Dave Ramsey, Giant Donuts & Country Climb Star Cash Cortes

On today's episode of The Morning Brew with Chris Bennett & Best Friends, we spin the wheel and call one lucky listener to award VIP tickets to Chris Bennett Comedy & Aliberto's Presents our Summer Comedy Series at the Show Low Elks Lodge.

Then it's time for Fun Fact or Fake Fact as Dave Ramsey puts his knowledge to the test with questions about giant donuts, ketchup, hot air balloons, and more.

Plus, our Country Climb Star of the Week is Cash Cortes. Cash shares how growing up in a Puerto Rican household shaped his musical influences, how he found his way into country music, what he learned from his run on American Idol, and the story behind his new song, "Narco."

Grab your coffee and hang out with your best friends for another fun Friday morning.

The Morning Brew with Chris Bennett & Best Friends
Weekdays on Q Country 92.5 in Arizona's White Mountains

For comedy show tickets and upcoming events, visit ChrisBennettComedy.com.

Transcript

Donut Tease And Friday Kickoff

SPEAKER_00 0:00

And that donut sounds like a city on a sugar high.

SPEAKER_02 0:03

Sounds like a what? That was Show Low's Dave Ramsey. We played a little fun fact or a fake fact with him. And let's just say things got a little weird when we started talking about giant donuts. You'll hear more from Dave coming up in just a little bit. And it's Friday, so you know what that means. It's time for our country climb, star of the week. This week, we've got another great artist sent our way by Austin Burke in the playlisted podcast. His name is Cash Cortez, and he's bringing a unique blend of country music and his Puerto Rican roots to Nashville. We'll talk about his journey in country music, his experience on American Idol, his new song Narco, and a whole lot more. So grab your coffee, grab your energy drink, grab your best friend, and let's get this Friday show started, best

VIP Ticket Winner Call

SPEAKER_02 0:48

friends. Chris Bennett and the morning brew. All right, we just spun the Wheel of Names to see who our winner of two VIP tickets to our comedy show June 27th at the Elks Lodge with national headliner Nancy Norton is and show Lozone Dave Ramsey. Man, that's a lucky dude. Alright, let's give him a call. Good morning. Good morning, best friend. Dave, you entered your name into the Wheel of Names to win two VIP tickets to our comedy show June 27th at the Elks Lodge. You remember that?

SPEAKER_00 1:18

Yes, I do.

SPEAKER_02 1:18

I didn't know if it was you or if one of your uh cats maybe got a hold of your phone and entered you to win. But congratulations! You just won two free VIP tickets to our show at the Elks Lodge June 27th. What do you say to that? Very cool. Very cool. Uh, how about uh we play a little game for you to win uh some uh four movie passes to the WME Theaters? How's that? Sounds cool. Alright, you gotta get uh

Fun Fact Or Fake Fact Game

SPEAKER_02 1:44

two right. Uh in order to win these, we're gonna play fun fact or fake fact on this fun fact Friday. It is hot air balloon day. Fun fact or fake fact. The first passengers in a hot air balloon were sheep, a duck, and a rooster. Fun fact or fake fact. Fun fact. That is a fun fact. How did you know that? Wild guess. Wild guess. Yeah, that was 1783. Alright, here we go. Uh, it is also National Ketchup Day. Fun fact or fake fact. Ketchup was originally invented as toothpaste.

SPEAKER_00 2:15

Fun fact.

SPEAKER_02 2:16

No, no, fake fact. It was originally Yeah, it was originally a fish-based sauce, but never toothpaste. All right, last question. If you get it wrong, you don't win the movie passes. Uh if you get it right, you do. Uh, it's also uh World Donut Day, and I love donuts. The world's largest donut weighed more than 3,700 pounds. Fun fact or fake fact? Fake fact. Fake fact. Oh, Dave, you didn't win the movie passes. Uh, that is a fun fact. It was over 16 feet across and weighed about as much as a small car. I hope it was uh pink with sprinkles. That's my favorite type of donut. But Dave, you did win two tickets

Comedy Show Details And Shoutout

SPEAKER_02 2:56

to our summer comedy series. Chris Bennett Comedy in Alaberto's presents, comedy at the Sholo Elks Lodge. The show is Saturday, June 27th. It's 18 and over. You don't have to be an Elks Log member to attend. Show starts at 6:30. Doors bar, Alaberto's food truck open up at 5 p.m. We have Nancy Norton, who's been on Dry Bar Comedy, featured on AE's evening at the improv, winner of the Boston Comedy Festival, the Seattle International Comedy Competition winner, and featuring my friend Bob Kubota, who's been on tons of US O tours and been on NBC's last comic standing. So it's gonna be a fun show. What station hooked you up?

SPEAKER_00 3:34

92.5. You know it. And that donut sounds like a city on a sugar high. Sounds like

Country Climb Artist Introduction

SPEAKER_00 3:42

a what? Chris Bennett's Country Climb, Star of the Week.

SPEAKER_02 3:47

Another great artist sent our way from Austin Burke in the playlisted podcast. And this week's Country Climb Star of the Week is an artist who's bringing something completely fresh to country music. Born in Miami, raised in Georgia, and now making waves in Nashville. Cash Cortez is blending his Puerto Rican roots with country storytelling to create a sound all his own. His latest song, Narco, is climbing the charts, and we're excited to get the no to to get to know the man behind the music. Please welcome Cash. Welcome aboard, Cash.

SPEAKER_01 4:23

Hey, thank you so much for having me, man. I appreciate it.

SPEAKER_02 4:26

Absolutely.

Cash Cortez Icebreakers

SPEAKER_02 4:27

Before we find out about your country climb and get into the nitty-gritty, uh, we'll have a little fun with some fun ice breaker questions. Ready? Yes, sir. All right. If someone followed you around with the camera for 24 hours, what would surprise people most about cash?

SPEAKER_01 4:46

Oh man, then I'm a complete goofball around my wife, man. I I I I turn into my real self and uh I'm a complete geek.

SPEAKER_02 4:55

And uh what's something you were obsessed with as a kid that no one would guess? Pokemon. Oh, really? What's uh your favorite uh Pokemon character?

SPEAKER_01 5:06

Uh it had to be Pikachu, man. Always always hanging out with Ash.

SPEAKER_02 5:11

And if you weren't making music, what would you be doing?

SPEAKER_01 5:15

Man, uh, if I wasn't making music, I'd be making some other form of art, whether it's uh painting or most likely painting. I love to paint. I like to paint uh different pieces on canvases, so yeah. And what's Or riding my motorcycle for a living.

SPEAKER_02 5:29

Oh, that'd be really nice. If you could only request one country song the rest of your life, what country song is it gonna be and why?

SPEAKER_01 5:38

Oh my gosh. Um family tradition, Hank Williams Jr. It's uh it's just you know, it's just one of those things that everybody just starts screaming it together. Yeah, you you could you can be in a room with a complete strangers and you guys are acting like family by the end of the song,

Roots And Finding Country Music

SPEAKER_01 5:54

you know?

SPEAKER_02 5:54

Cass, you have a really unique background, born in Miami, raised in Georgia. You're a Puerto Rican heritage, country music influences. What was music like in your household growing up?

SPEAKER_01 6:06

Yeah, so you know, my household was filled with all kinds of music, man. We listened to things like Mark Anthony. My dad grew up next to a Gran Combo, which is a really, really big salsa group out of Puerto Rico, and uh, you know, we heard things like Celia Cruz, my mom loved disco music, so I heard the Bee Gees a ton. Um, and my mom also listened to the radio station on the car. Uh it was the it was the the hits of the 70s, 80s, and today, because this is back in the 90s. And then um, so I heard all kinds of stuff, man, from disco to rock to pop. Um I had a lot of influences growing up, that's for sure.

SPEAKER_02 6:45

And then how did uh when did you start falling in love with country music and decide to kind of integrate that into what you do?

SPEAKER_01 6:52

Yeah, so country music's something that I kind of always heard um growing up, but I didn't really start thinking of myself as a country artist until high school. Um I sang a song, I believe I might butcher this, but Garth Brooks, We Shall Be Free, I believe is the title of the song. And um, my principal in high school said, Man, because I was singing the anthem for all of our like pep rallies and stuff like that. And he said, Dude, we're gonna do a pep rally, and I really want to sing something that talks about uniting all the students together. Can you sing this song? And I never heard the song before. Um, so I listened to it, I learned it on piano. And of course, Garth's got he's got the twang, you know. And I grew up with a twang in Georgia that when I moved to Florida, I tried to cover it up because I got bullied for it. Um, and so I was singing it, whatever, and the twang started coming out. One of my friends was in the room and was like, wait a second, you have a twang when you sing. And I'm like, Yeah, yeah, yeah, but I'm not trying to sing it like a country artist. No, no, no, it sounds great. And so I sat with me for a little bit and I started covering songs on Instagram, like, you know, Josh Turner, um, and different different artists like that. And finally by college, I'm like, man, I want to be, I think I want to be a country artist. And I teetered with that in Christian hip hop for a while, and it wasn't until 2020 that I finally got the break and uh went went

American Idol Reality And Nerves

SPEAKER_01 8:10

full country.

SPEAKER_02 8:10

One of your breaks is you had a run on American Idol in 2020. What was the biggest thing you learned from that experience?

SPEAKER_01 8:17

Uh that it's a lot of smoke and mirrors. It's a lot of smoke and mirrors, but but the the nerves are real, man. I mean, when you're up there and you and you're faced with the judges and the cameras, um, that that emotion that you see from all those artists, from those those contestants, that is real, man. We're under a lot of pressure. We're up day and night. They keep you up, they make sure you don't sleep. They they got interviews set up, they're trying to stir the pot, and you are feeling every bit of it. To them, they're just shooting the show. They're they got things lined up. They're thinking, okay, how can we get this angle, get that angle? For us, we're like, what in the heck is going on? What is gonna happen here? So we're freaking out. We're freaking out. So it's it's taught me to like take all those nerves and learn how to navigate them and just be cool and collective.

SPEAKER_02 9:04

And then what would be uh, you know, one of your biggest pinch me moments so far in your musical journey?

SPEAKER_01 9:11

I would have to say my biggest pinch me moment is uh is recently when I decided to go in independent and um you know go come out as Cash Cortez and really make music that I feel is true to me, and seeing how many people are rocking with me, how many people are following. I mean, in the last 30 days I've grown 40,000 followers on Instagram. Um it's it's been an absolute journey, and I can't believe so many people are just falling in love with me, just being my true self.

SPEAKER_02 9:40

Yeah, and people say the country music is evolving more than ever right now. Do you feel

Going Independent And Owning Identity

SPEAKER_02 9:46

because your sound is unique, do you feel like you're creating a new lane within this country music genre?

SPEAKER_01 9:52

Yeah, I would like to say that if anything, um there was a lane, there was a lane before, and I'm just honored to get to grab the baton from Freddie, Freddie Fender back in the day. I would say that he's probably one of the earliest that I can think of. And to just continue to to to you know create a path um for folks like me that are Latino, that grew up in households listening to country music. Um, a lot of these folks are super country, man. Like we got we got Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, uh, you know, people from Venezuela, Colombia that have farms. They're they're raising cattle, they're riding horses. You know, we are a country as heck, man. And uh it's just really, really, really cool to be a part of a movement that I feel is on the brink of national, uh, like worldwide explosion,

How Narco Became A Love Song

SPEAKER_01 10:40

honestly.

SPEAKER_02 10:40

We're gonna be playing his song Narco here for the first time on Q Country 92.5. Where did this song uh come from, Cash? What inspired it? Tell us a little bit about it.

SPEAKER_01 10:50

Yeah, so this is this is a really fun song to write. My wife and I were binge watching the series Narco on Netflix, and uh after about a month of binge watching it every night, because it's a long series, I got in the studio in Nashville and we're throwing some ideas around. And I had written down the title Narco in my notes because I wanted to write a love song about a guy who falls in love with a woman who makes him feel so high. He's like getting high on his on his own supply. He feels like a narco. He feels like he can buy whatever house he wants, he can drive whatever car he wants, and he's got the most beautiful woman by his by his side who's supporting him and rocking with him. And I said, man, I gotta write this love song, dude, because that's how my wife makes me feel. So that's how narco was born.

SPEAKER_02 11:36

Heck yeah, and we're gonna listen to it right now in Q Country92.

unknown 11:44

Yeah.

More Songs Collabs And What Is Next

SPEAKER_02 11:52

That was Cash Cortez with his song Narco here on Q Country 92.5. That song has over one million streams, 1.5 million streams on Spotify, and uh it is a fun song. For those of you, uh for those of us that are just learning about Cash Cortez, what are two other songs of yours that uh we should check out today?

SPEAKER_01 12:16

Absolutely, thank you so much for playing that first off, and um yeah, so I've got a song called Cime Muero, and Cime Muero is a country uh reggaeton, salesak crossover um that talks about being a proud Boricua Puerto Rican from the island of Puerto Rico, uh, and that no matter where you're born or where you live in this world, if you're boricwa, wherever uh, you know, that's where your heart is, and if I die, bury me in Puerto Rico. And I think a lot of people can relate to that, you know, depending on where they're from. It's just the pride of your culture, the pride of your roots and where you're from. Um so definitely check out CMemueto, and I've got Hot Dam. Uh Hot Dam's another really fun one, and it's a it's a country and reggaeton mix.

SPEAKER_02 13:02

Awesome. I love that one. I also love Poor Man's Gold to you, but he's got a lot of great music, so make sure you check out all his music. If you could uh collab with any country artist right now, what uh country artists would you want to collab with right now?

SPEAKER_01 13:17

My uh my answer has always been this it's Chris Stapleton. Has to be Chris Stapleton.

SPEAKER_02 13:22

Heck yeah. And uh what's next for Cash Cortez? What should we be on the lookout for?

SPEAKER_01 13:28

Yeah, so I uh I've got a new song dropping this Friday. It's called ICU, and uh I self-produced that one. I co-wrote it with my boy Absinthe. Absint is uh new and upcoming artist from Miami, um, super talented kid. And so we we co-wrote that, putting that one out. And in the future, I've actually got a song that's taking off right now. Um, it's called Yahweh, Yatusawe. And I've got a big Christian artist uh jumping on that. I haven't announced it yet, but this is gonna be a really, really, really big hit, I feel.

SPEAKER_02 13:59

Heck yeah. And how can we uh what's the best way to follow you? What are your social media handles?

SPEAKER_01 14:04

Yeah, so you can find me anywhere on social media by either typing in Cash Cortez, specifically Instagram. If you're looking, uh type in Space Cowboy Official. Sometimes if you type in Cash Cortez, you can find me, sometimes you won't, but Cash Cortez Cortez with an S at the end. And you can find me just about anywhere that you uh you got social media or streaming platforms.

SPEAKER_02 14:23

Heck yeah. Well, thanks for spending some time with us this morning. This has been Cash Cortez. Today's Country Climb Star

Wrap Up And How To Support

SPEAKER_02 14:31

of the Week. Well, that's gonna do it for today's episode of The Morning Brew with Chris Bennett and best friends. A big thank you to today's Country Climb star of the week, Cash Cortez. Make sure you give him a follow on social media and check out his new song, Narco. And uh, if you enjoyed that song, you might want to spend a little time checking out some of his other music as well. And if you enjoyed today's episode, please follow the podcast, leave us a review, and share it with the best friend who could use a few laughs and some good vibes. And don't forget Chris Bennett Comedy and Alabertos present our summer comedy series at the Solo Elks Lodge. Our next show is June twenty seventh at six thirty p.m. It's eighteen and over. And for more information and for future shows, visit Chris Bennett Comedy.com. For the morning brew, I've been Chris Bennett reminding you to be nice to yourself, be nice to others, and don't be jerk.