#76 - Jonathan Singleton - Wrote Yours If You Want It, Diamond Rings and Old Bars Stools and more.

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Speaker 1: All right, welcome to episode seventy six of The Bobby Cast with Jonathan Singleton. Now I'll tell you what happened, and I want to play how all your hits on a second and then get deeper. But so Jesse Alexander texting me this morning. Jesse Alexander, a friend of mine on the A C. M Board with me and has been on this show, wrote, I drive your truck to climb like super accomplished songwriter herself. And she texted me and said, so, Jonathan's coming up to Bobby Casts. I was like yeah. She was like, bretes yourself for a funny redneck song writer. Funny too, and I gotta be funny. And I was like, written next, I think, well you walked in you have some skull in your pocket. And I was like, okay, Jesse, Jesse, Jesse, Jesse's right on. So she said, tell you hello, but you listen. You listen to that one, Huh. I listened to it last night. I got a forty minute drive every day, so on podcast, I'll where I'm out. What what you drive? Acton city? So you drive to Nashville every day every day. I was in East Nashville for seven years and had two kids and got tired of the kids that too, but I got to you know, the little quarter eighth acre yard, and so now I got a big one and I drive in every day. I enjoyed. Man, it's great. But yeah, so I podcast a lot, so I just hip to this one as of well coming here past. It was great, man, And I really appreciate. I'm so bad at it. You know, I can write songs, but I'm so bad at that kind of especially the interviewing process. And listen to some of those guys do it and Joe Rogan, I mean, whether you like the guy or not, he's so good to interview. He's so good at it. So and I felt the same about you was Jesse's and I've known Jesse for years. We're kind of same hometown, Jackson, Tennessee. We both say Jackson. I'm not sure either when are from Jackson proper, little rural areas around there. And I learned some stuff on that podcast about her. Yeah, do you know what's funny? As I was talking to Laura Acuna last night, and I love Laurie. I love her. Everybody everbody loves Laura. You can't Yeah, if you don't. You gotta you gotta leave to Yeah, like, go go away, You're not my friend if you don't love Laura and Laurie for those that are listening, is one of the love Junkies with Hillary, Lindsay and Liz Rose. But she's also Laurie McKenna, the songwriter of the Year. And she's also Laura McKenna, a wonderful artist, singer in and she's awesome with all of her kids in her But so she lives in Boston and people will go and up and right with her. Yeah. And so I was talking to her because we were in a picture and it was me, her and Dolly Parton right exactly, and She's like, what do I do? And I was like, why are you asking me? Like you deserved next to Dolly Moore than night. You stand by them all the time, though she was scared, right, it's Dolly Parton. Though see Dolly Parton is my is my wife? Pass? I still get a pass if Dolly were to say in the weirdest way, which she never would, I get a pass on Dolly Parton. So well, I two stories. Now I'm branching, but let me tell you, I tell no no, no, I tell you the first story because that that leads me somewhere else. But so I was talking to Laura McKenna and she was like, I was listening to the Jaren Johnson. She was like, and I know Jarren, and I listened to that podcast and there were stuff I had no idea about. And I took that as a compliment the same money you would say that about. And I love Joe. Joe Rogan is the best. He's so good at just waiting on them to do the thing. And that's a hard thing to do, man, what you guys do it every day? So we've just been handed waters we have, we have no crack open it. And I just loved the gym that. Let me give you my my day real quick. I go to the gym, and I'm have to need the hour because my day usually doesn't stop. I wake up with three in the morning every day, do you know, get up to the radio show going at five because we're on the East coast, so that's six East Coast and it goes until whenever. And last night I was up until like midnight because the a c M Honors were last night. I was presenting. So I go the gym today. Good lections then and my heart and I'm an in ship, guess what's going and I know something's not right. So I was that guy that had to land on the floor and put the wet towels on. I never want to be that guy. That's my huge fear of mind. I was that guy today. So what's up? What's going on? Nothing? I did have dinner last night, just too much and I've had like four nights and no sleep. My dog sick, So that's whole, the whole thing. So that's stressful. Get you, man, It's like, yeah, physically, that's stressful. That's stress will make you sick. Yeah, I gotta kind of keep it straight. I've been known to, you know, chug some antidepressants in the in the past. I did. I was on antipresence for a while and I don't know how what you talking about this, but because I talked about everything, but it did. I got an um like a zoe offt. I did that for a minute and it did nothing. It didn't not hate me, Okay, didn't zombie like on that. So you felt something I did? Yeah, I didn't feel And I took it and my doctor was like because I it's so funny to me that you do that and and anxiety and you do what you do for a living and uh, but you do what you I know, but talking is different. I'm kind of freaked out right now that we're just talking and I don't have a good time. But we're doing nothing but human talking. This isn't like a radio show where it's like a body welcome second, but you do that in the morning. Yeah, but also don't do that. Hey you have seveny but but this is just humans. So I got on Zolo often I struggle with sleep. I struggle with anxiety like crazy, and so he's like, okay, try this. I was on it for twelve weeks now did nothing. I opened up the dose that did nothing interesting and but for you it's well, I said, Zola, No, I quit that immediately, and but you felt it. Huh yeah, well yeah, I did, like the tiniest amount. Got this nice army doctor it's over at Hillsborol thing, and so I told him I need something. You know. At that time, I had a record deal and stuff going home as a sponsibility that I've never had. I was a bar band guy, and all of a sudden I got a wife and and a record soft Live. Yeah. Yeah, And it was like and you know, I think part two was like I knew I really didn't want to be doing what I was doing. You know, I was doing some things that I knew. You know, the music thing is a soul thing. So I feel like when you start screwing with that a little bit, you kind of get here something inside he goes, no, we're not gonna We're not gonna do that. I think that's what happened to me. I don'd what you're saying along with the responsibility. Well, I just like, I'm not sure that was for me. You know, I don't think it was for men. I know it wasn't because I'm so happy doing so right, and I mean, that's what I want to do. So you're telling me because that's a whole different part of your career because you were a legitimate signed artist, like signed, Yeah, like you had directly I was talking to aunt man who what is it? Pet and Austin now but it was a Nashville and he was like, I mean it was a huge fan whenever he's about your band. Yeah. Yeah. But so you did that and you didn't feel like that was like naturally you what it wasn't, man? I mean we we played country music and we were from I mean, Jackson, Tennessee was a special place. Memphis is right down the road. So I grew up playing in my brother's band. We played blues and played R and B. We kind of did that stuff. He's a great harmonica player and wonderful singer and songwriter, and so I did that and then the older you get, it kind of come towards Nashville, you know, because that's what's going on, and that just never really I mean, I love country, mean I love writing country music, but the thing of you know, play I want to play. I want to I want to kind of rock. I want to do that thing. And I got over that and later in life too, but yeah, it just wasn't for It wasn't for me at all. And we're going the opposite order because we were gonna get to yours. This is how the it's the best whenever you're just going. I like where this is going. This is good. It's called sick of Me. Sounds temporary, like did it was that kind of ahead of it? Did? I mean? This was my record idea over welcome to nineteen seventy nine, which is your neighbor over here. It's like a straight to tape, UH studio. That was the record my me and my band did after the UM record deal. We had what's the What's what song got the highest fee on the chart when we had a deal. It was a song called look Who's Back in Love? All right? What kind of memory do you have when you hear this song? What comes to your head? I Maine, not wonderful. Look on your face? Not wonderful, man. I mean I had a good time doing it. Did you know, okay, why you're doing this? Did you know that? Okay, I'm doing this, But really what I want to do is just write songs for you knew that even I came to town to write songs. I mean I was also third nine thirty, you know when I when I came to town, maybe a little bit earlier, but I came to town going I want to write songs. So we go take these meetings, and you do these meetings and they hear your demos and stuff, and they go, Man, you ever thought about getting a record deal? This is the opposite of every story. It is. And you know, and and Also, when somebody hands you and records, you go aunt. I can't turn down a record deal, I can't. I can't turn down a manager. I can't turn down this producer. I can't do that, you know, because it was a dream for people, you know, But my dream was I was, you know, writing. I wanted to ride. That's what I Once I figured out you could write for a living, That's what I wanted to do. Okay, everyone be the guy behind the guy behind the guy behind the guy. Every person that comes in here, he goes. I wanted to be an artist, but I wrote until I got to be an artist. I like playing in bars. I like I like sometimes sometimes and I do. My guys we still play together. We still go out and do some stuff. There's a bar down in two below, Mississippi, where I'm close to where I went to college, and this band will book the bar and then we'll just kind of show up and play, uh and kind of take over and other thing, but not advertise it. Not. I don't know. Someone's weird to me about about doing that. And I like playing cover songs. I like, but we did you're the anti everybody. Wow. I don't make no no that's what's amazing. You have so many songs. I'm just gonna run the real quick and we'll get back to them. But let's see you've written. What do your friends call you? They call you John or Jonathan, Jonathan? Okay, your friends call you Jonathan. Yeah, okay. I didn't know if I was gonna like the formal like Mr Jonathan. But if it's Jonathan, it's Jonathan. Yeah. Yeah, Yeah, it's a lot of syllables. It's a lot of Jonathan. Yes, it's it's I'm tired already, I was saying, Jonathan Singleton, I'm tired of here. Okay, so here we go. We're gonna run this quick and we'll come back. Joe the flat yours. If you want to just remember once Tyler farr it goes again, Gary Allen, let it rain David Neil that I love him all. Why don't we just dance diamond rings and old barstools. We're gonna come back, don't where, Because I got lots to talk about. This is the jam, like a lot of these are the jams, idn't this is the jam. I'm also such a Belly fan, and I love the fact that he just there's a drum and he beats it his own way. Yeah, and that's his drum and leave him alone. Yeah, and then he he's so good, so good, he's so uh David Neil, David Neil. So you have to remind this guy, and we're coming back. I'm gonna do this. Fore, I got it. You're such a big deal as a commercial during your podcast. Sleep number. Let me talk about that for a second. So I have a sleep number of bed. You know, this is the bedroom. You know, this is the bedroom closet. There's no clause this even considered a bedroom. Then, I don't know if you can call it. It's it's a bathroom. But this is listed as a bedroom in my house and there's no no closet. I you had to have a closet me too. So anyway, my real bedrooms like right there is how like low tech we are? This is literally bedroom. I have a sleep number bed. My sleep number setting is thirty. And maybe if you're listening to this, you thought about signing for a new bed. And I will tell you that I do love my sleep number two justs on each side. There's now the sleep number three sixty. It's so smart that actually senses your every single move and as you're moving, it automatically adjusts to you, so you stay sleeping comfortably throughout your night. And if you're it also pretty warms. So you have this thing, you can pretty warm your bed and the sleep Number has it and you can fall asleep. Say that my Sleepmer setting is thirty. That's because I went in the store and had it done for me. And you look at the screen. It shows your back and your neck and my sleep Iq score last night was in the nineties, the biggest sale of the year. Right now, say fifty on the limited edition beds now through Labor Day. You'll only find sleep Number in at the five hundred fifty sleep Number stores nationwide, eight hundred next bed or sleep number dot com. And you can be sure telling about say you, have you ever seen Abody do a lot commercial before? I've always wondered on podcast if they were just really doing that, if it was pretty it's kind of amazing to watch. You got to watch number so you write songs. I read it off peace paper. I would have stumbled all over that man. Okay, now where do we start. So my producer from Jackson, Tennessee, I've been John I went to the because Jackson actually is bigger than I thought it was. Now it's like a low big town, you know, low meaning McDonald's Walmart. Because I'm from Arkansas, and so I grew up in a talk on Mountain Pines, seven hundred people. You'd never know it, but Hot Springs was town. In Hot Springs at twenty, that was town. When you go to Walmart. Walmart was the first place in town. So when you go to town, you tell over tail the neighbors, Hey, well I'm going to town. You need to. But then Little Rock was a big city, okay, and Little Rocks half a size in Nashville. But growing up, Little Rock was a monster to me. So how far was that from? An hour? And once it's close, I guess we were really poor and we have good cars, so to risk an hour drive. We went once a year. When I turned thirteen and fourteen, my stepdad would take me to the Arkansas Travelers baseball game. We went to Little Rock once a year, double a baseball team, and that to me was the coolest. And I was going into the city. And when I moved to Little Rock, I thought I was in New York. City because they had tall buildings and Little Rock it's dangerous, right, and that horribly dangerous. Yeah, and it was so bad that they did banging in Little Rock on HBO. I've seen that because per capita, more gangs in Little Rocks than any city in America. Not the biggest city, so not literally the most gangs, but per the side, there were more gangs than anybody on this little so it's right there. We played the fair. I can't remember who we played, but to get to the fair rounds you go through. I mean it's super ghet up. Yeah, there's some hardcore parts. We were leaving I think we were in a van trailer and the guy at the gate he said, if somebody gets in front of your car and tries to stop you while you're leaving, just run over because they're going and probably serious. He was dead. Yeah, that's the thing he said, they're going to right if they if you stop, they're gonna rob you. I get held a gun point like a gun in my head. One of the times and Little Rock, I was at the there's a country bar called Electric Cowboy, and I went I was going in close to the gang Lander. You know, it's all and here's the and I grew up in a bad neighborhood. And the thing about bad neighborhoods is bad neighborhoods really don't rob. Bad neighborhoods they robbed on the edges of that neighborhood. They kind of go out a little bit. And so when you live in a bad neighborhood, you really don't worry about it because everybody's got guns. And so I would lectric Cowboy not really in a bad part of town, but right off the highway, and anything close the closer guard of the highway, it's kind of the sketcher regardless of the highwa if you're right on the highway, pretty dangerous. So I'm right inside of the the highway. Electric Cowboy go to the A T M. Put my card in, type of my number. Gun right to my head, oh man, like pressing on my skull with the gun and what do you think You're done? That's done? Game over. Oddly, I remember it so vivid and it was so not real because I thought, wow, there's a gun to my head. This is like what I see on TV. Every thought was right was with me. And he said, hey, which money you got in there? I was broke. I might have had like thirty one dollar and my my whole, my entire account, and I was like, I have no money, but I will give you all of it. And had a girl with me. That because my girlfriend, but I was kind of since I was like a nineteen year old DJ, I was cool because I no cover you kind of line. And so I had a girl with me and I kind of passed over my wallet to her and I put the card in and as she was taking her wall a person put under the car. On the other side, another guy goes doomed doom with the gun and puts a gun up against her head after she rolls the windown, so we both have guns at her heads. And all these guys got guns, so they obviously got more money than you did, more money, bullets. They win like they win. They have masks on and I can't remeb a pen. My pin numbers blanked and he's like, give me and he slams my head with the gun like he pistol whips me. I don't feel a thing. It was such a like looking down to my own I don't and I freaked out, almost collapsed when it was over because away and then I was like, oh my god, I'm gonna like until because almost I got jumped on at the radio station years later. But um until, I never explained because it was like super vivid, like I was. I was looking at the gun. I was looking right into the hole, going, man, all he's gotta do is take that muscle on his finger and squeeze it. And I'm not even gonna know the difference. And I remember thinking that, like, I'm not even going to know the difference. And so anyway, a little right school. So, um, Jackson was my point. I went to Jackson, and I stopped Jackson a couple times because I go through there to go to Arkansas. They're actually things were stuff. I got stuff. Yeah, yeah, there's I mean, is it considered Memphis kind of You're like seventy miles from Memphis, so you're is this is it? I mean no, not really because Memphis you talk about Memphis is tough. Memphis is tough. Yeah, Jackson is too. It's got, it's got stuff. But no, man, it's it's different. It's a completely different music scene. It's a different ball together. Memphis. To me, I got a Memphis. I mean, it's a blues town to me, for I think it's changed as of like they have like a country bars downtown and there's a losers down there, and maybe there is, but that does the culture still Yeah, it's still the same. Like if you want real Memphis music, you go to one of the blues bars. It's like in Nashville you can go to the honky tonks. But that's not right. You know, there are also places in Nashville and go where you kind of want to see the real stuff. See, you're in Jackson. You decided to move to town to write songs. But yeah, but you're so good they forced a record deal on you. That's that's how it happened. Here's what I figured out. I figured out that, uh, the more they said you should get a record deal, if I acted interested, I would get better at co writes, I would get better. You know, these guys where I was kind of jumping wrongs, we're abould have taken me three or four years to get rights with these guys. If it was Warner Brothers, you know, or or Sony or whoever it was, they would all of a sudden set me up with their biggest writer. Because I'm going to get a record deal now, and you'll have songs on the radio, and if you're writing, then those songs will probably exactly yeah. Yeah, So they're kind of trying to fast track, and I'm trying to kind of fast track and uh yeah. So I was in the room with those guys a lot quicker than I would have been if I just came to and didn't and didn't do the thing. And not to say I wasn't excited. I was excited about a record deal. I really was. I mean, I thought it would be a little different. I thought I would. I thought we were closer to what we were doing than than country was at the time, because at the time it was me and Randy Houser, Eli Young Band kept more uh Randy Montana, you know, a bunch of guys like that that we were kind of running with and uh and those some of those guys made it work, but I think we just it wasn't quite ready for that yet. Whenever it finally didn't work, And and when it didn't work, as an artist, did did they give you the hey, we're done or we're oh no, no, no, they they kept trying, yeah, without without sending the names, you know, I kind of I went in, Uh, they wanted to cut another you know, we don't, so we kind of cut the record and Dan Huff produced my record. I mean it was by the way, Dan great guitar player, great producer, even play like with Wallflowers, people don't the other time. He's great man. He's done everything, and people will mention Dan Huff and sometimes I don't. Kind of set it up. Dan Huff is like a guitar god. I mean all the way back to like White Snake. Yes, he was playing on I think he played on the Michael Jackson Bad record like that kind of good. So so yeah, Dan, Yeah, And that's kind of how I got there too. The first the first person I hooked up with in town was a girl named Katherine Blessing Game. He was Eric Church's wife. She's a publisher at the time, she's working for Dan. Then she's from West Tennessee. So when we kind of got together, we kind of had that in common, and she kind of lapsed on and set me up co writes and doing all the stuff. And and so she gets me with Dan and I go over and kind of do, uh, you know, play for him, and he set this close to me and watched me play guitar and and and sing and you know, terrifying all that stuff. So we do a production deal. He's going gonna get a record deal. We do a publishing deal and all that stuff. And I forget where I was going with that. Still worry. Uh, but oh how did it end? Yeah? Yeah, So we go we're three years in, we're a single, one single, two singles. Uh, and they go, well, they we don't think there's another single on this record. We want to go in and cut another song. And I just kind of said, I'm not really sure I want to do that. And that means another record if it works, like if you're cutting another song that they were going to add one more song to my record to make the third song, which they hadn't come out with the record yet. It was still um so I said, I'll go in and cut even if it breaks your heart, because Will Hoax, you know, there's a buddy and we're lighting one hundred. They were killing it, but the rest of the world had no idea what that about that song? So uh, they said, you know, we don't think that's a hit at all, and and uh, and so we didn't cut it, and then it kind of went away. The record company switched over to another thing over the holidays, and so I, you know, Monday more in paper to look at news music news, and I go, oh, man, my record company is not my record company anymore. And so I just called an asked off, you know, I said, I think I'm done, and I kind of knew. I was, what do you mean your record companies not your record boys. They had just kind of merger on music row, you know, so they had merged with another company, and uh, it's they were gonna be transitioning. Some people were gone that weren't there, and and and you felt like that was the time for you to go. It's a perfect time for me to say, if this is moving around, I think I'm just gonna exit, uh and and write songs. But at that time I also had four number ones I think that you had written but you didn't know. Still sleeping in a van, in the floor of a van, and you know, I've got I got I've got number one. I just feel like sleeping in the van being the artist as you've got four number one written by yeah somebody else doing yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You mentioned that will hope thing just decide note abody that one of my best buds, Eric pass Lay, Will and Eric right that song Eli Yorke was playing it out at the was that thing that we used to do, So that's where I heard it the first time, and then Will's kind of came out. So then Eli oh Ma gets its number one. Young man, But you as a songwriter, as you're writing all these hits, like, how did you feel that outside cuts? Well? At that point, I think I just thought for an artist wise, I thought, you know, if what I'm doing is not working, maybe I could make something. I just wanted to look forward to it on the set list, you know, which I kind of wasn't with what was on my record. It's so interesting. It's such a like a weird dichotomy of your You've got four number one as a songwriter, but you're you're struggling around, Yeah, because there's my lowest charting single as a as a songwriter or artist. It was my single. So I guess I'm what was your first song that you wrote? You didn't sing that you felt, man, I can actually write some songs and get on the radio like this kind of works. I mean, I was super super lucky man. Me and Jim Beevers wrote Watching Airplanes maybe four or five months into me being in town writting Wow that quick, It was real quick and such a such a jam. That was my first hold, my first everything. It might have been my first demo. This was your first hold, my first first hole turned into this song, into that song. Yes, very lucky. You're like, what, what's Who's the guy that's opposite of everything? I like on the Simpsons? The guy that's the opposite of everybody? Uh like reverse everything that the character? Oh, come on, everything is the opposite for you. A lot of my friends are ours, you know, dirty holds, no doubt. Then they get a hold and the album cut and they might get a single later on doesn't quite make the record your bizarrozar man, Well, it's not working that way anymore. I've definitely had something that didn't make the record. Love averages, dude, you got it all early. You've already peaked. Sorry, sorry, Watching Airplanes? Did you think it was gonna be this easy? Because here you go, you five months now, you're like, oh, I got this. There was a part of me and as Jim Beavers, who we I co wrote that song he said. And I made a joke one day. I said, oh this is easy, man, nothing to this. And he was like, hey, man, don't even make that joke. Man. He's like, there's dudes living in their car behind you know, the hotel over there on Demumbri And it's like, not funny at all, man. I said, damn, I'm just joking. There's that, but don't do it in front of anybody else. He was very serious, man, and I and I saw it too. I mean I had a super slump over you know, two years. I went a couple of years without without a cut at all. And you know, you know how you lifestyle creep and you see, you know, you're spending more money and you're spending moment and I said, you don't get any cut and it's like, oh man, we're in trouble, you know, uh, and you gotta make it work. Were you able to with that song kind of set your feet like by a house? Yes? Yeah, and like that it used to be that way. I mean, this is a terrifying thinking about about Nashville now. I mean even then, and that was ten years ago, two thousand seven, yeah, ten years ago, two thousand and eight, maybe Uh, sorry, Gary if I got that wrong, But uh yeah, you could still do that. I mean it was enough money two way. It was enough money to put a down payment on the house. No, you're not paying for it, but but we definitely moved to town on that song. I was still driving back and forth from from Jackson. You talked about a two way, and so what happens is when you write a song and I don't know what you're publishing, dells down these songs you have to turn in a year. But let's say you have to turn in ten songs. Yere, I'll just use that as a number. So if you do a two way, the only counts half a song half a song. If you do it three way, it's a third of a song. So it takes three songs to write one song. And so there's all this math to it. But if you also do a two way, like I was talking to Luke Bryan a couple of days ago and him and one of the guys from Old Dominion wrote Luke's new single and I was like, oh, Brad, Yeah. He was like me and Brad, you know, we wrote the song. He said, Brad took it and he's I thought the song was okay, but Brad took it and musically made it fantastic because because Brad is awesome. And I was like, you guys did a two way. He's like yeah, I said yeah. And then I asked him, I said, you ever write anybody yourself? Because that's almost super and that's super rare now that someone just goes, I wrote this alone and then it becomes something. And he said one time he wrote one song and made a record and it was not that good. He put one by himself. Luke him great writer, great piano, great musician. But what about you? Do you have any one way? Man? I don't, man, I've always said, you know, and as we're moving forward and trying to do stuff in town, you know, when you're even when you're producing stuff, it's like I'm a band guy, Like on stage, I want my drummer and my my guys. I want my guys, you know, and in a co writing room, I want another person at least to go. Is that right? You know? It's like and if you're standing there and oh there's nobody there. I'm doing this by myself. I can't think I could ever finish one. I mean I have finished them. But it's also so easy if I got Rodney classon tomorrow to go, I've got this verse, of course, why don't I just get him to help me do it? Which would be really smart for me to do that. So it's so hard to finish one by myself. I think if I did, it would have to be such a personal thing. I don't think it would be a commercial songs that makes sense, it does. Who's your go to? You have something You're like, I really feel good about this in my heart, like I I've got this groove or I've got this concept, and you don't. I don't even want to use the word waste, but I'm just gonna use it for the sake of this. And you don't want to waste it on a random calendar, right that you don't know the person who to? Who would you go to? When you call and you're like, I got this, we need to get together. I think we're super I'm super lucky. And that my schedule looks like a you know, U n s A ten songs. I wish I had written the roster, you know, uh so it's usually which everyone's next, but I mean it is Jesse and and Uh, I've just I said Rodney because I got Rodney tomorrow. Derek or Tan It was Andrew Dorff. Me and him wrote a ton of ton and oh man, there's all of them. Are you get one? You're on the deserted island? You have one song to write? Right? Who have one? You have one song to write? Man? You get one call? You have to write it. You have to write a love song, which is impossible. It's a love song. I'm even putting parameters on it because love songs are really hard because every angle has been covered, so you have different You have to write a love song. You have to write it tomorrow, and if you don't, it's game of throwing. Your head gets chopped off. Who do you call? Man? Cancel? Who am I pitching it too? Call him? Yeah? Right? So don't you know what I'll make it? You're you're pitching it to Dirk's Dirk's Oh well, I call Jesse and j all right, can I get a five way Jesse Jr? Dirks? So you called you called the team Jesse and Jr. Sure, I mean they're in that thing? Yeah? Yeah, that wasn't fair though, I mean, for sure, she's one of my favorites for sure. But I've got a lot of favorite Well, don't you avoiding it Sophie's choice? Yeah, pick one of the kids. Man, that is tough. I'll let you out of that one. We'll come back to more. Um. I want to know your side of this, because I know Blake pretty well. Tyler really well, guy walks into a bar. Now you're on the side of this. You're on a whole different side of this because you wrote. Now just I'm gonna give a quick story and you can fix it and tell me how wrong I am and the real story behind it. But Blake had it, Tyler had it. It's one of them had it, Okay, right, somebody had it, and Blake was going to cut it who regardless if you put him on hold first or not. But Tyler went and cut the full song and took it to Blake and said, dude, can I please cut this song? Will you let me have it? Is that? Is that? What's the story? I think it's been so long. I think Tyler remembers for sure. I do know this. I know I think this is the way it Actually. I just did an article about this the other day because I know the writer Emily Emily, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So but I think actually Blake had it on hold. He had talked to his uh had a person that works for him as a great friend of mine, so she had already talked to me about he loves a song, he's just thinking about making it. You know, his record are around this one song and he and uh So, anyway, I don't know if I knew that at the time. I can't remember how web, but somehow Blake had it on hold. And I played that rider U pub Crawl thing down at Losers and Tyler was there, and Tyler heard the song. So Tyler walked over to me and said, hey, man, what about that guy walks into bar soon? What's going on with it? And uh And I said, Man, I think if he wanted it's yours. But I would have said if it was on hold anyway, I think I'm not sure I would have changed my answer. My my publisher's asses and he's right here, man, you know. So I mean they kind of get on it, and they get it working out and and going on, and I'm kind of out. So in that situation, all I did was just made sure that Blake wasn't mad at me and that Tyler wasn't mad at me, whichever one day. But yes, Tyler, when he did cut it, that's what Tyle. I think Tyler told me that, So I think that's probably true that he went and was talking to Blake about it, and Blake said, well, let's here man, that's what If you messed it up, then he was gonna be mad. So he played it for him and he goes to a good job, man, did a great job. But I gotta ask you, as the guy who wrote it. And at the time, Tyler wasn't even Tyler, but he's Tyler still not Blake and Blake. Don't you want Blake to have this song? Because he's Blake Shelton and you know, if he's going to build a record, it's going to be a single and it's for sure going to be a hit. I'm so glad that's not my job to figure that out, and now I'm asking to figure out. But didn't you human nature, I wouldn't want to Blake to have it? Well, sure, I mean I have, I mean, well I've had a Blake cut, but I'd love to have a Blake single for sure. But again, hindsight so much easier to look back, weren't you. You had to humanly be like, oh, Tyler Farr, who was this dude? Like well, I know, Tyler, do buddy about it, and me too, like yeah, yeah, yeah, but it's a redneck crazy is nothing. And then here's this you know, but it's Blake. It's Blake, Like if he'm there are two racehorses, Yeah, yeah, I'm putting my money on the Blake racehorse more than in the Tyler racehorse. So a little say you have to be like, oh man, no doubt. That happens all the time. Why don't we just dance? I think Rascal Flats had on had on hold to cut and it sim it's like one's going in before the other one. There's so many factors to that thing. So Flats have it on hold. This Josh Turner who called? Who makes that call? I can't even remember. You don't know that. That's a publisher thing. So as songwriters, I'm always that I love your deflections. It's always as long as they hate me, it's fun. And that's a good thing. Because now I'm at the plage of my producer or even my manager, I'll be like, you know, what my manager, good, talk to her. You got to you with the man. We got fifty more years of them cutting our songs, you know, so why don't we just dance? Tell me by this? Who'd you write this one? With Jim Beavers and Darryl Brown? It's so weird, I bet, because you do a thousand rights and you have to remember who you wrote with. I know that's got to be impossible. And I'm like dory man, I don't remember what I did today, like the songs like I don't, I can forget them and I can walk away and then when they get cut, if I can listen to him, I said, oh yeah, I love that song. It's a great song. Uh flats holds it, flats holes, you're excited they hold Yeah. I was super excited. And then I forget who called who and how that happened that object Now I think Josh was cutting first. I think that's what happened. So Frank Rogers was doing that record and they kind of worked it out, and I think on that when they said if you go in and cut it on this next match, So he's got a day that he's going in to cut and said, if you cut it in this next batch, you can have it. And he did and uh and it and it it did. It turned out great, But it would have turned out great with Flats too. I mean, these are all great problems. Right, they're trying to it because it's a really great song, that's what you're saying. I would have done it number one, right. They're not great until they go number one. Man. Yeah, most of the time, I would agree with that. There's some songs that even I am on the radio, I'm like, I like, we're failing, Like the industry's failing because these there are some great songs that for some reason, some people somewhere are not playing enough and it'll lose its arrow and all of a sudden it's just gone, no doubt about it. Um. Yeah. I talk about Eric pass like She Don't Love You. The fact that wasn't a number one song, to me is one of the biggest disasters of this whole my or all of eric past like songs it should have been. Yeah, they're like, how that song. It's probably one of the best songs in the past five years. And I think it peaked like twelve or something like that, and then he still got a nomination for Song of the Year, and I was like, man, that's that's what you know what I'm talking about? Um all right, how but where's that coming from? What's it? Do you have a sign on that? Because I'm so people like to blame me for everything because on the face okay, like I literally have the biggest show and and and this is gonna sound really pretentious, but just looking at it, number of lives, they have the biggest show in the history of the format. Okay, because there really wasn't a large syndicated country show until the last five years. Okay, so syndicated how many, I'm only over hundred cities, and so I have five million listeners, So that counts for us a hundred times if you play at once. Um no, because some stations that I'm on aren't big enough to register a lot of so I have like to decease the Bostons, the Sacramentos, Austin's, the markets that spending media base. Those get registered and I have forty or fifty of those, and then it is a big total. And so what will happen though, is two I get in trouble because I'll play something because I love it, because I just won't play songs I like regardless, And they used to get me in trouble and now they kind of let me do my thing because I've had a little bit of success and just having a fair ear. But what happens. I'll play it and it'll it's like a huge jump up chart, but then if I don't play again the next week, it falls back down. So it's hard for me to expose music sometimes because you would have to keep it. I'd have to keep going with so we can keep the bullet. So I have to have to let everybody know you're gonna fall a week, and if I'm gonna play music, but you're going to follow a week, So it's exposure versus and it's a I had an honest come up to me once and um, she was drunk, so I I do kind of hold I give. I give her that about I played one of herselfs. I was fantastic. You know, I'm gonna say it was okay, let me let me tell a story. Then you you tell me how you feel about it. Because I love I love freaking music and I love exposing music. I don't care if I record deal or not, if I hear a song, and I think it's good, I'll just throw it on the radio on five million people to hear. And I've been lucky enough to break some artists and actually create careers. And I love that fact. But I don't listen to music early, like I don't take music early from artists. I listened on the day it comes out if it's a record. Um. But I'll find a song on YouTube, or I'll find a song you know, on Spotify or wherever and go. How is this? A good example would be Gwin Sebastian Catallite. Okay, I played it like two days ago and I just found it. I found it. I was on YouTube and I was like, poly crap. I don't know Randy Cole right, I don't know anything. I just heard it and played it on the air. And so I did this with X artists, this certain artists with a song and I played it and she came up to me like three weeks later and she was like the fact that you played my song in the air. I lost my bullet and they dropped a song and I was like, you know what, And that was the opening that was walked up to you and said I really didn't know her that well I didn't know her. Well you played my song on your thing and the drop and I lost my bullet. If there were words, it was like something like yes, wow. And I felt weird about that because one I was like wow, maybe I did. At the time, I did, because it has been a few years ago. At the time, I was like, wow, maybe I've run someone's career. But now I get more irritated as time goes by, because people are fighting for any sort of exposure at all period, and they're probably gonn drop the record anyway. No one's gonna drop it because I exposed it. They then have a story to go to other radio stations to go, hey, look at this. Do's not ahay, Bobby likes it? And so how how would you feel? I know this story. I mean, it happens, and it happened to me as an artist. You know what happened to me was you they book a radio show, and so they pump your single building up to their show that you have and Wisconsin wherever. So you're going up there and they play you and play you and play you and play you, and then the show goes. You can play the show and it goes. They make money for whatever charity, whatever they're doing, and then the next week they spins are gone, so you've lost. And for a new artist to recover from ten lost spins in a week is a big deal, you know. Uh, But I don't think I ever would have brought it up. I was appreciated those well while they were playing them. It was the record company's job too for them to continue playing and don't in your situation, doesn't your record company. No, that's the game, like that's going to happen, and they should have accounted for those being there and figured out a way to Yeah. No, I mean, and I played it one time, one time, and I'm telling Sorr, I'll get pist off again, haven't I haven't pissed off about it? This is probably a year. But I'm getting mad again. She's still around. Yeah, okay, well there you go. You didn't ruin her career. Manest that too much? But she Yeah. But yeah, but you're right. So if I have this weird thing where I don't tell anybody and playing their songs either, I never you have anybody heads up because I don't want anyone to go, oh hey, Bobby, So I'll find something. I love it, I'll play it and then I'm like, you're gonna suffer next week. Hopefully you have a story. Hopefully you know if Sometimes I don't have a deal, like Christiansen didn't have a deal. He pop got a record deal. Um. Sometimes they still stuff off the internet, like Marin I just don't hate off the internet and played it and it's not even a song she ever released or something she wrote. But I'm lucky I get to do that. That's awesome. But sometimes people yell at mean they're drunk and they're like, you run my career. Well, that is an odd place for you to be in if you want to do that, and then trying to figure out how to because you can't maintain that. It would be impossible. I can't play something one way then every week because that's all I've been doing, speaking all new and then thinking about new. My show is that large where the songs that I do play have to be such we don't play that much music. We played three or four songs in an hour, so they have to be monster hits. And when later in the day, when you're playing twelve songs an hour, you can sneak in some bees that are growing into hits, but I have to play the monster hits. I think I gotta fix for this. I've been thinking about it as a songwriter. I like it. So if I have Let's imagine I have Keith Urban's new single and instead of me writing a second verse, I just kind of leave that fifteen seconds for you to do the sleep number thing in the middle of it. How would you feel about that? I feel great about that, and so like number. Oh yeah, so everybody but Keith would like that, Like well, I would love to know second verse. And then at his show, you know, he could do some kind of like or something like that. You know, whatever it is, just leave it empty for a commercial every time thirty seconds he got the bag that kind of comes down a little bit, and here we go do the thing. I've been thinking about that a lot here right man, while I'm writing second versus too. How about this one here stool? I love that And that's me and Mary Dean and Luke there. I guess when do you feel like it's a longer shot? Absolutely, we never expected that to get cut at all. We were in the midst of fairy tales. The story a whole lot better than I do, and he's got it recorded on his computer. And I think he said, total was an hour that we worked on that song because we were working on some pop thing, some radio friendly, some radio friendly songs, waiting for the new artists that would that would come out and cut it. And we ran across this idea doing making fun of country, old country songs. You know, I think we were The song was dirty of course that we were kind of writting, and I think Luke, whatever dirty thing we were saying, it rhymed with bar stools, so he said, in your diamond rings and neural bosh. It was the main parents, Like, wow, man, that's really cool. So we kind of did our little artsy ballad thing with the and and got it out of our system and we went back to the to the pop thing that we were written, and somehow it got I think it's bad. Yeah, it looks like the wife that pitched it. And uh, and man, I mean Tim mcgrawn was out. I think I had three things on that record at that time, and so get Tim mcgrawl kind of amazing to me. Man, I was I was waited forever for that to happen. And uh, and then it being a single was a big deal to me. Was classy for a minute. Man, I've never been classy before. It is very classy because I think it's Tim and A Talk singing that one me too, Yeah, for sure, I think it's Tim and A talks, even not singing. Sometimes I just think it's Tim and A talks. Like right now, I'm just thinking about Tim and the talks. It's not a bad face, got that dress on, I don't care. I'm just thinking to Tim and to talk. Yeah, just working and just just doing cross fit and a talk, jumping jumping rope, and it's tough. It's funny because I have artist friends that will go out and do shows with him and he helps. He's serious four hours and Tim. Tim's had a lot of addiction problems, and I come from a very like my mom died in her forties from addiction. She drugs and alcohol. So and I'm a I've never I've never drink alcohol, and I'm scared I'll be that because I have a very addictive personality. I've heard never a drink alcohol. Yeah, I would love to have drinking alcohol, and I never I've not had one. I want you, like right now, I want to I want, I want to drink, but I've never had one because I know, like I've seen it. That's crazy. Man, Well good for you, that's awesome. No, no, it's not about me. Wait a minute. So when McGraw I get I need something to fill that space, and for him, it's working out. So I'll do it for like four hours a day, and artists to go out with him or like Tim highly recommends, we work out with them. And when Tim Holly recommends something, you better freaking do it, and the like it sucks. Bet it does because he's going after it hard. What are you gonna do? What are you gonna do? And then you gotta go work out four hours chugging beers on the side over there? Did you make his band do? What? You think a lot of them do? But I think a lot like some of that, Like Dino, for example, I don't know if you play fiddle form played fiddle Forum since him, So Dinas played fiddle forums since uh when they were living in an apartment together. That that long with him. Dino doesn't because he's been with him that long. Where you be like, you know what, Tim screw off? Like, what are you gonna do? Get hooked on something else? Yeah, play get hooked down video games because in I'm been. But okay, So how about so I knew Andrew, So you wrote you wrote this song? Here me and Andrew? Yeah, you and Andrew. And Andrew passed away. Andrew and I used to work out together, just at the gym, did the we go, and so I got to know Andrew from that, and I guess the new Andrew first for from writing one big songs. One is a big song. Yeah, I can't remember one. Maybe no, I wasn't wanted. I can't remember what it. I don't either, but it was one of his big songs. And so I got to know. I got to Andrew pretty well. And then I'm sitting in Austin. I placed there. So I texted me Dan from Nance was like Judy Andrew like drowned and I was like, what damn man, crazy crazy, just insane. Man. He was on his was his forty birthday, tripped over Christmas holidays and uh, I can't speculate me on what you know. His pomps told me something happened and he he drowned in the in the ocean. But man, what a great great rider. Man. It was that's gonna be a weird number one party though, because I know you've just had it. Yeah, it was last week, and so here you are celebrating a song yet celebrating a person, but it's still sad. What's that amout? It was everybody was real good about it, and those flat Skuys man, they're such good dudes, and they made it seamless, and there their version of of being an artist as far as you know, talk and the people in the crowd and stuff like that. It's just amazing. So they kind of made it okay. It wasn't said nobody made it sad. It was more a celebration of of of Andrew getting another number one. I think that was five that he's that he's had. But the worst part, I mean, we've been writing together forever to get a single, to get a number one, and that was the first one. So you know, as writers were we we we obviously think we're cooler than everybody else and we're not playing the same game that everybody else is. So we're tricking everybody when we get a number one. So we call each other as it's going up the charges, Oh we got him again, you know, it's it's going up and and that wasn't there on on that song. So it's just me at the number one party. So oh, that's got to be I didn't think about that, you know, just me. Uh, you know, his pops was there and brother was there and uh but you know, as far as you know, doing interviews and stuff like that, I just said, I'm not gonna do that, you know, because I didn't know what to say. I didn't, you know. And luckily the publishers and Mike Molnar's my postion and he's just great at that stuff and he made it. Yes, it has been a sweet, but let's talk about the sweet, you know, and we kind of moved home from there. Uh, that's been real tough, man. I mean, you know, also your immortality as a you know, it's a buddy that was a friend, you know, not to mention a writer that we're sitting the room and share stuff that people are not supposed to share them and we have to. We're talking about love, we're talking about death, we're talking about all this stuff, and you got to kind of shed that stuff off to to get to where you're going, uh, to get a song on the radio. So it's pretty awful, man. I mean the video was you know, kind of got me pretty good. Uh. I never thought about it. The thing about you being alone at the number one party. Yeah, well, I mean, you know, a Flatts and number there. But we're supposed to be we're supposed to be half five and we're supposed to be doing the thing and uh yeah. And then every time the song comes on, you're like, oh, there you go, man, another remind under the scratch of Scab again, you know, And dude, I love hearing it on the radio. It was great. Oh but yeah, it's tough those Flats guys there, and I'm I have good relationships with him now. Some artists that do something I don't have any relationships. Not bad, but I have a good relationship with Flats like them, great guys. I like that. And it's funny to talk to them now because they dropped off for a bit. Yeah they were. By the way, they're they're in the legendary status, no doubt it. And to go from legendary to dropping off, which is what happens normally, you achieve your peak and then you kind of don't move forward because if you move forward, you getting out of what your groove is, and then if you get out what your groove is, your probably odds are you're not gonna be able to so people stay. I was talking to Ross Cofferman last night, you know, Ross, Yeah, So we were talking. I was talking and we were talking about how art we're talking about, like a Matchbox twenty versus of Coldplay comes out relatively around the same time match present earlier. But how Matchbox twenty just kind of stopped and stayed in that sound. But Coultlay continues to push boundaries. And so with the flats, they had the Matchbox twenty and they kept making the same thing and the sound went past them, so they dropped off. They had to wear with all. Somebody had to wear with all. And actually it comes back to them because they got to be the ones to sing the songs and make their final yeses to go. We're gonna let younger riders write what we think that songs, Yeah, that fit what's gonna make the radio now, And that's a pretty smart thing to do. Still, still, I think I appreciate your welcome very much, very very much. So I think the existence of uh Shay as a demo singer was good because he sounds like Gary, Yeah, that's a thing. That's the real thing that I think helped both of them, yes, in their careers. So just talking about flats and how they were able to go, Okay, we hit the peak. They peak. They were the biggest thing. They were. I mean it was so big there, yeah, every the world. Told my little boy on the way over, I said, you know that Chors movie with the thing at the end. I was like, that's these guys And he was like he hadn't he didn't care at all. Oh, but my five year on the who it was. They were so big there was no way to maintain that saying. And they're so cool about it, and they felt and then they got two number ones in a row and another one and here they're they're back. Now they're relevant. It's really hard to be relevant. It's really easy to not be relevant. It's almost impossible to be rerelevant, no doubt about it. And they've done it. And that's what I and I told him and I was like, hey, by the way, this is this might be an insult, but you guys fell off. And when you fell off and came back, that's like the hardest thing that's harder than just making it. So what was that gap in there? A couple of years? So where was the last song? What was the big So I'm not going to have the last one because they had a couple that just did okay and but there there Rascal Flat. They shouldn't have an okay song. That'd be like Blake, I have a song peak at seventeen. That doesn't happen to Blake or Luke right now. Yeah, if they don't have a number one, that's a failure. Like Blake's had one song that's not number one, and like the last twenty five songs and it was that Got Away with Words that was the only one that didn't go number one. That's impressive. And so yeah, those flats either there that that to me, it's like somebody's smart in that group. It's probably not Jay, I'm kidding, I know it is. J J is the producer of That's killing He's killing his bottom. His studio is fantastic over there, and he's so good at it. And he just did that h Ronnie Dunn record too. It was great. Man. Yeah, he is so like people don't even know because they just know him as a Rascal flat but as a producer and yeah, as if a guy who hears things and later like he's so fantastic. He could just be a producer. He could be when you what was this song that you cut? First thing you heard and you're like, holy crap, like that, I can't believe this artist cut my song? And maybe it was Gary Allen, but maybe like when when what artists cut your song? I was like this, okay, no, this is a different level of cool. Maybe it wasn't even a big song, but such and touch as voice is on something that you your brain put words on. I mean, I don't I don't know if I was impressed by a certain artist. I was super super proud of that David new things that were happening because they were so different when they came out, and and I thought we were kind of taking a step forward, uh in in country music and doing something a little different. And frankly, they'll made those records sound so good and and and David's voice, I thought it was something different for country. I was I've always been super proud of those things because they are kind of rocky kind of things that are that are going on in those in those teams like Nights on Fire, like before Let It Rain, Let It Rain was probably favorite thing, Like I can sing his face off, down down, It's it's it's like an investing game with you guys. I'm lucky enough to get to talk to a lot of songwriters. It's like long term investing. Yeah, you get in and and and kind of lay the groundwork and then I hope that you get front of everything. You're just freaking weight. Yeah, I don't want to call you like, you write a song and maybe in five months it is going to be something, maybe, but probably it's not. Probably not. Yeah, chances are not. Like a major league ball player, you're bout three hundred, that's a Hall of Famer, right, we're just hitting how many? So you're going you're going three ten? Yeah, we don't do that. So I'm gonna ask you the question for you, how many songs to get a cut? We want to say a single, how you're write how many songs? Let's play a little math game to get a cut. What's what's just? I just sold a little catalog and they were seven hundred something songs and there so that's over. You know, ten years of of of riding and I probably got singles. H Well, I mean I got six number ones to number two's if we're counting the ones I made money only. I mean, if that's all you're counting, so that is seven hundred, so a little more than one percent. Yeah, one, not even one. That's not even one hundred. That's not what's it's barely ten. Like you're batting about ten. Wow, And that point is and that's I'm not making. You're a very successful songwriter, but that's the fail. You failed. You have to be able to fail absolutely like you have to be over. And I think that's that's my thing of letting the songs go. You know, if I hold them and I and I created them and I rock them to sleep at night, and I go and I go, man, why is this not a hit? How how are we not making this a hit? Then I can get my feelings hurt about it. But I don't. And I usually when I hear and they call and say, hey, so and so it's got this song on hold, I go, which one is that? And when they play it, I go, oh, yeah, I know that. Uh, but yeah, you forget about them. I totally forget about it consciously, like I think consciously. Yeah, because I do kind of track stuff too. So I'll write the song. I don't do it in the room, but I'll write the song and usually i'll cut a demo of it, and then I'm done. I can walk away, uh and let everybody else do their things. Do women exactly, No, it's not I get no women. Yeah, yeah, I just like to say that. I thought it's not cool, but yeah I can. I can forget, man, I can easily forget. And uh so I don't. I don't kind of create them and hold it seems like a healthy thing. It's gotta I mean, that's the only way I know how to do it. Oh but when they get on the radio, I mean I watched the thing I get, I get super excited. Yeah, I can see what the anxiety would come when you're getting closer. It's almost like Christmas, Like I don't think about Christmas one as March exactly. Yeah. That's a long time now, you know. I mean it's you can go nine I mean nine months would be generally a short period of time. You would go twelve months and go a year, and unless it's a Blake or Luke or you can go twenty weeks, thirty weeks. I mean, I remember Craick Campbellton fifty four. What was the long Libri Libris did one that was was the longest. It was like fifty eight weeks or something, I think was it. Red Light was fifty two weeks, and Lee beat him with the fifty That that means that's this artist single for an entire year. One song, one song, and they're grinding it on the radio tour and in that and they're playing there every in every office across the United States, over and over and over again. You don't want to do that, no way, dude. Tell me about the Luke home stuff. Yeah, man, Uh, Luke's awesome. Man, what a great artist. Expect for the format too. And now, So I was at I do all those whiskey jam and and I don't play that much anymore, but I played the first whiskey jam, so Ward makes me do the anniversary every year, and then the ten roof revival. I played the first, so I I just to go do that every year. So I was playing one more night, me and Randy Montana played, I think Eric Dillon played, and Luke played, uh super early that night. He was kind of new in town. This is a year and maybe three four months ago, uh that all this is going on because they just had another anniversary. And so me and Randy is standing the back talking and we hear this guy start playing. She's got kind of man this dude, you know what's going on here? So we kind of make our way. We kind of jogged, We kind of jogged back there, and so when we get back there, by the time we get there, he's in the middle of hurricane and everybody singing the song. So we're on our phones like, jeez, man, is this guy? So you're looking it up iTunes And it was so weird to me that as music industry people, we had no idea and he was killing this Spotify kind of weird of social media thing that was happening. And so I talked to him that night. Luckily he was, you know, a hunter and uh, and I had some stuff in common with him and took him. Randy took him, uh, turkey hunting. I took him deer hunting, and we kind of made friends and we wrote something a little bit and and I literally text him one day and said, hey, man, what would you think about doing a co venture with me and the big Machine. He said, dude, I'm in And that was kind of it. But maybe a month or two before he got his record deal, and by that time he was was twelve million spins on on some Spotify thing that had been on there for two much and it kind of blew up sore. So a coventure. So I write for a big machine and Scott buchett is publishing company, Mike moan On runs it. So, uh, me kind of being in town for a little while, so I'm you know, ten years in so uh, I can kind of get access to some guys that they can't really get access to. And so my job and so it's a literal co venture in that we are co publishing Luke. So you own a path or a part of a part of of Luke. Yeah, I get fifteen. So I also get his lunches on the road too. So he has to give me whatever portion, it doesn't matter it call anything that he owns at this point that before he does off the top. So I get the whip cream. No, but so yeah, we're just we're splitting it down the middle, and uh, you know those guys I've been down the artist thing I've done the writer thing, and I'm not trying to I'm not gonna I'm not trying to super play the game. And I'm obviously not slick, but I do know when somebody's trying to get you. And I think my thing was just you know, hey, man, I'll make sure nobody gets you to try to get you some cuts and you know, we can admin this these these songs and stuff. And he was super down for man, and we've become really really close friends, and and uh, I'm super proud of that. That's my first number Hurricanes, my first number one as a publisher. So like the Sun and the Rain was driving thunder, laughing, you're wrecking? What kind of money is that? If you're getting it in one of the publisher versu as a writer. A good question. You don't know yet, it's not it's not. It's nothing slow, yeah, super Sun, it's all slow, like I like my women. Yeah. And I think you know, he had this record done. He had he had done this. He've been playing the same record out for two years, you know. Oh, so they had kind of been slow building this whole thing before he got to just Son. He took his record that he had and just put it out. So, I mean, I didn't write any of those songs with him. We just kind of add me in that stuff, plus a little bit of of his publishing. So I mean, my my game is betting on him down the road. And I'm so glad I did. Man. I was like, I mean, we kind of just closed their eyes and swung and hit a home run. I mean, there's nobody expected. I don't think. I don't think Luke expected it. I don't think anybody expected him to do what he's doing right now. I think it says so much for country music because the guy. I mean, I think you can look at the guy and go, he's obviously a good dude. I think it that comes across in his music and his live performance. Uh. And I think that's gonna go a long way. And I hope these guys are gonna do more stuff and in country music. That's that's the guys I want to write songs for, you know, writer, artist, publisher. I'm trying real hard. I have other clubs. I'm just kind of I like to end on a high note. I don't think we've hit one yet. Uh, you know, you know, I'll say this real quick, just because I produced Tucker about third I did, yeah some of that stuff. Yeah, what you produce from Tucker that one. Now none of the stuff that was that has been out. So I just did three songs and then me and Dan Huff did another batch of two, and then I think Dan went and cut another one. So why do I have fight like hell up here? Why don't have that up here? Is that on his that? So that's my demo that I did. And then so that's just me and Tucker playing everything that I think he released on Spotify or something. Yeah, he released there. I'm a big Tucker fan. I love Tucker's trouble he yeah, And I got to like, I'm hung around with Tucker in social settings and I like talking a lot because I was honest and that all I want with people as consistency. If I can just get, I don't care who you are, just if you're just honest and consistent. I am down. Like we're going and like I'm not trouble on the opposite of trouble, Like I'm a big one, right, So we we wouldn't really we don't hang out because Tucker goes harder, he goes hard, but I like Tucker a lot. He's great man, and dude, his music this is if. And you know it's polarizing, yes, but if you're if, if we're complaining about everybody's been asking for something different, something different, something different, and this is different. There's no doubt about that. And and you can't complain about it when it gets here if you you put your skin in the game, if you don't want it to be that, but it's different, man, and Tucker's I mean, give anything for it to be to do that all the time, and he's so excited about it, and it rocks and it feels good. And oddly the songs have a great message most of the time, which is insane for such a young kid. I hate the mom and she just didn't hit. I love that song. I thought it was. That was brilliant, Thanks man, thank you. I love that because Tucker. Tucker was one of those I found online and brought in. They weren't ready to put him on radio. I remember that. Yeah, Yeah, they were like, holy crap. Because Tucker called me. He said, was that your show? He's to play a cover song? Yeah, because I I don't know any covers any He first of all he called, So I play, um, Tucker's hit. I went to number two? Um was what was the Tucker's Day hit? Rock on rock? So I hear it online. I was do a EP, you know, and I'm like, this song is freaking awesome. So I just played on the radio one day. They weren't ready for ready, they didn't have pictures they press pictures yet, and I'm like, who, big machine. You gotta get Tucker on the studio. They bring him up. He's then the company like wow. So he's then the on the verge artist. So it's a flying up the chart, right, and so Tucker's inn and you know, I get to know Tucker a bit, and I don't even wasn't a point of the story, do you remember? Because I had a good point whatever it was. Imagine there was a good point rock on his EP. Yeah, they weren't ready yet. They weren't ready. I don't know. It's probably something like I did something awesome. Oh, so tell me about the cover song. Is that what it was? Yeah? I think that's what sidetracked me and run the story. When he said yeah, but they don't know how it is supposed to go. He came in and he played Mom and Jesus the first time too. He just played as a song before the single, and I was like, Oh, this dude is like the real deal, Like this is not even a kind of deal or a kid can sing like Tucker is the real deal. And it's just what Tucker. It's a matter of time. Yes, I think so too. There are a few people like Tucker, like the Aubrey sellers, the people that are on just on the fringes doing what people are saying, weird different things. That that's gonna be the main thing. It's just a matter of time when does it fall and be the main thing. So yeah, that the Tuckers thing is going to get a hell to get there. He's such a great if he hadn't seen him live and that, it's just it's fantastic. Well, we've done over our I just don't do this a long with people. But I get I've enjoyed talking, man, I've had fun. I'm pretty good. Huh you're crazy, Yes, yeah, well I don't. We're no more we have any more bed commercials or anything. We're good there. Man, you're supposed to do the blue ribbon thing man and blue Apron Blue ribbon. We'll try to get them on that. That's the dance club down the street path Flue. All right, Jonathan Singleton, I appreciate it. I I really had a good time. I don't even feel like I was an interview and you feel like we were just hanging out. All just wasn't recorded. Oh we gotta start the whole show. Now you did the real one, so you do the thing. Yeah, I was warming pre interview, pre interview. Yeah, alright, episode seventy six. Thanks to sleeping Number, Jonathan Singleton, you can follow hi him um in his truck. Yeah, just get behind me. Yeah, it just turns behind Thank you very much for coming in man. All right, well, well we'll see you next time.