Melodies N' Memories: Music Media
Hosts Jillianne & Aaron R. Shriver are proud to bring their Music Interview & Positivity podcast to listeners and viewers alike. Aaron started the podcast in 2019, inspired by his long-time love for Eric Church and being a proud member of his fan club, "The Church Choir”. Through the show, he wanted to show appreciation for music and artistry, as well as create a platform for those with a positive attitude to share their stories. Over the course of the podcast, Aaron has become friends with a few guests, all of whom come on to discuss their experiences, share stories and even perform some of their own music. As the show grows, so too have the related projects - these now include concert reviews, Live Music Photography & Videos, and a positivity-focused blog. Every Monday at 7 pm Central, tune into Melodies N' Memories: Music Media on Facebook and YouTube and it'll be available on all streaming services the following day. Join Jillianne and Aaron to hear from a new guest every week!
Melodies N' Memories: Music Media
Kyle Austin | Singer/Songwriter
We had the absolute pleasure of sitting down with Kansas native and singer-songwriter, Kyle Austin, discovering his profound passion for traditional country music and the impact it's had on his life and career. Kyle opens up about his musical family, the influence his grandfather had on his sound and his journey from playing in nursing homes to collaborating with fellow Kansas natives in Nashville. Get ready for an inspiring and captivating conversation that will tug at your heartstrings.
Dive into Kyle's unique songwriting process, as we discuss his experiences with co-writing and how his close friendship with Hunter has opened new doors for him. Plus, hear about his adventures on Twitch, where he found community and friendship in the music world, while also promoting his own music in innovative ways. This episode is packed with valuable insights and stories that you won't want to miss.
As we wrap up, Kyle imparts powerful advice and reflects on the impact of starting early in his musical journey. Listen in as he recounts the memories and stories evoked by the songs he chose to share with us. Kyle's enthusiasm for music shines through as he discusses his journey, experiences, and the transformative power of music. Don't miss this heartfelt episode with the talented Kyle Austin!
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Hey, this is Bon Henry and you are streaming the Melodies and Memories podcast with Jillian and Aaron Shriver.
Speaker 3:Welcome to the Melodies and Memories podcast with Jillian and Aaron Shriver, brought to you by Arlo Revolution. Each week, they connect melodies and memories with fans and singer-songwriters from all genres of life. When all else in life is gone, music will be left to lead the legacy of life's adventures. Please welcome your hosts of the Melodies and Memories podcast, jillian and Aaron Shriver.
Speaker 4:Hello and welcome everyone to season 7 of Melodies and Memories podcast. I'm your co-host, jillian Shriver and I'm host Aaron Shriver.
Speaker 4:And our mission tonight is to provide a platform for motivated singer-songwriters, passionate fans or someone who is making a difference in and around the music community. We hope everyone listening leaves inspired with a positive outlook and begins connecting their own melodies to memories. Tonight we're presented by our good friends at Arlo Revolution cinematic wedding films, music videos and promos. Find them at ArloRevolutioncom. One Tree Planted For every 1000 downloads of the show. We plant a tree With One Tree Planted.
Speaker 4:Download the show on your favorite podcast app and PODDEX. Poddex are the hottest tool to get your next great interview unique interview questions in the palm of your hand. Our on-screen sponsors are Art on a Higher Wire by Joelle, original and custom artwork inspired by your life moments, treasured photos and memories. If you're looking for ways to support and sponsor Melodies and Memories music media, then head on over to our Patreon page, where tiers start at just $1 a month. The next best way to support the show is to like, share, review and follow on all podcast platforms. Remember, you can join us live every Monday night at 7pm central on Facebook and YouTube, where you can interact with the show, ask questions or join in on the live chat with your favorite guests. Visit our website MelodiesandMemoriescom for music news, concert reviews and photos, playlists and more.
Speaker 1:I love it. It sounds good. I just see you using the chat tonight. JC is watching and on.
Speaker 4:Hey JC, I stole your job.
Speaker 1:It used to be right in your seat for the longest time, so that's pretty cool. Thanks for hanging out with us for a little bit tonight, man. It's good seeing you all as well, so we definitely miss you. But hey, look who forgot to turn off her cell phone. She's putting on a rookie move over here too already.
Speaker 4:I have never done that I know right.
Speaker 1:So you got a little guy over there too that wants to talk to you. I think, okay, all right, guys, we'll take her off from it. But hey, i am very excited We're going to bring on Science Guest. We waited a little bit to have him on. I met Kyle a couple of years ago. It's been a while, but I'm like dude. I want to see how he develops because he's a badass dude, like the minute I first heard him. Our friend, hunter Thomas Mouse, introduced me to him a little while back And I was like dude, this voice is something different. The song writing is something different. I'm so excited to have him on.
Speaker 1:So tonight we are going to welcome on Kyle Austin for episode 168, a Kansas native with a passion for traditional country music passed down from his grandfather Growing up, kyle found his escape in the melodies of country music greats And literally know that music would soon become his career in lifelong passion. For Kyle, music is not just about performing and making a living, but rather a way of life that you define who he is today. It's in his blood, it's in his soul and it's in the stories he tells for his lyrics. We are going to discuss the melodies and memories that make up his journey. We're going to welcome Kyle on, kyle. Can you hear me, kyle? I think you're muted, still on the board, so you got to give me a minute. She ran upstairs. All right, buddy, can we hear you?
Speaker 2:Can you hear me All? right, there you are.
Speaker 1:Awesome, so yeah. So we had a little unexpected visitor down here and she only had her upstairs and she left the board unattended. Look at that Rookie move tonight, buddy. Welcome man. I'm so excited to finally have you. I know you've been traveling and I'm glad you were able to make it home tonight.
Speaker 2:By the skin of my teeth. man, Where are you? coming in from New Jersey. There was a barefoot country music festival up there. Nice.
Speaker 1:Me and a buddy went up there and we played like riders around and stuff surrounding the I think I saw a couple of people that are up there that was just attending it and stuff. It looked pretty cool. Man, definitely. Hell. Yeah, dude, fresh off the plane getting ready for a nice little fun night tonight. So I'm excited. Yeah, so first thing, learning from you, i never knew you were from Kansas And that was awesome because we've had Hunter on, we've had Travis Marvin on, i forgot who else?
Speaker 1:I did not know Kansas was so rich in the music world like that. Like we're having so many people now that I'm kind of forming a circle. Tell me how it was growing up in Kansas, man, kind of like who the influences were, kind of your first musical memory, all that stuff.
Speaker 2:Sure. So yeah, we had music all the time in my family. My grandpa wrote songs, played guitar and used in a band with his wife, my grandmother. She was the drummer, and it's actually because he was supposed to go play a show But a week before the drummer the drummer bowed out so he couldn't do it. So he told his wife that she needed to learn how to play drums. So she learned how to play drums and they sang and played drums together. But yeah, we grew up with music all the time. Everybody in my family sings or plays an instrument or does anything. If we had family dinners all the time and we all sat around the dinner table at my grandpa's house and there's always guitars being passed around or songs being sung, Yeah, so It was in your blood, man from birth, pretty much.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it really was.
Speaker 1:What was it like? kind of like the music you remember here. Do you remember like any specific artist or anything? You're like man who was this or anything like that?
Speaker 2:I had this thought the other day because somebody brought up a song and I was like that might be one of the first songs I remember Besides Grendy County Auction. It was oh goodness, why don't you kiss, kiss this?
Speaker 1:I still can't remember who it was Aaron Tippin, that might have been the first, like I think it's Aaron Tippin.
Speaker 4:I think it's Aaron Tippin. Yeah, that was Aaron Tippin.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's right, aaron Tippin. Yeah. Yeah, Keith Whitley as well. We had a CD changer and the I think a Keith Whitley CD was stuck inside it that we couldn't get out, so it was played all the time.
Speaker 1:All right, all right, cool man. Do you remember your first concert experience, man? the first person you ever saw live that you actually remember taking anything away from?
Speaker 2:The first concert I ever went to was actually a rock concert. My brother was a big rock guy and he's my older brother, so you know you always want to be. You know your older brother, he's the coolest person in the world. So we went to a I think it was. Their name is Red. Okay, it's kind of like. Have you heard of Breaking Benjamin?
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's like they're in the same realm.
Speaker 1:Okay, no, i see Yeah, where was it?
Speaker 2:at. It was in Dodge City. We don't have a lot of concert venues back there. I feel like it's better now than it was back then, But yeah, it was in Dodge City, which is like an hour hour and a half away from my house.
Speaker 1:What part of Kansas did you grow up in?
Speaker 2:Southwestern, we're Southwestern Kansas. we're real close to the Oklahoma border and real close to the Colorado border. I always tell people this we're so close to the Colorado border that when our bars shut down at 1.30, we'd have somebody drive us over to the one, to the next town over, because it was on mountain time That works out.
Speaker 1:That's awesome, nice dude. Yeah, it was awesome just meeting so many people now from Kansas and be like because, like you know, we hear of like your different areas that are like really rich in music and muscle shoals and stuff like that. But, dude, kansas is in North Carolina is another one, but Kansas is brewing some musicians out there. I'm telling you because we've had a couple. like I said, travis and Hunter had been awesome. There was one guy that I remember seeing in the Power Light District. he was a firefighter, noe Palma, i think it was Amur. Yes, we know that guy or not, but he was another one. I remember like I gotta have him on the show sometime.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, he's great, It's wild man. I've met a lot of people out here in Nashville that are from Kansas and it's so funny how we all flock to each other, because I feel like you know, especially in Nashville, somebody's like, oh yeah, this person's from North Carolina Oh cool, that's great. And then it's like somebody else is from North Carolina. They're it's like almost the same reaction, like oh cool, that's cool. And then it's like somebody's from Kansas, it's like I gotta meet this guy.
Speaker 4:Yeah, i feel that.
Speaker 1:Ashley Ray. She was another one. She's a songwriter in Nashville. That's from Kansas. She's a big J-Hawk fan. You know who she is at all, ashley Ray.
Speaker 2:I think I've met her at Live Oak once and we were both like hey, i heard you from Kansas.
Speaker 4:Yeah, this is my role.
Speaker 1:Yeah, dude, she's a hell of a songwriter One of my favorites there in Nashville, but, dude, definitely so. We talked a little bit about your whole family was playing, but mainly your grandfather. I was kind of reading a little bit about them. My grandfather was someone that I leaned on a lot, but he was one of your biggest influences with music. Dude, tell me a little bit about when you started playing. He used to bring you to nursing homes. Tell me a little about this.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So we would do two things. We play once a week. So, first off, he got me a. I got, i got a guitar for my 10th birthday from my parents. It was a first act. It had like an amplifier built into it. It was. You know what I'm talking about?
Speaker 1:Is that the one with the colors on the fretboard that you knew where to put your fingers out?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it has to be something like that. But I got that and my grandpa was really traditional country, like you know. he was like you know, we can't. we can't play Garth Brooks because that's rock and roll now, son. So but yeah, he didn't. I don't think he liked that. I got an electric guitar with an amp built into it. So he got me an acoustic guitar that he he gave me acoustic guitar and a pillow sack. He was like all right, you carry that guitar around on that pillow sack And you know, if it doesn't get damaged we'll get you a nice one, we'll get you a new one. And yeah, we never did. I played that forever Awesome.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 2:But we, yeah, every Wednesday we'd go play a different nursing home in the area within like an hour and a half or so. We just go play traditional country music for those folks for like two, three hours. And then we also did a as a part of this thing called Kansas Old Time Fiddlers, pickers and Singers And it's this. I think they're called charters, but like there's certain groups throughout Kansas and every second Sunday of every month we would host this thing in our like event building. I don't know what it's called, but you know it'd be like a potluck. You'd have to sign up and pay like a fee just to keep the thing running. It was like a real small fee. It's probably like $10 a month or something like that. But yeah, we do that every second Sunday and it would be just as big jam session where a whole bunch of people that were a part of Kansas Old Time Fiddlers, pickers and Singers would show up and play And then we'd use take turns singing and playing on each other's songs and it was just a big jam session.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, that's awesome man. So he was also a songwriter too. Is that the first kind of taste you got in with songwriting too, Or when did songwriting really come Cause, dude, that's something that I honestly was so impressed with when I first met you as your songwriter. It was just, yeah, your lyrics were just unreal, just unrealized world, and I was blown away. So where did it start? Did it start with your grandfather, or where?
Speaker 2:did your start. Yeah, yeah, he pushed a lot of himself musically. He wanted me to kind of follow in his footsteps. So you know we'd play. he'd show me like songs and be like this is country, and then he would show me like a song that I thought sound similar to be like this is rock and roll. Okay, but he wrote songs and he was a great songwriter And I was always so impressed with. You know, we'd go play these shows and people would come up and they'd request a song. And they'd go up to him and they'd request like one of his songs. They'd be like do that song, i love that song. And I was like I want, like I love that.
Speaker 2:I love that they want to hear his music. I was like I want somebody to want to hear my music, and so he, we would sit down, we try and write some stuff together, or you know, back then I was like 13. So I was like He was like what you know, like, let's write a song. What kind of song do you want to write And be like? you know about this girl from class that I see, better Locker, and you know, like I said, he's all about like traditional country music. He's like.
Speaker 2:OK, I think we can work with that maybe. So you know, I probably end up writing those ones on my own, But yeah, So I just loved that he, people, people always requested his music and it was more than one song and they wanted to hear it all the time And that that really inspired me to. I really like I grabbed ahold of that, like I loved that.
Speaker 1:Oh man, was there any song errors that you looked up to? Did you kind of used to get the little CD books or the set books and look to see who wrote songs and everything else, any names that kept popping up for you?
Speaker 2:I didn't. It's weird, it's real weird. I always use this excuse, or I have at least for this. Last week I was in New Jersey and every time somebody would ask me a question that I didn't know the answer to like. Somebody was like hey, do you like shrimp for seafood? And I was like I'm from Kansas, like we don't have oceans, so that I think that's my going to be.
Speaker 2:My answer for this too is like There was just there wasn't like a lot, like there wasn't like music stores or you know, like all you could really get CD wise was from, was from like Walmart And that was it, and that was 30 miles away in a different town And so, yeah, we didn't necessarily listen to. I think my thought process back when I was that young was these people that are singing these songs wrote these songs. I didn't realize until way later that That's not the case.
Speaker 1:I thought I felt too grown up man.
Speaker 4:It was until I thought. That's what I always thought.
Speaker 1:Yeah, until I got into high school and started looking. And then I always I had the cassettes because I was, of course. I went to high school in the nineties but I had the cassettes out and I was looking and all of a sudden, in parentheses, wherever I read the title of the song was these other names. I'm like, who are these other people? And we don't really have the internet to Google that and stuff. But I found later found out those are songwriter names, like oh, who's a songwriter? What's a songwriter? I just thought, whoever the, the band was, if it says Metallica, it was Metallica that was writing all the songs or whatever, right, this, whatever, so I never knew there was other parties. So it was kind of cool, like kind of learning about that And I like that kind of how your grandfather was a writer and that you finally got into writing with him. Now, when you write to, even to this day, do you prefer co-writes? Are you rather write by yourself? Does it just depend on the song or the mood?
Speaker 2:It depends on the song and the mood. Usually, if I, if I, if I come up with a lyric or like a melody or a hook or even just a song title, that as soon as I think of it I have like, oh, this should go right before it and that'll make it make sense, i usually either start building a song there on accident and I'm like I have a chorus, i got to write this out now, and then I write the song, or I come up with an idea like a song title or lyric or something like that, and I I write that in my notes, as most national writers do. And then if, if, if that doesn't really happen, i'll either take it to people and see if they're like, oh, that's a good idea, we should do something with that. And if they don't like it, i come back and I try and flush out how to make it work, because I really think it's a good idea. And then I'll write like a chorus or I'll, you know, i'll find a way to better present my idea than just like two words, you know, and then I'll show up with that And, you know, since I have a fully fledged chorus, as soon as I pitch it to you know other other writers if they like it.
Speaker 2:That's when I'm like okay that, there we go. That's what we needed was just the jumpstart. So sometimes I'll like half write a song before I come in, or sometimes I'll I'll just write it by myself on accident in like 15 minutes or I don't know I'm I'm still figuring out the co-writing thing, because I didn't do it a lot for a long time, like I did it like a few times with my grandpa and we never really came up with much. And then I've written by myself since then, until I moved to Nashville. I was like, oh yeah, we can all write, that's cool.
Speaker 1:So did you meet? I know I met you through a hundred. Did you meet Hunter once you got to Nashville or did you meet him in Kansas first?
Speaker 2:So before I moved we were both in goodness Lake of the Ozarks, missouri, okay, and he was there for some like bachelor party and I was there because I was opening up for this band at a place called Captain Ron's down there And I got up and played, i got done. Next band was playing. I was sitting there and I watched Hunter walk up to this guy and I didn't really know what was going on. But they both took off their shirts and uh, and then swapped And then he put on the shirt and he like turned and started to come to the bar and I saw it was a bushlight shirt And I love bushlight, i talk about it all the time. But uh, i was like, dude, congratulations on the upgrade, like whatever shirt that was, congratulations on, you know, going home with that, with a bushlight shirt.
Speaker 2:He did well, he thought it was funny. And then we talked a little bit and, uh, i told him I was you know, i played before and he was like, oh, do you write music or have anything else? I said yes, he's like I'm actually from Nashville. I was like, oh, that's wild. So we looked each other up and then, on our separate ways home, we each listened to each other's albums and then immediately we're like dude, i love your music.
Speaker 1:Oh that's cool, that's cool. And we never, we just I was always curious to make you guys. You guys honestly click together and honestly you guys put I know you just put a song out together Also, but ever since I've seen you guys together in like the same rounds and everything else, you guys have always clicked. I love that.
Speaker 2:Oh, yeah, We're just uh, we're silly idiots. I tell people all the time like we click really well with the dad jokes and um, just trying to make people laugh all the time and our music styles are very similar. So, yeah, it's uh, Hunter's becoming one of my best friends down here And, um, yeah, I'm grateful to have met him because he's got me a lot of doors and introduced me to a lot of people and showed me around and it's been great.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, dude, you get. I guess he gets bounce off wall, and so do you have any else in your songwriting circle, or do you have any dream code rights that you kind of would like to have?
Speaker 2:I don't know, man, i'm, i'm so, so I've only been in Nashville. I'm coming up on two years in August. Yeah, and I, uh, i, i'm still figuring out who's who and um, you know even the co-writing scene. Like, i have my groups and I try and branch out, but I don't know writers very well, or I don't. I'm too afraid, you know, to be like Hey, do you want to write? It's just because I, you know I haven't done it that much, but, um, yeah, i, i love the guys I write with. I'd like to do, i'd like to get like a Kansas group, maybe this is. I came up with this on the spot.
Speaker 2:So, uh, like a group of Kansas writers and they do like a writers retreat And I think so I've seen somebody do that. I think I've seen somebody do that, like from Kansas do that already.
Speaker 1:So this is Ron, so I'm writing stuff for writers retreats. So for people that don't know what that is, i think it's phenomenal. It's where a group of writers would go. They just kind of try to turn off the cell phones, lock themselves away and see what they come up with, spend a couple of days out in the woods, whatever. Uh, how many of you have been on it? You've, or what's been your favorite one? you've actually been on or done?
Speaker 2:I have not been on a writers retreat yet Really. Uh, I've gone to Key West Florida. I don't think that counts.
Speaker 1:We done there for writers, uh, for songwriters fest Yeah. Nice dude, nice. Well, we're gonna have to get you on a writers retreat sometime then, for sure. Oh yeah, because honestly that's where I've shared some of the greatest songs have came from, and everything, cause you guys just honestly have nothing else to do. And who do we talk to? Adam Hambrick? We talked to him. He was on one where he came out and was on his own and wrote this incredible song. I'm like dude, yeah.
Speaker 2:I've heard a really cool story that got me interested in them, where they did a writer's retreat and they were all um challenged to write a song but use a cartoon character's name in the chorus or in the hook. And then there it was like a challenge to see if you could come up with the best song, and I was like that sounds awesome. That's cool Yeah.
Speaker 4:That'd be awesome.
Speaker 1:So I know we're jumping around, but I want to throw it back a little bit. Back to high school, did your brother you talked about older brothers and drummer. You guys moved out to Lawrence Kansas to go to KU. Tell me what brought you from, cause you're growing up. Your grandfather taught you the country, but now you're in a pop punk band. Tell me how you went from country to pop punk And then, honestly, how did you go back to your roots, from being a hard punk or band?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was. Uh, it was just like I said, like my first concert that I ever went to was a rock concert.
Speaker 2:And you know I always looked up to my brother and um thought he was the coolest person in the world And he loved that music, cause he was a drummer and country's not really that fun Traditional country is not really that fun for a drummer So, uh, he, uh he kind of fell into the trap. He kind of fell into that stuff And um, i was like trying to tag along with him on his musical journey And uh, we both kind of came across some pop punk bands that their lyrics were really interesting. You could hear. You know a lot of people's complaints about like metal and stuff is you can't understand what they're saying, but um, like it was really great vocals, um, like interesting melodies. The guitars, like there was just so much going on. The drums were crazy and so artistic, but the guitars were also like fighting each other with, uh, with like licks and but it sounded so good mashed up all together. We just we both fell in love with it and we, uh we wanted to give that a shot. So we tried to um do a thing out there and uh, lawrence, kansas, what we're in college, and we just played like local bars and wrote songs and uh did that.
Speaker 2:But then I grew up playing country music and I always loved country music and like it was uh nagging at me that I wasn't doing something with that. And it's hard to go from, you know, like, grow up doing something and then leave that and be like, why did I spend all that time doing that If I'm not going to use it? And so, um, i just I had this feeling. I was like I need to go back to where I started, because that's what I learned, that's how, that's what I know. And, um, i it was even in the middle of doing, you know, pop punk shows and writing songs with pop punk.
Speaker 2:I was just I sat down and I started trying to try and write country songs and wrote some stuff that I loved. And I went back to like some Eric church albums and I was like I love these stuff, why don't I listen to these more? And so, yeah, i just fell, fell back into it. And then, uh, everybody split up and uh, graduated and went off and did their jobs and move back to my hometown or you know whatever. And so I was one of the only ones left, um, and I tried to get in playing like some bars and stuff, but I wasn't really good at like finding where to play or marketing myself very well So it seems like even when you went and started playing a pop punk, you didn't stray far from the singer songwriter type aspect of things, because you still were talking with the lyrics and everything else.
Speaker 1:So it sounds like that's something that's always talked to you. It's funny cause, like on TikTok, they have these trends now where they're slowing down, like Jimmy E world, the middle and stuff, and you hear these like pop punk songs that I grew up with. I'm like, oh shit, these lyrics are really dark. We're deep. Back then It's like it's crazy because they are. I mean, you saw these songs down and started listening to the lyrics. They could be country songs And I don't know what people talk about. Like the equals man They were. They were considered rock for the longest time, but those have been country music songs that they've been playing for years, i feel.
Speaker 2:Yeah, i saw Muscadine bloodline. They are doing Adam's song, i think, by Blink 182. And they did it as a like a thing on TikTok, as a joke, and then like they slowed it down and did the whole thing Like made it country and everybody's like. Oh, my God, i love this, and now they're putting it out Yeah.
Speaker 1:That's cool And that's man. it's crazy how things happen like that, man. So so, after you came back, is that when you started getting into this construction work? was that after the whole, after college?
Speaker 2:Yeah, everybody left And I was trying to figure out what I was going to do with my life because, you know, up until then every show I played was either at a nursing home for free or at my in my hometown, at that event venue for free or at some college town bar where I got paid in a shot of Jim Beam in a PBR.
Speaker 4:Mm, hmm.
Speaker 2:You know. so I just I was like I don't think I can make money doing this. So I went into construction. I started to learn that I was really good at it and did that for a couple of years, apprentice for a while, and then I started my own company out there Nice man.
Speaker 1:So I heard it didn't end too too great man. Well, what happened? You had a little bit of accident and that kind of forced you back into the music in a way. right, was that kind of a turning point in your career, do you think?
Speaker 2:Oh, it absolutely was. It was a. It was terrible at the time, obviously, but at the same time I'm so grateful it happened, because it it it was almost a wake up call, i would. I would say a wake up call, but it was more like I was. I was trying to figure out who I am and you know what I, what I wanted to do.
Speaker 2:Uh, i was on my way to a, a, a project I always want to say a show or a gig now but I'm on my way to a project And, um, it was raining and my trailer hydroplane on the highway and pulled me off the highway and I wrecked and I broke my spine in two places. But yeah, i was on bed rest for a while. I went and lived back in my hometown with my brother and, um, i really like I couldn't do anything, i was just like laying in bed. We set up a TV so I could play video games, but you can only do that for so long before you're like, what if I don't have my day?
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So, um, i picked up a guitar and I downloaded a, um, i downloaded a DAW or a digital audio workstation and I learned to produce and I learned to, uh like, make beats, or I just was like experimenting And then I was like you know, i got all this stuff. Maybe I should learn some like video stuff, like I should post some videos.
Speaker 2:So I started posting videos and people were like, oh my gosh, i'm so glad you did this cover, like that's awesome, i love this. I got a bunch of likes and shares and I was like, oh, this is great, i should do this a lot, a lot more.
Speaker 1:Do you think he'd still be doing construction to this day if that?
Speaker 2:didn't happen, absolutely.
Speaker 1:Okay, that's how I was curious. I've seen this situation a couple other times And it's almost like you don't want to say it was meant to happen, because like something that, that, like that. You don't want to say that, but it almost like it was, in a way, because it had to kind of give you like dude music Still here, like you got it, yeah, i give it a shot and guess what brought back out of it. So it's kind of was then did you go to Nashville after all this happened, or when did you finally make the jump to Nashville?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So I in Kansas City I Went and watched. My dad told me about this show, these two people in Kansas City and It's a Barb and RJ Rebel. They were playing at a place called Sinclairs and Blue Springs And he was like, come on, man, let's just let's go get a beer, let's watch these two people. I've watched them a bunch of times. They play every Thursday. Like let's just go check out some live music. I was like, okay, let's go. So I went with him to the show And he was good friends with him and he was like hey, my son sings and plays guitar can sing.
Speaker 2:Like, oh sure, yes, that's great. So I got up and sang a song and as soon as I got done, the owner came up and He was like hey, do you want to play next week? Like on a Wednesday, i'll give you 150 bucks. Now I was like 150 dollars, what I'm gonna get paid to do this. So immediately I said yes and that's whatever. Like the wheels started turn. I was like, okay, i can make money. I can make me doing this. So I started to try and like market myself to places and The people at Sinclairs that came and watched me all the time and all the other venues I've played there Like you really need to check out Nashville. You need to go to Nashville because I was writing songs and I put out an album called Outlaw and One of those songs I posted on online.
Speaker 2:I posted just the course of it and it was Outlaw. And somebody from Nashville found it and shared it and was like, oh this. And Then she messaged me and said hey, i'm playing a writer's round. Do you want to come? right, i run this writers round. Do you want to come play it? And I was like I don't know what that is. And she was like oh, it's the thing where you get up and sing songs that you wrote and You tell the stories about it. You'll play like three or four songs that you wrote. I was like cool.
Speaker 4:That sounds awesome.
Speaker 2:Went and where she was. She was like you know this this weekend in in Nashville at this place, and I was like, oh, i'm so far away from that and She's okay, no worries. And then I told my dad that and he was like you gotta go, oh, oh. And so we got a playing ticket and Flew out there and I played the writers round and I met people. Luckily enough, i met a Guy down here's names Mikey, but I met him on Instagram and then we played like some video games No, frozen with a lot of people and he introduced me to people and while we were hanging out, he was like you have to move, just move. Like don't think about it, just do it move.
Speaker 1:Oh.
Speaker 2:We're muted.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we're going in and out first. As soon as happened our, for some reason we love, we, our connection was kind of Unstable for a minute I don't know if it's on our end.
Speaker 1:I'm wondering. If so, like I was gonna take this next Uh to talk to you about uh streaming a little bit. I'm wondering if that's what our kid had warned her if you hopped in his room and started streaming. No wait, when he does, that kicks off. But you started on a twitch man, and tell me a little bit about how you think that opened your audience when you kind of started with twitch.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that was really cool. So I, i got lucky. I started with twitch. I was just, i was in Kansas and I was trying to think of ways to promote myself and get my music out there and I Found that there was a music community on twitch and I did some like research on it and I was like, oh, i could, i would love to do this, i would like. This is You know like I was talking about. I was trying to find places to play music like, do shows and make money. I was like, oh, i get it aside, my hours, i'm gonna get aside when my show is. So I, i Got into that and the amount of Loyalty and friendship, like everybody on twitch is so kind, at least in the music community.
Speaker 2:That's what I've dealt with. But Everybody was like There's, there's things on there called raids, where at the end of your stream, whenever you're done, you're like, okay, everybody, stick around, we're gonna take my audience and we're all gonna go to this person's stream So they can get all of my audience. You guys can meet somebody new and it'll up their viewer count and Like it's just, it's like sharing a post, basically, or something similar to that, but it's just taking your audience and then moving them all to another person because you're getting off anyways, and so them just going.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so everybody's so nice there and I get messages constantly. I haven't streamed for a while Just because I moved and I'm trying to figure out a new setup. I just moved into a new place and my setup is all here. It's almost finished but, yeah, i still get messages from those people and They all stream my music all the time and they're all so incredibly nice.
Speaker 1:It's crazy kind of new twitch was like. I never knew people were using it for music.
Speaker 4:I always thought it was strictly gaming so did I, and even when I went and I went like I gotta check this out.
Speaker 1:I've never had a twitch before, but, like when I was researching for the show, i went and checked out your old twitch account and I'm like, oh, this is cool. I saw like you're playing Call of Duty and everything else. I was like, alright, well, this is a good way to connect the music in the gaming world, because you go on there and game. Well, hey, you should watch my twitch stream tomorrow morning when I'm having coffee in the morning.
Speaker 1:Yeah and it was cool because you used to do them was every morning for a couple hours.
Speaker 2:You do a stream yeah, it's called coffee chords in country and I've made this So dumb. I try to make it as dumb as I could, but I made this intro that everybody fell in love with and The song was so dumb but I did that. And then I Realized I was like you know, i'm playing video games anyways with my brother, like odds. I have this streaming platform and I have these people that want to watch. I'll stream it, and So people would watch that, just because, like I said, i'm a silly idiot like I make jokes and do dumb stuff.
Speaker 1:So that kept him entertained, though, man, you're entertaining, so it really helps the watch factor.
Speaker 2:And then I found out that streamers would play video games together to try and help boost their Their you know, their, their viewer count. And I did that with a couple of musicians one time And I was like this is great, like this is a way to like, step away From the music while still promoting people like it were still people or whatever like, if you're interested in watching some dummies Play video games, that you listen to their music so you can learn more about them, you know, yeah, like it was really cool.
Speaker 2:I love that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love it. My arc art sons nine. He streams a fortnight on YouTube. Right now He's been asking us about twitch and I'm like all right, we got to look into it and research it, Would you say as a kid friendly. Do our point platform.
Speaker 2:I. I think there's a way to make it kid friend. Yeah, but there's, there's, there's on channels, that's what it's called. Whenever you go to somebody's profile on channels, they have moderators, a bunch of them that are usually watching the chat and like deleting stuff or You know, making sure everything's PG if that's that streamers thing, it's, it's. It's kind of all over the place. You got to know. It's kind of like YouTube channels, yeah, like you got. You got to know who's the good YouTube channels.
Speaker 2:Yeah and who's that YouTube channels and be like, okay, you can watch these ones and that's it, and that's like Streaming is the same. like I know this guy's good, i know this guy's good, i know this guy's good, like, you can watch those ones.
Speaker 1:but he met him, a guy We're pretty good about monitoring Yeah, he met him a 16 year old in India. That is like his him it.
Speaker 4:India play together, Yeah they love awesome but they're good kids. They're both good.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I love that.
Speaker 1:So before we move on, we have a question in the chat that they want to know who picked you up from the airport your first trip to Nashville?
Speaker 2:It was, oh, i bet I know who asked it to. But I know who asked it It was Claude Jacob.
Speaker 4:It was Claude he.
Speaker 2:I told him and he I think he was He was in Florida and he was like I'm renting a car, i'll meet you there.
Speaker 4:Oh, that's awesome, Yeah, and yeah, it was great.
Speaker 2:I I couldn't have done that weekend without him. He he came and got me and he drove me around and showed me places, because he's he goes there all the time, and he rented a room for us to stay in because, like I didn't have any money for any of that, i might my aunt Carrie. I love her to death. She paid for the plane ticket and Claude showed up and Basically hosted me. So yeah, i.
Speaker 1:Yeah, i love that. Your support system sounds phenomenal. Yeah, i just gotta tell you I just be talking about all the things your dad is telling you you got to go and play to Driving from Florida to pick you up from the airport. All that man Just, i love seeing that because, honestly, with a sports he's something like that You just you can't, you can't lose man, you're always, are gonna be a winner. In the elder I saw it's badass dude, i love that. So tell me a little bit before we wrap up. I know we're running a little over, but your first out full-length album outlaw We. I know we talked a little bit about it, but do you produce that? you need to put all the instruments on this. Tell me about this, because that is just insane for anybody to do that these days.
Speaker 2:So it was a. It was during.
Speaker 2:COVID, and you know I couldn't play shows. I was trying to figure out ways to make money and I Decided I was like I'm gonna put out an album in 15 days. So I wrote 10 songs and produced 10 songs in that 15 days and I, you know you couldn't reach out or you couldn't go to a studio I at least I didn't know how to, because I was back in Kansas but I just I Learned how to produce it myself, played all the instruments on it, wrote the songs, did it all in 10 days. And then I was like you know what, it doesn't matter if I love it or hate it like this is something I created and I got. Um, i gotta put something out because I don't have anything.
Speaker 2:So I just I put it out and everybody, everybody that was following me, loved it. I have people still reaching me about songs on there that they love.
Speaker 1:Yeah that's gotta be like a world record. Well, it's kind of you're doing your own, like Eric church. I locked himself away and do like 30 songs in 30 days or something like that. It's not like you.
Speaker 4:That's something I mean. That's something to be proud of. The fact that you just did that. That's incredible.
Speaker 2:Thank you, i'm so proud of it and yeah, and like I've grown, especially musically and with production and stuff, and obviously I find flaws in it, but it's almost the thing that makes it charming is, yeah, you know how new I was to everything. I was just like I gotta do something.
Speaker 1:so So what does the rest of your year look like, man? Are you working on any new music to kind of get out there for us? Any shows come up that you want, you can, you're excited about. But what is the rest of? we're halfway done with it already, man. It's gone quick, but the rest of 2023, man. What does it look like for you?
Speaker 2:Yeah, this this year has been insane man I've been. I'd like I said stop after New Jersey. I've been traveling so much And that's been great. I love that and I love going out and playing my music for new people. I mean I do that all the time on Broadway but it's different because you can't really play your music that often.
Speaker 1:That's struggle for you, man, we're, when you're playing gigs where you can't play your own music.
Speaker 2:And not really if ever, but, like I like to make sure everybody has a good time And I'll play. You know I love to play songs people in here and I love to play my favorite songs. We do a lot of like 90s country, 80s country me and my band and we. Our thing is like we try and play it as close to the record as we can and We're always like Doing stuff to like impress each other.
Speaker 4:So I Get enough times where people were like hey, you play one of your songs Yeah cool.
Speaker 1:I'm gonna do that So that's why I love having you, like I know we talked a little bit about having other writers around here coming up And July 9th, so that's why I love seeing you in the writers around aspect to hear in your music because, honestly, we talked about your lyrics. But, yeah, go ahead and finish up with what you else you got going on in 2023. Oh that's awesome.
Speaker 2:I have a show coming up, july 14th, i believe, with Hunter of all people. We're playing the Grandview Amphitheater in Grandview, missouri. Together.
Speaker 2:We're like co-headline that, and That's the pretty much the only thing I can think of without looking at my calendar but, yeah, i just have a lot of stuff popping up, especially recently, like, like, like this, and writers rounds are happening a lot more than they have in the last You know two years that I've been here. I'm traveling so much. All these people reach out to go play, so I'm excited just to see where it goes, because it's all happening as I'm going, you know, as I'm going through it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, i love that. Just watch you, girl. Like I said, it's exciting. The last two years I think it's been about two years since we first met, year first came across your music and just to see The last, the growth over the last two years you being a Nashville now and everything else has just been phenomenal Man, i cannot wait to see. Thank you, what else you have up your sleeve the rest of year, next year and whatnot. So it's me phenomenal dude.
Speaker 5:Thank you. This episode is powered by Poddex. Poddex are unique interview questions and episode starting prompts in the palm of your hand. So, whether you're a new podcaster or an existing broadcaster looking to take your interviews and Podcast episodes to the next level, you're gonna want to check out Poddex. Visit Poddex comm to get your Poddex today.
Speaker 1:We're gonna move on to our. Our sponsored part of the night are powered by Poddex. We pulled a couple cards earlier. I got got Degard cards here. They're always fun. They're I don't want to say I, you. Last week I called them cards against humanity. I heard our gas go. It's kind of like that, but the car, the questions are a little bit more sincere. I would say but do you like to plan things out in detail or do you like to be more spontaneous?
Speaker 2:I Don't, i don't know. I'm such a mystery even to myself. I like I would probably say controlled chaos, where it's like like, like, what time is the chaos starting? Like, hey, yeah, we're winging it, but what time are we winging it? Yeah, like that's like me. Yeah, like like I love, i love. I love going into a situation not knowing what I'm doing, or like just traveling somewhere and being like, well, what are we going to do? Let's find out. I love that, like the adventure of that. But I'm also very like if we're, if I'm playing a show at eight, i got to like be ready by six and out the door, so on there an hour and a half early to make sure like everything set up and there's going to be no hiccups. Like so I'm both, i would say, which doesn't make any sense at all.
Speaker 1:But no, i do. I have ADHD real bad, and I got to say I'm both here because I love the insipidness at times, but I have a to-do list for the next two weeks laid out on a notebook, in front of me all the time By line item Yeah.
Speaker 2:The thing is, if you, if you don't write those down, because like ADHD, brain it's like it'll be in and then out your brain.
Speaker 1:I never did that Dang it.
Speaker 1:It's kind of like this I put notes in my phone too, like if I remember something, like Oh, i remember for Christmas last year, i'm like I need a Alexa for the shower because I have an idea. I'm like I just got to say, alexa, put this down on a notepad or something, but I love that. So I was going to ask you to do a show, but I figured this would kind of fall in the same category. But if you could go back in time and give your nine year old self one piece of advice, what would it be? But it's the same thing, kind of like what's something you wish you knew before you started creating music, cause you got your first guitar what? nine, 10 years old. So if you could go back to maybe a year before you got that first guitar, man, and tell yourself something, what would it? what would you tell yourself?
Speaker 2:Uh, i would just tell you, i would tell myself you can do it. Like you get, like people get told that all the time. Like you know, if you put your mind to it you can do it. But but no, like you hear, you hear that so much, i think as a kid, that it's just like okay, i've heard that before. I don't know what that means. Like you, you don't really know what that means until You know you're old enough to know better or you're old enough to find out And what. Sometimes, when you're old enough to find out, it's too late, or you feel like it's too late And I I just like I said I never really knew I could get paid to play music that I love, even my own music, like I'd never thought that was a thing And so I didn't believe I could. So I would go back and tell myself you can like trust me, i'm from the future.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's always like I always think about, like, if I go back to my, my 14 year old bedroom and tell myself something like a year before my first concert, like this hey, this is the path you, life, you're going to choose, Do this.
Speaker 4:Yeah, fuck it, just do it. Yeah, start early. Yeah, start early.
Speaker 1:I mean, this is, i mean you got to start early to do it which you have, man, which has been a phenomenal watch. Like I said, watch everything. So this next section of the night is kind of fun, man. So I picked five songs that it's kind of when I was researching, to show this research and show this kind of pop out, or four songs.
Speaker 1:Sorry, i said five seconds. four songs, five seconds of each song. Cool, first time you hear the song. This a melody or a memory you have with this melody. We're going to talk about it. Hit the yellow one first.
Speaker 4:So, you hear any Johnny?
Speaker 1:Cash or walk the line, man. Where does that take you when you hear that song?
Speaker 2:Man, that's. That's all the music I played. I was the. I was the Johnny Cash guy on stage, um, cause that my grandpa thought he was rock and roll too, but uh, i. It takes me back to 13 man playing.
Speaker 2:Um, you know, i I did that song. I would do a Jackson with, uh, my brother's now wife, but back then she was just our neighbor and family friend, like, uh, she would come play music with us and her and I would get up and sing that song, sing Jackson together. That's cool. Um, we, i learned all the, all the Johnny Cash songs, so I always like boy names too.
Speaker 1:That was my favorite. Yeah, everybody loves.
Speaker 2:I do, i do. I've been everywhere, yup, without the without a phone or anything. I learned it like back when I was 13. And so everybody's always like do the one where you say stuff really fast.
Speaker 1:I would say that one part is stuck with you too. Yeah, that's how. uh, what was that? one, one piece at a time. That was another one where he's like a 64 or whatever. That one's crazy. That's a fun one. All right, you're going to like this one. I saw a cover of you doing this song on YouTube. uh, green, i had to throw some church in there. dude, drink a little drink, smoke a little smoke. man. When you hear that song, where does that take you?
Speaker 2:It takes me back to, um, take me back to high school. Uh, i think the first, maybe it was middle school. It was either high school or middle school. But I think the first Eric church song I heard was spring steam And I was like I love that, this is country, but it sounds indie. So that just dove straight into that album and like all of his music that I could find And I was like I love this guy. But I remember sitting on a couch with my friend, uh from my hometown, uh, michael, we were both sitting there and spring steam came on. We're like this song is great. So then we played it on repeat and by five, you know five listens in a row. We were screaming the, the chorus, that's awesome.
Speaker 1:That's kind of how I met Hunter too. Everything behind us and if you see, you can see on the camera or not is Eric church stuff. This is Gibson hummingbirds thing behind my shoulder, but like I went to a writer's round and Hunter, i think, was wearing an Eric church shirt And I walked up to him after I was like, dude, you church fan goes, i'm a church choir member, dude.
Speaker 4:We just sat there and talked forever.
Speaker 1:It was definitely hardcore, so it was really cool, but I love that man because it's cool to see how many singer songwriters these days Eric church has influenced you, cause I feel like he's changed, changed the game and pay the path for a singer songwriter today that they're really just starting to do their own music again, which I love.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I told somebody this the other day. The thing that I love about Eric church is, like you know, he's country to the bone but like he'll do a. He'll do a song like spring scene That sounds like an indie track, And then he'll do a song And the perfect I think the perfect song for me to describe Eric church, at least in my mind, is cold one.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:Because it's just so wacky and out there and then like jumps into like a real fast thing, and it goes back to being wacky with horns and saxophones And it's like what is this?
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I love this, but I don't know what it is Like. But it's still country Like it's undeniably country, And that's the thing I love about Eric church is like you never know what you're going to get And, but you know it's going to be country.
Speaker 1:I heard you changed it all up again for this tour that he's getting ready to kick off this week. I heard he's doing like drinking my hand with like horns and all this other stuff Spring scenes, acoustic solo thing. I'm like dude, this may be kind of cool, Yeah.
Speaker 2:Exactly. You never know what you're going to get, so all right man. This is another one you'll like that yellow one.
Speaker 1:Throw it back to that CD that was sucking that changer over and over again. So we hear I'm no stranger to the rain man. Where does that take you, Keith Whitley?
Speaker 2:It takes me to either sitting on my floor of my sitting, on the floor of my living room, with just that, you know, that album played that greatest hits album that we had second they're playing. Or you know, if we weren't playing music, sitting around the table for dinner and stuff, if we weren't playing music, we had a channel on the TV behind us playing like a classic country. It's a classic country TV channel station And the rule was nobody could look at it. But as soon as it came up, the first person to say who it was and what the name of the song was got it right. And you know, if you got it wrong, you got ridiculed. It was. It was mainly between my dad and my grandpa. They would sit there and be like, oh, that's old Keith Whitley, Yep, They would, they would be doing that. So that takes me, that takes me there.
Speaker 1:I love that man. All right, the last one, the green one. I had to put this one in there. So grandpa has never died. Riley Green man, when you hear that song, where does that take you? to the first time you've ever heard that song, or just when you hear that?
Speaker 2:I was. I was in the thick of my music career of love. Sorry, i was on the thick of starting my music career, because I think I put that out on. I think I put that out on on YouTube. I didn't cover that, but I yeah it takes, it takes me back to that And I feel like that that song coming out at the time it did whenever I was jumping right back into country music and being like I can do this. I think that's that's very coincidental, right, but it's it takes me there. It takes it takes me right back to whenever I was first starting and like trying to figure out how, how I was going to do it, but I was going to do it my way and stuff like that.
Speaker 1:But yeah, love that man. All right, man, we're going to put you on the hot seat real quick. I saw a question earlier. Where was there at the roll up, jc put on there? So we're going to kick the hot seat off of that. But the first CD vinyl you ever purchased with your own money, what was it?
Speaker 2:The first CD I ever got was Creed.
Speaker 1:Hell yeah.
Speaker 2:It was the, the clay, the one with the clay guy on Human clay.
Speaker 1:yeah, yeah, definitely All right.
Speaker 2:Got that one and a Walkman at the same time And then I think the first one I bought right after that bowling for soup, nice, all right.
Speaker 1:I love the range there. That's cool. Yeah, what's your happy place, man? If you're kind of just want to chill for a little bit and just kind of detune somewhere, where are you going?
Speaker 2:Video games I I love. To one I loved it like just launch myself into something, like if it's cooking or something like that, but video games I it's. One is the only way I get to hang out with my brother, really Like that's, that's, that's a thing we get to do together because we're, you know, on totally different places in the country, and like that's the time that we get to hang out and talk and be dumb and, you know, work, work towards a goal together and stuff like that. So I think I would say video games you know, if I'm, if I'm trying to escape.
Speaker 2:I don't think about anything else, i just I'm having a good time and you know I just haven't fun with my brother.
Speaker 4:I love that We have, i figure, our boy is six year old and nine year old.
Speaker 1:I hope they're. They fit the same way, man, because I love this hearing that. So who has the best pizza you've ever had? dude.
Speaker 2:I would say there's a place in New Jersey They told me all about New Jersey pizza and there was a place in New Jersey on the boardwalk in a wildwood I'm trying to remember all of the names, um, but there was a place called a hotspot and maybe, maybe it was because I was drunk, just maybe Yeah.
Speaker 2:I mean my buddy that I went down there with. We ordered this giant pizza and we ate all of it, except for like a slice or two maybe, but it was huge, but it was so good It was like I don't know how they did it. It was a little bit floppy, but the crust was like had a crunch with every bite.
Speaker 1:It was amazing, oh man, i love that We're going to. I keep saying we're going to make a list of this one day all these pizza places. We're going to have to hit up like call it the Melody's Memories Pizza Tour.
Speaker 4:Yeah, i love that.
Speaker 1:So what's the wallpaper on your phone?
Speaker 2:It's a painting from a guy. His name is Mark Majore.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:He paints Wild West. He lives in Talos, Texas, I think, or maybe it's New.
Speaker 2:Mexico. I don't know something down there, but he goes out and he does these photo shoots with these real cowboys or Native Americans that were in the area and he does historically accurate clothing and the landscapes that he paints, like the clouds are I don't even know how to explain how the clouds look, but they're incredible and like the foliage all around these, like cowboys that are painted in detail riding a horse and like its muscles as it's moving from one like terrain to another terrain. It's incredible. That sounds awesome.
Speaker 2:I'm going to check that out.
Speaker 1:What's a movie that can always make you laugh?
Speaker 2:Grandma's Boy, dude I in high school I was like I'm going to be, like I'm going to be, like I'm going to be like, oh man, i wasn't a good student. But in high school I just got like one of those iPod touches and found out you could upload movies. I uploaded Grandma's Boy and every day, instead of doing my homework, i watched Grandma's Boy for the class, and then I can quote that movie front to back and I still will watch it. I love it.
Speaker 1:I love that movie man. Such a fun movie.
Speaker 2:And it's so silly that it's that movie, the one movie that doesn't have Adam Stamler in it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, right, but he was a producer or it wasn't a part of it in some way. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:It's the same crew but like Adam's not in it and it's one of the main character is a guy. That's not usually one of the main characters.
Speaker 4:Nope.
Speaker 2:He's usually like a side character. I love it.
Speaker 1:I like the drug dealer in that movie. He gets a tiger.
Speaker 2:He has all the different stuff. His name is Dante and he lives in Key West Florida.
Speaker 1:Dude, I heard he just started like his own reggae band too someone was talking about, We were just talking about. he does music and stuff too.
Speaker 2:He has like a writers round for the festival. It's Dante's Pool Party.
Speaker 1:Okay, i gotta check that out because someone's just us to have him on the show sometime. I gotta look at this guy and bring him on sometime. That'd be badass. What was your first job, your first paying gig that you ever had? What was it? What were you doing?
Speaker 2:I was. I believe I was either walking around and putting door hangers on doors for a riffing company or I was on a shingling crew. All right, two thanks.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you always were working pretty hard. Then, man, you had your own construction company. This is pretty nice, yeah, what was the oldest thing you own in your home? What's the oldest thing you have? Just look at that dB. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:Um, it's probably a guitar.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Um, goodness, okay, It is a guitar. I have a. I think it's a 19, 79 or 1980. It's a Stratocaster that my uncle found in a dumpster in a hard case and he took it out and showed it to my dad and my dad was like I'll buy that. I think I was maybe 11 or 12 whenever I got that guitar. But, um, he was like I'll buy that from like name a price. I'll buy it from you. And then he bought it from him and that was my first like real electric guitar And I still have it. I've like changed out parts on it and it's my favorite guitar One of my favorite guitars I have, for sure but I've changed parts out on it, i've like customized it, but I also left, um, i'll just show you here.
Speaker 1:I always like this question, but we always we get guitar because, honestly those guitars are. I love hearing stories about older guitars, man, because they hold out so many memories.
Speaker 2:But, like, i played this all the time. There's a. There's a picture of me whenever I was 11, i think me with my grandpa, um, in the newspaper and I was playing this guitar, um, but yeah, i like I sanded it and I figured I was going to do something with it And I was like you know what I like the natural wood. But I kept, i made sure to keep like the band of the original color, so it had like a piece of that, and then I branded this is my grandpa's brand. It was cool Yeah, i had his own boots and um, cattle and everything. So I put his brand on my guitars.
Speaker 1:So that's cool, Dude. he had his own brand like that. It was on his boots. That's cool And cattle dude, That's I gotta say. Your grandfather was probably a badass. Yeah, He was he was.
Speaker 2:He was sheriff of my hometown for 20 years and there's just like there was photos of him in his house, just like in his sheriff outfit, like on a horse and like yeah, you had your own chief too, dude.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's why we connected. Man, i love that whole uh, eric, church vibe I get from you. I love that though. All right, man, what chore do you not like doing around the house?
Speaker 2:Um, I don't know. I'm pretty good with chores. Uh, folding laundry Yes.
Speaker 4:That's like they're running, That's like the leading answer, I think for most of that's mine, that's mine.
Speaker 1:I wash the dams, the things, i just want to fold them.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think that's. I think that's just a struggle for everybody, because we all have that like pile of clothes. It's clean, but it's on the floor and you're like I just want to get rid of this, but I don't want to do the work.
Speaker 1:Right, i love that. What was your favorite childhood television show to watch?
Speaker 2:Um, let's see Drake and Josh. Oh, okay, I love Drake and Josh. For some reason I was big into, uh, Danny Phantom. All right It was like a, like a cartoon show about a kid that had supernatural powers, where he turned into a ghost. Oh, i like that.
Speaker 4:I remember that show Man they check that out.
Speaker 1:Kids might like that. Yeah, I was like what, salute your shorts and stuff on Nickelodeon.
Speaker 4:Sabrina Yeah right, that's the whole thing, oh boy All right?
Speaker 1:Well, our last one, man, before we get you to maybe play one for us before we let you go for the night. Uh, dude, what's something on your bucket list? Maybe a venue that you won't play, or maybe have a top 10, or something you want to write with, or what's something that you want to accomplish, man, before you say it's been a day.
Speaker 2:Um, i don't know, man, i'm doing it, i, i, i, like I said when I, whenever I had that, i want to call it a wake up call but, like I, i realized how miserable I was doing work that I decided was something I had to do instead of something I loved. I didn't like doing it, and then every day I was like, man, is this what the rest of my life is going to be like? And then that accident happened. I got it back into music and every ever since I moved back to Kansas city and got that first gig and started trying to figure out how to make this work. That's been all I could ask for. Like I, i, i get to do this for a living and I write songs that people listen to and also love, and I don't think there's anything that beats that for me.
Speaker 1:Oh, okay, how many gigs a week do you think you're playing right now?
Speaker 2:Um, I used to do like four to five, four, sometimes three, but yeah.
Speaker 1:And you keep grinding, good things are going to happen. Like I said, between your voice, your music, everything your songwriting, everything together You're you're one hell of a package put together. Thank you so much, and we are we look forward to just watching you grow and seeing where you take this whole thing, man, because, like I said, it's been amazing ride the last couple of years. There we are, you're back. Yeah, now. Now we know last week was a flip, we had a guest. Last week We're telling a ghost story and all of our cameras went out Really And we're like I told you it was haunted, but tonight days went out again but he came back to rock quicker. Well, buddy, before we let you go I know we we ran over a lot of time Can we get you to play one for us? And the only thing we have to just kind of tell us a little story about it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Um I'll give you the stage real quick.
Speaker 2:I saw you um, i saw you listen to this one and said you liked it.
Speaker 4:Okay.
Speaker 2:This is one that I like to do because usually, whenever, whenever I, um, i take a, i let the uh, the musicians take a break, whenever I'm playing downtown, um, i do this song and I preface it kind of the same way. I'll preface it here in a second, but usually this one I can see, it connects with people and like there's sometimes there's like old man crying or you know somebody uh like teary eyed, and people always come up and talk to me about it afterwards. But it's, it's my, it's a song that I've written that I feel like resonates with people a lot. So, yeah, i like this one. Um, it's a song I wrote, uh for my mom, right whenever I was moving in Nashville two years ago Now, coming up on two years She started having some health issues.
Speaker 2:Um, we have some problems in my family and, uh, she, uh, she was having some problems and I didn't think it was the right time. But, um, you know she, she believed in me and I had a bunch of people believe in me And so I moved out to Nashville and I wrote this song for her because I want to let her know that, um, you know, my hometown is 986 miles away from Nashville. So it's almost a thousand. But even though I moved out here, um, i was bringing her with me. So yeah, i wrote this one for my mom on this guitar. That's a little outtuned. But, mama, i know that I've been gone for what seems like far to home. I've been out in every old town Once at the one called home. I'll make you worried, make you cry, make you full of sleepless pants, keep you wondering if.
Speaker 2:I'm all right on my own, Mama. I feel your prayers. They keep me moving on, but I'll be fine and I'll be strong. I'll make them all sing along and I'll keep you with me every mile on this ride. We'll see the lights, we'll see the stars. every year and every far And up on stage, I feel you right there by my side.
Speaker 2:Your lyric, every chord and every song. Just cheering me on, my buddy said we'll miss you, man. Will we ever see you again? Remember me when you make it big someday, man, how could I forget? all the times that we spent making memories, our whole coast on my days.
Speaker 2:And I'll just smile and say you'll be fine and you'll be strong. I'll make them all sing along and I'll keep you with me every mile on this ride. I want you to know and I seem far with every beer and every bar And up on stage, i feel you right there by my side. Every lyric, every chord and every song just cheering me on. My granddaddy always said keep your side straight ahead. You got country music deep within your soul.
Speaker 4:I'm in the crowds.
Speaker 2:Don't try to find me, cause you won't, but I'll sing along with every song that you wrote. So I'll be fine and I'll be strong. I'll make them all sing along and I keep you with me every mile on this ride. We'll see the lights, we'll see the soars, every year and every part, and up on the stage, i feel you right there by my side. Every lyric every chord and every song I'll see you soon. till then, you'll be watching me while I'm gone. Just cheering me on.
Speaker 1:I love that one. I love that it's your mommy because, honestly, my mom's my biggest fan. She's always has been, always will be. I'm my only child, so I can say that, dude. That's why I love YouTube. I was researching the show on Kim Cross, that song I was like holy shit. I don't know I've never heard that one yet, because I don't know if you've played it at a writer's round where I was at or anything, but the first time I heard it I was on YouTube. I was just like holy shit, i was blown away, dude.
Speaker 1:So thank you for playing that song tonight, because that was the one I was hoping you were.
Speaker 4:That's great.
Speaker 1:I love it. Dude, we are so excited to have you on July 9th on the writer's round. Just super excited for that round. We're still putting it together, hopefully have the announcement of the lineup here in our week or so. But the guy our guest tomorrow night's coming on at Brian Simpson also singer, songwriter in Nashville. So now we're excited for it. But, dude, tonight has been amazing, just to sit down and talk to you, hear your journey a little bit. Like I said, we've been friends for a couple of years just haven't had this chance to kind of catch up like this And I'm glad we waited.
Speaker 2:Jillian and Aaron. Thank you guys so much for having me on. I was so excited, remember, you guys asked me to be on this. I watched the episode that you did with Hunter live and I was like man, this is so cool And you guys put so much effort into it and it really shows And it's, i think. I think what you guys have is great.
Speaker 1:We love what you guys are doing. man, Honestly, if we give you guys a little bit of a platform, just kind of get the name out there and let people just hear you. Man, we'll put a review out there for you and help push as much as we can.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much.
Speaker 1:Thank you, guys All right, buddy, we'll see you in national couple weeks. Man And you be good dude And thank you so much for spending some time with us tonight.
Speaker 2:Yeah, thank you guys. so much again.
Speaker 1:All right, buddy, we'll talk to you.
Speaker 4:Take care, all right.
Speaker 1:I was here. I didn't want to let them go for a second.
Speaker 4:There we go. I was like I don't know what happened.
Speaker 1:We just try to like. All right, we're just kind of like good night, Have a good one, but man y'all thank you so much tonight for tuning in, And then they're reputting.
Speaker 4:It was a great show. We had a blast dude.
Speaker 1:I've been waiting. We kind of talked about it a bunch of times but a couple of years ago a hundred times Miles and then just the Kyle, and I've wanted to have him on the show the last couple of seasons. But I'm like let's just wait and see what he's doing Yeah. Let him get his feet wet in national for a couple of years And, honestly, we'll probably have him back on it soon, Oh for sure.
Speaker 1:Down the road, because he's going to have even more to do his journey, even more to a story to add to it. Because he's so, so young in this industry.
Speaker 4:Yeah, he's incredible, absolutely.
Speaker 1:Can I wait, Can I wait, Can I wait? So where's our? we always throw back to our podcast questions and we like to do that before you wrap up. Where's our good one saying all right, here we go. We kind of talked about mine, but do you like to plan things out in detail or be spontaneous?
Speaker 4:I mean, we kind of talked about that. I like to, i like to plan, i like to be spontaneous. but I like to be spontaneous with the plan. I'm like Kyle.
Speaker 1:I can say that's me too.
Speaker 4:I don't know, sometimes I just like whatever roll with it.
Speaker 1:You know, hey, you can't be, you can't plan everything. Yeah, you're a conundrum though.
Speaker 4:There are days where you're like, nope, we cannot go off script, And then there's days where you're like way off script And I'm it's confusing. You're not really sure which Aaron you're going to get that day.
Speaker 1:Call ADHD or bipolar. See Jackson's doing something I keep. I've been keeping hearing these.
Speaker 1:I don't think he's streaming, but he's playing online. He's playing his games. He's going crazy up there. I know it, I love it. But yeah, so we kind of, before we wrap up, we, we had a busy weekend, a busy week. Yesterday It was Father's Day, Got the go to Six Flags, Great America, And then the kids had so much fun They want to go back today for a couple hours and very much. I was like Kyle. He got off a plane and ran home for the thing. I literally got off a roller coaster and ran here real quick. Make sure we got, we had enough time to get home, But I love it. But Saturday night we got to go and be a fan for once at a show a show for a while. We've been covering concerts for the last couple of years now and we really haven't gone to actually enjoy one and we got to do that.
Speaker 4:Well, that means we enjoy the shows we go to.
Speaker 1:I say that one, so we're working.
Speaker 5:I'm running on the camera. You're taking notes for a review.
Speaker 1:We're doing things, This one we got to put our phones away kind of do our thing.
Speaker 4:So who?
Speaker 1:do we go see again?
Speaker 4:My favorite, matchbox 20. We saw Matchbox.
Speaker 1:So we bought these tickets like three years ago.
Speaker 4:I think it was January 14, 2020.
Speaker 1:We bought these tickets and then COVID happened. They kept pushing back, kept pushing back And finally, after three years, they even talked about it a couple years, a couple times, but they, they finally played the show and it's awesome. It was amazing. I was kind of glad they they pushed it back because we got a whole brand new album out of them, so I think that was pretty cool.
Speaker 1:They still saying all the hits that I can remember through a couple of rare ones in there and I loved Like you don't get back to good all the time and they threw that in there. That was pretty cool, yeah, so no, it was.
Speaker 4:It was a fantastic show.
Speaker 1:One of these days they're going to have they're going to have like every 30 year anniversary of the yourself and someone like you album. They're going to play the whole thing front to back. I'm sure we're going to have to go to that one, so I've got one. That's the album they got everybody.
Speaker 4:It was so good, it was good.
Speaker 1:I almost wish I don't know. I don't know We saw them together, but I saw them once and for the whole tour they're doing three AM acoustic piano, just Rob Thomas and piano.
Speaker 1:I wish I would go back and do that because that was really cool. Yeah, i haven't seen them do three AM acoustic like that for a long time. But yeah, man, hi, i was reading Jason, jason, you know you're going, but I agree with that for sure, dude. But hey, thank you guys all once again for tuning in all the comments tonight, everything We really appreciate. We are live every Monday night and doing these shows. We are trying to wrap up this season, so we are doubling up. Tomorrow night We'll be having another show with an outside guest here in a minute And then next week we have another couple of shows. We might have a special guest coming on to end out. We'll see what happens. I'm still trying to work out a date. Judy, i saw a matchbox 21 fastball opened up for him And that was like 99. I got.
Speaker 4:I would love to see that one with train. I would have been good too. Yeah, i remember his matchbox 20 fastball and I forgot.
Speaker 1:I won't say Goo Goo Dolls, but for who else is there? I don't know, but it was insane But yeah, so we'll be back tomorrow night with another singer, songwriter, amazing one. All this is going to wrap up What's?
Speaker 4:up, buddy, i love you?
Speaker 1:I don't know. There's another podcast out there too. Hunter has a really good one too.
Speaker 4:He does, he does.
Speaker 1:But hey, man, once again we were talking earlier. thank you for introducing us to Kyle, because it wasn't for you, We never probably came across Kyle's name.
Speaker 4:We love it And I love the story. We love the story. Your meeting Definitely had an upgrade with the bushlight shirt.
Speaker 1:So that was pretty cool, but I love it. But yeah, we will be back in Nashville July 9th for another amazing songwriter's round. Kyle Austin's going to be there. Tomorrow night's guest, brian Simpson's going to be another one on the lineup. We're still putting together some other names and we'll get that out there.
Speaker 1:But guys, like I said, as we come to the end of another amazing show, we reminded once again of the transformative power of music and incredible stories that can never read. These notes and memories that often come to be it. Today's, our tonight's interview with Kyle Austin, was an absolute privilege and honor and we were incredibly grateful for the gift of his music. From his down home lyrics, his authentic sound.
Speaker 1:Kyle has proven himself time and again to be a force, or to be a force to be reckoned with, in the world of country music. We have no doubt that he will continue to leave his mark on the industry for years to come. We know that the future is bright for Kyle and the countless others who make the world of music such as a vibrant, magical place. We can't wait to see what incredible accomplishments, a lot of head form, and thank you for joining us tonight and we hope you enjoy this episode as much as we did. Don't forget to catch up on everything you missed from tonight and past episodes at MelodiesMemoriescom. Like I said, tomorrow night we're going to be here with another show, so you get back to back shows this week. We can't wait. We'll see you all then.
Speaker 3:The Melodies and Memories podcast with Jillian and Aaron Schreiber, brought to you by Arlo Revolution. As we close the book on another chapter, remember music gives a soul to the universe We use, to the mind, to flight, to the imagination and life to everything. Next week, jillian and Aaron connect more Melodies and Memories with the fans and artists they love. Thank you for being a part of this musical journey and we will see you next time on the Melodies and Memories podcast with Jillian and Aaron Schreiber.