Latest / Tigs Bits Podcast / Back to God's Country: JR The Handler Kicks Off His New Show with Jeff Gossett

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Back to God's Country: JR The Handler Kicks Off His New Show with Jeff Gossett · Tigs Bits Podcast

• 0:08
  Hey hey chick 1-2 think everything's working and that's
• 0:13
  a good thing. Hey guys and gals out there in
• 0:16
  podcast land. Welcome in to this brand new
• 0:20
  show I am doing with me Jr. The Handler.
• 0:24
  I I've been wanting to do something like this for a while,
• 0:26
  so we're finally kicking it off. Today should be a great show.
• 0:30
  I've got a great guest lined up to come on here and tell some
• 0:33
  stories and chop it up with me, one of my best friends out there
• 0:36
  on the road. I've known this guy at least 15
• 0:40
  years from airports, run insurance and opening shows for
• 0:44
  him and his acts. And I mean just too much to get
• 0:47
  into, but he is a fellow tour manager.
• 0:51
  He currently is TM ING for one of the biggest acts in the
• 0:54
  world. He has toured with some of the
• 0:56
  greats over the years. So I'm pumped to get to hear
• 1:00
  some of those stories because we've told a few over the years.
• 1:02
  But this will be fun to get them in a in a setting where we can
• 1:07
  really talk long form and really dive into some of them without
• 1:10
  just cut, you know, being all over the place, like backstage
• 1:14
  at a show or something. So this should be really fun.
• 1:16
  I'm looking forward to this. Got a lot of other fun stuff
• 1:20
  coming up on the podcast. Thanks to everybody who's
• 1:22
  reached out and and and said, you know, they're ready for the
• 1:27
  podcast and we're glad I'm doing it and a lot of comments,
• 1:30
  suggestions and great things like that.
• 1:33
  So I want to say appreciate to you, to all of you guys and gals
• 1:36
  who've done so far on that end. And also let everybody know
• 1:40
  about the call in line. I've got a voicemail set up.
• 1:43
  You can call in, leave questions, comments, if you want
• 1:47
  some advice, if you want me to just talk about my opinion on
• 1:50
  something, if you want me to get a certain guest or ask a certain
• 1:53
  guest a question or just ask somebody a question.
• 1:56
  I may you send me the send it to me and maybe I'll just text him
• 1:59
  or call him and see if I can get us an answer something like
• 2:01
  that. Maybe.
• 2:01
  But the number for that is should be easy.
• 2:04
  I try to make it as easy as possible.
• 2:05
  It's easy to remember because I know it's impossible for me to
• 2:08
  remember numbers. So I'm sure it's just as
• 2:11
  difficult for all of you, probably not you younger folks,
• 2:13
  but remember back in the day, we used to know everybody's number.
• 2:15
  You knew 100 numbers off the top of your head.
• 2:17
  Now you know like 3 isn't that crazy.
• 2:20
  So but the number for the new call in line here on the of the
• 2:23
  road report show is 424 handler that easy 424 handler HANDLER
• 2:30
  call. Leave us a voicemail, let us
• 2:32
  know what you think about the show, let us know what you'd
• 2:34
  like to see with the show. Anything like that.
• 2:37
  Looking forward to having some fun with that.
• 2:39
  So this should be really cool. So without any further ado, I
• 2:44
  think we are ready for the official 1st guest of the Road
• 2:49
  Report with Jr. the Handler. If I can figure out how to
• 2:52
  record this thing, I don't want to not do that because I got to
• 2:57
  do that. Let's see here.
• 3:00
  And when I did this regularly, this was a lot easier than it is
• 3:04
  now. There it is.
• 3:06
  That should work. All right, we're going to roll
• 3:09
  like this. All right, ladies and gentlemen,
• 3:11
  welcome back to the Road Report, the brand new podcast here about
• 3:14
  music and mostly country music, but all types of music.
• 3:18
  And man, let me tell y'all, do I have something I have been
• 3:22
  wanting to do forever going to happen today?
• 3:24
  I've got one of my absolute favorite Rd. buddies of all time
• 3:29
  and we are both at home on a Monday and we are going to talk
• 3:32
  shop to all you podcast guys and gals out there listening.
• 3:38
  This guy has done so much I don't even know where to start.
• 3:41
  Currently he's the tour manager for one of the largest acts in
• 3:44
  the world, Stadium Act playing anywhere they want to play.
• 3:49
  Been in the headlines lately. We'll get to that at some point
• 3:51
  for sure. But prior to this run, he's
• 3:56
  worked with other big, huge country stars.
• 3:59
  He's worked for one of as y'all ever heard the Justin Moore
• 4:03
  podcast back in the day. One of our best buddies,
• 4:05
  Brantley Gilbert, he ran with him for years and kept his ship
• 4:08
  afloat and running straight between the buoys before that.
• 4:14
  I mean, just so too much. I'm gonna let him tell it and I
• 4:17
  couldn't find it, but I meant to wear my my best Chris Cagle hat
• 4:22
  for this interview and talk today but I couldn't find it.
• 4:25
  But without any further ado straight getting back off the
• 4:29
  plane back in God's country South southern central Tennessee
• 4:33
  is my brother current tour manager for Morgan wallet, Mr.
• 4:36
  Jeff Gossett. What's going on, Brother Jeff?
• 4:39
  Hey buddy, how are you man? Thank you for having me.
• 4:42
  Thank you for those kind words that you just said.
• 4:47
  I actually was trying to find that Chris Cagle hat too and I
• 4:51
  guess you stole some bitch from me.
• 4:54
  Got you. You left it on your desk at the
• 4:58
  production office one day. And I just thought I better own
• 5:01
  it too. I might as well just own this.
• 5:02
  Is Jeff's going to leave it on his desk today?
• 5:04
  Well, that's good stuff man. You been good.
• 5:07
  I'm good, brother. Man, I had an easy week this
• 5:10
  past week. I had one show in North Carolina
• 5:13
  this past Thursday and then got to fly home Friday, so I got to
• 5:18
  spend the weekend at home. Actually went up to the floor
• 5:20
  Bama Saturday and helped out around there a little bit.
• 5:24
  Had Craig Campbell coming to do an event for Saint Jude.
• 5:27
  He just lives, right? I see him all the time.
• 5:30
  He just lives right up the road from me.
• 5:32
  You know? He's got that grindstone.
• 5:34
  Cowboy, have you been there? I have not, but I've heard and
• 5:37
  I've seen videos from there. It looks really cool.
• 5:39
  Oh. Man, it is.
• 5:40
  He, him and his wife have a great place there that, you
• 5:44
  know, you can go in to get great food, coffees, pastries.
• 5:49
  They got a little bar in there and then they do.
• 5:52
  I think it's the first or second Tuesday of every month he's in
• 5:57
  there and plays in the evenings. And as you know him, it's just
• 6:03
  straight up good old country music, you know?
• 6:06
  Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.
• 6:07
  I had a few people ask me. I was like, I, I don't, I'm not
• 6:09
  know if I'm do I know Craig Campbell.
• 6:11
  I'm like, well, if you don't, you should.
• 6:13
  And you're on the outskirts of heaven.
• 6:14
  I say, because it's as good as country as you're going to get
• 6:16
  right there. And then I usually tell people
• 6:18
  I'm like, people are aging up. I was like, you probably
• 6:22
  remember when he was Tracy Byrd's piano player and then he
• 6:24
  had a. And then he went solo and did
• 6:26
  his own thing and had a bunch of great songs, still putting out
• 6:28
  good songs and. And unbelievable singer, really.
• 6:34
  And piano player and guitar player and I mean it's just one
• 6:37
  of those type guys. And isn't he from, he's from
• 6:39
  Tifton, isn't he? Or somewhere like that, Georgia?
• 6:42
  Well, where he's from, he's probably another one that, you
• 6:44
  know, all the boys from down there in Georgia, all of they.
• 6:47
  For for what are you talking about that for about 15 years
• 6:51
  there, was it not almost a prerequisite that you had to be
• 6:54
  from Georgia to be in country music just about.
• 6:57
  It's a, it was a good, you know, 1012 to probably 15 years and,
• 7:00
  you know, you got Luke Dry and Al Dean Brantley, you got Cole
• 7:05
  Swindell. Colt Ford, I mean.
• 7:09
  Oh yeah, man, you know, and I. And then like I said, Kip Moore,
• 7:13
  I think Kip and Craig are both from Tifton or Bainbridge are
• 7:17
  somewhere down that way. I think.
• 7:20
  But you know, Craig, he, my wife and I, we used to go to this
• 7:25
  church down here. It's called Cowboy Church down
• 7:28
  kind of where we live South of town and of Nashville.
• 7:33
  And, and his wife and him, they, they did the, all the music
• 7:37
  there on Sunday mornings. And man, that place, you know,
• 7:42
  it was a great place to go to church, but more they did, you
• 7:48
  know, pack the house on Sundays because they'd come in there and
• 7:51
  do all the music and people love to come hear him and his wife,
• 7:55
  which she's an incredible singer too.
• 7:57
  You know, not a lot of people know that.
• 8:00
  But because, you know, the wives sometimes, you know, sit back on
• 8:03
  the sidelines and, you know, do the things they hold the Fort
• 8:06
  down when we're gone, you know, and but but they, I don't think
• 8:13
  they're doing that anymore because that church ended up
• 8:15
  moving. But like I said, they just live
• 8:18
  right up the road for me and my wife.
• 8:21
  I go there and get her breakfast sandwiches all the time because
• 8:24
  she she loves that stuff from there.
• 8:26
  And that's good food. Well, yeah, well, I, you know,
• 8:29
  like I said, I'm doing good at home.
• 8:30
  How about you? How are Tiffany, the kids,
• 8:32
  everybody good back in the Gossett estate?
• 8:35
  Everybody's great. I'm about to get divorced
• 8:37
  because I'm home so much. We finished up around the middle
• 8:43
  of October and then we don't do anything.
• 8:47
  We had Saturday Night Live is probably we'll get into that
• 8:49
  like you said here in a little bit.
• 8:52
  We did that a couple weeks ago and and our first show is the
• 8:56
  middle of May down in Gulf Shores and in My Boots Festival.
• 9:02
  And then we start the tour at the end of June in Houston and
• 9:08
  do 10 cities two nights. Each of these stadiums will go
• 9:13
  through about the first or second week of September.
• 9:16
  And then then we're done again till I'm not sure what we're
• 9:21
  doing next year. Well, I know kind of what we're
• 9:23
  doing. Can't really say much about that
• 9:25
  just yet, but that'll give me a bunch of time off in the in the
• 9:29
  in the winter months during deer season because that's my that's
• 9:32
  my thing. As you as you probably know
• 9:34
  that's I'm in depression mode right now.
• 9:37
  I think it's getting me through this is Turkey season opens up
• 9:40
  Saturday morning so you're. It's a gateway.
• 9:44
  Oh yeah, man, I can't wait to get out there until a Turkey or
• 9:46
  two. But yeah, man, you know, all's
• 9:48
  good, all's great. Kids are great, wife's great.
• 9:52
  They're just growing up so fast, man I, I, I've got one in
• 9:55
  kindergarten this year and then she's 6 and then our youngest
• 10:00
  little girl, 2 little girls we got and the other one's four.
• 10:03
  And it's always something man. Soccer practice Mondays and
• 10:07
  Thursdays and soccer games on Saturday mornings and which is
• 10:12
  wonderful, but they, they're, they're, it's a lot.
• 10:14
  It's is, you know, as you probably know, and we have a
• 10:17
  great time with it. And it's just fun.
• 10:20
  Being a dad, man, I've done it years ago.
• 10:24
  If I knew how much fun it was, It's just a lot of fun.
• 10:27
  It's expensive as hell, but it's a lot of fun.
• 10:30
  Well, that's awesome. Well, you, you, you can afford
• 10:32
  it a little better these days than we could when we all first
• 10:34
  started in this game and you talked about being home.
• 10:37
  And that's a good point there. You know, when we first all get
• 10:41
  in this business and young artist on the way up, y'all,
• 10:43
  y'all are knee deep in it right now.
• 10:45
  You do a lot of shows. I mean, you do anytime anybody
• 10:47
  let you come play, you go do a show.
• 10:49
  And as you're working your way up, you got bills to pay and you
• 10:52
  got, you know, you only sell so many tickets, you got to play so
• 10:55
  many shows and you keep going up.
• 10:57
  And then you get to a point where you start, you know, you
• 10:59
  work for an artist and you're doing well enough where you
• 11:01
  don't have to do as many shows. And now, like you said, you're
• 11:03
  doing a limited, like a limited amount of shows.
• 11:06
  I know my, my friend Nathan who works for me on the road, but
• 11:09
  also assistant tour managers for Hank Junior.
• 11:11
  Hank does about 25 shows a year. He's been doing that for several
• 11:14
  years. You know, and you get to that
• 11:16
  level. So it's kind of like, it's kind
• 11:18
  of like you always dream about getting to that level to where
• 11:21
  you don't have to. And then once you don't have to,
• 11:23
  you're kind of get itching sometimes, I bet, especially for
• 11:26
  the families at home, because they get people don't understand
• 11:29
  this. They think it's crazy that we
• 11:30
  leave on the weekends and, you know, been doing it for years.
• 11:33
  And Justin, I explained to people all the time, you know,
• 11:36
  that's just what we're used to. Our families are used to that.
• 11:38
  My parents are used to that. My grandparents are used.
• 11:40
  I've been doing this my whole entire adult life and they, we
• 11:43
  don't know any difference. So for me to somebody to call me
• 11:45
  and say, you know, in three days you got to leave.
• 11:47
  You got to go to Milwaukee and then you got to go to California
• 11:50
  for a few days and you'll be back, you know, a couple days
• 11:52
  after that on a whim. I just doesn't, it's not that
• 11:56
  big a deal. It happens all the time in our
• 11:58
  business. So, you know, like you said, you
• 12:02
  know, we, we, we, we go out, you know, most of these shows that
• 12:05
  we're doing are on the weekends, you know, we're all doing.
• 12:08
  In country we we call it weekend warrior in country, a lot of
• 12:11
  rock in the rock and pop and hip hop world and even country back
• 12:14
  in the day, you kind of worked your album cycle and stuff.
• 12:17
  But that's all kind of transition into just what how
• 12:21
  you want to work your tour because people don't really sell
• 12:23
  albums except for maybe like Taylor Swift or somebody multi
• 12:26
  colored albums. I'm sure your girls got all six
• 12:28
  colors over at your house too, like like my goddaughters too.
• 12:32
  But but so now it's it's it's about it's it's about just
• 12:36
  touring when you when you need to instead of just promoting an
• 12:39
  album and things like that. So in country music, typically
• 12:41
  we do what you call weekend warrior where you leave on a
• 12:44
  Wednesday and come home on Sunday.
• 12:45
  So. Yeah, we and, and, and like you
• 12:48
  said, we're, we're, we're doing 22 shows this year and, and back
• 12:53
  years ago, you know, when I, when my wife and I first met, we
• 12:56
  were dating, you know, I was probably, and even before that
• 13:01
  probably doing 8090 a 120 a 150 shows a year.
• 13:04
  Oh yeah. So as you know, when you do that
• 13:07
  many shows, you're gone a lot and, and now being home and we
• 13:15
  do just say we do 20 shows this year, 20 shows.
• 13:19
  And you, you, you factor in, you know, 1/2 day travel.
• 13:23
  It's kind of what we all factor in as tour managers on the for
• 13:26
  our logistical travel stuff, you know, you know, now I'm gone
• 13:32
  30-40 days out of the year, a few more because I'm going in a
• 13:37
  little bit early on some of these dates, these stadiums and,
• 13:40
  and, but, but in reality gone about 60 days out of the year.
• 13:47
  So two months and I'm home 10 months.
• 13:52
  And for my and for my wife, she's, she's like, she has her
• 13:58
  own routine when I'm and I come home and I mess everything up
• 14:03
  and, and she's mad at me and, and she's saying, when do you
• 14:08
  leave again? Yeah, and and so, but no, but I
• 14:14
  but I love being home, man. I love being around.
• 14:16
  I actually like my wife. And.
• 14:19
  And, and, and I, and I love being around the girls and
• 14:23
  watching them grow up and doing stuff with them.
• 14:25
  And so I mean very fortunate, you know, honored and, and, and,
• 14:31
  and and proud to be working with Morgan and and I and, and, and
• 14:35
  it's nice to not be gone as much, you know, thankful he's
• 14:39
  he's at the level in his career now.
• 14:41
  We're, we're working 20-30 shows a year is all that is going to
• 14:45
  happen. And, and then that allows me to
• 14:49
  be home with, with, with all my girls, you know, and our cats
• 14:52
  and the dog and all the crap, you know, and I just, you know,
• 14:56
  I'm hunting and I'm and, and I just did a garden for my wife
• 15:00
  the other day and finally got it sprayed again till back up.
• 15:04
  So now I just got to get up there and plant all the stuff
• 15:07
  she wants in it. And, and that's kind of cool
• 15:10
  because I actually, it's how I grew up, you know, going to my
• 15:13
  grandmother's house and helping her pick all the stuff that she
• 15:16
  had in both her gardens when I was a kid.
• 15:18
  And I love that stuff, man. You know, you know, people
• 15:21
  think, you know, you know, it's, you know, it's Ritz Carlton's
• 15:26
  and steak and lobsters and you know, all this kind of stuff,
• 15:30
  but it's not how we live, you know?
• 15:32
  Right. Yeah.
• 15:33
  And, and like you said, you know, that's just what we grew
• 15:35
  up. We still love it.
• 15:36
  I can still remember sitting in the floor in Mississippi with my
• 15:39
  grandmother in that huge silver pan, grabbing handfuls of peas
• 15:44
  out of the out of the five gallon bucket and putting them
• 15:46
  over in shelling peas with my grandmother watching Days of Our
• 15:49
  Lives. In her floor.
• 15:51
  In her bedroom. College classes around that
• 15:54
  because that's what I grew up. On exactly I used to my
• 15:57
  grandmother said before I do the real name for it, I just call it
• 16:00
  the Beau Brady show. I wanted the Beau Brady show.
• 16:03
  But that, that, like you said, that's one of my fondest
• 16:05
  memories of growing up was just sitting there with my
• 16:06
  grandmother and shelling peas and whatever family member would
• 16:09
  walk in, would just grab some and start get to shelling and
• 16:12
  and then, you know, that night we're eating those peas and man,
• 16:14
  there's no, you just can't replicate that.
• 16:17
  And yeah, like you said, you know, doing two months worth of
• 16:19
  shows and being off 10 months is basically the opposite of what
• 16:22
  we used to do. And you?
• 16:23
  Know. Going through the depending on
• 16:25
  what stage you are in your career or what you, you know,
• 16:28
  the timing and music because we'll get to that too.
• 16:30
  You know, over our careers in music last 20 or so years, you a
• 16:35
  little bit more than me, The music in the business and
• 16:39
  everything about it's just changed.
• 16:41
  You know, I mean, the way you get around, the way shows run,
• 16:44
  The Who you're interacting with, what what matters in music, what
• 16:48
  you know, just everything about it is morphed in transition and
• 16:51
  evolved to what it is today. And you know, if you're a young
• 16:55
  act, it's not, it's not impossible to be out 200 and
• 16:58
  something days, almost 300 days a year if you're doing a radio
• 17:01
  tour and you're hot. I thought about that last year,
• 17:04
  I guess it was, or the year, I guess it was last year when
• 17:07
  Laney Wilson had her big rise. Just saw her everywhere, on
• 17:11
  everything, everywhere. And I knew she was doing shows.
• 17:13
  She'd started out doing that. She was on a tour, I think,
• 17:15
  without Dean. She was actually out on tour
• 17:17
  with us a couple tours before that.
• 17:19
  And I remember thinking she's going to be busy because she was
• 17:22
  telling me then how much touring she was going to do and all the
• 17:25
  stuff she had lined up. And I, I thought about, man, I
• 17:28
  bet her camps out 300 days this year to go after.
• 17:30
  But it paid off. She won a bunch of big awards.
• 17:32
  She had a huge year, became a big star out of it.
• 17:34
  She's doing great, man. We're all real proud of her.
• 17:37
  Plus, you know, Laney is, you know, we're fortunate enough to
• 17:42
  be around these artists and camps and stuff and, and kind of
• 17:46
  get to know folks and, and she is Dutch a wonderful person as
• 17:54
  you know, man, she's, she's so nice.
• 17:57
  She, she always takes the time, you know, to, to, to say stuff
• 18:01
  to, you know, when we're backstage, you know, she had a
• 18:04
  couple shows last year with, with Morgan on on the stadium
• 18:08
  dates and always, always gracious saying hello to folks.
• 18:13
  And, and, and that's what a lot of the fans, I guess don't know
• 18:17
  is they just see these stories and hear rumors and stuff.
• 18:21
  And, and I think we're both here to probably put it to bed to be
• 18:26
  some great individual. Yeah, absolutely.
• 18:29
  Yeah, just as a sweetheart and. And there's always so cool.
• 18:33
  And that's like you said, you know, and people think when you
• 18:36
  say that like, Oh my God, you know, so and so.
• 18:38
  And it's like, yeah, but it's different than you think because
• 18:41
  you know him from work. You know, it's like even like
• 18:43
  Morgan, I've known Morgan. Now that was since he started,
• 18:46
  you know, because we, he would come out and we'd do these radio
• 18:48
  things and he'd be one of the young acts on the deal and had
• 18:51
  him in Langston on Justin's bus probably, I don't know, six
• 18:55
  years, seven-year, I don't know. It's hard to track time too,
• 18:57
  like you were saying about your kids being in kindergarten.
• 18:59
  And I'm like, good Lord, it seems like Jeff just got married
• 19:02
  like 2 years ago and now you're year oldest daughters in
• 19:05
  kindergarten. So time flies.
• 19:07
  But when you know them from work and you're around them like
• 19:10
  that, it's a different than what you think celebrity would be on
• 19:13
  TV. And it's probably the same for
• 19:14
  actors and actresses and athletes and everybody else.
• 19:16
  Because obviously we know some of those too.
• 19:18
  When you're around them in a personal setting, when the
• 19:20
  cameras are off and nobody's trying to get their picture or
• 19:23
  autograph, they're just normal people.
• 19:25
  They're just just normal people. And, you know, I, I think, you
• 19:28
  know, that kind of ties into the whole thing at the SNL thing,
• 19:32
  you know, wanting to get back home to God's country.
• 19:35
  I totally got it. I mean, we, you know, I have to
• 19:38
  go to New York every now and then and I'm, and I text you
• 19:41
  that night and you were like, been here since Wednesday, just
• 19:43
  ready to get back home. And I was thinking, I feel your
• 19:46
  brother because we have to go in and do a week's worth of that
• 19:48
  stuff. It's fine.
• 19:49
  The food's great. You know, everybody's usually
• 19:51
  nice and takes care of us, but that is just not most of us.
• 19:56
  That's just not very comfortable for us.
• 19:58
  We don't like the big city. We don't like really being
• 20:00
  there. It's fine for a minute, but
• 20:02
  we're all from the country. We like our dirt roads, we like
• 20:05
  our space, we like our trees. And when you go, you know, when
• 20:08
  you get in that you get to look around in those big cities and
• 20:11
  those big buildings. It is just a you don't you don't
• 20:13
  know where you're at. You think I don't I'm not
• 20:15
  supposed to be here, you know what I mean?
• 20:16
  And it'll. Be overwhelming.
• 20:18
  I mean, I mean, like, you're right.
• 20:20
  I was there. That's why I was telling you I
• 20:22
  flew in Wednesday. Thursday we rehearsed, Friday we
• 20:30
  have a day off. Saturday was the show and most
• 20:34
  you know, and that show doesn't start till 11:00 at night,
• 20:38
  11/11/30, whatever it is. And that's Eastern times and,
• 20:43
  and so, and it, it goes for an hour and a half that showed us
• 20:48
  30 minutes of it is commercial, obviously, but just an hour is,
• 20:51
  is, is, is, is the show and stuff, the skits and the music
• 20:54
  and, and all that stuff. But for those days that I was
• 20:57
  there, I left the hotel other than to go eat twice.
• 21:02
  It was to what we were staying about 3 blocks away.
• 21:05
  So we just walked up to the studio, you know, Saturday in
• 21:07
  our studio and, and the other times that I left my room, I
• 21:13
  walked one block down, Thank God there was a Panda Express and a
• 21:20
  McDonald's that were both right across the street from each
• 21:22
  other. And that's the only time I left
• 21:23
  my hotel room. And so, I mean, and New York
• 21:27
  City's a great city. You know, it's changed over the
• 21:30
  years. Obviously there's some, probably
• 21:32
  some, some, some good and bad up there now, but but it's just not
• 21:36
  what I think we're used to. And and so I think, you know,
• 21:41
  without getting into any detail on that, I think it was a great
• 21:45
  experience starting live. Is is a is a wonderful show.
• 21:48
  And I think we all probably just wanted to come home, you know?
• 21:52
  Yeah, been a long week. Like I said, everybody else,
• 21:53
  when anybody else that goes to work for a week, by Friday
• 21:56
  you're ready to get home. That's it.
• 21:57
  That's just the work week was over.
• 21:58
  It was time to get home. You know, I totally get, you
• 22:02
  know, I, I thought about it that night because I just happened to
• 22:04
  be home on a Saturday night. We had the weekend off, which
• 22:06
  you know, in our world is rare, especially, you know, you're
• 22:10
  working a bunch of dates still and it goes on.
• 22:13
  I was like, oh, I got to catch. It's a new one because a lot of
• 22:15
  times they run reruns of the SNL and I've and as you probably
• 22:18
  were most of us, we all like Saturday Night Live.
• 22:20
  It was always a funny show. It was a different perspective.
• 22:22
  It was New York, you know, it was different from us country
• 22:24
  kids and they always had great music on you always wanted to
• 22:27
  see the guests And I still watch if it's if I happen to be home
• 22:30
  or even on the road, if I catch it, I'll see who the guest was.
• 22:32
  Now, got to be honest, a lot of times the musical guests they
• 22:35
  have on these shows, I just don't, it's not for me because I
• 22:38
  don't, I don't have time. I don't understand it.
• 22:40
  I don't know what this is. I'm like, I love and I love all
• 22:42
  types of music from jazz to, you know, cultural music from all
• 22:46
  over the world. I mean, you name it, I can dig
• 22:48
  some music, but half the time I just don't understand what's
• 22:51
  going on. I can't really understand what's
• 22:52
  what they're trying to convey. So and then sometimes it's
• 22:56
  awesome. And then I thought the other
• 22:57
  night when I was at home and I got to catch Morgan's first
• 22:59
  song, the first musical part of the show, I thought he nailed
• 23:04
  it. And I text you something.
• 23:05
  I was like, and I didn't know what we what he was going to do
• 23:07
  because, you know, I don't, you know, it's so much music out
• 23:10
  there. And I'm like you, I still listen
• 23:12
  to the same most of the same people I've been listening to
• 23:14
  for for 30 years. And there's a few that get
• 23:16
  sprinkled in and I'm up and I'll hear something.
• 23:18
  I'm like, oh, that's great. But there's so much out there,
• 23:20
  you don't have time to dig it. So I didn't know exactly what
• 23:22
  song he was working or what song he was going to do.
• 23:25
  But man, I thought it was great. So I sent you a little text, you
• 23:28
  know, just like, hey, Attaboy, you know, good job representing.
• 23:32
  And then you text me back. Yeah, we got one more of these.
• 23:35
  I've been here since Wednesday. Ever get to the house.
• 23:36
  And I was like, oh, I I can feel you through the phone that it,
• 23:39
  it was just it. And that makes sense too.
• 23:41
  You know, 11:00 at night, 10:00 our time.
• 23:45
  That's late for us. That's the end of the show,
• 23:47
  usually. That well and I think we I think
• 23:49
  we went over there that day at like 3:00 so you're there and
• 23:56
  it's great man and backstage there and the pictures on the
• 23:59
  walls and. And that was your first time
• 24:02
  there, right? Yeah.
• 24:03
  I had never done it before. So bucket list thing for me and
• 24:06
  checked off now and you know, and it's not, you know, most
• 24:10
  people on their bucket list. So I don't want to do that
• 24:12
  again. I'd love to go back up there
• 24:13
  again. It's incredible.
• 24:16
  I bet. Folks from the folks treating us
• 24:18
  wonderful there, whatever, you know, it's kind of whatever you
• 24:21
  you want, you know, as far as hospitality wise goes, you know,
• 24:24
  that and food and snacks and fruits and all that stuff.
• 24:28
  You know, it's all back in the green rooms back there, you
• 24:31
  know, and but but again, I think, you know, we have been
• 24:35
  there since Wednesday and just probably ready to come back home
• 24:38
  to our family and friends, you know.
• 24:41
  Absolutely. I get it.
• 24:42
  I get. It you know.
• 24:44
  Yeah, and then you text me after that he said he's got one more,
• 24:48
  you know thing and then we're then we're going to get out of
• 24:50
  here. So I was like oh great.
• 24:51
  So I hung around check. We got to catch that.
• 24:53
  Then I caught the end and then I didn't think much about it.
• 24:57
  I just you know, there's all kinds of stuff happens.
• 24:59
  You know, I've, I've, we just watched the SNL fifty 50th
• 25:03
  anniversary, all that stuff they had just been putting out the
• 25:05
  last couple months ago or so. So you watch that, you saw you
• 25:09
  saw the Foo Fighters doing what they told him not to do and then
• 25:11
  this and that not. So it really wasn't that big a
• 25:14
  deal to me. I didn't know if he was going to
• 25:15
  DAP up the crowd or what. But I can only imagine by the
• 25:19
  time y'all got steel for a second all the newsboy you'd
• 25:22
  have thought you'd have thought. I mean, I don't know, the big
• 25:25
  just the biggest thing that ever happened in the world just went
• 25:28
  down, you know, I mean, like we just admitted free, free
• 25:30
  electricity or something. I think that, you know, it's
• 25:35
  probably been made a bigger deal out of than it should have been,
• 25:39
  you know, but it hasn't hurt him.
• 25:46
  So. Oh.
• 25:46
  No, no, no, no. No, no, no.
• 25:48
  No, it's just, well, that's what I said.
• 25:50
  They, you know, they just got to have something to talk about.
• 25:52
  And usually when they're talking about something like that and
• 25:54
  entertainment, that's not some big scandalous, something really
• 25:58
  immoral and bad that's going on, which happens all the time in
• 26:01
  entertainment. And it seems like they just
• 26:03
  glance over all of that. But do do something like this
• 26:07
  and you know, I, I just didn't see it being on everything like
• 26:10
  it was, it was just like like a stretch.
• 26:13
  And usually when they're doing that, they're covering something
• 26:15
  else up. There's something else going on
• 26:16
  that they don't want you to see usually when that goes on.
• 26:20
  But did y'all get a sense of it? I'm, I guess as soon as you got
• 26:23
  to the car or were heading to the airport, you did you.
• 26:25
  Even know anything? I mean, no, I mean, obviously
• 26:28
  there's some socials were were blowing up, you know, but it
• 26:31
  wasn't like there was an immediate exit, you know, back
• 26:34
  to the dressing room, changed some clothes, sign some photos
• 26:38
  of dress and all the stuff that you have to sign that these
• 26:41
  events and stuff. And it wasn't like a, you know,
• 26:47
  whisked right out of there and into a vehicle.
• 26:49
  I mean, hell, we were probably there another half hour before
• 26:52
  we left, you know? And nobody and nobody came and
• 26:55
  gave you any static. Or you didn't know anything like
• 26:57
  that. So I mean, overall was a great
• 27:00
  night man. And he went home and, you know,
• 27:06
  got back to the grind, you know, as we all did, you know.
• 27:08
  Absolutely. And it's a great, great trip up
• 27:12
  there. Again, some great Panda Express
• 27:16
  and anybody. That knows you.
• 27:19
  You love some good standard issue Chinese.
• 27:23
  Food oh man, I'm a Chinese freak when it comes to food.
• 27:25
  Man, I love a good buff Chinese buffet and and literally this
• 27:29
  place was just right. Literally, I can walk there in
• 27:32
  about a minute and so I eat there three times.
• 27:38
  I love it. Well, when you come down here, I
• 27:39
  told you I need to look at those dates.
• 27:41
  Do you know what dates those are?
• 27:43
  Y'all are going to be down here for y'all's festival in Gulf
• 27:45
  Shores. I told you, you know that's 2
• 27:46
  miles from my house. Literally May.
• 27:52
  I know it is like it's Thursday, Friday, Saturday.
• 27:58
  I'm not. I don't have a calendar in front
• 28:00
  of. Me, yeah, I got you.
• 28:01
  But. But but, but it's but I think
• 28:03
  I'm coming down on the 14th is in the 14th maybe a Wednesday.
• 28:07
  That's right. Yeah.
• 28:08
  So. So, so, yeah.
• 28:09
  So, so the 15th, 16th and 17th that weekend, you know.
• 28:15
  And of and of course, you know how that works.
• 28:17
  And I've told people this before, like living in
• 28:19
  Nashville, They were, I was always like, well, the thing
• 28:21
  about living in Nashville, if you're not on the same tour, in
• 28:24
  the same schedule, you're never going to have the same time off.
• 28:27
  You just not ever. And of course, that weekend, the
• 28:30
  day you fly down here, I got to fly to Miami of all places.
• 28:35
  We have Miami's great, Miami's great city.
• 28:37
  We're actually playing down there later on in the summers.
• 28:39
  I love Miami. I do too, but I've got to go to
• 28:41
  Miami and then they just got a day off and going to Tampa play,
• 28:45
  which is cool, which is something I wouldn't want to get
• 28:47
  out of anyway. Tampa, we're playing at Busch
• 28:50
  Gardens and my brother lives in Tampa.
• 28:52
  So my little 5 year old nephew, I'll go to his little T-ball
• 28:55
  game that day and then bring him to the Busch Gardens show that
• 28:58
  night and I'll stay a few days and fly home from there.
• 29:01
  So to work out great, but I won't be here, but I'll make
• 29:04
  sure to get you set up. We've got the China Dragon.
• 29:06
  That's all we've got down here. We do not have a, a big
• 29:09
  selection down here, but I've got you on that.
• 29:11
  Just China Dragon will make sure your guy knows where it's at and
• 29:14
  the runner can get you all you need because it's, it's
• 29:17
  probably, it's not far from my house.
• 29:18
  It's 2 miles from from where your venue is.
• 29:20
  So we'll make sure you get you set up on that.
• 29:23
  Well, that'll be fun. I hate them and miss it, but
• 29:25
  there's some other I wish. You were going to be there, you
• 29:28
  know, because that's why you tell We never get our, our, our,
• 29:31
  our, we're just our schedules are never competitive to to
• 29:36
  unless we're on the same tour together.
• 29:38
  So it sucks that you're not going to be there to be able to
• 29:42
  spend some good quality time together and, you know, 'cause
• 29:47
  'cause we don't get to do enough of that with our buddies on the
• 29:50
  road, like you said, you know? I know unless it's a, unless
• 29:53
  it's a festival or you're on the same tour or some kind of, you
• 29:58
  know, group thing, they're doing them, you know, usually it's in
• 30:01
  memorial type thing or some kind of special tribute type thing.
• 30:04
  You get to see a bunch of guests or artists at the same time in
• 30:07
  your Rd. but not only do you get to see the artists see your Rd.
• 30:09
  buddies, you know, and it doesn't happen as as much as as
• 30:13
  often. Yeah, I wish I would was here
• 30:15
  too to do that because we definitely have a lot of good
• 30:17
  fried popcorn shrimp and I know you're a big fan of that also.
• 30:20
  Love that plenty. Of that, right around there's a
• 30:23
  place called Mikey's with two ES that's right by your venue.
• 30:26
  That's my go to place. That's that's your jam there.
• 30:31
  We're talking about being on that show.
• 30:32
  I guess we'll go back in time a little bit and we won't go.
• 30:36
  We won't go. We'll save some of this for next
• 30:38
  time because I know you're going to have to come back on
• 30:40
  regularly and and catch me up and let's talk as we got so many
• 30:43
  stories. This podcast can be 15 hours
• 30:45
  long if we told them all. Some of the stories I think me
• 30:49
  and you can tell are probably from the fans are epic.
• 30:54
  Happy, Yeah, yeah. And some are going, some are
• 30:57
  going to have to say for the book.
• 30:58
  And we got to wait on, wait on some people to pass on and move
• 31:01
  on to some of these stories. You know, we're still some
• 31:03
  Indies and some this and that, but don't want to, don't want to
• 31:07
  get to want to put any but get anybody in trouble.
• 31:09
  Not that there would be any trouble making on the road,
• 31:11
  touring with a band. I mean, that's not why you get
• 31:14
  into music or businesses, tour with a band and party and do
• 31:17
  crazy things, you know, or anything like that.
• 31:21
  But so prior to this, I, I, I mentioned earlier that you'd
• 31:25
  worked with several artists. I met you I guess when I was
• 31:29
  with John Party and you were working with Brantley Gilbert,
• 31:31
  which you worked with Brantley for a long time there. 11-12
• 31:35
  years, yeah. Yeah, wow.
• 31:37
  And then because I started with John in about 2000 and I guess
• 31:43
  it was 10/9 or 10:00 somewhere in there 10 maybe got it all
• 31:47
  mushed up together. And then talking about seeing
• 31:50
  each other. That's back when I, we, we catch
• 31:53
  each other the airport, we both be carrying some guitars.
• 31:55
  We were doing fly dates, doing some radio shows or doing
• 31:58
  something. Then we got lucky enough to come
• 32:00
  out and open some shows for Eric Church and you guys were on some
• 32:05
  of those shows. I think we all did Red Rocks
• 32:06
  together. Yeah, I think so, yeah.
• 32:09
  One year and we got to hang out and then after that I started
• 32:14
  working for Justin at some point.
• 32:16
  He and Brantley are super good friends.
• 32:17
  We go out on tour with you guys several, a couple of tours
• 32:20
  there. For a couple of years we did
• 32:22
  tours together with Colt Ford and several others, and so we
• 32:25
  got to see each other a lot and all.
• 32:28
  Somewhere wrong that one summer wasn't.
• 32:30
  I mean, we probably did 30 shows together that one summer.
• 32:35
  You know all the amphitheaters. Yep, Yep.
• 32:37
  Oh man, it was a blast too from what I from what little bit I
• 32:40
  can remember. Not to cut you off buddy, but I
• 32:44
  I'll be honest with you about this.
• 32:46
  And now I'm not going to sugarcoat this at all like you
• 32:51
  would want me to. We look, we didn't even, we
• 32:55
  looked so forward to the show getting done that night.
• 33:01
  And then you appeared and and that was the best part of the
• 33:11
  whole day is that after that show, that night when we were
• 33:14
  all back there, because we'd all hang out in the parking lot
• 33:16
  backstage, you know, bands, you know, just hang out and and, you
• 33:20
  know, tell stories. And I'd probably drink some beer
• 33:25
  and, you know, we'd all have, we'd have some pizzas or wings
• 33:28
  and stuff backstage. We'd have Canada and just have a
• 33:30
  big, big hangout, you know it after the shows.
• 33:33
  And and that's when the bandana was on the neck without a shirt
• 33:40
  on and, and, and, and God Almighty, we I think I have a
• 33:45
  picture. I've got to go back and see if I
• 33:47
  can find it. It's me and you.
• 33:50
  I don't remember who else was in that picture, but I just
• 33:52
  remember I just loved the bandana, you know, that was your
• 33:56
  shirt was just a bandana, you know, and, and, and, and.
• 34:02
  It's warm and muggy at those at those amphitheaters.
• 34:04
  And that shirt sometimes was just more than I can handle.
• 34:07
  And I, it just wouldn't, I couldn't, I couldn't hold it
• 34:09
  anymore. And I had the shirt off.
• 34:11
  And, and times like that, you know, as buddies, we're always
• 34:14
  going to remember that stuff and always can talk about it and
• 34:17
  have fun with it and, you know, and cherish those memories that
• 34:21
  we had out there because like you said, our paths are
• 34:25
  crossing. And when you're not on a tour
• 34:27
  together, you don't get to see your buddies as much as we want
• 34:31
  to see our buddies. And and, you know, I wish, you
• 34:37
  know, it was different, but that's just kind of, I guess the
• 34:40
  way it is, you know? Oh, yeah, for sure.
• 34:43
  And it's, it makes you, well, it's like a family reunion in a,
• 34:46
  in a regular sense, you know, it makes you excited.
• 34:48
  You get to see your cousins. You don't get to see all year,
• 34:51
  but you know, you hopefully don't get to see them at least
• 34:52
  that one time of the year. And yeah, that's the best.
• 34:56
  And you know, and that's why I wanted to start this podcast is
• 34:59
  to tell some of those stories and just kind of give a little
• 35:02
  glimpse into the rest of it. Because most people like we did
• 35:04
  growing up, you see the five 6-7 guys and gals on stage.
• 35:07
  You think that's the band. You don't realize there's thirty
• 35:10
  other 4050 a hundred other people working around the stage
• 35:13
  and behind stage and in front of house to make sure or at the
• 35:16
  hotel sleeping to drive the buses and trucks later to make
• 35:19
  all that go. I want to bring every little
• 35:21
  insight on all that and and and shine it up because you know
• 35:25
  there's there's careers out there that I don't think people
• 35:28
  know about. I know I certainly didn't know
• 35:30
  about growing up. I'm sure you didn't either.
• 35:33
  And then that's what we end up doing for a career.
• 35:36
  And the only job I've ever had as an adult is being a tour
• 35:39
  manager, you know, a full time job.
• 35:41
  And that I never even knew that existed.
• 35:43
  So hopefully this podcast will shed some light to all the other
• 35:46
  roles and jobs that are out there in the world of music and
• 35:49
  touring that maybe somebody could get into at some point.
• 35:53
  If they, if you're passionate about music or like live
• 35:55
  performances, that you don't have to be the bass player.
• 35:59
  You can be the assistant lighting director and still make
• 36:01
  a comfortable living and enjoy and get to travel and then maybe
• 36:05
  do play bass on the side or, you know, just want to open up the
• 36:08
  field and and the field of view there for what all is possible
• 36:13
  at in the touring world for jobs.
• 36:16
  And then also some of the fun stuff.
• 36:17
  You know, you talk about the long days, the bad travel with
• 36:20
  airports and buses breaking down and, you know, gear failing and
• 36:25
  you know, TSA breaking guitars and all the stuff you have to,
• 36:28
  you know, somebody's flight getting Cal stuff you have to
• 36:30
  deal with. But the fun, the payoff, like
• 36:32
  you always say, I always tell people it's at 90 to 220 minutes
• 36:39
  of, of Showtime. That is the, is the best part
• 36:42
  for me because once the show's happening, all the everything's
• 36:45
  working and clicking, we're good.
• 36:46
  Nothing else we can do. Got to make sure we get paid and
• 36:49
  all good. But then after you get all that
• 36:51
  wrapped up is the payoff when you really finally get it's like
• 36:54
  going to the bar with your buddies and having a beer after
• 36:56
  work, whether you work, you know, in the coal mines or in
• 36:59
  the in the timber industry or you know, you're an accountant,
• 37:02
  whatever you get off work, go hang out with your buddies,
• 37:04
  that's when you really get to have fun, talk some smack, tell
• 37:07
  some stories, little grab ass and you know, around amongst
• 37:10
  each other cutting up. And that's the payoff for us,
• 37:14
  because I was the same way. I couldn't, I usually can't wait
• 37:16
  for the show to get done. So whatever silly shit that's
• 37:20
  happening backstage before the night before, we could continue
• 37:23
  that on a little bit farther. You know what I mean?
• 37:27
  You know, just all the stuff that you know, that we have
• 37:31
  gotten to do or get to do out there, you know, from playing
• 37:36
  golf, you know, basketball, basketball, setting up, you
• 37:41
  know, go up backstage, you know, different places that you know
• 37:47
  that we get to play. You know, if it's around the
• 37:50
  beach, getting to have to spend a day or two off there, you know
• 37:53
  and have. A written out of written out of
• 37:56
  movie theater, and they're taking the whole tour to a movie
• 37:58
  theater at midnight and watching some movie everybody wanted.
• 38:01
  To watch, you know, just yeah, taking the end, going to the
• 38:03
  movies, going to, you know, a big go Kart track or taking the
• 38:08
  bowling alley or top golf, you know, and, and just, you know,
• 38:11
  getting to spend time because a lot of times the artists really
• 38:14
  don't get to spend a lot of time with, with anybody really other
• 38:21
  than the band, you know. And so when, when we get to do
• 38:26
  those things and go to places and have those days off for
• 38:30
  where the artists can come in and, and get to get to spend a
• 38:33
  little time, a little FaceTime, you know, with the crew and the
• 38:37
  drivers. And even if it's just a hey man,
• 38:40
  I'm, I'm so and so nice to meet you.
• 38:42
  Those guys, you know, those bus drivers and truck drivers, as we
• 38:47
  know, they're on total opposite schedules as, as, as we are out
• 38:54
  there when, when we're up all day and putting the show
• 38:57
  together and then the show's happening.
• 38:59
  Those drivers are asleep because after the show, when they come
• 39:02
  back from the hotel, we go to sleep on the buses and then they
• 39:06
  drive us to the next city. So, so when those guys are there
• 39:12
  and the artists get to take a few minutes just to just to say
• 39:14
  hi to them all, it means a lot to those folks, you know, and
• 39:19
  talking about careers, you know, some of my best buddies are,
• 39:24
  are, are, are bus drivers and truck drivers that I've I've met
• 39:28
  over the years. And, and that's, and that's that
• 39:31
  solid profession. Like you're talking about people
• 39:34
  in lot of the fans don't don't know, really see that, but it's
• 39:38
  there. You know, we've got, you know,
• 39:40
  12 bus drivers out there and 34 truck drivers.
• 39:44
  You know, I mean, there's a lot of drivers.
• 39:46
  A lot of drivers and it's good and it pays really good.
• 39:49
  You got to get your you got to get your expertise level up
• 39:52
  enough to get those certifications.
• 39:53
  But it's a, it's a, it pays really well long, you know, like
• 39:56
  you said, but the opposite is you, you're going to be asleep
• 39:59
  when the show, you know, until the show's over.
• 40:00
  That's when you got to go down because you got to get a move
• 40:02
  it, you know, load it up, move it on to the next town.
• 40:05
  And yeah, you know, a lot of times everybody's traveling on
• 40:08
  different buses or you're just busy or people have to work
• 40:10
  during the, during the day and they're, you know, somewhere
• 40:13
  else during the show doing their, their role.
• 40:15
  So you don't get to spend that time.
• 40:16
  So it's great when you all get to get together.
• 40:19
  Whether it be, you know, going and doing an event together or
• 40:22
  just dinner in a, in a town or like you said, the the the best
• 40:26
  is just the backstage bus compound after the show when
• 40:29
  everybody's up, cutting up, having some drinks, waiting on
• 40:31
  the drivers to get the buses ready to roll, maybe having a
• 40:36
  few beverages. I've I've put the beverages
• 40:38
  down. But buddy, I I had my fair share
• 40:40
  back in the day I used. To I, I, I, I had to quit.
• 40:46
  I miss it, you know, a lot. But the best thing I ever did
• 40:50
  was putting the bottle down. Same here, I put it down in
• 40:53
  September and it's it's been an adjustment.
• 40:56
  I'm I'm good with it. It's it was it was needed.
• 41:00
  I'm still getting my nicotine from these stupid vapes.
• 41:03
  I sometimes wish I'd have just stuck to the Marlboros instead
• 41:06
  of switching to this, but. That's what I stuck to the
• 41:09
  Marlboros. You.
• 41:10
  Still on the Marlboro Light. I need to stop.
• 41:13
  I need to quit, but who wants to be a quiver?
• 41:19
  Well, and I tell people too, I was like you just I got to do
• 41:21
  something. I can't just quit it all at
• 41:22
  once. I had a buddy other day that was
• 41:27
  trying to was my buddy Blossy, the one man posse from the Tigs
• 41:30
  Bits podcast that I do. He was trying to get me to get
• 41:33
  on these peptides and you know, all this stuff for health stuff
• 41:37
  and I'm like, I understand it. I'm going to, I get it.
• 41:39
  I was like, buddy, I just quit drinking.
• 41:42
  I'm just adjusting to this. You know, I when I need, I'm
• 41:45
  feeling good now when I need another boost in life to get me
• 41:48
  where I need to feel good to get, I'll try something else.
• 41:50
  But I'm just adjusting to this now and.
• 41:52
  One step at a. Time one step at a time and I
• 41:54
  was like, I can't just quit everything at once.
• 41:56
  It ain't going to all be today. I got to do something, you know,
• 41:59
  it can't just do nothing. So I've, I've done pretty good
• 42:02
  about, you know, staying away from everything else.
• 42:06
  So I'm just down to the nicotine.
• 42:07
  But I always heard that. I don't know if anybody
• 42:09
  remembers that. I think it was in The Beach Boys
• 42:11
  documentary and they were talking about Brian Wilson and
• 42:13
  that crazy guru guy he had that was trying to keep him, get him
• 42:17
  off the sauce back in the day when that when he was really, it
• 42:20
  is worst times in his life. This guru guy took him to Hawaii
• 42:24
  and was going to get him clean. He said he, when he went there,
• 42:26
  he was addicted to, I don't know, cocaine, alcohol, nicotine
• 42:31
  and something else. And he said he kicked them all
• 42:34
  except for nicotine. He was still smoking cigarettes
• 42:37
  when he got back, kicked all the hardest stuff, quit everything
• 42:40
  else. But when he got back, he, that
• 42:41
  was the one thing he couldn't. I've always heard that in
• 42:44
  different things, people that quit.
• 42:45
  So, you know, you go to a, a meetings, or at least back in
• 42:47
  the day, what I remember hearing and seeing, people would go to a
• 42:51
  meetings. Everybody's in there chain
• 42:52
  smoking cigarettes and drinking coffee because you got to do
• 42:54
  something to replace something. And a lot of people, which I'm
• 42:57
  hoping I do, I'd love to get back in and getting in shape at
• 43:00
  least, you know, we're both athletes in high school and I'd
• 43:02
  love to just get back to where I'm not just pitiful because it
• 43:05
  lately I feel pitiful sometimes. I'm 45 years old.
• 43:08
  There's no way I should be this bad off.
• 43:09
  But then when you factor in 20 something years of Rd. life, you
• 43:13
  know, coming off of a a pretty good run in high school and
• 43:16
  college, it's like, well, it wasn't like I just been sitting
• 43:20
  around resting for the last 20 something years.
• 43:22
  So it's going, it takes its toll, but hopefully I'm on the
• 43:26
  on the track of of because that's all I want.
• 43:28
  I just want to maintain. I feel pretty good Now if I
• 43:30
  maintain this on out, I doubt I'm going to get a big jump and
• 43:33
  feel like I'm 25 again. But as long as I don't, you
• 43:36
  know, continue, I don't want to be on a downswing.
• 43:38
  I want to at least maintain, you know, so we can do stuff like
• 43:41
  you said, you got young kids. I've got young nephews and
• 43:44
  nieces and godchildren and I want to be there for their
• 43:46
  stuff, you know, when they're, when they're in high school and
• 43:49
  in college and when they start whatever careers they're going
• 43:52
  to start. Hopefully I'm able to be around
• 43:54
  and mobile and be able to help. But yeah, so and it was, there
• 43:59
  was some good times. And some of those stories, like
• 44:00
  I said, we'll have to get on another one and and tell some of
• 44:02
  those backstage stories. Maybe we'll bring on some of the
• 44:05
  crew from that day. Maybe we'll get Bubbles or
• 44:07
  somebody to come on, or some random person from the crew.
• 44:10
  You know, he just got engaged. I saw that.
• 44:12
  I saw that. I I texted him.
• 44:14
  Congrats. Yeah, big production out of it.
• 44:17
  Congrats. You guys.
• 44:19
  Might as well. Might as well have got ABC to do
• 44:21
  a documentary on it. But I thought it was great.
• 44:24
  I'm happy for him. He's another one he was
• 44:25
  encouraging too, because I talked to him a year or so ago
• 44:28
  and he looked great. And I was like, buddy, you look
• 44:30
  like 1,000,000 bucks and he's like quit drinking back in the
• 44:32
  gym. I was like, he quit.
• 44:34
  Drinking when I was out there. Yeah, it'd been a while.
• 44:36
  That's what he said. It'd been like two or two years
• 44:38
  or so at that point. I was like, really?
• 44:39
  I had no idea. And he was like, yeah.
• 44:41
  And we talked about a few other people along the way.
• 44:43
  I was like, well, man, maybe it's maybe it is doable because
• 44:47
  I always thought that was kind of my calling card.
• 44:49
  Like I said, that was kind of my thing.
• 44:50
  I could drink and party all night and I can still take care
• 44:52
  of business at night or the next day.
• 44:56
  And, you know, so I thought, well, I don't want to, we always
• 44:58
  use the, the, the, the verse of, you know, dance with the one
• 45:04
  that brung you. So I always thought, well, I got
• 45:05
  to be that guy since that's how I got here by being that guy.
• 45:08
  But that's not necessarily true. You're supposed to evolve and
• 45:10
  become, you know, you and then I heard the, the quote from
• 45:13
  Muhammad Ali. If you're the same person you
• 45:15
  were 20 years ago, then you've wasted 20 years.
• 45:18
  You know, you're supposed to evolve and change and grow as a
• 45:21
  human and a Christian and everything else.
• 45:23
  So hopefully this is that. And, and so I thank you to
• 45:26
  everybody along the way and people like you that, you know,
• 45:29
  Joe Nichols talked to him about a couple months ago, right when
• 45:31
  I started knowing people that that have gotten it, gotten off
• 45:34
  of it. And I'm not saying everybody
• 45:35
  needs to, it could work for some of y'all.
• 45:37
  And I hope it does, and I hope no one ever has any problems or
• 45:39
  issues. But it's, it's just like the guy
• 45:42
  who lives to be 110 and eats 6 McDonald's cheeseburgers every
• 45:45
  day and weighs 150 lbs and never had a a problem and never been
• 45:48
  to the doctor's life. It happens.
• 45:49
  It's the, it's the Keith Richards scenario.
• 45:52
  You know, they're one out of a million.
• 45:54
  Yeah, it's, you're liable to be able to do it, but everybody
• 45:56
  can't do that. So that's just the way it works.
• 46:00
  But yeah, so I will tell some of those old drinking and partying
• 46:02
  stories because, yeah, that was good.
• 46:04
  I could remember you. You guys come around and
• 46:06
  laughing at me and I'm like, what?
• 46:07
  And y'all are just like. Well, I don't think we were
• 46:10
  laughing at you, man. I just.
• 46:12
  Oh, I know. For me, for me, I just loved the
• 46:16
  look. Oh yeah, it was, I mean, it was
• 46:18
  like, hey, dudes, I'm, I'm pull this off.
• 46:21
  And it was every night. And you know, after the first
• 46:24
  couple of times I'm like, where's he at?
• 46:27
  I need him to show up tonight to make the night complete, you
• 46:30
  know? Because it was.
• 46:31
  It was. Cowboy hat, sunglasses, bandana,
• 46:35
  boots, jeans, belt buckle. And that's it.
• 46:38
  Yeah, yeah. And and some turquoise jewelry.
• 46:41
  Some turquoise jewelry. Usually and that and that was
• 46:43
  every night. And when you weren't, you hadn't
• 46:45
  showed up yet. That's what people were going
• 46:48
  where the Hell's Art Jr. at? And everybody's looking around
• 46:53
  and all of a sudden you can, there he is, here he comes.
• 46:56
  And then the night was complete for everybody.
• 46:59
  You know, the party, the party just started, man, because it
• 47:02
  wasn't started yet. And that's giving you props
• 47:06
  because the party, when you got there is when it was when
• 47:09
  things, you know, everybody's like, man, it's complete now.
• 47:14
  I, I ain't seen anything negative about Justin and
• 47:16
  Brantley. Nobody gave a shit man if they
• 47:18
  were there that night about me. We'd already seen them saying,
• 47:23
  well, time for the third, time for the third.
• 47:26
  Act Oh yeah, we wanted, we wanted you to get there.
• 47:31
  Oh man, I had a blast. That was so much fun man.
• 47:34
  Oh, just good times. Great.
• 47:35
  You know, man, every, every single night, man, every night
• 47:40
  we would just hang out back there and I, I don't, I, I think
• 47:43
  it was just our cruise, man. I don't think there was any.
• 47:46
  But I mean, if we had some guests that were at the show,
• 47:49
  family members or something like that, but it wasn't like people
• 47:52
  think it is these big parties backstage and we.
• 47:54
  Weren't going to bars. People acting crazy man.
• 47:58
  It was just a couple hours. There's everybody back there
• 48:00
  hanging out, winding down after the show.
• 48:02
  By that time, the trucks are loaded up, we're on the buses
• 48:05
  and we go to the next city and we wake up in another city and,
• 48:08
  you know, and, and in theory, do the same thing over again, you
• 48:12
  know? Rinse and repeat.
• 48:14
  Yep. And that's what I always say.
• 48:15
  We weren't going to bars. You know, we, we used to drift
• 48:17
  into some of those back in the day.
• 48:18
  But I'm glad that we got out of that.
• 48:20
  By the time I got to Justin, he didn't go to bars and I was
• 48:22
  like, great, I don't. Want to go to Brantley?
• 48:24
  And Brantley didn't either, which was good, man.
• 48:26
  You know, it was fun. We just, we just hung out there
• 48:28
  at the shows. And like I said, you know, we'd
• 48:30
  go play golf, you know, quite a bit and during the daytime, but
• 48:35
  you but at night, you know, it was time to do a show, to do the
• 48:39
  show, load it up, hang out for a little while and then like I
• 48:43
  said, you know the next city. Drink, smoke, party, laugh, play
• 48:46
  some music for each other, play some new stuff for each other,
• 48:49
  you know, I mean, just all kinds of fun stuff.
• 48:52
  Well, I know we've talked about those two, but let's do a quick
• 48:55
  rundown of how somebody gets into your position.
• 49:01
  I've told my story a few times, you know, that's all I've ever
• 49:04
  done. How did you get to being a tour
• 49:07
  manager? How did that all start?
• 49:11
  My first job, my first as we call them gigs, you know, but my
• 49:14
  first job on the road, I just graduated college and, and moved
• 49:21
  in Nashville and my dad was so pissed off at me, you know,
• 49:26
  because I went to school to be a education.
• 49:29
  They played, you know, sports in college.
• 49:31
  Very fortunate to be able to do that.
• 49:34
  And, and I graduated, I was going to be a P/E teacher, a
• 49:40
  physical education teacher and coach, coach high school,
• 49:44
  whether it be basketball or golf or something.
• 49:46
  And, and I had decided at that point in my life if I didn't
• 49:50
  want to teach right then I, I'd grown up around music and, and,
• 49:55
  you know, went to a bunch of concerts and had met a singer
• 49:59
  when I was in college and, and his guy named Red Akins and, you
• 50:03
  know, rap, you know, it's yeah. And, and, and I moved to
• 50:10
  Nashville on a Friday and I've been been to a bunch of rap
• 50:13
  shows back in the day, back in the late mid to late 90s.
• 50:16
  And, and when I was in college and moved to Nashville, called
• 50:21
  them that moved on Friday, called the road manager at the
• 50:25
  time said, hey man, I'm in town, just moved here, just graduated,
• 50:31
  just moved. Would love to go grab some lunch
• 50:33
  with you. Left him a message on his
• 50:36
  voicemail. He called me back about an hour,
• 50:38
  I don't know, 30 minutes an hour later and said, hey, man, you
• 50:41
  know, how are you, blah, blah, blah.
• 50:43
  And he's like, man, we played in Texas this weekend and on on the
• 50:47
  way back, Rep and I talked and our T-shirt guy is going to do
• 50:52
  another do another gig and we're looking for AT shirt guy and,
• 50:56
  and Rep said, man, what about that guy?
• 50:58
  We, we that in college and always comes out and hangs out
• 51:01
  with us. And that's how my name got
• 51:03
  brought up. And he was like, man, do you
• 51:05
  want to go out with us this weekend?
• 51:06
  So I was in town, moved on a Friday and got a job Monday
• 51:10
  morning selling T-shirts and, and I did that for about a year
• 51:15
  and a half with Rat and the road manager at the time, almost kind
• 51:20
  of like one of my, it's one of my mentors getting Jeff
• 51:22
  Watchers. He now works, you probably know
• 51:24
  Watchers. He works for the Cowboys.
• 51:26
  I know the name, I've never met him.
• 51:27
  I know you talking about though. Yep.
• 51:29
  So we, you know, he came to me one day and he said, hey, man,
• 51:31
  I'm getting ready to quit in a couple weeks.
• 51:33
  I took another job and, and do you want to do this?
• 51:37
  And I was like, no, man, I, I don't know what I to do.
• 51:41
  I like selling T-shirts and he's like, man, you know, just do it.
• 51:46
  So rap not talk to me. He's like, just do it for a
• 51:49
  couple of weeks, a month. If you like it, great.
• 51:51
  If you don't, you can go back selling T-shirts.
• 51:53
  So it kind of just that one fell in my lap, you know, my first
• 51:59
  gig ever. Right place, right time, good
• 52:03
  attitude. Yeah, right place, right time,
• 52:05
  who you know, as you, as we all know, and not burning bridges.
• 52:11
  And, and, and that was in 9898 when that I got my first Rd.
• 52:19
  managing gig. And then that's all I've ever
• 52:22
  done since then. You know, artist art, you know,
• 52:25
  as you know, you know, you, you stay with an artist is, is for,
• 52:29
  you know, I don't know how to word this, but there might be
• 52:36
  some better opportunities over the years.
• 52:37
  And that's what I did. You know, nothing negative on
• 52:39
  the artist that I left, you know, and, and just kind of
• 52:43
  built the career up and, and I guess I did a pretty good job
• 52:47
  and, and, and folks like me and I didn't burn a lot of bridges
• 52:53
  along the way and, and started getting some bigger artist calls
• 52:57
  over the years and, and, and then here now Morgan.
• 53:02
  You know, yeah, well, it's kind of like you said, it's nothing
• 53:04
  against them. It's just kind of how whatever,
• 53:06
  whatever you, you want to stay with an artist as long as you
• 53:08
  can. You know it's.
• 53:10
  Just things morph and change, you know, redo went to more the,
• 53:13
  you know, wasn't on the road as much doing the songwriting
• 53:16
  thing. I mean, just things change and
• 53:17
  morph and then, you know, like now you wanted to do when you
• 53:21
  went from Brantley to Kane Brown to Morgan.
• 53:23
  I mean, that was just less shows.
• 53:25
  It was just going to mean you were at home more with your
• 53:26
  kids. I mean that nobody can blame you
• 53:28
  for that, wanting to be home more with your kids.
• 53:31
  And that's just the progression. So it's just you.
• 53:33
  You some people. It's also financial thing too.
• 53:36
  You know, I've got family now. So, so you know, as you know,
• 53:39
  you know, we got to, we got to make those, you know, family
• 53:42
  decisions and, and money is a is a is, is, is a key factor in.
• 53:47
  That, you know, absolutely, because usually we're the, you
• 53:49
  know, we're one of the major providers for the for the
• 53:51
  household because, like you said, we're gone all the time.
• 53:53
  Somebody's going to hold it down.
• 53:54
  It's hard to have a whole another career, you know, but,
• 53:57
  but you, you make it work and you know, you just take
• 53:59
  advantage of the opportunities that that come around and it
• 54:02
  kind of just presents itself because that's crazy.
• 54:04
  That's very similar to my kind of deal.
• 54:06
  You know, I was going to college with same thing going to be a PE
• 54:09
  teacher or I want to be a baseball coach, you know, and
• 54:11
  then just fell into some music and and I was the I was the
• 54:15
  merch guy. And then at 11, late night drunk
• 54:20
  meeting of the band. I was executive decision was
• 54:23
  made. Now I'm the tour manager and I'm
• 54:24
  like, I don't even know what I'm supposed to do.
• 54:26
  I sell the. T-shirt.
• 54:29
  So, but you figure it out and then you figure it out.
• 54:32
  You go from one act to the next and you figure it out.
• 54:34
  You figure out what they need and each act is different.
• 54:36
  This is not like working at a bank or, or standardized
• 54:39
  business. There is every artist is
• 54:42
  different and every chain of command is different and how
• 54:45
  each organization is set up each camp.
• 54:48
  I mean the pay structure, the workload, I mean any of it can
• 54:52
  be all over the place depending on what the artist and
• 54:56
  management wants. I mean they could, I mean the,
• 54:58
  the merch guy could be the highest paid guy or the this one
• 55:01
  or just whatever. They there is no set standard in
• 55:03
  any of this stuff, you know, and then it's just kind of all over
• 55:06
  the place. But well, that's neat because as
• 55:08
  long as we've known each other, I guess I didn't know that part
• 55:11
  of it was actually Reto. Was your first artist Now when
• 55:14
  you went after Ret, who was next?
• 55:17
  When did Jamie O'Neill and oh, Jamie was great.
• 55:23
  Still friends with her actually go I'll see her.
• 55:28
  As you know, we we meet a lot of folks on the road and and
• 55:31
  promoters and you know, and I help it out.
• 55:34
  Todd Bolden up in variety, I guess service some shows for
• 55:37
  those when when if he needs me to and I'm not working.
• 55:40
  So I got to go down to I think Swan.
• 55:43
  I don't remember where it's at. Somewhere in Tennessee here at
• 55:47
  the end of April and this month and service of Jamie O'Neill Day
• 55:51
  for those guys. And be good to see her, you
• 55:53
  know. Very cool.
• 55:55
  Yeah. And then so from then Jamie,
• 55:58
  then who was next? OK, Jamie.
• 56:01
  And then was that's the fish Cagle.
• 56:06
  Cagle now how long are you with Cagle A?
• 56:11
  Year and a half. Now that was probably one of the
• 56:13
  more eventful year and a half of your entire life because anybody
• 56:16
  that's been to a Chris Cagle concert knows he's got a lot of
• 56:19
  passion and he is a great singer as good a singers there, there
• 56:22
  he is and and a lot of passion and just can be a is a character
• 56:27
  in a handful, as we all know. So I can only imagine a year and
• 56:31
  a half on the road with Cagle. And what years would that have
• 56:33
  been, Jeff? 2002 three and then to the
• 56:43
  beginning of four. That was about the time I got
• 56:47
  into the music business in about the end of O2, beginning of O3.
• 56:50
  So you were with Chris Cagle now?
• 56:52
  What was that ride like? How many what?
• 56:54
  What band did he have? What kind of band did he have
• 56:56
  put together? How many y'all were out on that
• 56:58
  tour with him? Do you remember?
• 57:01
  There was probably five guys on the band as messed I remember,
• 57:05
  you know. Y'all all on one bus.
• 57:08
  We had one bus. We had a trailer behind the bus
• 57:17
  as best I remember. We never had any seminars out
• 57:19
  there. I know that and I think we had a
• 57:24
  2 buses out there a couple of times and it was strictly just
• 57:27
  that one bus and trailer. We had probably 11-12 guys on
• 57:31
  the bus, you know, bus, yeah, bus, you know, but but luckily
• 57:35
  he had the background. She had a bed back there, you
• 57:37
  know, so so maybe 11 guys or 10 or 11.
• 57:43
  We had a couple of junk bumps. You know, it was always good.
• 57:46
  You know, back then, you know, there was no such thing as Co
• 57:48
  drivers now. So now there's such thing as Co
• 57:51
  drivers, folks not don't don't know what we're talking about
• 57:55
  when we say tell drivers. Now, these days with dot
• 58:01
  regulations, you know, drivers can only drive 10 hours or, you
• 58:06
  know, ride it probably 600 miles, you know, and.
• 58:10
  Used to, you had one, driver would just pull it off.
• 58:12
  He cooked the books, whatever you had to do.
• 58:14
  We'd leave Salt Lake or Denver and just go straight home.
• 58:17
  The driver drives straight through with anything, anything
• 58:20
  about it. You know, now he can't do that,
• 58:23
  you know, So there we always keep a bunk open on the bus for
• 58:28
  the driver and the Co driver because they're flopping back
• 58:31
  and forth driving, you know, when when we have Co drivers
• 58:33
  out. Yeah, and that's like us, you
• 58:35
  know Justin Moore, who I work for now, he doesn't like to fly.
• 58:41
  So he buses 90% of the 95% of the time.
• 58:45
  So we 22 Co drivers at all time or two bus drivers at all times.
• 58:48
  So we just have it set up. It's those two and me and him on
• 58:50
  the bus and they just we because we never know when he wants to
• 58:54
  leave. And you know, we just keep 2 at
• 58:56
  all times. Because like I said that dot and
• 58:59
  I was thinking about this the other day when people were
• 59:01
  talking about how expensive tickets are, you know, and I'm
• 59:03
  thinking, man, there's a lot more to it, you know, and I
• 59:04
  agree, I wish it was more, I wish tickets were cheaper.
• 59:07
  But man, when you think about how big of these productions are
• 59:10
  put on, especially on a big, big show, like what you guys are
• 59:12
  doing or, or even even what we're doing, you know, it's a
• 59:15
  that's a lot of, there's a lot of money and equipment and
• 59:18
  people. And then now these Co drivers,
• 59:19
  that's another $100,000 a year salary or or money per bus
• 59:24
  coming out of each, you know, each Co driver.
• 59:28
  I mean, it adds up quick, you know, and I know some of these.
• 59:30
  Somebody told you this. We, we, we turned in ten of our
• 59:34
  buses this year. We kept 2 buses, you know,
• 59:39
  Morgan and the band bus and we, we, we just turned them in
• 59:42
  because we're, we're, we're flying everywhere because it
• 59:46
  just, it's cheaper for us because we're doing 2 nights in
• 59:48
  each city, you know what I mean? So the buses we were flying
• 59:52
  anyways and the buses were just there.
• 59:54
  So we're like, man, let's just save money and you know, not use
• 59:58
  these because we really weren't used to them to drive out and
• 1:00:01
  drive back to. The drivers would just drive
• 1:00:02
  them out empty and bring them home empty it.
• 1:00:04
  Was just basically a glorified dressing room at that point.
• 1:00:07
  In theory, you know, and so, and I, I think there'd be parts of
• 1:00:14
  that I miss, you know, but but we're here to save the artist
• 1:00:18
  money as best we can. That's our job.
• 1:00:21
  One of our jobs is, you know, there's we have a whole plate
• 1:00:24
  full of them and, and where we can save the artist money, we're
• 1:00:30
  going to do it. You know, just absolutely, you
• 1:00:32
  know, I would want somebody doing that with my money, you
• 1:00:35
  know. Yeah.
• 1:00:35
  Oh for sure Yeah we are steward you know we're you know
• 1:00:38
  accountant and the tour manager have to work together to make
• 1:00:41
  sure to spend where needed, but also don't waste any money for
• 1:00:45
  certain and do what you can. You know you drop 10 buses and
• 1:00:47
  10 Co drivers that's $1,000,000 right there you know and then
• 1:00:50
  the buses are twenty $30,000 a month to lease one.
• 1:00:53
  I mean y'all y'all going to do the math out there that's it's a
• 1:00:55
  lot of money goes into moving these outfits around time is.
• 1:00:58
  Expensive. Yeah, no doubt.
• 1:01:01
  Well back to Kegel, we have we'll and like I said, we'll go
• 1:01:03
  into more stories on the next time we're doing that.
• 1:01:05
  What was one of your what was Kegel's?
• 1:01:07
  What was one of his go to things on the road that he would like
• 1:01:09
  to do that we can tell on here? Pizza.
• 1:01:13
  Pizza. He loved pizza.
• 1:01:16
  Pizza and beer. And everybody else is so sick of
• 1:01:19
  pizza on the road, that's the last thing they want to hear is
• 1:01:21
  pizza. For after show, he was sneaky.
• 1:01:23
  He was a sneaky guy, you know. He he, you know most of the
• 1:01:27
  nights you know, as you and I both know you know after show
• 1:01:32
  food is pizza 80% of the time. Yep, it just is.
• 1:01:35
  It's only thing open that late that you can get hot that you
• 1:01:38
  can reheat. It just makes sense.
• 1:01:39
  Yep, and so you know, on that bus we'd get, you know, 6 or 8
• 1:01:43
  pizzas on the bus, you know, after the show, you know, and
• 1:01:46
  and he wouldn't eat any right off the bat.
• 1:01:50
  And when everybody can go to sleep it, you know, 123 in the
• 1:01:56
  morning, that's when he would sneak up there and buddy, he
• 1:02:00
  would wear it out fucking wearing shit out there.
• 1:02:04
  And I wish we had. I wish we had Gopros back then.
• 1:02:10
  You know, a Ring camera? Yeah.
• 1:02:14
  Oh my God, that'd be yeah. Cagle and his tighty whitey's
• 1:02:17
  finishing up all of the leftover pizza, crushing a couple of
• 1:02:20
  beers, a couple of cigs in the front lounge.
• 1:02:23
  That would have been absolute gold.
• 1:02:25
  Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm sure somebody out there can
• 1:02:27
  AIA video of that and if you do send it to us on socials at Jr.
• 1:02:34
  the handler. And I thought I was saying on
• 1:02:36
  here before you came on Jeff. I started a voicemail line where
• 1:02:39
  people can call in the show and leave me a voicemail and I can
• 1:02:42
  play it on the the podcast or listen to the questions or
• 1:02:45
  comments and and comment on that number.
• 1:02:46
  Is 424 handler just easy? I came up, try to find something
• 1:02:51
  on Google voicemail that was easy 424 handler.
• 1:02:54
  So somebody call us in. If you've got any stories like
• 1:02:57
  that from your buddies or if you met Cagle Deer in that era or if
• 1:03:00
  you've ever met Jeff and got any stories about him, call in 4 to
• 1:03:03
  4 handler and leave those because I'm that's just one and
• 1:03:08
  there are millions. Brother, as redo would tell the
• 1:03:11
  story you talk about, you talk going going backwards.
• 1:03:14
  Red Akins. I'm I can't wait to have him on
• 1:03:16
  the show. He has one of the greatest
• 1:03:17
  memories of any person I've ever met in my life.
• 1:03:20
  One of the smartest guys, I one of the smartest guys I've ever
• 1:03:24
  been around. And also just a good human
• 1:03:28
  being, man. He, he was great to me, you
• 1:03:31
  know, and we parted ways kind of on a, a bad note in 2001, but
• 1:03:38
  we're closer now than we were when I was working for him.
• 1:03:42
  You know, it just took some time for, you know, things to heal up
• 1:03:46
  and end up and it did. And I love the guy.
• 1:03:48
  I mean, he's, he's the reason why I'm sitting here on this
• 1:03:51
  podcast with you right now is he hired me right out of college
• 1:03:55
  and we had great times. I was there for like 4 years and
• 1:04:00
  we had some great times. Hell, we lived together 2 years
• 1:04:04
  out there. He, I bought a house up in
• 1:04:06
  Hendersonville and I moved in, you know, we were roommates for
• 1:04:09
  a couple years. And you know, you never see that
• 1:04:12
  happening when you're in college and, and dreaming of, of, of, of
• 1:04:19
  being a part of music business in some capacity.
• 1:04:22
  And like I said, I don't know what job, what titles, tour
• 1:04:25
  manager, merch, gag, guitar tech, production manager, stage,
• 1:04:29
  you know, I didn't know all those positions back then.
• 1:04:34
  And then, you know, luckily getting a call to go work for
• 1:04:37
  him and then, you know, and then we were roommates for a couple
• 1:04:41
  of years, man. And you know, for a small kid in
• 1:04:44
  East Tennessee to get to do things like that and be where
• 1:04:48
  I'm at now, I'm very fortunate and honored and, and proud to be
• 1:04:51
  here and, and, and sitting in front of with one of my great
• 1:04:55
  buddies right now doing a podcast with him.
• 1:04:57
  How awesome is that man? I know.
• 1:04:58
  It's amazing. Like that, you know.
• 1:05:00
  It's one of these things I love technology for this right here.
• 1:05:03
  You know, I don't love it for all of its it's it's
• 1:05:06
  applications, but this right here being able to talk to a
• 1:05:09
  friend from Tennessee and look at them and all that's just
• 1:05:12
  amazing, you know. Yeah, Rhett.
• 1:05:14
  Rhett has one of the best memories.
• 1:05:16
  He can tell stories to a tee. He has a photographic memory.
• 1:05:19
  It's unbelievable. You know, now it's kind of like
• 1:05:21
  me and me and party. You know when we when I left to
• 1:05:23
  go work for Justin, I wouldn't say he was actually thrilled
• 1:05:25
  with me for the decision, but it just had to happen at that point
• 1:05:28
  for both of us and it worked out.
• 1:05:30
  And now we're I mean, we've stayed tight maybe for a second
• 1:05:33
  there was a little but we've we're just as close now.
• 1:05:36
  He text me other day he was down at 30 a want me to drive over
• 1:05:39
  and was visit his family. And you know, so it's weird how
• 1:05:42
  it's cool how that works. And usually it all works itself
• 1:05:44
  out if everybody's good people to start with.
• 1:05:46
  And most people in our business are good people.
• 1:05:49
  You know, most people are are just good old folks.
• 1:05:52
  Now you going to have some turds in there like any other
• 1:05:54
  business. And we hopefully we won't have
• 1:05:57
  to tell any stories on them and I won't I won't have to put them
• 1:06:01
  on blast or anything. But you know who never you never
• 1:06:03
  know, it may come out at some point.
• 1:06:05
  Well. No, there are none for me.
• 1:06:07
  I, I, I can't name any that I've worked with that, that there's
• 1:06:16
  any bad blood, right? You know, I can text all of them
• 1:06:22
  right now and I know they might be a, you know, an hour a day,
• 1:06:27
  but they would text me back. Right, Yeah, yeah, I agree with
• 1:06:30
  that. You know, it's, you hear the and
• 1:06:32
  that's I'm in the same boat. Everybody's always been cool to
• 1:06:34
  me. Even some of the ones you hear
• 1:06:36
  are a problem and are trouble. It can be a, a, you know, a pain
• 1:06:39
  in butt or just whatever they're somebody labels them before you
• 1:06:43
  meet them or tells you the story about them.
• 1:06:45
  And then, but most of the time after you meet them, they're not
• 1:06:49
  that way, at least to me. And the few that I've heard were
• 1:06:52
  sometimes you just got to kind of put them in their place to
• 1:06:54
  start with. I won't mention any names.
• 1:06:56
  There's been a few that I've heard things about that when I
• 1:06:58
  finally got to meet them, I'm like, well, they're not going
• 1:07:00
  to, they're not going to do that to me.
• 1:07:01
  And if they say that do this, what I've heard they've done to
• 1:07:05
  friends of mine in front of me, I'm not going to stand for it.
• 1:07:07
  And usually you just let them know with your tone and your
• 1:07:10
  body language that that's not, we're not going to roll that
• 1:07:12
  way. And usually it's over and it
• 1:07:14
  doesn't, it doesn't go any farther than that.
• 1:07:16
  And then you've then you get some that you know who your real
• 1:07:19
  close buddies like if you were to tell me you and probably the
• 1:07:23
  12 or 15 that I really trust out there were to tell me, hey, so
• 1:07:27
  and so's this way. Watch out for this.
• 1:07:30
  Don't do this. You know, this just happened to,
• 1:07:32
  you know, so and so I heard, you know, I'm going to take that and
• 1:07:35
  have that in my in my playbook to know that.
• 1:07:38
  All right, watch out for that, you know, look out for this
• 1:07:42
  steer that angle, you know, bring up this.
• 1:07:45
  Don't bring up that kind of thing, and usually I haven't had
• 1:07:49
  many problems either, but there. Are, you know, like the most,
• 1:07:52
  most of these artists, the ones that that might have and when
• 1:07:58
  we're taking up for them here, when, when we talk about this,
• 1:08:01
  you know, everybody has bad days and and somebody might have just
• 1:08:06
  caught that person on that bad day and and then they're and
• 1:08:09
  then a certain person's an asshole and they really weren't.
• 1:08:12
  I mean, we all have bad days. You know, and sometimes people
• 1:08:16
  over expect things from people too.
• 1:08:18
  It's like, well, you wouldn't ask that of a normal person.
• 1:08:20
  Why do you think this person's going to go for it, you know?
• 1:08:24
  Yeah. So then after after Cagle.
• 1:08:28
  Cagle was Julie Roberts. What a sweetheart she was.
• 1:08:31
  You know, she had that big hip breakdown here and she's she was
• 1:08:38
  just wonderful. Just one of the nicest young
• 1:08:41
  ladies you could ever be around. You know, you're so sweet to me
• 1:08:45
  and and did that for a year or so.
• 1:08:51
  There's something in the background back there talking I
• 1:08:53
  don't know what one of the kids iPads or something.
• 1:08:57
  And then I. Didn't know if one of your.
• 1:08:59
  I didn't know if one of your mounts was still moving.
• 1:09:01
  You need that 30 out six to finish it.
• 1:09:03
  Off. Yeah, let's see, after Julie
• 1:09:06
  Roberts, I think was maybe Josh Grayson.
• 1:09:10
  Remember Josh? Yep.
• 1:09:12
  Absolutely, just actually was texting we were texting me and
• 1:09:14
  him last week together just trying to help him out on a date
• 1:09:17
  up in Michigan. That one I was telling you about
• 1:09:20
  my buddy Earl's place up there and then after Josh Grayson and
• 1:09:28
  in the meantime in there, in in in in some of those fill gaps in
• 1:09:32
  those years was clean as T Judd, hello Jessica Andrews.
• 1:09:42
  So there was a few more there and then from Grayson went to
• 1:09:48
  Trace Adkins. I was there six years with
• 1:09:50
  Trace. Super superhuman being he just
• 1:09:53
  lives right up the road from me too, which is really cool.
• 1:09:58
  And then from Trace went to Brantley and then Kane Brown and
• 1:10:06
  then Morgan now. Wow, what a what a journey and I
• 1:10:09
  I didn't know about some of those in between there some of
• 1:10:12
  those shorter stints and help out geek.
• 1:10:14
  Did you was there any different in your approach to TM in for a
• 1:10:17
  female different from a male out with you.
• 1:10:20
  I would doubt it. Obviously there's the obvious
• 1:10:22
  things you've got to account for, but.
• 1:10:25
  I mean, I think some not really, you know, the female acts that I
• 1:10:31
  worked with, we're all just good people.
• 1:10:33
  And so that's key, you know, with no diva or high maintenance
• 1:10:39
  at all, I think, you know, just timing issues where, you know, I
• 1:10:48
  can go to an artist and go, hey man, we got, we got 30 minutes
• 1:10:51
  for the show, a little bit different timing issues, you
• 1:10:54
  know, I mean, it's just getting ready and stuff and hair and
• 1:10:57
  makeup and all that. So I think, you know, you had to
• 1:10:59
  adjust and, and, and that and, and, and, and go a little bit
• 1:11:04
  earlier and go, hey, we have an hour away.
• 1:11:07
  We have an hour and a half before meet and greet.
• 1:11:08
  But you know, you know, just so just so they kind of, and
• 1:11:12
  they're all good about it, you know, and they and they knew,
• 1:11:15
  you know, just doing what we're supposed to do and just giving
• 1:11:18
  them a heads up, you know. Right.
• 1:11:20
  And that makes a lot of sense because it just does.
• 1:11:23
  I mean, that's just a fact. There's ladies have more to get
• 1:11:26
  ready than those guys do. We can go into a a male guy and
• 1:11:29
  be like, hey, they want us to do this interview in 10 minutes.
• 1:11:31
  You want to go ahead and just knock it out now instead of
• 1:11:33
  after the show so we can get on the road.
• 1:11:34
  And that might work more for a male artist or a female artist
• 1:11:37
  is with her hair up and no makeup on.
• 1:11:39
  She doesn't want to go out there right then.
• 1:11:41
  Most don't anyway. And I've heard that from some of
• 1:11:43
  the younger TMS that work with female artists now the glam
• 1:11:46
  squads have really grown and that that's a big, big part of
• 1:11:49
  it. But I guess it always has been
• 1:11:51
  what you can expect. And you think, you know, I'm
• 1:11:53
  sure Barbara Mandrell and Tammy Wynette and all them.
• 1:11:56
  I mean, I'm sure it was just as big a deal back then as it was,
• 1:11:59
  as it always has, just different, you know, because
• 1:12:02
  now, you know, back then you knew when you had to be camera
• 1:12:06
  ready and now you're all, you always have to be cameras.
• 1:12:09
  If you come off your bus or out of your dressing room, you
• 1:12:10
  better be camera ready because someone's got a phone recording,
• 1:12:13
  you know. So the timing thing, that makes
• 1:12:16
  sense on that level. And like you said, working with
• 1:12:19
  good people, you're doing your job.
• 1:12:22
  There shouldn't be any drama type of thing.
• 1:12:27
  Trace, Boy, what a big voice on Trace.
• 1:12:29
  How fun was that? Awesome man, he such a good guy,
• 1:12:34
  took great care of me, you know, a little intimidating at times
• 1:12:38
  because Haley's 6667, you know, you know, and, and here I am
• 1:12:43
  510. So just always, you know, in
• 1:12:45
  that deep voice, you know. And he's thick, too.
• 1:12:48
  He ain't. Just tall.
• 1:12:50
  And wiry. But but man, we had a great time
• 1:12:53
  out there. You know, he's a big golfer,
• 1:12:54
  which is, which was a good thing.
• 1:12:55
  And, and we played golf, you know, several times a week,
• 1:12:59
  every week, man, he just loves getting to the, a lot of those
• 1:13:02
  guys, they like doing that, getting out there in the daytime
• 1:13:04
  and doing something sort of cooped up on their buses, you
• 1:13:07
  know. And so we'd go play golf and had
• 1:13:11
  a great time with that and, you know, come back, do the show and
• 1:13:16
  yeah. Oh, I forgot another one.
• 1:13:17
  John Michael Montgomery was in there because me and him played
• 1:13:19
  golf every day. Oh really?
• 1:13:21
  I think he was in O5O four O 5 somewhere around there.
• 1:13:25
  I can't remember that. You know what a great guy he
• 1:13:27
  was. Man, I.
• 1:13:29
  Bet and his son Walker's out. Walker's doing some stuff right
• 1:13:33
  now. Yeah, man.
• 1:13:34
  I just saw him down in Florida a month or so ago.
• 1:13:37
  We did a show, He did a show with us and it was great to
• 1:13:40
  catch up with him. He's good guy.
• 1:13:42
  Chip off the old block. And then his cousin Dylan
• 1:13:45
  Carmichael, their Eddie and John, Michael's sister's son
• 1:13:49
  who's who's a great country. I mean, just he, that boy's got
• 1:13:51
  a great voice on him. He's one of the one of the ones.
• 1:13:55
  I said man, it just a big, old, good looking, Elvis looking kid
• 1:13:58
  with a great voice, big head, full of hair, just a big burly
• 1:14:01
  joker. I, I, I really hope he gets a
• 1:14:03
  good run at it because I'm a big fan of his.
• 1:14:06
  But that's all that musical family right there off off John
• 1:14:09
  Michael and his I, I asked Dylan one time.
• 1:14:11
  I said, man, I bet your family reunions were something else.
• 1:14:13
  He said you wouldn't believe buddy.
• 1:14:15
  He said my Mama heard all her, all my, all her sisters and
• 1:14:18
  brothers and grandmas and everybody could sing in their
• 1:14:21
  family. That that makes sense.
• 1:14:25
  Well, with, with what's, what's something about we'll go to
• 1:14:27
  trace. What's something about trace?
• 1:14:29
  Most people wouldn't know what's one of his things he liked to do
• 1:14:31
  or something. Most people wouldn't know about
• 1:14:33
  Trace. I can say this for 100%
• 1:14:37
  certainty. With 100% certainty.
• 1:14:41
  It kind of goes back to the golf thing.
• 1:14:44
  It it'd be 110 degrees 100. I mean, it's miserably hot
• 1:14:48
  outside. And he would take on a big old
• 1:14:52
  Stanley thermoses full of just black coffee.
• 1:14:59
  And he loved coffee and. Playing golf in 100° weather.
• 1:15:04
  Drinking coffee. In, in, in the front 9, he would
• 1:15:08
  drink that whole thing and at the turn go into the pro shop.
• 1:15:12
  And most of these pro shops have, you know, grills and
• 1:15:14
  stuff, you know, and he would go in there and pour another pot of
• 1:15:18
  coffee and that thing and he'd drink out of that thermostat on
• 1:15:21
  the backside. And he's loved coffee man.
• 1:15:23
  Coffee, Coffee, coffee, coffee. And drink it black.
• 1:15:26
  Black solid black called me hundred 110° outside to wear it
• 1:15:29
  out. Well, I guess with his stature
• 1:15:31
  in that voice, if somebody saw him loaded up with sugar and
• 1:15:34
  cream, they probably wouldn't make sense.
• 1:15:36
  So it's probably right that he drinks his coffee black.
• 1:15:39
  Oh, man. Well, man, you know, we could do
• 1:15:41
  this all day, brother. And I'm so glad you jumped on
• 1:15:43
  today. But I know you got 1000 things
• 1:15:45
  to do, mostly getting them kids taken care of and getting ready
• 1:15:48
  for Turkey season. But we need to jump back on here
• 1:15:51
  again soon. And I love it, man.
• 1:15:53
  I'm honored to be on here with you, brother.
• 1:15:54
  Well, thank you man. It's a.
• 1:15:55
  Great. First time I've ever done this
• 1:15:57
  man. I I I I was like hell.
• 1:16:00
  I even took a shower for this. Did I shave my legs for this or
• 1:16:05
  what? Yeah, man, I it's been fun.
• 1:16:09
  Like I said, I've never done one.
• 1:16:10
  I've been on a couple. I'm not real technology savvy.
• 1:16:14
  So being on some Zoom calls was was was the most things I've
• 1:16:19
  ever done to this man. It's cool.
• 1:16:21
  Yeah, man. Well, the IT was great.
• 1:16:22
  I hope all the people listening and watching out there enjoy as
• 1:16:25
  much as I have today. And yeah, we'll get you back on
• 1:16:28
  here whenever you guys are out doing some shows and we'll get
• 1:16:31
  an update from the road and see what's going on and we'll get
• 1:16:34
  some stories and hopefully we can get together at some point.
• 1:16:37
  This. Year and and record and and and
• 1:16:40
  hang for one, but then also try to maybe record a podcast
• 1:16:43
  together. Maybe we can.
• 1:16:44
  I can do it when I'm in Nashville sometime and we'll get
• 1:16:46
  ripped to come get on it with us or something, Yeah.
• 1:16:48
  We, me and him, have some wonderful stories.
• 1:16:52
  I can only imagine I can I've got to be up there for for the
• 1:16:55
  whatever the next thing is in Nashville.
• 1:16:58
  I think it's in the beginning of June, the CMACMA fest or
• 1:17:01
  something like that. We're going to be there for a
• 1:17:02
  few days. So maybe we can hook up and
• 1:17:05
  during that time at some and and do something.
• 1:17:07
  But but anyway, Well, thank you, Jeff.
• 1:17:10
  I appreciate you jumping on today, brother.
• 1:17:11
  Tell everybody at home we said hello.
• 1:17:14
  And yeah, we'll get some. We'll be thinking on some good
• 1:17:16
  stories to tell next time. Anybody out there listening or
• 1:17:18
  watching has a question for the next, wants to comment on this
• 1:17:21
  show. 424 Handler. Let us know what you think.
• 1:17:24
  And once again, my good friend, tour manager extraordinaire Jeff
• 1:17:29
  Gossett. Thank you so much, brother.
• 1:17:30
  We'll see you next time. Well, how about that, boys and
• 1:17:36
  girls? Was that fun or what?
• 1:17:38
  Jeff Gossett, tour manager for Morgan Wallin, obviously after
• 1:17:43
  listening to that, he's tour managed for a lot of people over
• 1:17:45
  the years and he's got a million stories.
• 1:17:48
  So we'll tell more of those next time we have Jeff on.
• 1:17:52
  But I thought that was a great first interview.
• 1:17:55
  I, I didn't, you know, I didn't know this talking to him.
• 1:17:57
  I thought he'd probably done several of these.
• 1:17:58
  You know, people tap me all the time to do or not all the time,
• 1:18:02
  but randomly I'll get tapped to do a podcast for this or that
• 1:18:05
  for some outlet for music and country music.
• 1:18:08
  Can't believe Jeff's not so he said he had a great time.
• 1:18:11
  So hopefully he'll get come back on and do that again.
• 1:18:16
  But man, what, what a good, great for me to get to see Jeff
• 1:18:20
  and talk a little bit because that's exactly how we talk when
• 1:18:23
  we're on the road. Maybe a little saltier language
• 1:18:25
  from time to time, but very similar to that.
• 1:18:30
  And so I'm going to wrap this up today, guys.
• 1:18:32
  I hope everybody had a good time.
• 1:18:34
  I I've got a kind of format. I'm going to start trying to go
• 1:18:37
  down for these shows, but I don't.
• 1:18:42
  I didn't have it dialed in today.
• 1:18:43
  Hopefully it'll get a little more synchronized as these
• 1:18:46
  episodes grow and go on and I'll get a more dialed in and more
• 1:18:50
  streamlined version of what I'm trying to accomplish here.
• 1:18:53
  But for today, we're just going to roll off the cuff next week.
• 1:19:00
  Not sure who we're going to have on, but I'm going to get on that
• 1:19:02
  now. I'm sure it'll be somebody fun.
• 1:19:06
  Won't tell everybody. Go to at Jr. the handler on
• 1:19:08
  Instagram and Twitter, give me a shout out there like follow,
• 1:19:13
  click, all that fun stuff. Also, like I've mentioned a few
• 1:19:18
  times, 424 handler call, leave me a voicemail, comment,
• 1:19:22
  question, want some advice on something which I don't know if
• 1:19:25
  I'm the best person for that, but I'll tell you what I think
• 1:19:28
  for sure. Send those and I'll play some of
• 1:19:30
  those on the show or listen to them on the show and comment.
• 1:19:35
  I thought about something I was going to do early in the show,
• 1:19:37
  but I didn't because Jeff was already on Ready to Rock, so I
• 1:19:41
  missed that. I'm going to go back to it.
• 1:19:45
  I got to quit using. I'm going to, I promise, guys,
• 1:19:48
  let me go right here to the easiest way to get the updates
• 1:19:53
  is on. I'm going to Instagram.
• 1:19:55
  I'm just going to do Twitter, but Instagram's right here will
• 1:19:57
  do that. Oh, this is not good.
• 1:19:59
  And this is. I guess I should give this a
• 1:20:00
  shout out this week. Everybody who's dealing with
• 1:20:02
  this weather everywhere, Buffalo Trace, distillery of Kentucky's
• 1:20:05
  underwater and bourbon lovers everywhere freaking out.
• 1:20:07
  It's a national emergency. Whiskey, folks.
• 1:20:09
  That's Whiskey Riff posting that.
• 1:20:11
  Love the guys and gals over at Whiskey Riff.
• 1:20:15
  But yeah, bad stuff. Storms everywhere.
• 1:20:17
  Flooding. Lots of places pray for everyone
• 1:20:20
  that's in a bad way. Hopefully this ends and the
• 1:20:23
  weather clears up and everything dries out.
• 1:20:26
  But I know I have seen flood news coverage and and weather
• 1:20:32
  reports from all over the South and and a lot of the country.
• 1:20:35
  So hopefully those people get some relief and can get cleaned
• 1:20:40
  up, dried out, back-to-back to normal.
• 1:20:42
  Just strolling through here. Think it's April, we get this
• 1:20:46
  date right. I want to mess this up.
• 1:20:48
  Yeah, it's April 12th this Saturday.
• 1:20:50
  If you hear this before then and you're in the Mobile, AL area,
• 1:20:53
  go see my Buddy Miles Morgan over at the Soul Kitchen playing
• 1:20:56
  Saturday night. Miles is a kid from down here in
• 1:20:58
  South Alabama. He's currently going to school
• 1:21:00
  at the University of Alabama. His guitar player in his band is
• 1:21:03
  none other than my nephew Jack Mills, son of the late, great
• 1:21:07
  Wayne Mills. Excellent guitar player.
• 1:21:09
  Miles has got some really good songs he's working on.
• 1:21:12
  He's really got a cool thing happening, so I want everybody
• 1:21:15
  to support him. So if you're in the Mobile, AL
• 1:21:17
  region area this Saturday night, April 12th, go see Miles at Soul
• 1:21:21
  Kitchen. Check him out.
• 1:21:22
  I'm really digging what he's doing and I'm pulling for him.
• 1:21:26
  Turnpike Troubadours officially confirm a new album, The Price
• 1:21:29
  of Admission. Funny enough, we were in New
• 1:21:32
  Mexico, Mescalero, New Mexico a few weeks ago.
• 1:21:35
  And when we got to the venue, a lot of times I've the name kind
• 1:21:39
  of rings a bell. But until we get to a venue, I
• 1:21:41
  really don't remember it exactly.
• 1:21:42
  And a lot of times I'll think, I don't know if I've ever been
• 1:21:44
  here. Then I'll walk in the backstage
• 1:21:46
  area of the loading dock and I'm like, Oh yeah, I remember this
• 1:21:48
  place absolutely. Well, we go to New Mexico and I
• 1:21:51
  was thinking, I don't know if I know I've been here, but I can't
• 1:21:53
  place it in my head. And when we get there, I
• 1:21:56
  realize, Oh yeah, this is the place where pre pandemic the
• 1:22:01
  Turnpike Troubadours open for us.
• 1:22:03
  And I remember the day because I was a Turnpike fan.
• 1:22:05
  I've was a red dirt guy when I got into the business working
• 1:22:08
  for Wayne Mills. The first shows we ever did West
• 1:22:12
  of the Mississippi River with any significance were playing
• 1:22:15
  shows with outfits like Cross, Canadian Ragweed, Jason Boland
• 1:22:20
  and The Stragglers, who were probably one of our biggest
• 1:22:23
  allies from the Texas music scene, which love Jason Boland.
• 1:22:26
  I hope to talk on that more. So glad he's finally getting
• 1:22:29
  some of his due. There would be no Turnpike.
• 1:22:33
  There would be no any of these huge bands that came out of
• 1:22:37
  Texas without people like Jason Boland, Rodger Krieger, Kevin
• 1:22:41
  Fowler, Blue Edmondson and Sony LaRue Ragweed.
• 1:22:47
  I mean, I can go on Josh Abbott, Randy Rogers, those are those
• 1:22:53
  guys started, you know, and then obviously before that you got it
• 1:22:56
  all starting at Oklahoma State where Cody Canada from Cross
• 1:23:02
  Canadian Ragweed and County came in.
• 1:23:04
  The departed was roommates with Jason Boland at Oklahoma State
• 1:23:07
  and those guys on that scene when they were all there kind of
• 1:23:12
  brought that red dirt scene up. So anyway, I say all that to say
• 1:23:16
  Turnpike Troubadours. Now it's new album.
• 1:23:17
  When I walked in this venue in New Mexico, I remembered that's
• 1:23:19
  where Turnpike had opened for us at an outdoor show they were
• 1:23:23
  doing there for a summer concert series or something.
• 1:23:27
  Usually they have shows in their big ballroom, but this one, they
• 1:23:29
  had it outside and right after that they went on hiatus and
• 1:23:33
  we're not doing, didn't do any shows, didn't put anything out
• 1:23:36
  for several years and when they did, it was a explosion.
• 1:23:39
  Everybody was clamoring for them to put new stuff out.
• 1:23:42
  When they did, they ascended to the top of headlining all these
• 1:23:46
  big shows themselves. So Congrats to them.
• 1:23:48
  Glad to see them having new music.
• 1:23:50
  I know everybody out there is going to be stoked to hear new
• 1:23:54
  music for them. It'll be pumped for a new album
• 1:23:56
  coming out. I can't wait to hear it myself.
• 1:23:58
  Let's see, what else do we have here?
• 1:24:03
  Scrolling through the current events picture of Tracy Lawrence
• 1:24:06
  playing golf. That's amazing.
• 1:24:08
  Hopefully we get Tracy on at some .0.
• 1:24:11
  I mean, look at that guy if y'all, if we had, If you don't
• 1:24:14
  Remember Me saying it before, Tracy Lawrence is the king of
• 1:24:17
  country swag. Tracy's just swagged out y'all.
• 1:24:20
  Everything he does is smooth. I mean, he's just the man.
• 1:24:25
  There's no buddy Cole Swindell once he got going.
• 1:24:28
  Oh, that's actually the Block party band.
• 1:24:29
  That's Priscilla Blocks band. Great band.
• 1:24:31
  You know, I'm a big fan of Sister Priss.
• 1:24:35
  She is going on tour with Cole Swindle later this year.
• 1:24:38
  That's awesome. The happy hour sad tour with
• 1:24:42
  special guest Priscilla Block, Logan Crosby and Greenland
• 1:24:44
  James. Get him Cole.
• 1:24:46
  Fun fact, first time Cole Swindell whenever on the road.
• 1:24:50
  I was his tour manager and we were in my van.
• 1:24:52
  I took him to Georgia. He signed his William Morris
• 1:24:55
  deal that night. We did some shots of Jaeger.
• 1:24:57
  That's how long ago it was. Then by the time we got back to
• 1:25:00
  Nashville, they started booking him some shows and now he's Cole
• 1:25:03
  Swindell headlining. Got Priscilla open for him.
• 1:25:06
  Actually crazy enough too. I saw a couple days ago with the
• 1:25:10
  Flora, Bama, Kiefer and Shawna from Thompson Square and that
• 1:25:14
  reminded me. That's how Cole, when he first
• 1:25:17
  went out on tour, he went out on tour with Luke Bryant,
• 1:25:19
  fraternity brother from Georgia Southern Statesboro, GA.
• 1:25:23
  A lot of tie insurance there. Same manager.
• 1:25:26
  Cole was opening the tour for Luke.
• 1:25:29
  Direct support was Thompson Square.
• 1:25:32
  Thompson Square had a it was a health issue or had to come off
• 1:25:34
  the tour at some point. Remember exactly what happened.
• 1:25:37
  That's the thing too about this podcast, y'all, I don't Fact
• 1:25:40
  Check any of this. I don't proofread.
• 1:25:42
  I just spit it out how I heard it or how I remember it now.
• 1:25:46
  A lot of times I was it was first person, I was there.
• 1:25:49
  A lot of times it was second person, somebody I know was
• 1:25:51
  there or this is how I heard it. But so y'all can Fact Check me
• 1:25:53
  on these. I'm not claiming any of this is
• 1:25:55
  stone cold truth. This is just the way I remember
• 1:25:57
  these stories. But Luke's tour, direct support,
• 1:26:02
  Thompson Square, Cole Swindell. Thompson Square has to exit the
• 1:26:05
  tour for whatever reason. Cole moves into direct support
• 1:26:07
  slot, somebody else comes to open the tour.
• 1:26:09
  That'd be a fun fact. Who who came on to open that
• 1:26:12
  tour? I can't remember off the top of
• 1:26:13
  my head. Somebody call 424 handler and
• 1:26:15
  remind me. But then Cole moves to that
• 1:26:17
  middle spot. Middle spot gets a number one.
• 1:26:21
  I think I was just chilling it. My buddy Davey shout out, dude,
• 1:26:24
  man, I always say just handling shit instead of just chilling
• 1:26:28
  it. But that was Cole started
• 1:26:31
  ascending there to where he's at now.
• 1:26:32
  But that's how that kind of all started.
• 1:26:34
  You never know. A Little Big Town just announced
• 1:26:38
  their summer tour. Got Winona Judd out on tour with
• 1:26:41
  him. That should be good.
• 1:26:42
  By knows me knows I'm a huge Winona fan.
• 1:26:47
  Little Big Town too. I remember the first time I saw
• 1:26:49
  them all sit in a room play together. 2 the 2 ladies Karen
• 1:26:52
  and Kimberly. They actually went to school at
• 1:26:53
  Sanford University in Birmingham, AL and first time I
• 1:27:00
  ever walked in AI was at a label party one time for Capitol
• 1:27:03
  Records and they were singing a Capella.
• 1:27:06
  They just did a couple songs at a Christmas party a Capella and
• 1:27:08
  they were amazing. And I thought right then that's
• 1:27:11
  why they are having success because nobody can do what those
• 1:27:14
  four are doing right there. It was really good.
• 1:27:16
  Great people too. But Winona out on tour, man.
• 1:27:19
  Big Judge fan in Winona or her stuff.
• 1:27:23
  Go back. Fun fact on that, go back and
• 1:27:25
  listen to the Judge records. One thing you will not hear on
• 1:27:27
  any of those early Judge record is an electric guitar.
• 1:27:31
  They wanted to keep it all acoustic and vibe.
• 1:27:33
  He didn't want anything to overpower the vocals.
• 1:27:35
  Fast forward to some Winona Records electric guitar.
• 1:27:39
  Different outfit, different producer, electric guitar,
• 1:27:42
  Winona Judds, no electrified instruments, all acoustic stuff.
• 1:27:47
  Check it out. What else do we have here?
• 1:27:51
  Flatland Cavalry announcing a tour.
• 1:27:53
  I love those guys. Saw them at the Wharf a couple
• 1:27:56
  years ago. Think it was opening for Kojo or
• 1:28:00
  somebody, but they are good. That's a great band.
• 1:28:03
  I haven't got to see many times, but I'm a big fan of the
• 1:28:06
  Flatland Cavalry. I need to get some different
• 1:28:09
  people. I need to talk to my buddy John
• 1:28:12
  Party because I know party's got new music coming out.
• 1:28:14
  He'd be fun to have on. He would be great to have on
• 1:28:17
  here, especially since he's got new music coming out.
• 1:28:19
  There was someone else I was just saw had knew something
• 1:28:22
  coming out. I need to get the oh, the
• 1:28:23
  Bloodline guys, Muscadine Bloodline shout out to Chuck and
• 1:28:26
  Gary. I know they've got new stuff
• 1:28:28
  dropping soon, may have just dropped.
• 1:28:30
  So I hope I'm not late on that. But y'all check out Muscadine
• 1:28:32
  bloodline. Their new stuff will be great,
• 1:28:34
  whatever it is. Well, the one time I go through
• 1:28:37
  my Instagram feed to see what was happening, it doesn't give
• 1:28:39
  me a very good it doesn't give me a breakdown of what I was
• 1:28:43
  going on. So let me dig over here to my
• 1:28:48
  trusty morning hangover. Shout out Kurt Berdella, who
• 1:28:50
  sends these out every morning you get on the list.
• 1:28:52
  Morning Hangover and you get on the list and he'll send you an
• 1:28:55
  e-mail with all of the upcoming stuff.
• 1:28:57
  What do we've got here? Parmalee performs cowgirl on the
• 1:29:00
  Today Show today, so that won't matter to you guys because I
• 1:29:03
  doubt this episode drops today. What would apply?
• 1:29:09
  Blake Shelton and Laney Wilson and Eric Church perform the 60th
• 1:29:12
  ACM Awards on 5/8 on Amazon Prime.
• 1:29:16
  So if this come, that's tomorrow.
• 1:29:17
  So I doubt this makes it for that either.
• 1:29:20
  Singles and songs coming out, so many of them albums and EP, so
• 1:29:24
  many new stuff coming out. Let's see if there's anything I
• 1:29:26
  don't have to mention on here that makes sense for me that Oh
• 1:29:30
  yeah. So here it is.
• 1:29:31
  John's new album, Honky Tonk Hollywood comes out on 4/11.
• 1:29:35
  So that's Friday. So y'all pre save John's new
• 1:29:38
  record to make sure you get that low cash bet.
• 1:29:40
  The Farm comes out 418. Eric Church.
• 1:29:43
  Evangeline versus the Machine comes out on 5/2.
• 1:29:46
  Maddie and Tay got a new record. Love and Light come out on 5/2
• 1:29:49
  as well. Blake Shelton.
• 1:29:51
  Good old Blake, he's for recreational use only.
• 1:29:54
  Great name for an album. Blake comes out five 9.
• 1:29:58
  Morgan Wallin's new I Am the Problem album comes out 516.
• 1:30:02
  Dylan Scott's new record Easy Does It comes out 530.
• 1:30:06
  Rascal Flatts, Life is a Highway.
• 1:30:09
  Refuel Duets comes out on 6/6, Cole Twindell's new record
• 1:30:15
  Spanish Moss coming out on 6/26 and Parker Mccollum's
• 1:30:18
  self-titled album comes out on 6/27.
• 1:30:21
  So y'all go check that out. Luke just announced his farm
• 1:30:25
  tour for this year. Does it say who's on the shows
• 1:30:29
  with him? But he's got that dropping so
• 1:30:31
  that's cool. The farm tour, that was a big
• 1:30:34
  thing. I remember when I was with John
• 1:30:35
  to get on the farm tour was a big thing.
• 1:30:37
  We didn't act. I didn't do it when I was with
• 1:30:39
  John, but he did it after that, which is great.
• 1:30:42
  Here on the wall, here's something cool and referencing
• 1:30:45
  what we just talked about with Jeff Earl is Trace Akin is
• 1:30:47
  celebrating his 20th birthday of his two times platinum sixth
• 1:30:50
  album Songs about Me in style. He just visited XM Nashville
• 1:30:55
  studios interviewed by host Danielle Peck cheered on by a
• 1:31:00
  crowd That was the album Songs about me had honky tonk but
• 1:31:04
  donkey don't written by Randy Hauser and Jamie Johnson and I
• 1:31:08
  think Rob Hatch, maybe Dallas Davidson.
• 1:31:09
  They were the writers on that most that he introduced as the
• 1:31:14
  most played song in the strip club history that also had
• 1:31:19
  Arlington on it. What color?
• 1:31:21
  What color is your wild? So that's cool.
• 1:31:24
  He he's surprised with a billionaire plaque in
• 1:31:27
  recognition. Over 1 billion streams, 1.7
• 1:31:30
  billion to be exact for his music on Pandora.
• 1:31:33
  So that's pretty cool. Yeah.
• 1:31:36
  All kinds of cool stuff. Well, that's it for today in
• 1:31:39
  country music. That's all I've got that I can
• 1:31:41
  dig up right now. Like I said, I'll do better as
• 1:31:43
  this goes on by having a more concise list and dialing this
• 1:31:48
  thing in to where it flows better.
• 1:31:52
  But for the first show, that's what we've got for today.
• 1:31:54
  Thank you all for tuning in to the road Report with me, Jr. the
• 1:31:57
  Handler. Check me out on Instagram,
• 1:31:59
  Twitter at Jr. the Handler. You can go to jrthehandler.com.
• 1:32:03
  Have links to all this stuff? Use the number 424 handler to
• 1:32:07
  leave any comments, questions you have for the show,
• 1:32:11
  suggestions, and I'll make sure to be listening to those and use
• 1:32:14
  those here real soon. Thanks again for tuning in and
• 1:32:17
  we'll see you down that old dusty Rd. where the music never
• 1:32:21
  ends. See you soon.
• 1:32:22
  Thanks guys.