Ep. 21: Brian Kelley on Buc-ee's, Bass Fishing, and His Tennessee Truth

Published May 28, 2024, 9:00 AM

This week out in God's Country Dan and Reid host former Florida Georgia Line member Brian Kelley to discuss the "Tennessee Truth" behind his new album. The guys gush over the best spots to fish in 30A, the famous Buc-ee's Brisket sandwich, and bass fishing. BK dives in on his debut "Tennessee Truth" album, sharing the inspiration behind this solo project, what it's been like pursuing his career solo after ten years with FGL, and what he hopes fans take away from this project. He sings one of the best renditions of "That Ain't My Truck" we've ever heard and has the ultimate plot-twist when he shares his "The One That Got Away" on this week's episode!

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What's up, y'all. You're off in God's Country with Reed, 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 BUCkies and.

Brisket, Brisket on the Ball or the Braves and the Nineties. Produced by Meat Eater in our Heart podcast.

We're gonna sit down with b K Brian Kelly today and got a new record out Tennessee Truth, a lot of great songs. I've listened to it. It feels like a good old boy's dream day, is what it feels like to me.

Yeah, he's authentic man to me. I mean, you can hear a lot of outdoors, a lot of a lot of fishing, a lot of hunting, a lot of Georgia Ish stuff going on in there in Florida. He feels heavily influenced by the things that we love and know about.

Ain't no doubt. Great songs, great guy, cool stories.

Cool necklace.

Yeah, cool necklace.

Y'all are gonna love this one, and I hope you love all of them out here in God's Country. Thanks for hanging out and we'll check it next time. Enjoy the podcast.

All right, we're gonna We're gonna jump right in.

Dude.

We've got Brian Kelly himself on a leather couch. Dan's dropping his statues.

I just want to first off, talk about the the drip right now. Though the drip, my man's got on what are the swans? Flamingos? I'm pretty sure flamingos flying across his chest. And I was telling him how hard that shirt went in the parking lot, and then I saw the chain. Can we can we get it out? It's hiding?

But uh, for a minute, dude.

I've met a third generation family jeweler out in Grand Junction, Colorado, years ago, and we have a really cool relationship. And you know, their son who's maybe close to my age. He's doing some really cool free form gold work custom stuff and so I reached out to him and I was like, man, can you do a tarpin like a big tarpain with like a little diamond eye. He's like, I got you.

Yeah, just yeah.

Because I was over there at a tour stop years and years ago, and so then we just developed a relationship where they sent me this amazing I'm not wearing it right now, but a beautiful ring. I bought something for Brittany, so kind of this back and forth, like I'd buy something, They're like, hey, let us take care of you on this, and so I just reached out and I was like, man, I'd love that. Just it means a little more when you have a relationship there and you can support a family business, you know.

And they're making you cool stuff like super customs stuff like that. You just dream up something and holler. I was telling Brian and Dan earlier the one time I've ever seen a tarpan. It was the most athletic thing I've ever seen an animal do. Is this tarpain coming out of the water. And I've seen like big bass coming out of the water and all that, but this tarpin felt like you said it, it was like a dinosa.

Man.

It was unreal.

Watching that thing and it probably it was probably out of the water six feet dude.

No, no joke, man, they just dance, man mouth.

And just him talk about sorry, more about.

It's no, it's it's amazing. It's it's addicting.

What's your favorite fish fly?

I'm not I'm not the.

Greatest, but I really really cool colored boat. That's the way to do it. I mean, regardless of how you do it. If you get a tarp and you get a tarping, that's a big deal.

But feel better.

No, it's just it's it's harder, it's sportier. You know, how big a fly do you have to? Like what kind of not that big?

I mean not not not you, I mean probably like like mine. Mine is probably like that little purple guy.

That's probably a ride dude catching the tarpain on the fly.

We always equate fly fishing to like the bowl, honey, Yeah, that's exactly what it is. Absolutely, probably a little more.

And any water fishing is you know, if you go drop down to the bottom fishing, snapper fishing, you know all that. That's that's awesome. Sometimes you never know what you're gonna get.

Yeah, I've done that. The thing with tarpin.

Fishing kind of like you said, bowfishing is you're looking, unless it's super murky or dark, you're you're you're like seeing what you're casting at.

You know what I'm saying.

They're coming by your boat and your your heart's beating a million miles an hour, and it's like I got to nail this cast and put it right in from make them eat it?

You know. So are you in the flats? Do you just form in the flats really when they're running.

It's been I mean it could be kind of flatsy. It's also been you know, we've been a little bit out in the gulf. I mean maybe five six feet you know, not not too flat.

But I've done a little bit of both.

Spot it's in Grayton Beach, so the tarpin run by in the gulf there. I've never caught a tarpin there. We go down to we go more east, kind of Apalachic cold.

I was real jealous a couple of years ago, and all my buddies were getting invites to come right with you and stay in there, and I even get on so.

Thanks, Oh it's an open invite.

Okay, okay, we know we would love.

To have down we can hunt fish and love it songs. That's right, that's right.

I talked to Randy. I was like, what's up, man, where you doing. He's like, oh, just hanging out, you know, down the beach. I was like, well, doing what He's like? I was just writing for BK. And I was like, cool man, good time man, right right, well, I'm about to start writing for some for some new studies.

So that's our jam down there. We go down to uh Seaside area, Eastern Lake, and that's where we stayed. Yeah, we live on Western Lake. No, live on Western Yeah we do. We caught some good fish out of Eastern We.

Can't stop, dude, we can't start telling everybody about that though. We won't be able to get those houses.

Well, the Western ain't produced, hadn't been produced. I hadn't really caught anything. I guess it's it's been a two weeks, but I tried for about a two and a half three weeks span. It was still I guess a little cool or something. But I mean I caught just a little I don't know what that thing was. Not what I was going for.

Yeah, so you're flying, you fly out of town, do some work, fly back, kind of.

Do we drive.

We used to bust it, but we're we're not too busy.

I'm kind of in between getting this record out and hopefully back half this year is kind of what we plan to be busier. So we typically over the years we just bust back and forth. But Brittany and I we brought we bought a sprinter van nice and we outfitted it with some Gunner kennels and so basically it's like our dog transport van. We've just been driving back and forth and that's awesome and it's been a nice change of pace, to be honest with you, it's like seven seven and a half hours of like some good family time. Man, we stopped the BUCkies, and it's nice to just kind of like be at a different pace and be a little bit more in control. And I enjoy driving.

Man.

Me and Brittany knock out. We do conference calls, We'll listen to songs, we'll chat about life, will scheme up.

Man, So what's next. Yeah, I just hit up a BUCkies for the first time.

They're crazy.

I was kind of like, I don't know, I don't know why, but like when there's a fad or something going on, it's almost like off putting to me a little bit, like I'm kind of being vulnerable here and just being honest.

Like my dad was like, dude, you gotta go to BUCkies. My buddy, you gotta go BUCkies. And I'm like, man, BUCkies, it kind of just looks like a big Walmart, Like they just scammed Walmart and tractors supply and a gas station all at the same time. Bro, I was wrong.

I was wrong. They got like no mad gears in there. I mean like there's a whole hunt there's a little.

Crazy section with like broadheads, and and then there's like a jerky wall.

There's like eight times more expensive than like.

No, it's like legit the same. It's the same.

Maybe maybe.

Yeah, they've got like fish feeders and wood stoves.

I mean they don't play around. Its crazy. Whoever thought of that? The guy mister Bucky or whatever.

Yeah, and then they do when there's brisket, Like when there's hot brisket, they go brisket on the boat, like across the whole BUCkies and you see people running over like.

The brisket on the boot.

That's the fact that they're up in like twenty four to seven too.

I'm pretty sure.

Absolutely don't know how they I don't even know how you go about doing it.

Is incredible. It's it's like a big Chick fil A. Everybody's real nice. Yeah.

I think this is inside information and I might not be able supposed to tell this, but.

Are you one hundred percent factual that it's true.

I go eighty five percent. He told me though, because if I say he told me an elite, you know, I don't get the guy like fire or something. But what they're doing, what I heard they were doing, remember on the internet, it's okay, is that uh they build each one like a foot bigger because everybody likes to say that they have the biggest gas station in the world, right, and so so they just built. When they build a new one, they make it a foot bigger so that guy can say, oh, we've got the Now we've got the biggest. And so they're building and make them bigger and bigger. And so me think about how much free promo that is, dude, that's a lot.

That's a lot of big BUCkies big.

Hell. No, I'm just kidding. I don't know. I just haven't yet because I got two kids on the kids would Eliza would love it, but would burn that motherbucker down. He would he burn it to the ground. Man. Oh that's awesome. It's a good stop though, because it's halfway up from the beach everywhere, like north of uh Birmingham in Burnham that one.

Yeah, And here's something, here's something I heard my Buddy is like a Bucky's freak and we stopped in the new Cody.

It's a Bucky's freaking.

He loved dude. I'm talking about he got poor crimes, he got jerky, he got a he got a some kind of wrap, like a like a brisket wrap thing. Ate it all it was in and a sundrop. But uh, he's telling me too.

He's like, they're like kind of their plan is they built where Like so if one's in Huntsville, they'll build one. Like the average a car can go or a truck and goes three hundred and twenty miles, they'll build one in three hundred and twenty miles. So when you are when you're driving on the interstate and you're getting towards this, there's gonna be a BUCkies and it's gonna give you the same awesome experience that you got at the other buck.

It's all about their business base.

They standing on it.

There's a guy that lives in the bathroom. I think he lives in the bathroom cleaning like and it's everything spotless.

It's it's pretty sjam up. It is next level. I wonder, Yeah, let's jam up.

Let's go back to let's go back. Yeah, let's go back to thirty a thing. Yeah, you'll have a you have a restaurant on the right.

We have a little burger bar man. Yeah, just opened into last year. This is this is our first. We just got through our first spring break, about to have our first real summer open.

Man.

Brittany and I found this old house back in I mean, I guess when we first moved there, and it was it looked run down. It was an old cafe. An old man lived there who used to run the cafe. And during COVID it went went up for sale. We got a good deal on it, and we kind of conceptualized, you know, we knew there was a need for burgers, and we love renovations. We love bringing in like our vibe with the old and had a cool story, had some history. Great location. No, it's right by you know shunk Goalie.

Yeah yeah, wait gold over there on Blue Mountain.

Yeah right right, yeah, right past Blue Mountains. It's like an alleyway right by uh shunk Goalie, right across Growler Garage and.

Pop a serf.

Man.

I appreciate this all come up on your on your Schemingnob, I had that name for years.

I actually used it as an LLC for something, and I go when I thought of it, I go, Babe, that's gonna be. I don't know if it's gonna be a T shirt company or shoe up with something. You know, one day we'll use it. And the timing was just right, and so then we kind of conceptualized it. And we were hanging out with the Glavens, Tom Glavin his wife and Chris Hall of Famer and good buddies, and we were down in Florida hanging out at Turingo drinking and we were like, Hey, this is what we're up to, and they're like, we'd love to be a part of that. So we combined, combined forces and took a second man because we had to jack that old house up, move it over, fix the foundation, redoce some stuff, move the house.

Battle over. So you kept the same building, the.

Same building, and then you know, we ripped out a all a c's new. You know, had to fix quite a bit it structurally, but uh yeah, man, just special. It would have been probably easier to, you know, for somebody to come in and build a bunch of condos, but that's not that's that's everybody else doing that. We'd rather have a cool burger shop and a vibe and somewhere that you know, in the backyard it's a big old magnolia tree with a bar built around it. Extra city and we'll do live music back there and it just kind of transports you to You're right on you know, right off the beach in thirty eight. But the backyard feels like Key West, you know.

So that's a good idea too, because burgers are not they like burgers are needed down there. The good We don't really eat a good burger when.

We always us shrimp for us to go. Feathers, go feathers till we love go feathers. Yeah, steam them up, ye, well, shunk go every now and then what's that? Man? There's used to be a place o there called the back porch or something or the back door.

The red door, red bar, red bar burned down and then they rebuilt.

There's some place so there was a hole in the wall and they would do all you can eat crab and I used to do, yeah, but then we used to. But now it's like you have to buy it by the place. COVID just killed all that stuff. Yeah there man, yep, all the what's the other place we used to go to? The commercial place we used to go?

Oh George would we would?

They wouldn't even go with we would.

We would drive every time we were down there and just pay the fifty dollars for the all you can eat and go to town.

Bro Gotta gotta hit PCB. I grew up going to PCB. So we lived in Ormond Beach, which is, you know, right right north of Daytona Beach, and went to high school in Daytona.

Lived in Ormond and as far as that that's it's not far is that that's still golf right, No, that's Atlantic, that's Atlantic Coast. Okay.

So Dad had his own little distribution company HT Marketing at Florida, and so for vacation, Dad would we would drive to Panama City. He would check on his accounts half a day, Me and mom and my sister would be at the pool, be at the beach, and then he'd meet up with us. But we'd go from one redneck riviera to the other one, which is kind of awesome.

Man.

So to love some PCB.

Man, we uh, my dad, this is a crazy story. But we used to have we used to go to church camp down there.

Oh yeah, go to the beach, Yeah yeah, yeah, right there between thirty eight and you know exactly.

What about I mean every summer, dude, we were like, you buy a new pair of shoes. You brought a new pair of Nike shores, new tank top, and then you ball in that thing all weeks, new.

Sunburn, get your little posky shehell neck down there.

Up soldiers up in the front jail. I don't know, it just woke up like that, just about the trying to get girls. Man, that's all church camp was though.

Yeah, I mean there was a lot of prayer with you aren't trying to get girls, You're just trying to get a girl's phone, omber, so you could you could talk long distance for a while.

You went all the Mississippi. I'm sorry, I'm taking dude, I just girl yeah to you can't even remember. But I ended up marrying mine, so I guess that kind of worked out on account. Yeah.

You you love worship for a little bit, right, I did.

Man, I started there. I started in gosh, it was really college. I got a little bit involved in the youth band in high school, but it was really just playing guitar and kind of filling in here and there. But when I got to Florida State, I got red shirt in my freshman year playing baseball, and I didn't find out till like the week before the season started. So I went like that whole time. Then I found out, So you don't play and you don't travel, and so I had a lot of Sundays in town, and so I got involved with the First Baptist Tallahassee and started just playing guitar. I just wanted to be involved. I was a fan of Johnny die As who he had. He had a couple of brothers that played at Florida State. He was a musician. He played, I think, and then gave it up just to do music. But I was a fan of what he was doing. And another guy named Paul, who's really great at guitar, great worship leader. So I just wanted to get involved. My sister had gone to that church when she was at Florida State. I had been in some services visiting her there, and the chaplain for the baseball team was the college pastor there, so there was a lot of connections there and yeah, getting it getting involved there and then the second year still doing it. And then when I moved back to Daytona Ormond to go to Daytona State College, helped out at first Baptist Daytona leading there, and even when I got to Belmont, I was helping a little bit. There was a Wednesday night service called Sounadia got involved leading there.

And then does that mean Sunday in Spanish?

You would think, I don't know, I'm not.

I hope it does right now. I really do.

Soon, Adia, you will find the Lord. I don't know, but but that was cool. And then actually out at Crossroads in Lebanon, Yeah, let out there for a while.

What was your song? What was the killing?

What the hands go up on when you sang?

There's a Hillsong song?

That was?

What was it? All of them all?

I mean I got into Hillsong big time right in college.

What was it?

I'd have to think about it.

Can figure it out.

It's an older one. It's an older one. It's not it's not curious.

I bet we know it for sure.

Who you say, I am?

Nope, this I believe nope.

Mm hm.

They had more than two songs.

Christ is enough broken vessels through it all? Still this I believe God is the power of your love.

They dropped a lot of new music this time. Our fact checker over.

Here, that's uh went to school to be a fact checker. Give us a call.

And what was it?

Never Walk Alone, Awake My Soul, Open, Heaven, Calvary.

We're Fresh? Is it? The Stand?

Is that one that sounds like a deer song about it?

The Stand? The sand?

Yep? We go fact checker.

Yeah, it was originally a song by Michael W.

Smith. Oh, I didn't know that. When you were growing up in Ormond, did you do some hunting and fishing, mostly fishing?

Yeah, yeah, man, Uh, the mountain's tough down there, right, I mean it's probably pretty decent, but you know, my dad didn't hunt, he fished, and that's that's kind of where.

You know.

We grew up on the Tomoca River for half of my life growing up.

That's a cool river name, yeah, Tomocha River.

And that was you know, we'd catch tarping there, catch bass, and then we had a retention pond that emptied out, spilled out into the river who kind of down the street and some neighbors would let us fish that and that's where I cut my teeth catching bass man, I'll never see that.

I was like, okay, gotcha, that's under the under the skipping risk, skipper yep.

And I remember being in I mean, I want to say it was fifth grade and the first time I ever caught a large mouth bass was not on purpose. So me and my buddies we were this is like figuring out fishing. We're catching brim. We're catching brim all weekend long, and we catch like fifty or sixty brim. We just toss him back. One day I had something. I was like, this is not a brim. This is clearly not a brim. And we were just using little bread balls catching brim. And what we think happened was I had a brim on and a bass came up and snagged it.

For sure.

And so I mean, this thing, this thing was a freaking huge bro pregnant, fatty huge. We were freaked out, we were excited, we were all the things. And so we had a call. We had want My buddy had to go run up to which wasn't far on his bike to go get his older brothers to get the hook out.

We're like, holy, you got a large mouth bass.

And so from that moment on we've been hooked, and it's just it's just, uh, it's you know, we were we would hit golf course ponds, we'd hit lakes, friends, lakes, anywhere where we could find bass.

That's still probably.

I love tarbon fishing, love you know, deep sea fish, and love you know sailfish, mark all that.

I love that.

But at the end of the day, man, if I could walk a bank of a lake or a golf course or just a little river or something with just looking for bass, man, I was out doing it yesterday all weekend long, and it's just awesome.

Man.

It makes you feel like a kid. And bass are aggressive. When you get a good one, man, it's a.

It's a blast.

I've told this before, but we've got a lake behind our spot in our community that's private, and Florida is Florida strain bass are some of the most aggressive.

The f one is what the column. But that's what everybody stocks their ponds up up here with. Just because they grow.

Bigger, they're more aggressive, they're they're more fun to catch. And I can't imagine growing up down there.

That's the good old days, though, right man, When you're just like pond hopping with your buddies.

That's right, not knowing what you want, cats don't care, trying to cast around little alligators that are coming up to you. I don't know that.

Yeah, thanks, But you know it's cool because I think that's this is what the country community is is. You know, I didn't necessarily grow up hunting. Always appreciated it, and and but like I had friends and family, friends and people along the way that have opened that world up to me. And that's huge. Man. My wife loves hunting. She grew up hunting more than me. Really, you know, I grew up fishing. Any chance I got that, I wasn't traveling for baseball baseball practice, Like there was a there's a fishing ride in my truck as soon as I could drive.

Where's she from? Where's from?

Floa Villa, Georgia, which is I guess the biggest this town would be like near near Ish would be making Gotcha, which isn't a huge town.

But yeah, man, I know where you're at for Georgia. Girl.

That's cool, girl, dude, nice. She gets two glasses of wine. She fights, particularly changes to a different human. It's pretty. You gotta watch some Coastcals. Dude, you're ugh, So you did you still?

You said you're yesterday? Where were you fishing yesterday?

We bought a little place out western Nashville. Just closed on it like two weeks ago, thank you, thank you. So it's got a creek that runs through it and it's damned up. Nice little pond and it kind of spills back into the creek. But yeah, man, I found this. It's kind of funny how we found this place. I'd been staring at it for a while. Eighteen acres not huge. We used to have about a sixty two acres, yeah, I think, And so I was staring at it for months, and then finally I was like, man, I don't I'm looking for something. I don't know if eighteen acre is gonna be enough for what I'm looking for.

And I reached out to the realtor.

I'm needing to do a photo shoot for my album. I'm like, this place looks like my freaking album. So the owner was like, yeah, come on out, you can shoot whatever. So we get out there and it was it was the snow day a couple of months back here in Nashville, so it was kind of hard getting down there and it was all white, and so we get there and of course I fall in love with this place in person, the craftsmanship. It's beautiful cabin, little guest cabin right on the creek, and I'm starting to ask.

Wall. Yeah, I'm like, show me the property lines, like where where's exactly around this place? Yeah, for sure that's what happens.

Curious and Turkey's on that place too, Yeah, absolutely, So we ended up purchasing it, and uh, we just fell in love with it.

Man, just a little hide away and.

If you need anybody to manage, you know, yeah, watching some property lines. I know a couple there we go, Deer running around there too.

Yeah, I've got some cams up. I've seen there was.

A h dang it, he's already something out there.

This morning right in front the guest cabin. There's a couple of deer.

I've seen.

There's a coyote this morning. There's a bunch of geese walking around, which I didn't know they were gonna be there.

You know, we might have to geese management.

Yeah, it's important. You got to keep a manage. A guy called me the day and I love you. This is my favorite kind of calls like you ever get. And it was like probably the beginning of March, and he was like, hey, man. I was like, what's up. He's like, so, can I just shoot turkeys? And I was like what. He's like, Man, these turkeys are like peeling the paint off my cabin.

Dude.

He's like, they're literally pecking the paint off my bottom layer of his cabin. He's like, and my buddy said that if they're being a nuisance to my place of residence, that I can just shoot him.

I was like, no, you can't.

No, you can't even kind of shoot them. I was like April thirteen, and he was like, all right, man, we'll get over there and take care of him, you know. So just in case, I'm just putting this out there for the world to know. If you need you got some you know, rather large bucks that are just tearing up your shrubs, or maybe on the lookout you got some big fish, little fish you know we need you know you need them taking out Just give us, dude.

I'm gonna call you. We're gonna write a bunch of songs out there. We're kind of southwest, but yeah, it'd be easy access, dude. Uh do your dogs live it up there?

Uh, we've only brought two of them, one at a time. We're still doing some clean up stuff out there. You've got four German shepherds, right, yeah, we sure.

Do what four German sheper Yeah yeow yeahs all boys, all girls.

We've got three girls, one boy.

Man.

They're just they're just fun.

Brittany grew up with a German shepherd in Georgia and I always was fascinated with him. I had some buddies growing up that had some German Shepherds, and I don't know, they just kind of fit our life.

Man.

We love being outdoors, we love being active. They're great security dogs. Oh yeah, they're they're so freaking smart. They're uh, you know, nine and the rest of them are ten and are about to be ten. And so we've got them. They're such a great pack man. I mean, they know exactly what we're saying.

That they're in their groove right now.

But the guy that the guy that we bought this place from, he had a wolf in the backyard. So we're still getting that that kennel system torn down. Like a legit, legit wolf, like not not a friendly one, not one that you like hang out.

With Remember that guy in Illinois that had a wolf, Yes, he did, and it was when we were up there deer hunting those few years. There was a guy that had a wolf and he's like, you want to come see my wolf? And I was like, I think you know and like, but he was like it was it was the same thing. He was not, He didn't, he was not.

He loved him, but nobody he would have ripped my leg off like a chicken leg if he was wolves, I think, dude, Like, I mean, he rescued him, but but I want to go out to like Montana, Yellowstone and do like the do like the Sunrise.

Wolf package if you will. Yeah, basically you're like on like wolf Safari, but you're not hunting. You're just out there like watching it. I would call and do what they do?

What wolves do? You know?

You're at you like the West?

You You're like, I like it all, man, I really do. I'm pretty seasonal, you know. Like I say, I love being out in the country. I love being down at the beach and I've got to go ski once or twice a year and then I even love you know, one of my best buddies is Ben Christiansen. He lives out in Arizona and so he loves the desert vibe. And we're actually headed out there here in a couple of weeks, and I think we're hitting Lake Powell. Hadn't been out there yet, but that's going to be a nice setting. Just man just experiences the same.

I noticed that in your music though, like that grace transition run at grace for I in your music. Like I remember when when you first came out with the Beach album that we weren't a part of. I was like, man, this thing is good, dude. I appreciate it. I loved my jam was made by the Water Day that was my JAMDA and this. But you can tell in that and even just kind of like like from your social stuff and not that I did some deep dive. I just kind of have known you. We kind of came to town at the same time, ran in different circles. But I watched the progression, you know, through the career, and I'm like, man, this guy, this guy gets it. Like I feel like you understand what you love and you're scared to kind of just sing about that and order to write about that. How do you feel so you went beach and then bam, tennessee truth, Like, what do you I mean? That's a hard swap, right, Like, that's a hard switch, but you're The theme stays the same as far as like who you are?

Yea?

What does the song Acre? I gotta hear? I want to know Acres, Dude.

Acres is out? Dude, tell me about Acres, man. That's honestly one of my favorite songs on the record. I wrote that with Adam Sanders and Will Weatherley and just at the house and man, we're just kind of messing with titles, and I had this title called Acres, and you know, we're just trying to figure out what to do with it, and then we just kind of settled on you know, I just resonated with that title. That's why I wrote it down. But Brittany's family farm in Muzella, Georgia is a place that's been a place of refuge, fun hunting family for since we've been married, you know, over ten years now, and so, uh, just going out there. Man, they've got you know, fourteen hundred acres and sometimes it's.

Hunting, sometimes it's fishing.

Sometimes it's literally nothing, just sitting on the front porch and just hanging out. You know.

Is it a family I guess you have that a while.

Yeah, we've written some songs out there and kind of done it all, and we've got to go there a couple of times a year at least, just just to obviously see family hang But it's it's.

Good for the soul.

You're a bit of a nomad.

You know. I love it.

Man, sounds like you travel and so yeah, it was just like the theme of like, you know, when I put her in the middle of some makers, you know, like she loves it.

I love it. Yeah, it's a song.

It's a simple thought, you know, it's not it's not new information. I think we phrased it a little different. But it's just about enjoying the country and and being out there fishing, enjoying each other's company, making some drinks and just everything that goes with that. So it's a simple song. But the production sounds great. Dan Huff crushed it.

He crushed the whole record.

I appreciate whole record sound, and that's what listening to it driving in this morning, that's dude. It feels like there's the first half of that record feels like the best weekend.

Of my life. You know what I'm saying, like it feels like it just feels like a good old boy's dream. Man. That whole thing, go my Streets sounds like a song. Trucks, Bucks, ducks, trucks, Is it bucks or ducks? First?

Trucks, ducks, bucks and beer.

Dude.

The second verse of that, when you're talking about churches missing, you know when when season rolls around, church is gonna misbelievers. And then the line of looking in fields because you never know what's gonna be running around.

Dude, they did it on the way this looking.

In fields looking for turkeys when that.

And then looking at pawns not knowing what's in there. Bro, that is my life.

That's like, that.

Is my life, and that's I connect so much with that stuff. I appreciate that. My jam is ten o'clock this guy. Look, dude, that is a vibe.

And I didn't even write that song, and you would think I would have heard and Michael Tyler sent me that song, and I was like, I've lived that song.

I am living that song.

And you know, for me, that was kind of a wink and kind of a drawback to the anchor of Sunshine state of Mind that could have I didn't.

I didn't.

I wasn't aware of that song at the time, but that could easily fit on Sunshine state of Mind, you know. And so to draw people back kind of to that, but to kind of talk about what you said, man, you know, it's all me. It's all genuine, and it's all authentic. It's just sharing more of myself and more of what I'm into. And at the same time, you know, so much has changed in my life. You know, when I made Sunshine state of Mind, the world was shut down. It was such a different place. I dove into creativity and songwriting when you know, our worlds were flipped upside down. And you know, at the time when I was making it, you know, we still had FGL dates on the books, and I I was thinking that it was all going to be working together and for me, I was wanting for both to happen. But with that not happening, man, I just I made Sunshine State of Mind with all all of that in my head of a sonic respect to what we had built. So you know, Sunshine state of Mind could be this thing with FGL still existing, where it's not treading on any waters obviously years down the road. Tennessee Truth, Man, it was important for me to just go as hard as I can with what I love and who I am and be able to you know, throwing my influences of nineties country and also there's some obviously roaring guitars and some bigger sounds on this, and to utilize the best players in town, to utilize Dan Huff on solos and as a producer. So I really consider it, you know, Tennessee Truth my debut record more than Sunshine State of Mind. I'm really proud of that. But so much was so different in life than and it wasn't it was a playful album. It wasn't supposed to be this like career defining yeah moment. I just you know, I dove into songwriting and helped me get through a tough time of what do I do with all this time that we're not busy?

Sure?

And so but I'm grateful I did that, man, because if I didn't do that, I wouldn't be where I'm at now and have have this journey.

But it's a great record, man, I mean, the Truth is too. I'm just I liked.

Season two is coming at some point. Nice, I'm already mentally scheming on it.

Maybe I got.

Some guys, Probably need to get some songs for that song. May this one summer with your lagoon to camp.

Yeah, we were singing Casside Crowns and some jam campdim.

Trunk, dropping notes and yeah, let's go.

Let's go back to your your upbringing, the music? Who got you into it? What was your what was your first memory?

Wait? Can I do one more of what? X summers it? Yeah, smashed it?

Thank you, bro.

I appreciate you songs smash a smash.

It felt like a smash.

Songs that smashed it when I was clicking. I was listening to them today and I was just like, man who wrote this? I was like, yep, you know what you're doing as a hit.

It felt like a big hit to me too.

I appreciate that.

Yeah, I love that one.

Thank you.

I love all of them, but that one, that one, that one got my.

Appreciated my ear really hard. Hell yeah, what was your upbringing? What was your first memory of music?

I guess I mean being really really engaged with with music and being like, oh, we're going to the We're going to Camelot to go to the music store to get it was like that the mall Camel Yeah, were the same age. Wait, I'm thirty eight, I'm forty And there was like media play out by the mall.

You remember that one. I think you're from small town Tennis they did. We didn't have stripple.

We had to go out in Daytona, which was way further from Ormond. At the time, it seemed like that.

But yeah, but I remember.

I mean, there was one song that we heard. My sister got me into. She got me into country music.

She is my older sister got me into a twenty music. But it was like genuine oh yeah, Black Streets Courney at seven forty us got two minutes left. She's like, well she was. But the song was like that.

Yeah Wink by Neil McCoy. When we heard that song, Wink, oh dude, we went to the record store and got a cassette, man, and I was absolutely hooked. All she got to do is give me that wing slam bam. I thought that was I thought that was so freaking awesome.

Is that to have stuff down with feeling all right? True? Think of man, no need to sastead.

Oh, she's gotta do is just give me.

That away, you know hit.

Yeah, it's a hit. That song was such a hit.

That's it's a smash, lots of energy. But that that began like my obsession with collecting, listening, the whole process, like, oh, we're going to go to the record store. If I work hard, if I mowed the grass, I can get a little bit of money.

I can do some work. And we caught me and dn't call that the grind. That was our ground. Yeah that's right, man, twenty five bucks a yard. Dude.

We was rich. Dude. We couldn't even drive. Our dad would take us on his way to work and drop the trailer, the weed eater and the little riding John dere Off and oh yeah, he would go to work. We would mow the yard and then.

Just sit there on scorching.

Six hours and then he would come back go to the back of heat. You remember we turn that.

Foss and oh yeah, out of the back of the of the it was a insurance agency.

Yeah man, but the same thing we would. We would make that money and then go buy baseball cards or CDs whatever it was.

I mean, I can remember, like because I remember we bought I bought Jagged Little Pill that Atlantis Morn said, Oh dude, that was one of my first and that to back.

In the day.

That and then the hoodie the Blowfish, one of the first hoody the Blowfish that had letter Man. Yeah, pretty cool.

I listened to I had the Jackson five Greatest Tips and carry's greatest tips.

In the R and B world. He was you shouldn't love.

But then you know, it went from like wink Neil McCoy went to like Alan Jackson, Garth Brooks, Chesney, I mean, just huge, huge Garbrooks.

I mean I remember that was every sing he came out with, this is My life ten, you know or whatever.

But I loved THEE have the Double Live. Yeah, there was a song called your Song.

You remember that one?

I remember that.

It was basically gosh, I might be making this up. This on the live version, get mixed up. It was your song that gave me wings?

Why am I thinking it's a Billy Joe song, John Elton John song? Thanks?

Is it Elton John?

Yeah? I can't take credit for that, but same guy, same guy.

They did the same thing bat on piano.

But that when I heard him get like choked up singing that on the live version. That was like, man, he's like like Dad, Dad gets choked up. That's that's real.

I like that. I like, you know, like that always.

I'd always go to that song and it would make me emotional, and I was like, yeah, that's what country music is. It's emotional.

It's real.

It's like to hear him put his parents on a pedestal. There's a great example all the way around. Man, that's one song that sticks out to me that I'm like the live version change.

Some calls weak those standing outside good that, but I don't know depending I think that's what it was. God.

That is that the video where he throws something in the in the fireplace like he throws a book.

Broad But you missed completely. This was when the guys running Olympics. Yes, maybe guys running standing outside the fire? All right?

What other lyrics?

It's so good some callers we those.

Cigarette sing it.

Brian, you call him cool those cars has no scar to show the ones that never do let go and rest of the tables.

In turn, he's calling fools who.

Have to dance within the flame, who chanced the sory and the shame that always come out scrawled to get him burn. Oh, here we go, pus.

You got to be tough when consumed by his eyes, because it's not enough.

Just to stand outside.

You're gonna go standing outside the fight. Standing outside the fire.

Life is not tried. It is merely survive.

If you're standing.

Outside the fire, it's go.

Let's go, dude. My brain was, God.

My brain was cranking. He has not played I've never played that. First off, I haven't heard that in fifteen years.

Probably that's my core.

You you're gonna be able to go back and look at this video and literally my.

Brain you were going to cross.

But in my sea walking up from the jam guard. Oh my goodness, cars, dude.

I mean you know, Garth is garthing people people going back to that people our age. I'm thirty six, thirty eight, forty dude, that right now, especially in counch of music because because that age group is coming up. Bro Garth was he was the man.

Yeah, and he influenced all of us at some point probably every put.

Respect on his name, like he was completely influential on everything.

Oh, absolutely, he is next level man. I was watching him in Tricia's Prime Bar, behind the scenes making of just next level manal guy is just he's just a stand up guy, you know what I'm saying, hard worker. I remember watching a video. I mean it's like early nineties behind the scene tour of Garth and he's up on like the lighting rigs back in the day, like before the show.

With the with the lapel. Yeah, dude, coming out of the he was like, I mean he was like helping set up. Yeah, I'm like, man.

Like on the bus, like getting to work out of he's rest the rigging up stuff.

I'm like, dude, loved it. He's probably still does. He probably does. I'll never forget see him coming out of rafters bro playing we shoot up out of the stage, man shoot they shoot him up at the stage.

When the fly though.

Yeah.

Yeah, he was flying around like folks leaving. Don't know what she's leaving. Uh.

What you got this summer? You got some You got some dates coming up? Yeah, we got some festivals. Really excited about that.

Got Watershed, got a couple of other good ones man kind of choice festivals. I'm really excited about that. That are a first for me doing the solo thing.

Jeez, I was just about to get that. You're getting there already.

That's great, that'll be good.

How does that feel?

Man?

Is it different going out there and going stretching your wings out?

You know? Yeah? Yeah, man, I mean it's really.

Like the proppery you've done all kind of stuff.

Yeah, I've been very fortunate, man, but just just kind of attacking it, you know, enjoying it and enjoying building and join the grind because that's what it is.

Man.

You know, it's not like I'm I'm going immediately to headlining build.

At earlier, earlier spots.

But man, I'm really really proud of the band and the crew that I was symboled over the past you know, two years. Uh, we really feel confident to kind of show up at any time slot anywhere and put on a great show and be able to connect with fans and and more importantly, man, I'm really excited this record being out to be able to play all your songs. You know, I played a couple for a while that weren't out and just testing them out, and but for them to be able to at least you know, on the way home, like pull up King Ranch, like I can finally listen to it now acres whatever.

So my King Ranch.

Does some of these shows and some of these experience that you're having now as a solo artist, does it kind of feel like that first time feeling again?

It does? It does, man.

You know, both are great. The FGL days were great. I'm so thankful for them.

Yeah, and they were great, you know, they were great. And captain in my own ship.

Now it's it's different, man, It's it's still it's great, exciting. It is exciting, man.

And I can tell I can see that you're like, you're genuinely excited about what you're doing.

And my parents, you know, my dad's eighty one, my mom is seventy five.

Our dad's eighty one.

Yeah, he's from He grew up in Man. He grew up in Nashville. He was born in Palmersville. Dresden moved to Antioch like two and a half years old. He went to Antioch High School. He went to Belmont way back in the OG. So that's also kind of part of Tennessee Truth. There's so many some it has so many meanings. For me, Tennessee Truth is really at the end of the day, I'm no different than whoever's going to be listening to this music.

I'm pretty simple, dude. I work hard.

My core values are God, family, country, you know, and and having deep Tennessee roots. I've got tons of aunts and uncles out in Hendersonville, cousins, Gallatin.

You know.

It's and obviously Nashville, Tennessee has given me so many opportunities over the years since two thousand and seven, since I've been here. So and obviously I took the title from kiss my Boots, but it's got a lot of different meanings, and I just thought it was different. I like, I like when people over the over the years have maybe even other genres have, you know, put an album titled of something that's.

Not a song.

I thought that was a little different. That was a little mysterious and a little.

You're so mysterious, dude, I'm sous.

Mysterious.

Eyes so freaking.

All right, Well, let's get into we do two things. We do gravorite and then the one that got away. Uh, let's favorite song, It's greatest slash.

I'm gonna go ahead and pick this up and pretend like I know what he's gonna say. I bet you do.

And this this brings me back to, uh, you know, my country music history and getting into it and my sister sharing it with me, and and being able to hang out with her older friends that had a truck and be able to drive around in this truck and listen to this song.

It's right. It's about a truck.

That's right.

It's a song from the nineties. It's about a truck. I'm putting twenty You wanna take a twenty dollar bet that I know this?

Uh yeah, well no, because because that would mean I would be out twenty bucks. You just took me two.

So what is it?

Dny Glecker?

You got it?

I got the first version chorus that ain't my truck.

Twenty bucks is mine?

Try a start.

There it is.

Yes, I covered this song of my first ever live getting dude.

She's been good with me.

Come on, Brian, she's been going out with him.

Said she let us know bye to nine which one it would be. So I waited by the phone, but she never called me up hading No was go and come on?

So I drove by her. If you know what singing you that ain't my stress?

In her drive?

Man?

This same my dad and mine.

It looks like she's in love and mad love.

That ain't my shadow?

Alone, Lord, Joe up, good at all.

That's my girl, my whole work.

That ain't my true it's a good one, right there, Come on, man, jam good job, good job.

I'm sorry you cut that guitar.

I'm just kidding. We can go back and punch that. We can do it again this year.

That sorry, that's okay, that's great. I love that.

Yeah, I love that song.

Classic man if Rhett or somebody recut that, or if he even released this smash and m I still hear it on the RADIOA you know, it's just somebody lived that song. And I know a lot a lot of people live that song. But whoever wrote that. I mean, I know Rhet wrote it, but somebody. It's just it's incredible. It's inspiring songs still today, like Cavin a solo. I mean, that's like the modern day. Yeah, that ain't my truck.

It's like a yeah, I know what you're talking about. Occasionally a song comes along that just like cements in your brain and goes man, because I was were you me and you were probably thirteen when they came out, Like we didn't even have a truck, right, but somehow we felt that dude, we felt Reds paid that song, and I think that's that's probably one of the one of the first examples that comes to my mind when you think of like a like an uptimpo negative you know what I mean? That was that was not a positive song. He lost this gap, but dude, it felt.

You can learn so much from that song, just the songwriting. And yeah, I mean it's it's funny because like it's all about you guys a writer, so you know, I mean, it's like it's once you have that title or that hook, mostly kind of know how to how to get from A to B and like, but it's it's about getting that that hook and that thought. Absolutely, I'd love to know how they landed on that. Obviously probably a real situation, Like but that's those hooks, man, are they're They're hard to come by because it's just lived out real thing.

For sure.

He probably pulled up somebody pulled a win. Man, ain't ain't my truck, dude, Yeah, for real, I'm trying to think if I've ever wrote up to a girl I thought I was dating's house and gone, man, it ain't my truck. I probably hadn't. I probably went, man, that ain't my civic.

Yeah, that ain't my hand me down. As Susie Rodeo cranks on the third drive. My Rodeo would be that's that would work?

Thanks for don't you go right?

D have to cut that out, Grace. I'm sure that I wasn't part of that. What do you try to say? B K this time of the show for the one that got We're pros around here.

We're pros, all right, minor league pro there you go.

We're like triblouble.

I like it, yeah, formerly, I like it.

Thankfully. This could be that fish could be, this could be anything. All right here, you hamburger.

I've got a good one, guys, and I'm gonna throw y'all a curveball here because I'm an old baseball player.

I'm the one that got away.

I am the one you only got away.

I've got a story happened last fall. Was out in California for a show and got there the day before, stayed the night out at Shutters in Santa Monica, and the next morning day of show. That afternoon, I had about an hour and a half drive out to u Kaipa, California.

Great spot. The show was great, people were great.

Great name saying some great time figured, you know.

I was like, I'm gonna stay out at the shutters right on the beach safe. It's cool, it's a vibe. I'm gonna do that. Brittany was back home working on some Tribe Kelly stuff, getting ready for a launch at the time, and so I'm out there by myself and I wake up in the morning.

It's probably like eight eight fifteen. It's early.

I'm gonna walk up go get some coffee at Dogtown Coffee. It's like two and a half blocks from this place. So I call Brittany put her on speakerphone as I'm walking up.

I'm in why don't we talk on speakerphone? I do the same thing.

I don't know.

If I call I am, it's immediately convenience. Yeah, I just feel like I hear better. It's probably the twenty years of symbols. Its probably lowered hour. Yeah, yeah, you.

Thank god I didn't have my headphones in because this story might have ended a little bit. But uh so I got her on speakerphone. I'm not dressed like fancy or anything. I got my Hokas shoes on, I got board shorts, a T shirt and a hat.

Did you have the tarpan on?

No?

No, I didn't, thank God, but I like it.

Saltwater drip.

Yeah, there you go. It's a good name right there.

Just speaking, yeah, falling out of my mouth.

So I'm walking up. I passed the first block, I'm up a little bit of a hill. I'm halfway up the second block, and there is a we'll call him a transient man that's probably a little nicer.

Sure, that bit of a nomad.

And he is, uh, let's be honest here, he's whacked out of his mind. Unfortunately.

What do you think that choice was? This basalt days?

Probably?

And so I'm walking up he's turning the corner and he's yelling at a bicyclist that's turning this corner. Who's on the road, a bicyclist.

They're yelling profanity at each other. We'll keep it, we'll keep it. Pg.

Thirteen.

Like, and I'm like, oh my gosh, what am what am I walking into here? Brittany goes, babe, what's going on?

Hold on?

Give me a I go, well, I'm not going to continue walking past this guy. This guy's having a bad.

Morning, this situation.

Yeah, so I kind of stop I'm like, all right, cool, I'll just kind of like slowly keep my eys eyes on him and walk back this way. So then he starts walking my way, and he starts talking to me and yelling at me, and he's like, you.

Too, mother, effort cat his hands too.

You've been stalking me all morning. I'm like, oh my god, telling you you've been stocking him.

Yeah, And I'm like, I just walked up here, I just walked in.

I just woke up, I just walked off. I just want some freaking cough. I just woke up and walked up. Yeah.

Yeah.

And so I'm like at this point, I'm sussing it out.

The situation.

I go, I can take him if I need to force comes worse, I can outrun him because I got my hookahs on.

Don't need that press though, and I don't.

Know what he's got on him all the things. I just out in like like real quick. And this is the fight or flight.

You have to do. Anybody knows that.

And so I eased myself back to the edge of the the intersection right there. There's a car right behind me waiting for a red light. He's at this point screaming yelling at me, coming at you, and I was like, man, it's all good, it's all good. It's no worries. I'm just trying to talk on the phone my wife. All good, no problem here.

While she's like, yeah, he gets real close, like about to walk up in my face, and I just said back to f up, like screamed at him, and I took off running.

Smart.

So I got around this car. I knew I could get right around the car. I crossed the street, and then I crossed the other street because once.

I got there, I got it.

Give you some time, and then I had a straight away down the hill to the hotel.

Forty Were you stretched out or you feel like, man, I'm going to pull some man.

I wasn't concerned about that, you know. Honestly, I was willing to risk a hammy to get out of that. I feel that the hammy or the knuckle going, you know. And so I'm I'm hauling down this this hill to the hotel. He's running after me, even at me, and Brittany is on speaker.

She goes, Babe, what's happening. I go, I'm running from this guy. Give you a second.

You know what if you just said, I'll call you back. What you really need to do that, I mean, honestly.

Yeah, And so I get down there's valet and everybody down there, and he finally comes up and he's screaming at me, and I go, y'all, this guy is out of his mind, and uh so that we're calling security, and so he he just took off on the beach and walked away.

Dude, you are the one that's the first one where the artist was the one that great. That's great.

I've been waiting to tell that story. Hadn't told it on camera exclusive everybody, now, there's no chance he would have caught me.

Look at these legs, man, nobody he's boots and pants are hiding some pretty nice calf muscles. I got my dad's calves.

Mind, dude, I stretched my pants out or something. I think you'd probably be a quick cat man. You got like the leads. You're taller, and I thought you were.

What did you play? Did you pitch?

You pitched and played first?

Left a little bit outfit left back, Little Randy Johnson.

I see them, see little Randy Johnson.

What were you throwing? What was your speed? Man? Not as not as hard as I would have liked.

Oh yeah, no, it was like mid to high eighties.

You know. I hit very yeah, very finesse uh nasty curve coming over the top. My curve was dirty Tom, of course.

Yeah, I wanted Tom back in the day. That's it's the funny thing that we're buddies now and have a burger situation together. But like between him and Steve Avery, who were both on the braids, like I, we would watch my dad and I we watched freaking braves games. We would put barbecue ranch in regular seeds in a tupperware thing and mix them all up, not know and.

Wash the Let's do let's do the lineup, maddox yep, well, hang, let's go.

Let's go. Okay, you know, Maddix on the mount. Let's do that. Let's just pitch it first, Lopez behind the I mean we could pitch the start pictures, Glavin small small, Oh, I forgot you forgot about smoverydn't think Avery.

That's a deep and that's a deep dive.

And then closing Wallers.

That's right, Mark, remember that guy, he had a mull that I'm pretty sure.

N he came later. Okay, first base, frem griff god a second, wait a second before Fred McGriff, David Justice played a little first he did, but they moved him to a hobby behind the plate. Fred McGriff second was Blauser.

No, shout out, vernessed isbel markin limp key shout out. That was the one we could never get in. Our granddad was sitting there. He was sitting like this and where he was hanging.

Were there nobody in this world? Maybe your dad watched as many Brave games as he he watched.

We named the whole they were Mississippi.

Yeah, and he went, he was listening to just do it, shaking his head.

He went, lemon key blauser at short, they had a couple of short Chipper came in and then Shipper Chipper played third as well.

Who was their other third? I don't know.

Bring up the ninety seven Braves then you go, uh, David Justice and right.

Kenny often played a little center?

Was Kenny was?

It was later days?

I forgot about that one.

Yeah, he played and before he went to the Indians.

Yeah, who was center? My center was? Was the other Jones center field? For the nine seventh Brave Andrew came in Andrew the young kid, Chipper, and he came in. Yeah, Clusco left field. I thought he played first left field. Who's dude, they were static.

Chipper Jones was third base.

Who was ninety seven?

It was who was before like ninety four ninety.

Five'll have to read anyway close enough. That's pretty There's another catcher too, who played catchers.

Hobby Hobby and then Hobby Yeah Hobby Love. Yeah, dude, what a dude. That's the team of that. That was just like.

Garth and the Braves.

Good times man, good title too.

There were great times. And that's half the record.

Your new record, your record. We're working getting crazy. B K.

You're the man.

I appreciate you, has been, but I'm even bigger now.

I appreciate you man.

I love what y'all do.

Thanks for including me, and I'll keep preussing. I'll come back and video any man.

Thanks for b Yeah, BK.

Kelly, listen to Tennessee Truth. It's out now. Thanks for hanging out in God's country and we'll catch you next time.

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God's Country

“God’s Country” with brothers Dan and Reid Isbell is a rollicking weekly podcast that sits at the in 
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