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Behind the Music: Country Stars Share Their Journey · The Leader Mentality

0:21
Speaker 1: Welcome to Leader Mentality Show CCMF edition.
0:23
Speaker 1: It's that time of year again and we have a collection of great guests coming in this year.
0:28
Speaker 1: And I'm starting off with a big one, really, really great performer.
0:32
Speaker 1: You've seen him on American Idol.
0:34
Speaker 2: Yes, sir.
0:35
Speaker 1: He's been all over the stages across the country, been doing this for a long time.
0:39
Speaker 1: I don't want to bury the lead too much.
0:41
Speaker 3: Mr Colby Lee Swift welcome to the show how you doing, man, Nice meeting you partner.
0:45
Speaker 1: Man well, good to have you on here, man, your first trip to Myrtle Beach.
0:48
Speaker 3: It is, it is.
0:49
Speaker 3: It's nice out here.
0:50
Speaker 3: I like it.
0:50
Speaker 3: It was a long drive, though it kind of got backed up a couple miles down the road.
0:55
Speaker 3: But it was just all right.
0:57
Speaker 3: Beaches are pretty Now where.
0:59
Speaker 1: Texas Did you guys drive all the way from.
1:01
Speaker 3: Texas I did.
1:02
Speaker 3: I got here a couple days ago, went to Florida and then I went to Florida and I came here just a couple days ago.
1:08
Speaker 1: Just yesterday, just yesterday, man.
1:09
Speaker 1: So you made the real trek right here.
1:11
Speaker 1: Absolutely, I ain't stopped.
1:12
Speaker 1: Well, welcome to Myrtle Beach man Appreciate you.
1:14
Speaker 3: What's your?
1:15
Speaker 1: initial impressions.
1:16
Speaker 3: Man, I like it.
1:17
Speaker 3: I just got to sit around here for just a little bit.
1:19
Speaker 3: I like the beach for sure, but it seems like a lot of fun.
1:22
Speaker 3: It's going to be a lot of fun.
1:23
Speaker 3: I'm going to check it out after this.
1:24
Speaker 3: Yeah, no doubt.
1:25
Speaker 1: I'm going to check it out more.
1:26
Speaker 1: So, Colby, you're performing on Friday.
1:28
Speaker 1: Yep and so first time at CCMF then too it is yes, sir.
1:33
Speaker 1: What are you most excited about?
1:35
Speaker 3: The experience.
1:36
Speaker 3: You know I get to learn a lot, to learn everything.
1:43
Speaker 3: I like to take everything with the grain of, you know, with the grain of salt, learn as much as I can, cuz I don't get these opportunities much.
1:47
Speaker 3: So I'm blessed, a bit blessed, to be a part, particularly the death, I'm excited, for sure that's super cool.
1:52
Speaker 1: I love it when people are excited.
1:54
Speaker 1: What do you find when you get to an event like this?
1:56
Speaker 1: And we got a lot of big names here, right?
1:57
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean you're a big name, but you got big yeah, absolutely, absolutely talked about, maybe some mentors in the business who do you look forward to seeing?
2:05
Speaker 1: Do you guys get to hang out backstage?
2:07
Speaker 1: What's it like?
2:08
Speaker 3: Man, I'm not too sure yet.
2:09
Speaker 3: I'm definitely excited to see what it's about.
2:12
Speaker 3: I do not know, I have no idea.
2:14
Speaker 3: I'm just going to focus on my songs and what I'm singing and going to put a dang good show on.
2:19
Speaker 3: That's what I'm looking forward to.
2:21
Speaker 3: Whatever happens backstage happens backstage.
2:24
Speaker 1: That's all I'm looking forward to.
2:25
Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly yeah, whatever it is.
2:26
Speaker 1: What fires you up about doing this man?
2:30
Speaker 1: I mean, you've been a singer for a long time, since you were five years old.
2:33
Speaker 3: Yes, sir, yes, I started at a young age, Played guitar, more or less at five, and started really picking up singing around you know, around eight, ten, my sister Around 8, 10, my sister sang a little bit more and I used to play guitar with her.
2:45
Speaker 3: Daddy would video us and put us on Facebook and the town would like it or whoever would share it.
2:51
Speaker 3: But we both did music.
2:54
Speaker 3: She sang more than me but started really singing around 15, getting actually into it.
3:05
Speaker 1: So at what point does your music career go from like oh, that's so cute.
3:07
Speaker 1: To like this kid's got some talent.
3:08
Speaker 1: Some talent, you get a little five-year-old playing guitar.
3:09
Speaker 3: That's just gotta be horrible.
3:09
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, I really don't know it's um, it's just the want I really want to say, it's just the want of doing it.
3:15
Speaker 3: You know, um, you know it's.
3:17
Speaker 3: It's I like to, I don't like to.
3:20
Speaker 3: Sometimes I look back at videos and just see how young I was.
3:23
Speaker 3: But i'm'm like you're all so proud, like I hear a difference.
3:27
Speaker 3: I know I'm better than what I was.
3:29
Speaker 3: You know what I mean.
3:30
Speaker 3: It's real.
3:31
Speaker 3: I appreciate seeing that.
3:33
Speaker 1: Yeah, I know that you've had some inspiration and so I've read up a little bit on stuff and you know you say you're influenced by George Strait people like that.
3:42
Speaker 1: Tell me about that.
3:43
Speaker 1: Do you find yourself when you're writing songs or you're getting ready?
3:46
Speaker 1: Is that something that's really creatively coming into your stuff or is that just more naturally happening?
3:52
Speaker 1: You look back and go I kind of sound like George Strait.
3:55
Speaker 3: Man, I don't like to put myself in anybody's shoes, but what I like to look at is just listening to the details, listening to the color that they were painting with songs and the way they sang them, with the way you could feel that that old country sound and that man or whoever you look up to, it's like they're really bringing something out, and that's what I like to look at and I think that's, uh, that's what my team likes to look at.
4:17
Speaker 3: They we actually appreciate stuff.
4:19
Speaker 3: We're actually working on new stuff, putting new stuff out.
4:21
Speaker 3: That's gonna really start, you know, being able to paint a picture of what I actually and what I can do.
4:26
Speaker 3: So I I think I look at the detail in the colorful picture that they they sing when all the song to the window.
4:32
Speaker 3: I had to listen to all the mold songs of theirs.
4:34
Speaker 1: You know, love it, love it.
4:35
Speaker 1: Man, how much your personal life comes into your music?
4:38
Speaker 3: oh, a lot, a lot man, you know drinking, uh uh.
4:43
Speaker 3: You know having a good time with friends.
4:45
Speaker 3: Or you know a woman hurting my heart, you know, whatever it is, it's all life.
4:49
Speaker 3: And then there's a lot of songs, you know I like to.
4:52
Speaker 3: I love looking at what other people can write too, because there's some times where I can't get things off my heart or off my head and other people can say it just as just as like I want you know, and then it makes you feel something so you can actually relate to that song and make people, um, you know, believe what you're acting, make them you're touching anybody when you're singing that, just singing stuff like that.
5:14
Speaker 3: You know I, that's what I like about it all too.
5:16
Speaker 3: Everybody you really feel in music.
5:19
Speaker 1: I dig it.
5:19
Speaker 1: Yeah, cause what you're, you know, music has got this powerful thing that it does.
5:23
Speaker 1: Where it can make you introspective, it can get you fired up.
5:27
Speaker 1: If you're in the gym, you can do one thing but the next moment it's just kind of calming you down.
5:32
Speaker 1: So really powerful stuff, man.
5:34
Speaker 1: It's a beautiful gift that you have that you can share with the people in a crowd like this?
5:37
Speaker 3: Yes, sir, absolutely.
5:38
Speaker 3: It's super cool.
5:38
Speaker 3: Do you have any other genres of music you like, or is it all country music for you?
5:52
Speaker 3: I mean, yeah, I listen to Eminem.
5:54
Speaker 3: I like listening to rap.
5:54
Speaker 3: You know rock creed and that's just about it, stuff like that.
5:56
Speaker 3: You know the old school stuff, what daddy used to listen to, what you know, what you hear in the old garage shop, at a tire shop.
5:59
Speaker 1: You know that's what I like, that what's the best Eminem song of all time?
6:02
Speaker 1: Man, I'm going to put you to the dust.
6:07
Speaker 3: I would say Godzilla, no, no, no, it's Slim Shady, the real Slim Shady, please.
6:14
Speaker 1: Oh dude.
6:16
Speaker 3: No, yeah, yeah, it's real Slim Shady.
6:18
Speaker 3: That right there is hilarious.
6:20
Speaker 1: I love that song.
6:21
Speaker 3: It is a good song I was blank for a second.
6:29
Speaker 1: I gotta get this right.
6:29
Speaker 1: I look stupid.
6:30
Speaker 1: You say, god, I'm taking my audio here.
6:31
Speaker 1: No, that's cool.
6:32
Speaker 1: So tell me about um.
6:34
Speaker 1: It says you work with your producer, brent raider yes, sir stuff.
6:38
Speaker 1: Tell me about you guys's interaction and how that works out.
6:40
Speaker 3: man, he really does.
6:41
Speaker 3: Uh, he's been, he's been a real, a solid mentor to me.
6:45
Speaker 3: I really gotta say he's he brought me in and I didn't.
6:49
Speaker 3: I never really got to sit in the studio and really get to learn anything.
6:52
Speaker 3: Man, I've got to be in the rooms with people that can do absolutely everything, and there's a new side of music that I haven't got to see.
6:59
Speaker 3: So he there's questions, questions that I ask that are too much, and he'll just like man, you ain't got to worry about that, not right now.
7:05
Speaker 3: Yeah, I get excited, I want to know and I want to learn, but he just steers me in the right track and I take everything what he says.
7:14
Speaker 3: I take it seriously.
7:15
Speaker 3: I definitely got to listen to him.
7:17
Speaker 3: He's been doing a lot for me.
7:19
Speaker 3: For sure.
7:19
Speaker 3: I love the way he produces my music.
7:21
Speaker 3: He sounds solid every time he produces my music, dave.
7:24
Speaker 1: He sounds solid every time.
7:24
Speaker 1: Nice, man, nice.
7:24
Speaker 1: What motivates you?
7:25
Speaker 1: You know.
7:26
Speaker 1: I mean, obviously I know you love the music, but what motivates you to do what you do?
7:30
Speaker 1: And what I mean by this is, you know, in the road to where you're at, obviously there's going to be setbacks, there's going to be detractors, there's going to be people who don't believe in you.
7:39
Speaker 1: There's going to be people who do believe in you and you keep going.
7:42
Speaker 1: You know you're playing on the stage at one of the biggest events in the country.
7:46
Speaker 1: You know what motivates you, man.
7:48
Speaker 1: How do you get up every day?
7:51
Speaker 3: That's a good question, definitely.
7:54
Speaker 3: I got to think I mean, god definitely motivates me, I mean, but I just don't.
7:59
Speaker 3: I don't see myself failing, like this is like I'm not going to.
8:04
Speaker 3: I guess that's what motivates me.
8:05
Speaker 3: I wake up and there are them days where you just you know, you second guess everything, you know, you don't really know if this is supposed to be something you're doing.
8:15
Speaker 3: And you start getting closer to things and you start having these opportunities and then your mind starts switching a little bit and then you go hmm, I need to learn a little bit more, I need to really take this into a different spot.
8:28
Speaker 3: I just don't see myself failing.
8:30
Speaker 3: So that's my motivation.
8:31
Speaker 1: Man.
8:32
Speaker 1: Dude, that's a mindset thing.
8:33
Speaker 1: You know what I love about that, though?
8:34
Speaker 1: Everybody, no matter where you've been.
8:37
Speaker 1: You've had that question mark time.
8:39
Speaker 1: Oh Lord, man, is this it?
8:40
Speaker 1: But then you keep pushing forward, and that's what the difference is between the successful people and the non-successful.
8:51
Speaker 1: I tell this story sometimes you watch any sports uh, yes, I do a little bit so.
8:53
Speaker 3: So there's a.
8:53
Speaker 3: You ever heard of kobe bryant?
8:54
Speaker 1: yeah, yeah, yeah yeah absolutely, but kobe told a story about how he went to a basketball camp when he was younger.
8:59
Speaker 1: Didn't hit a shot, the entire camp and it's like you know.
9:03
Speaker 1: He went home and there was a point where you're like man, am I good enough to do this?
9:06
Speaker 1: And when he flipped that switch and he said, no, I am good enough to do this, just like you just said, and pushed forward, of course, the story ended like that.
9:13
Speaker 1: For him it kind of worked out.
9:15
Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly, tell me about your story.
9:18
Speaker 1: You know 10 years from now.
9:25
Speaker 3: Where would you see yourself?
9:26
Speaker 3: I like to see myself playing stadiums, big stadiums, sellout stadiums.
9:29
Speaker 3: I like to have a number one hit in a mind that I wrote I like to have a name in country music.
9:34
Speaker 3: Be that change also for people, and that's something that I see myself.
9:38
Speaker 3: I want to mark like that in the next 10 years.
9:40
Speaker 3: Yeah killer man.
9:41
Speaker 3: Have a good ranch.
9:42
Speaker 3: You know what I mean.
9:43
Speaker 3: Just sit on the ranch.
9:44
Speaker 3: That's what I mean.
9:44
Speaker 3: I just sit on the ranch.
9:45
Speaker 3: That's what I'd like to see myself in 10 years.
9:48
Speaker 1: So you said something.
9:49
Speaker 1: I love that.
9:49
Speaker 1: What do you do when you're not singing?
9:51
Speaker 1: What's a?
9:52
Speaker 3: good day for you, oh, man, a good day is I hang out with Granny.
9:56
Speaker 3: We wake up and hang out with her and I go check the cows, you know, trying to build some.
10:02
Speaker 3: Uh, I got to build gates out of, uh, corral boards, you know wood boards, so I can work these dang cow pens.
10:06
Speaker 3: We had that thing.
10:07
Speaker 3: Um, we had barrel storm run through, we had our windmill break, our barns fall off, you know, fall apart and uh, just, you know, I would like to just see it real, like a real functioning ranch.
10:18
Speaker 3: You know, like bring it back up, because we've had a lot of, you know, trouble, not troubles on the ranch, just, you know, just a lot, just a lot of destruction.
10:25
Speaker 3: It's hard to do things I want to do, but we've got a lot of good-looking cows so we're excited to see it grow.
10:30
Speaker 1: That's a real country guy right there just in case you're wondering, it's authentic man.
10:35
Speaker 1: I like it.
10:35
Speaker 1: Well, you know we're sponsored by Carolina Bays Real Estate and Construction, so we can all understand what you're saying.
10:40
Speaker 1: You're talking about a little bit of hard work.
10:42
Speaker 3: Yes sir, yes sir.
10:43
Speaker 1: Well, so tell me this With where you've been in your career, what would you say to a young person that's 15 years old and they're trying to come up through it?
10:53
Speaker 1: What advice would you have for them?
10:55
Speaker 3: Feel everything you sing.
10:57
Speaker 3: Feel everything you sing.
10:59
Speaker 3: Don't just sing it because it's another song.
11:01
Speaker 3: Just put yourself in the shoes of the person that was singing it and actually feel what they're trying to say.
11:07
Speaker 3: And I think emotions, if you think like that would come out through your voice and singing, you know, do not.
11:17
Speaker 3: That's probably the biggest thing I could say.
11:19
Speaker 1: I love that man.
11:19
Speaker 1: Be authentic.
11:20
Speaker 1: You know it's like don't try to just copy everybody, but but like literally feel what you're saying, man.
11:25
Speaker 1: It comes out after the crowds connect to that.
11:27
Speaker 3: Yes, exactly.
11:28
Speaker 1: Well, let me ask you this Anything coming up that you uh?
11:33
Speaker 3: wanted to kind of promote before a couple of songs coming out here shortly.
11:36
Speaker 3: We got Up in Flames, cannot Run the Heartache and got a lot of good old country sounding songs.
11:44
Speaker 3: So it's going to be coming out here in the next couple of months, going to be playing a show in National Mechanics in New Jersey, so that's going to be a lot of fun June 28th with Cole Goodwin.
11:53
Speaker 3: So I'm looking forward to doing that.
11:55
Speaker 3: It it's going to be a lot of fun, man.
11:56
Speaker 1: Killer man, Are you performing new stuff while you're here?
11:59
Speaker 3: Oh, absolutely Every day's going to be original, absolutely.
12:02
Speaker 1: All of it is.
12:03
Speaker 1: That's what we got to talk about.
12:04
Speaker 1: It's our teaser.
12:08
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm going to be playing them songs.
12:11
Speaker 3: I'm going to be trying them out here too.
12:12
Speaker 3: Okay, we're going to do it, I like the way you say you're trying them.
12:15
Speaker 3: I'll see you.
12:16
Speaker 1: Let's see what it does.
12:17
Speaker 1: That would be killer.
12:18
Speaker 3: Sounds good.
12:19
Speaker 1: Colby, I appreciate you coming on the show man.
12:21
Speaker 1: You do a lot of great stuff out there.
12:23
Speaker 3: Thank you and good luck.
12:24
Speaker 3: Thank you, partner, get forward.
12:25
Speaker 3: Yes, sir, all right.
12:26
Speaker 1: Hey guys, we appreciate Colby Lee Swift, amazing young talent.
12:30
Speaker 1: You guys come out and see him at CCMF this weekend on Friday, and we'll see you guys on the next segment.
12:36
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Leader Mentality Show, ccmf edition 2025.
12:41
Speaker 1: We got more guests coming up over this few days that we're recording, but we do want to start off by thanking our sponsors.
12:49
Speaker 1: Thank you to Grand Strand Brewing Company and having us out here in this beautiful venue here, right in, right outside of CCMF, so it's really a great venue.
12:56
Speaker 1: They're getting ready busy day ahead, so you'll see everybody kind of working behind us as we go.
13:00
Speaker 1: We also want to thank Carolina-based real estate and construction, of course, and our other sponsor, who has always been so good to us, is Ground Zero.
13:09
Speaker 1: So we have one of the best representatives you'll ever meet anywhere and it is Carly from Ground Zero.
13:14
Speaker 1: Hey.
13:14
Speaker 2: Carly, hello, hi everyone, good to have you back for year to be here.
13:19
Speaker 1: Yeah, awesome.
13:19
Speaker 1: I mean Ground Zero is such an amazing part of this whole area, Myrtle Beach, and you said the whole Grand Strand.
13:27
Speaker 1: Really, yeah, Tell us a little bit for the people who haven't heard about it before.
13:30
Speaker 1: Tell us a little bit about Ground Zero and what you all do.
13:33
Speaker 2: Yeah, so Ground Zero.
13:34
Speaker 2: We're located right in Myrtle Beach.
13:36
Speaker 2: If you go to pick up your wristbands at Will Call or if you have questions for the CCMF staff, you're in the Ground Zero building and so we use that for events.
13:46
Speaker 2: We are a place for every teenager to go belong and grow, and we do that through life-changing experiences.
13:51
Speaker 2: So on a weekly basis we have events for all middle and high school students.
13:56
Speaker 2: It's free for them to attend.
13:58
Speaker 2: They get a free coffee drink, a free meal, we have a live DJ, we have games and we have a message at the end and it's just building those relationships, sharing.
14:09
Speaker 2: It's a faith-based nonprofit, so we're sharing just the gospel and the good news.
14:14
Speaker 2: And we also have concerts that we're doing.
14:17
Speaker 2: That's a big thing.
14:18
Speaker 2: This summer, every Sunday night we're doing a summer concert series.
14:23
Speaker 2: So artists like Colton Dixon I know, cochran Company is one of them, tasha Layton is one of them and the Newsboys is the other one, so Sunday nights they're free to attend.
14:34
Speaker 1: We're blocking off Chester Street and you can come set up a chair and listen to some good music, but we just always have a good rotating list of events going on, but no one of the things about Myrtle Beach and this show is viewed at different areas of the country, actually different areas of the world, and sometimes you hear these things about Myrtle Beach and they're not always positive, right?
14:56
Speaker 1: People don't always have glowing reports of it, but it's the small pockets that come up that are really the anomalies.
15:03
Speaker 1: Myrtle Beach is a great community and the thing I like that you just talked about is that ground zero is a big part of this.
15:08
Speaker 1: You know you talk about community building, taking care of the kids, giving people a good quality thing to do when they're, you know, going home at night.
15:16
Speaker 1: It's like, what do I want to do?
15:17
Speaker 1: I'm going to go to ground zero and have a good time, so I think that's really cool.
15:21
Speaker 1: Who started this and tell us a little bit about them?
15:24
Speaker 2: Yeah, so Scott Pacer started this.
15:26
Speaker 2: It'll be 27,.
15:28
Speaker 2: 27 years ago this month actually in.
15:30
Speaker 2: Tennessee, and he moved here around like 2010, 2011.
15:35
Speaker 2: That building, that ground zero in is in, had nothing going on and it was fairly abandoned, just kind of coming to shambles, yeah, and so through donations he's built it into what it is today.
15:48
Speaker 2: So that whole building is his vision and it's pristine it is.
15:52
Speaker 1: It's a bit incredible, dude.
15:53
Speaker 1: I love walking through that building.
15:55
Speaker 1: Every time I go through there, I'm always like, oh, this is so fun.
15:57
Speaker 1: I wish I was a little kid again.
15:58
Speaker 1: Yeah, you, just because there's so many things to do.
16:01
Speaker 1: There's video games and, like you said, coffee, which we're going to get back to some coffee topics in a little bit.
16:06
Speaker 1: So, anyway, but everybody knows Rob Clemens loves a good coffee.
16:08
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying?
16:09
Speaker 2: Yeah, Do you guys have?
16:22
Speaker 2: Decaf just for's so much sugar in it already.
16:24
Speaker 2: They get the frozen.
16:25
Speaker 2: They love a frozen ground zero mocha.
16:27
Speaker 1: Yeah, those are, oh okay, A frozen ground zero mocha.
16:30
Speaker 1: And I have to say, when it comes to that, maybe a little placebo effect comes in.
16:35
Speaker 1: You know they're not getting any caffeine, but they're like, oh, I'm so buzzed and they love the sugar.
16:38
Speaker 1: Right, right, right.
16:39
Speaker 1: The sugar buzz is there for sure.
16:41
Speaker 1: Why is it called Ground Zero?
16:43
Speaker 1: How did that name come out?
16:44
Speaker 2: So it's the point of impact.
16:46
Speaker 2: So you're starting at literally Ground Zero.
16:49
Speaker 2: So the ministry was in place before 9-11, so we do get that question a lot actually of the comparison there.
16:56
Speaker 2: But it's the point of impact.
16:57
Speaker 2: So, um, we want to impact these kids before life hits them right, like we want to help them set a good foundation, whether that's, um, in their faith or with some skills that they can take into the workforce, or with their, their life.
17:13
Speaker 2: Like we have students who work the coffee shop and learn that they work in top notch and learn that they serve in production.
17:19
Speaker 2: And we have we actually have a she's 16, knows more about the production booth than I do and that's part of my job.
17:25
Speaker 2: Like she can set all the lights and do the video walls and knows the soundboard and she's picked it up as she's watched other people do it.
17:31
Speaker 2: So they really are learning incredible things at such a young age.
17:36
Speaker 1: It's the best learning you can do.
17:37
Speaker 1: You go and learn some practical things in school, but when you can apply them.
17:40
Speaker 1: Amazing, and I hear Ground Zero.
17:43
Speaker 1: You guys have a lot of volunteers who come in, but a lot of those volunteers eventually become employees.
17:47
Speaker 1: Yeah, so it's a great opportunity for somebody.
17:49
Speaker 1: You guys always need volunteers.
17:50
Speaker 2: I'm sure Always, and if you're interested, head to mygroundzerocom and you can click.
17:55
Speaker 2: Interested in volunteering?
17:56
Speaker 1: I'm doing like a little below under the screen thing for Lauren to delve in.
17:59
Speaker 1: So let me ask you this.
18:01
Speaker 1: We're just coming off of ground, the ground zero dragon boat races.
18:05
Speaker 1: That's an amazing event each year.
18:07
Speaker 1: How much money did that raise in the area?
18:10
Speaker 2: I don't know the exact amount I should know it's over a hundred thousand though.
18:14
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah.
18:15
Speaker 2: It was.
18:15
Speaker 2: I want to say it was over 200,000.
18:17
Speaker 1: Wow, can you imagine that?
18:19
Speaker 1: Just what a great cause that is.
18:20
Speaker 2: And the whole community rallies around that event.
18:22
Speaker 2: That's probably my favorite week of the whole year.
18:25
Speaker 2: The staff says it's like Christmas because we get to be at Market Common.
18:28
Speaker 2: We're setting up throughout the whole week but we get to see so many people in the community.
18:34
Speaker 2: There's thousands, thousands of people that come out and they're just having having fun and they're all doing it for a good cause and people are excited and competitive.
18:42
Speaker 2: I'm a sports girl.
18:43
Speaker 1: Absolutely.
18:49
Speaker 2: Love the competitiveness.
18:49
Speaker 1: You know I was on a boat this year.
18:50
Speaker 1: I know I do.
18:51
Speaker 1: I saw you.
18:51
Speaker 1: Don't ask me how we did, though it was, uh, it was a humbling year, you know.
18:53
Speaker 1: You know how, uh, I think in the Bible they talk about like perseverance coming from failure and whatnot.
18:57
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I got, I got a little dose of perseverance.
19:00
Speaker 2: So you rebuild, you just got to keep?
19:03
Speaker 1: Absolutely, I've been.
19:04
Speaker 1: I'm already hitting the gym.
19:06
Speaker 1: Going back to the things.
19:07
Speaker 1: Uh well, carly, I heard a little secret.
19:09
Speaker 1: You got some good stuff coming up.
19:11
Speaker 1: Tell me what's coming up on the horizon for you, yeah.
19:14
Speaker 2: So I have decided to pursue a dream that I've had for a very long time, and I'm starting my own coffee company, and so it is called K Coffee Company, k-e-i, and it is a coffee truck built on the bed of a K truck, which is a Japanese construction truck.
19:32
Speaker 2: It's imported, it's 32 years old, it's a 1993 and it's neon blue, and so I drove by this truck almost every day.
19:41
Speaker 2: Love the trucks.
19:43
Speaker 1: Um, it's a manual and it drives on the right hand side okay, so there's just a lot of quirks that go with it um, but I, it's just always been a dream of mine.
19:52
Speaker 2: Someone asked me like if that's one of your dreams, if that's something you've always wanted to do, then what's stopping you?
19:57
Speaker 2: And I said that's, that's a good point like what is stopping me, and so things have just kind of fallen into place and so I'm actually building the bed out this coming week.
20:07
Speaker 2: But I have my machine.
20:09
Speaker 2: I'm practicing drinks okay, tonight, and I should be out and about in the grand strand in a little over a week when you say you're practicing drinks, so you're practicing making the drinks you've already designed.
20:19
Speaker 1: Are you also coming up with new concoctions?
20:22
Speaker 2: Yes, I love I love coming up with new menu items, and so I worked at a coffee shop for many years, okay, yeah, and so that was one of the things I love doing when we had downtime is finding new flavors.
20:34
Speaker 2: I created a cinnamon roll latte at that store and that was one of the most popular ones, but I just loved working there.
20:40
Speaker 2: I helped roast the beans, I loved getting to know our regulars and they just become part of a really strong community and it's so fun.
20:47
Speaker 2: And actually that's whose beans I'm going to use their beans.
20:51
Speaker 2: So I talked to them and they fun fact they wholesale their beans to the studio in Georgia that films, marvel movies, okay, their beans to the studio in Georgia that films, marvel movies.
20:59
Speaker 2: Okay, so all of those actors will be drinking the coffee I'm selling.
21:02
Speaker 1: Oh, my gosh.
21:03
Speaker 2: The Rock loves a two-shot Americano black the Rock does yeah.
21:08
Speaker 1: Holy cow.
21:08
Speaker 2: So if you want the same drink as the Rock, that he drinks when he's filming.
21:11
Speaker 1: You can get it from me, right?
21:12
Speaker 1: You need to come to KEIK.
21:14
Speaker 1: Yep, keik.
21:15
Speaker 1: All right, I like it, I like it.
21:16
Speaker 1: Hey, that's really cool, congratulations.
21:19
Speaker 1: Thank you.
21:19
Speaker 1: I think we all have to sometimes.
21:21
Speaker 1: You just got to go for your dream.
21:22
Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly.
21:28
Speaker 1: You know, and the biggest thing that holds most people back is fear.
21:29
Speaker 1: So you get over that hump and you're headed out to do big things, so people can start buying coffee from you when.
21:33
Speaker 2: I think I have all of the permits and the licenses.
21:36
Speaker 2: It's just kind of getting the truck set.
21:37
Speaker 2: So I say, in about two weeks I will be booking events and you'll see me, hopefully all over the place.
21:43
Speaker 2: You just have to look for the really tiny neon blue.
21:46
Speaker 1: It'll be hard to miss.
21:46
Speaker 1: I drive it down the road With the steering wheel on the wrong side.
21:50
Speaker 2: Right yeah, on the wrong side, maybe it doesn't go more than 65 miles an hour.
21:54
Speaker 1: Okay, well, good, yeah, most of Myrtle Beach.
21:55
Speaker 1: That's the speed limit.
21:56
Speaker 1: Anyway, you're good.
21:57
Speaker 1: Well, very cool stuff.
21:59
Speaker 1: Congratulations to you.
22:00
Speaker 1: I know that's going to go well.
22:01
Speaker 1: We'll definitely have to have some coffee from you.
22:03
Speaker 1: Maybe that'll be a future show.
22:05
Speaker 1: Let's do that right.
22:05
Speaker 1: So, carly, let's wrap up with a little bit about what you're excited about with CCMF.
22:11
Speaker 1: Are you getting to go this year?
22:12
Speaker 1: I am All right, awesome.
22:13
Speaker 1: Who are you most excited to see?
22:16
Speaker 2: I am very excited for Jelly Roll.
22:18
Speaker 2: That's what I've wanted to see for a while, but I also love Lainey Wilson.
22:22
Speaker 2: And when she was here two years ago, I think it was it was a Sunday night and there was a crazy thunderstorm.
22:28
Speaker 2: And so she only got maybe 20 minutes, 20, 30 minutes into her set and then they had to stop because there was lightning and thunder and the whole, you know.
22:37
Speaker 2: So I'm excited to see her full performance for once.
22:41
Speaker 2: I think she's cool.
22:42
Speaker 1: Hoping the weather holds out.
22:44
Speaker 1: Well, a lot of people think she's cool too.
22:46
Speaker 1: I think you're in good company.
22:47
Speaker 1: Uh, I know we've had a few.
22:48
Speaker 1: Uh, people already say she's one of their most excited things.
22:51
Speaker 1: So, Lainey, the people at Myrtle Beach want you so very cool.
22:54
Speaker 1: Um, how can people find out more about Ground Zero?
22:57
Speaker 2: Um, you can look them up on social media at groundzeronb or go to mygroundzerocom and that'll get you all the information you need.
23:04
Speaker 1: All right, hey Carly, thank you again for being here, thank you for having me Always a lot of fun.
23:08
Speaker 1: Good luck with your venture, thank you, and we will see you guys on the next segment of Leader Mentality Show, ccmf, back here over at the Grandstream Brewing Company, one of our sponsors for the show, and the venue that we're recording from right now Beautiful place.
23:23
Speaker 1: Come out, have some food, have some drinks and just have a good time, as you're going to CCMF this year.
23:28
Speaker 1: So, and we also want to thank our other sponsors, carolina Bays Real Estate and Construction.
23:33
Speaker 1: Thank you to Ground Zero and, of course, none other than the Greg Rolls Legacy Theater in North Myrtle Beach and we have an old buddy with us on the show, here you got well, a young old buddy, I don't know.
23:45
Speaker 1: Man, I think when we get a certain age, we're all old, my body feels it, john.
23:51
Speaker 1: Welcome back John Finley, sales and marketing director over there.
23:56
Speaker 1: You guys been doing a lot of cool stuff.
23:58
Speaker 1: You got a lot of big things coming up on the horizon.
24:00
Speaker 1: Tell us all about the theater.
24:01
Speaker 4: I mean second year.
24:03
Speaker 4: First year went really great.
24:04
Speaker 4: I had a lot of things to learn, Learning, moments.
24:08
Speaker 4: Oh my goodness yeah, you go into a new business and you do your job and you learn that.
24:13
Speaker 4: But, man, building something ground up was just, I'd never done it, a lot of us never done it, so it was a lot, but we've hit a good stride with some things.
24:21
Speaker 4: We're still learning some things, but you know, we've got a lot of things coming up, a lot of changes coming up, a lot of music and concerts coming up.
24:28
Speaker 1: There's a lot coming up for sure, man, when you talk about things that you learned in year one when you were building it, I think we can all relate with this.
24:35
Speaker 1: You know you try out something, whether it's a new job or a new business venture, so we all know what that feels like to be like.
24:41
Speaker 1: Oh, that didn't work.
24:42
Speaker 1: What's something that you think you could?
24:47
Speaker 4: share with the people.
24:48
Speaker 4: That's a difference that you're doing now.
24:49
Speaker 4: I mean just for me.
24:50
Speaker 4: You know there's stuff you know I do, like you said, sales and marketing, and for me, marketing a big part of it this day and age, with technology developing and stuff, is just how to get information out, whether it's, you know, if you want to be serious about it and put it on facebook, if you want to be silly about it and put it in you know, a reel or tiktok learning the social media side of stuff, and I'll tell you that in itself is a full-time job, my goodness well, I can imagine, because when you get into social media, there are so many different ways about going about it on each platform.
25:19
Speaker 1: What do you think is your most successful medium for your venue?
25:24
Speaker 4: You know, honestly, I think it's changed.
25:26
Speaker 4: There's different things that go different places.
25:29
Speaker 4: Like for us, we do the dad jokes.
25:30
Speaker 4: Everybody loves the dad jokes.
25:32
Speaker 4: It's probably one of the biggest social media drives we have.
25:35
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, you know, but you learn, you put that in certain places at certain times.
25:38
Speaker 4: You know people on Facebook really love like those behind the scenes, personal, intimate like photos and stories with the photos.
25:46
Speaker 4: Yeah, um, you know, we've started doing a bunch of silly little tiktok videos that we put.
25:48
Speaker 4: It's just it's fun to do that, but trying to get all of that filmed and edited that's a lot, man, it's a lot, but it's really fun.
25:57
Speaker 4: Do enjoy it.
25:57
Speaker 4: And the cast has been really great about participating.
25:59
Speaker 4: We've got the box office people involved.
26:01
Speaker 1: So people are starting to get to know other people besides the cast I saw that and I think that's smart.
26:06
Speaker 1: I think any good business.
26:07
Speaker 1: If you can show your people in a good light and what they're doing on a day-to-day, you can connect with that.
26:12
Speaker 4: Yeah, we actually had someone I want to say.
26:14
Speaker 4: It was, christmas came up and one of our ambassadors was behind the concession stand and this first time that they had been to the theater and they go I saw you on TikTok.
26:22
Speaker 4: I was like that's what we want.
26:24
Speaker 1: Yes, yes, yes, yes, it's the celebrity effect thing and all that, I think the biggest thing for our theater is the personal touch to it.
26:29
Speaker 4: We feel like family, whether it's online or in person.
26:32
Speaker 4: At the theater they really feel like they know them, and that's exactly what I need to do.
26:36
Speaker 1: That's my job Absolutely, and that's a good point.
26:39
Speaker 1: When we talk about why go to the Greg Rolls Legacy Theater while you're in Myrtle Beach doing whatever else you're doing, you head on down there and it is a family kind of a feeling.
26:48
Speaker 1: It's a more cozy setting and you have all these these great songs from different genres and over a long period of time.
26:55
Speaker 1: I mean, you know they have the, you know things that you're going to hear.
26:58
Speaker 1: If you're a baby boomer you can enjoy all the way down to being a millennial or even a Gen Z-er.
27:07
Speaker 4: I think that's exactly right.
27:08
Speaker 4: And you know, like you said, with our show we often change big sections.
27:09
Speaker 4: Most every night, each of the cast members has their own like 20-minute segment.
27:12
Speaker 4: They'll change songs out of that, you know, literally every night.
27:17
Speaker 1: I've had this question in my head.
27:19
Speaker 1: Oh boy, now Greg does this.
27:21
Speaker 1: Hey, songs from the audience like requests from the audience.
27:24
Speaker 1: What if you threw him something like hey man, play some Metallica.
27:29
Speaker 1: What would he do?
27:31
Speaker 4: I would probably have a heart attack if he played Metallica.
27:35
Speaker 4: Now the thing is, I think Kenny, our guitar player, could probably be playing Metallica.
27:38
Speaker 1: He's good man.
27:39
Speaker 4: I would love to see Greg sing Metallica, it would just be interesting.
27:42
Speaker 1: It's not really Greg's style per se?
27:44
Speaker 2: No, it is not.
27:44
Speaker 1: But I just think it would be interesting because and I use them, I almost use any kind of thing like that that just gets so far out of the comfort zone, but it is a lot of fun.
27:52
Speaker 1: Man, he always kills it, whatever he sings.
27:55
Speaker 4: And I think the thing that they're all learning, because I mean, a lot of them came from the Alabama Theater.
27:59
Speaker 4: He was there for 22 years, chris and Jason were there for like 19.
28:03
Speaker 4: What they're learning is they can do that kind of stuff and it might be silly, it might be weird, it might be uncomfortable, but people love that because they've seen them, in one style or one format, be very proper and put together.
28:16
Speaker 3: Right, right so loosening up.
28:17
Speaker 4: people connect to that better and they're really leaning into that.
28:20
Speaker 4: It was an uncomfortable push to get them there, but we've gotten there, I think.
28:24
Speaker 1: Well, I will say this.
28:26
Speaker 1: There's a couple of segments during the show.
28:28
Speaker 1: It's a humor show too, so you guys have music you have humor and everything.
28:31
Speaker 1: And Jason I never realized he was kind of a funny guy until I started watching it.
28:37
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean I don't know if I can ever.
28:38
Speaker 4: He's literally come up and told me something before and I'm like I don't know if I can take you seriously.
28:43
Speaker 2: Are you being serious or are you not?
28:44
Speaker 2: I don't know.
28:45
Speaker 1: One of those things.
28:46
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, because he'll make jokes or crack things off and just off the top of the head kind of comments, and Chris, his wife, will be back there and she'll does this all the time oh, just try living with them.
28:56
Speaker 1: It's like yeah, right, she's like I can't.
28:58
Speaker 1: It's all the time it's not funny because I hear it all the time.
29:01
Speaker 1: He is it.
29:02
Speaker 1: He'll have you laughing.
29:03
Speaker 1: He does all the physical humor too, so yeah, he's like a uh more in shape.
29:07
Speaker 4: Chris farley well said, well said.
29:11
Speaker 1: Very I like it jason, don't kill me, all right well, hey, you said in shape, although the bar for in shape there is really low when we're talking about Chris Farley.
29:21
Speaker 4: Yeah, he's got a pretty big gap there.
29:23
Speaker 1: Well, cool stuff, man.
29:24
Speaker 1: We're going to actually circle back around to him.
29:26
Speaker 1: In a minute.
29:26
Speaker 1: You guys have some big performers coming to the Greg Rills Theater don't you?
29:29
Speaker 4: We have a lot of good stuff.
29:30
Speaker 4: So through the summer we've got a John Denver.
29:36
Speaker 4: That's the next Saturday, end of the month.
29:39
Speaker 4: We have a group that was here last year, motown and More.
29:41
Speaker 4: They are phenomenal, but they sing a bunch of genres and stuff, mostly obviously Motown, and they had a huge showing when they came last year.
29:48
Speaker 4: Yeah, they sold out last year, so they're coming back at the end of the month and then, I think the 13th of July, it's called Revisiting Credence, so it's a.
29:57
Speaker 4: CCR group and it's not a tribute or anything.
29:59
Speaker 4: It's some of the members that actually toured with them for like 20 years.
30:02
Speaker 4: Nice, they have a group.
30:05
Speaker 4: So some CCR music is great.
30:06
Speaker 4: We've got I'm trying to think of what else exactly through the month, gary Louder, local guy.
30:09
Speaker 4: He's going to be here.
30:12
Speaker 4: Is Billy Bob Thornton still coming around the way?
30:14
Speaker 4: So he is.
30:15
Speaker 4: So in August.
30:16
Speaker 4: We've got, I know we've got a couple of big shows.
30:18
Speaker 4: We have a couple more returning, like Fleetwood Mac, that's returning, and the Highwaymen.
30:22
Speaker 4: They're coming back August.
30:24
Speaker 4: We also have Jay Dupuis who used to do Elvis here at Legends Nice.
30:28
Speaker 4: He's coming August 16th.
30:30
Speaker 4: So Billy Bob Thornton is coming, him and his band the Boxmasters, they'll be here August 20th.
30:35
Speaker 4: That's a Wednesday or Thursday, okay okay, nice, nice and they're actually kicking off their Pippertree Hill tour for the year.
30:42
Speaker 4: They're starting it in North Myrtle Beach with us.
30:44
Speaker 1: Man, that'll be a big one.
30:45
Speaker 1: I'd say, get your tickets now.
30:47
Speaker 1: If you're trying to get to that, are there still even tickets left?
30:49
Speaker 4: I mean I literally made an announcement post and I think 500 tickets sold already.
30:59
Speaker 1: So it's going to go quick.
31:00
Speaker 1: Yeah, All right, Cool man.
31:00
Speaker 1: Well, let's dive into one other thing.
31:01
Speaker 1: We've got a few minutes left, so I know you've been brewing up something for the theater, for the Great Girls Legacy Theater, talking about a little podcast.
31:05
Speaker 1: Tell me about the concept of that and what all is going on with it.
31:08
Speaker 1: Well, you know you inspired us to start.
31:10
Speaker 1: It all started here, baby no-transcript.
31:26
Speaker 4: The main kind of concept with it is that it's sponsored by the theater, sponsored by you guys, but we, we don't want it to be specifically just music talk, because I feel like that was going to put us in a corner.
31:37
Speaker 4: Yeah, at the same time, we didn't want it to just be specifically for our theater.
31:41
Speaker 4: So we're going to be bringing in people from, like, the Carolina Opry, alabama Theater, legends, you know, charles Bach over at the Wonders Theater, a bunch of different people, business owners, you know people in the area that have got experiences to share.
31:53
Speaker 4: You know there'll be some comedy stuff, because Jason's going to be part of it too.
31:57
Speaker 4: I mean, you can't make like I said, you can't take it seriously.
31:59
Speaker 4: Yeah, right, right.
32:00
Speaker 4: So, but yeah, we'll be starting that here, probably in the next month or so, pretty soon, yeah nice.
32:06
Speaker 1: I think everybody needs to stay tuned for that.
32:07
Speaker 1: You're talking about local entertainment and happenings.
32:11
Speaker 1: You can probably talk some nationwide happenings.
32:13
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, get some performers on from the show behind the scenes and you talk about connectivity.
32:18
Speaker 1: It's like sometimes you see the people on the stage but you're wondering what are they really like?
32:22
Speaker 1: What kind of stories do these people have?
32:24
Speaker 1: There are probably all kinds of backstories about man.
32:27
Speaker 1: This happened when I went out on stage one time.
32:29
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, I mean, that's the thing I mean.
32:31
Speaker 4: Just someone like Greg.
32:32
Speaker 4: You take some of his stories and they've got stories you wouldn't believe people that they met.
32:43
Speaker 1: You wouldn't ever have guessed.
32:43
Speaker 1: Or you know, it's just they've got cool stuff that I don't know if they get to share it a lot, or you don't know about these people absolutely well.
32:45
Speaker 1: You know performers.
32:46
Speaker 1: They've had so many opportunities over the years and the first time I had a substantial conversation with greg and he's a humble guy but he's had a an amazing career.
32:53
Speaker 1: You know talking about lone star and being with them early in the touring and being on star Search and winning that and traveling the country and I just thought, man, you know, these are things that the people need to hear.
33:02
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, you take that and even someone like you know, like me and you, yeah, I do marketing, but I've done.
33:08
Speaker 4: I was in the military for 10 years.
33:10
Speaker 4: I was a firefighter.
33:11
Speaker 4: Like you, don't know these experiences until you hear these stories from people.
33:15
Speaker 1: So 100 percent, and the beauty is in the story.
33:17
Speaker 1: So you know we want to bring that to it.
33:19
Speaker 1: You know my marketing director, lauren.
33:21
Speaker 1: She's always talking about you know we have to have creative content.
33:24
Speaker 1: We have to have things that people want to hear.
33:26
Speaker 1: You can't just sit there and talk about you know business all day all the time.
33:31
Speaker 4: So sometimes you got to break out of the company.
33:32
Speaker 1: That helps if you got a pretty face too.
33:33
Speaker 1: Yeah Well yeah, oh, you weren't talking about me, were you?
33:37
Speaker 1: Anyway, well, hey, man, and I'm looking forward to joining you guys on that podcast whenever you want to have me.
33:42
Speaker 1: You know we're going to come in and we'll just have some fun.
33:44
Speaker 1: Man lighting it up always.
33:46
Speaker 1: Well, listen, how can people find out more about the Greg Rolls Legacy Theater?
33:49
Speaker 4: Yeah, you can give us a call 843-663-3600.
33:52
Speaker 4: You can visit grltnmbcom or you can stop by.
33:55
Speaker 4: We're at 701 Main Street, right in North Myrtle Beach.
33:57
Speaker 1: Man, you've done that a time or two A couple times.
34:00
Speaker 1: Thank you, for being all men, always fun.
34:03
Speaker 1: And, by the way, we have some more guests coming up on the CCMF edition of the Leader Mentality Show and we'll look forward to seeing you guys soon.
34:10
Speaker 1: It is our special CCMF edition 2025.
34:13
Speaker 1: We are in a special place today.
34:16
Speaker 1: Might look a little different than what you leader mentality fans are used to seeing, but we are back.
34:20
Speaker 1: I'm going to say backstage, it's country music time.
34:22
Speaker 1: We're backstage at the Grand Stream Brewing Company, so we're having a real authentic look.
34:27
Speaker 1: Man, this is a little different than your other interviews isn't it?
34:29
Speaker 5: It's pretty cool man.
34:30
Speaker 5: This might be the coolest interview scenario I've done so far.
34:32
Speaker 1: Yeah, right, right, right, exactly.
34:34
Speaker 1: Well, guys, fans of the show, you guys know that we're all about uplifting, we're all about the journey, we're all about leadership.
34:42
Speaker 1: We believe everybody can be a leader and our goal is to uplift you.
34:45
Speaker 1: But sometimes leadership is not the easiest road in the world and there's a lot of bumps that you might go through in your path to inspiring others and getting to where you're at.
34:55
Speaker 1: So that's why this CCMF edition is so important to me, because I'm having some of the best in the world that are out here at Myrtle Beach being asked to perform in front of thousands and thousands of people, and we want to tell that story.
35:08
Speaker 1: So I got a great guy today.
35:10
Speaker 1: I think he's going to fire you guys up.
35:11
Speaker 1: This is Mr Trey Calloway.
35:13
Speaker 1: He is Songwriter of the Year, texas Country Music Association.
35:17
Speaker 1: Four-time and if I say anything and I shortchange you, you let me know.
35:20
Speaker 1: Four-time Josie Music Award winner.
35:23
Speaker 1: He's been a Carolina Country Music Song of the Year recipient.
35:27
Speaker 1: 1.5 million streams on Spotify.
35:30
Speaker 1: It's closer to three now Three.
35:33
Speaker 1: Man ever since I wrote this, he's already up 1.5 million more.
35:36
Speaker 1: If you do give any stats and they're wrong- just over-inflate it for me he must be at least 3 million and 1 right now, I'm sure.
35:44
Speaker 1: But well, man, welcome to the show.
35:46
Speaker 1: Good to have you.
35:46
Speaker 1: Thanks for having me, rob.
35:47
Speaker 1: It's good to be here.
35:47
Speaker 1: Well, I know you have a busy week.
35:49
Speaker 1: What all is going on for you right now.
35:50
Speaker 5: So this has been a crazy week.
35:52
Speaker 5: So I did my first Nashville CMA Fest this week as well, Wow, okay.
35:54
Speaker 5: And Wednesday I got the amazing opportunity to play a thing called Country for a Cause which is for the Vanderbilt Children's Cancer Research.
36:06
Speaker 5: They give all that money to them.
36:08
Speaker 5: It's at 3rd and Lindsley, Nice World-famous music venue, man, they had Jimmy Fortune from the Statler Brothers, all these old Opry stars, the Oak Ridge Boys were there.
36:18
Speaker 5: It's just insane.
36:20
Speaker 5: And I got to open the show and we went out there and my guitar player, Austin Crum, and we had a fiddle player named Sean Bailey play it with us and he plays with Josh Turner, Austin plays with Shannon Dole a whole bunch.
36:31
Speaker 5: So I mean I had some of the best players in the world up there on stage with me and we rocked it.
36:35
Speaker 5: Man, they really came through for me.
36:37
Speaker 5: And then I went and did my first ever autograph signing at CMFS the next day and did two booths and did a couple pressers and a bunch of bunch of interviews, signed about 250 autographs, which was the first time I'd ever signed that how's your hand doing, yeah, my hand was hurting, so, but it's just been an amazing, an amazing week and then.
36:58
Speaker 5: So I drove down here and I don't have a tour bus yet.
37:00
Speaker 5: It was me and my pickup truck and my guitar in the back.
37:03
Speaker 1: Now, that's legit, though that's what we want to hear.
37:05
Speaker 1: We don't want to hear about these tour buses, the road days, right right, right, and so I got to play.
37:10
Speaker 5: I played a couple of gigs while I've been in town.
37:12
Speaker 5: I did a hometown show Friday night at Captain Archie's, which is one of the first places I got my start in Nice, and it's grown from there being maybe 20 people when I first started to you couldn't walk in there.
37:25
Speaker 5: And those people, the love that they've given me, that this area has given me, as they wish me luck as I moved to Tennessee, has just been humbling and amazing and anything a guy like me could wish for.
37:39
Speaker 1: Man that's so cool.
37:40
Speaker 1: You know, I really appreciate the way that so many of you guys and I've met a lot of the singers over the years.
37:45
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, no man, we're a rough bunch.
37:48
Speaker 1: You guys are some of the like I guess it might sound cliche, but salt of the earth type of people.
37:54
Speaker 1: Man, you're out there and you give back to people but you also really love what you do and I feel like there's a bigger connection with the fans than some other genres out there.
38:02
Speaker 1: You know what I mean.
38:03
Speaker 5: Country is from the heart, man, I mean, it's you know, if you and if you don't love your, the people that support you, if you don't give them that love back, mmm, what are you doing?
38:12
Speaker 5: Cuz?
38:12
Speaker 5: Yeah, that's why we do this or at least in my opinion, this is to make people happy.
38:17
Speaker 5: And I was actually if I can tell a quick story, absolutely.
38:21
Speaker 5: I had a guy I believe his name was Brett or something.
38:25
Speaker 5: He was escorting us from the signing booth that we did back around the festival at CMA Fest, and we were walking and I just had this moment of seeing all those fans there and people that didn't know me from Adam but were coming up to me that thought, hey, you know, I want to take a picture with this guy.
38:40
Speaker 5: You know, you never know.
38:41
Speaker 5: Yeah, and I told the guy I said you know, we get to create the soundtrack of people's lives the first time they fall in love or their first kiss or their first you know party, where they get the courage to go up to that girl and they might hear that song at the right minute and it gives them the courage to walk up.
38:59
Speaker 1: And then, 20 years later, they're married and they got kids and it's all because of that song I completely agree, we create the soundtrack of people's lives you create a soundtrack of people's lives and I get chill bumps when I think I can see that man and that's.
39:11
Speaker 1: It is a powerful thing, and the thing I think is so cool about it is is music has the power of emotion.
39:17
Speaker 1: We've all been driving down the road and you know like a sad song comes on, it puts you in a mood.
39:21
Speaker 1: Sometimes an upbeat song comes on, it puts you in a mood.
39:24
Speaker 1: So you guys have an ability to contribute to people's emotions during the day.
39:28
Speaker 1: That's pretty neat.
39:29
Speaker 1: Well, let's go back to that cancer thing real quick.
39:32
Speaker 1: How did you get involved with that so?
39:35
Speaker 5: I work with a fellow named Scott Sexton who is very connected with the Grand Ole Opry all those guys and they started he's a board member of one of the people that run Country for a Cause.
39:48
Speaker 5: And I begged, and begged, and begged I did, I had to beg and I said, hey, man, please let me be a part of this, because I think I have something to offer, I think I can come and do a good job for you.
39:57
Speaker 5: And I finally got it.
40:03
Speaker 4: It took me a couple years, but they finally you know, because you do have to be doing pretty good.
40:03
Speaker 5: Yeah, for sure, you know.
40:04
Speaker 5: So they finally let me do it, and I wasn't going to squander the opportunity.
40:09
Speaker 1: Dude, do you hear what he said?
40:10
Speaker 1: They let him do it.
40:11
Speaker 1: You're talking about raising money for cancer, and like to me to hear you say it like that.
40:16
Speaker 1: They let you do it.
40:17
Speaker 1: That's a beautiful thing, man, and congratulations to you.
40:20
Speaker 5: You did man I had to beg.
40:22
Speaker 1: I'm not too proud.
40:23
Speaker 1: Well, you know a lot of people.
40:24
Speaker 1: It's like they're trying to twist their arms to get them to go do something.
40:26
Speaker 1: Here you are and you're saying I'm volunteering it, so I love that.
40:29
Speaker 1: Well, tell me a little bit about what it's like from your standpoint.
40:34
Speaker 1: You've got all these events stacking up.
40:37
Speaker 1: It's got to be some pressure.
40:38
Speaker 1: There's got to be some things that go through your head.
40:41
Speaker 1: You're talking about going from one festival to another festival, autograph signings, raising money for charity.
40:47
Speaker 1: Tell me a little bit about what the weeks leading up to that are like.
40:50
Speaker 1: What kind of pressure do you have and how do you handle it?
40:52
Speaker 1: That's a great question.
40:53
Speaker 5: So, if I'm being 100% honest with you, the music part has always been the easy part for me the show stuff.
41:00
Speaker 5: Playing a show, I'm the guy you want to give the ball to with two seconds on the clock.
41:04
Speaker 5: When it comes to performing live, I'm always ready to do that.
41:08
Speaker 5: Stage fright is not really a thing for me.
41:11
Speaker 5: I don't know why, but I never get stage fright.
41:13
Speaker 5: But the challenging part for me is the mental stuff.
41:16
Speaker 5: When you get home after a show and you're and you're sitting there and you're alone and you're reflecting about your career and the steps that have taken you to this point, and the struggle and the grind because it is a grind.
41:27
Speaker 5: Anybody out there who might be trying to do music for a living or anything like this, um, it is not easy.
41:33
Speaker 5: It is not easy.
41:34
Speaker 5: There have been times when I've wanted to quit and my lovely wife has has talked me off the ledge several times times when I've wanted to quit and my lovely wife has has talked me off the ledge several times.
41:41
Speaker 5: I actually was, was was close to quitting music about three and a half to four years ago.
41:45
Speaker 5: I've just been doing it for a long time and I was, I was burned out, you know.
41:49
Speaker 5: But I met her and she changed my life and I she.
41:54
Speaker 5: She re-inspired me, she gave me-gave me that confidence back.
41:58
Speaker 5: And you talk about being a leader.
41:59
Speaker 5: A leader is not somebody who comes in and says this is the way it's going to be, I'm going to take charge.
42:06
Speaker 5: I tried that for a while in my earlier part of my career and it doesn't work.
42:11
Speaker 5: You have to surround yourself with people that you believe in, are capable of doing the job without you micromanaging everything they do believe in, are capable of doing the job without you micromanaging everything they do.
42:22
Speaker 5: You have to have confidence and trust in your friends that they're going to have your back and then when you give them that freedom, nine times out of ten they go the extra mile because they see you believe in them One hundred percent.
42:32
Speaker 5: Man With fans, with people you work with in the industry.
42:35
Speaker 5: When you put your confidence in people and treat them with the dignity and respect they deserve, you get so much in return 100% thing that we need to talk about.
42:45
Speaker 1: This applies everywhere too.
42:47
Speaker 1: You're talking about country music scene, you're talking about leadership in that way, but it applies everywhere.
42:53
Speaker 1: This isn't about now.
42:54
Speaker 1: I'm in charge.
42:55
Speaker 1: Everybody do what I told them to do, but can you inspire others?
42:58
Speaker 1: The thing I really appreciate that you said I'd love to elaborate on it through your story is that there are times where people want to quit.
43:06
Speaker 1: It's times where all the pressure is coming down on you and you keep going, and sometimes somebody becomes a leader for you without you even knowing it.
43:14
Speaker 1: You know what I mean, and so that's what she did for you, man, and that's what she did for you, man, and that's very powerful.
43:18
Speaker 5: That's a great point you just made.
43:19
Speaker 5: Very well said.
43:20
Speaker 1: Yeah, man.
43:20
Speaker 1: Well, you know, this is something that I like people to hear, because it's not really inspiring for people to hear that.
43:25
Speaker 1: You know, I started singing and then I was on the CMAs and then I won my awards and it's all been.
43:30
Speaker 1: You know, let's talk about the real stuff.
43:33
Speaker 5: So very cool sweet, without sacrifice 100%.
43:37
Speaker 1: That's just the honest to God truth.
43:39
Speaker 1: Love that.
43:40
Speaker 1: Hey, tell me a little bit about how you got into the singing game like this I started singing probably around the age of six years old.
43:47
Speaker 5: I've been singing since I was about six years old.
43:48
Speaker 5: My father was a Pentecostal evangelist.
43:51
Speaker 5: He also worked construction.
43:52
Speaker 5: At the same time as working construction, he was an evangelist, which is, for those of you who might not know, it's a traveling preacher.
44:00
Speaker 5: We were Pentecostal and so he would go and preach revivals at all these churches, which is like a country singer going on a tour.
44:07
Speaker 1: It's a preacher tour.
44:10
Speaker 1: Less autographs, probably Less autographs.
44:13
Speaker 1: More mustard-colored suits, more purple suits.
44:15
Speaker 1: A little bit of a dab in the head, absolutely, man.
44:20
Speaker 5: So he would go and preach and I would sing before he would preach his sermons and so that got me the music bug.
44:25
Speaker 5: I sang contemporary gospel and southern gospel up until probably the age of around 12 or 13.
44:32
Speaker 5: And my mom and dad bought me a country gold greatest hits disc that had Loretta Lynn and George Jones and Waylon Jennings and Merle Haggard and all those great, great artists, and so I really I discovered my walk with country music, was discovering the roots of it, very early on and really my mom and dad said well, if you're going to sing country, we want you to know what country music comes from, what it is Okay, and I also had the Southern gospel background as well, so that sound was ingrained in me from a young age.
45:04
Speaker 5: Then I started listening to Jason Aldean and Luke Bryan and Billy Currington and Chris Young which is crazy because one of my next singles coming up was written by Chris Young.
45:15
Speaker 1: Really it's a full circle moment it's crazy to think.
45:17
Speaker 5: This guy I grew up listening to on my next album there's a song that he wrote on there with my buddy, anthony Smith, who wrote Tomorrow I'm going to leave here Big old number one hit for Chris Young Nice, nice, nice.
45:29
Speaker 5: So they wrote that song and they let me record it.
45:34
Speaker 5: Dude, you are on your way up right now.
45:35
Speaker 1: man, I'm crying.
45:36
Speaker 1: Man, I'm glad I got you now.
45:37
Speaker 1: I won't get you two years from now.
45:40
Speaker 5: That's not true.
45:41
Speaker 5: We get you two years ago.
45:43
Speaker 5: That's not true.
45:43
Speaker 5: We were just talking about that.
45:44
Speaker 5: No, I can tell you're a leader.
45:45
Speaker 5: I mean honestly, I can tell you know you inspired.
45:46
Speaker 5: I remember when you walked up to me over there we just met and I looked at my wife.
45:50
Speaker 5: I said I said he's got a magnetic personality.
45:53
Speaker 5: I liked him from the get go.
45:55
Speaker 1: Man I appreciate that I mean.
45:56
Speaker 5: I can tell it's a good thing you're doing here.
45:57
Speaker 5: It just won't be the last time we work together.
45:59
Speaker 1: Well, hey, man, definitely I'm hoping you're going to come back to Myrtle Beach with us.
46:02
Speaker 1: Now I have to talk on this.
46:04
Speaker 1: You know I'm a PK myself, so did your dad ever want you to follow in the evangelist's footsteps?
46:10
Speaker 3: He did, he did right, either that or construction, and you didn't either.
46:15
Speaker 5: So the thing about it is I still have that message inside my heart.
46:17
Speaker 5: I still have that message inside my heart.
46:22
Speaker 5: I put a gospel song on every single album, if not two or three gospel songs.
46:31
Speaker 5: I love singing about the Lord.
46:32
Speaker 5: I love singing.
46:33
Speaker 5: I've been known to be in the most rowdiest honky-tonk you can imagine, down in the middle of nowhere, Georgia, and sing I'll Fly Away.
46:41
Speaker 5: And that entire crowd of people with beers in their hands will sing I'll Fly Away with you.
46:46
Speaker 5: You know that message is as true now as it's ever been.
46:50
Speaker 1: It's a cool thing when you can do that and we talk about giving an emotion, giving the spirit man and I did work construction for a little bit.
46:56
Speaker 5: Yeah, well, okay, During the pandemic I went to work because there was no music.
47:01
Speaker 5: I went to work construction with my pops.
47:02
Speaker 1: What kind of stuff were you doing?
47:03
Speaker 1: Give us a little taste.
47:06
Speaker 5: While I was a kid, my dad was an electrician.
47:07
Speaker 5: He did electrical work for all of my years growing up.
47:11
Speaker 5: Then he got into the commercial playground building business, which, like if a library or a school or anything like that any kind of public place needs a playground, they'll hire my dad's company and they'll go get it.
47:23
Speaker 5: And it is.
47:24
Speaker 5: Everybody thinks playground, oh, playgrounds kids this is sitting in the hundred degree heat, mixing concrete, digging holes with an auger, driving a skid steer it is, it's real work, difficult work.
47:36
Speaker 5: And I remember during that time that I had kind of said I think I'm done with music.
47:40
Speaker 5: I remember the sun was just baking on me and I was shoveling molds or doing something and God spoke to me and he said this isn't what you're supposed to be doing.
47:50
Speaker 5: That was one of the things that got me back into playing and giving it another chance, and three and a half years later I'm so glad I did.
47:56
Speaker 1: Man very powerful story man.
47:58
Speaker 1: I appreciate you sharing and, by the way, it's always tough on these because I meet a guy once in a while I know I could do like a two or three hour show with and I got to cram it down a little bit.
48:07
Speaker 5: I've got all the time in the world for you.
48:08
Speaker 5: My set's not until 830.
48:10
Speaker 1: All right Laurie reset the camera.
48:11
Speaker 1: Sounds good, she gave me a thumbs up.
48:15
Speaker 1: Well, let's talk about a couple more things and I want to give you some time to talk about what's important to you.
48:21
Speaker 1: So you have talked about your background, a little gospel music.
48:26
Speaker 1: You talked about some great performers today.
48:28
Speaker 1: Who is a performer that you think is on another level?
48:31
Speaker 5: So I am a big big fan of the 90s country guys.
48:35
Speaker 5: George Strait, North Brooks, alan Jackson, those are probably my, that's probably my Mount Rushmore, yeah.
48:41
Speaker 5: And if I had to add one more, that's probably my Mount Rushmore, yeah.
48:43
Speaker 5: And if I had to add one more it would probably be Clint Black, okay, nice.
48:46
Speaker 5: So if you take them guys and I love Johnny Cash too I got into Johnny Cash's music from an early age as well.
48:52
Speaker 5: There's a purity and a gospel note in his music?
48:56
Speaker 1: He definitely does, man.
48:57
Speaker 1: He has that undertone always.
48:58
Speaker 1: The coolest thing about Johnny Cash is if you watch his career.
49:01
Speaker 1: He has that undertone always.
49:02
Speaker 1: The coolest thing about Johnny Cash is if you watch his career.
49:04
Speaker 1: He was singing songs until the very end and you could see this arc in his whole personality man, very interesting.
49:10
Speaker 5: That's why he inspired people.
49:11
Speaker 5: I think he was an imperfect man, and admittedly so, and people are inspired by that yeah, when they know.
49:17
Speaker 5: You know, man, I don't wake up every day perfect, I'm just like everybody else.
49:21
Speaker 5: Johnny Cash had that.
49:24
Speaker 1: Yes, sir, we can all relate to that and that's a very important thing.
49:27
Speaker 1: You performed last night and you're performing today.
49:30
Speaker 1: Right, tell me about how the performance went yesterday.
49:33
Speaker 5: So you're talking about the Captain Archie's gig?
49:35
Speaker 5: Yep, it was.
49:36
Speaker 5: You could not move in that place.
49:39
Speaker 5: The energy was insane.
49:41
Speaker 5: I put a band together of fellas that used to play with me around here before I moved to Nashville, and they're Nashville caliber players.
49:49
Speaker 5: Every single one of them just plays their butt off.
49:51
Speaker 5: Tyler Hughes, greg Ford and Dale Baker played the gig with me, and man, we just I'm not bragging, but we brought the house down.
50:00
Speaker 1: Okay, all right, they tore it down, they tore it up, and so now you get to go do it at CCMF.
50:04
Speaker 5: We didn't take a break.
50:05
Speaker 1: We played a four-hour show without taking a break, what you didn't have to go to the bathroom or anything.
50:16
Speaker 5: I drank about 14 glasses of water.
50:17
Speaker 5: Man Sweat it all out.
50:18
Speaker 5: I'm not used's the humidity yeah.
50:21
Speaker 1: I've heard she's back there shaking hands.
50:23
Speaker 1: She's going.
50:23
Speaker 1: Yes, folks, there's nothing like it in the middle of the summer Wearing blue jeans and cowboy boots when it's 100 degrees and humid.
50:31
Speaker 5: It's not always the best combination, but she's still got to have the look Sacrifice for our art For our people.
50:36
Speaker 1: Oh well, that's cool stuff, trey.
50:39
Speaker 1: What else do you have coming up for next year?
50:40
Speaker 1: Tell us what the next year looks like.
50:42
Speaker 5: I'm working on a new album right now.
50:43
Speaker 5: I've got a new producer, a guy named Brandon Hood, that I'm working with.
50:46
Speaker 5: He's working with Tom Myers, who's blowing up right now, mackenzie Carpenter.
50:50
Speaker 5: She's blowing up right now.
50:51
Speaker 5: She's becoming quite the Grand Ole Opry star.
50:53
Speaker 5: It's kind of a cool thing.
50:55
Speaker 5: I went to see Zach Topp at the go with my buddy Sam, and Mackenzie played right before Zach did and I said, that's Mackenzie Carpenter.
51:03
Speaker 5: See my producers, her producer.
51:06
Speaker 5: Yeah, it's just.
51:07
Speaker 5: It's.
51:07
Speaker 5: All these things are starting to click in place with me and it's it's almost like I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop or I'm wait for you know.
51:13
Speaker 5: You never know, but but it's, it's surreal, and so we're working on this new album.
51:18
Speaker 5: I got a song coming out a couple weeks called she don't break, break it, like she Used To.
51:21
Speaker 5: Okay, all right, honky Tonk Shuffles are back in style.
51:24
Speaker 5: Braxton, keith and all them Texas guys are making country cool again, and you know, I was always country.
51:30
Speaker 5: So for me it's like I came to town at the right time, right, right, right.
51:33
Speaker 5: And so we got that song.
51:34
Speaker 5: I wrote it with Terry McBride from McBride and the Ride?
51:36
Speaker 1: No way, man.
51:37
Speaker 5: He wrote a bunch of hits for Brooks and Dunn.
51:39
Speaker 5: He wrote a bunch of cuts for George Strait.
51:41
Speaker 1: Now explain that song.
51:42
Speaker 1: Just give us maybe a one-sentence overview.
51:44
Speaker 1: What does that mean?
51:47
Speaker 1: She Don't Break it Like she Used.
51:48
Speaker 5: To.
51:48
Speaker 5: She used to break my heart all the time, but things are getting better, my heart's healing and she don't break it like she used to.
51:53
Speaker 5: Man.
51:53
Speaker 5: She still breaks it every now and then but not like she used to.
51:57
Speaker 1: All right, nice, nice, all right.
51:59
Speaker 1: Well, trey man, I've enjoyed having you on the show.
52:01
Speaker 1: I hope you go and tear it up at CCMF.
52:04
Speaker 1: What time are you on today?
52:05
Speaker 1: 8.30.
52:05
Speaker 1: And you are on the Coors stage, coors Banquet stage.
52:07
Speaker 1: That's what I thought hey, listen, thank you for being on.
52:11
Speaker 1: God bless you and we'll have you in the future for sure.
52:12
Speaker 1: All right, hey everybody.
52:17
Speaker 1: We Carolina-based real estate and construction Ground Zero, of course, the Gregor Rolls Legacy Theater and our venue, the Grand Strand Brewing Company.
52:25
Speaker 1: Go check this guy out tonight and we'll see you on the next segment of the Leader Mentality Show.