September 4, 2024 • 12 mins
Drew Baldridge, an UN-SIGNED Country artist just made history with his first #1 Country hit, " She's Somebody Daughter". Not only did he write this heartfelt hit but he's single -handedly busted the ceiling for other un-signed artists behind him who now see a path to sharing their music with fans even without the support of a traditional record label. Meet Drew Baldridge on this episode of the Michael J Pod-cast.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Listen.
Speaker 2 (00:00):
I guarantee you you're about to hear something that's never
ever happened before, because never in the history of country
music has an unsigned artist made it to number one
on the country radio airplay chart. In other words, he
(00:21):
has nobody supporting him. Drew Baaldridge made the phone calls himself,
he went viral himself, and then he convinced radio stations
to play a song, and now it's number one because
everybody loves him. I'm telling you it's a great story
and hopefully it's the beginning of many more to come.
(00:44):
Here we go to the Dominion Tent back at wmzqfest
on August third of this summer with Drew Baldridge.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
Is it on?
Speaker 3 (00:54):
There?
Speaker 1 (00:54):
We go? Check? Check?
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Are we recording?
Speaker 1 (00:57):
Michael J. Cory is here.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
We're in the What is this a tent that we're in.
We're in the Dominion Tent and we like it because
it's air conditioning and we now have the biggest star
in country music visiting with us.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Is the true riche true? I'm not even the biggest
star on this show.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Dude, you are the biggest thing in country music. And
I want to tell you something. Here's what people need
to know about Drue. You're not even on a record label.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
I'm not How crazy does that happen? Crazy?
Speaker 4 (01:24):
Man?
Speaker 1 (01:24):
It's been a quite the journey for me.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
You know.
Speaker 4 (01:26):
I've been in Nashville for thirteen years, and I had
a record deal from twenty sixteen to twenty nineteen. And
the record company I was on shut its doors and
I thought I'd get a new deal and that didn't happen.
And in Nashville you kind of get one shot, you know.
You get signed a deal, you put a couple of
singles out. If they don't work, it's kind of done,
you know. And so twenty twenty year olls around. I
can't play shows anywhere. I'm thinking my career's over. I
(01:50):
got a girl I want to marry, I'm living on
my credit cards.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
I'm like, you know what, screw, I'm gonna do one
last thing.
Speaker 4 (01:55):
I'm just gonna post on socials to say I'll play
in anybody's backyard that wants to have me. Case I
lost my record deal, my manager and my booking agent
and I thought we'd get like five requests and we
ended up getting twenty some thousand. So I went around
the around the country, for two years twenty twenty one
and twenty twenty two, and I played over three hundred
people's backyard.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
It's just me and a guitar.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
Now, that's would you say, just possible because the social
media the way it is nowadays, like twenty years ago,
could you have done that?
Speaker 4 (02:21):
No way, no way? And it was all social media driven.
And then you know, we put this song out, She's
Somebody's Daughter. It started streaming and reacting on TikTok, and
I thought we'd get a record deal, right, No record
deals called, no companies called us. And so I was
sitting in there, played played a show finally won and
that was actually a festival, and everybody was singing every
word to it. And I got to look and I
(02:41):
was like, man, this song's got a hundred million streams.
I was like, why are record labels not beating down
our door? And I said, you know what, screw it.
I'm just going to create my own record label and
send this so on country radio by myself. And we
did it last year, and now we have the number
four song this week in the whole frigging country. Come
on back, number one.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
It's gonna go.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
We're not gonna chise that this is a number one song.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Man, Well, thank you, thank you for saying that.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
Joe bumps every time you hear it. Now, I'm a girl, dad,
you know. And I know you have kids too.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
I do.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
I have a little boy now, yes, But.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
Here's the thing, it doesn't matter even if you're not
a parent. You hear this song. And if you are
a daughter, you know what I mean. You understand where
this is coming.
Speaker 4 (03:24):
Well, I think I've heard so many dad say, that's
so funny because when I wrote it, I wrote it
after meeting my girlfriend's dad because I knew I was
gonna marry her and she was the one. And remember
driving back to Nashville and just thinking, Man, if I
break her heart, I'll be breaking her dad's heart and
her mom's heart. And I was like, this is my
this is the one, this is my girl. I want
to marry her. So I wrote the song as a
message to myself, like, don't screw up. Treat her right.
(03:47):
She's somebody's daughter. If you break her heart, hers won't
be the only one you're breaking. And so when I
put it out, it was just for her, you know.
And I made this wedding version just so she could
dance to it at our wedding with her dad. And
I posted it the next week on TikTok and it
got ten million views on most in one night.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
And does that still blow your mind? How something like
like TikTok still doesn't make sense to me? How certain
things go viral, certain things don't. What led to that
going viral?
Speaker 4 (04:14):
You think, man, I'll be honest, I don't know, other
than this song just connected with people.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
It is an amazing song.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
Thank you for saying that.
Speaker 4 (04:23):
But it was like we all think we write amazing stuff, right,
every artist is like that thing I just wrote yesterday.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
It's the best thing ever.
Speaker 4 (04:30):
Well, I wrote this, I knew it meant a lot
to me and my wife, and she danced to it
with her dad.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
We went on our honeymoon.
Speaker 4 (04:36):
It was a Wednesday night and I just posted on
TikTok and I said, hey, I wrote this song so
my wife could dance to it with her dad. If
this gets five thousand likes, I'll put it out on Friday,
knowing it was coming out Friday, just praying and hoping
that people would like it, and so we post it.
I'm on my honeymoon, so I just posted I don't
think anything of it. We're driving around, we go have dinner,
(04:58):
we wake up the next morning. Like I said, it
has almost ten million views. The song comes out midnight
on Thursday, so the next day at midnight, which is Friday,
and it's number eight Norway, number seven in Sweden, number
top twenty five in America, trending on Shazam in South
Africa in a day. So, I mean it was like,
in a week's time we had one of the most
(05:19):
viral songs just from one post. And then these girls
started making tiktoks and I shared them and it.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
Just kept going. I was like, this is the most
insane thing I've got.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
Yeah, it's mind boggling, the song of the year, I mean,
right there, and well, thank you for saying that it
really is. And now you got to do He's somebody's son.
Speaker 4 (05:37):
I've had so many people say that, what's so funny.
When we got married, my wife wanted me to write
all the special dance songs. So I wrote this song
for my mom called can She Have This Dance? And
I was never gonna put it out, but now me
and my wife have a son, and it hits a
little different now thinking about her dancing with him one day.
So we put it out last year and it's been
so awesome to now watch weddings have the dad and
(05:59):
daughter dance. You know, they danced to She's Somebody's Daughter,
and they turned right around and the mama's son danced
to can she Have This Dance? Another song that we wrote.
So it's really cool to be a part of people's lives.
And that's what I love as a songwriter, just to
be to write songs that people can do life too.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
That's what country music's about, you know.
Speaker 4 (06:16):
And that's been really really fun, And now we're really
excited to think what's next.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
Everybody's asking what's next?
Speaker 2 (06:22):
I think the Chicken Dance is next?
Speaker 3 (06:23):
Right, So big picture, can you continue the route you're
going like as an individual basically?
Speaker 1 (06:31):
Or are what? What do you see your future like?
Speaker 3 (06:34):
Moving?
Speaker 1 (06:35):
No freaking clue.
Speaker 4 (06:36):
I'm just gonna be honest, you know, I'm just flying
by the grace of God right now and the seat
of my pants. And when I did this and I said,
I'm just gonna screw it. I'm gonna create my own
record label and try this. Mind you, nobody's done this. Yeah,
you know, this is a first. People try this and
it fails. And I'm thinking, when I start this, my
only goal was to get top forty. I've never had
a top forty single. My friends were like, what's your
(06:58):
goal out of this, and I said, if I can
get top forty, that'd be a dream come true. I
want to be a top forty country artist. I want
to be able to say that in my bio. I
want to be able to go to show say this
is top forty. And so it just keeps going and
climbing and researching, and now here we are, like I said,
top five, number four, praying and hoping that this month
maybe we can hit number one. And if that's the case,
we'll be the first artist and the history of country
(07:20):
music to independently get their first number one. And so
everybody's coming asking that do you think you can do
it again? I'm like, I don't know. Yeah, you know,
I'm gonna try.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
You know, I think while you're trying for whatever's next
in country, this song is gonna cross over. And I mean,
I don't know if it's showing up on like, you know,
a pop or a talk contemporary stations. But I can't
see a radio station not playing it.
Speaker 4 (07:42):
Man, well, thank you for saying this song. It has
been such a life changing song for us. And what
makes it more special? And I think the reason why
I want to try this because you know, it costs
a lot of money to build a staff, and we
just got married, we have a young son.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
It's a big risk.
Speaker 4 (07:57):
And I come to my wife and you know, we've
been married for two years at this time, and I
come to her and say, hey, I'm about to spend
a lot of money and I'm gonna go after my
dream and she just says, I believe in you and
knowing that this song is the one to do it
for us, that I wrote it for my wife. The
messages treat women right. Yes, know they're worth You're somebody's
(08:21):
daughter girls, you know. And that's the most special thing
for me. When when people are like why why would
you risk this? I was like, this message is worth it.
This message is worth and this message is not being
talked about on country radio.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
Right, isn't it? And we need this message. Yeah, we
do need this message.
Speaker 4 (08:37):
And there's nothing wrong with dirt roads or one Night's
and all that have fun.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
Drink party, all that stuff. But I just felt like this.
Speaker 4 (08:44):
Was really different for country right now, and that's what
inspired me to do this and give it a shot.
And it's been a lot of fun to watch this
have a whole life. And even when I was driving
in today, I was listening to WMZQ, I was listening
to y'all and I landed. I turn on the radio
station first thing, and I was driving in here and
I can't remember who was on air, and they were like,
(09:05):
call in if you want to call in, And some
lady called in and she says what times Drew Baldridge
playing tonight and.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
About rolling right out run off the road. And I
was like, oh my gosh, freaking Dan and Jay's on this.
Why are we talking about Drew Baldridge. You know you
are a star, dude, man, everybody's asking about you.
Speaker 4 (09:23):
It was just like, it's my eight year old daughter's
favorite song, and this this song means a lot to
my daughter, so I want to bring her out.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
And I'm like, that's freaking cool. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (09:33):
To know that this song means so much to little girls,
they can hear this message and know their mom and
dad is there for them.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
You know, that was special.
Speaker 4 (09:41):
Well, we're looking forward to seeing you perform it for us,
so well, thanks for saying.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
I mean, you are playing it right, I'm gonna come
all the way here, and I decided I'm not playing that.
I got another song.
Speaker 4 (09:54):
Yeah, man, I'm excited to play it. And it's just tonight.
It's super intimate. It's just mean an acoustic just mean
a guitar, and you know, it's nothing fancy. It's just
here to tell stories. And I'm actually gonna play my
new single tonight right here. That's not even out yet.
I want to play it for people and try it
out on y'all. And I'm just really excited for if
it's with the label next, like if I don't have
(10:14):
labels calling me.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
You know, it's not like to a listener. Think about
it from the standpoint of a fan. You don't care
what record label something's on, and you don't even know
if it's.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
On a record.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
It doesn't matter.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
What matters is what you're hearing on WMCQ. Your favorite song.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
Yeah, that's what matters.
Speaker 4 (10:29):
And you know, I think the hardest thing is a
lot of people is like, how do you get through
all the barriers because it's not this is not you
can't just put a song out and just start playing
on the radio. You know, there's a lot of stuff
behind the scenes in Nashville. There's a lot of politics
that you got to figure out because there's record labels
and people that do this every day that know what
they're doing, and I have no clue, all right, Like
I've had, I've had to learn so much. A lot
(10:52):
of googling, a lot of googling, a lot of talking
to friends. I mean a lot of artist friends that
are here that you have been so kind to me,
you know.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
I mean, and Shay walked up to them and they're like, man,
you've got the song of the year. Everyone the other
artists are aware of what this song is doing.
Speaker 4 (11:06):
And that's what's been cool is I think there's been
so many artists in Nashville that have lost their record
deal after.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
A single that are super talented.
Speaker 4 (11:14):
I mean, you guys in radio, you have met so
many people that have come through here that just it
didn't work out, it was wrong timing, it was whatever.
And now I'm getting calls from them every day saying, man,
you're inspiring us to keep going because you're an independent.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
You lost your deal. Nobody betted on you. Yea.
Speaker 4 (11:29):
Everybody was saying this is not gonna work. Everybody was
saying you're crazy, and it's working, and so like that
inspires us to keep going. Like can we go have
breakfast and talk about what you're doing. I'm like, yeah,
I'm an open book. Yeah, let's get your songs on
the radio too. Let's figure out how to win as independents.
And you know, if that becomes with new record deals.
We're in a new time in our industry where nobody
(11:49):
cares where it's coming from. Like you said, as long
as it gets heard and it's quality music, that's what
I really believe. So to answer your question, if I
have a record deal, if there's somebody out there listening
right now and they want to sign me, let's talk,
you know. But if not, we're gonna do it ourselves.
And I'm gonna keep going. This train ain't slowing down.
We're gonna keep putting music out for people because love it.
What I learned when I was in those people's backyards
(12:11):
is at the end of the day, I am making
music for Nashville. As much as I love being on
the radio, I ain't making music for the radio. I'm
making music for your listeners, and I'm making music for people.
I'm making music for people here Jiffy Lub tonight. And
that was the biggest transition in my life when I
realized that it's to say, Hey, I'm making music for
human hearts, and that's that's my goal for the rest
of my career.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
You just heard the best country radio interview in the
history of country music right there.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
I love telling you.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
That's it. Drew Baldridge, superstar man. Drop the mic and
thank you for listening to the Michael J. Podcast. Make
sure you follow me so I can keep you up
to speed with all the stars. You never know who's
going to drop by next. Thanks for listening.
Listen.
Speaker 2 (00:00):
I guarantee you you're about to hear something that's never
ever happened before, because never in the history of country
music has an unsigned artist made it to number one
on the country radio airplay chart. In other words, he
(00:21):
has nobody supporting him. Drew Baaldridge made the phone calls himself,
he went viral himself, and then he convinced radio stations
to play a song, and now it's number one because
everybody loves him. I'm telling you it's a great story
and hopefully it's the beginning of many more to come.
(00:44):
Here we go to the Dominion Tent back at wmzqfest
on August third of this summer with Drew Baldridge.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
Is it on?
Speaker 3 (00:54):
There?
Speaker 1 (00:54):
We go? Check? Check?
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Are we recording?
Speaker 1 (00:57):
Michael J. Cory is here.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
We're in the What is this a tent that we're in.
We're in the Dominion Tent and we like it because
it's air conditioning and we now have the biggest star
in country music visiting with us.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Is the true riche true? I'm not even the biggest
star on this show.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Dude, you are the biggest thing in country music. And
I want to tell you something. Here's what people need
to know about Drue. You're not even on a record label.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
I'm not How crazy does that happen? Crazy?
Speaker 4 (01:24):
Man?
Speaker 1 (01:24):
It's been a quite the journey for me.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
You know.
Speaker 4 (01:26):
I've been in Nashville for thirteen years, and I had
a record deal from twenty sixteen to twenty nineteen. And
the record company I was on shut its doors and
I thought I'd get a new deal and that didn't happen.
And in Nashville you kind of get one shot, you know.
You get signed a deal, you put a couple of
singles out. If they don't work, it's kind of done,
you know. And so twenty twenty year olls around. I
can't play shows anywhere. I'm thinking my career's over. I
(01:50):
got a girl I want to marry, I'm living on
my credit cards.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
I'm like, you know what, screw, I'm gonna do one
last thing.
Speaker 4 (01:55):
I'm just gonna post on socials to say I'll play
in anybody's backyard that wants to have me. Case I
lost my record deal, my manager and my booking agent
and I thought we'd get like five requests and we
ended up getting twenty some thousand. So I went around
the around the country, for two years twenty twenty one
and twenty twenty two, and I played over three hundred
people's backyard.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
It's just me and a guitar.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
Now, that's would you say, just possible because the social
media the way it is nowadays, like twenty years ago,
could you have done that?
Speaker 4 (02:21):
No way, no way? And it was all social media driven.
And then you know, we put this song out, She's
Somebody's Daughter. It started streaming and reacting on TikTok, and
I thought we'd get a record deal, right, No record
deals called, no companies called us. And so I was
sitting in there, played played a show finally won and
that was actually a festival, and everybody was singing every
word to it. And I got to look and I
(02:41):
was like, man, this song's got a hundred million streams.
I was like, why are record labels not beating down
our door? And I said, you know what, screw it.
I'm just going to create my own record label and
send this so on country radio by myself. And we
did it last year, and now we have the number
four song this week in the whole frigging country. Come
on back, number one.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
It's gonna go.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
We're not gonna chise that this is a number one song.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Man, Well, thank you, thank you for saying that.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
Joe bumps every time you hear it. Now, I'm a girl, dad,
you know. And I know you have kids too.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
I do.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
I have a little boy now, yes, But.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
Here's the thing, it doesn't matter even if you're not
a parent. You hear this song. And if you are
a daughter, you know what I mean. You understand where
this is coming.
Speaker 4 (03:24):
Well, I think I've heard so many dad say, that's
so funny because when I wrote it, I wrote it
after meeting my girlfriend's dad because I knew I was
gonna marry her and she was the one. And remember
driving back to Nashville and just thinking, Man, if I
break her heart, I'll be breaking her dad's heart and
her mom's heart. And I was like, this is my
this is the one, this is my girl. I want
to marry her. So I wrote the song as a
message to myself, like, don't screw up. Treat her right.
(03:47):
She's somebody's daughter. If you break her heart, hers won't
be the only one you're breaking. And so when I
put it out, it was just for her, you know.
And I made this wedding version just so she could
dance to it at our wedding with her dad. And
I posted it the next week on TikTok and it
got ten million views on most in one night.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
And does that still blow your mind? How something like
like TikTok still doesn't make sense to me? How certain
things go viral, certain things don't. What led to that
going viral?
Speaker 4 (04:14):
You think, man, I'll be honest, I don't know, other
than this song just connected with people.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
It is an amazing song.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
Thank you for saying that.
Speaker 4 (04:23):
But it was like we all think we write amazing stuff, right,
every artist is like that thing I just wrote yesterday.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
It's the best thing ever.
Speaker 4 (04:30):
Well, I wrote this, I knew it meant a lot
to me and my wife, and she danced to it
with her dad.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
We went on our honeymoon.
Speaker 4 (04:36):
It was a Wednesday night and I just posted on
TikTok and I said, hey, I wrote this song so
my wife could dance to it with her dad. If
this gets five thousand likes, I'll put it out on Friday,
knowing it was coming out Friday, just praying and hoping
that people would like it, and so we post it.
I'm on my honeymoon, so I just posted I don't
think anything of it. We're driving around, we go have dinner,
(04:58):
we wake up the next morning. Like I said, it
has almost ten million views. The song comes out midnight
on Thursday, so the next day at midnight, which is Friday,
and it's number eight Norway, number seven in Sweden, number
top twenty five in America, trending on Shazam in South
Africa in a day. So, I mean it was like,
in a week's time we had one of the most
(05:19):
viral songs just from one post. And then these girls
started making tiktoks and I shared them and it.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
Just kept going. I was like, this is the most
insane thing I've got.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
Yeah, it's mind boggling, the song of the year, I mean,
right there, and well, thank you for saying that it
really is. And now you got to do He's somebody's son.
Speaker 4 (05:37):
I've had so many people say that, what's so funny.
When we got married, my wife wanted me to write
all the special dance songs. So I wrote this song
for my mom called can She Have This Dance? And
I was never gonna put it out, but now me
and my wife have a son, and it hits a
little different now thinking about her dancing with him one day.
So we put it out last year and it's been
so awesome to now watch weddings have the dad and
(05:59):
daughter dance. You know, they danced to She's Somebody's Daughter,
and they turned right around and the mama's son danced
to can she Have This Dance? Another song that we wrote.
So it's really cool to be a part of people's lives.
And that's what I love as a songwriter, just to
be to write songs that people can do life too.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
That's what country music's about, you know.
Speaker 4 (06:16):
And that's been really really fun, And now we're really
excited to think what's next.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
Everybody's asking what's next?
Speaker 2 (06:22):
I think the Chicken Dance is next?
Speaker 3 (06:23):
Right, So big picture, can you continue the route you're
going like as an individual basically?
Speaker 1 (06:31):
Or are what? What do you see your future like?
Speaker 3 (06:34):
Moving?
Speaker 1 (06:35):
No freaking clue.
Speaker 4 (06:36):
I'm just gonna be honest, you know, I'm just flying
by the grace of God right now and the seat
of my pants. And when I did this and I said,
I'm just gonna screw it. I'm gonna create my own
record label and try this. Mind you, nobody's done this. Yeah,
you know, this is a first. People try this and
it fails. And I'm thinking, when I start this, my
only goal was to get top forty. I've never had
a top forty single. My friends were like, what's your
(06:58):
goal out of this, and I said, if I can
get top forty, that'd be a dream come true. I
want to be a top forty country artist. I want
to be able to say that in my bio. I
want to be able to go to show say this
is top forty. And so it just keeps going and
climbing and researching, and now here we are, like I said,
top five, number four, praying and hoping that this month
maybe we can hit number one. And if that's the case,
we'll be the first artist and the history of country
(07:20):
music to independently get their first number one. And so
everybody's coming asking that do you think you can do
it again? I'm like, I don't know. Yeah, you know,
I'm gonna try.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
You know, I think while you're trying for whatever's next
in country, this song is gonna cross over. And I mean,
I don't know if it's showing up on like, you know,
a pop or a talk contemporary stations. But I can't
see a radio station not playing it.
Speaker 4 (07:42):
Man, well, thank you for saying this song. It has
been such a life changing song for us. And what
makes it more special? And I think the reason why
I want to try this because you know, it costs
a lot of money to build a staff, and we
just got married, we have a young son.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
It's a big risk.
Speaker 4 (07:57):
And I come to my wife and you know, we've
been married for two years at this time, and I
come to her and say, hey, I'm about to spend
a lot of money and I'm gonna go after my
dream and she just says, I believe in you and
knowing that this song is the one to do it
for us, that I wrote it for my wife. The
messages treat women right. Yes, know they're worth You're somebody's
(08:21):
daughter girls, you know. And that's the most special thing
for me. When when people are like why why would
you risk this? I was like, this message is worth it.
This message is worth and this message is not being
talked about on country radio.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
Right, isn't it? And we need this message. Yeah, we
do need this message.
Speaker 4 (08:37):
And there's nothing wrong with dirt roads or one Night's
and all that have fun.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
Drink party, all that stuff. But I just felt like this.
Speaker 4 (08:44):
Was really different for country right now, and that's what
inspired me to do this and give it a shot.
And it's been a lot of fun to watch this
have a whole life. And even when I was driving
in today, I was listening to WMZQ, I was listening
to y'all and I landed. I turn on the radio
station first thing, and I was driving in here and
I can't remember who was on air, and they were like,
(09:05):
call in if you want to call in, And some
lady called in and she says what times Drew Baldridge
playing tonight and.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
About rolling right out run off the road. And I
was like, oh my gosh, freaking Dan and Jay's on this.
Why are we talking about Drew Baldridge. You know you
are a star, dude, man, everybody's asking about you.
Speaker 4 (09:23):
It was just like, it's my eight year old daughter's
favorite song, and this this song means a lot to
my daughter, so I want to bring her out.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
And I'm like, that's freaking cool. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (09:33):
To know that this song means so much to little girls,
they can hear this message and know their mom and
dad is there for them.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
You know, that was special.
Speaker 4 (09:41):
Well, we're looking forward to seeing you perform it for us,
so well, thanks for saying.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
I mean, you are playing it right, I'm gonna come
all the way here, and I decided I'm not playing that.
I got another song.
Speaker 4 (09:54):
Yeah, man, I'm excited to play it. And it's just tonight.
It's super intimate. It's just mean an acoustic just mean
a guitar, and you know, it's nothing fancy. It's just
here to tell stories. And I'm actually gonna play my
new single tonight right here. That's not even out yet.
I want to play it for people and try it
out on y'all. And I'm just really excited for if
it's with the label next, like if I don't have
(10:14):
labels calling me.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
You know, it's not like to a listener. Think about
it from the standpoint of a fan. You don't care
what record label something's on, and you don't even know
if it's.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
On a record.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
It doesn't matter.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
What matters is what you're hearing on WMCQ. Your favorite song.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
Yeah, that's what matters.
Speaker 4 (10:29):
And you know, I think the hardest thing is a
lot of people is like, how do you get through
all the barriers because it's not this is not you
can't just put a song out and just start playing
on the radio. You know, there's a lot of stuff
behind the scenes in Nashville. There's a lot of politics
that you got to figure out because there's record labels
and people that do this every day that know what
they're doing, and I have no clue, all right, Like
I've had, I've had to learn so much. A lot
(10:52):
of googling, a lot of googling, a lot of talking
to friends. I mean a lot of artist friends that
are here that you have been so kind to me,
you know.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
I mean, and Shay walked up to them and they're like, man,
you've got the song of the year. Everyone the other
artists are aware of what this song is doing.
Speaker 4 (11:06):
And that's what's been cool is I think there's been
so many artists in Nashville that have lost their record
deal after.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
A single that are super talented.
Speaker 4 (11:14):
I mean, you guys in radio, you have met so
many people that have come through here that just it
didn't work out, it was wrong timing, it was whatever.
And now I'm getting calls from them every day saying, man,
you're inspiring us to keep going because you're an independent.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
You lost your deal. Nobody betted on you. Yea.
Speaker 4 (11:29):
Everybody was saying this is not gonna work. Everybody was
saying you're crazy, and it's working, and so like that
inspires us to keep going. Like can we go have
breakfast and talk about what you're doing. I'm like, yeah,
I'm an open book. Yeah, let's get your songs on
the radio too. Let's figure out how to win as independents.
And you know, if that becomes with new record deals.
We're in a new time in our industry where nobody
(11:49):
cares where it's coming from. Like you said, as long
as it gets heard and it's quality music, that's what
I really believe. So to answer your question, if I
have a record deal, if there's somebody out there listening
right now and they want to sign me, let's talk,
you know. But if not, we're gonna do it ourselves.
And I'm gonna keep going. This train ain't slowing down.
We're gonna keep putting music out for people because love it.
What I learned when I was in those people's backyards
(12:11):
is at the end of the day, I am making
music for Nashville. As much as I love being on
the radio, I ain't making music for the radio. I'm
making music for your listeners, and I'm making music for people.
I'm making music for people here Jiffy Lub tonight. And
that was the biggest transition in my life when I
realized that it's to say, Hey, I'm making music for
human hearts, and that's that's my goal for the rest
of my career.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
You just heard the best country radio interview in the
history of country music right there.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
I love telling you.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
That's it. Drew Baldridge, superstar man. Drop the mic and
thank you for listening to the Michael J. Podcast. Make
sure you follow me so I can keep you up
to speed with all the stars. You never know who's
going to drop by next. Thanks for listening.
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