Show full transcript 0:24 Listen on the iHeartRadio app, 0:26 Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 0:31 I'm Lacey Moseley, author, actor, stand-up comedian, creator, and host of Scam Goddess 0:36 podcast. 0:37 The true crime comedy podcast all about robbery, fraud, and those who practice it. 0:41 Each week I bring on an amazing guest. 0:43 Ooh, I scammed him. 0:44 What? 0:45 I could talk to you for an hour. 0:46 You're a generational yapper, like me. 0:48 That's why I had to make yapping a job. 0:50 And now you can catch full episodes of my show on YouTube. 0:53 Start listening to Scam Goddess on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever 0:58 you get your podcast. 0:59 Yes. 1:01 Hi, I'm Tony Mantor. 1:03 Before we start today's show, 1:05 I want to introduce you to Coast to Coast Heroes, 1:08 my new podcast debuting November 11th. 1:11 For our military veterans, 1:13 the uniform is only part of the story. 1:15 Behind it is a person and a life shaped by service, 1:19 sacrifice and experiences many of us 1:22 may never fully understand. 1:24 Through honest, deeply personal conversations, 1:27 you'll hear veterans share what they've faced, 1:29 what carried them through, and how they continue making a difference beyond their military service. 1:35 Their strength deserves more than our gratitude. 1:38 Their stories deserve our attention. 1:41 Coast to Coast Heroes, the people behind the uniform, the stories beyond the headlines. 1:47 Coast to Coast Heroes debuts November 11th. 1:50 Please follow, listen, and share. 1:53 And most of all, get to know the veterans because behind every veteran is a story and listening is where understanding begins. 2:03 Hi, I'm Tony Mantor. Thanks for joining us today. 2:07 Welcome to Almost Live Nashville, where music, entertainment and great conversations come together. 2:12 If you haven't already, tap follow. This way you stay up to date, never missing the great conversation and guests coming your way. 2:21 Today I'm sitting down with a songwriter whose career is a powerful reminder that 2:27 success in Nashville rarely happens overnight. Randy Montana grew up with a 2:32 front-row seat to the songwriting life. Watching his father chase the dream long 2:37 before the hits ever came, Randy eventually chased that dream himself landing 2:42 a record deal, making music as an artist, experiencing firsthand the highs 2:48 and disappointments of the music business. 2:50 But when the artist's career didn't go the way 2:52 he had envisioned, Randy didn't walk away. 2:56 He reinvented himself, kept writing, kept showing up, 3:00 and seven years after his record deal ended, 3:02 he finally broke through as a hit songwriter 3:04 with Luke Holmes' massive hit, 3:06 Beard Never Broke My Heart. 3:08 Since then, Randy has continued building a career 3:11 around great songs, great artists, 3:13 and something that may matter even more 3:15 than talent in this business, perseverance. 3:17 Today we talk about the hits, the songs that almost were, the disappointments nobody sees, 3:23 the importance of family and why sometimes the career you end up with can be even better 3:28 than the one you originally dreamed about. 3:30 Thanks for joining us today. 3:32 Hey, thank you for having me. 3:33 I appreciate it. 3:33 Let's kick it off with your dad's Billy Montana. 3:36 Yeah. 3:37 He's a well-known songwriter. 3:38 Yes, sir. 3:39 He is. 3:39 So you grew up with songwriting and country music literally around you. 3:43 Yes. 3:44 What was it like growing up in that environment? 3:47 And when did you first realize 3:49 how successful your dad was at what he did? 3:51 You know what was cool? 3:53 Tony was getting, you know, I feel like my dad, you know, 3:57 started, he was getting songs recorded through the 90s, 4:00 but didn't have his first hit songs 4:03 until the late 90s into the early 2000s. 4:06 And that was when he started having some success. 4:10 And so I feel like I got a front row seat 4:12 of all of that, you know what I mean? 4:14 I mean, like I watched him, I knew the dad that was delivering pizzas to make ends meet 4:20 for some extra cash while he was chasing the songwriting dream, you know? 4:24 Yeah. 4:25 So I got a front row seat to that, and I think it instilled in me that it was a long haul 4:31 thing. 4:32 Sure. 4:32 And that it was going to take a while to the point where, I mean, when I started 4:36 to get into it, I remember my mom and dad kind of looking at me like, are you 4:39 sure? 4:39 like you grew up in the house that your dad was doing that it's like are you 4:44 sure that that's something you really want to do and but yeah I think it kind 4:48 of tempered my expectations in a sense because I just knew sure I mean how 4:52 much time you put in you know what I mean and I knew just how much how long it 4:56 took to get the ball rolling you know let's continue on this path for a 5:00 couple of seconds what's the greatest lesson that you learned about writing 5:04 from him not necessarily something he sat down and told you but something 5:09 that you learn by watching the way that he approached the business? 5:13 Yeah, it was the treating it like it was a job thing, for sure, in that I felt like he always 5:19 treated it like a farmer treats turning the dirt over, planting crops, planting the seeds, 5:26 and hoping for a good harvest that fall. Even in those early stages of when I was 5:33 like kind of trying to get a deal and stuff like that. 5:36 I felt like I saw how the nine to five aspect of writing, 5:41 you know what I mean? 5:41 Right. 5:42 I think probably the outside world probably thinks 5:44 that we sit around and wait for lightning 5:46 just to strike us right in top of the head 5:48 and go like, oh man, that's a song, you know? 5:50 Oh yeah. 5:51 But it's not, man. 5:52 It's work and it's showing up every day. 5:54 It is. 5:54 I love the, somebody said, it's like, man, 5:57 if you sit there and wait for the muse, 5:59 you've got to go meet it. 6:00 You know what I mean? 6:01 Right. 6:01 You've got to be there when it, when it happens. So early on it's like, and that's a struggle. 6:06 It's like running a marathon. Yeah. Where you've got to train your body to get to that point. 6:11 Just like you got to train your mind to, you know, be able to buckle up, you know, 6:15 four or five, however many hours to write, you know, it's a, it's truly a muscle. 6:19 When you were first signed as an artist, did that opportunity come to you as a songwriter 6:24 and then realizing they wanted you as a recording artist as well? Or was the artist first 6:30 and the songwriting came alongside it. 6:33 You know, it was, I feel like it was a combo of both things. 6:36 Clay Bradley, who is high up at BMI now 6:40 at the time was head of ANR at Sony. 6:42 This was back in like the mid 2000s. 6:45 I think it was 2006, 2007, right around the year. 6:47 Okay. 6:48 He heard a demo that I had sang that we were pitching. 6:52 Like I think we were trying to get a Jason Aldeen cut 6:53 or something like that. 6:54 He heard the demo and cold called me 6:56 like at my, the week of my wedding, 6:58 I was getting married. 6:58 I was in North Carolina and he was like, hey, man, he's 100 miles an hour. 7:01 And he was like, hey, man, coming to my office right now. 7:04 And I was like, man, I'm in North Carolina, I'm getting married, I'm going on the honeymoon 7:07 next week. 7:08 I'll come when I get back, I'll let's talk. 7:11 So he took me over to Sony Pub and was like, basically like, hey, man, this guy's going 7:16 to get a record deal at some point in time. 7:18 And I'd been writing for a few years at that point. 7:20 And so, yeah, they heard the potential. 7:22 I kind of signed on as a writer with artist potential. 7:25 The idea was to get a record deal. 7:26 Now, you had some success as a recording artist. 7:30 Was there a point when you thought your career might take a different direction? 7:35 For example, the songwriting for other artists could become more important or even more important 7:41 than being the person out front? 7:43 For sure. 7:44 Yeah, you know, just from playing in a band and through college, it's like, I loved 7:48 the performing side of it. 7:50 We'd go to fraternity parties and bars and stuff like that and play these three, 7:54 four-hour sets. 7:54 And I love that. 7:56 You know kind of why I dropped out of school because I was like this is a lot more fun than going to class 8:00 You know, yes, and so yeah, man 8:02 It was getting the record deal was the goal at the beginning for sure 8:07 like I had aspirations of being a country artist that was having hits on the radio and 8:11 Getting a taste of that through being on Mercury records there and getting to make a record with Jay Joyce and man 8:17 Those experiences were unbelievable and I wouldn't trade 8:20 I wouldn't trade those for the world because they shaped me into that being the songwriter 8:26 that I am now because I felt like I had like especially early on it's like man a lot of these 8:30 guys I was writing with it's like we had record deals at the same time right you know what I mean 8:34 it's they they knew me as an artist as well right but yeah that that transition you know I had the 8:39 deal for for three or four years and put out a couple singles and nothing ever really took off 8:44 and was kind of forced to start just writing which I wasn't scared of because I had gotten 8:49 you know along the way like even when I had a record deal I'd gotten a few outside cuts 8:54 that's wall I have to deal. 8:56 It didn't scare me, but also, 8:58 you're kinda starting fresh too, in a sense. 9:02 In people's eyes in town, you know? 9:04 Sure, absolutely. 9:06 You gotta go from being a failed artist basically 9:08 to like, all right, now I'm Randy Montana, 9:10 the songwriter, you know, so that takes a while. 9:12 Yeah, yeah, it's amazing you say the word fail 9:15 because sometimes failure can lead to success. 9:19 No doubt. 9:19 So looking back now, 9:21 What did that chapter teach you about yourself and about the music business in the way that it works for sure 9:28 I mean what it taught me about myself was and looking back even at a young age 9:32 I am proud of persevering through that change because it took time 9:36 Yeah, I didn't just start having hits of me that it was from where my record deal ended 9:41 It was seven years before I had my first radio hit as a songwriter. Yeah, so man proud of just sticking through that 9:48 I felt like that that taught me a lot about myself looking back right right 9:54 But yeah, just the ability to like because you kind of think differently then exactly the songs become different because it's like 10:00 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 10:06 I mean that goes into your style as a writer 10:09 But you've got other people in mind when you're writing these songs 10:12 So that took some getting used to along the way you had a chance to sing with Amy Lou Harris 10:18 Yes. 10:18 I did, yeah. 10:19 What a combination. 10:20 Emmy Lou Harris and you co-wrote the song with your father as well. 10:25 Yes. 10:25 How did that all come together and what did you learn from it? 10:28 Jay Joyce had a relationship with Emmy as friends, you know what I mean? 10:33 Like they were friends. 10:33 Right. 10:34 And had worked together previously and we were looking for a female voice to feature 10:39 on that song with me. 10:41 I think it's The Last Horse. 10:43 And so he asked her to come do it, and I could not believe she said, yes, listen to my dad's 10:49 music growing up. 10:50 I was familiar with her. 10:52 You know what I mean? 10:53 That California country movement. 10:56 You know what I mean? 10:57 Sure. 10:57 The Eagles and all that stuff. 10:59 Jackson Brown. 11:00 And so I was familiar with her, you know? 11:02 And so anyway, man, you know what was cool for me is that she's a lot older than me 11:06 and she's been around for years doing it, but just that she would come in, listen 11:10 into a song and go, Yeah, I like this song. I have no clue who this guy is. Yeah. She didn't 11:16 know me from Adam. And so she took the time to come in, to learn the song, come in and 11:21 do some incredible parts, man. And just, I think it just showed that it's about doing 11:26 it for the love, you know what I mean? This is not about how this discussion when I was 11:30 on my soapbox last night with my wife a little bit and we're talking and it's 11:33 like, it's never been about money. You know what I mean? The money's always been 11:38 secondary. It's always been about the love of creating. It's like that feeling of a song 11:44 coming together or a track coming to life in the studio. It's like if you could bottle 11:48 that feeling up and sell it, like you would be the richest human on earth because it's 11:54 just euphoric. For those of us that have felt it, it's just like it's a euphoric feeling. 11:59 So like you spend your whole life, once you feel it, you spend your whole life 12:02 chasing that dragon. She was still out there doing it. And I think that that's 12:07 Pretty cool. 12:08 Yeah. 12:08 You mentioned sitting on your soapbox but talking about the business. 12:12 What has been your pinch me moment when you either got a song cut by someone you looked 12:16 up to or you had a chance to have a conversation with someone you grew up listening to? 12:22 What has been that one pinch me moment? 12:24 You say, wow, this is cool. 12:26 There's definitely been a few along the way. 12:28 There's definitely been a few, but I think the main one was, so my first radio hit 12:35 It was a song called Beard Never Broke My Heart. 12:37 Luke Combs recorded it, debut single off of his sophomore album. 12:41 So we were at Nissan Stadium, which is the stadium here in Nashville that they do the 12:46 big night of CMA Fest during the summer. 12:49 Me and my wife were standing at the front of house and the sound board. 12:52 They're in the middle of the stadium and the stadium's back and everybody's singing 12:56 every word to the song. 12:58 And I think that was so euphoric. 13:00 I still don't know why I did this. 13:01 There were some younger guys standing to my left. 13:03 I mean, they were just sipping a beer and enjoying the evening, you know, and in the 13:08 middle of the song, I leaned over to one of them, I said, hey, man, I wrote this song 13:12 and he looked back at me and he said, no way, man, I did too. 13:16 Yeah. 13:17 Yeah. 13:18 I've been in situations like that and Tony, that's exactly how I wanted that to go, 13:25 man. 13:25 You know what I mean? 13:26 Like looking back, that's perfect. 13:27 Yeah. 13:28 That's that's the pinch me thing. 13:29 And of course it's meeting people and stuff like that is definitely it. 13:32 But I think seeing that, like, I mean, you can't manufacture that, you know, 13:36 you can't manufacture that moment. 13:37 And so, um, those have been the, you know, those, those things you can't, 13:42 like you said, can't, can't buy it. 13:44 When you wrote that song, you sit down, you sing it, you write it, 13:48 you have a vision for it as if you were going to do it. 13:51 And then of course you demo it, when that actually got cut, did it go in 13:55 a different direction or did a loop bring it to a different level than 13:59 you thought it could be? 14:00 For sure. 14:00 I mean it was headed that way from the demo like it had that we had that guitar riff that kind of like 14:08 It was written over that with a with just kind of a floor on the floor 14:12 Loop going but man, I mean if you're putting numbers on it 14:16 It's like our demo was at like a three and then you know the records at a ten, you know, so 14:21 Right. Yeah, it kind of exploded, you know like the track and the sound so yeah, it was quite a departure from the demo 14:28 Lisa, we should tell them about our new show. 14:31 Oh my God, Lexi. 14:33 We have a new podcast. 14:34 It's called Don't Lie to Me. 14:35 I'm Lexi Iwanio. 14:37 We're two best friends, 22 years apart, 14:39 but so close at heart. 14:41 And I'm Lisa DiGiulio, the old one, 14:43 which means we have wildly different references, 14:46 occasionally different opinions, 14:47 and at this point in my 50s, I've lived it all. 14:50 I'm not gonna get anywhere fighting. 14:52 That is wild. 14:54 I learned that about you today. 14:57 Now in my 30s, being the founder of new shoes, good taste is my business, and I've always 15:03 got something to say. 15:04 If men were just honest about this, there would be so much more peace in the world. 15:08 We're going to talk about dating, relationships, beauty, getting older, and a little wiser. 15:13 We're best friends, but we don't always agree. 15:15 Because you told us how accommodating you are. 15:18 Obviously, I would do what I think I could do to fight the fight, but there's only 15:22 so much fight I can fight. 15:23 Don't lie to me. 15:24 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 15:30 Listen on the iHeartRadio app apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. I don't really care 15:38 I'm Lacey Mosley author actor stand-up comedian creator and host of scam goddess podcast the true crime comedy podcast all about 15:46 Robbery fraud and those who practice it each week 15:49 I bring on incredible guests like Conan O'Brien, 15:51 Iowa Debra, Lamorne Morris, and Nicole Byer. 15:54 Ooh, I scammed them. 15:55 What? 15:56 I could talk to you for an hour. 15:57 You're a generational yapper, like me. 16:00 That's why I had to make yapping a job. 16:01 And the scams run the gamut. 16:04 I'm talking about scams from the 1800s 16:06 all the way up to today. 16:08 I also warn you and keep you safe against scammers. 16:12 Call your grandparents. 16:14 Tell your parents to stop clicking on links, please. 16:17 And now you can catch full episodes of my show on YouTube if there's a scam 16:21 I'm here to protect you and I'm also here to laugh with you 16:25 So if you like fun if you like comedy and you like learning and protecting yourself from criminals 16:30 Start listening to scam goddess on the iHeart radio app Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast 16:38 I'm former us women's national soccer team player Carly Lloyd 16:41 I'm Fox Sports reporter Jenny Taft and on our new podcast whatever it takes we're talking motherhood marriage 16:47 is careers and figuring out how to balance it all. 16:50 And we'll discuss the game that brought us together, 16:52 because nothing is off limits. 16:54 Do you remember your initial reaction when Fox called you 16:58 to be a part of the World Cup? 16:59 I was like, no, I don't want to do it. 17:01 You said no? 17:02 I played with players that didn't, 17:04 I don't think that they really, truly love the game. 17:08 I found the love with the ball at my foot. 17:12 But in my head, it was the long game. 17:14 It was like, I don't care what I'm being asked 17:16 to do at Fox, I'm gonna go get some reps 17:18 and I'm gonna learn it and love it and embrace it. 17:21 He said, this group of people will never be in the same room 17:25 as part of the same team ever again in your life. 17:28 And it is your job to make sure that you enjoy the moment, 17:32 you're proud of what you accomplish together. 17:35 Listen to whatever it takes with Carly Lloyd 17:37 and Jenny Taft on the iHeart Radio app, 17:40 Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcasts. 17:42 Hey, what's up? 17:43 I'm Tony Gonzalez. 17:44 And I'm October Gonzalez. 17:45 But you can call me Toby. 17:46 We want you to join us on our new podcast, 17:49 No Save Words with October and Tony Gonzalez. 17:51 We get real about marriage, parenthood, sex, divorce, 17:55 and all the nitty-gritty stuff we all think about, 17:57 but just don't say it out loud. 17:58 I hate that job. 17:59 You're probably just gonna meet some rich guy 18:01 and he's gonna whisk you away 18:02 and I'll never see you again and ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh. 18:04 Wow. 18:05 Well, this is awful. 18:06 Would you say a D-less actor? 18:08 D? 18:10 I don't even know, there's such a thing as D. 18:12 No, no, no. 18:12 I mean like. 18:13 I can't even get on the C list. 18:14 like I'm not even average. I'm not even passing. I'm failing. 18:16 Listen to No Safe Words with October and Tony Gonzalez, 18:19 part of my Couture podcast network, 18:22 available on the I Heart Radio App, Apple Podcast, 18:25 or wherever you get your podcast. 18:28 Hey, what's up, y'all? It's Questlove, 18:30 and on the Questlove show, I've been sitting down with some really interesting people, 18:34 and I've got two recent episodes you should check out. 18:37 I caught up with my good friend JoJo to talk about her music, 18:40 her career, and what she's been up to. 18:42 Don't invite me to karaoke. 18:44 I'm gonna make it weird. 18:45 Someone's gonna try to sing, 18:46 leave, get out, or too little, too late, or baby to you. 18:49 Oh, no. 18:49 And I'm gonna be like, 18:51 okay, cool. 18:52 I also caught up with Wallach 267 18:54 for a conversation that covered his story, 18:56 his perspective, and plenty more. 18:58 I don't even call it cheat day. 19:00 That's a life day. 19:01 I'm not doing nothing. 19:02 Don't try to be slick and just go Sunday. 19:04 Go Wednesday. 19:05 This is what you do. 19:06 Sleep later. 19:07 Make a reservation for the rest of our later. 19:09 Just chill. 19:10 Listen to the music you want to listen to. 19:12 Just enjoy it, it's going to be alright. 19:14 Netflix is going to have you awake, wake up Wednesday and you're going to feel better. 19:19 And those are just two of the many recent episodes of the Questlove show. 19:23 Listen to the Questlove show on the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, wherever you get 19:29 your podcast. 19:35 Now, unfortunately, Nashville is a town that's filled with rejection. 19:41 songs get passed on all the time deals change opportunities disappear you 19:47 mentioned it took you seven years to get that first radio cut was there ever a 19:53 period of time in that seven years where you question should I keep doing this 19:58 oh Tony I think about it sometimes now when I'm driving you know what I mean 20:02 like yeah yeah I see those guys cutting grass and I'm like that doesn't 20:06 look half bad you know what I mean so oh yeah cuz it is man it's I think in 20:10 In your mind too, you have this goal of having a hit song and I think you think on the other 20:18 side of that that you'll feel differently. 20:20 And then you do. 20:20 And then it happens. 20:21 And then you're like, man, I still feel exactly the same as I did before and you just want 20:26 to do it again. 20:27 So it's just, it's the wheel of it all. 20:29 It's just, it's that wheel. 20:31 And so guys do this stuff for years, man. 20:34 Yeah. 20:35 That's right. 20:35 You're in here because it's just in us to keep going. 20:39 Well, of course, through that period, like there's, there were definitely, yeah, sometimes 20:43 when it's just like, you just feel like I was just writing in a dark basement and the 20:47 lights were not on and just nothing was happening. 20:50 Yeah. 20:51 That's why so much I feel like what we do is not only the mental game of being creative, 20:55 but the mental of just almost being dumb about it. 20:59 Yeah. 21:00 Yeah. 21:00 To the point of like, well, yesterday was yesterday. 21:02 Tomorrow is tomorrow. 21:03 Right. 21:04 All I can do is what I can do today and strapping your boots and going again. 21:07 So Nashville is, and I'm glad that you brought that up yesterday and today, because Nashville 21:13 and the music industry is a series of ups and downs. Today you're talking about a potential deal, 21:21 tomorrow it could completely fall apart. How do you find that comfort level so it can be smooth 21:27 where you don't have any extreme highs or any extreme lows so you can keep writing you songs, 21:34 pitching them and then letting the chips fall where they fall. 21:39 Yeah, that's very difficult. 21:41 And I think, I kind of didn't, when I first started out 21:44 and was, you know, like wide eyed, greenies could be. 21:49 I never understood how the vets that had been doing it 21:51 for so long seemed so non, like in the middle of hot points 21:55 in their careers seemed very nonchalant about the things 21:58 that were going on in their career. 22:00 Cause I'm sitting there going, it's like, God, 22:01 But I'd give anything to have going what you've got going and you're not doing the jumping 22:06 jacks and the backflips that I would be doing if I had that going. 22:10 And I think that I don't know, you almost got to train yourself mentally to kind of 22:16 just let things roll off your back. 22:20 I don't know any other way to put that. 22:22 I know that's strange, but it's almost like you just got to snap and like forget 22:25 about it. 22:25 You know what I mean? 22:26 Oh yeah. 22:27 I almost just set it off to the side to where, you know, it's like, oh, you might have the 22:31 next so-and-so single or whatever. 22:33 And I don't believe those things until it's like, I see that it's like, okay, they went 22:38 for ads and we got some ads this week on the radio. 22:40 That's right. 22:41 I guess we've got the single. 22:42 Right. 22:42 You know? 22:43 And so, yeah, not letting the excitement of the maybe like just be all you think 22:48 about during the day, you know? 22:50 Oh, yeah. 22:50 The worst thing you can do is, and I've had friends like this, they think something's 22:55 going to happen? What do they do? They start telling everyone that it's going to happen 23:00 like it already has. And then boom, it fell apart. Major disappointment, major hurt. So 23:07 of course it's very important to stay away from those type of situations so you can focus 23:12 on your day to day process of writing songs. With that said, is there a song where it 23:18 looked like everything was going to be great? Then all of a sudden it just fell apart 23:23 and it was devastating. 23:25 Yeah, and it was a heartbreaker because it was like my first, 23:29 my first big cut I ever got. 23:31 I wrote a song with Steve Bogard and Kyle Jacobs. 23:35 This is a long time ago. 23:37 Kyle has since passed. 23:38 Steve's just an amazing dude, 23:40 but George Strait recorded the song. 23:42 At the time I was in my deal on, 23:45 I was either in my deal or fresh out of it on Universal. 23:49 And so George was on Universal too. 23:51 He was on the MCA side. 23:52 I was on the mercury side, so yeah, so I get a phone call and it's like, I mean, it's 23:58 from somebody at the label and they're like, hey man, I just got out of a meeting and 24:02 I think you've got the next George Strait single. 24:04 And something in the next two weeks fell apart, like don't ask me what, but like, I mean, 24:10 you know, I'll never forget, he called me in my car and I almost wrecked, you know 24:14 what I mean? 24:14 Like I was so excited to this day, I have no clue what happened, but it did 24:19 not happen. 24:19 And yeah, I think that was kind of the I used to have a joke with my dad about am I in the 24:24 club yet of being a songwriter? 24:26 Everybody has those stories of just like these like it's the surefire thing that's getting 24:30 ready to happen. 24:31 Dude, he goes buckle up dudes getting ready to get wild and then nothing happens. 24:35 And so I remember when that happened and I had processed it and got over it or whatever. 24:39 I'd looked at my dad and I was like, so am I in the club yet for being a song, 24:42 you know, for being a legit songwriter, you know? 24:45 And so he's like, yeah, buddy, you're getting a full dose of it. 24:48 So 24:48 My story on that was a Garth Brooks cut. Yeah, I was like this close to getting it 24:53 Yeah, and then it just fell apart. Yeah, man 24:56 You just never know so how did you use this? 25:00 Rejection where it all fell apart on you to light that fire 25:04 So you got more aggressive and just attacked it to keep going and moving forward for sure 25:09 I mean it definitely does and it takes time to get over it, you know, it takes time 25:14 I mean, you know, I grew up, I grew up playing football and soccer and baseball and all kind 25:20 of sports. 25:20 And so it's like I always had that was a quarterback in high school. 25:24 We threw the football a lot. 25:25 So I threw some interceptions, of course, as we were throwing the football. 25:29 I always had an ability even then to kind of like, all right, that was the last throw 25:32 that was a bad throw. 25:34 I'm not going to do that again. 25:36 Next drive, let's go throw it down the field, you know? 25:38 So I attribute that kind of that competitive fire innately in me to, to get back 25:43 back up and going, it's like, no, we'll get it. 25:46 You know what I mean? 25:46 We're gonna get it. 25:47 With everything you've accomplished so far, 25:49 was there a particular song that you wrote? 25:53 It might not have been the biggest song in the world 25:56 or charted the highest, yet it got heard. 26:00 People liked it. 26:01 And it really meant something special to you. 26:04 Mm, yeah. 26:06 Actually yeah, man. 26:07 I was on a writing trip where it was a bus run 26:09 and I saw a kid and his dad. 26:13 We were somewhere in Maryland where the rivers dumping into the ocean kind of right there 26:17 and I saw a kid and his dad fishing on the bank and I thought about when I was a kid 26:21 I grew up here in Nashville and there was a lot of Saturday mornings in the spring 26:25 My dad would get me up real early and we would go bass fish off the bank 26:30 And I just I just related to that dad and his son out there sitting on the bank 26:34 And I wanted a boat so bad, you know what I mean as a kid 26:36 Yeah, so I jotted down the an idea in my phone and the idea was too broke for a boat 26:42 Okay, I'm back to town and sat down with me an awesome songwriter Josh Thompson and my buddy Neil medley 26:48 Yeah, we wrote that song so it had a super personal meeting to me 26:52 Yeah, man 26:53 I felt that and it really speaks to the whole thing and and it speaks to my dad, too 26:58 You know what I mean? Yeah, you know my mom's favorite song 27:00 So yeah, it was an album cut it never came out as a single or anything like that 27:04 But as far as like like super personal like I really I really relate to that song 27:08 Yeah now if you could go back and talk to your younger self before singing with 27:14 Emmy Lou Harris before writing any of the hit songs not knowing where this 27:19 musical journey would take you what would you say? Just don't be in such a hurry 27:25 don't wish things to move quick and just be patient in any stage of it that 27:31 you're at you know it's just just enjoying where you are like trying to 27:35 present like where my feet are in the moment. 27:37 Early on, you spend so much time dreaming about like, 27:39 well, maybe once I get here, 27:41 once I get here, once I get here, you know? 27:43 And there's no point in that. 27:46 Yeah. 27:46 If you could give one piece of advice 27:49 to a songwriter coming into Nashville, 27:51 what would you tell them 27:53 and what mistake would you tell them to avoid? 27:56 I would tell them to, man, 27:58 get out and about, meet a bunch of people, 28:01 find your core group, you know, 28:03 whether it's three or four other songwriters and spend a lot of time writing with those guys, 28:09 like develop a thing. You know what I mean? Like develop this crew and really just dive into that 28:15 because you guys will all, you'll all start getting publishing deals and then you'll also 28:19 get record deals and that's how it'll happen. I've worked with the same people for years and 28:23 years. How do people find you this way they can keep up with you with your musical journey? 28:29 Yeah, I mean I'm on Instagram and I'll post stuff obviously like when we do this, 28:33 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 28:37 Okay, I'll post some things every now and then so yeah, that's about it. Do you have a website? 28:43 Yeah, I think there's a rainy Montana calm 28:44 I don't know if it's it's even still up and running, but we don't update it 28:47 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 28:53 And there's still more to come 28:55 You grew up watching your dad write hit songs, became an artist yourself, sang with Emmy Lou Harris, 29:02 written songs that have become major hits. You're building a career in music. 29:06 What are you most proud of and what do you hope people will remember about the songs you've left behind? 29:13 Oh man, that's a great point. That's a great question. 29:15 Um, most proud of, man, you know, probably most proud of losing, you know, 29:21 Going through the process of losing a record deal and then turn it into a hit songwriter.
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