Transcript of Randy Montana: Seven Years to “Beer Never Broke My Heart” New

Lisa, tell them about our new show.

We have a new podcast. It's called Don't Lie to Me.

I'm Lexi Ioannou. We're 2 best friends, 22 years apart, but so close at heart.

And I'm Lisa DiGiulio, the old one, which means we have wildly different references, occasionally different opinions. And at this point in my 50s, I've lived it all.

Now in my 30s, being the founder of New Shoes, good taste is my business.

Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

I'm Lacey Mosley, author, actor, stand-up comedian, creator, and host of Scam Goddess Podcast, the true crime comedy podcast all about robbery, fraud, and those who practice it. Each week I bring on an amazing guest.

Ooh, I scammed them.

What?

I could talk to you for an hour.

You're a generational yapper like me.

That's why I had to make yapping a job. And now you can catch full episodes of my show on YouTube. Start listening to Scam Goddess on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

There are thousands of podcasts that can tell you how to better yourself. Get Worse with Kyle Pru is not one of those podcasts. So if you're interested in getting thinner, going to therapy, starting peptides, setting boundaries, taking supplements, making you better, getting closure, then I would humbly recommend other podcasts. If you're interested in blackmail, love bombing, cloning yourself, or getting revenge, then we've got a little something something for a dastardly individual like you. Listen to Get Worse with Kyle Pru on the iHeartRadio app, radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Hi, it's Chelsea Handler from Dear Chelsea. This season, we've got some awesome guests ready to dole out advice. Guests like Adam Scott. How does that make you feel?

Did I look like Tom Cruise? First of all, do you think—

do you think—

do you think—

do you think—

do you—

I'm sorry, I started the sentence first.

I think I started this interview. Portia Williams, Sara Bareilles, Tiffany Haddish, Anna Faris, Keri Russell, Kristen Johnston, and more. Listen to Dear Chelsea on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

On recent episodes of The Questlove Show, I chatted with JoJo about her music and Wallo267 about his story and everything in between.

Don't invite me to karaoke. I'm gonna make it weird. Someone's gonna try to sing Leave Get Out or Too Little Too Late or Baby It's You.

Oh, no.

And I'm gonna be like, OK, cool.

Check out my conversation with JoJo, Walo 267, and more on The Questlove Show. Listen to The Questlove Show on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Peace.

Hi, I'm Tony Mantour. Before we start today's show, I want to introduce you to Coast to Coast Heroes, my new podcast debuting November 11th. For our military veterans, the uniform is only part of the story. Behind it is a person and a life shaped by service, sacrifice, and experiences Many of us may never fully understand. Through honest, deeply personal conversations, you'll hear veterans share what they've faced, what carried them through, and how they continue making a difference beyond their military service. Their strength deserves more than our gratitude. Their stories deserve our attention. Coast to Coast Heroes: The People Behind the Uniform, the Stories Beyond the Headlines. Coast to Coast Heroes debuts November 11th. Please follow, listen, and share. And most of all, get to know the veterans, because behind every veteran is a story, and listening is where understanding begins. Hi, I'm Tony Mantour. Thanks for joining us today. Welcome to Almost Live Nashville, where music, entertainment, and great conversations come together. If you haven't already, tap follow. This way you stay up to date, never missing the great conversation and guests Today I'm sitting down with a songwriter whose career is a powerful reminder that success in Nashville rarely happens overnight.

Randy Montana grew up with a front-row seat to the songwriting life, watching his father chase the dream long before the hits ever came. Randy eventually chased that dream himself, landing a record deal, making music as an artist, and becoming a songwriter. Experiencing firsthand the highs and disappointments of the music business. But when the artist's career didn't go the way he had envisioned, Randy didn't walk away. He reinvented himself, kept writing, kept showing up, and 7 years after his record deal ended, he finally broke through as a hit songwriter with Luke Combs' massive hit Beer Never Broke My Heart. Since then, Randy has continued building a career around great songs, Great artists, and something that may matter even more than talent in this business— perseverance. Today we talk about the hits, the songs that almost were, the disappointments nobody sees, the importance of family, and why sometimes the career you end up with can be even better than the one you originally dreamed about. Thanks for joining us today.

Hey, thank you for having me. I appreciate it.

Let's kick it off with your dad, Billy Montana. Yeah, he's a well-known songwriter.

Yes, sir.

So you grew up with songwriting and country music literally around you?

Yes.

What was it like growing up in that environment? And when did you first realize how successful your dad was at what he did?

You know what was cool? Tony was getting— you know, I feel like my dad, you know, started— he was getting songs recorded through the '90s, but didn't have his first hit songs until the late '90s into the early 2000s.

Yeah.

And that was when, when he started having some success. And so I feel like I got a front row seat to all of that, you know what I mean? Like, I watched him, um, I knew the dad that was delivering pizzas to make ends meet for some extra cash while he was chasing the songwriting dream, you know?

Yeah.

So I got a front row seat to that, and I think it instilled in me that it was a long haul thing.

Sure.

And that it was going to take a while, to the point where, I mean, When I started to get into it, I remember my mom and dad kind of looking at me like, are you sure? Like, you grew up in the house that your dad was doing that. It's like, are you sure that that's something you really want to do? And but yeah, I think it kind of tempered my expectations in a sense because I just knew—

Sure.

I knew how much time he put in, you know what I mean? And I knew just how much, how long it took to get that ball rolling, you know.

Let's continue on this path for a couple of seconds. What's the greatest lesson that you learned about writing from him? Not necessarily something he sat down and told you, but something that you learned by watching the way that he approached the business?

Yeah, it was, it was the treating it like it was a job thing, for sure. In that, like, I felt like he always treated it like a farmer treats turning the dirt over, planting crops.

Sure.

You know, planting the seeds and hoping for a good harvest that fall. You know, it's like, even when, even in those early stages of like, when I was like, kind of trying to get a deal, and stuff like that, I felt like I saw how the, the 9-to-5 aspect of writing, you know what I mean?

Right.

I think probably the outside world probably thinks that we sit around and wait for lightning just to strike us right on top of the head and go like, oh man, that's a song, you know?

Oh yeah.

But it's not, man. It's, it's work and it's showing up every day.

It is.

I love the idea— somebody said it's like, man, if you sit there and wait for the muse, you've got to go meet it, you know what I mean?

Right.

You've got to be there when it when it happens. And so early on, it's like— and that's a struggle. It's like running a marathon.

Yeah.

Where you've got to train your body to get to that point, just like you got to train your mind to, you know, be able to buckle up, you know, 4 or 5, however many hours to write. You know, it's a— it's truly a muscle.

When you were first signed as an artist, did that opportunity come to you as a songwriter and then realizing they wanted you as a recording artist as well? Or was the artist first and the songwriting came alongside it?

You know, it was, it was, I feel like it was a combo of both things. Clay Bradley, who is high up at BMI now, at the time was head of A&R at Sony. This was back in like the mid-2000s. I think it was 2006, 2007, right around there.

Okay.

He heard a demo that I had sang that we were pitching. Like, I think we were trying to get a Jason Aldean cut or something like that. He heard the demo and cold-called me like at my, the week of my wedding. I was getting married. I was in North Carolina and he was like, hey man, he's 100 miles an hour. And he was like, hey man, Come into my office right now. And I was like, man, I'm in North Carolina. I'm getting married. I'm going on the honeymoon next week. I'll come when I get back. Let's talk. So he took me over to Sony Pub and was like, basically like, hey, man, this guy's going to get a record deal at some point in time. And I'd been writing for a few years at that point. And so, yeah, they heard the potential. I kind of signed on as a writer with artist potential. The idea was to get a record deal.

Now, you had some success as a recording artist. Was there a point when you thought your career might take a different direction? For example, the songwriting for other artists could become more important, or even more important than being the person out front.

For sure. Yeah, you know, just from playing in a band and through college, it's like I loved the performing side of it. We'd go to fraternity parties and bars and stuff like that and play these 3, 4-hour sets, and I loved that, you know.

Sure.

Kind of why I dropped out of school, because I was like, this is a lot more fun than going to class, you know. And so, yeah, man, it was— getting the record deal was the goal at the beginning, for sure. Sure. Like, I had aspirations of being a country artist that was having hits on the radio and getting a taste of that through being on Mercury Records there and getting to make a record with Jay Joyce. And man, those experiences were unbelievable. And I wouldn't trade— I wouldn't trade those for the world because they shaped me into being the songwriter that I am now. Because I felt like I had— like, especially early on, it's like, man, a lot of these guys I was writing with, it's like we got record deals at the same time, right? You know what I mean? It's like they knew me as an artist as well.

Right.

But yeah, that transition, you know, I had the deal for, for 3 or 4 years and put out a couple singles and nothing ever really took off and was kind of forced to start just writing, which I wasn't scared of because I had gotten, you know, along the way, like even when I had a record deal, I'd gotten a few outside cuts while I had a deal.

Right.

It didn't scare me. But also, you're kind of starting fresh too, in a sense.

Yeah.

In people's eyes in town, you know?

Sure, absolutely.

You got to go from being a failed artist basically to like, all right, now I'm Randy Montana the songwriter, you know? So that, that takes a while.

Yeah, yeah. It's amazing you say the word fail because sometimes failure can lead to success.

No doubt.

So looking back now, what did that chapter teach you about yourself and about the music business in the way that it works?

For sure. I mean, what it taught me about myself was, and looking back, even at a young age, I'm proud of persevering through that change because it took time.

Sure.

I didn't just start having hits immediately. It was from where my record deal ended, it was 7 years before I had my first radio hit as a songwriter.

Yeah.

So, man, proud of just sticking through that. I felt like that, that taught me a lot about myself looking back.

Right. Right.

But yeah, just the ability to like— because you kind of think differently then.

Exactly.

The songs become different because it's like, man, I'm not writing a song for myself anymore, right? It doesn't matter what I want to say, right, or how I want to say it. I mean, that goes into your style as a writer, but you've got other people in mind when you're writing these songs. So that took some getting used to.

Along the way, you had a chance to sing with Emmylou Harris.

I did, yeah.

What a combination. Emmylou Harris, and you co-wrote the song with your father as well.

Yes.

How did that all come together? And what did you learn from it?

Jay Joyce had a relationship with Emmy as friends, you know what I mean? Like, they were friends, right? And had worked together previously. And, and we were looking for a female voice to feature on that song with me. I think it's Last Horse. And so he asked her to come do it. And I could not believe she said yes. listening to my dad's music growing up, I was familiar with her, right? You know what I mean? That California country movement, you know what I mean?

Sure.

The Eagles and all, and all that stuff, Jackson Browne. And so I was familiar with her, you know. And so anyway, man, you know what was cool for me is that she's a lot older than me and she's been around for years doing it, but just that she would come in, listen to a song and go, yeah, I like this song. I have no clue who this guy is.

Yeah.

She didn't know me from Adam. And so she took the time to come in, to learn the song, to come in and do some incredible parts, man. And just, I think it just showed that it's about doing it for the love, you know what I mean? This is not about— I had this discussion, I was on my soapbox last night with my wife a little bit, and we're talking and it's like, it's never been about money, you know what I mean? The money's always been secondary, right? It's always been about the love of creating. It's like that feeling of a song coming together or a track coming to life in the studio. it's like, if you could bottle that feeling up and sell it, like, you would be the richest human on Earth because it's just euphoric, you know? For those of us that have felt it, it's just like, it's a euphoric feeling. So, like, you spend your whole life— once you feel it, you spend your whole life chasing that dragon.

Yeah.

She was still out there doing it, you know? And I think that that's pretty cool.

Yeah. You mentioned sitting on your soapbox, but talking about the business, what has been your pinch-me moment when you either got a song cut by someone you looked up to, Or you had a chance to have a conversation with someone you grew up listening to. What has been that one pinch-me moment you say, wow, this is cool?

There's definitely been a few along the way. There's definitely been a few, but I think the main one was— so my first radio hit was a song called Beer Never Broke My Heart. Luke Combs recorded it, debut single off of his sophomore album, right? So we were at Nissan Stadium, which is the stadium here in Nashville that they do the big night of CMA Fest, you know, during the summer. Me and my wife were standing at the front of house and the soundboard. Like, they're in the middle of the stadium and the stadium's packed and everybody's singing every word to the song. And I think that was euphoric. It was so euphoric. I still don't know why I did this. There were some younger guys standing to my left, man. They were just sipping a beer and enjoying the evening, you know.

Mm-hmm.

And in the middle of the song, I leaned over to one of them. I said, Hey, man, I wrote this song. And he looked back at me and he said, no way, man, I did too.

Yeah, yeah, I've been, I've been in situations like that.

And Tony, that's exactly how I wanted that to go, man. You know what I mean? Like, looking back, that's perfect. Yeah, that's, that's the pinch-me thing. And of course, it's meeting people and, and stuff like that is definitely it. But I think seeing that, like, man, you can't manufacture that, you know, you can't manufacture that moment. And so, um, That's right. Those have been the, you know, those, those things you can't, like you said, can't buy.

When you wrote that song, you sit down, you sing it, you write it, you have a vision for it as if you were going to do it, and then of course you demo it. When that actually got cut, did it go in a different direction, or did Luke bring it to a different level than you thought it could be?

For sure. I mean, it was headed that way from the demo. Like, it had that— we had that guitar riff that kind of like Bam, bam. It was written over that with a, with just kind of a floor-on-the-floor loop going. But man, I mean, if you're putting numbers on it, it's like our demo is at like a 3, and then, you know, the record's at a 10, you know. So, um, right, yeah, it kind of exploded, you know, like the track and the sound. So yeah, it was quite a departure from the demo.

Lisa, we should tell them about our new show.

Oh my God, Lexi, we have a new podcast. It's called Don't Lie to Me.

I'm Lexi Iwanu. We're 2 best friends, 22 years apart, but so close at heart.

And I'm Lisa DiGiulio, the old one, which means we have wildly different references, occasionally different opinions. And at this point in my 50s, I've lived it all.

I'm not gonna get anywhere fighting.

That is wild. I learned that about you today.

Now in my 30s, being the founder of New Shoes, good taste is my business. And I've always got something to say. If men were just honest about this, there would be so much more peace in the world.

We're gonna talk about dating, relationships, beauty, getting older and a little wiser. We're best friends, but we don't always agree. Because you told us how accommodating you are.

Obviously, I would do what I think I could do to, to fight the fight, but there's only so much fight I can fight.

Don't lie to me. Don't lie to me. Don't lie to me. Don't lie to me. Don't lie to me.

Don't lie to me.

Liar.

Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I don't really care.

I'm Lacey Mosley, author, actor, stand-up comedian, creator, and host of Scam Goddess Podcast, the true crime comedy podcast all about robbery, fraud, and those who practice it. Each week I bring on incredible guests like Conan O'Brien, Iowa Debris, Lamorne Morris, and Nicole Byer.

Ooh, I see What? I could talk to you for an hour.

You're a generational yapper like me.

That's why I had to make yapping a job. And the scams run the gamut. I'm talking about scams from the 1800s all the way up to today. I also warn you and keep you safe against scammers. Call your grandparents. Tell your parents to stop clicking on links, please. And now you can catch full episodes of my show on YouTube. If there's a scam, I'm here to protect you. And I'm also here to laugh with you. So if you like fun, if you like comedy, And you like learning and protecting yourself from criminals, start listening to Scam Goddess on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

There are thousands of podcasts that can tell you how to better yourself. Get Worse with Kyle Pru is not one of those podcasts. So if you're interested in getting thinner, going to therapy, starting peptides, setting boundaries, taking supplements, making you better, getting closure, then I would humbly recommend Other podcasts. But if you're interested in blackmail, love bombing, cloning yourself, or getting revenge, then we've got a little something something for a dastardly individual like you. Take a listen to some of the incredible advice we've given so far. Fake a back injury. Get the spray tan. Up your alcohol consumption. Only women should be allowed to have guns.

Kill him.

Kill him.

Kill him with a gun.

Listen, it's already over.

I'm all about lying if it's something that The next time a bear is running at you, you just calmly stop what you're doing, you look the bear in the eye, and you say, this isn't you.

Do not preserve relationships. You don't need them. You only need one thing, and that's the Get Worse podcast. Listen to Get Worse with Kyle Pru on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Welcome aboard season 6 of The Girlfriends: Flight or Fight. Which takes place 30,000 feet in the sky. There's great food, comfortable chairs, and attentive stewardesses.

The stewardesses were so beautiful.

But in reality, the stewardess job is far less glamorous than it appears.

It was the most sexist job I think you could have.

In this era, The airlines told these stewardesses they have to be single.

They had no good excuse for why they wouldn't let women be married.

They have to be skinny.

We were starving ourselves.

And they have to be young.

You would retire at age 32.

But one day, a group of stewardesses said—

This has gotta stop.

They risked it all, turning a fight for fairness into a revolution. Listen to The Girlfriends: Flight or Fight on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Hey everybody, I'm Chuck Bryan of the Stuff You Should Know podcast.

And I'm Adam Pranica of The Greatest Generation and Greatest Trek.

We decided to start a golf comedy podcast because we're both big golf lovers, and we wanted to spread that joy, and it's called 3-Putt Bogey.

It's coming from the perspective of golfers who are sometimes good enough to hit 2 great shots in a row, but almost never good enough to hit 3, and a 3-putt bogey is kind of the purest expression of that. Every golfer knows what that's like.

Obviously, we're gonna talk a lot about the game of golf, how absurd it is and how fun it is and how vexing and frustrating. But more than anything, just how much we love the greatest game in the world.

We love it anyway.

We're putting these out every Friday morning for your weekend golf routine.

This is a show about sharing our experiences on the golf course and how absurd and funny they can be. And that's what Three Putt Bogey is.

It's Three Putt Bogey, everybody, out every Friday. You can listen to it now on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Now, unfortunately, Nashville is a town that's filled with rejection. Yeah, songs get passed on all the time. Deals change, opportunities disappear. You mentioned it took you 7 years to get that first radio cut. Was there ever a period of time in that 7 years where you questioned, should I keep doing this?

Oh, Tony, I think about it sometimes now when I'm driving home. You know what I mean? Like, I'm like, yeah, yeah, I see those guys cutting grass and I'm like, man, that doesn't look half bad. You know what I mean? So, oh yeah, because it is, man. It's, I think in your mind too, you know, you, you have this goal, right, of having a hit song. And right, I think you think on the, on the other side of that, that you'll feel differently.

And then you do.

And then it happens, and then you're like, man, I still feel exactly the same as I did before, and you just want to do it again. So it's just, it's, it's the wheel of it all, you know? It's just, it's that wheel. And so guys do this stuff for years, man. And yeah, that's right, years and years, because it's just in us to keep, to keep going. Of course, through that period, like, there's, there were definitely, yeah, sometimes when it's just like you just feel like I was just writing in a dark basement and And the lights were not on and just nothing was happening.

Yeah.

That's why so much I feel like what we do is not only the mental game of being creative, but the mental of just almost being dumb about it.

Yeah. Yeah.

To the point of like, well, yesterday was yesterday. Tomorrow's tomorrow.

Right.

All I can do is what I can do today and strapping your boots on and going again.

So Nashville is— and I'm glad that you brought that up yesterday and today because Nashville and the music industry is a series of ups and downs. Today you're talking about a potential deal. Tomorrow it could completely fall apart. How do you find that comfort level so it can be smooth where you don't have any extreme highs or any extreme lows so you can keep writing your songs, pitching them, and then letting the chips fall where they fall?

Yeah, it's that— that's very difficult. And I think I kind of didn't when I first started out and was you know, like wide-eyed greenies could be. I never understood how the vets that had been doing it for so long seemed so nonchalant, like in the middle of hot points in their careers, seemed very nonchalant about the things that were going on in their career. Because I'm sitting there going, it's like, God, I'd give anything to have going what you've got going, and you're not doing the jumping jacks and the backflips that I would be doing if I had that going. And I think that, that I don't know, it's, it's, you almost like gotta train yourself mentally to kind of just let things roll off your back. Yeah, I don't know any other way to put that. I know that's strange, but it's almost like you just gotta snap and like forget about it, you know what I mean?

Oh yeah.

Almost just set it off to the side to where, you know, it's like, oh, you might have the next so-and-so single or whatever. And right, I don't believe those things until it's like I see that. It's like, okay, they went for ads and we got some ads this week on the radio.

That's right.

I guess we've got the single, right? You know, and so yeah, not letting the excitement of the maybe like just be all you think about during the day, you know.

Oh yeah, the worst thing you can do is, and I've had friends like this, they think something's going to happen. What do they do? They start telling everyone that it's going to happen like it already has. Oh, and then boom, it fell apart. Oh, major disappointment, major hurt. So of course, it's very important to stay away from those type of situations so you can focus on your day-to-day process of writing songs. With that said, is there a song where it looked like everything was going to be great, and then all of a sudden it just fell apart and it was devastating?

Yeah, and, and it was a heartbreaker because it was like my first, my first big cut I ever got. I wrote a song with Steve Bogard and Kyle Jacobs. This is a long time ago. Kyle has since passed. Steve's just an amazing dude. But George Strait recorded the song. At the time, I was in my deal on— I was either in my deal or fresh out of it on Universal. And so George was on Universal too. He was on the MCA side. I was on the Mercury side.

Right.

So, so yeah, so I get a, I get a phone call and it's like, I mean, it's from somebody at the label and they're like, hey man, I just got out of a meeting and I think you've got the next George Strait single.

Wow.

And something in the next 2 weeks fell apart. Like, don't ask me what, but like, I mean, you know, he— I'll never forget, he called me in my car and I almost wrecked, you know what I mean? Like, I was so excited.

Yeah.

To this day, I have no clue what happened, but it did not happen. And yeah, I think that was kind of the— I used to have a joke with my dad about, am I in the club yet of being a songwriter? Everybody has those stories of just like these, like it's this surefire thing that's getting ready to happen, dude. He goes, buckle up, dude, it's getting ready to get wild. And then nothing happens. And so I remember when that happened and I had processed it and got over it or whatever, I'd looked at my dad and I was like, so am I in the club yet for being a song— you know, for being a legit songwriter, you know? And so he's like, yeah, buddy, you're getting a full dose of it. So.

My story on that was a Garth Brooks cut.

Yeah.

I was like this close to getting it.

Yeah.

And then it just fell apart.

Yeah, man.

You just never know. So how did you use this rejection where it all fell apart on you to light that fire so you got more aggressive? And just attacked it to keep going and moving forward.

For sure. I mean, it definitely does, and it takes time to get over it, you know, it takes time. I mean, you know, I grew up, I grew up playing football and soccer and baseball and all kind of sports. And so it's like I always had that. I was a quarterback in high school. We threw the football a lot, so I threw some interceptions, of course, because we were throwing the football. I always had an ability even then to kind of like, all right, that was the last throw. That was a bad throw. I'm not going to do that again.

Sure.

Next drive, let's go throw it down the field. You know, so I attribute that kind of that competitive fire innately in me to get back up and go, no, it's like, no, we'll get it. You know what I mean? We're going to get it.

With everything you've accomplished so far, was there a particular song that you wrote? It might not have been the biggest song in the world or charted the highest, yet it got heard. People liked it, and it really meant something special to you.

Yeah, actually, yeah, man. I was on a writing trip where it was a bus run, and I saw a kid and his dad. We were somewhere in Maryland where the river's dumping into the ocean kind of right there, and I saw a kid and his dad fishing on the bank. And I thought about when I was a kid. I grew up here in Nashville, and there was a lot of Saturday mornings in the spring My dad would get me up real early and we would go bass fish off the bank. And I just, I just related to that dad and his son out there sitting on the bank. And I wanted a boat so bad, you know what I mean, as a kid?

Yeah.

So I jotted down an idea in my phone, and the idea was Too Broke for a Boat.

Okay.

Came back to town and, uh, sat down with an awesome songwriter, Josh Thompson, and my buddy Neil Medley. Yeah, we wrote that song. So it had a super personal meaning to me Yeah, man, I felt that, and it really speaks to the whole thing. And, and, um, it speaks to my dad too, you know what I mean? Yeah, him and my mom's favorite song. So yeah, it was an album cut. It never came out as a single or anything like that. But as far as like, like super personal, like, I really, I really relate to that song.

Yeah. Now, if you could go back and talk to your younger self before singing with Emmylou Harris, before writing any of the hit songs, Not knowing where this musical journey would take you, what would you say?

Uh, just don't be in such a hurry. Don't wish things to move quick and just be patient in any stage of it that you're at. You know, it's just, just enjoying where you are, like trying to be present, like where my feet are in the moment. Early on, you spend so much time dreaming about like, well, maybe once I get here, once I get here, once I get here, you know, and, um, There's no point in that.

Yeah. If you could give one piece of advice to a songwriter coming into Nashville, what would you tell them? And what mistake would you tell them to avoid?

I would tell them to, man, get out and about, meet a bunch of people, find your core group, you know, whether it's 3 or 4 other songwriters, and spend a lot of time writing with those guys. Like, develop a thing, you know what I mean? Like, develop this crew and really just dive into that because You guys will all— you'll all start getting publishing deals, and then you'll also get record deals. And that's how it'll happen. I've worked with the same people for years and years.

How do people find you? This way they can keep up with you with your musical journey.

Uh, yeah, I mean, I'm on Instagram and I'll post stuff, obviously, like when we do this, it's like I'll post something like this. I don't post a ton. I like to, I guess, lurk on there is what it's called. Okay, I'll post some things every now and then. So yeah, that's about it.

Do you have a website?

Yeah, I think there's a randymontana.com. I don't know if it's even still up and running, but we don't update it. I just stick to the Instagram.

Yeah, yeah, I get it. Now, when you look back at your journey that you've had so far, and there's still more to come, you grew up watching your dad write hit songs, became an artist yourself, sang with Emmylou Harris, written songs that have become major hits. You're building a career in music. What are you most proud of? And what do you hope people will remember about the songs you've left behind?

I mean, that's a great point. That's a great question. Um, most proud of, man, you know, probably most proud of, of losing, you know, going through the process of losing a record deal and then turning into a hit songwriter. That's been a journey, you know, like we were talking about earlier. It's like, man, that's, that's been such a journey. So I'm proud of that. I didn't make it work in the artist thing where I first started, but able to pivot and to make it work in the songwriting world. And then what was your second question?

The songs you've left behind, what do you hope people will remember?

Oh, songs, man. I just, I just hope there's a little flair of difference to them, you know, like where maybe you listen to it and people that know me or know my songs would go like, oh yeah, these all make sense that he was all a part of these songs, you know. Still leave my print on them, you know what I mean? There's a common thread.

Now, when you're decompressing, You're going into your own little world. You're just blocking out the world. What are people going to see you doing?

I love, I love to fish. I love the outdoors. I love to hunt. Yeah, I've got a trip coming up with my father-in-law. We're riding motorcycles in Alaska. I'm really excited about that.

Oh, nice.

Honestly, man, like when I'm out on the lake or in the woods, like my brain kind of just focuses on that. It can kind of turn off everything else and I'm just focused on what I'm doing. And that's a good feeling, you know, as opposed to my mind going everywhere, like Oh man, I should be somewhere else right now, you know?

Yeah. Now, what's the next chapter for Randy Montana?

Next chapter? Man, I just hope to continue writing great songs and continue getting songs cut and building new relationships with new artists. And that's my favorite part of being a writer, is getting a front row seat to a lot of these artists' careers. You know, it's like I've gotten to watch Luke Combs take off, Riley Green, Yeah, I've been friends with them for over a decade now, right? It's like getting a front row seat to their rise to stardom is so much fun, and to be a part of that is, uh, is super cool. And so it's like, I just, I want to see that again, you know? I want to see guys like, like Zack John King. I want to see that guy win.

Mm-hmm.

Because he's a talented dude, first of all, great human, but secondly, super talented. And so it's like, it would just be great to have a front row seat to his Yeah, I think that's great.

And I also think that you brought something up that some people sometimes misunderstand about the music business. You've been around for 10 years watching some of these people grow.

Mm-hmm.

There are people in Nashville now doing exactly the same thing that the people you watched that took 10 years to get where they are, and their time may not be far away either. It takes time to build that musical career. I've got a saying about my musical career. It didn't turn out the way I wanted it to. out exactly the way I planned it, but I can live with it. How do you feel where everything didn't turn out exactly as you planned, but you're still doing very good?

For sure.

Yeah.

Because if you'd asked 22-year-old me how things were going to go, it would not be the way that it went.

Yeah. Yeah, me too.

It definitely would not be the way that it went. But I'm blown away day in and day out because it's like, man, I've got 3 kids, you know, and I've gotten to watch them grow up. I've been present, you know what I mean?

Sure. Yes.

I think I really would have looked back with regret had I been gone on the road all the time and not gotten to see, um, not gotten to spend as much time as I have gotten to spend. And they're spoiled because they think it's like, you know, my schedule's pretty flexible, you know, I can take off large blocks of time. It's like, there's plenty of people in corporate America that do not get the option of going, we're just gonna go hang out at the lake for 3 weeks.

That's right.

But being a songwriter, it's like, man, you, you can, you can block off time to take off. And so it's like, my kids, it's like they're gonna grow up and they'll be like, when they get their jobs, they're gonna be like, how did Dad have all this time to just hang with us? You know what I mean? And so, um, but I'm— yeah, selfishly, I'm super glad and blessed to see that.

Oh, absolutely. So when you take time off to decompress, just to get away from the Nashville hustle and bustle of music, you take a couple, 3 weeks, whatever the time frame may be, whatever you want it to be, then reality kicks in and, hey, I've got to get back to work. Now, work for you is different. It's picking up a guitar, creating music. So how do you get your mindset back to productivity after such a long time?

It's so funny you say that. I was literally— I was on the phone with my buddy Hunter Phelps, uh, and we were talking about that exact same thing because we took trips at about the same time this summer. And, uh, and we were saying— I was like, I was telling him, I was like, I wrote all last week, you know, and then I wrote— and obviously writing this week. And today was like the first day where I felt like Oh, okay, everything's firing on all cylinders now. Like, it takes a minute to like go, yeah, oh yeah, this is how you do it, you know. And so yeah, it definitely, it definitely takes a minute, but it's kind of fun, you know, I'll be honest. Like, it's kind of fun to sit down and be like, how do we do this again?

You know?

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So in closing, what would you like to leave the audience with that you think is important they know about you? I don't know.

I feel like one, I'm just so grateful and blessed to have had the success that I've had. And if it all ended tomorrow, that would be okay. You know, I think I just want them to know that you don't have to be the most— I've never felt like I'm the most talented guy in the room, but I've stuck it out. You know what I mean?

Yeah, exactly.

There's a lot of value in just continuously showing up.

That's right.

There's always people that are more talented and that have had more hits and all that.

Right.

And I'm okay with that. You know what I mean?

Yeah.

I'm okay with my role, you know?

Yeah. Well, this has been great. I really appreciate you taking the time to join us today.

Tony, thank you so much for having me, man. Seriously.

Oh, it's my pleasure. Thanks again. A sincere thank you to our guests for sharing their journey with us today, and thanks for spending part of your day with us. We hope today's conversation gave you something to take with you. If you haven't already, remember, tap follow so you never miss the great conversations and guests still ahead. You can always reach us at media@platoumusic.com. Thanks for being with us. being part of what we're building here on Almost Live Nashville. We'll see you next time.

Lisa, tell them about our new show.

We have a new podcast. It's called Don't Lie to Me.

I'm Lexi Ioannou. We're 2 best friends, 22 years apart but so close at heart.

And I'm Lisa DiGiulio, the old one, which means we have wildly different references, occasionally different opinions, and at this point in my 50s, I've lived it all.

Now in my Being the founder of New Shoes, good taste is my business.

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What?

I could talk to you for an hour.

You're a generational yapper like me. That's why I had to make yapping a job.

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Hi, it's Chelsea Handler from Dear Chelsea. This season we've got some awesome guests ready to dole out advice. Guests like Adam Scott. How does that make you feel, that I look like Tom Cruise? First of all, do you think Do you think—

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Portia Williams, Sara Bareilles, Tiffany Haddish, Anna Faris, Keri Russell, Kristen Johnston, and more. Listen to Dear Chelsea on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

On recent episodes of The Questlove Show, I chatted with JoJo about her music and Wallo267 about his story and everything in between.

Don't invite me to karaoke. I'm gonna make it weird. Someone's gonna try to sing Leave Get Out or Too Little Too Late or Baby It's You.

Oh, no.

And, and, and I'm gonna be like, okay, cool.

Check out my conversation with JoJo, Walo267, and more on The Questlove Show. Listen to The Questlove Show on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Peace.