This week in God's Country, Dan and Reid Isbell host award-winning producer and songwriter Jonathan Singleton. Jonathan started down the road to Nashville as a child when his mom sought to pursue the neon rainbow and he never missed an opportunity to join the band. Since then, he has produced award-winning records and garnered 15 #1 country songs. Tune in to hear pointers on taking your kids hunting, a Shenandoah sing-a-long, and the epic story behind his first #1 song, "Watching Airplanes.”
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What's Up, You're off in God's Country?
We read and is also known as The Brothers Hunt, where we take a weekly drive to the intersection of country music and the outdoors, two things that go together like after church lunch and KFC.
For punk bands and rat tails.
Produced by Meat Eater and iHeart Podcasts.
So hop on up and Ryde Shotgun with us as we take the back roads with some of today's biggest stars and creators behind the songs you Knowing Love.
Today, we're sitting down with fellow West tennesseean. Yeah, he might as well be be our brother man, Jonathan Singleton.
We've we go way back with this cat. He Uh, we talked about a little bit.
He's possibly one of the main reasons that me and Dan are even in Nashville and yeah and making a living doing what we love. And and we've we've hunted with Jonathan. We've selled boats on Percy Priest with John cuts with him. Yeah, We're driven across the country with him, and it's just, Uh, he's a He's a great friend, a great guy. I got tons of great stories that I can't wait for yall to y'all for.
Super talented to I hope he sings a little bit for us.
I'm sure we can make him sing a little bit.
Uh.
So, thanks for hanging out with us and sticking around. I hope you enjoy the podcast.
Y'all stick with us, y'all stick around, don't turn Yeah, you know.
Stick with us.
Thanks, dude. These are surreals, not sponsored, should be but not.
Oh yeah, and these are like the kind that you can like, Dude, I could go run through them up, huddle in these, and then wash them off with water and in twenty minutes.
They be dry, just like this.
I know we haven't enjoy.
What uh too small? Probably not small?
Too small?
Didn't somebody throw up and walking around me like that's a.
Problem looking around with a nine and a half?
Agree what you got?
Agreed with the same size insight, bro, I know it's what I'm you got on.
Dude, likes like a little klubbe's fall over twelves.
I can live in that, dude. Yeah, I could put a motor on that. Go fish.
I wear a size smaller than you because every time you would buy rich boots that wouldn't fit.
You'd be like, try them on. I still got a fall full of them.
I still wear.
Didn't throw up in one of your boots.
One time it was me.
You threw up and threw up in Yeah, disgusting. Why don't they tell you to tell the story?
Were they?
Dude?
Why not?
Hey, by the way, this is our intro, This is this is fam day we got. We got Grammy nominated fifteen number one, a couple of number two in your songwriters, some some top tens in their producer number ones, just just.
All around deer wounding some of them.
Mister mister Jonathan Slangerton's on the.
Sling sling a ton started happening when that sling a ton of leading.
There's also that I remember the friend he was like, yeah, dude, my name is Singleton. Of course is because I ride a ton of singles. And I was like, how does that happen?
Man?
That I remember? The joke doesn't go over that well.
And the same in the same breath, he'll go, what is it is?
Anyway? What what is it?
Know?
Talented, handsome, good looking deer killing machine. That's what interesting, all right?
When we started calling us the Brothers can't Hunt, I remember that.
Yeah, okay, back to our you threw up in your boot?
I got hand those the duck boots. What are the duck boots? I loved him, dude.
I love the.
Yeah, you know, the little rubber around the Yeah.
But the old version, like the like the old school version, their.
Leather halfway down.
The flipped you flipped them over.
Yeah.
But so we all went to the mountains. We had just everybody had just had kids. Bread Jet was my oldest.
Jet was who's Brett Jet?
Braven Jet?
Oh?
God, and Brett right, So he's two.
Logan Mice and Jill Mice. We all went to the mountains, Ryan Gore.
They just had kids. I forget who else was there.
And so we're in somebody's house that we had not rented. We had like, hey, this is my buddy's kind of house.
Let's go.
So I'm in there with Jet while everybody's in the kitchen and he's in the bathtub and takes a big old poop and in the tub.
How big old is Jet?
He's like two, maybe three? I don't know.
You can't tell me Jet because he's so big. He's been so big for so long. He might have been thirteen anyway.
I think the way he was born, he was like nine pounds was born.
Yeah, almost ten.
Yeah, anyway, so he poops in the bath up and then I'm scurry and trying to get this thing like cleaned up.
And then what are you going to do? Like do I scoop it out?
We go down to herds or like a baby poop?
No, it was, I mean he was a man man since he was about three, and so i'm you know some of it, I'm scooping some of them showing other things. So I go in there.
Wait, some of you are shoving down the thing.
Put down.
Whoever scoops turds out of a bathtub is not to break it up and can take it.
Going the same place anyway. So I go in there and y'all know, I'm I'm Germany Phoebe.
Anyway, I washed my hands like crazy man, and I'm just like, I think I got it all. I think I even went and took a shower. Anyway. And the next day on the way.
Home, I'm driving from the mountains coming home, and I was like, man, it is hot in here.
No it's not.
It's kind of cold, and I know something's going on, right, So I pulled it was like, hey, case, will you drive for a minute. So at the last of it, I'm so hot. It just kind of kicked my boots off, you know, And we had just had I just had a It was the last Hearty's Frisco burger I ever had. This is the perfect never had one after this, because I saw it go into my boot. So I kicked my boots off, and I'm just like, I mean, it's like the sweat and it's happening, and I know it's fixing to happen, and I just blah, you know, and it go. They go directly into my boots. But about seventy five percent of it went into my boots.
The furry Sperry.
It's not a Sperry, it's not a Spiry.
Do they have a name, but I can't remember the.
Name of it.
It's like yelobean.
There's one word saying everything except what they are. Right, I'm with you anyway.
I love these boots so much, and at this time too, it's like I couldn't go buy some more, right, But I could have bought some more boots, but my poor dad man and Dad we've talked about this a bunch, like that's a dad job, and my dad doesn't mind a dad job. So I get home and I tell Tim, telling him like, I got sick.
I threw my boots. I'm grown, I'm thirty something. You know, he's where are your boots?
He's got.
The next two or three days trying to get the pike out of my boots. Tim, And he tried so hard that he find He was like, I think I got him pretty good.
Stick him in the closet, and I've already got on and I'm ordered some more, you know. And so they stayed in the closet for like two three days was long enough where I felt like he wouldn't know that I threw him away.
And I threw him away. Yeah, he's never going to listen to this anyway.
No, he doesn't even know these things exist.
No, No, Tim Singleton is an angel.
He's something. He's a good one.
I scored good dad. Man, he's funny. You remember, man, Me and Singleton Reid back when Singleton was already rich, but me and Reid were so poor. I mean we couldn't even hardly afford saw and uh we would drive to Jackson Hunt from Nashville and.
Your dad had to stop smoking.
Gets so mad at your dad.
Dude, but you can't.
You can't, you can't. Just it's twenty more miles.
Dad.
He's like, I sure would appreciate it if you pull over, pull that tundra over, tell pop out and he'd just be.
He said he's finally quit smoking. I caught him sneaking some sig really here. Yeah, you'll sneak a sig here lately.
Yeah, trying to put it down.
Well, he doesn't smoke.
But if he gets if he gets away, he'll he'll sneak a sig. We just we just got back from me and Ray do our we've done.
This is our second year.
Me and Ray Fulcher take our dad's to Kentucky. Did I tell you all all the stories? I did, no idea because.
I text there so many. Dude, It's almost like your timeline thing where you remember the story, but you can't remember exactly when it happened.
So we go to Kentucky. Me and Ray sit on and you sat at this place.
He lose his wallet this year.
I remember how mad Ray was.
No his dad locked the keys in his truck. Last year he locked the keys in the truck and lost the wallet. He lost his wallet.
I don't remember he lost his wallet. And remember because was like, hey man, I really hate I really had to tell you. Yes, he's like, Daddy, he lost his damn wallet.
We got to over.
Ray, who never said a customer or ever. He's like, he lost his f and wallet.
I don't say that.
You like the test of patients, like you know, it's like you pray for patients and then God gives you the opportunity to be patient.
You know what I mean?
This is it. This is the week. It's four days some me and Ray sit in the spots we started. You both take your dad, we take your dad's.
We find some spots that are great, and then we put up blinds and.
Let them haunt those spots for the rest of the time. Yeah, and me and Ray saw zero bucks. I saw one that had its leg dangling off the back of it when.
This is the way in there.
Yeah, I was like, hey man, we don't have to keep saying to them from talking about.
Little you know.
And also it's about one hundred and seventy five yard shot and we're West Tennessee.
Dudes.
Man, we're heels like we're one hundred yards.
That's the long, you know, That's all we got that's all we got for sure anyway. So but the thing, the reason I brought it up is not for that reason. The reason I brought it up is we're at the point and Randy's the same man. You can't rush them. If you rush them, something's gonna happen, you know what I mean.
Yeah, you gotta let them take the time. You got to let them do it in their process.
Right, and it's over. It's just trying to control it is over right.
He's trying to find something. He doesn't know where it's at. It's gonna take forever. Just don't say anything. Sure, So I did say something and he fell over the trailer fell first day day one he fell, and then day two he goes. That was when I at you now, and I was like, he, I think it was the afternoon hunt and we're getting ready to go. And I never said, hey man, you know it's getting this by the time we all to be said.
I never said it. I just waited. He goes to the truck. Yeah, he goes to the truck.
Back of the truck, back to the truck, was back to the Plarifsmith thing finally said, hey man, what are you looking for? And he said, well, last time I saw my gun, it was sitting on it was on your tire right here.
He said, you didn't drive off, it was mill like I did it.
Off with my gun on your tired. Why would you do that?
You eat it?
Yeah, so you always look at your tires.
Before they pull off.
And so I'm up kind of on the plaiffs and I was like, you mean that gun and it's smashed in the ground, ran over, ran over it twice. Two tires, two trailer tires ran over. I think it's you know how Tim is too. It's a nineteen sixty three Walmart gone. And he's like, there's some name, my man, that's a Hafi.
That's a good.
Shot. A bunch of deer with that gun.
Oh Man does the thing and picks up and he's like, all right, let's go.
And I was like, dude, we mean he picked up, looked through the scope, let's go.
It goes, Let's go.
If that ain't my dad, Just to make sure the scope isn't hanging off the side, just.
To make sure, because what you do is you is you look down the barrel. It's like, say, I want to make sure my I mean this is not. No one actually do this. This is an incorrect way of doing this. Okay, it's not correct, but in your brain, you think if I line up my eye down the like say you aimed at the end of that long horn, right, you would look down the barrel and then go into the scope and be like, oh, yeah, it's on it's on.
The it's on the barrel, right, that's what he's looking.
For, which is not right at all at all. I say it is, but I've seen that happen probably the.
Farthest thing from right in that scenario to to make sure that way.
Yeah, I mean you're done. You're smoke. Like either he's ruined in everybody's day and we're going back, or he's gonna sit there a normal a normal person would have been like, man, I'll just sit here. We'll shoot this thing in the morning. We'll be late in the morning. Cool, Okay, we got another gun, tim, don't do that. Man, he popped rounds that afternoon.
But dude, isn't it worth it?
Though?
Like, like I've been hunt with my dad some this, I'm actually going, you know, this afternoon, going to spend a day and a half with him down in Wayne County.
But isn't it worth it all the all the like the.
Patients that you have to practice and the things that you have to not necessarily deal with because it's part of it. But just like the going and doing it is worthing. It just just to spend time with them and in the woods and see them and.
They do that stuff with us. I mean from from from eight or seven or whenever.
It just go do y'all, did y'all get the and I do it now because I'm I'm taking kids into the woods now, and said, hey.
Man, pick up your feet.
I remember my dad man walking, so.
I thought, man, what's wrong.
With you tad dancing?
Walking like you?
Every time we walk into the woods now, I'd be like, hey man, pick up your feet, man, And he said, he has no idea what I'm talking about. And I always have full intentions when we get in there, I'm gonna tell him, hey.
You know, you're kind of kicking the leaves like you. Maybe pick him up and don't walk so loud. But they did that for us forever man and my dad he used to and I know he would be like, here's your spot, and I'm gonna.
Sit there for thirty minutes and I wouldn't see any there and then walk over to his spot and be like, hey, I thought i'd sit on your spot for a little bit, and he'd be like okay whatever.
He would never.
Say, he was just like, you know, and I'll go back to your spot.
And so because I got bored, man, I didn't have you.
Know, oh no, there were no dude.
I can remember days in a box line with no phone and no nothing, and you are literally like counting ladybugs on.
I remember shooting same.
Because I thought we would go home and he comes up, so I shoot and he comes over there, and that's my math breakfast. Man.
Yeah, well, I dude, I've driven up on my dad. I've been so scared that the rapture happened before that. I walking talking went out.
Christ because you guys, you the ones going yeah, we don't have to worry about.
It, right, But I got scared.
I got so scared one afternoon and we've been in there since like noon, and dude, it was like it was like four thirty. It's like perfect time, you know, and I'm sure there was some deer in there. My dad was hung I got down on my I was like, oh, I just freaked myself out, got down on my foe that I was like. And I finally got to where he was and I drove right next to his box, and I remember his head sticking out, thirty deer just going everywhere, and I was like, he goes, what are you doing.
I was like, I'm so glad to see you. I thought the rapture. He was like, you thought the rapture happened.
After you thought there?
Yeah, dude, Oh that was it.
I mean, dude, do y'all remember Wayne us hunting Wayne County? And I thought the world was ending? There was that set y'all had just made that had a little bitty feet played it, and there's a big set of woods of it. And I think, I tell, I think, I tell, I don't know if you might not have been there. I know, damnse But all of a sudden I was sitting there and you can hear all the birds, and all of a sudden, every bird in this set of woods comes over my head.
Do you'll remember that?
I vaguely with this, and I was like, Okay, there's a million reasons why this could happen. But I've seen a lot of horror movies do like, I don't know what's fixing the come out of those woods, like every bird, thousands of birds over my head and they go.
And that was just silence and then complete science.
And it was probably seven or eight of the longest minutes of my whole life, waiting on some trumpets to sound or something.
Come through the clouds, floating through, right, and then.
This this little two little coywties come through the woods and they'd run all those birds out.
Yeah, the woods can be can be a weird place.
Before we get off, dads, I have you all ever, I'm noticing more and more because I do it to my kids too, like not lies, right, but like here's the problem example. And I know I know you share a love for the arguably the greatest chicken restaurant of all time, KFC too, because we made them stop stops today. Yeah, our dad every Sunday would come home with a nine piece, a nine piece chicken from KFC. Nine piece already there, you're already you already know that's a man after my own heart.
So I grew up.
My whole life getting thinking that, Yeah, you just drop by KFC and get a nine piece, right, right. My wife won't eat KFC, won't won't even entertain the possibility of ever going there. But like it was my birthday and I was like, you don.
Won't worat a bucket of chicken.
She was like, oh my gosh, well give me some potatoes and macaroni at least, you know.
So I go by there, just swipe up.
A nine piece. Dude. I pull up to the thing. Have you where else, y'all? I take a nine piece mixed with some green beans, mashrotatoes, macar Sir, we don't have a nine piece. I was like, yeah, your dad. He goes, no, we don't and we've never had a nine And I was.
Like, how does this cat know the history of KFC.
He's a fifty nine year old KFC. I think he knew he was a Google owner. I also door.
It's under a colonel. He looked like he was in Midland. He looked like, I.
Can't do that already. Ain't no nine piece, dude. This joker begetting a ten piece. His whole watch was he eating? He was eating the wing on the way home. Every wing he had a wing man. I know, but I'm just saying. I called him and I said, hey man.
In line.
I was in line, I said.
I called him.
I was like, hey man, they used to have a nine piece back from the days. Found me out.
Getting a ten piece.
He's like, dear Lord, please forgive me for the nine piece.
Everything I said, I said, you need a chicken on away home.
He's like, oh, son, I got the twelve.
I'd eat three on wing.
Leg breath leg is what I breast thigh leg On the way home.
I would go thigh thigh wing, wing wing. I mean, because then that was a little I'll just knock it out one.
I pulled it out.
I was always tiny, so I was i'ld get every leg. I'd steal every leg in there before anybody could five.
Or six the bonus and little brotherland you get that leg. Now, I'll give rid the wing leg.
You know we don't eat them wings.
You don't eat that dark MANE give that the dan?
Hey all of it? Hey, do y'all remember to speaking of Dad? One more? Dad.
We were in some city somewhere. We're all right with somebody and we're walking down the road.
Know, we were behind a bar Chicago.
We're standing out there behind what was that place that everybody used to play Joe's and there was a parking lot right there behind us, and then this happened.
So we're all standing.
There cigarettes back then, and some dude does the big loud Yeah, the one, the.
One that means in West Tennessee, you fish, you should have been home a long time ago.
And we all kind of.
Thirty year old, thirty year old men.
I think I put my cigarette away.
I think that.
About that forever.
Yeah, Jonathan said, he was like, man, every one of us just turned around like, yeah, d what daddy.
We're all from West Tennessee.
Me and Dan grew up in a little town called Savannah, and Jonathan grew up in Lexingtonnish area.
Yeah, my dad was a preacher too.
We moved around a lot where y'all said, you know, kept his job, ours ours moved around, We moved around. I think my dad would in hindsight, now that I see what he was doing, he would kind of go to these kind of you know, not a.
Busted up church. They had an issue and he would go in and kind of get all that sorted out and then would kind of move on to that thing with kind of like this layman kind of easy.
You know, hey, everybody, this is what we're doing. The simple version of all of that, you know, was he trying to do that? There was always some kind of issue that had happened and he was kind of mediating that. I remember a few of those happening. And I don't know what you call that. If he did that, if he specialized.
In that, I don't know.
But we were well around Jackson the whole time, which is north south east west of all of that. So Ceedar Grove is where we which is you know, Ceedar Grove was kind of the last one Wilder's full Tennessee Lexington and Tennessee is where I went to high school, which is real closer to y'all as you go that way. It was like Pennoak the other side over there, remember something. I mean there's a lot.
Of places, yeah that we that we lived.
Around in that area and based out of Decaturable Scott's Hill that's where all that family was from too.
Is that where you where did you grow up hunting?
Because we were talking about this on the way in, I know, like a bunch of those stories from but like, what's your earliest memory you because it's you and your dad right.
Me and my dad. Yeah, Josh would go a little bit.
He killed a doe early on, and it was one of those for me, not for me, yeah uh.
And I think he spined it too. It was that thing.
But we had my dad preaching this church called Hickory Plains. Hickory Plains, uh, and the farmer that lived there, you know where we all grew up, counting on some farmers went to church with And in hindsight also it's like, man, they must have had a just a giant amount of land because we there was no four wheeler, there was no you know what I mean. It was like, here's access to this and you walk this ridge as far as you can go. And I remember doing all that. That's kind of the the first. There was another one that was close to Natal's trace, like it backed up to National's trace. And I remember that place hunting. I remember getting home from school on days when I was fourteen or so, and my dad would let me let me take the little blue cake car and drive over to that spot. Really my gun that he would let me.
What's a car?
It was like a Chrysler, you know that LeBaron I got. It's the same one. But with a top on it, like I mean, horrible little older.
I was probably fourteen, no, no, no, no, it was back roads to get back over there. But he would let me get off the bus, get your gun and he would say, now, don't go anywhere but that stand right there, which is insane to me, Like I can't even imagine, dude, I'll go.
I was.
I was eight up with hunting at that time, like I was.
You know Roger Raglin and all those dudes, like that was the only videos you get.
There was no says Roger Ragling. I see there's a video of him.
Close enough to kiss the.
Video in his garage before he goes hunting, banging his bow on the wall and he was like banging on the wall and he pulled it back.
He'd be like, let's go hunt, and I.
Was like, like the bowl was then, well he was always like two feet from the deer. So it is true. Man kissed.
And I don't know where those how we got his rock. They had to be on yeah he's still going. They had to be on VHS.
I don't know. I guess they probably got passed around.
Was there an outdoor channel back then?
But now are you watching chel seven and Channel eleven, Channel sixteen, and you turn that thing with a dial, dude. Yeah, yeah, I mean there was new technology.
We just didn't have it.
If we didn't have yeah, uh but yeah, that little spot in But it was all West Tennessee hunting, and it was always corn.
You know, this guy's got corn. We're gonna hump beside the corn. They wearing those stands. We made some stands. We built woods.
It's Jet thirteenth, he's twelve twelve.
Yeah, I mean think about letting him just trinke a gun, take a gun, take a gun.
Hop in your car, go walk out into the woods.
It's sit till dark. No phone, no phone.
No.
Oh, I didn't think about that.
Yeah, there's no such thing.
Was telling us the other day he was seven, nine and ten and his they were driving flat bottoms in the ocean shark fishing while his dad was at work on.
An island and his dad was up.
I mean they ran out of gas or something.
Yes, it was the craziest shark fishing.
He was telling us about it.
And I was like, and I actually talked to my dad. I went home and talked to my dad about we could dear me the next morning and I said, man, he used to drive it. He was like, oh yeah, he said, me and Keith would gotch up on a train and ride the train across car Rinth with twenty two's on their back, play baseball and catch a train home. Dude. I was like, how old were know this? That mate?
Different times, has a different time.
Yeah. If we go to a ball game now and I don't see Jet for about seven minutes, I started get real nervous.
Yeah, and he dude, he's a man. I mean he was, yeah, like, who's gonna Who's gonna take it?
No, one just take another kid. No way to getting that kid in the back of my man.
He's twenty six, he's not thirteen.
Yeah, getting him discount, snatch him up. That's the funniest thing, man, Jet. He holds a special place in my heart, man, because he was like the first baby I was around a lot, right, Like, I had nephews and I saw I saw them pretty regular.
But man, we were just at.
That time in our lives read and I just basically lived with you. I mean, we dinner with you all we will.
Did because we were That was the first version of the of the Kool Aaid house. But it was like the beer. It was you know, East Nashville. We had a house that people could actually you know, yeah, get out on the back porch and we'd shoot bows and we'd hang.
Out and thousand percent.
Man, I mean, I I don't know how we.
Would have made it through without work on four wheelers and.
Having that house.
Man, without having that house to go to in that backyard and and uh and Ponytail Pete and yeah r I p man, what a good dude.
Yeah, it's yet interesting. Huh.
Yeah, man, he's he's gotting. Like last year, No, he was like five.
Where he's holding.
Yeah, yeah that was last year. There was a smaller one before that. This year, that's pretty good.
Deer man, I got all that.
I said, it's amazing.
He drops him. Yeah, and he gets it.
But you know, man, because we've had these conversations lunch, it's like a big jobt group of people who have made their hobby their job, you know. And we we've also had that conversation too about about hunting, and it's like, you know, so I try to not push him in any of those things.
Like he's interested in music, he's interested in hunting. He's interested in a.
Lot of things, a lot of a lot of games and stuff like that, and I can lean into those a little bit more because it's not I don't feel like I have an agenda, Like I feel like I have an agenda.
If I'm like, hey man, let's go.
I'll go.
I always go, hey man, here's check out this picture of this buck, you know, and I'll show it to him.
And I always make sure I have that deer two or three days four. So if he goes, hey, let's go hunt that deer, I'll be like, cool, let's go right now. That's pretty He's going to walk out at three forty five, you know what I mean, Like I know exactly where he's coming. So always trying to make it easy.
But they think too, Like Jet and Bread both, I made sure there was always those boxes. You memory did that East National thing, and I had that little bean bag in there, and he even have his phone, and I would take snack and drinks and all that stuff like that. It's like make it fun, to make it like this fun thing that they want to do. And then this year we did it too, and there's still I thought Jet would get more into it, but he's always a hate.
You're gonna you're gonna call You're gonna call that deer with the ground call.
And instead of me being like, well, they're not really doing that right now, I'd be like, yeah, dude, you.
You end up laughing a bunch, And that's what it's supposed to be too, I think.
And we've had a conversation a bunch too, like about hunting and what that does, becoming a man hunting and being a boy hunting, and and like you hunt when you're little, you hunt so you feel like a man, and then when you're a man hunting, you hunt to feel.
Like a little to feel like a little feel like a little boy like you, to have that feeling again, that excitement that.
Like, yep, that's very very so I'm gonna.
Try to make sure they do that. And we do that musically too.
We never kind of push him in that, you know, it's like, yeah, man, that was cool. You know, like Jet plays drums a little bit and I'll play bass guitar or something like that.
But I never go, hey, man, you was like, what's.
In the pocket.
I never did.
I was trying to make it fun and but I think if he gets interested in it. And he's so interested in filming things and gaming and all.
That stuff like that.
I always wondered if there was some version of that he would get into of, like, oh man, maybe this is part of my thing. And he watches a lot of those guys with me. We we just recently got on those dudes. We were talking about him the other day.
The Creek Kings or whatever, and Jet loves that. He loves those. He watches those and like likes those dudes, and yeah, it's YouTube. They're they're cool, man, it's interesting little little thing. And so he watches them with me and stuff like that. So I's trying to get into it. I don't know, man, o.
Door TV is tough these days, dude, it's just YouTube.
Yeah, the outdoorschown you never really and I hate to just bag on it, but like.
Show you never know what you're Heartland bow Hunter is still the one today. I mean that was the first one where it's like, oh man, this is beautiful. It's kind of almost in music realm of like oh we can do that, Oh we can make this beautiful, and you can make it cinematic and you can make you know.
I.
Feel like that's when you just talked about this, Like, for me, that's that was the switch. When I watched those guys do it Heartland bow Hunter and Michael Huntsucker and those guys.
Like that was the switch from boy hunting into man hunting.
But still filming it, right, Yeah, still.
Still trying to create content, but in a way that like shooting the deer didn't really matter.
It just felt it felt a little more I don't want to see mature because it felt a little.
More artistic and related. Yeah, yeah, and not so conquering.
You know.
And then then you stumble on something like like Steven and Meadiater and you get to see the whole process of it, from from the ernie to the hunt to the cooking of the meat and all that, and then it takes.
You into a whole little plug the dude right and it got Yeah, and he does too, and y'all y'all been good at it too. It's like, Wow, there's nothing happening in that boring period. There's so many things that are happening around you.
You mean, like the other ninety eight percent that is the thing that I the thing and the hawk and all the things.
The sunrise, and all those things are embedded in those things where they used to not be.
For sure, Man, and I can remember you talking about jet I can remember, dude, I didn't always love to hunt. Man when I was thirteen and more worried about whether I'm going to say her name, but so and so.
And so, but what's your name?
Katie?
Katie?
Whether she texts me back? Dude, you know what I'm saying. I was more worried about that.
The one that got away.
Anyway, I was more worried about that that I can't believe went out.
Saying has been getting me in troubles. Is the day we met.
Say it.
Say it anyway, speaking, I'll tell that story about you shooting at that coyote from the road.
But what are you talking about?
I'm just.
Now, Yeah, happened which Cody, don't we're talking he's a few times.
No, I mean statute limitations.
We were hanging out and down to Petwick down there back when I used to call you fancy pants.
We can't.
I thought we were hunting.
That was a That was the night, dude, I shot.
At a Kyle with a pistol out of the window of John's truck one time. Yeah, we just really didn't like that was a different time. Were we are different men now about something else? Right?
And he told the incriminated.
I'm not talking anymore, dude.
When did Uh, let's get into it then, but when did when did music step into your life?
Like?
When did what was the first what was the first time you were like, Oh, I love playing the guitar, I love singing this song, I love I love playing in front of people.
Yeah. It was always there, man, I mean that.
Was was that a church thing? Was that like through church church saying.
Well we sing?
Which was also great harmony, you know, so that I mean, hunting is what our dad did.
Music is what our mom did.
That's interesting.
I hadn't thought about that, but that's literally yeah the truth.
Does your dad sing? You know?
No, he does, he would lead sing.
I mean he's not you know, you know it's the small church thing that song later yeah he's yeah.
Whatever.
Anyway, trying to think of a hymn that would be appropriate.
But it was always there. We had We grew with me and Josh grew up going to band practice. Uh, I think every Monday or Wednesday night or something like that with my mom's band that did. They did country music, they did rock music, they did everything. I mean it was I remember hearing Willie Nelson songs. I remember hearing Dewie brother songs. I remember hearing Bob Seger songs.
I remember hearing she had a band.
Band, Yeah, she had a band. Mom. She got offered a record deal in Nashville. For real. I don't can't believe I had told Joe this.
So she had a band called Rito was the name of the band before Diamond Rio this is, you know, And she had a bunch of dudes and they were good players.
And you know, I think, yeah, I think they were West Test guys.
So they would have band practice. We always had instruments around. We always had a pa, you know, and a and a mixture and all this stuff.
That's cool, man, I didn't know that.
And then she met a guy here in Nashville and started coming up to this thing called the Captain's Table and you bring your tape like you have a cassette karaoke thing.
You pop your tape in and you kind of do this little set and it.
Was like kind of like a showcase kind and I can't remember how all that went. That was probably I was probably in third grade, second third fourth grade maybe around that time that she was like they sat us down and they were like, Okay, here's what could possibly happen.
I all go on the road. Y'all will go with me.
Dad'll be the bus driver and we'll get you guys like a tutor, and that's what you'll do.
Yeah, man, no, that's cool.
I kind of thought your journey to Nashville was just solely you, but but no did that.
Yeah, she wrote songs. I don't remember her writing songs on a little keyboard. She can't replay keyboard. But it was like it would be like, can't even have this little the beat too, and her tune was her big tune was like, dude, I played for y'all sometimes I got it on.
I had it. I found the two inch tapes and I dumped them into CD and then I dumped them into three. But it was I always wanted to be Bahad my mom. I just delay on the beach all day. What. Yeah, she had a song called physical Physical Attraction between You and Me.
It was all that.
It was almost I remember kat Oslyn. It was all she was like that kind of I mean it was they would have been eighty four or something like that. But back then they kind of set out your world.
It was like in the contractor I remember talking about it, well, how are we going to do this?
Like how is this possible?
That so we're going to cut a record in this time, which she did cut four sides or five or whatever.
I had no idea.
She cuts, yeah, and I care for it in Nashville some I don't know where.
But in the contract it was like, here's who you'll go on the road with, here's the gigs you'll play.
Like it was all in the thing.
That's what happened.
She you know, she's a she's a preacher's kid, and a and a and a preacher's wife, and she goes with two kids and yeah, and and she was like, you know, I don't think I don't think this is my path.
And then it was crazy.
Done, Like she was done. That was it. She didn't do it anymore.
But y'all, she's a great singer, great great songwriter.
And and she used to sit around play guitar a little bit.
And then when once I learned to play guitar, one day I made fun of her for playing guitar because they.
Would do that boom jaggy boom, jaggie boom jack everything.
It didn't matter what song you're playing, doing jaggie boom with a bass note, you know, every song. Yeah, and I made fun of her and she I've never.
Seen a pickup guitar since then. I was a kid man.
I didn't know you rat Tael probably had a rat tail, I did you.
Yeah, it was on top right here, big things. It was braided, died different colors.
You would die different color.
Different colors. Yeah.
I started on because you know, me and Joey that works at fifty eight two, we were best friends and how he was in my first man that I had, and we were a little punk rock kids. And so when Coolio came out, we all had super long hair. But when Coolio came out, we thought it'd be real funny if we cut my hair like Coolio.
Remember he had all the braids. Yes, so we did it, and I did. That was my hair for about a year.
This is in the time. This is the picture of my dad wouldn't talk to me anymore. No, there's no pictures.
There's no pictures of that.
I doubt it were a lot of money.
I've seen a picture.
I've got one picture of you on Mike on one with these old computers, and it's you with a shaved beard and you're so sit back and I think you kind of.
You have maybe the there's no way as the coolio directing.
I'm pretty this would have been I would have been fourteen years old, I mean fifteen or.
Something like that. But we would drive to Uh, we would drive to Memphis. There was the New Daisy.
Yeah, I played.
Music tron Jam. I had music tron Jam.
And there was a band called Crayon or not b R five four nine Beach seven twenty six or something.
They played that thing and uh.
Was that the Savannah guys the uh maybe they've played around name dude.
There's three or four bands that played those all the time, and they hated us because we were like super.
Like they're pretty.
That was two brothers.
They was always do like Paul Simon's songs.
You know these guys.
We've talked about these.
I know and I can't remember the name of the band, but the rot No not pro te seventy six, that was my I was in that band.
No, you're talking about Eli. That Provincia, Provincia, Nathan Provincia, Yeah, our band with them. It was Kevin White.
Who works over here at the music school, the recording store.
Kevin works over there. He's from sartists, not artists. Some one of those was a three piece band and Nathan Provincia, who's a teacher now, which he always said he was gonna be a teacher. And the name of that band was boy Boy Evan what's.
The name of that band?
And we played around we're super super punk band man uh. And I think too because now I'm doing it as a parent. That was my rebellion towards my parents because I couldn't find anything to REBELLI against.
Right Musically, it's like, well, what if I just like only listen to dead Kennedy song? Will that make you mad? So that's what I did, you know what I mean?
And it's like black flag and bad religion and all those things for Gazi and all that.
That's what we kind of did.
And that seemed to because Nirvana didn't do it. My mom liked nirmana you know, she was like, oh no, he's pretty good, like he's kind of.
Us.
But all that Nirvana stuff kind of sent you towards that anyway, you know what I mean, if you start digging in those Jesus Lizards and some of those they did tracks with and uh, anyway, I don't know how I got on that.
I think because y'all were making fun of me.
But you were a punky dude.
Yeah, that was the first music. And I remember I remember singing with her band, uh, like they would do their practice or whatever, and god, this is horrible.
This is how young I was.
Remember that band Striper, Remember them. It was like a Christian like cair metal rock band.
Pretty good, honestly, they're pretty good.
They had a song I think it was called Honestly Honestly I believe, and I would sing that with the band, not on stage, just practice, just in practice. But Josh would always get up and they would do the drum solo.
Song wipe Out. He was the singer pretty much this song. That song only says wipe out, right, it is that yah? Yeah, I thought you may even just stand there and say wipe out, and then they would play the song, even play the drums.
So we almost did it. And then in high school too, we.
Had for the record. Johnsh is Jonathan's older brother, who is arguably.
The greatest singer I've ever sat in a room with. That kid is he is the next level.
Something I really related a lot to like when people say they hear like George Jones and they're like, you could hear like the Pain and like that. There's there's this argument that George Jones is the greatest country singer of all times, and the argument is made on the fact that you can almost like hear his life through his voice. Kind of feel that way about johnsh a little bit sure, but there's this natural, gravelly thing that when most people sing with that gravel, they don't have the control that Josh acts, and Josh is control of that rough vocal is like poetic. I mean, I hate to be that guy to say that word, but it is. It's he also won't We can get real nerdy on this.
While we were all trying to find our thing, he like had his thing. He already like.
He's gonna always to that thing too.
He's always always kind of stuck at it. And it was like he found his voice before anybody else found their voice.
And it wasn't like.
Anybody else's well no where, even mine was like well, it's a little bit of this and a little bit of that, a little bit of this. His was always like, oh man, when he does that, it just felt so real. It's so real. Yeah, man, that's great, which also made it kind of not working Nashville when he was you know, he had a polishing deal here was writing around and stuff like that, and it was just.
It was almost too cool.
It was almost to me. Yeah, it was almost too good.
I mean, he understood the game and the things that we had to do and you know what I mean, and all that stuff. And once he kind of figured that out, he was like, man, I might go do something else.
There's nothing nothing wrong with that. Man. Sure, It's kind of like where your mom said, it just wasn't her path right.
Tell us about The Grove.
When did at what point did you get involved with with your band The Grove to having been a house band in Jackson, Tennessee for all those years to eventually making the the moved up for it to national story.
Yeah, I mean, we weren't far from Nashville, was the nice thing. So when Josh was singing Josh saying, and I played drums in his band for four years. They're called smoking jackets, and we did.
Josh was kind of the dude that told us what to do and what to wear, and how to talk and how to do all these things.
Here's how you book a gig, here's how you set up the PA, here's what we want.
He was kind of he was running all that stuff. Yeah, so we kind of saw those things happen. And in that time period too, if you remember that was in Jackson there was full devil jacket, but in Memphis there was like saliva and some of them they were kind of doing good in that thing, and they were super aware of us. Memphis at that time music scene was a lot like Nashville is now, Like everybody's kind of doing different stuff. We were playing more on Bill Street than those guys were playing like in midtown.
Memphis had made had cranked up about about mid nineties too, and that.
Was that was they're bringing some good, big bands.
And so we played a lot on Bill Street, in a lot around Memphis, and a lot in those clubs, the same clubs that they were playing in. And it was kind of like not traditional blues, but it was blues forward.
It was kind of blues travel. I mean, he played harmonica and same.
Blues Traveler wasn't out at the time, but it was kind of that like a buddy version of that. Anyway, So from there we had done showcases for like Interscope, which is what Saliva and those guys were on. Uh, they had seen us play a thing and they get a guy out, and so we did two or three showcases and things are starting move forward there. I'm probably eighteen seventeen eighteen at that time, and things to kind of start and move forward. And then there was the Blues Traveler thing that kind of shut all that down, you know what I mean.
It's like, oh, we got this cop this.
There's a guy playing hame bonica here. We don't need this guy dirty home. And it was totally different. It wasn't like Blues Traveler. There's was a lot cleaner. I was a lot dirtier and swampier and blues leaning. Yeah, And so after that we kind of got into blues world a little bit and and you know, we played a lot of those things and we were the Memphis Reverence. We won a bunch of those blues competitions and things like that and played with a lot of those bands that this is the growth. No, this is smoking jacket. So in that meantime we have been playing Jackson two, which which led you to you know, start will Oxford Memphis. Yeah, below all of those of this big surmounding are probably up to Indiana, back down Florida, and we would play AJ's in Florida do Panama City and you'd run all that big circle with a casino popped in the middle so you could pay for everything, you know what I mean. So at that time, you're slinging CDs, you know, slinging CDs, and you got one gig that's a cover gig that pays all the bills, and then you go play you know, original gigs when you can. Anyway, So we were doing all that and playing Jackson some and Josh, my brother, Josh, met this girl from France in Panama City, so we play this show. He's falling in love with this girl. He's moving to France's moved to France. So when he got over to France, he played a bunch of blue stuff with a lot of pickup guys in there. There was no blues is huge in France, Wow, but.
There's no blues.
Guys that play the blues France blues. It is more jazzy than it is bluesy. It's not distorted and gross and meanly.
We do it.
It's more of a jazzy kinding. So Josh found this group of dudes that were American guys that would do pick up things. So this guy's coming over to France and he's going to do a string of shows.
Josh would be the band, the backup man for that, for those blues guys that do things.
So he goes and does all that, and we go, Okay, what are we gonna do. Well, we know a Boddy that plays drums, So why don't I just sing like I'll sing and play guitar because I play guitar and smoking jests, I play bass, all the things that you know nobody else would do, I would, I.
Would do so at this point, at this point, the band and music is ingrained in you so much.
Everything.
Yeah, there was no when he left, We're done.
That was what we were doing.
We were making a living playing music at that time. Yeah, So I started playing. I started playing guitar and singing, and we do that for it. And it was about seven years we played the same house gig. I would play Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, frist Saturday.
Geez at Barley's.
Yeah, so we play every night just about everybody.
Yeah wow, And we we stayed there. We were that dude took catch the named Jerry Gay that owned that bar, and he took care of us and you know, kept us out of trouble probably cut.
You're playing like as far as like playing teeth in that bar, I was because we knew I mean commercial commercial playing right.
Because and you're also in Jackson, which is two hours from Nashville, hour and a half from Memphis, right, So you're playing blues, you're playing country, you're playing rock, you're playing rap songs, you're playing everything. You know you did it too, you know, so we knew all of those things.
So in all of that, this is the short version of the story. In all of that, Whitney Duncan, who's my cousin, got a record deal. We started backing her up and we were her backup band. Ash Bowers did a showcase in in uh in Jackson, and we were his band for a lot of those things. A guy named Brad Cotter, we were back up man. And then that segue into a lot of the American Idol things.
We did backup man.
We were backup man for a lot of those guys, and so we were coming to Nashville all the time.
Explained backup band for we would be.
The setup band, like we because we read charts and we played, you know, like from school, from the campus country.
We learned to do all that stuff.
So so a showcase or something like that they needed if they needed a band, yeah, or on tour.
We toured with a lot of those guys were we were the guys that could ride the bus. Shut your mouth, do your job, get your gear out of the way.
We knew that gig, especially by that time Williams playing drums for us.
It's just super important. Actually, I mean, as far as learning that.
Is the hardest part is riding the bus. The playing the gig is the best part. Does that mint skill that said the hardest part.
Is he said, you got to learn to ride the Bus's sonny.
So you don't like the set, nobody cares if you don't like the set. You know what I mean, you're the guitar player. Play guitar on the songs. They don't pay me to play to ride the busy. Yeah, anyway, So that that thing kind of got us in the national and by that time, you know, is twenty something, late twenties, and we kind of see, oh man, we can like, we could probably do that, so we'll start writing songs with some guys from Jackson.
But your late twenties, your stuff was already moving.
Man, Like we were regionally everybody knew who we were.
And I'll do the bragging because I know you're not going to do it like there were they were.
The Grove was the cool.
Band of like the touring bands that came through. Because I had just gotten to college, it was this has been otewish uh. When I graduated and went to Northeast and I kept hearing about this guy that was in the in the group. So Jonathan and I both got scholarships to put to be in this group on campus. Sorry that one hit hard, Yeah, put.
The brand.
Anyway. It was at Northeast Community College. Got in this group. Jonathan was before us. We heard he had a band and they were playing. We snuck into the zoo. I was eighteen. Oh wow, No, only snuck us in the back door of the zoo, not the actual zoo, the club.
It was a zoo.
How rough were the to that place?
That was rough? Man? I took a body down there one time and I told him my whole way. I said him up, where's where?
But it ain't like it ain't like Benjamin or something downtown.
It was Yeah, it's a club club, literal bar bouncer.
The big dude that we swim was a big burn. No, because he's a bodybuilder. For what swam Mitch Mitch. I can't remember his name, something Mitch, big guy.
Anyway, I told this guy all the way down, I said, hey man, this is a different kind of club man. You can't you can't be talking trashing here.
Man. We ain't even got set up yet, and he's getting beat up at the bar. We didn't got set up yet. And then I kicked him out, him out and Mitch was out there. I said, hey man, dude, he's I do This guy is like, this guy's a man. He was like, well, just so you know, man, we kind of we kind of gave it to him a little.
Bit, really rough up.
He came back in shut that mouth to learn to watch your mouth.
I'm so sorry. They were the cool man. They pop a little bit. Next thing we know he's playing pulled off bash or something that's startable. I remember you at Missippi State. You came down. I met you. You had braces, your hair was straight, like straight and straight like somebody had hooked. You were doing the thing.
Yeah, got me braces for a second time. I had them.
I had.
Really, Yeah, it's the second.
Time, dude, didn't you didn't they have some like and didn't they crank them like a lot of.
I also lost about thirty pounds in that thing too.
That was record deal time, right, that's record deal time.
Yeah, oh man, you loved Record Deal.
What was the moment?
What was the moment where it kind of parallels your mom's story, which is crazy.
I never knew that was.
What was the moment where you were like, I'm not gonna I'm not going to be on the road. I'm not This is not the life I want for me from my from my eventual future family.
Yeah.
Did you already have hits by then?
I had? I had four number ones riding in a van, sleeping in the floor and on a bean bag with a uh what's that called the sleeping bag.
That'll make you make the decision?
And I did airplane watching airplanes.
Why don't we just dance red light and don't yeah, gotcha? And no way at all to spend any money, you know what I mean. I just have time to do anything. It was about a year before because you know, I also came up with my band. I wanted to be a band.
We were a band.
It was the Grove. It wasn't Jonathan Singleton the Grove. It was the Grove.
And I wanted it to be that way, and I tried really really hard for it to be that way. But in all of that, also and d my band. You know you had a great band too. My band was their killer.
That's some of the best musicians you'll ever hear in your life.
And they're still playing. A lot of those guys still playing around. And you know, none of the placed with with Luke and and and Jamie and Jamie.
B and Jhonathan were part of a strange I can't even really explain it, collection of players, writers, artists, singers, and I think we were all like making each other better without knowing we were doing that, and we just thought we were pretty good. And then we always hear how we're gonna get smoked when we come to Nashville, and then we came and smoked these cats right, and we were like, damn, we are pretty like our.
Bands are doing good.
Man, it's different, different that West Tennessee groove. Just it's a little bit different than everybody else.
There's just a.
Stink that lives on it.
Man.
People talk about it all the time when they talk about writing with you, or write with Reed, or write with Jamie, or what Nonley does or what Willie does or what Sambo does. I mean, it's like that thing is all over us.
West Tennessee is a melting pot of He said, yeah, I mean you've got Yeah, there's there's Memphis, There's there's the Shoals.
Yeah, we were I mean did the same thing y'all are do y'all remember the stuff we play? I mean you would you'd play. I mean, we would play old habits and then turn around and play some Stevie Wonder song too.
We do Whiskey River and then do a Bob Marley song right after Sam, you know what I mean.
And that's what it was.
I mean, I didn't know that that was weird. I didn't know it was weird or different because that's what was playing on them.
Man. Yeah, hey, by the way, let me tell you this.
Sambo, who was who was my road manager, my drummer's brother, our sound guy's son, move.
To me every day. I wrote at at your house.
So he stays, but he doesn't say that he lives close to us. But my garage has become Sambo's garage. And everybody asked, you know, is said, okay, if I take some of Sambo's tools, you know, which are my tools?
He's over all the time. But I saw him this morning. It was seven fifteen and it's.
Up come around the morning right there, and I see. I was like, oh, Sambo's here, and he was in there doing something that he got nominated this year for c M a Stage.
Manager of the Year.
Stage stage manages for Church.
How can we make him? How can we told him?
Who votes on that? He was like a voters tip, We're good, congratulations.
Yeah, I hope he gets that. Man, he was pumped.
So he's been when I got off the road, back to that thing. When I got off the road.
We we toured.
Almost not exclusively, but almost with Eric Church. Eric's wife signed me in my first publishing deal. We had the same lawyer, the same book andage, the same managers everything, and so through that, you know, time of him moving from clubs to sheds to what he's doing now, we were in between end of clubs and getting into sheds and we were opened up for him.
I don't know how.
Many dates we did with those guys, but they were so sweet to us and so nice man and Eric still is.
And basically it just became friends for life.
Right, So when I everybody knew I was getting off the road a year before that happened. So you know, Sambo started working with Eric at that time and he still worked for him.
I guess it's been thirteen fourteen years quit, But yeah, I knew before that. The only reason I kept playing on the road. We did the last it was called a.
Country Throwdown tour, and so we we got on that tour because I knew the people that put it on. Kevin Lyman was the guy putting it on with Sarah Bear.
And Kate and all them.
You know, That's how we got on that tour. But on that tour was Brad Tercy. You know, a man who was Eric was on.
That tour place. Yeah, Drake White was he out there?
Drake what he was just the next year on that thing.
Logan mine, Yeah, I know, Logan he wasn't not the year the first year that we were on there.
Oh it was Kip Moore on that No, I remember it was Florida George Line too.
They were this second year, yeah, second year. Oh, Tyler Reeve was on that thing. Anyway, A bunch of buddies that we that we still work with, so we also, I didn't play with the band, but my band would just back up other people in that things. Emily West was on that tour, so they played with us and then they played with Emily West, which uh, he just doubled doubling down because we were we workhorses, man, and.
Like, let's go dude, let's see if we're gonna be out here, let's go part.
So we started day. Bahanish was on that tour, so we started. We knew we were not hanging on to that thing, so we were like, flip flops and shorts, man, let's go out there. And hey, Sarah Buxton and Jed Hughes are out there out here too, Let's get them up. But they sing a song that was our whole set, that Dapahanah Sarah Bucks and Jed Hughes, Brad Tersey and then we played.
A couple of songs that we get off.
It was so much fun.
It was the last year of our tour, and on that tour too, we took we finally got on by got a bus. The label didn't paid for.
It, and so that was the last one and it was like, hey, everybody knew, hey, when we get done with the thing, like I'm done, dude, I'm out. I'm gonna write songs like I'm not doing this anymore. And so we come back after Christmas Break and Big what was the name of the level, Universal South? Universal South was job Level. Well, over Christmas Break they had flipped over the show Dog. So now Toby had taken that over and they have all these new acts that they're going to come in with, and that was seemed like a perfect time for us to just be like, hey, man, I just want to write songs. And I did for a very very long time, just like production wasn't even a thing, man, I mean, production back in those days were big, giant producer, did.
You know what I mean? It was like Stroud and all those dudes were still around.
It still was Frank and you know all the Franks, name of Frank, he was producing a big rip.
Yeah, so that wasn't even an option.
I just wanted to write songs and that felt like simplifying my life, like in a giant way. And you know, maybe I cannot have anxiety about writing songs every day.
And I didn't, you know what I mean?
Yeah, yeah, dude.
And fast forward to twenty twenty three, Man fifteen number ones, seven number ones is as a producer, a couple of Grammy nomination nominations, part owner in a publishing company that I work for that I write.
For with with what with right right with us?
You're not my boss?
By they now getting off the road. Did you ever question what you were going to do? Was all this in line for you?
Like?
Were you ever wanting to be a producer? Were you ever wanting to own a polishing company?
Were you ever? Dude? Let me say this before you even answered, you were already producing, like you were, you were producing, You were on your way to producing the entire time we were even writing.
Well, I still call it helping and not producing. Sometimes I call it producing.
Yeah, because you were producer.
Yeah, yeah, but I was helping. I was helping a lot. I mean I helped, you know. We did a bunch of those when people were needed some things to do. And we had that studio over in East Nashville. There was two incarnations of that studio.
Yeah, yeah, Yeah.
One of the first projects Whitney's.
We did Whitney stuff. We did Josh Hog.
We did a bunch of stuff with him and a bunch of people in that time that We're like, man, they're not really getting the love that they need, Like maybe maybe we can help in some way.
I was helping.
I was always helping, but no I had I think what I did too is and you guys did the same exact thing.
And we talked about this.
A bunch of times when y'all were starting to come to town on saying is like, hey man, we're we're we're in Nashville. What we got that some of these guys don't have is an insane work ethic, you know, to go, here's an opportunity. Hey, what time you want me to be there, I'll be there early. Do you need me to bring some coffee?
What you need to do? It's like, well, you know, so that was the whole way for me.
It's like if there was an opportunity, and I still do that, like if there's I'm interested in all things. Man, I want to hear there's a partnership here, this can help this, And I've always done done that, I think is what I did, the only thing I did right.
Yeah, but I would I hear what you're saying, But I don't think you give yourself enough credit on the influence that you've had on a lot of people's lives. And I mean that in the sense of.
Like not even just probably musical lives either.
Just yeah, but I'm speaking specifically musical, Like there's no way we would be in this town for you, There's no no I mean we we always loved music, but but there was no avenue, man. And and and I've honestly taken that into consideration for my life, Like how do I want to be I want to help, Like I want to give guys that don't have a chance a chance. Man.
And that's what you did, whether that was hey man.
Sleep on my couch to night, or hey dude, we're ordering pizza, come on over, or hey man.
Go in half hers on a sailboat with me. That's almost drowned a few times.
Jonathan a few times, But I really I admire who you are as a friend, as as a person, But just objectively speaking, I don't know. I think at the end of the day, one day you're going to be more proud of that than you are.
Oh no, I am. I just can't. I don't. I would never take care I.
Know, which is why I wanted to say that me in.
Case you're super aware that we have helped some people, you know, just not be terrified. It was that big giant Nashville wall, you know what I.
Mean, impossible to get over.
Yeah, I just need a fist through that saying and dude, we had these conversations for us. Hey man, I'm not gonna I'm not opening the door.
For you here.
It is right, It's your job to open it and.
Through you do whatever you want to do, make out whatever you.
Want to make And maybe we're speaking metaphorically, but literally, like there were times where he was like, hey man, I'm gonna call this guy, this guy, and this guy. They have access to this writer, this writer, this writer, this writer, and this writer. They're not going to put you with the top guys. They're gonna put you with the bottom guys, and if you're willing to write and continue to write great songs, you will work your way up that ladder.
I hope that isn't lost.
I feel like maybe that's a little lost today in this writing culture because it's almost like you have to have it all figured out before they even give you a shot. As to where I feel like ours was learning the craft, like you put me through the ringer of guys that wanted to get you on a couch and talk to you for eight hours and not even write a song. Or maybe this guy, but that guy was a great songwriter. And if you get and if you can get through that, you're gonna get to a great song.
It may take you three days.
You got to learn how to get a great song out of.
That, because what that teaches you to do is get a great song with everybody, and fifteen years down the road, you're trying to get the.
Same as writing with an artist, right.
Some artists, artistists show that we are super aware of that too.
You know a lot of them are.
You're correct, But I feel like that is the strongest foundation that a writer in this town can have working through I didn't know it at the time. It's super annoying, it's super well, I don't Jonathan just write me every day, you know, but you have because you have to go through the ringer of how to deal and get a song with everybody, not just somebody that will carry you through.
Yeah, And I had the artist deal, so I skipped a lot of steps and when I when I got in which when I got here too, I was.
Completely by myself.
Man, yea, like, so I've been all ways aware of that, like of how nice it would be. Jim Bieber's man still picks up my phone calls and he knows I'm going to ask him questions every time, you know what I mean. And that was the only guy had But it took me writing with him a bunch of times for him to be that guy to be like, hey, man, how do I the same things?
Everybody asks everything? Man? How do I get in these rooms? Man? How what am I doing wrong? Why is this?
Why is this not this? And why is this this? All of those things. I was super aware that I had to kind of find my dudes to do that with, and how much I wanted to be one of those guys for somebody, you know, which leads you into publishing world and all those things like that. But still it's kind of from a from a distance, you know what I mean, And I can just I'm just gonna show because I don't want to. I don't want to be standing up here years from now if you're successful and it's like, well, hey, taking credit for things that I didn't do, And that.
Feels weird to me too.
It's like, because I I felt a lot of pride for making that, making that through that terrifying time sure of trying.
To do that.
To me, that's the biggest triumph.
Allowing that new writer or artist or whatever to have that for themselves.
It is what keeps you kind of hanging on.
I said, we went to church the other day and the guy talking and he said he got to a point. He was talking about finance, of course, and he said, uh, man, with new levels come new devils. And I was like, dude, that's so true. And it's like even in the music business, it's like every time there was a new level, there was a new question. But I always knew I could ask you that because you had already been You were always just a little bit of.
A level which I'm calling somebody else, and I've already asked that question. Correct, I've already asked Bethard or Jim or you know what what is?
I remember literally calling you, going, can you explain to me what co publishing even is?
Dude?
Like, I know I've had a post.
I'm not sure.
Yeah, I know, had a deal for eight years, but I don't know what's happening, so it's never come out.
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
I only know the things that have come up with each new level. I feel like there are more and more questions, But it is imperative to have somebody that you can bounce without some sort of game, like you had nothing to gain from You're just genuinely concerned about the betterhood of my life.
Right well, and also trying to find somebody in town that you can ask those questions that you know you're going to get an answer that it's for your best interests and not there and not their best interests. And that's hard to find, man, that is hard to find.
It it is. We could talk forever.
Yeah, I knew. Are we going to cover some ground we had never covered before?
No?
All right, tell us, uh, tell us a story like the best story you have about behind one of your one of your hits, one of your tunes that, yeah, that you've had.
He's gonna love this question.
You should just do you should just do the first one. I think. I was still in Jackson, Tennessee. I was. Me and Casey were still there. We've been married for.
Nineteen years now, so wow, we were still there. She wanted to go to oh Moore, which is a design school there in Franklin, and I, you know how guys like us are. I said, well, I've got a guy that can fix my air conditioner or you know, change the carburetor or do other things like that.
So I'm kind of kind want to stay here. It's two hours. I can drive Manday Tuesday Weds. I sleep on some mass couch.
I did that for about two years and all that stuff. So me and Jim right watching airplanes and so when how.
Does that song even come about? To ject your hook?
Because no, no, no, it was completely his man real. The interesting thing about that song is he had watching airplanes.
He said, you ever go out to the thing. We've had this conversation for you ever go out to the thing and watch like airplanes? I was, I don't have any idea.
What you're talking about, we don't know live nowhere near in the airport anyway. He said, well, you know what I'm talking about. I was like, yeah, I know what you're talking about. So he had written down on a piece of paper and pencil, sitting out here on the hood of this truck, looking up under a caramel colored sunset sky. That's what he had. And then down here it said it said watching airplanes strong half. And I was like, I'm so in, I'm so in. The beautiful thing about me and Jim writing at that time is I had no idea, any rules, no idea.
Jim knew them all. And but he was also smart enough to go.
Like, this is a little reckless than I want this a.
Little too much. Yeah, this is okay, this is okay.
I remember it's writing a song about being high you know whatever that line is.
Fence is too high, and so am I. He's like, I don't know if we can do that. You know, we talked about being high on but it ude, it's like a thing now.
It's kind of sneaky, you kind of put it in there.
Yeah, for sure.
But what Jim he had this little thing and at that time and probably in.
Hindsight because he was so annoyed with my process.
He would kind of set these little things parameters of what it should be, and he would just leave the room. So I'm in the room working on a chorus which I have changed keys because they call me ma'am and the drive through and my voice is real high, Jim's is real low. So I had changed keys from what he was doing. So when he pops back in the room, he goes, oh, dude, a key change.
That's a great idea, man. So the chorus changes keys and watching airplanes.
Prove it, prove it.
Yeah, it's easy, man.
I don't I don't remember what you're talking about.
So what are you? What are you playing in?
So where we started was in g right, sitting down here on the hood of this truck and looking up, and then you're playing the flight seven. I im caramel colors.
Your flat seven is just what's not one for?
It's flat seven in the verse. So when you get to the chorus, you're going, I'm just sitting out here watching the airplanes. Let me get to the back. It's too hot.
So uh trug looking up caramel color, son, says this guy checking.
My watch, doing the math in my head, counting back when you say goodbye. Oh, so here's where you start spinning and the those one wed lights are getting bright flat seven still but now we go and I'm just.
Sitting out here watching airplanes.
So now it's the four.
The flat seven is the four now, right.
So that's why we got how it was nerdy and I didn't know how to do that.
Jim knew how to do that. He made he take us back and fly. So here's how you get back trying to figure out which one my being and why you don't lie on me anymore. And I'm just I'm sitting down here and watching four. And then you go, you know, yeah, which is my favorite.
Part of that's the gets you back to the one.
That's the path back to the war.
So now you're back in G one being the root note right, Yeah, that's just like flat seven, one three, that's all national number.
Stuff, right, Sorry, yes, nerd stuff.
Anyway, So so we finished.
That thing, I was like, wait, why are we talking about this?
Yeah?
Yeah, me too.
We immediately go demo it and I had I had a record deal at the time.
I think we went in and played.
That for we're people excited about that song. I was that was I'm sorry, we're people in positions of power excited about that.
Not yet really not yet.
No, I listened to I remember listening to it all the way home and telling Casey.
I was like, man, we have this. Is it like this? If this ain't it, I don't know what's it like?
This is what six of Probably yeah.
Yeah, If this ain't it, I don't know what it is. And we listen to it all the way home, and I know she was sick of it at the time, that she was a care less about, you know, country music at all, you know anyway, So I immediately go.
Play it for my guys at at Universe South. Mark Wright is the head of Universal South. He's also Gary Allen's producer. So we sit in the room and everybody kind of passes on this song. It's cool, man, it's probably I said, maybe not you you know, it's got that thing about being high.
It's like you maybe too much for a new artist. You know, it's too far, it's.
Too I understand that now.
It's too much. It's very beatles driven all that stuff. It's too much, too nerdy, right.
So which I understood and was like immediately walk out the door and immediately get the phone.
Call from Mark right. He goes, hey, man, we're looking for a song for Gary. Man, we got this thing. It's like, can we cut this thing?
And at the same time, Joe Fisher Jim Beavers has immediately like hit go on the thing.
When I leave the meeting is like, hey, Jim, go play this for you know Joe. So now Joe's on board. Who's the head of mc A Universal all that stuff over there.
Which is Gary's own and the producers on it, and it goes boom like real fast.
They go, oh, so that means it's on hold, right, I was, I remember doing that, So now it's on hold. Like yeah, so I was like, do we so where do we cash this check? Where it's on hold? It's like no, no, no, no no. But it also went really fast.
That was my first hold on a song, my first cut on a song.
My first single and everything. Dude, I had no idea what was happening, no idea?
So when are we When are they going to pay us? I keep going, right, are they going money?
Yeah?
Is it gonna is somebody gonna bring a check over? Is there a briefcase that has much money. I'm really having no idea, So we kind of go down that line. And also you're still insanely broke, right, Yeah, so we're nine months down the road, you know, and it's like, wow, we're gonna you know, in this period of time I had, I couldn't teach guitar lessons and drum lessons based less anymore. I couldn't work in the studio. I couldn't do anything.
Is that weird?
How national does it makes?
You have to give all that other where you don't.
Man, you've got a backup playing you and the wrong. Yeah. So and so the miss landlord is knocking on the doors, like man, it's like, I don't have any money. So I'm telling this guy Frank mcmehan is his name, Jackson. Guy is beautiful guy.
And I would have been homeless if it was for that guy. He is, he's our landlord right there in Jackson. Remember that house house, Yeah, stretch for I didn't have wheels on it.
That's what I like about it.
But anyway, I would say, hey, man, we're we're you know, I'm getting a record deal and like publishing.
Shore to kick this guy love the guy.
Yeah, anyway, so I got to single, I promise you're gonna hear me on.
The radio nine months I did not pay rent nine months.
I did not pay rent to this guy. And and y'all you you remember this, Like when that check gets in there, I go buy twenty twelve No. Two thousand and five, two thousand and five Dodge Magnums.
That was the best sounding car.
I think was mean, which I thought, dude, I was.
And I pay this guy. I pay this guy.
I think I had to borrow some money from ass cap to before that. And I pay frank nine months rent thing and here with so we're off leave that. So we the first time I heard watching airplanes on the radio.
Though, back up just a little bit. First time I heard watching airplanes on the radio.
We're literally packing our stuff up to move to Franklin. Little then as the first time I ever heard it on the radio, and I thought, how much like stuff, Like what an insane moment to hear that on the radio. Well years later, Casey's mom told us that she had she knew we were packing up, and she knew what radio.
Requests.
That's awesome, Yeah, all right, what's the what's the best country song of all time?
Man watching Airplanes? I bet that.
I bet it needs to be honorable mention on the playlist just because it's been talking.
I have to do it this way because some of it goes favorite thing, I love everything so favorite old country song, favorite honkey talk.
There's been some concern about the para. There's been some concern about the parameters, like even.
With the best or favorite, what's the best.
Country song in your mind? What's what's the best, what's the top?
All right, let's see what's been taken, what's been taken. Let's let's knock out, because we need to do that that way. It's not I don't remember. Yeah, I can't either.
If you say it ain't this one, okay, but you go. Natalie Wood gave her hard, James Dan come on, high school rib on the Teenage Queen.
Keep it going, Standing Together and Angry Word, Angry World, got a chord wrong on it one f and firl.
I want to be.
I want to be like I promise you can't if you want to love me, I wanna be.
Like that.
I got chills on body first dance, your first first dance. That's a good that's my favorite one listening I'm about to listen.
That they're playing that record.
Man, that record, and it has to be in tandem with a couple of things that that was where that first Chris not at the same time Chris Knight record came out, Steve World. That Steve rol record had been out for a long time, uh, the second or third one. But also Shannon Doah there was so to me that was like three different versions. We got two different versions of country music altogether. But in that world like commercial country song give it to Me, Break my Heart, let me see that Under under the k was on that record, but also man like just in in.
Commercial country, Man under the Kazoo is the beautiful.
The bridge of under the Kudzoo is my favorite probably section of a singer grade.
Man of Blood read slowle stiffy way give it. I don't know how to play it, so I think. So I laid on the hood of this oil camaro.
That's the second. So I'll walk on over to the pit stuff marking and buy me a cool to drink, lay on the hood and so CAMEO wait for the sun.
The scene We'll live all alone. Chicksaw County I don't want it. It's not chicken. I'm making chicks better than but with the girls here, she's a qualified a beautician. Come on, dude, get out of here.
I'm sure that is important, that thing I'm trying to say.
But it's the time of the show for the long get out.
It's close, man, Jazzy.
All right, what we do it part of the show where we do the one that got away?
It could be a fish, could be a deer, could be a girl.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, hut away.
I know this one. So probably year was jet born. He's twelve now, so he had just he's just born. We were running up to Missouri and y'all were there. Uh, we were finally running up to Missouri until like for real deer hunting, right, we ain't hunting. We ain't got no West Tennessee scrubs man for original.
Before this trip, man, you drove to Kentucky to buy the bad Boy buggy for it was like real hunt, real Midwestern.
By the way, I traded a guitar that had been given to me in an AMP for a four wheeler that then I traded for uh that bad Boy Buggers that then I traded for my first tractor that y'all got.
After I got that, we sn and both sides weed.
Sorry Fender road warn gave. I traded that guitar for a full bro. Anyway, So we're going up to Kentucky. We're not We're not talking about a six pointer.
We're like half deer on. We're going.
It's a great place. That was four hundred acre farm, wasn't it something like that? And so there's a big deer on there that we call Shot.
I remember Shot, yeah, because his rack looked like a damn basketball.
It was.
Even at that time. It's even know how to say he's one fifty years. We just knew it was dark, real big, I mean, just miss on the thing.
Huge.
So we go up and we hunt, and I think we had I don't. I can't remember what happened before that, but I remember getting out there early one day, it's probably one o'clock or something like that, and up the hill like, here's our property line is right, I'm sitting right on the property line, which is a.
Huge cut corn field, baby being field.
Our portion was a big cut corner bean which over and then but over on the left. If you remember, there was a big box blind and c r p up on the hill.
Well, he chased the dough.
For an hour up there, and you keep going like, she's gonna come this way, She's got to come this way. It's yeah, and I'm in I'm in the little corner section.
He was going either to me or he was going to you, because we had the corners down.
I remember this.
And so we're waiting on the cross and he chases, and she'll go the other way and then she comes back. Well, by the time, dude, here she here, he comes here, she comes here, worked up?
Worked you seeing a hundred inch deer to see it a one that there is all every day, every bit on one sees that's what I figured.
That was a if that's the first one you've ever seen. It looks like a turner is there.
He might it might have been a unicorn. I've never seen anything like this in my life.
Ass.
So here comes the dough and she stops and looks right up at me. And it's dark, dude, I mean it's it's still shooting light, but it's it's dark.
And we're in that little where the woods. You know, you can still see out in front of you, but it's like and it's like, okay, she's right here, and he goes pump out thirty yards right and stands there, looks at me side like brought side. And so I'm already got my thing. And so when I draw back on him.
And I put it, and it's like, okay, just you're not gonna die.
You're not gonna die, You're not going either way.
Your heart's not gonna explode, which is what I felt like things.
So he's there and I can see the pin.
You know, that was old school where it was like, you know, twenty thirty, forty whatever with the and so whichever one. And those were all different colors too. This particular color was the hard one to see forty yards whatever he was. And so I can see the pin, or I can see the deer if I move, if I move my if I move my bow to the left, there he is right there. Well, put the pin back up there. I can't make it connect, you know what I mean.
Like totally.
I mean I can, but I can't really. But I know I've got to try to shoot this deer. You know, well not one time? How many arrows going to quiver? Is it?
For?
I had a bunch and I shot every one of them at this deer man everyone. So first shot goes soup and he takes two three steps. I shot under him and I say, okay, no big deal, knock another arrow, so back out again.
Over his back. Really, dude, it's each spot.
That you can miss the deer.
I missed him, and yeah, and he's hopped and he finally he finally runs off and I can't remember which direction because you running for me anyway. That's still haunts me. That still haunts me. And also yet another reason why and there's.
A different subject. But like, I just I hate both hunting hatred towards I don't hate it.
It's just like I'm gonna take my Raven crossboat card.
I'm gonna be and I'm gonna steal this.
I steal my hit one this year. And didn't you know what I mean, what's that.
Thing me and read talk about all the time. I mean, like, I don't think there's enough emphasis on the margin of error when it comes to bow hunting compared to anything with like the scope on it, unless that your dad's gone with the scope on it. It's like every it's it's way harder like it's very multiplied.
Yeah, and I think like.
Gun hunting is hard, it's it's your he's four hundred yards where even be nice fever seventy yards when he would love for him to be ten, you know what I mean.
Social media and TV make it look like it's easy, and they they portray bow hunting as, you know, something that you just can't go out there and do, but it's not.
It's it's a super I mean.
You went through this year even making a good.
Shot the past two years.
Yeah, with big deer, and it's a it's a it's a very rewarding, but it's also a very like bottom of the valley feeling too, when when you can't make something happen.
Yeah, it's dark and and and at that time too, we would start shooting around July Man.
That over in East Nashville. Remember I had you could get.
I remember I saw you shot that drunk. I saw Jonathan shoot the.
Decoy between the eyes. Drunk.
We had been on a motorcycle ride, dirt, a lot of implications in the drunk after the motorcycle. After the motorcycle ride, and he started drinking heavily at the house. It was a different time because I don't have done that. And he said, give me if I could shoot that decoy between the eyes. I was like, Jonathan, I've seen you shoot sober something and you ain't hitting that deer and it don't matter anyway. I mean I could see that in there or doing like figures, and it went and hit that though. I mean it was a decoy, but hit the target. I mean, you couldn't have wined it up, maybe better.
Than one that was twenty five or thirty. Do you remember how we would cheat forty yards?
No, he would go through the house, out to the sidewalk, over the fence into the other.
Fence, and that that was how you practice for.
We could sit here and do this all day. Dude, hate it up. Oh yeah, we love you man.
Thank you for your brother.
Yea to sing for your brother. We appreciate you coming.
The way dude.
Yeah, that's a wrap for us today. Thanks for hanging out with us in God's country.
We'll catch you.
We'll catch you next time.