Under The Lights with Ash and Roy
Under the Lights Podcast with Ash & Roy brings you straight into the stories of the Western world’s toughest and most talented — legendary horsemen, elite rodeo athletes, and powerhouse musicians.
No fluff. No filters. Just real conversations about the grit, setbacks, and breakthroughs that built these icons. Ash & Roy take you behind the scenes and under the lights to hear what it really took to get there.
If you live the Western lifestyle — or just respect the grind — this one’s for you.
Kick back, crack a cold one, and enjoy the show.
Under The Lights with Ash and Roy
Jayson Arendt - Season 1 Episode 7
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Jayson Arendt is proof that reinvention takes guts. A former standout collegiate baseball player at UNC Wilmington, Jayson traded the baseball diamond for the country music stage—and hasn’t looked back. The North Carolina native first picked up a guitar during the pandemic, wrote his first song after baseball practice, and quickly turned that spark into a full-blown music career. Since then, he’s built a growing fanbase with his authentic country sound, heartfelt storytelling, and unmistakable small-town grit. From CAA championship baseball to live stages across the country, Jayson’s story is all about betting on yourself, chasing the next dream, and embracing the unknown. You may recognize him from the season 24 American Idol Top 30
What's the right story story? Behind the scenes. Under the lights to do what it would just be Western lifestyle. Or just respect the grind this one for you. Pick that. Grab a cold one and enjoy the show. Hey everyone.
SPEAKER_04Welcome to Under the Light and Dr. Roy. We are so excited to introduce finally a musician with us for our explorations, right? Roy, this is Jason Art. Jason, thanks for joining us.
SPEAKER_00Thank you all for having me. I appreciate it very much. It means a lot.
SPEAKER_04We are really excited to have you. A lot of people may recognize your name from last or this season, season 24, I believe, of American Idol. Beyond American Idol, you've got a huge accolade between the athletics and all sorts of things before becoming a musician. Before I get into any questions, I'm going to throw just a quick bio on. Um, you were an athlete baseball player with the University of North Carolina, Wilmington.
SPEAKER_00Yes, USCW at uh at the beach in North Carolina.
SPEAKER_04Oh, okay. Well, we'll get to asking you all about it. Now, currently with the Texas Tailgators, right?
SPEAKER_00That's right.
SPEAKER_04And uh getting ready to play right now.
SPEAKER_00We're in Savannah, so we have our uh our midseason tournament that determines the guaranteed spot into the playoffs this year, and our first game of that tournament is tonight at seven o'clock. One day batting practice starts here in about 30 minutes. Okay, getting ready.
SPEAKER_04So we're gonna like literally kickfire these, but we're here for it. You have become a really huge piece of social media, and it's been absolutely awesome to see you grow. Your music is the Western lifestyle, which is what Henry and I really live and breathe for. So we are good, the Texas Tailgators. Let's talk a little bit about that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so our team is the entire organization is based out of Savannah, but each team represents something different, whether it's a brand or like the firefighters represent all firefighters, and then for us, we represent Texas and Tailgators, especially anybody who goes to a game and decides they want to have a good time. So that's kind of our goal is to every game we play is to entertain fans as if they're at a tailgate before every game, after every game, during every game.
SPEAKER_01So that's awesome. So I've never been to Banana Ball League, right? Excuse me, but it is crazy. I mean, how do y'all practice? Like you change things up every night, or you change, or do you the same thing for like this series?
SPEAKER_00So we actually do different things every single game. So we have a plan each time of like all the different things we're gonna do in every single game, which could be anything from entertainment before the game to entertainment during the game to entertainment after the game. Everything's different. Now the gameplay itself, whatever happens, happens. I mean, it's it's true competition baseball. We kind of get after it, and whoever wins, wins, and whatever happens, happens. But we do all of our entertainment stuff as a if-then basis. So, like if this happens, we're gonna do this. And so we prepare, kind of assuming typically how baseball games go, like there's gonna be a strikeout, there's gonna be a home run, probably, one team's gonna win, one team's gonna score, like all those kind of things, and we just plan based around that. Is there ever any fights like charging them out for a wheel? No, nothing like that. Because we know, even though we're all trying to win, the main goal is to entertain the fans. So we don't we try not to put ourselves in the center of the meaning for any of that kind of stuff. Trust me, it gets heated up. Yeah, the tempers do flare at times, but we always have to kind of push that down because yeah, it's it's not the important part of the game.
SPEAKER_04So let's back up a little bit. You're a North Carolina native. Let's tell us a little bit about growing up. And did you come from a musical family?
SPEAKER_00So growing up in North Carolina, there was no music in my family at all. But we grew up just country music was always playing, whether it was on the radio in the truck or it was on the radio at the house. It was always something going on. My brother and I were very just outdoorsy kids. I mean, we would fish all the time, always playing with the ball, always shooting basketball somewhere. So there was always country music on the radio and sports of some sort or outdoors going on. So we grew up just kind of like being out and just experiencing life as much as we could, which really helps when we grew older because getting into high school, we kind of felt like we were a step ahead almost just at as doing that as long as we did. So it was it was honestly some of the best years of my life growing up in Fuquay, because even though there's to some people not much to do for us, there's so much to do.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01And now you get the best of both worlds. You get HL and S. I know we got limited time, so I'm gonna answer the exact point.
SPEAKER_00So thinking wise, if you had to collab with anybody, well, one of my all-time favorites is Travis Tritt. I've I've listened to him since I was a kid and all the way through, and he's awesome. He doesn't tour too much anymore, but he's just he's phenomenal, and his band's great. That's one of those like all-time things for me is like Travis Tritt would be sick. Yeah, yeah. Um that would be I love Parker McCollum. Parker McCollum's awesome as a person and as an artist, he's great, and his shows are freaking great. So I've gone to a lot of his shows and his stuff's really awesome too.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, transitioning from collegiate baseball to the tailgators, now with your musical career growing. How did that transition for you? Was it a tough transition? Was it easy?
SPEAKER_00So, my senior year of college was when I started playing with my bands, and we would kind of travel around the state and play the night before whatever game I had to go play or whatever. And so, whenever we had empty nights, we would go play and kind of got a little bit of traction from that with putting out music at the same time. And when we lost in the Georgia regional my senior year, I pretty much hung the cleats up. I was like, I'm done with baseball, I'm so ready to do music full time. And we went out and we did a little bar tour for pretty much an entire summer. And during that time was when the Banana Ball organization kind of realized and saw what I was doing and goes, Okay, a team based around some country music would be really, really cool with a guy who does both. And so they reached out and we kind of both thought it was a really good idea mutually, and so the Texas Tailgators were born, and we started this team that was based around a country music band, and from there it's just been off to the races. Yeah, that's awesome. Is there is there an age limit to banana ball? No, I mean there's no age limit at all, but it especially now with this year, they started a draft, so it's not all kind of like hand selected like it used to be. It's it's a real competitive cutthroat industry now and and organization to where there's a lot of guys that were on the teams last year that aren't back this year, just for strict competition level. Wow.
SPEAKER_04When when you decided, who did you have somebody specifically that really pushed you to pursue the American Idol? Or was that something that you've always thought about?
SPEAKER_00So growing up in Fuquay, Garner, North Carolina, is about 10 minutes down the road. And Scottie McCreary is from Garner. So when he was on American Idol, it was a huge deal for the entire state, especially our hometowns, because they're so close and it was just a it was a massive thing. So everybody knew about it. And as a guy who loved music my whole life, like I did when I said I was a kid and we were listening to music all the time, it's just something that's kind of been there my whole life. But as an actual musician and singer, it was kind of like later for me. American Auto was always something that was in the back of my head because I watched a guy from the town over win it. And so it's one of those things that kind of inspires you. It's like, okay, if he can do it, so can I? And so when the opportunity came around, it was it was something that I jumped on instantly because I was like, This is it's something I've watched since I was a kid. I've always wanted to do it.
SPEAKER_01So yeah, that's awesome.
SPEAKER_04Is there anything like behind the scenes American Idol that you wish people knew? Like, was there any anything that was really surprising when we were doing my recording process?
SPEAKER_00I'll say I wish they could see all the artists that were there because there were so many talented singers and just different backgrounds, different types of music there. That it was so cool to see and hear all those different types of music, and all of them being phenomenal and great. It was it was super special. So I wish that like a lot of my friends didn't get to be on the show. They were there, they were on American Idol, but they weren't on TV. And so there's there's a lot of musicians that didn't get that airtime that I thought were really well deserving and would have been really cool for people to get to see us. So do they just like you wait and then they take you in and you get to meet the judges and then out? Or so truthfully, you don't really get you, you you walk in having not met anybody, and they just throw you in the room, and then you do your audition, and whatever happens on that TV stream is what you see. That's exactly what it was. We go in there, we do our thing, we shake their hands, and we walk out, and then that's it, it's over, and you're on to the next round. So, like there wasn't there wasn't much of a like a prep at all. It was just kind of like kick them into the room and hope they do well. Nervous because you didn't seem nervous. I'll say this I was definitely nervous when I started singing, but being in front of people and entertaining and performing is never something that scares me. It's more of a kind of an adrenaline rush. Yeah, so I I get really excited when I get to go do stuff like that, like playing on a sold-out stage or sold-out stadiums in front of this year when we play at Texas AM, it's 110,000 people. So, like those kind of things are they they light a fire in me, not push me away. So yeah, performing is never something I've ever been nervous about. Try to break George Trace record down there. Hey, might as well.
SPEAKER_04Well, you punched your ticket, let's say, to Hollywood, and moving beyond to the next step. But in your audition, they were able, I I watched it back a couple of times, and we're gonna link it back to all of our listeners and viewers. But they gave you some advice. And did you feel like it was useful? Were you able to use it? Or was it totally crazy blind and it was hard to embrace?
SPEAKER_00No, so the advice they gave me was actually really good. Luke Bryant gave me some awesome advice, which was to not sing as aggressively and loud as I always had. And that was something that not coming from a musical family, you just kind of you just sing, you don't really know what you're doing. And so when he said that, I really dug deeper on that and tried to learn exactly what he was talking about. And I've grown so much since that, just because of a couple of those tips that that really changed the stamina of my voice, the purity of my voice, and a lot of just the the little things that make a huge difference. So it's that feedback was great. It's it's already helped a lot in my career and in my vocal ability.
SPEAKER_01I uh I was listening, I always listen to your songs there, and that staring through the ceiling. That's one of my I love that song. You can tell it's a passion and like you know uh exactly what you're saying.
SPEAKER_00So I'm close to it. I'm glad you said that because that is probably by far my favorite song I've ever written. And I think it's the most underlistened to one that there is. Agreed.
SPEAKER_04So if somebody's out there looking for your music, what's the best way that they can find it?
SPEAKER_00You can find it on anywhere you stream. So Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon, YouTube, anywhere you stream music, you can find it. All you have to do is look up Jason Arn, it'll be right there.
SPEAKER_04Perfect. Your social media has taken off in over the last couple of years, and really some of your covers are some of the most fun for me to watch and enjoy. I have to be telling you between Vince Gill and George Street, I don't know which one I lost better. But um is that a tedious process to you, or do you just truly enjoy it?
SPEAKER_00So it's it's pure enjoyment of singing, and most of that's me just kind of going out there and wanting to just sing. And if I hear a song that I really like, that I'm like, oh, I wonder if like if like what that's how to play that on guitar, something as simple as that. Then I'll just go out there and I'll mess around with it. And if I feel like I'm like in a flow state of it, I guess, I'll just turn the camera on and and video it and send it out and see what happens. But a lot of that's just there's a lot of me playing before that video is ever taken. So it's usually just a little clip of just me sitting out there and messing around most of the time.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's awesome. And we love this role, but you know, when you're in Texas, you gotta do George Strait. That's right. Right, we gotta do that. But uh, so you're coming to Billy Bob's. Um that's pretty exciting to play at Billy Bob's.
SPEAKER_00When I got the call that I was gonna be able to headline Billy Bobs, I I remember exactly where I was. I'm in the airport and I'm kind of sitting there, and I got the email, and I'm sitting there next to Travis and a couple of my other buddies. There are Texas guys, and I just kind of like stopped moving, stopped talking, kind of just like looked there, and they both looked at me and were like, Are you okay? I was like, I don't think you guys realized what I just got. Like that that was the coolest thing. It was it was one of the biggest bucket list things I had, yeah, having known a lot of buddies like Hudson Westbrook and Ty Myers that have gotten the opportunity to do it and sold it out, and how big of a deal it was. For me to even get that opportunity was so sick.
SPEAKER_01So yeah, you get to put your hands in the that's right.
SPEAKER_00One day, one day I hope to do that. That's right. That's awesome.
SPEAKER_04Where else will you be playing in May, this coming May?
SPEAKER_00So in May, we'll be in College Station on May 1st, and on May 14th, we will be in El Paso. So I'm really excited about those. There, it's a part of my banana ball pregame tour. So when we go to certain cities the night before our game, my band and I will play at a venue in that town.
SPEAKER_04Nice.
SPEAKER_00So the college station one's awesome because it's right before the Texas AM football stadium game. So that Friday night we'll be playing in Northgate, which is really cool. So I'm excited about it. It's the old uh old Hurricane Harry's reopening. So I get to play there that Friday night. I'm really excited about it.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, that's not my sweet niece rides for Texas AM Equestrian. She's uh a senior, so I'll have to make sure she doesn't.
SPEAKER_00That's right. That's right.
SPEAKER_04Awesome.
SPEAKER_00Well, Jason.
SPEAKER_04Listen, what are we getting beyond what you're doing? Oh, first one though, what's your favorite one you've played at?
SPEAKER_00So far, I'll tell you this going to college in Wilmington, North Carolina. Anytime I go back there, I always have a blast. And so we're playing there this year again, but we played the bend. It's just it was a brand new kind of like outdoor venue that had a full stage and PA and everything. And we didn't really know what to expect when we got there, but when we played it, we sold over a thousand tickets, and the place was slammed. And it was one of the coolest experiences I've ever had with just friends, family, family of friends, friends of family that showed up and college baseball fans and UNCW students, and it was this crazy mix of everybody that I'd ever known in college that came to support, and so it was one of the coolest shows I've ever done, and I'm so excited to be back there because it's it's super special for me just to be there.
SPEAKER_04That's amazing. That's amazing. Why don't I since we're short on time, I love quick fire questions. I like those crazy goofy questions. But Roy and I, the whole reason, the whole premise of what we're doing through our podcast is because we love to watch the live style. Before we go to the quick fire, I've got to know have you ever heard of harness racing or been to a harness race?
SPEAKER_00Harness racing, no.
SPEAKER_04Okay, okay.
SPEAKER_00So that's been around a lot of equestrian stuff. Yeah, but I don't I don't know that I know what harness racing is.
SPEAKER_04So Roy and I both have a background in harness racing, and we feel like harness racing needs to be merged in the western lifestyle. So we've got to get you to a track, or maybe you can do the national anthem or something. Would you be up for that?
SPEAKER_00I'm always up for that. All right, always up for it.
SPEAKER_04Okay, we're gonna move right into quick fires. We won't take up much more of your time. Do you have any superstitions between before you hit the stage or uh uh I will always drink a zero sugar white monster energy before any game, any show, any workout, doesn't matter, every time.
SPEAKER_00Okay, I have two of them today. It's gonna be a long day.
SPEAKER_04It's gonna be a long day.
SPEAKER_00My favorite movie, favorite movie, pure country.
SPEAKER_04Who are you listening? Who are you listening to on repeat in the car, headphones, or whatever?
SPEAKER_00Oh man. Right now, I'd have to say Mike Ryan. I've been on a Mike Ryan cake like crazy lately.
SPEAKER_04Wow. Okay, I didn't expect that. Favorite cocktail.
SPEAKER_00I'll make a little ultra, even though it's not really a cocktail, but live and die by it.
SPEAKER_04You an early bird or a night owl?
SPEAKER_00Well, due to my job, I kind of have to be a night owl. I don't really get to I have to wake up early every once in a while too, but playing at night, you the adrenaline rush kind of keeps you up a little bit later.
SPEAKER_04So who's your biggest cheerleader?
SPEAKER_00My mom, for sure.
SPEAKER_04Who's your toughest critic?
SPEAKER_00My brother, for sure. And I need that. Those are very important.
SPEAKER_04What's your biggest pet peeve?
SPEAKER_00Somebody who doesn't stick to their word, for sure.
SPEAKER_04What was your last impulse purchase?
SPEAKER_00Uh I got some tame and boots last week, and ooh, that hurt me. Hopefully, Arian. Yeah, that's right.
SPEAKER_04That's right. That's right. Name last one, name a famous person you'd love to meet.
SPEAKER_00Travis Trick. I know I already said that earlier, but Travis Trick's one of my my biggest role models, so that would be insane to be able to meet him and and just kind of like talk with him, I guess. Awesome.
SPEAKER_01That's not we need to we need to get you and Braxton keep together.
SPEAKER_00That's right. So I I have not met Braxton, but I know a lot of we have a lot of mutual friends. So yeah, that'd be right.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So oh go ahead, and we're gonna replace your your monster energy with wrecking energy. We got it coming out next month. So you're gonna you've got to try. We're gonna say, I'm there.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, yeah. And and most importantly, if you're a coffee drinker like we are, cowpunch coffee is our all-time favorite.
SPEAKER_00Cowpuncher coffee. All righty. I hear you. Thanks for having me.
SPEAKER_04Jason, thank you so much for your time. We know that you've got to get on the field right away, so we won't keep you any longer. Um, just remind everybody where they can find you on socials as well.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you can find me on Instagram at Jason Art underscore. You can find me on TikTok at just Jason Art and any of my music you can find on any streaming platform. All you gotta do is just look at Jason Art.
SPEAKER_04Awesome. Well, listen, we're gonna let you go, but Rory and I are gonna stay on just for a few more minutes. So good luck tonight. Thank you for your time. And maybe I'll see you at Texas AM on May 1st.
SPEAKER_00Sounds good. We'll see y'all there. Thank y'all for having me.
SPEAKER_04Thank you.
SPEAKER_03Thank you to our great sponsor, Outpuncher Coffee, for the day. It isn't just a cup, it's a kick in the saddle. Both smooth and built for early mornings and long days. It feels the kind of determination that gets work done. Rick. Flavor without the bitterness. Strong enough for the arena, smooth enough for the porch. Find it at cowpunchercoffee.com.
SPEAKER_04That was a ton of fun and really, really exciting. We're so thankful for Jason. We knew he was on a major time crunch. He got us in and got us out of there. But I gotta know, Roy, how did you meet him?
SPEAKER_01I think it was it might have been two years ago. I don't know if he reached out to me or I reached out to him, but I knew he was singing. We were looking for some artists, new artists, and and when we're looking for new artists, there's you know the Tratter house looking for new artists. I mean, our DMs are just crazy. So either way, we got in touch that way through Instagram, and we we just kind of always kept in touch and and texting, hey, I'm in the area, whatever. And the funny thing is, I have still yet to meet him in person, right?
SPEAKER_04Oh, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01So he was gonna come to Billy Bob's um in the stockyards uh the other week because he was in Texas, and uh anyway, the game we got out late, and I was I was going home, so anyway, that's that's how we got connected.
SPEAKER_04I am dying to go to one of these games. Have you haven't been there either, right?
SPEAKER_01No, it looks like organized chaos. Yeah, can I say that? I mean, that's what it looks like.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, it it is evolved so incredibly big, and it's such a like it's really a cool concept that I absolutely love. It was kind of cool to hear from him how competitive it is and how it the competition is bigger and greater.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean, I see I see it on you know what they put on social media. I just when you see that, you see all the fun annex, right? You see the fun stuff and the the the trick catches, and I think I seen one of Jason, he had a pop fly and he took his glove, and you're like, you know how the the volleyball player set the ball? Well, he took his glove and popped it up like that, and the other guy caught it behind his back. So that's what I mean. Like, it's really uh you go to playoffs and you uh like it's really competitive, but how I I don't know, I I haven't put it all together yet because you're doing trick shots. Well, what if you miss that? Then you lose, and does your team come back and say, Hey, you messed up? So I don't know.
SPEAKER_04It's like they're the Harlem Gulb Trotters of the Major League Baseball.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_04That's what I mean. I guess that's my take on it. And I thought for a lot of years, like, oh, it's just fun, but it's serious, like it's serious business.
SPEAKER_01It is, and I love it because it's kind of reviving baseball, right? So, I mean, people they like they're selling out stadiums, which is awesome. I mean, let's get the kids off their phones and bring them to the baseball game and let's have fun.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I was really blown away when he had spoken a little bit about how the the you know the banana ball wanted the Texas tailgators to be a musically inclined or have some kind of connection there. I did not know that at all. That was really cool to hear.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's really cool. And and I always tell people like, you know, we deal with music artists, and everyone's wanting to go to Nashville. I said, Well, you go to Nashville, I love Nashville, like it's you know a cool place to go. But if you're an aspiring artist, they say, Oh, Nashville, well, you're just gonna get lost. Doesn't you you'll just be another number, right? If you really want to break into country music, come to Texas, make Texas fall in love with you. And I think it's a great, it was a great idea for Texas tailgators because biggest, I mean, second biggest state, biggest state in the lower 48. And when the Texans are with you, you're gonna go a long way.
SPEAKER_04It so it's probably realistic to say that, and I think he mentioned this in in a little bit more in depth. When they're traveling, you could probably like depending on where they're playing, you could look for bars and restaurants and venues around that to go watch him play or see him play and all that stuff, too. Um, I wanted to get a little bit deeper into like the American Idol, because I know he had just missed the top 30. Um, and but his his story was kind of iconic because when he came in to to do his interview, or it's not an audition, I'm sorry. He brought a lot of the guys with him, which I think was like look, seemed super overwhelming, but it was kind of cool. I I was here for it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, they even got Luke Bryan up to do a little lawn dance.
SPEAKER_04Oh, yeah, that's right. That's right. That's right. It was so good. I I just loved it. We we'll link um below somewhere, somehow, you guys will see. We'll link out that audition so that you can watch it. But we're just so thankful for Jason's time. Um, it's this has been such a fun journey for Roy and I because we really had no expectation, right?
SPEAKER_03None.
SPEAKER_04We were just gonna let the wind, the the wind take us. The other day I posted on social media because a lot of we get a lot of questions and a lot of great questions from viewers, fans. Um, one of the first questions that I received was like, where did you come up with this strategy? And I shamelessly like linked back the old um video with uh from Yellowstone where it was like F it, like just do it. Like we don't we don't really know anything we're doing, but we're just gonna have to figure it out on the fly.
SPEAKER_01I like it. And it worked, I mean it's it's working out really good. You know, we're building and uh we we just have a lot of fun.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's it's it's just you know, two fools trying to have a good time and grow our sport, you know. I I I think we can get Jason maybe maybe shout out to the Hamiltonian Society. Maybe Jason can come in, sing the national anthem at the Hamiltonian. But before we get all crazy with that nonsense, I do we are currently halfway through season one. It's been an absolute blast. One of the things that I didn't kind of see coming, which is awesome, is we've received a lot of questions. I think sometimes you and I are so immersed in both of our sports, our worlds, that we'll say something and it doesn't always land because somebody doesn't really know. So, with that being said, I'd love if maybe producer Brett, if you could join us and kind of read us some of those questions, and then to the best of our ability, we can answer them. Is that good with you, Roy? Sounds perfect, my girl.
SPEAKER_03Hey, yeah, I'm totally game with that. I have all those questions right here. You guys have gotten a lot of them, and it's been so cool to see the reactions that everybody, all of the different places that you guys post everything. It's been so neat to see the questions that have come through and be able to like get them all in a basket for you guys. Well, thanks.
SPEAKER_04Thank you. So um, you probably see more of the questions than we do, and I was shocked by the amount of questions. So heck, go for it. There we go. Yeah, go ahead and get us with them.
SPEAKER_03All right. I'm gonna I'll actually throw a couple of my questions in here too, because I'm new to this board of harness racing, also. So when you guys asked me to do this, I was super excited because my background's rodeo, horses, that type of thing, but I didn't know much about harness racing. I've done uh things where I did more barrel racing, but I also did a little bit of English, also. So so I kind of got into that, but not a lot. So I've been super intrigued to listen to all of you guys' interviews and and all the stuff that you've had on here. So I just have to say ahead of time, thank you guys for having me do this for your podcast because I've learned a lot from all of the people that you've brought on as well. So, and and music is my background, so it was cool to see Jason.
SPEAKER_01And uh, we're gonna bring you out to uh big race.
SPEAKER_03Yes, yes, oh, I'm so excited. I I am so excited to see everything in person. I've never actually been on a racetrack, so that I'm I'm super excited. New experiences, you know, that's the one thing nobody can ever take away from you is experiences. And I absolutely love that you guys are willing to bring me out there. I don't know if you're smart for bringing me out there, but I appreciate it.
SPEAKER_04Um, so we're gonna have to put like a big post step like producer Britt Bailey takes over the Meadowlands racetrack and Meadowlands base 2026. All right, hit us with some questions.
SPEAKER_03Well, let me go straight into Meadowlands. That was one of the first questions that we got. What are the Meadowlands?
SPEAKER_04Perfect question. The Meadowlands Racetrack is a location in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Um, it is the marquee event for the Hamiltonian, which is like our Kentucky Derby, three-year-old Colt Trotters. Um, we of course, just like the Derby has the oaks for Phillies, we also have the Hamiltonian Oaks, but the Meadowlands is a location in northern New Jersey. The town is East Rutherford. Now, okay, funny, you guys are all gonna like think I'm crazy, but this got me because I'm a I'm a Midwestern transplant to the East Coast. So the very first time somebody told me to go to the Meadows racetrack, not the Meadowlands, but the Meadows, it's you have to get off an exit of Meadowlands, Pennsylvania. I was really like, girl, I don't even let me tell you like driving the truck and trailer. I'm like, wait, uh wait, did I screw this up? Like, did I two strike seven and a half hours the wrong track? So good question. The metal lands is in East Rutherford in northern New Jersey.
SPEAKER_03Okay, the this kind of goes into what you were just saying, and talking about uh the races. Do they run mayors, fillies, or geldings, ages, and classes or classes? So, like how is it all run?
SPEAKER_01I mean, that's uh that's a good question, uh tough question, a complex question. Uh, when you're dealing with stake races, like stake races are big money that you pay into. Like the Hamiltonian can host it's for three-year-olds, but it can host cults and fillies, they can race together. Now, the Hamiltonian Oaks, only Phillies can race in that, yes, right. And like we have another race called the Little Brown Jug for Three-year-old pacers. We have pacers, trotters, different gates. Both can go in there, but they also have only cults, only Phillies, right? Now, if you're looking at older horses or like they call overnight events, yeah, just yeah, it this can go deep because you get in the condition race of whatever anyway, Phillies, cults, mares, horses can all race together. So it's it depends what race you're going into determines who can race in there.
SPEAKER_03No room for geldings. Oh, yeah, too.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I was like, wait a second, we we got no geldings, but we studs in there too, right?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_04We're really bad because we'll say colt, and that just like for us, it's like lingo for the male species of horse. And like whether they're a gelding or a stud, we don't care. Okay, so we're kind of uh like I know that's a bad thing for me. I do that a lot. Um, I think it's important too while you bring this up. So harness horses, the breed is standardbred breed, and typically they start racing later in their two-year-old year. Um, we do have limits on how often those two-year-olds can race. People are pretty conservative, especially stakes horses. Um, and oh a standardbred will I'm gonna say this is very rare to be outside of that horse will not race more than one time a week. Oh, okay. So you might go to a racetrack, you'll see the first race is 10 on the field. That horse will not race the rest of the day. That horse goes on after he races, he gets bathed and he's done. He may race the following week, usually two weeks, depending on what they're heading to. But I always felt like that was a big misconception that the horses there race multiple times. They do not, they only race one time. We have one race that's heat racing where they actually do race twice. And this might actually lead to, I think this is a question I got. Was the little brown jack in in Ohio? The little brown jag does have heat racing, so they might race, they will race twice in that day.
SPEAKER_03Okay, and so that was the question. So I I'm gonna continue on with that. So you said that that colts now, how how do you guys range your age? This is a question for myself, just because in in my world, I call everything ponies, even that though they're a full grown horse. So it's kind of it, you know, the lingo of the sport that you're in. So my question is when it when you talk colts and fillies, what age range do you cut that off on to then go into an actual horse range in your sport? January 1st.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, but two and three-year-olds two and three-year-olds are still colts. Colts and fillies, then four years old is mare and horse or yelling, whatever.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, okay. And no matter what their birthday is, we use January 1st as their transition year. Okay. So whether you've got a February full or July full, it gets a little tough there because January 1st, their age changes, but yeah, two, three-year-olds or Phillies, and then and then four-year-olds in in horse horse harness racing, two-year-olds typically only race against two-year-olds. Okay, three-year-olds only race against three-year-olds most of the time. And then once you're a four-year-old, you're considered an aged horse. So you're four and up stakes. You might have like perfect example. Let's go back to we spoke with Mark Weaver and foiled again, the richest standard bread in in um harness racing history, was an aged pacer as a nine-year-old when Mark Weaver's other colt stallion, well, stallion, was a four-year-old making his debut as an aged horse. So that's that's toughest of the toughest. That's your NFR horses, your battle of the big guys, and there's a learning curve when you're a rookie. So that would be his rookie year as an aged horse.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, that makes, I mean, it makes sense to me. It's very interesting. That's that's lots of rules.
SPEAKER_04Let me tell you, I'm still figuring them out.
SPEAKER_03It's like Australian football. It's there's there, they just make them up as they go sometimes, I think.
SPEAKER_04It feels like it. It feels like it. If you don't know any better, you're like, wait, what? Yeah.
SPEAKER_03So that leads me back to this question that came in of why do they call it the jug? This must be the one that you saw too. And why is it so special?
SPEAKER_01I can't really tell you where it came from. Little brown jug. Do you know, Ashley?
SPEAKER_04Like where the I don't rem listen, I don't remember, and I'm I'm embarrassed to do that. Maybe we'll have to have um producer Brent Google it because it is an iconic, iconic race. Yeah, yeah. Could you Google it while we're chitty chatting? Um the Little Brown Jug is located at the Delaware, the Little Brown Jug race is the marquee race of the Delaware County Fairgrounds located right outside of Columbus, Ohio. Um, that is an event that has been marqueed for a lot of years. You'll answer it with the Google search, but it is an event that yields 30, 40, 50, 60,000 people annually. When you go, you will see that the chain link fence around that half mile track has chairs locked to it. And they lock their chairs to that fencing so that when they come back the following year, they've got a seat along the rail so that they don't have to pay admission to the big grandstand, which houses, I think, easily 25 or 30,000. Um, but it it is on top of being a marquee race, they typically have like 20 races on the day. They've got two-year-old sire stakes, you know, they've got three-year-old sire stakes, phillies, marriage, they've got everything that you could see on a normal month of racing everywhere else. They do in one day specifically, um, but they also have the Phillies race on the Wednesday before. So the little brown jag is always held on the third Thursday of every September. Yeah, the jugette for the Phillies is held on the Wednesday. So the third week of every September, no matter how it falls, is the jagged and the jug. And what's really, really cool is when you go, the the parking spots um sell out like years in advance for campers and camping RVs and hookups. And when you do that, when you buy an RV hookup, you're literally parked between the two barns of that are specifically meant for those horses. And it's open to the public during the day. Now at night there's security, it's super, super cautious, but um it's literally like a preserve, like it's preserved in the age of what harness racing really was back in the 70s and 80s. It's it's a blast from a past the past with like a cool new feel. I don't know how to explain it other than that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's um from so little round jug week starts Sunday to Thursday, ends with a little round jug, and it's everyone brings their own coolers, right? It's BYOB. Yep, and I mean the whole town shuts down. There's a school, there's no school, everything shuts down, even the Amish come out, bring their you know, beer. I mean, it's just a it's just a party, coolers in the buggies, yeah, yeah, legit, yeah. And as much as we're uh glorifying the little brown jug, I'm gonna be the devil's advocate here. And Mark Weaver likes the the heat racing, I don't like it, right? Because I've been there when it's been a hundred degrees, and you hey, have the eliminations at Soyota or whatever, get a final, what however you can do it. And I've seen, like Ashley said, this is it was such a fun day, right? I mean, it's one of the the biggest parties, a fun day at the jug, but now we don't see the best three-year-olds going there because they have to have heat races. They have, you know, and if you draw outside twice, I think we talked about that before. You have no shot. I mean, it's just the little brown jug, and you know, I mean, this is uh Ashley's show, and I'm co-host, and uh it's our platform, so I'm gonna say it. Yeah, do something, little brown jug society. Do something different to keep your people there because your numbers are starting to decline, the quality of horses coming there is starting to decline. If that's not a wake-up call, I don't know what is. I love the jug, I want to see it preserved, and I want to see it flourish. Do something different, Roy.
SPEAKER_04You bring up an incredible point because we a lot of what a lot of the public doesn't know is how much we protect our horses. Um and heat racing can be difficult. Now, back years ago, the Hamiltonian was also heat racing. They have they've evolved, they've changed back to non heat. When I say heat racing, it's like multiple races on the day. Um they changed that. They went to eliminations a week prior so that you don't overextend these animals and you do get to see the best of the best on that day. Um, another There was a little stint in there a couple years ago where the owner of the Meadowlands racetrack he wanted to bring back heat racing. He got a lot of pushback on it, so he went back to regular, I don't know all the details, but we no longer heat race there. But I'm I'm with you, Roy. I have to be totally honest with you. I love the little brown jug too. What I would love to see is if we are racing the week of the little brown jug, those horses typically come in the week prior anyway. Why do we not have Sunday first heat for the for the Phillies and Colts on the same day?
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_04That way people come in, they're there anyway to see those great horses. And then they've got Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, or Monday, Tuesday off. Phillies come back for their final on Wednesday, or we run both final. I mean, we don't really get a say so, but this is what I would love to see. Other thing I would love to see, this is kind of crazy. We used to have a big ass party on the back side of the Little Brown Jug the night of Wednesday evening. Could you imagine if like Cowboy Lifestyle Network or somebody came in and they hosted like a like their caliber of party? Like just some area came in and had a party. Like if they had that type of caliber that evening, you could bring in so many people, you could sell tickets, we could kick a percentage back to retired horses, new vocations, all these organizations that do incredible things behind the scenes. But back to Rory's point, Rory's right. We are seeing a decline in participation on the horses side and people coming in. Perfect example, Captain Treacherous. My husband drove an incredible three-year-old. Um, now it feels like a lot of years ago. I think it was 2015, he was a three-year-old. They chose to not go to the little brown jug. I don't know why. I'm not gonna give like insider information because I I don't really know why. But heat racing is hard. And when you've got a very difficult road ahead, because now this horse in September still has to go to Lexington for Grand Circuit, he's gotta go to the Breeders' Crown eliminations, the Breeders' Crown Finals, the TVGs, the Messenger, they still have a long road, and so when you're preserving your super, super and being really careful, you've got to sort of miss something, and so it's kind of become I don't want to say trendy, but they're missing the little brown job.
SPEAKER_01Um yeah, and I think uh Britt knows cowboy that's a great idea with Cowboy Lifestyle Network, right? They put on great parties, and Britt, I I think they would be open for it, yeah, but here's here's the thing, and I'm gonna call out the jug society, they're not. Well, we don't know yet. Well, we don't know yet. Well, here's I'm saying Little Brown Jug Society, here's your chance to step up. That's what I'm saying.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, yeah, what yeah. Okay, so Brett, producer Brittany. If I'll tell you what, honestly, genuinely in my heart of hearts, like if if we had some type of opportunity or partnership or something like that, um man, I'll get a hold of anybody I need to get a hold of. And I'd love like I just my heart says that is what we need, that would be so much fun.
SPEAKER_01And you talk about crossover cowboy lifestyle network and in the jug, right?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, yeah. And then Cavendars, call me and we'll get everybody nice hats. Yeah, yeah. Okay, and this is really, really fun, but I could get I could go all day.
SPEAKER_03Um, is that yes, well, I and I know those guys have wanted to come on and talk with you guys also on your podcast. I know you guys have a awesome, huge list of people that have been interested in being in this podcast since they've started to see these come out. And uh so it's just really cool to see on on my backside here of the amount of people that have come up and stepped up and like even messaged me and been like, hey, this is really cool. I heard that you know these guys. So, like, I I love that this is this is a great way to invite people into different uh disciplines of the country lifestyle, truly. And okay, so you asked me to look up the little brown jug. So I thought this was very interesting because instead of just going to straight Google, we love AI and we don't like AI. Um, so according to Chat GPT, this name actually comes from a song, not a troll. Yeah, yeah, it's a little old folk tune. It was popular back in the 1900s, but the race started in 1946, and it wanted to capture county fair, working class, and beer in the jug down home vibe. That's what it was.
SPEAKER_04All right, I didn't know that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I knew it was a song, but I didn't know that's where it came from.
SPEAKER_04I love it. Like, this is I love this nonsense that did.
SPEAKER_03Did we answer that question? I think you answered that question fantastically. And I, you know, we've got a lot more questions. I know we're getting about to the end of our time here, and I think we'll pull some of these in and do some more questions because I think there's a lot of people that really do want to know more from the questions that I've seen come in, anyway. The people do really want to know more into this, and I think the more comfortable people get with the different disciplines in the lifestyle, um, whether it be harness racing, country music, rodeo, all of that, and all of the people that you guys are bringing together for this, I think there's even going to be more questions, which I love this with you guys kind of coming in and letting everybody know. Because sometimes when you're just in the podcast, you're just in it, and and now people can learn a little bit more blind bridal. Right. Well, and that's one of those things. Do the harness horses run with a bright blind bridle or no? Yeah, and so it's not necessary, like it's not obligatory. No, no, they can, and then we got a thing called a Murphy and a headphone. We'll talk about that on the tone podcast. One of these times you guys are just well, maybe when I come out there, we'll have to go to the barn and we'll do a Facebook Live.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, show and tell.
SPEAKER_03Yes, yes, yes, yes.
SPEAKER_04Well, I got a guy, I got a guy, so we can we can do that. Awesome, yeah. Thank you to all of our viewers and listeners. I I'm blown away at the following at the viewership. Um, I'm so thankful for each and every one of you. So feel free to always reach out with your questions because this is really the whole goal is just to share two idiots sharing what they know. So you share back what y'all know, and then we can we can have a good time with it. Well, Brett, do you have oh we uh I I think right there that's probably good enough, and then we'll we'll probably wrap up the season with the rest some more questions um moving forward. Uh thanks, producer Brett. We appreciate you. Before we kick off, Roy, you were recently at an event that I have always wanted to attend, and that's the Hondo Rodeo. Can you tell us a little bit about that?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so the Hondo Rodeo Fest is my first one last November out in Phoenix, and they put on a million-dollar rodeo followed by an unbelievable concert series Friday, Saturday, Sunday. So uh this past weekend I was in New Orleans at the Superdome, and you talk about rodeo stars, we're talking about Stettler Wright and Jackie Hobbs Crawford, and I mean the list goes on and on, Riley Webb, and I think the first night it was Leonard Skinnard, Jason Aldean. The next night we had uh Old Dominion and Cody Johnson. Wow, and it ended with Bailey Zimmerman and Creed. So you have a million-dollar rodeo every day, followed by the concert, and I mean, just great people. Uh Cowboy Lifestyle Network, really good friends of mine, they were there, great people to hang out with, and we need to get them cowboy lifestyle network, but uh anyway, they're coming others coming to um Phoenix again in November, and then a new one in Tampa in February. So I know y'all ain't racing.
SPEAKER_04February is a good time for harness racing drivers, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Y'all got snow up there, so I'm thinking y'all need to plan that trip.
SPEAKER_04That would be amazing. It I just feel like the production of what they do is so cohesive with with the world that we are today, you know. And and I a lot of people have said to me, they're like, listen, you know, times are changing, times are changing, people are different. And one of the things that I really hope that harness racing can do in the future is is make that change and make that growth. Because at this point, we're like America's best kept secret. And I really think if people had like I hate to say their name again, and and I didn't even mean to do that, but like if you had an an entity like the Cowboy Lifestyle Network come in, and you know, I understand that racetrack management, it's very, very, very difficult to do what they do currently, and it's time consuming and it's hard, and they're strapped for money and and and personnel, and so having another maybe entity come in and say, Listen, you deal with the racetrack, we'll deal with the apron in front of the racetrack, and we'll have a party. To me, that's like a win-win. You know, that's kind of why I thought of it, like with the little brown jug. It would just be so much fun and so easy. But yeah, yeah, that's amazing.
SPEAKER_01I'll go sand in hand, tailgating entertainment, music, and like I said before, I don't know why the Hamiltonian, Lexington, all these big tracks don't have big concerts after. Let people tailgate, come into the track, bet horses, get exposed to it, and then let's have a concert afterwards.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, yeah, 100%, 100%. Um, well, again, just to circle back, Jason was incredible today. We were we knew he was on a major time crunch, and the fact that he even slipped us in there is super, super appreciated. So, Jason, if you're listening later on, hats off to you. We're sending you the best. Um, you know, from here forward. Now we've got to go to a Texas tailgators game. Um, and it sounds like a blast. But Roy, I just want to tell you thanks for for doing this with me because I would have not done it by myself. And I'm still nervous to do it every time we record. Um, but thanks again for for being a good co-host.
SPEAKER_01Well, thanks for having me. It's I I look forward to this, it's a lot of fun. You and Britt and all of us, I think we make a good team. And hopefully we race some people and and you know, get them coming over to the harness world and harness world coming to the rodeo world.
SPEAKER_04Perfect because I know that I will be at the NFR in December as always. And now I'm going to be at the Hondo in Tampa in February. So um, harness racing people don't take vacations, but maybe it's like a vacation if there's a rodeo.
SPEAKER_01So you better tell Timmy right now.
SPEAKER_04I'll just book it. I'm not even gonna bring it up. I'll just book it. Okay, well, thank you. Thank you very much to all of our listeners. Most importantly, thank you for our partner Cow Puncher Coffee. We're so thankful for them. They stuck their neck out on the line when we were just kind of coming up with the concept. If you haven't tried their coffee, remind us again what your favorite one is, Roy.
SPEAKER_01I like the blueberry.
SPEAKER_04Oh, yeah, that's right. Oh, yeah, that's right. That's so crazy. I love the blueberry, but I like the the pick, the pignon. That was my favorite. So for anybody that's purchasing from cowpuncher.com, give those a try. If you don't want to try those specifically, get the 12-pack because that's a way better way to go, anyway. So thanks again for joining us. We appreciate everyone's time. Roy, thanks again, and we'll see y'all soon.
SPEAKER_02See ya.
SPEAKER_03That was another episode of Under the Lights with Act and Roy. Thank you to the sponsors and how about your coffee for this episode. Whether you're headed home from the arena or just getting your day started, we're glad you spent some time with us. Around here, it's all about the stories behind the grind. We want you to be part of the story too. So comment, connect, and follow right here on this platform. And don't miss a hub speed. Whatever lights got you riding, stay fast, stay true. And we'll meet you right back here next time, under the light with Act Enough.