It's Alaska with Ken Peltier | Alaska Music, Songwriting & Backyard Country BBQ

Alaska singer-songwriter Ken Peltier joins It's Alaska for a conversation about music, life, and the stories that inspire his songwriting. Known for his heartfelt lyrics, authentic country sound, and years of performing across the state, Ken shares his journey as an Alaskan musician and what keeps him connected to audiences throughout the Last Frontier.

Whether you've been following Ken's music for years or are hearing him for the first time, this episode offers a behind-the-scenes look at the person behind the songs.

See Ken live this week at Backyard Country BBQ!
🤠 Wednesday, July 15 – Anchorage
🤠 Thursday, July 16 – Fairbanks

If you're planning to attend, be sure to catch Ken's performance—and if not, this episode is the perfect introduction to one of Alaska's favorite country artists.

🎙️ Listen now wherever you get your podcasts or watch on YouTube.

Recorded at the Upper1 Studios.

Hosted by Brad Erickson of Erickson Entertainment.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:02

Alaska. A very uh special edition. Well, every edition is special uh according to me, because uh I'm doing it. It's my show, it's special. What's special about today, though, is we have an Alaskan legend, and it is his first time. So we have a podcast version on the show, Alaska's own Ken Peltier. Studio.

SPEAKER_01 0:29

Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_02 0:30

Thank you in studio audience for the studio audience. Thank you. That's our engineer, Kevin. Thank you for your podcast. Why no one's why is no one asking to do a podcast?

SPEAKER_01 0:41

Well, they might have asked. I just didn't want to do it.

SPEAKER_02 0:45

Well, thank you for doing mine. Really big deal, Brandon. Well, thank you for doing mine. Look at that. Others probably don't have them. They don't. If they don't have a neon, you know. I'm a neon guy. And there should be cups here uh filled with water, but that's okay. Um Tom's not here to have a can to get mine. Yeah, you do. Very nice local zip. Zip kombucha. Could be a sponsor. Still looking for our first one. I do. And I do love this joyful Jane kombucha, actually.

SPEAKER_01 1:16

This is my eighth can of it.

SPEAKER_02 1:18

You could be a sponsor. Very low fee. I don't know how much, but I know it isn't much. That's that I can promise you. Thank you, bro. It's not much to sponsor. You're not my manager for you. No, no. I'd be a horrible, horrible, horrible manager. Well, Ken, it is a pleasant uh uh deal to have you on the on the It's Alaska. I mean, you are a huge part of Alaska. We'll talk about your life and the things you've done. Um, but first, well, the first question we like to ask is what brought you what brought you to Alaska? You've been here now, you've been in Alaska for how many years now? Since 1985.

SPEAKER_01 1:53

Wow. Yeah. My dad, my dad was up here working. Yeah, we were originally from Upper Michigan, and my dad was working construction, and then when I was like 13, I decided I want to come live with him. So we drove the Alaska Highway. 13 years old. Wow. Okay. So I drove up with him uh in a motorhome in the winter.

SPEAKER_02 2:11

Motorhome cool. Winter not so much.

SPEAKER_01 2:14

It was an easy way to move a lot of stuff.

SPEAKER_02 2:16

It is, but in the winter, you know, and that's 83. The roads have gotten better. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:22

They're actually better in Canada in the winter because there's no potholes. That's the snow covers it. Uh yeah, yeah. Yeah. So, and I've driven it several times since from here to Nashville and back. Do you so do you prefer driving in the winter then? Oh, really? I do, yeah. I do just um be the only bad part about winter, really lizards? Gas stations. Oh, gas stations, that's true. Yeah, you got to think that through a little bit. But so yeah, I came, I'm from Upper Michigan, which is uh very similar to Alaska. I just tell people no jobs, no mountains. Yeah, you know, but like farmers, wonderful people, and proud to be from there. I go back there every year. I love Michigan. I love been up to the upper part of Michigan.

SPEAKER_02 3:02

That's where I was born. And uh I mean the of course the the Great Lakes up there. I mean, just absolutely beautiful, beautiful place.

SPEAKER_01 3:11

I was born in Escanaba.

SPEAKER_02 3:12

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 3:13

Yeah, and lived right by Lake Michigan. Wow. Yeah. So we yeah, I moved up here and I love Alaska and and I've just lived here ever since. Wow, so you made it your home for such a long time now. Yeah, I love it. Here I yeah, I live actually out in Palmer, and um it's very similar to the small town Bark River where I grew up farming, you know, quiet close enough to town if you need to go to town. So yeah. And sometimes when people go, Why don't you go to Nashville? Could you know could you have got a record dealer or not? I never want to really engage in that conversation. Did I have enough talent or not? You know, you know, I I I won't even bite because I lived in Nashville in the winters for a while, and I would just go down there and write and network, and I realized that it's not a place I wanted to raise kids. Well, how long have you been in music? I mean you're professionally since nineteen ninety-two. Okay. Yeah, I started the kid. So you're really young.

SPEAKER_02 4:09

I mean, so you were thirteen in what, eighty, eighty-five, you said? Yeah. So you weren't so you you were you've been doing music since I was twenty.

SPEAKER_01 4:17

Oh wow. Professionally. I mean, okay. I played music in high school, but it wasn't this kind of music. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. But yeah, I started in ninety-two in a band called Kid Country and was 20. 20, okay. Yeah. Couldn't even legally get into bars.

SPEAKER_02 4:32

But yeah, it was it was easier to get in a bar back in the 1900s, early 90s now.

SPEAKER_01 4:36

Yeah, and I I didn't drink there, you know. Yeah. So and then I started the Ken Beltier band with Jimmy Weber in 1998.

unknown 4:44

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 4:44

And that's we've been yeah, I've been working every weekend year-round, literally, since 1998. Yeah, it's true. It's a glamorous life.

SPEAKER_02 4:54

I had to be a musician. Be a working, yeah. A working musician where you pay your bills with music.

SPEAKER_01 5:00

It's yeah, it's been yeah, I run it like a business, even though we love doing it. And but I had a young guitar player ask me one night how many hours I have on stage, and I said, Well, geez. I've been blessed more so than National Acts because I don't rely on a management company or a huge venue to hire us. I do our booking. And the only time my band hasn't worked, I I lost some fingers, as you know, in 98. I missed it. Yeah, I I I took a week off for that, and then I got sick later on, and that was a five-month break. But other than that, we are we we work every weekend year round since '98. Wow. Yeah, it's that is amazing. It's not to brag. I'm like, I had no idea. Um, I made a post about this recently about I had no idea this band would go that distance and um and get to do the things I've done. And it's not to brag. I'm like, turn I'm turning around now. I'm 55 going yeah. Wow. You know, for a regional act without the help of a label.

SPEAKER_02 6:04

And in Alaska, where it's, you know, there it isn't like you know, you're down in Michigan where there's tons of cities. You can go to Wisconsin, you can go to Illinois, you could travel to Minnesota, there's all these different states and cities, you know, big towns, small towns, big cities, that you can, you know, try to work and develop a following and and do shows. Um in Alaska, it's you know, there isn't as many places. Yeah. But do you think being in Alaska it it's it's more unique because you're more needed here where there isn't as many bands and talent than there are, let's say, in the you know, whether it's Nashville or wherever in the Midwest.

SPEAKER_01 6:45

Yeah, that's actually that's a great question. I think one thing that saved us, if you will, like we would play as a houseman in places sometimes five, eight, ten years every weekend. And you could never pull that off in the lower 48 because you would burn out your but Alaska has such a rotation of tourists and military. And so like the audiences change a lot. And so I've been and then when I look at a lot of like when I was coming up, like learning how to front a band, I I would look at other bands, and I think one of my takeaways from it is a lot of them were just doing it for fun or for free drinks or for you know, no fault or a creative relief. Sure.

SPEAKER_02 7:31

Yeah, I mean for some people it's just it's something that fun to do on the weekend.

SPEAKER_01 7:35

No, and no fault, yeah. But I wanted I wanted a hobby, if you will. Yeah, and I when I first started, it was probably just I couldn't believe I was actually doing it. Yeah, that was the first phase of that. Then people were like, hey, you're pretty good at this, so I I started trying to improve myself, practicing rehearsals, things like that. I got lucky because that band I mentioned was the best band around. And they I I went in there to watch them one night with a bachelor party, and we had come at four corners. They were at four corners, yeah. And I was in a tux, and my friends I was with knew I could kind of sing and play guitar, but we were like shoulder to shoulder in front of the band, like people I make fun of now. And uh and uh and they were like, You should get him up to sing. And they did a lot of Whalen stuff, and that was my wheelhouse. I got up and sang, and they they said so they kept inviting me. What was the song? What was the song? Uh was it a Whalen song? Don't think Hank done it this way. Really?

SPEAKER_02 8:34

Yeah, and don't you you pretty much start all your shows with that? That's usually the kickoff, right?

SPEAKER_01 8:40

Yeah, or or something outlaw country, and there's a couple reasons for that. One, the band knows it so well it is not possible to mess up. And two starts off everything every show on a g on the right on the right foot. Yeah, and once I got doing some national act shows, I figured out that even though you sound check in an empty arena and the sound people are good, when the bodies fill up that room, it's a totally different song to get a hold of the sound. So I don't want to do our best song while they're moving faders, you know. So I call them throwaway songs, if you will. They're not. I love them or I wouldn't play them, but they're songs that like they're very straight ahead and just let the sound guy make.

SPEAKER_02 9:21

If there's mistakes, if there's mistakes, you're not gonna notice it as much. No, no, and so that's cool, because I've always said like uh can starting with that one again. But now and now it makes sense. And there's a way to do that. There's a reason.

SPEAKER_01 9:33

There's a reason for it, yeah. And and it it's also you're nervous on your first song, and so you pick something that's like, I could do this in my sleep.

SPEAKER_02 9:44

It gets the crowd into it though, too. That it's you know, it's uh because that's a thumper.

SPEAKER_01 9:48

I mean, that's uh you know, there's there's heavy bass drum in that, and that's you know man blues is another one that we do um in the arenas a lot because that's a Merle Haggard standard that every band, no matter what state you're in, can play. Yeah. And it's a song that it's it's three chords and you don't mess it up, and it lets the sound, guys. And a a funny little side story. Not the drummer I have now, but the drummer before him. I made a set list. We were opening for Montgomery Gentry the first time. I've opened for him six years. What year that uh I don't even know. But it was at the Sullivan Arena, though, yeah. Yeah, it was a it was the first, it was the second time actually. So I make the set list. So probably late 90s, early 2000s? It was kind of when they were yeah, it was 2011, I think. Okay, yeah. And uh I make the set list, and on there I'm gonna start the show with working man blues. And my drummer at the time kind of gives me attitude about that, like they don't want to hear that. We play that all the time in the bars, and and I'm like, to you what I just explained, I know why I'm doing it. Yeah, it's because the band can play it without an error, and the sound guys can then mix the band, you know. I get done with our set, and and I did it. Um, and I'm walking in the back of the arena, and Troy and Eddie stopped me and pull me into their dressing room and say, We stopped our meet and greet when you started working, man blues. And I said, Wow, what? They go, Yeah, we were signing autographs and we shushed the whole room while you played. Because we used to play that in Kentucky when we were coming up, and we love that you're keeping that old country going. We made everybody listen. It's uh yeah, it's there's actually I made the front page of the Daily News on that, and there's a picture of Troy and I in there, and that's what they're talking about right there. Oh nice, so it's like follow your gut, you know. Yeah, but yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:42

And you're still doing it, I mean, still doing it today, you know. I mean, probably uh all new band members. Twenty-eight years it's been going. Twenty-eight years, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:52

All new, and yeah, and see that Jimmy Weber and I, when we put the band together, he insisted it be named the Kim Pell Tear band.

SPEAKER_02 12:00

And I this is a good story. This is this is a good story, and yeah, and very smart if you're a musician or you want to do a band and you come out, you come out with a name. There is something to be said about using your own name or or maybe a name you make or something, but something that you can package yourself because branding. Yes, branding is huge.

SPEAKER_01 12:22

I didn't know it, but Jimmy did. And I what did Jimmy's what did what path did he lead you down? Yeah, we were trying to come up with a name, and he said, You're already known, we're gonna call it the Kim Hill Tear Band. And I was really shy then, especially. And I didn't I thought it was like a symbol of arrogance if I had my name on the sign out for you know, I was really young. And but he said, in 10 years, if you stick with this, there'll be no one on the stage with you anymore. They'll they'll either have moved on or you'll have let them go or they'll quit, yeah. Whatever, for whatever. He goes, So don't reinvent your brand. Well, I that word didn't even exist in my world. Yeah, you know. But 28 years later, and the other thing is So you went from kid that was kid country, was that the the first band, and then Jimmy, Jimmy and I, I I left that band, learned a lot in that band, um, and then I was done really. I didn't think I was gonna play anymore. And uh and then Jimmy and I put this band together. So did it have a name before? Was there no nope? Nope. Jimmy uh Jimmy was playing uh he was in the military up here uh 20-year career, and he had a gig at Four Corners. I was no longer playing, and his band didn't show up. So the owner of Four Corners said, You should call that Ken Peltiers game. His band didn't show up. Yep. Wow. Yeah, he was playing and um so Guy Treat called me at home and said, Jimmy Weber's down here, and I told him he should call you and you should come sing some songs with him because he's by himself. So I did because he had come in and said, How big of a jerk is Jimmy?

SPEAKER_02 13:50

His band didn't show up. Oh, yeah. We'll tell him. Jimmy's a good guy, he's wonderful. Very big head guy. You yeah, yeah, you'd see him in pictures.

SPEAKER_01 13:58

Yeah, so I went down there, we played the night, and we that night we just said we should start a band, and he hired all the players, and and uh yeah, and he was correct. Years later, there's there's no one on the stage. Uh my drummer Vinny, that I have now for 16 years, he was actually in Kid Country, the first band. Oh, okay. And then he left, went his own way, and I went my own way for a long time. Well, 14 yeah, 15 years or whatever. Doing math, 13 years. 13 years. Yeah. And then and then we crossed paths again, and I hired him. He's been with me ever since.

SPEAKER_02 14:34

Unfortunately, he's he's moved down to the lower 48.

SPEAKER_01 14:37

We have a few shows we're gonna play to the 4th of July. Actually, he's gonna be here just a little bit longer than I thought, but yeah, he is him and his wife are moving on.

SPEAKER_02 14:45

And that's another tough thing about having a band for such a long time in Alaska, is people move on, and there isn't you know a plethora of talent. We're a s we're a big state with a small amount of people. Yes, sir. So it's hard to find good replacements.

SPEAKER_01 15:01

And it's the humans that I do first, Brad. Yeah, yeah. It's uh of course Vinny checks both those boxes. Absolutely. Great guy. Yeah, I'm blessed actually now, after all these years of going through folks. Uh you have Casey on the guitar, they're Adam in the field, and Quentin, our new bass player. They're all good humans. There's no ego on the stage. There's confidence on the stage, obviously. Which you need to have. Yeah, of course. Whatever you do, you need to have some confidence. We don't have drama. We don't have there's no power drinkers or drug users or people swearing on the mic.

SPEAKER_02 15:34

There's rock and roll! They don't have rock and roll! We're boring. What I'm saying, folks, is we're boring.

SPEAKER_01 15:39

We're boring.

SPEAKER_02 15:40

That's what it sounds like. We are a boring band. That's exactly what it sounds like. They're not gonna be making a documentary about your band. We go to church every Sunday and then we have dinner and then I've been blessed with you have been blessed with a with a great band, but you've you know, you they could do a documentary about your story because you have been through a lot. And probably the biggest thing. Well, the biggest thing for a while. I mean, things were going good. You were in real estate, union, union, you were doing union stuff. 25 years, 25 years doing union stuff, right?

SPEAKER_01 16:23

Yeah, started as a heavy duty mechanic apprentice. Yeah, yeah, did an apprenticeship with operating engineers. That's a lot that's a lot more specific than you're doing union stuff, right? No, I mean you wouldn't know. I was just elaborating a lot of it. No, I'm like just being basic. No, you do union stuff, it is, yeah. I was uh yeah, there's a lot of different unions, but yeah, I chose heavy equipment and I was a farm kid, so I liked working on the stuff. So I went in as a mechanic, welder, apprentice, and yeah, work apprentice, foreman, superintendent, then went on staff, ran training my last 10 years. Wow. Yeah, 50,000 hours, or almost 25 years. Well, doing music too. Yes, every weekend. I did both careers simultaneously, and then I retired when I was 52. I'm 55 now from the union. I still play music every weekend.

SPEAKER_02 17:08

I asked my dad that he was construction or did construction and farming at the same time. Jobs that, you know, I mean, you're you have a you have a your own farm now, and said you, you know, grew up farming. Um and we had a farm, and I I asked him one time, I'm like, you know, construction is hard, especially, you know, he had to drive an hour and 45 minutes, and then we're driving back two hours because of traffic from the cities to the country, and and then farming on the weekends, right? I mean, it's you know, it's you don't get a lot of time off. And then he'd do you know side jobs, and I asked him, like, how could you do both? And he goes, It wasn't like he loved both, he loved doing both of them, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:46

So it wasn't like work. Yeah, that was me. And then back then too, but like I back when I was working construction, but then I was getting better at music. I'm not gonna say good, I but I was getting better at music where I was actually supporting people's families with that and giving them income and decent. Oh, that's huge. Yeah, and so then the reality came like these people depend on you now. They're committing to you, they're loyal to you, so you need to run this like a business. Well, but fast forward when I got pulled out of the field at the union, I was on staff as a business agent, so I would negotiate contracts on behalf of the operating engineers and their signatory contractors. So negotiating with bar owners was pretty easy. You know, exactly. You know, exactly. But but here's why. Because I learned a few things at the union that were it's not like you see on TV a lot where it's like you know, there's bully mob. Not here, you know, maybe that exists in other states, but not here. And I learned like negotiate from the other side of the table first, and they go a lot better. Like figure out what they need, what they want, and negotiate that way. And I really I follow that with the band too, even when I'm booking. Oh, it makes sense, yeah. I'm always I'm always like, what can you do? What do you need? And um, if I have room, I'll you know yeah, and so that's been successful. But I took on that uh as far as this band goes, the responsibility of those people that worked with me um yeah, and their family.

SPEAKER_02 19:25

So I mean you watch movies with anything with negotiating, it's always you know, hardball and and you know, butting heads and stuff, and it's like that's there's tension.

SPEAKER_01 19:35

I mean, there there can be tension, but I I I have seen I mean, I did it a lot, and I I get frustrated sometimes when I see it because that is uh I mean maybe it goes on again like East Coast or something, but it doesn't go on up here. Yeah, and and part of the reason for that, I mean they can get tense. You're talking millions, you're talking three-year contracts with pensions and health care and and wage increases, and they can get tense if people puff up, you know, yeah, posture, but there's none of that stuff like you see on TV and uh not up here. And and that so it's somewhat frustrating when I see that because I was a part of that for a while. It's just not and part of it, Brad, is because you're gonna see those people in the grocery store. That's a big part of it. Alaska's an Iowa.

SPEAKER_02 20:21

We're a community, so and it doesn't matter, you know, and there's only 700,000 people in the state. So you don't act like that here. No, you get dragged out in a swamp and left, you know. Yes, exactly. So well, yeah, and I think people here uh in business for the most part, you know, know that they need to work together, even if they are, you know, competition, we still need to work together. And if we do, we can all be successful.

SPEAKER_01 20:47

When I was uh a young business agent, I would go to these building trades meetings and there was uh an attorney there, a female attorney. I'll just leave her name out of the conversation, but I have great respect for her to this day. And she was at those meetings representing the other union, and but she saw me talking in that because I was coming up, you know. Anyway, she came to Four Corners one night with a stack of stuff and said, handed it to me over the rail and said, I watched you speak today, and I like your instincts. Study this and learn it. Oh wow. And it was invaluable. And one of the things that she told me later was negotiations are simply this there's a bowl of jelly beans in the middle of the table, and each of you start with an empty jar. And when you're done, you should have almost the same amount of jelly beans. If you want a long term relationship, it's gotta be equal for the predatory or a short You're short sighted. That's not how you build long term relationships. And there may be a time where you need a little more on you know, but if you were fair from the first time, they remember that. Like they didn't get me, you know? Exactly. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:14

I'm not getting taken advantage of.

SPEAKER_01 22:16

No, I mean both sides It's a partnership. Again, negotiate from the other side of the table first. And then it's like, what does Brad need? Can I live with that? Yeah. You know? And then if you can't, then you address those specific things. Because otherwise it turns into this big we're not doing nothing. Yeah. Exactly. And it's ego pride and all those things. So I was fortunate enough to get that knowledge while on staff, and then I applied it to the band. To when I'm doing arenas or corporate things or whatever. And I, yeah, I apply that logic and that strategy to the band.

SPEAKER_02 22:59

It makes sense. Yeah. You can apply that. I mean, you can apply that to just life in general. Relationships. Relationships are negotiations, you know. You get in an argument with somebody and you, you know, you don't yell at each other because you're not going to get anything done. You try to keep which isn't easy because you immediately get you get emotions, and you know, I mean, and then you, you know, but if you sit down, you know, take a deep breath and go, okay, let's let's try to figure, let's try to figure this out. And, you know, what you need and what I need. You know, and I it's a problem in relationships is that, you know, it's like, well, it's all about me, or it's all about you. And it's like it's what, you know.

SPEAKER_01 23:36

Jelly beans. Jelly beans, right? Right in the middle of the table. And and the other thing that happened during when I went on staff is there was a book long before he was ever speaking of going running for president. I read Trump's book. I don't remember the name of the book. It was in my office. Yeah. Somebody left it. But there was some really great takeaways in there, and he said, um uh people make things personal first when there's a problem. He said, if you treat it like an issue, the specific issue that's going on, then you'll get a lot farther. He said, uh and this again applies to negotiating, right? Uh so uh when you have a union sitting across from management, there's there's already an unsaid, like I don't like the word enemy, but you know, you've got to get across, there's a fence there already or wall. It's very obvious. Yeah, and so if you just look at what what the what they're doing and go, is this they're not saying this it's not personal, it's an issue. Like I need I need this to make this work. Yeah, and if you can reset your mind to that, um that has been invaluable for me. And then the other thing he said in there is people are done listening long before you're done talking. So he's so he said um the conversations are not good a lot of times negotiating because people are in the habit of he goes, you when someone's talking to you, and this will make our interview a little funny, but I I just want to share it. Uh he said, look into their eyes intently when they're telling you about their problem. Yeah, because then you'll stay focused instead of thinking about what you want to say. That's a that's a that's yeah, you're always thinking, like, okay, this I gotta remember that and all. Oh my gosh. And as a musician, that was a huge piece of information because musicians, I'm fronting the band at the microphone and I hear everything the guitar player is doing, the drummers doing, the bass player is doing, the player is doing, plus watching the bartenders not serve or serve good. Who's out of? I don't have to look at someone in the eye to hear all of it. Yeah, but horrible conversation habit because I don't need to look in someone's eyes to hear it all. As a musician, you're processing so much per second as a you know, I mean you are, and but I started doing it because he was spot on. If I don't, when I'm talking to someone serious about something, yeah, I'll be like multitasking and you're bringing your head.

SPEAKER_02 26:08

I gotta eat. What should I eat?

SPEAKER_01 26:09

Well, I'm not just or you or you instinctually go to I'm I'm filing these seven things he said, and this is what I'm gonna say to all of them, instead of just like just listen. Yeah, you're right. That's and that that's that's tough. Listen intently to how he worded. But yes. And look in their eyes. You have to teach yourself to do that. You know. Oh man. But anyway, I kind of went down a lot. No, that's but those are all good points. They work in the band. That's how that's been part of the negotiating thing, part of having long-term. I mean, a couple of my guys have been with me 16 years. Long term in a band. Especially a local band.

SPEAKER_02 26:46

I mean local band, regional band, that doesn't happen very often. I mean, uh, to be able to make a living, being a regional band, local band, or artist in in Alaska, and and anyone who does it, it hats off to you because it is not easy. It's a lot of hustling and a lot, it never will be easy. Um, finding other, you know, teaching lessons, doing things like that to keep, to be able to do what you love, but also be able to make a uh a living and a the kind of living you want. You know, you're not gonna get rich, but still, you know, a lot of people just want to be comfortable.

SPEAKER_01 27:26

Yeah, yeah. It's I mean, I I was blessed also because there was people, well, you're one of them, honestly, Brad. I mean, the promoters up here that you earn their respect, their trust. Like you're not gonna embarrass me on stage. And I take that really seriously. And uh you uh are one of the people that have given me and our band a lot of opportunity, and I don't take that for granted to this day, you know. And that's why people keep giving you opportunities because you don't take things for granted. I don't, and uh I don't get caught up in our own hype either. That was something else I learned early on out of a book.

SPEAKER_00 28:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:03

Yeah. It's like you gotta be confident, but don't get caught up in your own hype.

SPEAKER_02 28:08

I mean, your and your story, you know, goes on, you know, from now from from doing union stuff into real estate. But before real estate, you had a major health issue. And that was I was still at the union then. You were still at the union. What year was it? It was two years. Do you remember the date? Do you remember the day that you were diagnosed?

SPEAKER_01 28:31

We mentioned with pro with uh four-stage throat cancer. Yeah. Yeah, you don't forget those milestones, you know. Um back to Montgomery Gentry third time at Sullivan Arena. Yeah, I did their show, flew to Nashville to record, start recording my third CD, and I had the lump in my throat. That wasn't going away on the left side like a big nodule. And I went and recorded, but it was getting uncomfortable. Yeah. So I did 10 of the 15 songs, and I thought, well, I should go see a doctor, but first I'm gonna go to Michigan from Nashville and go deer hunting before I go see a doctor.

SPEAKER_02 29:12

So nobody wants to go to the doctor, right? It's you know, we it'll go away.

SPEAKER_01 29:16

You know, it's the man thing. You're right, it's a man thing. So I'm to avoid the doctor. I go hunt and I get back to Alaska about December 10th, and I've called every walk-in clinic. I go see some, they can't tell me what it is, and they say, you have to go see this, you have to find an ear, nose, and throat doctor. I know nothing about this, you know. And they but they do a needle aspiration, so they I I called uh a hospital here, and there was a very nice lady on the phone. Now I've been through every walk-in clinic that I could find, and they said there's no good, and I quote, there are no good reputable ENTs available all through December. This is December 10th, till January, because it's the holidays, and they're booked or they're gone. Well, I called a hospital because I'm supposed to fly back and go finish my CD, but now I know there's something, you know.

SPEAKER_02 30:09

You were getting worried, you were getting nervous.

SPEAKER_01 30:11

You're like, okay, this this is some this isn't, you know, this isn't going away. Yeah, it was one side and it wasn't it was getting hard to kind of swallow, and and now it's you know, your brain takes over. And yeah. So I called this hospital and I'm like, Do you know any ENTs? This is Kim Pell Tyr. And the girl on the phone, and I wish I could ever track her down, but she said, We are not allowed to recommend, but I know who you are, and so call this lady. So I did that day. Wow, I was supposed to fly out, and I just was like, I'm not going down, I'm a mess. Yeah. And uh, and I was recording with Waymore's outlaws, Waylon Jennings' remaining members. It was a big thing in my life, you know. That's who I was recording with. And so I'd already done 10 tracks, and then I was back home, and this is going on, and it's freaking me out. And I haven't said anything to my wife about it because I don't want to scare her till I knew. Yeah. And so I'm carrying that too, you know. Anyway, so I called this lady, and um uh and she said, I will see you Monday. Now, supposedly no good ENTs until January. 28 days I gotta wait. I go see her, she does the needle, uh, December 16th, December 27th, she cuts my throat. That's how I found out. Stage four throat cancer. She cut my throat from the jaw down to my collarbone over to the front, took 47 lymp nodes out of my neck that had cancer, cut my tonsils out, my wisdom teeth out, my molars out to prep for radiation, same surgery, December 27th. Wow, huge you know, scar down my throat, and then so then I I had raised millions with the American Cancer Society by that point in my career at relays, doing all their gallows, yeah, relays. And uh she says, Okay, um now if you're gonna stay here for your radiation and chemo, I'm only gonna let you see these two doctors. And I go, What are you talking about? Well, I said, You just cut it out, right? She goes, It doesn't work that way. You have to do chemo and radiation too, to your throat. So she sends me to the radiation guy, Dr. Cheng. He's a Chinese guy. Yeah. And he says, When I meet him, I don't know who you are, but my staff all knows who you are, and I won't be the guy that ruins your throat. So I insist on not asking you go get a second opinion. So I choose Nashville. Why? Because I mean he's thinking, I'm gonna go finish my CD in case I die.

SPEAKER_02 32:47

So you can still sing after all. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 32:50

I don't know. My tonsils just got cut out, but I had wisdom teeth molars, and my neck still staples in it. And I go, yeah, I'll go down to Van and I'm gonna go finish my CD.

SPEAKER_02 32:59

You didn't do any me, me, me, me. Maybe I'll check out a karaoke place, do a couple songs, and see if I can sing.

SPEAKER_01 33:05

And so, no, I just went. You just went. And I actually, before I went, I had to go see an oral surgeon because of my wisdom teeth. It was still packed. And he gave me his tools, his long pronged tools. Did you do it yourself? No, in case it fell out, I could bleed to death. Oh, jeez. So I go in the studio and I've gotten this huge scar down, you know, because it's yeah, oh, absolutely. They peeled it out to go out over my shoulder. They were the lymph nodes wrapped around my shoulder muscle with cancer in them. So I go down there and I finish my CD and I go to Vanderbilt, and uh there's there's it's like a timeshare, these cancer centers, you know, you have to come here or you're gonna die. You know, all the interns are there giving you the spiel. Anyway, finally, the guy that I was sent to see from my doctor in Alaska comes in and he turns my head and he goes, Who did that work? And I said, Oh, supposedly it was this B string doctor in Anchorage, whom I've come to love and respect. And he goes, Some of the finest work I've ever seen in my career. Wow. Right? You know, there were no good doctors or anybody to do it, but this lady is how I met Dr. Chung, who sent me there. And he said, Yeah, I know my interns are probably in here telling you you've got to come here. And um, he said, By the way, do you know Sarah Palin? And I go, Oh, really? I go, What? And he goes, Do you know Sarah Palin? I go, I do. He goes, How do you know her? I go, Well, I played her, I played her fundraisers for her when she was running for governor, and I serve on her workforce investment board in the vocational training seat. And he goes, Well, my dad's in love with her. You think he can give me an autograph? No, I'm in here for my throat cancer. You know what I mean? And he goes, All right, now listen, I'm just let's get back to business. And this stuff I never talk about, you know.

SPEAKER_02 34:48

Anyway, and uh That's what that's the beauty of podcasts, everybody.

SPEAKER_01 34:51

It's the beauty of podcasts. So he goes, All right, now listen, kid. He goes, Your doctor that sent you here, Dr. Chung. He goes, I worked for him at Stanford before I got this job, and I run the head and neck cancer wing of Vanderbilt. Wow. He goes, You don't need to go anywhere. And uh he said, I'm gonna send the computer program to Alaska for the radiation, how it hits your throat that we used on Leonard Skinnard. So you will not lose your voice. You'll get a little dry mouth. But he said, usually by week three of seven, you should get radiation five days a week, you're down to squeaks and you can't make words. It like just destroys your throat for a long time if it even comes back, especially back then. So you can't talk hardly to try to ask for water or whatever. So this this program opened up the the beams, if you will, yeah, around the my vocal box, vocal, you know, voice box, so it didn't hit it directly.

SPEAKER_02 35:45

And um, I mean before this, I mean before that, I mean, are are you know you just finished your album? Are they saying you may never sing again? Or is there any, you know, is there fear that that part of your life is done?

SPEAKER_01 35:57

Oh yeah. I mean, I so if you catch it early, I mean, cancer's for the most part you know and how early was it?

SPEAKER_02 36:04

I mean, there wasn't it wasn't it was advanced stage four. Yeah. That's that's you're about dead. So Yeah, yeah. You kind of didn't mention that. Well, I don't want it to be a drama thing. Oh, but I mean he almost died. I mean, stage four. I mean that's advanced. It wasn't like it wasn't like it just did that part of the story. But did you die? But you didn't die as uh but I mean but it was close.

SPEAKER_01 36:32

Stage one, like stage one, you know, it's like you caught it real quick. Yeah. And like stage four, bad news.

SPEAKER_02 36:38

Um Is there a percentage at stage four? I guess it probably depends on what kind of cancer you have. But I mean, yeah, at stage four, it's like this this is a good thing. It was a long way to get it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 36:47

Yeah. And so uh and I didn't know that. I shouldn't have been lollygaging, you know. I mean, truth is that I should have immediately, once she knew that it was stage four, I should have immediately started radiation in chemo, but I waited a month and a half because I I'm going to finish my CD in case I don't live.

SPEAKER_02 37:05

Not only so that month and a half, which doesn't seem like a lot of time, it's a lot of time, but is in the cancer world where that that might have been stage one or two, if you would have oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 37:16

I mean, but but you know, really what it amounts to, man, is once those cancer cells are on the move. See, mine got it's those are yours must have been very aggressive then. Yeah, it gets your lymph nodes, that's why they took all those things out. And those then they start traveling your body. Okay. So the lymph system goes through your legs, through everywhere, and then you can't stop it. Oh, okay. So the earlier the better. They find where it is, like the host, if you will, or where it started, the primary spot. And um Yeah, so he sent that program to uh Alaska, and I started that and and I I never lost my voice. I have dry mouth from the radiation because it ruins your it hits your saliva glands and your thyroid, but and now they administer radiation that way to a lot of people up here. So because before, by week three, like literally you couldn't speak to ask for water or like you're you're down to squeaks. Yeah, because it hits your voice box, the radiation. And they yeah, it's it's a terrifying process. They pin your head down. When you first go there, they take mesh like fiberglass, it's probably something else, but I called it fiberglass. You lay on a table, they put it over your head, it's wet, and they let it dry, and that's your mask. And you wear that every day when you go in. It's got a mouthpiece, two little pinholes for your nose, and you your head is pinned down while the machine's moving, hitting the spots, so you don't move and it hits the wrong spot. Yeah, it's it's terrifying. And claustrophobic now from that, yeah. But yeah, so people that go through it, I have great respect for. But well, I asked the the chemo oncologist, because my whole life I heard if you get chemo, all your hair will fall out. So me not knowing, I'm like, do I have to do that?

SPEAKER_00 38:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 38:59

And um he said, Yeah, I mean, and uh but radiation's you know the bigger thing. Uh and if you don't, he goes, right now if you do everything, your chances of survival are 86%. But I had heard radiation can cause its own cancer. So I didn't want to do it. And he said, Well, if you don't, then your chances of survival for your cancer go from 86 to 26. Ooh, wow, that's and I had two young boys, you know, yeah, you know, and you have a wife and two young kids. Yeah, I mean that's it's pretty motivating. And so I said, Well, I know what I'm doing.

SPEAKER_00 39:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 39:35

Radiation though is to your throat's brutal because you can't put anything on it, and it's like going out in the sun and your sunburned, and then you go back out in the sun again the next day for 30 minutes, and yeah, it was it was bad.

SPEAKER_02 39:49

I mean, you get older, you know, and your voice changes. Do you think your voice is different now because of that? Or yeah. Yeah. Yeah. How did you adapt then? How I mean that you know it's not like a magic, you know, it's like, oh, and I sing better now because of it.

SPEAKER_01 40:05

Well, did you have to learn how to how to sing again? I still do, man. Yeah. So I'm I'm sipping right now, and that's for a reason because as I talk or sing, I'm inhaling, and I have I have dry mouth from radiation. Do you like no saliva at all? It's some, but just a little. Yeah. Okay. It's some. And so even like if I eat chicken or salmon, I have to sip with every bite.

SPEAKER_02 40:27

What about sleeping? I mean, do you must I mean you do you have to do you wake up sometimes and have to drink water?

SPEAKER_01 40:32

Yeah, yeah, no, and it's hard to explain it because and and I'll they were trying so hard because they knew I wasn't a hobby guy anymore, not to um ruin my I mean nothing. They're doing what they need to do, right? Yeah, I mean, it is what it is. One of the things that they they added to my already miserable protocol was there was a drug invented for the astronauts called Amaphostine. And Amaphostine uptakes through the fat into your saliva glands, and it's made for the astronauts, it blocks radiation. And so every day before radiation, I would go get a shot in the stomach of this drug, which is the nastiest drug ever, worse than the chemo. Really? But they said if you take this, it'll uptake into your saliva glands and it will preserve some of that moisture when we're done. Every day I went and got this shot, and I was down, I lost 54 pounds, and you can't get it.

SPEAKER_02 41:30

Was it rough on your body? I mean, was it a it was rough on your body? Yeah, I mean, chemo is chemo is horrible on your body. I mean, it's it's it's it's chemo is not good for your body. Neither is the radiation. So you're getting chemo and this, both not good for your body, radiation, all that drugs.

SPEAKER_01 41:46

Wow, yeah, and uh so I took that and I took all of them. And at the end, they're like, you know, no there's been three people since 1977 that could finish that course of those drugs. They're nasty. I mean, it even saying the word right now, did you get on the wall or a plaque or something? They don't even get a plaque for that. I do fundraisers and stuff for the some of the centers, you know, and I talk to some doctors that and they're like, we don't even give that drug anymore. Wow. Yeah, no, but they had a reason, right? Yeah, they were because I sing. And so I got I have better I hate even using this word, but I have better saliva than 99% of the people because they did that extra step because I sing, and you have to have it to make you know, talking. It's like talking when you're nervous, like you know, otherwise. Um so I'm always sipping on stage, and that's why. Always, yeah. It's not because I'm just this thirsty guy.

SPEAKER_02 42:40

Yeah, it's like, yeah, boy, that can he drinks a lot on stage. He drinks, uh he drinks a lot. So yeah, it's do you remember your first show, but your first full gig back from from where, you know, from after doing all the cancer stuff, and like, okay, this is kind of our our first show back.

SPEAKER_01 43:00

Well, no one's asked me that ever, Brad. That's a great question.

SPEAKER_02 43:03

I know that I'm that's why I'm the host. But you are a good host.

SPEAKER_01 43:07

Rock star. Um one of the first shows I did after, one of the most significant shows, the one that stood out as soon as you said that. I actually the band Waymore's Outlaws that I went and recorded with. Yeah. Who are the guys that played on Wayland's records, by the way? Richie Albright, who did the Dukes of Hazard team, all those guys?

SPEAKER_02 43:28

Those are I mean, the amazing musicians, studio musicians.

SPEAKER_01 43:32

They came to Alaska and I played on the main stage at the state fair right after. Wow. What year that was uh 2010. 2010. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. So it's crazy. Uh in nine, yeah, I lost these fingers in construction in in ninety eight and then and then oh nine. I found out and then twenty ten I did the treatment. So um playing guitar. Sure.

SPEAKER_02 43:57

I mean, that's playing guitar is you need all your fingers. And uh he loves his you love your nub. I don't think there's anybody in history of having nubs have gotten more pleasure. You can either be embarrassed or laugh about it. Exactly. And make it fun. I mean, you uh I know this sounds weird, but I love when you shake my hand and then you wiggle your nub. Yeah, it trips people out. Should I tell is that just something you said? Was that something between between you and me? Okay, I didn't want to you know unleash anything. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 44:27

It was a couple years after I did that. I I for those that don't know, I cut off a couple fingers in a construction accident in 98. One month later, by the way, I opened for Tim McGraw in the Sullivan Arena with my thumb pick taped to my hand. Really? It smashed all four of my fingers. This finger doesn't bend anymore, and it tore this one off, and this was smashed. It almost got my hand.

SPEAKER_02 44:49

Did you use still the nubs? Are they still used?

SPEAKER_01 44:53

No. For the strings? No. Okay. No, I just use uh a thumb pick and it probably won't show up. But I use a thumb pick and then I just I use my ring finger with it. Okay, that's a thumb pick, everybody.

SPEAKER_02 45:04

Uh little thumb pick. Well, you gotta show the camera there. Cameras are back that way, they're genius. So that's a little thumb pick right there.

SPEAKER_01 45:11

Well, if you see that, yeah, but you gotta show them how it stays on, so that's why I had it the other way. Okay, show them how it stays on. That's why I was doing what I was doing. I play guitar like a little right there. Okay. And then you can hold on to it so you kind of simulate. But I Oh, all right. I've taught my thumb to do the upstroke also that this finger used to do. Yeah. Uh a lot of work. Yeah. But yeah, I opened for Tim McGraw one month later with my band and sold out Sheol and the Sullivan, and I had to tape this on because it wouldn't stay on. And these two were sewed together so they would live for the first two months. Yeah. Yeah. It was awesome. It felt so good to strum the guitar. Yeah. And then we clint black right after that. Yeah. So yeah, that was pretty character development.

SPEAKER_02 45:56

How nervous were you? I mean, having, you know, that, you know, big artist, one of the biggest country artists, you know, hometown Alaska sitting on stage, and you're trying to like, well, let's see how this works. Yeah, it was wrapped in a bandage, you know.

SPEAKER_01 46:10

They did a fantastic job. I mean, yeah, I was a bummer for sure. I thought I wouldn't play guitar again, but you know, you it doesn't the strings don't care.

SPEAKER_02 46:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 46:18

You know, and uh I made a lot of mistakes. I still make mistakes because I'm the thumb is doing the job of three. Um, but I do it and I didn't quit. And I love music so much. I mean, it was very motivating. Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, challenge the guitar again. Ten years later, throat cancer. I'm a singer, so there's challenge number two, you know. And but I since Brad, I've played three other, four other countries and continue to open for national action, raise money and blah blah blah. So I've been blessed, you know. Um, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 46:51

I mean but part of your story, and that's you know, I I think, you know, God and Jesus are big important in your life and mine. Um, you know, we've we've been through a lot, a lot of people have gone through a lot of things, and you always, you know, you ask yourself, why? Why me? You know, when you lose somebody, um, you go through something like that, you know, why me? And it's to share those stories so that when somebody else is going through that, we can help them with their journey and their, you know, their emotions and feelings with it too. That's important to share your story. And you've been great at doing that all these years, is sharing that story.

SPEAKER_01 47:31

Yeah, it was embarrassing when I thank you. It was embarrassing when I first cut my fingers off because I grew up on farms. Yeah. I worked in the woods. I I was a foreman at the time, a young gun foreman, no accidents, no none, never. And then I did that, and it was a rookie just mistake on my part. That's why you blame yourself because it was like a few years. That you made. Yeah. Because I I hunt, I, you know, and I shoot bow and arrow, and uh, you know, but just trying to button your pants and start your truck, I'm missing my first two fingers and play guitar again. I didn't think I ever would. I was so mad at myself and so embarrassed. Then when I got going, you know, I'm up two feet off the floor, and people would dance by and like double take because they the ones that didn't know I was missing fingers, you know, and then that would recreate the the dumbness that I did on stage. I'm having this. They're looking at like, oh, they're looking at my big mistake. Yeah, it's embarrassing. Like people make mistakes always, but they move on. Time heals them. This stays very visible, you know. And uh and you have and sometimes you have to keep explaining what happened, and that's a lot especially the first two, three years, and that was a that was my first lesson in humility and character development, I call it, because and that's why I laugh now about it. I just started owning it, you know, and um it diffuses things where people try to tiptoe around the conversation. Exactly. Yeah, I just let them know that look, I've accepted what it is, and I can still hunt. I shoot just as good. I've taught my ring finger how to pull that trigger. It doesn't care which finger pulls it, you know. And uh but uh but you know the tough part was your ring finger is your weakest finger in your hand, and that's why they tell ladies to put their makeup on with that so it doesn't wrinkle their face. I learned that from my doctor. Really? I'm not joking because I was so frustrated I couldn't do stuff. And he said, Your brain doesn't even talk to your ring and pinky finger. They follow. And I go, I go, I'm trying to write start my truck. I go, these fingers don't. He goes, You're right. And your ring finger is your weakest finger, not your pinky. Just because it's smaller, that's your stronger finger of the two. Do you have to somehow tell you these fingers? Well, you're gonna have to do some work because these guys aren't here anymore. Yeah. I mean, I ride snow machine, I hang on with I ride in the mountains, I you know, motorcycle, I hang on with those two fingers, and I don't know what I would do.

SPEAKER_02 50:01

I I'd get my bicycle and I still with all my digits and still like it.

SPEAKER_01 50:06

You figure it out or you stay home, and I'm not a quitter. No, you are not. Yeah, so yeah, it was there was a lot of frustrations, and I got launched off my sled many times while I was figuring it out. Uh, I'm a powder rider, so it you know it was what is a powder rider for those. Yeah, like I I wasn't a trail person, so not I didn't like bumpy. I'm a cross country. Cross country. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 50:29

You're going up mountains and stuff, too.

SPEAKER_01 50:32

I did that when I was younger, but mostly like big swamps and and uh rolling hills, and but you're making you're making trails. Making trails, and you can get launched like you'll come over hills doing 6070, and if you land just a little harder, awkward, especially when I first did it, I didn't have the grip strength. Oh, okay, yeah. Yeah, now because a guitar, my forearm is like grip of an eagle, even this one, you know. So it's helped me, you know, hang on to a sled. You know, but I had some some very Facebook worthy wrecks when I first started riding again. I mean, that's the one. No, no, but you're in the you're in the snow. I mean, yeah, as long as you're not that's why being off trails and lakes and stuff. You're in the five feet of powder, and as long as you don't hit a tree.

SPEAKER_02 51:14

Well, there's the old tree. Yeah, the old Sonny Bono Kenny's watch out for the tree skiing, yeah. Um Wow, I mean you've you've done so much. Is there anything that you haven't done yet in music, you know, um that you'd like to do?

unknown 51:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 51:34

Or maybe somebody you'd like to open up open up for that you haven't yet?

SPEAKER_01 51:39

Wow, that's a great question, too. Okay, so I think this is a really close number. I think I've opened for 65 national acts now and played in four countries. Um I would have loved to do a show with George Strait. Uh um just because uh he's George Strait. I mean he's such respect, and I love his class, and I would learn school would be in session, you know, even through sound check. That's I learn a lot. Yeah, you know. Um and I and to to answer your question, like the first thing that popped into my head was Country Thunder. Oh, a huge, uh huge. Just one huge, just one one arena one time. One huge festival. Yeah, one time. I mean, I've got that uh that makes yeah, I I think yeah.

SPEAKER_02 52:33

Just just like outside, like an outside festival, right? Like Tortuga or something like that. One where there's yeah, where there's what, you know, fifty, sixty, hundred thousand people.

SPEAKER_01 52:43

Yeah, even even like the the biggest I've done, and I've done it many times, is the Sullivan, which is 8,000. And I mean, I'm blessed. I mean, yeah, who gets to say that, right? That's not no, you're right. Yeah, so I'm not uh but I'm like, you know, you want more if you're working hard. It doesn't it doesn't hurt to have dreams, you know, and goals and things to work for to work towards. We're we're we're both friends with Craig Morgan, and every now and then I'm like, I'm gonna break my own rule of not asking my star friends for a favor. And I'm like, Craig, let me just go open one show for you somewhere, you know. I won't even charge you, you know? And uh so sometimes I dare about that. I go, I wonder if he would do that. But um anyway. Okay, so that's that's a good, that's a good bucket list thing. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I got to headline on a country cruise, Brad. And then I mean, I've been with people that got me those things, right? Like I didn't just they didn't just call me and go, it's all about relationships. Absolutely. Someone like you or Racecutt or uh even uh Lefty, we were talking about Steve, you know, he helped me get on that cruise ship, you know. So it's that old saying, I've changed the saying, it's not who you know, it's who knows you. Yeah, that's true. Yeah, that is very true. It is, it doesn't matter who you know, do they know you? That's very true. Yeah. So yeah, that would be probably something like Coachella or Chatuga or something like that. Just part of that, just because I would love to feel that. And then second, because there's a little kid down inside me that like the doubters, I just want to go. I was not just a bar band, and you told me not to do this. There were several people that early on I almost quit. So wow, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 54:28

Don't listen to other people.

SPEAKER_01 54:29

I call them dream stealers, Brad. That's what I've labeled them as dream stealers, yeah. And they got close to making me doubt myself so much. Wow. But early early on in your career, later, or I mean early on. Early on, yeah, but after I had my band going, yeah. And they and I respected them enough to go. One of them said, you know, you're really not that good. So yeah, I had just recorded my first CD. And he was giving me a friendly talk, you know. I just want to tell you, you're really not that good. So please don't literally don't quit your day job. That's what he said. Oh, geez. Having a heart to heart with me. Wow. And I almost believed him. Yeah, I did. And the truth is, the truth is, I I've never ever once said I was good. Ever. To this day. And uh and I hear myself on people's iPhone recordings, and uh even recently, and I go, I want to throw stuff at the computer screen, you know? So I have no idea how I didn't get gonged off the stage somebody.

SPEAKER_02 55:31

But you're artists, I mean, uh people just people in general are their are their worst critic. You know, they look in the mirror, oh, I'm too fat, I'm too skinny, I'm too this, I'm too that, I'm not tall enough. And other people are like, I I think you're just fine. I mean, we are our we are our worst critics of ourselves or of our of our lives, our businesses, whatever we do, we're always our worst critics. We see ourselves differently than other people see us, you know.

SPEAKER_01 55:58

One of my bosses when I was working construction, Bill, uh, he said you should self-evaluate every day. And I never forgot that advice. And I do that. I still try to improve as a singer and a front guy. And um, but yeah, when I was younger, especially, I I probably wasn't, you know, up to par per se. But there's a line in the movie, Amazing Grace, that I was too young to know I shouldn't.

SPEAKER_02 56:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 56:25

Just keep going.

SPEAKER_02 56:25

I love that. The beauty of being younger is that you sometimes you just keep going because you don't know any better. Yeah, I didn't know. Where you might have you might stop older, and that's that can be good and bad.

SPEAKER_00 56:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 56:36

But there's times where you just keep going because you're young and you don't know any better, you know, and you're just finding you're finding your way out. You're finding who you are and a path to wherever you're headed.

SPEAKER_01 56:48

Yeah. And then the band, you know, as we got some horsepower, I call it regional horsepower a little bit, started raising money with American Cancer Society or St. Jude's or Shriners, Elks, um, Alaska Healing Hearts, you know. When you start being able to do that because people know you can draw and sell and influence people to donate, well, then you go, Well, yeah, you're you're doing this because you should.

SPEAKER_00 57:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 57:19

I mean, you don't see that many other bands doing that or being asked to do it. And and I for privately, Brad, after I got through cancer, I was like, I feel like God let me live first to be the person that's approachable that you beat stage four throat cancer and you still sing in one of the biggest bands. One of, you know, I'm not saying we are, but one of up in the state. And and and people can come talk to you when they first find out I'm approachable. I'm I fought through it, yeah, and I sing, you know. So I think God let me live to to help people, honestly. And I I don't post that stuff because I don't want it to come across like I'm bragging, but if I when I'm having conversations trying to understand is that I did an interview for the Daily News, and you touched on this earlier, and when you said uh why me? And I s they asked me that, and I said, Why not me? Just because I'm a singer, yeah, and known. I'm a person, yeah. Why, yeah, why not me? You know, I no, I don't like it, but I'm not any different than Brad or anyone else. You know, I'm a guy and I got sick.

SPEAKER_02 58:28

Um you're talking about St. Jude's, you know, and the little kids that that have to deal with it. Why them? I know it's non-discriminatory. It is it's just it's yeah, it's life, and and you have to deal with it and you have to try to get through it. And yeah, and speaking of that, um, this is a tough subject. Um you just lost your son recently. Um another tough story and a tough part of your life. I mean, I you know, I've gone through loss, but I've never lost a child. I've never had one. Yeah. And they say that is the one of the toughest things to ever go through. Yeah. I mean, you're getting you get all this stuff, and then this. And and your son was was an amazing, amazing person. I mean, he the impact he had on other people's lives. I mean, I I'd like you to share that story because it is so strong. I mean, I think about how when you tell me the story of your son and what he was doing for other people on the on the wrestling team when he was, you know.

SPEAKER_01 59:34

Yeah, thanks, friend. Yeah, it's he was 20 in uh 2024, and he just got signed to a division one college in Utah. He had already he had just finished two years down there. And he was a wrestler. He's a wrestler, and and he got he was at a junior college, and then division one is like the dream if you're a wrestler. Yeah that's that's the progress that you want. And so he, since he started wrestling in Palmer, I mean that's all he he lived and breathed it. YouTube all hours of the day, knew all the college wrestlers, all their weights, everything they did. Uh got his refs card so he knew the all the everything. Wow, yeah. He loved it. And so he's down in Utah and he's he does two years, and then um he gets signed to a Division I uh college, which is now he's reached his and now he's getting big physically. Yeah. He's figuring it out. So some of his teammates convinced him not to come back to Alaska for the summer to stay there for a whitewater rafting guide, and so he could go up and train sometimes with a new. So yeah, one night after work he was traveling to town to the gym with a coworker and uh he was a passenger at 6 p.m. dry roads and they went off the road and flew to her something. So he was ejected. She lived in the when my wife Amy and I went to the first of three celebrations life was at his college, they put it on. And I was visiting the accident site, and we were running a little bit late getting to the celebration life, and we walked in the back of the room and it was just wrestler after wrestler, staff after staff, coach after coach, talking about how he was leading people on and off the mat. We knew he believed in God, we knew he read the Bible, but these kids were talking about I was gonna quit and go home. And he convinced me to stay. He was teaching me about the Bible, how to understand the Bible.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:58

It was like learn your kid from the back of the room a little further, you know? Yeah, and um, and at that at the first celebration of life we did, um his coaches nicknamed him corner man Luke. Because on and off the mat, he was in the corner of underdogs. Even that's our farm became that in Palmer for kids that didn't have good home life. Yeah. He really was always that, so was my other son Dalton. They were they they have just been good to other people, other kids that didn't have and so they nicknamed him this coach's cornerman Luke, and now there's a tournament in Alaska named after him, that's annual, and in Utah. Oh wow. And they give out uh an award at that for someone who uh acts as a good champion of life um and on and off the mat. So uh he was team captain, even though he didn't win as much as some people, but he was the right human. And um, so yeah, it's uh it's brutal, man, uh, because he he was uh a prince of a human and like lit the room when he was in it. Yeah, he was just a good, good soul.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:12

So yeah, as uh 20 years old and I mean and somebody who maybe not be religious or you know into Jesus or God or or would go, well, what kind of God would you know take away somebody at 20 who's preaching his name, who's spreading the word of God and love. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:34

Yeah. Well there's a yeah, that's a you're you're right. And and and I asked that question one day because my wife makes sense, right? Yeah, yeah. My wife knows more about the Bible than I do, honestly. And so and she reminded me, she reminded me that um God and Satan are continuing to fight, and sometimes Satan wins. Yeah. Um but and Craig Morgan really did a good answer to that.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:04

You know, you can't Craig lost Craig also lost his son. Yeah. And I watched an interview with him about that. His son was 1920 or was somewhere, it was right around the fair. It was a good one. We did a show with him when we went to Kodiak. I was with Craig, he was in the car with us, and we just got something to eat, and he was FaceTiming. Hey, say hi to my son. And he was, yeah, it was right around the same age, very, very young and tragic.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:32

That's when I met him with you. And um, and he wouldn't do meet and greets with us on our trip. We were in Kodiak, and I and then I found out he had lost his son. And now I understand that. Um, and then we'll get back to the but it's really brutal when you're trying to get on stage and someone comes up and says, I haven't seen you, but I just heard about your son. We talked, you and I talked about that.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:57

Um it's like Well, thanks for the you know, and they're coming, they're coming from a place of a place of love and caring, and you're going you're still going through it, and you're like, Oh, thanks for bringing it up. Yeah. You know, it's just it's it's very it's yeah, I don't get mad at them. No, because you can't because again, they're coming from a place of yeah, they care about you, they you know they're coming up to console you in their minds, yes, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:20

Exactly. Yeah, and and uh but as an entertainer, like now you're back in that swamp, and but yeah, Luke was just a fantastic human. He loved coaching kids, he loved teaching kids, um, and and he loved teaching people about the Bible. He would kneel down and pray in front of the arena when he would before he'd start his match. You know, he led by he was a he was a better man than a lot of example. Oh yeah, and a lot of things.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:49

And um so well he got the he he had an amazing mom and dad, and that helped too.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:57

And that certainly, you know, more his mom than me, honestly. Yeah. I tell her that too. So you know, if you ever doubt your what you did in this world, just know that because Dalton, our other son, is uh incredible too. So I go, know that you made not because I'm their dad. I credit her more. I do. She's an amazing woman. Well, she just was on them, Brad. And we we raised them old school, but Amy was very hands-on. Yeah. Um, and so, you know, I said, if you ever doubt what you've done on this earth, know that you've made two of the most incredible people I ever met. And I've met a lot of people, you know. And it's not just because they're my kids. I swear if you brought either one of them in here, you'd be just like, okay. Whose son are you? Yeah, this is refreshing. Yeah, you know, um, because they don't act like the a lot of the people that we deal with in the world right now. They were respectful and kind and caring, and yeah. So hard workers, hard workers, smart, and yeah. And you know, Tim Montana, who you also brought up. Good old Tim, yes. Yeah, Tim has a friend, Rob O'Neill. Yeah. Okay. We all know what he did, and if you don't, you can look it up. Yeah. But he said something one day um on one of his podcasts that he was doing about the Navy SEALs tell their guys to quit tomorrow. So one of the things that Luke did right before he passed, actually, was he lost going to nationals. Amy and I were there by one match, he didn't get to go, which is the dream of, you know. So he was gonna quit. This is right before he's to start with this Division I college. And his grades started to go down. And Amy had shared that with me. So I took him to dinner at Club Paris when he came home on spring break. And we were chit-chatting along, and I said, So tell me about your grades, and he kind of didn't know I knew because that was and I said, he goes, I said, you know, your grades are suffering. I know you didn't get to go to nationals, but I said, uh, he goes, Well, dad, I was sad. And uh because he lost.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:14

Yeah. So I said A goal, a goal and a dream of his.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:18

Her seven-year goal did not happen. Yeah. So I said, Well, I'll tell you a secret. I said, uh, I don't care what you tell people you're studying at college. I don't care. As long as you keep your grades up, because someday you're gonna want a job and that's gonna affect you. Yeah. So you have to keep your grades up. I go, I understand you're sad, I get it, and I'm not mad at you, but I wanted to have this talk because that matters for your future. So you have to keep your grades up. I don't care. I this I said this too. I don't care if you lie to people and tell them what you're studying at college. I don't care what you tell them to get that pressure off your back. Because I said, I know everybody's asking you that too. I go, I don't care. Tell them you're gonna be an astronaut. I don't care. I said, but I have one favor you cannot quit wrestling right now because he's like, I'm no good, I didn't get an astronaut. He was really on himself. And and I remembered Robert O'Neill said, quit tomorrow. So I told Luke that. You know, Tim, Rom. Absolutely. And uh, and I'll tell Tim this story someday because it was huge, Brad. Because I told him that at least four times during that dinner. I said, You have to go wrestle one more time, not because I push you to wrestle. You have to go wrestle again and win one more time. You cannot quit when you're down, because in life, if you do, it gets easier and easier to do it. So I said, You have to go wrestle one more time, at least go win one more match. And if you quit, then I never say another word to you. I don't care what you do. I'm I I support you wrestling because you love it. You know, yeah. You want to be a truck driver, if that's your love, I'll support you doing that, you know. So I said, go win a match, then make the decision, quit tomorrow. Don't quit today. So he goes back, secretly enters the US Open wrestling tournament. Really? Yeah, in Vegas. That's anyone in the country can go wrestle at that. Not college, not it's Olympians, high school, college, anyone, coaches, anyone. I didn't even know that existed. Really? There's one picture you'll see. He's holding a badge that says US Open on it. It's my favorite photo of him because he didn't quit. He went and he wrestled four matches, he won two, lost two, he lost to two Olympic qualifiers. Yeah, that's and then got signed. You know, he was supposed to start after that. So because he went and won, he won, he didn't quit. Wow. Yeah, and um, you know, I privately credit Robert O'Neill for that because that was part of the speech. The light came on with him, you know, and uh I said, quit tomorrow, don't quit today. You gotta go win, you gotta go win one more, then make the decision. So and I've never shared that.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:27

My wife knows that story, but I don't talk about that because now our 12 viewers of uh of It's Alaska know that story. You know the story. That's you know, and that it's such a great story, and thank you for sharing it. I mean, that's you know, like we you know, like we said before, we need to share our stories, especially stuff like that, because sometimes the words out of our mouth aren't always the most positive. Maybe they're not the most helpful for some people, and and sometimes we just don't know. You know, I know there's times where I I go back and you know, I sit go home and go, man, I could have handled that situation a lot better. But that's why these stories are so important because they're great stories, yeah, and they're gonna help somebody out.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:13

Yeah, I I mean now, yeah, so the you know, full circle here, this losing Luke has made the other two things like kindergarten class for me. Um I thought stage four throat cancer and all that journey was like the worst test I was gonna have. Yeah. It wasn't even close. Um, and it's really hard for me to describe to people, man. Um I I was sad when I got cancer. I was sad when I cut my fingers off. I was sad when I lost Hobo Jim and my grandparents, the people I love dearly. But there is it is really bizarre that I I write songs and I can't put into words the the depth of that uh sorrow over your kid.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:58

And he was a good kid. It wasn't like he was a problem child. They're like, okay, it's sad, but the world's better, you know? Yeah. He was, like you said, out helping people and teaching people about God had a good positive difference out there. Teaching people about God, you know, and that wasn't his only thing, but it was one of the things, and because he was so endearing and loved as a wrestler and just a human, when he spoke about God, it wasn't like this stay away. They were like, We love Luke, we'll listen. I mean, he roomed with Mormons down there, and and he the deal he made with them was um, I'm gonna talk to you about the Bible, uh, but I'll come to where you guys wow, yeah. He goes, I'll come learn what they teach you too, so I try to understand. Wow, that's some big time stuff.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:51

It is yes, it is, but that's who he was, and that's back to the that's back to the uh the jelly beans. Yes, all right. Listen to me, yes, and I'll go where you go and I'll I'll listen to what you what you guys have going on.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:06

Yeah, yeah. I think they call them Latter-day Saints now. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I mean no disrespect to that. But um, but yeah, that was his roommates in you know, Utah is big for that. And uh so all of his roommates were all Mormons. And so when Luke first got there, uh he really dove into the Bible further. Um, and I always joke and say he did that so he could argue with these roommate wrestling buddies of his, you know. But no, he he made a deal with them. I'll I'll come to where you go and worship and pray, but you have to come with me. So yeah. So they did. And we've had them at our farm. They've come up, we're still close to some of those guys. That's great. Amy, especially, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:47

I mean, yeah, it's it's like having part of your son there with his friends that are.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:53

Yeah, and they named the tournament after him in Utah. It's annual now, called the Cornerman Luke Tournament at that college. Oh, wow. And now there's one up in Moissilla, too. Yeah, and we didn't ask for those things. That's the other thing I wanted. This the love of the the people he influenced. Yeah, and it's you'll see these blue shirts that say cornerman Luke on him, and on the shirt, it's all these things that his peers said about him. You know, gritty him and great leader, beautiful champion, blah, blah, blah. All stuff they wrote to us about him as coaches and his teammates. And yeah, yeah, it broke my world, Brad. And uh, I didn't even want to play. I still sometimes struggle because I it makes you so sad. Like, it's not that I'm a quitter, I had to follow my own damn advice. You know, that I told Luke, don't quit when you're down, you know. I had to follow my own advice. I love giving advice.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:44

I just hate not having to follow it.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:46

But that's yeah, that's the difference really is is when I cut my fingers off or got cancer, like I could see a light at the end of the tunnel. Like, right? If you're if you just don't lay down, toughen it up. I mean, if you don't know if you're gonna live, yeah, but once I knew I was gonna live, right? Learn to sing again. It was hard. Yeah, of course it's hard. My throat was cut open inside and out. Yeah, and um, and radiation, it changed it, you know. Uh, but uh I was in control, be a sissy or figure it out.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:19

It was happening and it was happening to you, you know. I mean, this was your body, and it was fixable.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:24

But this no matter what I do, he doesn't come back, yeah. And that is the brutal part of it. Not only am I brokenhearted as a dad, I've gotta watch Dalton, who lost his brother, and I gotta watch Amy go through it. And uh it's like I can't put it into words. It's but I have a new respect for other parents. Um, and you know, it's like I said about cancer when they asked me, I didn't get it till I got it. Yeah, and now I get this too. So yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:56

Yeah, well, we're you know, thank you for sharing your stories. I mean, that is you know, a huge part, part of it. And you uh you're gonna keep playing music till till the day you die, it's like I'm until I can't till you can't get up on stage anymore.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:13

Yeah, I mean, I as the band changes, you know, sometimes I go, Well, if I cannot find the right humans, then I'm you mentioned that just recently.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:22

Like, if I don't if I can't find the right people, and I'm like, well, you know, you can do acoustic and stuff, which is cool, but you like the full band stuff.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:30

I like both, and I'm getting better. And again, I'm not just sucking up because you're here. I mean, you've given me opportunities, Susie at the state fair, like, and some of this corporate stuff to I mean, I've been on stage thousands and thousands of hours now with that band. It's a different world than acoustic, where it's like, hey, there's no noise around me. I've got to make that, you know? Yeah. And it's a different thing, but I'm challenged again. And also, I like to play, you know, I like to sing because I hope Luke. That was one of the things we had in common. I taught him guitar. Yeah, he got up on stage with us a few times. I like to sing songs for him. I hope he can hear that he loved, that he gave to me. Yeah. Like Something in the Orange was a song that Luke pitched to me.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:20

You've never you didn't hear it, you hadn't heard it yet. I didn't even know.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:23

I actually went to him and I say it sometimes to some of our dancers and stuff uh that follow us. I go, I I I'm not in touch with some of this because I don't like a lot of the new country music. I just don't, you know.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:36

Some people don't, it is what it is. Yeah, but I do, obviously. But it changes, it's the newer stuff. A lot of times, you know, like we get old and like I remember when my country was I'm different than a lot.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:47

Like, I'm a rocker too, so I like pop music and I like rock, but when I'm listening to country, I'm always in the country. Yeah, you know, and I don't know why that maybe that old guy of me. No, that's that's just that's just human nature. But you know now I'm fronting a band that plays out, and people want me to play. They want me to play the stuff that's on the radio, and what they don't understand is like a lot of that was made with computers and processors and tracks and garbage that it's like I And you don't relate to it either. I don't even like it. If you don't like it, why would you want to play it? You know, as long as I write songs or record songs that I go, I I I would say that. Or I I I would write that.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:25

You can relate to it, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:26

Yeah, so I'm writing again though, now, and and I wrote Lucas' song, as you know, that I'll play, and and I'm writing more, and I'm hopefully Luke can hear that. So I'm trying to share music a little bit with him. And um, yeah, I mean it's it's tough, Brad. And I yeah, so I'm doing the backyard barbecues with you, you know, because and thank you. Yeah, those are the 14th, 15th of July. Luke was killed on the 17th. So actually 15th and 16th. Okay, 15th, 16th. So I'm sorry, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:58

So you play the two shows and then you've got a day to that's the to remember it as the week arrives, though.

SPEAKER_01 1:20:04

It's like it's it's already I feel it coming. Yeah, yeah, it's bizarre. I was thinking about that. I was like, man, I'm doing those shows right before that. And then, and then yeah, after your shows, we go down and play for the first time at that Cooper Landing Brewery. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:20:17

Have you been there yet?

SPEAKER_01 1:20:18

Uh I have.

SPEAKER_02 1:20:18

Yeah, that's a beautiful place. Yeah, it's really great. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:20:21

So I'm gonna, yeah, that that the shows will be helpful that you have me on. So thanks for that, honestly. There'll be a distraction, is what I'm getting at. Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 1:20:31

And there's support there too, but I probably that's distraction itself is probably.

SPEAKER_01 1:20:35

And I'm gonna sing songs actually this year. Um, I decided about a week ago, I'm gonna sing songs for your show that Luke pitched to me. Oh, that's a great idea.

SPEAKER_02 1:20:47

Yeah, I love that.

SPEAKER_01 1:20:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:20:50

So some Tyler Childress. Yeah, as a matter of fact, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:20:54

Yeah, yeah, as a matter of fact, that's the first one I learned. Nice. Yeah. Yeah. And I actually, Casey, and I we just did this corporate thing in Girdwood. I actually played it for the first time to test drive it. And it went well? We thought so. We didn't ask anybody else. Yeah, I mean, that's that's no, you know, but that was it was uh uh just you know, I don't know what else to do as this dad, but we had music was a big thing we had in common, and you don't know after someone passes away, you know, they say maybe they become your guardian angel. Can he hear me still? Which is part of my song, you know. Can you hear me in heaven? You know, so some of the songs I'm gonna play this year, because I'm playing acoustic pretty much, you know. Yeah, um, I'm gonna play for him. That songs that he pitched me. I have a playlist in my phone called Luke's songs.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:49

And uh well, is there any before we before we wrap up, is is that song, Luke's song that you wrote for for about Luke, is it can people go see? I mean, is it on Spotify or anything yet? Have you put it on any of the platforms? That's what all the kids are doing. They're putting them all the platforms, the Apple, whatever's and the Spotifies and stuff and TikTok and well, two things.

SPEAKER_01 1:22:18

I'm gonna answer that question. One, somebody found his cell phone at the rec site and turned it in a year and a half later. Really? Yeah, and I've got to get it open from Apple because there's photos in there that we haven't seen the last year of his life. Wow. So my plan is to get that phone open, get with Amy and Dalton, get the photos, and then make a video with the song and then put it out. Oh, okay. But I'm gonna play it. We're gonna eat we'll hear hear it live, come to the backyard country barbecue. I will play it there. Um, and I want to tell you this too, Brett. Um, the Chase Matthews show that you had me do. Yes. I got done and I was backstage, just Casey and I were hanging out. We were, you know, we like to watch and learn and listen, and um, and I saw Chase circle up with his band and pray. I would not have expected that. Uh he huddled them in a circle.

SPEAKER_00 1:23:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:23:16

They did like this football rant, you know, rally, and then he put them in a circle and he led a prayer. But I could see this guy walking around in a camo coat backstage was automatically camo hunter, you know. I'm like, and it turns out it was Chase's manager. Ken. We'd strike up a conversation. I thought it was his dad or something. I'm just standing there. There's a lot of time to kill him waiting for them. And we we strike up a conversation. And I tell him, yeah, as an opener, he goes, We could hear you from the hotel. Chase was like, Those boys are rocking. And I go, We were we're trying to, you know. Anyway, we know he knows Dave Brainerd. He knows we knew a lot of the same folks in Nashville. Anyway, we we exchanged phone numbers because he won likes fishing, you know, and that's about the depth of it. So I'm back at my studio and it's about 11 o'clock, and my phone dings, and it's him. And he said, I just I just read, I don't know how you word it, he goes, I just read about 20 minutes about your son. Luke, on his own. I didn't even tell him. Oh man. I didn't even tell him about it, Brad. You know, and uh I said, wow, and he goes, Sounds like an amazing human being. And I said, Yeah. So we were texting back and forth for like an hour, you know, just he has kids, you know, and and uh I told him, I said, yeah, I wrote him a song. I said I'm not a great writer, but I I said, and then I I said, because you know Dave, I said, I'm just I'm not name dropping. I said, you know Dave. I said, I flew to Nashville and Dave insisted he do it and wouldn't charge me. And he said, I want to hear it. So I sent it to him, and he replied, This needs to be heard. I want to help you. And I go, I don't know what I'm gonna do with it yet, can I? And I said, This our conversation is not because I want something. He goes, Yeah, I know that. He goes, but it should be heard, so help people. So I don't know yet, man. You know what what I want to do, I think I want to do the photos with it that they found in his phone, and then but I will play it live if I can muster the that's uh I did it once every touch. I did it once. I did it once at once one of my acoustic shows, and the thing it with it is is it's every word is real. I it's actually stuff I do, it's raw, and um, and so it's yes, it whoops me a little bit trying to get through it. No, that makes sense. I have his ashes and a cross that I wear on my neck. It's carbon fiber and they're hollow, and so yeah, I carry that with me. Wow. Somebody came up to me and said, Oh, you're you you still believe in God? I see you're wearing a cross. I said, I've never stopped believing in you. I I have questions for him though, you know, but we all do. Yeah, I see.

SPEAKER_02 1:26:08

And he has, I mean, we'll all in the end. I mean, we'll we'll we'll know. We'll know in the end.

SPEAKER_01 1:26:13

Carbon fiber cross is hollow inside, and his ashes are in there, so he goes with me everywhere. So yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:26:20

Ken, thank you so much for being on the show. It's Alaska. Or and and Ken is Alaskan because his uh his uh what is it? Your uh your email is Alaskan. K K E and Alaskan country. Yeah, wine. Yeah. Lots of wine, you get creative. Is there anywhere they can go to find out um what shows you've got coming up and things like that? You know, I have a you are awful at this. We know that he has no merch, by the way, which we've been talking, we've talked about for I don't know, 15 years.

SPEAKER_01 1:26:55

Very bad movie on my part. Um I have a I it's just on Facebook, and it's not the Ken Pell Tyr band Facebook page. We just built that, and I think I have uh almost 900 followers on that brand new page, but there's a Facebook page called Ken Pell Tyr. Okay, and uh and you'll it's easy to find, and there's a lot of activity, and I post our schedule on Facebook. Okay, good. All right, Dalton makes it for me. I'm horrible at social media.

SPEAKER_02 1:27:22

It is not your forte at all, but uh that's all right.

SPEAKER_01 1:27:26

You know what's funny though is I forever, you know, just like when you started promoting, Facebook didn't exist, right? You're right. Word of mouth and posters, and I haven't needed it. And I get made fun of sometimes because like I have probably a massive following on Spotify, like 60 listeners probably. But I don't care.

SPEAKER_02 1:27:48

Yeah, that's part of it too, is you know, which is kind of cool that you don't care. I mean, that's that's kind of the cool part because you can get wrapped up in all that social media stuff, and it's Facebook too.

SPEAKER_01 1:27:59

But there was a talent pirate I was helping. We've talked about his name before I'll leave it off here, and I was helping him pick artists to bring to Alaska. And we're looking at the Spotify followers as kind of a benchmark, and they're like, oh, he's only got 800,000, he's only got whatever. And then I go, hey, for fun, let's look at me. Like 67 or something. Yes. But I've never booked a single show from Spotify. That's true.

SPEAKER_02 1:28:31

Yeah, no, that's true. That's true.

SPEAKER_01 1:28:33

I should though. Like now that I have Luke's song and I'm writing more, I probably will take it a little bit more. I have a couple songs that I wrote that I'm like, because I'm I don't think I'm a I'm a great writer, but when they when I get them, then they're yeah, yeah. John Anderson said that you gotta write your clunkers till you find your good ones. That's how he heard it. That that makes sense.

SPEAKER_02 1:28:54

Yeah, and again, it's sharing your story too. That's a big part of it. Think about that. Maybe that's more motivation, is that you're sharing your story. That's gonna help people as well.

SPEAKER_01 1:29:03

Well, when Chase's manager, uh, who has been around the business a lot, he told me all the other people he's worked with. And when he heard it and wrote, This needs to be heard, let me help you. I mean, our our the conversation was purely, he knew nothing about that song. I didn't ask him to look up Luke. It was purely just two guys that hit it off talking fish and hunting, and we know some of the same people, yeah. Small talking, but he's a quality human, you know. But the fact that he said I mean he listens to Chase, you know, and these guys, yeah, stars. This needs to be heard. And when I sent the demo to Dave Brainerd, who's Grammy nominated producer writer, he said that this was written from God in heaven above, and I insist I help you with it.

SPEAKER_00 1:29:54

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 1:29:54

Yeah, well that's powerful. It is from him because you know, he's like a brother to me, and he hasn't always been that nice about things I know. Well, and you need that. So it means and that means something. Yeah, so that my point of that is is people that matter in the business that hear everything all the time said that's that should be heard. Yeah, you know, and that's that's motivating me to get it done. Because right now, long story long, Brad is just sitting.

SPEAKER_02 1:30:25

Yeah, you know. Absolutely. Yeah. Well, thank you so much for sharing your story. Thank you for being on It's Alaska. And uh honor. We will see you this summer, whether it's the Backyard Bunch Country BBQ. You do a lot of shows out at the fair, whether you're opening up for somebody or you're in the sluice box. So there's a good chance if you come to Alaska or if you're in Alaska, you'll you'll see Ken, and whether it's acoustic or perform, you'll you'll get to uh get to hear his music. Thanks, Brad. Thanks for having me.