Transcript of E534 Brooks & Dunn

You're calling the shots tonight. What do you watch? That's what I'm asking. What do you eat? If you get a little something to see and something to snack on, what's your pairing? Would you go with the HBO original series the Sopranos and maybe a couple taquitos or something? Well, you can decide because right now Max is included with your dash pass annual plan. Thank you, Doordash. You can sign up for dash pass annual plan and get Max included at no extra cost. Terms apply. So that way you get your favorite shows and you can get your favorite food right there all in one sitting. Have it work out for you. Make it easy. Enjoy your night in. That's right, Max is now included with your dash pass annual plan. Stream Max with ads up to $120, value included at no extra cost. Terms apply. See doordash.com max for details. Some new tour dates coming up Sioux Falls, South Dakota La Crosse and Green Bay, Wisconsin Moline, Illinois Colorado Springs, Colorado Casper, Wyoming Billings, Missoula. Bloomington, Indiana Columbus, Ohio Champaign, Illinois Grand Rapids, Lafayette, Louisiana and Beaumont, Texas. Get all your tickets@theovon.com tour and thank you so much for the support.

Today's guests are icons in the world of country music. If they had a Mount Rushmore of country, you might see these fellows right up there on it. They had solo careers before they joined together to create one of the most popular tandems in the history of of country. You know, there are many hits like neon mates getting me and many, many more. Their new album, Reboot two, comes out November 15. It has new takes on their classic songs with folks like Morgan Wallen, Jelly Roll, and Laney Wilson. I am so excited today to sit down with mister Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn. Brooks and Dunn.

Shine that light on me I'll sit and tell you my story shine on me and I will find a song I've been singing.

Yeah. Thank you guys for coming in, man. Good to be here. Good to see you guys.

Watch all the time. Not just saying that. I watched. He was post malone the other day. I don't know how far back that was videoed or shot.

Oh, yeah.

Funny stuff.

Yeah, he's wild, man. Yeah, he's. He's really. He's just like an infectious thing.

Kind of funny.

Yeah.

Yes, sir. No, sir.

Yeah. He's like a kid who got in trouble, but he's gonna keep partying, you know?

Yeah, you're right. Would I be stopped drinking? He said. Was that worst, worst, worst time of your life? Well, it's when I was drinking. Have you stopped? No. What's different? Well, I mean, he's. Yeah, he's never thought about it. He's an interesting cat. He's absolutely a sweetheart, though. I mean, you talk to him, it's like mister, you know, Mister Theo, you know.

He's a nicest guy.

Yeah, yeah.

He's super nice, man. You guys have had such a career, man. Thank you so much for all the music.

Yeah, thanks for letting us hang around as long, you know.

Appreciate it.

Around how long?

Several semesters.

Yeah. Does it feel. Did it ever feed? Did it feel like, um. Because you guys got part. Do you guys get paired together or how did it kind of the beginning become. We're not gonna go through all the history, but I just want, you know, just so some people may not know.

Classic story, you know, right out of the movies. Just friend of ours who we both had a lot of respect for, Tim Dubois, great songwriter himself and whatever, is actually an accountant at Vanderbilt as well, you know, smart guy, too. But he just invited us to lunch and thought we might. Might be a good pair up. And, you know, Ronnie and I are just kind of growling across the table at each other. It didn't make any sense to us. And look, you guys can both write songs. He goes, go see if you can write a song together. Okay, so I think that was Tuesday, maybe Thursday. We wrote brand new man Friday. We wrote this song. Next broken heart. And Ronnie had already written Neon Moon and boot scooting boogie. And I had another song, I lost and found. And we just screwed up and been riding the bus for 30 years trying to figure out how to get off.

It's like we weren't. We weren't brothers growing up, like, challenged it.

Did it feel like, a pressure, like, you had to be, like. Like, I just want. Yeah, like. Cause with comedians, they don't really have that where you kind of. Kind of partner you up, I guess, for television shows and stuff. They do where they package shows, but, yeah, I wonder, did it feel. Did you guys feel a pressure, like, we have to, or it was just.

No, no.

We felt. We felt broken, hungry.

Yeah.

We felt like none of this shit's really working that great. Yeah, I mean, I'd had some. Some success as a songwriter. Written a couple of hits and whatever. And Ronnie just been out. Noki, you know, hiding. Writing great songs. Totally unheard of for somebody who hadn't been in Nashville, really studying the craft, so to say, to show up with songs like Neon Moon and Boot scoot.

Oh, yeah.

Next album, hardworking man and used to be my Ronnie just had written all these great songs by itself, which, you know, now I can't even tell you who's out there writing songs by themselves. They'll probably watch and go, hey, how about me, dude? But, you know, it's, it's a co writing town. It just really is.

It's becoming more and more of a co writing town.

More and more writers on every song.

I saw them with nine riders. Nine riders. I mean, what the heck? We used to, like, we'd throw a bet, you like, you know, three riders in the room.

Did it feel like over? Did it feel like you guys had to? Because I bet it's like once you get partnered with somebody, it's like, dang, we're part. This is a long ride, and you don't really know how long the ride is when you start, you know, did it feel like you guys over the years, like you had to be best friends? Did it ever feel like a pressure to be like that?

Maybe, but we didn't. I don't think we took it to heart. I mean, it was like, hey, we. Tim, back up on your story a little bit for me. But Tim. Tim had heard me in a playing a bar in, in Oklahoma, and he was circling through and Clive Davis and he were putting a label together. So he told me, says I, he says, I really. I want to sign. You said, I've already got Alan Jackson and Diamond Rio.

He already had a few other singer and a band.

Yeah, Pam, tell us. And it's like, it's like, like he's going down the list. We didn't realize this at first, but he was going down the list, going, okay, now I need a trio. I've got a trio. Need. Now I need a duo.

Yeah.

But he didn't. We didn't know that till after the fact.

The judge were breaking up, so. Well, he saw an open slot on the CMA.

Might have been true.

I think it was that manipulative. Yeah, you know?

Yeah. So you guys do your walk out with Morgan. How was that, man? That was cool.

He's got it stirred up and it's like, okay, so where do we. So how about that kid?

Did you know about it before, what it was or.

No, I really didn't. They were trying to explain to me what was going on, and like, we're going to look back and you guys come down the hallway and then you all are going to walk out together to his stage. You know, we're going to film it and it's a big deal. I'm like, okay.

We keep up with it to extent that we know how he's selling out stadiums everywhere, and it's like, you know, get out of the way, and he's crashing websites and Live nation is, you know, they. If you announce ticket sales, it all, you know, it blows up through the roof, so. And I had. I had did a walk on with him at Bridgestone when he played here a couple years.

Oh, yeah, I saw that show, actually, at that show. Yeah, that was awesome. But, yeah, to do that, it's kind of an interesting thing because you're back there, you don't really know what's going on. You know, you can't. You can kind of start to hear people cheering, but you don't really know.

So did you do that with him?

Yeah, yeah. I got to do one with them here in Nashville. Yeah. With DeAndre Hopkins that plays for the Tennessee Titans.

Uh huh.

Yeah, sure. But it's still kind of confusing because you're like, j hop. Yeah. D hop.

Oh, that's what I meant.

Oh, what did I call him.

When I did it? We didn't. We wasn't doing the walk yet, so we were in Kansas City the other night with him. Is that right? Yeah. No, no, no. Yeah, we were in Kansas City. Yeah, Kansas City.

Yeah. That's where you guys did the walkout with him, right?

Yeah, yeah.

Cause it's kind of wild.

Yeah.

It's just this thing, I guess they kind of just started it.

Yeah. You don't know. Yeah, you're right. You're just kind of thrown into the fray there.

Yeah. You just kind of don't know what's going on.

Well, I supposed to walk here and be cool? Am I supposed to, like, you know, rub your shoulders?

Right. And it's starting to get weird. People are rubbing on him and people are. Yeah.

Right.

It's getting. Starting to get a little aggressive, I feel like.

Right.

Another thing, you know, is like, stop doing that. And they tell us. They said, no, he's gonna walk fast. Okay, you can walk fast. Yeah, that's it, then off you go.

It'll be cool when it just starts wrestling.

Yeah.

Towards running.

It's him and his agent just back there fist fighting. Oh, I think. Yeah. It's definitely bizarre because you, like, you don't really know what's going on. And then he's like, all right, let's go. And for him, it's just. He's just got. Getting it, you know, heading to work.

Yeah. And then it's off the walls.

Yeah, it had to be weird because you get to the stage and then you guys can't go out to the stage. So it's like, yeah, it's like, yeah, we're on.

It's like, stop. Yeah, no, no, this is not your show.

Stop here. The cameras all follow that guy.

Yeah, it really was like that, man. Because I didn't play anything, but I was like, I could try, you know? I was like, let's do it right. You know, that's how we were.

You just wing it.

Yeah. And DeAndre's like, he looked like he was ready to just run a 40 yards f flat, you know? So I was like, yeah, let's get him out here, dude. So that was interesting, man. What's it. What's. What's been one of the tougher things that. That came with, like, fame that you guys realized. Cause you guys went to being, obviously, you were doing well in your careers individually, but even as you were just saying, like, you know, you guys. The first couple songs you put out were hits. That's right.

First four were number ones.

Yeah, I mean, that's a lot of number ones, dude.

You know, we just call some buddies up in a panic and started playing honky talks and bars. Even our manager told us not to do it. Said, no, man. If we're running off like we're knocking hits out of the park right now, we need to have a tight band, you know, when they do or we get a place where we're in front of a lot of people. So we went for the first year, year and a half playing clubs everywhere from here to California, which was the coolest. It was animal.

The coolest. The coolest memory for me, because I probably like Ronnie. I mean, just a lot of years of turning corners on clubs and stuff, and there'd be four or six cars in the parking lot, you know, and you just have to go.

And one of the girl you came to invited to impress.

Exactly. And a couple of guys that don't like it because they want her, too.

And she's not cute at all.

Yeah, you set your stuff up, you know, and nobody cares and whatever, and then next thing you know, we're parking down the road and to get to a place because the parking lot's full now. Those were great nights. They really were. You know, you really, really couldn't screw up too bad, because it was fired up. And that's kind of what you dream about when you're learning tune your guitar, you know, just, man, just. Just the clubs part of it, I mean, the whole coliseum thing and that that other kind of success was. I wasn't even thinking that far. This was just like, man, it worked.

Yeah.

It was so crazy, because we don't know each other from Adam, even at that point, we don't know each other from Adam.

We would learn in interviews about each other.

Now, as you started to get famous, I'm just curious about this kind of stuff, you know, because fame and popularity is such, like a. It's an interesting thing, right. And it's its own thing because you can't exactly play plan for it. Like, were there things that you kind of missed kind of immediately about that? Like, because once you kind of. Once it starts to happen, it's hard to put it. You can't really put your life back into that old jug, really?

No. And you don't see it coming. You can't plan for it no matter where. Where it is. I think, you know, even if you grew up around it, which I didn't, but I can remember, this is so strange, though. I can remember going home after the first, like, say, run the real, like, tour when we were opening for Reba or whatever, and my wife and mother in law, she said, you've changed. I'm like, what? She says, you changed. He said, you're not the same. And it's like, I didn't feel like anything was any abnormal, other than I was going out on a bus and singing in front of people. I didn't come back going, you know, hey, I'm famous.

Yeah.

Yeah. But people's perception of you changes, you know, don't you think?

Yeah, net. Yeah, it is. And. Yeah, and it's kind of uncomfortable because you don't. You kind of wish it wouldn't.

Well, you need that safety net of normalcy, you know, come back to, especially at home. And it was just kind of. All of a sudden, you're getting pushed. Pushed in the corner in a way by that, whatever. Perception is a fame. I just did a bunch of acid. So we're good. We're happy with this.

Oh, I'm not even here.

Cosmic mushroom, not acid. Acid job.

I think that it's funny. I'm just. My wheels are turning just thinking about those times, and honestly, I love somebody made a statement one time, we're having a conversation like this and said, yeah, I want to be a star. I want to be a star. I want to be a star. Will you people please leave me alone? I've never felt that way, you know, I mean, like, Ronnie for so many years. I was 36. He was 38 when we met, you know, with nothing going on, really. And, I mean, that's. That's a. That's pretty old to just get started with a career where you're put together by a record company and to think you're going to have a 30 year plus run or something.

You know, we didn't think about the 30 plus year run. Our philosophy was, you got three, three or five years, all right, let's maximize it. Let's take what little money we make. And I was going to go, our big Janine, my wife and I just. Just got married in Oklahoma. So our goal was, you know what interest rates are, like, 10%, and this was it. Back tells you how far back it was. Interest rates, 10%. We make a million dollars, we can live off $100,000 a year and live like kings. You know that. We drove up to the first house, bought this little house in Nashville, and go, we're just here for a little while. Save your money. Yeah.

Honestly, I don't know if you remember this, Ronnie, but we were. We were sitting in the Nashville airport just shooting the bull. And we've always just, I guess, had kind of a natural, just a couple of guys and were smart asses. Just, you know, just goofballing all the time, talking to people just like. Like we are today. And. And anyway, these two girls came over, and I saw three of them over there talking, and they came over and asked if they could get autograph. And they had a CD and whatever, and, you know, we just shot the bull back and forth a little bit and whatever. And, I mean, they were sweet, whatever. We signed their cds, and I've always been happy to do that. Glad anybody cares, you know?

Oh, yeah.

And a couple of minutes later, their friend comes over and said, our friends told us what you said. We're getting rid of all our cds. We've always thought y'all were so great. I mean, just teed up on us, and we're looking at each other and going, I'm trying to remember this conversation, what I could have possibly said that? And, I mean, I like to think of myself as a good guy, nice guy, and have always respected our fans and everything else. I'm like, what just happened? But it made me realize that moment, that minute that we spent together, totally wrapped somebody's impression of you and what kind of human you are and how they'll tell everybody they meet for the rest of their lives lives, that they're just jerks, you know, and you just. That's the part.

Did you ever find out what you said?

I have no idea what we said. You were involved. Yeah, that's what I'm thinking. What did you say?

I wasn't there. Don't pull. Don't suck me down that rabbit hole.

Like you get on this one. Like this 1 minute game show to prove to somebody that you're okay or something. I don't know. Yeah, that stuff, it's like.

It's like a job interview. You gotta be quick.

Yeah, and you. Yeah, and you. And the job is, you want them to think you're okay or something.

You know, you're the guy for the job. 1 minute.

Yeah.

Yeah, you can do it. I can't.

Yeah, that kind of stuff gets a little tricky. Was it tough? Like, um. What about, like, having a family and stuff and touring so much? Like, what were things that, like. Yeah. What. What's that like? Like, dude. Is it hectic?

Dude. I had just been married. I mean, we just got married, came up, and June Carter Cash gave us a little cabin on top of the hill next. Not far from their house to live in.

Wow.

And so nice little house, like something out of a magazine and. But it was on top of mountain by itself, and so was she. Boom. We get. We get a hit right out of the gate. We're gone. And it wasn't too long. It's like. I mean, we didn't have. We had, like, cell phones, but we didn't think. I have cameras, but I started getting these terrorist faxes. I called them. Like, she would fax the hotel because I talked longer. We talked so long on the phone, they go, okay, all right, all right, all right. I'll be home, you know, in two weeks. I know. I understand. Like, I get it. I love you. Bye. You know, ring because I'm talking. I'm not answering the phone. That ain't gonna happen. So, no, not ten minutes later, I get this knock on the door, and it's like they slide this stack of faxes underneath. So she started faxing me, like, what the hell? And this goes on for, I don't know, a few months. And we sorted it out. But to this day, I mean, then she's.

It was.

I had to go to therapy over it.

Oh, I'm sure. With her or without her?

With her. At her. At her request, obviously, you know, because I'm broken. She's not. Anyway, that's.

Had one of those that. Because we had a cell phone per se, on tour, but it was like something that the army would use, you know, had a suitcase thing that it was in and all that.

The second you press a button, a helicopter would come by.

$18 a minute, a long way from it's important.

It wasn't, yeah, but it wasn't with our wives or anything.

We were a little, we didn't give our wives a number.

It's important. It was strictly a beer phone.

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My kids were on the bus. That was in the summer. It was good because we were still playing a lot of fairs and stuff back then, and, you know, during. It was kind of like summer vacation, honestly, it wasn't a. I didn't. I. Never mind. We got. Fortunately, we did have some success and made a little money, and we're able to get our own busses pretty early, is the reason we're still sitting here having this conversation.

There were 13 of us on one bus with the merchandise, boxes of t shirts and stuff like that. And then one of our guitar players slept in the back with. With the merchandise.

Oh, yeah, there's always that.

It was animal.

I got human gerbil. He's back there just burrowing in a bunch of extra large back there.

Absolute animal house.

He just completely just covered himself with nine mediums back there.

You know, it was bird Burton, who was the famous guitar player that, for the amazing rhythm aces, a bunch of rock stuff. And he'd come up there, bless his heart. We're really trying to keep him around somehow. You have the sofa at the back with the merchandise. He goes, we don't have any blankets, so you sleep under t shirts. Right. Anyway, it was animal house.

It was like animal house.

Yeah, we had one guy that's like, all, you know, all the bunks. Like, there's, what, nine, six, two or two side, I think.

Yeah.

And then the back lounge. And there's one guy that we called him, what? Fred Sanford. He was the junk man. And you couldn't stop at a truck stop, and he wouldn't go in, like, buy a freaking c, was kind of like a CB radio. Yeah, a bunch of chips. You hear him at four in the.

Morning, turn over and be like, an ace hard.

Like, what? And all of a sudden there's a. There's the wall and then the bunks. And you see, like, their chip bag would, like, fall down through the next guy. He's like, God. Dang, man, it was crazy stuff.

Truck stops are great, though.

Oh, man, so much fun.

Especially when you cross the border. Early on, Faith Hill was opening up for us, and I. And.

Oh, wow. Huh?

Yeah. And I forget. Oh, and Wade.

All the boys love that y'all struck.

Out with her, I guess.

We got stranded in Canada in a snowstorm. Yeah. A lot of stuff.

God couldn't have set the table any better. It was tough.

It was rough.

Yeah.

So in the first truck stop, I go in and I'm looking at all their cool stuff in the freezer in Canada. And I put. It was an eelhouse. There's a frozen eel in the freezer. And I'm like, wow. So I bought it. I mean, I have no idea what I'm gonna do with this, but I couldn't resist.

But that was a phase when everybody started, but that was a phase when. When everybody was playing pranks on the road. Oh, yeah. Faith was like, she was one of the guys. I mean, you had to have to keep up with that. She would. She would throw stuff.

And an eel could come in handy. Curveballs in all kinds of regards.

Who'd even had an eel? I don't even. Some people don't even.

Canadians.

Yeah, I think that was the point while you bought it. Like, look at this. What the hell?

So a little bit of a nicer snake. It's the most canadian thing, you know? Yeah. And.

But we get to the end of the tour, and sure enough, I walked by. We're fixing to go to the, you know, stage. Faith. Faith is on next. And Wade haze had just gotten off stage. I went by to tell him, you know, good show and whatever, and he's kind of leaned over. He's looking pretty. Peek it. And I'm like, dude, you okay? He's like, no, man's like, faith put salt in my drinking water on stage tonight. I go, man, six. I'm like, that's ronga. I got you, dude. So she was in get back, bro. She's in a hotel. But we had the codes to her room and her fictitious name, whatever she was using at the time. So me and Doug make a run. Well, first I put the eel in the microwave and the eel didn't even have a head. I mean, and then once you've thawed him out, he got real slimy, you know. So we head over there.

Heartbreaking childhood it must have had, dude.

You know, it's a.

And bring your own food back.

Pull back the covers and just laid him out right where those pretty little feets were going to go, you know, kind of pushed it down. So we put the covers back, just made it look really good anyway. And the next. Didn't hear a thing. She didn't say anything. We just keep waiting for the other shoe to fall. Nothing. So we're going through customs, getting back into the states the next day, you know, inside. I don't know. I go through and, you know, ladies go. And she goes, Mister Brooks. I go, yes. She goes, I need you to come over here to the side. I go, yeah. She goes, apparently there's been a complaint filed against you about some stolen jewelry by Miss Faith Hill. And she starts pulling this rubber glove on. And I go, look, don't do that. Don't do that.

It ain't in there.

You better not be kidding her. She could, she couldn't hold it. Now she finally broke. I go, come on, it's not our first day. Leave me alone. You're not even in this game.

You do sing a little higher that night.

The world was fun then, too, when things were a little bit more simple, you know?

Oh, yeah.

You know, in a lot of ways, yeah, that was a lot of fun, man. And you couldn't capture the moment as much, so you had to enjoy the moment because that was the only. You know what I'm saying?

Well, you got too much downtime. I mean, it was not, you know, if you're not on stage doing something creative, you're doing something destructively creative on the backside.

Oh, yeah.

You know, you know, you've been out there.

Oh, it's the dark arts out there, brother.

It is.

Did you guys ever have a comedian that opened up for you guys? I know sometimes they used to do that on shows.

Gary mule Deer.

Oh, really?

Yeah. Still a good friend. Love Gary. Yeah, we did what? Vegas.

Vegas. A couple times with him.

Hysterical.

I don't know how many times, but he was out with us quite a bit.

That's a tough gig. I feel like. Well, he. But he played guitar as well.

Well, you know, Gary's like, he does play guitar and it's, you know, it's incredible because he just did a. We did a show together out in California. Not too long ago. And he played because he always, he's got a Johnny Cash voice, and he'll do a ring of fire or something like that every now and then. He's, he's hysterical, though. Just real, real straight faced joke Teller and can just break you down.

I gotta tap in with him. I've heard of him before. I've seen a lot of, like, because committees, you go to the next club and the other person's just been there, you know, and I've seen a lot of his, you know, seen his name a ton over the years, but I've.

Never been around forever. But he, he actually performed a song, and it was, God, bet this thing had 20 verses. And it was, it was, it was, I'm not kidding. It was like, but it was a real country music analog, kind of take you through this whole journey of thing. It was really neat. Big time stand and o, because I've seen him perform I don't even know how many times at this point. And, and everybody there was like, wow, you got that off your chest. And he did not tell a single joke, really. He sang that one song and left stage.

So it was so cool. But it was a humorous song.

No, it wasn't funny. It was a real song. And it was, it was.

He was a comedian. He is a comedian.

He's a great comedian. Yeah.

Maybe that's his idea of comedy.

Him and Roger Miller. Him and Roger Miller toured together.

Wow.

And you've heard of people doing these Roger isms, these funny things that he told all the. He knows all of them. I mean, if you ever run into him, get him going on Roger, because he's, he's one of the great historians, the keepers of the Roger isms to great guy, funny comedian.

Yeah, I need to run into him. Yeah. What do you feel like? Like being a duo? Was there, were there other duos that, like, in music that reached out to you guys over the years to help learn how to navigate that, like, that template kind of. Does that make any sense to you?

Yeah, it does make sense, but no, no, as friendly as they say that, you know, the world of country music is, it's so darn competitive. You know, everybody hates one another. They act like they don't on tv.

You think people are really competitive, though?

Oh, heck, yeah. No, big time competitive. One of my favorite things is Dolly Parton in an interview years and years ago. She's, they were talking about somebody and being, she's goes, oh, honey, there's room for everybody. No, there's not. Yeah, you want to get down to it? No, there's not.

You know, what's the most competitive part? Is it people trying to get the best songs? Is it a, like, where does the competition really come in? Do you feel like that's interesting?

I think just by nature to be. To be here and be in this game, in your game or anything, that there's a, there's a competitive. Don't you feel there's, there's a competitive dynamic that, that runs through it, especially.

In the beginning, for sure.

Yeah. But you want to catch up. Like, how many number ones do you have? Who had a number one this week? Who has it?

Yeah.

And we can be cool and, like, sit back, go, you know, we don't care. You know, it's no big deal. We're not in it for that. We're in it for the love. Yeah. And that's not the case. Well, but that's also healthy. That's what keeps you going.

We do make some real friends along the way. I mean, you do.

Yeah.

There are people that you. You're competition. I mean, David Lee Murphy's a great example. You know, he wrote with him yesterday, you know, the song dust on the bottle. I'd be a little.

That's David Lee Murphy.

Yoda. Him singing. Him.

Right.

Turned into writing a lot of great songs, too. Yeah. And we got here, both got here in 79, literally swept floors for Charlie Daniels for $30 a night. I was, you know, getting rent paid and playing writers nights and stuff. And, and still he's on tour with us now and, you know, going out with this next year, toured with again last year and we've toured together before. Just there's. We've got real friends that the competition. I can't say. I don't know, maybe it does go away or something. And at some point in your life, I think you have a certain amount of success. You still want to succeed, but it's like you're not so ferocious, like when you start and everything matters. And it's not that everything doesn't matter anymore, but it's like everything kind of turned down the heat a little bit, you know, let's simmer here and see if we can't do something real, something good now. We kind of know you can't. You build confidence, too. Again, like I said, ronnie and I, we didn't figure we'd go a year or two. That's why we were desperate through pretty much through our whole career is just kind of, this isn't going to work.

This. We, you know, always doubting ourselves, you know, always trying to do anything we could. What? You know, to do something really special, because it's probably going to be our last song, you know, our last video. I mean, we've always kind of felt a little desperate, I think.

Does it feel like it's out of your control sometimes as a musician? Because a lot of it is what songs you get, right? And you can write your own songs. You can write them with other people. But does it ever feel like it's out of your control? Kind of like, you know, how well you keep doing, or does it feel like it's in your control?

You know what this it is? I mean, 60, 60, 70%. I don't know how much you can add to the diamond.

I can add up to 100% of luck, right.

No, I'll go there, I guess.

I don't know. We could try to get more. I can't even.

I mean, it's luck.

A lot of it is luck, you know, but. But it's that thing. If, you know, if you're working at it and luck strikes, it's like you're ready for it, you know, you got your ball metal, bang, catch it and work from there. But. Yeah, but we. We work hard at it. We're songwriters before we're.

Right. That's a good press. A great point. So you all weren't up there, just, hey, somebody sell me a hit. You're like, I have the ability to make my own.

It's all about the song. It's all about the song. And then as you move through the business, you meet people. You meet people with their pitch, and you give me good songs, too, you know? And you can't. Can't write them all, you know?

And timing has a lot to do with it. Yeah, it really does.

What do you mean?

That's luck, too?

Yeah, certainly.

That is just. Yeah, time is just luck with a clock, huh?

There you go. Write that down.

We both. I mean, we both had some kind of solo record deals before we had a duo deal. Ronnie was singing his ass off before I met him. While at 38 years old. Why wasn't he a star already, right? You know, I don't know.

Bring it up.

I'm just saying it's 38 years older. You afraid of that?

Yeah. Is it tough to age gracefully? Is it tough to be like. Cause even I notice it, you know, in my own career, it's like, you know, you start to do good and you're like, oh, well, I'm getting older. And then you're like, you start to see the younger guys that are doing well, and you're like, oh, well, this is all gonna. Is there a graceful way for this to end? Or does it just end? Or, like, I think you just play.

That one by ear, you know? And I keep telling people I'm gonna die in denial related to age. It's like I'm. I'm not gonna know how old I am. I don't want to know. It pisses me off to see every article. You know, there's somebody writing stuff, and you go, well, and so and so, you know, 80 years old, whatever. Leave out of this. Willie's out there rocking. He's cool. Oh, yeah, go to Willie. You know, he'd be the standard bearer for that. But no, I mean, McCartney, they're still out. They're still out doing their thing.

Yeah. I was actually someone about a couple of months ago was that we were in the same bathroom at the same time.

Wow. Would you do?

Huh?

What'd you do?

It's a number one.

Did you try to shake his hand or anything?

Oh, no, I didn't do anything like that.

I freeze.

Wow.

You said something to him.

I think I honestly, I probably said, like, good day or something like that. Like, I think I was probably trying to welcome him in, like, a british tone or something.

Good day, mate. Right?

Yeah.

I freeze. I freeze anytime I get around somebody.

Don't call him. They don't.

You're in Ireland.

They're like prisoners from England or something.

I'm never cool around somebody famous. Wish I could be.

Yeah. Were there guys like that coming up that you guys met? What questions had I just asked? Let me make sure I stay on topic. Sorry.

Were you ever in the bathroom with Paul McCartney?

Tell us about the time you have McCartney wearing the bathroom.

Oh, one time I went to a. One time I was also in the bathroom wet. I'll go through them all. Montel Williams. Okay. He was a talk show host and kid rock one time, and I urinated right between them, dude.

Oh, wow.

Dangerous. That's a DMZ, man.

It really is.

Incoming. You make the wrong move there. Anything could go to happen either way.

Yeah, either way, it was shake hands just to see what they're going to do, though.

Hey.

Manages.

I've always, you know, just especially if you reach over the.

Johnny Cass said that you asked the. The strangest thing like that that ever happened to him, and he said he was in a stall in the airport or something. This paper slips under the wall. We're good.

Don't touch it.

I don't have a pencil.

Like, hey, that paper likes men. That's all I'm saying. So you guys got to meet Johnny Cash.

Yeah.

No way. What was he like just as a regular guy? Was he, like, a friendly guy? Was he kind of like a stoic guy?

Stoic, quiet by nature when you first meet him. Just that, in and of itself, is intimidating.

Oh, yeah.

And then as you get to know him, he's a 17 year old kid, you know, that was it. I mean, he'd do just crazy funny as. I'll get out.

Yeah, yeah.

My wife, her first husband invented the car one piece at a time, and Johnny sang about it. One piece.

Built that car.

He built the car.

Oh, built that car.

He built the car.

So he or Johnny really built a car. Sorry, I'm confused.

No, her ex wife built the car. About the song that Johnny sang. Got it.

He liked a song. And him and his bud said, man, let's. Let's build it. Let's actually build it.

They're always going around. They. They own coal strip. Coal mines in Oklahoma, and he.

Johnny did. Or his friends?

No, no, Janine, my wife.

Okay, got it.

Yeah. So she was. They were well acquainted. They all became fast friends, traveled the world together. I mean, really, really tight. And so when I was brought in, her husband passed away, and when I was brought in, it's like she's. She's marrying or dating a musician, you know? And Janine goes, I'm gonna take you to John and June's house in Nashville. First time that she did it from Oklahoma. And I went, I don't really want to do that. I just kind of saw that one coming, you know, and John. And, of course, John's real quiet, and.

Would you wear over that? You get dressed up or what?

You know, black. All black. No, I mean jeans. What I have on now, this kind of stuff.

And were you nervous or not? You remember?

Yeah, yeah. I was always. I was super shy, quiet, and then I'm gonna kind of come out of my shell a little bit these days. But he was obviously glad to see her. I mean, I'm the new kid on the block, you know? You don't just scrutinize your girlfriend. Yeah. Your girlfriend bringing you over to meet.

Her parents, who's just pervert or whatever. Yeah. I mean, I don't know you, but, I mean, I'm a pervert, so I'm sure most of us are.

No, that goes with it. You can't be in a band not be a pervert anyway. And Johnny knew that.

Oh, yeah. Who isn't, right, dude, if you show me 70 people, y'all show you 70 pervert.

You in a man? You a comedian. Yeah. Yeah. You're a pervert.

Wow. That's pretty fascinating, though. And did you. Did people look up to him as like a. Like, kind of like, was he this? Was he as. Cause now he's almost. He. There's an idolatry about him in a way. You know, you see the t shirts with the Johnny cash and just his cash on, like.

No, he's. But he's always been that way forever. Listen, here's a funny thing. So the log cabin that they let us live in, June did that for Janine, not for me, you know, called her and said, look, okay, this guy's going to try to make it in the music business. You know, good luck. It ain't going to happen, but we'll give you a place to live, right?

We'll give you a flammable home, right?

Temporary residence. Okay. Because it's not going to last long till I find you a guy with a money, all right? So thank God we have these hits right off the bat, and suddenly June goes, whoo. Okay, you're in. You know, she told Janine during that first visit, she said, look, here's how it goes down. She says it. The ch. The odds are a million to 110 billion to one. You know, they make it. And if. If he does, it's not going to last long. It's just, that's not. That's the nature of the business. And number three, they're all crazy if they do make it for a long time, you know? So she. She called her babies. It was Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Hank junior, Larry Gatlin. I mean, just the wild boys of that era.

Oh, yeah. The feral.

Yeah. So she goes, you know, this look, you know, the uninsurable. They put us through hell, right? She says, so get ready. You know, she said, there's no. There's no good to it. There's no. No. So anyway, where was I? With Johnny, you said. Was he stoic and stuff? First day there, June takes Janine and they leave the house to go shopping.

No. So it's just you and him and.

Me and John in that house alone. Okay.

John staying.

John.

It takes a minute to get ready to.

Yes, sir. It's like I'm the unwelcome guest, or at least I'm feeling that way.

Oh, for sure you are.

And John's quiet anyway, he hasn't like.

And what's he just polishing a gun or something?

No, no. Probably, yes. Pretty close to it. He comes out of the far end of the house. There are two black leather recliners in front of this tv. And he sits down and watched, like, CNN or whatever. And I sit in the next one, just sitting there, and no one says anything. I'm like, longest day of my life. I didn't know what to say to him because he didn't talk. But now I know. No, what I know he didn't talk to anybody, right? And all of a sudden, out of the blue, he goes, you see these. You see these newsreels here? These things? He said, that's a loop. And he said, you know, I'm an addict. And I went, okay. And he goes, I used to sit and watch tv for days until those loops would end. And then he said it would start a whole other cycle of the news. And he's explaining, you know, how tv works to me and that stuff. And through the eyes of being high.

Yeah.

You know, and shortly after that, it seemed like two days that we were sitting there probably a couple hours, and Janine and June come back, and they've been shopping at Stein Mart.

And I like Stein Mart, actually. Some of the sleeves are a little different.

Well, June took her there in her new blue Rolls Royce that John had just given her for her. So there's a little doc yin yang there.

Yeah.

Janine was just pale white. Now she knows no strangers, so you never see Janine down. So she kind of walked in. She was like she'd just been scared by a ghost. And so I kind of peeled away and met her in the back the house. I said, what happened? She goes, I'll tell you later. I can't talk about it. Well, June had read her the right act on all this stuff I just told you about. You know, they're not going to last. Da da da da da da da da. And I said, can we go now? She goes, no. We got one more day, right? But no sooner, no sooner did we get here. And they were the most absolute supportive people in the world. John came up one day, we were getting ready to shoot the CD cover for Brandy Mann, the first CD. And I said, he was always into everything. She goes, what are you going to wear? You know, how you gonna look? I can't do your hair. That kind of stuff into image. I said, well, I don't know. I said, don't. I've got a few things. Ideas. He goes, all right.

I'll be back. As he left getting his mercedes, he shot out. It's down the hill. He needed a goat to get up the mountain to it. He goes flying down the hill. I guess he goes home, comes back in an hour or so, opens the trunk of the car, reaches in and hands me this black suit. And he goes. He goes, I had this back in 1972. It's made by Manuel. And he goes, I was sick back then, which meant he was sick.

Yeah.

Right? So he was skinny enough for me to wear my skinny ass to get out of that suit, you know? He goes, don't tell June. She doesn't like me giving stuff away. And I have it to this day. I wore it on the back of that CD cover.

Oh, wow.

Yeah, that's.

That's crazy.

Oh, it was.

Hey, man, check the pockets, dude. Let's party.

It was.

That thing's got something.

She was something. And the party's there, too, is strictly lemonades. Lemonade and iced tea.

Really keeping it sobereze.

Keeping it completely sober on the table, for sure.

Oh, yeah.

You know, and nothing in the back kitchen. I mean, she. She was. She was pretty.

She wore the pants in that deal, huh? Was she pretty much a yes? He probably needed a. Somebody to really care for him. Yeah.

Let me add spice to that little story. Is that that particular weekend that we were there, he was on furlough from rehab. Okay.

And how long do you have to be relive? You get furloughed? I thought that was a military Johnny cash.

Right.

Only Johnny Cash would have went to.

Right.

Only he would have went to boot camp.

Right, right. And so, all of a sudden, at.

The end, how many tours did he do?

Right. Oh, he did a lot. But the date, the day before he's supposed to go back. This is a Saturday. He's going back on Sunday. He comes down with a flu. June's having no part of that. She's completely just. No, we're done. So she wanted to talk to him, and we're caught in the middle of that, and I'm going, can we go home now? Can we go home? No, no, no. Not here.

Please go.

Janine can tell this story better than I can, but. So June goes to Janine, she goes, y'all have to drive me to the hospital. Take him to the hospital here in Hendersonville. Make sure. Just see what's wrong with him. She says, I'm not talking to him. She says, he can walk, as far as I'm concerned. Okay, we got it. So we get in the car. Start to get in the car. John wants to drive. Okay? So John drives.

He drove.

Yeah, Mandy. But it was like, pedal to the metal. Boom, off all the way. Pedal to the metal. And Janine. So he just drives.

You start nodding off. And he nodded.

We get the hospital, and they're rolling in. In a wheelchair, and Janine goes up to the desk to give him all the information. And they take John back, and he's there maybe an hour. And then we come back and he goes up to his room, you know, his hospital room at the house. He's playing it up, man. He's like, I gotta go back. You're going back to rehab. So June goes, well, how did it go, Janine? She goes, well, they asked for his doctor. And June goes, oh, hon, he's in rehab.

The doctor was in rehab.

The doctor was in rehab. No doctor made for Doctor Nixon rehab. Okay, we can go now, right? Pretty soon.

Wow, that's a great.

That's my first Johnny cash in June Carter. Unbelievable experience.

We had Ric flair. We spoke with him one time, the famous wrestler. You know him, and he's quite a character. And he. He was in a rehab center, and the doctor that got it put in there with him, and he was in there, and one day. One day they're giving pills to both of them, and he's like, why are you giving pills to the doctor? Like, no, the doctor's in here now. So apparently that's part of the deal, man.

Well, it's just everywhere. Let's say that.

Oh, yeah. Look, so many of my friends. I mean, I go to recovery meetings. So many people deal with, you know, that sort of stuff. Was it tough for you guys to keep it clean? Over the years, did you guys get tempted with drugs or alcohol or what was that like?

Never.

I don't know. Really?

Tempted with drugs or alcohol?

Yeah.

No, not me.

Did you, Ronnie, I'll go with you. I want you to explain this.

We might have took a drink or two along the way. I don't know. I think Ronnie took a lot of pills, but I never did.

Ooh. Whoops.

Yeah.

But I have allergies.

Oh, now you do. That dust will give it to you.

I'm from Louisiana, too, dude. I started drinking at a very early age.

Wow. Was it hard? Yeah. Were there certain points where you guys had to, like, tell each, like, at what point do you guys have. Do you guys ever have to be, like, each other's, like, caretaker? Yeah, but not caretaker in the sense, like, actually physically, but just like, you know, and then how hard is it to take that suggestion from the other guy, you know, like, from the other lead?

We don't do it much. We don't do it much. I mean, that's one of the unique dynamics about how we relationship we have. We don't do that. If it is, it'll be some comment in passing and, you know, and you'll know, honestly, we sit here laughing about this stuff, but there's not a lot of nonsense that goes on. It's like, we're up there to do what we do. We appreciate where we are, and. And I. God knows we know the pitfalls.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And have we ever been over served on stage or whatever like that? Yes. Has anyone ever told us, are you slurring your words?

Yeah. You're slurping wiggle. No.

You're slurring your vehicle.

You know, you've already written that song. Right? Again in the middle of it. You know, that kind of shit. But, yeah. Yeah, we've had a few faux pas that people don't believe when I tell them this. We have never. I mean, we're both, you know, hard headed, whatever's, you know, I came from a pipeline background. Same with him, you know, and it's. We have never raised our voices to each other.

Wow.

Have we ever been mad at each other? Yeah. Have we ever been pissed at each other? Yeah, for sure. We'll go off and pout, but that's it. You know, we've always been able to go to our separate corners and come back later.

And some of that. You think it was just because you. Cause you, like, started to achieve your, like, your most success that people know you from once you were older, like, you think if it would have been younger, like, do you ever think of, like, the blessings x? It's kind of a blessing and a curse because everyone wants to be. Everyone wants to be 27 and famous, you know? But if you're 38 and you get popular, you know, it's. It feels a little different.

You know, has a lot to do with it. You appreciate it. Yeah. Because it was. There was a point for a long time where there was no plan B. Yeah. You know, and we both felt that. And, uh. No, so you. You learn to appreciate it. It's just. That just is just, you know, beating into you through. Through the ranks.

Yeah. Dude, we used to slow dance to y'all's music. Dude, I would be so nervous. Dude. God, dude, I just couldn't even. I would stay so far away from the girl, like, as far as I could, but still touching her a little like this, kind of, you know, barely.

Touching her two fingers.

You were down in the trenches, man. You were on the floor. See, we're up there on the bandstand going, I don't look right.

Just get up against it. Go on. What are you doing?

Whole front of my body sweating. I never knew you could sweat just in one hemisphere of your body and never move. You guys, we were talking about songwriting earlier, you guys. Your new album has a lot of, like, some of my favorites on, and people that have. That we've been able to have on the podcast before. I think Ernest is on. Hardy Morgan.

Yeah. Laney.

Laney Wilson.

Who's.

How amazing is Lainey Wilson?

She's great.

She's special, man. She's special.

She's a Louisiana girl from right up.

The road from where my farm is. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm in. Literally, we're honestly 18 miles apart.

Oh, that is close.

You're from Covington? I think I saw somewhere. Did you really spend grow up there?

Yeah.

You did?

Yeah, I grew up there. Our town is. We have this tallest statue of Ronald Reagan there. Somebody stole the arm, but they got it back.

They got it back?

Yeah, somebody. Like, how they get it off? I don't know.

Is it bronze or.

It was. I think it's bronze or something. Oh, no, it's special.

Oh, there you go. So. So which arm?

Huh?

Was he the one with his right arm or his left arm?

I'm not sure. You can google that, too. How they get the arm off? Yeah, well, that's.

You can google that. How'd they get the arm off?

They get the arm off Reagan, Covington, Louisiana.

A lot of welders down there, right?

First of all, they got torch.

They got torches.

That's pipeline country, man.

Damn right. Oh, we can get an arm off. You want arm? Yeah.

How far?

They tried to recycle it. That's how they caught the guy.

And.

Yeah, they took it to, like, the local aluminum.

Oh. Because he's thinking it's maybe copper or something.

I'm gonna get me. Hell, yeah. I'm gonna get me a couple hundred bucks.

Yeah, they cut it off. Guarantee he's a welder.

Yeah. Look at Ronnie.

Oh, that was in Poland. Yeah. So they must have done it, but they did it by us, too. Somebody got it off, but they got it back on.

It was a copycat.

A copycat arm thief. Wow, that's dark. No, they did it in Poland.

Okay, how far is Covington from El Dorado, Arkansas.

A long way south Louisiana.

Okay.

Yeah.

He's close to Baton rouge because we.

Talk a lot about northern Louisiana, where the farm is and Monroe and all that. All my grandparents are from El Dorado, Arkansas.

Okay. Beautiful country out there.

Yeah.

I mean, it's pretty. Shreveports kind of gone through it. It's been through some things, you know.

Yeah.

It's pretty funky, which is where I went to school. Oh, yeah, whatever.

Yeah, they just tore down the tallest building in Shreveport. What bring it down doing in this?

Not the beck building.

This was an. They did a beautiful implosion. I watched it the other day on tick tock.

I wonder if that's where it was. That's where my father's office was.

Was it a drone attack?

I don't.

The tallest building in Shreveport?

What, there?

They just brought it down. Yeah, I think it was the.

That's it. That's a bank building.

Yeah, it was a bank building. You're right.

Because I think buildings 20 stories must.

Have been the richest, richest building in town. That's pretty fancy right there.

Beautiful building. Look at all those.

What'd they tear it up for?

Real? Glass windows on them.

Yeah.

I don't know. That's it there.

Wow.

Somebody's wife was trying to get all.

The buildings around it. It wasn't the tallest. It was the only.

Probably for a casino.

It could have been man street for. It's kind of wild, that whole. I've been like, there's a lot of haunted. Everything there seems kind of haunted.

That's Louisiana in general. Yeah, it's like New Orleans. You know, like, you want to buy.

This haunted biscuit or whatever. It's two extra bucks. It's good. It's got some damn ghost jam in it.

Everything does. It's got voodoo all over it.

Is that hot?

Yeah. Everything in New Orleans haunted. It's like, oh, you haven't been this haunted. This is haunted. You know, it's like a nursery for children, but they. It's haunted.

Okay. So I read this article the other day. Well, I guess it was online. It's like the top ten most least desirable states to live in, and Louisiana was number one.

Oh, wow.

I can't imagine that.

I'm saying, bro.

Come on, champs. No, you got out. You got out on it.

Everybody's not into haunted.

Look at apparently rich and famous.

49 states worth of people that aren't into haunted.

Yeah, people don't like shit haunted.

Yeah. Y'all just stay off there. We'll keep.

I forget what it was. Based on.

Oh, you want to live in the natural realm, that's fine, bitch. We're doing other stuff.

You don't have a monkey foot under your pillow hanging from your.

Yeah, you don't have a baby that has. That's chewing on a lucky rabbit's foot.

You wouldn't know a hoodoo man from Colonel Sanders. What?

Oh, everything there is haunted or soaking wet, dude. Yeah. Louisiana. Yeah, everything's got a little bit of mold.

We go down there. You go all the time, because you get your farms down there and in place and all your buddies. Three, four.

Love it.

We go down there and duck hunt, like, on the marshes.

I never been duck hunting.

Going next week, are you.

Oh, yeah.

Is it, um. Is it more enjoyable than turkey hunting, or do you feel.

Is it.

Is there some difference?

I think so. I like stuff flying. You know, I've. I've shot my share of turkeys, but really don't care about popping them anymore. It's like. You know, it's like, do something. You know, you're like, okay, I'm over here.

It's almost like you're attacking. Like a bird in a wheelchair.

Exactly. And they get all puffed up, too. It's like some. You know, he's on his last. He's making his last move on her. He's so puffed up, he can't even walk anymore. You know, he's just like.

Like me at the dance, like, doing that.

Got his two fingers up there, just trying to get close to her to do the neon moon, and then you go, bam.

He's headless.

Shit. Sorry about that. Yeah.

Turkey's got all the work of calling them in this place. We go down in Louisiana. It's called little Pecan island. And it is. It's like going the Four Seasons. I shouldn't rat us out, really.

It's beautiful. They got a lot of good turkeys.

Unbelievable.

I mean, not turkey's ducks.

Oh, ducks. A good friend of ours, Jim Flores, from. From Houston, owns it, and it's unbelievable.

And what kind of ducks do you do? You get out there?

Everything I've got, I have pictures of the sky full. I mean, just. It's unbelievable.

Do they go in shifts or. How did the ducks go?

Okay. They migrate at different times.

Oh, so they're not, like, releasing them and then they come back?

No, they don't release. No. It's always all while. It's.

Okay.

They come from the north, and they get cut off down in Missouri and whatever. There's a lot of duck habitat. On the way for them to stop and eat and whatever, especially with climate change, won't get into all that. But, like, Arkansas flooded timber, a lot of those ducks come out of the rice fields and stuff, and there's primarily greenheads, mallards, you know, but by the time you get to the marsh, you got every kind, you know, detail and mallards. And you could go on.

You got a fat stork up there even.

Oh, everything. It's like Africa. It's like going out into the marshes. No, you're in that kind of environment.

Oh, wow. So it's so natural, you mean. And are you in a boat or are you in.

You go out in a boat. Okay. Everybody gets their own guide in their own boat.

You get to hide underwater, or you can.

Scuba tanks and shotguns.

Is it really your line?

No, but, you know, the blind, about as big as your sofa, sunk in the water. And then it's. It's. It's, you know, it's covered with. And every guide has his own, like, group of blinds he has to take care of.

Okay, so you're hiding in there.

Bugs everywhere. You know, snakes, alligators, for real alligators all over the place.

They do. When they get to your blind, you know, the guy will get out and make sure there's nutria, no water, mosses.

And Gabriel, clean of all the appetizers.

Get all that out of there. Exactly. Then they'll take pull, sink the p row next to your blind, get in there and start quacking at them.

Wow.

Looks are good to eat, too. Turkeys, you know, people can say what they want. You know, you can fry anything or whatever, but turkeys aren't that great.

And some people are just food, just real creeps when it comes to eating, you know, I've had owl, you know, I don't think you can say it or not, but.

No, you can't.

Well, I didn't.

You just did.

I didn't have it.

You ate an al.

You just said you did, though, huh? Just said you had owl. Did he not just say, yeah, Owl?

I didn't do it.

Wait a minute. I think he said eagle.

Yeah. No, I didn't say eagle, dude. And if I did, it wasn't. It was a wigged eagle. I don't eat bald eagle. No, but I did have. We had Al, my sister, grilled up two owls.

You just said you wasn't fried.

Ronnie did it.

I eat anything.

I didn't have a lot. There's not a lot to them. That's the trick.

You didn't swallow.

I didn't inhale. They're the frogs of animal kingdom. Of the bird kingdom. Frogs of the bird. Once you pull that skirt up and, you know, I've done some things in my day, but nothing. But even just to look, it's letting you go.

We're letting you run with it.

Pull up what I'm talking about. Let's at least see the. So we just. And now. And these photoshop the eagle out. They were of age to the ones I'm talking about. And these were adult owls.

Supposed to do that. So much for wisdom.

What are we there, brother? That does something needs to take care of.

Disgusting.

Oh, my God.

Those. They migrated over from Chernobyl.

Yeah.

Yeah, that's a russian owl for sure.

I wish I. Yeah, they just had. What did I just see about Russia? Dude, they're giving away.

Well, there's a war in Ukraine.

There's a war Ukraine. No, but it was some more. It was something exciting. Oh. Vladimir Putin urges citizens to have sex during work breaks to address Russia's dire birth rate.

Yeah, he's just trying to get. He's just trying to block.

He's trying to make everybody happy.

He's trying to put his army together.

He's trying to earn an army.

Hurry up.

Nice.

That's not a bad deal, though. That's the kind of stuff we need around here. You don't.

It's like, you know when everybody's really down over there in the depressed and whatever, it's like, okay, sex on work breaks.

Okay, that's a. That's a board. That's a board. Dictator is what that is literally, brother. Yeah, he didn't. He'd have to push that through Congress.

What are we gonna do?

What are we having for lunch? Depends on who texts me back.

You know?

Brother. That's what I'm talking about.

Or my duck. Right?

I'm proud of him. Now this is. No wonder Trump likes him. What?

Communism. To start to sound appealing, I'll tell you this.

Yeah, communism sucks. But I'll tell you what, the lunches are good, right?

Lunch break is hard to beat.

What I just see. I saw another call that. Do you see that pizza hut thing on? If you can find that, Nick, it was Pizza hut. Now listen to this. People having such a tough time getting jobs. What is. It was Pizza Hut will put your resume on a pizza box to help you get a job.

Whoa.

So you can send.

I took a leave of absolutely 78. I've got, like, a 50 year hole in my resume.

Okay. So ever. Sorry, sorry. But it's like we're always talking about random ways to promote records and do things. Right. That's a good one. What about Amazon boxes? You know, we could go to Amazon and go, hey, what if we, like, what would it cost to put our logo or whatever on an Amazon box?

Origin?

How many people? I'm sure that's non negotiable.

Everybody. You know, I bet that's a dude. I wouldn't be surprised if they, I'm amazed they haven't done that. Yeah, really? Because they, they own most of the, that's something most of us see all the time. Yeah, but, yeah, that pizza, now you can put your resume, you can send it to somebody you're trying to get employed by, you send them a little, you know, send him a little pizza. Yeah. I'll tell you this, if I'm having a slice. Cause you're putting, you're feeling good, you're eating pizza.

Yeah.

So I'm gonna think that guy's pretty quality.

Your endorphins are already stimulated by the pizza. And you look over there and go, you know what, I like that guy.

A couple of weeks later, you're like, hey, what happened to that pizza box? Oh, what?

Oh, you know, nevermind. We need a new guy in the tech department. We need it. Yeah, what happened? But then you might start just naming your workers. You don't know their names. You just name them like Pepper. Like the italian guys is like extra pepperoni. Like, yeah. Remember we hired him. You know, our meat lovers is the guy that's maybe a little zesty, you.

Know, big sausage, spicy sausage.

So with the new album, is it gonna be. Tell me about it a little bit. What made you guys want to come back and make more? Because at a certain point, do you feel like you've made enough or does that never go away? What is that?

Kind of like, the first one was Washington. Just to keep everything between the lines, not, not stray very far from, from the previous cuts. The first what, you mean the first record? Reboot one. Oh, okay, this is, we're on reboot two now. But neither, neither of these were our ideas to do our managers, which is, he's had this, the first good idea he's had, I think, in years.

Yeah, look, I've had managers. I know what you're talking about. That's one of the great.

He's a great manager.

He's a big reason we're here is.

Hedgesthem why Baltimore is the day after Sacramento. I still hadn't quite figured it out.

But he still gets paid. His big, big saying is, hey, what are you. What are you bitching about, man? He says, I give you 85%. Or.

Or his other one is 15. This is a charity, you know, I wouldn't need to do this, you know? I mean, damn, Clarence, you're in. He goes, I know. So what is 15% of nothing? Never mind. Poor little children.

And what is his name? Just so we can.

Clarence Bald.

Yeah.

We're 30 something years without a contract.

He's got Aldi, and, I mean, it's just.

He speaks fluent Brooks and Dunn. We couldn't do it without him.

Yeah. Oh, yeah. I can imagine that. Yeah. You gotta have somebody to handle a lot of stuff for you. Today's podcast is sponsored by Boot Barn, America's largest western retailer supporting the cowboy and country lifestyles. Boot Barn opened their first store in 1978, and today they have over 400 stores nationwide, located throughout 48 states, and they open one new store a week across the United States. I wear the Cody James Black 1978 boots, only available at Boot Barn. They're crafted with premium exotic skin, a hand laid cording detail, and classic western stitching. The outsole is leather, and the insole is cushioned for maximum comfort. That's right. The Cody James Black 1978 boots are only available through boot barn. Visit bootbarn.com and use code theo for 15% off one item through October 30. That's bootbarn.com code theo. Today's episode is brought to you by Betterhelp. Have you been off, uncomfortable? Can't figure something out? Something changed, maybe in your relationship or in your workspace or with a family member, and you just. You don't know how to get through it. Well, don't do it alone. Better help can help. That's what I'm telling you. Betterhelp. If you're thinking of starting therapy, give Betterhelp a try.

It's entirely online. It's designed to be convenient, flexible, and suited to your schedule. Just fill out a brief questionnaire to get matched with a licensed therapist and switch therapists at any time for no additional charge. Therapy can help you learn all about and accept different parts of your world, so you can go through life easier. I think everyone should give it a try. Take off the mask with betterhelp. Visit betterhelp.com. t h e o today to get 10% off your first month. That's better help. Betterhelp.com. theo, this episode is brought to you by better help. But, yeah, so tell me a little bit about it. What was it like getting to work with some of these artists? Had you worked with them before?

No. No. Laney is, you know, she comes in and does her thing. They all get to pick their own songs. 18 artists, okay? They pick whatever song they want, and that goes on without us there. That's all up to them. And then maybe they haggle about it with management or whatever. Anyway, uh, everyone showed up with their own version of the song, and it was like, you have art, your artistic, creative license to do whatever you want to do with this one.

Oh, dude, I can't put me up there. I can't do karaoke. I mean, if it's Christmas carols, I can do it, but it's like, even some of that, I get nervous, like, in the second stanza or whatever, you know?

Yeah. Melanie has to feed me my. My words to my songs in my left ear.

I thought she was feeding. I thought he was going behind a speaker and eating. Eating birdseed out of her hand.

Yeah, she has to feed me whiskey all through the show.

I did a tour over in Afghanistan with. With robin williams and Louis black and kathleen Madigan, and Robin just impressed me because he seemed like he's just ad lib and everything, you know? And the one thing that I learned from him before, and we would spend all day on Blackhawks, going to real remote places everywhere, you know? And then at night, we'd do in Kandahar, Kabul, or whatever, some. Some larger shows, and. But he was. Before he would go on, he was. He had a little piece of paper, you know, he'd just written a handful of notes and whatever, and he would pace back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. And I was just really impressed at his professionalism and the way he. And knowing you guys do, people just. You make it look so easy. You know that when you're flowing through your deal and you got your deal clicking right. And it's. I was just learning a lot. And Lewis was hysterical, as you can imagine.

Yeah.

Just hanging with him. He spent any time with him.

Yeah, he's very entertaining. He's very smart. The way he talks is funny.

Yeah.

Just to listen to him, you know? Yeah.

He is so aggravated. Really, really is. Of course, we couldn't. You can't drink over there at all, you know, and it works probably. Well, yeah. And we got there, Lewis has this giant bag, like you carry around this huge kind of smaller duffel bag, such a band bag.

You can go across the world. You can go around the world completely.

Full of those airport scotch bottles.

Allergy medicine.

They're like, damn, I didn't know Jim Beam made allergy medicine.

Look at all these different colored allegras.

Dude. You guys are funny, man.

What does it mean to be.

It's probably helped y'all over the years being able to laugh, huh?

You gotta. You gotta laugh. Gotta sense of humor. Yeah. You know, like, comedians for the most, you see this profile and correct me if I'm wrong, but it's like, you know, it's kind of. A lot of comedians are kind of dark, right?

Oh, yeah, yeah.

And it's kind of. It's anger coming out in humor. Sometimes more times than not. Not to go doctor Phil here.

Yeah, no, yeah, I think it probably is. A lot of them are dark. Yeah. I mean, definitely a lot of you lose a lot of the suicide and.

Yeah, it's a pretty too much downtime too, you know?

Yeah, that gets kind of scary.

Yeah.

You know, everybody out there gets that.

No matter what business you're in.

We're on a bus for, you know, sitting venues, whatever. Don't go to.

Oh, and being on a bus, dude, I used to ride Greyhound. That'll make anybody want to take their lives. I used to write to work on a farm up in Natchez, Mississippi, in the summer, and I take a greyhound up from Baton Rouge, and, dude, they put all the inmates on there. It's a lot of, like, missing people on there.

Oh.

Like, I remember dude came up, and he was like, have you seen me? He said to me, I'm like, you sound damn missing, dude. It's just like. That's a crazy thing to ask.

Oh, God, here. You know? I don't know. It's even still where it was. My sister had this au pair who came from France, this real sweet girl that I'd met up in Maine, and I told her, you ought to come visit Nashville sometime. Forgot all about it. And I get a call one night at the house, you know, and I said, mister Bros says she's crying. I go, yes, mister Bruce is Rosa.

It's horrible.

I go, what is. What has happened? What is wrong? Horses. I'm here. I'm here. I go, you're wizard. In the village, in the villa of Nashville. I go, you're here in Nashville? She goes, yes, I'm here. I go, where are you? What is wrong, Rosa? I met the gray dog. I met that. I go, the gray dog. You're at the Greyhound bus station. I said, my God. I go, look, do not go to the bathroom, which go sit in a chair. Don't talk to anybody. Don't look at anything. I'm on my way. It's like emergency.

Oh, my God. It's like being in the opposite of.

A hospital faster than my wife when she's having a baby. It's like, I've got to save her. Like, right now. This is an emergency.

Every row of the grand bus things get. First it's weed, and then four rows later, they're doing, like, abortions and, like, early term, but still, like, it's like. It's real dicey, dude. It gets real dicey. But you had to have to rescue a french woman from a Graham bus terminal.

You know, was this her first time in?

I mean, she had been on up north. They've got real trains, you know, tram and stuff. But they on the schedule. If you look at it, I'm like, how did you get here? She showed me her schedule. They put greyhound bus in the middle of what? Amtrak. So how you go from these beautiful, nice things?

Yeah.

You can work on your computer to. Oh, my God, what happened?

A lot of people on there. Yeah. Just testing pills on each other. A lot of people, yeah. Now making their. A lot of people drinking their own bath water. They had a dude selling 40 proof bath water. I didn't have a lot, but I had a little. It kind of had a peppermint snops vibe to it.

There's a routine.

Jerry Clower was one of my favorite comedies. You guys ever get to meet him?

No, I didn't get to meet him.

He was a famous southern comedian.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

He's great.

What about brother Dave Gardner?

I never watched him.

Oh, really? You gotta check him out.

Brother Dave Gardner is his name.

Oh, yes. And he was like, let's bring him up now. He was. He was sort of the. He was sort of the country Lenny Bruce. Without using a lot of foul language, but some real dark humor and very inappropriate humor.

Oh, good.

That's him. Brother Dave smoking that cigarette. Yeah, it is. Got his suit going.

Check that hair. It's shining.

Oh, yeah. No, that one. At that cover up on the right. I've got that album. It's all torn up for dog e. Chewed the corner off. My dad loved him, though.

Wow.

Start listening to him. Mm hmm.

He was something else. Not like your average Yeehaw country comedian.

Was there an artist that's passed and you got. When you guys were admired growing up, you went to their service or anything. Somebody you guys really miss and cash, for sure. Did y'all go to his service. Were you allowed to go or how?

Yeah.

Oh, wow. That must have been really interesting.

I'm saying first dude, June, same way we were at the hospital and she was. Had her heart attack.

Wow.

Didn't. Didn't get to go to Merle's, but.

Was he a funny guy? What was he like?

He could be funny. He wasn't being funny on this one. No. He came out and did the last five or six dates with us on our. Our tour in 2010. We were shutting things down. And it's one of those instances where you meet somebody famous and hag just shut me down. I could not carry on a conversation with him. You know, it's about as bad as cash.

He just didn't like chatting.

Well, no, he didn't, but he liked you and he let you know, you know, where John didn't. Didn't let you know for a while. He just smoked you out just to see what you got to. No, you can survive it.

Merles agreed to go on tour with us, but we had to perform with him every night, which of course was on stage together. Yeah, throw us in the briar patch. I mean, that's was such a huge honor and whatever, but he would come up with some obscure songs and whatever, and I jumped. It wasn't like silver wings or anything.

Okay, tonight they're singing pit bull or something in person.

And I hopped up on his bus one. One afternoon to find out what her song was. And we were in Woodstock, New York, I remember, and he's up there burning one down. And he goes, you need to sit down and go, okay. What is it, Merle? He goes, what the hell's wrong with y'all? I don't know, Merle. What's wrong with this? I got that damn window. All them people out there. What the f's wrong with y'all? I don't know, Merle. What's wrong with this? All them damn people out there. Y'all want to quit, Merle.

It's a good point. It was ingenious, right?

Our last. We sure listened.

Yeah.

So, Merle, you know, I gotta tell you, Poncho and Lefty's probably one of my favorite songs ever. I said, and watching you and Willie in that video, it's one of the coolest things I've ever seen. You two, y'all are like best friends. I mean, Ronnie Dunn and I didn't even know each other when we met. You know, we've bullied our way through this freaking career for 20 years. We have not taken a break, you know, and we've just gotten to a point where we think it'd be the best thing for us. We've made it 20 years, you and Millie. Willie Nelson made one album together and he goes, yeah, but we only had one hit. Okay, Merle, what's my song? And he started laughing. I'm like, you win. You're smarter than me. Always will be.

It is crazy to think, though, when you almost say that to some people, even me hearing it from you guys, like, yeah, this is gonna be it. Because it's cuz, cuz it's. But that's just, it is what it is. It's like your life's at where it's at, you know? Yeah. When you've taken breaks, what are other things that you started to fill your lives with that became, like, important to you or that meant something to you? I know you have your vineyards. Yeah, my friend Chris used.

Yeah, but that was, I started that 20 years ago. And other things really what I really wanted to do. And I'd been offered a couple of bit parts and movies and stuff along the way. You know, making a movie takes long scheduling and all that. And we really, we did tour 20 years without stopping. And I kind of did some theater in college. I went to Louisiana tech, you know, and.

Oh, hell yeah. Yeah.

And enjoyed all that.

The Red Fern grows. They used to do that musical up there.

Oh, yeah.

A lot of good, a lot of beautiful.

All right, Covington, don't get me started now.

Talk amongst yourselves.

This is a war. You don't want to say, look, Ronald.

Reagan Rustin versus Covington. That'd be a great battle.

Bring that arm back.

You can keep Terry Bradshaw.

Anyway. But I got in, told William Morris and said books and said, hey, I don't, I don't want to start a movie. I'm not qualified or, you know, don't have the chops. But I would, I would if there's a bit part or something that maybe some, some whatever, if something comes up, you know.

Yeah.

And so, yeah, they started sending me some things and I actually started doing some movies, this and that. And my son had studied film at Vanderbilt in English and wanted to be a screenwriter. And one thing led to another. He came out and started writing with some guys that had produced. I co starred with Ernie Hudson eventually, and a western.

Oh, sweet. I'm not familiar with Ernie Hudson. Yeah, you are the Hudson river. No.

In the original Ghostbusters.

Oh, he was. Oh, the talk about the glasses.

The only black guy in the movie. Are you kidding?

Oh, shoot.

I know Ernie Hudson.

Ernie Hudson.

Yeah, I could tell you.

No, I'm joking, Ernie. No, that's a. So. So that's something you've enjoyed getting to do then.

Yeah. So I got to do that a little bit. And my son wound up being a screenwriter. Went out to LA to be Tarantino. And he writes, writes movies for Hallmark now.

He really? That's awesome. Well, Hallmark still makes a lot of movies. You know, they're not, a lot of places aren't even making movie, so.

True.

Kudos to him. He's got some work a year or something. Hallmark does, literally. Some of the studios hardly make any movies anymore, so. Good for them, man. Wow, that's.

You been in movies?

No, I just wrote a movie with me and David Spade wrote a movie together. He did like Tommy boy and you know, he is. And so we wrote a movie and I think we're gonna start making it on January 6.

Busters.

Yeah, he was. Dude, he was the black guy with the glasses.

Huh.

So I'm scared about it, but I think it's gonna happen. We worked on it for so long, and now it's supposed to happen. Now I'm like, I'm scared, you know, that's natural.

That's normal.

Yeah. I think. Yeah. Being scared of something maybe that you don't know how you can do at it or something. But we also done it all ourselves, so it's like, so that feels good.

You should usually talk to Billy Bob Thornton. Really? Yeah. I mean, think what he did was sling blade.

Oh, yeah.

But they sat and did that. Zz Top was Billy top. I mean, Billy top. Zz top was out with us. And Billy Gibbons was telling about the editing process after Billy Bob and all of them, like, finished it up. And Dwight Yokum.

Oh, yeah, he was in.

He says, I go to this little apartment building in LA, says, hot as hell. He says, I go up second floor, right? So I knock on the door and he says, you know, it kind of cracks open. He said, they go, ah. He says, me, penny, Kelly. Oh, let me in. Come on. What are you doing? So it's Dwight Yocomb. And they're all in. Like they're, they're like white wife beater t shirts or whatever, sweating all over the place in there with old handheld, old school hand editing machines cutting sling blade.

Wow.

Doing all that.

But I bet he's fascinating guy. Billy Bob Thornton.

Yeah.

And Dwight Yoko.

I've been working with him on a Taylor Sheridan. This next series coming up with a land man. Doing some. Some music stuff together. But it's just fun. It's fun. He's got a band.

He does. Oh, yeah. But about the one has a band. Yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

I've known that for a long time. I've never gotten to see him play, but I would probably enjoy it. Seen it, Tim. Billy Bob Thornton's band.

I think they're gonna be here in a while.

I'd love to go see him. Then I'm gonna make a point of that.

They're coming before long. He told me the other night.

Yep. Box masters.

That's it.

Next month, they got their gigs starting, opening for ZZ Top. Bill Ham, their manager.

And you guys open for ZZ top at one point, right? That's what I'm saying. That's what I meant.

To a long time. Had a blast.

Yeah. Ronnie, what about you? What's something that you've enjoyed keeping your time with and when you have free time?

I got a tinker at the farm a little bit still. You know, I'm always writing songs or something, but I grabbed a camera, and a buddy of mine who had been a 25 year photographer for Sports Illustrated moved back to town, and we hit it off. I'd just been to Cuba doing some photography and playing around, and he said, show me your stuff. And. And I did. He says, okay, you're going with me. So we took off for like a year, year and a half, two years, shooting everything. Cheyenne rodeo, uh, galapagos. All over the place.

Wow.

Just. Yeah.

So you really enjoyed it, huh?

Yeah.

Do you sell any of the prints? I'd love to buy one at some point.

Yeah. I'll give you all. I'll give you all you want. I'd love to give you one, but we shot some great cowboy stuff. Did you? Awesome.

Yeah, I just went to the PBR, like, two weeks ago when it was here.

Yeah.

Oh, that was bull riding. But I love rodeo. Rodeo is one of the best, man, I'm with you. If you take your wife or kids out, you don't. You don't know what to do with them. If there's a rodeo within 40 miles, take.

My parents used to do that.

It's a black.

You've been to the prison rodeo in Angola now?

I'd love to go.

Kidding me.

You could view Ben dude.

Yes. Went just recently and actually played down there. You know about the road?

Yes, I know about it.

Unbelievable.

8 seconds for freedom, they call it.

Yeah, for freedom, but it's 6 seconds. You know, the first event is called busting out. So, yeah, these. I've got a friend, Brianna Calhoun, who, she does prison reentry, and we stayed at the warden's house.

No, I want to meet the warden.

Oh, dude, he's fantastic.

Yeah, I want him on this show.

Yeah, we stayed up making gumbo and drinking beer till about 01:00 in the morning. But the rodeo, the first event busting out, they put six prisoners on six bulls. And they're PBR bulls. They're real bulls because they do a PBR exhibit kind of thing there. Put six guys on it. They release all six of them at the same time. Of course, the prisoners stay on for, like a 10th of a second, and then it's all hell breaks. Liz and every event at the rodeo is like that one called pinball, where they set up eight hula hoops. In the middle of the deal. Eight prisoners stand in the hula hoops. They release two bulls on them, and the last one in a hula hoop wins the prize. No, it's fantastic.

Nothing to lose.

Gotta go.

The prize is just a little bit of sunlight, right?

You get 2 hours in the. In the cage outside. You get it?

You get to use a harmonica for ten minutes.

Big time bragging.

Get a ball to bounce.

There were 96 volunteers this year, and it happens twice a year. You should really go. It's unbelievable.

I didn't know you could just go.

Oh, it's like there. It's a 20,000 seat arena. It's fantasy. There it is.

Wow.

It's a real. Look at them. There's a. That's it. That's pinball right there. I'm not kidding. What bull.

We gotta go on this.

This is the place where even the bulls are afraid to come out. Going out there. 20 lifers out there.

Yeah.

That's amazing. I'm gonna. I'd love to go to that. I'm gonna try to get to. I'd love to interview the warden because it's a fascinating thing. There's not another prison, I don't think, that does something as famous as this.

Look at this.

Here you go.

No, no, no. A man down.

He still got one in there.

Man down. He's walking.

Yeah, he's a pinball wizard. He's like, no, never mind.

No, he left the station.

Rodeo is so fun, man.

Shine rodeo. We do. You get a press bunker where your ground level.

And that's a big one.

Yes. There's another ones. Real organic. We went to Mel, what's the name of that? That in Montana, Mile City. And that's where they bring. The breeders, bring all the rodeo stock in. They have for years. Years. I mean, 50, 60 years, whatever to. And people watch them. These kids, local cowboy kids, climb on these horses, and they'll ride. I mean, they used to run 300 horses plus through a day. They ride them to see how they buck. And then every now and then, they'll stop and have an auction, and then they. Then they go right back to it. About the end of the day, these kids are back there and pick up trucks with, like, liters of whiskey. Just.

Just tucker down.

Move, man. It beats him to death.

Yeah, buddy. Mine's daddy sells, um, I guess, horse semen or whatever. However, they. I don't know what they call your horse.

Is it straws?

Semen. And it is straws is how they sell them.

Yeah, they. So I don't know how much you can get. I guess you can get a. I don't. I've never seen the containers they put it in, but I know that they mate with other horses, and they'll have lines of horses coming up to mate with their horse all spring. Sure, he's like a quarter.

He's like a mad with their breads. But quarter horses, you can't.

For racing horses.

Racing horses have to be actually bred. They have that. The males got to get on the field.

You can't artificially inseminate them.

Yeah, I think. Yeah, I'd rather.

Yeah, that's a part of the deal. They got to watch it. You can't be selling semen in the thoroughbred business because it's so expensive, you know? I mean, this is a secretariat. Semen, whatever. Can you prove it? You know?

Yes. Like, oh, hell, the celsius is $3 a can. I can't even imagine how much everything.

Wildlife, you know, deer things. Like, if you name it, it's all else out there.

Did you guys ever get to play Asia? That's one last question. I was thinking. You guys ever.

What is Asia, anyway?

That's random.

That's a good question. Asia is. I guess it's.

Come on now.

China, Vietnam, Thailand. Thailand.

Come on, give us a million.

Japan, Korea, north and south.

There you go.

Malay.

Malaysia said that.

But Malaysia again, maybe that's why they call it Asia. Yeah, Malaysia.

Yeah, they just. Yeah, it's a big sacramento. Sacramento, yeah. But you guys are. How far? How far? I'm just curious how far, because your music was, like. Has been a fixture in my life, you know, and so many people my age. But I just wonder, like, what other ethnicities and stuff.

Listen, they've never heard of us. We did a thing for rock my world one year. It was a record company's great idea. They came in with all these cue cards and whatever. Every country you could. All the ones you just named. Everything you could think of. But phonetically, how you would pronounce. Our new song is called Rock my World. We would love for you to like it in other parts of the world.

Right.

You know, that kind of thing. And so Ronnie and I, as stupid as we are, you said yes, which we said yes. And we're every language you can think of. You know, for Japanese, you know, just.

And they had the cards.

And it sounds like my sister's got a home in Italy. My brother in law's like, I'm over there watching a soccer game. He goes, and your commercial came on in this bar and a break. He goes, and they shut the whole place down. He goes, everybody's on the edge of their seat. They're looking light. And at the end of it they go. So I still have no idea what we said in Italian.

But as long as it was probably.

Some exorcist thing that makes your head turn around bad.

As long as there's some young vietnamese kid sitting somewhere going under neonat we might. The new album and the new tour, will they come out simultaneously? How does that kind of work?

Pretty close, I think. The new album comes out in November.

The 15th.

Yeah.

And we start touring and heavy, heavy stuff.

It starts hitting in February. Yeah. We're gonna stop for a minute. I think. You're gonna go do your deal. I'm gonna run to Africa and come back. And then we're gonna pick it up.

Run over there to Congo.

This guy.

Yeah, you know, I'll go down there. And Covington.

Yeah, we'll be over in Murphy's borough if you need us. Dude, he's down there.

Well, not Murphy. Smyrna. It's really Smyrna.

Gulf Stream promised me they'd have it fixed by then, by plane. So we got it. We're good.

Anything else you guys wanted to talk about? There was something you also wanted to get out there?

No, we. No, we just said we're selling that record right now. Reboot too. Gotta have it. Gotta get it.

It'll change your hangman. Love watching show and nonsense and everything is fun and games. Yeah.

I feel lucky to have a job, man. Really lucky to talk to you guys. This has honestly been one of my favorite episodes. I think it really has.

You never said that before. Right?

I've said it before.

Every freaking show.

Yeah. You guys made it so easy. And also, you guys have such good sense of humor. I think sometimes you get with musicians and they don't talk. They. They don't. They're musicians.

I remember Tom Petty would, like, go and talk show and not talk, right.

There's a reason why they handed him an instrument.

That's all you wanted to do, is have an interview with him, I guess. How's your voice? It's all right.

Bill Vassar told me I was interviewing him, you know, doing the countdown show, and so how'd you get to be such a good piano player?

He goes, well, actually, I was a.

Drummer when I was a kid, and.

Oh, really?

I said, I've never heard you play drums. Shoot, when I was a kid, man, all I wanted was a drum set. Christmas, I get a drum set. He goes, I just beat on those drums relentlessly, day and night, whatever. He goes, I got good at it.

I go, what happened?

He goes, I came home from school one day, my drums were gone. There was a bicycle sitting there where my drums used to be. Shit, man. I go, what'd you do? He goes, rode my bicycle.

I got real good at it.

Yeah, that guy believes. That guy believes in himself too much.

Drums are gone.

That's one of those guys wrote it to Cincinnati kicks Brooks, Ronnie Dunn. Thank you guys so much, man. Thank you for all the years of wonderful music and entertainment and. Yeah, I gotta. I'm gonna come and check out one of the shows on tour, man. I'm excited about it.

Please.

Yeah.

Come see us.

I will. We certainly will. Thank you guys, man.

Fun stuff. Really fun.

Enjoy the hat.

Big fans now.

I'm just floating on the breeze and I feel I'm falling like these leaves I must be cornerstone oh, but when I reach that ground I'll share this piece of my life out I can feel it in my bones but it's gonna take a little.