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The Morning Brew with Chris Bennett
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The Morning Brew with Chris Bennett and Best Friends is your daily dose of real callers, big laughs, and unforgettable characters straight from QCountry 925 in Show Low, Arizona.
The Morning Brew with Chris Bennett
From Buffalo to Nashville: Joe Noto’s Leap of Faith & the Making of ‘Blue'
From a family steeped in musical tradition to dropping out of college to chase his Nashville dreams, Joe Noto's story exemplifies the passionate pursuit of country music stardom. The Buffalo-born, Florida-raised artist sat down to share his remarkable journey, revealing how music has been his one constant since childhood.
At just five years old, Joe's parents gave him a simple mandate: choose a sport and an instrument. While various sports came and went, music remained. His grandfather's career as a jazz musician in the '50s and '60s and his father's drumming background created a rich musical foundation. Joe's progression from drummer to guitarist to vocalist and finally songwriter reflects his evolving relationship with his craft. Growing up surrounded by diverse musical influences—from Bon Jovi to Michael Jackson to Garth Brooks—Joe developed an eclectic appreciation that informs his sound today.
A pivotal moment came during Joe's college years at Florida State when a chance encounter with Morgan Wallen changed everything. After sharing that he aspired to be an artist, Wallen challenged him: "You can't call yourself an artist if you're not writing songs." That very week, Joe wrote his first song. This push ultimately led to his bold decision to drop out during his senior year when a management opportunity arose, believing divine timing was at work. Joe's latest single "Blue," written while vacationing in Haiti, captures the essence of his Florida upbringing with its carefree beach vibes. With new music dropping monthly and exciting collaborations on the horizon, Joe Noto is climbing the country music ladder one thoughtful song at a time. Follow his journey on Instagram, TikTok, and all streaming platforms to witness firsthand the rise of this promising new voice in country music.
Chris Bennett's Country Climb Star of the Week. Buffalo, born Florida, raised, now living in Nashville making big things happen. Today's Country Climb Star of the Week Joe Noto.
Speaker 3:What up, man? Thank you so much for having me, Chris.
Speaker 1:Absolutely Can't wait to play your song Blue a little bit later. But first, before we get into the nitty-gritty in your musical journey, we're going to play a game called Rapid Fire Questions with Joe Noto, today's Country Climb Star of the Week. Ready, let's get into it. Baby, what's the first album you ever bought?
Speaker 3:Slippery when Wet.
Speaker 1:Bon Jovi First concert you ever went to.
Speaker 3:Bon Jovi in Fort Lauderdale.
Speaker 1:Song you wish, you wrote.
Speaker 3:Oh, my gosh Song I wish I wrote Almost Home. Craig Morgan.
Speaker 1:Gosh, I love that song. Dream venue to play the Ryman home, Craig Morgan.
Speaker 3:Gosh, I love that song. Dream venue to play.
Speaker 1:The Ryman Greatest accomplishment in your music career so far.
Speaker 3:Going back home and playing the Hard Rock Guitar Hotel with Mitchell Tenpenny. It's where I grew up, so all of my favorite acts as a kid came and played through there. I had the opportunity last year to go play that venue with Mitchell Tenpenny. It's where I grew up, so all of my favorite acts as a kid came and played through there and I had the opportunity last year to go play that venue with Mitchell Tenpenny. So that is, I think, my greatest musical accomplishment to go back home and do that.
Speaker 1:That's awesome. And last question it's going to be the hardest question I asked today If you had one country song that you could request for the rest of your life at all events. What country song are you requesting, and it can't be your own?
Speaker 3:Oh my Lord, wow, okay, this is kind of. This is going to be funny, probably kiss tomorrow. Goodbye, luke Bryan. That's my hype song man. That is my turn my day around sing-along jam, heck, yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, we're going to play it right now and get pumped up on Q Country 92.5. Let's go Play a little song requested by today's Country Climb Star of the Week, joe Noto. Yes, sir, luke Bryan. Kiss Tomorrow, goodbye Woo, all right. Segment one down. You're crying. Kiss tomorrow, goodbye Woo, all right, segment one down.
Speaker 3:That was awesome, heck yeah, love it.
Speaker 1:I think we won a couple CMAs for that one Best small town. Oh man, I look so bald with that. My little headset was coming down.
Speaker 3:I can't even see. You know what? I can't even see because this thing's blocking the top of your head. So I'm sure it looks great.
Speaker 1:Oh heck yeah, sweet, all right, awesome. So we'll come back and uh, we're gonna talk about uh, how you got started and uh, your musical journey and uh, and here we go. One. We are talking to our Country Climb Star of the Week, Joe Noto, Originally well, born in Buffalo, New York, raised in Florida, now living in Nashville. Joe, thank you so much for being our Country Climb Star of the Week.
Speaker 3:Yes, sir dude, thank you so much for having me. It's an honor to be here and I love to share my story.
Speaker 1:Definitely. Well, tell us a little bit about your story. When did you start music? How did music grab you? And let's go from there.
Speaker 3:I kind of had no choice. When I was five, my parents kind of said, pick a sport and pick an instrument. And I kind of played every sport under the sun and all that kind of came and went and music was just kind of the thing that stuck around. My, my grandfather, was actually a career musician. He was in the in the jazz scene back in the 50s and 60s and then out in Vegas and, you know, moved back to Rochester, new York, with my father at the time when he was a baby and my grandmother and he opened a music store and music. My dad was a drummer and we just kind of I kind of had no choice. So it was, it was, you know, the one thing that I always gravitated back to and and I started with the drums and then play guitar, didn't start singing till high school and started writing songs in college. So that's kind of just like the progression of it.
Speaker 3:And, yeah, grateful for grateful for my parents being hard on me and dragging me to guitar lessons when I was little, and then I was in the School of Rock, which was awesome. So I got to go play shows in South Florida as a kid and that kind of gave me the love for being on stage and entertaining people and, yeah, just had a lot of really important people along the way too. That pushed me to be my best and and, uh, you know, it was just the love that I couldn't shake and it made me drop out of college my fourth year and move here. So, yeah, my, my senior year, you were close to graduating. So yeah, my senior year, you were close to graduating.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I had a couple credits left.
Speaker 3:My father's not too thrilled with that, but it is what it is.
Speaker 1:And then what you just decided it's now or never.
Speaker 3:You didn't want to wait a couple more semesters. Well, I had a management label kind of offer on the table from a small boutique company at the time. And you know I was at Florida State. So my thought process was Nashville has a town full of the most talented people in the world and if they're extending me that offer and they want to work with me, like you know, I feel like God presents opportunities at certain times. And you just got to, you know, you got to talk to him and you got to hear him and I felt like he was telling me to go. And and you know I'm a firm believer that if I, if I always want to go back at some point to to just finish it, to say I did it, you know I can do that and, um, I'm not, I'm not far from it, but but uh, that's that, that's what got me here.
Speaker 1:So yeah, you got to go for your calling right.
Speaker 3:Yes, sir, I mean listen. That was the only thing I've ever done since I've. That was the one consistent thing I've done since I was five years old was music, and, and I knew that, whether I graduated or not, I was taking my bills with me and um, and I was coming here regardless. So so that was that.
Speaker 1:Heck, yeah, we are talking to Joe Noto, today's Country Climb Star of the Week. We're going to be right back with some musician questions for a musician and play his new song, blue, coming up next. Um, what were some of your uh musical like what? What type of music were your parents listening or was in the house or the car when you were growing up?
Speaker 3:um, well, my dad was an 80s rock guy and, um, my mom listened to everything. I mean everything from you name it, I mean garth Garth Brooks to the Scorpions. We used to listen to a lot of the Scorpions when I was a kid. Michael Jackson was my favorite artist as a kid. It's vast, it's very vast. I mean my parents. I was pretty. We had really cool shows come through where I lived and and you know, I got to see everybody from Kelly Clarkson to earth one and fire to, um, tim McGraw and faith Hill and, um, I kind of really I got to see it all and, uh, I think it really shaped who I am as a person and what I like to listen to and what I like to write. So, um, yeah, I've, I've so many memories, god, I could go on for hours, but yeah, but those are, those are kind of my my. I mean Lionel Richie, I could go, I could. The Eagles, I could sit and talk about it all day.
Speaker 3:I was just telling that story the other day. I used to, um, I used to go dig through the laundry room for spare dollars and spare change to go to the Target down the street and buy albums, because my parents kind of made me earn it that way. And I remember he had an album that had come out. I was probably like I don't even know, seven years old, maybe just about, and that was like my second or third album that I never bought with my own money. So you know, you name it. I listened to it and loved it.
Speaker 1:Heck yeah. And then the song Blue we're going to play. Uh, were you a writer on this one as well?
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah. So I wrote that. I wrote that in Haiti, um, we did a, we did a new year's cruise for the first time ever with some of our friends from back home and, uh, we didn't get off. We didn't get off the boat in Haiti and I kind of stayed at the pool bar and drank a pretty, pretty good bit and mosey back to the, to the, to the, the cabin room, and I just picked up my guitar and I was looking out and I was like man, like what if I just spun a little heartbreak song and made it like a reggae song? And I was like everything around me around me is blue the, the logo for the ship, the water, the sky, like the cabanas down on the beach when you look. I was like I'm just going to write a fun upbeat song. And then I wrote probably about half of it and then brought it back to my friends here in Nashville Daniel, george and Jensen and they hopped on the back half and we just put our heads down and grinded it out.
Speaker 1:Heck, yeah sweet. That's how Blue came about. Well, I love it. We're going to do questions for a musician and then we're going to play Blue Jam out. You can check out my sweet dance moves and then we'll come back and we'll do a final push and promo for our new country music. Best friend, heck, yeah man. Thank you, yeah yeah. You always have a home now in Arizona on the radio Dude.
Speaker 3:I appreciate that man. You know that's my goal is to go see the country. You know it's so funny. Before songwriting, I mean my passion was getting on stage and playing gigs and and getting out and entertaining people. So any, I hope anytime, and hopefully soon I can get out to, uh, arizona, man, I, I'm, I'm ready for it and excited yep, we got to get that.
Speaker 1:Got to get that done. All right, here we go. All right. Musician questions for a musician. This will be be quick Three, two, one. All right, it is now time for musician questions with a musician, today's Country Climb Star of the Week, joe Noto. Joe, are you ready? I'm ready? Fire away, man. Do you have what's your pre-show ritual? Anything weird, lucky or just unnecessary?
Speaker 3:I'll usually. I mean, I don't know how well the two of them go together, but I like to take a shot and say a prayer before I go on stage, so so that that's kind of my my little pre-show ritual, and um, I I just like to. Before that, I just like to kick back and listen to music I love. It's usually like 70s or 80s music. It's kind of what makes me relax and yeah, then it's go time baby.
Speaker 1:Do you write best at home, on the beach or on the road?
Speaker 3:I write best, honestly. I write best when I'm out, like not doing anything music, when I'm like it could be home, it could be visiting family, it could be like at the most random times is when I am most thrilled with what I'm writing. I feel like it just kind of springs out on me, so that's when I'm happiest.
Speaker 1:If you could collab with any artist, dead or alive. Who's the top on your list?
Speaker 3:Oh, well, honestly, it would be the most full circle moment to collab with Morgan Wallen, because he's the reason I even started writing songs and he instilled some wisdom into a young 18-year-old and that would be my full circle got to have moment.
Speaker 1:How did that happen? He just saw you and gave you some advice.
Speaker 3:He played my college town when I was a freshman and my friend was opening for him and I really was just getting my feet wet playing gigs around town and and uh, and playing gigs back home in West Palm and uh, we had quite the night out on the town and um, we ended up I'll make it real short. We ended up, uh going back and um getting my guitar at my dorm and we sat in the parking lot of the dorm and just played songs back and forth and I told him, well, I told him I was like doing the trying to do the artist thing. And he passed the guitar back to me and said, well, play me one of yours. And I said, well, I don't have one yet. And he said you can't call yourself an artist if you're not writing songs, so you better get your ass to work. Essentially is what he said.
Speaker 3:And uh, that week I wrote my first song and uh, actually played it for my english class at florida state, which is crazy, crazy. But um, he was a he, he was a mentor for me for for for a few years there, leading up until uh, I moved here and you know, um, it's great to see him when I can, but if it wasn't for him, I probably wouldn't have started writing songs as early as I did, and I'm grateful for all the advice he gave me, so yeah, Well, I'm glad he got you motivated to write your own songs, because we're going to play one of those songs that you wrote right now.
Speaker 1:You told me a little bit off air now. You told me a little bit off air. Uh, tell us a little bit uh about this song and uh how it came about and and who helped you with it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, this is a feel-good vibe uh, beach vibe song, man, it's, it's, uh, it's. It makes me feel like home. Um, you know, growing up in south florida, the beach was. We lived about 25 minutes from the beach and and, um, that's where my family spent a lot of our time. We come from a really big family and I wrote it while I was on a vacation in Haiti with some other family friends and you know, I just I wanted to capture that. I wanted to capture that feeling. I wanted to capture what it's like to be, to just be where you are, where everything's blue the water, the sky, the beach umbrellas, the beach chairs. Sometimes being blue, uh, isn't such a bad thing. So, um, that was the gist of it. And then wrote about, wrote half the song and then brought it back to uh nashville to write with my buddies george jensen and daniel, and, and, uh, we just we're super thrilled with how it came out. And, um, you know, I hope it makes everybody kick a kick, kick back and open a corona.
Speaker 1:So that's what I hope it does for you. Heck yeah, it is a great summer jam. We're going to play it right here on Q Country 92.5. For the first time it's from today's Country Climb Artist of the Week, Joe Noto, with his song Blue let's go.
Speaker 2:I don't know where I went wrong. Slow and steady like a Rasta song, you were my kind of woman. I was your kind of man. Match me like coconut Malibu rum. I fell hard on every set in the sun, thought I was your L-O-V-E. Tear you up in blind sight of me. Tell me why I'd even bother being blue Like you. Tell me why I'd even bother being blue. Listen, I've been hanging with locals, girl, the thought of you gone up in smoke and every little thing gonna be alright, cause I'm holding someone new tonight two weeks down here with my toes in the water. I really can't use to. The only worry on my mind Is a beer and a barber. So tell me why I'd even bother being new about you. Tell me why I'd even bother being blue. Kind of funny how it worked out. I hope you got a new dude now who loves you more than a dude now. Oh, I'm kicked back with a brew now, singing Ooh, it's all been blue Two weeks down here with my toes in the water. That girl in the blue bikini she's a whole lot hotter than you and I could really get used to. Thank you Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh, ooh, ooh ooh.
Speaker 1:Joe Noto, our Country Climb Star of the Week with his hit song Blue. You got to follow him on social media, joe. What do you got going on next? Do you have new music we can expect from you, and how can our listeners support you?
Speaker 3:Yeah, man. So the same guys I wrote that song with. They have a group that they call the Father Figures. I'm featuring on one of their songs that's coming out August 12, 12th. I got a song coming this fall with my buddy, justin schools. I got a single coming, probably in september. For myself, I'm trying to do a song a month for the rest of the year and, uh, you can find it all at joe noto on instagram, um, tiktok, spotify, apple, wherever. Wherever you get your music, you'll be able to find it. And, uh, to stay up to date on everything, follow me on the gram and follow me on tiktok, because it's coming and it's uh, and there's gonna be a lot of it. So I'm really excited for the next year and the rest of this one, before we even get to the next one. So, um, that's what. That's what's going on in my life, baby heck.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we can't wait to continue to support you. Keep us posted on what you're doing. We'd love to follow your country, climb and have you back. His socials are J-O-E-N-O-T-O, joe Noto. Check him out, follow him and stream all his music, and make sure you download that new one. You just heard, blue. Thank you so much.
Speaker 3:Yes, sir, thank you, chris. I appreciate you, man.
Speaker 1:God bless you guys chris bennett's country climb star of the week.
