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"Drew Baldridge Replay: Country Music Songwriting and Nashville Stories :Takin A Walk Nashville" · Takin’ A Walk Nashville

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Taking a Walk.
• 0:01
  Speaker 2: I lost my record deal in twenty nineteen, and coming
• 0:04
  Speaker 2: with that loss of record deal, I lost my booking
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: agent and I also lost my manager. I didn't think.
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: I didn't know what to do. I was living on
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: my credit cards, and so hade this idea. I was like, man,
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: am I still supposed to do music? I'll post on
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: social media. I'll play anybody's backyard that wants to happen me.
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: And I thought I'd get like ten people. Man. I
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: got over twenty some thousand requests, and I ended up
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: going around the country for two years and turning over
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: three hundred people's backyard.
• 0:29
  Speaker 3: Hi, this is Sarah Harrelson, your host of Taking a Walk.
• 0:33
  Speaker 3: Nashville joined Buzznight on Taking a Walk as he has
• 0:36
  Speaker 3: a conversation with country singer songwriter Drew Baldridge as he
• 0:41
  Speaker 3: speaks about his journey from being a signed artist to
• 0:45
  Speaker 3: an independent artist with the support of his organic fan base.
• 0:50
  Speaker 3: His viral song She's Somebody's Daughter was released in twenty nineteen,
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: and now he continues to tour the world and release
• 0:59
  Speaker 3: new music with the support of his audience.
• 1:03
  Speaker 4: Drew Baldridge, thanks for being on Taking a Walk. We're
• 1:07
  Speaker 4: here in Nashville. I'm so grateful to be in personal
• 1:10
  Speaker 4: with you.
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: Man. I'm so glad this worked out. I'm excited to
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: be a part of it.
• 1:14
  Speaker 4: So what do moving cows around there in uh Pakoda,
• 1:21
  Speaker 4: Illinois have in common with the music business?
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: Man? So I grab on a farm and you know,
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: like you said, little town called Patoka, Illinois, and I
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: grab on a farm. My grandpa was like my hero,
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: you know, And and I always put farming and kind
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: of tie it to the music business in an interesting
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: way of like, you know, we write these songs and
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: we don't really know what they're gonna do. It's kind
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: of like, you know, putting seed in the ground and
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: you don't know why it's gonna yield. You know, you
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: don't know what's gonna turn out, if it's gonna have
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: a big yield, if you're gonna get rain, if you're
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: gonna you know, if you're gonna have a good crop,
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: a bad crop, if your tractor is gonna break down,
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: you know. And I grew up a lot of with
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: a lot of old tractors that broke down a lot
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: of times, and so you know, that's kind of feel
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: like a lot of my journey in music has been that,
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: you know, and it took you know, a couple of
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: years ago my grandpa passed away and me going back
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: home and kind of reliving that country lifestyle, helping with
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: the cows for a while and just find getting back
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: to me and not so much of chasing a sound
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: in Nashville, but more of, like, you know what, I'm
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: making music for people, and my people are country people.
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: And so it's been you know, like I said, I've
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: always tied farming kind of the music industry my whole life,
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: since I've since I moved here at nineteen.
• 2:42
  Speaker 4: But was there a period you felt like you were
• 2:44
  Speaker 4: chasing something that when you looked in retrospect, it wasn't
• 2:48
  Speaker 4: authentic to you.
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, I think I chased When I signed
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: my record deal, I was chasing everything. I was just
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: wanting to be heard in any any way possible, any
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: kind of sound, any kind of song. I lost my
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: record deal in twenty nineteen, and coming with that loss
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: of record deal, I lost my booking agent and I
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: also lost my manager in the same aspect, and I
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: did this tour over twenty twenty, you know, Covid hit.
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: I didn't think I didn't know what to do. I
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: was living on all my credit cards, and I was
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: kind of like, man, first off, I got a girl
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: that I want to marry. I can't even afford a ring,
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: you know. So I had this idea. I was like, man,
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: I am I still supposed to do music. I'll post
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: on social media and I'll just say, hey, whoever, I'll
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: play in anybody's backyard that wants to have me. And
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: you know this is if as long as I can
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: do it, and you know, we can't do it for free.
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: We need help and get in there and travel expenses
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: and stuff. And I thought i'd get like ten people,
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: you know. I thought people would be like, hey, yeah,
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: we'll do it. Mean I got over twenty some thousand
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: requests and I ended up going around the country for
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: two years and turning over three hundred people's back yards
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: and just bring And that really changed my creative process
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: to be like, you know what, I'm making music for
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: people and not for record labels. I'm not making music
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: for radio. I'm making it to have a connection with
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: real life people. When I was in their yard, I
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: was playing corn hole, eating dinner with them. They were
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: telling me what their song, what the songs meant to them,
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: and why thank you so much? You know you're thank
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: you so much for creating music that we can put
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: into our lives. And that's when it really changed for
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: me also too, of just like you know, I'm making
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: music for these for people, for real, authentic people, and
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: that really helped me strive to the music that I'm
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: creating today.
• 4:36
  Speaker 5: That's when I first heard about you.
• 4:37
  Speaker 4: Now many of those were they were backyard barbecues, they
• 4:41
  Speaker 4: were graduation parties, right, Yeah, there's a.
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: Lot of I even did a great like you said,
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: I had a song called Senior Year that kind of
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: had this moment during twenty twenty because the hook of
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: the song said, never thought it would disappear. Senior year.
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: All these kids of Senior year disappeared, and the songs
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: already out. I wrote it. When I wrote that hook,
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: I just meant, live it up, kids, it's going to
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: go by fast. But third year really did disappear. So
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: I posted before I did the backyard thing, first, I
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: did this Senior Year thing, and I posted. I said, hey,
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: I'll do a zoom concert for any class of twenty
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: twenty that wants a zoom concert. So I was doing
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: seven or A's Zoom concerts today from my living room couch,
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: and they'd be like thirty minutes a piece, and I'd
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: jump right into the next class, play for another one
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: hundred and fifty kids. And then that turned into, hey,
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: we have a drive in graduation. Would you would you
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: fly down here and drive down here and play this
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: drive in graduation because it's all social distancing, And I
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: said sure, So I went around the country. I did
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: about twenty schools where I just played drive in graduations,
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: parades and gave commencement speeches to kids all around senior year.
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: And then that really sparked the idea, it's why it
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: might only doing this for senior year kids when I
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: should be doing it for people. And that's what turned
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: into the backyard shows.
• 5:49
  Speaker 4: And the way it struck me when I heard about
• 5:51
  Speaker 4: this was as the business and musicians were incredibly confused
• 5:57
  Speaker 4: and frustrated during the pandemic. You did something that was
• 6:02
  Speaker 4: reaching out and touching them. But it was also incredibly
• 6:05
  Speaker 4: unique compared to what anybody else was doing.
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it was real different, and it was also the
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: real rewarding for a lot of people that need music
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: in their lives, and you know some of these shows
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: where you know, we did social distancing shows, we'd had
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: shows that were after COVID and they were just every
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: all of them were outside, you know, and it brought
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: music to people and they needed it. You know. There
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: were so many people that said, oh my goodness, we
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: normally go to concerts ten times in a year, and
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: we haven't. We haven't been able to go to any
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: This is our release, this is our life. We love
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: country music, and now you get to be here in
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: our yard, you know, and it just really it took
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: down all the you know, all the walls between artists
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: and fan, artist and listener, and it was just really
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: I became friends with a lot of these people, and
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: I still today when I play shows and you know,
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: there's hundreds of people in the crowd or whatever, I
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: can look down and see that they got the Baldridge
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: and Bonfire shirt on. I know I was in their yard.
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: You know, they have the shirt, and it's really cool
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: to know that they were with me at my hardest
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: time in music for me personally of just losing everything,
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: but still having my people that connect to my music
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: to support me and believe in me and keep me going.
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: And so every show that I play, and it's almost
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: every show now every tour that I go out and
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: play now that we're back to playing clubs, there's at
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: least one person in there I played in their backyard,
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: and so that's pretty cool.
• 7:27
  Speaker 4: So the cool thing about podcasts are they are, you know,
• 7:32
  Speaker 4: domestically everywhere here in terms of where people consume them.
• 7:36
  Speaker 4: And they're also international. But let's deal with the domestic
• 7:40
  Speaker 4: part first. Talk about some of those small towns and
• 7:43
  Speaker 4: name them where you played some of those shows.
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: Man, Yeah, we played a lot in upstate New York,
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: and we played some you know, from New York all
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: the way to California to Oakdale, California that I've never
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: heard of before. They call almonds amens and I was like,
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: what are you talking them? You know? And I just
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: got to do a lot of fun stuff on this
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: and see a lot of see a lot of people
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: and towns differently because most of the time people are like,
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: oh my gosh, you're a musician, you travel all around
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: the world. It's like, yeah, most of the time, all
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: I see are pilot gas stations, the club, and where
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: we're eating dinner that night. It's never I get I
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: never hardly have enough time to do anything. But this
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: way of touring is I got to see the back
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: roads of the town, you know. I got to go
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: to these little towns, and all these little towns are
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: on the back I make their own TOR shirt. I
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: put their own little town name on it, where they
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: feel like, hey, we're not Chicago, but we're a little
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: town in Illinois outside of it, but our name's on
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: the TOR shirt. And so that is what I love
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: because I grew up in a town of five hundred people,
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: you know, so like our little town's never got anything.
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: So being able to go and tour this way was
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: really really special for me, but also for them because
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: they got to do what they thought was fun with me,
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: Like hey man, we take our four wheelers down to
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: this lake and we sit here and we catch you know,
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: Channel Cat Like okay, well let's let's go do that.
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: Let's go take the folder down the lake, you know.
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: And so I got to do a lot of this
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: stuff with people on a human level that I would
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: have never got to do before if I was just
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: playing in clubs.
• 9:13
  Speaker 5: I'm just so fascinated by it. So I'm hung up
• 9:17
  Speaker 5: on it in a good way.
• 9:19
  Speaker 4: There was a man that I did some work with
• 9:21
  Speaker 4: as a former radio programmer who since passed away. His
• 9:24
  Speaker 4: name was John McGann. He worked at MTV for a
• 9:27
  Speaker 4: while and VH one, and he was a real trailblazer,
• 9:30
  Speaker 4: and he had a statement that sort of applies to
• 9:33
  Speaker 4: what you succeeded at doing with those tours that you
• 9:38
  Speaker 4: made think like a fan, make everyone a star.
• 9:44
  Speaker 5: What's your reflection on that?
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: No, I think that's awesome. I think you know, we
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: can get caught up artists sometimes and egos, you know,
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: And I've been there before where I'm like, well, I'm
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: a country singer and I'm rolling in. You know, nobody
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: can see me before I take stage. I'm backstage. It's
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: this cool moment. And you know, when you do it
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: like how we did it in those backyards, there ain't
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: nothing glamorous about that. Just being honest, you know, it
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: was like we're playing on the freaking haywagon. They just
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: took the bails off of you know, the morning before.
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: It's not you're rolling in and you're fancy Dan and
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: your bus and stuff. You know, it's it's really just
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: knocking those walls down and treating people like humans and
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: take and it makes me go in and being you know,
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: we're all humans, we're all put our pants on this morning.
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: And it really gave a whole new connection to me
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: for the people that listen to my music. And you know,
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: because I even hate the word fan, I just that's
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: a weird word to me. I think just people that
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: listen to your music is better, is what I like
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: to say. More of it, and it just the people
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: listen to my music. It really allowed me to have
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: a connection with them. I could have put out of
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: all those three hundred yard This was the coolest thing
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: for me on this whole thing buzz was. You know,
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: on my social media I post about my family, I
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: post about God, I post about the music that I make.
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: And it's really interesting what you post and put out
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: in the world. Those are your people that follow your
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: social media pages. And so out of all those three
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: hundred backyards, I could have put all those people in
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: one big shit and it would have been the all
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: good time. They were all solid, salt of the earth
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: humans and it was really cool to see, like, Hey,
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: whoever listened to your music is an extension of who
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: you are. And these were all people that I would
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: genuinely hang out with in my little town back home
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: on a Saturday night. It was just really it was
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: really cool.
• 11:42
  Speaker 4: Do you believe it really was the beginning that fueled
• 11:46
  Speaker 4: your organic growth as an artist with your fans.
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, I was very lucky. I've been in
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: Nashville for thirteen years. You know, I had a record
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: deal before that where I created fans. I've will create listeners.
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: I've been on Sirius XM Radio. I've created listeners that way.
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: I had a lot of things that built up to that,
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: but this was I think the most genuine way I've created,
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: you know, people following my music and what I'm doing
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: because it was a real connection. You know. It was
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: they see me on their social media and talking about
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: my music, but I actually got to stand there next
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: to them and talk about their grandma passing away or
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: their daughter going through high school. And I think that
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: was what was really different for this tour and really
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: catapulted us to allow what we're doing today, is to
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: know that we have those people out there that shared
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: that story with the surrounding towns that they were Hey,
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: you know, Drew Balters came to our house. You know
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: that guy right there that's playing on the radio now,
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: he was in our backyard. And that, really, I think
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: does have some sort of you know, you kind of
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: start seeing the branches kind of go out when you
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: come to these when I come, Like in last week,
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: I was in Omaha, Nebraska, and you know, I did
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: a I played first school up there, not that far away,
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: and the principals texted me and saying, hey, I'm so
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: glad you come back. We're gonna come watch it, you know,
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: and it's just like all these little you know, finger
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: legs kind of come out and start kept touching people.
• 13:11
  Speaker 5: It's like a textbook in marketing. You didn't know you
• 13:14
  Speaker 5: were coming up with that.
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: No, I had no idea, man, I just I just
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: wanted to play music, and I knew that this was
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: a way that I could continue to do that. And
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: I really believe God built me to write songs and
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: play them and entertain people when I can, and it
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: was a special way for me.
• 13:33
  Speaker 5: To do that.
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: And I don't know, I always tell my band too,
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: it's like this might be something I do every year.
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: I'm even talking about maybe going out and doing another
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: twenty yards again because I just enjoyed it so much,
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: of meeting people on an everyday life level, and you know,
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: for maybe for the rest of my career. On now,
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: I don't know, I might do this again. Who knows.
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: We'll be right back with more of the Taking a
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: Walk podcast. Welcome back to the Taking a Walk Podcast.
• 14:03
  Speaker 4: So when was the first moment that you remember that
• 14:07
  Speaker 4: music touched you? How old were you What do you
• 14:11
  Speaker 4: remember most about being first touched by music.
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: I grew up singing in church, my dad singing church,
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: and I think there was this old song my dad
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: always used to sing at church and sitting you know,
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: in the pews and watching my dad sing. He's still
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: my hero, you know, And that's I go back to
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: those early moments of there was a song called when
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: the Anchor Holds and my dad used to sing that
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: at church on Easter Sundays. And that is a moment
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: that really moved me, of watching my dad go up
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: and sing and I was like, wow, that's something that
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: my dad does it. I want to do that. And
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: then I started singing. My first time performing in front
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: of people was my first grade Christmas program. I sang
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: all the different language just of goodbye there was it
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: was like the finale of the thing, and it was
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: like chew audios. I mean, I can remember, it's so goofy,
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: but but yeah, that was the first time I sang
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: in public and then got the bug and I was like, man,
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: I loved doing that. I loved being in front of people.
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: I loved entertaining. And that then turned into doing multiple
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: talent shows every year in our little area and it
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: wasn't much singing then. It was more dancing and lip
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: singing to like you know, there's some really embarrassing videos
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: out there, but as of me doing Thriller and trying
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: to act like I know how to moonwalk, Oh yeah, man,
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: And then the Blues Brothers and give me a sing
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: me a chorus of Thriller. I can't sing. You don't
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: want to hear that, but but just like that's why
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: I lip singing it all. But like the Blues Brothers,
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: we did some some of that and some dancing to
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: that and Grease Lightning and it was it was fun. Man.
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: And then looking back, my my mom and dad really
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: always pushed me along through that. I started taking piano
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: lessons in kindergarten and that was something that really started
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: driving me to music too, was you know, learning piano.
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: And then about third grade, I said that was a
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: girl instrument playing piano and I was like, looking back,
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: it was like, well, that was dumb.
• 16:09
  Speaker 5: Why do I do that?
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: So I picked up guitar at sixteen and been been
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: writing songs ever since. But it's always Music's kind of
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: always had a hold on my soul. And since I
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: was you know, like I said, kindergarten, first grade is
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: when I started, you know, really performing in public in
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: front of people.
• 16:27
  Speaker 4: And talk to me about the musical influences that you
• 16:31
  Speaker 4: had as you you know, would hear music on the
• 16:35
  Speaker 4: radio or just see it in person.
• 16:38
  Speaker 5: What were those influences.
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so they were kind of all over the board.
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: You know, you just heard my talent show influences. I
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: mean we're talking you know Michael Jackson, who I loved
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: the energy and the performing the performer that he was
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: at that age. That was like, Wow, this guy is
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: larger than life, you know with his performances and how
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: he does it on stage. And then you know, when
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: I got old enough and was thirteen fourteen and got
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: into you know, what we all did in that small
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: town farming and helping my grandpa out and watching my
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: older cousins on the tractor and driving the tractor. Country
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: music became life because that was what we did, you know,
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: we were on the tractor from sign up to sundown.
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: And so like people like Brooks and dumb and Alan
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: Jackson and you know, Randy Travis and those people that
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: could really have those voices that could bring my lifestyle
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: to life, that was what, you know. I think a
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: song was like Red Dirt Road by Brooks and Dunn.
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: That was literally my life, you know. And Alabama the
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: very first country. My dad had this old mixtape that
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: he bought this car and the mixtape was stuck in
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: it and it was and it was a mixtape of
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: Alabama singing born country. And we would listen to that
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: song over and over and over again. It says, you know,
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: I got a hundred years of down Home running through
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: my blood. And we had a My grandpa had this
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: this plot of land on the outskirts of town down
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: Home because that's where he grew up and his great
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: grandpa was first there. And so it's been in my
• 18:08
  Speaker 2: family for over one hundred years. And so when that
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: line came across and it was like, got one hundred years
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: of down home in my blood. That's when I realized, like, man,
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: country music is life. It's my life, you know. And
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: so that's what I always try to strive to do
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: with my music now, is write those real things to
• 18:23
  Speaker 2: me because Alabama back then could do it, you know,
• 18:26
  Speaker 2: and it really struck a chord in my soul that
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: this is really authentic to me and who I am.
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: And so Alabama was a big was a big big.
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: John Anderson was also on that mixtape you Look Better
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: Than Money, and boy, I always just thought that was
• 18:42
  Speaker 2: his voice was so different, you know, and stood out
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: in such a cool way. And so John Anderson was
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: alsoally a big influence.
• 18:49
  Speaker 4: And it's the simplicity of the life and how these
• 18:53
  Speaker 4: songs come to life in a very clear way, right.
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: Yeah, the simplicity of it, but also just the authentic
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: of it of you know, when you hear Brooks and Dunn,
• 19:04
  Speaker 2: you know sing I believe, oh my goodness, like that
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: is so the emotion in that is so real. But
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: it's also so real for the town that I was
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: in right of, Like old Man regularly lived in that
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: white house. I can. I can picture my neighbor running
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: down the street and seeing him. You know, we're a
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: quarter mile away, so we'd have to drop full of
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: so there's no really running down the street. But it was.
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: It was just those kind of things that country music
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: was my life growing up. And I hope that whatever
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: I put out into the world music wise, that there's
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: some kid out there that can say, Wow, that's that's
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: my life too.
• 19:38
  Speaker 4: One of your fans, Deborah k Is how she listed herself.
• 19:43
  Speaker 4: She says, Drew's the man Drew draws pictures with his music.
• 19:49
  Speaker 5: How does that make.
• 19:50
  Speaker 4: You feel when you hear one of your fans talk
• 19:53
  Speaker 4: like that about your work?
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: That's I mean, that's exactly what I hope for, you know,
• 19:57
  Speaker 2: I hope that when people hear my music. That's I
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: always try to set in the writing room when we write,
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: and I always say, hey, no, we gotta we gotta
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: draw a better picture of what's going on. And so
• 20:08
  Speaker 2: here in her say that that's super amazing. I mean,
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: it puts a smile on my face knowing that, you know,
• 20:13
  Speaker 2: what I'm trying to do is being you know, portrayed
• 20:16
  Speaker 2: in the in the right light. And I really you know,
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: I really do strive hard to make sure that all
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: the images are there, because I always tell everybody I
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: want to close my eyes and see what's going on,
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: you know. And and if I can close my eyes
• 20:29
  Speaker 2: when the song's playing and I and it takes me somewhere,
• 20:32
  Speaker 2: that means we did our job.
• 20:34
  Speaker 4: How about tell me about the creation of the song
• 20:38
  Speaker 4: before you.
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: Oh man. So I was actually out on tour with
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: low Cash at that time. We were playing on we
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: were in Long Island. We're not in on You can't
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: say in Long Island. You gotta say on Long Island,
• 20:49
  Speaker 2: Lung Island. Yeah, on Long Island. So we were on
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: on Long Island, playing at a place called mult Kahes,
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: which are actually playing March seventh, and we were up
• 20:58
  Speaker 2: above and we were writing songs, and I was about
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: to get married, and we were talking about just all
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: of our wives, and we were talking about little Cash boys.
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: You know, they'd like to have fun, just like you
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: know I did too. And we talked about all our
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: wives about how we were just saying, man, before then,
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: we were crazy, we were wild, and so coming across
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: writing that song, was talking about all the crazy things
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: that I did before finding my wife and how she
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: made me, you know, a better person, And so that
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: was actually the song that I kind of wrote for
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: her for our engagement. And funny story, it was right
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: at COVID and we were supposed to get engaged in France,
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: and so we were going to get engaged right in
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: front of the Eiffel Tower. I had it all planned out,
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: and there's a line in the song that said I
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: never thought I'd fly to Paris to get down on
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: one knee. And what happened was three days before we left,
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: they had the travel band and we couldn't go to Paris.
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: And so I'm like, I got this song. I got
• 21:58
  Speaker 2: this it says Paris to play it for So I
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: had to go in literally call my producer and said,
• 22:03
  Speaker 2: we have to change we have to change it. We're
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: gonna fly we flew to Aruba. I was like, we
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: gotta change it too. I never thought I'd fly to
• 22:09
  Speaker 2: an island to get down on my knee, and so
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: we changed into this and then we ended up going
• 22:13
  Speaker 2: to Aruba and that's it. It all worked out. But
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: that was a song that I used to propose my
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: wife with.
• 22:18
  Speaker 5: Yeah Wow.
• 22:20
  Speaker 4: And then the song lost in Love talk about that
• 22:23
  Speaker 4: and talk about collaborating with the Harper Harper Grace.
• 22:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so Harper Grace. She sent me a message years ago,
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: she was probably sixteen seventeen years old on Instagram and
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: was like, Hey, I'm a big I had a song
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: out at that time called Rebound. And she's like, I'm
• 22:39
  Speaker 2: a big fan of Rebound. You know your music is awesome.
• 22:42
  Speaker 2: Blah blah blah blah blah. I'm a songwriter too. I
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: make trips to Nashville, and most of the time when
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: I get those, I'm just like, you know, I don't know.
• 22:51
  Speaker 2: I try not to dive too much into that that
• 22:54
  Speaker 2: side of discovering artists or anything like that. And I
• 22:58
  Speaker 2: went to her page and I just listened to her
• 23:01
  Speaker 2: and she was so good, and I hit her back.
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: I was like, Hey, you're amazing, Like when you come
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: to Nashville's let's rite. So she started coming to Nashville
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: and then now she has a record deal on Curb
• 23:11
  Speaker 2: and she's really doing some amazing things. And so we
• 23:14
  Speaker 2: wrote this song together called Lost in Love, and I,
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: you know, put a record out year and a half
• 23:20
  Speaker 2: ago called Country Born. And I always thought she was
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: an incredible singer and I wanted to, you know, my
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: listeners to hear her, you know, to see what she
• 23:29
  Speaker 2: has to offer. And so I think the track turned
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: out really really awesome. We wrote it together, which is
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: really special. It was kind of like her first cut
• 23:37
  Speaker 2: outside of her own project, and it was she came.
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: We do a festival in my hometown called the Big
• 23:43
  Speaker 2: Baldridge and Bonfire, And because I did the Backyard dour
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: was called the Baldridge and Bonfire. So I decided to Hey,
• 23:49
  Speaker 2: I'm gonna put a festival on call the Big One,
• 23:51
  Speaker 2: and so we put a festival on in my hometown
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: last couple of years, and I brought her up the
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: first year we did it, and she got to sing
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: in front of a couple thousand people and sing that
• 23:59
  Speaker 2: song with me, and that was really special.
• 24:02
  Speaker 4: So take us inside the collaborative process of a writing session.
• 24:07
  Speaker 4: How do you like to work and how are you
• 24:10
  Speaker 4: most productive in that session?
• 24:12
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, I think most of the time now,
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: like when I first came here, was a lot of
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: new people you write and you've never written with before.
• 24:19
  Speaker 2: Now I kind of have my group of friends that
• 24:21
  Speaker 2: I've written a lot with, and it's all give and take.
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: And most of the time there's three of y'all, and
• 24:30
  Speaker 2: I can even go in and have, Hey, this is
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: what I want to write today. I've been thinking about this.
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: I haven't written down. I have some lines, but there's
• 24:37
  Speaker 2: sometimes you go in and you don't have anything. You know,
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: you're kicking around ideas and you're like, hey, I wrote that.
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: I was at you start talking about life and you're like, hey,
• 24:46
  Speaker 2: you know, a couple of weeks ago, I was at
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: the beach and I saw this and led me into this,
• 24:50
  Speaker 2: let me into this title. Most of the songs that
• 24:52
  Speaker 2: I write always start with the title or an idea,
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: like she's Somebody's daughter, like our single that we're working
• 24:59
  Speaker 2: in the radio now, I started off with she's somebody's daughter,
• 25:03
  Speaker 2: you know, And I knew coming into that, right, this
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: is what I wanted to write about. After meeting my
• 25:08
  Speaker 2: wife's dad for the first time. This was a message
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: to myself to not screw it up, but treat her right.
• 25:16
  Speaker 2: You know, if I break her heart, I'm breaking her
• 25:18
  Speaker 2: mama's heart and her daddy's heart too. And so going
• 25:21
  Speaker 2: into that, right, I knew I'm gonna write She's Somebody's daughter,
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: and yes, I'm gonna take outside ideas. Being the artist
• 25:29
  Speaker 2: in the room, you kind of got to drive it
• 25:30
  Speaker 2: to what you would say. But having writers in the room,
• 25:33
  Speaker 2: they really bring it to the next level of ideas,
• 25:36
  Speaker 2: of experiences that they've been through, and you got to
• 25:38
  Speaker 2: listen to those in a big way. But the artist,
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: you know, you gotta really be honest of what you
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: will say and what you won't say. And I think
• 25:46
  Speaker 2: that's that's key for an artist in a songwriter's room
• 25:49
  Speaker 2: that's coming to Nashville. Of if somebody, if you're writing
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: with a hit writer and they say this line and
• 25:53
  Speaker 2: you're like, man, I would never say that line, but
• 25:55
  Speaker 2: they really like it. I'm just gonna go with it.
• 25:57
  Speaker 2: And then you get to the point you get done
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: with the song and you're like, wow, there's no me left.
• 26:02
  Speaker 2: You know, it's a cool song, but there's it's not
• 26:05
  Speaker 2: how I would have said it. And so that's what
• 26:07
  Speaker 2: I always try to remember when I'm in the writing
• 26:09
  Speaker 2: room now. It's like, if I'm going to record this,
• 26:11
  Speaker 2: I need to make sure that I really love it
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: and say what I would say and take take other
• 26:15
  Speaker 2: people's opinion because it's such a give and take in
• 26:17
  Speaker 2: a writer's room, and if you're on the other side,
• 26:20
  Speaker 2: if you're a writer, you know, obviously give and take,
• 26:22
  Speaker 2: but also lean on your artists that you're in the
• 26:24
  Speaker 2: room with that's going to record that song that you
• 26:27
  Speaker 2: want to make sure that they are loving where this
• 26:29
  Speaker 2: is headed. And so that's been a you know, obviously
• 26:34
  Speaker 2: a big couple of ways you can go in not
• 26:35
  Speaker 2: have an idea at all, kick around ideas, somebody says something,
• 26:38
  Speaker 2: You're like, wow, I've never thought of it that way. Yeah,
• 26:41
  Speaker 2: let's write that title that you have and let's point
• 26:44
  Speaker 2: everything to that title. Or you're going in you have
• 26:46
  Speaker 2: something really convicted on your soul that day and you're saying, hey,
• 26:50
  Speaker 2: I think we should write this, and if we write
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: this and it comes out correctly, I think it's something
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: that could be really special and powerful.
• 26:57
  Speaker 5: We produce this other podcast. It's called Music Save.
• 27:00
  Speaker 4: It's about the healing power of music.
• 27:04
  Speaker 5: Do you believe music has healing powers?
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: Yeah? I really do. You know, I really saw it
• 27:09
  Speaker 2: a lot over this tour where I played in people's
• 27:11
  Speaker 2: backyards and people wasn't getting music, they weren't gathering around music.
• 27:18
  Speaker 5: They were you.
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: Know, COVID had kind of had them stopped up and
• 27:21
  Speaker 2: not seeing music alive. And when I was in these
• 27:25
  Speaker 2: people's yards and playing songs, I could see them come
• 27:28
  Speaker 2: to life, you know, I could see their soul open up.
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: I could see the smiles on their face or their
• 27:33
  Speaker 2: tears in their eyes that you know, it really does
• 27:37
  Speaker 2: affect them.
• 27:38
  Speaker 5: Even for me.
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: I mean, when I listen to the right song, I
• 27:41
  Speaker 2: get goosebumps over my entire body. You know, it puts
• 27:43
  Speaker 2: me in it, it can transport me to a whole
• 27:45
  Speaker 2: other place, and it can you know, I've seen so
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: many videos too of people going through dementia or Alzheimer's,
• 27:50
  Speaker 2: but when the right song comes on, they know the words,
• 27:54
  Speaker 2: you know, or they it takes them back and you
• 27:56
  Speaker 2: see them dancing. It brings cheerful, it brings happiness. And
• 27:59
  Speaker 2: as a writer, I don't take that lightly. That's something
• 28:03
  Speaker 2: I want to go in the writing room. I want
• 28:05
  Speaker 2: to make sure that I'm making music that people can
• 28:08
  Speaker 2: can do their life to and make memories to and
• 28:11
  Speaker 2: make you know, long lasting connections with and so yeah,
• 28:17
  Speaker 2: I totally believe that that music can heal. Music can
• 28:20
  Speaker 2: bring so many great things that you can't get a
• 28:23
  Speaker 2: point across just talking sometimes, you know, like if I
• 28:26
  Speaker 2: would just sit here and talk to you. She's somebody's daughter,
• 28:29
  Speaker 2: she's somebody's baby, she's somebody's everything. It's not going to
• 28:31
  Speaker 2: connect as much as you have a melody to it.
• 28:33
  Speaker 2: And so I really believe that that music can heal,
• 28:37
  Speaker 2: but also I believe that music can can change lives.
• 28:40
  Speaker 2: And you hear a song that says, you know, I'm
• 28:43
  Speaker 2: really friends close friends with Tim Nichols, and he wrote
• 28:46
  Speaker 2: Live like You Were Dying, and it talk There's a
• 28:48
  Speaker 2: line in there that says, you know, called somebody and
• 28:51
  Speaker 2: forgave them, you know, for a long lost thing they
• 28:54
  Speaker 2: did to me in the past. And he has people,
• 28:57
  Speaker 2: he said, people message me and said I forgave my
• 28:59
  Speaker 2: dad after hearing your song because I realized life was
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: too short. And and that is amazing. That's what music
• 29:07
  Speaker 2: is all about. I have people call me about She's
• 29:08
  Speaker 2: somebody's daughter. It says, hey, you know, i've you know,
• 29:12
  Speaker 2: I haven't talked to my daughter in a long time,
• 29:15
  Speaker 2: but I heard your song. They don't want to pick
• 29:17
  Speaker 2: up the phone call her, you know, And it's like
• 29:21
  Speaker 2: it changes lives.
• 29:22
  Speaker 4: It must strike you as you're crisscrossing all over the
• 29:25
  Speaker 4: country at a very divided time. How music unites everybody.
• 29:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it really does. And you know, it's interesting. There's
• 29:35
  Speaker 2: what we were talking about this today. There's just there's
• 29:37
  Speaker 2: no rules in music, and I think that's cool. Like,
• 29:40
  Speaker 2: you know, you can be creatively different and you can
• 29:43
  Speaker 2: be creatively authentic, and it can. There is a lot
• 29:47
  Speaker 2: of opinions in music, you know, in country music too,
• 29:51
  Speaker 2: Like on social media, you can let it get to
• 29:52
  Speaker 2: you a little bit of people saying, well, it's not
• 29:54
  Speaker 2: country enough, you know, or it's too country. I don't
• 29:58
  Speaker 2: listen to that. So there is still some divisiveness even
• 30:01
  Speaker 2: in music. But like songs that have powerful messages, they
• 30:06
  Speaker 2: can get behind, they can get behind what that song
• 30:09
  Speaker 2: is saying.
• 30:10
  Speaker 4: For sure, we're kind of looking out over downtown Nashville.
• 30:14
  Speaker 4: And as you do that, and you imagine, you know,
• 30:18
  Speaker 4: maybe a year from now, what do you hope is
• 30:20
  Speaker 4: happening in your career next year at this time, after
• 30:23
  Speaker 4: all your hard work.
• 30:25
  Speaker 2: Man, hope I have a number one song, baby, that's
• 30:28
  Speaker 2: the goal. You know. We I did something really unconventional
• 30:32
  Speaker 2: the last year. I created my own label and I
• 30:35
  Speaker 2: sent a song of mine that we've been talking about
• 30:37
  Speaker 2: she Somebody's Dollar. I sent it to radio myself because
• 30:40
  Speaker 2: I didn't have a record label that believed in me.
• 30:42
  Speaker 2: And I've had people that believed in me and then
• 30:45
  Speaker 2: gave up. And you know, you kind of get one
• 30:47
  Speaker 2: shot here in Nashville sometimes, and I think taking this
• 30:51
  Speaker 2: song to radio and showing that it's a hit, and
• 30:55
  Speaker 2: we already know it's a hit, but like at radio
• 30:57
  Speaker 2: it's a number one song, it's a top ten song.
• 31:00
  Speaker 2: Love for that to have. I've been here for thirteen
• 31:02
  Speaker 2: years and never had a number one hit, and I've
• 31:04
  Speaker 2: have friends that's been here for three and they do.
• 31:05
  Speaker 2: And I'm not saying that number one is everything, but
• 31:08
  Speaker 2: I want as many people to hear She's Somebody's Daughter
• 31:10
  Speaker 2: as possible and the message that song brings about. And
• 31:14
  Speaker 2: you know, sitting here looking over Nashville, I moved here
• 31:16
  Speaker 2: at nineteen with nothing, you know, and now I have
• 31:19
  Speaker 2: a wife and a little boy that's fourteen months old,
• 31:22
  Speaker 2: and we have a house and it's all paid for
• 31:24
  Speaker 2: by music. And it's like that's a pretty big blessing
• 31:28
  Speaker 2: in itself, and I'm just I'm happy to still be here.
• 31:30
  Speaker 2: I'm happy to create music every day, and yes, I
• 31:35
  Speaker 2: hope we have a number one, But in a year's time,
• 31:37
  Speaker 2: if that's not the case, we'll have another song that's
• 31:40
  Speaker 2: out there that's touching other people's lives in a different way.
• 31:43
  Speaker 2: And my goal is I'm going to put another record
• 31:46
  Speaker 2: out within that time. Also, we've been recording new music
• 31:50
  Speaker 2: and maybe even some outside songs like that I've recorded
• 31:53
  Speaker 2: that other artists record. Hopefully have a hit hit or
• 31:57
  Speaker 2: two on some other artists besides myself as a song.
• 32:01
  Speaker 4: So in closing, I asked this question frequently, but I
• 32:05
  Speaker 4: think you're more supremely equipped to answer this than most.
• 32:10
  Speaker 4: What advice to someone listening who's a musician who's trying
• 32:14
  Speaker 4: to work it, break in, make a difference with their music.
• 32:19
  Speaker 5: What's the advice you would give them?
• 32:22
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think first off, we need to figure out
• 32:24
  Speaker 2: how serious you are. You know, music is an amazing path,
• 32:31
  Speaker 2: Like to be able to wake up and play music
• 32:33
  Speaker 2: every day is awesome, but it's also you're so tied
• 32:36
  Speaker 2: to your dream, you're so tied to the like your
• 32:39
  Speaker 2: opinion of what you're doing. You can let those people
• 32:43
  Speaker 2: tear you down with one word of a no. You know,
• 32:46
  Speaker 2: when I remember I moved here, and the first time
• 32:47
  Speaker 2: I heard no, I thought I was destroyed. But it's
• 32:50
  Speaker 2: like the no, let the nose drive you. And I
• 32:53
  Speaker 2: think that's that's a really big powerful thing for me
• 32:56
  Speaker 2: now is all the notes And even when you're you know,
• 32:59
  Speaker 2: you're the biggest art in country music, are still hearing no.
• 33:02
  Speaker 2: Country radio programmers are still telling them they don't like
• 33:04
  Speaker 2: that song, we're not gonna play it. But guess what
• 33:06
  Speaker 2: they end up playing it when when other people do.
• 33:09
  Speaker 2: And so it's like, let the nose fuel you. But also,
• 33:12
  Speaker 2: if you have a plan B, this plan's never gonna work.
• 33:17
  Speaker 2: That's I think the big thing if you if you
• 33:19
  Speaker 2: come here to Nashville and you say, I give myself
• 33:22
  Speaker 2: two years and now I'm gonna move home if it
• 33:24
  Speaker 2: don't work out, all right, y'all right at the beginning,
• 33:28
  Speaker 2: it's not gonna work because you have a plan B
• 33:30
  Speaker 2: and you want to get you want to put those
• 33:31
  Speaker 2: other eggs in other baskets, and that's not gonna It
• 33:34
  Speaker 2: doesn't fly in music. And it's like, you know, if
• 33:36
  Speaker 2: you're gonna come here and people say it's a ten
• 33:38
  Speaker 2: year town, sometimes it's a fifteen year town. You know,
• 33:41
  Speaker 2: Ashley Gorly, who's written seventy number ones in Nashville, seventy
• 33:45
  Speaker 2: the biggest songwriter that has ever been in Nashville. He
• 33:49
  Speaker 2: didn't have his first hit for eleven years. And it's like,
• 33:52
  Speaker 2: if you move down and you think, hey, I'm gonna
• 33:55
  Speaker 2: do this, I'm gonna go back to the farm, or
• 33:56
  Speaker 2: I'm gonna go back and work my daddy's business, You're
• 34:00
  Speaker 2: going to fail. There's no I believe there's no failure
• 34:03
  Speaker 2: in country, in music in general, there's just quitters. And
• 34:06
  Speaker 2: I think that if you really want to do this
• 34:10
  Speaker 2: and you're in some small town, now, it's the best
• 34:13
  Speaker 2: time because you have the power of social media that
• 34:16
  Speaker 2: a lot of us didn't have when we moved here.
• 34:18
  Speaker 2: We had to be here, we had to be on
• 34:19
  Speaker 2: the radio to be heard, we had to be playing shows.
• 34:22
  Speaker 2: And now you can post a video and reach millions
• 34:24
  Speaker 2: of people from your doorstep right now on your phone,
• 34:28
  Speaker 2: wherever you're at. If you jump on TikTok or Instagram
• 34:31
  Speaker 2: or Facebook, you have the chance to reach multiple stadiums
• 34:35
  Speaker 2: full of people from your device. And I think if
• 34:38
  Speaker 2: you're in some little town, you're a songwriter right now,
• 34:40
  Speaker 2: or if you're an artist, There's no reason why you
• 34:42
  Speaker 2: shouldn't be posting every other day about your music or
• 34:45
  Speaker 2: writing songs right right You could write a hundred songs
• 34:48
  Speaker 2: and maybe only two of them are good, or maybe
• 34:51
  Speaker 2: they're all good and you're phenomena. I don't know, but
• 34:53
  Speaker 2: I'm just saying, like I think, right now is a
• 34:56
  Speaker 2: great time you should be posting to get your music out.
• 34:58
  Speaker 2: Don't be too good and too like protective. I think
• 35:03
  Speaker 2: there's sometimes there's people that's so protective of their music
• 35:06
  Speaker 2: that they're never gonna build a listenership. They're never going
• 35:09
  Speaker 2: to build a following if they don't throw it out
• 35:12
  Speaker 2: there and see if people like it, and if they
• 35:13
  Speaker 2: like it, build on that, put out another one, put
• 35:15
  Speaker 2: out another one. That's the business that we're in now.
• 35:18
  Speaker 2: And it's very lucky that there's a lot of people
• 35:20
  Speaker 2: that you can do that from your You can live
• 35:22
  Speaker 2: in Michigan right now and have a great artist career
• 35:26
  Speaker 2: and put out songs and own your masters and do
• 35:28
  Speaker 2: all that. You couldn't do that ten years ago when
• 35:31
  Speaker 2: I moved here, you had to be on the radio
• 35:32
  Speaker 2: to be heard. Now you can be discovered every night.
• 35:37
  Speaker 2: Somebody's millions of people are swiping on their phone in
• 35:39
  Speaker 2: their bed and you can be discovered and that that
• 35:41
  Speaker 2: song could change their life in a day's time. So
• 35:45
  Speaker 2: it's pretty pretty wild where we're at in the industry.
• 35:48
  Speaker 2: So that's just a little bit of advice obviously, you know,
• 35:52
  Speaker 2: don't get you know, kind of put your blinders on
• 35:55
  Speaker 2: and don't compare yourself. I think that's another big thing
• 35:59
  Speaker 2: for me and that I've had to learn over the
• 36:00
  Speaker 2: years of you know, I've moved here and had some
• 36:03
  Speaker 2: some of my friends when I first moved town to
• 36:05
  Speaker 2: the biggest artists in country music, and I haven't got
• 36:08
  Speaker 2: that shot yet. And maybe that's not my cards, but
• 36:11
  Speaker 2: maybe it is, you know. And so I think putting
• 36:14
  Speaker 2: your blinders on and just saying this is my path.
• 36:16
  Speaker 2: Nobody's gonna run my path except me. I just need
• 36:19
  Speaker 2: to do what I'm here to do, and don't look
• 36:22
  Speaker 2: at you know, your buddy down the street that's also
• 36:25
  Speaker 2: that may be further along than you, or maybe a
• 36:27
  Speaker 2: better guitar player than you, or maybe he's more talented
• 36:30
  Speaker 2: than you, but you outworking, you know. I think that's
• 36:34
  Speaker 2: that's a couple of little tips along the way. I
• 36:37
  Speaker 2: guess I don't know, keep.
• 36:40
  Speaker 5: Kicking its man.
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: Appreciate you, Thanks for standing, Thanks for listening to this
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: episode of the Taking a Walk podcast. Share this and
• 36:49
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• 36:52
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• 36:59
  Speaker 1: pot a guest
• 37:02
  Speaker 2: I