Latest / Miss Understood with Rachel Uchitel / Good Vibes and Better Days with Chart Topping Country Music Artist Niko Moon

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Good Vibes and Better Days with Chart Topping Country Music Artist Niko Moon · Miss Understood with Rachel Uchitel

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  Speaker 1: real conversations in a new language today. Welcome back to Misunderstood.
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: I'm your host, Rachel Yucatel. So something you may not
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: know about me is that I'm a huge fan of
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: country music. It's my music of choice. It's what I
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  Speaker 1: listen to in the car. Take me line dancing. I
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: just love it and I will fall in love with you. Well,
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  Speaker 1: that's why I was so excited to get to talk
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  Speaker 1: to today's guest, Nico Moon. He's a singer, a songwriter,
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  Speaker 1: and a burst of positive energy. I can't wait for
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  Speaker 1: you guys to see his smile. Nico has written songs
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  Speaker 1: with people like Morgan Wallen, Dierks Bentley, Rascal Flatts, and
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  Speaker 1: Zac Brown Band, just to name a few. And now
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  Speaker 1: he's heading out on tour to support his new album,
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  Speaker 1: Better Days, which comes out January 2024. I've always been
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: fascinated by songwriting, and Nico gives us an insider's perspective
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  Speaker 1: on the whole creative process. How do you write a song?
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  Speaker 1: The difference between a good song and a great song
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  Speaker 1: and what it's like to collaborate with someone you look
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  Speaker 1: up to. He tells us a great story about how
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: the Zac Brown song, Keep Me In Mind, came to be.
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  Speaker 1: You guys are going to love this story. We talk
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  Speaker 1: about what inspires his music and who his dream collab
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  Speaker 1: partner would be. We also delve into personal struggles with
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: addiction and how he's so excited to help others by
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: giving back with his new foundation, Happy Cowboy. Nico just
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  Speaker 1: spread positive vibes and it's really infectious. You won't be
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  Speaker 1: able to stop smiling. So enjoy my conversation with Nico Moon.
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  Speaker 1: Nico Moon, thank you so much for joining me on Misunderstood.
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  Speaker 1: I'm so happy to meet you finally.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, thank you for having me. It's great to meet
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  Speaker 2: you too.
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  Speaker 1: And I love the hats. Every time I see you,
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  Speaker 1: it's a new hat. Amazing.
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  Speaker 2: I'm a little bit of a collector, you might say.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's awesome. Do you always wear a hat?
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  Speaker 2: You know, every once in a while I'll get a
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  Speaker 2: wild hair and not wear one, but I've been in
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  Speaker 2: love with hats since I was a teenager. And so
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  Speaker 2: I love going around collecting hats that I like from
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  Speaker 2: hat makers that I love. So it's a little bit
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  Speaker 2: of a hobby for me. And who knows? Somebody may
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  Speaker 2: be coming out with their own hat company next year.
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: We'll see. I'm just saying. Oh, cool.
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  Speaker 1: All right. Well, I'm glad I asked. I will keep
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: my eye out for that. So, Nico, I talked about
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  Speaker 1: you in the intro and I discussed how much of
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: a superstar you are. But before we get into all
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: of that, I want to hear about your childhood and
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: how you got into music. Can you tell me a
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  Speaker 1: little bit about your upbringing?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, so I grew up in Texas to two very
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  Speaker 2: musical parents. I'm really lucky that I got the parents
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: I got because I think music as a potential career,
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  Speaker 2: it's not really on the table, I think, for most kids,
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  Speaker 2: you know, as an option. And my parents always... nurtured
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  Speaker 2: that curiosity and excitement that I had for music and
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: always made sure that it was known that it was
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  Speaker 2: a possibility if I wanted to follow it. So my
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  Speaker 2: dad toured around playing as a drummer. They both play
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  Speaker 2: guitar and write songs. So I grew up in a
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  Speaker 2: really musical household. We didn't, we didn't have a lot.
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  Speaker 2: We were pretty working class musicians. But we're rich on love,
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  Speaker 2: and we have some instruments in the house, so we
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  Speaker 2: love making music. So very grateful to that kind of upbringing.
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  Speaker 2: I think it's why I make the music that I make,
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  Speaker 2: to be honest with you, as far as the style
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  Speaker 2: of music being country music. I just grew up working class.
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  Speaker 2: I got a heart for working class people, and that's
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  Speaker 2: what I like to sing about. Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: So I'm curious, was like American Idol around when you
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: were younger? Was that something that you thought about doing
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  Speaker 1: or that is like kind of not seen as a
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  Speaker 1: cool thing when you're like a real musician? Like, what
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  Speaker 1: do you think about that?
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  Speaker 2: It wasn't my personal, you know, journey, you know, path. Yeah,
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  Speaker 2: I don't think it was my personal path. But for me,
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  Speaker 2: you know, any way that someone that's really amazing and
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  Speaker 2: creative can uh, can get connected to the world, that's
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  Speaker 2: a great thing, you know? So it doesn't really matter
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  Speaker 2: how it comes about. So I know people got their
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  Speaker 2: opinions on, on, on that kind of stuff, you know,
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  Speaker 2: but for me, it's like, if you feel like that's
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  Speaker 2: something you want to do, go for it. And if
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  Speaker 2: you don't, the beauty of it is, especially nowadays is, uh,
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  Speaker 2: there's a million different ways to get connected to people
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  Speaker 2: just like we're doing now, you know? So, uh, it's
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  Speaker 2: all about finding the way that works for you, where
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  Speaker 2: you feel most comfortable. And yeah, but growing up, not really,
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  Speaker 2: you know, that was more like, I would say high
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: school or really like college. So, so for me, my,
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  Speaker 2: my goal was to kind of emulate the artists that
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  Speaker 2: I grew up loving. So I wanted to cut my
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  Speaker 2: teeth and honky tonks and bars and, uh, kind of
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  Speaker 2: do it like the old school way. So that's the
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  Speaker 2: way I went.
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  Speaker 1: Some people you're right. Get, you know, seen on a
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  Speaker 1: big show like American Idol. Some people will go on
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  Speaker 1: YouTube and I know a lot of people have been
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  Speaker 1: discovered that way, but you went through, um, the sort
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: of raw organic old school way. So what was your
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  Speaker 1: first gig like?
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  Speaker 2: Oh, my God. Some of my first gigs were the
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  Speaker 2: most brutal gigs imaginable. I remember playing the Mexican restaurant
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  Speaker 2: one time and it was raining that day. So nobody
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  Speaker 2: was out on the patio, which is where I was
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  Speaker 2: supposed to play. So the owner asked me, hey, man,
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  Speaker 2: you want to play in the entryway of the Mexican restaurant?
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: And I was like, come on, man, don't do this
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  Speaker 2: to me. And but it was one hundred and fifty bucks.
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: I had to pay the bills, you know. So I
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: sat up in the entryway next to the newspapers and stuff.
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  Speaker 2: And I remember people walking in the door and just
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: being like, why is somebody right in front of me
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  Speaker 2: singing Sweet Home Alabama in a Mexican restaurant? And it
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: was weird for them, weird for me, you know. And
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  Speaker 2: I remember just being kind of feeling pretty defeated because
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: I was probably– four or five years in to, uh,
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: playing consistently. And, uh, I was at, I was at
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: the point where, where, um, I was kind of playing
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  Speaker 2: bars and honky tonks, but I was also playing gigs
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  Speaker 2: like that too. And I wasn't kind of getting to
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  Speaker 2: that next place and was feeling like maybe I love music,
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: but it didn't love me back. Right. And this kid
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  Speaker 2: comes up to me, this kid comes up to me
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  Speaker 2: and is like, uh, watching me and I got a
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  Speaker 2: little glimmer of hope.
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  Speaker 3: So I was like, Hey, They think you're done for
• 8:07
  Speaker 3: the day, but they don't know about the drawer. The drawer.
• 8:13
  Speaker 3: Just the one square before bed. Or two, you know.
• 8:19
  Speaker 3: Nobody's watching. You deserve a treat. With eight flavours to
• 8:26
  Speaker 3: choose from, you can choose the flavour you favour with
• 8:29
  Speaker 3: Cadbury Dairy Milk.
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: What do you want me to play? I'll play you
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: whatever you want. And he was like, oh, I'm good, man.
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: I just want some gum. And I was like, what?
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: And I realized I was playing in front of a
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  Speaker 2: gumball machine. Oh, my goodness. That's a great story.
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  Speaker 1: Oh, my gosh.
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  Speaker 2: It was pretty brutal. I remember riding home that night
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  Speaker 2: thinking to myself, all right, I got a decision to
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: make here. Am I going to keep going with this
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: thing or am I going to pack it in because
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: I just got beat out by gums? And I decided
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: to give myself another six months. I was like six months.
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: And let's see what happens. Three months later, I met
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  Speaker 2: Zach Brown from the Zach Brown band. I was playing
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  Speaker 2: at a honky tonk down in Georgia. And he was,
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  Speaker 2: he was in there and saw me playing and my
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  Speaker 2: whole life completely changed from that point on. And, Life
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  Speaker 2: just completely changed. So I say that to just encourage
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  Speaker 2: anybody out there that's listening that even if you've been
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  Speaker 2: at it for a long time and you're feeling like,
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: you know, that dream isn't coming to fruition, don't give up.
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: If it's really your dream, don't give up on it.
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  Speaker 2: Keep going.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's such a great message. Okay, wait, so let's
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  Speaker 1: talk more about that. So was Zach Brown Band, like,
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  Speaker 1: known like it is now? Was he somebody that you
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: recognize and you, you know, idolized at the time?
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  Speaker 2: So at the time, Zach was a local thing. He
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  Speaker 2: was uh just in georgia where he's from where i'm
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  Speaker 2: from so he's really popular in the area but chicken
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: fried hadn't come out on the radio yet he hadn't
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: blown up as an artist that would happen two years
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: later so we just developed a friendship that night started
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  Speaker 2: writing songs together and then when he did blow up
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  Speaker 2: i started going on the road with him and writing
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: songs with him on the road and that really started
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: my career as a songwriter slash producer.
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  Speaker 1: So the way you got discovered was more for a
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: songwriter and producer before being an artist yourself, correct, then?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I was on the road with the Zac Brown
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  Speaker 2: Band for 12 years.
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  Speaker 3: Wow.
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: Writing songs with them. We've written over 40-something songs that
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: they released together and have five or six number ones
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: with them. And it was such an amazing journey. And
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: we still write songs together. But that was really, I
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: would say, like my education. That was where I learned
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  Speaker 2: the difference between a good song and a great song.
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  Speaker 2: And really the whole music world, Zach is my mentor.
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  Speaker 2: And he really taught me kind of how it all works,
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: you know. And at a certain point through that journey,
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: you know, about eight or nine years into it, I
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: decided to move to Nashville and spread my wings and
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: see if I could start writing some songs for other artists.
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  Speaker 2: And that's what led me here to Nashville from Georgia.
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: Got it.
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: So let's talk about that.
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: Actually.
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: What does make a good song? How, like what, what
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: are the details that go into figuring out songwriting?
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: You know, it's interesting. It's kind of like a building
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: a house. That's how I like to think about it. And, uh,
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: every songwriter has their own way of going about it,
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: their own method. And there's really not a right or
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: wrong way. All that matters is that at the end
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: of the day, you got a great song, uh, So
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: everybody has their own method. I have mine. This is mine.
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: The way I like to start is I like to
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: start with the idea of the song first. So, uh,
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: like for my song, good time, uh, I had this idea, uh,
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: like a bobber on a wet line. I'm just trying
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: to catch a good time. It was just this thought
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: that I had to myself of like trying to relate,
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: you know, uh, getting into that feel good mentality with
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: country lifestyle, you know, uh, And so I had the thought.
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: And when I had that thought that I'm like, oh, man,
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: a whole song could be built around that idea, I
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: kind of stopped with the lyrics. And then I grab
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: a guitar and I start just strumming different chords and
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: humming along until I find a chord progression that feels
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: like that idea. Because they got to match, you know,
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: or else the song will feel schizophrenic, you know? Yeah, yeah.
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: Or like just joining. So once the music feels good,
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: then I start humming along and find the melody. And
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: then once I find the melody of the song, then
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: I write the lyrics. So music, melody, lyrics is the
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: order I go in. But I know some people, they'll
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: write a whole song lyrically out first, and then they
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: put the music to it. So there's a million ways
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: to cut it.
• 13:14
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  Speaker 1: and when you're doing lyrics, you know, a lot of
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: country songs are about losing a loved one or being
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: left or broken up with or whatever. Do you feel
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: like it's really important to have to go through things
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: like that to write about it? Or, you know, there's
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: someone like Taylor Swift who can write different songs for
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: different people.
• 15:44
  Speaker 3: They think you're done for the day, but they don't
• 15:47
  Speaker 3: know about the drawer. The drawer. Just the one square
• 15:52
  Speaker 3: before bed. Or two, you know. Nobody's watching. You deserve
• 15:59
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• 16:05
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• 16:14
  Speaker 1: People and she was like 14 or something when she
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: started and she was writing songs about breakups and men
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: leaving you and blah, blah, blah, which I don't think
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: she had really gone through yet. So what do you
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: think about that?
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: Yeah. It's interesting. I kind of think of it similar
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: to the way I think of songwriting, that there's a
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: lot of different ways to look at that. And I
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: remember hearing this quote one time that I really like
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: about this very question, and it was that a good
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: songwriter can make you believe something that they've gone through,
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: but a great songwriter can make you believe something that
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: they've never gone through. And I think that that's a
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: really interesting way to look at it. And I think
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: that's how maybe some of the artists out there that
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: write about things that maybe they haven't personally gone through,
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: they're channeling this kind of like imaginary, they're putting themselves
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: in that place. And for me as a songwriter for
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: other artists, I really relate to that. Because like, for instance,
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: when I write with Zac Brown or a song for
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: Morgan Wallen or whoever, you know, it's like I put
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: myself in their place. Like I try to pretend like
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: I'm them. I take my hat off and I put
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: on their hat and I'm like, all right, now I'm them.
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: now what do I want to write about? What do
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: I want to say? All of that, you know, because
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: it won't feel right if it's coming from me, it
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: needs to come from them. So, you know, I think
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: sometimes a songwriter can look at that with storytelling that way.
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: But for me personally, I like to write about personal
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: life experiences. And I think the thing for me that's
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: most important about what I like to do with music
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: is I like to write music that is positive. That
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: makes you feel optimistic about life. Even if I'm writing
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: about something really tough, something difficult, you know, I've written
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: songs about really hard heartbreaks that I've gone through and
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: difficult things in life, you know, difficult, different difficult things.
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: But I always want to make sure that there's some
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: redemption in there somewhere. There's some, there's a, there's a
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: light at the end of the tunnel. Yeah.
• 18:17
  Speaker 3: Hope.
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly. Because we need that in this life, right?
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: I mean, life is, is a crazy roller coaster ride.
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: And I feel this drive to make my life's purpose
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: about encouraging people along that ride through music.
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: Well, you've talked in the past, I know, about something
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: you went through, a breakup in your past that helped
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: you write some songs, correct?
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, for sure. You know, I kind of think
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: of these experiences that kind of cement themselves in your
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: in your mind you know they're these like little souvenirs
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: that you take with you whether good ones or bad
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: ones to gain wisdom in life right and then the
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: ones that really stick out to me are the ones
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: i choose to write about because for me they're the
• 19:07
  Speaker 2: ones that seem meaningful you know they obviously struck me
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: struck a chord with me that i would remember it
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: yeah so that's that's usually the ideas i try to
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: linger on and and uh yeah like uh With my
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: first album, I really, for the most part, just kind
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: of set this tone of good vibes, you know, because
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: I didn't want to get too philosophical with it. I
• 19:29
  Speaker 2: just wanted to make an album that people could literally,
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: quite simply, have a good time to, whether they were
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: at the lake or grilling out with the friends, whatever
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: you're doing, you know, just some vibe music in the
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: background that just get the vibes right, you know. But
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: with my second album that I'm releasing in January, I'm
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: going a lot deeper into the why behind it. why
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: I make positive music. And for me, it's almost like
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: a different form of mental health, you know, like going
• 19:57
  Speaker 2: to the therapist or going to the gym or eating good,
• 19:59
  Speaker 2: all these things that can help your mental health. Positive music,
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: I'm a big believer that it can shift reality for
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: us a little bit and help us to view life
• 20:09
  Speaker 2: with a little bit more of an optimistic outlook. It's
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: amazing the power of music and how it influences. you know,
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: really seeps into our subconscious, you know? Yeah. Yeah.
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: I want to get back to what you were talking
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: about with, let's say, Zach Brown or Morgan Wallen. Can
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: we pick a couple of songs that you've actually written
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: with them and talk a little bit about them? I
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: think with Zach, maybe his most famous that people would
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: know is Keep Me In Mind or what would you
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: say is the more famous?
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: Let's see. You know, Keep Me In Mind is an
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: interesting one. That was the first number one I ever
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: wrote with Zach. And we wrote it about this girl
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: that Wyatt, who we wrote the song with, the song
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: was written by three people, me, Zach Brown, and our
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: buddy Wyatt Durrett. We were in Dallas one night, Dallas, Texas,
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: and at a bar, and Wyatt ran into this girl
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: at the bar. They got to talking, and he didn't
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: find out she had a boyfriend. And so before they
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: left their little interaction, he said, hey, if things change,
• 21:14
  Speaker 2: Keep me in mind. Oh, my God. And that was
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: such a, for us, like, we just thought that was
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: such a funny thing as we were talking about it
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: later on that night, you know? And that's really where
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: the inspiration for where that song came from. Oh, my God.
• 21:28
  Speaker 2: And they ended up running into each other, like, a
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: couple years later in Dallas.
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: Please tell me they got together.
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: They're married now. They're married now and they have, they
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: have a beautiful baby girl. And so that song was
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: literally written about this girl that Wyatt ran, ran in,
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: ran into and just like had this like kind of
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: moment with the song, write the song. We write the
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: song about those. Number one runs into her again, randomly.
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: And then now they're married.
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: So obviously she knows that it was written about her.
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: I hope that they played it at the wedding.
• 22:07
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 22:09
  Speaker 2: Oh, absolutely. I played the wedding. I was so excited
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: for him that I've never played a wedding before. That's
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: the only one I've played, but I played that one.
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: Oh my God, Nico. I love that story. That's amazing. Okay. So,
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: but like, tell me the process. You guys went back
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: that night and did you like bang it out all
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: in one night or did someone come up with the lyrics?
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: How did, how long did it take? Tell me everything.
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so songs can take, you know, all kinds of
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: different timings. Sometimes they can happen really quick, like just
• 22:37
  Speaker 2: in an hour or two. And sometimes they can take
• 22:40
  Speaker 2: literally years. This was one that took about a month.
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: It wasn't like a crazy long period. It was like
• 22:46
  Speaker 2: a few weeks, you know, of refining it. Because you
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: kind of get with like the first stage of it.
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: And it's like you rough blocked it out. Yeah. And
• 22:54
  Speaker 2: then Zach is a very, he's very perfectionistic, you know,
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: and I am too. So, We like to, you know,
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: polish it as much as possible till every little word,
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: every little thing is absolutely perfect. And then the way
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: he likes to work is once he kind of gets
• 23:12
  Speaker 2: the song written down on the guitar, then he gets
• 23:14
  Speaker 2: with the band and then they start working out like
• 23:17
  Speaker 2: all the instrumental parts, like the intro riff.
• 23:22
  Speaker 3: They think you're done for the day, but they don't
• 23:25
  Speaker 3: know about the drawer. The drawer. Just the one square
• 23:30
  Speaker 3: before bed. Or two, you know. Nobody's watching. You deserve
• 23:37
  Speaker 3: a treat. With eight flavours to choose from, you can
• 23:43
  Speaker 3: choose the flavour you favour with Cadbury Dairy Milk.
• 23:52
  Speaker 2: For the song that you know so he'll like go
• 23:54
  Speaker 2: into that mode and for me that's kind of where
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: my hands go off because now we've written the song
• 23:58
  Speaker 2: and I get to have fun and watch him kind
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: of orchestrate the production of it with his band and
• 24:04
  Speaker 2: create the music the music behind what we've written and
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: it's a it's a really beautiful thing to be a part.
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: Of was there a moment when you heard them play
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: it and it was like tangible in front of you
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: and you were like oh my god how cool.
• 24:19
  Speaker 2: Oh yeah every time I remember when um Homegrown was
• 24:22
  Speaker 2: being recorded in the studio. And I had written that
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: song about my hometown and just, you know, how much
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: I still think about. And I got so much, I guess,
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: good feelings for where I grew up, you know, and
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: I kind of had this thought, man, everybody does. It
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: doesn't really matter where you're from because it could be
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: the kind of town that is pretty bland and that
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: another person would drive past and just like not think anything.
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: I'm like, there's nothing really. much to see. But for
• 24:50
  Speaker 2: the person that's from there, they see it in a
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: completely different light because they see the people there. They
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: are seeing all the memories that were made at the
• 24:58
  Speaker 2: different locations around that place. So they kind of got
• 25:01
  Speaker 2: that different perspective on that place. And I wanted to
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: write a song that was about my hometown, but where
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: a person could take ownership of it and would make
• 25:10
  Speaker 2: them think of their hometown. And, you know, but it
• 25:14
  Speaker 2: was all done on the acoustic guitar. And then going
• 25:16
  Speaker 2: in the studio and then watching them in the studio
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: with the producer who was Jay Joyce on that one.
• 25:22
  Speaker 2: And he's done stuff with Pharrell and, I mean, just
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: like every, you know, big country artist you can imagine.
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: And so just watching him work out the music with
• 25:31
  Speaker 2: them and film create it is a lot of fun.
• 25:35
  Speaker 2: And I get to have a lot of fun doing
• 25:36
  Speaker 2: that with my own music now, you know, and being there.
• 25:39
  Speaker 2: producer and songwriter for my own music so well I'm
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: really grateful to that time I wanted to ask you
• 25:45
  Speaker 2: the education.
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: Of it all right I wanted to ask you about
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: how you know when you know you have a hit
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: is it hard to like release that to someone else
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: are you like wait I want that song for me.
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: No, you know, like, when I'm writing a song for
• 26:01
  Speaker 2: somebody else, it's kind of like we were talking about how, like,
• 26:04
  Speaker 2: really getting into the place of that person, I kind
• 26:06
  Speaker 2: of decide before I start writing if I'm writing for
• 26:08
  Speaker 2: me or if I'm writing for somebody else. It's like,
• 26:10
  Speaker 2: all right, I'm writing for Dierks Bentley today, you know,
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: and then that's what I'm focused on, or I'm writing
• 26:15
  Speaker 2: for me today, you know, because that's the intention that's
• 26:20
  Speaker 2: so important, you know, and I think every artist is
• 26:23
  Speaker 2: so unique, you know, when I listen to, I don't know,
• 26:27
  Speaker 2: when I'm thinking of, like, how, like, Rascal Flatts How
• 26:30
  Speaker 2: Gary sings and then how someone, you know, like Kenny
• 26:35
  Speaker 2: Chesney sings or somebody, you know, or even in the
• 26:37
  Speaker 2: pop world for people I've written for like Avicii or
• 26:40
  Speaker 2: Pitbull or somebody, it's like all these people, they just
• 26:42
  Speaker 2: sound so different. And the way they sing, what their
• 26:45
  Speaker 2: voice does and what they usually like to do, I
• 26:48
  Speaker 2: like to listen to like. their whole like thisography and
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: like really get my mind wrapped around and like how
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: they like the thing and the things that make them signature.
• 26:57
  Speaker 2: Cause those are the beautiful things. So as a songwriter,
• 26:59
  Speaker 2: I think the goal is to like find out what
• 27:02
  Speaker 2: it is about them. That's special. And then shine as
• 27:05
  Speaker 2: much light on that thing as possible.
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's so cool. You know, it's so interesting to
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: listen to country singers who do a lot of their
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: own writing or listen to the words of the song.
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: Like I personally love Luke Combs. I think, you know,
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: a lot of the words that he comes out with
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: and the songs and the, you know, just the arc
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: of of the messages he has in every song. he
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: has so many good ones and it's, um, you know,
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: I love listening to him because it touches something in me,
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: even if I didn't realize it did, you know, um, and,
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: and the, the beat is so good and it could
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: be slow. It could be fast, but he always gets it.
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: You know what I mean? So he's somebody I really love.
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: Is there someone that you, um, have never written for that,
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: that you want to, or someone you're listening to that
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: you really love?
• 27:53
  Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely. And it's funny you mentioned Luke because, uh,
• 27:57
  Speaker 2: you know, I'm such a fan of what Luke does
• 28:01
  Speaker 2: and his unique style of country that he does that's him,
• 28:05
  Speaker 2: you know, that I really just respect the authenticity with
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: which he does it. And so when it came time
• 28:10
  Speaker 2: to find management, I ended up getting with the same
• 28:14
  Speaker 2: manager that Luke has. But when it comes to artists
• 28:21
  Speaker 2: that I would really love to write with, I think
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: at the very top of my list would be Chris Stapleton. Oh,
• 28:27
  Speaker 2: I love him. He's my favorite. He's probably my favorite.
• 28:31
  Speaker 2: I mean, I'm a full-on fan, you know. His voice
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: is incredible. His songwriting is incredible. Just, you know, like
• 28:40
  Speaker 2: how Luke's is. It's just, it's always at that high, high,
• 28:44
  Speaker 2: high bar. And the songs just always really hit home.
• 28:49
  Speaker 2: And for me, there's always that feeling of authenticity and
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: genuineness with him, with Luke. you know, um, with artists
• 28:56
  Speaker 2: like that, that, and it's something I strive for with
• 28:59
  Speaker 2: my own music. And as a fan, that's really, I
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: think even beyond how good the singer is, like how
• 29:06
  Speaker 2: kind of runs they can do, or like even the
• 29:08
  Speaker 2: sound of the music, what I'm more interested in even
• 29:12
  Speaker 2: more than that is how honest is it and, and, uh,
• 29:17
  Speaker 2: how moved do I feel by it? You know, cause
• 29:20
  Speaker 2: Sometimes a Bob Dylan song, you know, can really move
• 29:23
  Speaker 2: you or Neil Young or somebody like that. These are
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: people that may not have the greatest technical voices, but
• 29:28
  Speaker 2: the songs are so amazing, right? Yeah.
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: It's funny you say his name because a song that's
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: on the radio consistently right now of his, I don't
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: even know the name. I think it's White Horse.
• 29:40
  Speaker 2: Maybe.
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: Am I getting that right? And I just love that.
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: And it's so funny. My 11 year old daughter now
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: knows all the words to the chorus because it hits
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: something with everyone.
• 29:48
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: She's never been through that where she's waiting for Night
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: and Shining Armor to come through with the White Horse.
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: But like she loves it. And I love the concept
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: of that song. You know, I'm still waiting for my
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: white horse in my night to come for me. So I,
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: I love it. It like kind of brings me to
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: tears and his voice is just so good. So good. Um,
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: and fire away.
• 30:09
  Speaker 2: I always like textury voices, you know, like voices that
• 30:12
  Speaker 2: got a little sandpaper on them. And, uh, Chris and
• 30:15
  Speaker 2: Luke kind of have that little bit of that, that something,
• 30:18
  Speaker 2: something in it. I've always been attracted to female singers, uh,
• 30:22
  Speaker 2: like drawn to female singers that got a little raft
• 30:25
  Speaker 2: in their voice, like a, Amy Winehouse or somebody like
• 30:28
  Speaker 2: that in a little something, something there, you know? Right, right. Okay.
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: So let's get back to talking about you a little
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: more because I know that you're the star here. So
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: let's talk about your past a little bit because, you know,
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: everyone's had ups and downs, but something that's probably made
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: you more, you know, raw and transparent in your music.
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: You have had some, some issues in the past that
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: have made you kind of stop and take a look
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: at yourself. Can you talk about that a little bit?
• 30:55
  Speaker 2: Yeah, sure, yeah. So, um, I think the main thing....
• 31:00
  Speaker 3: They think you're done for the day, but they don't
• 31:03
  Speaker 3: know about the drawer. The drawer. Just the one square
• 31:08
  Speaker 3: before bed. Or two, you know. Nobody's watching. You deserve
• 31:15
  Speaker 3: a treat. With eight flavors to choose from, you can
• 31:21
  Speaker 3: choose the flavor you favor with Cadbury Dairy Milk.
• 31:30
  Speaker 2: For me, that was really probably the most difficult thing
• 31:34
  Speaker 2: that I had to get over was I had a
• 31:39
  Speaker 2: problem for a little while with drinking. And it's, you know,
• 31:43
  Speaker 2: the drinking problem stemmed from a completely different problem that
• 31:47
  Speaker 2: I had, which was an emotional problem that I had.
• 31:50
  Speaker 2: I was in a relationship for years. seven years and
• 31:54
  Speaker 2: it ended up going south, uh, due to, uh, I
• 31:58
  Speaker 2: got cheated on and, um, I was in my early
• 32:03
  Speaker 2: twenties and I didn't really know how to handle that. Yeah.
• 32:09
  Speaker 2: And so I just, uh, Instead, decided to kind of,
• 32:15
  Speaker 2: you know, push it to the side. I had big
• 32:18
  Speaker 2: dreams with music and I was so, you know, focused
• 32:22
  Speaker 2: on that. I found myself, you know, at that time
• 32:26
  Speaker 2: playing those honky-tonks and playing those bars. So I was
• 32:30
  Speaker 2: kind of like right there in this sweet spot of
• 32:33
  Speaker 2: chasing my dream, but also at the same time. you know,
• 32:37
  Speaker 2: this thing that started to become a hindrance to me
• 32:40
  Speaker 2: was right there because I was also processing a lot
• 32:44
  Speaker 2: of heartbreak at the same time. And so, um, uh,
• 32:49
  Speaker 2: for me, uh, I kind of got to a place
• 32:51
  Speaker 2: where I didn't really know how to untangle that knot, um, alone.
• 32:59
  Speaker 2: And so, uh, that's when I decided to reach out
• 33:02
  Speaker 2: and talk to somebody about it. And it ended up
• 33:06
  Speaker 2: being the best decision. One of the best decisions I've
• 33:10
  Speaker 2: ever made. I kind of think of it as like a,
• 33:14
  Speaker 2: you know, like a women's jewelry, like a necklace is so,
• 33:18
  Speaker 2: so thin and sometimes are so, you know, petite and
• 33:21
  Speaker 2: they can get tangled up. And when those little necklaces
• 33:24
  Speaker 2: get tangled up to get them undone is like, it's
• 33:28
  Speaker 2: a thing like you got to sit down and want it,
• 33:29
  Speaker 2: you know, it's going to take a while, but eventually
• 33:32
  Speaker 2: you can get to it. And for me, it's like, uh,
• 33:35
  Speaker 2: sometimes things in life can happen for all of us
• 33:38
  Speaker 2: on that ride. None of us are immune to it. Right.
• 33:41
  Speaker 2: It's part of the human experience, just like happiness is sadness, anxiety, stress,
• 33:46
  Speaker 2: these things that can sometimes get to that point though,
• 33:48
  Speaker 2: where they start to become overwhelming happen. Yeah. And then you, uh,
• 33:54
  Speaker 2: it can be good to talk to somebody. And for me,
• 33:56
  Speaker 2: what I kind of never really realized was that I
• 33:58
  Speaker 2: thought it was just like venting or like talking and
• 34:05
  Speaker 2: someone being a listening ear, but really I was given
• 34:08
  Speaker 2: literal tools, little exercises and mental games that I could
• 34:14
  Speaker 2: play with myself to strengthen my mind, my mind's resilience.
• 34:19
  Speaker 2: I ended up becoming aware that my physical had like
• 34:23
  Speaker 2: a really big impact on my mental, you know? And
• 34:26
  Speaker 2: so realizing that, you know, if, if I'm eating like crap,
• 34:31
  Speaker 2: if I'm not exercising, you know, if I'm drinking all
• 34:34
  Speaker 2: the time, if I'm doing all this stuff, it's going
• 34:36
  Speaker 2: to be pretty hard to get the feeling positive up there,
• 34:39
  Speaker 2: feeling better, you know?
• 34:40
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 34:41
  Speaker 2: So I just, I'm so grateful for that experience that
• 34:48
  Speaker 2: I really want to be able to kind of pay
• 34:51
  Speaker 2: it forward and pass it on with my life, with
• 34:54
  Speaker 2: my love of music. Cause once that kind of experience
• 34:56
  Speaker 2: happened for me before that, I was singing songs just not,
• 35:00
  Speaker 2: and not that there's anything wrong with this. I was
• 35:01
  Speaker 2: just singing songs about, you know, basically just, you know,
• 35:04
  Speaker 2: hooking up or like getting hammered or whatever. I don't know.
• 35:08
  Speaker 2: Just like, you know, just general party songs. And, uh, it,
• 35:11
  Speaker 2: it made me, it kind of inspired me to want
• 35:14
  Speaker 2: to make songs about something more than that. And, uh,
• 35:18
  Speaker 2: I'm having so much fun doing it. And I hope
• 35:20
  Speaker 2: that the music can encourage people and provide them with
• 35:26
  Speaker 2: hope for the future because there is, you know, there's
• 35:28
  Speaker 2: always better days ahead.
• 35:30
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 35:31
  Speaker 1: Well, I think that's such an important message for people because.
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: You know, what you went through is such a universal thing, obviously,
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: whether it's cheating, whether it's losing somebody, whether it's you've
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: gone down one path and it changes and you don't
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: know how you got there. And so many people get stuck.
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: And what you said is brilliant that, you know, to
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: be able to get happiness and get to that place,
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: you have to be able to experience pain and sadness
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: and know the difference and get yourself out of there.
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: And so many people, I think, get stuck or feel
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: like this is the end. I'm never going to find
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: someone else. Or why did this happen? Because this is
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: how my life was. supposed to turn out. And here
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: you are, you know, years later in a completely different
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: position and you're better off.
• 36:11
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: I mean, you you're married to a woman you obviously
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: love very much. You have a child. You know, you
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: you're you have a new album coming out next year.
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: But had you not gone through that, you may have
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: made different decisions. And so you needed to go through,
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: you know, a lower point to get to that higher point.
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: And I think that's a really important message for people
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: to hear and understand and gives them hope. that they
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: will see better days, like you're saying.
• 36:36
  Speaker 2: Absolutely. And yeah, my wife was a huge encouragement too,
• 36:40
  Speaker 2: because when we met, I was still kind of on
• 36:44
  Speaker 2: the tail end of the process and all of that,
• 36:46
  Speaker 2: you know, and kind of overcoming my addictive natures. So
• 36:53
  Speaker 2: she was a huge encouragement. So really kind of like
• 36:56
  Speaker 2: accepting the help, you know, and the encouragement and was huge.
• 37:03
  Speaker 2: um so for me it's uh it's it's just something
• 37:09
  Speaker 2: that means so much to me and and that's why
• 37:11
  Speaker 2: that's why when we were talking earlier about even in
• 37:15
  Speaker 2: those moments like having some sort of sense of redemption
• 37:18
  Speaker 2: in there you know because with the first album it
• 37:22
  Speaker 2: was nothing but you know just it's always good times
• 37:25
  Speaker 2: which Nobody loves getting out on the lake. Nobody loves
• 37:28
  Speaker 2: getting around the campfire more than me, you know, because
• 37:31
  Speaker 2: I do believe that life is meant to be celebrated.
• 37:34
  Speaker 2: But yeah, talking a little more with the second album
• 37:37
  Speaker 2: and saying, hey, you know, the reason why I'm doing
• 37:40
  Speaker 2: this is because of you know, the instances in life
• 37:44
  Speaker 2: where I did feel hopeless and it was really difficult
• 37:48
  Speaker 2: to find, to find the path to positivity. And it's
• 37:53
  Speaker 2: something that I do daily, you know, still to this day,
• 37:56
  Speaker 2: you know what I mean? I wake up every day
• 37:58
  Speaker 2: and have to proactively set my compass towards, you know,
• 38:03
  Speaker 2: the forward direction or else, I mean, before I know it,
• 38:07
  Speaker 2: you know, I'm caught up in my old ways. So
• 38:09
  Speaker 2: it's a daily proactive habit, you.
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: Know, and, It's a daily choice.
• 38:14
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a daily choice, you know. And so for me,
• 38:17
  Speaker 2: positive music can really help encourage that proactivity, which is
• 38:24
  Speaker 2: what it takes, you know, to really keep that consistent,
• 38:27
  Speaker 2: positive life going forward. You need help. And so just
• 38:31
  Speaker 2: kind of like good eating or exercising, it's like having
• 38:34
  Speaker 2: positive music. Um, is, is gonna have an effect, you know,
• 38:40
  Speaker 2: I kind of, uh, almost like a little challenge. It's like,
• 38:43
  Speaker 2: maybe only like think only positive thoughts for one day
• 38:47
  Speaker 2: and see how it affects your life the next day
• 38:49
  Speaker 2: when you wake up, how you'll generally feel like immediately
• 38:52
  Speaker 2: when you have like a go to start having a
• 38:54
  Speaker 2: negative thought, kind of stop it and play that little
• 38:57
  Speaker 2: game for an entire day, you know? Mm-hmm. it can
• 39:00
  Speaker 2: really make a big difference. And for me, positive music
• 39:03
  Speaker 2: is like a similar thing because we just don't really,
• 39:05
  Speaker 2: I think, realize how much it affects us if we're
• 39:07
  Speaker 2: listening to like music that's pretty much making us feel hopeless,
• 39:10
  Speaker 2: making us feel sad, even though it makes us feel
• 39:12
  Speaker 2: connected because the song is, this person is talking about
• 39:18
  Speaker 2: a deep sadness and you feel a deep sadness that
• 39:20
  Speaker 2: you're connecting to that. But if there's no hope in it,
• 39:23
  Speaker 2: then you it keep it kind of will keep you
• 39:25
  Speaker 2: there with with them in that moment right and i
• 39:29
  Speaker 2: think when you're in sadness what you're looking for is
• 39:31
  Speaker 2: a way out yeah so uh that sort of music
• 39:34
  Speaker 2: can really help Yeah.
• 39:36
  Speaker 1: So tell us a little bit more about what we
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: can expect with your new album coming out soon. Is
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: there like a certain tone to it? I know it's
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: about better days and better vibes and all that stuff,
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: but you really got more into the heart of the matter.
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: Is there a favorite song you have?
• 39:53
  Speaker 2: Yeah, my favorite song is called Better Days. And so
• 39:56
  Speaker 2: that's the name of the album. The album's called Better Days.
• 39:58
  Speaker 2: And then the lead single, Better Days, which I got
• 40:01
  Speaker 2: some really exciting news about. um, how that song is
• 40:05
  Speaker 2: going to be connected to my nonprofit. So, uh, at
• 40:08
  Speaker 2: the exact same time that better days comes out, I'm
• 40:11
  Speaker 2: also launching my nonprofit, which is called the happy cowboy foundation,
• 40:16
  Speaker 2: which is a nonprofit.
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 40:18
  Speaker 2: It's a nonprofit that helps, uh, people get therapy that, uh,
• 40:22
  Speaker 2: are in need and, uh, looking for help. So, um,
• 40:26
  Speaker 2: obviously there's, you know, so many of us out there
• 40:29
  Speaker 2: that need to talk to somebody, but it's so expensive. And,
• 40:32
  Speaker 2: Not just one talk, you know, you need to talk
• 40:34
  Speaker 2: a few times to get over anything that's difficult in life,
• 40:37
  Speaker 2: you know. But it's not always financially viable, you know.
• 40:40
  Speaker 2: There's a million situations, but if you were to use
• 40:42
  Speaker 2: the example of, like, you're just like a single mom,
• 40:44
  Speaker 2: you got two kids, and, you know, you're working at,
• 40:48
  Speaker 2: you know, a minimum wage job. How in the world,
• 40:51
  Speaker 2: you know, you're under a lot of stress. There may be, like,
• 40:53
  Speaker 2: a lot of things that you could really use to
• 40:55
  Speaker 2: help navigating mentally. How are you going to swing toughness?
• 40:59
  Speaker 2: That's an impossibility, really, financially, you know, because those kids
• 41:02
  Speaker 2: got to get fed. You get to school and all
• 41:04
  Speaker 2: the stuff that she has to do, you know. So
• 41:07
  Speaker 2: helping those people, you know, like I said, I got
• 41:09
  Speaker 2: such a heart for working class people because I grew
• 41:13
  Speaker 2: up in that environment, you know. And so just wanting
• 41:17
  Speaker 2: to just help everybody as much as I can through
• 41:21
  Speaker 2: the song Better Days. And so what Better Days is
• 41:25
  Speaker 2: all about, is that song is really the foundation of
• 41:29
  Speaker 2: the album because it is my philosophy on positivity. And
• 41:35
  Speaker 2: this is what my philosophy on positivity is. Positivity does
• 41:41
  Speaker 2: not mean that you're happy all the time. It does
• 41:44
  Speaker 2: not mean being happy all the time. What positivity is,
• 41:48
  Speaker 2: is even in the hard times, it's having faith that
• 41:54
  Speaker 2: there's better days ahead. and I really want to kind
• 41:59
  Speaker 2: of spread that message that, you know, if you're feeling
• 42:02
  Speaker 2: in a way, and people are like, man, just be positive,
• 42:06
  Speaker 2: you know, and you're like, how am I supposed to
• 42:07
  Speaker 2: flip it? It's like, that's not, just be happy. It's like,
• 42:10
  Speaker 2: that's not, that's not it, you know? It's like, it's
• 42:13
  Speaker 2: accepting where you're at. It's like saying, okay, we're here.
• 42:16
  Speaker 2: This is the bottom of this moment of the roller
• 42:20
  Speaker 2: coaster of my ride, and so while I'm here, while
• 42:23
  Speaker 2: I'm in this valley, I'm going to choose to keep
• 42:28
  Speaker 2: the faith that there's better days ahead. And so that's
• 42:33
  Speaker 2: what the song is all about. That's what the album
• 42:37
  Speaker 2: is all about. And there's going to be basically a
• 42:41
  Speaker 2: way that I'm going to be connecting this album that
• 42:44
  Speaker 2: I'll be talking about a little bit more in the future,
• 42:46
  Speaker 2: that I'm going to be connecting this album with my
• 42:49
  Speaker 2: nonprofit to help people get therapy from people listening to
• 42:54
  Speaker 2: the album.
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: Amazing. I love that, Nico. So will you be going
• 42:58
  Speaker 1: on tour and performing?
• 43:01
  Speaker 2: Yes. So I'll be on tour. The tour starts February 1st.
• 43:05
  Speaker 2: Tickets just went on sale. And some of the shows
• 43:07
  Speaker 2: are already almost sold out. So it's been amazing. It's
• 43:10
  Speaker 2: been beautiful. I'm so excited. We call the fan base
• 43:14
  Speaker 2: the Good Timers. It's just people that love having a
• 43:16
  Speaker 2: good time, you know. And, you know, I'm so grateful
• 43:19
  Speaker 2: for this musical family that we have formed in that building. Um,
• 43:23
  Speaker 2: so anybody that's watching, Oh Lord, anybody that's watching, come
• 43:27
  Speaker 2: on out y'all. It's, um, the way I like to
• 43:30
  Speaker 2: look at it, it's kind of like a vacation. Uh,
• 43:32
  Speaker 2: you ain't gotta go to Cabo to go on vacation.
• 43:34
  Speaker 2: You know, you can just, uh, come to the show,
• 43:37
  Speaker 2: hit the pause button for an hour and a half
• 43:40
  Speaker 2: and just celebrate life together. Uh, it'll be all across
• 43:44
  Speaker 2: the country and, uh, The Better Days Tour. Can't wait
• 43:48
  Speaker 2: to see all that.
• 43:49
  Speaker 1: Nico, you're the best. You have such a big heart.
• 43:51
  Speaker 1: I love talking to you. Okay. Your album drops in
• 43:53
  Speaker 1: January of 2024, right?
• 43:56
  Speaker 2: Yep. January 19th is when Better Days, the album comes out.
• 44:00
  Speaker 2: And then February 1st is the first day of the tour.
• 44:03
  Speaker 2: $ 1 from every single ticket sold goes to the Happy
• 44:07
  Speaker 2: Cowboy Foundation. So just by coming to the show, You're donating.
• 44:12
  Speaker 1: You're supporting.
• 44:14
  Speaker 2: Great.
• 44:14
  Speaker 1: Where can people find you and look up your stuff
• 44:17
  Speaker 1: and see your tour dates?
• 44:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah, just go to Nikomoon.com, N-I-K-O-M-O-O-N, and you'll get all
• 44:25
  Speaker 2: the tour dates there. And then for listening to the music, everywhere,
• 44:29
  Speaker 2: wherever you listen to the music, I'm there, yo. Awesome.
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: So I'm going to check out your schedule. Hopefully we
• 44:34
  Speaker 1: will meet in person at one of your concerts. I
• 44:37
  Speaker 1: think you're fantastic. I love your message and I hope
• 44:41
  Speaker 1: you will come back after your, your album comes out
• 44:44
  Speaker 1: and you've gone on tour and we can talk about
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: your nonprofit more and how that has affected people. Cause
• 44:49
  Speaker 1: I think that's such a great thing that you're doing.
• 44:51
  Speaker 1: So congratulations.
• 44:54
  Speaker 2: Oh, thank you. That would be amazing. Hey, Rachel, I
• 44:56
  Speaker 2: had a blast talking. Thanks for having me. And I
• 44:59
  Speaker 2: can't wait to cross paths in person and say, Hey, Absolutely.
• 45:02
  Speaker 1: You can count on it.
• 45:03
  Speaker 2: All right. Take care.
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much for listening to Misunderstood. I'm your host,
• 45:17
  Speaker 1: Rachel Yucatel. Please be sure to subscribe to the show
• 45:19
  Speaker 1: and give us a five-star rating and review. You can
• 45:22
  Speaker 1: support the show by joining our Patreon at patreon.com slash
• 45:26
  Speaker 1: misunderstood with Rachel Yucatel. Do you have ideas for the
• 45:29
  Speaker 1: show or want to reach out? Email us at infomisunderstoodpodcast
• 45:34
  Speaker 1: at gmail.com. That's spelled M-I-S-S understood. Thank you so much,
• 45:39
  Speaker 1: and I'll see you next time.
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