Latest / Inside Country with Wayne D / You'll Never Believe Who Chris Janson is Friends With

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You'll Never Believe Who Chris Janson is Friends With · Inside Country with Wayne D

0:01
When the album came out, I was lucky enough to be with this guy
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and his lovely family in LA to celebrate the iHeart Country album release party.
0:10
It was really fun the Outlaws side of me. Before we talk about the
0:14
single, we got Chris Jansen in his studio with us. How are you
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feeling now that fans have been able to like wrap their arms around this album?
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Really good? Really good? Actually, uh, you know can the
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time old thing is you can always tell when you play it live if people
0:27
like it or not, you know, And so there are certain songs they
0:31
absolutely go more bonkers over than others, which that's every album. Yeah,
0:36
so you know, you you quickly see your A side dominance and your B
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sides album cuts quickly, so like you know, of course, the single
0:44
All I Need Issue being a popular hit is one of the highlights of it,
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of course, but you know, there's some some surprises on there,
0:51
like Days in the Field, popular one Outlast side of Me, people like
0:55
that one. Hank the hell Have of the Honky Tonk They like that one.
0:57
So it's it's been really good man that We're just kind of cranking up
1:00
tour again for twenty four so we were getting so anxious over the holiday.
1:04
I mean it was really you know, it's okay, great, Thanksgivings here,
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awesome, Christmas is here, awesome, Let's go back to work,
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you know, and we've just been getting bored to tears. So it's been
1:15
really great to be back on the road and and sort of you know,
1:19
regaining that momentum again. When it comes to you you kind of said,
1:23
like, you know, songs that you're performing live. When it comes to
1:26
the album, obviously you put it. You put it together, right,
1:30
Like obviously your your wife and your team are like, hey, actually put
1:33
it together out that's the kitchen table. And when it comes like the track
1:34
list, Yeah, you had mentioned that, right, what are the songs
1:38
that people as you perform these live, you're like, damn, they really
1:42
like that one. Yeah. I mean, like I said, obviously,
1:45
all I Need is You that was a before it was a hit though.
1:47
They liked that one. So that was I think that was a good indicator
1:51
for being the first single, you know, and Thanks panned out. But
1:55
Hank the hell out of Honky Tong's probably the biggest outside of that off of
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the outa side of the album that people really they just I don't know.
2:01
They just really like it, you know. That's the one I did with
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Brantley. I did to do it with Branley on and so I don't have
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Branley's voice on it every night, but because we don't play it to a
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track or anything, but we get out there and rock and roll it and
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it's it's sort of reminiscent of you know, mid eighties hating Junior kind of
2:15
music, and it's sort of a tip of the hat to that. So
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people enjoy doing it and sometimes I'm splice in a little bit with it.
2:22
Since the first time I met you, you are the artist, right you
2:27
are? You are you, but you do an awesome job of including like
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it's it's Chris Jansen's career public facing, right, yes, but like your
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wife is always by your side, obviously she's part of your team. Now
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your son is backup vocals slash. I mean, it's like, who needs
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Dan and Shay when when you got Chris and Jesse and our sons are buddies,
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which I'm really proud of thanks to say. Yeah, yeah, Jesse's
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a he's a rare breed man. He is a rare breed. All four
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of my kids as I always say, are really great, and they're all
2:57
really talented, and they're all very special in there uncertain way. But Jesse
3:00
has a he's got an anomaly type thing going on, you know. You
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just it's a once in a lifetime sort of talent, and it's a once
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in a lifetime sort of attitude. I think even that supersedes the talent part
3:10
of it. He uh, he doesn't care what anyone thinks in a good
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way. Yeah, Like he gets like he's respectful, he's so respectful.
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But he but I but I say, he's got that same kind of spirit
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that I do. We're just on a bachelor ourselves and we don't really care
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if you like it or don't like it, you know what I mean.
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And Jesse is just that way naturally. I didn't even I didn't try to
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impress that upon him or teach him that or And musically, he just has
3:37
that thing. He just has it. That's it, and uh it.
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You know it's funny, man if if a guy like me hits an off
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key, or somebody in the limelight hits an off key, we get chastised
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for it. Jesse can do it all day long. People like he is
3:49
so awesome. He's a great singer. But I'm saying, you know,
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everybody had everybody has their moments, you know, learning new songs. But
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I just love it that he's a huge Hank Junior and skinnered fan. I
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mean he's you know, he's chip off the old block. Something that I
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love about you too is how you anything you do, you do it out
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loud right, so like thank you. Sure you're a dad, but if
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somebody checks your social media, it's not just like here's Chris Jansen on stage
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and like his kid isn't around, He isn't like everything is. You're like
4:20
an open window when it comes to that thinking with that, has your son
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been like, hey, I want to write a song with you. Hey,
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let's write let's have our own song. No, I've written Actually I've
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only written a song. I wrote a song with my older daughter years ago,
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Shell because she wanted to do that. And then she's kind of found
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her niche in life too, so and it wasn't songwriting. She's really talented
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other things, and she's really good at helping people, which is the most
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She's actually really incredible gift she has and skills she has almost therapeutic psychological therapeutic.
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But anyway, then I wrote one with Georgia, my youngest daughter,
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because she wanted to write a song. It's actually to get song. We
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wrote that in in Florida in the Keys, and then Jesse he does not
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have any interest in that at this point. He also doesn't really care about
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playing instruments that much. He just likes getting up on stage and being a
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star, you know, and uh, scary, man, it's a scary
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thing. It's a scary thing. I think the fearlessness. You know,
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it's probably people have probably looked at me before and been like, oh god,
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it's the fearlessness. But man, nice seeing it from my eyes to
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him, you know, he uh, he loves getting on stage. But
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he also likes, you know, he likes UFC fighting and and h and
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bull riding and things of that nature. And so he's you know, I'm
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like, let's put you in some martial arts classes, you know, to
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learn the tech. And he's like, I don't need martial arts, dude.
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I have to win. That's all I gotta do. And I'm like,
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oh god, we are in really we're in real trouble. He's like,
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I don't need techniques we are in real trouble. I mean really,
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you know, he's like, he's like Sean Strickley man, He's like,
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I don't need technique, I just need to win. So he's ready to
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get in there and just and just crush it. So but anyway, I'm
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proud of you know, as you know I'm proud of my kids. Yeah,
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we are an open book. I mean what you see is what you
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get with me and Kelly, and uh, that's it, you know when
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it comes to the collaborative nature of like you're the artist, she's handling everything
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else she is and a mom yeah, yeah everything. Have there any Have
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there been any I told you so moments from her to you, whether it's
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a song or a show or what's what's What's a song? That she's like,
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I told you. We have told you some moments all the time in
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a good way if you I mean, I would hate to not have some
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told you some moments just because I think we're both First, let me say
6:33
that we're both so strong willed. That strong will people are bound to they're
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bound to butt heads. But the good news is is that when we butt
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heads, we're butting someone else's head. It's like we come together and we're
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like knocking on somebody else's door, which is real. It can get real
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tasty sometimes in a great way, you know, but we're one and the
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same. Like that. Man, someone once at a record label a long
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time ago, they were like they were complimenting us. They were like,
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man, I guarantee, I bet you you. They're like, you're wearing
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us out in a good way, I bet you. At the Jansen house
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is like a lightning rod comes out of the sky and there's console electricity,
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and we do have her Christmas lights up still, so that would make sense
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because we're real rednecks. But anyway, you know, it's like you got
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to tell people your redneck. You're probably not, but all you have to
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do is come by our house and you can see that we pretty much are
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so. But no, man, we we don't really have conflicting interest is
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the good news. We see how to eye on a lot of things.
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But I'm proud of those told you some moments had have had she never said
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told you so after the fact, I'm buying me a boat, you know,
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buy me a boat would have never happened. So if we go back
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to that, remember that the original artwork was a was a cell phone picture
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that she took on like an iPhone two, and I was so mad.
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I would not look at the camera because I hate posing for pictures and I
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also hate like not wearing a hat. And she at that point she was
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like, your hair looks sexy, you can't wear a hat. And I
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didn't have a best produce. I really have a reason to wear a hat.
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So I just turned my head sideway and wouldn't look at the camera.
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That was the original artwork. That was I told you so moment. Because
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the very next day when it came, you know, when it came out
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and did what it did, and it just blew up and changed our whole
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life and course of our whole career. That was told you so moment.
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But I'm really proud of that. I'm glad to take it on the chin,
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you know, because it only helps us and that's the good news.
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And so it's all in good fun. And there's been lots of those kinds
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of things. I'm actually usually musically speaking, I'm actually the one who she
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gets to be the one to say told you so. But you know,
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in other things in life, probably there's certain things that maybe I would be
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that person, but now I'm not keeping score. She's my best friend.
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You have ah, let me, I got a serious question. We're gonna
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I'll get to that in a second, because I don't want to leave the
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Christmas lights thing. And I and I asked this. I don't mean this
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as crass as the question sounds. But Chris Jansen's Christmas lights are still up?
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Yeah? Is it because you're festive or lazy? Both? It's also
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because the roofline said them until I can't reach it. So and I'm not
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putting those Christmas lights up. Like look, man, like when I used
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to live in a trailer and stuff, you know, you put your Christmas
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lights up because like this is what you do. And like most people put
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their Christmas lights up. We don't have time to put our Christmas lights up
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for real. Yeah, oh and so you know, and so we hire
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a great local company that comes and puts our Christmas lights up. But we're
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not. Let me be real clear, We're not like bougie pretentious people that
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like, oh, we only pay for our Christmas lights to go up.
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I mean we put up everything else. I mean, actually I don't.
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Killy does. And the kids do. But I'm just a part of it.
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You know. I drag I drag stuff up the stairs and complain the
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whole time, and then I love it when it's up, you know that
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kind of thing. So that's you know, we just a little very as
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you know, like we're just a very normal household. I mean, your
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kid's been on my house. Like your kid is so awesome, by the
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way, and your kids both plural, are so awesome. But you know,
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little boys spend a lot of time with Jesse and stuff, and like
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we're just normal folks. We're just normal folks and we do normal things.
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And and but that roofline is really tall, and I can't get those lights
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up. I quite frankly love to have Christmas up. Actually, we kept
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our Christmas tree in our room like cause I don't know, we just we
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just right cal We just like it. We just like our Christmas tree.
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That's it, and it makes us feel good. Like I even turned the
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TV's onto. Uh. I get on like Prime and turn on the fireplaces,
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you know, yeah seriously, and so uh. And also I turn
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on the fireplaces and then like at nighttime, I turn on like rainstorms and
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stuff. You know. Oh, I didn't know what had to that.
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Oh dude, it's so it's so killer, that's sick. It's crazy,
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man. It's like you get to dream and you feel like you're in a
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real rainstorm. But anyway, I woke up this morning and that rain to
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turn to snow like legitimately, which makes me again whant to move. So
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you're like, why are we not down on the beach right Christmas lights with
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it? Yeah? Uh, you have. I feel like you have gone.
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The music has stayed consistent and stayed good and thank you, and but
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with that, behind the scenes, there's been a lot of change for you.
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Yeah, you have. I don't know about like your internal team obviously
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outside of your wife, but you've gone to a different record label. Yes,
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you've had different things happened that have that have forced you to maybe think
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differently on the next project. Yes, absolutely, And it's also been the
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greatest some of the may I say some of the greatest moves of my career.
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I'm just happier now than I've ever been, and I'm not just saying
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that. So I've had a fantastic first year with Big Machine, and it's
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been really wonderful In conjunction with my own label, Harvest sixty, which has
11:28
been quite successful. And yeah, we just I'm so proud to say that
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over the last year I've been able to get back with my last two years
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now it's time flies with my original agent, the guy who Lance Roberts,
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the guy who signed on to be my agent very in the very beginning,
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back like when I had songs like better I Don't and things like that,
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when I never had a hit, really, you know, a big hit,
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And so proud to say that we work together and I will work with
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him until the day that I die. And it's just an amazing pleasure,
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you know, and my and and it's just it just boosted my confidence going
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with Big Machine and now here we are, you know, topping the chart
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again with a song, first single off of a new record deal. It
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doesn't happen to everybody, especially when you've been through two record deals like I
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have. So I'm so proud to say that, you know, and I'm
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having greater success now than I've ever had in my life. And we're on
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television all the time and these things like you know, I have had,
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you know, random bits of cool moments throughout my career, and they've been
12:26
really good and all uplifting. But man, like we as you know,
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we've been on like we've been on major network television almost every month, a
12:33
couple times a month for the last six months really statistically, and then you
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know, get into be here with you and get into be on the radio
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in a big way. Again. It's such a humbling thing. I don't
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know, it just it's it's just fabulous. So with with the change though,
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with because that would shake a lot of people, whether a label drops
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you, or you from a label or I asked Lee. That's the good
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news. I don't get shaken. I just do what I want to do.
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But what are those experiences teach you that that puts you where you're at
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today? Oh? Man, well, I think the greatest thing is I
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was comfortable asking off of a record label. I've done that twice in my
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career. I've never been dropped. I've always asked off if things are not
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if things are not going the way that I think they should be going artistically,
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then it's time to move on. And usually ninety nine percent of the
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time in anything in life, if you're not feeling it that strongly in your
13:24
gut. There's probably somebody else who's not feeling it too, and that's okay.
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By the way, it's nothing personal, which and asking out doesn't mean
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it's like a football player wanting out of a cut because the owner are the
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team has an idea here, but your idea is here. It's just okay,
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it's just a different artistic direction. What is that taught me? Though?
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Man, It's just taught me such a great sense of humility, and
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it gave me a really sense of peace in my heart, and that's a
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god thing. That's something you can only get from the Lord. So honestly,
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we prayed our way through at big Time, and I did not have
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It wasn't like I had something lined up when I left my last record label.
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Okay, seriously, you can't, it's illegal. So I just said,
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we're going to take a leap of faith here. And I was at
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real peace about it, and so is Kelly and whatever, you know.
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And I think that that's where the humbleness comes in, That's where the grounding
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comes in, because when you get to a place where you're comfortable without anything,
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then you can make the best decisions for your life. Right Yeah.
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And I was just really comfortable being who I am, and then the right
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record Deill fell in place, and now look where we are again. We're
14:30
in a really good place with them, and they're fabulous. I mean,
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the coolest thing about where we are in my journey musically is that finally I
14:37
don't feel like either side. And what I mean by that is artist record
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label is trying to impress each other. We just work together so good that
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they do their thing and we do their thing, and everybody stays of each
14:46
other's hair, fans out the window. I know we were in like the
14:54
fish bowl effect. It's wonderful. Sorry to break code, but that's another
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thing I've learned. I will tell you that not to get off subject,
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but in the last eight months have been so fabulous because I have taken the
15:07
time to be more Brett Michaels, Like, now, what does that mean?
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When you spend time around Brett Michaels, you will learn the greatest humility
15:15
of life. To take one of the biggest rock stars in the world,
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and to second that, to be more Dwayne the Rock Johnson, Like,
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who's another friend of mine. Proud to say, if you can take two
15:24
of the biggest stars in the world. Hang one second, is it If
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you can take two of the biggest stars in the world and be around them
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and they make you feel like you're not as humble as you should be,
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then you got some change in to do. And I felt like I was
15:43
doing pretty good. But after I got around those guys, who are way
15:46
bigger stars than anybody that I know, in both of their respects, it
15:50
made me change my ways. Like so the other night after the show,
15:54
we had this huge, big turnout in Georgia. And I'm not bragging on
15:56
myself here, I'm just saying, just for example, that after the show,
16:00
you know, some they people line up back by the buses outside these
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barricades as a lot of security, and you know, rightfully, so they're
16:07
standby, stand back. I just broke code. I said, no,
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no, no, we don't. Nobody has to stand back. It's okay.
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And I went out and signed autographs for an hour and a half,
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which I haven't done in forever. But it just made me feel really good,
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because the better you treat people, the more tenfold good things come back
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to you. And and I'm actually personally, I'm just at a place where
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I'm just really comfortable being that guy finally in full, not just kind of
16:29
or little, you know, seventy percent or ninety percent, like in full.
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So I just try to treat people really nice and I've just noticed that
16:34
it works in such a big way. And I'm not doing it for that.
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I'm just doing it because it's on my heart and I feel like this
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where God's leading me, and that's that's it. You were talking about the
16:44
TV appearances, which again feels like you have always put out good music.
16:48
You've always been a good performer. The streaming is there, the radio success
16:52
is there, thank you. But there's something about about and maybe it came
16:56
around the time the record deal did. But you're on TV all the time.
17:00
One of those times is coming up with Dolly. We were just talking
17:03
about before the interview started. So tell me what you can about this Dolly
17:06
special and how does that come about? Well, first, I like to
17:10
make public too, you know, on the air and stuff, even like
17:12
even if they don't get to hear me say this, I like to make
17:15
public my team, as you heard me mention obviously Kelly all the time.
17:18
And you hear me mention Lance, my agent and stuff and my record label
17:19
like Ryan, Jimmy, Julian. It's got like the whole team. I
17:23
mean, there's a whole bunch of my team, but like they're really great.
17:26
My promo staff, Andy, Liz, Della Thowen, great, great,
17:30
great people, people that we really love and appreciate. And there's another
17:34
one on that list. Marcel, who's my publicist, has come on board.
17:38
Like I never I've had some whatever successful publicists, but I never had
17:44
one that really cared about us, like big time, right, like comes
17:45
over the house and it's like that he's we're close with him, okay,
17:48
and he's he's been a real big attributor to getting me on television in a
17:52
big way because he cares, he expends the time to do it. He
17:56
puts the work in, you know, and so man, it's just and
18:00
fabulous and and so he he said, Hey, would you like to be
18:03
and in conjunction with Julian Raymond at my label, would you like to be
18:07
a part of this special with Dolly Parton coming up for her dog clothing line,
18:11
which I think is hilarious and awesome at the same time, Like she's
18:15
so cool and of course she has a dog clothing line, right, Like
18:18
she why not. She has baked goods and everything else. He's Dolly Parton's
18:22
the biggest star in the world. And so there's another humble one. By
18:23
the way, you've obviously met her, yeah, numerous times. Yeah,
18:26
she's been really good to us. She's been really kind to Kelly and I.
18:30
You know, we did the not only did we do on this album
18:33
twenty one Forever, the duet featuring Slash from Guns, but you know,
18:37
over the years, I did, like her fiftieth anniversary that being an opera
18:41
member, I did her Smoky Mountain Relief benefit. So it's been spaced out
18:45
like strategically and so and don't think for a second she doesn't have a hand
18:48
in saying yes or no. One who plays these things right. Absolutely,
18:51
So it's like me and Landy Wilson and Carly Pearson and just a very small
18:55
group of us doing it. But so I got to say, I'm super
18:59
excited about it, and I'm bringing my own it's because it's featuring around canines
19:03
as well. I'm bringing my own dog, Willy, my bloodhound. Your
19:07
dog is so sweet. Well, thanks, we'll see how it goes.
19:10
I told the producer of the show, is like he's like, thanks so
19:14
much for having Willy, Like they're really getting into it right, and I'm
19:17
like, I'm like, I just want to let you know I accept no
19:18
liability for what he made. Chew up what Like, he's a good dog.
19:22
But you know what I'm saying. I mean, he is bound to
19:26
pee on a guitar for real, and he don't care how much it costs.
19:30
So I mean, you know what I'm saying, as long as you
19:32
don't be on Dollary's shoes or nothing, so we're gonna be good. But
19:34
he's a he's a great dog, and it'll be fun. And so I'm
19:37
doing that and I'm having like two or three performances on there and it's just,
19:42
uh, it's just been a real dream come true. I mean to
19:45
say that it's not would i'd be lying. And the cool thing is,
19:48
it's like another thing I want to I want to say for people out there
19:52
listening, like we sometimes we in the media and public stuff, we we
19:56
start talking about ourselves so much we forget to talk to the listener of actually
20:00
what makes us go round? Right and the fans, And I want to
20:03
say that you're so good at that, you're so good to your fans,
20:06
and as I tried to be to mine, and so here together, I
20:08
want to say that as anybody out there listenings wants a dream big to win
20:11
big, I think the best advice And I get this question a lot,
20:15
what what's the best advice should give me for success in this or that?
20:18
Quit caring so much? Man care enough, but don't care so much that
20:22
that it's just it becomes your god and your idol. Like the minute you
20:26
drop all that side of it, then the minute you start finding this great
20:29
success, and then when you get that moment to have that success, it's
20:32
so much funner because you can have so much fun with it, which is
20:34
why I look excited about the Dolly thing, because I'm excited about doing it.
20:38
You know, we were in North Georgia playing that show, and then
20:41
we spent the day with my in laws and and my aunt and uncle.
20:45
We had a great day. And we flew in early for this first rehearsal
20:48
and I hate rehearsing and I don't really rehearse and they kind of knew that
20:51
and whatever, But I'm glad I showed up because it was really it was
20:55
just a great camaraderie thing with Dolly's band, you know, and and so
21:00
it's just great. I don't know, it's a lot of fun. Man,
21:03
It's crazy she picked me. She could have picked anybody. When you
21:06
well, it's well deserved. I mean, thanks, Uh, you're on
21:10
the cusp of another career number one. Thank you? Uh? How important?
21:15
And I always word this question carefully because I get it doesn't validate you
21:19
or an artist like Chris Stapleton or or anybody else for that matter. Right,
21:25
I say Chris because obviously he just grabbed a number one. Yeah,
21:27
but when it comes to a number one, what does it do for you?
21:33
And how and how important? Now not saying it validates you or anything
21:37
like that, but it's still it's an important achievement that validates a career.
21:41
Like yeah, I'll take it as validation points. Then you take anything you
21:44
can get in this business. You know what I'm saying. It's like,
21:45
it's not like it comes easy. I mean, you know, getting somebody
21:48
to say something nice about you, it doesn't come easy. So I'm so
21:52
grateful for it. And I mean, I just say I won't I'm going
21:55
to tell you the answer that I've said since the beginning of my career.
21:56
And I mean it. This is because it's true. I've never on this
22:00
dude. The number one thing I ever cared about was having hit songs on
22:03
the radio. That's why I moved here, That's why I asked for a
22:07
Gigatuzis across the street. Because I wanted to be on the radio. That's
22:11
it. I wanted to be a radio star. And then then so I'm
22:14
getting to live my dreams. It is not like some small thing for me.
22:17
I don't I don't care. If you come to my man room,
22:21
which you've been to right at my at my main residence where I got like
22:25
cool collectibles and all my guy stuff or whatever, you won't see musical accolades
22:30
on the wall. Right what do you see? See pictures my kids,
22:33
like deer pictures and hunting adventure pictures and stories and cool things like that.
22:37
And what I'm getting at is not that music awards and things don't matter.
22:41
They do, and I appreciate it. But what trump's small in music is
22:45
having number one songs for me on the radio. I really it's really all
22:51
I ever wanted and I'm getting to do it. So it has opened up
22:53
so many doors for me without and I'm being understand I'm being so serious and
22:57
I'm speaking to everybody in radio, and I say this, okay, it
23:00
just happens to be on your show. Hopefully love you. But like with
23:03
country radio changed our life when no one else was like, uh, whatever
23:08
about me? Through the years, country radio always stood very firm with me,
23:12
always played me, always had a very solid listenership, and always you
23:18
know, my the track record shows I've I've had a string of hits now
23:21
thanks to country radio. Just I won't ever forget that, man. I
23:25
always I will always stand firm on that rock, no matter what. I'm
23:27
not budging off of it. Did you knowing that the change that just happened
23:32
with changing the label, you got your original agent back with you, Yeah,
23:40
putting out a new album, which we talked when the album came out.
23:41
This is the if I remember right, you said the first album that
23:45
like you created start to finish like this was yeah all you right? Pretty
23:51
much well Julian Julian produced it, which I'm so thankful of Julian Raymond.
23:56
But I mean, yeah, I started Rule organically at our kitchen table because
24:00
it's how we started listening to songs. But with all of that change,
24:03
do you think you needed this song to be number one more than anything else
24:07
in your career? Well, I think that I think yes, And no.
24:12
I mean, it sure feels better having a hit than not having a
24:17
hit. They having a pseudo hit as opposed to a real hit, and
24:19
we have a real hit with this label. So yeah, I think there
24:22
was a certain extent to say like maybe had something to prove, I think,
24:26
And that's great for everybody, not just me, because it really it
24:30
really gives a bit more valid back to the word validation, it gives a
24:33
bit of validation and something to really work for and achieve as a whole,
24:37
the company included, you know, And I think it gives somebody that gives
24:41
us as a team, and me included on that team, something to really
24:45
look forward to, aspire to, and take a lot of pride in.
24:48
And and that I feel that I've I got to tell you, like,
24:52
I'm so grateful for my radio promotion staff because they not only have they work
24:56
their butts off for us, but they really care about making this song a
25:00
hit and being a part of something greater than themselves for the moment, and
25:06
and it's like, it's so humbling. I'm really grateful for that. It's
25:08
it's it's inspiring to see. Actually, when it comes to what you have
25:14
the rest of the year, obviously there'll be this song will go number one,
25:17
and like any other song cycle, there will be something else common and
25:21
you And I'm not gonna ask too much because nothing's been shared, but there
25:25
is. I'm gonna tell you quite a bit, in a real nutshell,
25:29
be terrible, because I'm not gonna do anything I'll get I'll get in.
25:32
I'm not gonna do anything stupid or in trouble. But here's the here's the
25:34
exciting thing. Here's the exciting thing. Not to cut you off. And
25:37
I knew you were going so look, here's the thing. In my whole
25:41
career, I can say this. I've never had a single go number one
25:44
and then had a single coming out like two weeks later. And this is
25:48
the first time in my career I've been waiting on this moment. I've been
25:52
waiting on a moment like this my whole career in country music, to be
25:56
at a place to where everyone around you collectively is comfortable enough to be like
26:00
Bam, smash it. We got another one down the pike. Boom,
26:03
here it is. And I I've always been so envious telling the truth,
26:08
so ammuous about other people who have had those opportunities, and I'm finally about
26:11
to have that opportunity with the next single. We just recorded it. It's
26:15
brand new, So no, it's not on the album, No You.
26:18
I've only played it one time and I did that in rehearsal and and then
26:23
I sang it. Oh I technically twice because I sing it in the in
26:26
the in the studio. Now we may put it back like deluxe style on
26:32
the outlast side of my album. I'm not sure yet. That's for I
26:34
don't that's for the other people above my pay grade to figure out. I
26:37
don't really care. But but the point is this that I have never felt
26:41
and this is like even superseds, all I need is you being top of
26:45
the chart, right. I've never felt more confident and excited about a song
26:49
in my whole life, in my whole life. Wow. And and I'm
26:56
just so proud of it. That's it. I'm just so proud of it.
26:57
And when you hear it, you're gonna to go, oh my god,
27:00
Like I know, Chris Jansen and this is so much him. So
27:07
let me. I'm gonna ask us a couple of questions that will not incriminate
27:10
anybody. That's a fine. I'll answer tempo like mid of tempo, slow
27:15
song. No, no, it's it is. I'm telling you. It's
27:18
like you teeter her on the verge of sounding kacky, and which I hope
27:22
you know. I don't mean to sound that way, but I'm saying that
27:25
it will be the anthem of twenty twenty four summer, if not one of
27:29
the anthems of twenty two. Okay, uh do I believe that do it?
27:34
Or no? So solo? Just you Okay, I wouldn't kick that
27:38
out. I wouldn't kick that idea out of bit. I mean, you
27:40
know Kelly wants to sing on it. I guess she can. I'm kidding,
27:47
I'm joking. I mean for real. I mean that is for real,
27:51
but she would never so she's like, I see the money you make,
27:52
I'll keep my job. No no like like no like. I mean
27:56
if a buddy like, if a cool dude like listen, if I mean,
28:00
seriously, you know, if like one of my friends out there are
28:03
somebody that I'm not even that close to but we're you know, we're sort
28:04
of friends through the If Morgan Wallen or Riley or somebody wanted to jump on
28:08
it, I would not be opposed to it. So so we're gonna clip
28:12
that and we're gonna post that, and we're gonna tag hell out of some
28:15
people. No worries, man, and we're gonna try and make a collab
28:18
happen, and then Tay and I will get credit on the Actually, I
28:22
would if you actually, I would do that. I don't even care I
28:23
would do that. I would. I gotta tell you too. One of
28:29
the greatest things about this, and you can put this out there too,
28:30
is that what's one thing people know about me. They've always known that I'm
28:34
super gung ho and sort of have something to prove personally with my whole I
28:38
write every song and I start every song. This is how I do it
28:41
and whatever. I let my guard down a little bit and let the rains
28:45
down a little bit, and I'm glad I did for the first time in
28:47
my career. You'd mentioned you did that with Darius. Yeah, when Darius
28:49
stepped into cut, Yeah, you were like, yeah, I don't want
28:52
you to do me I'm wanting to do you right, But it was a
28:55
song that I had started from from from nothing. I did not start the
28:57
song from nothing. Tyler Hubber and friends did. And uh, and here's
29:04
here's what's really cool about it. My label president called Scott Boorsha, head
29:10
of the Big Machine Records founder. Hey, man, I got this idea
29:15
right, calls Kelly first actually and pretty cool. And I thought that was
29:19
so respectful how they went about it, and apparently quick story. But Tyler
29:23
was like, hey, I think Chris Jansen would crush this and I would
29:29
love him to be a part of it, like what la la la.
29:30
I was like, pretty blown away by that man, you know, because
29:33
I love BKA and I love Tyler too, and and of course who doesn't
29:37
love Florida Georgia line And so to have another artist is what I'm getting at,
29:41
say something kind about you or think about you, you know, as
29:45
far as music's concerned, that's really big deal. And so Tyler and his
29:49
and his crew of friends were cool enough to let me live with it a
29:53
little bit, see if I could become a part of something greater than myself
29:57
for the moment, and uh, and I did, and we did,
30:00
and they could not have been kinder and so proud to say that. You
30:04
know, there's some there's some artist collaborative efforts in the in the push for
30:08
this next single. So the question is when can we get it so we
30:11
can play it on the show. Well, thank you. I do believe
30:14
that it comes out the same day as the as the television special with Dolly,
30:18
which is like the twenty first I believe so literally, like February twenty
30:22
first is you know what two weeks after we would officially go number one,
30:25
hopefully this week. And that's freaking fast man. And we here's the cool
30:30
thing about it, We're going we went back to let me say this.
30:34
People are always like, well, what is it reminiscent of of what you
30:37
do? Because you know, like you said, you have a distinct style.
30:40
I know it's you when you come on the radio. You're definitely going
30:42
to know it's me for sure, no doubt about it. If it's reminiscent
30:47
of anything that I've done in the past, it would be so reminiscent.
30:49
I'm talking about, like ninety nine percent reminiscent of buying me a boat.
30:52
If you like that era of Chris Jansen Music. You're going to love this.
30:56
God, dang, I'm telling you. I'm amped telling you, in
31:00
the words of in the words of a the record label president, lightning Rod.
31:07
You can have normal number one songs, you can have normal hit songs,
31:10
so you can have lightning rods. I'll tell you, I'll take lightning
31:14
rods any day of the week, and especially when somebody above my pay grade
31:17
knows what a lightning rod is. I'm down. I'm down for it,
31:19
man, I'm here for it. And uh, things have been going so
31:22
good. Why in the world would you not listen to a team effort?
31:25
Because when the team is that good, the team is this good, and
31:27
they are They're that good. I'm stoked. I really am. Rehearsed it
31:33
with Dolly's band in preparation for this thing. Is first time I actually played
31:37
it with a band live, you know, and uh, it even blew
31:41
my doors off. And that's not take me out of it, yeah,
31:44
take me out of As we wrap, I want to ask you one one
31:48
more time. Let's go back to all I need is you, Uh song,
31:51
rings, rings the bell or hits the whatever you want to call it,
31:55
right, it gets that number one spot top of the mountain. How
31:57
do you celebrate because this is so much bigger, because this is so much
32:02
bigger than just the number one, right, this is like the big step
32:07
in a new journey of like the album, the label, you know,
32:10
so it's it's bigger than the normal number one. It is, it is.
32:14
I think the first thing that we do is we celebrate together. We're
32:16
pretty simple folks, you know. You don't have to say more than that.
32:19
I get it. No, Like, I don't know. We celebrate
32:22
that like every day. But that's not even about music. She's like,
32:27
she's like, it can't because it's not long enough for a song. Yeah,
32:30
I don't know. I'm sorry, we don't. The good news is,
32:35
Wayne is we don't focus on songs. We focus on albums. And
32:40
this is the best comeback I ever had. That was I'm very proud of
32:44
you that that was the best comeback I ever had. Right there? Okay,
32:46
no pun and uh on the comeback. So anyway, we'll probably go
32:52
to je Alexander's and you started and on me Xanders and do our deal,
32:58
which do our deal means eat some food. Actually, I she'll eat and
33:01
I'll watch or eat, probably because I just like, how many times can
33:05
you have the same meal? But anyway, I'll have a glass of water
33:07
and probably a crabcake. But anyway, then I'm gonna get right to the
33:13
to the real nuts and bolts. I'm gonna start thanking people who deserve a
33:16
thank you, because people don't get thank that often anymore. They just don't
33:20
get thanked enough. It's truly my opinion, and that's also a fact I
33:23
believe, and so I want to make sure that I thank people, whether
33:28
it be face to face over the phone, not just stupid text messages.
33:30
Oh thanks for another number one that's good, hopefully good another one like,
33:34
I mean, really thank you, you know, starting with you, thank
33:36
you, and I think it's hey guys, I think they can't hear me.
33:39
But anyway, I think it's so important to say thank you to people.
33:43
So that's I'm going to do a thank you victory lap, not about
33:45
me, but thanking people man, my team, the fans, and everybody
33:50
in radio who has continued to believe in me. You know, it's like
33:53
it's a dream come true. Everybody in our business who's believed and got behind
33:58
my career and stuff. I just want to say thank you. That's it.
34:00
That's really the way I'm gonna celebrate. Dude. Well, thanks for
34:04
taking the time to chat. Mal. I appreciate you. I appreciate I
34:06
love you man like you're you're my buddy and in and outside of music,
34:10
and I appreciate you too. And it's just a it's like such a blessing
34:15
to see you doing good, and it's a blessing to be doing good myself.
34:17
And it's like for those people out there, remembering when you're listening out
34:22
there, don't ever forget man, that just every time you get a chance
34:25
to bless somebody, try to bless them, man, just by being nice.
34:29
It starts with just being nice and smiling and telling somebody thank you.
34:32
And and that's it. It's kind of where I'm at today. It's where
34:36
I'm at. Where's our plan to be the rest of my life? That's
34:38
awesome. Thanks brother, appreciate it. Thank you make an album.