Latest / Inside Country with Wayne D / Chris Janson Has A New Album and It's GREAT + More Janson - McGraw coming soon?
Transcript
- 0:01In studio with the guy that I've spent more time with them my mother the
- 0:05last couple of years, and I'm talking over just the last couple of weeks.
- 0:08You're welcome. So you went, Chris Jansen is here. What's up?
- 0:13Man? How are you? I'm better now. I've been looking forward
- 0:16to being in your studio, live with you, and thank you for having
- 0:18me. Dude. Absolutely, First, I gotta say so, we broadcast
- 0:21down here on Lower Broadway and you walked in and by no means of ours,
- 0:28the guy on the stage was playing you know there's cover acts all over
- 0:32Broadway that used to be one downtown Nashville, right, and so you've you've
- 0:36done his gig. So the guy's playing buy Me a Boat, as Chris
- 0:39Jansen happens to just be walking in the bar. And it was not imprompt
- 0:43that was that was totally happenstance, by the way, did yeah. Yeah.
- 0:46But the funny thing I want to give the dude his name is Justin
- 0:49Lee. I want to give him credit for is he knew you stood side
- 0:53stage the whole time and he kept just cool. He didn't make eye contact.
- 0:56I couldn't have done that. If I'm up there, i'd be like,
- 1:00finish the song for me, you know, man, I just uh
- 1:03yeah, I just hopped up there just because I well, I first just
- 1:07got up there with them just to just to encourage people to make sure that
- 1:10they throw money in the tip jar, because that's the way these guys are
- 1:11making a living down here in girls. And and I know how that I
- 1:15know the struggle of that, so um, that's an important thing. And
- 1:19the fact that he's up at what, like, I don't know, early
- 1:22in the morning starting out through the afternoon. Those are awkward hours to be
- 1:25playing anyway in a honky tonk. Man, I appreciate that, and I
- 1:27respect that a lot. So it's pretty cool to get up there and just
- 1:32just I've been so blessed by people. Man, I've been so blessed,
- 1:34you know, so I just figure just add to it. So let me
- 1:38let me ask you, after the amount of time I've spent with you recently,
- 1:42I'm reading your face a little bit. That's kind of an emotional moment,
- 1:46like it was kind of like a full circle thing. Hell yeah,
- 1:49it's super emotional, just because you know, I remember what it was like.
- 1:52Someone someone sent a message the other day on social media and said,
- 1:55hey, killer job at the arena last night. We were there when you
- 1:59were sleeping in your car behind Tootsie's, and so you know, that's that
- 2:04says a lot. And uh, I mean people always ask me, oh,
- 2:07man, did you ever struggle? Like I never felt like I struggled,
- 2:09But I know that the there's two sides of that. I know that
- 2:13the struggle is real, and that real life is taking place in so many
- 2:16people's worlds, especially aspiring singer songwriters. And and this guy's out here,
- 2:22he's you know, he's playing in a club in the starting out in the
- 2:24early morning, and that's not an easy thing to do, you know.
- 2:28And you got to remember, even like at my level and above, it's
- 2:30like sometimes you're playing for people who are really in tune, but then there's
- 2:35like twenty five percent who are just like they're just there and and I know
- 2:39how that feels. And so I wanted to just show a little love there.
- 2:42And also it's freaking humbling to have somebody playing you're covering your songs in
- 2:47a honky tonk where you started. It's nuts. It's it's nuts, yeah,
- 2:52it's nuts. Yeah. And it's and it's very emotional. You're right,
- 2:53it was very well. Well it was cool to see man. Thanks
- 2:58take me through. If anybody calls you on social media or they've seen you
- 3:01live, they know that the recording part is probably great to put the album
- 3:06part is great. But man, Chris Jansen lives on the stage like it's
- 3:09like a whole new whole new blood is pumped in you as soon as those
- 3:13lights go low. Yeah scary, really, you're You're right. It's almost
- 3:16like that's where Chris Jansen is born. All other ways, it's just Chris
- 3:20the rest of the time. Yeah, uh, why is that? What
- 3:23is it about about those lights going low and the first guitar nos hitting that
- 3:25like bring you to life? I just let them. I just let the
- 3:29music lead always. I don't ever try to lead the music, you know.
- 3:34I think that, like even back in my younger days of of of
- 3:37just learning to play. I think at first you trying to impress so many
- 3:40people that you're letting you're trying to lead the music. It never works.
- 3:44I just I quit that quickly and let the music lead. And that's what
- 3:47that's where the raw entertainment value comes from. I believe. Also, I
- 3:51love fans and I love playing for them and I love having hits. I
- 3:54always I never understood, as a fan myself, why I would go to
- 3:58see some of my favorite artists of all time and they would play a plethora
- 4:00of album cuts that they thought you needed to hear and didn't play any of
- 4:03the hits. That's the stupidest thing I've ever seen in my life, and
- 4:06I've seen it a bunch. I'm like, can we just hear the hits?
- 4:11Like, it doesn't matter if you have one or five or twenty.
- 4:14Can we just hear the hits. That's always been my motto. I have
- 4:16hits now, I want to play them for people, and I don't care
- 4:19if I have to do them twice over. Let's go, man, like
- 4:24we're winning at such a big level in life, like we should celebrate.
- 4:28It doesn't last forever, you know. And so all that said, that's
- 4:31where the energy comes from before I take the stage. And you know,
- 4:34I'm I'm and I'm always going to be this way. I'm just still surprised
- 4:39and I'm glad I think this way. I'm just still surprised people show up.
- 4:42I'm grateful people show up, and like, you know, it's if
- 4:45I walk in someplace and twenty people are asking for my picture. I'm like,
- 4:48dang, I mean, that's a that's a blessing, you know.
- 4:53I'm like, I eat it up. Yeah, Well, and that was
- 4:56it was cool man's deciding it's fun. Recently we got to see you be
- 5:00an artist and a fan at the same time on as you were a part
- 5:05of Kid Rock Show and Austin not longer. Was awesome. But the cool
- 5:10thing is I felt like you always give all you have when you perform,
- 5:15right, but I feel like there was something special that night that you maybe
- 5:17hit a different level. It was the most special, and because not only
- 5:20that you did the show, but then afterwards on social media, you and
- 5:24your wife got to like sit and be fans, which probably doesn't happen very
- 5:28often for you. I haven't watched a concert in ten years, and I
- 5:31watched a whole concert from the beginning credits to the last song. It was
- 5:39the most And I'm gonna tell you right right now, his best friends call
- 5:43him Bob Bob shows them is the best concert I've ever been to in my
- 5:47entire life. And I've seen some great ones. The best one I've ever
- 5:49seen, hands down, the most patriotic, god loving, god fearing fans
- 5:57die hard. I mean, it reminded me so much of my fan base.
- 6:00It was like, and they accepted me with open arms, a full
- 6:03blown arena full of people. And believe me, when you're on a show
- 6:06with kid Rock, you don't have to be He doesn't need you, he
- 6:10doesn't need anyone, and you could be as famous as as famous can be.
- 6:14He doesn't need you. And his fans accepted me and loved me,
- 6:17and I loved them, and man, they're just can't stand of good things.
- 6:21I'll tell you this. You have any idea how long it's been since
- 6:25I've been moved by music, like to the point of crying tears for real.
- 6:29I cried my eyes out at a freaking This is something you never hear.
- 6:32I cried my eyes out at a Cured rock concert. It blew my
- 6:36mind, dude, it blew my mind. So just people were so happy
- 6:42and the happiness exudes from it, and there was so much positivity that it
- 6:47just that's it, I thought, I can tell you I started. I
- 6:51bawled my eyes out for three quarters away through the show. So knowing how
- 6:57important your wife is to your life, but to your profession as well.
- 7:00At any point did you turn to her and go, hey, how can
- 7:03we can't do that at my show? How can we also like tapping her
- 7:06shoulder? I was like, that's happening. She's like that, that's happening.
- 7:11Calm down. I can hear. Now that's happening. She goes.
- 7:15She goes and we're doing okay, right, but she goes, yet,
- 7:17that ain't happening. We're doing good, but like, let him, we're
- 7:21not doing that good. I mean, it was. It was unbelieved.
- 7:25It's I can say this in closing with it. It was unbelievable, and
- 7:28thank you for asking. And I so appreciate Kid Rock and he is so
- 7:31appreciated and loved in my household. I just can't say enough good things when
- 7:35it comes to relationships like that, whether it's working close with Kid Rock or
- 7:40we're gonna talk about some people that you worked with on on the album here
- 7:43shortly, how do those relationships help you create not just a new buy me
- 7:49a boat every time you write a song right, uh yep, or a
- 7:54new done? How do how do those relationships challenge you to add decor to
- 8:00the middle of that well you know. I usually I usually have the creation
- 8:03done by the time that I asked someone to collaborate with me. Yeah.
- 8:07So because I write my own songs, that's that's the good news, is
- 8:09like already have one foot in the door, and it creates it in such
- 8:13a positive atmosphere and creates a positive light around it. Because whether they say
- 8:20yes or no, that's just the icing on the cake. Right. So
- 8:22if they say yes, great, we'll do a duet or a collaboration.
- 8:26If they don't, that's okay too. I'm not offended. And believe me,
- 8:28like over the years there have been plenty like not nothing mean or nothing,
- 8:31but it just doesn't work out or I don't really feel it. That's
- 8:33great, Like I want honesty. Yeah, but I win either way because
- 8:37the song was already done. In most cases, now it may be different,
- 8:41you know, and there may be a whole different avenue of creativity that
- 8:45I'm missing out on. Should I get with one of my friends and like
- 8:48we write the song together and it's a true fifty fifty co write and then
- 8:52we're a co recording in those kind of things, and so we'll see.
- 8:56But I can tell you that like collaborating with people like Dolly and Slash and
- 9:01Darius and Brantley on this album. The outside of the album has been amazing.
- 9:05Collaborating the past so people like Church was amazing, Tim McGraw, hands
- 9:09down amazing, Blake Shelton amazing. I have a lot of great friends who
- 9:11have who have taken a chance on me and uh and you know, it's
- 9:16a two way street, but they, you know, pretty big stars,
- 9:18and I appreciate their time and energy and their efforts, and um, it's
- 9:22it's always been. It's always been in a positive light for me. If
- 9:24it didn't work out, I just wouldn't do it, you know, I
- 9:28just I just wouldn't do it. So well, let's talk about the album
- 9:31which is out now, The Outlaw Side of Me. Was it your goal?
- 9:33If anybody puts in a previous project, this doesn't it sounds like you.
- 9:39It feels like you, but like it's almost like I'll go with with
- 9:46the new Indiana Jones movie just came out. I can't wait to see it
- 9:48same. I grew up on those movies like My Jam is still my favorites.
- 9:52I'm glad. I'm glad you're with me because I didn't want you to
- 9:56think that I was calling you as old as hairs Man been my favorites period,
- 10:00but it's you know what to expect from a Chris Jansen album. That's
- 10:05why you're a fan of his. But every version gives you something different and
- 10:09new, the outlaw side of me. At what point where you like,
- 10:11this is the avenue we're taking with this record? Well, I had no
- 10:13manipulation on this album. Every one of my albums I had manipulative things coming
- 10:20from all different directions of like you should do this, or you should be
- 10:22that, or you should sing this, or we don't really hear that one,
- 10:24or maybe you should cut this one or whatever. And that's fine because
- 10:26I'm a team player and that's how record deals go. Not that they weren't
- 10:28you though, No, they were me. I wrote them all, but
- 10:31but they just some There were certain parts looking in the past where I'm like,
- 10:35I just wish I would have just kind of put my foot in the
- 10:37ground a little bit. But you know, to make things work in a
- 10:41positive manner, sometimes you have to ebb and flow, which is fine.
- 10:43This record, I had no manipulation. I just wrote the songs, turned
- 10:48them into the label. The label was like hell, yeah, we're into
- 10:50this. And it was as simple as that. We A and R this
- 10:54project, basically me and Julie and my producer and Kelly at the kitchen table,
- 10:58just like this, like push play. We okay, do we all
- 11:03like it? Yeah? Cool? All right, put in the keep pile.
- 11:05Do we like now? We don't really like this one? And then
- 11:07we just played them for the upper ups at the at the record label,
- 11:09which is the process, and thankfully we turned in like twenty songs and they're
- 11:15like, we love all these. Pick thirteen or fourteen, let's make a
- 11:18record. We cut a record in two days. I mean it was like
- 11:20while we were done, we booked a week for a session, cut it
- 11:24in two days. Done. That's it done, just like that. And
- 11:28the songs I think are better. They're funner. They're harmonica driven, which
- 11:33is something that for whatever reason, I've left out on my last couple albums
- 11:37just because it whatever. But you're getting it in a live show, you
- 11:39dang right, And you're getting this record is basically a live show on record.
- 11:45It does feel it feels a live show on records. What I do
- 11:48live Finally, and I just have a great team. He lets me do
- 11:52that. So you said there was this funnel approach where, like you know,
- 11:56there was a lot of different things feeding into what we were getting before
- 12:00too many opinions. Have you so some of these songs we got on the
- 12:03outlast side of me? Have you been sitting on any of these or were
- 12:05you like totally okay? All I need is You? The first hit single
- 12:09I wrote during the pandemic. I wrote that in twenty twenty, sitting on
- 12:13the back porch of the beach house. I'm thirty eight. That's where the
- 12:16song came from. Days in the Field. I wrote that in twenty seventeen
- 12:22and debuted it at a bass progrand opening event for Wonders of wild Life in
- 12:26Missouri. That's how long that song's been sitting there. But it hasn't just
- 12:28been sitting, you know, away. I've been playing it and keeping it
- 12:31alive. Just needed to find the right fire to throw the gasoline on.
- 12:35And then we found it, and boy it when we did it was like,
- 12:37WHOA, how does it feel You've you have the potential of number ones
- 12:45and hit records and sold out shows? What does it feel to have a
- 12:48song performing the way a Christ Jans's song should perform again. Well, thank
- 12:52you very much. It's a blessing, the biggest blessing of all, because
- 12:56you have to understand from me, I've said it a million times. I
- 12:58will sit until the ed. All I ever cared about was being on the
- 13:03radio. That's why I moved here. I wanted to That's why I moved
- 13:05to Lord Broadway. I wanted to be on the radio and be a you
- 13:09know, a radio star. That's what I wanted to be. I'm getting
- 13:13to be it. I'm getting to be it over and over and I'm getting
- 13:15to be it yet again, with all I need is you not to mention.
- 13:18There are certain singles that people release, myself included that I'm at first,
- 13:22I'm like, whatever, Okay, I'm glad it's a hit. I
- 13:26love this song. I would love this song if it wasn't a hit,
- 13:30and I would love it that it is. And thank you for the compliment.
- 13:33And I appreciate the way you worded that too, because I've always felt
- 13:37like I've had a very good foundation with country radio and just continuing that legacy
- 13:43is very important to me, and it's and it's it's truly the number one
- 13:46thing that's always been important in my heart, soul and the nature. It's
- 13:48my number one way to get to my fans, and I appreciate it.
- 13:54With this album, were you knowing that it was one of the first times
- 13:58in your career you could be like, this is going to go my way.
- 14:01Yeah, right, I'm gonna do it. How how comfortable I am?
- 14:05Yes, But with that there's no safety that either, right when when
- 14:09when there's all these other opinions, there's every now and again turned around and
- 14:13be like, yeah, this time it's Jansen or bust right, well yes
- 14:18and no, yes, yes on the fact that that's awesome and yes it's
- 14:22true. But the other part of that is it's interesting the minute that you
- 14:24get the free reins, then you start wanting to ask opinions. Then you're
- 14:28like, okay, you feel more comfortable in your own in your own placement
- 14:31of where you're at. Right, And so I'm great. I have to
- 14:33say that I'm grateful for my team for accepting me for who I am and
- 14:39who I want to be in the music I want to make. And that's
- 14:43that's that's when I thrive the best. If you just let the music lead,
- 14:46I can play live shows, I can sing and produce and write and
- 14:50play and whatever. And um, that's the easy part for me, just
- 14:54mentally getting into those zones where I can just be one hundred percent authentic Chris
- 14:58Jansen or Bust, then it works. What are I'm gonna I'm gonna ask
- 15:05you to pick a favorite kid here? Okay, not in your house,
- 15:09but on the album. What are some songs that that you are most proud
- 15:15of on this project? Obviously collaborations aside, right, just the songs themselves,
- 15:20because it's epic that you have worked with Dolly that which, by the
- 15:24way, when's the last time Dolly had a collaboration right? Uh? Darius
- 15:28Rucker, which I mean I don't know if he's collaborated with anybody that hasn't
- 15:33been named Blowfish before. Also, uh, there's the Brantley, there's the
- 15:41Slash. I mean, first of all, if any record label that you
- 15:43walked in and said, hey, I want to collaborate with Dolly and Slash,
- 15:46they'd go, yeah, we'll work on that next time. But what
- 15:50do you want today? So so give us, give us a little bit
- 15:52on how how those came together. And more importantly, they were good songs
- 15:56with or without these people. But You're damn glad they were part of it.
- 16:00Why did it make sense? Now? Well, first part of the
- 16:03question on the favorite songs on the record, let me just give you a
- 16:04few choice cuts that I would like people listen to. Days in the Field
- 16:07my number one favorite. Days in the Field is my number one favorite song
- 16:10on the album. Second to that, All I Need Is You is my
- 16:14second top tier song on the album. I love the outlaw side of me.
- 16:17I love rowdy Gentleman because it reminds me of old school Hank Jr.
- 16:21Now moving on to the collaborations, Man, the timing was just right with
- 16:25these people, Okay, Like I figure that if you don't if you don't
- 16:29shoot for the stars, how could you ever touch one? Right? If
- 16:30you don't dream big, how could you ever win big? If you don't
- 16:33bet on yourself one hundred percent of the time every time, nobody else is
- 16:37going to bet on you. And I bet on myself every time all in
- 16:41period. Nope, even if I bust and lose. Right, So that's
- 16:45just always been my thing and it's working for me. And so like,
- 16:51for instance, when we reached out to Dolly and Slash said, Hey,
- 16:52Dolly, would you collaborate with Chris Jansen. Yes, that's it. Hey,
- 16:56Slash, would you play guitar on this and put a November Rain two
- 17:00point oh solo on the song of a guy that you've probably never heard of.
- 17:03Yes, just like that, Like so awesome. What's the worst that
- 17:07could happen? No, I'm not interested, Okay, no problem. Not
- 17:11offended. Thankfully they were interested. The cool part was, dude, is
- 17:15they is? They both sent back message like, hey, is there any
- 17:18direction you'd like us to take? Or any who asked that? I mean,
- 17:22you know what I mean. Like, first of all, it's so
- 17:23humbling that they would say that, but um, you know Dolly Parton,
- 17:26Like I'm thinking to myself like, no, man, just you're I mean,
- 17:30you're Dolly Parton sing what you sing two too, lululu. I don't
- 17:33care. And Slash can play, Slash can play Red Rover and whatever you
- 17:37want to play whatever, Like, just place. I don't care, man,
- 17:41just play something, and I'm just thankful that you're doing it. But
- 17:45I literally said, back to Slash's camp, hey, just November Rain two
- 17:48point zero if you're cool with it, And that's what I got. You
- 17:52also mentioned when we caught up at the I Heart Country album released party for
- 17:55the Outlaw Side of Me that not only did you collaborate with Darius, but
- 17:59you ended up producing Darius to the point where he's like, how do you
- 18:02want me to sing this? Yeah, like in the in the studio because
- 18:03Julie and my producer was like, on his way to the studio. Well,
- 18:08Darius is like a consummate pro and he shows up early to everything.
- 18:12I mean like he's one of the biggest stars in the world in two genres
- 18:15or three I guess technically rock and country. And he showed up and I'm
- 18:21like, oh, man, would wait till Julian gets here. He's I
- 18:23was like, or we just go it. He's like, let's go ahead
- 18:25and do it. So we get in there, and then Julian got there.
- 18:27Julian's like, y'all just do it, and so I'm like cool.
- 18:30So I'll sit behind the console just like this, and Darius is like over
- 18:33there in the vocal booth. He's like, hey, any direction, and
- 18:36I'm like, I mean I literally just like, uh, you're a Darius.
- 18:40What you want He's like, no, literally, I'll follow your lead.
- 18:42And I was like, all right, we'll do it this way,
- 18:45this way, this way, and this way and this way. And he's
- 18:47such a pro man, you know, And I you got to remember that
- 18:49I asked him to do the duet after listening to let her cry. Yeah
- 18:53in the rain driving to the plane at one o'clock in the morning. Yeah,
- 18:56yeah, yeah, totally. So he got in there and I said,
- 19:00you just do what you want and I'm good with it. And that's
- 19:04it. He took two passes and we were good at it. Do you
- 19:07now this is like a Cardinal Sin question. I'm gonna ask you about singles
- 19:11because we should be focused on the one that's now and that's good. But
- 19:15as a guy who is so passionate about the music, he puts out,
- 19:18I know you're thinking next. We had a conversation not long ago. What's
- 19:22next? Do you think we're all focused on current? But do you know
- 19:26what you want to do next? If they said, hey, we got
- 19:30five favorites, you just pick what you want, well, that that would
- 19:33be my eggs. Actually, so the first dance first part of that,
- 19:36No, I do not. Secondly, I'll answer it like this, I
- 19:40would probably say exactly if they theoretically said that to me, I would say
- 19:45it right back to them, to my label. That is because I'm not
- 19:48the one really working the music. They're working the music. I'm just doing
- 19:52the music right, making it, playing it whatever. I guess working it,
- 19:55but you know, not really, Yeah, and so I want whatever
- 19:57they can work the best. And the good news is I wrote these songs.
- 20:02I'm proud of all fourteen of them. And there's not a curveball you
- 20:07could throw me that I couldn't catch or hit out of the park. Which
- 20:11ever works best for the team, I'm good for. The last thing I
- 20:17want to ask you is we got we got? You know how, Like
- 20:21there's a piece of pizza and you're like, I don't want to eat it,
- 20:25but you pick off like the sausage, and then you pick off the
- 20:26pepperoni right yesterday. So that's kind of what you did to us when you
- 20:30were talking about the songs you've written. Right, you have a whole slice
- 20:34of songs you've written, but you just picked off the truck y app pepperoni
- 20:38at the iHeart Country of release. She hounded me first, So I'm gonna
- 20:44make sure we cover this you. Anybody who loves Chris Jansen today loved him
- 20:49before they knew his name. As a country music fan, it's tough to
- 20:52be like, I love this song. Oh, it's a low cast song.
- 20:56I love this song. It's a Tim mcgraws song. Yea. Not
- 21:00many fans dive into the weeds on the writing aspect, right, but you
- 21:03have been writing people's favorite songs long before they knew your name, and some
- 21:07of those are what other than truck Yeah? Yeah? Well, first of
- 21:11all, I'm gonna name these. Then I'm gonna give you a second part
- 21:12of this. Yes, truck Yeah, that was my big one. I
- 21:15always say that first because it changed our life. We mean, it changed
- 21:19our life in every single way. I love this Life for low Cash,
- 21:26which was It's It's a gigantic song, huge, biggest song of their set,
- 21:30and Build a Fire for Cody Johnson song number seven Randy Howser. Two
- 21:37of my choice favorites which were turned out singles, but for me personally it
- 21:41was like a bucket list thing for me were Hank Junior to record my songs
- 21:45Those Days Are Gone and God Fearing Man m gal Lee which other ones which
- 21:55one oh yeah yeah, that's another chart topper, my bad I forgot sorry,
- 22:00um how I'll always be for Tim McGraw and quite possibly thank you Kelly,
- 22:04that might be the favorite song. It is. It is actually the
- 22:08favorite song that I've ever had recorded by another artist, which was it was
- 22:11a big, big song for Tim because I wrote it for myself first and
- 22:17then I just I was like, I wonder if McGraw would sing this,
- 22:21and I sent it to him and his album was already done. I mean
- 22:23it was like in the can doune okay, And he recorded it and stuck
- 22:27it on the album and it was the next single. So that's crazy,
- 22:33man, that's crazy how that happens. But uh, you know, McGraw
- 22:36has been very good to me over my over my career, and I've been
- 22:38a good friend. And but you know, if you look at it that
- 22:42if you look at songs and people have recorded for their albums, but then
- 22:45you also look at the collaborations. I remember I wrote those songs, so
- 22:51I technically have written songs for and had people put put the vocals on them,
- 22:56from Dolly to Slash to Darius to Brantley to Tim multiple times, Blake
- 23:03Shelton, um Eric Church actually he wrote Church wrote his song that We Cut
- 23:07Together. You me and the River. That's the only outside song I've ever
- 23:11cut. But anyway, I've had some good I've had some good bouts in
- 23:14music. I would say, I'm I'm proud of it. I got it
- 23:17on my wall. So let me ask you this then, which I was
- 23:19trying to land the plane pun intended a couple of minutes ago here all right,
- 23:22No, no, it's I love it. I'm a pilot, so
- 23:25it's like a no, it's good. You're driving around the turbulence. I
- 23:29appreciate it. I'm not a great flyer, Yes you are. You flew
- 23:32with me and you fly good together. Um, I think it's there.
- 23:36It's the pre flight meal that's put yet these it's good. Um. When
- 23:41it comes to a relationship, you've You've got more than one project that's been
- 23:45successful with Tim McGraw. Do those artists ever come back to the well,
- 23:48are they ever like, Hey, are you sitting on anything right now?
- 23:52Yep? Okay? Is that is that a behind the curtain? You can't
- 23:55tell every Okay, I can answer that, no problem. Tim McGraw has
- 23:57recorded several of my songs that have been big hits. He's recorded some that
- 24:02have not made the album it's okay, like happens, but then like they
- 24:06get picked up somewhere else down the line or something like that. That's that's
- 24:10not a behind the curtain question at all, Like that's just what happens.
- 24:11I mean, you know, artists record, they record a big group of
- 24:15songs. Some make it, some don't. And the ones the thankfully,
- 24:18the ones that I've had, particularly on tim that did make it, were
- 24:22big singles, you know, And so sometimes you got to think there's guys
- 24:26and gals out there who have had maybe ten McGraw cuts but never had a
- 24:30single. I've had two McGraw cuts and had two singles. So just whatever,
- 24:37you know. I mean, he recorded one of mine a while back
- 24:38here that maybe on the upcoming project, maybe on the one I'm hearing that
- 24:42it may be on the one even further down the line. That's fine too.
- 24:45It's one of my favorite songs I've ever been a part of writing.
- 24:48Just the fact that he cares enough to record them, that's good enough for
- 24:52me. I don't care. But he'll check in and be like, hey,
- 24:55how's a family. Yeah, that's great. Got any music you're not
- 24:57cutting yet? Yeah? No, base It's like, um so so fun
- 25:03story for people out there who don't know this, Like I don't share this
- 25:06a lot, but I'm sharing it with the world now. It's like Tim
- 25:10classically was a part of his fame and Ara, him and Faith were like
- 25:14having this farm that Hank Williams once had, yeah, and then they like
- 25:18chunked it up and sold into big portions. Well, we now own a
- 25:21big majority of that, and so I write a lot of my songs.
- 25:25Particularly I wrote a lot of the Shane Prophet record with Shane in the cabin
- 25:29that we renovated that was once owned by Tim McGraw, who was once owned
- 25:33by Hank Williams. So I was like texting Tim all these pictures like what's
- 25:37up from your house, you know thing and like, and we're buddies and
- 25:41so that we talk like buddies would with one another, you know, like
- 25:45and so but that was kind of funny, and it's funny like McGraw is
- 25:48such an emoji guy, so like I'll be like, bro, I love
- 25:52you, thank you for cutting my song, and he'll be like, that's
- 25:56is the cameraon. He'll be like, strong arm do you ever text with
- 25:59Gator oh yas strong strong arm guy? Or like the yeah, these are
- 26:04this, but I'll like said, but I'll like say something like really you
- 26:07want to reply you say something like that and you'll get strong arm. I'm
- 26:11like, give me something that'll be like I'll be like, hey, Tim
- 26:15man like, man, it was dude, we were Michigan together. We
- 26:18did this show together and like we like it was. It couldn't have been
- 26:22any better, right mcgrawl Jansen show Janson mcgraws it was. The vibes could
- 26:26not have been better. It was twenty five thousand people. It was unbelievable.
- 26:30I'm like, dude, killer show. He's like, no, I'm
- 26:36like, look, great job this dude. No, I mean that.
- 26:40But you gotta understand, once you become friends with someone, you learn how
- 26:42they communicate. That's how he communicates. It's okay that look you cat understand.
- 26:45Keller's over here telling the story. Like you got to hear this on
- 26:48on record and on camera. Like so I'm on stage playing and I'm I'm
- 26:53like beating the doors off this place. I'm I mean, I'm I know
- 26:56in my heart, I'm like I'm straight crushing this, like and so all
- 27:00of a second, I'd say that in good humor. By the way,
- 27:03I'm not being cocky. And so I'm out there and but the crowd's going
- 27:06wild and I get off the stage and Kelly's like she has to look on
- 27:08her face, and I know when she's pissed, and I'm like, are
- 27:11you okay? She's like, I'm okay now. I was like why.
- 27:17She's like, because I was over here and you almost got smacked in the
- 27:22head with a lemon. And I was like what, and she goes,
- 27:25yeah, she goes, I walk back behind that curtain backstage, and she
- 27:29will tear your she will tell your a doubles apart. Dude, trust me,
- 27:33I don't care who you are. And she goes, I was so
- 27:37mad because somebody was throwing stuff at you on stage, like kind of lobbing
- 27:41it out there. And I walked back behind the curtain and it was freaking
- 27:42Tim McGraw hiding in the shadows, throwing fruit at me, throwing fruit at
- 27:49me and rolling it across the stage, like trying to trip me up,
- 27:52like just being a buddy, right, being a yeah, yeah, he's
- 27:56back there trying to be a football pro, baseball pro, like throwing throwing
- 27:59fruit at well, if i'd have known that too, and I told him
- 28:02too, and he started a boy he laughed. I said, I said,
- 28:04listen, I'm gonna tell you something, muscle Man. Anybody but you
- 28:08and there would have been an ashwhipon to be at. And that's a promise,
- 28:11you know. And so I said, but anyway, that's how good
- 28:15of friends I consider him, and uh, and I think it's mutual.
- 28:18So anyway, it was just a great kind of fun moment. But he
- 28:22pulls that again. You just start playing part of his set list and ruin
- 28:25the second now, So don't think for a second. Don't think for a
- 28:30second. I wouldn't whip out two of his biggest hits and play them.
- 28:33They'd be like, good luck to him. He's next. Yeah, I
- 28:36don't want to hear these new songs I cut. Not only that, I
- 28:41feel like that's a pay per view by Kelly Jansen versus Tim McGraw. It
- 28:45was so funny when she found him, when she found him too, and
- 28:48he was, I mean, he was, it was. It's funny.
- 28:49I mean, it's funny. It's what friends do. If we weren't real
- 28:52friends, he wouldn't be doing it, you know. And I appreciate that
- 28:55so but he's uh, he's been, He's been great. And um,
- 28:57somewhere online there's a cool video two of of me and him and we're in
- 29:03a locker room at an arena in San Antonio. We're singing how I'll Always
- 29:06Be when it was a single. And then there's another video of me and
- 29:08him and Mark Collie sing an old violin Johnny Paycheck and it's really amazing.
- 29:14Same trip. But anyway, I love you Tim. If you're watching and
- 29:15listening, you know I love you and and you know I could beat you
- 29:18arm wrestling, So no big deal. Same not Maybe if we team up,
- 29:25I'll tickle him you arm your arm wrestling, dude. The album is
- 29:29out now. It is fantastic listening on our iHeart Radio app. You can
- 29:32go back to I Heart Country's YouTube channel to watch part of the I Heart
- 29:36Country album release party for the Outlaw Side of Me. Chris Janson, Thank
- 29:38you brother, Thank you brother.