Interview with Trey Lewis

1 (27s): Y hello. Again, it is Adam. Welcome back to bringing it backwards. A podcast where both legendary and rising artists tell their own personal stories of how they achieved stardom. On this episode, we have the opportunity to hang out with Trey Lewis. Over zoom video, Trey was born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama, and he talks about how he got into music. He didn't start playing guitar until he was 19 years old. There a reason why that happened and what happened when he was 19. So he'll, he'll tell you that part of the story from there, he ended up writing a bunch of songs, learning cover songs, playing them around the Birmingham area, ended up taking some trips up to Nashville to start writing music. He eventually moved to Nashville to really pursue his career as an artist, playing different bars, still cover songs, but writing music as well. 1 (1m 11s): It wasn't until fairly recently, he put out a song that went absolutely viral on Tik TOK. Then it went viral elsewhere. It's blew up pretty much everywhere, including on billboard and a bunch of other charts. The songs called Dick down in Dallas. Obviously didn't make the radio waves, do a, the title, but in the context of the song, but it is a huge, huge record for him. And it's just catapulted his career. We talk all about that. Even his most recent song, which is called single again. You can watch our interview at Trey Lewis on our Facebook page and YouTube channel at bringing it backwards. It'd be awesome if you subscribe to our channel like us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and Tech-Talk at bringing back pod. 1 (1m 57s): And if you're an Amazon shopper, a portion of your everyday purchases will help support our podcasts with just a few clicks. It's super easy. Please head over to our website, bringing it backwards.com and click on Amazon. Each time you begin your purchases, those few extra clicks will help keep our mission of providing a platform for both legendary and rising artists to tell their personal stories on how they achieve stardom so that all artists and music enthusiasts have access to meaningful and memorable advice. That'll help inspire their own musical journeys. To recap, please head over to bring in a backwards.com and click on Amazon before you make each and every purchase, because a portion of that purchase will add up in a big way to help support our mission. 1 (2m 45s): Thank you so much. 2 (2m 47s): I appreciate your support. If you follow and subscribe to our podcasts, wherever you listen to pod, 1 (2m 53s): We're bringing it backwards with Trey Louis. Yeah. Yeah. So I, I saw that you are you're in now, originally from Alabama though, correct? 3 (3m 2s): Yeah. I live in Nashville and I'm originally from Birmingham, Alabama. I I've been up here for about three years now. 1 (3m 11s): Oh, cool. What a part in Nash? I'm in the Nashville area. I should say. 3 (3m 16s): I live out in the Hermitage. 1 (3m 17s): Okay. We're sat down. Isn't it? Is it Northeast or am I thinking? 3 (3m 26s): Yeah, I see. Yeah. I couldn't tell you. 1 (3m 31s): I'm not very, very familiar. I know that I've heard of the area. So that was just curious. Yeah. I'm further south down by near, near Franklin area. 3 (3m 39s): Okay, cool. Yeah, it's out by like Percy priest and all that. So I'm like in between Percy priest and I'm an old Hickory, so it's like right. 1 (3m 50s): Rad. Yeah. Two things that stood out that stood out to me is, is one, is, was your Nashville. And two is that you're sober. And so am I, so I thought that was rad. 3 (3m 58s): Awesome, man. That's awesome. Do you, do you go to, do you go to the 12 step classes or 1 (4m 4s): I actually started, I quit. It was a whole thing. So I, you know, I went through the whole yeah, like the treatment shit. And then like, you know, then did the classes then actually stopped going to the classes for a while. I mean, I started going back again recently, so I like never did like the work so to speak, which is kind of like, yeah, 3 (4m 30s): Yeah. I got sober when I was 19 and went to a sober living and lived there for six months and you know, I got a sponsor and did the whole work steps and you know, I mean, I went to meetings every day for like the first few years of my sobriety and, and then I, you know, termed it back to like, you know, you know, three a week or something like that. But when I moved to Nashville, I went a pretty good bit, but then COVID happened. And then, so I'm just not the type of person that's really going to do as a meeting, just cause I just think that's, I don't know, I'm just not really into it, you know, like, so I didn't do, I mean, I maybe did a couple of zoom meetings, but I don't know. 3 (5m 16s): I guess, I guess COVID like helped me realize that it's okay to not go, you know, but I still go periodically, you know, just when I feel like I need to, there's a group, not far from my house. They have a meeting in the morning and I can just pop in there and just, it's really easy. The, you know, the, I think the biggest thing for sobriety and, and that, you know, the 12 step fellowship is the being around like-minded people and, you know, they share a common bond, you know, and it's just, sometimes it's important for me to go back, be there. 3 (5m 59s): But the biggest thing that I learned from doing all that is giving back and helping others. And that's like, I've found other ways to do that, you know, through my music and just through just being a good friend, you know, to people or somebody needs somebody to talk to or, you know, whatever. So know 1 (6m 17s): That's rad. Yeah. I started, I mean, I've went actually the past, like four weeks, I just started going, there's a men's meeting by my house too. I was like, yeah, what the hell? I'll go there and hang for an hour. And I actually went last night. It's pretty. It just, 3 (6m 29s): It makes you feel good, man. Hey, you leave. 1 (6m 31s): And you're like, oh, that was, you know, I feel, I feel good. Even if you, for anyone, even if they weren't an alcoholic or whatever, like it's just like kind of a therapeutic session. They're like, okay, all these people are talking about a bunch of crap and then, you know, it's like going to church or something. Right. Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. Do you sponsor guys at all and just check? 3 (6m 53s): I don't like I used to. I mean, honestly I just don't have the time. Like, I mean, I feel, I feel like if I know for me, my sponsors, you know, that I've had in the past, I still have my sponsor in Alabama. And when we talk, you know, some weeks we'll talk a lot and then we'll go out without talking. It just depends on really what's going on with me. But I just feel like, you know, it, I'm going to sponsor somebody like, and they're a newcomer, like, you know, like an early on incomer, if I was them, I'd want to see my sponsor going to meetings and you know what I mean? 3 (7m 36s): And like doing all that and, and with my hectic schedule, I'm just not going to be around, you know what I mean? So, but you know, that's the thing is like I have, you know, and I've prayed about it. And I just had to get God to like, you know, give me other ways to give back other than, than just that kind of service. You know? And I, when I put out my song a little tired, a few months ago, we made t-shirts and for that song and when we sell them, we give, I think it's like $15 a share. It goes to this, this place called turning points down in Alabama. It's a treatment center per minute. My sponsor actually works there. 3 (8m 17s): So it's just like, it's just like cool things like, like that, that we've been able to do for me to give back. You know, that's really awesome. 1 (8m 28s): I didn't mean to turn this into an AA meeting, but I was just curious, you know, I just noticed with like the first couple of things on your Instagram and I was like, oh, that's rad. And then like, when I did some more dive into your, into your story, I thought that was super cool. 3 (8m 42s): Have only part of who I am. So I don't mind talking about it. You know, I feel like, I feel like AA is what gave me the ability to speak if that makes sense. 1 (8m 52s): For sure. Yeah. It's yeah, no, I, I mean, you're talking to people in a group setting know that in itself is kind of a thing, right? A lot of people, for me, that's the garden thing was like, okay, I don't really want to talk, like, I don't want all the eyes on me right now. And like there, you're kind of forced into, 3 (9m 12s): It's just like the first time you ever shared a meeting, you know, you're scared shitless and it doesn't really make any sense, but so it's just practice and you're sharing about something that you're passionate about. So I just kinda took that and I applied that to everything else in my life. Like, and to like, I believe that that I'll say AA because that's where I went, but I, I believe that everything I went through in that prepared me for the rest of my life music career, whatever, you know, when I first started going to meetings, I would, you know, kind of sit in the back and not talk to anybody, you know? And if I saw somebody coming my way, I pull up my phone and walk away, you know, like Erin, like I had something going on, even though there was nobody there. 3 (9m 59s): And that's like the, you know, but the more I showed up and the more that I did the work, I started to feel a part of, you know, what I mean of what was going on there. And that was my, you know, attitude. When I moved to Nashville, when I moved here, you know, I was 30 years old. I had just went through a divorce. I was playing covers for four nights a week, four hours straight just to make a living. And I wanted to move here to learn how to write songs better. And a big part of doing that in Nashville is going out to, you know, bars and meeting people and, you know, et cetera. So there was many nights where I walked, you know, I, you know, walked into the bar and, you know, shoot some dudes hand that I met for the fucking 10th time. 3 (10m 46s): You know what I mean? But he was too drunk, drunk to remember, or he just met so many people, you know, that's just kind of part of it. And, you know, I would try to have conversations with people and I would just be talking to them and their response would be shown, you know, like drunk. I was just like, tonight, it's not my night. It's time for me to go home, but you know what, I'll dust myself off and I'll try again tomorrow, you know, and I'll just keep showing up and keep showing up. And then I just kept doing that. And then all of a sudden, you know, I had friends and then, you know, it's just, it's pretty cool to me, how I got sober to not this, just to save my life. 3 (11m 26s): But I got so much more out of it. And it taught me so many life skills that I just, not that I was raised wrong. I just couldn't grasp that. It took what it took me going where I got to get where I'm at now. 1 (11m 43s): No, I, I completely agree. And like her saying, like, you don't have to be like an addict or whatever to, to appreciate, or even utilize the 12 steps that there are. Right. I mean, it's definitely, it's just like a moral, like your own going through stuff. 3 (12m 1s): Yeah. I got it. I got a therapist now. So that's kinda like my newest, my newest thing that I've been doing is I'm going to see a therapist every two weeks, man. And it's been great. Just checking in. Cause a lot of stuff has happened in the last year and a half, two years. That's been just absolutely insane. So it's been a good thing for me just to kind of go there and have somebody to talk to and just kind of work through all my stuff, you know? 1 (12m 28s): Yeah. That's yeah. That's great. That's great. I'm glad you found somebody like that. And that's a hard thing to find in itself, right? I mean, yeah. It's yeah, that's a whole process, but real quick. So Birmingham, Alabama, that's where you were born and raised, where were you born? Like, are your parents musical at all? Like, did you come from a musical household? 3 (12m 47s): My mom loves karaoke. She has a big elaborate karaoke machine. My uncles play guitar, my uncle foot and uncle Bobby. And you know, as a kid we would have, you know, we went to the beach every year. We'd have like get togethers and they would play guitar and, you know, drink beer. I'm like, you know, all that stuff. And then mom would sing karaoke. My dad, my parents divorced when I was like three and then my mom got remarried and you know, so I had to step bad and my biological dad and I went to my dad's house on the weekends and you know, so my mom had her karaoke thing and my dad like really loved like, you know, the nineties country, like Clinton black and stuff like that. 3 (13m 31s): So, I mean, I think music was always there, but I never, like, I don't know. I think as a child, like I wanted to be Garth Brooks, you know, cause he was huge, you know, he did that big concert and New York, you know, and it was like on TV and that was like super cool. And, and I always loved, you know, just country music. But then, you know, as I got older, I feel like when I got into my drug addiction, that kind of stuff. And that was at an early age, that was like 13 kind of all those kind of dreams kind of just kinda like went away. But when I got sober, you know, I picked up the guitar and I don't know, I know I'm rambling. 1 (14m 13s): No, no, no, this is great. This is what it's about. I don't, no one cares what I have to say 3 (14m 18s): When I, you know, when I got older and I got sober and I picked up the guitar, I play that first chord and I was like, oh, this is what I'm supposed to be doing. You know? And that was just kind of from there on how I just, I played music, but I mean, as a kid, I always loved music. And, but I didn't have like any like family members that were like, other than my, you know, my uncles. So I play music and my mom doing karaoke, my grandmother, my dad's dad, I didn't know her. Well, she died when I was like seven, but she really big into like theater. And she was like, she's saying in danced at, at the Alabama Alabama theater, which is pretty historical building there in Alabama. 3 (15m 4s): And it's, it's a special place. Our dream is to play there one day. So, 1 (15m 9s): Oh, that was my next question. If you had a chance to perform there yet. 3 (15m 13s): Yeah. I haven't gotten played there yet, but I have like my hometown, I sold out this place called Zydeco. It's like a, it's kind of a rundown bar and, but like a lot of musical acts come through there. I mean, I saw Chris Stapleton play there for 138 people before, before he was like really huge, but I knew who he was, you know, being a songwriter, being a songwriter and an artist, you know, I mean, that guy was on YouTube way before he was ever, you know, on the CMIS and you know, he was in a bunch of different bands, but I saw him there. I mean, dirt spent like played there, you know, like there's been all kinds of people play there and you know, Zydeco was kind of like a home for us musicians, but a lot of the times we would play there. 3 (15m 57s): You know, it was a ticket in a bit and we wouldn't sell enough tickets. So we would have to play downstairs on the Pope stage, you know, for 10 people 1 (16m 8s): You can level up. 3 (16m 9s): Yeah. There was like a bar downstairs. Yeah. And then in December, you know, after the song came out, we booked a show there and we sold it out. You know, it was asked to elbows in there. So it was really cool. And then we played it, this place called Avondale brewery, which I had played there like years before. And there was what, and a lot of people there, I think I, I played there for free for like a benefit, you know? And then there was like 800 people there on a summer night to see me play. We recorded it with video and everything has also been then just this last December we played at this place called iron city opened for David Dale there, I for John party, Chris dance and there I played, they had like a restaurant on that. 3 (16m 56s): They have a restaurant on the other side of the venue I played with 'em I played in there one night and then Kane brown played in there the next night. It was before he was like on the radio, but it's like a, it's like a 12 month. It's like a 1200 cap room, you know? And that was like six years ago. And I don't know, man, it's just, you know, a lot of, a lot of full circle moments and the last year, you know, and, and, but to play my play at iron city, man, that was, that was awesome. 1 (17m 27s): That's so cool. That is so cool. Well getting sober. And you said 19, 19, 19. So did you, is that when you started playing guitar, I mean, you said after you got sober. 3 (17m 38s): So I went to sober living and I was there for six months and then I got a job making smoothies. And at, at six months over, I may had, I made amends to my dad, me and my dad kind of had a strain relationship through my drug addiction. And then I moved in with my dad. I hadn't lived with my dad since I was like three years old and me and him got like really, really close. And, but anyways, one day I was like, I'm going to take my paycheck and go buy a guitar. And I told my grandfather about it. He was like, I'll pay for half that way. You know, you'll still have some money to kind of get around. And I bought a guitar and he bought one. 3 (18m 19s): I mean, he helped me pay for half of it. And man, I just, I started playing music from there on out, but I had a guy ended up, started sponsoring people in the program, you know, and I had a guy, he was in a band and he wanted to bring me up here to Nashville to kind of like be a sober companion or like his friends, you know, it was just, I came up here to Nashville with that guy. And his producer was like, Hey man, play with something on guitar. And I just played him like the song that I wrote, but he really liked my voice. He was on my own record, some songs with you. And, and you know, that just kind of started the whole thing. You know, like me driving back and forth to Nashville, I would record songs and then drive back. 3 (19m 5s): And then I just kinda knew, you know, I ended up going back. I dropped out of high school and all this stuff. I ended up going back and get my GED and I was taking some college classes and stuff like that, but I just knew that I wanted to new music and the guy that owns the studios named the west, Shawley invited me to come up to Nashville and live on his couch for a little while. And we like recorded an album. And, and then around the time I had met this girl, and so I moved back to Birmingham and which I have a song called back to Birmingham. That's an old song, but anyways, I moved back to Birmingham and I got married and just started playing gigs, started playing shows around, you know, Birmingham. 3 (19m 49s): Like I played this restaurant probably, I don't know, it's probably the size of this room. Maybe two of these rooms, you know, it was small, but I played there every Friday and Saturday night for like three years. And then I wanted to venture out and I started playing Mexican restaurants. And then from there I started playing, I started a band and started playing little pubs and stuff and started playing frat parties and, you know, like weddings and you know, all that kind of thing and just started making a living. And then, you know, after I finished my record, I was like, okay. You know, and then when I could afford it, I would put more music out and stuff like that. 3 (20m 29s): And then I went through, man, I just had like a, had like a, when I was like 26, my dad died and I was like seven years sober. And then like, right after that, I had just like a strain of like terrible events happen. Like my grandmother passed away. My stepdad that helped raise me, passed away. And it was just like a lot of trauma back-to-back-to-back. And then I went through my divorce and, and I was just like, I don't know, I was making a living, playing music, you know? So I had figured that out how to do that, but something was still missing, you know? And I was like, I think Nashville is the move. 3 (21m 9s): Like I'm going to move to Nashville and I'm going to learn how to write songs better. And, and I'll never forget. I was driving in my van one day and I was just like, I was just like, God, if all you want me to do is just write songs and play cover songs for a living. That's cool. But like, wouldn't it be cool for me just to have like a little bit of success, you know? And you know, and then all, and then, you know, three months later, all the Dick down in Dallas stuff happened, you know? Wow. 1 (21m 42s): Yeah. So where you playing it? Like down in downtown Nashville, like Broadway and everything. 3 (21m 47s): I wasn't doing Broadway. I was doing what me and my friend, me and my buddy call a Broadway on the road. We were playing like, I mean basically doing Broadway stuff, but just out on the road, we were still traveling from city to city. And like I did a lot of the, you know, if you ever had a tin roof, there's like, there's 10 roofs all over the Southeast and everywhere we would go play Columbia, South Carolina, Raleigh, Myrtle beach, you know, and do like a four day run of that drive back. We would go to Statesboro, Georgia, you know, like Tuscaloosa, Auburn, all that stuff, you know, and hit those college markets because like Broadway is cool and all, but if you can get into some of these scholars markets, you can get frat parties and you can get weddings. 3 (22m 35s): You know what I mean? And then, you know, you play a couple of private shows month and you're really making money, you know? 1 (22m 40s): Yeah. From what I I've, I've talked to a handful of artists mainly actually in the EDM world. Like you're the first country artists that I've heard cut through the frat, you know, scene, to be honest. And that's kinda how I'm, I I've heard a lot of people kind of coming up that way where like, if you land a frat party, like, I mean, that's how so many people there. Right. Getting it right away. 3 (23m 5s): So I think 1 (23m 5s): That's rather you're able to do that as well. 3 (23m 8s): Yeah, man, I think it's, I think like the first person I ever saw do the frat party thing was John Laxton, you know? Wow. I actually opened a frat party for John Langston right back in the day when I know that I knew that like Raleigh was doing it and I know it must get on did at some too, you know, like, I mean, when I first met Charlie from muscular bloodline, he was, you know, they were playing the Semen's the same gigs. I was, you know what I mean? They were, they were still playing covers. Like I know when they first moved to town, they were still, you know, doing like they were doing runs, cover shows, you know, and mixing in their originals, you know, before they ever got like their, their booking deal or anything like that. 3 (23m 54s): So, you know, I feel like I don't, you know, I don't want to say we're cut from the same call, but I feel like, you know, like I kinda like in a sense kind of looks like trying to mirror what they did because they were, you know, like we all came from the same area. So I was just trying to like follow, follow kinda like that route. You know what I mean of like, okay, how do I, how do I, like, how do I make a living doing this? You know what I mean? And how do I keep my dream alive? You know, that type of thing. So I just did that. And then I decided to, you know, when I lived up here, I was traveling and then I was, you know, just co-writing with people, but I'll never forget. 3 (24m 39s): It was a, this is like the story of dig down, Dallas, you'd go in there. Cool. No, that's where I want to go. Yeah. So eventually I went to, I went to, I played in Auburn. We used to play at Skybar once a month. And you know, part of playing covers, it becomes like muscle memory. You know what I mean? And one night I was in there, like singing big green tractor by Jason Audi. And I changed the words to take you for a ride on my big tally whacker. And this guy, and this guy came up to me after, you know, we went on separate. Like he was like, Tate, that was hilarious. Like, you know, we, we shook hands or whatever, didn't think nothing of it. 3 (25m 23s): So I moved to Nashville and I'm at a writers round called, called revival. It's a tin roof on Demonbreum street and I'm sitting there and this guy walks up to him and he's like, dude, I met you at Skybar and over, and you were changing the words to a big green tractor to big daily Wacker. That was hilarious. I'm Matt McKinney. And I was like, dude, I'm trying to Louis and me and Matt and came friends that day for it. I mean, we were hanging out, playing Madden, you know, shooting shit, whatever. And then, you know, we wrote some songs together, but we more, we were more friends, more than anything. 3 (26m 4s): And then McKinney, Matt McKinney is like that one guy that like brings different friend groups together. You know, it's like the one, the common bond, you know? And that's kinda like how it all kinda like started for me if like having like a actual, actual from going from co-writing to actual having like, you know, like a friend family thing here in Nashville. And I don't know before COVID hit, like it was going to be my best year. Like we had a lot of good shows. Like we had this residency that we do down at the beach at flounders and Pensacola, we do like, yeah, we do. Like, we used to do like four weeks, four nights a week paid really good. 3 (26m 49s): They give you two free hotels. We'd bring our families down there. It was going to be, it was going to be a good year for me financially and then the world. So then the world shuts down. I'm like, fuck, you know, look at all this money we've lost. And, but it, you know, we got unemployment, I got a grant from music care. So like everything, you know, God provided. But I, well, I started to hang out with all my songwriting friends, you know, where usually it was just like, show, write the song. All right. I got to get down the road. You know, I started like really, you know, investing in these people and spending time with them. And one day we were like, we went to Chili's or something, but me and my roommate, his name, he's not my roommate anymore, but we're still friends. 3 (27m 33s): He actually works for me now. Oh. But his name's Mitch Wallis and he has his own like social media company, but me, him and McKinney went to Chili's. And when we were like driving back and McKinney played this song that I'd heard before it was called dig down in Dallas. And you know, I thought it was funny. And I just said, you know what, man, like, I know you're not going to put this song out. I think it's hilarious. Nobody's, you know, I've been putting out music since 2012 and nobody really cared. I was like, I'll do it. You know? And then, so it became like this bonfire jam, you know, that were like all hanging out with friends and stuff. 3 (28m 16s): And Matt and Brill has a podcast called in the round podcast. And he said, Hey, dude, I want you to, and it has a round at lava and he was names. I want you to come to Labo and I want you to, he was like, I want you to play your songs, but I want you to play Dick down in Dallas at the end. So I show up to the round, play my songs. Then I played it down in Dallas, the entire bar singing it. And Nicky T from Ray's rally, but a video of it on a, and what's, I've known Nick over at raised rowdy forever. Cause he's like coming around music. And anyways, he takes a video of it, puts it on Facebook. And from there, like the guy that does my social media content isn't Trayvon, or he put it on, he put it on a color daddy's Facebook group. 3 (29m 7s): And then from there, Matt and Kenny got to put on old robe. So then I just started. Yeah. So then I just started posting videos on Tik TOK and make a long story short. We were trying to figure out how we were going to record the song. Like we were going to do like more of like a Corey Smith kind of like, fuck the Popo, like acoustic type thing or disliked full production. I'm sitting in bed. I was dating this girl at the time and I was at her house and I get this text from graded Saxon, which he's, he's a drummer in town and Saxon studios. And that's where I record all my music. And a lot of other artists do too. 3 (29m 49s): And I get a text from Grady and it says, dig down in Dallas. And I was like, I called my producer Maxwell and I was like, well, Alex looks like we're recording a song over at Grady's. And so we went over there and it was just me, Alex, Alex Maxwell, my producer Grady played drums and then saw a little field played. He played the guitar, he played the bass and, and acoustic and we just tracked it and it was done. But while we were in the studio Trayvon or took some video for me and made some content for like social media, I'll never forget. 3 (30m 30s): I was driving down to Huntsville to play at this Huntsville, Alabama. I was, it's like an hour and a half from here. This place called Jefferson street pub it's a four-hour acoustic solo show pays 250 bucks, you know, like on a good night, you can walk out there as much as $500 tips. You know, it's, it's a, it's a cool night, you know, for yourself, you know, that's good money for anybody and for four hours. Yeah. Yeah. So like I posted this video before the gig that Bonner had made for me on Tik TOK. And when I got done playing at 3 million views and wow. 3 (31m 13s): Yeah. So that's like, when it really went fucking viral, you know what I mean? Yeah. Before that four hours. Yeah. So it was crazy, man. And then just from there, like we had the song pre-ordered, you know, the song came out and I went number eight, like per, like debuted at number one, you know what I mean? And it stayed at number one for like two or three weeks, you know? And even still like, you can go to the iTunes charts on weekend and you can, you know, you can, it'll still be on that insurance. You know what I mean? Yeah. Back out there, I got this a, I don't know if you can see it, but it's yeah. 3 (31m 55s): The billboard award, the billboard plaque billboard, number one. But now man, I mean, it's been cool. It's been, you know, we played 120 shows last year because of that song. And you know, I mean, I did a show with Morgan, I didn't Morgan wall and his first show back and you know, there's nothing like 30,000 people screaming, every single word to Dick down in Dallas, you know, we played, we played this show up in Wisconsin and there was this little girl on her. Dad's shoulders singing everywhere. You know, I haven't really received any kind of like, Hey, you know, or anything like that from the song. So I think it's just, you know, it's a good time and song we put out, you know, we put out a lot of music this year. 3 (32m 40s): We put out an EAP and a single, I mean last year. And then, and then I don't know, man, that was towards probably like near ending December. Like, you know, the thing for me is I've always played music year round because when you're playing covers for a living, you know, you might take Christmas off whatever. And then, you know, then you're brought back at it, you know? Well being an artist, you know, like there's, there's like a December, everything kind of shuts down up here, you know, it's like, so like there's a space. And I was like calling my manners. I do, what, what are we going to do? Like, am I going to have to go back to playing covers? Like we got this Omni Cron thing going on and then I'm kind of freaking out and just like a little bit, and I'll never forget a few weeks ago. 3 (33m 26s): I was like, I left my therapist, his office, I was talking to her about it. I was kind of freaking out. I looked down at my phone and I get an email from my manager and he's like, maybe you'll call me back after reading this. And it was about the kid rock tour. Wow. 1 (33m 43s): That's an insane tour. I mean, foreigner, you have John bottom on it as well. I don't know if John bottoms still plays with foreigner. I saw foreigner years ago. W I mean, I would guess it was, I mean, it was long ago, maybe 2010, at least 10 years ago. And he was the drummer for foreigner at the time. Yeah. I don't know if he still does that, but 3 (34m 3s): Yeah, I don't know 1 (34m 4s): For kid rock, man. I mean, that's, 3 (34m 7s): It's a 37 dates are 39 dates that we have on the books. I don't think all of them are announced yet, but it's a, it's a lot of dates and I'm going to be coming out, you know, during his singing, the song got to sing another song. And then I think me and him are going to do a song together. Maybe that's kind of the gist of the information that I have right now. And apparently yesterday it was on, it was on the news on, it was on Fox news on, I don't know who the guy is. Apparently he's real popular on Fox. It's the most watched show on Bart's news, but they shared the poster with my name on it, you know? 3 (34m 51s): So like teenage we're getting calls right. And lifts about shows and you know, in-between the kid rock tour, you know, and stuff like that. So yeah. And then not to mention, so that happened and then a week there that following Friday, I had another song go number one, single again, 1 (35m 12s): My number one too. 3 (35m 16s): Yeah, yeah. Yeah. It came out on January 14th. It went all the genre, number one and a and country number one. So 1 (35m 25s): I congratulate. Yeah. Yeah. 3 (35m 27s): Last, last August I signed a publishing deal with Sony publishing and man, we're just gearing up, dude. I've been writing like crazy. I've been writing, you know, three, four days a week and then tore it on the weekends and just working my ass off. And I'm excited, man. We're just, we're going to put out songs every six weeks this year and just, I'm going to the studio next week. I'm going to record nine more songs. So wow. I'm thinking we'll probably like by next year, I'll probably like, I'll keep putting out singles. Cause I think that's the way that people listen to music now, but I'll put out like, yeah, I'll put out singles and then maybe just drop like five songs, you know, by surprise. 3 (36m 11s): And then, then go back to putting out songs. Cause I just have so many songs. I've written so many songs. I've got some outside songs that I'm cutting too. So I just think at this point it's volume. I, you know, I, I rented a studio apartment downtown. I've got, I'm start my own podcast. It's called DM Monday. Oh yeah. We just recorded. We just recorded our first episode the other day and, and Matt Brill and Trayvon or Matt Brill, the guy that ran the round that had me up to sing it down Dallas. He's now my tour manager and then Trayvon or he's been with me ever forever to video and audio, but man, that's awesome. 3 (36m 53s): We got like three cameras in there. We got the couches we got, I mean, that's really cool. The team set it up really nice, but man, it's really, it's really a cool, I'm really excited. It's just, it's just funny to think two years ago, you know, I barely had anything going on, you know, inside now, you know, now I have like over 30 employees that work for me, you know, and like, you know, you know, we're out here, we're just doing it. And it's, you know, if I write a song and I like it, I don't wait. I just go record it. 1 (37m 26s): Yeah. That's cool. Yeah. And I think you're right with the single game too. I mean, unless you're Adele, he can put a record out right. 3 (37m 34s): Adele or Morgan Wallen or, you know, stay within or, you know, I mean, it's not, I mean personally. Yeah. I mean, personally, I like listening to albums. That's my thing. You know what I mean? Same here, but you know, it's 2022 people have a short attention span. That's why I ticked out words. Cause it's like a 15 second video. That's all you get. You know, 1 (37m 55s): I've got to grab their attention in three seconds too. Cause if it's not there exactly done swept up. Yeah, exactly. I'm curious. Just cause I come from, I w did radio for a long time, like 15 years. And did, does his Dick down into Alice on, did that make radio play on country station? 3 (38m 15s): No I didn't. That's why. And that's why I never, that's why I never signed a record deal with that song. We got offers from labels. We got really good offers. Well, I don't know if they were good, but lots of money. It was all officer. And I just, I just knew that, you know, this is man, it's like, I'm 34. I didn't want to sign a record deal and become another we'll walk. You know, I love where there's music don't get me wrong, but like that's not the kind of artist I am. You know what I mean? 1 (38m 50s): Oh, like, have you make your own decisions and be a little bit more? 3 (38m 53s): Yeah. Now I would love to have songs on the radio. You know? I mean, I just wrote this song the other day. That's it's, it's an Anthem, I'll put it on Tik TOK and it did pretty well, but it's an Anthem, but it has no cuss words in it. You know, I was proud of myself, you know, and it's just like, you know, after Dick down in Dallas, you know, I mean people on the internet or name, you know, and it's like, I mean, people have more positive things to say than they do negative, but sometimes you can see those negative things and just point them out. You know what I mean? And hold on to them, especially with me being an alcoholic, you know, 1 (39m 30s): Positive things and you're going to do well on the one day of calm. Exactly. 3 (39m 35s): I mean, I just think that I think that's human nature too. You know, I don't think it's just alcoholics, but a lot of the things that people said that I was a one hit wonder, and I just knew that I wasn't, you know, and now I got to number ones, you know, at least on iTunes, not radio, but who knows radio might not even be a thing anymore. You know, you worked in radio for years now. 1 (40m 0s): I have a five-year-old and I'm like, is he even going to know what the hell or radio is? Or obviously he's not going to care. I mean, is the gen Z years coming up through like that? Or like sharing in song and liking it on Tik TOK. Aren't they're not getting putting on like some radio station in town. Yeah. 3 (40m 19s): Yeah. But now, you know? Yeah. But yeah, but I mean, now it's like, you know, I got two number ones and nobody can ever take that away from me that happened, you know, did it go, what did it go? Number one, like they down in Dallas did. Nah, I don't think that'll ever happen again. That was crazy. 1 (40m 36s): But it got eyes on you and obviously other songs resonate with people or they wouldn't get straight. Right? 3 (40m 43s): Yeah. And people come keep coming out to shows and you know, and you know, that's my thing is like when I play shows, you know, the are Mattias and I'll do this on the kid rock tours, you know, as much as I can when I go, I just think, man, if you're going to buy a ticket to my show, if you're going to share my music, if you're going to, you know, support me in any kind of way, I can shake your hand at least, you know, or take a picture with you. So every night I don't, you know, I don't do a, you know, I don't make people pay for meet and greets or anything like that. I just, after the show I got out to the merch table and if you want to stand in line, we can shake hands and you know, I can take a picture with you. You can get to know you. 3 (41m 23s): And I, I mean, I think my thing is, is I'll do that as long as I can. You know what I mean? Like that's just kinda, that's just the kind of dude I am, you know what I mean? So cool. I just don't think I'm, I'm not like I love making music. I love to create, I love making people feel something that you can't get from anywhere else. You know what I mean? I think that's what music does, but I'm, I'm, I'm just a vessel for that. I'm not that cool. You know what I mean? I'm not that important. You know what I mean? I'm just normal, just like anybody else. But if, if it makes somebody feel, if I have the power to make somebody feel different or brighten their day, you know, just by shaking their hand or taking a picture, like that's me giving back, I'm just going to do it. 3 (42m 6s): You know, that's the way 1 (42m 8s): That is so cool. I only asked about the radio just cause I, like I said, I was on the radio. So how not only is our is you'd have to like believe out half the song, but I was there. You couldn't even announce it. You're like, all right, we did. 3 (42m 22s): Yeah. I'm not going to say that. I didn't like flirt with the idea of, you know, that song on the radio. We did a clean version. It's like, she's gone back down to Dallas, ran off the Raleigh. She's two timing up in Tennessee, then all around Austin, back up to Boston made her way around. Yeah. Praying. She'll give me pray and she'll come back. I, I ain't even gotta ask. Cause I already know that she's gone back down, back down, back down to Dallas. But anyways, we put out single again recently and you know, my next song that, you know, that just came out and Matt, <em></em> my tour manager. 3 (43m 10s): He used to work in radio too. So we just been calling radio stations is independent and we've got it on like 10, 10 radio stations now. 1 (43m 20s): Wow. Congratulations. 3 (43m 23s): And it's cool. It's like in all the, you know, it's all the markets that we're, we have shows coming up in. So like it helps promote shows. So it's pretty cool. And like, you know, I, you know, I've got like four folders I gotta do on Monday, but it's like, you know, that helps me build relationship with radio for like, you know, maybe later on down the road when something happens, you know, and it's just like good practice to go do those things. 1 (43m 47s): For sure. For sure. We on some morning, morning zoo shows. Yeah. That's cool, man. 3 (43m 53s): They played, they played my AP title track, shut the door in my hometown. That was pretty cool town radio station because I used to do all the, I used to do the radio shows. I would be the opener for the radio acts coming through town and my hometown. And I don't know, it's just one of those full circle moments, you know, that they were playing in a song. 1 (44m 15s): That's so cool. Did you have a chance to hear, have you heard it when you're down there at all on the radio? 3 (44m 22s): That's cool. 1 (44m 23s): That is really cool. And I mean the kid rock tour. Yeah. A lot going on man. And obviously all these new songs coming out. That's awesome. 3 (44m 31s): Yeah. It's going to be great, man. It's going to be, it's going to be going to be a fun year, man, but couldn't do it without the fans. You know what I mean? 1 (44m 39s): For sure. Well, I appreciate your time. This has been 3 (44m 41s): Awesome. I appreciate you dude. 1 (44m 44s): Oh, two, two questions now, but I have one quick question about your podcast. What's the premise of it. 3 (44m 51s): So it's going to be just a DM. Monday is a little bit that I do on my, on Instagram page. When dig down Dallas went crazy. We would get insane DMS from men and women. And I would read them on my Instagram and share, share a ridiculous response. And so that's why it's called DM Monday, but it'll just be another avenue for my fans to get to know me and the people in my circle. And you know, and then I'm going to bring people on that. I would like to have conversations with how, like, you know, say if I have an artist, you know, on, I want to talk to them about their life before they were, you know, famous, like, you know, did they play cover gigs? 3 (45m 49s): Like I did? Did they? You know what I mean? Like touch on touch on all that stuff and, or, you know, not just music people, but just, you know, creators in general, you know? And then we'll, you know, we'll have like a 30, 40 minute interview, but the rest of the us just, you know, talking about stuff that happens on the road or, you know, stuff that we got going on. So it's going to be a good time, man. It's going to be fun. It's going to be another learning experience for me, but I believe that content is king and it's just another way for us to generate content, you know, to, for, for the people to have. 1 (46m 26s): Do you know when you're going to post that or did you already post the first episode? 3 (46m 29s): So we did our first episode and I watched it back and I didn't really like it. I think, I think we need to, I think that we just need to use that as a practice and go back. Yeah. 1 (46m 39s): Right. And my, I guess my next question or last question is if you have any advice for aspiring artists, 3 (46m 46s): Aspiring artists for songwriters and artists just do every day, even if you suck at it, just keep doing it. Cause you know, repetition is, is, is important. You know, I sucked forever some days, you know, I still feel like I suck and you know, like Monday and Tuesday I wrote a great, I wrote great songs yesterday. I didn't get one. I just felt like I sucked. You know? And it seems like every other day we're thinking about quitting, you know, and people that get that and get that. And, but just keep doing it until you can't, you know, until until something happens, that's my advice. 3 (47m 32s): And don't ever do it to be rich or to be famous or to make money. That's my biggest thing. You know, I, I did this for a long time and was broke as fuck for a very long time. And I finally got to a point to where I said, this is all I ever do. I'm okay with it. And you know, you're going to miss. If you want to play music for a living, you know, all your friends are going to get married, you know, and have, you know, when you go home for Christmas, they're going to be talking about the 401ks and all that stuff that it ain't your turn yet, you know? And you know, that's, you just got to keep going. And then, I mean, it's worked out for me. 3 (48m 15s): So that's, that's kinda like my thing is, you know, I went home for years and my brother was both. My brothers are lawyers and you know, you know, my other brother works for a construction company. He does really well for himself. And for years I was like, man, can I get some money for the plane ticket? Or like, you know what I mean? I was broke. I mean, I don't mean, I don't mean, I don't mean I was like, I was broke. I mean, I was broke a F you know, I'll still ask him my mom for some money every now and then, you know, if she could help me out and now, you know, it's like, I'm able to help my family out. And, but there was a price that had to be paid and I had to, I had to suffer for a long time and I, I feel like I just threw shit at the wall forever and then finally some stuff. 3 (49m 6s): So that's my advice, man. This is this stuff ain't easy. But if you love it, do it with all you have,