Episode 11: Harmonies & Hustle: A Conversation with Matt + Abi

What happens when you mix twenty years of friendship, two decades of marriage, music that feels like a Georgia backroad? You get Matt + Abi.

In this episode, I sit down with the duo to talk about the messy middle—the real-life space where faith, family, and the artist hustle collide. We peel back the curtain on what it takes to build something honest together, keep showing up for the people you love, and make music that feels like a conversation you didn’t know you needed.

And yes… we also address the important issues: Abi’s Disney obsession and Matt’s highly questionable stance on exercise.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:08

This is the Heather Patero Show where conversation meets calling. Well, welcome back to the Heather Patero Show. I'm Heather Patero, and today's guest are a husband and wife duo whose music comes straight out of real life. Love, faith, family, joy, heartbreak, and all the in-between moments that shape who we are. They've built something on us together, and there's a lot to talk about. Music, marriage, family, and the stories that come out of living all of it in real time. Matt and Abby, welcome to the show. Thank you. Glad to be here. Well, I'm really glad y'all are here. We've known each other a long time. So I want to start here. For people who are just now meeting you, what do you most hope they hear in your music before they know anything else about you?

SPEAKER_01 1:03

Hmm. You're the you're the lyricist, Matt. So why don't you start by answering that one?

SPEAKER_05 1:09

I think if you were just to listen to our music, I think the thing that uh if you wanted me to know know about me is that I love this girl. I really love this girl. It's not that's not part of our show. Uh that's not a uh that's not just a component that we make in the Matt and Nabby variety show that is the course of a lot of our music. And um uh I think that's what I'd want people to know is that this love is real. Love is real.

SPEAKER_01 1:36

Yeah, yeah. I uh I'm I I say often I'm the luckiest girl in the world um because he he does love me so much and I love you so much.

SPEAKER_05 1:44

We were we were sitting at Valentine's Day a few weeks ago, and we were asking these questions back and forth. Um, and uh I think uh they were put up by WinShape or something like that. And and she asked me a question. Do you remember what that question was?

SPEAKER_01 1:58

No, I have no idea what you're talking about.

SPEAKER_05 1:59

It was the question where it was like, uh, what is the most romantic uh thing I've ever done for you, or something like that? And I looked at you and I said, No, no, no.

SPEAKER_01 2:08

It was uh what's your favorite love song?

SPEAKER_05 2:11

What's your favorite love song?

SPEAKER_01 2:12

He was like, We write love songs, and uh and we high-five each other across the table. It was cute. It was like, what are you kidding me? Our favorite love song, we write the love songs. What are you even talking about right now?

SPEAKER_04 2:23

My favorite love song is the one I wrote for you. Yeah, or the three, four, five, six that I wrote for you. There's a lot.

SPEAKER_01 2:29

I don't know. I'm the luckiest girl in the world. Um, and I think also uh just uh authenticity. We we really we really try uh strive to just understand and meet people where they are in our day-to-day lives and and write something genuine that's honest and real, even when you know we're we're fighting and we're writing about making up and and the the real day-to-day of life.

SPEAKER_00 2:52

Well, that's one of the things I've always appreciated about what you guys do. You do love each other very much, and you're a great role model for um those who need to know what love looks like. And I uh it doesn't feel manufactured, it doesn't feel like you're trying to impress people. It just feels like you're trying to connect and people can hear that. So take me back a little bit before releases and websites and all of that. What did the earliest version of this musical partnership look like?

SPEAKER_01 3:18

Um I was really young. Uh I think I was 14, 15, and uh I was at a church in Dallas and grew up in a musical home. Love music, love singing, love singing harmony. And uh I I was young and and really not the best to to actually join this worship team. But so I asked if I could do the the transparencies, you know, like the the the back then there was like the transparencies on the projector on the wall so everybody could sing along with the lyrics. And I had my back to the congregation and I would do the the transparencies. And uh they finally gave me a mic and let me sing background um harmony, and I would do that simultaneously. And then one day Matt came in and he was a um really awesome musician, um, but we needed a drummer, and so um that was actually your first instrument you learned on, right? Drums?

SPEAKER_06 4:12

Yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:13

And so he jumped on the drums, and I was like, oh, he's really talented. Um and uh if you ever heard Matt play drums, you you would agree he's he's extremely talented on the drums. And uh so uh we just started conversing about music and worship songs we liked, and um a relationship kind of developed, and then he wrote me um my a a love song, and um I think that was when you kind of confessed your love for me. It was really sweet.

SPEAKER_05 4:42

Yeah, and she's like that's her version of our story, and I have a different version.

SPEAKER_01 4:47

Then you I'm getting to the music part.

SPEAKER_05 4:49

Well, no, I'm gonna jump into the music part because there's this really kind of funny part that she doesn't really ever include in the story.

SPEAKER_03 4:55

Oh no.

SPEAKER_05 4:56

Um, but uh when before we started even dating, obviously, like she said, she did the transparencies and she faced the wall. And so I, as the drummer, faced the congregation, and so we could make eye contact on stage while I played and she sang. And uh that was kind of funny. Just but from there, well, I was super flirty, yeah. So she was also a dancer, and so she danced uh in a dance troupe or something like that, and um uh we had this opportunity to uh she was dancing at Deer Lake Park, and uh in it was just this park in Douglasville, but and uh she was dancing at the park, and I brought my guitar and I had written a song and she had learned how to sing a harmony to that song. And uh her dance instructor said, Hey, you guys should just go get up there and sing that song. And that was one of the first times we ever did music together, just you and I, and you sung a harmony on a song that I wrote. It was all about the stars.

SPEAKER_01 5:56

I totally forgot that story until now. Yeah, yeah, that's exactly where it started.

SPEAKER_05 6:02

That's where the that's where like the duo started. Or like, oh, we we could make music together, or we we we sound pretty good together, kind of but we weren't just making church music because as she mentioned, when I when I realized, hey, there was something very special about this girl, uh, I was quite older, and we won't go into that, and it was different times and different places, and and our parents actually set us up. My mom and my mom actually set me up with her. And um, but for us, I mean, it was dating was going to church. You went to church Sunday night, Sunday morning, Wednesday night, maybe a Tuesday night meeting, and a Friday night fire.

SPEAKER_01 6:38

Friday night revival.

SPEAKER_05 6:39

Yeah, yeah. And so that uh so we did do a lot of church music, uh, but through that time, I realized there was a lot of distance between her and I, and it might be quite some time before anything real serious could could materialize. And so I wrote, I just felt like the Lord just put in my heart to just write her a song of promise. And and it was, I thought, well, you know, there's this Song of Solomon book in the Bible, and it's really between a man and a woman. We can get all you know symbolic with that, but uh it really moved me, and I said, I want to write a song for this girl to let this girl know I'm gonna wait for her. And so I wrote this song for her, and um, and I think that was where she started to say, Hey, there's something to this songwriting for us. So um yeah, I think that's where this songwriting, you know, kind of took started to take root as something that we would do together. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:31

So what did those early days teach you guys that still shapes what you do now? What did it teach us?

SPEAKER_05 7:44

Some things just take time. Yeah. And and uh and I say, like, you know, people uh, you know, they people there's this common fate phrase you hear today about like the best version of you. You know, it's like I want you to be the healthiest, best version of you. And I think, well, that's great. Um, some of the best things I know actually sit in barrels for 15 years before they ever make it out into the public. And I think that that is uh just as well as in the beginning, the music that I wrote for her, we it was we we still dated for almost four or five years before we got married. And and so sometimes there's just a the better there are better things that come when you wait. And which also kind of speaks to um why it's probably now just after 26 years this year, 26 years of being married, uh almost 30 years of being together, uh, it's why it's probably just in the last five years that we've really ramped up what the music we can make is supposed to look like. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:52

And it took some time. It took time to find our voice, to um to not try to be what everybody else is or try to fit a mold and being confident and okay with who we are and our message, our story, um and and our music, and and and literally our voices. Um so I think that it's okay. I think what what it taught us was just to be patient in in the process.

SPEAKER_00 9:20

So let's get practical for a minute because people always want to know how this actually works in a duo. When a song shows up, does it usually begin with a line of lyric, a melody you can't stop humming, a title, a concept, or one of those this happened to us and now we just have to write at moments.

SPEAKER_01 9:40

It's all great, yes. Um but uh all the above. Yeah. Um, and we're still trying to figure that out, I think. Or I am. He he's not like I said before, he is he is our lyricist, um, and he can spit out words and rhymes like it's it's really, really um incredible what he can do. Uh can I jump in here real quick? Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 10:02

So being super practical, uh, like she said, is that there, I think in a in this day and age, workflow is a big component of success. And if you you need a workflow, you need to establish workflow, even get ready for this podcast. You have certain things you gotta turn on, you gotta get this in order and everything else. And I think the craft of songwriting can have workflow. And there are some things that I know I can when I'm ready to write a song. There's some things I can do. Uh, sometimes I start with just chord progressions, uh, and I just see what the music feels like. And then I try to find words that express what I might be feeling. Other times the songwriting starts with a feeling that I'm already expressing, and then I just find music to accompany it. Sometimes there's an experience that prompts it. Sometimes there's an objective. And so, you know, each one of those might have a different workflow that follows, but there can be lots of different starting points. Um, I think uh for Abby and I, those starting points are typically just um, you know, I th the love we share with each other, uh, the love we we feel in Jesus. I mean, obviously, you know, worship and and and our faith is a big part of what prompts how we write and what we might write about. Uh, you may not hear that overtly in our lyrics, but it is a it is a big prompting for who we are and what steers us through lyrical development. Um But apart from workflow, I think what what we've learned is that I may be an initiator and she is the editor. And learning to trust that relationship, that she is not being critical of me because she's she has the gift of editing. She may not have the the promptings to initiate uh a song being written. That's typically I'm I'm the initiator, typically. Um, again, because I have all those different starting points that I can calculate and move through. But it is her that I learned I've learned to lean on. How is this actually feeling? Will people like to sing this? That's a big one for her. She is a singer, and I I would I sing, but I primarily consider myself an uh a musician. And so uh so when she says, I don't like the way that feels on my lips, then that matters to me. And so we use those kind of things to edit and craft towards until until we feel in agreement.

SPEAKER_00 12:28

So basically, one of you is the creative tornado and the other one is insurance and recovery, right?

SPEAKER_01 12:34

That's beautiful. See that that I would uh I would log that right now at just type that in my notes uh as a file of a great lyric. Yes. Um and so I kind of do that as well. If you're not like, oh, I I don't develop songs, but you love music, just get something stirs you. I went to an art show, saw a line somewhere, write it down. Um, or man, I'm feeling this. I would love to write a song about you know my grandparents or whatever it might be. And then I share that with the initiator. And then he's like, Oh, that's good. And then he he kind of works all that in. So that's that's kind of how we've learned to do this.

SPEAKER_00 13:09

So who has the more dramatic voice memo collection on their phone? Oh. Well, probably Matt.

SPEAKER_05 13:17

Oh, yes. Yes. I uh they're there's some of the worst versions of the songs I write, but you gotta capture, you gotta capture when when you feel, you know. I'm not one that to I don't lean heavily inclined towards every song needs some feeling of inspiration. Sometimes the feeling that I will draw on is something that happened a year ago. So I don't need a spark uh or a feeling to start writing a song. Sometimes I just feel passionately about something and I say, I want to write about that. Abby's really good at that and saying, I want to write a song about a girl in this situation. And um, but that's um that kind of uh that spark. So I do I do capture those moments all along the way so that when I'm ready to enter workflow stage, then I do have, okay, I've got notes and I've got voice notes. Um because sometimes I just have the phrases, like Abby says, I saw something and I thought, man, that's a that's a beautiful way to say that.

SPEAKER_01 14:20

He's so great. He's taught me a lot because I'm I'm not as uh vulnerable as he is in songwriting. And uh he's taught me a lot about just, you know, as far as voice memos goes, just just it doesn't matter. Just you're creating, just start singing a melody. Just say, like, what are you what are you hearing? Just sing it right now. It doesn't have to be right. And to me, I'm like, oh, it has to be right before I can just open my mouth and start to just sing a melody or a la la la, whatever it might be. Um, and he's like really great at helping me just just go for it. And so, you know, if if you're out there and you're you are trying to understand how do I do this thing, just just start, just open your mouth.

SPEAKER_00 14:53

You just have to just do it. Yep. So y'all aren't just making music together. You've built a life together as we're hearing. How do you protect the marriage while still building something so public? Oh, we fight in public.

SPEAKER_04 15:10

What you see is what you get, kids.

SPEAKER_01 15:12

Yeah, like uh anybody that's worked with us in a in a band or a worship team at all, they would just be like, uh-oh, mom and dad are fighting again. Um and it's it I no one's left us, so at least it's not true.

SPEAKER_04 15:27

We're surrounded by a lot of good friends who make music with us.

SPEAKER_01 15:31

Don't give up on us. Yeah. Um so yeah, I don't um it it's it's tough. I mean, it's not easy. It I that's just you've got two people, two different people that are trying to accomplish something good together. And um, and so it's it's been really hard. And we're still learning um how to communicate properly with one another and gentle, be gentle with one another. Um, because I can be very straightforward in my editing world.

SPEAKER_05 16:02

Um yeah, and we do. We she said we fight on stage, obviously during rehearsals.

SPEAKER_01 16:07

Oh, yeah, not when we're performing. No, no, no. That's magic. When when it's time to go, it's time to go.

SPEAKER_05 16:12

Yeah, when it's time to go, it's time to go. And that is what we would call magic. It just you don't even know how it came together. Yeah. And um, but at the same time, uh, yes, we do, we are very authentic and in uh being able to approach what we do. It's work, it's it's blood, sweat, tears.

SPEAKER_06 16:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 16:30

And if it doesn't cost something, then is it even invaluable? You know, and so it we try to recognize those things. How do you balance that uh in being such in a public eye? I would speak, you know, I would speak to maybe the the young person or even the older person that says, How how much do I give to this? How much do I chase this? How much do I work to build this? And I would say that person really has to think, what are you building it for? What what is what are you building it for? And there's a song we wrote, and you'll probably hear it. Uh it's called I'll Be With You. And that song, I it's really um I wrote it with a lot of duality. And it's just a phrase that means something to some people, but for me, it just means that I wanted to write it from lots of different perspectives, even though it's all truly my perspective. I I there are moments where I was singing that even in studio where I really felt like it was God singing it to me. And there's moments where I knew I was singing it as if I was singing it to my daughter. There's moments where I knew I was singing this as if I as if I was saying it to my wife. And and I think that kind of embodies how you achieve that work-life balance. Um, because you always have to know why you're doing it. And there's lots of good reasons to do something, and there's a lot of bad reasons. And uh, for me, it's just always staying honed into what are the reasons that are gonna help um, what are the reasons we have to stay together and and get this published, get this finished. Sure.

SPEAKER_01 18:05

So last story about that same topic. That's a good one. Um, we sat down to write a song um about our daughter. We were like, Oh, we want to write a song about our daughter. Um, and so this was like sort of the first time that I was actually gonna sit down and write with him, like us together at a table, pen and paper, the whole thing.

SPEAKER_05 18:22

Not just editor.

SPEAKER_01 18:23

Yeah. And um, and so we sat down to do that. And I kid you not, within five minutes, we were in a full-blown argument and the kitchen table. I mean, we were so bad at each other. Um, I was hurt. He was like, What's wrong with you? Get over it, you know, like it was just a disaster. And um, we I was at the couch, he was at one end of the couch, we didn't speak to each other. That songwriting session ended so fast. And um, and so the next morning, he I was trying to get out the door to get to church and he uh or to get to work, and he met me in the hallway with his guitar and he said, Listen, just just give me a second. And he sang this little um chorus um in every moment a best melody, it's making the music with your harmony. And it was just this moment where I was like, Oh, we're not writing a song about our daughter, we're writing a song about trying to make music together and having to learn how to make up through trying to write a song together, you know. So uh, and I think that's the authenticity that we're always looking for in our music, too, is that um this is just really what happened, and we're gonna sing about it.

SPEAKER_00 19:29

So, yeah. So I I do think married duos deserve their own category of bravery for sure. And you know, making music together is one thing, but then you still have to get in the same car afterwards, right? That's right. Speaking of cars, who's easier to travel with?

SPEAKER_04 19:44

Me. She sleeps the whole time.

SPEAKER_01 19:46

Me. I'm the best. I'm the best. I'm a DJ on the radio, and I'm let's have fun, let's play the games, like I keep you entertained, and then I go to sleep.

SPEAKER_00 19:56

So who is the let's discuss it person and who is the not while I'm hangry person?

SPEAKER_05 20:02

I'm the probably let's discuss it.

SPEAKER_01 20:04

He wants to discuss everything. Let's all talk about it for an hour. And I'm like, uh-uh. No, I need I need to feel right, and then we can talk about it. All right.

SPEAKER_00 20:12

So tell me about making up what the song, what inspired it?

SPEAKER_01 20:17

Yeah, so that that was that story that we just shared about uh trying to write a song together um about our daughter, and then we got in that fight. Um, and and it was great because um what happened right after that, I'm glad I get to follow up the story. Um he he sang that little chorus to me in the hallway, and I was like, okay, that's cute. And he just kind of this is what he does. He just kind of um is crazy, and we get in a fight, and then he's just so sweet afterwards, and I'm like, oh. Um, and so I I got in the car, he had recorded it on a voice memo, sent it to me, and I got in the car on the way to work, and within a 15-minute commute, somehow, by the grace of Jesus, I actually wrote my first verse of a song. Um, and so uh, and it it was about I'm gonna meet me in the hallway and I'll sing your song. Um, that's the second verse.

SPEAKER_05 21:10

And so that's Yeah, for me, in that there's a hook, for me, one of the hooks, you know, I know there's a hook in like the way you say something in a song, and that maybe you say it repetitively. But the hook for me as a songwriter is sometimes the idea behind something. And so that that's what hooks me. There's an idea and that's in the chorus, it says, um, we may not know what to say. It's all made up anyway. And it's this this pivotal point that just kind of I kind of when I when that line kind of came to me. We were fighting that night before, we had been fighting about whether or not we would say this that way or say this, this, this way. And and I had my direction and she didn't see my bigger picture, and then she felt like I was offending her for her creative take on. Something and and then I and so I literally was just landed with this this concept that said I don't care what we say. I don't I mean really we'd we'll publish this thing and it could be our ugly stepchild, you know, and but and it could be the worst song we ever do. At the end of the day, I just want to make some music with you. And and so that's kind of the heart behind the it's all made up and I'll uh and I'll always love making up with you, which is a double entendre. I making up. I'm always creating something with you. I'm just I'm just for the joy of creating with you, babe.

SPEAKER_00 22:36

So if you've ever been married or loved anybody long enough to get on each other's nerves and still choose each other, you're gonna get it. Here is Matt and Abby and their song Making Up What does it do?

SPEAKER_02 23:03

We can get it all It's a new dog Baby Don't stop speaking with Front eating on Give it a good do not come along Never A Best Melody is making the music with your harmony We may not know what to say It's all made up anyway And I always love making up with you make the music sweeter, girl, you gotta stay Would you really want me when I got nothing to say With a beat and the bass tongue I don't see no other way You have a magic Oh with a magic Together with magic Who In every moment our best melody is making the music with your harmony We may not know what you say It's all made up anyway And I'll always love making up with you Never involved our best melody It's making up me What a great song, guys.

SPEAKER_00 27:19

I'm so glad to know the story behind it. That's awesome. Thank you. Well, y'all have such a beautiful family, and I've seen the the uh origin stories of of a lot. We've been together a long time, and uh, you have two married daughters now, you have one grandbaby, and it's just a whole new chapter. Watching your family grow has been really special for me over the years. In fact, just recently my band played at your oldest daughter's wedding, which still feels wild to say out loud because in my mind we're still somehow younger and our kids are still little. What has it been like watching your daughters build their own lives and now stepping into grandparents season?

SPEAKER_01 27:59

Oh man, um, it's probably the most rewarding pride and joy that I've ever experienced in my life. Um and I'm that's not to say we're all perfect, we're definitely not, but it's it's how we have chosen as a family and how our daughters and our son-in-laws we have the best son-in-laws. Um how we choose to um do what's right when it's wrong, you know, make the make the make the right choice when we made the wrong one, right? You know, how how we pick ourselves up when things are not good or we made a bad decision. Um but it's just been so fun to transition into seasons, you know. You you have these seasons of life, you have the little kids, the the growing up kids, the teenage kids, and then the young adult kids. And I think if you just embrace each of those seasons as a new fun adventure, um it doesn't make you want or miss the previous season so much. Um I I I there's been times where emotionally I wanted to mourn, like, oh I wish they were babies again, and you know, or oh I wish it was just us again doing these little things. And remember when they did those are all beautiful memories and stuff, but hanging on those things sometimes can take away from the joy of where we are in the adventure of the season we're in right now. And it's just different and it's beautiful, and it's so much fun.

SPEAKER_00 29:28

So I want to know who became the softy first for being the grandparent. Oh, Matt.

SPEAKER_05 29:34

Oh man, I was uh He is a I feel like I was made for this.

SPEAKER_01 29:38

It is the weirdest thing. He's more mushy with it.

SPEAKER_05 29:40

I had kids so I could have grandkids. It's kind of how it feels.

SPEAKER_01 29:44

We had two daughters, and then now we have a granddaughter, and he's more mushy with the granddaughter than he ever was with our daughters. It's it's funny, he just melts.

SPEAKER_05 29:53

You just lose your mind. I mean, I've I go from I go from uh, you know, my day job is systems and processes and very nerdy uh techie stuff. And I go from that to looking at this grandbaby, just whoopee dangky, get the I pick up my whole language with just between me and this baby.

SPEAKER_00 30:12

So who's most likely to buy something for the grandbaby just because? Oh, that's me.

SPEAKER_04 30:17

That's her totally.

SPEAKER_01 30:18

She gets a a sheen haul of clothes every other week, I think. And if we see it, Lala's gotta buy it for you. That's my name, my grandma name Lala. Oh, okay. What's your gra grandpa name?

SPEAKER_00 30:30

Pops. Pops, alright. Pops and Lala. Okay, I love it. Yeah, it's a whole thing. So has the season changed what you write about?

SPEAKER_05 30:42

I wouldn't say it has a direct impact on anything I'm writing right now. Um you know, we do have a new song coming out soon. Um, and it's very much still a Matt Nabby type, um very authentic, you know, just kind of facing the storms of life type thing, especially in your marriage and uh and how you hold on to what really matters. But the other songs I'm writing right now, um, man, they're just all over the place. I'm really trying to think about not just our own stories, but the stories of other people. There's something I really like about uh songwriters, and I'll go total old school like Johnny Cash. Okay. I actually heard Johnny Cash talk about why someone should write a song about Judas's uh Judas. And because somebody has that story. And and you know, that doesn't necessarily reflect every choice we should make. If you're looking for music just to be only the inspiration to the good choices you make, you're missing out on the stories that you can actually hear through music. And so I'm looking at that, even trying to dabble in what are what are the darker stories of humanity that we can use use music to connect with people, because for some people that is their story. Uh stories I I'm I'm thinking about what does it feel like to go to jail? You know, and what uh Folsom Prison Blues, you know. It's it's um, you know, thinking about and honestly, our prisoners right now just in in a in a very broad sense is a is a deep uh heart string for me. People that are incarcerated. Um I do want to write a song for those guys, guys in particular. And uh or people that have to watch their loved one loved ones go into incarceration. That's probably even closer to where I'm at. So we're right, we're we're tipping into some of that writing about that stuff. So I don't know that grandparenting is greatly influencing that, but it is maybe freeing us to think about because it's so rewarding, it is kind of freeing us to think about others that don't have what we've been so blessed to have. Sure.

SPEAKER_00 32:44

So there should be a warning label on grandbabies, don't you think? May cause loss of perspective and excessive photo storage. I mean, that's really what it both. So let's talk about your song I'll be with you. What inspired this song?

SPEAKER_05 32:59

So this is a very, very straightforward story. Um, we this was 2020, and uh everybody was in quarantine, and uh some rebels, such as us, actually hit the road and went up to Gatlinburg and we got into a cabin with some friends, and and that sounds so cliche. I think there's so many circles where like, oh yeah, we went up to the mountains and wrote a song. I didn't go up there to write a song, I just went up there because we could. And so we're up in the mountains, and Abby is an avid runner. Uh, she likes to run. I hate running, I don't run unless somebody's chasing me. And uh, and so I don't want to run. And she comes and during this season of life, I was just really being challenged uh on the inside about doing the things that she wants to do, even if I don't are aren't things that I I want to do, just being there trying to find the opportunities to meet her where she's at. So she wants to go running. We're in the mountains. I'm like, we're not gonna be running uphill, this is awful. But I went anyway. And when we as soon as we finished and we got back to the cabin, I walked inside, grabbed the guitar, went out on the front porch. And this was one of those really kind of like the Philly, like semi semi-divine moments where within about five minutes I'd already scoped out the whole lyrical flow of the song and knew exactly what I wanted to say. Um and I what I and this is um uh as a musician, it's easy for me to overcomplicate writing music. And so I knew I wanted to write a song that just had three chords. And it's just three chords. And I wanted to make it so simple because I want every man on this planet who can hear this song and connect with it to want to get a guitar to just learn how to play the three chords so he can play this song for his family and for his and so that's kind of w how it initiated.

SPEAKER_01 34:47

Yeah, and I uh he said, Hey, listen to this, and typically when he's like, Hey, listen to this, I'm in the middle of something, and I'm like, Oh my god. And just being honest. And uh and so I walked out and I was like, Yeah, and he I mean played the first three chords, and uh I just looked at him and I was like, Yes, 100% Yes, that's a song. That's a song, that's a good one. Like Yes, don't change a thing, you know. And um again, that was where my editing kind of came through and was like, Let's do that. I don't think I'd change much of anything. Maybe maybe through the studio.

SPEAKER_05 35:19

Only when we got in the studio process, yeah, and that was where we that was the beginning of where we really started to identify those roles. Um I would encourage everybody who wants to make music, um, whether you're writing by yourself or you're writing with others, the moment you start to sit in a room where you got a real producer, somebody who understands uh not just the engineering of the components of recording, but understands how to engineer good moments within songs. Uh we started working with a guy, Todd Lyons, uh, here in Atlanta, and just was the perfect mediator between Abby and I. And it was through those dynamics that we began to see, wow, he's really good at this and she's really good at this, and and this is what I can add to the thing. And um and so it was a funny thing.

SPEAKER_01 36:07

Yeah, and throughout our whole music life together, um, and like you said before, that we've only really come into this kind of uh groove uh over the past five years. And um and throughout the whole time that we've done music, we've recorded stuff on our own, we've put demos out, we have done uh but this was the first time where actually we were proud, like we felt like I would give this to anyone, like I would put this out. And it was like, here, world, here's a gift, you can have this. And it was the first time, I think, in 20 years of doing music that we were like, this is good.

SPEAKER_05 36:39

Yeah, and it was super honoring because our daughter, our oldest daughter, uh, she got married last year, and when she came to us and said, I want both of you to walk me down the aisle to this song.

SPEAKER_00 36:52

Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_05 36:53

Yeah, and we I I tell you that the moments of success that you could feel like I've played on some really big stages and I've played on really small ones and just about everywhere in between.

SPEAKER_01 37:08

But nothing tops.

SPEAKER_05 37:09

Nothing tops your own your own flesh and blood saying, Hey mom and dad, what you did here is good, and I want to honor you in that. And it it really is the song that I want to be able to sing to my children.

SPEAKER_00 37:22

And so Well, let's hear it.

SPEAKER_03 37:38

Take my hand and let's climb this mountain and go up where we might have been, where the air is getting so thin, but we'll be together. We're up on that mountain. Once we were young, now we're older, but a mountain's still a mountain, and it could bring us closer. You know I've got it in me too. I'll be with you. I'll be with you. You'll be there by my side to see every triumph. We learn to smile. Come go with me. When we reach that mountain, we can tell our story, and your children will listen, and they will tell their children too. How I love you. How I love you. You love me too. So I love you.

SPEAKER_02 41:46

So I I love it.

SPEAKER_00 41:48

It's awesome. Well, let's let's change gears just a little bit. Abby, you said people don't always understand the hustle artists have to undertake. Let's talk a little bit about the business part of this. And uh, what's one part of the hustle that would surprise someone who only sees our onstage version as artist?

SPEAKER_01 42:08

Um Yeah, I I it's really what I'm learning because we're we're starting to gig a lot more than we ever have, um, mainly because we're now empty messers and we have the time. Um but it seems like there's never enough time. I think that's the biggest, the biggest thing. You know, you're emailing your your Facebook messaging places to try to get in, you're trying to meet people that play somewhere and hope that a friend will be like, hey, these are great, these guys are great. Would you let them play? You know, there's a lot that you have to work hard for. And like you, you know Heather firsthand and you encourage us so much just to hey, work, you know, and and you the best advice she gives us is like 10 minutes a day. Just give your give your give your and we don't always do it. We're we're not the best.

SPEAKER_04 42:56

But she is that still small voice in the back of our mind.

SPEAKER_01 42:59

It's like 10 minutes. Do you have 10 minutes? They're worth it. The people are worth your 10 minutes. Um, and so that that's been the best advice uh because the hustle is hard and it all it takes is like two weeks of you not doing anything, and you're like, Oh, I haven't done anything. It's definitely a habit, right?

SPEAKER_00 43:16

To invest in your business. And you have to treat it like a business. And I tell the artists that I develop is you do have to treat it like a business. You can't treat this as a hobby.

SPEAKER_06 43:25

Right.

SPEAKER_00 43:26

You can't treat it as something fun. If you want to be serious, you gotta be serious, right?

SPEAKER_01 43:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 43:31

And so it takes a lot of energy, right? A ton. And there's invisible work involved as well. A ton.

SPEAKER_05 43:38

There's invisible, I would say there's an invisible struggle that for me has been the hardest part of the hustle. And it's you have to be willing to hear a lot of no, you know, and not and and not see fruit. Uh you know, it's like you cast your bread on the waters and after many days it will come back to you. Well, that's many days. Days that you're not seeing a result from what you're doing. And I think that's character shaping. And it's also time to process, well, why, why are you really doing it? I told a friend the other day, um, it was actually John, who was, I believe, was on your podcast recently. And um I was actually talking to him and I was saying, you know, you don't get to our age and do this uh because of the success that it's going to give you as you thought success would be when you were in your 20s pursuing some of this stuff. At this point, we do this because it's fun and we believe we have something to share with people. If it never makes a dime, if it never goes to another person, did we put our best foot forward and enjoy doing so? And and so that motivating factor has helped us with the hustle. It's uh it's like, oh no, there is something writing on this, and it's not just the cliche ambitious dreams of big stages and big buckets of money, which would be nice. Anybody want to hire us for a gig, man?

SPEAKER_01 44:58

You want to buy a buy a song?

SPEAKER_05 44:59

Yeah, want to buy a song? Hey, let us know.

SPEAKER_00 45:02

Well, you have to set boundaries too to protect your joy. And how are you doing that? That's gonna protect your joy.

SPEAKER_05 45:08

Yeah, to me, it's setting boundaries to protect the joy. Uh this okay, so this is gonna sound really bad, and she's probably gonna correct me because she doesn't know I'm gonna say this. For me personally, a lot of the business side of the music. This is we're on we're on a uh in a season right now where this for just the last two years, uh Abby has taken up more reins with that. Uh because the first 20 years of that, I was trying to drive it without trying to drive it because I was so afraid of driving, but I'm still frustrated and I'm pushing and I'm pulling and I'm pushing and I'm pulling. And um, and so learning for us as a couple, learning to lean more on the the bigger reward of how do we do this together?

SPEAKER_01 45:57

Yeah, the strengths of each other, right?

SPEAKER_05 45:58

Yeah, and the strengths of each other. And if if we did this together, then there's automatically a reward built baked into it. Yeah, and so that that finding the reward in it. What is your reward for this? And I because I think our joy isn't our reward.

SPEAKER_00 46:12

Well, you have to do it because you love it, you can't do it just for the sake of the music either. You can't, it's just like creating. The first podcast I did um was about giving the artist permission to create. And sometimes adults need to be reminded that you there's permission to create, and that's why it feels like what we do sounds so glamorous because we're actually out there doing the work, right? But the problem is, is people don't understand how hard it is to do the work. Right. And it follows you home with you guys. You know, you're a duo. Like for me, I'm a solo artist, you know, and I don't share the workload with someone. So, you know, staying together and working as a duo, and you know, Abby does this part and you do this part, and you constantly every week are working towards whatever those goals are, and it's good, you know. And the reality is creative partnership sounds adorable until somebody is hungry during load-in. I mean, that's the reality, Richard. I mean, that's that's the that's the that's the really reality.

SPEAKER_04 47:11

That's a good way to say it, Adrian.

SPEAKER_00 47:13

Abby, one of the things I've always admired about you is that you don't just bring warmth, you bring order. Uh, I'm an order person myself, so I really admire that in you. You are incredibly gifted at organizing people, setting things up, seeing what needs to happen, and making an event work without making it feel frantic. And to me, that kind of gifting is very rare. How much of that wiring shows up in the way that you approach music people in life?

SPEAKER_01 47:40

Oh, wow. Well, thank you. I'm I'm very uh blown away by that compliment. Thank you so much. Um It's about what you want people to feel. Um, when when things are uh prepared well and ordered well, people will feel it. Um when you create moments for people to feel something different, um, whether that be a little extra, um maybe it's a story you say, maybe it's uh you hold that line out in that song a little bit longer than what is typical. Um you change a word here or there, or even if it's in um the moments where you're not on stage and you're actually asking, talking to the audience, talking to people, you know, what's going on in their life, thanking them for being there, you know, not just a hey, thanks, see you later. Um, but I think it's all about do you really want these people to feel something from what you have to give as an artist? And what do you want them to uh walk away with? You know, I I personally just love people coming, coming somewhere and feeling maybe it's rest or peace, or hey, you can do this, you got this, whatever it is you're facing, you can do it, take the next step forward.

SPEAKER_05 48:49

Um, so yeah, you want to add anything or yeah, I'd say um there's this really cool gift about Abby, and uh I'd see it was passed down uh to our youngest daughter too, and it's this ability to walk into a room and read the room and read people. And I think that you know, some of that bringing order you do, because our set list, like even this past weekend, we had this long marathon uh performance uh at this place, and but even there in that moment, we're trying to read the room. What does the room need? What's gonna make it different? I was sharing this with a friend. Uh a friend of mine gave me just a brand new flamenco guitar. It's handmade from Spain. It's like number 29 of only 78 made worldwide.

SPEAKER_03 49:34

Wow.

SPEAKER_05 49:34

It's a very fancy guitar. This guitar is known, and acoustic guitars in general are known for uh their response to humidity and temperature. And so every time you walk into a room, there's a humidity level in that room that impacts the way that guitar is going to sound. And so, from room to room over 20 years, that guitar is never gonna be heard the same way. And I think that's how cool the gift that we have to even share our music should be. If you're a performer and you go on a stage, you have to be able to read the room and go, what am I doing different for this room? And I think that's the one of those ways that Abby helps us bring order to what otherwise could just be a sterile jukebox set and uh and really bring people into a moment.

SPEAKER_00 50:20

So, how do you balance excellence with ease?

SPEAKER_05 50:26

For me, it's lots of practice. You practice um so that uh when you get up there in front of people, it it looks like ease. And it feels like ease because you practiced.

SPEAKER_01 50:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 50:43

I mean that's that's it. So Abby, you also said something I love that people are more important than productions. Where did that conviction come from?

SPEAKER_01 50:55

Um it came um it came from really just working in in churches and uh working with volunteers. So when you work every weekend making Sundays happen, um it can be easy for a Sunday morning to um at church if if that's something you do or you're about or you're in. Um it can be easy for things to get uh produced. And it can be easy in the production of things, even if it's a gig we're doing, and we've got other band members that are playing with us. Um it can be very easy to to get into this is the production, this is what I'm focused on, and this is what I'm about, and it's gotta be excellent, and this is the I gotta check all these boxes and do all these things, and we forget the human beings and the humanity that's around us, that they worked a 40-hour a week, 50-hour a week job and then learned this music and then came to serve or then came to be a part of your your band tonight, or whatever it might be. Um, I think it's it can be easy to get focused on the wrong thing and and forget the human that's in front of you. And that is something that I try really hard. Um I think I used to be really bad at it. And then I think when the lights flicked on in my brain, it was like, wow, yeah, no, that's not okay. Um people are more important than that. So uh it and that's hard for me because I love excellence, I love to uh produce things, I love I love things to be perfect, and I have a goal, I'm a performance-driven person. Um so it it it's been a lifelong learning journey for me personally that that now is actually probably a passion that I have.

SPEAKER_00 52:34

So how do you bring excellence without worshiping excellence?

SPEAKER_01 52:41

I think it's uh uh I think I I used to say it's it's a pursuit it's a pursuit. It's not a excellence is a pursuit, it's not a destination. Um you don't arrive there, right? It's it's not even just the outcome. Yeah, it it's just something that you um at the end of the day, you have to be okay with when I lay my head down at night. Did I have these specific values in my life? Did I at least accomplish those? Um, did I put human people first? Did I um whatever and everybody probably has different values? Um did I honor my husband? Did I encourage someone? Did I practice and give my best at this performance? Um, you know, whatever those values might be, if you can lay down at night and say, I did those things, whether you messed up a song or forgot a lyric, those things can fall to the wayside because you you accomplish your values. Does that make sense? What I'm trying to say here. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 53:40

You know, at the end of the day, it is about relationship and and honoring the people that are giving, right? So, Matt, you said your through line is authenticity, making music that relates to real life and living for God in the messy middle. What does messy middle faith look like in real time? Don't give us the highlight real. We want to know it all. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 54:01

Um the messy Well, I could answer this one for him, but I won't.

SPEAKER_05 54:06

I'd I'm curious. No, no, no, no, no. Um the messy middle for me is it's this idea of I don't think I don't see Jesus in the gospels. I don't see a Jesus that was afraid of guilt by association. Uh he was often found eating and drinking with sinners. And and that's and I think that that would be kind of embodies the messy middle for me. It's this messy middle of, hey, I understand that if you took a really good close look at my life, uh, you may question whether or not there's value in where I'm at, uh that that there's value in some of the choices I've made and some of the things I've done. And um, and that's fair, okay. Uh but I did but I think it it it gets dangerous when we dismiss people from their journeys, uh, from their experiences, and you try to separate them from them and just say, well, they should they should have made this decision this way or they should have made this that way. It's like that whole the old adage about, you know, could you even walk a mile in their shoes if you were actually not just putting on their shoes, but actually you had their feet. If you had their feet, it doesn't matter which shoe you would wear, you probably wouldn't would understand a little bit. And uh and how do I do that? How do I make it real without still finding um or letting a moment to encourage you to think maybe a different way? I don't want to just be shy away from saying, hey, there's probably a better way to think about that or a different way to think about that. But at the same time, I still want to capture people's story. I still want to say uh there's a there's a there's a very popular song. I love it. It's uh who's the bluegrass guy we listened to? Um, Billy Strings. And uh he sings a song called Dust in a Baggie, and he's literally like, I got 20 long years for some dust in a baggie. And uh he's like, This life of sin, it's got me in, it's got me back in prison once again. And uh, and I just it's funny because it's a bluegrass song and it's just got a great feeling to it. But you're sitting there thinking, you know, this guy's probably got his palm to his forehead thinking, what did I do this? I mean, this is what I did this for, you know. And and I think that um uh I think that people's if you really want to connect with people, you have to be able to willing to go into the messy middle. And that means some people might have to think you're going too far. And and yet internally, I still try to say, God, help help me make make the good and wise choice with the gifts and the crafts and the opportunities and the people that you've put in front of me.

SPEAKER_00 56:47

Also, Matt, you casually mentioned systems, history, and theology, which tells me your spice cabinet probably has categories.

SPEAKER_04 56:56

And I try, I live with Abby.

SPEAKER_00 57:01

And you're from Louisiana, which I know food is is a whole memory, culture, story, and probably a little theology mixed in. So, what from Louisiana still shows up in your storytelling?

SPEAKER_05 57:15

Oh, man, it's funny you should ask.

SPEAKER_00 57:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 57:18

Les élèves roulet. Did I say it right?

SPEAKER_04 57:21

Les élèves roulet.

SPEAKER_01 57:23

I said it right.

SPEAKER_05 57:24

Let the good times roll. Uh I actually just uh just wrote a song called Down on the Bayou. It's one of my next favorites. I can't wait till we get to uh to studio with this one. And the whole song is really just trying to help people slow down, which is a theme in some of our songs. Uh it's slow down and let's get down to Louisiana. And there's this beautiful part of Louisiana that most people don't even know. They think of Baton Rouge or the big cities, New Orleans, Bourbon Street, all these stories of that.

SPEAKER_00 57:54

And just think of alligators and lots of mosquitoes as big as your head. Well, that is where he wants to go.

SPEAKER_05 58:00

That's where I want people to go. I grew up in the swamp. I grew up in the swamp. I mean, like 15 feet from my back porch, you were in the swamp. Uh, killed alligators. I mean, used to hunt water moccasin, you know? And uh it's so there's some beauty in some of the strangest places out there in the like the old black water, like literally black water out there in the swamp. Yeah, and so I wanted to adopt these uh Louisiana themes borrowed from some Hank Williams kind of gestures and um uh and some doobie brother gestures, gestures, and and uh to start crafting a song. So for me, uh Louisiana culture is it's it's uh it's it's very rooted in identity for me. It there's a value that I have because it says I came from somewhere. And uh it's probably why we like to, it's probably why I like to sing boondocks so badly my little big town, because uh, you know, I I I know where I came from. Yeah and I'm I'm uh uh I feel no shame. I'm proud of where I came from.

SPEAKER_00 59:05

Well, I'm from Memphis, so I get that identity thing. It's a whole thing when you're from Memphis and the Delta Blues, you know.

SPEAKER_06 59:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 59:12

So let's talk tornado. This is a a new a new song that you guys have come out with. When a song has a title like that, it feels like it could be literal weather, emotional weather, spiritual weather, or just life coming through the house with muddy shoes. What is tornado really? You mean uh sure? We both have these stories.

SPEAKER_01 59:31

So I'll go first. Um, well, it's it's so we're in our final stages in the studio for this song. So we've we've gotten all of our tracks down. We're just waiting on some max uh some mixing and mastering mixing and mastering. Um, and uh so we're really excited about this one. It it for some reason when we do this song live, it just gets a great, it's kind of like when you're in a room gigging and people are talking, and then when you start a song, they'll or the room kind of gets quiet. That's kind of what happens when we do this song, and so I feel like it's just a little magical. Um, but uh when we went on our first date, I was young, he was not, um, and this is gonna tell you how old we are. Um, we saw the movie Twister in theaters released date, right? Hey, it's still good, man. It's such a good movie. Um, and so yeah, not the remake. The remake's good too, but the this is uh the first one's great. Um, and so uh I don't even remember, like that was just it's kind of a nod to our our life starting together. And um, and then you anybody that's been married a long time for us 26 years, um, you go through storms, you go through, you know, some some worse than others. I mean, we've had our our very fair share of of um horrible times in our marriage, and it's not been pretty, it's not been fun. Um, and sometimes it's like a tornado. And uh we made the choice to fight through those times in our lives, and it it sometimes it is it is a choice. Um so that's kind of where, and then I think there was a storm actually about to happen. We get tornado warnings all the time around here. We've never we don't have tornadoes, it's not really weather trauma in Georgia. And I think one was brewing and he came out with these these pretty chords just playing them in the house, and I was like, ooh, I like my um my family actually survived a tornado.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:23

So when I was a kid, I lived in a trailer uh in South Louisiana. Tornado comes through my grandfather's property, picks the trailer up, throws it like two miles down the road. My mom and my dad had had just barely gotten me and my brother across the property to my grandfather's house. And so we kind of lived through some of that trauma, and and that was memorable, even being like four or five years old at that time. Um, I'll never forget, I'll never forget the imagery of it, you know. And um, and so this tornado thing obviously it sparked a lot of fear in me. And then I, you know, and I probably haven't even shared this much with Abby, but she knows me. Uh but the connection to the song. Um years into being married, I was I would have this recurring dream. And the the in the dream, uh, a tornado would always come where we're at. And typically it would run right through our house like a chainsaw and cut our house in half, but my entire family would be saved and safe. And and I remember after years of having that dream, just feeling this promise of God that said, Hey, no matter what comes, I've got you. I've got you. And uh, and so and again, I like to write with this thing I call duality. It's there's there's double entendre everywhere in our music. Um, but this one was also very literal when I say there's a chorus, the course line says, uh, we dug deep down to the stone to build a better home that would stand when the winds come. And our love will keep this. I know, because you and I were made to ride and survive the tornado. And uh, and it's very, it's wild. It feels like if you ever like if you ever saw this uh Disney did this cartoon years ago, I think it's like 50s, 60s, and it's Pecos Bill, and he's literally lassoing a tornado and riding a tornado. That's literally what we want people to feel is that listen, it I don't know what is bad for for someone's marriage. You know, there do the degrees of bad could be enormous. And I would never say anybody needs to stay in an unsafe situation. Um, but for many of us, those storms come in lots of different sizes, but no matter what it looks like, I want you to be able to approach it and I want people to be able to approach it like they're just lassoing that that storm, and they're like, hey babe, we're gonna ride this down, and and because because I am your ride or die, you know, and so it it definitely has that kind of swampy attitude that said it gives a different resolve. I mean, whereas I'll be with you is probably much more melodic and and um romantic, romantic and uh and meditative. Uh, this is very much like okay, not encouraging this, but grab the whiskey, light up the cigarette, and let's ride that tornado, baby. We're gonna take care of this.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:20

I'm not encouraging this.

SPEAKER_05 1:04:21

I'm not encouraging this, okay. But but that but when I talk about what music should can feel like, it's that kind of resolve, it's that cowboy type, like, yeah, man, we we're gonna do this baby. We got this. And again, it's not just our love. We we dig down to a stone and we build that love on a rock.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:39

Absolutely. So so I want to play one more song of yours. Uh, it's called Go Around, and we are looking forward to Tornado uh coming out. We'll talk about that at the end of the show, how to uh uh access that. But here's uh Matt Nabby and their song Go Around 215 on the freeway, you beside me.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:13

Rarely knowing where we're going, but you with me All around us and behind us are people in a hurry. They got somewhere up ahead of where they could be Maybe take a little time with a found We've been all over the town And it's about time Take the break We try Baby Ledom Gora and the family. Very good family. Well I got to pay. It's a Monday, not a bad day, but a long one. Finally get home, but the cell phone work is undone. She's got a record that you're turning, and it's spinning on my burden. And the weight of my word is slow enough. So let the record go around.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:40

Thank you. So let's talk about making music later in life. We kind of touched on it. There are so many people who quietly believe their window has closed, that they missed their chance, they started too late, or it's too late to say something meaning meaningful. What would you say to the person who still has music in them but thinks it's too late?

SPEAKER_05 1:10:01

Never too late.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:02

Never. No, absolutely not. I mean, you could you you can look through statistics of, and I can't name them all right now, but like there's been post after post or in situations where I've seen who many presidents or people that have just started later in life. One of our newest favorite artists is 47, just played at the Grammys. Um you know, and and if it's about what's in your heart and sharing that with the world, what does that have to do with age?

SPEAKER_05 1:10:30

Exactly. Exactly. You're never too old to enjoy something.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:34

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:10:34

And so um no, that may be a broad statement, obviously. But I say if if making the music is gonna make bring you joy and not making it is gonna maybe cut you off from some of that joy, maybe you should make it and just go make it.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:52

Absolutely. Just it goes back to what we said earlier, just do it. Yeah, and I think older beginners have something that younger artists don't, maybe too, that uh life-lived experience that you know will help them be able to make music even even better, you know. And um it it's just never too late to start. I mean, my oldest student is in their mid-70s, and it it's just it's just never too late. So do it. If you're listening, just do it. Just do it. All right, guys, quick fire. This is uh something we've been doing on the show. Are you ready? I'm ready. Okay. Who takes longer to leave the house?

SPEAKER_04 1:11:28

Abby.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:28

Yeah. Who is most likely to lose something that is already in their hand? Me. Matt. We got these on lot, guys. Who says I'll do it in a minute, and then suddenly it's tomorrow? Matt. Oh, don't you even bro?

SPEAKER_05 1:11:45

Probably. I resemble that.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:48

Only because you forget. Who is the better parallel parker?

SPEAKER_05 1:11:54

Me.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:54

Matt. Who gets hangry first?

SPEAKER_03 1:11:58

Me.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:58

Me. Did you say me? Yeah. Okay, well. All right. Who chooses the route to take when you're driving? GPS.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:10

I'd agree. Google said go this way. I know.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:14

We're so old we remember when there was maps. We hadn't followed.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:18

You had to print map quest.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:20

You printed the papers and you had them on your dashboard. All right. Who chooses the snacks on the road trip?

SPEAKER_05 1:12:26

I do. And Abby. Well, I do my own, and Abby does it. Yeah. Because we're so different art snacks. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:33

Mine's different day to day. Okay. Who would survive Disney with no plan?

SPEAKER_04 1:12:38

Or Abby.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:40

Who would bring a spreads spreadsheet to Disney and call it just being wise?

SPEAKER_04 1:12:45

No.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:46

You said spreadsheet and I automatically said that.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:48

No, no, no.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:51

What's the question? So who would bring a spreadsheet to Disney and call it just being wise? Oh, maybe me.

SPEAKER_05 1:12:58

Okay, so we we're going to Disney in a couple of weeks. My wife has already mapped out the whole thing, but she doesn't need it. She just does that to make sure that the time gets maximized because she loves Disney. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:10

So who would cry first at a parade, a soundtrack, or a character hug? Me. Matt. Me. Matt.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:17

Oh, who's your character? Mary Poppins.

SPEAKER_05 1:13:20

Mary Poppins.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:21

No joke, guys. It's probably mommy issues. I don't know. I probably should have said that.

SPEAKER_04 1:13:29

Cut the tape. Cut the tape.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:31

Just kidding. Leave it. Oh my gosh. All right. Who would accidentally become friends with the cast member and learn their whole life story? Still me. Matt.

SPEAKER_04 1:13:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:43

Who would say one more ride until it's time to go home? Abby. Me. All right. What is one thing you refuse to do on gig day?

SPEAKER_05 1:13:54

I know I'll never not do again, is I'll never not drink water again.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:59

Sorry. Matt did a gig last week and he didn't, he was so focused on the music and everything, he didn't even have a sip of water. It was bad.

SPEAKER_05 1:14:06

I know.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:06

So what is one thing we will not do on a gig day? Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:14:10

Make a lot of plans.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:12

Another gig or something else in our schedule.

SPEAKER_05 1:14:14

Anything else in our schedule.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:15

Yeah, it's got to be a free day. If you're crazy and then you do a gig, that's a lot.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:20

And that shows our age. I mean, in our 20s, we could totally do two or three gigs a day.

SPEAKER_05 1:14:25

Yeah, definitely not because you can't do it. It's definitely choice these days. It's like, nah, not gonna be that.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:30

But I it's not even I'm thinking like more like something outside of music. Like if we had to go run here and do that, and then go do that, and then we had disappointment, and then we had to run this. Because in your brain, it's just you're just not focused on that.

SPEAKER_05 1:14:43

And that goes back to that excellence thing, is like your best yes, especially as you get older, your best yes is often a many other no's to other things. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:53

I just wish somebody would load in my gear for me.

SPEAKER_05 1:14:56

Amen's sister.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:58

All right. What is one thing you refuse to do on a road trip?

SPEAKER_05 1:15:05

Let the Tesla drive itself.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:08

Okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:09

Um, refuse to do on a road trip. Gosh, I don't know.

SPEAKER_05 1:15:15

We're pretty wild. We'll try just about anything. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:18

Um Matt will not okay. If it's a road trip coming home from trip, there are no detours. Absolutely not. He will not detour at all. When he's ready, when day vacation is over, like the last day, he's like, we have to leave right now. And get home. And I'm like, you are no fun.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:34

Okay. Glenn's kind of that way, too. All right, Matt, what is one food hill you are willing to die on?

SPEAKER_05 1:15:41

Food hill?

SPEAKER_00 1:15:42

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_05 1:15:43

Ooh, uh, well, that would have to be like fried catfish.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:47

Catfish. I was gonna say catfish. Why is that?

SPEAKER_05 1:15:50

It's my favorite reason to eat hot sauce.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:53

Okay, and Tabasco, right?

SPEAKER_05 1:15:54

Uh, so here's the funny thing.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:56

Are you a crystal guy or a Louisiana guy?

SPEAKER_05 1:15:58

Much more crystal. Crystal in Louisiana, no Tabasco. Oh. Actually, I do like Texas Pete. Shout out to the Texans.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:05

Uh oh. Tabasco all the way. All right, Abby. What is one event planning mistake that makes your eye twitch immediately?

SPEAKER_01 1:16:14

Oh, what's the event? You gotta give me an uh just any event. Uh, not uh when there's nothing to drink. Like like you like no water, no coffee? What? Like why would you do that? Or not starting on time. Right.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:31

All right, what is one thing you refuse to do even if it would build character?

SPEAKER_01 1:16:36

You refuse to do if it would build characters.

SPEAKER_04 1:16:38

Exercise.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:39

That is exactly right for him. He would not do that. If it would build, I would refuse to do it if it would build character. Lose sleep? I don't know. Don't know. I would not. I sleep is very important. Yeah. Yeah, we'll go with that.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:59

Okay. All right. Each one, tell me one thing you hope people walk away with today to make their life better right now.

SPEAKER_05 1:17:07

Give it time. I don't care what it is. Give it time. And and I will go into the theological on this. Jesus says, I am the Alpha and Omega. And I would say that he is everywhere in between. So just give it time. And uh whether it's something you're pursuing, something you're facing, something you're running from, that just keeps chasing you. Uh and I think uh that's kind of what I hope our music helps you do is um it helps you put what you're feeling and what you're experiencing in the time uh you need to face it or deal with it.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:53

Mine would be um it doesn't have to be perfect. It doesn't it doesn't have to be perfect for you to start. Um it just has to be you.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:03

So give us one more nugget of wisdom. If someone is listening right now in the messy middle, marriage feels hard, life feels loud, faith feels complicated, and they're just trying to keep showing up. What do you want them to know today?

SPEAKER_05 1:18:19

This kind of probably goes with that carry-on, but or that'd give it time, but I would say carry-on. Carry-on. Um I'm writing a song right now called Carry On. And it again is a double entendre. And we think a carry-on, if I just said the word, you'd probably get the image of the small suitcase you take with you on the trip, the carry-on luggage. And I think that is a symbolism for we all carry baggage. We all carry baggage. God knows your baggage, and yours is yours to carry, and and maybe even yours to surrender. But the only way you're ever gonna find out which one you need to do is just to carry on and keep moving. Keep moving.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:05

Mine would be um, what is the story you want to tell at the end? Um, at the end of everything, what is it? What is the story you want told about you? What is the story you would want to tell in your situation in the messy middle? Do you want to be the overcomer in the in the story? Do you want to give up? Obviously, we don't want to give up. Um, so that would be the question that I would I would say, you know, what what's the story you want to tell? And um hang on is I'm I'm maybe you can't carry on, maybe you can't make a step forward, but at least hang on.

SPEAKER_03 1:19:37

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:38

And um, and and tell the story that's worth telling. That'll impact life lives beyond us.

SPEAKER_00 1:19:47

Well, Matt and Abby, this was such a gift. Thank you for both being here and thank you for making music that feels honest. I love you guys so much. Thank you. Everybody listening, go find Matt and Abby. Follow their music and keep an eye out for Tornado. Matt, tell us where we can find you guys.

SPEAKER_05 1:20:02

Uh, everywhere on uh social media and uh and all everywhere music is streamed. It just uh you might want to include the plus sign. It's Matt Plus Abby. We say it like Matt and Abby, but you can also find us on uh online at mattandabby music.com. Abby is A B I.

SPEAKER_00 1:20:22

As always, guys, stay creative, live on purpose, and I'll see you next time on the Heather Patero Show. You've been listening to the Heather Patero Show, produced by Heather Patero Studios. Connect with us on Facebook or Instagram or visit Heatherpatero.com. Until next time, stay creative and live on purpose.