Latest / Tigs Bits Podcast / From Capitol Hill to Country Music: Kurt Bardella's Incredible Journey!

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From Capitol Hill to Country Music: Kurt Bardella's Incredible Journey! · Tigs Bits Podcast

0:00
It's like we've always said, this podcast is like sitting at
0:02
a bar with your friends and you're just chopping it up.
0:06
So same thing like that. You never know who you're in
0:09
friend, your friend invites to the bar to hang out with you.
0:12
That's right. So boys, meet my friend Kurt who
0:16
I invited to the bar to sit and chip chop it up with us today.
0:19
Kurt, Boys, boys, Kurt. What's happening, Kurt?
0:30
Thanks for coming on. Brothers.
0:31
Yeah, What's going on, man? Good to see you.
0:34
I know you probably can't see me.
0:35
They they make fun of my picture over here.
0:36
I'm a little pixelated I think down here are.
0:38
You real or are you like some sort of AI generated barstool?
0:43
I am AI generated barstool That's that's a great thing to
0:46
say it's. Hopefully we.
0:48
Give J Rs mind. You know what I mean.
0:50
You don't just envision me, Lord.
0:52
This is what came out. I needed some pot, I needed some
0:56
Co hosts for a podcast and I thought I just willed it in to
1:00
fruition and there he. Is I mean what scares me Jr. is
1:03
he sounds a lot like Don Grisham accent wise.
1:06
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, they, oh, it's that
1:08
Deep South. Oh, it's there.
1:10
So, so Blasey is from South Alabama, not not too far from
1:15
where we were fraternity brothers in college.
1:18
Brantley AKA Tig is. Strong.
1:21
Yeah, well, Blasey Blasey's Troy.
1:26
He is full Troy. No Auburn, no Alabama Allegiant.
1:29
He's full Troy 100%. I washed all that out of me, you
1:32
know what I mean? I surprised myself of all my
1:34
sins from my past, you know? And and Brantley, it was
1:39
Blasey's neighbor when they both lived down outside of Destin, FL
1:43
and now Brantley's back in Baton Rouge, LA.
1:45
So that's how we that's how we all came together.
1:48
Kurt, where you coming through that you at home?
1:50
You in Virginia, DC? Area Good old Virginia and
1:53
Washington DC Not a lot going on here this week.
1:56
Pretty quiet DC. It's just a quiet week.
2:01
Well, that's what I thought this morning.
2:02
I thought if we're going to sit up here and and talk about stuff
2:05
we have no clue about, I got to bring in.
2:07
I got to bring in my ringer and bring in someone who actually
2:10
might know something about any of this stuff that's going on.
2:14
And I know we'll get into all of that, but thank you for coming
2:17
on today, Kurt. I know we just got to see each
2:19
other a few weeks ago out in Dewey Beach, DE, one of our
2:22
annual hangout spots when we do our shows out there every year.
2:26
It's good to catch up with you and Don Grish up.
2:28
And Joey. What about Joey falling asleep
2:30
on that guy's shoulder the end of the night?
2:32
Gee, you know, it gets to a certain point in the night.
2:35
He's had one or two or three or four drinks and.
2:38
Good night. Father Time catches up with him
2:41
real quick for. The best of us got to take it.
2:44
Down, but I was telling the guys that we got to sit down and do
2:49
an interview for your show, Kurt's Country that's coming out
2:52
on your new home, your new network home that you've.
2:56
Been working. With Now News Nation and I was
3:00
telling you and they were like, well, how'd you get to know
3:01
Kurt? And I said, man, that's a long
3:03
story. And he said, well, how did Kurt
3:04
get doing all this? I said, that's a long story.
3:06
I said, glad to have you all today to to to save me from from
3:11
butchering your stories. So you want to tell the guys,
3:15
you know, we've known each other for a long time.
3:17
So I know all about you want to tell the guys and gals out there
3:19
in podcast land listening to Tigs Bits podcast today how you
3:23
got to be the curt I know today. Yeah.
3:26
You know, I, I've been out here in DC since 2006, you know,
3:30
worked on Capitol Hill for members of Congress, the House
3:33
Senate, congressional committees, and you had kind of
3:36
a front row seat to how this entire new era of politics that
3:42
we're currently in came to be, you know, and, and, and it's so
3:45
different. You know, I remember the very
3:46
first Christmas that I was here, you know, it was the, you know,
3:49
George W Bush Christmas party at the White House and, and how
3:52
different that world was compared to where we are now.
3:57
And, you know, kind of along the way, I also became a really,
4:01
really big country music fan. And you just started going to
4:05
shows. Like, anyway, I remember, you
4:06
know, going to the amphitheater out here in, in Virginia,
4:09
sitting up there in the lawn in the cheap seats, watching a lot
4:12
of artists. You know, one of my first shows
4:14
that I ever got to experience was Brad Paisley.
4:17
And Justin was performing. Justin Moore was the supporting
4:20
act on that tour. And you know that that's when I
4:23
became a Justin Moore fan. Actually was at that at that
4:26
show back in like 2012 or something.
4:29
Flash forward to 20/16/2017 and and I'd stop working on Capitol
4:33
Hill, started doing more. The media thing going on, you
4:36
know, FOX, CNNMSNBC, all three, all the time talking about
4:40
politics. And just kind of as a mental
4:42
break, I started a daily morning e-mail tip sheet about country
4:47
music called The Morning Hangover.
4:49
That much to my shock, started being widely read in Nashville
4:53
and in the industry side of things.
4:55
And again, I'm just this guy in DC, not in the industry, have
4:58
never worked in the industry, you know, just doing something
5:01
really just for for fun as a hobby.
5:04
And it just took off. And the very first time I got to
5:07
go to a show kind of wearing this morning hangover hat, it
5:10
was a Justin Moore show. And the very first tour bus I
5:14
ever got to go on was Justin Moore's bus when his label Rep
5:18
at the time, MTK, who now works at Amazon, you know, saw me at
5:24
the show, recognized me for my tip sheet, said you want to come
5:26
meet Justin. I said, sure, think it'd just be
5:28
cool. 5 minutes, whatever, no big deal.
5:30
And Justin and I started talking for like 2 hours.
5:33
I mean, we just hit it off. And it really goes to tell you
5:38
the kind of guy that Justin is that, you know, he, that, that
5:41
you, you are, I'm nobody, I mean, compared to a Justin
5:44
Moore, right? And, and he's certainly at this
5:46
point has no idea who I am. And he to give that kind of time
5:50
and to just have a conversation where you click with somebody
5:53
was one of the most memorable experiences of my life.
5:56
And, you know, that's kind of the start of the Justin Moore
5:58
friendship that I had. And, and, and as I continued on
6:01
with this project, it kept getting bigger and bigger.
6:05
And, you know, I personally believe that Justin is one of
6:08
the most underappreciated talents in in our country music
6:12
world. He just puts out nothing but
6:15
good music. His consistency and his, you
6:19
know, loyalty to his fans never wavers.
6:22
You know, this guy's got almost what, 13 number ones by now.
6:25
You know his you go to Justin more show.
6:27
It is just hit after hit after hit.
6:30
It is, Yep. And, you know, Justin's one of
6:32
the only three or four artists that I will go to extraordinary
6:36
lengths to see live. You know, if he is playing
6:39
within a 5 hour radius of me, I will be there.
6:42
And that's awesome. You know, of all the artists
6:45
I've gotten to know, I've probably seen his show more than
6:48
just about anybody's at this point.
6:49
And it never gets old to me, you know, And and as we turn the
6:54
calendar to 2024, I signed a new deal with this company called
6:58
News Nation. It's the fastest growing cable
7:00
news network in America, has a lot of names you've heard of,
7:03
you know, from Chris Cuomo to Elizabeth Vargas to Leland
7:06
Vitter, You know, and to me, their brand is very much kind of
7:11
what the world was before 2016. It is a place where you can be
7:16
Republican, Democrat on the same show together and you can have a
7:20
conversation. You're not yelling at each
7:21
other. You're not trying to make the
7:23
other person look bad. It is.
7:24
Crazy concept, right? You know.
7:28
It's like you're not up there going, you're wrong and you're a
7:31
racist. Like what?
7:32
What are you talking about? It's become my news source.
7:37
I mean, that is I, I love that Channel.
7:39
It's replaced everything else for me because you can get both
7:43
sides. You can.
7:45
You can hear both both sides, you can hear an argument, and
7:48
you can make an informed decision for yourself.
7:51
That's the way it should be, right?
7:53
You know, and as I started doing this News Nation gig, the powers
7:56
that be started seeing my social media, like, why are you at like
8:01
a Tim McGraw or a Keith Urban concert?
8:03
Like, wait, like, why are you at WrestleMania 40 in Philly?
8:06
Like what is your life? And so they, yeah, they started
8:10
seeing that I had this completely different world that
8:13
I, that I walked through and decided that it'd be really cool
8:15
to, to, to send a camera with me everywhere that I go.
8:19
And that's the concept of this new show called Kurt's Country
8:22
that we're going to be launching here coming up in, in August.
8:25
And, you know, we just filmed an episode with, with Justin and
8:28
his opening at Tyler Kinch at Dewey Beach.
8:30
And it was, it was just a lot of fun.
8:31
It was, it was great. And it was really important to
8:33
me as we filmed this episode to do an interview with Jr. the
8:38
handler, because I just think that Jr. is one of the most
8:42
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Country today. Telling Kurt about this getting
9:17
picked up by the Bubba Army and I said, you know who Bubba is?
9:21
And he goes, of course I do Bubba's NWO.
9:24
So Kurt for life. So Kurt knows wrestling, Kurt
9:28
knows hoops, Kurt's got a good jumper and and I thought this
9:32
would just be fun today to to catch up on all those things.
9:36
Kurt, is that where you know Bubba from mainly is from
9:38
wrestling. Did you know about his back in
9:41
the day radio show before him with Hogan and the NWO?
9:43
And I know that him and Hogan obviously are even, you know, a
9:46
very long standing friendship. They're very tight.
9:49
I thought I was thinking about about Bubba the other day when I
9:51
saw Hogan show up at the RNC convention there, rip it off a
9:55
shirt and talk about what you're going to do when the the Trump
9:58
maniacs run wild on you. I guess.
10:02
Good, good throwback there. But yeah, so I I'm well, well
10:06
familiar with Bubba. Yeah, that was a that was a wild
10:09
deal just there with with Hogan. It was he got everybody into it.
10:13
It was just classic. It was like going back to 1987.
10:17
It was. Show.
10:17
Business. It was a.
10:19
Total show, man. I'm trying to watch the show man
10:21
main event, you know what I mean?
10:22
Like here you. Remember that back in the day,
10:24
you know? Oh yeah, Macho Man Ultimate.
10:26
Warrior so good mega. Powers.
10:29
That was my peak of wrestling watching was, was was doing that
10:32
time frame as well. So, yeah, you know, so Bubba,
10:35
Bubba and, you know, Hogan, they're not tight anymore.
10:38
They don't really speak. So all that craziness that took
10:40
place, I'm sure, or you may have not heard about the whole Hogan
10:43
sex tape deal and all that. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
10:46
So. But Bubba was talking about how
10:49
how Hogan gimmicks up his shirts, You know what I mean,
10:51
with a little cuts here. And he he used to do that for
10:54
him and he said, you know what, he missed out.
10:55
Well, he didn't do the bottom gimmick.
10:57
He didn't do the bottom and he ripped it and he got hung on the
11:00
bottom. He's about to been there.
11:01
He wouldn't have got hung up on that bottom gimmick deal.
11:03
So he would have come. See some little details.
11:06
It's the little thing, he said. I love that.
11:08
That's interesting. He forgot one little bitty
11:10
thing. He just.
11:11
Forgot that one little thing but.
11:12
Still always about those those tigs and bits you get you know
11:15
you lose track of. That's it.
11:16
Yeah, that's exactly right. Nice work there.
11:19
No, no, I, you know, talking about the, the, the that whole
11:24
spectacle the other night, I thought, I thought that was just
11:26
wild and Kid Rock coming on. Lee Greenwood.
11:29
I mean, just what? Is happening I.
11:32
I know I'm like, is this? I mean, it's total show business
11:35
as we know. You know Trump's got President.
11:37
Trump's has figured that out. All about the showbiz.
11:41
Yeah, showbiz. And that's our society.
11:44
That's what we're. I mean, that's why I'm.
11:45
You know, you don't hear, you know, the the news channels
11:48
aren't filled with the heroes of the day.
11:50
They're filled with the villains of the day, or would be villains
11:53
of the day because it sells more.
11:54
Tickets. As fans of professional
11:56
wrestling, we all know how important the heels are to the
11:58
business. Like, absolutely.
12:01
Yeah, the stories about the heel, not the babyface.
12:03
And the news is very much the same way as well.
12:07
Yeah, I know so, but I. Probably.
12:09
Is it 100? Percent.
12:10
Exactly like that, yeah. It really is.
12:13
I mean, it sells and it works. And, and, you know, I thought, I
12:15
thought it was, I thought it was good.
12:17
I thought Trump went on for way too long.
12:19
That's what the same with when he was president.
12:21
He woke back up. I was like, is this still
12:22
happening? I swear we were watching
12:24
intently for the first half hour.
12:26
And then my whole family, I look around, everybody's on their
12:28
phones. I'm like, yeah, he's kind of
12:29
lost because they're but. He just had lunch with the guy
12:31
from Georgia, die hard Republican and and, and he had
12:35
said, you know, if you only saw the first half hour, it's one of
12:39
the greatest convention speeches of all time.
12:41
If you saw the whole thing, you're like, this went on an
12:44
hour too long. Like a little too long.
12:46
That's my knock on that's my one knock on it really, because I
12:49
looked at the time, I thought they're they're going to go on
12:51
production schedule. It's it's 930 news is coming on
12:54
at 10. He's got 30 minutes perfect.
12:56
He just got shot at. I mean, that's what you know,
12:58
he's going to do his thing. He doesn't have to say much.
13:00
He has to say like four things and get.
13:02
In get out, drop the mic, walk away.
13:05
But just. But just like when he was
13:06
president and I, and I'm a fan, I'm a fan of his, you know, but
13:10
just like when, except for some of these things, like when when
13:13
he was president, he would say something that and it would make
13:15
so much sense. And at the very end he'd say,
13:18
all right, poopy face, horse face or something just
13:20
ridiculous. And I'm like, if you don't left
13:22
that part out, if you don't left the poopy face out, it's.
13:25
Like you had. You had everybody.
13:27
You had everybody until you wrote Poopy face and I'm.
13:30
Like, well, you know, a friend of mine who, who, who works, who
13:32
worked at the convention was telling me that in the prompter,
13:36
the, the, the speech that they loaded in there was about 3000
13:40
words. He ended up giving a 12,000 word
13:42
speech. Can't.
13:45
Help it, you can't help it. Oh my God, that is crazy.
13:50
And then you flip on and then you flip on the other side.
13:53
I mean, you know, and I'm not going to be mean because we are
13:56
all human. I love what Jenna Bush said
13:58
about about the whole situation. We are all human, but we all
14:01
everyone. That's that's cognitively able
14:05
knows that President Biden has has just overstayed his stay
14:09
there and it's just not happening anymore.
14:11
So you got kind of the opposite. You got one that does that and
14:14
and if I don't think Biden could get out of President Biden could
14:17
get out that many words. If he did, you wouldn't, they
14:18
wouldn't be legible, but the that now, that now, now that
14:24
we've got it, wouldn't y'all know it wouldn't?
14:26
He couldn't say any words that fast.
14:28
It would be mumble up John. I don't want to hear 12,000
14:31
words from anybody at their. Body exactly exactly.
14:35
Do the work. Do the work.
14:36
More. Yeah, less is more so, but but
14:39
you flip, you've got 22 opposites on there.
14:42
It's it's really wild. We've got the the Democratic
14:45
convention coming up in a few weeks.
14:47
It's. Going to be interesting, yeah.
14:48
Just saw President Biden has said he removed him from running
14:52
in the next electoral, has endorsed his vice president,
14:56
Vice President Harris. Kurt, what do you think about
14:59
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15:33
You know, I mean one like, and I don't care what side of the
15:36
aisle you're on. I think all of us who like
15:39
probably who have a grandparent or parent, like knows what it's
15:43
like to watch, you know, someone in decline and it's not
15:46
pleasant. Like it's not something that
15:48
like, you know, he is, he is right now, at this moment, he is
15:51
the, the United States of America president.
15:52
Like I always want our president to succeed no matter who's in
15:55
the office, because it is a reflection of our country and a
15:58
reflection of our people. You know, watching him speak,
16:03
it's like watching grandpa try to cross the street when there's
16:06
ice on the ground. You're like, Oh my God, what's
16:07
going to happen? Like, you know, I, I, if I were
16:11
related to him, I would not want him run for president again,
16:16
knowing that that's the last image we're going to have of
16:19
him. I was relieved that he made the
16:23
decision ultimately to, to not run again, because I think
16:26
that's best for our country. I think that's best for his
16:29
legacy. And, and, and, you know, and I
16:32
think we should underestimate the fact that when you have the
16:35
most powerful position in all the world to like, however it
16:39
happened, deciding not to pursue that again, most people don't do
16:43
that. Most people hang on for dear
16:45
life to that power for as much and as long as they can.
16:49
And, and he made the the hard decision here to take himself
16:53
out and, and, and essentially admit Father Time is undefeated
16:59
in sports in, in life and everything, Father Time always
17:03
wins. And so, you know, I, I, I
17:06
applaud the fact that he did that because it's not something
17:09
you see very often, especially in politics where everybody
17:12
wants power. Like so, so good for him for
17:16
doing that. And I think that's honestly
17:18
what's best for him and our country, you know, and I think
17:21
it's going to the the race now is very different.
17:25
Three weeks ago, I would have told you, and I told this to Jr.
17:28
and Justin on the bus, Donald Trump going to win in a
17:30
landslide. It's not going to be close.
17:31
Like, if I were Donald Trump, I'd go on vacation until
17:34
November because you're going to win.
17:36
And less is more. And that was before the
17:42
assassination attempt, for crying out.
17:44
Now it's like, OK, now. It's now, now, who knows, right?
17:47
It's anybody's game. It is.
17:49
It is. It is an actual contest.
17:51
It's a fair fight. You know, it's it's going to be
17:55
a very different campaign now. And it's historic.
17:59
Like, no matter what ends up happening here, like this is
18:01
historic. This is the first time in
18:02
American political history, you know, a woman of color is one of
18:05
the two nominees running for president.
18:07
You know, no matter how it ends, I think that's a good thing.
18:10
Just in general, like, that's great.
18:12
I think that Donald Trump has an opportunity to make history here
18:15
in terms of being one of the only presidents to to to run,
18:18
win, then lose and then run again and win.
18:21
Like, that doesn't happen very often in this game.
18:24
You don't get that second chance usually.
18:26
So that's historic in its own way.
18:28
And regardless of the outcome, we now know that there is a new
18:32
generation of leadership waiting in the wings to take over from
18:35
Biden and Trump, whether it's JD Vance on the Republican side,
18:39
who's 39 years old and without that beard, looks like he's 22.
18:42
Frankly, you know, or, or Kamala Harris and whoever she picks as
18:46
her vice president, like there's just a new generation.
18:49
And the thing I hear the most from everybody across party
18:52
lines, they are ready for new leadership.
18:54
They're ready for a breath of fresh air.
18:57
Yeah, and I could see that I I grew up in politics in Louisiana
19:01
at the state level and it just it needs that kind of energy
19:06
change and that you living in Washington and understanding
19:10
that it's grown stale. It's stale on both sides.
19:13
You know, I mean, it's the same rhetoric every single day, every
19:18
single week. There needs to be some new blood
19:20
and some, you know, that's that that can be more in the middle,
19:24
can harmonize on both sides a little bit more.
19:28
Not the extreme left, not the extreme right, just kind of.
19:32
And it looks like America's trying to come back to that.
19:35
It's trying to get back to the middle.
19:39
Because one thing I know, like when I spend time with just
19:41
normal folks in the country, and I'm probably the only, like,
19:45
pundit in cable news world here that actually spends time with
19:49
real America, frankly, because of my country music life.
19:52
And I'll tell you, I still believe that for everything that
19:54
I've seen and as ugly as it gets and as divisive as it can be,
19:58
there are still more things that unite us than divide us in this
20:01
country. And that's why I love things
20:03
like, you know, Cody Johnson the other night at his show, you
20:06
know, said, like, I know there are people here.
20:10
Who, who, who like Joe Biden. I know there are people here who
20:13
like Donald Trump and all I'm going to tell you is like,
20:15
whatever you want to do, whatever you want, like, that's
20:17
fine. We are here tonight for music.
20:18
We are here tonight for for unity.
20:21
And, and I love that message. I think that's great.
20:24
Absolutely, that's the way it should be.
20:26
Oh, no, I say that all the time, man.
20:28
It's like, you know, there's there's so many more things like
20:32
what you're saying that that bring us together.
20:34
But they have both parties have managed to make the other
20:37
smaller things so much bigger than actually what brings us
20:41
together. And it's kind of, and it's just
20:42
straight BS, man. You know, it's like, so I, I'm
20:45
not a fan of either party. I've been registered independent
20:47
for 20 years. Like I'm just not, you know, so
20:50
I find myself kind of going back and forth and I've somehow I've
20:53
shifted now look like I'm more right wing and it's like, I'm
20:55
really not, man. I'm really centered, you know,
20:58
like in overall and I can talk to people on both sides and we
21:01
can all get along and have fun together, you know?
21:03
But like, they've made it this Dang Bloods and Crips battle
21:06
dude. And really the problem is, and,
21:08
and the people that I honestly hold responsible the most for
21:11
this is, is the mainstream media institutions who elevate the
21:15
extreme voices, who make money off of the extreme voices and,
21:20
and make us think that everyone is like that, when in reality,
21:23
it really isn't. You know, we are all just most
21:27
people just trying to get through the day, get our kids to
21:30
school to practice, do their homework, eat dinner, walk the
21:34
dog, go to bed, wake up, do it again.
21:38
That's life. That's normal life for most
21:39
people in this country right there.
21:41
Yeah, right. Keep, keep the lights on, pay
21:44
the bills, save a little money for vacation, save a little bit
21:46
for retirement. That's really all we want to do.
21:47
You know what? I mean, it's that it really is
21:49
that simple and and the media tends to elevate these voices
21:54
and through it, these crazy ideas like that that really
21:58
aren't what most people are dealing with on any given day.
22:02
Right. You are absolutely right man.
22:04
Creates a good narrative though, and.
22:07
Brings in viewers, They make money.
22:09
A lot of people got rich off of dividing America.
22:11
I mean, let's be clear here. And that's what I think is
22:13
probably the most offensive. And I wish most people kind of
22:16
realize like, man, like you should see these people when the
22:20
cameras go off and when they're not performing anymore because
22:23
they sing a very different tune. Like they're, they, they are
22:27
pretending and, and, and you guys are kind of just like
22:30
you're their ATM machine. You know, I would say people on
22:34
the right and the left in media like they aren't as right and
22:37
left as they pretend to be. That is correct.
22:40
Heels, baby faces the. Production and they and they
22:43
make turns and they'll be, Yep, they work the gimmick and
22:45
they'll make a heel turn or a face turn when needed for
22:49
whatever purpose they need to use it for.
22:52
I mean, it is nothing but wrestling that's going on there.
22:55
You know what I mean? I have told people, I say this
22:57
all the time. If you don't understand politics
23:01
today, just take three hours, watch Monday Night Raw on the
23:05
USA Network or smack down on Fox and it will all make sense
23:09
because that's what it is. It's like you might as well just
23:11
say like, hey, Marjorie Taylor Green, she's based, she's
23:14
Charlotte Flair. You know, the Donald Trump might
23:18
as well be Stone Cold Steve Austin, Joe Biden is Ric Flair.
23:22
I mean, like, that's what this is.
23:23
That's. Exactly what it is.
23:29
That's awesome. Now we just need for people to
23:32
sit like the president needs to come in with his own entrance.
23:34
Music now smoke, fire. Pyro, I want to see someone hit
23:39
someone with a chair out of the mix, you know?
23:41
Yes, hey, Trump's done it. Trump's taking a stunner.
23:44
He's been, he's been, you know, he's been a big wrestling.
23:47
Man's head battled billionaires at WrestleMania.
23:50
You know, I mean, I always joke that back in the 2016 campaign,
23:55
Ted Cruz would be president of the United States right now.
23:58
If on that debate stage, when Donald Trump made fun of his
24:00
wife and dad, if Ted had walked on over and just gotten in his
24:03
grill and said, you better take that back or I'm going to knock
24:05
you out, like, boom, it'd be over.
24:08
If he had gone, if he had gone full WWE, in that moment, Ted
24:11
Cruz went president. He would have turned that would.
24:13
Have been a huge turn. True.
24:15
Huge turn. And everybody thought he had
24:18
anybody thought you ain't messing with him.
24:19
If he takes, if he sticks up for his family like that, he'll
24:21
stick up for our country. I thought it went through his
24:25
head. Either political party or
24:27
campaign. The very first hire I would make
24:29
if I were running for president, I'd be like, I'd like to hire
24:32
Paul Heyman to write my speeches and to teach me how to cut a
24:36
promo. No one does it better, do they?
24:40
And if you have to call, if you have to call it in the ring, if
24:42
you have to call it in the ring and you're, you're in the in the
24:45
and Cruz is undecisive whether he should we should should walk
24:48
up on him or or not. You have to have a code word
24:50
like they do in the ring. When you're calling the ring.
24:52
You can just say Will Smith, Will Smith.
24:54
And that would, and that would mean, you know, to go over there
24:56
and take a swing. You know that's right.
24:59
Will Smith is the collar. Collar, collar and elbow tie up.
25:03
All right. Shoot me.
25:04
Shoot me off the ropes. We're going to shoulder,
25:07
shoulder block, takedown, then Will Smith, Will Smith.
25:12
Words from the wise man. Could be the wise man.
25:16
Here is the wise man of politics.
25:18
I think we've got a role for him.
25:20
I also think it's just better if you walk out with a posse of
25:22
people like, you know, walking out like a like like you know,
25:25
you're. Faction.
25:26
You got to have your faction. Yeah, you got.
25:27
To have the faction. Can you imagine you, me, Joey,
25:30
Justin Moore walking out, fingers in the air, you know?
25:33
The the faction just face the same.
25:35
Have you been able to get out and play any hoops lately?
25:37
I know you're you're an avid sportsman and you like you like
25:40
the hoop sometime. Have you been hooping any
25:41
lately? I have.
25:42
I played like last week when we got back from Dewey.
25:45
I played three times last week. I, I, I, I, I kid you that
25:48
basketball's a big part of my life.
25:49
I play. I try to play three or four
25:51
times a week. It's like my stress release.
25:53
That's awesome, man. Yeah, I.
25:54
Will I will orchestrate my travel, my TV, my wife,
25:58
everything around basketball like it is.
26:00
I love that it is. And I got to say, and I'll say
26:03
this publicly, and Jr. knows this.
26:07
Justin Moore's been ducking me for years.
26:09
The court. I just want to say I have said
26:11
every year I'm trying to like, get him to play basketball.
26:13
Like I hear he's really good. Was, you know, all, you know,
26:16
Allstate or Reverend Arkansas. I've ever heard rumors that Jr.
26:19
Scott, you know, used to have a good jump shot back in the day
26:22
and he's like, I have never gotten them on a basketball
26:24
court. That's all I'm saying.
26:27
He he called us just out of our prime, but we're going to try to
26:29
make this comeback like Rocket 6 here and see if we can come back
26:32
and. Challenge the key there.
26:34
He's doing this 3-4 days a week still Exactly.
26:36
Really trained exactly. You gotta.
26:40
Say your prayers, eat your vitamins, brother.
26:43
Brother and do your roids and do a couple shots of D ball and
26:47
Winnie V while you're at it, you know there you.
26:49
Go now JRI would I think you could train for like a
26:52
three-point contest. I think like you start training,
26:54
get the energy there and the stamina there.
26:56
I think that's something you could compete in.
26:57
But. Oh yeah, we could do a shooting
26:58
contest. Doesn't have to be one-on-one.
27:00
Like I'm not. I'm not unreasonable.
27:03
If I get my knee checked out, if I can get my knee checked out, I
27:07
know it. Nothing's wrong with my knee and
27:08
I'm not going to hurt further it anymore and or whatever I need
27:10
to do, I'll play one. I'll play whatever I'll be like.
27:12
I didn't need no practice. I'll be ready to go.
27:14
I could. Go.
27:15
No practice I could go. Right.
27:16
I could go right now, not like I used to, but I could go right
27:20
now and compete in any rec center.
27:22
Not as long as it's not a bunch of ex college guys and all that.
27:25
I go with any men's. That's why I play with, I play
27:27
with former athletes, some professional international
27:29
athletes like summertime. Right, I'm not going.
27:34
Against Kurt, you don't have that, junior.
27:36
Well, when I was in Nashville, when I live full time in
27:38
Nashville downtown, why I was like that?
27:40
I mean, it was, it was, it was Hooper's in there.
27:42
So I have done and that, but right now I couldn't do that.
27:45
My, you know, I have to get a little better shape for that.
27:47
But I'm just worried now my knees going to give out.
27:49
Last time I told you that story, last time I went up and down one
27:52
time felt a little pressure, went to go pick the ball up,
27:54
right knee went out and I'm like I'm freaking out thinking Oh my
27:56
God, I've torn something. I stick.
27:58
Out of Time is Undefeated Jr. Yeah, and I'm still it's a
28:01
little something there, but I'm I'm going to get that.
28:03
I'm going to get you Kurt, you I was thinking about this and we
28:05
had Brad Johnson, former NFL quarterback, now trip shot Star
28:10
World champ down the Tampa Bay Bucks and we had him on.
28:13
We were talking about things, you know, when you're a kid and
28:15
and and what you know that he thinks kids should play all
28:18
different sports now and there's things about growing up that you
28:21
miss if you don't. I was thinking about this, Kurt,
28:23
when you were talking about hooping.
28:24
You're from you're a California guy, originally a West Coast guy
28:28
now living on the East. Do you feel it?
28:31
Because I feel like this and I haven't hooped in a little bit,
28:33
but when I do go do you? I feel like when I'm playing
28:36
basketball, I feel like I'm at home still.
28:38
I feel like that kid again. Like I it's a little bit of home
28:40
for me. Like I feel like I'm in my gym
28:42
in my middle school gym or the church where I used to shoot or
28:45
something like that. It's just being in the gym kind
28:47
of takes me back in time. It's like a comfort thing at
28:50
this point for me. You.
28:50
Feel that my first love was basketball and I remember when I
28:54
I fell in love with the game in 3rd grade when my cousin who was
28:58
an assistant coach at one of the colleges in Pennsylvania, did a
29:01
basketball camp in the summer and I went out for that and
29:04
learned how to play the game. And you know, they, they, they
29:07
concluded that camp with a tournament and, and in the semi
29:10
finals, you know, I hit the game-winning three to get us
29:13
into the finals. Just when I fell in love with a
29:14
three-point shot and haven't stopped shooting since.
29:17
And it's you know, anytime on the court like I like, I go back
29:20
to those places. I remember my high school gym,
29:21
you know, I played high school ball, obviously in San Diego.
29:24
And I remember 1 summer, this glorious summer, the handle on
29:29
the back door of the gym fell off.
29:31
So we took it because then every day we could go in and put the
29:36
handle back on and turn the thing and get in the gym.
29:37
So we had these glorious runs that summer.
29:40
Nice. Yeah.
29:41
So that's where like I basketball is that to be.
29:44
That's where I I am. I have never aged mentally and
29:47
emotionally, you know, on the basketball court.
29:49
I'm still the same same kid from back then.
29:51
That's. So awesome, I love it.
29:53
Explains why he had so many fights probably.
29:57
It's that passion driving patience, that's what.
30:00
A lot of trash talk. A lot of trash talk.
30:03
I. Mean it wouldn't be any fun if
30:05
there wasn't trash. Talk, you got it.
30:07
I'm the worst kind of trash talker because I can actually
30:09
back it up. That's just infuriating.
30:11
People. Oh God, yes.
30:13
And I like this. I like it.
30:14
I mean. That's how I used to be.
30:15
I was. The unassuming guy is usually
30:17
the deadly one too, if you can. Really play.
30:19
People look at me. Listen, I don't look like I can
30:21
ball. I get that, believe me.
30:23
And I walk in there and I Chuck up a shot from 35 feet away and
30:26
drained. I'm like, Yep, that's right.
30:31
I'm talking about Blacy, I think.
30:34
Does props have a basketball court?
30:36
There's basketball. We got 2 basketball courts
30:38
within 150 yards in either direction.
30:40
No, I'd say probably 300 yards in either direction.
30:43
You got the sports park and then we got the basketball courts
30:45
here at Hammock Bay. So yes, there are basketball
30:47
courts. Insight.
30:49
So we have to get you down, Kurt.
30:51
Kurt, we just had the we just broke a world record cornhole
30:55
toss this past week. Blasi and and Tiggs were in
30:59
Hammock Bay near where Blasi lives.
31:02
It's outside of Destin, FL and they and and they and we have
31:06
props brewery, which Blacy's usually their host doing his
31:10
show for live from the brewery when we do our live show.
31:13
But they have this really nice yard and this facility have got
31:16
there. So they set up and we had the
31:17
world record cornhole toss that day, and then they had a
31:21
wrestling match. They set up a ring in the bar
31:24
right behind that night. And actually on camera, fully
31:29
fully documented, they broke the world record.
31:32
Our friend Hal Layer threw 190 1/2 feet and made a cornhole
31:36
shot. Whoa, absolutely.
31:39
All that stuff, but we so we. Go to get this.
31:43
Shattered the world record we go to get this book of world
31:45
records. They want 16 grand for us to to
31:48
put us in the book so. We're like to tell us that we
31:50
broke the record and they've got 78 feet.
31:52
It's like you can keep your paper title.
31:55
We know what the real champs are.
31:56
We got a document. Documented.
31:59
Paper Champions. So, so we did that and we're
32:04
going to have another one next year.
32:05
We need to get you down. Maybe we'll have.
32:07
Maybe we'll have. AI want to do an episode of
32:09
Kirk's Country at that? That sounds fun.
32:11
There. You go.
32:12
That's a great slice of America. Oh, it's a great spot.
32:15
It's huge. It's we've even got our own
32:17
little studio, I should say. It's actually where they brew.
32:19
But it's glass wall so and we can close off in there or we can
32:22
get out there and yeah, we got so many different options there.
32:25
We got full run of the place. So you, you, you let me know,
32:28
maybe go over there and bring JRM.
32:30
We do the one-on-one thing. Let's do that.
32:33
I'm not getting involved with either one of y'all.
32:34
I'm I'm OK at basketball. We'll record it and watch y'all
32:38
be. Encouraged.
32:39
It's going. It's going to be me and Tiggs
32:41
versus, you know, Jr. and Blasey over here.
32:44
There you go. I got it.
32:45
That's fair. That's fair enough.
32:47
Hey, and I will say this, he sell himself short.
32:49
Blasey can play a little bit, but Blasey's also one of those
32:52
guys that we've talked about on the show before he started
32:55
drive. He, he out of nowhere gets in
32:57
the long drive competition and ends up on like the major level
33:01
within like a year or two after we got out of college.
33:05
So I, I wouldn't be surprised me if Blasey between now and then
33:08
and said, oh, they're going to do a three-point contest and he
33:10
gets out there and practices and comes out saying he's Steph
33:12
Curry. You know Sabrina Ionesco on us
33:17
or some or Caitlin Clark. I'm not convinced that Blasey's
33:19
a real person. I still see like the maxillated
33:21
stuff, you know I'm. Glad you're here to confirm
33:24
because he's always thinks we're lying to him.
33:25
We want him to get a computer to use his damn phone for
33:28
podcasting. Kurt, you're you're professional
33:32
in the media world. Do you know any professionals
33:34
that use their cell phone turned around backwards to do these
33:36
type interviews? I've never heard of that before,
33:40
unless you're maybe like six years old, but right, Right.
33:43
Now you now you know a full grown version.
33:45
You know, something that blew my mind, I guess I haven't been
33:47
keeping up with stamp prices. Somebody asked me.
33:49
They said, hey, you know what your stamp is?
33:50
This is two days ago. I said $0.39.
33:52
I don't know, 42 what they're like, dude.
33:54
It just went up to what, 73? And I was like, dude, 73 cents.
33:57
Really. What did?
33:58
It's doubled since like 2000, Like 9, like more than double.
34:02
Isn't that crazy? That's insane.
34:05
Thanks. I missed it by.
34:06
One day last week killed the post office.
34:08
Yeah, true. Is that what it is you think?
34:11
Absolutely. The volume, the volume of mail
34:15
in this country has dropped tremendously where the majority
34:18
of the mail that you actually get is just junk mail or ads.
34:22
It's not like actual mail that you need.
34:24
Like everything that we used to do by mail is done
34:26
electronically. Your phone bill, your, you know,
34:28
your Internet bill, your health, like your banking statements,
34:32
all of it's online or on your phone.
34:34
You know, people generally don't send letters to one of them.
34:37
The only time that the post office circulation is what it
34:40
normally is is during Valentine's Day and Christmas.
34:44
That's wild. It's like, it's like video
34:46
killed the radio star. Yep.
34:48
And you know what I mean? Like I think it sounds like a
34:50
new song we should write. E-mail killed the post office.
34:54
Yeah, it's crazy. Paid 30 bucks to overnight a
34:57
letter to Nashville tomorrow. I was like, OK, but yeah, I
35:00
actually. And I missed.
35:01
I missed last week. I got there the day after stamps
35:04
went up because I'd heard about it.
35:04
I saw it or heard about it on something and I tried to get to
35:07
the post office and I was like I need a book of stamps.
35:09
Did I miss the date? The government the last time I
35:11
bought stamps. I'll be honest with you, I.
35:13
Know I made in. Years, you know they bought
35:15
stamps. This sucks because now I'm
35:18
thinking what was it Jr. Like $481.00 for?
35:21
100A book of let's see, what was it?
35:26
A book of 18 was $13.14 for a book of 18 stamps because I I
35:31
got the highway. Rob Waterfowl.
35:34
That's the first thing that really, really got me.
35:36
I was like, have I been like in a coma?
35:39
Yeah, because. Usually like two or three cents
35:41
every few years, you know what I mean?
35:42
It's like. Like they were 1/4 for all our
35:44
lives as kids. They were a.
35:46
Quarter. Most of my life, it was $0.32.
35:48
That's what I was most of my life, yeah.
35:50
I mean remember back in the day going to a movie was like 3:50
35:52
in the afternoon. Around the gas when I started
35:56
driving was a Buck 5. Right, Same.
35:59
Yeah, I could get it for $0.88. We went over the state line in
36:02
Georgia. You know, the older that I get
36:05
and I've I listen to like us talking and then I and I go back
36:09
to like what our parents were talking about and stuff.
36:12
I'm like, Oh my God, we're turning into these people.
36:14
But back in my day. But it really I don't think that
36:18
things. If you're 18 or 20 years old,
36:21
you can tell these stories now. That's what's scary that that I
36:23
mean, I remember when I was six and seven by it's like it's
36:27
happens at the gas station. It happens in five year
36:29
increments now instead of 10/15/20 year implements.
36:33
It's shorter, I guess probably because of technology and
36:36
communication and all of that has shortened that little
36:39
window. But yeah, it's crazy.
36:41
I catch. Myself all the time, like when?
36:44
I mean, just 20 years ago, there was no YouTube.
36:46
There was no Twitter or X or Instagram or TikTok or any of
36:51
that. No, no, when I went.
36:53
When I started College in 1990. Much better.
36:55
Yeah, we never had it. Let's be honest, if social media
36:58
existed back in our day, like we all be cancelled by now.
37:00
Oh yeah, I don't think. I don't think the four of us
37:02
would be doing this right now for sure.
37:04
Thank goodness. There's no way.
37:07
JRB in jail for sure. Oh yeah.
37:09
Oh yeah, 100 percent, 100, me and everyone I knew.
37:12
Growing up all in Britain. I know we, I know we've taken a
37:17
lot of your time today with you. Got any concerts coming up?
37:19
You got anything on the horizon? Any any big adventures?
37:23
I'm definitely going to hit the August is always a great concert
37:25
time for me. You know, I'm looking at.
37:27
I know just out in my neck of the woods.
37:29
I got Dan and Shay coming up. Dustin Lynch, Darius Rucker, One
37:33
of my favorite humans on earth who's just hilarious to be
37:36
around, frankly, could do. Get him to give you some
37:38
mushrooms y'all trip? I, I dude Darius, also a very
37:43
big WWE fan. That's one of the things that we
37:45
bonded over. Is it really?
37:47
Oh yeah, he's got one of Rick Flair's original robes.
37:52
Oh man, yeah, that is pimp. That is pimp.
37:57
Damn the man. He is like, you know, just old
38:00
school. I got.
38:01
I got to see them when they were playing and he was playing, I
38:04
think he came back and they were actually playing.
38:06
Was it, what is it, Darius or, or Hootie?
38:07
I think he was playing Hootie in in in San Francisco.
38:10
This was like in 2019 and I just happened to be out there for
38:14
work and I got to go to man. And you talk about just like hit
38:17
after hit after hit after he was playing everything, you know
38:19
what I mean? But it was Hootie he was playing
38:20
at all. Like it was amazing.
38:22
Like there wasn't a single song that you didn't sing along to.
38:25
You didn't know, man, that absolutely stellar concert.
38:28
I love that dude. I saw him in Tiger Stadium here
38:31
in Baton Rouge. I mean, this was, there's two
38:34
concert moments that I have in that stadium and this was the
38:37
first one. It was just Darius.
38:40
He wasn't Hootie, that was just Darius.
38:41
He was doing all of his stuff. Closed it with Wagon Wheel.
38:45
You know, we're thinking he's closing it with Wagon Wheel.
38:47
Oh no, it started raining. Prince had just died and he did
38:51
his version of purple Rain and the lights were purple in Death
38:55
Valley. Gives me chill bumps right now
38:56
just thinking about it raining. Purple.
39:00
That's unbelievable, dude. Oh, yeah, it was unbelievable.
39:03
And then the number one moment, though, is of course, the Garth
39:06
Quake. Whenever Garth Brooks played
39:08
Colin Baton Rouge and the place went crazy, of course formed had
39:13
another. That sound like a Garth Stadium
39:15
show. That's that's special.
39:17
It is, man, that they're good. Just any state.
39:20
I love a stadium show but you got to have the right artist
39:24
because they can fall flat quick and I just.
39:27
Saw the other month, Chesney was that brown band at Dallas
39:30
Cowboys Stadium and I, you know, watching the show and I look to
39:34
my right, who's behind me, Dak Prescott.
39:36
And I look to my left and who's over there is Brock Lesnar.
39:40
Oh my God. Yeah.
39:43
Neither one of them are small dudes.
39:45
No, let me tell you, you look at Brock and you're just like, Oh
39:49
my, I feel like less of a man right now.
39:51
Let me just say like good God like.
39:54
Like if you're picking your squad, you know you're picking
39:58
your squad to play in a game. He's a He's won every time for
40:03
every man on earth. Period.
40:04
He's he's. My number one, I got that dude's
40:07
on my side. It's just a massive, massive.
40:11
It's like, what? How did your parents feed you
40:14
when you're that big, you know, and they're getting bigger every
40:16
day. It's wild.
40:17
No, we didn't. Get our brother Nan.
40:19
Well, thank you so much for having me man this is a blast.
40:22
I hope you all have me back because this was This is a lot
40:24
of fun for. Sure, we definitely are.
40:27
Thanks for hopping on. Hey, I got one last question for
40:30
you though, Curt. This is something new I'm going
40:31
to start doing with everybody. There was some big, big names
40:34
you just dropped there. Who is the biggest name or most
40:37
well known person that you have in your cell phone?
40:45
Probably. OK, I'm going to give you 2
40:49
answers. At one point in time, it was
40:53
Kobe Bryant. Wow.
40:56
And the story behind that? I guessed his e-mail address one
41:03
time, sent him an e-mail, he responded like holy shit that
41:09
worked. Are you kidding?
41:09
Me. Are you kidding me?
41:11
I'm not so so and then started a rapport with him about some
41:16
stuff and then I would say, you know, I think there are you can
41:22
make a case that maybe Mark Cuban might be the biggest.
41:28
Pretty daggum, big one. Pretty good.
41:30
Pretty big one. Yeah, it's pretty big.
41:32
It's like I'm kind of torched like Southern Marker or or
41:34
McGraw. It's like one of those two.
41:36
Tim McGraw would be 1/2. Man, so y'all just thought,
41:41
y'all just thought I knew some people.
41:43
You know what I mean? It's not about.
41:45
It's not about what you know, it's who you know.
41:46
And I know Kurt and Kurt knows everybody, so that's awesome.
41:50
We'll have Kurt back on again. So this is going to be a wild,
41:53
wild election. Yeah, we're going to have to be
41:56
our that'll. Be your DC correspondent here.
41:59
That's it for ticks. Beneficial.
42:01
Title. Hey Jr., I got one phone number
42:05
here and we'll move on from this that you're not going to
42:07
believe. Bring it.
42:09
Cell phone number Nick Saban. Let's move on.
42:11
Oh, hey. That'll.
42:16
Save some tickets in Alabama The story.
42:18
Stories about as weird as Kurt Kurtz over there.
42:21
I'll just save it. So yeah, somebody say it one
42:24
night. They said it out loud and I just
42:26
took it and it was right too. I called once only and that's
42:30
it. I confirmed and I've never
42:31
called it again. Wow, nice.
42:35
That's good. Slick.
42:36
That's slick. Well, Kurt Brantley is going to
42:38
be reaching out to you soon. He's going to pick your brain on
42:40
how how you've you've created this empire you have with your
42:43
media and all the cool things you do, like sending random
42:47
emails to Kobe Bryant and getting him to respond, which is
42:50
awesome. RIP code.
42:52
That's that's a good one Kurt. Well, thank you brother.
42:54
You know I love you buddy. I hope to see you soon and, and,
42:56
and we'll catch up. And, and I'm they held me to
42:59
this. I told them one time I'd love to
43:00
come on anytime they needed me. And I've been over here for six
43:02
months every week, three times a week, so.
43:05
California, Oh my God. You know we'll be in touch.
43:09
Anytime, anytime you want me, I'm here, brother.