Latest / Tigs Bits Podcast / Chris Tate’s Wild Ride from CMT to Blake Shelton

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Chris Tate’s Wild Ride from CMT to Blake Shelton · Tigs Bits Podcast

• 0:07
  Hey, hey, and howdy to all you find folks out there in podcast
• 0:12
  land. Welcome back to this week's
• 0:15
  installment of the Jr. the Handler show with me, your host,
• 0:19
  Jr. the Handler today. I have such a great guest on.
• 0:23
  I'm not even going to do any pre roll banter before I invite them
• 0:27
  on. I've already got them dialed up
• 0:28
  on the Zoom machine. It's recording.
• 0:31
  Everything's working so far. So we're just going to jump
• 0:34
  right into this. But before I do that, I want to
• 0:36
  say thanks to everybody who's been following the show so far
• 0:39
  and commenting and liking and sharing the show and giving
• 0:42
  feedback and voicemails and texts and all that fun stuff.
• 0:45
  It's been amazing and I appreciate you and I implore you
• 0:48
  to keep doing it. Share it with a friend.
• 0:50
  That's the best thing you can do for the show is if you hear
• 0:53
  something you like, go over there, find, share the show,
• 0:56
  send it to a buddy, family member who you think would enjoy
• 0:59
  it and let's spread the love that way.
• 1:01
  Without any further ado, my guest today is probably one of
• 1:06
  my longest friends from Nashville.
• 1:10
  I met this guy so early into my career and fairly early into his
• 1:14
  career that it's so long ago we almost forgot about it.
• 1:18
  But we'll get into all that and how it how we got reconnected
• 1:22
  years later. But today's guest is my friend.
• 1:27
  I I could say so much. He's also friends with most of
• 1:31
  the guests we've had on so so far.
• 1:33
  I wanted to have him on a few weeks ago after the Jeff Gossett
• 1:35
  interview because he's one of Jeff's best friends.
• 1:38
  So hopefully we'll get some dirt on brother Jeff today too.
• 1:41
  But without any further ado, my brother, current tour manager
• 1:44
  for the world renowned big and Rich my boys, my brother Mr.
• 1:48
  Chris Tate. How are you Tater?
• 1:50
  How big? Yes, Sir.
• 1:52
  Yeah, I'm doing good, man. How are you?
• 1:55
  I'm great buddy. You asked if I was playing your
• 1:57
  voicemail when you jumped on earlier.
• 1:59
  I was not but I I was playing 4. 24 handler.
• 2:03
  Yes Sir, 424 handler. That it is saved in my
• 2:06
  favorites. I love it.
• 2:08
  But no, that was the song that played after the song you sent
• 2:12
  me last night. And I don't know, I'm sure a lot
• 2:14
  of you folks out there listening and watching do this as well.
• 2:16
  If you if you hear a song and it just hits you just right and you
• 2:20
  know there's somebody else that would appreciate that, you send
• 2:23
  it, you screenshot it, send it somehow you get it on over to
• 2:26
  him no matter what time, day or night, just to let him know this
• 2:29
  is where you're feeling. And we do that all the time with
• 2:32
  our buddies on the road, guys and gals.
• 2:34
  We do that all the time. So last night, I don't know what
• 2:36
  10:00 tater sends me just a screenshot of him of of of his
• 2:42
  phone. And it's Hank Williams Junior
• 2:45
  outlaws reward. And if you don't know that song,
• 2:48
  go listen to the Hank Junior outlaws reward.
• 2:51
  It's on that five O record, man, and just a banger.
• 2:56
  And you sent me that and I knew what kind of moods you were
• 2:58
  getting in for the show today, so I was pumped up.
• 3:03
  Thank you for coming on, buddy. Well, thanks for having me.
• 3:06
  Yeah, that inspired the shirt. If you need people, if anybody
• 3:09
  out there is watching this on YouTube, I've got my.
• 3:12
  This was a tour they did. I want to say it was for Fruit
• 3:16
  of a Loom. Yeah, it is.
• 3:18
  I got the Fruit of the Loom tag on here.
• 3:19
  They did a tour, I guess they sponsored a tour one year, and
• 3:22
  it's Charlie Daniels, Hank Junior, Travis Truitt and Joe D
• 3:28
  Messina. Yeah, you know, we're both
• 3:33
  country music, you know, encyclopedia, so to speak.
• 3:37
  You. You might be a level above me.
• 3:40
  We all got our, we all got our certain volumes in there.
• 3:43
  We we're better. And, oh, Eddie Stubbs is at the
• 3:45
  top of that list. But I think Hank might have been
• 3:48
  one of the first touring acts to sell merch.
• 3:54
  I think he might have been in the beginning phases of that
• 4:00
  now, you know, was probably way back, you know, before the beard
• 4:03
  and stuff. But, yeah, if I remember right,
• 4:07
  in that world that he was one of the first people, the artists
• 4:13
  are selling his merch out on the road.
• 4:15
  But yeah. Wouldn't surprise me.
• 4:17
  That wouldn't surprise me and that.
• 4:18
  Probably was moral Kilgore. Or even prior to that, his mom
• 4:23
  and and the and the people that before, you know, probably,
• 4:27
  let's see, he started in the 5th, you know, the 50s and the
• 4:30
  60s. And then by the time he was, you
• 4:32
  know, that was the late 50s. Well, but they started him so
• 4:37
  early. But I bet yeah, I could imagine
• 4:40
  they were selling Hank Williams stuff, Kate at his show.
• 4:45
  Still trying to to get on that for sure.
• 4:48
  And you got to think too. You mentioned that early on with
• 4:50
  the merch. People don't realize that
• 4:53
  touring as we know today. I was telling some people the
• 4:55
  other day this all what we know is touring today was like the
• 4:58
  early 70s before there were ever trucks and you traveled with
• 5:00
  equipment and people before that.
• 5:02
  It was just you showed up, you played with what they had used a
• 5:05
  local band sometime. I mean, it just was the wild,
• 5:08
  Wild West and they, the 1st equipment they ever used was all
• 5:11
  Broadway stuff from New York because they were the only ones
• 5:14
  with the trucks. And back then, if you needed
• 5:16
  APA, you needed speakers, you had to have a cabinet shop.
• 5:18
  There was nowhere to order this stuff.
• 5:20
  You had to make it. So it's, you think about it just
• 5:23
  being there since forever. But these things had to start at
• 5:26
  some point. So that's a good, I don't know.
• 5:29
  I'd love, I'd, I'd like somebody out there.
• 5:31
  Do I say this all the time? I don't do any research.
• 5:33
  Any story you hear on here is just some something I heard.
• 5:36
  I don't do any looking up to fact Fact Check or anything.
• 5:39
  That's just the way I heard it. I like it that way.
• 5:41
  So if anybody out there wants to to check down on that, that
• 5:44
  would be a fun fact to know who who was the first was Hank
• 5:47
  Junior? Did Tater just drop a little
• 5:49
  nugget of info on us there? I mean, again, I haven't
• 5:53
  researched it on the World Wide Web.
• 5:57
  That's just something I've heard from some old timers that he was
• 6:00
  the first one to actually have full on merch at shows.
• 6:04
  But anyway. Yeah, and that's, and that's
• 6:06
  where we get most of our info. I mean, we just hear stuff.
• 6:09
  You hear stuff. Right, right.
• 6:11
  That song I sent you last night, I real quick then we can get on
• 6:15
  with with whatever. But I was, I happen to be, you
• 6:19
  know, looking on Facebook like a lot of people do.
• 6:22
  And, and a video popped up and I don't know if it was Country
• 6:28
  rebel or something, but it was a video they had posted when they
• 6:32
  were doing Wayland's celebration of life at Laughlin, right.
• 6:40
  And on on stage was Marty Stewart and Tripp and Hank
• 6:47
  Junior. And they ended the IT was a
• 6:51
  video the end of the night. And Tripp Travis was talking
• 6:55
  about, you know, at Wayland service.
• 6:58
  All he could think about in his head was that song that Hank
• 7:03
  wrote, the outlaws reward. And then that's what they ended
• 7:07
  the, you know, the celebration of life with.
• 7:10
  And that was the video of the three of them doing that song.
• 7:15
  And I was like, man, I bet there's a lot of people that
• 7:17
  don't even know the significance of that song, you know, And it
• 7:21
  was just a moment. You know, we don't, you know,
• 7:24
  we're running out of kind of running out of artists where
• 7:30
  that type of celebration and those meaningful songs.
• 7:34
  I mean, I always joke with John and Kenny about, you know, like,
• 7:38
  Willie's outlived them all. Yeah.
• 7:40
  And there might be something to his lifestyle that we should
• 7:43
  take note of, you know? I I sure don't mind giving it a
• 7:47
  try, yeah. Right.
• 7:50
  Kung Fu and herbs, you know? Yeah, but that's a good point.
• 7:56
  That hole last night, seeing that video of like, I'm going to
• 7:58
  go back and listen to that original cut.
• 8:02
  So good. And I've seen that video.
• 8:03
  So isn't Steve Warner or somebody else on stage with him
• 8:05
  too? I think it's four of them.
• 8:07
  He he might have been. I know Porter Wagner's the one
• 8:09
  that is kind of in there in the MC, but what a what a great
• 8:14
  y'all find that on YouTube And yeah, he he kind of brings it
• 8:16
  out of in in pure trit form. He brings it out of of of Hank.
• 8:21
  Oh man, he put it on you. Yeah, yeah, anyway.
• 8:25
  No, but like you said, most of those stories are things we
• 8:28
  hear. It's in passing on the road, you
• 8:30
  meet some old timer, they tell you the story, you're sitting at
• 8:33
  catering, something like that. And that's gold.
• 8:35
  And that's the heart of this show is just everybody's got a
• 8:38
  story. Everybody's got some tales and
• 8:41
  and some taller than others. And the Internet is full of all
• 8:46
  this information out there. Why not have the people who were
• 8:50
  actually there? And anybody can ask the artist
• 8:52
  and no knock on any of our artist buddies.
• 8:54
  But just because it's their tour, they might not, they may
• 8:57
  know the littlest amount of what's going on with any given
• 9:01
  thing that happens with the team.
• 9:03
  You know what I'm saying? It is not.
• 9:05
  That's not a knock. That's just the way things work.
• 9:07
  Everybody has their assigned position to take care of what
• 9:11
  responsibilities. Well, the artist is usually
• 9:13
  pressed songs the show, you know, So the band gets theirs,
• 9:18
  the crew gets theirs, we have ours and everybody does their
• 9:21
  job. So you really like I've said
• 9:23
  this before, somebody will come, you know, I'll hear somebody
• 9:26
  saying something and they'll be like, you know, let's tell
• 9:28
  Justin this and I'm like, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
• 9:30
  Let's wait till after this to tell him that I don't need
• 9:32
  nothing in his head right now while we're trying to get
• 9:34
  through this, whatever it is, you know what I mean?
• 9:36
  There's you pick and choose your stuff and there's not.
• 9:38
  It's not that you don't want them to know everything.
• 9:40
  Sometimes they just don't need to know everything for what if
• 9:42
  whatever reason is a good tour manager would deem I will get it
• 9:46
  to him some other time or you know there's that also leans
• 9:49
  into the shady world is which we know there is an element of that
• 9:53
  amongst our business. It's it's it's just like the
• 9:55
  world. I think I think that there's
• 9:57
  more good than bad, but the bad just get the spotlight a lot of
• 10:00
  times, you know but so you hear bad horror stories, but good TMS
• 10:04
  like us. We're I'm doing nothing but
• 10:06
  trying to help my artist 24/7 whatever to set him, the crew,
• 10:09
  the band, everybody up for success.
• 10:11
  And if that means holding some information until a better time
• 10:14
  to deliver it or dealing with it outside of them that so I think
• 10:18
  so. I think that a lot of times
• 10:19
  people just because I've you'll hear artists get asked questions
• 10:22
  and you know, they they just give a generic basketball
• 10:26
  halftime game comment because they don't really know.
• 10:30
  And and why would they if they don't want to say that?
• 10:32
  So, but all of us on the inside, we know all kinds of stuff and a
• 10:37
  lot of it and none of it's really.
• 10:39
  And that's what I'd say. This is not a I'm not there's no
• 10:41
  gotcha moments on this podcast. I'm not trying to put anybody on
• 10:44
  blast. I don't have any crazy.
• 10:47
  If there was something so crazy that the world need to know, I
• 10:49
  would tell it. If it was illegally moral to the
• 10:51
  point where I couldn't live live without telling, we would
• 10:54
  already been told. So you're not going to get any
• 10:56
  of those stories on here, but you're going to get a really
• 10:58
  fascinating inside look on some things that have happened.
• 11:02
  How long you been doing this Tater longer than me.
• 11:03
  I've been 20 years, you've got to be pushing 30, huh?
• 11:07
  I don't know if it's 30. I'm, I'm in the, I'm, I'm
• 11:11
  somewhere between 22 and 25. Yeah.
• 11:16
  I mean, it's, it's, well, it's probably right at 20.
• 11:18
  I think it's probably right at 22, but yeah.
• 11:21
  Well, here's a good. To your to your point on those
• 11:23
  stories real quick, I tell my wife all the time, we, she's a
• 11:26
  part of this, this organization in Nashville called, you know,
• 11:31
  entrepreneur organization. She's a business owner and
• 11:34
  entrepreneur. It's really great organization.
• 11:36
  And they have forums that they meet once a month.
• 11:39
  And you know, it's confidentiality, you know, she
• 11:42
  can't share with me what they talk about and stuff.
• 11:45
  That's why I'm going to the grave with plenty of stuff.
• 11:50
  I don't need any more. I don't need to take any more
• 11:53
  with me and I'm going to the grave with it.
• 11:55
  So. Oh yeah.
• 11:57
  Oh yeah, and then award just got to outlive a lot of people.
• 12:01
  That's it. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 12:04
  So yeah, yeah, go ahead. Yeah, you.
• 12:05
  Were no I because I always told Tracy Lawrence I got a few good
• 12:08
  ones but I'll wait till way after it's hopefully nobody will
• 12:11
  care and tell it on my way out the door too.
• 12:13
  But but they're all just fun. Just fun rock'n'roll stuff.
• 12:16
  I'm going to have Opie on. Hell, Opie may tell him here in
• 12:18
  a couple weeks when I have Opie on.
• 12:21
  There's a legend. There's a legend.
• 12:23
  Oh dude, I've got I've got him on.
• 12:25
  They had they're on a West Coast run.
• 12:26
  He was going to try to make it work while he's out there, but
• 12:28
  he's going to holler at when he gets back.
• 12:30
  But yeah, he says these he in the text, he's like these these
• 12:34
  people now have no idea what it was like back in the and, and
• 12:37
  Tracy used to call it. He said buddy, y'all don't even
• 12:39
  know. No.
• 12:39
  And you and I, and you and I don't really.
• 12:42
  No, no, we, we caught the last. We caught the last little
• 12:46
  glimpse of that, you know, before taking the, the world was
• 12:49
  on blast and all that kind of stuff.
• 12:51
  In the old, old school world, you know, it was only one or two
• 12:56
  artists selling huge venues. You know, you played.
• 12:58
  You know, nobody was doing stadiums except for Garth, you
• 13:01
  know, and maybe straight. The smartphone changed a lot of
• 13:05
  things. A lot.
• 13:05
  Of things I mean you and I, you and I remember and a lot of
• 13:08
  people won't remember this literally the the the Atlas in
• 13:12
  between the seat of the van or up in the bus and pulling over
• 13:17
  to a pay phone to call the bar to make sure someone there was
• 13:19
  to let us in, you know what I mean?
• 13:22
  And, and, and getting some bartender and trying to find
• 13:24
  some sound guy or something, you know, that's just, it's, it's
• 13:28
  crazy to think back, but that's that's when we do it and think.
• 13:30
  And on that note, you know, I mentioned earlier when we
• 13:33
  started that you're one of my oldest friends in the music
• 13:35
  business out in Nashville world. We met and, and, and I'll set it
• 13:41
  up, but you can tell your part and I'll see if I remember it
• 13:43
  the same way because I've told it a bunch.
• 13:44
  I may remember it wrong, but we met.
• 13:46
  This had to have been I started with Wayne Mills, I think the
• 13:50
  end of O2 in the O3. So this had to be O3O four O 5
• 13:56
  at. It would have been O 5.
• 13:57
  It would have been O 5. OK, so in in 2005, I'm with the
• 14:02
  Wayne Mills band. We go to Ruston, LA Rabb
• 14:05
  Steakhouse, legendary steakhouse last night, big outdoor venue on
• 14:11
  the back end. Yeah, Outback, big, big stage,
• 14:14
  big cool venue there in Ruston, LA, Northern Louisiana.
• 14:20
  And we're going to open for Gary Allen, who in O5 and Gary's
• 14:24
  still rocking. But in O 5 Gary was still
• 14:26
  rocking and that was a big get for us.
• 14:30
  We had played there the the local club scene and stuff and
• 14:33
  we got we got the nod to come in and do the show and I'm going to
• 14:37
  set up merch and there's a young Strapping Young Lad setting up
• 14:42
  Gary's merch right next to me and it's Chris Tate.
• 14:46
  So we meet shake hands on a semi muddy cold field in Louisiana
• 14:53
  and that was in O5 and that set off and then we didn't meet
• 14:55
  again when we'll get into that. But what do you remember about
• 14:58
  the the The Ruston show? So the Ruston show man was cold.
• 15:05
  Yes. It was really cold.
• 15:07
  And of course, doing merch, as you know, we're the first out
• 15:11
  out there and we're the last to get to the bus.
• 15:13
  Yep. And it, it, I mean, it was cold
• 15:19
  packed house. I remember there was a ton of
• 15:21
  people there member meeting you. You've refreshed my memory on
• 15:26
  that. But I do remember that now and
• 15:29
  then. One thing I'll always remember
• 15:32
  about that show and and I might be wrong.
• 15:34
  It actually might have been in O6.
• 15:37
  It might have been, it might have been in O 6.
• 15:40
  But what I really remember about that show he is there was we had
• 15:47
  a lighting director, Gary just gotten a lighting package and
• 15:50
  was carrying a lighting, you know, rig.
• 15:53
  And it was a younger guy, you know, about the same age of us,
• 15:56
  Justin Kitchen. And I believe now he's with
• 16:01
  Luke, but he met a young lady there that night that was from
• 16:09
  there and they're married and have two 2 girls.
• 16:15
  And I just remember like I was there, I was there when they
• 16:21
  met. I was in the moment.
• 16:23
  And I'll always just remember that about that show.
• 16:26
  Other than obviously you and everything.
• 16:28
  But they met there, they got married, they're still married.
• 16:33
  They have two girls. You know, he's gone off to do
• 16:36
  big things, you know, design lighting packages and all that
• 16:41
  stuff. And but anyway.
• 16:43
  That's amazing, Yeah. That's real life stuff that
• 16:46
  really happened, yeah. Yeah, that.
• 16:48
  Love finds a way. It Dang sure did.
• 16:51
  That's amazing. And yeah, well, of course you
• 16:53
  wouldn't remember. That would make so much more
• 16:55
  sense that that would be the main memory rather than the
• 16:58
  local regional opening guys, merch guy.
• 17:03
  So I don't I'll tell you what I remembered and and and we'll get
• 17:06
  to how we re re remembered these memories.
• 17:11
  But what I remember was yes, freezing cold.
• 17:13
  I had snakes, I had rattlesnake boots on.
• 17:15
  They are Python boots on. And it was so cold.
• 17:18
  They have no, there's no protection either in those type
• 17:20
  of boots. They look cool, but man on
• 17:22
  grass, cold, wet, semi frozen ground.
• 17:25
  I mean it was 3030 something degrees, 40° maybe.
• 17:28
  And in Louisiana that's cold. And I remember we set up merch
• 17:33
  and then we go chain whatever, come back.
• 17:36
  And then right before Gary and we do our set, I come back right
• 17:41
  before Gary goes on. I notice you're not there.
• 17:44
  I look up a few minutes later. Hell, you're on stage.
• 17:48
  You've got you've got the Garth Brooks earpiece, microphone,
• 17:52
  headset, microphone on, I believe a cowboy hat, a belt
• 17:58
  buckle. You tucked your shirt in by this
• 18:00
  point, your belt buckled up boots and jeans and you I want
• 18:05
  to say maybe a Plaid button up shirt.
• 18:07
  Snap, snap, Pearl, snap, Pearl, snap, Pearl snap.
• 18:10
  Had to have Pearl snout just checking.
• 18:12
  And a handful of T-shirts rolled up and you were getting the did
• 18:16
  you were getting the crowd pumped up before Gary came out
• 18:18
  on stage. And I said right there, I said,
• 18:20
  man, he's cool. But I would never do that.
• 18:22
  That seems that seems kind of kind of how many jobs can you
• 18:26
  have on a tour? Yeah.
• 18:27
  And now that's what I do every night.
• 18:29
  I go on stage and intro Justin say symbol.
• 18:31
  I just don't throw T-shirts out. I just do my ridiculous banter,
• 18:35
  but I but I remember that and so and I don't remember this part
• 18:38
  though. And you you may or may not.
• 18:40
  Did you have music out when you were doing that?
• 18:42
  What was the plan when you would come out for that was how did
• 18:45
  that get asked? How was that set up?
• 18:46
  Was that something you initiated?
• 18:48
  Was it them management? Yeah.
• 18:50
  So no, I mean, I've never had any music and we can go into how
• 18:55
  I got going and everything if you want here.
• 18:58
  Yeah, yeah, Yeah. We can go back and yeah, let's
• 19:00
  just go from beginning. So because I was going to ask
• 19:02
  that next how long would this have been in your career at this
• 19:05
  point? Yeah, Yeah.
• 19:08
  So you want me to start at the beginning or?
• 19:10
  Yeah, just do that. Let's just go to the top.
• 19:12
  Where did Tater come from? How did Tater get in the music
• 19:15
  business? Origin story like a Marvel
• 19:17
  superhero you are. Yeah.
• 19:19
  So as you know, everybody's got their unique story of how we got
• 19:22
  in this crazy business and life and, and everything.
• 19:27
  And, you know, I grew up in a small town in Kansas just, you
• 19:32
  know, outside of Wichita and ended up going to a, a college
• 19:37
  there and playing baseball, which was wonderful experience.
• 19:42
  And when I went there as a freshman, you know, the school
• 19:45
  stuff came up and it was like, OK, well, what do you want to
• 19:48
  do? And I was like, I, I, I don't
• 19:50
  know, I, I came here to play baseball, you know, and they're
• 19:53
  like, OK, well, you know, what do you like?
• 19:56
  And at the time I was like, oh, I like SportsCenter.
• 19:59
  And they're like, OK, how about sports broadcasting?
• 20:02
  I was like, sure. So I went down that Ave. and
• 20:07
  that led to I became the public address announcer and DJ for all
• 20:14
  the events and sporting events except baseball.
• 20:17
  Because obviously we were we're, you know, I was on the team and.
• 20:20
  So, you know, the basketball games, I was the guy announcing
• 20:24
  the starting lineups. I was playing music.
• 20:26
  I had burnt CDs and ACD player. I would, well, I'd have songs
• 20:31
  queued up, you know, I'd have all the the stuff.
• 20:35
  And so I did, I did that through college and then I had an intern
• 20:40
  my senior year and I had to do, you know, I had to do an
• 20:44
  internship at a TV station, which I did.
• 20:47
  And then I did another one at the local country radio station
• 20:52
  with a guy named Dan Holiday on KZSN One O 2.1.
• 20:57
  And that's how I kind of started to get a little introduction to
• 21:02
  the music business, met some promo reps, which I learned what
• 21:06
  that was. You know, like I remember Rascal
• 21:09
  Flatts coming and doing the listener appreciation show.
• 21:14
  I remember a girl. What?
• 21:15
  Year. What year would this have been?
• 21:17
  This would have been in O1 most likely in in two 2000 in the O1
• 21:23
  would have been that semester. And so, you know, Brian Mccomas
• 21:28
  coming to town, just, you know, all these people, you know,
• 21:31
  learning what promo reps did. And so Fast forward and, you
• 21:41
  know, we're we're in the regional finals for baseball.
• 21:45
  Missed my college graduation because we were one game away
• 21:48
  from the World Series. Ended up winning like the
• 21:51
  biggest award possible and at the school, but I wasn't there
• 21:54
  to get it. I had no idea I was getting it
• 21:56
  or anything. And so Fast forward, we lose the
• 22:00
  game and it's over, you know, like baseball's over.
• 22:04
  And for me, it was always sports and music, right?
• 22:07
  And so it was a really tough time.
• 22:11
  And I remember we had gotten tickets to Kenny Chesney on his
• 22:17
  CMT tour, like his first big headlining on was the single
• 22:24
  that was out. And it was just, I mean, he was
• 22:27
  just doing this right, rocket ship.
• 22:30
  And so me and somebody had gotten like, I don't know, 2nd
• 22:35
  row tickets, you know, whatever. And so we're going on to the
• 22:39
  show and out front the arena was this dually pick up with a
• 22:46
  trailer behind it, like a gooseneck trailer.
• 22:49
  And it had CNT all over country music, television.
• 22:52
  And there was a guy and a girl, you know, with microphones,
• 22:57
  throwing out T-shirts, kind of warming up the crowd, you know,
• 23:01
  stuff. And I looked, then I said, well,
• 23:03
  I could. I could do that.
• 23:04
  You know what? I'd like to know what that is.
• 23:07
  So we go to the show. The next morning, I called the
• 23:10
  guy that I had interned with, Dan Holiday, And I said, hey,
• 23:14
  man, do you know anybody at CMT? And he was just like, I don't.
• 23:19
  And he said, but I know somebody at MTV in New York, which owns
• 23:25
  CMT Viacom. And he said, why?
• 23:29
  And I said, well, we went to the show, saw this, you know, and I
• 23:33
  just I'm kind of interested on all that.
• 23:35
  And he goes, OK, he goes, well, gave me the name and number of
• 23:39
  the guy to call. And he said, you're probably
• 23:40
  going to have to leave a message and maybe they'll call you back.
• 23:43
  But that's that's as good as I got.
• 23:45
  I said, cool. So I did that and left a message
• 23:49
  in about an hour later, this lady calls me back from
• 23:54
  Nashville and she was like, hey, we got your voicemail from so
• 24:00
  and so in New York, you know, I'm with CMT.
• 24:03
  So like, what, what do you need? Like what, what can we help you
• 24:06
  with? You know, I said, oh, wow.
• 24:08
  I said, I'm really surprised somebody called me back, but
• 24:11
  thank you. Here's the deal.
• 24:13
  Went to the show, saw this. I did something similar through
• 24:17
  college. I'm sure you're not hiring, but
• 24:20
  I just wanted to introduce myself and, and inquire about
• 24:25
  this. And she was just like, wow, OK,
• 24:27
  well, you went through some, some steps to get here.
• 24:30
  And I said, yeah, you know, and so we spoke and she was just
• 24:33
  like, well, you're right, you know, we're not hiring.
• 24:36
  But this is, you know, there's three of these trucks.
• 24:38
  We have one in the West Coast, one in the Midwest, one on the
• 24:42
  East Coast. They travel around, you know,
• 24:45
  some on tours. They go to other places
• 24:47
  promoting, doing grass root marketing for CMT.
• 24:51
  And she said, but send me your resume and, you know, I'll keep
• 24:55
  it on file here. And if something ever comes up,
• 24:57
  you know, we'll get a hold of you.
• 24:58
  And I was like, OK, thank you. And at that point I had, I
• 25:05
  realized, OK, that's just going to sit in a pile, you know.
• 25:08
  So I saved the number on a piece of paper and her name and I
• 25:14
  called her every month for about two years just to check in and
• 25:18
  say, hey, you know, how was your Thanksgiving or, you know,
• 25:22
  whatever. And, and one day she called me
• 25:25
  and said, hey, we've had somebody quit unexpectedly.
• 25:30
  And I know you've been interested in this for a long
• 25:32
  time and we'd like to fly you here for an interview.
• 25:38
  And she was like, if I get a plane ticket for you, can you
• 25:41
  come here for an interview and we'll fly you back same day?
• 25:47
  You know, I don't know where you are with your job or anything,
• 25:49
  but she's like, I at least want to give you this opportunity.
• 25:53
  And I said, yes, I can do it. And at that time I was a loan
• 25:57
  officer for like a high risk, you know, company, you know, and
• 26:02
  most of the time I was going around knocking on doors trying
• 26:06
  to figure out why people were delinquent on their payment,
• 26:09
  right? You know, not not really a great
• 26:11
  thing to be doing, you know? Right, and not really what your
• 26:14
  career ambitions you. No, no, I mean just waiting to
• 26:18
  get to the wrong house where the guy's been laid off.
• 26:21
  Why I've left him and I'm sitting there asking him for his
• 26:23
  payment for his big screen TV or.
• 26:25
  Something, you know, it's like and he's.
• 26:27
  Drunk. Oh yeah, you know it.
• 26:29
  Yeah. So.
• 26:31
  So anyway, so I was just like, yes, you know, I can do it,
• 26:34
  whatever. And so she's like, OK, we'll
• 26:37
  have a phone ticket for you on Monday, blah, blah, blah.
• 26:41
  And so we got all the details like Lumi here, took a cab for
• 26:45
  the first time ever downtown. To where do you fly from?
• 26:48
  Wichita. Wichita, you flew.
• 26:50
  From which you were still, you were still around home.
• 26:53
  Oh, yeah, yeah. Still there, living with some
• 26:55
  old, you know, college baseball teammates and, and we all had a
• 27:00
  house together and, and that's what I was doing.
• 27:03
  And then so, yeah, they flew me here.
• 27:05
  I interviewed, flew me back. And that was on a Monday.
• 27:10
  And then they called me the next day and said, hey, you know, we
• 27:16
  want to, we want to offer you this job.
• 27:20
  But here's the deal. You know, we're going to fly you
• 27:23
  here next Monday. You'll be gone for the rest of
• 27:27
  the year. You're going to be on the truck
• 27:30
  in the Midwest, but we'll got to fly you here to Nashville, get
• 27:34
  you boarded, you know, get you some training with the truck and
• 27:38
  all that stuff. And and they were like, you
• 27:43
  know, can you can you have everything in place to be here
• 27:47
  on a Monday And, you know, and no, you're not going to be back
• 27:50
  till December. This was like in April of O3.
• 27:55
  And I was just like, yeah, I mean, I've waited this long.
• 27:58
  That's, that's no problem. I'm not going to, that's yeah,
• 28:01
  it's fine. So, so that was kind of the
• 28:04
  deal, you know, and everybody while I work knew what was going
• 28:06
  on. And so, you know, I, I finished
• 28:09
  out that day and, you know, then took the next day off to kind of
• 28:15
  get stuff together. And then, you know, worked the
• 28:20
  next two days, half a day on that Friday.
• 28:22
  And then, yeah, that was it. Monday.
• 28:23
  I was on a plane and. Did you, did you send, did you
• 28:28
  have much stuff to send? Did you send stuff to Nashville?
• 28:30
  Did you move there or you just left your stuff there and took A
• 28:33
  to the backpack? Yeah, took a, took a really big
• 28:36
  suitcase and, and, you know, just that was it, you know, and,
• 28:42
  and yeah, I still paid rent, you know, with my buddies for the
• 28:46
  rest of that year because I didn't know what was going.
• 28:48
  To. Happen.
• 28:49
  And I didn't want to leave him high and dry and all that.
• 28:52
  So yeah, I mean, I didn't. So I did that for two years.
• 28:56
  So you fly to Nashville on a Monday.
• 28:59
  Yep. And then they onboard you get
• 29:02
  you set up with everything you need.
• 29:03
  How long before you left to go on your first assignment?
• 29:06
  I was here that week. One week and then you're on the
• 29:09
  road. What was your first gig you had
• 29:11
  to go to? First gig was in Oklahoma City
• 29:15
  at a fair and I can't remember the act that was playing, but
• 29:20
  no, we would go set up like for a week at a fair or something,
• 29:26
  you know, and, and and do all that.
• 29:29
  And it's like part of the part of the training in Nashville was
• 29:33
  was, you know, obviously being comfortable with driving the
• 29:37
  truck, pulling a trailer and and backing up.
• 29:40
  And I tell my dad to this day like the best life lesson I
• 29:44
  could tell him that he probably taught me that has gotten me
• 29:48
  this far in my career. I guess would be backing up a
• 29:53
  trailer. Absolutely, he told.
• 29:55
  Me. Yeah, my dad let me back the
• 29:57
  trip back the boat trailer in or do something even in a little
• 30:00
  truck with a little trailer. But still, it was enough to get
• 30:02
  the mindset for driving a vanity trailer.
• 30:05
  Yeah, yeah. And like, you know, I and so,
• 30:08
  you know, that was, I enjoyed that.
• 30:10
  I, I always wanted to, you know, park the truck in the trailer
• 30:14
  wherever we were at. And you know, some of those
• 30:16
  fairs, you know, it's pretty tight stuff and so.
• 30:20
  And you get a good spot too. You don't have to Parkway out
• 30:22
  the parking lot like you. Used to, right?
• 30:24
  You get the backstage parking, get you some credentials.
• 30:27
  Oh man, you're in the big leagues, baby.
• 30:29
  Yeah. And so the first, then the first
• 30:31
  tour we were on was the last Brooks and Dunn Neon Circus
• 30:35
  tour. Wow.
• 30:37
  And so we were out there for that because CMT was one of the
• 30:40
  sponsors and on that tour was obviously Brooks and Dunn.
• 30:45
  And then completist T Judd was the MC who to this day is one of
• 30:50
  my closest friends got. A text got a text from him and
• 30:53
  gossip the other day. He wants to come on the show so.
• 30:55
  Oh yeah, he'll be good. He'll be good.
• 30:58
  And so that's where I met him. And then Jeff Bates was an
• 31:03
  opening act, an artist by the name of Aaron Lines from Canada,
• 31:08
  Brad Paisley. And then Direct Support was a
• 31:12
  trio called Rascal Flatts. Wow.
• 31:16
  And so we did that tour and then Flats went on the headline their
• 31:21
  first tour, which was sponsored by CMT.
• 31:24
  So we went from that right into to that.
• 31:27
  And you know, it was just, it was great.
• 31:32
  You know, it was great experience.
• 31:34
  That's kind of how I got into everything.
• 31:36
  Because on that Flats tour, the middle act was Chris Taggle, who
• 31:39
  had a tour manager by the name of Jeff Gossett.
• 31:43
  Wow. So here's the tie in this So.
• 31:46
  There's the tie. Yep, so gossip.
• 31:48
  So we, so we. Cable at this time.
• 31:51
  Yeah. And so we hit it all and that
• 31:53
  CMT job, you know, at the time you could only do it for two
• 31:56
  years with all the longer they wanted people because you're
• 32:00
  just gone, you know and they and they just it was a two year
• 32:05
  contract. And so I did that in O3 and O4.
• 32:08
  And towards the end of O4, you know, I was telling Jeff, you
• 32:12
  know, like, because we would be in Nashville a lot, we would
• 32:15
  just stay at the Hampton Inn on West End because I had a big
• 32:17
  parking lot. We could park the truck there
• 32:19
  and everything. And so anyway, Jeff and I, you
• 32:23
  know, would golf together and we stayed in contact, you know,
• 32:26
  just hit it off. And so, you know, I told him,
• 32:30
  like, you know, I think I'm going to move here.
• 32:34
  Yeah. I mean, this is where I've made
• 32:35
  all my connections. And so I moved in with him when
• 32:38
  he lived down in Spring Hill in January of O 5.
• 32:41
  So that's officially when I got here.
• 32:44
  But I'll say that to wrap this up, the coolest moment with that
• 32:48
  job, there were several, but probably the coolest moment in
• 32:53
  that job for me that made it full circle was, you know,
• 32:56
  during during that time and before I got that, like I said,
• 33:00
  Chesney was just on the sky, you know, rocket ship.
• 33:05
  And he had won, you know, a big I was watching the CMT awards.
• 33:09
  I worked part time at a golf course, you know, with my other
• 33:13
  job, I would do the, the golf course job too.
• 33:15
  And we were watching the CMT Awards and he won the big award
• 33:19
  and he'd given his speech about, Hey, I just want to say, if
• 33:22
  there's anybody out there that's got a dream, whether it be
• 33:25
  music, whatever, just don't stop trying because you know, it can
• 33:30
  happen, you know, and, and, and so that really kept me going.
• 33:34
  And then we end up on a show with Chesney with the truck and
• 33:40
  David Farmer and tambourine, you know, and those got, you know,
• 33:43
  they all, they treated us like fans, gave us laminates, you
• 33:47
  know, all the stuff. And so we're backstage and he's
• 33:50
  about to go on and farmers like, Hey, come over here.
• 33:55
  Do you guys do the shot with us before we go on stage?
• 33:58
  You know, we go over there and, and, you know, Kenny come down,
• 34:03
  he sees us and they would introduce us and I got to tell
• 34:07
  him like, hey, I want to just tell you, you know, I saw you on
• 34:11
  this award show and you had said this and I've been trying to get
• 34:16
  this job for a long time and it happened.
• 34:18
  And, and he was very nice about he's like man.
• 34:22
  He's like, that's that's what it's about, man.
• 34:25
  And so then they invited us in to do their crown shot and
• 34:28
  everything. And you know, I'm 23 years old,
• 34:32
  whatever, 24, you know, I'm just like, Dang, like.
• 34:36
  I want to be in on this action regularly.
• 34:38
  Yeah, well, I was just like, this just happened, you know, I
• 34:40
  was just like. This is happening.
• 34:41
  I'm here. Here I am doing a shot with.
• 34:43
  Jeff and he's so that. Told me to keep going.
• 34:46
  Yeah, right. So that was cool.
• 34:48
  You know, just a full circle moment and then, you know,
• 34:51
  moving in with Jeff and you know, that's kind of where it
• 34:54
  all painful circle right there. So when you were living with
• 34:58
  Jeff, he was TM in for Cagle at the time?
• 35:01
  He was at the time and then, you know, Cagle just had to cancel
• 35:09
  everything. He had voice problems and he
• 35:12
  just he had to just stop. So, so Jeff went with, and I in
• 35:19
  his podcast, he mentioned the accent, you know, he was with, I
• 35:23
  think think he might have went with maybe John Michael at the
• 35:28
  time or Josh Grayson at the time somewhere around there.
• 35:34
  And so he had been helping Cletus.
• 35:36
  And so I moved to town and I got nothing.
• 35:41
  Like I mean just nothing. You know the UNT gig was done
• 35:45
  and that, you know, I'm just literally starting from nothing.
• 35:49
  Looking for work? We're looking for work.
• 35:52
  And so and so then I hopped in with Cletus and went out and
• 35:56
  helped him, you know, for about a year or so.
• 36:00
  And as Jeff went on to do, you know what he mentioned in his
• 36:05
  episode? Whether so?
• 36:06
  Julie Roberts. Yeah.
• 36:07
  With Cletus though, is that, is that just him doing comedy stand
• 36:11
  up stuff? So it's.
• 36:12
  Just it was a mix of stuff. Yeah, it was just us.
• 36:15
  It was a mix of stuff. At that time, he was on tour
• 36:18
  with Trace Adkins and Montgomery Gentry when they were doing
• 36:21
  their headlining thing and they would flip flop headliners.
• 36:24
  He was on that and then, yeah, we were doing some clubs in
• 36:29
  between, which was rough. You know, comedy clubs are not
• 36:35
  easy because they're not set up for what he does, you know, at
• 36:38
  the time, you know, But he had great crowds.
• 36:41
  I mean, people loved it. Yeah.
• 36:43
  But. It's just tough playing those
• 36:45
  clubs, especially when you've gotten to a level and you got
• 36:47
  the notoriety and the fans. I mean, it's just tough.
• 36:49
  Like I said, facilities and that that world's caught up.
• 36:52
  But you know, a lot of times it was either kind of the same in
• 36:55
  the the music Club World, it's really a really nice club, or
• 36:58
  the majority are just smaller. Can be rough, you know.
• 37:02
  Yeah, and with him, you know, he he sings along and and sings and
• 37:06
  needed wedges and and music being played in those clubs at
• 37:10
  that time, you know, in the early 2000s, mid 2000s.
• 37:13
  I mean, they're just used to axe standing there with a microphone
• 37:16
  and we were playing in a whole different bang to it, you know,
• 37:20
  right, which was funny and it, you know, it's great.
• 37:23
  And he had. They didn't have the but they
• 37:25
  didn't have the the, the sound, the PA and the stuff.
• 37:27
  No, the wedges, you know, And I'm not a sound guy, you know, I
• 37:31
  don't advance production at all. I'm like you need to talk SO and
• 37:35
  stuff. Yes, I do.
• 37:36
  I know just enough to be dangerous and wreck our whole
• 37:39
  system. Yeah.
• 37:40
  Oh yeah, we carry racks and stacks.
• 37:42
  We're good, Yeah. Yeah, yeah, we got our looms and
• 37:44
  that thing over there. Yeah, we.
• 37:46
  Got. A snake?
• 37:47
  Yeah. 20 something years? I'll ask before the young crew
• 37:49
  people say hey I hear y'all say this word all the time.
• 37:52
  What does that mean? Yeah, yeah.
• 37:54
  Well, that's not our world. We've talked about that.
• 37:56
  Some people come from the production and some people
• 37:58
  don't. There's all kinds of ways to get
• 38:00
  to the finish line. You know, everybody's got their.
• 38:03
  I always, I tell Justin, it's like, it's like, I don't know if
• 38:07
  anybody remembers the like X-Men and and superhero baseball cards
• 38:12
  they used to have like the comic book character cards.
• 38:14
  And on the back it would have their attributes.
• 38:16
  It'd be like their stats would be on a baseball card, except
• 38:18
  for it was their attributes. It'd be like, you know,
• 38:21
  strength, you know, mental powers, you know, durability,
• 38:25
  whatever their stamina, whatever their different things, they'd
• 38:27
  have different ratings. So I think everybody's that.
• 38:30
  And it doesn't matter which rating you have higher or lower.
• 38:32
  It's just your combination rating that works for what what
• 38:35
  your superpower is, you know, because it's like incredible
• 38:37
  Hulk super strong. So he doesn't need to be super
• 38:40
  fast. You know, he's so you know, kind
• 38:42
  of thing. But, but everybody has their,
• 38:45
  their strong suits for sure. And you're, but you're, you
• 38:47
  coming from that background of broadcasting and being in a pub,
• 38:53
  you had No Fear of public speaking.
• 38:55
  You had No Fear of talking and, and being in front of people.
• 38:58
  If you didn't mind engaging the conversation with a club owner
• 39:01
  or a buyer or whoever to get things done and ask for things.
• 39:05
  Some people still, I know people that been in this business and
• 39:08
  still will ask, Hey, can you call a runner?
• 39:11
  And I'm like, will you have the numbers right there?
• 39:13
  Why I won't talk to them? And it's like you got, you
• 39:16
  should be able to talk to a runner, you know, but.
• 39:19
  So back to you when it worked. Yeah, yeah.
• 39:21
  And like when you're bringing up, you know, that Gary Allen
• 39:24
  show and seeing me up there. So, so that's where that's.
• 39:27
  Where's So where's the gap go there between Cletus into
• 39:31
  working for Gary Allen? Yeah, so, So what happened there
• 39:35
  was, you know, Cletus man, he he got on a run where he did
• 39:43
  morning radio and the big station down in Tampa.
• 39:48
  With Bubba. Yeah, the big station down in
• 39:51
  Tampa hired him to come down there and be the Cletus T Judd,
• 39:59
  you know, morning show. Right.
• 40:02
  And he crushed it and he did good, but he he moved down
• 40:05
  there. And so that was going to be what
• 40:07
  he did. And so, you know, when that when
• 40:11
  that I was kind of kind of back to the deal of like looking for
• 40:14
  work again. And, and Jeff was like, you
• 40:16
  know, you know, I think your next step, you know, now is
• 40:20
  going to be merch. You know, it's going to get you
• 40:22
  out there. It's going to get you a little
• 40:24
  taste of everything. And and he had introduced me to
• 40:27
  Jeremy Deloach at Richards and Southern and Todd Casey, brother
• 40:33
  Todd. And so I met with those guys and
• 40:38
  this was kind of towards the tail end of the touring season,
• 40:42
  right? So there wasn't much going on,
• 40:44
  but they they had me come up and I was when I was doing inventory
• 40:48
  in the warehouse, like the Axe were coming off the road for the
• 40:51
  year and we were just, you know, getting everything counted of
• 40:54
  what they had left and all that stuff.
• 40:58
  And then the guy that had been doing merch for Gary Allen, you
• 41:03
  know, was coming off the road and Jeremy and Todd were like,
• 41:07
  hey, you know, we're going to send you out with Gary Allen
• 41:11
  and, and Terry Cologne and, and they had known what I did for
• 41:18
  CNT and they had told John Lydell about it, Gary's manager.
• 41:23
  And so they wanted that, you know, when, when I went out with
• 41:30
  Gary, they, they wanted somebody to, you know, go up on stage
• 41:34
  and, you know, obviously push his merchandise and intro him
• 41:38
  and, and everything. So we had a big intro made and
• 41:42
  you know, all that stuff and that, and that's what you saw
• 41:44
  there in Ruston and so and it was great.
• 41:47
  It was, it was fun. It was back to doing stuff that
• 41:50
  I enjoyed and was used to doing and and yeah, and so.
• 41:55
  They put you on the road full time.
• 41:57
  You got to be on the bus, you got to be on the bus, you got to
• 42:00
  do the whole band, the crew. Gary had a big team at the time.
• 42:03
  Probably how many 3-4 buses at that time?
• 42:05
  Probably. He had he had he had two buses
• 42:07
  and it and it added a semi in the semi in the front and the
• 42:10
  front part was merch. Yep.
• 42:12
  And so that was my first time of, of getting there, like
• 42:15
  really organized stuff. And then and then he went out on
• 42:18
  tour with a trio called Rascal Flatts.
• 42:21
  So here I was back again with with those guys and I've gotten
• 42:26
  to know the crew you know very well.
• 42:30
  That makes it so much easier when you already know the camp.
• 42:34
  Yeah. And so it was, it was it was a
• 42:36
  fun summer that was in O 6 summer of O6 to be back out, you
• 42:41
  know, and and you know, one of those guys, John Garber, you
• 42:44
  know, he and his wife, I was in their wedding, they were in my
• 42:48
  wedding, you know, me and my wife's wedding.
• 42:49
  And so, so, yeah, that was that was a lot of fun.
• 42:55
  And that's, you know, where we were.
• 42:57
  And then and then that, you know, kind of ran its course
• 43:02
  and, and Gary was taken off and and stuff.
• 43:06
  And of course, we still needed to work.
• 43:07
  And Richardson Southern sent me out with with a artist named
• 43:12
  Trent Tomlinson. Trent, what a songwriter.
• 43:16
  I mean, great he was. A great live show.
• 43:19
  I mean, he I put him up with any I mean, like, Oh yeah, he on
• 43:23
  stage was strong, man. It was a really good show.
• 43:27
  He. Had that Jansen energy, but but
• 43:30
  he was jacked at the time. He'd go shirtless.
• 43:32
  He had that look with all that hair and he was dark.
• 43:34
  Never worked out and he never. Worked out his.
• 43:37
  Dad played basketball at the zoo.
• 43:39
  Was just a, was just a brick. I mean, he was a bull man and
• 43:43
  just genetics. But Trent worked a lot.
• 43:46
  I mean, we were playing every bar and club and radio show.
• 43:50
  I mean, he was at that point. But during that time I, you
• 43:54
  know, with Gary I, we were doing a lot of fairs and festivals and
• 43:57
  we happen to do a lot of shows with an act called Blake
• 44:00
  Shelton. And I got to know his merch guy
• 44:04
  at the time who was a high school buddy of his.
• 44:09
  And we stayed in touch, you know, and and everything.
• 44:12
  And one of the last shows we did with him, he was telling me
• 44:17
  that, you know, he had a little boy and he was like, I'm I'm
• 44:19
  probably going to come off the road, you know, would, would you
• 44:23
  be interested in in this when I come off the road?
• 44:26
  And I said, yeah, you know, absolutely.
• 44:28
  Like a big Blake pants still. And, you know, his music just
• 44:31
  always, you know, hit me, you know, like I just always, you
• 44:37
  know, gravitated towards his sound.
• 44:40
  And so anyway, Fast forward, I'm out with Trent, you know, and we
• 44:43
  get into the to the beginning of the year.
• 44:48
  Nobody's working. I'm back up at Richards in
• 44:50
  Southern helping them with the inventory, you know, trying to
• 44:54
  make some money, you know, stay alive in the winter time, as we
• 44:57
  all say. And Jeremy calls me into his
• 45:00
  office, Jeremy Deloach. And he says, hey, you know,
• 45:03
  we're going to switch things up for you this year.
• 45:07
  We got 2 acts. We're going to leave it up to
• 45:09
  you. One's a female act, one's a male
• 45:12
  act. And I'm like, OK, well, you
• 45:15
  know, tell me about them. And, and the, the male act was,
• 45:21
  was obviously Blake, you know, sort of like, hey, well, we've
• 45:24
  signed Blake Shelton and his guys coming off the road.
• 45:28
  You know, that's one act we want you to consider.
• 45:30
  And I said, OK, we'll tell me about the female act now.
• 45:32
  Like, OK, it's a younger female parents are out there going to
• 45:37
  be on a couple tours and you're not sure where it's going to
• 45:41
  lead to. But, you know, just being that
• 45:45
  type of environment with the parents out there, we feel like
• 45:48
  you would fit with them if that's a direction you want to
• 45:50
  go. And I was like, OK, like what is
• 45:53
  she got going on? She got one single out now, you
• 45:56
  know, it's doing OK. And I said, OK, what's what's
• 45:59
  the what's that act? And Oh yeah, Taylor Swift.
• 46:05
  And so I was like, OK, I said, well, you know, I just.
• 46:09
  I don't know about that, you know, with the parents out there
• 46:12
  and. And you're already a big Blake
• 46:14
  fan. And it's teenage and I had
• 46:16
  already told, you know, Blake's, you know, old guy that, you
• 46:20
  know, I would take it over and, and I said, well, I said I'll
• 46:23
  probably go with the Blake gig. And they're like, OK, well, you
• 46:27
  know, that's good 'cause they had asked for you anyway.
• 46:29
  And so, so then I go out with him and, and you end up riding
• 46:35
  the bus with him and, and, and Kevin candidate, tour manager at
• 46:40
  the time. And that, that was some of the
• 46:42
  best times of my life, man, just cause Blake is so easygoing and
• 46:46
  funny. And, you know, our deal, our
• 46:49
  deal was I'd get in after counting out merchant, he'd give
• 46:53
  me the iPod and say, man, start playing, start playing some
• 46:56
  music. And it was just all the good
• 46:58
  country songs, you know, it was just, that's what he wanted, you
• 47:02
  know, And we would stay up till the hours just listening.
• 47:07
  Yeah. You know.
• 47:08
  That's the best. Oh yeah.
• 47:10
  And it was just so much fun, you know, And so, you know, I'm with
• 47:14
  him. And then, you know, Fast forward
• 47:18
  several months later and, you know, another guy lived with us,
• 47:22
  with Jeff and I, and he worked for Dirks and did merch for
• 47:25
  Dirks Bentley. And he called me and said, hey,
• 47:29
  we might have an opportunity here if you're interested.
• 47:33
  And I was like, well, what is it?
• 47:35
  And he was just like, well, Dirks just signed a big, you
• 47:39
  know, sponsorship deal for Bud Light.
• 47:42
  And they're looking for somebody to kind of be their liaison
• 47:45
  between Dirks and Bud Light at at the shows.
• 47:49
  And, and I know you've done sponsorship stuff before with
• 47:52
  CMT, so, you know, I was going to put your name in the hat.
• 47:55
  And I was just like, I was really happy with Blake, but I
• 47:58
  didn't really work for Blake, you know?
• 48:00
  Yeah, you were still working for Richards and Southern.
• 48:02
  Yeah. And and it was always going to
• 48:05
  be that way, you know? Which, for people who don't know
• 48:07
  Richards and Southern, is one of the biggest merchandise
• 48:09
  companies in the. World in Nashville, certain,
• 48:13
  yeah. I mean, they've had all of them.
• 48:15
  I mean in half of the big ones, right?
• 48:17
  That's currently who we're with, Richard and Southern still.
• 48:19
  Sure. Right.
• 48:20
  And you mentioned Todd Casey earlier.
• 48:21
  I taught Todd, you know he's living over in Destin now.
• 48:24
  Yeah, yeah, yeah. He left South Florida and they
• 48:27
  moved up and up. Couldn't handle that South
• 48:29
  Florida. He said nobody could understand
• 48:30
  his Kentucky accent. He had to get up the Panhandle
• 48:34
  where people could understand him.
• 48:36
  And I know I think he had some health stuff and I think he's
• 48:38
  doing much better. So shout out brother Todd Casey
• 48:40
  and his wife Leslie. Hope y'all are doing great.
• 48:43
  He's another legend. He's another legend.
• 48:45
  Absolutely, Absolutely. And so anyway, so anyway, I meet
• 48:51
  with Dirks and everything and I decide to jump ship and I go do
• 48:54
  the sponsorship, you know, with Dirks, which was great.
• 48:57
  You know, I went to Saint Louis, to Budweiser and met with those
• 49:02
  people, which was the first real big time thing I've never done.
• 49:05
  I'm like, hey, you know, like this is legit.
• 49:08
  Wow. You know, And so, you know, I
• 49:12
  did that for about a year and a half and then Budweiser sales
• 49:19
  and and then I get the call of like they're the nuclear job
• 49:23
  dropping the program, you know, and and you know, Dirk's
• 49:27
  personally calls me the Dirks is and he's up there as far as you
• 49:32
  know, he's he's probably one of the, if not the best in the
• 49:37
  business as far as the way he treats his people and takes care
• 49:41
  of his people. He commute.
• 49:42
  I mean, we still text to this day.
• 49:44
  You know, he'll text me back. You know, he got me going on the
• 49:48
  cold plunges one year. But so that rent that kind of
• 49:52
  did its thing. And then once again, I'm back to
• 49:55
  like, well, OK, now what? And I had done everything but,
• 50:00
  but really tour man, I mean, Cletus was was tour managing,
• 50:03
  but it wasn't tour managing in the aspect of a crew and a band
• 50:06
  and the bus and drivers and everything.
• 50:09
  And Cagle was back working at the time and his tour manager
• 50:14
  had left. And so Jeff, you know, was like,
• 50:18
  Hey, man, I I can call Cagle personally and and get you a
• 50:22
  meeting. And he was managed by Doc McGee
• 50:24
  at the time the Legend Doc. McGee the legend.
• 50:27
  And and so he set that up, met with Cagle and that was my dive
• 50:34
  into who are managing with a full band and a crew and drivers
• 50:40
  and the whole thing and so jumped in.
• 50:44
  And you already knew some back on him because you'd already
• 50:46
  knew him. But boy, he's a handful too.
• 50:48
  Still a very passionate singer. We we've done some shows within
• 50:51
  the last couple years and he's still just a great singer, has
• 50:55
  great songs, but just he's passionate Buddy and I and
• 50:59
  talking to him backstage, he's he's usually, I mean, he's got
• 51:02
  he's, he's on it buddy and he's a ball of fun.
• 51:06
  And like I said, just a great country singer, Texas guy.
• 51:09
  But I can imagine, and anybody I've ever known that's ever
• 51:12
  worked with him, boy had some good stories about some fun
• 51:15
  times out of the road with Cagle.
• 51:17
  Yeah, man, he was great. He was really great with me.
• 51:22
  You know, obviously there's those stories, you know, that
• 51:24
  we've all heard, you know, about things and the passion you talk
• 51:30
  about. But you know, he was just, he
• 51:33
  was really great with me. He just wanted an hour heads up
• 51:36
  before meet and greet. And then he wanted a 30 minute
• 51:39
  reminder before meet and greet. And then I'd go up there, you
• 51:43
  know, 5 minutes before and he'd be sitting on the bus dressed,
• 51:47
  hat on. Or I mean, I never had to.
• 51:50
  I never had to tell him like, hey man, we got to go, you know,
• 51:54
  Like he was, he was on it, you know?
• 51:57
  I had never been quite that fortunate with anything.
• 52:01
  Down that, that's one. That's just one, you know.
• 52:04
  Yeah, right. And no kidding.
• 52:05
  Yeah. You know, so you mean with with
• 52:06
  him, you didn't have to go back and assume they were up because
• 52:10
  you you knew they were up earlier.
• 52:12
  And then you do the look look underneath the door of the back
• 52:15
  lounge to. See if it's dark.
• 52:16
  See if it's dark or if there's any shadows moving and you
• 52:19
  think, well, maybe they maybe they're just rested up, let me
• 52:22
  go. And then with 5 or 10 minutes
• 52:23
  out, you knock and you realize that you hit the little door and
• 52:26
  opens up and you realize they are completely asleep and.
• 52:30
  Yeah. We've got to adjust, adjust.
• 52:32
  Time adjust. We're in a holding pattern.
• 52:34
  Yeah, we're got Jr. for Jeff. We're going to push back five.
• 52:38
  Let's let's push start back. Five, Play another song.
• 52:40
  Play another song. Let's go in and make it 10.
• 52:42
  Let's push back 10. So but a lot of stuff, you know,
• 52:46
  you just, you just never know. And some people like John
• 52:50
  Pardee, prime, prime example, I remember when John we were
• 52:52
  running hard doing his radio tour and and you know, that is
• 52:57
  just an exhausting experience. Oh, isn't it?
• 53:00
  Yeah. Minimal sleep, you know, if you
• 53:02
  get to get, you know, get to get horizontal and get some rest at
• 53:07
  some point, it's just a luxury because usually you're sitting
• 53:09
  up in a van or in an airplane seat or something.
• 53:11
  But I can remember us, we'd get to a hotel or something.
• 53:13
  We just drop our stuff like, all right, we got to be down there,
• 53:16
  you know, 5 minutes, the, the vans, you know, the radio or the
• 53:20
  Rep or whoever's picking us up. And he's like, I got to, I got
• 53:22
  to lay down for a second. I was like, dude, we don't have
• 53:23
  time because he's, he's like, we have 15 minutes.
• 53:26
  I'm going to lay down for 9 minutes and I'll be ready to go.
• 53:30
  And I'm like, no, you're not. You're not.
• 53:31
  Going to lay down for. 9 minutes.
• 53:33
  You're not going to lay down and rest for 9 minutes and wake
• 53:36
  right back up. But sure enough, I could go to
• 53:38
  my room by the time I'd get back, I'd say as soon as I'd
• 53:42
  crack the door, before I could get hey buddy out of my mouth,
• 53:44
  he jumps up. All right, I'm ready to go now.
• 53:46
  And I'm like, that's a rare. That's rare because usually if
• 53:49
  you lay down for a second, you are groggy trying to get back
• 53:52
  up. But he was, he could bounce back
• 53:53
  and he literally needed sometimes 5 minutes to lay
• 53:55
  there. And I've done that.
• 53:56
  Later on I can go lay in my bunk, get steel for 10 minutes
• 53:59
  and not fall asleep when it's hot and you're busy, a busy day
• 54:02
  on site and get your eyes closed and just let your body reset for
• 54:05
  a second. It does.
• 54:07
  It does work. But yeah, they're all tight.
• 54:08
  So with Cagle, he was very punctual.
• 54:10
  Well, that was good and and y'all were rocking shows, I'm
• 54:13
  sure. Because he's always done good
• 54:15
  numbers and because again, he's got a great voice, always kept a
• 54:17
  great band around him, great songs.
• 54:20
  So you're out there doing the gig with Cagle.
• 54:23
  This would have been about what year with this been at this
• 54:26
  point. This would have been probably
• 54:31
  this would have been the middle of O8.
• 54:34
  O 8 OK, All right, so you're on this gig.
• 54:38
  How long does this gig last? So this gig, that gig lasted
• 54:42
  almost two years. You know, while I was out there,
• 54:49
  you know, there was a new artist coming up that somebody had hit
• 54:52
  me up about and hey, you should keep an eye on this one.
• 54:57
  It's managed by, you know, he's managed by Doug and Trey, which
• 55:00
  were Rascal Platts's managers at the time, Doug Nichols and Trey
• 55:04
  Turner and who I known, you know, from the Dang Brooks and
• 55:08
  Dunn tour, you know, in O3 right.
• 55:12
  And so, you know, this guy named Easton Corbin.
• 55:15
  And so, you know, I was watching his single a little more country
• 55:18
  than that. You know, it it it it came out
• 55:23
  in O 9, you know, and it was like the second coming of
• 55:26
  straight at the time. People were like, it sounds like
• 55:29
  George Strait, you know, whatever.
• 55:30
  And so I was keeping an eye on it.
• 55:33
  And then, you know, I'd run into Doug Nichols somewhere We got
• 55:40
  talking about it. And he's just like, man, we're,
• 55:42
  we're doing the radio stuff right now.
• 55:44
  But you know, it's when, when it's time, we're, we're going to
• 55:47
  need somebody. And he's like, I'm going to call
• 55:50
  you. And I was like, OK.
• 55:52
  And sure enough, he did. And this would have been, you
• 55:55
  know, probably early spring of 2010 and single went #1.
• 56:01
  And then on his number one party for a little more country than
• 56:06
  that. It's the same day that I met
• 56:08
  with Easton and Doug and made it official that I was going to go
• 56:12
  out on on the road with him. Yeah.
• 56:14
  Good timing. And during this time is when you
• 56:17
  and I reconnect. We're at CRS week.
• 56:21
  We're in a suite upstairs shuttling artists through.
• 56:23
  By this time I'm with John Party.
• 56:25
  I would say this is probably 11 or maybe I'm.
• 56:30
  I'm with Jon Pardi. We're walking through, talking
• 56:32
  to people and I see Easton come through because I was aware of
• 56:35
  who he was, hadn't met him yet. Big fan like you were.
• 56:37
  Loved his sound. And I noticed this guy walking
• 56:41
  behind him and I do a double take.
• 56:43
  And I said, and then, you know, you, I didn't bother you right
• 56:46
  then, but you stepped off and he was talking.
• 56:48
  And when you were free for a second, I said, hey, do you used
• 56:51
  to work for Gary Allen? And you were like, yeah.
• 56:54
  And I pulled up my phone and I had Chris Gary Allen still in my
• 56:58
  phone, and you pull out and you had Jr.
• 57:00
  Wayne Mills in your phone steal from that.
• 57:02
  And you were like, holy. Crap.
• 57:03
  Flip phones flip. Phones flip.
• 57:05
  Phones yes, I think I actually at the time I had a BlackBerry.
• 57:08
  This might have been the BlackBerry day.
• 57:09
  I might have had the BlackBerry because I had an e-mail with it
• 57:12
  didn't have anybody to e-mail hardly yet, but I could e-mail
• 57:15
  if I needed to just look pro looked like I was that's the
• 57:17
  thing. I never was a great tour
• 57:18
  manager, still not, but I look like.
• 57:20
  It I know what I'm doing. I think I upgraded after I saw
• 57:23
  you had one. I was like.
• 57:26
  Yeah, that was an upgrade between my flip phone, my razor
• 57:29
  and a Palm Pilot because before I had a Palm Pilot, so I could
• 57:33
  do note with Wayne, I had that and that it would take pictures.
• 57:35
  Also before you had a phone with a picture of the Palm Pilot.
• 57:37
  They were terrible, but at least I could get some pictures.
• 57:41
  So we so I we we catch up, we're like, I'm like, who are you
• 57:44
  with? He's like, I'm Easton's tour
• 57:45
  manager. I'm like, I'm with this new kid
• 57:47
  on Capitol John party and we reconnect.
• 57:50
  I still have you as Chris Gary on the phone, yes.
• 57:54
  Keep it. Keep it that way.
• 57:55
  Always and but we, we reconnect then and you know, we, we're
• 58:00
  like, all right, let's catch up soon because we know we're going
• 58:02
  to be running the same circles you got, you're with a hot act.
• 58:05
  I'm with a new one. So we're sure we'll be in the
• 58:07
  same, you know, system here soon.
• 58:10
  And and then that was it. Then we said then we've seen
• 58:13
  each other every month or couple of months for the last.
• 58:16
  So that would have been 11. So the past 14 years we've been
• 58:21
  buddies in Nashville. Since then we didn't.
• 58:24
  And like I've said on here before and our friends talk
• 58:27
  amongst ourselves. Unless you're on the same tour,
• 58:30
  you're not going to see your other buddies in Nashville.
• 58:33
  Because when you're always off on different days or home and or
• 58:36
  got other obligations when you are home and you just don't get
• 58:39
  to see each other that much off the road, you'll see your
• 58:42
  friends in Nashville at a festival faster than you will
• 58:45
  somewhere in Nashville. That's just the way it always
• 58:47
  works. Would you agree?
• 58:49
  100% yeah. That's why.
• 58:51
  I mean, the award shows and and stuff like that I always enjoy
• 58:55
  just because that was the time to see.
• 58:58
  Same. Every Yeah, you know, everybody
• 58:59
  was in one place, you know. Same.
• 59:01
  Yeah, but I used to love doing those with John.
• 59:04
  I went to a few with Justin, Obviously he doesn't do them
• 59:06
  anymore. So yeah, I miss that.
• 59:08
  Yeah, we, yeah, same. I mean, you know, I went with
• 59:12
  Kenny to the AC Ms. three or four years ago was the last one
• 59:16
  we we went to and he was doing something out there, so I rolled
• 59:20
  with him. But but, yeah, you know, yeah.
• 59:24
  But and and then so then Easton and you're with Easton for a
• 59:27
  good long while and then that transitions into I get a call
• 59:32
  from you. Oh, you, you can tell us the
• 59:34
  year. But I get a call from, you know,
• 59:36
  like I'm making a move. Not with Easton anymore.
• 59:40
  I'm going to go work with big and Rich.
• 59:42
  Yeah, and I. Was like, well, how about that?
• 59:45
  And it was a shock because you've been with Easton a long
• 59:47
  time at that point. Yeah, yeah.
• 59:50
  Was eight years with Easton and, and we did a lot of I mean, we,
• 59:55
  we worked a lot, you know, we did every, every.
• 59:58
  Easton doesn't have historically not married, doesn't have kids
• 1:00:00
  that that guy will go work. Yeah, I mean, we, every radio
• 1:00:04
  show you could think of, which as you know, are Tuesdays and
• 1:00:07
  Wednesdays during the week, sometimes on a Monday, and then
• 1:00:11
  we're back out, you know, for the regular shows over the
• 1:00:14
  weekend. And, you know, we, we did a lot
• 1:00:17
  of wonderful things, man. I mean, it was, it was a good
• 1:00:21
  experience. You know, we did some cool
• 1:00:23
  stuff. You know, we did a flats tour
• 1:00:26
  again and Justin was on there. We had a Blake tour, Justin was
• 1:00:30
  on there. We did Paisley a few times,
• 1:00:32
  Justin was on there. You know, so it was just like
• 1:00:35
  that circle you're staying in. And then, you know, it's just as
• 1:00:40
  this business is, you know, it just kind of things run their
• 1:00:45
  course and times run out and, and, you know, I was just gone
• 1:00:52
  all the time, you know, and. Well, and people don't and and
• 1:00:56
  it's not it's you hear the stories and you would think, you
• 1:00:59
  know, everybody's got their same band, their same crew their
• 1:01:01
  whole career. That's very rare.
• 1:01:03
  I mean, like I mean a lot of I mean to get eight years with one
• 1:01:07
  act is a milestone. I mean, I'm AI feel like I'm a
• 1:01:11
  rarity because I've only worked for three or four artists ever
• 1:01:14
  and I've been doing it 20 something years.
• 1:01:16
  Most, most move around because things change like you're saying
• 1:01:22
  you, I hope none of this ever happens.
• 1:01:24
  But when you have vocal problems or you just have to be abruptly
• 1:01:27
  stopped for whatever reason, family situations, you've got
• 1:01:32
  kids, you got things you need to do, career stuff you want to do
• 1:01:35
  a different this you want to scale down.
• 1:01:36
  I mean, there's all kind of different scenarios why things
• 1:01:39
  change with the artist and the individual within that camp that
• 1:01:43
  things are what they are. You may decide you're done.
• 1:01:46
  I have a kid. You come off that they can't
• 1:01:48
  wait for you for a year to come back on the road.
• 1:01:50
  They get somebody to fill the spot, it's time to come back.
• 1:01:53
  Don't have that spot anymore. They don't really want to just
• 1:01:55
  give it up. Well, you find a new gig and
• 1:01:58
  you're with, you know, even if you don't think you might go
• 1:02:00
  into another business for two years and then get back into
• 1:02:02
  into music. I mean, it's just that that's
• 1:02:05
  very common. And I would say it's the rarity
• 1:02:08
  to be with, you know, a guitar player who's been with an act
• 1:02:11
  for 30 years is so rare. Same with a manager, any of
• 1:02:16
  that. So, so things just happen.
• 1:02:17
  Things just run their course. Yeah, You know what with with
• 1:02:20
  us, you know, the, you know, the, the deal with Mercury had
• 1:02:23
  gone away, right. And so, you know, it was just
• 1:02:29
  kind of like, you know, you, you go and do all this stuff for
• 1:02:33
  these eight years and then that happens and it's like.
• 1:02:37
  Yep. Are we, are we starting over?
• 1:02:39
  You know and. Well, that's not with John and
• 1:02:41
  I. When I left John where we I went
• 1:02:45
  and worked for Justin and he was going to take a month or two off
• 1:02:48
  to go hunting in South Africa. Well, I couldn't be off for two
• 1:02:50
  months. Needed something to do.
• 1:02:52
  I got him a he really needed a production manager to make sure
• 1:02:55
  he had a album out on the charts.
• 1:02:57
  I was trying to half ass be the production guy.
• 1:03:01
  We had to get somebody could handle that.
• 1:03:02
  So it worked out for it wasn't I wanted to leave John mad at
• 1:03:04
  John. He wasn't mad at me.
• 1:03:05
  That's just like again, things just happen.
• 1:03:07
  And I wasn't going to say, well, you can't go hunting with your
• 1:03:09
  dad on this once in a lifetime hunt because me and these
• 1:03:12
  knuckleheads need a job for a month, you know, I mean, it is
• 1:03:15
  what it is so. Yeah, yeah.
• 1:03:17
  And so, you know, with him, that's that's kind of where it
• 1:03:20
  was at. You know, the the deal had gone
• 1:03:22
  away and you know, there's change in management and there
• 1:03:26
  was just all this stuff and and I was just you're like. 200 and
• 1:03:32
  something dates on the road a year.
• 1:03:33
  I'm like, yeah, maybe I could look for something else.
• 1:03:36
  Yeah, it was just, yeah, it was definitely a lot of that just
• 1:03:42
  the unknown of like and we because it's it was just like
• 1:03:47
  you go and do all that stuff for those many years and then and
• 1:03:51
  then it's never it never really panned out, you know, to the
• 1:03:55
  next level, so to speak. And so I decided to just wit,
• 1:04:00
  you know, I didn't have another gig.
• 1:04:02
  I didn't have anything lined up. I was just at a point where
• 1:04:05
  Chris Tate needed some Chris Tate time.
• 1:04:09
  Like I I didn't want to answer a phone call.
• 1:04:12
  I didn't want to set another bus call time.
• 1:04:15
  I didn't want to call another promoter to advance a show.
• 1:04:18
  I just. Needed I don't care what
• 1:04:20
  everybody's going to eat for lunch and.
• 1:04:21
  Dinner. No, Yeah, I need, I need to just
• 1:04:25
  step back here and have some time for my bill.
• 1:04:28
  And thank God I did. And I got, you know, a few calls
• 1:04:33
  right off the bat from some people and in our circle.
• 1:04:36
  And and it was it was with acts that I knew were going to be,
• 1:04:41
  they had, they had a lot going on at the time, but it was going
• 1:04:43
  to be, you know, work. I mean, it was going to be radio
• 1:04:48
  stuff and it was going to be, you know, every festival and
• 1:04:52
  fair and nightclub in the country and a tour here and
• 1:04:56
  there, you know, And I just didn't want to do that at the
• 1:05:00
  time. Right.
• 1:05:01
  So about a month goes by and a guy calls me Eric Hood, who was
• 1:05:07
  Easton's monitor guy in the in the beginning.
• 1:05:10
  Well, he was a monitor guy for Big and Rich.
• 1:05:13
  And he called me and he said, hey, man, I hear you're not with
• 1:05:16
  Easton. And I said, yeah, I said I just
• 1:05:18
  kind of been, you know, taking some time.
• 1:05:21
  He's like, you got anything lined up?
• 1:05:22
  And I was just like, no, you know, I'm just kind of taking my
• 1:05:25
  time here, you know, and, and he was just like, well, our tour
• 1:05:30
  managers leaving and this is what we do is about as many
• 1:05:36
  dates as we do. And you know, John Kenny
• 1:05:40
  typically fly in and fly out, you know, type of deal.
• 1:05:44
  Is that something you'd want to, you know, talk?
• 1:05:47
  It's a salary gig. It's, you know, whatever I said,
• 1:05:51
  yeah, I said I'll, I'll meet with management, you know, like
• 1:05:55
  that sounds OK. And so I met with, you know, the
• 1:05:57
  manager, Charlie Panaccio and Panera Bread on West End with
• 1:06:02
  that. And yeah, he just kind of told
• 1:06:05
  me like, hey, you know, John and Kenny, they just want to do this
• 1:06:08
  number of dates and they want to be home as long as they can and
• 1:06:11
  they want to get back as quick as they can.
• 1:06:13
  And so, you know, they're not they're not going to get on the
• 1:06:17
  bus at midnight and go, you know, we're they're going to fly
• 1:06:22
  in the day of and we have another show.
• 1:06:25
  They ride the bus to that show and then we'll fly home or
• 1:06:28
  something. But, you know, it's it's about,
• 1:06:30
  you know, when it was, it was a pretty good deal.
• 1:06:33
  And I was just like, you know, OK, yeah, I'll give it a shot.
• 1:06:36
  And here we are seven years later.
• 1:06:38
  And thank God I did because honestly, I probably wouldn't be
• 1:06:41
  married or have a kid had that had that phone call not happened
• 1:06:46
  because it allowed me to be home.
• 1:06:49
  Jolene, my wife and I known each other for 12 years, but a lot of
• 1:06:53
  that time was during those eight years with Easton where I was
• 1:06:57
  just gone and she's a business owner and she was starting her
• 1:07:00
  business up and there just wasn't there just wasn't the
• 1:07:05
  schedule, you know, to be together.
• 1:07:08
  And so, you know, the big and rich gig allowed me to be home
• 1:07:13
  more and, and we always stayed in touch and we, you know,
• 1:07:19
  started hanging out more and more.
• 1:07:21
  And then 2020 happens and the, and the quarantine happens.
• 1:07:25
  And she was just like, I don't want to quarantine by myself.
• 1:07:28
  And I was like, I don't want to quarantine by myself.
• 1:07:30
  And so we quarantined together and then that led to, you know,
• 1:07:35
  the engagement and we got married pretty quick in 2020.
• 1:07:39
  And then we had our son and, and it all goes back probably the
• 1:07:43
  big and rich gig. I mean, had I not taken that
• 1:07:46
  gig, you know, that probably didn't happen.
• 1:07:49
  Right, You wouldn't have had the time, you wouldn't have been
• 1:07:51
  off, you wouldn't have, you know, had the, had the freedom
• 1:07:53
  and flexibility to, to attempt these things.
• 1:07:57
  And that's, and that's a big part of it is, is the, is the,
• 1:08:00
  the free time, you know, having a manageable workload.
• 1:08:02
  You know, some people want to be gone all the time and live and
• 1:08:04
  not and have a storage building and, and, and some of us, it was
• 1:08:07
  OK for a little while. Now we've moved on past that at
• 1:08:11
  this stage in our career. Well, that's, that's interesting
• 1:08:15
  because I didn't know of and you know, we've known each other
• 1:08:16
  that long and there's a few of those gaps in there what I
• 1:08:19
  didn't actually even know. And then it's funny, like you
• 1:08:21
  mentioned that all the, the, there's so many tie insurance
• 1:08:25
  because when you're mentioning the flats tour and the Blake
• 1:08:27
  tour, I'm like, that was a lot of Justin's early tours.
• 1:08:29
  By the time flat was huge. He was out opening for them and
• 1:08:32
  Blake and you, you were there with them kind of on their way
• 1:08:34
  up and just all the connections there.
• 1:08:39
  It's just fascinating, really. And then for us to reconnect
• 1:08:42
  with with the young artist in Nashville after all those years
• 1:08:45
  in a cold field in Louisiana. I mean.
• 1:08:47
  Just I was so looking forward to telling this this story and
• 1:08:51
  talking about this when when you came on as a guest because
• 1:08:56
  people ask, you know what, how'd you get there?
• 1:08:58
  Once you this is all parts of that story and it's so many of
• 1:09:01
  them. It's so many little tidbits to
• 1:09:03
  add to things. Yeah.
• 1:09:06
  That make up the grand story and there's still a pile of stuff in
• 1:09:10
  yours that you left out for time's sake that you we just
• 1:09:14
  forgot because you can't remember everything.
• 1:09:17
  And then we end up working for two artists like you work for
• 1:09:21
  John and Kenny, which I'm, I've known them since the days of out
• 1:09:25
  at White's Creek at the Richard's Cafe and all that.
• 1:09:30
  Stuff. Yeah, the misfits and all that
• 1:09:32
  stuff. I was living in White's Creek,
• 1:09:33
  Tennessee, right, where they all were congregating all the time.
• 1:09:36
  So all those connections and then with Wayne Mills and then
• 1:09:40
  now we both work for these these artists that are outspoken
• 1:09:45
  conservative Republican artists that that Christians that don't
• 1:09:50
  get that that you know, can get a can get a unfair shake it in
• 1:09:54
  this business and entertainment in general.
• 1:09:57
  And we both happen to work for two strongly opinionated and and
• 1:10:02
  non wavering on their values and beliefs and morals on these
• 1:10:05
  things. And it's just interesting.
• 1:10:08
  It came from a field frozen feet in Louisiana.
• 1:10:10
  And here we are working for two artists that we are and and we
• 1:10:15
  have a mutual super fan, super fan, Miss Rachel, ditzy cowgirl
• 1:10:20
  and she is always on me you when you do the podcast with Tate.
• 1:10:24
  You guys have to set up AJM big and rich tour or some shows at
• 1:10:29
  least. She said I'd love to go to my
• 1:10:30
  she said y'all are all on the same page on everything.
• 1:10:33
  Why don't I get to buy 1 ticket and see both of you guys?
• 1:10:35
  So I told her we would work on that.
• 1:10:38
  So I'll mention that Jay, I know Justin would be all about it.
• 1:10:40
  So if you get a chance, tell the boys any tour things pop up and
• 1:10:44
  I'll make sure to tell ours. We'd love to do a couple of at
• 1:10:46
  least a couple of shows together at some point because I don't
• 1:10:49
  think maybe outside of a festival here and there, I don't
• 1:10:52
  think I've done any shows with Big and Rich ever, which is
• 1:10:58
  crazy. Well, even with Jon Pardi, since
• 1:11:00
  we were on tour with Justin until now, we've done one
• 1:11:03
  festival together in the last 13 years.
• 1:11:06
  Yeah, it's crazy how that how that plays out.
• 1:11:10
  But yeah, I mean, I'm getting on a plane with them here in just a
• 1:11:13
  few hours. We got to go do a show in
• 1:11:15
  Charlotte. We a lot of private shows is
• 1:11:17
  what we do, which probably is why we're not on some of the
• 1:11:21
  stuff. But man, wouldn't that be a
• 1:11:25
  killer show? Justin and those guys?
• 1:11:27
  Maybe we'll get to do some, some, you know, a private thing,
• 1:11:30
  a corporate thing or a fundraiser type thing because we
• 1:11:32
  do some of that. Not as much, you know, but
• 1:11:34
  we're, we're getting into doing some more of that.
• 1:11:38
  Yeah, I mean that's. That's my gig this weekend.
• 1:11:40
  I've got a one off private event at a big business in
• 1:11:45
  Mississippi, nowhere Mississippi, some huge facility.
• 1:11:47
  They do a big yearly party for their employees and have big act
• 1:11:50
  every year and a big crawfish bowl.
• 1:11:51
  So that's where we're going to get a one off Saturday, same
• 1:11:53
  thing. I'm going to drive.
• 1:11:54
  I don't get to fly in a private jet like you, but I'll, I'll
• 1:11:56
  drive my truck. I'll drive my F-150 to
• 1:11:58
  Mississippi. Yeah, well, I know you got to
• 1:12:01
  get gone. You got all kinds of stuff to
• 1:12:02
  do, but I want to get a few things that we do every yeah
• 1:12:07
  with every guest on here before we get you out of here stand.
• 1:12:10
  By Stand by, Kenny's texting me, right?
• 1:12:12
  OK, go ahead. See.
• 1:12:13
  What he says. Any chance?
• 1:12:19
  Exclusive Big Kenny texting. Asking are we going to have any
• 1:12:22
  food on the jet? It's a jet, buddy.
• 1:12:25
  You have whatever you want. Me and Justin, when we used to
• 1:12:27
  fly private, we just throw out some random requests sometimes
• 1:12:30
  and buddy, they can make it happen.
• 1:12:33
  It's going to run you. It's better to stop and get some
• 1:12:36
  in and out on the way. But.
• 1:12:38
  Well, I'll pick up. What's what's what's John and
• 1:12:45
  Kenny's food of choice? What's their normal preferences?
• 1:12:48
  Are they are they on the Chinese buffet train like Brother Jeff
• 1:12:52
  or they chicken and dumplings like me?
• 1:12:57
  Man, they're not real picky at all.
• 1:12:59
  You know that, you know, this will probably be some grilled
• 1:13:01
  chicken salads from Jonathan's or somewhere, you know, that I
• 1:13:05
  can pick up and go. And, you know, yeah, they
• 1:13:09
  typically eat a little something on the plane because like most
• 1:13:12
  artists, they don't want to eat a lot before they go on stage.
• 1:13:14
  Right. Too close before the time to go
• 1:13:17
  on. Yeah, absolutely.
• 1:13:18
  Yeah. I'm going to have, you know, my,
• 1:13:19
  my assistant, Nathan Howard, I'm going to have him on at some
• 1:13:22
  point. He's he's got some.
• 1:13:23
  You know, he also works for Hank Junior, so he's got some.
• 1:13:25
  That's what I want to hear. I want to hear that.
• 1:13:27
  Yeah, he's got some. I will not be taking the out in.
• 1:13:31
  That yeah, he's got some good because Hank has some kind of,
• 1:13:35
  not specific, but there's certain things he likes and
• 1:13:37
  Nathan will have to go fine. Like, you know, what is the one?
• 1:13:40
  Some kind of is it some veal piccata or some Italian dish?
• 1:13:45
  And he'll be in nowhere, Oklahoma trying to find this
• 1:13:47
  Italian. What?
• 1:13:48
  Do you mean they don't have it? Yeah, so we'll get him.
• 1:13:51
  Before we wrap here, let me, let me.
• 1:13:55
  I've got to see who's at the door.
• 1:13:56
  Real. Quick.
• 1:13:56
  Yeah, go ahead. No, I just be.
• 1:13:57
  In I'll be right back. OK, All right, get the head
• 1:14:01
  while I was up. So I don't blame you.
• 1:14:04
  I'll get this going over here. What's your birthday?
• 1:14:07
  My birthday is November 1st 19178. 11178 I am a 9/11/79.
• 1:14:20
  Really 911? Yes, 911.
• 1:14:22
  How about that? Also, birth date of Alabama
• 1:14:27
  legend Paul Bear Bryant. Wow, it's his.
• 1:14:33
  It's his birthday for it was mine and my cousin John John in
• 1:14:37
  Louisiana. My mom is 912 shares a birthday
• 1:14:43
  with George Jones. Oh so we're November 1st 19 78
• 1:14:50
  I'll do this first we do several things on the way out here with
• 1:14:55
  each one of our guests. One of them I wanted to do is
• 1:14:58
  big number in your phone who and you've got some good ones buddy,
• 1:15:04
  of all the numbers you have in your phone, if you had one that
• 1:15:08
  either people would think it's like, wow, I can't believe they
• 1:15:10
  got the number or to you personally, you're like of all
• 1:15:13
  the numbers I have, this one is is just kind of surprising that
• 1:15:16
  I have this number. What's?
• 1:15:17
  I got this guy. I got this guy's name and number
• 1:15:20
  that goes by the handler in here you.
• 1:15:24
  Got a dream? Bigger buddy.
• 1:15:27
  Well, as I'm sure you know, I mean, artists change their
• 1:15:30
  number all the time. Yeah.
• 1:15:32
  So. Oh yeah, I mean.
• 1:15:33
  But is there? Is there?
• 1:15:35
  A in the athlete. I doubt Blake's number is is the
• 1:15:40
  same as it was, but this is in there.
• 1:15:42
  The guys from Platts are in there.
• 1:15:45
  Obviously John and Kenny are you know, they're they're in there.
• 1:15:50
  Stone Cold Steve Austin in the non country world.
• 1:15:52
  That's what I'm talking about there.
• 1:15:54
  Now we're talking. Yeah, he and I text quite often.
• 1:16:02
  I was out, you know, we actually got to go to his house last
• 1:16:04
  year. We were out.
• 1:16:04
  We went to his ranch. He is neighbors with Cody who
• 1:16:08
  produces this podcast is one of Justin's manager his he Steve
• 1:16:12
  bought the land next to his grandparents out in Nevada.
• 1:16:15
  Nevada. Yeah, no kidding.
• 1:16:17
  Yeah, right. And his and his family's had
• 1:16:18
  that land since the 70s and there was nothing there and he
• 1:16:21
  actually his dad and granddad and them were helping take care
• 1:16:24
  of some of Steve's stuff and using different things.
• 1:16:26
  He came over on the four Wheeler.
• 1:16:27
  We called up for a minute. We had a show after we were
• 1:16:30
  playing in Reno. So tell him we said hello.
• 1:16:32
  I don't know if he remembers or not, but we had that mutual
• 1:16:34
  connection because I'm obviously friends with Diamond Dallas
• 1:16:37
  Paige and they were roommates and all that stuff.
• 1:16:39
  So it was great to catch up with Steve.
• 1:16:42
  He is, I told everybody, I said his hands are still massive.
• 1:16:46
  They are just some big meaty hands and he has got water hoses
• 1:16:50
  for veins in his arms. He's just strong.
• 1:16:52
  Just just a bull. He's just like a gorilla.
• 1:16:55
  I mean, we said Justin said when he pulled up on this floor with
• 1:16:58
  biggest four Wheeler you can get, it looks like he could have
• 1:17:01
  just pulled up on it and just put it over his back when he got
• 1:17:03
  there. That's how he was just mad.
• 1:17:05
  But that's a good one. And I thought, I thought you
• 1:17:07
  would have said the president. I figured you would have had a
• 1:17:10
  president's number too. I don't have his, but it's
• 1:17:12
  funny. I mean, I do have some some
• 1:17:15
  people in there. I mean, John, it's just so
• 1:17:17
  random. Like, he'll put me on an e-mail
• 1:17:19
  with somebody. And there's people like Newt
• 1:17:21
  Gingrich, Christie Gnome, you know, I'm sure Sarah Huckabee,
• 1:17:28
  I'm sure you guys are tight with her.
• 1:17:29
  Like. Her on Gino.
• 1:17:33
  And you're friends with Tommy The the, the anchor that does
• 1:17:41
  all the political stuff. Tommy, What's her name?
• 1:17:43
  Tommy Lahren. Yeah, she's in there.
• 1:17:45
  Yeah. I.
• 1:17:47
  Know your buddies with her. Wow, well that's some good ones.
• 1:17:50
  We're going to go with Stone Cold because I bet most people
• 1:17:52
  would lose. Probably got the most followers
• 1:17:55
  you went by social media numbers.
• 1:17:57
  Right. He's.
• 1:17:58
  Out there. Well, and.
• 1:18:00
  Get him on here. I need to, he doesn't do a lot
• 1:18:03
  of this stuff, but I, you know, he's one of the inspirations for
• 1:18:05
  me actually, actually doing a podcast.
• 1:18:07
  If you want to go back and listen to some good information,
• 1:18:10
  if you like pro wrestling, especially music, music
• 1:18:13
  sprinkled in there because he's a big country fan.
• 1:18:15
  He is, yeah. And most of those wrestlers were
• 1:18:18
  as if you've watched any of the The Young Rock or any of that
• 1:18:20
  stuff. But the Stone Cold Steve Austin
• 1:18:23
  podcast, Unleashed with Stone Cold was a great podcast and
• 1:18:28
  it's one of the first ones I listen to it before I listen to
• 1:18:30
  Joe Rogan. That and Jim Ross, The Ross
• 1:18:34
  Report with Jim Ross. Those are two podcasts I
• 1:18:36
  listened to before anything and they're both great.
• 1:18:40
  It's interesting, you know, talking, getting to know him and
• 1:18:42
  just talking business stuff. It's very similar, similar to to
• 1:18:45
  us as far as logistics stuff. I mean, they travel, you know,
• 1:18:49
  in between, they get to the venue, they got dressing rooms,
• 1:18:53
  they got catering, you know, they got everything's based off
• 1:18:57
  time, which our world runs off time.
• 1:18:59
  What time do we leave? What time do we get there?
• 1:19:01
  When do we load in, when do we eat, when do we play, when do we
• 1:19:04
  leave, you know, all the same stuff.
• 1:19:06
  It's just, it's interesting, but.
• 1:19:08
  And kind of working your way up, paying the dues too.
• 1:19:10
  When you start out there, you're in a, you're in your car and
• 1:19:13
  you're driving yourself and you don't have any help and you're
• 1:19:15
  not getting paid crap. And then you, you know.
• 1:19:17
  And then now some unleashed buses from the same bus
• 1:19:20
  companies that we use, you know. And fly, I mean, when I pull up
• 1:19:23
  to get on the crew bus the other week, because I fly to Nashville
• 1:19:26
  some and it'll just jump on the crew bus, there's all the WWE
• 1:19:29
  buses in the parking lot out there.
• 1:19:31
  And I'm like, yeah, they're based out of here too.
• 1:19:32
  Well the next thing I have on here is birth birthday #1 So in
• 1:19:37
  November 1st 1978 your parents are pulling out of the parking
• 1:19:41
  lot of the of the hospital. Joplin, MO.
• 1:19:44
  In Joplin, MO, it's a fine November day wasn't storming,
• 1:19:47
  wasn't too cold. Beautiful day.
• 1:19:49
  The sun broke through the clouds just a little as they're pulling
• 1:19:52
  out and they turn on the radio and lawn.
• 1:19:54
  Hilton's on there to say in the number one song in country music
• 1:19:57
  today is. I might have a an idea.
• 1:20:03
  Do you can I get a hint? Wow, male artist.
• 1:20:09
  OK. Actually just did a big farewell
• 1:20:13
  last show in town thing for him last year with a bunch of acts.
• 1:20:17
  Can't remember if you were there or not.
• 1:20:18
  Was not. He man dominated the charts in
• 1:20:24
  the 80s. Facial hair.
• 1:20:28
  No facial hair. No facial hair.
• 1:20:32
  Oh man, I I was going to guess. And a unique artist in a percept
• 1:20:36
  in a in a in a way of had a a disability.
• 1:20:40
  He turned into an ability and and and never shield from it and
• 1:20:45
  used it. Well then that would tell me Mel
• 1:20:48
  Tillis, but I was thinking it was going to be Kenny Rogers,
• 1:20:51
  the gambler. Oh that'd be a good one.
• 1:20:53
  This similar era more of a straight country guy.
• 1:21:00
  A disability would would be a disability but never slowed him
• 1:21:04
  down. Several other artists similar
• 1:21:07
  disability over the years. Becomes Ronnie Milsap.
• 1:21:09
  There you go. What song?
• 1:21:13
  Let's take the long way around the world.
• 1:21:16
  Oh man, yeah. That work, that makes so much
• 1:21:21
  sense for you too. You're born and and that's it.
• 1:21:23
  Let's take the long way around the world.
• 1:21:25
  Your parents probably drove around just to let you sleep and
• 1:21:27
  look at you while they were driving you home that day.
• 1:21:29
  I almost guessed Elvira. You know what that would that's
• 1:21:34
  that's in that error too. Do you know what mine was the
• 1:21:36
  next year? About roughly a little less than
• 1:21:38
  a year later. Give me a hint.
• 1:21:44
  Birth name Harold Lloyd Jenkins. Oh, that's Conway Twitty.
• 1:21:49
  The song I may never get to heaven.
• 1:21:53
  No. But I won't.
• 1:21:55
  K. 90 close. Ain't that something how they
• 1:21:57
  how they work those out? Isn't that something how that
• 1:21:59
  always works? Out How about Conway Twitty?
• 1:22:02
  I'm a dreamer and you're the dream.
• 1:22:04
  So, so many good ones. I mean, with, with, with that
• 1:22:07
  velour jumpsuit with that chest hair hanging out in his emblem
• 1:22:11
  and that hair perfect. Every woman in the crowd losing
• 1:22:15
  their mind. All right.
• 1:22:16
  Take this pic. Absolutely, Ronnie.
• 1:22:21
  Long way. All right, next number we've got
• 1:22:28
  or next item we have Mount Rushmore of music.
• 1:22:33
  Doesn't have to be country, just your personal Mount Rushmore.
• 1:22:37
  Oh yeah man, I think about this a lot.
• 1:22:39
  I get asked this a lot too. It's almost impossible to answer
• 1:22:46
  right? But how many are we putting on
• 1:22:51
  On the mountain? 4 Just 4. 4 can be a group, can
• 1:22:56
  be a duo counts as one. Well, I think, I think, I think
• 1:23:02
  you have to have Elvis and Michael Jackson on there as far
• 1:23:10
  as music. I mean, when you think about
• 1:23:13
  what they did to the music business and they're just what
• 1:23:18
  they did, I mean, I just think those two are undeniable as far
• 1:23:24
  as as far as that. And then that's where I get,
• 1:23:29
  that's where it gets tough for me because obviously you got, I
• 1:23:31
  think you got to have Garth and George on there, you know, at
• 1:23:36
  some, at some point, you know, somewhere maybe, you know, but
• 1:23:40
  there's so many you could list, you know, Haggard, you know, I
• 1:23:46
  mean. All of The Highwaymen, anybody?
• 1:23:49
  Hank Senior. Hank Junior.
• 1:23:51
  Yeah, You know, my thing with Hank Senior is I respect, I
• 1:23:55
  respect it a lot. But he died so young, right?
• 1:24:02
  Right. And so when you start thinking
• 1:24:04
  about that. Like Keith Whitley.
• 1:24:09
  Same with Keith, a huge Keith fan.
• 1:24:12
  And he would have been. He would have.
• 1:24:13
  Been George Strait had or in that realm I you'd have to think
• 1:24:18
  and I would not to cut you off but I always use that too when
• 1:24:20
  people talk about country if it's just a country Mount
• 1:24:24
  Rushmore, I always say Dolly. How could you not have Dolly on
• 1:24:27
  there? That's.
• 1:24:28
  Where I that was, that was exactly where I was going.
• 1:24:30
  I was going with her. And I'm going with, you know,
• 1:24:35
  you think about Haggard and you think about even Alan Jackson.
• 1:24:41
  And I say people like that because, man, they wrote it.
• 1:24:47
  Like Alan wrote all that stuff in the 90s.
• 1:24:49
  Dolly wrote all that. Yep.
• 1:24:52
  Alan AJ wrote Remember When by himself right after.
• 1:24:55
  It happened right, right. And and and Dolly wrote all that
• 1:25:00
  and Haggard, you think of all that stuff.
• 1:25:02
  I mean, he was a poet, you know, obviously got you got Johnny
• 1:25:05
  Cash, you know, like big argument there for him, you
• 1:25:09
  know, and. Then a lot of people is the
• 1:25:13
  Wayland thing. People will say, well, if you
• 1:25:14
  got Merle and Wayland, I mean, how do you pick between Merle
• 1:25:16
  and Wayland? Then it's just a.
• 1:25:17
  Personal, I mean like you could have, you could have a Mount
• 1:25:19
  Rushmore of just The Highwaymen say yeah, bad.
• 1:25:21
  They get their own mountain. Absolutely.
• 1:25:23
  But but for me, as far, you know, I think, I think you got
• 1:25:28
  to have Elvis and and Michael Jackson on it as far as when
• 1:25:32
  you're talking music. And then, you know, to your
• 1:25:39
  point about Dolly, I think Dolly's got to be on there
• 1:25:42
  because you think about what she has done and she's continuing to
• 1:25:48
  do like, and what she does outside of music, her charitable
• 1:25:55
  work. I mean, my son gets a book.
• 1:25:57
  He gets, he thinks he gets a book every month from Dolly.
• 1:26:00
  Yeah, You know, she's got that book program and he's like, oh,
• 1:26:03
  Miss Dolly sent me a book. You know, things like the
• 1:26:06
  movies. I mean the movies.
• 1:26:08
  Movies. Yeah, I mean, Last Little
• 1:26:11
  Whorehouse in Texas, son. LaGrange, Texas.
• 1:26:14
  Yeah, absolutely. ZZ Top wrote a song.
• 1:26:15
  I've just. Watch it every day of my life.
• 1:26:17
  The boat yesterday, it's so crazy.
• 1:26:19
  That's a real true story about a whorehouse in Texas and they ZZ
• 1:26:22
  Top wrote LaGrange about it. And then they have a movie with
• 1:26:25
  Burt Reynolds and Dolly Parton. Hard candy Christmas.
• 1:26:28
  That's it. And then 9:00 to 5:00 and all
• 1:26:30
  that stuff. And I said that before, like a
• 1:26:32
  lot of these artists and even Elvis and Michael Jackson,
• 1:26:35
  different mediums, but the biggest acts normally had
• 1:26:40
  crossover success to some level. Even The Highwayman, Johnny
• 1:26:44
  Cash, all those guys, they were in a ton of westerns and not big
• 1:26:50
  successful movies, but they were in a ton of different types of
• 1:26:52
  movies back in the day. And they would host the New
• 1:26:56
  Year's Eve celebrations, and they did the work outside of
• 1:26:59
  that. And so I've asked people, is
• 1:27:01
  Dolly Dolly without 9 to 5? Is George Strait George Strait
• 1:27:04
  without pure country? Is Elvis Elvis without all those
• 1:27:08
  crappy movies? You know I mean.
• 1:27:12
  My answer is yes. And and then you look, you think
• 1:27:15
  they still rise to the same level of success.
• 1:27:17
  See, I think I don't I don't think, man, I think that there's
• 1:27:20
  the casual fans and you get the everyday people who don't listen
• 1:27:23
  to country that are outside of rural America.
• 1:27:26
  It takes something like a crossover, like a movie, like a
• 1:27:29
  Blake and Luke and them getting on these reality shows and being
• 1:27:32
  host. It just takes it to another
• 1:27:34
  level to where the people that don't leave their house after
• 1:27:38
  dark, but do watch morning television and night time TV are
• 1:27:42
  now immersed in it. The same with the the straight
• 1:27:45
  thing, even if you weren't a country music fan in that era,
• 1:27:48
  you went and watched pure country and then you got it.
• 1:27:50
  You know, same with 9 to 5 all those, but maybe, maybe not
• 1:27:54
  we'll. Never know.
• 1:27:54
  I think there's a, you know, I think there's an argument for
• 1:27:57
  Millsap to be on the Mount Rushmore.
• 1:27:59
  I mean, you listen to his 40 greatest hits.
• 1:28:02
  Yeah, boy. Conway Twitty.
• 1:28:04
  Conway Twitty had the record before straight.
• 1:28:07
  Yeah, I mean, it's, it's so good, but.
• 1:28:10
  It's too hard to do. And then going back to that,
• 1:28:11
  too, is the rise of Laney Wilson.
• 1:28:13
  Is she not on Yellowstone? Does that not help?
• 1:28:16
  Yeah. I mean, that's that's a good
• 1:28:18
  question you. Know you like the soap, but but
• 1:28:22
  that stuff that that that puts puts you on a mainstream
• 1:28:25
  audience of people in, you know, another another state that don't
• 1:28:29
  go to country concerts, sure that are now going to download
• 1:28:33
  your stuff or go look you up and follow you on something.
• 1:28:35
  So I think it's I think it's all part of it.
• 1:28:38
  And Willie, you think about Willie, he didn't have he only
• 1:28:41
  had a couple of number ones at best, but he's always relevant
• 1:28:45
  because of the the the aura. Same with Charlie Daniels, one
• 1:28:49
  or two big hits on everything. The the and Charlie has a
• 1:28:53
  Charlie had could has a an argument to be on that too, just
• 1:28:57
  because of notoriety. I mean, he's been in everything.
• 1:28:59
  King of the Hill, this, that. I mean, you know, the guy with
• 1:29:01
  the fiddle, Charlie Daniels, everyone down to Georgia,
• 1:29:03
  Everybody knows what that's about, you know?
• 1:29:05
  Yeah, yeah, Reba. Reba, you know, I, I feel like
• 1:29:09
  that's Dolly, then it's Reba kind of going in and I feel like
• 1:29:11
  Laney's kind of doing that same role.
• 1:29:13
  You're good on TV. They, they know how to work it.
• 1:29:16
  They they like doing that stuff. So yeah, great, great list
• 1:29:19
  there. Before we let you go, I'm going
• 1:29:22
  to, I'm going to play one thing, you know, we have the 424
• 1:29:24
  handler line like Tater said earlier, and I've got a couple
• 1:29:28
  of voicemails I want to play and I've this is one I've got a week
• 1:29:35
  or so ago from a friend. And this is a question he asked
• 1:29:39
  and I thought we could answer it together.
• 1:29:42
  OK, Hey, what's up Jr. This is Brett Beerbauer.
• 1:29:47
  I know you mentioned you were a wrestling fan on your podcast
• 1:29:52
  and was wondering what you thought of John Cena turning
• 1:29:56
  heel and surpassing Rick Flayer becoming the all time leading
• 1:30:02
  WWE champion. I think it's great.
• 1:30:05
  Just want to know your thoughts. Feels like wrestling's coming
• 1:30:08
  back to that to era. Thanks Jr.
• 1:30:12
  That was Bret Bierbauer asking about what do we think about
• 1:30:16
  John Cena coming in and winning and taking the the title and
• 1:30:21
  becoming beating Ric Flair's record of all time
• 1:30:24
  championships. I'm all about it.
• 1:30:28
  And you know, they bring a lot of the older wrestlers back, but
• 1:30:31
  I think it's good for the sport and records are meant to be
• 1:30:33
  broken. I mean, it was a matter of time.
• 1:30:35
  Cena did all a lot of right stuff.
• 1:30:37
  He carried the flag for a long time with the company.
• 1:30:39
  So I don't think it's a bad thing that they let him pass Ric
• 1:30:43
  Flair at this point when Flair's not actively wrestling and you
• 1:30:49
  got to, you got to make new stars.
• 1:30:51
  So I think I'm all about it. I didn't actually see the match.
• 1:30:53
  I heard about it and watched a lot of the stuff, but I'm all
• 1:30:55
  about it. Yeah, yeah.
• 1:30:58
  I mean, I'm, I'm with you on that.
• 1:31:01
  You know, Stone Cold. I, I tell him all the time that,
• 1:31:05
  you know, for me, wrestling had gotten pretty hard to watch.
• 1:31:11
  It got it just got pretty. There was just no excitement
• 1:31:15
  behind it. It was kind of like golf with
• 1:31:16
  Tiger, you know, when he when he wasn't in there, it was not as
• 1:31:23
  exciting. And it's just the truth.
• 1:31:27
  And I think that I think finally WWE is figuring that out that
• 1:31:35
  that the business needed a jolt, needed something bringing the
• 1:31:39
  The Rock back like what they did for that run.
• 1:31:42
  And, and I think I heard it in that voicemail.
• 1:31:45
  The guy was talking about bringing some of the, the
• 1:31:47
  attitude era back. Is that what he said?
• 1:31:49
  Is that what he said that? And I, and I, and I think that's
• 1:31:52
  smart. I think they're figuring that
• 1:31:53
  out that that that that's what the fans.
• 1:31:58
  I mean, it was so huge when that era was, was going.
• 1:32:01
  I think it just got a little too soft for too long that they lost
• 1:32:05
  a lot of the stuff and, and the shock factor with John turning
• 1:32:11
  is is giving it a, it's giving it a boost.
• 1:32:14
  Like when Hogan went to Hollywood Hogan, you know, it's
• 1:32:17
  like, no, because Hogan was my guy.
• 1:32:19
  You know, I was like, it's bad. You know, like this can't be
• 1:32:23
  you. Know you never thought it would
• 1:32:24
  happen and then. It no.
• 1:32:25
  Same with Cena, you never thought Cena would would turn,
• 1:32:28
  but I agree and and the athletes are just so phenomenal.
• 1:32:32
  But the, the storylines and this, all the talking and it's
• 1:32:36
  just like, I can't keep up. I just want to see some action.
• 1:32:39
  Let me know who, let me know who the good guy and bad guy is,
• 1:32:41
  that kind of stuff. But there's it, it goes in
• 1:32:45
  waves. Same with music, you know, keep.
• 1:32:47
  It simple. Yep, keep it simple.
• 1:32:49
  I've always heard it's like a it's like a 12 hour clock music
• 1:32:53
  and I guess you could do the wrestling too.
• 1:32:54
  You know, it starts out from just dead center normal and then
• 1:32:58
  it gets it starts getting more extreme and when it gets to its
• 1:33:00
  fullest extremeness, it has to reset and get more folky back to
• 1:33:03
  its roots and then starts the cycle over.
• 1:33:06
  That kind of makes sense. I got, I'm going to do one more
• 1:33:09
  and I know you got to get out of here today, but I thought this
• 1:33:11
  was a great one and you might even recognize this guy's voice.
• 1:33:18
  Jr. It's Ponyboy.
• 1:33:23
  You tell him I'm coming and Hell's coming with me.
• 1:33:28
  You tell him. I don't know who that guy was,
• 1:33:33
  but I'd love to get him on this podcast so.
• 1:33:36
  Yeah, well, you got him, son. Well, buddy, thank you.
• 1:33:39
  So yeah, I know it. Well.
• 1:33:40
  Thank you so much for joining me today.
• 1:33:43
  I look forward to doing it again soon.
• 1:33:46
  It'd be great to have you back on.
• 1:33:47
  We'll talk, maybe we can get Jeff and Cletus and we'll all do
• 1:33:50
  a big group thing sometime. That would be.
• 1:33:52
  Fun. Might have to have a radio edit
• 1:33:54
  version of that. Yeah, right.
• 1:33:56
  Well, that's a good thing. None of this is live.
• 1:33:57
  We can. Always.
• 1:33:58
  Chop and block and whatever we need to do the magic the.
• 1:34:01
  Television. Just do a Live 1 sometime and
• 1:34:04
  see how it goes. We should just leave mine muted
• 1:34:06
  and let you all just go, Yeah, I'm not implemented.
• 1:34:08
  I don't know. Something was wrong here.
• 1:34:10
  Well, hey, I want to say thank you for having me and I want to
• 1:34:13
  say that I'm I'm proud of you and I and I'm and I think this
• 1:34:17
  is awesome what you're doing. I just, I think it's really cool
• 1:34:22
  to hear people's stories. I mean, I we know a handful of
• 1:34:25
  buddies stories just from knowing them, but some of these
• 1:34:28
  people that I don't know that you're having on it's it's
• 1:34:30
  interesting to hear, you know, like John, you know, Boston
• 1:34:33
  Johnny, I listen, you know, I listen to that one the other day
• 1:34:37
  and it's cool to hear that story.
• 1:34:39
  And you know how he came through and and you know, the FGL stuff
• 1:34:45
  and the Chase Rice stuff. I mean, it was just like, man,
• 1:34:48
  you know, I get it. You know, you just find a find a
• 1:34:51
  way. Find a way and we've all got
• 1:34:53
  them and there's thousands of us.
• 1:34:55
  There is, yeah. Yeah.
• 1:34:57
  So it's very interesting. We'll keep it rocking, man.
• 1:35:01
  I will brother. Well thank you for your time.
• 1:35:03
  Tell everybody we said hello. Y'all go find my brother Chris
• 1:35:06
  Tate on socials, y'all friend him up, all that good stuff.
• 1:35:09
  Send us any questions you have. You can send them to me at Jr.
• 1:35:13
  the Handler or Jr. thehandler.com or 424 Handler.
• 1:35:19
  You leave us a voicemail or a text on there if you got any
• 1:35:21
  questions or comments about this episode and we'll have Chris on
• 1:35:25
  again to answer any of those or we can just comment them on the
• 1:35:27
  future. But again, thank you to my old
• 1:35:29
  buddy Chris Tate. Hope to see you at a show soon.
• 1:35:32
  If y'all go to a big and rich show anytime soon, y'all look
• 1:35:35
  for old Tate up there and give him a wave and tell him you
• 1:35:37
  heard him Jr. the Handler Show and we'll see you next time
• 1:35:41
  brother. Thank you.
• 1:35:43
  Well, I hope everybody enjoyed that as much as I did.
• 1:35:45
  That was my old buddy Chris Tate the tater himself.
• 1:35:49
  I thought that was a great back story.
• 1:35:52
  Fascinating. I didn't know some of that
• 1:35:53
  myself, and I've known him for all these years, which is which,
• 1:35:59
  which should happen regularly because a lot of these stuff, a
• 1:36:03
  lot of these things, you know, we may or may not have talked
• 1:36:05
  about some time and some of these things we just never came
• 1:36:09
  up. Like a couple of those acts he
• 1:36:10
  worked with. I had never known that, but
• 1:36:13
  we're going to get out of here for today.
• 1:36:14
  Thank you all for tuning in. As always, spread the love.
• 1:36:16
  Like I said, the biggest thing you can do for this show is to
• 1:36:19
  just share this episode with someone you think that may like
• 1:36:23
  it or share the whole show with someone who you think may like
• 1:36:27
  it. Like rate comment.
• 1:36:29
  That really helps. If you don't mind rating the
• 1:36:31
  show on Apple in those different formats, please do leave a
• 1:36:33
  little reviewing. Just say hey, enjoyed it.
• 1:36:36
  Just something quick and simple. That all helps.
• 1:36:38
  Please do that. All the socials go check us out
• 1:36:41
  on YouTube. You can watch the show and all
• 1:36:43
  that fun stuff there. Like subscribe there as well.
• 1:36:47
  You go to jrthehandler.com for links to everything.
• 1:36:50
  Come see me at a show soon. Before we get out of here today,
• 1:36:53
  I'm going to read a section of selection, I should say, of my
• 1:36:58
  Charlie Daniels. Let's All Make the Day count
• 1:37:00
  book The Everyday Wisdom of Charlie Daniels #72 Admit
• 1:37:05
  defeat. Whoever tries to hide his sins
• 1:37:08
  will not succeed, but the one who confesses his sins and
• 1:37:12
  leaves them behind will find mercy.
• 1:37:14
  Proverbs 2813 One of the hardest thing for some of us to do is
• 1:37:20
  admit to ourselves that we have faults.
• 1:37:22
  We will go to all kinds of links to blame our shortcomings on
• 1:37:26
  another person and outside influence, our health, or any
• 1:37:30
  number of erroneous trivialities just to continue our charade.
• 1:37:35
  Before before I finally admitted to myself in 1968 that I either
• 1:37:40
  had to stop smoking or face serious health problems.
• 1:37:43
  I blame my perpetual colds, lung infections, and shortness of
• 1:37:47
  breath on germs and contagions. I was eventually forced to face
• 1:37:52
  the fact that these side effects were caused by the four packs of
• 1:37:54
  cigarettes I was inhaling each day.
• 1:37:57
  Similarly, early in my music career, I would blame my
• 1:38:00
  lackluster playing on the poor quality of the instrument or the
• 1:38:04
  deplorable shape I was in. It was in and my lack of energy
• 1:38:08
  in school was never the conscious consequences of simple
• 1:38:12
  fact that I stayed up late the night before and didn't get
• 1:38:15
  enough sleep. Blaming your faults on other
• 1:38:17
  people and other things can become a habit that turns you
• 1:38:21
  into an irresponsible liar that nobody trusts.
• 1:38:24
  It's best to deal with it. Admitting your faults is the
• 1:38:27
  only way to correct and overcome them, and it's a sign of a
• 1:38:31
  mature maturity and character. Let's all make the day count.