAKER_02: 41:33

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 41:34

Um, and I understand why he had to change it, but uh man, we're proud of it. And like the Kriegers are proud of it. We don't we've got a show Wednesday at the CMA luncheon, um, right before Gavin Adcog we're playing at uh at Warner Music. And um all the big wigs are gonna be there. Well, them guys and me, we're gonna be the same guys we always are, you know. They're gonna wear overalls, and I'm gonna have on some kind of shirt like this and a pair of long britches, probably, because it'd be cold. But um, you know, it's just it's staying to who you are, you know, uh cherishing where you're from, understanding where you're from, right? It's like some people get too big to be where they're from and they want to be somebody else or from somewhere else. Man, we can't change who our family is, where we were raised, how much money we had, and it's a it's a great story. Like, um, and it's you know, I could get emotional, but I'm not going to on this podcast. To think about the the money that's capable of being made from where I know where everybody's from, and having zero dollars, like worry that your card's gonna get declined at Hardy's at breakfast in the morning. Yeah. That type of money. To not having to worry about that anymore. Yeah, that's a big deal. Um, it's a big deal. Like, it's uh it's like you can buy your kid nice school clothes, man. You you you can you can always have fuel to get up down the road. You don't have to worry about it, you don't have to bum it, you don't have to go to the bank and get along because you're down and out. Like, that's all I want for them. And that's all they want for their self. They don't want to be like rich superstars. They want to take care of their family, uh, take care of their kids, and take care of each other. And it and I always say if we continue to do that and keep that the main thing, the main thing, we will all be able to take care of each other and our families. And that is, I think, what God sets us out here to do. You know, if we're if we're brave enough to have a family and have kids, we are to take care of those kids the best we can. Now, it it may mean you gotta be gone for a couple weekends. So be it. You're they're gonna receive the rewards from daddy being gone down the road uh because you're making some money and you're doing it for them. You it ain't when you have kids, it ain't about you anymore.

unknown: 43:41

That's right.

SPEAKER_01: 43:41

Uh the band, the man ain't ever about me. It ain't about Warner, it ain't about the booking agent. It's about how do we make these guys megastars? And we we sit behind and smile. Dude, when they play the grand, when they play the Opry, um, if they get to play the Opry, you have to pick me up out of the floor. Oh man. Like that, that's that's how much I love and care. And I'll say this when when we did our Opry intro, Kelly Bolton from Warner was in there with us. And I didn't know it until later. She was sobbing. Like it meant that much to her in this short amount of time. Like, it's just it's just unbelievable that she's took that. It's just like she's her sister or her aunt or something, or her music mom. And then when I looked at her crying, I was like, holy shit, man, this is this is real. Like this means something to these people.

SPEAKER_00: 44:29

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SPEAKER_01: 45:37

Yeah, and I'll say this though, like you, you know, you've got um family in Nashville, and you, you know, you look, you go into Nashville when you don't know about Nashville and you think, man, it's a big town. The the buildings and the lights, and you know, it ain't New York, but it it ain't Manchester and Hyde neither.

SPEAKER_02: 45:53

Right.

SPEAKER_01: 45:53

And then you finally get in there where you're working, you have to be in Nashville a little bit. And you realize, man, there's a little circle here. It's like a little family, it's like a little close-knit thing. Um, and and we're and I'm just now figuring that out. Like you go there and it's so big, but it's also so small.

SPEAKER_00: 46:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 46:11

Uh, because the people that's really in the industry that has the good intentions, that's who comes to the forefront with you. The ones that's kind of shady, they'll they'll be left out in the big city. But um, it's a cool, it's a cool dynamic I never knew till now.

SPEAKER_00: 46:25

Yeah, and you know, y'all have earned your place there, and deservedly so, and and uh y'all gonna fit in real good. And I I love that uh I I I really don't ever see you or any of the band members changing your accent or changing the way you live uh or being something that you ain't.

SPEAKER_01: 46:46

Yeah, I mean, I I just don't think man, it you know, you you know this more than anybody. It's just impossible to do that from where we're from.

SPEAKER_02: 46:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 46:55

I mean, I know people have, and I I I've really died on that heel to say, hey, let's be proud of how we speak, of of what we eat. Uh because when you say when you say culture, that defines everything around you. Yeah. And the food we eat is a whole nother thing. Like making people from um Australia before chicken and dumplings, the homemade kind, and they eat, they're like, oh my God, what it, you know, um, or just deer meat. Just ride deer meat and onions, you know. It's like, and I tell people we fry a lot of stuff, you know, and uh we do, we, we drink, we there are people here drinking, you know. I I went forever without having a um a soda, probably 12 years. And it was just my my little girl would say, Daddy, you drink coffee and beer. And I'd say, Well, you can throw water in there. Um, and I have changed some in that like um I had a Coach Zero last year because we was on the road somewhere and I said, I need something besides water. I couldn't drink beer, and I was like, Man, that's good stuff, you know. And and then uh I've got to where I've got a huge bourbon collection in here. I ain't gonna show the kitchen because it's a chance to kill me, but um, I'm actually having to build another little building to put it in. But the one I do want to I want to do this today, uh the one that the one that's new, this is one of the first edition bottles out of the first barrel, actually, is uh right here in my hometown. If you know how rare a distillery is in eastern Kentucky town, yeah. Um and this this thing's cool, uh, Kenneth. Like it's even got a working bee on the bottom. I probably got it upside down. See that little B? That the B was the first original Clay County logo. Um, it goes all the way back into uh England and a lot of history. But um, but this bottle, if you look, that you can tell it's like a it's got hand, those are handwritten in the middle. So that one says 750 milliliters and the 100.1 proof and the 500.5 alcohol by volume. Those guys wrote those by hand. So I've got one of the first ever, and they're grand opening Saturday. And I don't want to segue from the creakers because a couple of them is gonna be there actually. I Ashton and Jagger actually live in Redbird School, which is right there in Clay County. Um the mountains are growing. And to get a distillery here around the hillbillies, and you can imagine at first when we knew this was coming, they was like, oh my God, man, we need that's all we need, some alcohol. And now that they've brought jobs, and now that they brought opportunities, they have cleaned our town up, took the old buildings and made them nice.

SPEAKER_02: 49:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 49:24

Now everybody's has the same words bought in.

SPEAKER_00: 49:26

Well, you know, Tim, uh just a point of history, Clay County is one of the original, I think, two counties of Kentucky. It really is. I think it's I think there was two counties originally in Kentucky, if I'm not I had Kentucky History at the University of Kentucky, I think.

SPEAKER_01: 49:42

But I had that too a million years ago. But uh, it is, and and and we had one of the biggest feuds. Um, you know, the the the Hat Phil McCoy feud ain't nothing compared to the Baker White feud. That was hundreds, they would wait till somebody was getting buried to ambush a place and kill them all, you know. It's like it's just hard to tell those stories in tourism because everybody don't want to hear about that fighting and feuding and and then and then what stories real now at this point. And um, I just had to give that a plug because yeah, they've worked so hard to come here and and it ain't just gonna help Clay County, it's gonna help people like Haydn. Dude, I would have never thought I'd see Haydn go wet. Me you tanner's got a song about it. You know, Tedder and Hyden can tell you, he talks about it, you know. The best thing since 95. What a time to be alive. We just got our first liquor store. That's a hell of a line when you live in a place and you can't even buy beer and you gotta go to Hazard. And we had to go to Hazard or Richmond, which is even further to hazard than it is from Haydn, you know. So it's like, man, and we go to the city or we go somewhere on vacation when it's right next door. And we're like, what's wrong with us? You know, what why are we even, why can't we benefit? Why can't we make money from this? And now people smart it up. Yeah. Um and really, a lot of old school politics held that back. That's the cool thing about the boys. And that's the cool thing about Warner. We have a publicist now, works for Warner. His name's Foul Lynch. I'm gonna call him out by name. This dude is the best. There's been a lot of things sent in. People want to do podcasts, right? And at first they really protected them. And then they said, hey, if you want to do these, tell them and you talk about it, do them. We there well, they're not gonna let you do any of these politics because these people try to trap you and put you in a and and I'm like, man, that ain't what we do. We have fun. We I don't know if we've ever had a political talk, ever. Like we have fun together. Um, we enjoy our families together when we're out by ourselves together. I mean, we're going to a casino there in Bristol, Tennessee with all the guys. It was just, Anna and went home. It was all of us Tanner, Jagger, Ashton, Shane, and um Alan. And I was playing um, what the hell was I playing? I was playing roulette, and man started winning a bunch of money. Um, and then like Alan's like, man, I want to play. And I'm like, You're gonna play roulette? Because this just ain't something he does. And then like we left that casino man just laughing, so happy. And I was like, this is what it's about. There's gonna be rough times, but like it's just um this is a cool thing. This is what it's about. Um so yeah, I think, and I think more of those good times are coming, man. And what, you know, like it's just it's a culture shock. We're gonna see a lot of new places. I always tell the guys, hey, this is the experiences that you're gonna live for now. Live for the money, live for the experiences, live to take care of your family. Um, it is, and and I know that all those experiences ain't like, man, me being with Sunday Best, I remember like just traveling sometimes four or five hours. And you think people think you see a lot. Really, you're going five, six hours driving that morning to the next room or show, stay on checking, going to eat, going back to the show, then going to bed after the show. It's like you don't get to see landmarks or everything. It's like you're there to work, and that's tiresome. Yes. Then you got all that adrenaline. The guys have all that adrenaline after the show, then they lie down and they're just staring at the ceiling, like, man, I can't, I can't settle down. It's just like uh just getting to have a basketball game. You know, you're you're pumped up for a couple hours after that. Um so yeah, and I think I think it's a learning process for us. You know, me, I've I've done it a little bit more than they have, but it's even just we're gonna get out there, man. And like if you've looked at the shows, oh my God. We're playing basically every major show. Shout out, head tip to Canonville. Dude's amazing. It's putting us out there, getting us paid well, blessed, man, and honors crazy.

SPEAKER_00: 53:39

Tim, let's talk about that. Man, you guys got some I mean top uh shows this this 26 year coming up. Talk about tell us what you can about 26.

SPEAKER_01: 53:51

Yeah, man, so um 26 is the creakers. What we've done thus far is not a national touring band. Uh what we've done this far has been a local, still regional touring band. You know, every once in a while you go out of state, uh, but you're playing mostly Kentucky shows. So when this thing started, uh, man, when it's when it hit, you can imagine the emails that everybody in Kentucky wants us to play. Cannon's like, listen, I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna mess with any of that unless a radius clause bothers it. So a radius clause is like, we've announced Railbert already. Uh Railbert will have a huge radius clause. Like they'll say, you can't play 30 days prior, 30 days after, or something like that. Some of the big ones, like Texas, is like you can't play 60 days prior or 60 days after. We own you for that amount. We're gonna pay you this much, good good check, but you can't you can't play anywhere else until this is over, or else it sells out. If it sells out, then carry on. It don't matter anymore. Um, and and it's it's not a bad thing. Like some people hate it, but you know, it's something that they have to do to protect themselves also. If they're gonna put this much money out for all these bands and spend millions of dollars on a lineup, they want to make sure they sell out and make money on it. Um understood, I don't put radius causes on. I might say, just don't play in London the next day or something. Help me out. Wolf was fine. But dude, start in January. I mean, New Year's Eve at the Rhyman with Old Crow Medicine Show. It's like bucket list. Um January, you know, we were we're in West Virginia there with the one of our buddies, the opening Jack Wharf band that we love. That kid, man, he's amazing. Uh old bluegrass history background. Um there's there's some stuff not announced in February, four straight dates at a certain place that's gonna blow. It's gonna be crazy. Tanner's even wrote half a song about it. Uh, we're starting to get the March stuff coming in. So kind of how these agents do, they'll work backwards, they'll work from December all the way back into January. So, but you know, the two step-in festival in Texas, huge Stapleton, Red Clay Street, us, you know, everybody. Freaking goo-goo dolls, you know.

SPEAKER_00: 55:57

Like that one's already sold out, I think, on that Sunday. Yeah, we tried to get tickets. Me and my wife tried to get tickets then, and it's sold out.

SPEAKER_01: 56:03

Yeah. So we just just holler and we'll see if we can get you on a comp list or something. And then uh, you know, we go two days after that one to like one that ain't been announced, though, like in Stevensville, Texas. It ain't there's so much that ain't been announced, but now Merlefest has been a bucket list for me forever. I always wanted to go. That's on the lineup. It's crazy lineup. Dell Fest, which Dell McCurry and the McCurries just announced this morning in the mountains of Maryland, the most beautiful landscape in Maryland, in my opinion, playing there. Um Railbird, dude. Kentucky, like the the ultimate railbird, another big Kentucky one that ain't been announced. Uh, there's another one gonna be announced in December. I just got sent the lineup this morning in Kentucky. I've I've I've I've said Manchester Music Fest, I'm putting it out there. We ain't made the flyer, but you know, it they're gonna be here. Um you know, and then just just looking at me like there's there's 12 big ones with somebody that I can't announce yet. It's freaking massive. Like maybe the most massive thing we've ever done. Um then I've just got I got this morning at 7:30, I got another massive um one. And then a week ago to today, maybe, or maybe two weeks. Time's flying right now, but I got one, Kenneth, that they they called just to see my reaction. And besides the rhyming, it was the only one that like it shook me. It's like I was I I didn't cry. I kind of got emotional to rhyming. But I was driving to work that morning, and I stopped there at a red light, and man, I chills all over my body. I don't even play in the band, right? I don't I don't play an instrument, I don't sing. I'm not even in the world that them guys are in. But I'm also in that in that their business world, right? It's like I'm the protector. And like I just it just fell all over me, man, just like a sickness. Like, there ain't no way that we just got this opportunity and this offer. Now it ain't been it ain't been scheduled yet. We don't know when it's gonna happen, but it's one of those that, man, it was like, this isn't this is stupid. Um so yeah, I mean, we and I I I know I'm missing some, like Cole Wetzel, which is a big deal up in Texas, opening for him at the West Virginia State Fair. Um, you know, and we got all these shows like uh what am I missing that I need to put out? But there's just so many of these big shows that uh that I I can't even name, and that's crazy. I could have told you last year, like we would love to play one of those. We would beg you. We were begging people like these guys played right here at Pat's Bar forever. Like we were begging that if 60 to 70 people showed up, it was it was going, it was crazy. We was like, yeah, we're gonna do it. And now we're seeing thousands. And I knew it, man. Like Warner music was there, or lawyer was there, and the time that I really knew it, like I knew it for sure, is Masters Musician Festival this year. We were at the second stage, headlining. Somebody else was up on the main stage, sure they were great, but dude, when that set was about to start, they were running, Kenneth. Not exaggerating, people was running because that it's kind of got a hill. From the main stages here, and it goes over a hill, and then got the other stage, it's like here. They were running to see the creatures. And my lawyer sitting there with me, and I was like, what the hell? Like I thought, I was like, a shot's been people evacuating? And he's like, I think they're here to watch you off. And um, they just started singing all the words back. And I knew, and it was an hour, it's like an hour set, 45 minute set. And it just blew that that place went nuts. And I'm like, man, I think this has got some, you know, already Warner's there, right? So I'm like, this thing has a chance. Like this thing has a chance to not just sell out shows in Kentucky, to sell out shows in Georgia and Alabama and Texas. Like that's when you really know, like, we're probably 40 tickets away from selling out Georgia right now.

unknown: 59:53

Man.

SPEAKER_01: 59:54

We're probably a hundred tickets away from selling out Ash. Well, now those shows are still a month away, right? So then that was a pretty Proving point to us because I was like, Cainan's like, hey, let me get you out on the road a little bit before Christmas. Let's see how you do in these markets. And he's like, dude, you're you're gonna sell these markets out. This is freaking phenomenal. When you can move 300 tickets in North Carolina, that ain't our market.

unknown: 1:00:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 1:00:16

But it's starting to become our market. Like everywhere's starting to become our market. Well, um it's crazy.

SPEAKER_00: 1:00:22

I just thought I was in Memphis, Tennessee at Ducks Unlimited convention. I don't know, 30, 40,000 people there over the weekend. It was back in August or July, early August, July. And um I had just did something with Tanner, maybe the podcast, or or I think it'd be it'd come out, and I'd I buy some stuff out of these guys, North Carolina. They had a big booth over there, and my booth was on the other side of the of the floor, and they texted me and they said, Man, we just realized that they come over and said that you know some of those guys with the creakers. And uh so I went, no, it's Shane. Shane said it watched them, these guys post videos at Ducks Unlimited on TikTok or something, was playing creaker music. So anyway, I knew the guys uh actually Kent Jones is a guy I buy my hats and stuff from that I, you know, and they're in North Carolina, South Carolina. Anyway, those guys, I went over there to their booth, they had a turtle box playing creaker's music, and I said, Hey, uh, here's the creakers, you know, I I know these guys or something, and man, they I mean it was like people there in Memphis, Tennessee from North Carolina playing Creakers music at a huge convention. But it's just, and I know you hear that stuff a hundred times a day, but for me, it was like, you know, I'm my way out here in West Texas. You know, I'm back so for me that was a big eye opener. I was like, wow, man. Hey, it's Kenneth Witt with the Gun Dog Nation podcast, and we are so proud to be partnered with the National Shoot to Retrieve Association, also known as Nastra. Nastra has a common love for producing the best bird dogs possible. It's a great community that builds and bonds everlasting friendships. I've actually got to meet a lot of the NASA members who've taken me hunting and some other Krausehun and stuff in different places. So I can honestly say I'm a member and I'm proud to be partnered with them. NASTRA hosts national and regional field trials that emphasize the working ability of bird dogs. They have been around for over 50 years. There's a reason that NASTR has been around that long. Please check them out at www.nstra.org and belong and support your local NASTAR club. They do have national and regional events, and it's a good place to help learn to be a better dog trainer, a better dog owner, and to compete with your bird dog. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01: 1:02:43

Yeah, it's it's a weird. I tell you what is weird, and like, you know, me and you can go around eastern Kentucky. Like, I remember one time when uh my my son Maverick, well, he was younger, and I'm the tourism guy here, right? And I'm the festival guy. So in a small town, everybody knows everybody. You know who cuts you meet at the IGA by, you know, you know ever. But I remember Maverick once saying, Um, Daddy, are you famous? And I said, No, I'm familiar. There's a difference. You know, there is a difference because we're all right, Bristol, Tennessee. We play this private show and we go to the casino, and then the next day we're gonna do some shopping. I needed some bibs. Um, the boys need some boots. And anyway, we got Bristol Rhythm and Roots, too. That's that's a um I don't know, maybe you should edit that. I don't know if they announced it yet or not, but they do they do. But anyway, we're in Bristol, Tennessee, and um we're we're at this, but we're at this like cowboy place. Boot store, it's got hats, got and so I buy some bibs, and these two young girls are in there, and they're like, oh my God, they you guys kind of look like, is that the creakers? And I'm like, yeah, that's that's them. And they're like, oh my God, can we go outside and do a TikTok? It was like, okay, yeah. So they give us high file for stuff, so we're gonna do a TikTok. So we we go outside, and here comes a dude in an air conditioned truck. It's got like so-and-so's AC on the side, you know, and he's like, Oh my god, the creakers. And then we're like, yeah, and he's like, Woo! All right, raise hell, boys, let's go. And he just drives off. And I'm and like Tanner says, Man, that's weird. And I'm like, get ready. You get ready. You know, now it's like all these musicians and all these people's in Nashville, but like, we can kind of go to a place down there now. And they'll be like, I think I know you. Um, and then I I think that's something they're gonna have to really get used to. And it ain't gonna hit me, but like um, they're gonna have to get used to um when they go to their locals. I'll never forget when Tanner first said he said some name. And I laughed. And he said, no, by hell, I just couldn't even, I had to take a picture with so-and-so, and oh so-and-so's boy didn't save a lot. Um, I couldn't even get out there, and I just had two items. And I said, Tanner, you're uh you're you've you when you're taking pictures at the Save a lot bub in the dollar store and the plea market, you know, you're starting to get there. Um and they've got to deal with that. And it's to be real, it's a grateful thing to have that everybody knows your name, knows what you look like. It's also a rough thing to have sometimes.

unknown: 1:05:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 1:05:06

If you're trying to eat with your family or you you you're trying to have some private time, or you're just trying to go get a turkey from the safe lot. Sometimes you just want to be left alone. And um but they've done a good job. Here's the one thing I'll say about those guys. And I don't know if everybody every show they've done since this thing's happened, and at their merch line, even if they're out of merch, they have stayed sometimes over two hours and took a picture and signed something for every single person that stood there.

SPEAKER_02: 1:05:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 1:05:32

Every time. Now, I I if there's gonna be shows that if there's thousands of people, I don't know how they do it, but and there's already been thousands, but I'm just talking about the line that's after the show. They have stayed and stood on their feet, took pictures, signed. Um, and I think that's a great um way to show your fans you care. Like if you're gonna come back here and support us and be in the heat or in the weather, hey, we're gonna give it right back to you. And I I'm grateful that those guys do that. I think it's important that they do do it.

SPEAKER_00: 1:06:00

I do too. I I love that.

SPEAKER_01: 1:06:02

Yeah. Because you don't really get that all the time. Some people just get off stage and you can talk to their band, but you don't see them, you know. A tanner and allen could do that. They they don't want to do that. They want to be a part, they're normal folks. You know, they're they until a video went viral, they was doing the same thing the rest of us did. They was working.

SPEAKER_02: 1:06:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 1:06:20

You and horses working in factories, working for a state park. I mean, normal dudes, man.

SPEAKER_00: 1:06:27

I tell you, it's uh I you know, I I'm fortunate sometimes. I get people on here, Tim, that's that started with a business idea and didn't become really successful with it, uh, started from nothing, just had a dream. I've had a couple, you know, course members from the creeks on here, had Mo Pitney on here. Supposed to get Trey Hensley on here, uh, hopefully here in the next show. Oh my god, yeah. Trey means boys, man. Now you drop me with Trey, that's my dog. Man, he's he's not even human. Uh actually Shane Harry said at best he's an alien. Yeah. He's he either is an alien or he sold his soul one way back. Uh but he messaged me back and said uh he was trying he's trying to work it out. But you know, uh my point is this I love to see people follow the br their dreams and be successful, man. It's it's it's the American dream, and uh it's so good seeing these boys come from just normal beginnings, all y'all, to you know, we're gonna see you on award shows. We're gonna see you on major television shows, you, those boys. We're gonna see all that, and it's coming. And I've been saying it for a year. Uh I've said it, I've got I do a little commercial on this show, every show, about the creakers. And and I've I've not changed it. I said you all will know who they are a year from now. And it's it's it's happened. I I I'm so happy for y'all, I I really can't contain myself, man. I mean, it's you deserve it. You deserve it, Tim. Uh they deserve it. Um, couldn't happen to better folks.

SPEAKER_01: 1:08:05

Well, Kenneth, I I I appreciate you. Like, you know, um I I remember the name from back in the day, you know, in Wesley County and the Paul and the judge, and um, and then Shane started bringing, you know, you Shane started talking to you. Shane, I want to give Shane a shout out. I I life at Shane probably more than I do anybody in my everyday life. He he gives me all these numbers on social media. I'm I'm uh I'm I don't even have Twitter. I didn't even have I didn't even have TikTok till this happen. Tanner called me and said, Hey man, we're viral. And I said, Well, they make stuff for that. But me and Johnny Lynn's emails was blasting. And I knew something was going on, but like Shane will call me and say, Do you know so-and-so and so-and-so? They had so many streams, and I'm like, Shane, I don't even live, I don't even live that world, bro. But he knows. Like, I don't know how he does it and does his job. Like, he knows it's amazing. So shout out to Shane. And I want to give you a shout out. You have promoted, you've helped. Dude, I could I could name drop so many people. Like, I just mentioned Master Musician. If it wasn't for Tiffany Finley giving them a chance to play on that stage, um we got the Bell Theater Show sold out in an hour. John Grace has uh put him on his stage, right? He's another promoter. Tiffany's promoter, just like me, just like John. Jessica Blackenship down at the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame. She put them at their album release party for Poor Mena Creek was in that little field at the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame with 85 people there. And we thought it was the greatest thing ever. 85 people were like, man, this place is crowded. There's some people from Alabama showed up, and we thought that was awesome. Like we we we just thought, man, people come from Alabama to see us.

SPEAKER_02: 1:09:35

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 1:09:36

Like, and that was uh, and then like the guys that did the album, Fat Sam, did that album, dude. We didn't have no money. I think the album cost eleven hundred dollars. People like then they won the Sam Jam, Sammy Carr, they won his competition. Actually, just give it to them to get the free EP at Bonfire Studios for River Rap that Steve Wilson tracked. So now we're about to go in the studio in December and do it. We got a new album coming. It's coming, it'll probably be March. Who knows? You know, now things take some time.

SPEAKER_02: 1:10:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 1:10:06

Um, and they want us to meet all these guys. I mean, we we were in talks with Dave Cobb at 110 Grammys. I've got the dude's number and my phone blows my mind. But you know, we th those guys for eleven hundred dollars and one Airbnb, we put out 18 songs in a year.

SPEAKER_00: 1:10:26

It's amazing. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 1:10:28

And and one of them went viral. Like I don't know, I don't know how any other, I don't know any other band that's done that. I don't. Um because and then you know why we didn't have the money to go to these people and cut big five, ten thousand dollar albums. And you know, that's that was a lot of money. Now when a guy like Dave Cobb is saying, you know, we can do this for 150K, we're like, what? We we this was for free and went viral. So it's different. Like, as much as I want to work with Dave Cobb, we may someday um we want to help the people that got us there, man.

SPEAKER_02: 1:11:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 1:11:02

We we want to help those people. Like, that's why I name dropped all these promoters, all these folks, these people at the Ponderosa Pines, we had a Halloween party up here and the guys couldn't be there. All I hear that night is we're so proud. We want, we want them to make, we want, we want, and I'm like, well, I got home and I said, You don't know how overwhelming I couldn't I couldn't re enjoy some of my time for everybody just wanting it so bad for the guys and the lady. They want it. These people in the mountains want it for these these guys. Yes, they do. And and people like you want it, and people like Sammy Carr wants it, and John Grace and Tiffany and Jessica, like those people have all been a huge part. And even though we can't call them every day and thank them, or like we are always gonna try to take care of the people that took care of us. The video we did with B. Taylor, that Tiffany manages B. We're gonna do those with Rye Davis, we're gonna do those with Nicholas Jamerson, we're gonna do those with any week. We're gonna try to let those people, our fan base, become their fan base. Because this is this is the Eastern Kentucky pocket. We need to take care of our people here.

SPEAKER_00: 1:12:03

That's right.

SPEAKER_01: 1:12:04

Um, so when we get a chance, man, look, Dean Osborne at that show at at Hyden. Uh, I was in a conference in Louisville, so I couldn't be there, but there's 1,400 people in Leslie County High School.

SPEAKER_00: 1:12:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 1:12:16

Like that don't happen where we live.

SPEAKER_00: 1:12:18

No, no.

SPEAKER_01: 1:12:19

And no alcohol. No alcohol. There are 1,400 people showed up.

SPEAKER_00: 1:12:22

Oh my God. You know, uh, it's uh it's funny, like, I know it hadn't hit everybody, even you guys. Like, uh, I just something just hit me right then. I was trying I got a duck hunt scheduled that I was trying to get people that listen to the podcast to go to anyway, whatever. Well, Todd, I Todd Tanner's dad asked me about it. And I said, Man, why don't you go that hunt with me? He couldn't go pheasant hunt with me this year. He's wanting to go every year. So I sent him the information on that duck hunt. He was like, hey, buddy, that's$2,300 or something other. I said, son, why are you Tanner's gonna be rich? I said, you and Tanner's gonna be on the MTV cribs. He said, he said, huh? I ain't spending that much money to go duck hunt.

SPEAKER_01: 1:13:06

But uh hey listen, Alan Hacker's the tight Alan Hacker's the tight one in the band. I don't know if Alan Hacker spent the first dollar he's at. And I love it about Alan. He's savvy. Um then you got Tanner right now. He ain't killed a deer yet. It's rifle season. He's already said, hell with these shows in November next year, boys. I've got to kill a deer. And I'm like, Tanner, you can't say the hell with the shows. Like you've got to play some shows. But we give you two, like, dude, we turned down a show for for deer seasons. Deer season's important to these guys. We get it. Jagger got him one yesterday, but we turned down a massive, massive show. Um that we, in my eyes, we probably needed. But then I had to put my, instead of being a manager, the guy that, and I had to put in like the the school teacher, the nurturers, like it's it's an important show. They realize it's an important show, but we've had these dates blocked. And you, you know, we had to tell the label and that people and they like, man, we just can't do this one. Like, this is one that they've had blocked for for months. It's a it's a great opportunity, and we're we're privileged and honored, but we just sometimes you gotta have those times off.

SPEAKER_00: 1:14:10

Yeah, man.

SPEAKER_01: 1:14:11

I mean Panner's blue as a fish hook running. He ain't killed a deer, he made a big post, he's laying in there all day. Uh, and he'll be blue and hateful to he kills one. Now, when he kills one, um, we'll all know about it for a day or two.

SPEAKER_00: 1:14:23

You know, I reckon next month, I don't know when for sure I didn't he, but I think Jagger's gonna come out here at my ranch and hunt Purina Pro Plan. Here at Gundog Nation, we use Purina Pro Plan for our dogs. We actually use the Sport Performance Edition, which is 30% protein and 20% fat, the beef and bison. It contains glucosamine, omega-3s uh for their joints. It also contains uh amino acids for muscles and antioxidants. It also has probiotics. It's guaranteed to have live probiotic in each serving. There's no artificial colors or flavors. We see the difference in our dogs, we see the difference in their coat, their performance, their endurance, and also in recovery. Be sure to use Puriana Pro Plan Dog Food. The reputation speaks for itself. There's a reason that Purian has been around for such a long time. We suggest that you use it, and we are so proud to be sponsored by Puriana Dog Food. When you're getting ready to go on your next hunting trip, make sure you pack the most efficient and reliable ammunition on the market. Myra Ammunition brings you the most diverse loads on the market. Myra's patented stacked load technology is the epitome of efficiency. Two shot sizes stack together to create the most diverse and efficient line of shot shells in the industry. It doesn't matter what flyaway, what state, or what the weather, the standard remains the same. At Myra, reliable loads that perform in any condition every single time. We're proud to have Myra Ammunition as a sponsor for Gun Dog Nation.

SPEAKER_01: 1:15:53

Jagger, man, listen, we we met this kid in uh Florida. Um he's the he's the he's the big hat, Dylan Marlowe. Um big country act, man. Uh makes a lot of money. But you know, I say kid because I'm 43 years old. This guy's 20s, you know, like kind of like her boys, right? And yeah, him and Jagger and Tanner hit it off a meat. And they're sitting there, and this guy, he's going on like these big elk hunts and going everywhere. Jagger, I could see his eyes getting big, like, oh shit, there's there's a world out there I want to get into. Um and it's a hard dynamic to judge that. Look, the Kentucky shows. I booked them, everything somebody would come in with decent money. I put them all around Kentucky and Cannon let us do it because I knew 2026 you're gonna get five shows with all the radiuses.

SPEAKER_02: 1:16:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 1:16:41

Um and there are five good ones. But I knew like let's let the people, let's let the people here see them if we can see them. You know, the Barberville show, the Woolfest Show, and uh all over Kentucky, the Bell Theater, the Two Nights at the Borough, like those are important because we're we're not gonna be here as much. And it's a good time to let everybody before it gets out on the national tour, yeah, to let everybody still see it as a regional show.

SPEAKER_02: 1:17:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 1:17:07

And um I'm proud of that. And then there's some hard ones, like, man, I get so many messages about fundraisers or charities. And and man, I'm all for charity. I just I just bid and want to trip on a house boat at Lake Cumberland at my life's conference for charity. You know, like I believe in that, but it's you can't do them all. And once you do one, you expect to do the other one. So we're trying to find that fine line with our team. Like, oh man, which charities? Like, we want to help everybody, like we just did the the fishing with the musician, the candy. I don't know, you may have seen that. That went for like three grand or something. Or somebody won that be, I don't know who it is yet. And then we're gonna take them out to Lake Cumberland. We're gonna fish with them. I've got a buddy that's gonna take them out on a his fishing boat, and another buddy's gonna take them out on the pontoon, we're gonna sit on the houseboat, we're gonna make some deer meat, um, you know, some steaks. And whoever that group is that comes and fishes with us, we're gonna have a big time and show them. And that charity went, um, I think they raised$40 something,000 to go to these schools and give underprivileged kids instruments.

SPEAKER_02: 1:18:11

Oh, wow. Okay.

SPEAKER_01: 1:18:12

To start with the arcs. And then that's something that we all believe in. Tanner Horton's been playing that guitar um since what, six, seven? Anna's been playing since a young age. Scott's been playing since he can remember, I guess.

SPEAKER_02: 1:18:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 1:18:25

It's important to get these young people to get an instrument in their hand that may not be able to afford it. And that was the whole concept of Manchester Music Fest. People always ask me, Tim, why is it free? And I'm like, man, for three days, the poorest kid in town can stand beside the richest kid in town and see the same show. But I know they're not gonna be able to go to um the Knoxville Theater or Nashville or Louisville or wherever. They just don't have the funds. Hotels are expensive, concert tickets are expensive.

SPEAKER_00: 1:18:53

Outrage.

SPEAKER_01: 1:18:54

Groceries are expensive, but for three days in this little town of Manchester, you can stand side by side and all be the be the same.

SPEAKER_00: 1:19:00

That's right.

SPEAKER_01: 1:19:01

You know, and um and I'm I'm I'm passionate about that. I'm I want people to come here, I want them to come see the creatures next year, and and I want them to come see all the other acts. Uh it's gonna be a great lineup and and just experience what music does for us. We've had one arrest in six or seven years out there at that festival. Nobody gets out of whack because music actually shares a lot of love. Yeah. If it's done right. When you listen to these guys' songs, it's a loving thing. Yeah, it's about where they're from.

SPEAKER_02: 1:19:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 1:19:30

Yeah. It's like the song about hiding or even Tennessee. Alan, the whole song, I don't even know if people even know what Tennessee's about. It's about, hey man, we've been gigging, we've been out on the road. Uh, I can't wait to get back home to my to her. I'm getting back home to Brie. That's what the song's wrote about, you know. 50 miles left to go. You know, I'm gonna be home finally, because you you've been out there working, and until you've done it, you can't speak on it.

SPEAKER_02: 1:19:56

That's right.

SPEAKER_01: 1:19:57

Right? Until you until you've trained dogs like you do, you can't. Speak on training dogs. I can't train a dog. It'd take me forever. Like you guys, like you have a natural ability to be great at your craft with the work and passion you put into it. Same way with tourism. People don't understand tourism. It's not community events, which we do a lot of. It's how many heads and beds can I put in Manchester? How many axes and spaces can I put here? How many people can eat at our restaurants, go to our local community, spend money, and make that economic development? For every dollar spent on the axe at Manchester Music Fest, and we've done this. For every offer, for me, sorry, for I just got an email that said we got a new offer. So and these come in non-stop. I just seen it. It looks like a good one. I'll look at it later. But for every dollar spent on what we pay for that show, our tourism board,$12 are made in this economy.

SPEAKER_00: 1:20:47

Yeah. That's a pretty good standard, man. That that's not just tourism, that's economic development. That's just giving back. Well, you know, Tim, uh man, I I I your passion for the Creakers and your passion for what you do is kind of infectious. I'm sitting here excited, man, listening to you. Uh and just I get excited for you. It's uh now I see your success and I see their success. I I I knew what made them successful, but now I see the other component that I didn't see, and that's you behind the scenes, man. That's uh it you deserve you deserve a lot of credit. And I know you don't take it, but I'm giving it to you. Uh you you deserve a lot of credit. It's uh well man, thank you. We I I want to I you're gonna get real I I'm I believe I'm lucky now because I got a feeling a year from now, I'll never be able to get you out here.

SPEAKER_01: 1:21:42

So I mean I always I'll always talk. I think people need to see the side of that that's just not music. That's the inner goings behind what the music is. Um and it's not easy. Um the hardest, you know, like booking a show. So we let's say you do a show. Um, I mean, we got so much stuff coming up. Like when I tell you, oh my God, wait till you hear this, and then we have a time period where we can say it and we can't say it, and we got all this. There's so much. There's so much that I'd love to tell my buddies, and I've learned to just, you know, just say not and wait till the world hears about this. And um and then it's just like booking a show. People think, all right, this the show just don't happen. And you show up and say, here's the stage. You know, it's it's booking the stage, it's booking the sound, it's getting your people to help. We're we're it's the logistics, right? It's the parking. Um it's the it's it takes a year to do these things.

SPEAKER_02: 1:22:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 1:22:36

Um, the best thing, man, is like we've got this business manager. Most people in the music industry don't know what that is. Um when you make more money, you have more taxes. He handles a lot of that, right? With Tanner's wife, Johnny Lynn. She handles a lot of that with that. Johnny Lynn needs some credit. Alan's family, Mel, Shane, um Bree, uh Morgan with and and Barb with Jagger and Ashton, um, Charlie with Anna. He, I mean, man, everybody, and if I'm leaving somebody out, I apologize. But Todd Horton, um, the everybody in that circle, man, Tanner's mom flew down to Florida for that show. Yep. I mean, like these, these, all these people are there to help. And, you know, it's finding that, I mean, Minmail and Lawrence is and Shane, they drove all around this world that, you know what I mean? Like they're they're they're top-notch people and they want to see it happen as much as the boys want to see it happen, right? They're in this thing. Everybody is is is head, they're, as we say, they're neck deep in it. They've dove off that diving board neck first, man. They're in it. And you can't just half-ass do it. You can't say, well, we think we want to do it. Like you're either gonna do it or you ain't gonna do it. And we're in it, we're doing it. And it comes with a tax. You're tired, uh you're gone a lot, um, your wiring vehicles out, you're having to pay lawyers and business managers and agents, and you're you're having to pay all that. Look, I never by my first check with the Creekers will come whenever I see Tanner again. I've never took one dollar ever from the Creakers. And that's something. Well, I told him I said, whenever you play, whenever you play the rhyme of the Grand Old Opera or something like that, I'll take a paycheck.

unknown: 1:24:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 1:24:23

And I'll get my first check for October. Uh, I haven't seen Tanner in a week or so, or maybe since he's been up here at the photo shoot, which will be coming out soon. That'll be killer. Um and I feel and I still feel somewhat guilty because I just seen it, man. And everybody'd seen it. Everybody had seen Alan Hacker sing for years. Like they knew it. And I always tell Alan there's a million people at church that sing good. There's a million people church standing to play guitar. But there ain't a there ain't a lot of people can write these songs like you boys are writing them. And then putting a band together and making those arrangements. Uh, we've got churches here in eastern Kentucky, blow your mind with people singing and all time, Tim.

SPEAKER_00: 1:25:01

I tell people out here, I said I can take you in any church in the Holler and Leslie County and let you hear better talent than you're gonna hear on Broadway in Nashville.

SPEAKER_01: 1:25:08

That's exactly right, Kenneth. Yeah. Like when you walk in there and you hear these people start singing, you're like, man, why ain't they? Yeah, but the songwriting is the next level.

unknown: 1:25:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 1:25:16

Uh and dude, they these guys have got about 14 songs. We're hoping to put 12 on the album. Um, you know, that that's another thing. You've got to we've got to go down, we'll be doing that in Nashville. You know, go down there. We won't do, we won't do it for a week. It's too much to be away from our families. We'll go for three days, come back home, go back, you know, in two or three weeks for three days, then go back for a couple days. We'll we'll you gotta think, in three days for$1,100, we did 18 songs. It blows me away, man.

SPEAKER_00: 1:25:45

That blows me away.

SPEAKER_01: 1:25:46

We don't have to do that anymore.

SPEAKER_00: 1:25:47

Yeah. But that shows you what you know, being a very amateur big musician myself, uh there that they just did a raw, basic recording, no fancy stuff, no studio musicians, and look at what it did. That's unbelievable.

SPEAKER_01: 1:26:07

I want to say, too, back to what we've been preaching, it shows the heart of Eastern Kentucky and and the power of the Appalachian people. And what we've always had less. Let's be real. But we can make more out of less than than a lot of folks can. Um you know, we we still look, I I look over here in this freezer and pull you 25 bags of corn, sweet corn out, right? We we got 40 cans of green beans in here. Like that's that is like the Eastern Kentucky tradition that we'll always do. Yeah. Uh we we don't Tanner ain't hunting a deer right now, just kill big deer. Tanner's gonna eat that deer. He's gonna take every piece of it. If he kills another one, he'll give it to somebody. Like they're they're gonna use everything that that we have because we've had to use every piece. Uh if we raise chickens, you'd save the claws and you'd save a lot of stuff to make broth out of it.

SPEAKER_02: 1:26:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 1:26:56

Um that that's just how our moms and our grandparents, and for us to be able to continue that, um, where I'm worried about the younger generation, you know, I I let my kids help me plant the garden, and we have a small garden. Um But that's that passing that on to that next generation. And what we what we hope now is when I was I had a I made a post of my basketball team on a school bus thing in Tennessee, you may have saying it's beautiful. Yeah, yes. And they're they're them man, those kids are fifth grade through eighth grade. Um so you gotta think those those kids will buy creatures tickets for generations. Yeah they're gonna be fans for they're just not gonna stop liking them, they're gonna love them all the way up to their, you know, until they don't do it anymore.

SPEAKER_02: 1:27:38

That's right.

SPEAKER_01: 1:27:39

And and I'm and I'm so proud of that because it puts Eastern Kentucky in the limelight. Um and you know, it's a whole different world, you know, dealing with all the people we got to deal with now. But it's still when you simplify it, everybody's still people. People's trying to make money, people's trying to do things for a living, and so are we. And now we have, even though we're family and we love each other, we do have a business now. And that's the hard part of it when business and family has to meet, and then that's my job. And it's it's also my job to say, hey, I don't know everything about this. And I've I've and I've asked for help for a lot of people. I've got we've got something probably coming up that'll be a big announcement where I've said, hey, for me and my well-being and my day job and my family, I need a little help. I I need help with these guys, but I'm not gonna seek out help if it's somebody they don't trust and I don't trust. It's gotta be somebody that fits our family and understands who we are. Um I'm never gonna go to work for one of these people, but I will work with one of these people. You know, I'll I'll I'll do my job along with that. I'm we're not afraid of work. Work ain't what we're afraid of. Uh we're really afraid of anything. We just want to make sure we don't neglect our families.

SPEAKER_02: 1:28:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 1:28:54

Um, and and and and and man, Canaan's done a good job with with navigating that with me. Uh Warner's done a good job of understanding who we are, what we are. They come up here for this photo shoot, and they're like, oh my God, fresh air. This is beautiful. And I'm like, welcome to how we live. It's a little slower, yeah, uh a little different, but we're we're proud of it.

SPEAKER_00: 1:29:15

Nice. Well, Tim, I I could probably do another two hours. I've got to do that. We'll do another one, man. We'll get on another one one day. I've got to run to I've got to do some other something else. It's not more important than this. This is more important if you want my opinion. It's big time. Uh Tim, I I've I've uh it's been such a it's been such a privilege getting to see the inside of what all's happened behind the scenes. And uh I hope hopefully in your all schedule I can we can relive and come back and and have some follow-up stuff uh with you when you have time. I know you're gonna be real busy next year. Uh not that you ain't now. But um Tim, tell everybody that's listening how they can find the music, where to go, and uh how to connect and follow the Creakers.

SPEAKER_01: 1:30:06

Yeah, I mean, we're on every streaming platform from Spotify to Apple Music to Amazon, um, Pandora, um, XM Radio is playing the Creakers right now, you know, a lot. Uh they're playing on all the local radio stations here around Kentucky. Um the CreekersBand.com will have their schedule on there. It's just had a revamp. It's about to launch, I think, in a couple days on the new revamp. That uh we, you know, we got a new digital team. Um we're gonna give them a shout out. They're doing a great job. Um, TikTok, you know, the Creekers at TikTok. Uh you'll you'll see it on their uh Twitter, Instagram, Facebook. Um, or um you can still send me a message. I'm one of them guys, if you send me a message, it may take two days, but I promise you, I'll send you a link to something. Uh I won't let I won't let it go. And um just here's the thing, man. We're grateful, we're blessed, we're all humbled by the opportunity. We're gonna try to make our people here in the mountains proud. And then we're also gonna try to make the world understand how blessed we are. And we're gonna put on the greatest shows, we're gonna have the most fun times, and we're gonna always remember guys like Kenneth Witt. Um, that puts everybody on this band on the podcast. There's a reason that people's on your podcast, Kenneth, because they see your passion too, and they see how much you've pushed and promoted. Like, everybody don't do that. Uh, some people get jealous. Some people say, Why ain't it why ain't it me? Um, I can't control that. The boys can't control that. You know, we we've seen a couple local artists that we're we thought we were friends with. They're like, why then? You know, and you know, I don't know. That's a God thing, right? I do know that they have paid a lot of dues. Uh they have worked. They've, you know, even though the band has been a short amount of time as individuals, they've all, you know, Anna's played with Cold of Wall, with Evanescence, with Three Doors Down. Like she's she did 265 shows one year with Coder Wild Man. If that ain't paying your dues, yeah, I don't know what is. So we're we're gonna pay, we're still paying our dues. You know, it ain't like we're headlining stadiums, but the goal is to one day headline a stadium. That's right. It'd be cool to see a group from Hyden, Kentucky, um, and her group all be at Rough Arena, just like Childers or Surgil, and and for us to do a show like that. That's the dream. Um, but we're content with where we're at, we're content with getting bigger, or we're content we'll just keep doing it. We're we're just living the moment and taking it in. And uh very, very much appreciative of you, Kenneth. And anytime we'll get a chance, and thanks, those are the coolest freaking hats. So if you if you designed them, or whoever designed them, thanks so much for the hats. Because the first one I had, I worked every festival in it, and buddy, when I put it on, it smelled like an old shoe. I couldn't even wear it no more. I was like, and I've washed it twice, and you sent the other one, and I've wore it, and I've had more people say, Man, where'd you get that hat? I'm like, man, I know somebody.

SPEAKER_00: 1:32:57

Man, thank you all for wearing my hats. I I love that, and I'll send them to you as long as you need them, man. All right, man. I'll just I design them from top to bottom.

SPEAKER_01: 1:33:05

Oh, those are awesome, man. The camo and how it pops with the white. I love that. The the the flashy label on there, yeah, that's that's killer, man.

SPEAKER_00: 1:33:13

Well, thank you. Thank you. Uh Tim man, thank you so much. I I will continue uh spreading the the gospel of the creakers to everybody I I give chance to. And uh it's it's uh enjoy the moments because you guys ain't seen nothing yet, and that's my opinion. All right.

SPEAKER_01: 1:33:33

Well, we hope so.

SPEAKER_00: 1:33:35

All right, Tim, thank you so much. I will be hopefully get to see you in person here pretty soon.

SPEAKER_01: 1:33:40

Yeah, man. Hit me up about Texas. We'll see if we can help you.

SPEAKER_00: 1:33:43

All right. Hey, thank you. Thanks, Kenneth. Hello, this is Kenneth Witt with Gundog Nation. I'd like to encourage all you listeners and viewers on our YouTube channel to check out patreon.com forward slash gundognation. For$10 a month, you can become a member of our community and we'll have access to lots of stuff. Mainly we'll do a monthly forum, an open forum where you can ask me anything gun dog related and we'll learn from each other in the community. Should be a lot of fun each month. We will do that. So check it out patreon.com forward slash gundognation.