#2 - Gordan Mote

What are your dreams like if you're blind from birth? What's it like to play on Blake Shelton, Gwen Stefani, Carrie Underwood, Dolly Parton, Kenny Chesney, Willie Nelson, and hundreds of other hit records?

Hit songwriter and bestselling author Aimee Mayo sits down with legendary piano player Gordon Mote for a fascinating conversation. In this episode of Wait. What?! Gordon reveals what it's actually like to experience the world without sight, tells the unbelievable story of his seeing-eye dog, Atlas, who saved his life more than once, and demonstrates live Meta glasses that instantly describe the room around him in real time.

They also talk about why AI music can never replace real musicians, what separates great singers from true communicators, and why Gordon tells every young musician the same brutal truth — if you have a Plan B, go do that.

This conversation is funny, emotional, philosophical, and full of moments that will make you see the world differently.

Subscribe for more wild stories, unforgettable guests, and the unbelievable moments in life that make you stop and say... Wait. What?

Gordon Mote Bio

Most people have never heard of Gordon Mote. But they've heard him play piano.

Blind since birth, Alabama-born musician Gordon Mote has spent three decades becoming Nashville's secret weapon. A pianist, singer, songwriter, and producer, he has played on hundreds of hit records, released 15 albums, won three Academy of Country Music Awards for Keyboard Player of the Year, and earned multiple Grammy and Dove nominations. He holds an honorary Doctorate of Letters from Jacksonville State University.

His story is just as extraordinary and inspiring as his music. He was one of the first blind students in the country to mainstream into the public school system. Mote received a full scholarship to Jacksonville State University before transferring to Belmont University in Nashville, where he graduated with honors.

Just two days after graduation, he was hired by Lee Greenwood, launching a career that would take him into studios and onto stages around the world.

His social media info here

Instagram: www.instagram.com/officialgordonmote

Transcript

Introduction

SPEAKER_01 0:00

I wish I could drive.

SPEAKER_02 0:02

When you dream at night, what how are you dreams? Do you have smells in your dream? He said, are you waterboard?

SPEAKER_01 0:12

Atlas was my ding-eye dog's name, and he would do so many things. He saved my life a couple of times.

SPEAKER_02 0:18

Really, how he told me one time that I never knew it is a compliment. You're the most nice person I've ever met. I'm gonna go look at water.

SPEAKER_01 0:28

Uh hey Meta, what am I looking at? I'm looking at a person sitting in a blue chair with a microphone in front of them. There's a red curtain behind you and a large light source to the right. I can prove to you that she loves you more than Chris.

SPEAKER_02 0:46

I believe it.

SPEAKER_01 0:47

I can prove it to you though. You put Chris and your dog girlfriend in the trunk of your car. You come back in an hour and see who's playing.

SPEAKER_02 1:16

So this is Gordon Moe, who has if I listed all the records that you've played on, what it would be. It would take the whole podcast. I mean everybody from Blake Shelton, all those records, Gwen Staff. You played on Gwen Stefani too, right? Alabama, Leonard Skinner, Bob Seager. I'm naming all the rock people that I freaking love. I love Bob Seager so much.

SPEAKER_01 1:42

It was so weird to hear him in your headphones or like James Taylor or somebody like that. It's just so weird because you grow up listening to those cats. Oh, I love it. Not not just that you get to kind of hear them in your headphones, but then like you get to be friends with them. And like, do you know of another business that you can do that?

SPEAKER_02 1:59

No.

SPEAKER_01 2:00

It's crazy.

SPEAKER_02 2:01

We wrote with Rick Springfield.

SPEAKER_01 2:03

That is so cool.

SPEAKER_02 2:04

And I wanted to marry him. Like I kept turning 13.

SPEAKER_01 2:08

You like Noah Drake, did you? Yeah. From General.

SPEAKER_02 2:10

I did, and I love Jesse's girl. Like the first I was like 12 or 13 the first time I saw Rick Springfield, and I was just like in love with him. And he was like a grown-up. He was like way older than me. Sure. But I just loved Drake Springfield, snuck backstage. Like I just love Drake Springfield.

SPEAKER_01 2:29

Well, and he he was a good singer. Like he was an actor, but he was a really good singer. And then the next record that success hasn't spoiled me yet, you know, that was a killer record. I remember uh the second single from that. Well, Don't Talk to Strangers was the first single. But the second single was a song called What Kind of Fool Am I?

SPEAKER_00 2:46

Yes. I wonder who she's seeing tonight.

SPEAKER_01 2:50

I thought, man, he's a killer singer. And that was really well produced, but it was simple. And anyway, yeah, those are good records.

SPEAKER_02 2:57

I mean, I love Rick Springfield, and I love when guys love Rick Spring. Rhett Akins loves Rick Springfield.

SPEAKER_01 3:04

He had a song on that Hard to Hold record that was a movie. Wasn't Hard to Hold record.

SPEAKER_02 3:08

Oh, it was a movie, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:09

And the first thing was called Love Somebody. There were several really good singles on that, but my favorite song on that was not a single, it was called Taxi Dancing.

SPEAKER_02 3:17

I know that song. Oh, what a great song that it was. All his songs. Like, I was looking up all the stuff you've played on. It was so many pages. It was like probably about 45 pages of credits. Like, it's so wild because you got started real young, right?

Muscle Shoals Mentor: Jimmy Johnson’s Push

SPEAKER_01 3:34

I did, yeah. I I came to Nashville when I was 19, I guess. Jimmy Johnson, the great Muscle Shoals producer, player, and that, you know, then that session crew. He heard me play. A friend of mine at Jacksville State University, where I went to school for three years. I crammed four years of school into five. Um, I went to Jacksville State for three years, and a friend of mine knew Jimmy Johnson. And he said, You you should meet Jimmy Johnson and maybe play some songs for him or whatever. So I played a couple of my songs. He said, Man, just play. Just play something. And of course, he produced great, you know, he produced the stones. He produced like songs like Brown Sugar and produced Old Time Rock and Roll and Bob Seeger produced some of those Seeger records. But anyway, and Jimmy was a great session musician too. You know, played on all that, you know, Percy Sledge, Aretha, you know, so many of those.

SPEAKER_02 4:27

So he's muscle shoals.

SPEAKER_01 4:28

He's a Muscle Scholes guy, and uh, you know, uh passed away a few years ago, but always lived in the shoals, you know, played on all that, you know, the staples and you know.

SPEAKER_02 4:39

Did he play on Aretha?

SPEAKER_01 4:40

Yeah, sure did. And, you know, like all those cats, Barry Beckett and David Hood, and you know, all those amazing muscle shoals cats. But anyway, Jimmy said, just play, just play something on me here. So I played for him and he said, Son, he said, um, you need to be in Nashville. He said, and you need to go to Belmont. He said, I I think that's where you belong. And of course, I gave him every reason why I didn't think that could work. Well, you know, my mom and dad can't afford it, and you know, the the scholarship auditions have already been held. And he said, Well, I know people at Belmont. I know uh Mr. Malloy there, and I could get you a scholarship audition, I'm sure of it, and I can put in a good word for you. And I gave him some other excuses because I was scared, you know. Finally he got frustrated when he said, Son, I don't think you know who I am. Just like that. And honestly, I didn't have to pay a dime to go to Belmont. He did everything he said he would do. He got me a scholarship audition. I got the full scholarship. He did everything he said he would do. He put his name on the line for a kid he barely knew. But a few years ago, we were doing a documentary in Muscle Shoals, and I told that story for the cameras and he said, if I had ever met anyone that I felt like would make it in this business and change our business, he said, I knew it was you.

SPEAKER_02 6:00

Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_01 6:02

And that really made me uh it was an emotional moment for me because he he did everything he said he would do. And so Jimmy Johnson is one of the big reasons that I ended up in Nashville. I mean, God has the final say, but God puts people in our lives that can help us get to where we need to go, and he uses people to steer us in the right direction or to open doors for us, and Jimmy Johnson was certainly that guy for me.

SPEAKER_02 6:23

Well, and for him to say that, like with you with the people he worked with, and then for him to that's about as big a compliment as you could get. I mean, because all those people, and then him saying something like that, he was it's I mean, well, I've heard, like I've talked to Tom Buca back, like he's a guitar player, if y'all don't know, but I've talked to these musicians about you, and they're like, Gordon picks it up faster than anybody. He's one you need a nickname, like a one-take Gordon nickname, like because you like you'll put it down quicker and it'll be right.

Faith Hill Session Story And “One Take” Myth

SPEAKER_01 7:00

Well, you're very kind. I I have a funny story about that. All my musician friends love this story, and a lot of them were on this date. Many years ago, I was working on a Faith Hill record, and um it was a big power ballad. It was the first song we cut on a Monday, and so the demo was playing, and we were talking about football, I guess. We were talking about the Titans or whatever we were talking about, and I'm a huge sports fan, and so we were all talking and the demos playing. There, they've got a chart. I'm listening to it. I'm listening, but I'm talking. We go out, and it's kind of a I mean, it's pretty heavy keyboard tune. I'm kind of what they call the track mule, you know. I'm kind of carrying the weight of it, and um we get the track and I start layering it up over dubs, and then we, you know, do the guitar layers and all that. Well, I come in to the studio, and Faith Hill used to always wear the best perfume.

SPEAKER_02 7:59

Oh, I know. I've copied her.

SPEAKER_01 8:01

She she really always smelled good. I smelled her coming over to me. She walks over by me, she puts her arm around me, she says, you know, I was really frustrated with you earlier. And I was like, Oh no. I mean, my heart just stopped. I was like, oh man, I've made what did I say? What did I do? I said, How? What do you mean? And she goes, Well, this song I think could be a really big song for me. And I was like, Yeah, it it I'm sure it will be. It's a great song. And uh she said, But you you weren't paying any attention. You you were talking about football, and I thought to myself, this song could be a really big song. I really need him to be in engaged, and he's not listening to it. And and then you go out there and you play it perfectly and you come up with all these great ideas, and then she was very sweet. I'm not sure I was all that perfect, but she she said, You came up with all these ideas and you made it so special. And you did, and and you weren't even paying, you were talking, and I just don't know how you can hear it one time and like not even be. I wish I could do that. And I didn't know what to say. It was kind of I was a little embarrassed, and and uh so the first thing that came to my head was what I said. I said, Well, I wish I could drive.

Tenacity, Plan A Only, And Industry Grit

SPEAKER_00 9:17

And that's kind of become legendary and and Nashville. I didn't know what else to say, you know, and she was being so sweet, and you know, and I was like, Okay, this is awkward. I wish I could drive. So, you know.

SPEAKER_02 9:29

Faith is funny, like Faith told me one time, and I never knew if she meant it as a compliment. I just decided I'm taking it as a compliment. She was like, You're the most tenacious person I've ever met. I had to go look that word up.

SPEAKER_01 9:43

Like, what does this mean? I would say that's true. Because I mean, if you believe in a song, you're all about it, you know. And a lot of people, if they get a no or they get 20 no's, they kind of start doubting, oh, well, maybe it's not as good as I thought. But I see you as being very tenacious. I think if you believe in something, you're all about it until you get it.

SPEAKER_02 10:04

It's so true. Like, I it's so true. Because like I heard this thing about if somebody tells you no, you're asking the wrong person. So if they say no about a song, I'm just not pitching it to the right person.

SPEAKER_01 10:18

I've told kids before, like, if I go speak at a college or go, you know, do like a master class or something, or just kids around me. I love to mentor young people. And I always tell them that if they have a plan B, then they should go do that.

SPEAKER_03 10:35

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_01 10:36

The only way that the music thing is ever gonna work for you is if you can't live without it. If you do it for free, because you're gonna get a lot of no's and you're gonna be discouraged a lot because this town is tough. This town looks for reasons for you not to be successful.

SPEAKER_02 10:54

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:55

And it's even harder now, I think, than it was when we got in.

SPEAKER_02 10:59

Yeah, I do too. I think it's harder now. Like 'cause there's so many more people doing it and trying to do it now.

SPEAKER_01 11:04

Yeah, and people can make beats and make music in their basement.

SPEAKER_02 11:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:10

And AI can help you write a song, you know, and there's so much against these youngsters now. So I feel like, and it's harder for kids now because they've been given so much, so many of them, not everybody, but a lot of kids feel a little more entitled. People in general don't want to work as hard as they used to. There's just not that work ethic. You know, when you get great service at a restaurant or you get great service at your car dealership, or your HVAC guy comes over and gives you great honest service, it's almost like we're surprised.

SPEAKER_02 11:45

Oh, yeah, always surprise. Like if I'm like at Target and ask somebody where something is, if they tell me I'm shocked, like usually they don't know and they're like, we don't have it, and then I find it myself.

SPEAKER_01 11:56

Yes, exactly. So I hope that if anybody's watching this and you really, you know, you think music is the way you need to go, you can save yourself a lot of pain and suffering if you think you've got a plan B. Well, if the music thing don't work out, I could do this. Go ahead and just go do that.

SPEAKER_02 12:12

Yeah, for sure.

Producing Psychology: Burn the Boats

SPEAKER_01 12:13

Uh, because you're you're gonna be discouraged, but if you are really in it for the right reason, even if you never make it on a huge scale, or maybe the music thing leads to something else, you're gonna be happy because if you're doing what you love, you never work a day in your life, you know?

SPEAKER_02 12:30

It's so true. Have you ever heard that saying about burn the boats?

SPEAKER_01 12:34

Yes, I have.

SPEAKER_02 12:35

I love that saying. Like you gotta go to the island and burn the boats so you can't get off and you gotta figure it out.

SPEAKER_01 12:41

That's exactly right. And I mean, you know, I'm not who am I kidding? I mean, there are some days that are tough. You know, we have deadlines. You got, you know, in the production world that I find myself in now, you know, you're dealing with artists, but you're they're the easy part. You're dealing with um the record labels and you're dealing with all the people who want to come in and well, we need to shoot this, you know, we need to, we gotta have some cameras there. And you're trying to get you're trying to produce a great vocal and trying to do a great record, and you gotta be weird weary of the people with the cameras. Are you getting what you need? And it's just so complicated.

SPEAKER_02 13:16

It's a whole different thing. I mean, a whole different thing. Like, um, with I've always been curious, like with you, like, I think you're probably a better musician. Like, just do you think you're a better musician, like because you can't see?

SPEAKER_01 13:32

Well, any talent that I have certainly comes from the good Lord. You know, I started playing piano when I was three years old on a Thanksgiving day at my grandmother's house. I mean, that's the way it happened. I just sat down at a piano and started playing Jesus Loves Me.

SPEAKER_02 13:44

Did it freak everybody out?

SPEAKER_01 13:46

It did freak everybody out. You know, three-year-olds don't do that. No, no. So I know that it was a miracle from God. And so anything that I've ever done, I've always given Him glory and credit for. It's nothing that I've done. Now I've worked hard. I've worked real hard. I continue to work hard. I don't ever want to like, I'm not at the point in my career where I want to be out on my porch and start thinking about all the stuff I've done. You know, oh yeah. I'm grateful. Uh, you know, I get reminded all the time because I do so many of these podcasts now. And so the word legend gets thrown around, which I hate because I don't want to be old.

SPEAKER_02 14:21

I've won so many awards. Yeah. There's a song Dennis Quaid wrote, like called Legend. Like, don't call me a legend. Like, you've won so many awards though, like musician. How many times have you won musician of these years?

SPEAKER_01 14:35

I don't know. Um a lot. ACM I've won it three times. Uh, but I've I've been, you know, it's funny, I've been nominated like 23 times for the thing. And uh, so it's not a really good track record when you think about it. But uh, but I've won, you know, I've been up for 11 Grammys and lost all of those. Oh man, uh as a producer and uh an artist. So I've probably lost a whole lot more than I've won. But you know, we don't really do it for the awards. We do it because it's in us and we can't live without it.

SPEAKER_02 15:05

And what's your favorite part of it?

SPEAKER_01 15:07

My favorite, if as a producer, my favorite part is tracking. I love track day, tracking days because I'm a tracking guy, you know. I that's how I came up. And I love tracking days. And of course, as a musician, I love the tracking days, but as a producer, I also really love getting that vocal, chasing that vocal down, you know, working with the singer and helping them be the very best version of them they can be. And being a singer myself, I think maybe helps me with singers. Yeah, I know what singers need emotionally, I know how they need to be cheered on and encouraged. And I always I've always wanted to be as sensitive as I can be to musicians and singers. I mean, the whole production thing is more psychology than anything else.

SPEAKER_02 15:53

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:53

And uh, you know, so and you have to know when you've gotten the very best you you're gonna get. You don't ever want uh a musician or a singer to leave discouraged. Because even if that song is a hit song, if that artist hears that hit song, they're never gonna love it like they would have loved it had they had a good experience singing it.

SPEAKER_02 16:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:16

So it it's that I think the whole psychology of it is very interesting to study, but I try to just make everything as positive as I can because I think you hear that. There are producers in this town that are known for really beating their singers up. I think that those producers have kind of backed off now because I think we're all learning that uh hey, yeah, we we can make a perfect record. We know how to make a perfect record. That's not the hardest thing to do in this town, especially with all the technology we have. What we need to be focused on is making a record that's believable.

SPEAKER_02 16:50

Oh, yeah, that feels real. Yeah, that's my big thing with vocals. Like anytime, like I haven't really produced I only produced one song on one record, and I didn't even get credit. But I love like working with like the people I write songs with in the studio, like Bill Luther. Do you know him?

SPEAKER_01 17:09

Oh, he had a big hit on a song called Believer. Believers. Yes, and I still have the demo of him singing it on my phone. The first time I played on that song, uh, we cut it on uh Joe Nichols years ago. And when I heard that demo, I was so moved by it. Yeah, I was so moved by that vocal that I begged the producer to send me that demo and it's still in my playlist.

SPEAKER_02 17:35

Boy, he sang this song, this gospel song. Do you know this song Faith Hill recorded? There will come a day. Yes. That we when we wrote that, I got the best vocal out of Bill Luther I think he's ever sang. Like he I know what he's capable of because I I he's the first person that would ever write with me. So we wrote together. We both nobody would write with either one of us. And like, but like he wasn't singing his demos. It's like this is insane. We were they were making him use demo singers, and like he just blows my mind. His voice is so good, like, and so he like I love working with him because I always felt like I could get like a better vocal out of him because I knew what he was capable of, and how to and how to talk to him.

Real Singers Who Communicate

SPEAKER_01 18:21

Yeah, I love his singing. He's so believable. You know, that's what we need are communicators. You know, we got a lot of people who are incredible singers, but the thing we need more of, the communicator, uh, the singer that can really sell it, make you believe every word. And a lot of these young kids, they've come up listening to vocals that have been tuned really hard, uh, a lot of vocals that don't have a whole lot of feeling, and they're singing that way.

SPEAKER_02 18:48

I know, Chris and me talk about they learn to sing like the tuned vocals. Oh, yeah. I don't even understand how they do that.

SPEAKER_01 18:55

Well, they can do it. They've imit they're imitating uh what they've heard. And uh so when you find that's why Zach Topp is so huge right now.

SPEAKER_03 19:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:04

Uh that's why Jake Worthington is so he's gonna be so huge. Um, you know, I could name quite a few. That's why Laney Wilson is so huge. Yeah, they are real singers, they're incredible communicators, and uh they really that's why Vince Gill, when he makes a record, everybody wants to hear it.

SPEAKER_03 19:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:24

Because when Vince sings it, man, you believe every word. And Vince, I can tell you, because you know I've played on so many of his things, all these songs, all these EPs that are coming out. There's a there's a new song on this new EP called Second Hand Smoke. If you haven't heard that, you need to stop what you're doing right now and go find it. Vince Gill, Second Hand Smoke, he wrote it by his dad.

SPEAKER_03 19:46

Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_01 19:46

It's one of the greatest things that he's ever recorded. I told him the other day I think it's the best vocal he's ever gotten.

SPEAKER_02 19:52

Oh, I can't wait to listen to it.

SPEAKER_01 19:54

Unbelievable. It truly is. And I just uh so you know, we've got singers like that. You were talking about Martina a little bit ago.

SPEAKER_02 20:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:02

Every word she sang, I believed.

SPEAKER_02 20:04

Oh, always. She's so good.

SPEAKER_01 20:06

You know, Josh Turner. Think about Jim. Yeah, every word he sang, I I believed. There's a whole lot of people, you know, Shea Mooney. Every word he sings, man, it's just he he's just got talent dripping off of him. I mean, we are very fortunate to have a lot of great singers in this town that communicate well, and that's why that they pop off the radio, they pop off of your phone when you hear them, whatever it is. That's why Blake is so huge.

SPEAKER_02 20:33

Oh, Blake's such a good storyteller. Yes, that old red song. Oh, yeah. I freaking love that song.

SPEAKER_01 20:38

Mac McInally is, you know, I talk about Mac a lot because I tell people if you want to listen to somebody who can tell a story in person to you, to your face, you're sitting at the table having breakfast with him. I love Mac. He's one of my favorite people in the world. But he also, when he sings, he doesn't lose that ability to tell that story.

SPEAKER_03 20:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:59

When he when Mac sings, and a lot of these singers I just mentioned, when they sing, it's almost like they're singing directly to you.

SPEAKER_02 21:04

Yeah, totally. That Tim McGraw's like that.

SPEAKER_01 21:07

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 21:07

Um, I love him as a storyteller, and Kenny Rogers might have been my favorite.

SPEAKER_01 21:12

And Kenny was such a musician's guy, too. Like I remember I work, I got to work with him a few times, and he would come in my room and tell me, man, I love what you did on that second verse. And he knew exactly, I mean, he was paying attention, not just to his singing, he was paying attention to everything we did.

SPEAKER_02 21:29

Oh, he's he's one of my favorite.

SPEAKER_01 21:32

He's dialed in like Reba. Reba's so dialed in. Like everything you do, she hears it all. Like, she's so dialed in. Uh, I had the opportunity to work with Michael Bublet a few weeks back. He's so dialed in. Like, there's a reason why these people are superstars.

SPEAKER_02 21:51

Oh, yeah, big time.

SPEAKER_01 21:52

You know, uh, I remember the first time I worked with Kelly Clarkson. She is so dialed in. Like, I don't know she's such a great. Yeah, I don't understand uh how they are singing everything, but they're also hearing every little nuance from the band. It's it's really really there's something about that.

SPEAKER_02 22:12

Here's a water. You want some water? She brought you one.

SPEAKER_01 22:15

Oh, you're so nice.

SPEAKER_02 22:16

Can I get one?

SPEAKER_01 22:21

Does that make you smarter?

SPEAKER_02 22:23

I drink it because, like, I drink it because I like that. And I got a hat that says math. I always wear it because I think it makes me seem smarter.

SPEAKER_01 22:36

This is live TV, everybody.

SPEAKER_02 22:38

I've got like a question.

SPEAKER_01 22:40

Y'all don't edit this stuff out, do you?

unknown 22:42

We're not editing that out.

SPEAKER_01 22:43

You should never edit any of this stuff. This is awesome.

SPEAKER_02 22:48

Okay, so one thing I love about you, it's a weird thing, but I love how you I love how you hold your hands when you play piano because it's different. It's different. And see, everything I've ever I've done so many things and learned. If you're self-taught, you teach yourself how to do it your way. And so, like, I spent half my middle school grounded because I got a typewriter when I was eight and I taught myself how to type. So I could never type the way that they teach you to.

SPEAKER_03 23:20

Yeah, gotcha.

SPEAKER_02 23:21

And they would just get so mad. And I would always make an F, but I I still was typing. And I hold a pencil wrong and play guitar without a pen. Everything I do, I do a little different. And I I was watching you play, and then I saw you playing on the awards the other night.

SPEAKER_01 23:37

Oh, yeah, the CMAs. Yeah. That was a fun time.

SPEAKER_02 23:39

And that's when I was telling Chris, I was like, Chris was like, Isn't it cool how he died? We were watching you and we were talking about it. And it made me feel good because I totally related because that's the story of my life.

SPEAKER_01 23:52

Yeah, I I uh failed the piano proficiency exam at Belmont the first time I took it because I didn't play with the right fingerings.

SPEAKER_02 23:59

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_01 24:00

And uh yeah, so I was a vocal major because I knew piano would be too hard. So I was a vocal major at Belmont. I failed the piano proficiency exam and I had to work with a um, well, Lori Meacham, who's a jazz piano player around town, unbelievable, one of the most talented jazz piano players I've ever heard. I had to work with her. She taught me to play really slowly the scales with the right fingerings, and so it didn't matter how fast I played them, they failed me because of the fingerings. So the next time I took the exam, I played them as slowly as I could. And uh, but I had to pass that test in order to graduate.

SPEAKER_02 24:37

Oh wow, yeah. So you so you had to do it their way?

SPEAKER_01 24:41

I had to do it their way. But it was funny because a few years later they called and uh told me that I had received what they call the curtain call award. They've given it to anyone who went through the Belmont program who they felt was successful in the business. And I'd I was on a good run and and had, you know, was really starting to gain my footing, and they were very proud of me and they're very kind. And they wanted me to come sing for their showcase, invited Kimberly and I. We went to a sweet reception they had for us. And um Jeff Kirk, who's the saxophone guy at Belmont, came up to me and said, Gordo, man, we're so proud of you. And Jeff was always flying my flag really high and was always such an encourager. And he said, Man, he said, Dr. Landis, now Dr. Landis was the piano uh he was the he ran the uh he was the head of the piano department at Belmont. He said, Dr. Landis is on sabbatical, but he wanted me to congratulate you and he wanted me to ask you how you're doing with those fingerings. Well, he's the guy that failed me.

SPEAKER_02 25:47

Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_01 25:48

And so I said to Jeff and Jess, I regretted it immediately, but it felt good to say it at the time. I said to Jeff, I said, Well, Jeff, uh, you tell Dr. Landis I said hello and ask him how many number one records he's played on lately.

SPEAKER_02 26:03

Oh, I love it.

SPEAKER_01 26:04

I shouldn't have said it. I know I shouldn't have said it, but it just felt really, really good to me.

Being Blind: Senses, Dreams, And Energy

SPEAKER_02 26:07

It just feels good. Like when I first moved to Nashville, some I went to some publishing meetings and I was, I got a deal really young. And um, the crazy thing is, like, I went to one of my first meetings. This guy was like, So you don't sing, I can sing barely, but my dad told me I was tone-deaf growing up, so I did, I was afraid to sing in front of anybody. But he's like, You don't sing, you don't play, I don't get it. I don't understand what you're gonna do. And um, so but I'd written my whole life and I did stay grounded, so I wrote poetry like growing up. I mean, like I I'd written, I think I've probably written more than anybody that's not in a psychiatric hospital. Like, that's all, and I realized pretty quick what we need is the idea in the writing room because like that's you gotta have the idea. I mean, you gotta have the lyric. Like, if I came in with the house that built me and you and me were writing, we would knock it out of the park because that idea, you know what I mean? You can just dig into it. Like, I think. Do you think being blind makes you better of a musician?

SPEAKER_01 27:14

I don't know. I think you know, people will ask me, do you think you hear better because you're blind? I'm not sure that's true, but I think maybe I use my hearing more because I have to depend on it more. It's like any muscle that you use more. You know, if you're in the workout room all the time, you're using those muscles, uh, you're working out. You know, people can tell that you I think being blind, it's kind of the same, uh, it's kind of the same thing because I don't have my sight to depend on. I have to use all my other senses more. And so they are used to being used.

SPEAKER_03 27:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:51

And uh they're, you know, I do they're used to being depended on. And so I think I've learned how to use them better and more. So I think that would be the thing. I'm not sure that God gave me better hearing because I couldn't see. I think maybe he's just taught me how to depend on everybody.

SPEAKER_02 28:07

Well, God definitely gave you a gift because it ain't normal to be like you're, you know, a little kid and just surprise everybody playing that. I mean, that's that's unreal. Like, I can't imagine with our kids if I just heard heard one of them in there playing something, and I real I mean, they all play and they're amazing musicians, but I can't imagine at that age. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 28:29

Like town is such a I mean, it's such a musician's town. You know, we all inspire each other. I mean, I am so inspired by guys like Brian Sutton and and Paul Franklin, who won the CMA musician of the year, and it's about time. This is his 33rd time to be nominated. Can you believe he's never won it?

SPEAKER_02 28:48

Well, Shane McInally texted me and he was telling me, like, he was telling me about that. I did not know that until then. He was like, we need to spread the word how many times he's been nominated.

SPEAKER_01 29:00

And, you know, it's great that he won it, but he's already in the country music hall of fame. You know, so he's he doesn't have anything to prove, but I'm glad that this town finally uh gave him that award. Uh there's no one in our business that deserves it more than Paul. Um, I love him so much. He's so I'm inspired by guys like him and guys like Brian Sutton. And, you know, I could name just about every musician I work with. You mentioned Bukovic a while ago. I love Tom. There's every musician that I work with is so inspiring to me. And not only their musicianship, but their kind-heartedness. This town, people don't realize it's a family.

SPEAKER_02 29:44

Always, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:45

And it's it's a lot smaller than you think, and people really do care about each other. And I hope that the young kids coming up, because I don't see that in the young ones like I do in the generation that I was before, and we learned from them. But because the world's changed so much. The people they they use social media to talk and they use there's not as much face-to-face, you know. And I don't see there are some of the young ones I see that in, but I don't see it in as many of them as I wish I did. I hope that our community in 20 years is close like we are now.

SPEAKER_02 30:25

Yeah, that's the thing with our kid. I see with our kids, like, because they do music and I can really tell how upset they are about AI. I mean, there's that thing about 10,000 hours to like master something. And now people are doing these demos with Suno and it's horrible. It's awful. Like I just can't even hardly deal with it. We wrote a song last week um with Hillary Lindsay and Troy Virgis, and and we like when we finished it, they wanted to do a demo. Well, we were all arguing because they were they were doing a demo with like an AI voice, and I was I was just like, we need to pitch this to Kenny with the guitar vocal. I don't care if it's perfect, you know what I mean? And neither will he. And he passed on it, but I'm convinced he passed on it because of that AI voice.

SPEAKER_01 31:16

Could be, and you know, as a producer, I'd rather hear it just a guitar vocal. Me too. I'd rather hear a piano vocal or a guitar vocal. I'm listening to the song, you know. I think a lot of times we try to spoon feed the producers. A lot of times the demo is really, really good. I remember, and there are some really good demos. I remember when we cut Hillbilly Bone on Blake Shelton and Trace. And I remember Scott Hendricks heard the demo. He's like, wow, I wouldn't change hardly anything about that. We just need to do it better. We just need better sounds, we just need to do it better. But he ended up getting some of those guitar parts as a stem because that was such a great ciglic. You know, and it was just so great. And uh, of course, you know, Craig Wiseman, you know, he had a little part on there too, and it was so nobody could play it like him, you know, nobody could play it like him. So Scott got the stems. Sometimes the demo will win it for you, but a lot of times, most of the time, it's all about the song and and just, you know, as a producer, I want to be able to dream. I don't want to be, I don't want to be uh to the left or to the right. I don't want to be, you know, influenced by a demo. I just want to be able to hear it with a clean slate and figure out what I want to do with it and how my artist because I mean if you're pitching to an artist, then you can pitch it kind of like they might record it or whatever. But some songs may not be for the artist you think they're for. Yes. As a songwriter, I can say that maybe it's ahead of its time, maybe it needs to, you know, marinate for five or ten years. But at some point, if the song is gonna win, it's gonna win. You can't stop it. So if you do something that's timeless, like a guitar vocal or a piano vocal, that song's got a really good shot.

SPEAKER_02 33:04

So oh yeah, I agree.

SPEAKER_01 33:06

Hillary Lindsay is one of the finest singers in this town.

SPEAKER_02 33:09

I was like, maybe we should just let you sing it. Goodness gracious.

SPEAKER_01 33:12

She can sing Mary Had a Little Lamb, but I'd think it's she's my favorite girl singer.

Blind Dreams

SPEAKER_02 33:16

She's unbelievable. She, I mean, she blows my mind. And and I was like, it doesn't matter if it's in a lower key. You know what I mean? When you said that about dream a minute ago, um, it made me think about. I was I had all these questions written down. I've been so curious about like like what when you dream at night, what how are your dreams?

SPEAKER_01 33:37

They're like my real life. So I've never been able to see, so I don't see anything in my dreams. Anything that I dream is using all the senses that I use in real life. Now, here's something interesting. If someone has lost their sight, but they had sight at one time, they can see in their dreams.

SPEAKER_02 34:01

Do you think being blind makes you better of a musician?

SPEAKER_01 34:05

I don't know. I think so. I don't see, but if you talk to somebody who used to see, they can see in their dreams.

SPEAKER_02 34:12

So do you when you dream, is it like audio and like and like smell, taste? You have smells in your dreams. Sure. See, we I don't have smells in my dreams.

SPEAKER_00 34:23

Yeah, of course.

SPEAKER_02 34:24

I I love like I love when I can remember my dreams because I don't remember them much.

Camp Stories

SPEAKER_01 34:28

Well, I don't remember too many of them either, but I don't I've never seen anything in a dream. But like I say, people who have lost their sight, they can see in their dreams, and that's pretty cool for them.

SPEAKER_02 34:38

Okay, so when right out of high school, I worked at this camp, Easter Sills Camp. And so I was in the pool, like every every week we would have different campers. And I was in the pool, and there was this little boy in the pool. I've just love I just love this kid. And so um he was blind, and when we're swimming, he came over to me and he's he's like I'm floating through the clouds in the water. And I was like, I wonder what he's imagining, like the clouds are. I I just was fascinated. And then he said, he said, are you white or black? That's all and I was like, I'm white. And he goes, Well, I'm black, but he was white too. And it was like, so then he came over and he wanted to fill my hair, but we had the best conversation, and I I was just fascinated, I was just fascinated, especially with the clouds. You know what I mean? Like, because it yeah, I would imagine like floating through the cloud. That's perfect way to describe it.

SPEAKER_01 35:43

Sure. Well, it's interesting, you know, people have tried to explain colors and they've tried to explain the the, you know, and and some of that I kind of understand, but at the end of the day, I really don't care.

SPEAKER_02 35:53

Yeah, exactly. You know, because that's not the way I'm you're not in that, you're that don't you it don't matter.

SPEAKER_01 35:59

No, not really.

SPEAKER_02 35:59

And so I'm curious too about vibes and energy. Like, so when you meet somebody, like, because they there's that quote. I don't know if you've ever heard about your vibe enters the room before you do. Like, so when you when you walk in a room, you can sum it up pretty quick.

SPEAKER_01 36:16

I can actually. I've been told that I can.

SPEAKER_02 36:19

Yeah.

Good Vibes at the Studio And Good Work Ethic

SPEAKER_01 36:19

Um, and I try to, when I walk into a room, I try to bring everything positive to a room. Yeah. I want if I'm producing or if I'm just playing or whatever, I've always said, you know, I don't care if people say, Oh, he was a killer keyboard player, or he was a killer singer, or producer, or whatever. Uh, you know, because there's tons of talent in this town. What I really hope they say is, man, he was good for the room.

SPEAKER_02 36:45

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 36:46

He was a great hang, or I really enjoyed him, or he always made me feel special, or whatever.

SPEAKER_02 36:52

I'll tell you what I've heard about you. Uh-oh.

SPEAKER_01 36:55

That I've can we say this on camera?

SPEAKER_02 36:57

It was so good. It I've heard this multiple times. You're a joy to be around.

SPEAKER_01 37:04

Well, God bless them.

SPEAKER_02 37:05

I mean, that like you couldn't really get much more of a compliment than than a joy to be around. Like, and Bukavac and and Chris, like when they talk about you and they were telling me something about like how I don't really know how to describe it, but like how you can tell space and stuff by snapping or yeah, I just walk around and kind of snap my fingers.

SPEAKER_01 37:27

That's amazing to me. Just see what, see what's what's around. And you know, like if I'm gonna do get a vocal, a lot of times I want to walk in the room where they're where the engineer thinks they're gonna put the singer and kind of snap and walk around it to make sure that I'm not gonna hear uh on the vocal, I'm not gonna hear glass or I'm not gonna hear like I want it to be, I want it to be like I want it to be. In some rooms you just have to do the best you can. You know, I can listen to well before they started using so many samples and pocketing everything, I could listen to a record and tell you where the drums were cut.

SPEAKER_02 38:05

Oh wow, are you serious? Like the studio where the other one is.

SPEAKER_01 38:08

I could tell you what piano it was, because I played them all, but I could tell you, you know, and I could tell you who was playing. And now, you know, not in every case, but in a lot of cases, they've lined us up so much that there's a lot that you can't tell anymore. But and I think it's coming back the other way. You know, I talked to Justin Nebank about this the other day. Justin, for those of you watching, Justin is one of the real he's just one of the most talented people that I know in this town. He's a great mixed engineer. When he is tracking, it it's so inspiring. Guys like him and Chuck Ainley and Jeff Balding, Drew Bowman. Uh, I mean, I could name so many great this town is so full of great engineers. Anyway, it I just I'm so in awe of what they do and they inspire us to make great music. We're always better when our headphones sound good and when we can hear what we want to hear. And you go into the control room and you hear a playback and you think, Wow, I'm glad I came to work today. You know, I sound pretty good, you know, whatever. But Justin was telling me, you know, I was asking him, I I I told him uh I felt I felt like the music business was coming back. Yeah. Real, real musicians and real tones and feel like my daughter was talking about music.

SPEAKER_02 39:27

You can feel music. That's what's wrong with the AI stuff. You don't feel it. And it can only do things that have been done before.

SPEAKER_01 39:34

That's exactly right. They're taking our samples, taking what we've done, but there's nothing like a bunch of guys in a room feeding off each other and their heart in the in the instrument. Let me tell you, this is why the great artists that we all grew up listening to still sell out arenas.

SPEAKER_02 39:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 39:56

Uh, we were talking before we went to Tape about the group Alabama.

SPEAKER_03 39:59

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 40:00

I do a few shows with them each year, about 30 shows. Love those guys, got to work with them in the studios, started touring with them about five years ago, six years ago. I've always loved Teddy and Randy. Loved Jeff. Uh everybody misses Jeff. But, you know, that was the soundtrack of my life. But the reason they still sell out arenas, uh, no, they hadn't had a hit in a long time. They had 43 number one hits, so they do about two hours and can only do about half of their hits. Every song they play is a number one song. People are singing in the audience, but the reason that they sell out arenas is because that's real music.

SPEAKER_02 40:35

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 40:35

And you feel it, and you you want to go see real music, you go see George Strait. Uh, you know, he's packing stadiums. You know, anytime uh when James Taylor can come to a town every year or every two years and sell out.

SPEAKER_02 40:49

Fire and rain's my favorite song. Unbelievable. What's your favorite song?

SPEAKER_01 40:53

Happy birthday. No, I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 40:56

Happy birthday's hard to sing. Do you think it's I can never start it right on happy birthday.

Gordans favorite records

SPEAKER_01 41:02

I don't know what song my favorite song is. Honestly, I I'd never have thought about that. I I'm not sure. Um, I'm not even sure what my favorite song I've written is or my play. I don't know. That that's a really good question. That's gonna be my homework assignment.

SPEAKER_02 41:19

Yeah, it's like it's hard. They change too.

SPEAKER_01 41:22

But I know, I know what my favorite some of my favorite records are.

SPEAKER_02 41:26

What?

SPEAKER_01 41:27

Okay, so Diana Kroll's version of Superstar is unbelievable. Um, let's see. Now I'm on the spot and I'm trying to think. Uh, one of the finest country records made in the 21st century is a song called Right Now With You, Mo Pitney.

SPEAKER_02 41:47

Okay, I don't know that, so I'm gonna have to listen to that.

SPEAKER_01 41:50

I think that is I didn't even I didn't play on that, had nothing to do with that record that was produced by Jim Moose Brown, and Mo sings the crap out of it. He wrote it, of course. I love Scotty Emmerich.

SPEAKER_02 42:01

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 42:02

Uh song called The Watch.

SPEAKER_02 42:04

I saw him the other night at the BMIs.

SPEAKER_01 42:07

If I could sing like anybody, it would be like Scotty Emmerich.

SPEAKER_02 42:10

Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_01 42:11

I love his voice. I love talk about communicating. Are you kidding me? He is so amazing. Uh, like I'm talking about production and everything, these records. There's an artist called Butterfly Boucher.

SPEAKER_02 42:23

Oh, yeah, I know that already.

SPEAKER_01 42:27

Every time I hear that song, it's about it, it's almost like reading the Bible. You every time you read the Bible, you read a verse of scripture, you find something new. Whenever I listen to that song, I hear something new. I'm like, oh my gosh, I didn't notice that.

SPEAKER_02 42:39

Is that about life and death in in between?

SPEAKER_01 42:41

It's like it's like, yeah, it's kind of that. And it's like you're driving on the road, you know, and uh it's yeah, it's all of that. You you should go back and listen to it. It's called now. Another white dash, butterfly boucher. So yeah, I could name a few, uh, you know, a few others too that I think are like, okay, if I, you know, these are perfect, what I call perfect records. That Dinah Krawl thing, that vocal is so in your face, every note of that arrangement is killer, the strings, the way they built that, the microphone they use, the pre, the the just everything about that mix is just so perfect. You know, like and all these records that I'm that I'm mentioning, like that's what turns me on about them, not only how great the song is, but the production value. And just so, you know, I get turned on by that too. Uh there's a song called Love Lives On by uh Mallory Howe. Yes, yes. I think Mallory's one of the best singers in this town. And um, you know, she's she is quite the communicator. I produced a song on her called Come Home to the Water that I think is great.

SPEAKER_02 43:49

I'm gonna have a whole list of songs to listen to.

SPEAKER_01 43:52

A Amy Amy Grant said, You know what you need to do? You need to send me a song every week that I can listen to.

SPEAKER_02 44:00

I'm gonna make a list tonight for sure.

SPEAKER_01 44:02

She so I uh every now and then I'll text her a song and say, okay, check this out. This is really, really good. You know, we're all looking for that palate cleanser. Like we're all looking for what's gonna renew our faith in this.

Atlas The Seeing Eye Dog: Training And Heroics

SPEAKER_02 44:19

I got the weirdest question. Well, I got a crazy question.

SPEAKER_00 44:22

I'm ready.

SPEAKER_02 44:22

Okay, have you ever had a CI dog?

SPEAKER_00 44:25

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 44:26

I love I want to know about that dog. Okay, so I graduated so much.

SPEAKER_01 44:30

I do too. We we have dogs now. We well, we have one dog. We had to put our little one down a couple months ago. She was Kimberly was 15? Was Sadie 15?

SPEAKER_02 44:40

What kind?

SPEAKER_01 44:41

She was a little cava-poo. My sweet wife is off camera.

SPEAKER_02 44:45

Yes, Kimberly.

SPEAKER_01 44:47

But she's so beautiful. She should be in the shot. And you should just hear my voice. Well, her voice is prettier than mine, too, honestly. But uh, but Kimberly's here with me. But yeah, we have, but now we still have Cooper, our golden retriever. He's 10 and he's awesome. But I had a seeing eye dog. I graduated in '88 from Emma Sandsom High School in Gadston.

SPEAKER_02 45:07

Oh, my dad went to Emma Sansome. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 45:09

And now it's Gadston City. They put Gadston High, Litchfield, and Emma Sandsom together, made Gadston City High School.

SPEAKER_02 45:14

And it's a big school, right?

SPEAKER_01 45:15

It's a huge school, yeah. But I had a seeing eye dog. I'd flown on one plane. I'd been to the Bahamas with our Emma Sandsom High School marching band. We went for a competition in the spring. So I'd flown one time there and back, but I'd never flown by myself. I flew by myself to Morristown, New Jersey, actually flew into Newark, and it was like two hours before they got there to pick me up. And the guy that picked me up said, Gordon Mott. And I was like, close enough. So I went with him, you know, and so they kept saying, uh, they kept saying, talk some more. We want to hear you talk. You got the craziest accent we've ever heard, you know. And so I thought, man, if my dog doesn't understand Southern language, uh Southern accent, I'm in, I'm gonna be in trouble. But um, Atlas was my seeing eye dog's name. And so I got my seeing eye dog, I trained with him for four weeks, brought him home, did some mobility training, and I enrolled at Jacksonville State University where I was on scholarship uh in the music program. And so Atlas was a really good What kind of dog was he? He was a yellow lab.

SPEAKER_02 46:21

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_01 46:22

And so he was great because people didn't feel so uncomfortable to approach me because everyone loves dogs.

SPEAKER_02 46:31

Everybody, I love I'm obsessed with dogs. Our dogs third. Well, we got two dogs. Girlfriend is my dog, really, and she's 13. She's blind in one eye and or had it removed. And then she's deaf and she's had cancer three times. She's a little survivor.

SPEAKER_01 46:47

I think Kimberly thinks I'm deaf sometimes. I just don't hear it.

SPEAKER_02 46:50

Chris too, Chris too.

SPEAKER_01 46:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 46:52

But so I just love dogs, and it's funny, you'll there's these little vests, like emotional support dogs. Oh, yeah. I'm thinking every dog is an that's what a dog is, is an emotional support like to everybody.

SPEAKER_01 47:05

Yeah, I agree. I I love dogs too.

SPEAKER_02 47:07

And what all did it do? Like, what all did the like I don't know anything about it when you're doing it?

SPEAKER_01 47:12

Well, you could use hand you could hit hand gestures and voice commands, and like he knew how to watch out for me, and he would help me get where I needed to go. He would learn these routes, and I would have to learn them too, but he was such a help. You know, some people use a white cane, but the seeing eye dogs are so incredibly smart, and he would do so many things. He saved my life a couple of times.

SPEAKER_02 47:38

Really? How?

SPEAKER_01 47:39

Well, one time we were in um New Jersey, and this guy ran a red light and almost hit us, and Atlas jerked me out of the way. Oh my god. Like with incredible force. And then another time it was raining really hard. I was crossing the street, about to cross the street to my apartment from the music building at Jacksonville State, and uh this uh car I guess lost control a little bit, hydroplane maybe or something. Anyway, almost hit us. I felt the heat from the car. Atlas almost picked me up off the ground. Like it was amazing with the force he had, jerked me out of the way just in time. Like I don't know how they tr teach him how to do that. I I don't know what that is, but I believe he saved my life twice.

SPEAKER_02 48:28

I think he did. It sounds like he did. Like, well, there's I read once that I don't know if this is true, but I read that a hundred people it could be a week because it sounds a little much for a day, but I I read that a hundred people get hit by a car every day in New York City. That seems a little much. Maybe it was a week, but I mean, when I see somebody with one of the sticks in New York, I'm just like, how in the I how in the world, you know, and especially with you touring all the time. I mean, like you're somewhere you hadn't been all the time. That's gotta be nuts. I but I was always curious about like a C and I dog because you know they got dogs that do everything. My friend's daughter um has epilepsy and they they know they know unbelievable.

SPEAKER_01 49:17

I don't know how they know, but that is crazy. I think that's great though.

SPEAKER_02 49:21

Like, so how long did you have Atlas?

SPEAKER_01 49:23

I had him uh he was 12 when he passed away. Yeah. So I got him in '88 and he died uh late in '98. So I had him about 10 years. Oh, wow. He was a year and a half when I got him. It's interesting about the seeing eye, it's a wonderful thing. It's interesting. He was ready for the class of students before my class, but he wasn't a good match for any of those students, so they held him out. How did they match? Well, they get everybody, they get tons of people in your world to write letters about you.

SPEAKER_02 49:56

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_01 49:57

And they have, and uh Atlas loved music. And when I would play the piano, he would go lay under the piano and go to sleep. He loved music and he loved, he was very, he had a sense of humor. I didn't know they did all this.

SPEAKER_02 50:12

I did not know they did all this.

Seeing Eye Dog Stories

SPEAKER_01 50:13

Well, I didn't really either until I got into it. But like he, when it would rain or be really muddy, if he was in one of those moods where he just wanted to play, he would, when we would hit a puddle, or he would walk for the water and then like jump and get me all wet. Like just a goof off. Like he just loved to play.

SPEAKER_02 50:33

Joking around.

SPEAKER_01 50:34

Yeah. Like that was his little personality. Uh, when Kimberly and I started dating, he didn't know what to think about her at first. But then, of course, I was he jealous? Well, a little, but then quickly, quickly, he became her dog and not mine.

SPEAKER_02 50:51

Yeah, that's what's great about dogs.

SPEAKER_01 50:53

You like she she would give him a treat and she would do things and make she played very unfairly and got his allegiance, you know. But before we would go to bed, if he wasn't ready for bed, he would go grab toys and would want to play like every night. It was we always knew we couldn't go right to bed because he it was time to play. He was not having it.

SPEAKER_02 51:16

That's what I love. Like our dog girlfriend, like she would grab the first thing she could see, like when we come in. She still likes to play. She's 13, so like she she still likes to play, though. She's a little trip, she's the craziest dog I've ever known. And then Batman are he's like a fat black pug, and all he cares about is food. I don't even think that dog, all he's we have a lot in common. Yeah, he just looks like is she gonna feed me? I think she's gonna like that's all he ever thinks about. He's always sniffing, like if thinking he's gonna get food, but like and a pug can't sneak up on you. No, no, no. Yeah, and girlfriend snores so bad, like now that she's older. Yeah, and um, but I just love dogs so much. And I was working on a book about losing your dog, and then I stopped twice because that's when girlfriend got cancer, and I'm like, I'm gonna stop this. I feel like I'm bringing some weird stuff into my life. Right. But I was doing a bunch of research and I got way into stuff about CI dogs. Like I love Helen Keller, like when Lola had to play, they did a little play thing and they could pick their female. And I was like, I what we watched that movie, the Miracle Worker movie.

SPEAKER_00 52:28

Oh, sure.

SPEAKER_02 52:28

And like I was like, you have to you have to see this movie. I wanted her to pick her person, but being from you're you know, we're both from Alabama. Like, I just always loved her, but the way she talked about her dog and her relationship with her dog, I was so fascinated. Yeah, but she she kind of blew my mind a little bit. Like that movie's so good.

SPEAKER_01 52:51

It is, and uh, we actually uh Kimberly and I saw it, we saw the play in Tuscumbia, Helen Keller's hometown, and that was really cool. The local uh theater put it on, and uh it was really neat because those people are so bought into the story of Helen Keller and having been around that tradition. She's a hero. Yeah, she is, she is definitely that. And the city of Tuscumbia is very proud of her. We uh I actually was the grand marshal for the for the Helen Keller festival that year. You were?

SPEAKER_02 53:22

I didn't even know this. I love her, I know so much about her. Just I'm fascinated by the whole story, and I think you were talking about God putting people in your life and all that. Like that Anne lady that that worked with her, I I don't know the story, but you might about her brother, like her brother, like he was deaf. So like she knew all kinds of things and she wanted to help Helen Keller communicate, and it would, they were just lined up. God put them in each other's life.

SPEAKER_01 53:54

And if you haven't read the book, if you're out there and you haven't read read about Helen Keller, it it's a really encouraging story. I think she wrote it with someone.

SPEAKER_02 54:03

I'm gonna see if she might have narrated something because she's a great writer. She was a great writer.

SPEAKER_01 54:08

Uh, you know, she could talk. People don't know that, but uh if you don't know, you don't. But there are some audio clips of her speaking.

SPEAKER_02 54:15

Oh, yeah, shit. Oh, sorry. I forgot. I forgot. I have heard her talk, but I forgot she wouldn't have been doing the audiobook and it's in my head, like somebody great did that audio book, but I don't remember.

SPEAKER_01 54:28

Yeah, and I don't remember either, but yeah, it is a really it's a well-known uh voice that does it.

SPEAKER_02 54:34

Yeah, yeah, because I remember liking it.

SPEAKER_01 54:36

Yeah, it was you listen to mini audiobooks. I listen to books all the time.

SPEAKER_02 54:39

Okay, I'm gonna give you my book. Oh, I'd love to. Yeah, I'm gonna email it to you.

SPEAKER_01 54:43

Please do.

SPEAKER_02 54:44

It's got a lot of cussing in it, though, but I feel bad about that a little bit. But the only word I don't like is GD. Now I'm cool with the rest of them.

SPEAKER_01 54:54

It's equal, equal cuss word user. Yeah. But uh I I love I love to read. That's just a good escape for me to kind of get. I'm a huge sports fan, and so you know, listening to a game kind of gets me to where, you know, it's it's funny because so many of the arrangements that I've come up with as a producer or even a hook for a song that maybe I heard a demo for and I know we're gonna cut it on an artist. Sometimes the best hooks or the best arrangement ideas or whatever I come up with when I'm not even trying. Like I'm out on my Screened in Porch listening to a Braves game or listening to an Alabama game. I I remember one of the coolest little hooks I came up with. I was listening to Vanderbilt baseball in the College World Series, and this little hook came to my mind for this tune. And I just made sure I recorded on my iPhone and then I was good. But like when my mind is just able to relax and not be thinking about it, is when I come up with some of the best stuff I come up with. And uh so reading a book or listening to old radio shows, which I collect. I'm a collector of old-time radio shows, listening to games, listening to books. Oh yeah, I'm I'm a a lot of times, you know, people say, How much music do you listen to? Well, I listen to more music than I used to, and if I'm being honest, but I still what I listen to mostly is, you know, any game. I'm a huge football, basketball, baseball fan, but I love books. I love uh, you know, all those kinds of things, dramatized, you know, radio shows and things like that. But I'm just so grateful now with podcasts, I listen to so many podcasts. There's so much out there that's really well done.

SPEAKER_02 56:39

And so uh I've gotten to where I can't like watch TV shows. I don't care about them because I've gotten way into podcasts.

Blind Tech That Levels The Field: Movies, iPhones And Glasses

SPEAKER_01 56:46

You know what's interesting about television now is uh you know, there's so many providers. You've got Prime, you've got Netflix, you've got Apple TV, you've got Paramount Plus, you've got Peacock, you've got all, you know, there's so with all that, there needs to be content because there's so many outlets for content. But one of the great things, you know, with um uh you know HBO Max, you've got all those wrapped into one Disney Plus, all the things. What I am so grateful for is so many of those platforms now have audio described movies and shows. And so for me, that is incredible because used to my audio describer was Kimberly. You know, we we would watch a movie and she would be telling me what, but now she can kind of watch it and not have to talk so much. Oh, I love that because of the audio description. But now sometimes the audio descriptions are so descriptive. Yeah, sometimes they are like, would you please turn that off?

SPEAKER_02 57:42

I've got my I've got mine stuck on it before. Like if we couldn't figure out how to work the remote. Yeah. And the first time I the first time I heard it, I was like, what is what's going on? But sometimes they're good, it's just like overdubs of voices from Europe or or Russia or whatever.

SPEAKER_01 58:00

It can be, or it can be America. You know, they a lot of them do it, but uh like if you're an Xfinity user, you can talk to your remote and say, turn audio description on or turn audio description off. If you're an Apple user, you can set up your side button on your Apple TV remote to triple click. You can go into the settings and set it to where if you triple click it, it turns audio description on or off. Or you can tell Siri if it's an Apple, uh if you're watching an Apple created program, it'll turn it on and off. But now if you're watching, say, HBO Max or Disney Plus or one of those things, you actually have to go into the menu and find it and turn it off. Not within the menu of the Apple TV itself or whatever you're using, but in the menu of that television show, it'll say sub audio and subtitles, and that's where you find it.

SPEAKER_02 58:52

So, what technology-wise, what do you think is the coolest thing like that made your life easier?

SPEAKER_00 58:58

My iPhone is pretty killer.

SPEAKER_02 59:00

How does it work? What do you do? Like, do you do you like I was texting you?

SPEAKER_01 59:04

I'm gonna turn my I'm gonna take my glasses off.

SPEAKER_02 59:07

Those glasses are kind of magic too, right? They do tricky stuff.

SPEAKER_01 59:13

Yeah, see, it's telling me. I've got I've got messages, I've got uh the varsity network just told me that the Alabama game is about to start.

SPEAKER_02 59:22

You know more about the channels than anybody I know, like about HBL Max and Peacock and all the channels.

SPEAKER_01 59:29

But I can do anything on my phone, and of course I have uh I have a compute, I have computers and I have you were telling Chris you type. Yeah. I mean, I'm I I'm a really good typer.

SPEAKER_02 59:39

You're a way better typer than me, I bet.

SPEAKER_01 59:41

I don't know about that, but I'm a really good typer. I'm so grateful for technology because it's really leveled the playing ground.

SPEAKER_02 59:47

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 59:48

Four-sided people and blind people. The internet, you know, I can find pretty much whatever I need.

SPEAKER_02 59:54

What's the best thing?

SPEAKER_01 59:55

What's the best thing?

SPEAKER_02 59:56

Yeah, like the that you think's the coolest best thing about technology of the last maybe 10 years or so.

Meta Glasses Test

SPEAKER_01 1:00:02

I think Apple's done a really good job with their accessibility, you know, because uh, you know, we can just carry an iPhone around with us. It's like having a personal computer. Yeah. You know, I don't even carry a computer with me when I travel these days. Hardly ever. I carry a Bluetooth keyboard if I know I'm gonna be typing a lot. But you know, with Siri, you can say whatever you want to. And of course, these Meta glasses, not only do they do well, not only do they make me look really cool and handsome, but uh, but they, you know, they get like uh I can ask it like um, okay, I'm gonna I'm gonna face you, Amy. Uh hey Meta. What am I looking at? Took a picture.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:41

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:43

I'm looking at a person sitting in a blue chair with a microphone in front of them. There's a red curtain behind you and a large light source to the right.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:51

Oh my gosh, that's amazing. It's so it's describing everything to you.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:56

Yeah. And I can there are so many things like in a hotel room, uh, it'll tell you where the thermostat is, what the thermostat set on, like all these things that might be difficult for a blind person now with this. Like when you get in those showers and hotels, yeah, you have those soap and you've got body wash, you've got uh conditioner, you got shampoo. Well, how would a blind person know which is which? Now I can use my glasses, I can step in the shower, I can ask my glasses to tell me which one's which, and it'll tell me.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:28

Oh my gosh. What's so what's the coolest thing in those glasses? That is it telling you when you go in a room like like the shampoo. It's little things.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:37

I can say, yeah, I can I can ask it pretty much anything. It'll read a menu. A lot of restaurants don't have braille uh braille menus, and maybe your friends will read it to you, and no one's ever not read it, they always read it. But what if they're trying to figure their thing out? Well, I can read it and it's pretty cool. Also, you when you want coffee in your hotel room, you don't want to drink decaf. That's a waste of time. It'll tell you which one's which. I mean, there's so many things that these things do. I use them every day. They also have a killer camera, so a lot of times on my social, if you're not following me on social media, I'm gonna be at Official Gordon Mode on Instagram. I've got we've got Facebook, we've got all the things. We've got a TikTok channel, and a lot of times I'll just walk around the city with a friend and just show you what we see. Oh, I love it. And take questions and uh all the things. But uh yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:32

Do you do much social media? So it sounds like, see, I gotta get better about it. Like, I didn't check my messages on Facebook, and then I decided to check them and I responded, and this lady was like, You sound real nice, but I don't know what you're talking about. It was it was from 2011 what I was responding to. That is so fantastic. And then I let my daughter check them all, and then she was like, It's so crazy because this guy used to date, and that was a long time ago because Chris and me have been together 26 years, but this guy used to date read the book, and um he was saying some stuff about that he liked it, and then Lola was like, Thanks, leave a review.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:11

Yes, that's awesome.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:13

But she responded to people, and then everybody messaged back, so it made the whole thing worse that I hadn't responded because then they're thinking I'm being rude.

Gordans Instagram Series

SPEAKER_01 1:03:23

I'm not the best at responding. I just forget, I don't mean to, but I get so busy and I but we we put some fun stuff, we try to just make people smile, we put some fun stuff out. We've got a couple series that we do on Instagram, like uh, I've got a series called In the Moment, where I just sit down at a piano and play whatever comes to my head.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:41

Oh, I love that.

Gordans Views for the World

SPEAKER_01 1:03:42

We have a series called the Four Note Challenge that we will start again in January, but we had some really good ones last year. We had, you know, they'll give me four notes and I'll write a song based on those four notes using those four notes in succession. Like we had some really good ones. We had Vince, we had Brad Paisley, we had we had quite a few uh musicians, studio musicians. Next year, we've got some really cool ones that we've already got in the can. One of the funniest ones we have for next year is the Michael Bublet one. I can't wait for people to see that one. But um, and then we we do I do several series and then we just do some some uh one-offs talking about different things, but we just try to make people laugh and try to bring a little joy. There's so much crap out there, so much darkness, so much hopelessness. And uh so my job, I think, is just to bring a smile to people's face.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:33

You're so inspirational. That's one another thing people always talk about. Like that you're just so inspirational and you're like just a positive influence on everything.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:43

That's what I think we all need to strive to be because there's so much, you know, it's all about loving people, making people feel loved and needed. I heard somebody say a while back, you are what you need.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:54

Oh, I love that.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:54

And uh I really do too. And I think uh if we want to be loved and cherished and appreciated and seen, other people want to be that too. And so we just need to be um very intentional about how we treat people. I think that's really, really important, especially in the shape the world's in today. I think there's so much division, and I think we spend so much time talking about the things that divide us when in all especially politics.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:28

I think they're so dumb.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:30

Everything. But I think there's more that unites us than divides us. Me too. And I think if we can concentrate on those things, we can talk about the things that divide us, but at the end of the day, are we friends or are we not? We are so we can disagree. That's what makes this nation so amazing. We have freedom freedom of speech, freedom to say what we feel. But I think that freedom should stop when it offends like I don't I may not believe what you believe, but I don't want to offend. You personally.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:00

Yeah. It's people can believe different things. That's okay. Yeah. Like, I was going to tell you, Chris was saying that we just had our piano tuned. Will you play a song? Sure. Um, like I need to find him because he's gonna want to see it too. Like he was he was saying, you can see if Gordon wants to play, and he mic'd it up just in case. Um, what are you gonna play? What's your wife's favorite song?

SPEAKER_01 1:06:23

I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:24

That's hard. I guess the one you wrote for me.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:28

Yeah, I could do that. I could sing the song I wrote for her. I wrote a song about her called If They Could See You Through My Eyes.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:34

Oh, I love that.

Can't see my Wife

SPEAKER_01 1:06:35

And uh, you know, people would they always say, Your wife is so beautiful. I wish you could see her. And so that song is kind of the answer to it.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:44

Oh, I love that. That's so good. That's so good. You're probably proud of yourself when you came up with that. That is really good.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:54

Well, uh, you know, it's probably the best song I've ever written. I've I've been fortunate to write a few, but I that's my favorite uh that I've ever written because it's my favorite subject matter. Oh, I love it.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:05

Chris and me will probably be watching some of those videos you're talking about tonight.

What a blind man hears during tennis

SPEAKER_01 1:07:08

Oh, yeah, go on Instagram. There's a there's one that went viral. I was just being a fool. There's one of me doing my imitation of what a blind guy hears when tennis is on, what a blind guy sees when tennis is on television.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:20

What is it?

SPEAKER_01 1:07:21

It's just me making tennis noises. And it got it's it's up to 4.6 million views. And it's almost it's at four point something on TikTok too. It's just crazy silly.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:32

I freaking love that. That's how like on my it's funny how the algorithms work. Like all my like videos, the kids were on there, they're all like dancing. Like I love to watch dancing, and then um, especially like if it's somebody old, super old or like their little kids, or and then I love to watch the animal, the crazy things animals do. Have you ever well, there's a video. Have you ever heard about this video about the dog like that that failed that you know it was one, it wasn't a C and I dog, it was this dog trying to do the police stuff, but it failed every test, and it was so. Have you seen that in the movie?

SPEAKER_03 1:08:13

I would love to see it.

Seeing Eye Dog Stories Part 2

SPEAKER_02 1:08:14

Send it to I was send it to me. Yeah, it's so funny because this dog, like, it just failed every like there was a guy, it was a dog that was supposed to help somebody in a wheelchair, and it was just dragging the wheelchair. I love dragging the wheelchair through the room, and then every single thing they were trying to teach that dog, like it just did it wrong, and it's so funny. That is so cute. That is so but those dogs, those police dogs, they're always German Shepherds. I didn't know the CNI dogs were like golden retrievers.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:48

They could be golden retrievers and yellow labs and German Shepherds, and like there was even in our class, there was someone who had a boxer.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:55

Were you super close to your dog?

SPEAKER_01 1:08:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:57

Atlas that's a good name. Did you name it?

SPEAKER_01 1:09:00

No, he was named when I when we got him.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:02

That's a cool name.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:04

All of that particular uh that mom and dad had several dogs and they were all A names.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:11

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:12

A Asteroid, Atlas.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:14

Those are good names.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:16

I just never knew the thing about how they match you with the right dog. I mean, that's really good about people writing letters.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:24

They really did. Tell about your personality traits and all the things, and it is pretty amazing how they matched dogs to people, and they still do that. I'm sure they're even better at it now than they were then.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:35

I wonder if they do that with police dogs too.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:37

I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:38

Because they like those dogs save a lot of lives.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:42

They learn so much about these dogs because they are raised by 4-H families.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:48

What's a 4-H?

SPEAKER_01 1:09:49

Well, the 4-H club. Oh, yeah, like 4-H. Yeah, they're raised by these families. Not raised, but they have like a six-month training period. So these families take them everywhere. They take them to the park, they take them in public to restaurants, they they have freedom to take them places and get them used to be.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:07

So do they raise a bunch of dogs? Like, do they raise like one at a time?

SPEAKER_01 1:10:12

They'll raise one at a time. Then they have to I mean it's really sad for the families a lot of times because they get really close to the dog, and then they have but they know that they only have the dog for a very short time for a reason. Sometimes it's three months, sometimes it's four months. It's it's an interesting thing that they do, but uh um it the it it it truly is amazing how down pat they've got this thing.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:36

I love that. I I just love I I don't know, I say it over and over, but I j really do just love dogs so much. Like and y'all lost your dog like 15. That's like I mean, they'll be with you so long, and you know they're not gonna be with you.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:51

I mean, she Kimberly was her person. She they were so close, she was little, and she would always be with I mean, wherever Kimberly went, that's where Sadie was. And and Cooper's the same way. Cooper, like wherever Kimberly goes, that's great.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:05

Dogs just latch on to who they like.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:07

Oh, yeah.

Love Battle: Dogs or Husbands?

SPEAKER_02 1:11:08

And like I I've always felt like your love meter with a dog is like however much they love you, then it's like we had a dog, Gus, that moved across the street. He just like we we had two dogs, Gus and Rosie, and Rosie passed away, and Gus was so lonely. There was a dog across the street, and he just started going in their dog door, and we couldn't get him like I mean it'd be two in the morning, like, and he would be over at their house in the house, so we couldn't do anything. So finally, he was just so lonely. I felt bad because he had grown up with Rosie, and so then he just we we paid his vet bills, but he lived across the street. It's so crazy.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:50

I can tell I can prove to you that your dog that you have now, girlfriend. Yeah, I can prove to you that she loves you more than Chris does.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:00

I believe it.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:01

I can prove it to you, though. How you put Chris and your dog, girlfriend, in the trunk of your car. You come back in an hour and see who's glad to see you.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:16

Oh my gosh. Girlfriend, that's the thing. I tell Chris she's always glad to see me. They're the only ones that are always nice to me in the house.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:25

You lock them in the trunk of your car, you see who's glad to see you. I'll guarantee you'd be the dog.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:30

Yeah, that's the thing with dogs, they just love you so much. Like, they're always waiting. I think they just wait all day for you to come back.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:38

Well, yeah. Yeah, and they know you're gonna come back.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:41

Yeah, that I just like I I know she's older now and and I just am trying to get prepared, you know.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:48

Like, but that's a tough day.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:50

But it's it's hard, especially when they're your they love you and they're your like soulmate dog. Like, because I don't know. I could we talked about cloning her, like, but that's just kind of weird because she wouldn't have the same per the other dog wouldn't have the same personality. Like, that's the thing that you know we love her, her personality, who she is. Right. Even if you tried to clone a dog like Atlas, I mean they're gonna do different stuff. You know what I mean? They're not gonna be the same.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:23

You have to get another dog and love them for who they are. Every dog, just like every person, is different.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:28

Thank you, Gordon Moat, for sharing your story. You're so amazing, your energy and your music with everybody. Well, everybody loves you.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:38

Well, and I'm so grateful you had me. This has been a lot of fun. You got a great crew here, people that you don't see, but a lot of behind-the-scenes folks, and they're all so kind and made me feel so welcome and made it a real relaxed kind of thing. And I know you've got more episodes coming up.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:54

This is the first thing I filmed.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:56

But you want everybody to subscribe so they can see all the videos.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:00

If y'all want to see some more videos, subscribe. Like, I think they gotta subscribe if I'm gonna even get like do this right.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:08

You're gonna be per you're gonna be amazing. Everyone that's watching us right now is gonna subscribe to this channel.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:14

Oh, I hope so.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:15

They are, they're gonna subscribe to your podcast, they're gonna find you on your social media, they're gonna find you on YouTube, they're gonna find you everywhere, and uh they're gonna watch every video you put up.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:25

Oh my gosh, that would be the dream.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:28

Yeah, that's what's gonna happen.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:29

Oh, I love it. Well, thank you. And everybody needs to follow Gordon. We're gonna put the links, I think, to your social media.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:38

Yeah, in the description, all of my handles for my social media channels will be there. So follow me and uh we'll we'll make sure that we keep putting out cool content just like Amy. And uh yeah, it's uh we're so grateful that we have this opportunity just to uh just to kind of be here and hang out with you and and uh meet all your awesome people that help you. They're awesome. They are awesome. Hang out with Chris a minute, so that was fun. So hey, and and everybody, the videos get better from here. I mean, I'm the first guy. Everybody's gonna be way better than me.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:11

Oh my god. I'm just the opening act.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:13

Oh my gosh. Well, I hope I hope that this thing works. That's all I know.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:19

Oh, it's great.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:21

You guys rock. Thank you for watching.