December 2, 2024 • 59 mins
Rodney Atkins, a country music legend with six #1 hits, eight top-5 singles, and over 4 billion streams, has been a defining voice for three decades. Known for anthems like “Watching You,” “Take A Back Road,” “Going Through Hell,” and “Farmer’s Daughter,” his music is a reflection of his deep values—family, faith, and country living. He’s back with a new anthem “True South,” defining even more what he stands for and his strong country roots.
Adopted as an infant, Atkins has embraced the power of unconditional love, channeling his devotion to his sons in songs like “He’s Mine.” His journey of self-discovery has shaped both his music and his identity. Since 1996, he’s been with Curb Records, staying true to his rural roots in Cumberland Gap while evolving with the times.
With a strong social media presence and a passion for storytelling, Atkins remains a voice for America’s heartland. Whether through his music, his role as a father, or life on the farm, he continues to celebrate the simple, profound truths of family, faith, and love.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Adam Carrol Line. She's a queen and talking and song.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
You know she's getting really not afraid to feed its
soul and soul just let it blow.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
No one can do we quiet carry line. It's time
for Caroline.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
Hi Rodney Atkins, Caroline, how you doing?
Speaker 2 (00:33):
This is awesome.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
I'm happy to have you here.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Thanks for having me. It's been the last time we talked,
it was during the whole COVID.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
It was craziness during the COVID. Yeah, perfect, Okay, I
I got I know you got that gravelly voice. Did
you work on that voice or is that just how
it came out?
Speaker 2 (00:49):
No, it's just I don't know how it got that way.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
It's a good voice. You could do like voiceovers, a.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Intentionally talk roof with the boys with my kids so
that they're no, nothing will scare them when they get
up the real world.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
Okay, So like what does that mean?
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Well, I'm not stop that, quit that. If I'm so,
nothing shakes them. They're their youth. If they can deal
with me, then they're gonna be unafraid.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
Okay, So you put them through the ringer a little bit.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
Yeah, I figured that a long time ago that my
wife Rose she wanted me to. She wanted babies, and
I'm raising men. So it meets in the middle somewhere
that it works out.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
Explain that have that dynamic, she would, well, it's.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
That when your daddy gets home thing. You know that
that's enough that works. But I just I love being
a dad. I love shape, and and I love it's
I just think it's important for them to see how
I carry myself and what's important and how I treat
(01:57):
their mama and and just them the truth. They're they're
half crazy there. So we have a six five twenty
three year old and I'm just kind of all about
teaching them to grow up and be men.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
How do you teach men in this world? I feel
like that's a lost art a little bit.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
There's been so much people talk about you know, what's it?
Toxic masculinity? Yes, and the worst thing you could be
is a is a man.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
It's gone through a season where it's like being just
like a man's man is kind of like the worst truly,
the worst thing.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Is And it's sad because I think that's what we're
supposed to be. And I just I don't know, man.
I talked to him about every night. We have storyteller, okay,
and it's I love it. I cherish it. And we'll
start off. Got any questions, that's a great hit me
(02:59):
with some and they'll ask me, you know it was
Bigfoot real?
Speaker 3 (03:02):
Well, apparently he is real and lives at y'all's farm.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
True.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
I've seen footage, video footage on your TikTok of the
Bigfoot in the wild. Do your kids know?
Speaker 2 (03:11):
Have they?
Speaker 3 (03:12):
Do they still? They know bigfoots real?
Speaker 2 (03:14):
Yes, they know Bigfoot's real. Santa Claus is.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
Real, everything's real. I love that tooth the magic going.
I feel the same way. That's so fun. Everyone needs
to check out Rodney's his TikTok and dig a little
deep and you'll find the real sighting of Bigfoot.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
He was there, man, he was birthday party at the farm.
It was a blast. I was laughing and sweating. God,
it was hot. Were burning.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
That's commitment right there, Rodney.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
He was cool.
Speaker 3 (03:47):
But yeah, story time.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
We have story time and I'll start off with you,
got any questions? And then all hearts and mind's clear?
Can we move on?
Speaker 3 (03:54):
And then all you see you say that all hearts
and mind's clear?
Speaker 2 (03:57):
Sometimes yeah, so are we good? And and then we'll
move on to a lot of times it'll be some
little Bible story. Last night it was what was it, Oh,
the Jericho and marching around Joshua would So we went
through that for a little bit. And then we'll go
(04:18):
into some story and I try to tell stories that
incorporate them in the story. Okay, that it's them going
through some crazy adventure and it's just a special time.
And I'll make them lay still, close your eyes, pictured
in your head, and we do it every single night.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
I love it's fun. Why is being a dad so
important to you?
Speaker 2 (04:45):
It's a responsibility. I mean, it's the most challenging and
most rewarding thing I've ever done, we'll ever do. It's
it's part of you know, what you leave behind, And
it's teaching them to be in service and connected, to
(05:05):
be more than just a good citizen, but to make
a difference. And I mean that's the future of everything.
I just I truly believe that. And how they see
me carry myself and live my life is the first
thing on my mind what I'm thinking about. And it
(05:26):
is cool because Rose is how do I explain Rose?
I say, she's she's kinder than She's tougher than life
and kinder than love.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
She's just what a wonderful thing to say about your wife.
I mean, tougher than life and kinder than love. Is
cry Oh, how has her love changed you? How has it?
How has it affected your heart? And being married to her?
Speaker 2 (05:55):
Man? I don't know if I can do that.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
Without crying. Yeah, that's so sweet, Rodney. What a gift
it is. Having a love like that is also the
biggest gift you can have.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Exactly, And for them to see that, I think that's so.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
She's completely just metamorphosized you as a human with her love.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
Yeah, and it's with her. It's when somebody loves you
that way. You're vulnerable, but you're tougher than anything that
could ever come at you. At the same time, because
you have.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
That, do you have a place to a soft place
to land.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
Yeah, you're kind of fearless. Nothing else can hurt you.
Nobody on earth can hurt me, but her. I don't know.
Things fall into place when you when you see somebody
love you, and you just I just quit, I quit
listening to me about me and just trust her.
Speaker 3 (07:03):
Oh okay, so what did you about you tell you
and what does she tell you about you?
Speaker 2 (07:09):
I mean, does that golden rule thing about you know,
treat others how you want to be treated. But that's
I can't remember where I even got this from. Hit
me a long time ago about I wouldn't walk up
to you and I don't know, say awful things to you,
(07:31):
punched me in the nose. I wouldn't force a gallon
a whiskey down your throat or large or you know,
super double large pizza just cram it down your throat.
So I don't know why people do it. You do
it to yourself, those things you say things to yourself.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
Like bad self talk exactly. That's it. It took me
forever to even realize what self talk was like. I
didn't know that for a long time until I started
getting into therapy and self aware that, like I even
had bad self talk. And then when I realized it,
I'm like, man, and I am an asshole to myself,
Like I am picking myself apart, I'm tearing myself down.
I don't believe in myself. It takes a lot to
(08:09):
change that. Did you have some pretty gnarly self talk?
Speaker 2 (08:13):
I think so? Yeah, you know, I grew up I
was adopted.
Speaker 3 (08:17):
And your adoption story is so touching and it's such
a journey. I mean, that's a lot to go through
as a kid.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
It's well, what it does to you is it makes
you you deal with self worth and you're trying to
overcome just abandonment and that's your It's just a lot
of self worth stuff. So you you beat the ship
out of yourself over and over.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
And that way for a long time.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
Oh yeah, that you're never good enough. Yeah, you're just
never enough. And I mean every child has got to
know what unconditional love is, and that's what that's the
biggest thing with the boys, That's why it can be
tough because they know there's nothing they could say or
do that's going to change that. And that's why they
(09:08):
can tell me the truth. And like I'll tell them,
someone knows I'm the guy that tells you the truth.
I'm going to bring the truth to you about how
you're acting. And they recover from it. When I was
a kid, I didn't recover from it. I would like
here's something or something would happen. Then I'm like carrying
(09:29):
it around.
Speaker 3 (09:30):
I didn't know how to deal incorporate it into your actual.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Beings exactly and you just twisted and turned. They hear
it and deal with it, and in thirty seconds.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
There they know that it's not who they know, that
it's a situation and it's not who they are. But
do you think because they know they're self worth because
you and Rose have instilled in them that they're worthy
no matter what. That is so true. You're going to
make me cry. Rodney. Oh, I have a five year old,
so like I feel the same way. Like, all I'm
trying to do is make her feel like value just
(10:01):
for who she is, for no other reason. And did
you feel like did you feel like you ever got
that as a kid, because I know you did get
it adopted and you have it seems like you have
a good relationship with your parents.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
I had good parents. They were they're good people, They're
solid people, and it was just different. Yeah, my parents
were engaged and at the Little League games and instilled
(10:33):
a lot of great values. My dad directed church choirs
and that's why I was around music, and so yeah,
they're great people. It's just when you know you've been
surrendered to the state and taken in that somebody didn't
want you. When you hear you know when you know
about that. But regardless, with Rose, I just decided to
(10:59):
believe her. And it got much easier when she says
I love you, You're everything.
Speaker 3 (11:07):
You decided to believe her. That's a huge leap of
faith and just yeah, and a huge vulnerability jump.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
And so I made a deal when when we met,
I knew that was it. We're done. I'm good, let's go.
Speaker 3 (11:26):
I don't know you just knew.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
I just did.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
She's an angel, I mean.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
Yeah, just oh wow, Okay, I didn't know this, this
could really happen. And I just made a deal that
I'll never say anything or do anything to intentionally hurt
her ever, no matter what she says to me. Uh
that that's the deal. And then we made a deal too,
(11:56):
regardless of what happens, fall together, not a part. And
so we never have. We've gone through some stuff and
it's been beautiful, just when you think you can. When
you go through that.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
Stuff, Man, when you're going through hell, keep on going
so much. Shoul write a hit song about that, live
it over.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
And over it truly, when you do that, when you
go through those things, when you think you can't love
somebody anymore, you wound up, you do over it totally,
and that's where we are now.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
I feel that way, and I feel some marriages aren't
meant to be. It's like oil and water, and I
get that, and I know you get that as well.
But it's like when you do find someone that loves
you for you and goes into the fox hole with
you and like is there for you just to have?
That is so special. And then when you are in
(12:47):
those moments because Michael, my husband and I we've gone
through some serious joozies also, and it's like so many
people throwing the towel when it gets hard, But if
you go through that with your partner, when you get
to the other side, you can't even describe what you
what transformation happened within you as a couple, because it's
(13:07):
something only you two have experienced, and you stuck it
out and you stay strong and then you have this
like armor because you live through it and you're like,
oh my god, we can do anything. Don't you feel
that way?
Speaker 2 (13:18):
Absolutely, you don't want to have to.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
Do that, but uh right, but it's gonna happen. You
know you're gonna head a patch for sure.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
If you're gonna go through something, you want to do
it with them, and yeah, it's it's cool. She's she's
a coold chick. She's a badass.
Speaker 3 (13:34):
She is a badass. She's an incredible singer. Y'all. Co
wrote your newest single true all Together?
Speaker 2 (13:38):
Right?
Speaker 3 (13:39):
Yeah, okay, how did that happen? And you produced it?
Speaker 2 (13:42):
Man? So she's a color everyday, blue collar, hit the
ground running songwriters. She's in there every single.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
She writes every day.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
At least two or three days a week.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
Does she just have does she does her soul just
want her to write or does she just have a
work ethic that's or is it a combination.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
She's just driven, man, she just is. And she's got
this crazy gift. Like if a bunch of dudes getting
her room to write a song, you'd be like, you
got an idea, yeah, and you start writing the song.
She goes in and she'll like talk to people. A
lot of these new artists want to write with her,
and she prefers riding with dudes. Really, it's raised by man.
(14:26):
Her mom died when she was little, so she's comfortable
with dudes.
Speaker 3 (14:30):
So that's three boys. She can handle it well. She's
made for it.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
She still thinks they're nuts little boys.
Speaker 3 (14:37):
I think all should wear helmets until they're like ten
years old, That's what she thinks.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
I think they should just keep falling learning how not
to fall.
Speaker 3 (14:46):
Okay, So that goes back to she wants to be babies,
you want to be met exactly. Good call.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
She's like, you'll never ride your bicycle again when they
wreck or something. I'm like, that's pretty cool.
Speaker 3 (14:54):
Keep that gun and scrape of your knee again.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
So she writes all the time.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
Did she have any siblings or is it just her dad?
It was just her and her dad. What a dynamic?
Is she close to the dad?
Speaker 2 (15:08):
Yeah? Very They talk five times a day. He's a
songwriter too, Oh he's he's a rock guys. He writes
like he's I think bon Jovi's last album he had
ten or twelve songs on there. He writes that stuff nice,
that cool stuff.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
Okay, So she got it natural. She came by this naturally.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
That's what she saw. Yeah, writing songs, and so when
I'm working on so I only write when I've got
a project coming up, trying to do something, So I
keep ideas and before we write, she'll say, we need
to write with this guy. That guy, We need to
do this, and she'll set up the rights. Actually, she'll
go through my song ideas. And you saw True South.
(15:53):
She said, that's it. We got to write that, and
she she's got any ideas about it. And I told
her I've always wanted to write something about these softball
players I played with when I was a kid. She said,
what are you talking about? I said, so when I
was like thirteen fourteen, I played church league softball and
(16:15):
I could play, and I played shortstop. So there was
this men's league that played after the church guys played.
They played late at night and they're drinking beer and
rocking out there. So there was this men's league team
that saw me play, and all black team called the
(16:37):
Black Sheep, and the dude's name was Jive. Their main coach,
I guess. Jive said, hey, you need to come play
with us this weekend. I'm like, really, yeah, we'll pick
you up. So I did, and I play on the weekends.
Speaker 3 (16:52):
Wenn't have to play with adults and men.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
Yeah, I could get it. It was fun. That's all
I wanted to do was play base a really, and
so I went and played some games with them in
the first game. We showed up and man, they got
out of their cars and it was like a movie.
They start walking, it's like slow motion and there's me
(17:14):
in the middle of them, little kid, and they start singing.
Everywhere we go. They's, you know, chatting with them. Everywhere
we go. People want to know who we are, so
we tell them we are the Black Sheep, Mighty mighty
Black Sheep. And she's like, you want to write that
and I said, we'll not Black Sheep. I think maybe
(17:35):
it's true South. And she's well, she said she thinks
it's true South. That was all her and so she
kind of built that whole song. She put it together.
She's like, so it needs to do this so when
it gets on TikTok in ten seconds, it'll pull you in.
(17:55):
And so and I had this other line, this catchphrase,
we don't smoke meth, smoke briskets.
Speaker 3 (18:02):
It started off with the bank.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
And she's like, that's where that song that goes in this.
Speaker 3 (18:06):
Song and Catfish, what is it cat heead, cat had biscuit.
I didn't know what a cat had biscuit. I had
a deep dive on that.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
That's funny.
Speaker 3 (18:13):
What is a cat head biscuits just the big ass, just.
Speaker 2 (18:16):
A big old biscuit, just as big as a cat head.
And so we're in the room. So she brought in
Jake Chawgey, it's a programmer guy, super telly musician, and
Blake Redferrin. So she's in the room and she's going, Blake,
(18:39):
give me a gun, give me something that rhymes with
the brisket. I need a gun and he uhls, brisket?
Learn young, what a thirty six is?
Speaker 3 (18:51):
What is that?
Speaker 2 (18:52):
It's a rifle?
Speaker 3 (18:53):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (18:54):
So she's like orchestrated this. I'm taking stuff from me.
I just kind of deep dive and try to think
outside the box. And he's a great kind of rhymer
what he does. He's a super talented guy. And we
just started putting that thing together. It was she just
(19:14):
kind of was orchestrating the whole thing and she'd figure
out where it needs to go. And she can do
that and she can go in a room and be
the only lyricist on the song. She just is able
to write in so many situations. There there's levels to songwriting. Man,
She's like she's in another place.
Speaker 3 (19:33):
She's just channeling it. It's coming coming in.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
She she thinks different. It's it's really it's amazing to
watch her do what she does. And so we did
that again on us several of the songs on this record,
and it was a blast writing tunes and uh so,
like you're singing that note wrong? Or well, we do
everything at home, we record everything.
Speaker 3 (19:53):
She's on it. So she's kind of letting you know
how it goes. She's got she's got the vision. She's
holding it down.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
She's a hard working she she she's working out. She's
got to learn how to play guitar differently now, so
she's up there relearning to play lead guitar now. It's
it's crazy. She's uh she's taking piano lessons. She's all over.
She pulls the boys in. She's like, I want the
boys to see me continuing to learn.
Speaker 3 (20:20):
I love that.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
Uh yeah, it's it's a blast. There's music in our house.
Speaker 3 (20:25):
Are y'all singing all the time?
Speaker 2 (20:28):
For singing all the time, we're always making music somehow
and working on it together. Uh So it's fun. We
have a blast doing it. Get lost and it's what
it takes so long making her record, I guess.
Speaker 3 (20:39):
But how fun though that You're not just like renting
a studio going in for a session trying to knock
it out, you know, on the clock. It's like you
get to like slow, Well, you had another TikTok, which also,
you are an influencer. Who knew Rodney Atkins was going
to be like a badass influencer. You've been around for
three decades in music and you're just like right there
with all the young kids, like hell in the game.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
It's funny.
Speaker 3 (21:02):
I mean you are, You're like a major influencer, Rodney.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
TikTok is a trip because that audience is eighteen to
twenty five year olds or thirty year olds or something
that it's a new audience. Yeah, so it's kind of
crazy when something clicks with them.
Speaker 3 (21:18):
Have you had stuff click with them?
Speaker 2 (21:21):
Yeah, it's been wild. The it blows my mind. And
Rose has a lot to do with that.
Speaker 3 (21:29):
She she kept you on this on the TikTok.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
She'll say, that's not that, don't act like that.
Speaker 3 (21:35):
Just be knows.
Speaker 2 (21:37):
She really does.
Speaker 3 (21:38):
Does she help you make all those videos.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
A lot of them? Yeah, she does. She helps with
a whole lot of it. She wouldn't want me to
put the secret out there. But she I'm telling you, man,
she's a smart chick.
Speaker 3 (21:49):
But you were saying on one of your tiktoks that
you like move at a snail's pace, like you like
to go nice and slow and uh, back roads. Finally
like went platinum or some landmark number after thirteen years,
and you're like, I might move it a smells taste,
but we'll get there. I'm like, I love that.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
It's it's fun. It's it's a trip, especially when you're
releasing new music to have a whole new way to
do that and to get a response and all you're
doing is kind of putting out there the half of
the first verse or something, and to get a million
views on something like that is it's a trip. It's
a great You need any little nugget of encouragement, you know.
(22:33):
And the thing that has got me really excited with
TikTok or the comments. We released some acoustic songs last
summer and just posted something. The first song, I think
the verse song was Farmer's Daughter maybe and put that
up there and the comments, I mean, it moved me,
(23:00):
people singing how much the song meant to him. And
I think I said something about how this song didn't
go number one, and people like, we went number one
in my granny's car back in whenever. Yeah, my old
man had a old pick up and it went number
one in that thing. But it was over and over
people talking about how much these songs meant, and we
(23:21):
did watching you and.
Speaker 3 (23:24):
You had some awesome viral moments on TikTok with your
oldest son.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
That was a trip. He never wanted to sing the
song with me. He was very shy, and now he
started being interested. He's making music. He's a great singer.
He's super talented. It's it's freaky talented. Really.
Speaker 3 (23:43):
He can do and he never wanted to pursue music.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
He does now and he's finishing his degree analytics and finance,
but he's also started taking engineering audio engineering classes as well,
and he's making music. It's taking his time with it,
but he's writing songs. What happened was he used to
send me songs all the time, and uh, thinking I
(24:11):
might want to sing him just cover or something. And
he's always kind of been one of my secret weapons
of like take a background. He's the guy that picked
that as a single.
Speaker 3 (24:20):
Nobody else got it, no one else thought I was
a hit nobody else such a great It was him
and he was like ten when he picked.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
It right exactly. And so he hit me a couple
of years ago and sent me a song and this
is cool. There's no way I can sing this. I
can't sing this. He said, that's me, Dad, And I
was like, what, some girl broke his heart made him
want to write a song. I guess the same thing
happened to me. And he hit me with this tune
(24:48):
and it blew me away, played it for rows, she
got tears in her eyes. And so she's written with
him some and he's just really talented. So she got
him to sing the Watching You video for TikTok Yeah,
and that thing got I don't even know how many million,
twelve thirteen million views.
Speaker 3 (25:06):
Well it's the cutest thing ever because I will never
forget when Watching You came out, because I mean, honestly, Rodney,
you were like the staple of my childhood, like you
were one of the main Whenever Going through Hell came out.
I was like, this is the greatest song that's ever
written in the entire world. But Watching You, and now
that I have a kid, like who's five, and it's
like your four year old came home and said the
(25:26):
four letter word and you were concerned, and it's like,
oh my god, that song just like hits all the
heart strings. And then to see your son, who was
in the video now a grown man singing it back.
I mean, it's kind of it's overwhelming, it's emotional.
Speaker 2 (25:43):
Yeah, it got me. It's it was so cool that
he It's funny that she got him to do it.
I couldn't all these years.
Speaker 3 (25:52):
Arose and Elijah close. Oh yeah, yeah, he.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
Really looks up during respects you a whole lot.
Speaker 3 (25:58):
That's awesome.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
That's really cool.
Speaker 3 (25:59):
I love to you that. I mean, I went hard
on your TikTok. I love that. When y'all were you
and Rosa got married, he was right there with y'all
at the aud Yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
He gave the most unbelievable speech ever at the end
of that. Do you want to say something?
Speaker 3 (26:14):
He said, Yeah, after y'all got married.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
Yeah, he's the kid's a speech. I got to find it,
hopefully get it on video.
Speaker 3 (26:21):
What did he say? What was it? Just of it?
Speaker 2 (26:23):
Just thank you for loving my dad and I love
you and thank you for making my dad happy, and
just simple stuff. You know, for a little kid to say,
he's a sweet guy.
Speaker 3 (26:37):
So, how has it been raising kids? It was such
a vast age different because difference because you were a
different person when you were raising Elijah, probably how we
were in your twenties thirties and then or I don't
know how and then a couple. Now you're your new
batch is fifteen twenty years younger, No, probably fifteen years younger.
(26:57):
How is it having two like such a different age
gap in between and raising boys at different eras in
your life? Have you noticed that you've parented different or
have you parented the same?
Speaker 2 (27:11):
Hell, they're just different kids, So it is kind of different.
But it's I don't know if it is that much different.
With Rose being involved is different in that it's she
mother's in this sweet way, and so I have to
(27:34):
take up this other role. But I don't know if
it's that different. Really, they're just different kids. So you
got to deal with them. Eli was a sweet kid.
He was sweet, quiet. These two were crazy. These two
guys are wild. He was much. He was very much
into sports. They aren't so much riders. You started playing basketball,
(27:59):
and so he's kind of getting into that a little bit.
But Eli was all about it. I can't remember. I
think Eli might have taken a piano lesson or somebody
wasn't really into music. These guys are like the youngest
Scout who he just turned five. He loves to go
(28:19):
out and sing, watching you every time. So, for example,
to another thing that's different, I travel without childcare.
Speaker 3 (28:29):
Alone with the boys, without roast, without roast, you'll take
the boys, she'll or one might.
Speaker 2 (28:35):
Stay with her when I go out on tour and
one will go with me.
Speaker 3 (28:39):
What are they doing when you're on stage?
Speaker 1 (28:42):
Uh?
Speaker 2 (28:43):
Usually the right there, they just come hang out.
Speaker 3 (28:46):
So they're just a part of the crew.
Speaker 2 (28:48):
Yeah, they've they've both traveled a lot, So I mean
that's different because they're just with me. I'm with them
a lot, and we're gonna divide and conquer and get
back together. And then Rose she'll come out as well.
A lot of ways, it's easier because we're just in
(29:09):
sync with kind of what we're doing that she lets
me handle this. Yeah. I don't know if it's that
different though. They're just different kids, So you do do
some things.
Speaker 3 (29:19):
What is Elijah like? He is a big brother? Is
it Elijah?
Speaker 2 (29:24):
He's uh? Oh, he's awesome. They think he's the coolest
human on earth. He drives them crazy and he tries
not to. He's he's playing the big brother role of
kind of if they act crazy, he's like, you can't
do that, but they want to climb on him, and
he's great with them. Though.
Speaker 3 (29:45):
You have a fun house, Yeah, it is fun.
Speaker 2 (29:49):
It's they're creative kids. Man. They like our house. We
have no pictures. Really, it's all colored pictures. There's no
record plaque and stuff. It's just drawings of Bigfoot. And
now they're drawing. Luck somehow they'll see things we don't
(30:09):
then watch it. They'll see some little thing of five
knots at Freddy's and so they'll start trying to draw
Santa Claus being all with a hatchet and crazy stuff
like that. I don't know where they get it. They're
just wild.
Speaker 3 (30:24):
What was it like to be a country star in
the early two thousands, because I feel like that was
a prime time, Like that was a prime time. It
was not oversaturated in my opinion. Could you could feel differently?
I don't feel like it was oversaturated. I feel like
if you were a star, you were a star. And
you know, like if you had a song on the radio,
(30:45):
people knew it, they were listening. People couldn't get music
anywhere else. Really. I ran into Faith Hill the other
day at Nordstrum's and she does not know me at all,
but like we had this moment where I came up
the escalator like walking down, and she was looking at
my daughter and we like almost walked into each other's arms.
It was like a very odd moment. I was like, well,
(31:07):
now that I'm here with you, Faith Hill, I just
want to tell you that you shaped my childhood. And
I would stay up all night waiting for your music
videos on CMT, and you were in that same error
where it's like your songs were so impactful people would
love to hear them, wait to hear them. You had
to wait for them to come on the radio or
go buy the CD. You know. It's not like you
(31:28):
could just have instant access to anything in this oversaturated market.
So I feel like being a country star in your
prime time, when like Going through Hell came out and
all those songs, it was a big deal. What was
that like to experience it?
Speaker 2 (31:43):
Oh wow, what was that like? It was a trip?
It's just so different. I mean it was before Star Searcher,
before American Idol or it was before anything.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
You would like, get a record deal, get signed, get
on the radio. You had to go through the process.
Speaker 2 (32:04):
It was like But it was also when I came to town.
I signed my record deal in ninety six, and I
didn't have a hit. Well, I had one little lip,
the top five song somewhere in there.
Speaker 3 (32:26):
But that's pretty good.
Speaker 2 (32:27):
But I didn't have a hit number one in Yow
until Going Through Hell, and that's two thousand and six.
So there was ten years of me. I mean, I
was selling firewood. I was working all kinds of jobs,
throwing papers at night. I'd come home cut firewood lord
and on a trailer drive it to Nashville deliver it.
(32:49):
Alan Jackson was one of my customers.
Speaker 3 (32:51):
Did he give you any good advice?
Speaker 2 (32:53):
I didn't see him until after Going through Hell came
out and I opened a show and he asked me
to that one wants to talk to you, And so
went up on his bus and talked and he knew
that was me that delivered firewood to And yeah, it
was cool. Just the whole kind of grind of note
(33:14):
social media at all. You had to get in a
car and there a bus or a plane and go
play for people one after the other.
Speaker 3 (33:27):
Somebody had to believe in you and say I'll sign
you for sure.
Speaker 2 (33:30):
That was and that's that's another thing where I got
signed on Curb Records and.
Speaker 3 (33:36):
You're still there and right yeah, I mean Curb hangs
on to their artists. They loved, don't they. That's a
long time to be at a record label for them.
Speaker 2 (33:46):
Mike is about autonomy. He's about when I got there
and I went through some different producers and people telling
me you need to sound like this or sound like that.
There was a fella named Phil Gernhardt who was the
head of an R and he pulled me to the
side one day and he said, forget everything you know.
I want to teach you to make your own records.
(34:07):
Figure out who you are, what you sound like. But
we're going to start in square one.
Speaker 3 (34:11):
That's rare. He wasn't trying to have you chase something
that was already hit on the radio. He wanted you
to see yourself. That's a rare person right there.
Speaker 2 (34:18):
And he was brutal. It was boot camp man. I'd
work on a vocal for two weeks and he'd say,
what is this shit? What do you want me to?
What am I listening to the tracks? I don't need
to hear the tracks. You got to get the vocal
so much exactly. It's that unconditional love. I knew he
wanted it to be great and he did that. I
(34:45):
think Tim McGraw did his first album on Craven it
didn't really do anything. And then Phil stepped in for
his second album with Indian Outlaw and Don't Take the
Girl in all those and that was Phil being involved
in That's a mentor, a true mentor, and we talked
constantly and it was like a four or five year process.
(35:11):
So being there in the two thousands. In that time,
there are a few people that I think moved to
town and got a record deal and had a song
on the radio in six months. But that's rare. Now.
I think they hear something social media wise, they grab it.
We'll put it out there, see if it works. It's
(35:31):
still part of that. I think, see if it sticks,
give it a shot, then move on to the next.
Then it was not that it's we're going to develop
you as an artist, your records. Look, I'd figured out
that I might do one love song on a record,
But I'm I let the other guys do that. They
let them sing all the girls. Yeah, uh well, watching
(35:55):
you as a love song. They're just different kind of
love songs. It's just a different time. I can remember
I was the first guy to wear a ball cap.
Speaker 3 (36:05):
Wait to start the trend.
Speaker 2 (36:06):
It was insane that I would go like a red
carpet thing and people would get mad because I had
a ball cap. It was crazy.
Speaker 3 (36:13):
How'd you decide to do the ball cap? Look? How
did you make that statement?
Speaker 2 (36:19):
I did the whole cowboy hat stylist devised thing at first,
and then when I switched, well, I had an LA
manager that didn't work at all. And my manager now,
who's the same guy, Greg Hill.
Speaker 3 (36:39):
So you stick with your people for sure.
Speaker 2 (36:42):
Yeah, find what you trust. Trust is big in its business.
And he said, I got a question before we work
on this record. Do you ever wear this stuff? And
it'd be like leather bridges, cowboy hat or goot up hair.
And I never see you wearing this. I see you
wearing boots and jeans, cargo shorts, a ball cap. That's
(37:06):
all I ever see you. Yeah, I never wear that.
And he said let's take a picture of you right now.
And so we did that and he blew it up,
put it on his desk. And then from that forward,
as I would write songs or bring songs in, we
would ask ourselves we liked the song, yes, and then
do you believe that guy singing this song does that work?
Speaker 3 (37:29):
Can't believe you had that in your musical career because
that is such a lost art now.
Speaker 2 (37:35):
I think so everybody sounds the same or they're chasing
the same song. Yes, and there's great songs. There's these
singers now are shocking. It's crazy how good these guys sing.
And but a lot of times they're chasing the same song,
same sound. And when there's one guy that there are
(37:56):
two guys that are doing that, you gotta figure something
else out. I think for longevity to stay relevant is
what do I do? Stick your flag in that and
do that. But Jack greg was that was a big
part of and that's how we started defining the kind
of songs I was after that other people didn't want.
(38:16):
We would ask what is a song you have you
can't believe hadn't been recorded? Or people were afraid of
cleaning this gun.
Speaker 3 (38:26):
Oh yeah, because people be scared of, like you were
sitting on the porch cleaning this gun, waiting for your
daughter to come home with her boyfriend. What Dad doesn't
relate to that though, But you have to be ballsy
enough to sing it.
Speaker 2 (38:36):
It's a sense of humor. But they were told where
they told me you can't that. I don't know if
you're gonna be able to get away with that thinging
about guns and kids and all. It gets funny. It's
a joke, and people got it, thank god. But I
left town when I had the going through Hell songs.
I left Nashville and I played. I played grocery store,
(39:00):
I'd play. I played some flea markets, I played some elks, lodges,
a lot of little bars, just all over the place,
just acoustic. My drummer, it was still my drummer. He
brought a snare drummer like this little symbol, and we
would just go. We'd fly somewhere, get a rental card
(39:21):
and we go play, just trying those songs out over
and over away from Nashville. Yeah, because and I can
remember that. Even Phil Gernhard with watching you, he said,
it's a cute song. But I don't know how many
people are going to relate to you singing about your
four year olds and a four letter work, he said,
But I could be wrong. And so when I went
(39:41):
out and played it and the real world told me
I want to copy of that. When people tell you
that that's that's a great sign. In the two thousands,
you could do that. It could go out and you
learn how to I don't know how some of these
guys can transfer from playing for thirty seconds or whatever
(40:07):
to the road. I think, how do you build a show?
Speaker 3 (40:10):
I think that's a disconnect because I feel like my
husband and I have talked about this a lot, and
I've talked about this with like people who've been in
the industry for a long time. Back in the day,
like you said, you get in a van, you get
in a car, you go out and you play, and
you grind it and you play for people, and that's
how you cut your teeth. Now it's like people are
waking up and getting on TikTok every day singing thirty
(40:31):
second songs and they're going viral. So that's like the
new way of people grinding it. But it doesn't necessarily
translate into knowing how to do a live show.
Speaker 2 (40:41):
And there are people that have done like Bailey Zammerman, he.
Speaker 3 (40:43):
Put he connected it exactly.
Speaker 2 (40:45):
That's a huge challenge though, I.
Speaker 3 (40:47):
Think I think those are the ones that make it over.
The hump is you have to and he's half crazy,
which is also probably necessary.
Speaker 2 (40:54):
It helps.
Speaker 3 (40:55):
Yeah, but you have to be able to bridge the
gap from viral to stage and I think that that's
probably the struggle of this generation.
Speaker 2 (41:02):
Thirty seconds to thirty minutes of a show exactly the
forty five.
Speaker 3 (41:08):
Putting on a show is no joke. I mean put
on a live show. Yeah, I mean that's it's it's
a it's an art, it's a skill, it's a talent.
It's hard years learning.
Speaker 2 (41:20):
I'd say you, I'm not a singer, songwriter, producer, entertainer.
I'm a song mechanic. I just keep working on them
and working on stuff until it gets right. I don't
have the answers, and now I don't know. I guess
the work ethic is in consistently doing social media. But
(41:42):
it's I gotta say, I've met some of these young
guys that they're cool dudes and they get it. Riley Green, Yeah,
he's got a work ethic man, he's got an athlete's
mindset going at this stuff. They're good dudes. There's there's
some The talent pool is not shallow in this town.
(42:02):
It's shocking. I'll get these guys sing, how has.
Speaker 3 (42:05):
It been being around for three generations? What have you seen?
What have you what have you noticed the most? Or
have you just ridden the wave? Did you ever have
any moments where you thought it was over? Oh no, never, No,
that's awesome. Never been over. People always want to hear
(42:27):
you right now because.
Speaker 2 (42:28):
Willie Nelson said, they ain't nothing that thirty minutes can't
fix a good song. It just it's songs. It's about
the song. It's about the people and the songs. My
favorite thing about what I do. It's the people. And
if you're trying to find something that they relate to, don't.
I'm not trying to impress Nashville. It's you just want
(42:51):
some of the people can relate to. That's a little different.
That says something. I look for songs that are about
a struggle. Look, if you're going through hell, so many
tunes that I've found drawn to are the same message.
If you're going through it, take a back road. You
get stuck in the traffic jam, you don't quit, You
(43:12):
find a better way. Farmer's daughter, you got a job
you don't like, but you keep working. Get the girl.
And I think watching you was cussing and praying. It's
about not being perfect and being relatable. And like I said,
I don't have many songs about getting the girl.
Speaker 3 (43:29):
Why is that because.
Speaker 2 (43:31):
Other guys do it so much better. I'd just rather
have songs that the guys can get to the girls
and guys that can relate to it. I just think
it's about having songs that are inclusive, that lift people up.
And it takes a while to build songs like that. Man.
(43:54):
Over thirty years, it's changed a lot, from streaming to
only having CDs for it's different. I love it. I
think as long as you hit, as long as you
have great music, you can kind of always have a
job doing it. I just I cherish every minute of
what I get to do.
Speaker 3 (44:15):
What do you love so much about it? Because it's
a hard job.
Speaker 2 (44:20):
It is, it's a grind. It's the people. It's the people, man, That's.
Speaker 3 (44:23):
What you love. Just the connection, Yep, it's.
Speaker 2 (44:26):
Uh, the opportunities you get, the places you get to go.
I mean, some of my favorite people ask me your
favorite place to play, and some of them have been
just acoustic, a folding chair in the middle of Afghanistan
or oh some of those.
Speaker 3 (44:42):
What is that like when you're playing in Afghanistan for
the soldiers, Like, what kind of moment is that?
Speaker 2 (44:47):
Like, it's a badass, it's fun.
Speaker 3 (44:49):
What are the guys like and the girls like over
there when you come to sing for them who are
fighting for us in the middle of a war zone?
And what is that experience?
Speaker 2 (44:57):
Like?
Speaker 3 (44:58):
Not many people get to do that.
Speaker 2 (45:00):
It's incredible. I mean, you're grateful for every minute of that.
The crazy thing is like I the first or second time,
first time I was in Afghanistan, it was like freezing cold,
raining sideways. Oh wow, it was the weather was insane.
(45:20):
Then we'll be burning hot and then to be cold.
It was. It's a crazy place, even the ground you
walk on, like I wore my boots. Yeah, it didn't
really work that. Everything is hard, But I never heard
one man or woman complained about what they were doing
the entire time. So if I'm like trying to so
(45:45):
many times I've thought I can't pick out a shirt,
I'm like Okay, you pull your panties up, let's go.
I don't know, it's an honor to hear them and
know what they go through is uh, it's just real.
It's just pray for those men and women. Man what
(46:07):
they go through where it's United States Military. Thank god
we're in the United States of America because that's they
make it greatly. It's just an honor. Did some crazy stuff.
Speaker 3 (46:19):
So you've enjoyed the ride, for sure.
Speaker 2 (46:22):
But I don't There was a time I thought it
was about getting to the top of the.
Speaker 3 (46:27):
Mountain, right, And what was that?
Speaker 2 (46:28):
Not?
Speaker 3 (46:29):
Like number one is a war exactly?
Speaker 2 (46:35):
And what is it? Fames like a spot on your face.
Everybody notices it but you because you're just the same.
But it kind of hit me that it's great to
be on top of the mountain. It's fun to be
up there, but you can't live there. Just enjoy the view,
come back down and live in in the real world.
(46:58):
I used to think I had to be artist guy
over here and the dad over here and all that.
It's just too much to manage just being yourself every
single place you go.
Speaker 3 (47:13):
Is what a relief, right exactly? What a freedom?
Speaker 2 (47:17):
Having a good moment, your kids, That's what That's what
it comes down to.
Speaker 3 (47:20):
Who you marry is I've read, I've seen this over
and over again, and I believe it. Who you marry
affects ninety percent of your happiness. Would you agree for sure?
Speaker 2 (47:30):
And you affect theirs?
Speaker 3 (47:31):
Yeah, you do. I know. It's such a dance, it
really is.
Speaker 2 (47:36):
It's a blast when it's great, it's it's good.
Speaker 3 (47:38):
Why do you love living in the country?
Speaker 2 (47:42):
The people?
Speaker 3 (47:43):
You just love people. You're like going over your neighbor's
house getting a snake out of her basement. What is
it like, Rodney Aykin shows up to rescue a snake
out of your basement? I mean she are all friends?
Or were you just going there's a snake?
Speaker 2 (47:58):
She hit Rose and said, oh, oh my god, we
got a snake in the house.
Speaker 3 (48:02):
Just grabbed it with your bare hands.
Speaker 2 (48:04):
And uh.
Speaker 3 (48:05):
Also everyone, this is on your TikTok, which is so good.
Speaker 2 (48:09):
And Rose said, Tracy's got a snake in her house.
I said, that's wild. I thought about it, you know,
And then Rose said there got somebody to come get it.
I said, okay, cool. And then Rose said they're going
to charge three hundred dollars to come get the snake,
and I said, no, I'll go get the freaking snake.
She's like really yeah, I'm like, that's stupid not pay
(48:31):
three hundred dollars. So we got in the car and
Rose is thinking, I'm gonna make a TikTok. I'm on
video of this. It's gonna be awesome.
Speaker 3 (48:38):
I love that Rose is like on it for the
social media. Yes she catches.
Speaker 2 (48:45):
But we got there. They said it was in a
basement and walked in and her husband he was I
get people afraid of snakes. Snakes freaked people out. They
just never did me. I saw my dad grabbing him
as a kid.
Speaker 3 (48:58):
So I don't do you like check ticks are they're
not poisonous? First?
Speaker 2 (49:01):
Yeah, but if you just are cool about it, you're okay,
It's okay.
Speaker 3 (49:07):
How are you cool about grabbing a snake? How do
you do that? Just for future reference, like down the road.
Speaker 2 (49:12):
So he was this snake. He was big.
Speaker 3 (49:14):
Yeah, it was a huge snake, and uh he was.
Speaker 2 (49:17):
Done there with a garden hole and a hatchet or
something protecting every I don't know he was. He was
panicking and so Rose kind of went in the basement
and went over in the corner and before she could
kind of come around, had already grabbed it and brought
it out. She said, I thought this would take him minute.
I thought I had a second, and I'm like, no,
(49:37):
it's just a snake. It's it's It was funny the
fact that they had been I didn't realize They've been
dealing with this thing and freaking out about it for
so long. So there was there.
Speaker 3 (49:50):
They were just in there and just knocked it out.
So you just love and you just love a community.
You love the people. Do you love being a part
of the community. You just love being around people. Yeah,
connecting with people, sharing life with people.
Speaker 2 (50:05):
When they say how you doing, they actually mean it.
It's just a different vibe. You can go in the
grocery store where we live, or the same grocery store
you know, public's there. You can go to one just
a few miles up the road, and it's a whole
different experience. It's just completely different. And that's what's I mean,
(50:26):
that's what I love about a small town. But it's
the rural heart is what I call it. It's like
that can happen in New York City. It's when you
walk and ask it's stranger, how you get sixty second
and third doesn't make sense in my brain, But you
can ask somebody. People in New York will They'll go
out of their way to make sure you get to
where you need to go. I think that's that's what
(50:49):
I love about. Whether it's a city or a small town,
you just find it a lot more in a small town,
I think.
Speaker 3 (51:05):
And I feel like your songs all bleed just their
anthems of just the community, like standing strong in your
faith and your slogan is family, friends and good the
good Lord, good Lord. Yeah, but you feel that in
your songs. So you can tell how proud you are
to live here, and you can tell how proud you
are that you have these values, and you can feel
(51:27):
that in your songs. And I can tell that's important
to you that you put that out there.
Speaker 2 (51:31):
Thank you that that that's everything. That's I'm not trying
to trick people or you know, just have a song
that goes out and then it goes away. It's something
that hopefully enough people can feel connected to it. Is
that TikTok. It's a god user generated content that is insane.
(51:51):
That is some that's some great stuff man, for they.
I don't know if I really paid attention to it
that much until this with True South coming out. It's awesome.
Speaker 3 (52:03):
So what does that mean exactly?
Speaker 2 (52:05):
Where they take your song and they make their video
with it.
Speaker 3 (52:08):
That's so cool. So people doing it with True South?
Speaker 2 (52:10):
Oh yeah, it's funny, it's great. It's awesome.
Speaker 3 (52:13):
How is it to have a new song like Truesauth
out there right now? Because it's been a minute, right, yeah.
Speaker 2 (52:18):
It's probably been since twenty nineteen or something.
Speaker 3 (52:21):
Okay, Yeah, how is it having the song out there?
Speaker 2 (52:25):
It's awesome. It's a blast, it really is. To The
first gage you get is social media now. But that's
so cool because you don't have to. Like you were
talking about radio tours and going out on the road,
it just happens. It's been. It's amazing that people feel
(52:48):
connected to a song and it, like I said, when
they take the time to comment on social media. That's
what kind of drew me into it. It's crazy that
you can interact with people and they're speaking their heart
to you. And I know it's a troll world and
you can get attacked easily. I kind of learned to
(53:10):
ignore that stuff. But people are great. It's the people.
I'm telling you, it's the people.
Speaker 3 (53:15):
So you're just collecting the community people everywhere you go,
whether it's on social media, whether it's where you live,
whether it's on the road. You're just getting your people.
Speaker 2 (53:22):
That's it.
Speaker 3 (53:23):
What would you from your perspective, what would you say
are the core values that stream through you that you
find everywhere you go? What are you looking for?
Speaker 2 (53:35):
Friends? Family, and the good Lord? I mean, it ain't complicated.
Speaker 3 (53:39):
It's really not.
Speaker 2 (53:39):
It's it's pretty simple. Yeah, it's it's it's I believe.
One of my mottos is don't settle for anything just
to say you have something, so it's worth taking time.
It's like colutions, what is that three twenty three? Do
(54:04):
everything like you're doing it for his glory, not for man.
And if you just I don't give sweeping the floor,
just do it the best you can. That's the thing.
I want my kids to see that to do it
luck you actually care, And I think that goes a
long way. If you just can do that most of
your day, it makes it a good day. Usually.
Speaker 3 (54:23):
I love that. Okay, I'll wrap up a couple more questions.
So what would you feel like is your biggest strength
and what is your Achilles Hill.
Speaker 2 (54:33):
Biggest strength? M hm strength. Well, I mean hopefully it's
it's being a dad and that's my Achilles Hill. At
the same time, probably it's probably both things.
Speaker 3 (54:53):
Persistence, perseverance, a work ethic.
Speaker 2 (54:56):
I think there's a let of do, a discipline. I'm
pretty disciplined about stuff, you know, Achilles Hill. I mean
my strength and weakness is obviously my wife. It's pretty easy.
But you know, I don't mind it.
Speaker 3 (55:12):
If you were going to say a highlight moment of
your career, if you had to pick one, what would
it be?
Speaker 2 (55:20):
Holy cow, that's impossible.
Speaker 3 (55:25):
What's the first one that comes to me?
Speaker 2 (55:26):
That's really impossible. I mean there's so many. Because first
I thought about Rose and I singing the Christmas song
we wrote called Mary Had a Little Lamb on Fox News.
Never been out anywhere, really, it just came out. We
(55:47):
played at Fox News and that afternoon it went into
the number one spot over Mariah Carey, and that was like,
it's just real life. That was pretty amazing because there's
really no press or anything out there about it. There's
been moments, like I said, sitting in a folding chair
(56:09):
in Afghanistan and everybody just singing their brains out and
losing track of time, forgetting where you are. To the
people coming up and telling me that they had a
pistol in her hand and they're like, they're done with it.
(56:31):
Their wife left or whatever, lost their job, they're over it.
And they heard one of my songs, Man come on
the radio, and that gun is now at the bottom
of the river and they've turned their life around.
Speaker 3 (56:47):
That's powerful.
Speaker 2 (56:48):
So many stories like that about different songs or hell
watching you brought people together.
Speaker 3 (56:55):
That's amazing. It's powerful.
Speaker 2 (56:57):
I can't really nail down one of those moments that's powerful.
Blessed them, I love it.
Speaker 3 (57:03):
That's amazing. I always wrap up with leave your light
and before basically it's just inspiration. What do you want
people to know? To drop some inspiration and then tell
us how it can follow you and keep up with
true South and make sure we know everything that's going on.
So but just leave your light. What do you want
people to know if you had to drop some inspiration?
Speaker 2 (57:27):
I don't really think of anything magnificent to say, rather
than just everything's going to be okay. God is good. Friends,
family and the good Lord. I mean, it's it's it's
being together. It's it's like, we're all in this together.
The world came into this situation where it's us and them,
(57:50):
I think, and I think that hopefully we can slowly
get get on the other side of that. We're all
in this together. If everybody can just grasp that, it's
a game changer for sure.
Speaker 3 (58:02):
I love that. Okay, True South is out. You can
get it anywhere. Yep, you're on tour out there, we
are shows.
Speaker 2 (58:10):
Only got one more show yeah this year, and then
we'll be hitting it again next year. But yeah, two thousand,
True South is out. It's the first single from a
whole new album coming after the first of the year.
I think in the spring, maybe it's a blast. I'm
really proud of these songs. And hopefully folks can all
(58:31):
the comments social media and all that keep hitting me,
I'll get them all. I love it.
Speaker 3 (58:35):
Congratulations on just being awesome for all these years. I mean,
what a testament you are your career. It's so powerful
what you've created, your legacy, more than your music, your
family life, your son's what you stand for. It's really awesome. Ronnie.
Speaker 2 (58:50):
Thanks for having me this is this is incredible.
Speaker 3 (58:52):
Thank you so much for coming on. It means so much.
It's such a thrill for me to get to talk
to someone who I grew up just loving your music.
You're such a You're such a huge part of the
soundtrack of my life. So thank you for joining me.
I will we surground for five minutes of questions to straw,
five little questions and you probably gotta remember. We'll make
a real fast Okay, Roddie, I can thank you
Adam Carrol Line. She's a queen and talking and song.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
You know she's getting really not afraid to feed its
soul and soul just let it blow.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
No one can do we quiet carry line. It's time
for Caroline.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
Hi Rodney Atkins, Caroline, how you doing?
Speaker 2 (00:33):
This is awesome.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
I'm happy to have you here.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Thanks for having me. It's been the last time we talked,
it was during the whole COVID.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
It was craziness during the COVID. Yeah, perfect, Okay, I
I got I know you got that gravelly voice. Did
you work on that voice or is that just how
it came out?
Speaker 2 (00:49):
No, it's just I don't know how it got that way.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
It's a good voice. You could do like voiceovers, a.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Intentionally talk roof with the boys with my kids so
that they're no, nothing will scare them when they get
up the real world.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
Okay, So like what does that mean?
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Well, I'm not stop that, quit that. If I'm so,
nothing shakes them. They're their youth. If they can deal
with me, then they're gonna be unafraid.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
Okay, So you put them through the ringer a little bit.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
Yeah, I figured that a long time ago that my
wife Rose she wanted me to. She wanted babies, and
I'm raising men. So it meets in the middle somewhere
that it works out.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
Explain that have that dynamic, she would, well, it's.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
That when your daddy gets home thing. You know that
that's enough that works. But I just I love being
a dad. I love shape, and and I love it's
I just think it's important for them to see how
I carry myself and what's important and how I treat
(01:57):
their mama and and just them the truth. They're they're
half crazy there. So we have a six five twenty
three year old and I'm just kind of all about
teaching them to grow up and be men.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
How do you teach men in this world? I feel
like that's a lost art a little bit.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
There's been so much people talk about you know, what's it?
Toxic masculinity? Yes, and the worst thing you could be
is a is a man.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
It's gone through a season where it's like being just
like a man's man is kind of like the worst truly,
the worst thing.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Is And it's sad because I think that's what we're
supposed to be. And I just I don't know, man.
I talked to him about every night. We have storyteller, okay,
and it's I love it. I cherish it. And we'll
start off. Got any questions, that's a great hit me
(02:59):
with some and they'll ask me, you know it was
Bigfoot real?
Speaker 3 (03:02):
Well, apparently he is real and lives at y'all's farm.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
True.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
I've seen footage, video footage on your TikTok of the
Bigfoot in the wild. Do your kids know?
Speaker 2 (03:11):
Have they?
Speaker 3 (03:12):
Do they still? They know bigfoots real?
Speaker 2 (03:14):
Yes, they know Bigfoot's real. Santa Claus is.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
Real, everything's real. I love that tooth the magic going.
I feel the same way. That's so fun. Everyone needs
to check out Rodney's his TikTok and dig a little
deep and you'll find the real sighting of Bigfoot.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
He was there, man, he was birthday party at the farm.
It was a blast. I was laughing and sweating. God,
it was hot. Were burning.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
That's commitment right there, Rodney.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
He was cool.
Speaker 3 (03:47):
But yeah, story time.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
We have story time and I'll start off with you,
got any questions? And then all hearts and mind's clear?
Can we move on?
Speaker 3 (03:54):
And then all you see you say that all hearts
and mind's clear?
Speaker 2 (03:57):
Sometimes yeah, so are we good? And and then we'll
move on to a lot of times it'll be some
little Bible story. Last night it was what was it, Oh,
the Jericho and marching around Joshua would So we went
through that for a little bit. And then we'll go
(04:18):
into some story and I try to tell stories that
incorporate them in the story. Okay, that it's them going
through some crazy adventure and it's just a special time.
And I'll make them lay still, close your eyes, pictured
in your head, and we do it every single night.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
I love it's fun. Why is being a dad so
important to you?
Speaker 2 (04:45):
It's a responsibility. I mean, it's the most challenging and
most rewarding thing I've ever done, we'll ever do. It's
it's part of you know, what you leave behind, And
it's teaching them to be in service and connected, to
(05:05):
be more than just a good citizen, but to make
a difference. And I mean that's the future of everything.
I just I truly believe that. And how they see
me carry myself and live my life is the first
thing on my mind what I'm thinking about. And it
(05:26):
is cool because Rose is how do I explain Rose?
I say, she's she's kinder than She's tougher than life
and kinder than love.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
She's just what a wonderful thing to say about your wife.
I mean, tougher than life and kinder than love. Is
cry Oh, how has her love changed you? How has it?
How has it affected your heart? And being married to her?
Speaker 2 (05:55):
Man? I don't know if I can do that.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
Without crying. Yeah, that's so sweet, Rodney. What a gift
it is. Having a love like that is also the
biggest gift you can have.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Exactly, And for them to see that, I think that's so.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
She's completely just metamorphosized you as a human with her love.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
Yeah, and it's with her. It's when somebody loves you
that way. You're vulnerable, but you're tougher than anything that
could ever come at you. At the same time, because
you have.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
That, do you have a place to a soft place
to land.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
Yeah, you're kind of fearless. Nothing else can hurt you.
Nobody on earth can hurt me, but her. I don't know.
Things fall into place when you when you see somebody
love you, and you just I just quit, I quit
listening to me about me and just trust her.
Speaker 3 (07:03):
Oh okay, so what did you about you tell you
and what does she tell you about you?
Speaker 2 (07:09):
I mean, does that golden rule thing about you know,
treat others how you want to be treated. But that's
I can't remember where I even got this from. Hit
me a long time ago about I wouldn't walk up
to you and I don't know, say awful things to you,
(07:31):
punched me in the nose. I wouldn't force a gallon
a whiskey down your throat or large or you know,
super double large pizza just cram it down your throat.
So I don't know why people do it. You do
it to yourself, those things you say things to yourself.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
Like bad self talk exactly. That's it. It took me
forever to even realize what self talk was like. I
didn't know that for a long time until I started
getting into therapy and self aware that, like I even
had bad self talk. And then when I realized it,
I'm like, man, and I am an asshole to myself,
Like I am picking myself apart, I'm tearing myself down.
I don't believe in myself. It takes a lot to
(08:09):
change that. Did you have some pretty gnarly self talk?
Speaker 2 (08:13):
I think so? Yeah, you know, I grew up I
was adopted.
Speaker 3 (08:17):
And your adoption story is so touching and it's such
a journey. I mean, that's a lot to go through
as a kid.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
It's well, what it does to you is it makes
you you deal with self worth and you're trying to
overcome just abandonment and that's your It's just a lot
of self worth stuff. So you you beat the ship
out of yourself over and over.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
And that way for a long time.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
Oh yeah, that you're never good enough. Yeah, you're just
never enough. And I mean every child has got to
know what unconditional love is, and that's what that's the
biggest thing with the boys, That's why it can be
tough because they know there's nothing they could say or
do that's going to change that. And that's why they
(09:08):
can tell me the truth. And like I'll tell them,
someone knows I'm the guy that tells you the truth.
I'm going to bring the truth to you about how
you're acting. And they recover from it. When I was
a kid, I didn't recover from it. I would like
here's something or something would happen. Then I'm like carrying
(09:29):
it around.
Speaker 3 (09:30):
I didn't know how to deal incorporate it into your actual.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Beings exactly and you just twisted and turned. They hear
it and deal with it, and in thirty seconds.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
There they know that it's not who they know, that
it's a situation and it's not who they are. But
do you think because they know they're self worth because
you and Rose have instilled in them that they're worthy
no matter what. That is so true. You're going to
make me cry. Rodney. Oh, I have a five year old,
so like I feel the same way. Like, all I'm
trying to do is make her feel like value just
(10:01):
for who she is, for no other reason. And did
you feel like did you feel like you ever got
that as a kid, because I know you did get
it adopted and you have it seems like you have
a good relationship with your parents.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
I had good parents. They were they're good people, They're
solid people, and it was just different. Yeah, my parents
were engaged and at the Little League games and instilled
(10:33):
a lot of great values. My dad directed church choirs
and that's why I was around music, and so yeah,
they're great people. It's just when you know you've been
surrendered to the state and taken in that somebody didn't
want you. When you hear you know when you know
about that. But regardless, with Rose, I just decided to
(10:59):
believe her. And it got much easier when she says
I love you, You're everything.
Speaker 3 (11:07):
You decided to believe her. That's a huge leap of
faith and just yeah, and a huge vulnerability jump.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
And so I made a deal when when we met,
I knew that was it. We're done. I'm good, let's go.
Speaker 3 (11:26):
I don't know you just knew.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
I just did.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
She's an angel, I mean.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
Yeah, just oh wow, Okay, I didn't know this, this
could really happen. And I just made a deal that
I'll never say anything or do anything to intentionally hurt
her ever, no matter what she says to me. Uh
that that's the deal. And then we made a deal too,
(11:56):
regardless of what happens, fall together, not a part. And
so we never have. We've gone through some stuff and
it's been beautiful, just when you think you can. When
you go through that.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
Stuff, Man, when you're going through hell, keep on going
so much. Shoul write a hit song about that, live
it over.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
And over it truly, when you do that, when you
go through those things, when you think you can't love
somebody anymore, you wound up, you do over it totally,
and that's where we are now.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
I feel that way, and I feel some marriages aren't
meant to be. It's like oil and water, and I
get that, and I know you get that as well.
But it's like when you do find someone that loves
you for you and goes into the fox hole with
you and like is there for you just to have?
That is so special. And then when you are in
(12:47):
those moments because Michael, my husband and I we've gone
through some serious joozies also, and it's like so many
people throwing the towel when it gets hard, But if
you go through that with your partner, when you get
to the other side, you can't even describe what you
what transformation happened within you as a couple, because it's
(13:07):
something only you two have experienced, and you stuck it
out and you stay strong and then you have this
like armor because you live through it and you're like,
oh my god, we can do anything. Don't you feel
that way?
Speaker 2 (13:18):
Absolutely, you don't want to have to.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
Do that, but uh right, but it's gonna happen. You
know you're gonna head a patch for sure.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
If you're gonna go through something, you want to do
it with them, and yeah, it's it's cool. She's she's
a coold chick. She's a badass.
Speaker 3 (13:34):
She is a badass. She's an incredible singer. Y'all. Co
wrote your newest single true all Together?
Speaker 2 (13:38):
Right?
Speaker 3 (13:39):
Yeah, okay, how did that happen? And you produced it?
Speaker 2 (13:42):
Man? So she's a color everyday, blue collar, hit the
ground running songwriters. She's in there every single.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
She writes every day.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
At least two or three days a week.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
Does she just have does she does her soul just
want her to write or does she just have a
work ethic that's or is it a combination.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
She's just driven, man, she just is. And she's got
this crazy gift. Like if a bunch of dudes getting
her room to write a song, you'd be like, you
got an idea, yeah, and you start writing the song.
She goes in and she'll like talk to people. A
lot of these new artists want to write with her,
and she prefers riding with dudes. Really, it's raised by man.
(14:26):
Her mom died when she was little, so she's comfortable
with dudes.
Speaker 3 (14:30):
So that's three boys. She can handle it well. She's
made for it.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
She still thinks they're nuts little boys.
Speaker 3 (14:37):
I think all should wear helmets until they're like ten
years old, That's what she thinks.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
I think they should just keep falling learning how not
to fall.
Speaker 3 (14:46):
Okay, So that goes back to she wants to be babies,
you want to be met exactly. Good call.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
She's like, you'll never ride your bicycle again when they
wreck or something. I'm like, that's pretty cool.
Speaker 3 (14:54):
Keep that gun and scrape of your knee again.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
So she writes all the time.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
Did she have any siblings or is it just her dad?
It was just her and her dad. What a dynamic?
Is she close to the dad?
Speaker 2 (15:08):
Yeah? Very They talk five times a day. He's a
songwriter too, Oh he's he's a rock guys. He writes
like he's I think bon Jovi's last album he had
ten or twelve songs on there. He writes that stuff nice,
that cool stuff.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
Okay, So she got it natural. She came by this naturally.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
That's what she saw. Yeah, writing songs, and so when
I'm working on so I only write when I've got
a project coming up, trying to do something, So I
keep ideas and before we write, she'll say, we need
to write with this guy. That guy, We need to
do this, and she'll set up the rights. Actually, she'll
go through my song ideas. And you saw True South.
(15:53):
She said, that's it. We got to write that, and
she she's got any ideas about it. And I told
her I've always wanted to write something about these softball
players I played with when I was a kid. She said,
what are you talking about? I said, so when I
was like thirteen fourteen, I played church league softball and
(16:15):
I could play, and I played shortstop. So there was
this men's league that played after the church guys played.
They played late at night and they're drinking beer and
rocking out there. So there was this men's league team
that saw me play, and all black team called the
(16:37):
Black Sheep, and the dude's name was Jive. Their main coach,
I guess. Jive said, hey, you need to come play
with us this weekend. I'm like, really, yeah, we'll pick
you up. So I did, and I play on the weekends.
Speaker 3 (16:52):
Wenn't have to play with adults and men.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
Yeah, I could get it. It was fun. That's all
I wanted to do was play base a really, and
so I went and played some games with them in
the first game. We showed up and man, they got
out of their cars and it was like a movie.
They start walking, it's like slow motion and there's me
(17:14):
in the middle of them, little kid, and they start singing.
Everywhere we go. They's, you know, chatting with them. Everywhere
we go. People want to know who we are, so
we tell them we are the Black Sheep, Mighty mighty
Black Sheep. And she's like, you want to write that
and I said, we'll not Black Sheep. I think maybe
(17:35):
it's true South. And she's well, she said she thinks
it's true South. That was all her and so she
kind of built that whole song. She put it together.
She's like, so it needs to do this so when
it gets on TikTok in ten seconds, it'll pull you in.
(17:55):
And so and I had this other line, this catchphrase,
we don't smoke meth, smoke briskets.
Speaker 3 (18:02):
It started off with the bank.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
And she's like, that's where that song that goes in this.
Speaker 3 (18:06):
Song and Catfish, what is it cat heead, cat had biscuit.
I didn't know what a cat had biscuit. I had
a deep dive on that.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
That's funny.
Speaker 3 (18:13):
What is a cat head biscuits just the big ass, just.
Speaker 2 (18:16):
A big old biscuit, just as big as a cat head.
And so we're in the room. So she brought in
Jake Chawgey, it's a programmer guy, super telly musician, and
Blake Redferrin. So she's in the room and she's going, Blake,
(18:39):
give me a gun, give me something that rhymes with
the brisket. I need a gun and he uhls, brisket?
Learn young, what a thirty six is?
Speaker 3 (18:51):
What is that?
Speaker 2 (18:52):
It's a rifle?
Speaker 3 (18:53):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (18:54):
So she's like orchestrated this. I'm taking stuff from me.
I just kind of deep dive and try to think
outside the box. And he's a great kind of rhymer
what he does. He's a super talented guy. And we
just started putting that thing together. It was she just
(19:14):
kind of was orchestrating the whole thing and she'd figure
out where it needs to go. And she can do
that and she can go in a room and be
the only lyricist on the song. She just is able
to write in so many situations. There there's levels to songwriting. Man,
She's like she's in another place.
Speaker 3 (19:33):
She's just channeling it. It's coming coming in.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
She she thinks different. It's it's really it's amazing to
watch her do what she does. And so we did
that again on us several of the songs on this record,
and it was a blast writing tunes and uh so,
like you're singing that note wrong? Or well, we do
everything at home, we record everything.
Speaker 3 (19:53):
She's on it. So she's kind of letting you know
how it goes. She's got she's got the vision. She's
holding it down.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
She's a hard working she she she's working out. She's
got to learn how to play guitar differently now, so
she's up there relearning to play lead guitar now. It's
it's crazy. She's uh she's taking piano lessons. She's all over.
She pulls the boys in. She's like, I want the
boys to see me continuing to learn.
Speaker 3 (20:20):
I love that.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
Uh yeah, it's it's a blast. There's music in our house.
Speaker 3 (20:25):
Are y'all singing all the time?
Speaker 2 (20:28):
For singing all the time, we're always making music somehow
and working on it together. Uh So it's fun. We
have a blast doing it. Get lost and it's what
it takes so long making her record, I guess.
Speaker 3 (20:39):
But how fun though that You're not just like renting
a studio going in for a session trying to knock
it out, you know, on the clock. It's like you
get to like slow, Well, you had another TikTok, which also,
you are an influencer. Who knew Rodney Atkins was going
to be like a badass influencer. You've been around for
three decades in music and you're just like right there
with all the young kids, like hell in the game.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
It's funny.
Speaker 3 (21:02):
I mean you are, You're like a major influencer, Rodney.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
TikTok is a trip because that audience is eighteen to
twenty five year olds or thirty year olds or something
that it's a new audience. Yeah, so it's kind of
crazy when something clicks with them.
Speaker 3 (21:18):
Have you had stuff click with them?
Speaker 2 (21:21):
Yeah, it's been wild. The it blows my mind. And
Rose has a lot to do with that.
Speaker 3 (21:29):
She she kept you on this on the TikTok.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
She'll say, that's not that, don't act like that.
Speaker 3 (21:35):
Just be knows.
Speaker 2 (21:37):
She really does.
Speaker 3 (21:38):
Does she help you make all those videos.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
A lot of them? Yeah, she does. She helps with
a whole lot of it. She wouldn't want me to
put the secret out there. But she I'm telling you, man,
she's a smart chick.
Speaker 3 (21:49):
But you were saying on one of your tiktoks that
you like move at a snail's pace, like you like
to go nice and slow and uh, back roads. Finally
like went platinum or some landmark number after thirteen years,
and you're like, I might move it a smells taste,
but we'll get there. I'm like, I love that.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
It's it's fun. It's it's a trip, especially when you're
releasing new music to have a whole new way to
do that and to get a response and all you're
doing is kind of putting out there the half of
the first verse or something, and to get a million
views on something like that is it's a trip. It's
a great You need any little nugget of encouragement, you know.
(22:33):
And the thing that has got me really excited with
TikTok or the comments. We released some acoustic songs last
summer and just posted something. The first song, I think
the verse song was Farmer's Daughter maybe and put that
up there and the comments, I mean, it moved me,
(23:00):
people singing how much the song meant to him. And
I think I said something about how this song didn't
go number one, and people like, we went number one
in my granny's car back in whenever. Yeah, my old
man had a old pick up and it went number
one in that thing. But it was over and over
people talking about how much these songs meant, and we
(23:21):
did watching you and.
Speaker 3 (23:24):
You had some awesome viral moments on TikTok with your
oldest son.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
That was a trip. He never wanted to sing the
song with me. He was very shy, and now he
started being interested. He's making music. He's a great singer.
He's super talented. It's it's freaky talented. Really.
Speaker 3 (23:43):
He can do and he never wanted to pursue music.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
He does now and he's finishing his degree analytics and finance,
but he's also started taking engineering audio engineering classes as well,
and he's making music. It's taking his time with it,
but he's writing songs. What happened was he used to
send me songs all the time, and uh, thinking I
(24:11):
might want to sing him just cover or something. And
he's always kind of been one of my secret weapons
of like take a background. He's the guy that picked
that as a single.
Speaker 3 (24:20):
Nobody else got it, no one else thought I was
a hit nobody else such a great It was him
and he was like ten when he picked.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
It right exactly. And so he hit me a couple
of years ago and sent me a song and this
is cool. There's no way I can sing this. I
can't sing this. He said, that's me, Dad, And I
was like, what, some girl broke his heart made him
want to write a song. I guess the same thing
happened to me. And he hit me with this tune
(24:48):
and it blew me away, played it for rows, she
got tears in her eyes. And so she's written with
him some and he's just really talented. So she got
him to sing the Watching You video for TikTok Yeah,
and that thing got I don't even know how many million,
twelve thirteen million views.
Speaker 3 (25:06):
Well it's the cutest thing ever because I will never
forget when Watching You came out, because I mean, honestly, Rodney,
you were like the staple of my childhood, like you
were one of the main Whenever Going through Hell came out.
I was like, this is the greatest song that's ever
written in the entire world. But Watching You, and now
that I have a kid, like who's five, and it's
like your four year old came home and said the
(25:26):
four letter word and you were concerned, and it's like,
oh my god, that song just like hits all the
heart strings. And then to see your son, who was
in the video now a grown man singing it back.
I mean, it's kind of it's overwhelming, it's emotional.
Speaker 2 (25:43):
Yeah, it got me. It's it was so cool that
he It's funny that she got him to do it.
I couldn't all these years.
Speaker 3 (25:52):
Arose and Elijah close. Oh yeah, yeah, he.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
Really looks up during respects you a whole lot.
Speaker 3 (25:58):
That's awesome.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
That's really cool.
Speaker 3 (25:59):
I love to you that. I mean, I went hard
on your TikTok. I love that. When y'all were you
and Rosa got married, he was right there with y'all
at the aud Yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
He gave the most unbelievable speech ever at the end
of that. Do you want to say something?
Speaker 3 (26:14):
He said, Yeah, after y'all got married.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
Yeah, he's the kid's a speech. I got to find it,
hopefully get it on video.
Speaker 3 (26:21):
What did he say? What was it? Just of it?
Speaker 2 (26:23):
Just thank you for loving my dad and I love
you and thank you for making my dad happy, and
just simple stuff. You know, for a little kid to say,
he's a sweet guy.
Speaker 3 (26:37):
So, how has it been raising kids? It was such
a vast age different because difference because you were a
different person when you were raising Elijah, probably how we
were in your twenties thirties and then or I don't
know how and then a couple. Now you're your new
batch is fifteen twenty years younger, No, probably fifteen years younger.
(26:57):
How is it having two like such a different age
gap in between and raising boys at different eras in
your life? Have you noticed that you've parented different or
have you parented the same?
Speaker 2 (27:11):
Hell, they're just different kids, So it is kind of different.
But it's I don't know if it is that much different.
With Rose being involved is different in that it's she
mother's in this sweet way, and so I have to
(27:34):
take up this other role. But I don't know if
it's that different. Really, they're just different kids. So you
got to deal with them. Eli was a sweet kid.
He was sweet, quiet. These two were crazy. These two
guys are wild. He was much. He was very much
into sports. They aren't so much riders. You started playing basketball,
(27:59):
and so he's kind of getting into that a little bit.
But Eli was all about it. I can't remember. I
think Eli might have taken a piano lesson or somebody
wasn't really into music. These guys are like the youngest
Scout who he just turned five. He loves to go
(28:19):
out and sing, watching you every time. So, for example,
to another thing that's different, I travel without childcare.
Speaker 3 (28:29):
Alone with the boys, without roast, without roast, you'll take
the boys, she'll or one might.
Speaker 2 (28:35):
Stay with her when I go out on tour and
one will go with me.
Speaker 3 (28:39):
What are they doing when you're on stage?
Speaker 1 (28:42):
Uh?
Speaker 2 (28:43):
Usually the right there, they just come hang out.
Speaker 3 (28:46):
So they're just a part of the crew.
Speaker 2 (28:48):
Yeah, they've they've both traveled a lot, So I mean
that's different because they're just with me. I'm with them
a lot, and we're gonna divide and conquer and get
back together. And then Rose she'll come out as well.
A lot of ways, it's easier because we're just in
(29:09):
sync with kind of what we're doing that she lets
me handle this. Yeah. I don't know if it's that
different though. They're just different kids, So you do do
some things.
Speaker 3 (29:19):
What is Elijah like? He is a big brother? Is
it Elijah?
Speaker 2 (29:24):
He's uh? Oh, he's awesome. They think he's the coolest
human on earth. He drives them crazy and he tries
not to. He's he's playing the big brother role of
kind of if they act crazy, he's like, you can't
do that, but they want to climb on him, and
he's great with them. Though.
Speaker 3 (29:45):
You have a fun house, Yeah, it is fun.
Speaker 2 (29:49):
It's they're creative kids. Man. They like our house. We
have no pictures. Really, it's all colored pictures. There's no
record plaque and stuff. It's just drawings of Bigfoot. And
now they're drawing. Luck somehow they'll see things we don't
(30:09):
then watch it. They'll see some little thing of five
knots at Freddy's and so they'll start trying to draw
Santa Claus being all with a hatchet and crazy stuff
like that. I don't know where they get it. They're
just wild.
Speaker 3 (30:24):
What was it like to be a country star in
the early two thousands, because I feel like that was
a prime time, Like that was a prime time. It
was not oversaturated in my opinion. Could you could feel differently?
I don't feel like it was oversaturated. I feel like
if you were a star, you were a star. And
you know, like if you had a song on the radio,
(30:45):
people knew it, they were listening. People couldn't get music
anywhere else. Really. I ran into Faith Hill the other
day at Nordstrum's and she does not know me at all,
but like we had this moment where I came up
the escalator like walking down, and she was looking at
my daughter and we like almost walked into each other's arms.
It was like a very odd moment. I was like, well,
(31:07):
now that I'm here with you, Faith Hill, I just
want to tell you that you shaped my childhood. And
I would stay up all night waiting for your music
videos on CMT, and you were in that same error
where it's like your songs were so impactful people would
love to hear them, wait to hear them. You had
to wait for them to come on the radio or
go buy the CD. You know. It's not like you
(31:28):
could just have instant access to anything in this oversaturated market.
So I feel like being a country star in your
prime time, when like Going through Hell came out and
all those songs, it was a big deal. What was
that like to experience it?
Speaker 2 (31:43):
Oh wow, what was that like? It was a trip?
It's just so different. I mean it was before Star Searcher,
before American Idol or it was before anything.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
You would like, get a record deal, get signed, get
on the radio. You had to go through the process.
Speaker 2 (32:04):
It was like But it was also when I came to town.
I signed my record deal in ninety six, and I
didn't have a hit. Well, I had one little lip,
the top five song somewhere in there.
Speaker 3 (32:26):
But that's pretty good.
Speaker 2 (32:27):
But I didn't have a hit number one in Yow
until Going Through Hell, and that's two thousand and six.
So there was ten years of me. I mean, I
was selling firewood. I was working all kinds of jobs,
throwing papers at night. I'd come home cut firewood lord
and on a trailer drive it to Nashville deliver it.
(32:49):
Alan Jackson was one of my customers.
Speaker 3 (32:51):
Did he give you any good advice?
Speaker 2 (32:53):
I didn't see him until after Going through Hell came
out and I opened a show and he asked me
to that one wants to talk to you, And so
went up on his bus and talked and he knew
that was me that delivered firewood to And yeah, it
was cool. Just the whole kind of grind of note
(33:14):
social media at all. You had to get in a
car and there a bus or a plane and go
play for people one after the other.
Speaker 3 (33:27):
Somebody had to believe in you and say I'll sign
you for sure.
Speaker 2 (33:30):
That was and that's that's another thing where I got
signed on Curb Records and.
Speaker 3 (33:36):
You're still there and right yeah, I mean Curb hangs
on to their artists. They loved, don't they. That's a
long time to be at a record label for them.
Speaker 2 (33:46):
Mike is about autonomy. He's about when I got there
and I went through some different producers and people telling
me you need to sound like this or sound like that.
There was a fella named Phil Gernhardt who was the
head of an R and he pulled me to the
side one day and he said, forget everything you know.
I want to teach you to make your own records.
(34:07):
Figure out who you are, what you sound like. But
we're going to start in square one.
Speaker 3 (34:11):
That's rare. He wasn't trying to have you chase something
that was already hit on the radio. He wanted you
to see yourself. That's a rare person right there.
Speaker 2 (34:18):
And he was brutal. It was boot camp man. I'd
work on a vocal for two weeks and he'd say,
what is this shit? What do you want me to?
What am I listening to the tracks? I don't need
to hear the tracks. You got to get the vocal
so much exactly. It's that unconditional love. I knew he
wanted it to be great and he did that. I
(34:45):
think Tim McGraw did his first album on Craven it
didn't really do anything. And then Phil stepped in for
his second album with Indian Outlaw and Don't Take the
Girl in all those and that was Phil being involved
in That's a mentor, a true mentor, and we talked
constantly and it was like a four or five year process.
(35:11):
So being there in the two thousands. In that time,
there are a few people that I think moved to
town and got a record deal and had a song
on the radio in six months. But that's rare. Now.
I think they hear something social media wise, they grab it.
We'll put it out there, see if it works. It's
(35:31):
still part of that. I think, see if it sticks,
give it a shot, then move on to the next.
Then it was not that it's we're going to develop
you as an artist, your records. Look, I'd figured out
that I might do one love song on a record,
But I'm I let the other guys do that. They
let them sing all the girls. Yeah, uh well, watching
(35:55):
you as a love song. They're just different kind of
love songs. It's just a different time. I can remember
I was the first guy to wear a ball cap.
Speaker 3 (36:05):
Wait to start the trend.
Speaker 2 (36:06):
It was insane that I would go like a red
carpet thing and people would get mad because I had
a ball cap. It was crazy.
Speaker 3 (36:13):
How'd you decide to do the ball cap? Look? How
did you make that statement?
Speaker 2 (36:19):
I did the whole cowboy hat stylist devised thing at first,
and then when I switched, well, I had an LA
manager that didn't work at all. And my manager now,
who's the same guy, Greg Hill.
Speaker 3 (36:39):
So you stick with your people for sure.
Speaker 2 (36:42):
Yeah, find what you trust. Trust is big in its business.
And he said, I got a question before we work
on this record. Do you ever wear this stuff? And
it'd be like leather bridges, cowboy hat or goot up hair.
And I never see you wearing this. I see you
wearing boots and jeans, cargo shorts, a ball cap. That's
(37:06):
all I ever see you. Yeah, I never wear that.
And he said let's take a picture of you right now.
And so we did that and he blew it up,
put it on his desk. And then from that forward,
as I would write songs or bring songs in, we
would ask ourselves we liked the song, yes, and then
do you believe that guy singing this song does that work?
Speaker 3 (37:29):
Can't believe you had that in your musical career because
that is such a lost art now.
Speaker 2 (37:35):
I think so everybody sounds the same or they're chasing
the same song. Yes, and there's great songs. There's these
singers now are shocking. It's crazy how good these guys sing.
And but a lot of times they're chasing the same song,
same sound. And when there's one guy that there are
(37:56):
two guys that are doing that, you gotta figure something
else out. I think for longevity to stay relevant is
what do I do? Stick your flag in that and
do that. But Jack greg was that was a big
part of and that's how we started defining the kind
of songs I was after that other people didn't want.
(38:16):
We would ask what is a song you have you
can't believe hadn't been recorded? Or people were afraid of
cleaning this gun.
Speaker 3 (38:26):
Oh yeah, because people be scared of, like you were
sitting on the porch cleaning this gun, waiting for your
daughter to come home with her boyfriend. What Dad doesn't
relate to that though, But you have to be ballsy
enough to sing it.
Speaker 2 (38:36):
It's a sense of humor. But they were told where
they told me you can't that. I don't know if
you're gonna be able to get away with that thinging
about guns and kids and all. It gets funny. It's
a joke, and people got it, thank god. But I
left town when I had the going through Hell songs.
I left Nashville and I played. I played grocery store,
(39:00):
I'd play. I played some flea markets, I played some elks, lodges,
a lot of little bars, just all over the place,
just acoustic. My drummer, it was still my drummer. He
brought a snare drummer like this little symbol, and we
would just go. We'd fly somewhere, get a rental card
(39:21):
and we go play, just trying those songs out over
and over away from Nashville. Yeah, because and I can
remember that. Even Phil Gernhard with watching you, he said,
it's a cute song. But I don't know how many
people are going to relate to you singing about your
four year olds and a four letter work, he said,
But I could be wrong. And so when I went
(39:41):
out and played it and the real world told me
I want to copy of that. When people tell you
that that's that's a great sign. In the two thousands,
you could do that. It could go out and you
learn how to I don't know how some of these
guys can transfer from playing for thirty seconds or whatever
(40:07):
to the road. I think, how do you build a show?
Speaker 3 (40:10):
I think that's a disconnect because I feel like my
husband and I have talked about this a lot, and
I've talked about this with like people who've been in
the industry for a long time. Back in the day,
like you said, you get in a van, you get
in a car, you go out and you play, and
you grind it and you play for people, and that's
how you cut your teeth. Now it's like people are
waking up and getting on TikTok every day singing thirty
(40:31):
second songs and they're going viral. So that's like the
new way of people grinding it. But it doesn't necessarily
translate into knowing how to do a live show.
Speaker 2 (40:41):
And there are people that have done like Bailey Zammerman, he.
Speaker 3 (40:43):
Put he connected it exactly.
Speaker 2 (40:45):
That's a huge challenge though, I.
Speaker 3 (40:47):
Think I think those are the ones that make it over.
The hump is you have to and he's half crazy,
which is also probably necessary.
Speaker 2 (40:54):
It helps.
Speaker 3 (40:55):
Yeah, but you have to be able to bridge the
gap from viral to stage and I think that that's
probably the struggle of this generation.
Speaker 2 (41:02):
Thirty seconds to thirty minutes of a show exactly the
forty five.
Speaker 3 (41:08):
Putting on a show is no joke. I mean put
on a live show. Yeah, I mean that's it's it's
a it's an art, it's a skill, it's a talent.
It's hard years learning.
Speaker 2 (41:20):
I'd say you, I'm not a singer, songwriter, producer, entertainer.
I'm a song mechanic. I just keep working on them
and working on stuff until it gets right. I don't
have the answers, and now I don't know. I guess
the work ethic is in consistently doing social media. But
(41:42):
it's I gotta say, I've met some of these young
guys that they're cool dudes and they get it. Riley Green, Yeah,
he's got a work ethic man, he's got an athlete's
mindset going at this stuff. They're good dudes. There's there's
some The talent pool is not shallow in this town.
(42:02):
It's shocking. I'll get these guys sing, how has.
Speaker 3 (42:05):
It been being around for three generations? What have you seen?
What have you what have you noticed the most? Or
have you just ridden the wave? Did you ever have
any moments where you thought it was over? Oh no, never, No,
that's awesome. Never been over. People always want to hear
(42:27):
you right now because.
Speaker 2 (42:28):
Willie Nelson said, they ain't nothing that thirty minutes can't
fix a good song. It just it's songs. It's about
the song. It's about the people and the songs. My
favorite thing about what I do. It's the people. And
if you're trying to find something that they relate to, don't.
I'm not trying to impress Nashville. It's you just want
(42:51):
some of the people can relate to. That's a little different.
That says something. I look for songs that are about
a struggle. Look, if you're going through hell, so many
tunes that I've found drawn to are the same message.
If you're going through it, take a back road. You
get stuck in the traffic jam, you don't quit, You
(43:12):
find a better way. Farmer's daughter, you got a job
you don't like, but you keep working. Get the girl.
And I think watching you was cussing and praying. It's
about not being perfect and being relatable. And like I said,
I don't have many songs about getting the girl.
Speaker 3 (43:29):
Why is that because.
Speaker 2 (43:31):
Other guys do it so much better. I'd just rather
have songs that the guys can get to the girls
and guys that can relate to it. I just think
it's about having songs that are inclusive, that lift people up.
And it takes a while to build songs like that. Man.
(43:54):
Over thirty years, it's changed a lot, from streaming to
only having CDs for it's different. I love it. I
think as long as you hit, as long as you
have great music, you can kind of always have a
job doing it. I just I cherish every minute of
what I get to do.
Speaker 3 (44:15):
What do you love so much about it? Because it's
a hard job.
Speaker 2 (44:20):
It is, it's a grind. It's the people. It's the people, man, That's.
Speaker 3 (44:23):
What you love. Just the connection, Yep, it's.
Speaker 2 (44:26):
Uh, the opportunities you get, the places you get to go.
I mean, some of my favorite people ask me your
favorite place to play, and some of them have been
just acoustic, a folding chair in the middle of Afghanistan
or oh some of those.
Speaker 3 (44:42):
What is that like when you're playing in Afghanistan for
the soldiers, Like, what kind of moment is that?
Speaker 2 (44:47):
Like, it's a badass, it's fun.
Speaker 3 (44:49):
What are the guys like and the girls like over
there when you come to sing for them who are
fighting for us in the middle of a war zone?
And what is that experience?
Speaker 2 (44:57):
Like?
Speaker 3 (44:58):
Not many people get to do that.
Speaker 2 (45:00):
It's incredible. I mean, you're grateful for every minute of that.
The crazy thing is like I the first or second time,
first time I was in Afghanistan, it was like freezing cold,
raining sideways. Oh wow, it was the weather was insane.
(45:20):
Then we'll be burning hot and then to be cold.
It was. It's a crazy place, even the ground you
walk on, like I wore my boots. Yeah, it didn't
really work that. Everything is hard, But I never heard
one man or woman complained about what they were doing
the entire time. So if I'm like trying to so
(45:45):
many times I've thought I can't pick out a shirt,
I'm like Okay, you pull your panties up, let's go.
I don't know, it's an honor to hear them and
know what they go through is uh, it's just real.
It's just pray for those men and women. Man what
(46:07):
they go through where it's United States Military. Thank god
we're in the United States of America because that's they
make it greatly. It's just an honor. Did some crazy stuff.
Speaker 3 (46:19):
So you've enjoyed the ride, for sure.
Speaker 2 (46:22):
But I don't There was a time I thought it
was about getting to the top of the.
Speaker 3 (46:27):
Mountain, right, And what was that?
Speaker 2 (46:28):
Not?
Speaker 3 (46:29):
Like number one is a war exactly?
Speaker 2 (46:35):
And what is it? Fames like a spot on your face.
Everybody notices it but you because you're just the same.
But it kind of hit me that it's great to
be on top of the mountain. It's fun to be
up there, but you can't live there. Just enjoy the view,
come back down and live in in the real world.
(46:58):
I used to think I had to be artist guy
over here and the dad over here and all that.
It's just too much to manage just being yourself every
single place you go.
Speaker 3 (47:13):
Is what a relief, right exactly? What a freedom?
Speaker 2 (47:17):
Having a good moment, your kids, That's what That's what
it comes down to.
Speaker 3 (47:20):
Who you marry is I've read, I've seen this over
and over again, and I believe it. Who you marry
affects ninety percent of your happiness. Would you agree for sure?
Speaker 2 (47:30):
And you affect theirs?
Speaker 3 (47:31):
Yeah, you do. I know. It's such a dance, it
really is.
Speaker 2 (47:36):
It's a blast when it's great, it's it's good.
Speaker 3 (47:38):
Why do you love living in the country?
Speaker 2 (47:42):
The people?
Speaker 3 (47:43):
You just love people. You're like going over your neighbor's
house getting a snake out of her basement. What is
it like, Rodney Aykin shows up to rescue a snake
out of your basement? I mean she are all friends?
Or were you just going there's a snake?
Speaker 2 (47:58):
She hit Rose and said, oh, oh my god, we
got a snake in the house.
Speaker 3 (48:02):
Just grabbed it with your bare hands.
Speaker 2 (48:04):
And uh.
Speaker 3 (48:05):
Also everyone, this is on your TikTok, which is so good.
Speaker 2 (48:09):
And Rose said, Tracy's got a snake in her house.
I said, that's wild. I thought about it, you know,
And then Rose said there got somebody to come get it.
I said, okay, cool. And then Rose said they're going
to charge three hundred dollars to come get the snake,
and I said, no, I'll go get the freaking snake.
She's like really yeah, I'm like, that's stupid not pay
(48:31):
three hundred dollars. So we got in the car and
Rose is thinking, I'm gonna make a TikTok. I'm on
video of this. It's gonna be awesome.
Speaker 3 (48:38):
I love that Rose is like on it for the
social media. Yes she catches.
Speaker 2 (48:45):
But we got there. They said it was in a
basement and walked in and her husband he was I
get people afraid of snakes. Snakes freaked people out. They
just never did me. I saw my dad grabbing him
as a kid.
Speaker 3 (48:58):
So I don't do you like check ticks are they're
not poisonous? First?
Speaker 2 (49:01):
Yeah, but if you just are cool about it, you're okay,
It's okay.
Speaker 3 (49:07):
How are you cool about grabbing a snake? How do
you do that? Just for future reference, like down the road.
Speaker 2 (49:12):
So he was this snake. He was big.
Speaker 3 (49:14):
Yeah, it was a huge snake, and uh he was.
Speaker 2 (49:17):
Done there with a garden hole and a hatchet or
something protecting every I don't know he was. He was
panicking and so Rose kind of went in the basement
and went over in the corner and before she could
kind of come around, had already grabbed it and brought
it out. She said, I thought this would take him minute.
I thought I had a second, and I'm like, no,
(49:37):
it's just a snake. It's it's It was funny the
fact that they had been I didn't realize They've been
dealing with this thing and freaking out about it for
so long. So there was there.
Speaker 3 (49:50):
They were just in there and just knocked it out.
So you just love and you just love a community.
You love the people. Do you love being a part
of the community. You just love being around people. Yeah,
connecting with people, sharing life with people.
Speaker 2 (50:05):
When they say how you doing, they actually mean it.
It's just a different vibe. You can go in the
grocery store where we live, or the same grocery store
you know, public's there. You can go to one just
a few miles up the road, and it's a whole
different experience. It's just completely different. And that's what's I mean,
(50:26):
that's what I love about a small town. But it's
the rural heart is what I call it. It's like
that can happen in New York City. It's when you
walk and ask it's stranger, how you get sixty second
and third doesn't make sense in my brain, But you
can ask somebody. People in New York will They'll go
out of their way to make sure you get to
where you need to go. I think that's that's what
(50:49):
I love about. Whether it's a city or a small town,
you just find it a lot more in a small town,
I think.
Speaker 3 (51:05):
And I feel like your songs all bleed just their
anthems of just the community, like standing strong in your
faith and your slogan is family, friends and good the
good Lord, good Lord. Yeah, but you feel that in
your songs. So you can tell how proud you are
to live here, and you can tell how proud you
are that you have these values, and you can feel
(51:27):
that in your songs. And I can tell that's important
to you that you put that out there.
Speaker 2 (51:31):
Thank you that that that's everything. That's I'm not trying
to trick people or you know, just have a song
that goes out and then it goes away. It's something
that hopefully enough people can feel connected to it. Is
that TikTok. It's a god user generated content that is insane.
(51:51):
That is some that's some great stuff man, for they.
I don't know if I really paid attention to it
that much until this with True South coming out. It's awesome.
Speaker 3 (52:03):
So what does that mean exactly?
Speaker 2 (52:05):
Where they take your song and they make their video
with it.
Speaker 3 (52:08):
That's so cool. So people doing it with True South?
Speaker 2 (52:10):
Oh yeah, it's funny, it's great. It's awesome.
Speaker 3 (52:13):
How is it to have a new song like Truesauth
out there right now? Because it's been a minute, right, yeah.
Speaker 2 (52:18):
It's probably been since twenty nineteen or something.
Speaker 3 (52:21):
Okay, Yeah, how is it having the song out there?
Speaker 2 (52:25):
It's awesome. It's a blast, it really is. To The
first gage you get is social media now. But that's
so cool because you don't have to. Like you were
talking about radio tours and going out on the road,
it just happens. It's been. It's amazing that people feel
(52:48):
connected to a song and it, like I said, when
they take the time to comment on social media. That's
what kind of drew me into it. It's crazy that
you can interact with people and they're speaking their heart
to you. And I know it's a troll world and
you can get attacked easily. I kind of learned to
(53:10):
ignore that stuff. But people are great. It's the people.
I'm telling you, it's the people.
Speaker 3 (53:15):
So you're just collecting the community people everywhere you go,
whether it's on social media, whether it's where you live,
whether it's on the road. You're just getting your people.
Speaker 2 (53:22):
That's it.
Speaker 3 (53:23):
What would you from your perspective, what would you say
are the core values that stream through you that you
find everywhere you go? What are you looking for?
Speaker 2 (53:35):
Friends? Family, and the good Lord? I mean, it ain't complicated.
Speaker 3 (53:39):
It's really not.
Speaker 2 (53:39):
It's it's pretty simple. Yeah, it's it's it's I believe.
One of my mottos is don't settle for anything just
to say you have something, so it's worth taking time.
It's like colutions, what is that three twenty three? Do
(54:04):
everything like you're doing it for his glory, not for man.
And if you just I don't give sweeping the floor,
just do it the best you can. That's the thing.
I want my kids to see that to do it
luck you actually care, And I think that goes a
long way. If you just can do that most of
your day, it makes it a good day. Usually.
Speaker 3 (54:23):
I love that. Okay, I'll wrap up a couple more questions.
So what would you feel like is your biggest strength
and what is your Achilles Hill.
Speaker 2 (54:33):
Biggest strength? M hm strength. Well, I mean hopefully it's
it's being a dad and that's my Achilles Hill. At
the same time, probably it's probably both things.
Speaker 3 (54:53):
Persistence, perseverance, a work ethic.
Speaker 2 (54:56):
I think there's a let of do, a discipline. I'm
pretty disciplined about stuff, you know, Achilles Hill. I mean
my strength and weakness is obviously my wife. It's pretty easy.
But you know, I don't mind it.
Speaker 3 (55:12):
If you were going to say a highlight moment of
your career, if you had to pick one, what would
it be?
Speaker 2 (55:20):
Holy cow, that's impossible.
Speaker 3 (55:25):
What's the first one that comes to me?
Speaker 2 (55:26):
That's really impossible. I mean there's so many. Because first
I thought about Rose and I singing the Christmas song
we wrote called Mary Had a Little Lamb on Fox News.
Never been out anywhere, really, it just came out. We
(55:47):
played at Fox News and that afternoon it went into
the number one spot over Mariah Carey, and that was like,
it's just real life. That was pretty amazing because there's
really no press or anything out there about it. There's
been moments, like I said, sitting in a folding chair
(56:09):
in Afghanistan and everybody just singing their brains out and
losing track of time, forgetting where you are. To the
people coming up and telling me that they had a
pistol in her hand and they're like, they're done with it.
(56:31):
Their wife left or whatever, lost their job, they're over it.
And they heard one of my songs, Man come on
the radio, and that gun is now at the bottom
of the river and they've turned their life around.
Speaker 3 (56:47):
That's powerful.
Speaker 2 (56:48):
So many stories like that about different songs or hell
watching you brought people together.
Speaker 3 (56:55):
That's amazing. It's powerful.
Speaker 2 (56:57):
I can't really nail down one of those moments that's powerful.
Blessed them, I love it.
Speaker 3 (57:03):
That's amazing. I always wrap up with leave your light
and before basically it's just inspiration. What do you want
people to know? To drop some inspiration and then tell
us how it can follow you and keep up with
true South and make sure we know everything that's going on.
So but just leave your light. What do you want
people to know if you had to drop some inspiration?
Speaker 2 (57:27):
I don't really think of anything magnificent to say, rather
than just everything's going to be okay. God is good. Friends,
family and the good Lord. I mean, it's it's it's
being together. It's it's like, we're all in this together.
The world came into this situation where it's us and them,
(57:50):
I think, and I think that hopefully we can slowly
get get on the other side of that. We're all
in this together. If everybody can just grasp that, it's
a game changer for sure.
Speaker 3 (58:02):
I love that. Okay, True South is out. You can
get it anywhere. Yep, you're on tour out there, we
are shows.
Speaker 2 (58:10):
Only got one more show yeah this year, and then
we'll be hitting it again next year. But yeah, two thousand,
True South is out. It's the first single from a
whole new album coming after the first of the year.
I think in the spring, maybe it's a blast. I'm
really proud of these songs. And hopefully folks can all
(58:31):
the comments social media and all that keep hitting me,
I'll get them all. I love it.
Speaker 3 (58:35):
Congratulations on just being awesome for all these years. I mean,
what a testament you are your career. It's so powerful
what you've created, your legacy, more than your music, your
family life, your son's what you stand for. It's really awesome. Ronnie.
Speaker 2 (58:50):
Thanks for having me this is this is incredible.
Speaker 3 (58:52):
Thank you so much for coming on. It means so much.
It's such a thrill for me to get to talk
to someone who I grew up just loving your music.
You're such a You're such a huge part of the
soundtrack of my life. So thank you for joining me.
I will we surground for five minutes of questions to straw,
five little questions and you probably gotta remember. We'll make
a real fast Okay, Roddie, I can thank you
Host
Caroline Hobby
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