#345 - Breland on His First No. 1 'Beers on Me' + Going Viral with ‘My Truck’ After a Producer Told Him He’d Didn’t Have What It Takes To Be An Artist  + His Mission To Make Country Music More Inclusive

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Speaker 1: I love this guy. Breland Episode three. This song I just can't get out of my head if I hear it once. It's just just lives there. These Jordans. You can say you hey, when you can call me crazy, but don't touch my truck. Don't touch my truck. Breland born Daniel bre Up in Burlington, New Jersey, highly musical families. Parents are both ministers and led worship at church. You know, we talked about all of that here. Obviously. I think I lead with what are your friends call you? Because I think I asked him that in person. I was like, hey, what, I said, Hey, you're Brethland. He's like, yeah, I said, what what do people? I don't know what to do? Whenever it's like a stage name, that's always a bit weird because sometimes people don't go by it in real life and sometimes they do. But he does, and you don't hear talking about that. So just love the guy. I love the guy's energy, just super smart. Where the point I was pretty tired coming into this one, and I kind of fount and occasionally this happens with a writer, almost never an artist, which is funny, but I mean, the guy does it all and he comes in and he's just I mean, he's using words only reading books, and I'm like, oh crap, I gotta really dial in on this one. This guy's really smart, definitely one of the smartest people we've ever had on the podcast. Yeah. Yeah, there was a situation. There's a meme where a guy's playing a video game and you know, he's uh, like sitting up and then a sudden he's leaning forward. I means he's like focused in it's like a drawing, and so the guys sitting back to playing a video game, but you know, when it's serious time, he leans forward to start playing the video game. There was a point where, and I know I'm talking about a meme out loud, there's a point where I had to lean forward to play the video game and I was like, all crap, all right, he means business and in a good way. But I hope you like this. I encourage you to check him out at Brenland on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, got the same name everywhere, and so here we go Bryland. Everybody, I guess you and I first met New Year's Eve. You know a song I I guess I didn't discover you but what song I found you when I found you was My Truck, which is such a great song. Thanks Mike, can you play some of that for me? Don't touch My Truck? So n you and you've been working with Nata and so you kind of always been in the orbit and then I saw you. I think the first thing I said it was, Hey, what it What do I call you? Because you know some people they have like a stage name, for example, Kid Rock, who I'm not friendly Kid Rock anything, but I know him a little bit and He's always like, just call me Bob, and I'm like, that feels weird. Weird, Yeah, because it's that you've been kidding. So Breland, is that that's your last name? It is my last name. What do your friends call you? A lot of my friends call uh pretty much anyone that I've been friends with for longer than ten years has other forms of nicknames. Uh. But yeah, anyone that I've that I've met in the past. Since then, I've just been going my Brian. So if I met you and it was completely out of the music world, you would just say, hey, I'm Briland. Yeah really, so even Briece. So then it goes down or not it could even get shortened to be bro. Yeah, I can break it down anatomically. Bro. How long have you lived in Nashville. I've been here a little over you and a half, so new to town to have success? Well a year and a half. I mean, have friends have been here ten years and just now like are just now starting to pop a little bit? And what's the fastest anyone's ever gotten on a Bobby cast? And I've never done it under two? But different Yeah, I don't know. Different reasons though, because sometimes well what do you think, Mike? Maybe a year maybe, but still I'll tell you what happened though. So when I would work on American Idol in the right, when they would win or lose, if they would be here for something, I would say, hey, come over to the house. Not the same, That's what I'm saying. So not fair of people specifically in the country music. I like how you're thinking, how you're talking. It's you. It's gonna be you as far as you got here on your own merit. That had nothing to do with any relationship you and I had. Right, you win, can bring in the trophy, guys, come on, That's really all I can him here to was to acknowledge that, you know, so it is you, and it's it's a remarkable kind of in that year and a half, not that people were gonna be far longer than that, but to move here and to actually have people, I guess the hardest thing is to get people to respect you in that short amount of time, because everybody goes, well, they haven't been here long enough. You've hit and you've hit hard, and it's really cool to see. So congratulations on that. When you moved down. What was the move like for you, because it doesn't seem like you were seventeen filling up you know, the mom's old Volkswagen. A lot of people do. Yeah, I guess in a lot of ways. You know, I've been doing this for the ten years that people usually come here and start doing it. I just wasn't doing most of it here. I was doing a lot of it in Atlanta and then um I was in college in d C before that, but moving here during the pandemic like August of UH, I only knew a few people. I only had a few relationships. But I did have a record deal and I did have a viral song at the time, so it wasn't like a start scratch situation. I think it was like, uh, I know, I want to move to Nashville because I want to be involved in everything that's going on in country music. I can't do that as effectively from Atlanta. And I was every time I came to Nashville over the course of that year. The first time I came out was working on in My Truck remix with Sam Hunt. He introduced me to a bunch of his friends. We hit it off. Came back out here in June to work with Keith and we ended up doing two songs for his album. And it was like, I was like, yea, every time I come out here, I get like a major cut. I think I need to just move to Nashville officially. Uh. And you know it was It was a good decision. And it was also a time in history that all the artists were, you know, not touring, so everyone was home. So I was able to form a lot of relationships a lot faster than you normally would be able to because if somebody's out on the road for eight months out of the year, you might not catch them until a whole year. And I was able to catch people within those first few months. Now that you all that part of it, I'm a little wrong. And how I remember this. So I knew my truck, but I didn't know by the name or the face, right. I knew it because I had heard it. Where I first heard from you by somebody talking about you was I was Keith Urban's house and it was before the record came out, and he was like, and I don't remember the song, but it was a very active song yet the cage, Okay, that's it. Oh yeah. And it's one of those where he would he'd sit up and he'd go, okay. He made me sit in the back of the room, just him and I at his house. Maybe it's in the back of the room. He'd be like, all right, it won't look at me. I want to play this song. And he said in Brilan's on this song. And I thought at that point that you were you were somebody that I was supposed to know, and you had been like famous, like twenty five years. How he was talking about you because he was like, he's so good. Can you believe I got him? And I was like, I know, a man, I can't believe you got him. And you have no idea, no idea, and you weren'tsed to that. That's where it was. It was Keith Urban going, this guy is so good, and I just assumed that you were like some classic rock you know, vocalists at all, and then it came out you were you, and I was like, dang, okay, this guy's got a lot of people's respect, you know, on a short amount of time. But that just goes to you know, your credit out good of an artistic get of a writer you are as well. When you go to college in d C. What did you go to school to do? Um? I went to Georgetown. I was a marketing and management double major. And then what though, Dude, I knew I wanted to do music. I just knew that most of the artists that I look up to our multi hyphen it's and have a bunch of different entrepreneurial ventures. And so I was like, if I can understand business, I already understand how to make music. But there's plenty of talented people that don't get to that next level, whatever that next level is. If they can't, I mean, look at what you've done, dude, over the past ten years is incredible. You've turned radio into TV, film, a whole enterprise that if you didn't have, you know, a business acumen, you know you, you wouldn't have been able to become the Bobby Bones that we all know today. I look up to people who have that perspective, and I wanted to make sure that I could understand how to move in the industry as both a business person and as a creative. Were you learning business in regards to I'm going to learn business about the music industry. It wasn't industry specific, but what it was is just literally understanding how to carry yourself in a room, Understanding the basic principles of negotiation, Understanding how to read a contract, Understanding, uh, you know, how to market yourself as a business, how to market a business, how to market yourself, um, social media, even as as a thing that they're starting to teach in schools and you know it's important. Uh but yeah, I mean it's just trying to literally establish myself as both a young entrepreneur and a songwriter artist. When when did you musically kind of grow at a different rate than your peers? At what age? Was it junior high school? It could be college? But when did when did the separations start to be where it's not I'm so good, but oh I'm actually because I work and I'm building on the skill set, I'm actually better than my peers are. Yeah, that's a great question. Uh. I would say probably at some point in college, but even really probably after college, because I think a lot of it came from hours. You know, I vocally and musically. I think I've always had an ear that was probably a little bit ahead of my peers, but in terms of being able to show it or present it in some way, whether on the songwriting side or even vocally on a song or as a performer. Um, I don't know if I really established that until college or maybe even after college, And that just came from putting in an incredible amount of hours. Were you not musical kid in high school? I was a musical kid, but it knew you number one is what I would say. People on people on my high school campus probably knew me as as a singer. But I can't say that I was head and shoulders better than other people who were singing. Like I wasn't like just getting every solo and inquire or anything. I was it was like he can sing. But also these four other people can sing. Where did the confidence come from then to go and learn the I want to call them secondary for the sake of this conversation. The secondary traits you need for a music career. If you're not already better than everybody musically, like, there's got to be some confidence that's somewhere inside of you. Where did that come from? If you weren't just dominant at sixteen? Yeah, it's almost like sometimes I look at it. I know you're like an Arkansas, Arkansas basketball fan. I think sometimes in basketball you have players that are already good, but they continue to get better, like an Alex Caruso or somebody like that, where they might go undrafted, playing the G League, make a team, and then all of a sudden they're starting and you're like, Wow, this person is really good. It's because they just kept working really hard. And what I knew from a really young age, I wasn't gonna be the tallest kid. I wasn't. My parents always told me you're never gonna be just automatically the best at anything, but you can work harder than anyone else, and if you can control your effort and your work ethic and your discipline, that will take you further than the talent ever really could. And so it's not to say that I don't have the talent, but I think the confidence just came from me understanding that I'm hungry for it. It was a passion of mine. I love music. I've always loved music. I was like, you know, my parents singing a gospel choir, grew up around singers. I'm like, this is what I want to do, and I'm going to figure out a way to do it, even if it's not obvious, and even if it doesn't come quickly. I get offended. And it's dumb for me to get offended when people say I'm talented, because I don't feel like I'm talented, and I feel like that takes away from the amount of work that I've put into what I've done, because I don't feel like I have a natural skill set right. And to hear you say that, I start to go. I start to feel a little bit of what I say when I'm like doing and I'm not projecting this on to you at all, but to hear you speak like that in the hours they go into it in the work, people will go, a man, look at that, you got it you've got a real talent. I like, you know what, don't you dare say I'm talented because I've had to work. I feel like that pulls away from the and it's not fair for me to feel that way. And so it's that line of when talent and potential and hard work kind of diagram even afore they all were, they all crossed. Like if someone just said, wow, you are so talented you got here? Because does that? Does that irritate you at all? What it? It doesn't irritate me because I I look at intent. So the intent of them saying that is, I don't I'm so sholl I don't like any intent. I think the intent behind that statement is, you know, they are are giving you a compliment. It's meant to be positive. Nobody who hasn't you know, I don't really know if anyone who hasn't actually done this knows what goes into being able to do this at this level or or in this amoun out of time or ever, you know. So I don't expect them to be able to say, wow, you're clearly talented and have worked hard and have avoided making certain types of mistakes. I want them to say all that have aligned yourself with the right people and and you know they found favor with you like you can't. There's a lot that goes into this. I feel like I'm in a therapy session now, Mike, and I'm getting it. It's like being like that and understand what they mean. I'm just saying, you know, people, it's always intent. You know. Now somebody could be like, all you have is talent, then then I'm like, okay, they tip behind. That is different. We might respond differently. Growing up with parents that performed, did they want you to stay away from performance because they had really spent a lot of time seeing that it's not as glamorous as it seems. Yeah, I mean they both. They tried when I was a kid to do music professionally, and they put together a couple of projects that, uh, you know, didn't really make the waves that they thought it would. And I watch them struggle to get these albums and songs in the Christian world, uh you know, and just didn't really materialize. And I also think, you know, having kids, they had to prioritize the jobs that we're paying them. Uh So I don't know if they were ever like, don't do it. But they were also like, get get an education and make sure that you can learn other skills that can be applied different places if it doesn't work out, you know. But um, I don't know if they discouraged me from from pursuing it so much as be cautious and and understand that it's a small percentage of people that do it, and if you're going to do it, it's going to be because you were supposed to do it and so talented. You're only gonna make it if you're so dead. It's all about the talent, bro, It's talent, zero percent anything else. Baby. So you go to college. Did you graduate? I did nice you. When you moved to Atlanta, did you have anyone there that said, hey, come on, I'll kind of lead you through this town. Yes? Yes, Um. You know. The true story behind that is that I was working under a producer that was very adamant about me only being a songwriter. And I say that because when I first met him, I was I was like, I'm a songwriter, artist and he was like, you're not an artist. You don't have what it takes to be an artist. You're just a songwriter. And over time I realized that he really just wanted to be able to control what it was that I was doing, and if I was able to tap into my artistry, it would become something that he couldn't control as easily. Uh. And so someone literally said you're not Yeah, I said, you're not an artist. You don't have it. He said you don't have it. Yes, he said you don't have it. And and this is someone in Atlanta who you know, has won a few Grammys, he's had Number one, He's had success over a long amount of time. So I trusted his judgment. Do you believe he believed you didn't have it? No, I do not believe that he believed I didn't have it, because as as it happened, he was like switched up quick, like I always knew you had it, Like you didn't say that. He definitely didn't say that. So, uh, you know, I guess just kind of being in Atlanta also put me onto different types of personalities that exist in the music industry. There are people that want to help you genuinely, and then there are people that want to take advantage of you. And if you're not discerning, you could mistake one for the other. And so I thought, this is someone that prides himself publicly on mentorship, uh and and having apprentices and and people being able to go on and have successful careers outside of him. But he was actively doing the opposite in my relationship with him, and so I thought he was trying to help me. As it turned out, it was more of a predatory business relationship. So how do you see that and what do you do once it sets in that this is not something that's healthy? Yeah? When you I mean, I think in any situation, once you discover that that person doesn't have your best interests like something, there had to be something. There was a couple. It was a couple of things, like you know, how you find it a couple, A couple of things, you know. I I first brought my truck in and was like, hey, this is a song that I wrote as a demo and I would like to put it out. And he was like, I hate it. It sucks, Like you gotta go back to doing what you were doing before. I told you already you're not an artist. And I was like, I just didn't sit right with me, you know. That was that was a red flag because I had already posted a snippet on Instagram and people loved it, you know. I was like, I think people liked this song, you know, and so I put it out anyway. A couple of months later, it starts to go viral on TikTok, and he was the first one to be like, those numbers don't mean anything. It doesn't matter. And I'm like, even even with the data, So I was like, bro, like, you're literally not You're not acknowledging a thing that I've done. And if you can't champion my success outside of you, then you aren't championing me at all. Uh. And and being able to recognize some of those red flags of of things that I had even maybe overlooked or ignored over the past few years before that ultimately is part of what brought me to Nashville, as I was like, I would like a fresh start. I'm an artist. I want to be around people that can respect me as an artist. And when you talk at the beginning of this conversation about you know, being able to garner that respect, that's that's what I came here for. I came here to be able to pursue this thing and have the support in the city and among my peers of feeling like I can actually do this. I guess. The last question I'll ask about your time in Atlanta is why if someone believed that you could provide something, did they not scoop it up themselves? Meaning if if I were a producer owned a record label, I don't know what the guy was. Um, I don't know there was a guy he was, Okay, why would he not if he believed in you? Go aha, I'd like to sign you myself, Like I believe in you, why don't we do a development? So he did have that without investor a lot into it. It comes down to it. It comes down to mindset and also just how good of a business person are you? He fumbled the bag, truth be told. But also in a lot of ways it comes down to mindset. So, uh, you can operate in life with a scarcity mindset or you can operate from an abundance mindset. When you operate from a scarcity mindset, you make decisions like the types of decisions that he made, which is like you operate very selfishly. Uh. And when you operate from an abundance mindset, it's like, hey, there's there are a lot of resources here, for everyone to be able to win, and then you provide opportunities for people for them to be able to get their own. So if you're creating opportunities for people and and genuinely want to see them succeed, then you know it's a different type of perspective than the people who are like, no, everything has to come back to me. Um. So I think ultimately it was just a difference in mindset. Do you ever dream melodies? I've definitely woken up with Alois in my head and saying pretty constantly. My sister is always like. We flew out to London a few weeks ago and she was like the whole flight, She's like, can you stop singing? Like all the time, because I all the whole seven hours of the flight, I'm humming melodies based on whatever the last thing I heard was, and then just building new chords out in my mind. The only other person I say, other, as you told that story, I'm gonna name drop, and I don't do that a lot, but it's a really cool story. I was staying in the house. I went to watch the master's golf tournament with um my friend and this is not the name drop, but Andy Roddick, who was a professional tennis player, used to be really good. And we had a guy with us who was staying in the house and he would not stop humming, would not stop. It was always a melody, was good. It was John Legend, and it it never it never stopped. And it went from Wow, this never stops, too, Okay, this must be just something that exists in him all the time, and it's it's probably part of what separates him from other really good people. You know, it's really good, and there's great, and there's really great. And I think it's probably the fact that it was constant, constant, And I wonder about people like yourself, like John Legend, that are so musical if you can turn it off, I can't really turn it off. And uh, you know, from a from a from a lyric perspective and from a melody perspective, I'm always working on something, whether I even know it or not. I won't even know that I'm singing and someone will be like, dude, you're still singing, and then I'll think about it. I'm like, oh, I've been singing different versions of this melody for the last two hours straight. But I'll be doing something else. I'll be having a conversation, eating a meal, doing something, but in the back of my mind and oftentimes audibly, I'm humming something, singing something. I just We've talked about this too, Mike and I have where we need an app where because I will write comedy music, and the problem is I subconsciously I don't know what I heard. I don't know who who said something funny. I don't know what melody I've heard. So I need a nap that I can turn on and go yeah, and then does that match Nope, Okay, well they kind of have something like that, like to see whether you're on top of another melody that exists. Teachers can use whenever a kid is turning in a paper, right or yes, And so I often worried that I'm going to not know. And I have other friends that are artists, and I'm like Luke Homes, for example, I was talking to him a couple days ago and I was like, now that everybody is so litigious and there's only so many notes, so many chords, how in the world, Because as you get bigger, more eyes on it and on it, and all of a sudden you're matching a lot more folks now that Dan and Shay just went through it. I don't know I would say this as a creator. Again, it comes down to intent. We know that there are a certain amount of notes, you know, in in Western music, are you go into like semitones and in a lot of Eastern music that opens things. Yeah, we we just gotta get into semi tones. But you know, in terms of the thirteen notes that we have access to, like, we're gonna be on top of other melodies, like especially if there's you know, only maybe four or six chords that you have, Like in most songs there's only three or four chords. So the types of melodies that I write over those chords and the type of melodies that someone else who writes songs rights over those chords, it is going to be very similar because we're probably both drawing from the same knowledge base of Hey, these are the types of melodies that work. We all know a catchy melody when we hear one. We've all we've all been influenced by the hit songs of of yesterday. So you're gonna be on top of melodies sometimes. Now, I think there are times where that needs to be looked into but I also think that it happens by accident. I think it just happens by virtue of their only being. But so many notes, and there has to be a better way for us to figure out intent. Yeah, intense tricky because then intent you can lie about intent. And I think I'm thinking very selfishly about this conversation because I do it with jokes too, where I will have I'm like, that's the funniest concept. Let me write a punch line off in its MinC. I'm like, it's funny, and he's like, well you could do this. We'll what'll kind of work on a joke and then and I'm like, I gotta google it a google and there's already a similar joke. And but it's like that I steal. Did I hear it somewhere? Maybe or maybe you just had a similar experience as the other person who did it, and you both acknowledge this is funny. I agree, And I at times would do a little exercise with myself before a talk show host would do a monologue. I would go, Okay, what are the things that I would do a joke about right here? And quickly what would the half joke? Bet? And I would match most of the times, like what the material or what the joke kindo would be. So I do think like minded people that are pursuing a like minded goal, meaning a joke, you know, punch and laughter coming from a like minded situation produce likely results. So but I just don't know if my subconscious catches it and it's sitting up here at times and I do accidentally steal it, or I just happened to have the same idea. I just wish there was something I could do that to in my fanapp would be great. Yeah they do that. You're the smartest guy met so do that. Yeah. Yeah, well we'll work on the app. We'll work on the app. You have. I have insurance. I'd call it probably I call it probably Boblin or something the front of even doing nothing. Yeah that sounds like that's not great. Yeah, that's not I have insurance my business maagement. We get insurance in case I accidentally steal something. Everyone needs songwriters insurance. Is that something that you you have. It's literally something that in the past a few weeks has become a conversation. Oh yeah, I just got put onto this like a month ago. So I was like, you need talking resinsurance. I was forced upon it. Yeah, yeah, And I was like, wait, is that a real thing? And they're like, no, seriously, because because the truth is, it does happen by accident. When I got sued by Bob Dylan, I was like, I cannot believe you shouldn't be able to get sued by any Bobs. Okay, that's true, that's true. So growing up, you go to Georgetown very prestigious. Are you one of the I'm gonna use a word that can be used in a lot of different ways. Are you one of the smarter kids at that school that is known for just brilliant minds? And I don't I need to drop your humble hat here. No, I mean no, I would answer it straight up. I wouldn't aswer straight up. I think that there's different forms of intelligence. I think that I am in the school, and this strictly academically, I was not one of the smartest kids in the school, and asked, I do believe that I may have been one of the smartest kids in the school if you look at like holistic, but academically not looking at that. No, I'm reading a book now where they talk about kids that go into a big pond and they're smart at their own school, but they go into a big pond and they meet that heavy resistance for the first time. Sometimes it is far more detrimental to them than if they were to go into a smaller, medium pond school system. Like George how to Me's massive pond. Yeah, it's a big pond, smartest of the smartest kids from all over the country. And I want when you say that academically, maybe you weren't at the top, did that at all make you question yourself and the intelligence that you had? I think it it forced me to have to defend my position in My position now is the same position that I had as a freshman, Like I almost failed to counting class, and my parents, who had seen me do so well throughout grade school and high school, were like, what's the deal, Like, what's the deal with the counting? And I was like, the deal is that I can really only be good at things that I care about. I can't dedicate mental energy to something that I don't value. And when did you understand that was what made you working? Yeah? I understood that in high school. Really, Um, the difference is that I was motivated by getting into a good college, so I cared about all of it. By the time I got to college, I was like, I care about being successful in the music industry. That's interesting, so a little. So what got you to college is your interest in getting to college? Actually, once you got to college, you were already there and you didn't want to continue. You kind of took a hard pivot in that journey by getting to where you were going. That's interesting because you didn't care about academics as much once you got to the academic place. Yeah, not really. At that point, I was like, all right, well, what's what's the thing that's going to happen after college? And are my grades and performance here in college it going to determine the trajectory of that, And knowing that it was music, I was like, no, it's it probably won't. So then what can I be spending my time on That's going to be more productive for the thing that I actually want to do. And I was like, all right, well, I'm gonna try to write two songs a day and record them. Yeah, by myself. What would you do you're in college, what your partner looked like, your household? Yeah? I was in a dorm bro I was. I was just in a room. I had to set up a focus write in a laptop. I was recording vocals out of initially fl studio and then eventually pro tools. Had a little like Mike that was like can you play what were you doing music? Like guitar keys? Um? I could play a little keys. But I also was was sourcing a lot of tracks off of like YouTube and from different producers that were trying to see if they could get cuts and just trying to form relationships with people. Had a couple producer friends who would send over tracks or just cord loops and I would literally just run through them, you know, a couple of day. But how did you know to do? Where did that knowledge come from? Um? Someone I had read somewhere that that Kanye was making like five beats a summer for like ten summers, So five beats a day for like a certain amount of summers or I forget exactly what the number was, but it was a number that I was like, whoa, I'm nowhere close to that number. So I was like, if I want to be able to do this, And I also seen a couple of different songwriters being like you should write a song a day and challenge yourself to you know, just work at that level one. So I was like, all right, cool, I'll do that. So like my end of my step into my freshman year, sophomore year, I was like, I'm gonna try to write and record a song a day, and then junior senior year, I was like two songs a day, three songs a day. He recorded as well. Yeah, yeah, so I was doing like you know, I took some engineering classes, and what happened to all this content? It's it's on a hard drive song where I've got hundreds, I've got thousands of songs from from college that they have never been cut and won't they won't. They're not even cutible. I wasn't, it wasn't at an industry standard. But but can't you go back now and refresh them? Not even refreshed but maybe be inspired? Is not even what I'm looking for. But I just feel like even anything that I've written a long time ago, and it may I mean, it may be, you know, so elementary as to what I listen, what I do now deserves no prize, but I can go I understand what I was trying to say. Then even though I didn't quite understand what I was trying to say. And this sounds terrible, but I can almost inspire me like me from back then before I had these things. At times I have to go meet up with that person again. Sometimes, Yeah, I think the key and and it depends on how you do it. Along the way is to Keith has put a term to it that I've never forgotten. He calls a beginner's mind. He's like, beginner's mind is when you go into anything and everything with the same childlike curiosity as you would have when you were an actual child. And I think sometimes as an adult we get so in the weeds on different things that we're doing, and we're so focused on what the world says we need to focus on as an adult that we don't appreciate and we lose the gratitude and the wonder and amazement that we have for the little things. And I've tried to and naturally already leaned this way, but I've made a conscious effort even recently to stay tapped in to the ten year old version of me that sang a solo at church and the fifteen year old version of me that started a YouTube channel and the nineteen year old version of me that decided I wanted to write a song every single day. I've tried not to stray too far from that because that's the that is the core of the thing. The music industry. You have to wear a lot of different hats, and I've definitely developed a lot of skills and in a lot of different areas. But if I ever lose sight of that person, then I've lost sight of everything. That's the challenge. That is the challenge. I mean, it's the challenge for me because I need to be reminded at times, because one you can get very jaded. I need to be reminded that I still need to be hungry even though I'm not hungry anymore. You know, I grew up and literally I was hungry. Figuratively I was hungry, and I kind of need to remind myself of that and what got me to a place to kind of be redriven at times once I'm so jaded? Yeah, well, I guess the question of how do you motivate yourself once you've accomplished a lot of your goals, right, Like you've had the number one, but none of that matters. Number ones do nothing. You know what motivates me not living the trailer park again there there, yeah, And that's what I have to go and sometimes reinvest myself in, like why am I doing this? I don't do it? Are all the highs? I do run the freaking lows for sure? And I also think, you know, at least in my situation, I'm sure you have these two. It helps if you also have a mission statement. So for me, my mission statement right now as an artist is that I want to help make country music more inclusive. I want to inspire people who don't listen to country music and write it off as a thing that's not for them. I want to inspire them to to be a part of it and be a part of the community, because I think the more diverse country music is, the more country music can interact and and and collaborate across the aisle with other genres, the better that is for culture. And so the style of country music that I make is not traditional, but I would argue that it is still within the format. And why I do it the way that I'm doing it is because I'm trying to reach across the aisle and and make a space that is more reflective of what the world looks like. That's a long mission statement. Write that down my seconds. That's a long one that let me let me Yeah, I am trying to make country music for everyone. Yeah, it's easier to remember. Yeah, yeah, that's a good one. I think you've I know you've experienced as far greater than what I did. But I'll give you an example. When I moved to town, I was the guy. Now. It didn't matter that I grew up in a rural town in Arkansas and my life was all country music until I was a teenager. But since I worked on hip hop stations and pop stations and did sports talk, and I wasn't country, and I fought it so for my life was miserable for two and a half three years because everywhere I went I wasn't country. Now, when I was pop, I was too country because I didn't fit because I had an accent. But when I came to country, I was too pop. And so there was us a point where I was like, screw it, and then I just started playing the things that I liked. On my own show. I was playing hip hop stuff, I was playing country stuff. I was you know, and I still do that today. But it's not crazy anymore because we became successful and then every other show started to mimic what we were doing. All of a sudden, we went from this is not us too, oh oh yeah, yeah, yeah, it becomes the standard. It's the road that people drive on now. So that is what I dealt with for a while here. And by your last statement, when you talk about having a more inclusive country music that comes from a place of experience, it sounds like and so I'm assuming that you're getting that now to where you're not country. People are saying Yeah, people definitely will say that I'm not country. Also, it's funny when you when you look up Breland on Google, at least for a while, people are like, is Breland a country? Like country Land like Iceland or Greenland or something? Um, But no, I mean, I've never tried to authenticate or validate how country I am, because the truth is I'm from New Jersey, from a small town in New Jersey. But at the end of the day, I think that the version of country music that really resonates with me isn't location specific so much as it is are you telling a true story to your experience or to someone's experience, and if you can express that thought in a way that is both linear and heartfelt, there's country roots in it. And to me, that's the thing that I'm trying to get at more in the music that I'm writing, in the music that I'm releasing, is let me let me tell stories, let me tell my story, and let me tell stories that resonate with people, whether or not it's you know, specifically rural or southern or you know fits checks any of those boxes. It's like, can you can you tell a story? And and is that story real for someone or yourself? The answer to that is yes, Then is country to me? The people that you've spoken about so far that you've worked with, it's funny they've all kind of gone down that similar road. Keith Urban still even with all of us, all of his success, even being Entertainer of the Year, he still gets that Sam Godly so much, of course, but in a lot of ways, like someone saying that it's not country for them is a reflection of their perspective of what country music is, and and it is all perspective. And I I get into it more than I probably should. And I do consider myself a bit of a historian on country music in general, but any of the instruments even I would say the we considered country at one time when they were brought in, for example, making the steel guitar electric that was blasphemy to to people in country music. And now it's so it's traditional or even bluegrass. Right now, it's so it's more commonplace that has gotten pushed even further outside of the genre. You're looking at country music from the perspective of whatever country music you were introduced to. When you were introduced to country music. There are a bunch of kids right now that the version of country music they were introduced to is Florida Georgia Line. But then there's a lot of people who are in their forties and fifties right now that when Florida Georgia Line started becoming popular, they were like, this isn't country music. You could look at that if you add fifteen years to that when Shania Twain popped off, or even before that to when Garth popped off, people will look at all of those things that are now super commonplace and and literally traditional at this point, and and look at people who were in the you know, establishment of country music at that time that pushed back against the change. All I'm saying is I have respect and reverence for country music as a genre, as a lifestyle, as a thing that people live and breathe, and I am not trying to take anything away from it. I'm simply trying to add something to it. And if it's not for you, that's okay. There's plenty of people who are making the type of country music that you like, whatever that might be. But I'm making the type of country music that a lot of other people like, whatever that might be. The weird thing too about people getting upset is that you don't have to listen to it. You don't have to live. You don't have to listen to anything. You don't nothing. It doesn't heavy music, any kind of art, yeah, anything, And if any kind of art stops pushing any direction, it dies. And so if country music were to always stay the same, like some folks would like it too, although they don't know they're talking about, if it stayed the same, it would die because anything that sits in the same place for a long period goes away. And so regardless of what you're doing, I just always admire people who come and do their version of it, not to push, but to do their version, because I think people bringing their own flair and flavor and ideas and the country music is what actually makes it great new ways to hear stories and and and I think the people that what I love, I love this. Sometimes it's it's happened to me after shows where people are like, I don't like the type of music that you're doing, but I like the energy that you're doing it with, and I like what you're bringing to the table. Is that intent? Are you happy with them? Because I'm happy with that because of the intent, and because ultimately, as you said, man, you know or the sentiment of what you're saying, art is interpretive. So I don't need every person to resonate with the art that I make. I need the people that my heart is intended for to resonate with it, and then anyone outside of that, it's, you know, it's art. What's it like growing up with parents who are ministers? Is it? Do you feel like you have to be good? A h And I don't mean like a good kid. And I definitely think that there are some values that that they instilled in me. But they've also always had the perspective that I am going to do what I'm going to do, and all they could do is try to set me up with all of the necessary mental, emotional, spiritual tools to be able to do them. Well, were you allowed secular music? And growing up not so much. But as I got older, I started to discover it and I was able to put them onto a lot of things that they had never heard. And I think they even had a perspective of secular music that was different than the perspective that they have now, which is that not all secular music is praising sex, drugs, and alcohol. You know, well, I mean, you know, some of it is right, but you know, I'm like, there's a lot of music that I think is pointing to the same type of message that a lot of the gospel music that they were listening to and listen to is pointing toward, which is like, people should love each other at the core, people should try to help each other. There's music that speaks to that, and also recognizing that some music is literally medicine for people, that there are songs that get people out of bed on a daily basis, and as I've explained what that looks like for a lot of different people. To my parents, I think their perspective of secular versus Christian music has evolved. I saw you playing a stagecoach, which is a cool little situation we've got before, and it's a long ways out there. Yeah, that's the part. That's the bad part, because it took forever together. Yes, flight l a drive forever and it's hot, hot, but then it's cool and it's a fun experience and it's a it's like the culture here meets the culture there. It's a cool little hybrid, definitely, but then you have to get back in it. T But other than that, I saw you and I think you're playing strawberry wine, right? Was that you playing strabery one? Um? I didn't play steuberry wine and stage coach was on your Instagram. I ended up having to cut a bit of I had to cut that song for my set because we were running a little late. Were you playing rehearsal somewhere? I saw a clip maybe somebody recorded you, But then it might have been in Nava a couple of days before that, Okay, probably maybe probably in California probably it was, Yeah, but it was a couple of days before stage coach. But yes, that's a song that I think everybody everywhere goes, oh, I like this person. It doesn't matter who Sam would sing it too, because even the people that were at festivals, I think that maybe we're like, I don't like the Sam Hunt guy and he he go, you know, like, Okay, this one I get down with, and they were sure, that's a good one to do. You feel that like sometimes like if you're playing an environment people may not know you, is that a good go to to kind of have people go all right? Yeah, I think it helps to know your audience and to know what your audience might want to hear, what they're familiar with. And um, that's a cover that I actually put out like six months ago, and I've had a chance to sing it with the ENO few times. She's all she's just the best, just a sweetheart, and you know, I think for a lot of I've played that song even for audiences that aren't country, just because I love the song. But I do know when I play it for especially an older, more traditional crowd, they can usually get down with that. But also I usually do a little bit because I have a song out with with Nellie called High Horse and going into high Horse, I'll play a few snippets of some Nelly hits and people usually can get down with that too. Even then like rural Alabama, you know, like your Cowboy, that's what they played Nelly, I'm telling you, And then Brooks and Dunne. Yeah, and then yeah, you can you can get you can win over a crowd quickly. And also like regardless I've had I'm not even gonna do the name drop, but someone I encourage you're not going to do it. Somebody in country music that we all respect told me that the audiences experience, regardless of how much talent you have, regardless of what type of music you're playing, the audience's experience is a direct reflection of your on Dirk's, it wasn't Derk's, it was Garth. I was gonna have a Garth one too. That's I was gonna bring it up a second ago where I was and we opened for Garth a couple weeks ago, which is an amazing He's the best and I love him, and he's way nicer and way more generous than he should be. Not that any humans shouldn't be generous, but but he's he goes over and above what you would even expect if someone at that level just a little side peel off. He told me we're about to do our deal, and he goes, hey, do you want to take over the whole stage to do it? Run all around? There's never been a headliner that's like, we're going to turn all the lights on and you can have the whole stage. And he's like, have at it. But he's told me before when talking about country music, because I always like to hear people talk about what they I think it is, what they think country music is, um because generationally it's all different. But you know, do you hear him talking about how he wasn't country music to people when he can he wasn't. That's why I mentioned it. Yeah, and then two nights ago, he's got a hundred and ten thousand people packed into a stadium in Louisiana and they sing a country song so loud that it reaches as an earthquake. I mean that's what happened, earthquake. Yeah, yeah, exactly. And so you know, as we talk about music and interpretation and progression, and I see what you're doing and not I don't even think it's a purposeful thing. Were like, I'm going to make things progress, not if I'm wrong. It's not. It's not like that I'm doing me. I'm doing I know that because it is not traditional. It is progressive, right finger quotes, you know it. But I also just think that when people come see me live, it usually changes their perspective of what it is that I do. You have an album coming out across country, right, I do. It's coming out later this summer. What what will that be? So cross country is literally any music that sits at the intersection of country in another genre. So every song on there is country and something country and rock country and gospel country and hip hop country and R and B country and pop. We're playing around with what that is. And then there's some a couple of songs on there that are just a little bit more traditionally country. But I wanted to be able to put a project together that was reflective of all the music that I like to listen to. And I've always wished that there were more there was more music at the intersection of country and other things. Because you have intersection of you could have dual ipa and little Baby or the baby on a song and it's totally normal. But if the baby were on a country song, people would be like, what's going on here? I don't understand it? And I'm like, well, why, you know, why? Why is that? So? I wanted to just make some music that I feel like there's something for everyone on this project. I love every song on the project. We have a few really cool collapse on there, a couple of songs that are already out the people have heard. Praise the Lord will be on their Throwback will be on there. But of all the new music, it all sounds entirely different, and we came at it from a pure place of creativity. We've had a lot of duds that you know, anytime you're like mixing things together and trying to change up, you know the formula even how you create songs and get out of your comfort zone, you're gonna you're gonna miss a lot. And those are some of my favorite moments in this album process, is the misses, the songs that the songs that suck, you know, because they all taught us enough things that when we got to the songs that we loved, we were using those problems solving tactics and deductive reasoning to be like, Okay, let's not try this, let's not try this. Okay, let's try this and then we land on something great. Those are the songs that have made the project. Anyone say yes to work with you that you were surprised they said yes, Um, well yeah, I can tell you this weekend, I'm going when is this air this weekend? Friday? Friday? Yeah, well you don't have yeah, if you want, I'll just like I don't know how many country artists Farrell has worked with, but this weekend I'm down in in Miami working on some stuff with Farrell, and I'm excited. That was one that really surprised me that for him. For me, yeah, he had some songs in mind and wanted to cook up. I'm curious whenever you get into a room, if you write with let's remove for rail from this, he's run up. Let's say you and Keith you guys ever sent room together? One one and right? Okay? Because he's an instrumentalist. So is that intimidating for you though? To go one one with Keith Urban or is that I don't know, I'm gonna get pretty? Is it? Is it? No? I would say what what is your What is your feeling when you sit in Keith Urban's four feet in front of you and you're creating together. My feeling is I know that he's really good at what he does, and I feel like I'm really good at what I do, and I believe in the power of collaboration and and fusion and creative experimentation, and so I'm sure whatever we come up with is going to be dope. Do you watch his face or watch his body language to see if he's really feeling yeah, what you're giving him. Definitely. I I read everything, But I also not not from a perspective of like, oh, I hope Keith likes it, but just from we're making something and I want us to both feel proud of it, regardless of who that person is. I come into every right, even if it's with a totally new writer who just moved to town. You know, it's like, I want to make sure that we feel good about this because we're spending time, and everyone's time is valuable, and you know, you're not always going to land on something that you love, but I at least want to love the way that we went about trying to get there. I want to play a little bit of beers on me. You first number one? Thank you? You got a word? It would be Where did the relationship with Dirk's come in? How? How did that happen? It was a random text, dude. He sent me a text and he was like, hey, man, it's Dirk Spentley, country singer. I was like, literally exactly what he said. I was like, you don't you don't have to do that. Um, but you know, he was like, I worked on this song with a couple of guys hard, he's on it right now. Uh you know, I'd love to send it over and see what you think. And I was like, yes, yes, I'm interested. I'm you know, pulled up at the studio. It might have been that night or maybe it was the next night, and I I wrote my verse really fast. Um, not intentionally to be fast. It just came to me really quickly, and UM laid it down and it The energy in the room felt right, and we got a chance to chat and connect and um he had spent some time in high school in New Jersey where I'm from, and uh, you know, just getting to know each other. And I didn't know what was going to happen with the song. You know, I've made music with a lot of people that never comes out, and that's just the nature of the game. You make a lot of music. Some of it sees the light of day, some of it doesn't. Um, I didn't know he was going to make it a single. I didn't know he was gonna make it the name of his tour. I didn't know he's gonna bring me out on the road. All of that happened once the song. The next question about being on the road with him, Yeah, did that happen before it was a single? Now that announced the single is like come out, you need to come out open and then we can also do it together. Yeah, it was. I don't I don't know if it was. Whether it was announced as a single. Well, once we knew that it was going to be coming out. Um, he had a couple of opening slots before his tour fully kicked off, and he's like, it's the beers on Me tour, Like, you know, come on out and play. But at that time, because I started putting music out right before the pandemic and was new to artistry in that capacity, I hadn't performed as Briulin, performing any original music ever, you know. And so the third show that I ever played was with Dirk's up in Canadagua, New York and thousands of people there, and I was like, what what you know? I have literally is the third show I've ever played, and and you know, I'm on the road with Dirks Like it's it was a really cool opportunity for him to bring me out there and to take that chance because he's never seen me play, had no idea what I was going to bring to the table. But after we did the first show, he was like, we're supposed to do too, And after those first two he was like, dude, we gotta get you out for more, and literally just like created space in the middle of his set for me to be able to come out and do a couple of songs and we ended up playing like fifteen shows together and form a really great relationship. He's just I think what I really love about the artists and country music is that they're all really good people, you know, at least in my experience of the people that are on that word all around. But yes, I agree, so other people that I've met, of the people that I've met and collaborated with, I've been really fortunate to experience them all as being great people. And he's a great one and he's like the greatest. Yeah, we've talked about some of the great like Garth Dirk's is like just there and Keith as well, you know these I've I've just been a really fortunate and blessed to form relationships with people in country music that I want to see the next generation when and I think sometimes there's a thing that happens, not just in country but in in the world where generationally, the people who hold the keys to the thing don't want to hand them over, don't want to create space for the next generation because they feel like it's going to be at their apparel, you know, at their expense. And all of these guys have been so comfortable and confident collaborating with younger artists and up and coming artists and playing shows with them and putting them on records at radio and they don't have to do that, you know, but it shows where they are and and and where their heads are. Again, that's that's an abundance mindset for me of like there's enough space for me to continue doing what I'm doing and to help create space for this person is doing something that I value or think is cool. Yeah, everybody can eat. Everybody can eat. Everybody can eat. Here is Praise the Lord with featuring Thomas Rhett. This is your current single Women Imagine Chicken, Please to La Grandma. Everything I wanted any more, Praise the longing that. So you guys played this as all the all the letter shows start to they do. There's a lot and they don't have a C in it, you know, some of them have an M. It's a lot. And some of them have rejected me as host and some have agreed me to host and fired me last minute. So I get them confused. Have you hosted any of them? Listen, it's a long story, my friend, and not one for this right. The got your word? So we played at them. Yeah. So what's been the response to the single? It's been incredible, dude. I mean, out of all the music that I've put out, this is literally had the best response of anything in in a short amount of time. You know. It's I don't know, forty million streams and less than two months. So it's I mean really cool to see how people are responding to it. And I kind of suspected that would be the case because I've been playing it live, uh pretty much all summer and fall, and in all my live shows, it's been the song that, even though it's not out, people respond really well to. Um. You know, I think it falls right at that intersection of like country and gospel in a way that the both the lyric of it and the performance of it. I think black people, white people, old, young, can all vibe to it, So, you know, I think it's very It's more universal than some of the stuff that I've made, So I think the accessibility of the song is probably what's the energy of it is what what makes people respond to it. You guys follow Brian at Brian b R E, L A and D vacation there if you have some time to summer, spend some time. Got some great airbnbs on the water there, No, no, dude, it's just great. That's awesome. Good for them, Good for Brian. UM. And I'd like to apologize because I'm sweating my balls off here. Well, I we walked. I don't know if the air is out, I don't know what the situation is. But when you walked down was like, okay, sorry, I got here. A few minutes earlier because this is not the main house. We have the studio set up over here, and I as we've been going, have been thinking, well, Brilin's and a jacket. He's got on a winter coat, so he's sweating. But um, this has a bit Listen. I love talking with you. I mean just just so refreshing. Just your perspective is refreshing. Thanks. I just feel like, there it is. You got it? Uh? Yeah, I appreciate your attitude and I think that's it. I think that's what it is. I was trying to boil it down to what it is that I think I like about. Yeah, and a lot of people make really good music, and a lot of people have message and a lot of this is a place where the best come Philanta Giants. That's true. A lot of great people have been on the show. But I think it's just your attitude. It resonates and I'm, like I said earlier, I'm jaded, asking freaking be at this point, dude, Well, welcome, welcome back. So I was able to pull you back even a little bit, restore your faith in in whatever it is that about humans. Yeah, I just want you to feel about human kind. I didn't trust anybody again until about an hour back. All Right, you guys follow Brelan on all the stuff and just let us know when the record comes out. You know, we'll have when the record comes out this summer whenever that is, because we'll have this. This is an hour long. We'll use it on all kinds of stuff. This will be a full thing. We'll put parts of the radio show, we'll put it parts of the countdown. But when you get ready, come up to the radio show and come play for that. Yeah, we'll do it. Let's do it. We'll get it. But if you come up with a different attitude, I may not do it. So I'm just warning you. If you're a different person putting out the project has changed everything about me, then no, you should not have me on the show. You guys, follow Breeland and be waiting for the record and check out Praise the Lord with Thomas Redd. Congrats on beers on me, and thank you. I'll see you soon. Season