Latest / Inside Country with Wayne D / FGL Reunion? Brian Kelley Shares Details on New Album & Where Does FGL Stand

Transcript

FGL Reunion? Brian Kelley Shares Details on New Album & Where Does FGL Stand · Inside Country with Wayne D

• 0:00
  Hanging out with a man that honestly needs no introduction, but I'm gonna do
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  it because this is the radio and I can't point and be like here he
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  is, BK. Brian Kelly's in the house. What's up, brother?
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  How are you? Hey? Brother? How are you? Dude? Life
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  is good, but I gotta ask how is life for you, man,
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  because you're the new chapter of your career is going great so far, right,
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  Man, I'm having a blast and I'm just you know, feeling so
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  grateful for just an amazing team, the support that I'm feeling, and then
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  at the end of the day, man, i mean just the fans support,
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  the support from country radio I'm feeling and man, it's it's all really
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  starting to click. And you know, I'm just I just kind of had
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  my head down writing a ton, working, you know, doing some guitar
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  pools for radio stations and just grinding and you know, to see things happen.
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  These these links connect, these dots connect one by one, week by
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  week. Man. It's it's just I'm just so happy. I'm grateful and
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  it's inspiring. Man. I mean, you know, like everything that everything
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  good happening in life, it just makes you want to work that much harder
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  and keep keeep at it. So, yeah, Man, is any part
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  of this a surprise? I mean, because obviously you've had success in music
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  in general with collaborations, you've had success in country music already. But is
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  any as surprising as you kind of wipe the slate clean and start as Brian
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  Kelly. Oh, Man, that's a good question. You know, I
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  don't know if it's surprising. I mean, I think you know that's a
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  that's a dang good question. No, I mean, I guess, you
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  know, to be honest with you, you know, when you know,
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  I was having these conversations with with Tyler and in twenty twenty and even before
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  than in twenty sixteen, you know, it was a holistic view of from
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  my standpoint of, you know, I want to do this and I want
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  to do that, and it wasn't a this or that kind of situation.
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  And so at the end of the day, you know, a couple of
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  years down the road where we are right now, so much has changed,
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  and so I'm surprised that you know, FGL right now isn't isn't really existent
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  obviously, and so I kind of saw both going at the same time,
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  and it all working together. So in that sense, I'm surprised. But
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  you know, when it comes down to putting in the work and and you
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  know, finding a vision and trying to manifest you know, little winds to
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  add up to big wins, I'm not surprised because you know, my dad
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  is eighty years old and still still hustling, is still working and has always
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  said a great example of hard work and putting yourself surrounding yourself with a great
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  team. And so that's what I've That's what I've done, and so hopefully
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  you know, it's it's just a matter of time. And that's that's you
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  know, speaking any any kind of artist, any creative, any any hard
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  worker, entrepreneur, anybody chasing a dream. You know, it's not always
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  you know, instant, And that's okay. I love the journey. I
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  love creating, and I love projects and so and kind of getting in the
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  nitty gritty of it all. So I'm really fine enjoy in each step of
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  the way. And yeah, man, I'm just really enjoying this process.
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  I as you bring up Tyler and your time with FGO, I would I
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  would be disrespecting fans of the both of y'all if I didn't ask, do
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  you think at some point that road crosses again, like like you guys have
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  gone and done your thing, and maybe at some point, like I don't
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  want to say reunion tour because that feels like very you're like in your seventies,
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  right, But do you ever see those those lines crossing again for the
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  two of you guys? You know, that's a good question. I know
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  people have asked that before, you know, up up until the last show
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  last year, you know, I was really trying to emphasize the big picture,
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  in the holistic view of how how it could all work at the same
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  time, and so kind of where we're at now. Man, you know,
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  that's that's a tough question because you know, something I'm not really willing
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  to budge on as my creative freedom. And so I think that's something that
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  you know, at the end of the day we couldn't really one hundred percent
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  agree on, is how you know, having solo outlets looked while you know,
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  maintaining FGL and you know, in my my my headspaces, it could
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  all work. And so you know, if I'm I just can't imagine you
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  know, if if FGL gets back together one day, ten years down the
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  road or fifteen years down the road. You know, it's it's I'm always
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  gonna want to put out music no matter what, and that shouldn't affect anything
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  if you know, it's supported. So it's that's just one of the one
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  of the things that I'm not really willing to do is give up. You
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  know, I would, I would down the road probably look at you know,
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  doing more FGL stuff. But you know, if it takes away from
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  anything I'm wanting to do, that, that's just I'm not really willing to
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  do that. And I also think, you know, people have asked me
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  if I'm playing FGL songs live and all that, and you know, I
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  was given a clear message that we had to put the baby to bed,
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  and you know, I just find it find it interesting that, you know,
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  I think, you know, those songs are getting played night after night
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  still, and so I think, you know, as a brand, it
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  would be nice to just have some some silence for a second, you know,
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  and nobody play the songs so that there is a strong asset and strong
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  value to when we do come back, you know, if we do.
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  When it comes to the music you're putting out now we got to see you
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  during CMA Fest, which is really the first time you've got to tackle all
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  the CMA Fest festivities as an individual. I gotta tell you, you look
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  like you were having the best time of your life career wise. With the
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  fans. It didn't matter if it was five hundred or five thousand people like
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  b K was in his element, right man. I you know, I've
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  told everybody about that week, and you know, I think I'll look back
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  even even next year, just a year after after CMA Week and and say
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  that that was a pivotal moment in my solo career. You know, I
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  really felt so much love. I felt just you know, a lot of
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  support from fans that have have been with me and us along the whole journey,
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  and then continuing to support what I'm doing, and just and then making
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  new fans that had no idea you know, who who we were, who
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  I was. But you know, sometimes it takes a conversation or friend passing
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  the word, or hearing a song on country radio or you know, and
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  so it just was a blast. It was. It was great to connect
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  with with fans that are like minded, that love country music, that love
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  a good time that love people, and you know, it just it felt
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  really great to be there, to be in town and trying to meet as
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  many people as we can and as I can and just just get out there,
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  man, just get out there with them. And I mean, that's
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  what that week is, I mean, and that's what I try to do
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  it at my shows and any show on the part of I try to meet
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  as many fans, whether that's before, during, before during, or after
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  the show, what however it shakes out, you know, I try to
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  try to shake as many hands and try to make as many connections as I
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  can so that they'll remember that moment. And so yeah, man, it's
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  just it's a special week. It's all about the fans. And without fans
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  period, I mean, we don't we don't really have anything going on.
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  So I try to treat every show kind of like CMA week. Well,
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  so so let me ask you that why is that? So? Why is
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  that such an important piece of what you're doing now with your career, Because
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  you were even when we had you here, When we had you here,
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  it was like, hey, he's got something literally in forty five minutes,
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  so like we gotta do this, we gotta do this. He's got to
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  hit the stage. But that didn't stop you, Like you shook hands,
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  you signed autographs, signed hats and all that. Why why do you think
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  that's so important for you to make sure that that you're connecting on more than
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  just a performance level. Well, you know, I'm a fan too,
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  I'm a you know, I'm a fan that pretty much as much as I'm
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  an artist, I'm a fan. I just music has has helped me in
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  ways, not only creating it, but listening to it along, you know,
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  every journey in my life, every chapter of my life. And so
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  you know, I know what it's like to you know, wait around for
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  an artist at a concert, or get there early, or go around back
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  where you can get you know, a view of the bus or the backstage,
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  or hope for an autograph like I've been the guy. I've been that
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  guy and on both ends of it in terms of not getting the picture,
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  not getting autograph, you know, as a fan. And so when when
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  you can, I mean you try to. You try to make people's day.
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  And that's that's why they're there. They're they're there too, Yeah,
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  enjoy the show, but they're there to really get you know, some kind
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  of core memory from the show, whether that's a guitar pick or a T
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  shirt thrown, or a set list or an autograph or a picture or getting
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  up on stage and singing. You know, so just trying to leave as
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  many people with the little BK if I can, you know, little little
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  touch of BK out of the journey you've had so far in twenty twenty three.
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  Obviously, CMAFES was a big deal. Anyone that follows you sees you're
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  doing two ur dates, You're putting out music. We're loving the single all
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  over. iHeart radio initiate it, bro, Thank you, dude. I'm
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  telling you, like I loved the Beach Cowboy collection of that that we got.
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  I loved it. But it was also to hear you tell the story
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  of Yeah, that was kind of like some stuff I was sitting on.
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  But that's not like that wasn't your main focus, right, It was kind
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  of like, Hey, I want to get this out. These are fun
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  songs, but like I'm already thinking of what's next. Yeah, man,
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  I mean there's a couple different points on that whole project. I'm forever grateful
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  for that I that I put that out, that was made in the middle
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  of COVID. Everything was shut down. And you know, like I mentioned
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  before, that's that's one of the ways that music helped me get through a
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  tough time of navigating when our normal everybody's normal across the across the world,
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  where you know you're you're kind of shut down, nobody's really doing anything.
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  And for me, I unexpectedly found, you know, just a ton of
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  inspiration everywhere I looked in at any any free moment, I just couldn't stop
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  thinking the song titles and you know, ideas were just falling out, and
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  I just you know, made that record pretty quick and put it out and
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  it was a snapshot of time. It's totally authentic to me, and it's
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  just one little, one, one piece of the pie of of who I
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  am and kind of you know, what I'm all about. And so but
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  it was a blast to make, man, I mean, we we just
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  we had a pretty tight knit crew of writers and collaborators and it was just
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  a special time. And and you know, I also made that with with
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  the mindset of you know, we we had fgl dates on the books,
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  shows in the books for the coming year or so year or two, and
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  so I was I was mindful about what I was creating and making sure it
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  wasn't you know, interfering or touching on stuff that that we had done or
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  that we were going to do, you know. And so it's very mindful
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  of that that this could live in its own little space and be an addition
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  to what we were building. And like I said, obviously things have changed
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  and I've had to pivot, and so where I'm at now, you know,
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  I'm truly building a solo career and I'm just not I'm not going to
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  hold anything back, you know, I've I've got so many different you know,
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  uh, just ways I want to share, you know, my life
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  and my music and just just have fun and not not worry about you know,
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  not no, have no worries while creating. Just like it, just
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  go as hard as I can on the songs and the tracks, and just
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  at the end of the day land with some great country music. You know.
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  That's That's really what I'm trying to do. So you'll notice, I
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  mean, see you next summer sounds a lot bigger production than you know,
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  anything on Sunshine State of Mind, and that's on purpose, you know.
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  I mean, you got rocking guitar solos, big old drums on see you
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  next summer. And you know, even the vocal I think is stronger and
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  punchier. And so I'm just I'm just I'm grateful to create. Every single
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  day I wake up, I'm always thinking about song titles and hooks and ideas
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  and and how I could push this thing forward. But you know, you
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  really find out who you are when life kind of throws you a curveball.
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  And I'm just so grateful for my wife and my team around me that are
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  just great, great champions of what I'm trying to do and what I'm trying
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  to accomplish. And it's just a fun, fun time of life right now
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  where it feels like anything's possible in terms of showing up, and you never
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  know what can happen when you show up with a song Like I I'm still
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  writing, even though I've got a bunch of great songs. I'm kind of
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  getting ready for the record and still trying to push at the end of this
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  cycle. And you know, I landed on a great song just a week
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  and a half ago, just from hey, let's stay on this, let's
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  keep writing, let's keep seeing what we can do. And so just grateful.
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  Listen, you got a lot to be grateful for. Man. Like
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  I said, that project is great. What we're hearing about the upcoming project
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  is fantastic. And I will say, you're even teaching us some geography because
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  when you say Jacksonville, Georgia, I was like, now, I was
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  like, he means Florida, right, So I had to google it.
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  So you're teaching me geography. I appreciate that. Man, I do what
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  I can. You know, that's funny because the first time I heard that
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  song, I did the same thing. I go, oh, how clever.
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  I was like, obviously, I grew up an hour from Jacksonville,
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  Florida, you know, over in Daytona Beach, and and I just was
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  mind blown. I go, dang, they pulled off Jacksonville, george I
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  go, is that even a real place? You know? And so yeah,
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  they wrote the heck out of that song. And that's why I cut
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  it, you know, I just I love I love that song. First
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  time I heard it reminds me of Brittany and I and our love that we
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  have. And you know, we got married super quick, and I saw
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  the rest of my life and I was basically like, you know, hey,
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  I want to see you next summer and every summer after that, and
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  we're going on ten years area this December, and and not looking back and
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  just just grateful for you know, and also kind of with this, this
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  whole pivot, if you will, was it was a different mindset of being
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  open minded to outside songs and kind of you know, some of my my
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  heroes have been Garth Brooks and Chesney, both great songwriters that have written hits
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  for themselves, but also you know, they they are the voice for songs
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  they didn't write that are amazing hits. And sometimes sometimes you're the voice and
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  sometimes you're the writer and the voice. And to me, you know,
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  Sunshine State of Mind was an outlet where I could be a co writer on
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  every song. It was. It was artistic, it was fun. It
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  was such a playful, creative time in my world. And now it's like,
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  all right, well, let me let me see what I can really
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  do now in a sense, because there's no there's no limits, there's nothing,
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  there's nothing really in the way. I guess if you could say you
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  you just for me, because my next question was what was about being a
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  songwriter, because there's so many artists that I don't want to say stick their
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  nose up, but they're like, I didn't write it, I'm not cutting
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  it. So I was gonna ask, like, why are you I don't
• 15:13
  want to say so lax, but why are you so accepting of like,
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  hey, I might not have written it, but that's a damn good song.
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  I'm feeling it. I'm cutting it. Like how how do you make
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  sure to ride the line between between I'm a writer on this one or I
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  just loved it so I cut it. Yeah, I mean, I think
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  it's just when a song hits you, you know, and you're you're feeling
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  it, You're not having to think about it. It hits you in a
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  way you're like it doesn't matter. You know, how lucky to have a
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  song by amazing songwriters and support the songwriting community, having a great song sent
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  to my email for me to sing. I mean that that makes me lucky.
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  That makes me you know, that's just awesome. And when it when
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  it really connects, like when it's real to your life. If some other
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  songwriter has nailed you know, has nailed a great lyric and melody and married
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  those two to you know, become a great country song, that's what it's
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  all about. I mean, that's the same reason I think people sing karaoke,
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  because you know, the songs that people love when they sing karaoke have
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  hit them in a way, have hit them in the heart or make them
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  want a party or drink or call their call their mom or dad, or
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  whatever emotion it evokes. You know, they want to sing that. And
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  so that's kind of how I feel. It's like, and I'm in it
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  for the long haul, you know. To me, it's like it's important
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  to have solid songs and remove any kind of ego from having it to be
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  you know, I have to write everything and I respect and you know I
• 16:45
  did that with Sunshine State of Mind, not that it was an ego thing.
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  It was like, hey, this is a totally different project. This
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  is like, this is not this is this is its own little thing.
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  And so where we're at now, it's like, you know, it's it's
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  it's important to have rate strong songs and I don't care where they come from.
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  If they hit me in the heart and the soul, you know,
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  I'd be lucky enough to sing some great songs and by great songwriters, great
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  friends in town, and support the songwriting community. I mean, that's that's
• 17:15
  at the end of the day, high priority for me, you know,
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  And so just building this base and people and people to know that, like
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  I'm gonna sing stuff that's real to me whether I wrote it or not.
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  I mean, I just don't care, you know. I want to be
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  I'll wrap it up with this last thing here. I want to be the
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  first, even though I'm nine days early to say happy birthday. Thank you,
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  bro, you are the first. I don't know if nine days counts,
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  but I'm gonna take it. It's birthday and month, it's all good.
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  But I'm August six, so I feel you. We get the month
• 17:51
  right. Let us have our days. What do you got planned? Man?
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  What do you do You got anything planned laid out? For the b
• 17:56
  day? We've got a little trip with some friends, headed up to the
• 18:02
  northeast, a little little spot up there, just to try a little last
• 18:06
  second summer little trip man for a couple of days and just taking it easy,
• 18:12
  just enjoying life. Man. We'll be kind of northeast, up on
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  the coast and looking forward to just doing a little bit exploring, having some
• 18:19
  good food and uh, just trying to soak up any inspiration the universe will
• 18:25
  give me while I'm there. You know, dude, get after it.
• 18:27
  You You have put out some phenomenal stuff already, man. And the last
• 18:30
  thing I'm gonna ask as a fan, as your catalog continues to grow as
• 18:34
  a solo artist, if you move away from from the first project we got,
• 18:40
  don't give up the Beach Cowboy. That is my jam. I need
• 18:44
  it in every step. If I ever make a request, I need Beach
• 18:48
  Cowboy. All right, let's go. No, that's the fun part about
• 18:52
  you know, when I when I labeled at Sunshine State of Mind Season one,
• 18:56
  you know, we may have up to season ten at some point,
• 18:59
  but right now, you know, I'm just I'm just focused on on,
• 19:02
  you know, building, building this body of work. That's that's just kind
• 19:07
  of uh, you know where I'm at. And and also, uh,
• 19:12
  just just I didn't want to put the same record out twice in a row.
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  I think I think, you know, whoever's gonna hear this, and
• 19:18
  my fans and you know, whoever's gonna end up consuming this, I want
• 19:22
  them to know that I didn't do the same thing twice and that I left
• 19:26
  some space. And also I'm sharing more of of who I am and what
• 19:29
  I love and just being a true artist and just kind of writing and recording
• 19:33
  exactly where I'm at. That's what I do with Sunshine state of Mind.
• 19:37
  That's what I do with this next project and and everything after that. But
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  I do look forward. I've already, I mean, I've got a whole
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  folder you know, of Sunshine State of Mind Season two songs that I've written
• 19:47
  and people have sent me, so you know, I've got songs. It's
• 19:51
  just kind of a timing thing and when when that will happen. But now
• 19:53
  I won't ever let that go. It's it's it's too much a part of
• 19:56
  me to to not ever, you know, be there again. And so
• 20:00
  thank you for that, dude. We love it, man, and we
• 20:03
  believe in it too. So you keep being you and we'll keep playing it
• 20:06
  all right. Appreciate you, bro, Thank you