Latest / Johnny's World / Episode 84-Steve Azar

Transcript

Episode 84-Steve Azar · Johnny's World

0:25
SPEAKER_00: BW?
0:26
SPEAKER_00: Man, doing great.
0:27
SPEAKER_00: Getting getting close to college football season.
0:29
SPEAKER_01: So ready, ready to rock and roll.
0:31
SPEAKER_01: That's right.
0:32
SPEAKER_00: What's been going up in your neck of the woods?
0:34
SPEAKER_00: What's been going on?
0:35
SPEAKER_01: Well, just mostly work.
0:37
SPEAKER_01: I went down to Orange Beach a couple weeks ago, so took about a week off the vacation, and it always takes me about a month to catch back up from vacation after I get back.
0:46
SPEAKER_01: So just been running around like crazy since then.
0:50
SPEAKER_00: Orange Beach, man.
0:51
SPEAKER_00: Well, I always remember our time at Orange Beach at one of our buddies' bachelor parties at the at the Florida Bam.
0:55
SPEAKER_00: We had some funny, funny experiences down there.
0:58
SPEAKER_00: You sent me a video at the Floor Bam.
0:59
SPEAKER_00: You went to church there, is that right?
1:01
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we went to church at Florida Bama when we were down there.
1:04
SPEAKER_01: Uh they called it the church of Church of the Shores or something like that.
1:07
SPEAKER_01: It was it was pretty cool.
1:08
SPEAKER_01: They had it back there.
1:09
SPEAKER_01: Kind of, I mean, it was in the bar where they the part where they keep the band playing and everything.
1:14
SPEAKER_01: They have the stage set up in there.
1:15
SPEAKER_01: And so you couldn't really see the ocean.
1:17
SPEAKER_01: We were kind of hoping you get to see the ocean, but you know, it was still cool.
1:21
SPEAKER_00: That's still pretty cool.
1:23
SPEAKER_00: Well, uh, BW, uh, tell tell us little updates on uh Johnny Packer Coffee and and what we got going on.
1:28
SPEAKER_00: I actually got an email from uh from our friends up in Memphis at the CF uh uh foundation up there.
1:35
SPEAKER_00: They they want to have us come up for uh or do a Zoom call or something.
1:39
SPEAKER_00: They have an event coming up, so I'll I'll I'll share that with you what's going on when I hear more about that.
1:45
SPEAKER_00: I think it's in the fall fundraiser they have.
1:47
SPEAKER_00: But uh what about the coffee from it?
1:49
SPEAKER_00: How's everything going with that?
1:50
SPEAKER_01: Things going great.
1:51
SPEAKER_01: We we're fully set up and operational at the high point roasters up there in New Albany.
1:56
SPEAKER_01: So everything that you order from us is now coming straight from the state of Mississippi.
2:00
SPEAKER_01: And uh same as before, fresh roasted coffee.
2:05
SPEAKER_01: You order it, they roast it in-house right up there in New Albany.
2:08
SPEAKER_01: It ships out to you.
2:09
SPEAKER_01: Generally, you're gonna have it within a week.
2:11
SPEAKER_01: Um, right now we've got basically any any kind of blend, any kind of country of origin that you want with the coffee.
2:19
SPEAKER_01: You can get it whole bean, you can get it ground, just like before.
2:22
SPEAKER_01: Still working on getting the flavored coffee up in the store, but right now you can get just about anything you want.
2:28
SPEAKER_01: Um, and we've we've still got the subscription model.
2:30
SPEAKER_01: So if you like it, you know, just put it on auto ship.
2:33
SPEAKER_01: Got several people doing that.
2:35
SPEAKER_01: Just they get uh you know, one bag a month or one bag every two weeks.
2:39
SPEAKER_01: You can set it up however you want to.
2:41
SPEAKER_01: And uh it's been going really well.
2:42
SPEAKER_01: They they they're doing great getting it fulfilled.
2:45
SPEAKER_01: I I want to go down there one of these days, and I thought about setting up a maybe we do a podcast from down there one of these days.
2:51
SPEAKER_01: Um, but y'all just hop on johnnypacker.net.
2:54
SPEAKER_01: If you like coffee, you know somebody else that likes coffee, get on there, place an order, try a couple of different different countries, try a couple of the blends on there.
3:03
SPEAKER_01: We got BW's blend in there, of course, one of my favorite ones.
3:06
SPEAKER_01: Um, it's good stuff, and you're supporting good cause when you do it.
3:10
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I I say this all the time about it.
3:12
SPEAKER_00: Um matter of fact, I was just uh I was up in New York a couple weeks ago.
3:16
SPEAKER_00: I was texting you, uh, got it got some new glasses up there.
3:19
SPEAKER_00: My favorite brand is uh Moscott to have up there.
3:21
SPEAKER_00: We kind of modeled the Johnny Packer eyewear that we used to sell after Moscot glasses, and and uh, but you know, we we were doing those online and and so they're pretty highly priced, but man, this this coffee products is real affordable, 20 bucks.
3:35
SPEAKER_00: Like you said, you could do that subscription automatically.
3:37
SPEAKER_00: Uh um it gets to you.
3:40
SPEAKER_00: And the best part about it is raise money for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.
3:44
SPEAKER_00: And uh I just like to tell people, you know, my fight with CF every single day.
3:48
SPEAKER_00: People think, you know, when I talk about this miracle drug that that I'm cured and everything, but that's not the case.
3:53
SPEAKER_00: The miracle drug is a absolute miracle.
3:55
SPEAKER_00: I would not be here today if I did not have access to it, but it's a constant battle, still doing breathing treatments twice a day, carrying on.
4:02
SPEAKER_00: Uh it's just you can't, it never gives up.
4:05
SPEAKER_00: Every day I wake up, I have to fight CF.
4:07
SPEAKER_00: And and that's what these people are doing that are in search of a miracle drug that they're trying their best to find, find out.
4:12
SPEAKER_00: Like I say, all the time there's 10% of the CF population, they do not have one.
4:16
SPEAKER_00: And the only way they can get access to that is through through uh research and all that sort of stuff with uh developing new drugs in the in the pipeline.
4:24
SPEAKER_00: So um, you're playing a small part in that by just buying a bag of coffee because when you do portions of that sale goes to the Citic Fibrosis Foundation that we raise money for and helps people out uh like myself uh who uh who are battling CF.
4:37
SPEAKER_00: So uh we thank y'all from the bottom of our hearts.
4:39
SPEAKER_00: And cool thing about it, like I said, it's uh Mississippi-based company now with uh new Albany roasters and everything is in state here.
4:46
SPEAKER_00: So uh really, really pleased with that.
4:48
SPEAKER_00: And uh and our show today, we got a great Mississippi lined up today that's about to join us here shortly.
4:53
SPEAKER_00: And uh we're just uh uh just real Mississippi proud today.
4:57
SPEAKER_00: So uh thank y'all for listening to this and and uh really thank y'all for your support of johnnypacker.net and and go check it out.
5:03
SPEAKER_00: And we'll be we'll be back on in the fall.
5:05
SPEAKER_00: We'll continue doing our our uh football predictions and all that sort of stuff coming up uh probably the next episode.
5:11
SPEAKER_00: We'll we'll do a little preview on that, like we've done the past two years.
5:14
SPEAKER_00: So uh but thank y'all for following us, johnnypacker.net.
5:17
SPEAKER_00: If you if you're tuning in this for the first time, don't know what we're talking about, go to johnnypacker.net stories on there as far as what we do while we raise money, and you'll see all the different brands, the blends of coffee products and everything like that.
5:29
SPEAKER_01: So yes, sir.
5:32
SPEAKER_01: Well, let's bring out our guest.
5:33
SPEAKER_01: I mean, he's already on the call with us.
5:34
SPEAKER_01: You we just got him hidden from the screen, so let's bring him back on, get him introduced here.
5:39
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, without further ado, I'm gonna bring him on.
5:41
SPEAKER_00: He is the uh let me make sure I get this right, uh, music and culture ambassador for the state of Mississippi.
5:47
SPEAKER_00: Uh, y'all will know exactly who I'm talking about when I say that.
5:50
SPEAKER_00: Mr.
5:50
SPEAKER_00: Steve Azar, welcome to Johnny's World Podcast.
5:53
SPEAKER_00: We really appreciate you coming on.
5:55
SPEAKER_02: You guys got a lot going on.
5:56
SPEAKER_02: Um it's good to be here, man.
5:58
SPEAKER_02: It's good to be here.
5:59
SPEAKER_02: And uh I uh we had we just got back at four in the morning.
6:03
SPEAKER_02: It's not easy to get to Greenville, Mississippi when you're flying.
6:05
SPEAKER_02: Sometimes you have to take the late flight in and and uh so listen to some podcasts actually to make sure I didn't fall asleep from Memphis to Greenville last night.
6:14
SPEAKER_02: So oh yeah, that's a good thing like yours.
6:17
SPEAKER_02: Awesome.
6:18
SPEAKER_01: How long of a drive is that from Greenville to Memphis?
6:21
SPEAKER_01: What last last night last night it do you want me to tell you how long it was or how long it seemed?
6:27
SPEAKER_02: You know, when late night, sometimes it feels like who is on the other end pulling the road away from you, you know what I mean?
6:34
SPEAKER_02: Right, you're on this, you feel like the lights on the wheel, you know.
6:38
SPEAKER_02: So uh no, I was uh it's about two hours and a half, okay, door to door.
6:42
SPEAKER_02: If you don't stop at Taco Bell on the way in South Haven, nice.
6:49
SPEAKER_01: Hopefully, you're not paying for that today.
6:51
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
6:53
SPEAKER_02: It's been good.
6:54
SPEAKER_02: I got some sleep, and my wife and I were visiting some dear friends of ours who uh are big donors to our foundation down here.
7:01
SPEAKER_02: The uh, and we we just they've been begging us to come to paradise, you know.
7:06
SPEAKER_02: They've got a place there.
7:07
SPEAKER_02: Spent a lot of time in St.
7:08
SPEAKER_02: Thomas, St.
7:09
SPEAKER_02: Croix.
7:10
SPEAKER_02: Uh St.
7:10
SPEAKER_02: Thomas used to be a place where a lot of us would get together and help raise money for after school programs, and uh, and a lot of those same folks became good friends of ours that are that come to our Delta Soul Celebrity Gotham Charity event every year.
7:24
SPEAKER_02: So it was uh an important thing where we got to meet a lot of people and uh and bring them in to help us raise money for our foundation.
7:32
SPEAKER_02: So it's been it's been a blessing.
7:35
SPEAKER_01: Nice.
7:36
SPEAKER_01: That's awesome.
7:37
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we we want to hear about your foundation at at some point in the show as well.
7:41
SPEAKER_01: So we can come back to that in a little while.
7:44
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, uh, yeah.
7:46
SPEAKER_00: One of the reasons why we want to have you on, you know, we have that mutual friend with uh with Hobie Hobart I just had on last last podcast.
7:52
SPEAKER_00: If y'all listen to it, go back and if you missed it, go back and listen.
7:54
SPEAKER_00: We talk all about Key West.
7:56
SPEAKER_00: And and I was talking to uh Hobie and I was like, Man, I'd love to get Steve.
7:59
SPEAKER_00: He's like I know Steve, he's one of my best friends.
8:01
SPEAKER_00: Let me let me give you numbers.
8:02
SPEAKER_00: So that's how we got you hooked up.
8:04
SPEAKER_00: And uh, you know, we I've all I've I've been wanting to have on for a while because we um Brandon and I started this thing probably about three years ago, and we were both Mississippians, born in Mississippi, went to school at Mississippi State, and and uh matter of fact, on our on our coffee blends and when we were selling glasses, we named them all after different Mississippi towns.
8:22
SPEAKER_00: And uh I thought about you.
8:23
SPEAKER_00: I was like, man, you'd be a great, great person out of our podcast talking about Mississippi.
8:27
SPEAKER_00: Just I guess tell us about your love for the state of Mississippi, how you got involved to be the uh the culture and music ambassador for the state.
8:34
SPEAKER_02: Well, first of all, I I have no career if it's not for being raised in Mississippi.
8:40
SPEAKER_02: Uh, there's no proof or evidence genetic-wise as a singer-songwriter, and get to make a career out of it since he was a little kid uh and been so blessed to play, make, you know, write songs for a living and make music for a living and perform for folks all over a lot of time at Mississippi State uh playing gigs growing up.
8:58
SPEAKER_02: Uh, and uh when I wasn't playing baseball against uh Hobie's little brother, uh we call him Hobie as well.
9:04
SPEAKER_02: They're all Hobies, you know what I mean?
9:06
SPEAKER_02: Like, but uh they're a great family, and obviously Mississippi State bleeds through them.
9:11
SPEAKER_02: Uh you know, so uh just but what a great family they are.
9:15
SPEAKER_02: But yeah, I grew up playing here, writing songs.
9:18
SPEAKER_02: My dad went to Notre Dame.
9:20
SPEAKER_02: A lot of my family members, my brother, cousins, uh brother-in-law, all went to Notre Dame somehow out of, you know, and uh fell in love with obviously being Catholic and with that school, and uh I didn't have the grades to get in, so that was a good thing.
9:35
SPEAKER_02: Uh, but uh but spent a lot of time making music.
9:39
SPEAKER_02: My dad came back home after the Air Force in Notre Dame and he opened the first illegal liquor store in Mississippi.
9:46
SPEAKER_02: And thus my sneaking back there in my baseball uniform at about the age of 10 and falling in love with whatever Eugene Powell, who was Sonny Boy Nelson, uh, back in making blues records in the late 30s, uh, used to sit behind my dad's liquor store with postmen uh after their days of work on old Pepsi Crates.
10:05
SPEAKER_02: It was so visual.
10:07
SPEAKER_02: And I've spent time from the Mississippi River to Mississippians, period, the characters, our personality.
10:14
SPEAKER_02: And I've got a whole album with the names of towns from Rena Laura to Coldwater to Greenville to Indianola, the Lit Rosedale, the list goes on, and the state song now, the one Mississippi that's on that my Mississippi reunion record, which I'm most grateful for in my career over any hit.
10:30
SPEAKER_02: Having the state song is the greatest accomplishment of my life.
10:34
SPEAKER_02: So, you know, it's just I love this place.
10:37
SPEAKER_02: And we spent 20 years in Music City, and I think uh people know when I when we moved home and moved our kids, our kids weren't with us when we left here.
10:47
SPEAKER_02: My wife's from Arkansas, and she we which we have to forgive her for being a uh Razorback, but uh that's where I met her.
10:54
SPEAKER_02: I stole her off the shoulders of a Sigma Kai, I always say, when my band was playing there, and our daughter went there as well.
11:00
SPEAKER_02: My son went to Ole Miss, and one is another filmmaker out in LA.
11:04
SPEAKER_02: But my Ole Miss kid's in med school, he's about to be a fourth-year med school student.
11:08
SPEAKER_02: So uh, and our daughter's in New York, she's cooking, she's uh becoming a chef and all that.
11:13
SPEAKER_02: But with all this stuff, I wanted them to experience Mississippi, and they were 15, 13, and 10 when we decided to move them out of Music City where they were born and raised to the birthplace of America's music, and it changed their life in such a wonderful way.
11:29
SPEAKER_02: It helped them focus uh on their passions and really locked in.
11:34
SPEAKER_02: And I'm telling you, they bleed Mississippi now.
11:36
SPEAKER_02: So uh just like it did for me, I'm many generations back in Mississippi.
11:41
SPEAKER_02: Uh, I missed this place when I was away from it, but I always was writing about it and performing it all over the world.
11:46
SPEAKER_02: And even on every album I've ever made, there was a point when you turned the corner from a mainstream song and you were all in Mississippi, and so uh it's been a blessing to come back.
11:57
SPEAKER_02: Governor Bryant back in 16 made me the music and culture ambassador.
12:01
SPEAKER_02: Uh Governor Reeves has kept me on his, or at least he hadn't told me I'm not it.
12:05
SPEAKER_02: So, but but yeah, I uh uh it just a lot of inspiration from being here.
12:12
SPEAKER_02: And uh and look, guys, I love hearing you guys talk about coffee named after towns.
12:17
SPEAKER_02: I got the songs the same way, and so you guys bleed it like I do, and uh I just can't imagine a better place in the world.
12:26
SPEAKER_02: And like we just left St.
12:27
SPEAKER_02: Croix, and I'm telling you, getting back home was like the most beautiful thing in the world.
12:32
SPEAKER_02: It's a peaceful drive on Highway 61, and there's something about being from here that is hard to explain why we love it so much and why we want everybody to know that and and why we know it's sort of our sacred hattle ground.
12:49
SPEAKER_01: And you got me some chill bumps right there.
12:53
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I love this place.
12:55
SPEAKER_01: Well, it's uh so I'm up in Memphis, and so I'm close, and uh I was I was at in the office the other day, and uh we were talking about something, and one of my employees had never heard of Jerry Clower.
13:07
SPEAKER_01: And so I started playing some Jerry Clower YouTube videos, and there was a lady sitting over in my optical, and she said, Is that Jerry Clow?
13:15
SPEAKER_01: And I said, Yeah, and she said, I'm from Yazoo City, Mississippi.
13:18
SPEAKER_01: And uh she said, Mr.
13:19
SPEAKER_01: Clow used to go to church with my grandparents, and uh he's the nicest guy ever, and he used to wear that red suit when he'd come up in there, and and so it's just funny all the connections and how everybody knows everybody and all the all that stuff.
13:32
SPEAKER_02: Well, you know, we we don't in Mississippi, we don't separate celebrity or or personality, or we're all it's one thing, and it's and even with our charity event, our foundation event that we've been we're about to be in our 14th year uh next year, uh, there's no red ropes.
13:49
SPEAKER_02: If you're a big sponsor or a celebrity, uh you're all VIPs, you all matter.
13:55
SPEAKER_02: And we're I've seen these great relationships that have been built that could never be if you didn't give people a chance just to get to know each other.
14:05
SPEAKER_02: I mean, what was the chances of these guys, these doctors and a couple guys that own like a zillion uh uh gas stations and really nice convenience stores in Kentucky and West Virginia and Iowa, Ohio, they bleed the Wildcats, right?
14:20
SPEAKER_02: They are Kentucky Wildcats.
14:23
SPEAKER_02: And I paired them with Marshall Henderson, you know, from Ole Miss.
14:26
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and I'll never forget it.
14:27
SPEAKER_02: They go, Why is he here?
14:29
SPEAKER_02: And I said, Well, although Marshall, not only they said, We hate him, we hate him, right?
14:35
SPEAKER_02: And you know, do you realize how the grief he gave us?
14:38
SPEAKER_02: And he he went into romp and beat him, you know, and all that.
14:40
SPEAKER_02: And he goes, We hate him.
14:42
SPEAKER_02: And so I said, Well, not only do you hate him, but he's your celebrity guest today that you're gonna be six hours on the golf course.
14:48
SPEAKER_02: And they said, We'll never come back.
14:51
SPEAKER_02: And then when they came off the golf course, they're arm in arm.
14:55
SPEAKER_02: They were at his wedding with us, and Morgan Freeman, Coach Kennedy, was we were all at his wedding in Dallas.
15:01
SPEAKER_02: All these Kentucky Wildcats who used to hate Marshall Henderson was right there when they watched him get married.
15:06
SPEAKER_02: They were they've been to every event since.
15:09
SPEAKER_02: They love each other.
15:10
SPEAKER_02: They had Marshall had them on the football field uh at the Kentucky game.
15:14
SPEAKER_02: And I mean, it just shows you that as much as competitive as our SEC is and our you know, fan base, that we can put the nemesis as far apart.
15:24
SPEAKER_02: It you know, it's almost like we we could solve the world's the our our country's hate problem just by coming to Mississippi.
15:33
SPEAKER_02: We can get along with anybody.
15:35
SPEAKER_02: Absolutely, anyway, it's good good stuff for sure.
15:38
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we uh me and Brandon, we were on this podcast uh a couple months ago called uh the Made in Mississippi Podcast, Entrepreneur Podcast Podcast.
15:47
SPEAKER_00: We were talking about our our thing we have going on as far as uh raising money for CF.
15:51
SPEAKER_00: And and I remember Brandon texting me, he's like, Man, did you hear that song at the end of it?
15:55
SPEAKER_00: It's the coolest song I've ever heard.
15:56
SPEAKER_00: And it was the uh one Mississippi song.
15:58
SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh, that is so awesome.
16:00
SPEAKER_00: Just tell us a little bit about uh about how you wrote that song and uh a little bit about this song.
16:05
SPEAKER_02: Well, it's been so awesome.
16:07
SPEAKER_02: Uh made Mississippi uh there they've been using it as their theme.
16:11
SPEAKER_02: Uh one Mississippi was born Governor Bryant in 2016.
16:14
SPEAKER_02: When he brought me into his office, he said, Hey, I want you to write the official bicentennial song.
16:19
SPEAKER_02: I feel like you're the guy to do it.
16:21
SPEAKER_02: We're about to celebrate Mississippi's 200th birthday in 2017.
16:24
SPEAKER_02: And he goes, But there's one caveat.
16:26
SPEAKER_02: Every kid in school has to want to sing it.
16:30
SPEAKER_02: And I went, huh.
16:32
SPEAKER_02: And so I left there so inspired.
16:34
SPEAKER_02: I called him the next morning and I said, Are you busy?
16:37
SPEAKER_02: He goes, Well, I'm the governor.
16:38
SPEAKER_02: And I said, Well, I got the song.
16:40
SPEAKER_02: And he goes, What song?
16:42
SPEAKER_02: And I said, The one you told me to write.
16:43
SPEAKER_02: He said, There's no way you've written that yet.
16:45
SPEAKER_02: And I said, Listen, you inspired me so much, you were so fired up.
16:49
SPEAKER_02: I had that thing written in my head uh by the time I got home.
16:54
SPEAKER_02: And actually, when you live it your whole life, sometimes the song writes itself.
16:59
SPEAKER_02: And in that case, I literally didn't change a thing.
17:02
SPEAKER_02: I didn't, I went straight to the guitar, a chord project project uh progression I've never really used.
17:08
SPEAKER_02: Um, my hands just went to it, the lyrics fell out.
17:11
SPEAKER_02: It's about six and a half minutes.
17:12
SPEAKER_02: It's as long as American Pie and Free Bird because it needed to be.
17:16
SPEAKER_02: And um, and I'll tell you, I we've been traveling around the state uh visiting schools.
17:21
SPEAKER_02: We visited a ton of schools already.
17:23
SPEAKER_02: When I'll show up, and they the kids sing every word with me.
17:28
SPEAKER_02: They know it better than I do.
17:30
SPEAKER_02: And uh, and at first I was bringing lyrics and they go, we don't need lyrics.
17:34
SPEAKER_02: They're from the from the kindergartner to the senior in high school.
17:37
SPEAKER_02: And so it's it's been so awesome, y'all.
17:40
SPEAKER_02: And now the book, the children's book, that Sarah Francis Hardy, she ended up um uh doing the illustration, seven beautiful kids that represent Mississippi.
17:50
SPEAKER_02: And the lyric, the lyric is actually the words in the book, and and we're meeting with the Secretary of Education next week about it, uh, a curriculum in school.
17:59
SPEAKER_02: So what's happened is there's a teacher's guide, there's a curriculum.
18:02
SPEAKER_02: Uh Dr.
18:03
SPEAKER_02: Uh, there's there's between Ole Miss and uh William Carrey College, there's been some other schools, they've already jumped on board and they're teaching the teachers to teach when they go out to elementary schools around the state of Mississippi, and now one Mississippi is a big part of what they teach their kids, their teach their students to go teach the kids.
18:23
SPEAKER_02: So, anyway, so we're gonna probably visit about 25, 30 more schools this year.
18:27
SPEAKER_02: And every time I leave there, it makes my day and makes my week, and it lets me know why my move back from Nashville when my managers were managing me, uh Fleetwood Mac, ZZ Top, Slash, and Tommy Lee, and my agent had me and Keith Urban and and just a Darius Rucker and a handful of a bunch of us, and they all looked at me and said, Why would you leave?
18:52
SPEAKER_02: Why where are you going?
18:53
SPEAKER_02: And why would you ruin your career?
18:55
SPEAKER_02: I said, Oh, I'm going to write about I'm going to make my career all over again because they they knew I loved this place.
19:02
SPEAKER_02: Uh, but leaving Nashville made no sense on paper at the time.
19:05
SPEAKER_02: I just got through touring with Bob Seeger for almost a year.
19:08
SPEAKER_02: Everything was clicking.
19:09
SPEAKER_02: I had my own label.
19:11
SPEAKER_02: We just had our first hit uh on my own label, not universal, my first one off of Universal, and uh a number one music video when we were rolling, and I just felt like it was time to come home.
19:22
SPEAKER_02: And so uh having the opportunity to get to write the state song, which was just the bicentennial song at the time, getting a new flag and then getting the new song back to back, uh, repealing the other one after 60 years and seeing how it's impacting kids uh has changed my life.
19:39
SPEAKER_02: It's been it's so beautiful.
19:42
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's awesome.
19:45
SPEAKER_01: Well, tell us a little bit about your foundation and and some of what you're doing with that.
19:49
SPEAKER_02: Well, so I used to host the CMA every year at Fanfair.
19:55
SPEAKER_02: The CMA uh I was sponsored in North America.
19:58
SPEAKER_02: I was a brand ambassador from Exxon Mobil.
20:00
SPEAKER_02: So my buses had Exxon Mobil on the run, uh, Steve Azar.
20:05
SPEAKER_02: They were trying to convert a lot of their tiger march to on the run.
20:08
SPEAKER_02: So that was sort of what we were promoting.
20:10
SPEAKER_02: But, you know, they would so I had the Steve Azar ExxonMobil celebrity um sports challenge every year at CMA Music Fest.
20:20
SPEAKER_02: And it was sort of like Battle Network of the Stars.
20:23
SPEAKER_02: If you guys can go back, you know, we played every stupid, you know, we did three-pointers, shot free throws, did the hockey puck in the net, threw the baseball, through the football, through the tire.
20:33
SPEAKER_02: But I'd have Jim McMahon.
20:36
SPEAKER_02: Um, uh we had uh John Daly would come, uh uh Jim Kelly, uh uh uh who else, all these great Billy Joe Tolliver, Steve Berline.
20:48
SPEAKER_02: We'd have all these great quarterbacks come in, right?
20:50
SPEAKER_02: And a lot of actor friends of mine, and we'd compete, and then we'd go raise money for the foundation at BB Kings, raise a little bit of money, you know, and we'd send it to some uh our our foundation, our mission statement is for kids in the Mississippi Delta, but that's stretched out now.
21:06
SPEAKER_02: And it's uh for sick, disadvantaged children, and uh a heavy emphasis on the arts, which is really where we our sweet spot is.
21:15
SPEAKER_02: So we've given away about a million, uh it'll be a million four this year to the arts, various programs.
21:22
SPEAKER_02: We don't have our own programs.
21:24
SPEAKER_02: We support all of the many vast uh organizations that put on summer programs and camps and during the year and and theaters and you know, all these sorts of great things that you know, the arts have been taken away from our schools.
21:37
SPEAKER_02: So if you take that away from Mississippians, you might as well take our farmland away too, because it leaves us with not much, because we are the greatest farmers.
21:46
SPEAKER_02: We are the birthplace of America's music.
21:49
SPEAKER_02: And we can't, you just can't you can't eliminate certain things from us.
21:53
SPEAKER_02: So, as much as of a sports enthusiast as I am, because I I credit playing sports growing up to me handling the losses in music city and the and the turndowns along my way and the and the the just just getting the door shut in my face just getting back up and dusting myself off as they say and and going back in and winning you know you know because you you lose most of the time but you just need to win enough you know so anyway um so we we do those do that every June and Reggie Smith one of the great baseball players of our time never misses and never missed it ever uh a great example of how much he loves this place he comes for a week and then he wanted to put on a free baseball clinic uh so he would do that and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Mississippi would sponsor that particular event and uh you know he was the all-star honorable all-star baseball coach last year so I mean he's uh he will be in the hall of fame probably when he's gone dead and gone unfortunately uh they've they've missed on him so far but one of the greatest Red Sox and and Dodgers in history but um he loves coming to Mississippi and uh just like Richard Carr from Home Improvement uh Gary Valentine from the King of Queens I mean the Lisk of Mark Rip in was here this year for the first time and he says he'll never miss.
23:14
SPEAKER_02: So it was it was great to see you know Mark Ripon and Jim McMahon have conversations about their days in football.
23:20
SPEAKER_02: And so anyway the Lisk of Morgan Freeman comes at times when he's not filming but you know Morgan's always working so it's part of the deal but it's a great a great event and uh it's uh it's been a beautiful thing.
23:32
SPEAKER_02: Uh the Abney Foundation, you know David Abney heavy Mississippi State him and Sherry they've never missed uh our event brought us together we didn't know each other just I knew of the great David Abney who became the CEO of UPS who uh his he would tell these great stories of his dad they couldn't afford to go to uh Mississippi State so we went Delta State uh but his dad his greatest memories were getting to go to a game at Mississippi State with his dad and now they've got that big building named after uh David's dad after he became so successful uh to help uh tutor the student athletes and all that so the gift that keeps on giving and it's another example shining example of a Mississippi heart yeah one of these days we hopefully we can say we've raised a million dollars for cystic fibrosis that's that's one of my goals I'm I'd love to get there so well I I love what you guys are doing.
24:25
SPEAKER_02: Look man this the it's Mississippians are all about we're we're crazy giving people um and I'm telling you I you guys can't tell me that you don't have a core group around you that continues to grow that gives of their time I mean every single year and it's almost like they don't have time for it but they make the time because it means that much you know the human spirit in Mississippi is alive I'm telling you so what you guys are doing obviously Johnny you're you're you know you're been touched your whole life by this so I mean it's it's a beautiful thing you can't tell me how you don't wake up in the morning when you have to fight that and get your breathing on and deal with that but you don't you don't find comfort in knowing that that you have you're surrounded by believers.
25:12
SPEAKER_00: Right absolutely absolutely yeah that's a huge part man faith plays a big part in it and and and I tell people all the time it doesn't have to be something like what I deal with with CF, you know anything could happen.
25:26
SPEAKER_00: We just enjoy every day we have because I mean a life is not promised your next breath is not promised and uh I have a different perspective.
25:34
SPEAKER_00: I mean I'm living 43 years with with a lung disease and every day I look at life like I'm I'm wake up like I'm just thankful for another day.
25:41
SPEAKER_00: But a lot of people don't take that don't have that perspective they just get up and carry on.
25:46
SPEAKER_00: But like I just said anything can happen and we just say all my my motto I always take after Matthew McConnell is just keep living.
25:53
SPEAKER_00: I always say that that's what my motto is just keep living good times bad times you know everything that gets thrown your way just uh attitude plays a big part especially when you're dealing with something like I deal with CF attitude plays a big part I could get down on myself and a lot of people with CF man they do that they get down and say you know what screwed I'm not doing these treatments anymore and then and then you stop a little bit more and a little bit more and you get sicker sicker sicker and then you're like oh I need to get back on it and then it's a no-win battle because you've already given up so I've just always Brandon can see has seen this my whole life as far as we went to school together as elementary and up to Mississippi State together just constantly just uh just giving it my all and and all that sort of stuff but uh my I feel like my I feel like everybody has a has a a reason for being here.
26:36
SPEAKER_00: I know they do and uh I feel like my reason to be here is is inspiring people who who uh whether they have a disease or not have a disease or just anything just to look on the brighter side of life and know that that God has you here and he's he's using you for some some reason that guys I don't know why I have CF but I think I do know part part of the why is uh so that I can spread the word out let people know to keep fighting whatever battle you're uh you're you're facing because like I said we're not promised tomorrow but we just got to enjoy every single day and the people you meet you know like you're talking about in Mississippi they get that they they understand it a lot of people you meet and and you'll you'll go around the around the uh country and you'll run into people like you just said you'll run into people with the Mississippi connects and boom when you have that it's like hey you're in you know you're you start you know them you know them you know and then makes a full circle thing and it's just really neat to see all that plays out.
27:27
SPEAKER_02: You know when I you got me then you just think about that support cast around you you know I the one thing I didn't say about hell state for sure that is the truth.
27:36
SPEAKER_02: Uh I had a lot of friends that would bring me into play and we've started playing at the pike house outside all the time right and uh and I'll never forget the first time we came my buddy Lance Wilson and Mike the late great Mike Galatus who I miss him so much uh he they would they brought us in and I think Lance was the social chairman and I'll never forget we had one van full of gear but we packed that sucker like like there was 12 vans right and and I remember Lance everybody going why'd you who the what the heck did you bring here why'd you bring this oh my God and Lance like just give will you stop and just let him you know so Lance said it was so great because the more the the longer it took to unload the van more people go oh well that's some gear there you know so we ended up becoming the band for for years for four years there and then all of a sudden we've got two 28 foot trucks by the time I graduate Delta State and there's 10 guys on the payroll we have a road crew light show there's pyrol going off everything so we've we've gone from this little van of gear to to everything just this live crazy show but you know what it gave me because the Mississippi State was one of those schools that decided to like me and let me know that I could do it.
28:48
SPEAKER_02: And um and that gave me this belief that carried me on until I was so I was making a living out of it but not making the living I needed to make for it to last forever.
29:00
SPEAKER_02: But I'm telling you by the when I had my first hits at 37, so I was 19, 20 years old when I started playing at Mississippi State.
29:07
SPEAKER_02: So you think that's a long time to be stubborn enough to keep doing it, you know, and um and the good Lord was good to me on the way for sure and gave me those signs along the way but I'm telling you plan the pikehouse at Mississippi State outside plan at Mississippi State period growing up gave me enough belief to keep me going years later to till I had the success.
29:29
SPEAKER_02: And that's that core belief system of friends friends you that you'll that you don't that you meet uh the ones you like you guys have known each other your whole life but uh but then you meet people that you feel like you've met each other that you've known each other for your whole life.
29:44
SPEAKER_02: Right.
29:44
SPEAKER_00: Anyway I can tell you that that people ask me why would you come back home I said well why would I not come back home I never wanted to leave I just needed to go away to you know be mentored by some great songwriters which I was uh to really understand the songwriting process so I could forget about the songwriting process and just be honest you know it's we shout out to Hell State for giving me a big uh uh uh just giving me a big uh leg up man I'm telling you it it it gave me a whole lot of confidence yeah well this has been great i i I feel inspired I mean I I'm in Tennessee I need to I need to just move on back across the state line or something because I'm making me miss it right now so but I'll be down there in Memphis the capital of northwest Mississippi you that's right it really is pretty much Mississippi so for sure yeah well how can we how can we find out um you know if people want to connect with you you know find out about your foundation more about that what's the best way for us to to find that it's the Steve Azar Saint Cecilia Foundation Cecilia's our daughter's name and also this the patron saint of music so that's why we named it that and uh you can go to SASCF or just Google Steve Azar Saint Cecilia Foundation.org and um and you can find all the places we've given uh and all the places we continue to give and uh we feel like that that's been you know my it's my all of this the state song all of the these are my greatest achievements not I don't have to be me till Monday and waiting on Joe and sunshine and you don't all these other songs they they are there it was fantastic and I had to have it but as you evolve in your life you need something you need to have a purpose greater than showing up and entertaining people uh you know obviously you guys have had this purpose your relationship with Johnny uh you're you you love him you know what I mean and you know what he's gone through and so uh you're y'all have a purpose that's so important uh with CF so you know I think that we're all we're you know I it's a nice thing it's gonna be a nice reunion in heaven when we all get uh have our final day and hopefully the good Lord will look at us and go okay you guys that's where you guys did what I did what I wanted you to do you know and and I feel like we're doing that work now you know yeah it's been good yeah I before uh well I guess so I was born at the um in the children's hospital I was born in in in a hospital in in Jackson area transported the night I was born over to the children's hospital and ended up staying the first eight months of my life there had surgery all that sort of stuff so after I graduated college uh I spent many years working at the children's hospital kind of promoting it sharing my story helping fundraise and I saw right there firsthand about how special that hospital was because it was it treated by kids from all 82 counties in Mississippi it was Mississippi's children's hospital still is today and it's just grown so much so I saw that firsthand and then looking back on it now just seeing kind of what we're what we've been talking about this whole time is everyone is connected with it and uh and that it just just it kind of makes you proud you know just makes you proud to be part of something like this and I you can't tell me the people in other states uh that I mean Mississippi's different it's just it really is and I I I don't see that happening in other places so uh it's just been a real blessing and and uh I'm just uh I'm proud of people proud of people like you what you're doing to represent the state of Mississippi in such a great way and uh it's making a difference and and uh we're all we're all benefiting from it so thank you Steve for doing that I appreciate you guys man this has been great i i'm gonna probably go back and take a nap now since i got in it for you all right definitely definitely and then order some coffee when you when you need to wake back up all right let's talk about that i'm so fired up about the coffee i'm a coffee man we love our we love our coffee so uh so i'm gonna i'm about to go all in i'm gonna be dedicated and uh and i'm not gonna waver well send send me uh email me your address i'll mail you a free bag tell me what you like and you can try it out i'll let you send me one free bag but after that i like to purchase i like to support my friends all right sounds like a deal all right guys blessings guys all right thanks to you take care later on