Robert Bacon Returns to Happy Hour at CRS 2026! Ep128

Robert Bacon is back on Happy Hour with Deb!

We've had Robert on the podcast multiple times, so it was great to reconnect with him once again at CRS 2026 and hear what's been happening since our last conversation.

In this episode, Robert gives us an update on his music, talks about the new songs he has coming up, where you can catch him performing, and what's ahead for him this year. We also get into something I always love talking about: the advice and lessons that can help young artists navigate the music industry, stay focused, and keep chasing their dreams.

It's another fun and honest conversation with Robert, and if you've followed his journey through his previous appearances on Happy Hour with Deb, you'll definitely want to hear what's next!

Grab a drink, settle in, and join us from CRS 2026! 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Come back and co-host with me one time.

SPEAKER_02 0:01

I would love to do that.

SPEAKER_00 0:03

All right, we would love to have you.

SPEAKER_02 0:04

I would love that.

SPEAKER_00 0:06

Next round, let's do it. Come be the co-host on the show. Look, it really is that easy. Hey, it's Deb. It's Happy Hour with Deb, and we are on day three of the country radio seminar, and I have the privilege and the honor sitting next to my great friend Robert Beacon.

SPEAKER_02 0:32

Good morning.

SPEAKER_00 0:33

Good morning. Welcome to Happy Hour again.

SPEAKER_02 0:35

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 0:36

It is so good to see you. You too. We spent a little time together yesterday, a little whiskey tasting. And yeah. All right.

SPEAKER_01 0:43

How fun is that?

SPEAKER_00 0:44

It first of all, you're gonna send me home with an agreed bottle that says Happy Hour of Deb. Like you big score. Huge score, I think.

SPEAKER_01 0:52

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 0:52

Tell me how your CRS is going. You were just on the show a little while ago. For those regular viewers, you know Robert. Robert and I are dear friends. He makes incredible music. Please follow him on socials and give him a shout out. So tell me how your CRS is going.

SPEAKER_01 1:08

Busy. Interviews, performance, you know. Yeah. Crazy. All the shows.

SPEAKER_00 1:13

Yeah. I don't think people realize we kind of did a behind the scenes last year. Yes. That this is a three-day event.

SPEAKER_02 1:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:20

It's around country radio and media that follows country radio. And Robert's been in this business a long time, so he's like, people are grabbing him for interviews, and you got to sing yesterday. And then the parties, how was the party last night?

SPEAKER_01 1:31

Great. Last night was big. Jason Aldean, 31 number one hits. Wow.

SPEAKER_00 1:35

Wow. That's amazing. I heard it was a great party. I took myself to bed because I was a little tired.

SPEAKER_01 1:40

It was late.

SPEAKER_00 1:41

Yeah, I'm I'm sure. I mean, I went to bed at 10, which I never do at my home. Like I go to bed at 9 o'clock at home.

SPEAKER_01 1:48

We do too.

SPEAKER_00 1:48

I know. It's crazy. But you know what? You need rest to do what we do.

SPEAKER_01 1:52

Yeah, it's a lot of work. I tell all artists they should at least come to CRS, even if they just come to mingle.

SPEAKER_00 1:59

That's what I say. Work the room.

SPEAKER_01 2:01

Networking, meeting people. It's the one time of year other than CMA Fest where they're all in one hotel.

SPEAKER_00 2:07

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 2:07

And you know you never know who you're gonna run into. Amen.

SPEAKER_00 2:10

Oh amen. It was crazy. You know, I was saying yesterday the level of talent under this roof.

SPEAKER_01 2:16

Oh, it's unbelievable.

SPEAKER_00 2:18

Like, can you ever imagine an event where you have this much that's not open to the public?

SPEAKER_01 2:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:23

That this much talent under one roof. It's mind exploding.

SPEAKER_01 2:27

It's unbelievable, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:28

What do you got coming up for this summer?

SPEAKER_01 2:30

Doing CMA Fest on June the 2nd at the local, and after that, I'm not sure. Yeah. More music out, new record coming out.

SPEAKER_00 2:39

You when's the record coming out? I know we talked about this.

SPEAKER_01 2:41

Next month. Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_00 2:46

That's amazing. How hard was it to cut 15 on one album?

SPEAKER_01 2:49

Oh, it's I I did it on the Christmas record that we released in December. Yeah. Same thing.

SPEAKER_00 2:53

I know you do big Christmas stuff, but like Christmas wasn't even that long ago, friend.

SPEAKER_01 2:58

Oh, I know.

SPEAKER_00 2:59

I know. And now you're following it up.

SPEAKER_01 3:00

But Christmas for an artist is year-round. Yeah. We're we're writing your Christmas stuff year-round.

SPEAKER_00 3:04

Yeah, but you released it, and then that now you're you're bang, you're releasing.

SPEAKER_01 3:08

And that one out that one EP of the year.

SPEAKER_00 3:10

Oh, what's the couple of years?

SPEAKER_01 3:11

EP album of the year at Josie Awards, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:13

Congratulations. You totally deserve it. Robert's one of the hardest work in Man and Show business. So appreciate that. So you're booking shows and just playing and releasing all this new music. You know what's going to happen. You're going to release this album. You're going to get a flood of places too. I hope so.

SPEAKER_01 3:27

I hope so. You totally will. That's the goal.

SPEAKER_00 3:29

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 3:30

Yeah. You know, just putting out as much stuff as you can because you never know what's going to take off. Like all those Christmas songs and all those movies, that's that's huge. It's huge.

SPEAKER_00 3:39

I know. We listen, we listen to Christmas to your music.

SPEAKER_01 3:42

Yeah, it's great.

SPEAKER_00 3:43

That's so great. I'm so happy for you.

SPEAKER_01 3:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:45

Tell like what and let's say that somebody, you know, younger, let's say a 20-year-old wants to break into what you're doing. What's your advice?

SPEAKER_01 3:53

You find you find the right people, you stay with them, and you stay in that circle.

SPEAKER_00 3:57

Right.

SPEAKER_01 3:58

And don't don't you know don't veer from that.

SPEAKER_00 4:00

Yeah. We've talked before about how it works. Yeah. Yeah. And and don't deviate from the plan. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:05

Don't deviate from the plan. Stay the course.

SPEAKER_00 4:07

Yeah, you know, I was saying to somebody, you know, I'm a huge football fan, and when you run a plane, it's great, you run it again.

SPEAKER_01 4:12

Right, right.

SPEAKER_00 4:13

You don't try and pretend you're somebody else.

SPEAKER_01 4:15

And it it just the days of the 10-year town, I don't believe that anymore.

SPEAKER_00 4:18

Good. I'm so glad to hear that because that frightened the death out of me.

SPEAKER_01 4:21

Yeah, I don't believe that anymore. It did it didn't it took me a lot longer than 10 years.

SPEAKER_00 4:25

Yeah. Well, that's okay because like you're a legend now in country music. People know your name.

SPEAKER_01 4:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:31

So I think that is tried and true, you know. So how hard is it to find your right people when you come here?

SPEAKER_01 4:36

Man, it I lived here three times. This was my third time living here.

SPEAKER_00 4:40

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 4:40

So, you know, because you come here and you know, you lose focus and you go back, you're not happy, it's not working out, but you you gotta network, you gotta go do writers rounds, you gotta go, you know, you gotta be present to win. You do. You can't be in another state and think it's gonna work.

SPEAKER_00 4:55

No, I tell people, artists, that um I was out to standard last night with an artist that's coming back after 20 years, and I'm like, shake hands, kiss babies, but remember, like, where there's fish, there's sharks.

SPEAKER_01 5:07

Right. That's right, that's right. In this town for sure.

SPEAKER_00 5:10

Yeah, you really have to be careful.

SPEAKER_01 5:11

They'll tell you what you want to hear and I know who you work with, and they're the best.

SPEAKER_00 5:15

Yeah, they really are good people. And that crew is so pivotal. Yeah, you know, because this is a seven-day-a-week business.

SPEAKER_01 5:23

It is, it is, and it's it's not a hobby. No, it's not a hobby. You know, if you think it's a hobby, it's not.

SPEAKER_00 5:28

Well, if there's a plan B, you don't belong here.

SPEAKER_01 5:30

That's right. There's no plan B.

SPEAKER_00 5:32

There is no plan. What do you do? What are you and your wife's adorable, by the way? I'm so happy I got to meet her this week. What do you guys do for some downtime, like away from the scenes?

SPEAKER_01 5:42

We go to Florida. We live unf we're we're very fortunate to live in a in a neighborhood community where it's like a resort. So that's great. You know, it keeps us it keeps us busy when there's nothing going on.

SPEAKER_00 5:54

Do you ever just take like a Robert Day? You're like, I'm not writing, I'm not singing, I'm not watching a musical, I'm not like Oh yeah, for sure. Yeah, I think it's much needed.

SPEAKER_01 6:02

Yeah, it is. Because it's so and then especially after this week.

SPEAKER_00 6:06

Yeah, oh, I know. And I actually feel sorry for artists this week because as they're walking their way up and down, like people like me, but I know you'd always do my show, are grabbing you guys for interviews. You know, so it's like I remember like going to the bathroom's a big deal.

SPEAKER_01 6:19

It is. I know. That's why it's nice having them back here.

SPEAKER_00 6:22

Yeah, yeah, it is nice being back here too. We purposely today picked to be in the corner so that people can kind of chillax a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 6:30

Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_00 6:31

So you're gonna be playing all summer once you release this. Where can the where can the um audience find you?

SPEAKER_01 6:38

On Instagram, uh YouTube, Google, you know, um Spotify.

SPEAKER_00 6:44

Do you have a website where they can go merch and Robertbacon.com, yep.

SPEAKER_01 6:48

Uh huh. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:49

That's great. I'm so happy for you. That's amazing. And and like, what's the dream? Tell me what five years from now looks like.

SPEAKER_01 6:56

And I hope I'm playing, but but but Sir, you'll search for it. I just want to be consistent. I don't care about being, you know, number one. I don't care about that. I I mean I guess I shouldn't say that I do, but I just want to be consistent and do it well.

SPEAKER_00 7:07

Right. And you will. I mean, you have a big name and a good reputation in this city. When people find out you're coming on the show, I never hear anything but really good things about you.

SPEAKER_01 7:17

Good, thank you.

SPEAKER_00 7:17

Yeah, I know it's not easy, right?

SPEAKER_01 7:19

You gotta stay humble too, though.

SPEAKER_00 7:21

Oh, amen.

SPEAKER_01 7:22

Humble and kind, yeah. Amen.

SPEAKER_00 7:24

Right, exactly. I was coming, um, going down to get coffee this morning before I came up, and I'm in the elevator, and this woman goes, Are you happy hour with Deb? And I don't think people understand the amount of grind. And I'm a very small cob.

SPEAKER_01 7:40

Nobody knows what goes on behind the scenes. They see they see people with all these number one hits and they don't understand all the stuff.

SPEAKER_00 7:46

And you know, I don't think people understand the money that this takes either.

SPEAKER_01 7:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:49

It takes a lot of.

SPEAKER_01 7:50

Well, here's the thing if you're playing, you're paying.

SPEAKER_00 7:53

Absolutely. In every aspect of life.

SPEAKER_01 7:55

If you're playing, you're paying.

SPEAKER_00 7:57

Yeah, absolutely. I'm so happy that you and your wife get some downtime, though. And you're gonna let me know where you're first of all, you'll come back for another interview. For sure, yeah. And we love having you. You've become a big part of the Happy Hour family. Thank you. And you'll bring your wife one time. I would love it if she sat in. Sometimes it's a a different perspective.

SPEAKER_01 8:14

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:15

Sometimes, and God knows that I don't have anywhere near the fame that you do, but uh, sometimes I think about my husband at home, you know, because he what he has to sacrifice for me to chase my dream.

SPEAKER_01 8:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:26

And you know, we don't realize that when people are looking in, but I love your music. You're one of my dearest people here in Nashville. Thank you so much for that. Love being on the show. Thank you so much, and you'll come back. I will come back and co-host with me one time.

SPEAKER_02 8:39

I would love to do that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:40

All right, we would love to have you.

SPEAKER_02 8:42

I would love that.

SPEAKER_00 8:43

Next round, let's do it. Come be the co-host on the show. Look, it really is that easy. It really is. Thank you, my dear friend. It was an honor and a pleasure. I would you know I'm I'm cheering you on from the sidelines.

SPEAKER_01 8:55

Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_00 8:56

You're so welcome.

SPEAKER_01 8:57

I appreciate all the fans and everybody playing our music. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 9:00

Check this man out. You will not be disappointed. And the Christmas albums will be part of your Christmas collections. Like you'll you'll love them. And he's an incredible artist, and he's so humble, and he's so loyal. And we just we love you here at Happy Hour.

SPEAKER_01 9:13

Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 9:14

It's a pleasure to have you.

SPEAKER_01 9:15

Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_00 9:16

You're so welcome.