#63 - Jessi Alexander: Singer and Writer of The Climb and I Drive Your Truck

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Speaker 1: All right, welcome to episode sixty three of The Bobby Cast and with Jesse Alexander. Jessie Hello, I have a lot of clips with her. What I like to do when we start this is just kind of run through these and we'll come back. We'll come back to him. But let's see. These are some Jesse Alexander songs that you may know. Here's I Drive Your Truck from Lee Bryce. Alright, this one is this the one, that's the one. It's definitely the one for country music. But the Climbs, that's and and I'll come back. That's the first time ever saw you play you play the climb. I'll talk about that in a minute. But the climb, Holy cow's mildy. The climbs is always going to be another mountain. I'm always gonna wanna make him move, always gonna be in a bill battle sometimes at this Blake Shelton, mine will be you sing background plan, drink on it. I thank you, and I should just drink. One of my bestest friends, Eric pass Lay song about a girl, A girl A song now that's climbing the charts. Morgan wall in the way I talk, it's sad that around the male knot out we're gonna come back to these, but I like people to have an idea of the brilliance they're about to listen to, so they know. So you and I'll type of the first time I ever saw you. So I was. I do a lot with St. Jude, Yes, And I was at the St. Jude Country Cares And normally I can't stay the whole weekend because of work, but it was the one time I got to stay. And it was you and I think your husband the other there too, and John Oates was it, yeah, and John Oates was John Ates and somebody else I can't remember. Frank Sinatro, yes, azing around. So you're up there. I didn't know you were. I didn't know anybody was. I still don't know people are for the most part. And I was like, she started telling the story about the climb, and I was like, whoa, she wrote the climb? Like I love that song. And then I started thinking, you know what, the climb does kind of feel like a country song totally. So when you wrote the climb, first of all, did you write it in l A to write it in Nahville? I wrote it here. I've been writing songs for nine years as a published songwriter nine years, been writing songs, trying to get cut. They've been paying you for nine years. Yeah, so that song was really written, you know, out of frustration. I mean, you listen to the lyrics. I'm really talking to myself. You know. We me and John maybe, my co writer, both really underdogs at that time. We both neither have had I had cuts, you know, I had like that's Patty Lovelace whatnot. But I've never had like a song on the radio that really is doing doing something. And it's, like my mentor told me, it's like it's almost like you've been hitting swinging for so long. I mean, finally when the ball hit the bat, it just it went and I just I couldn't believe it. I remember Miley seeing her at the b m I Awards and she said, we're about to go five formats with the song, and I was like, no, you don't understand. That doesn't happen for me. I've been here nine years, Like that doesn't happen. I'm wondering how the song goes from Nashville and writing room there and it lands in Miley's hands. That's great story. Actually, um So I was writing at Disney at the time, as in my probably first or second year there, and my publisher, Earle Sa Ramsey found out that they were coming here to make that handham Ontana the movie here in Nashville, and she's like, wait a minute, gonna come here to Nashville and you're not going to use any of the Nashville songs and songwriters because at that time all the Disney franchise stuff was basically written out of l A. So she like found the director Peter Chisholm and talked him into coming to our office in Nashville while they were scouting locations, and we literally put on like an old school picking like with guitars, like we just played songs that we loved, and he was taken by my voice, and you know, just we hit it off and he said, would you please just make me a CD and you know, put some songs on there. And I thought, oh my god, this is my moment, and I didn't have anything. The song that we wrote was called It's the Climb. It was a guy song John Maybe was singing it. It was a little more spiritual. But he called us like a week later, said if you'll rewrite this song, I'm going to rewrite the whole movie around this song. And you' what does that mean? Because I had written it more it headlines like these prayers are praying. You know, it was very much more spiritual. It's more adult. You gotta remember Miley Cyrus was fifteen at that time. So we did. We rewrote it and sent it back and he was like, you don't understand, Like she's gonna be She's gonna be writing this song in the movie, like this is going to be part of them the whole movie. But I still didn't believe him. I just thought, No, there's gonna be some l a writer. It's gonna beat me, you know into the song. Someone's going to write a better song. Is that because so many times you get told something at the last minutes. Yes, by that point I was so used to know that, Yes, I couldn't even understand that, And um, it was so odd to have something so much about my struggle be the thing that gives me success. Do you know what I'm saying? Like how does that happen? You know? And it was just such a blessing just to watch my dreams come true and now I get to see, you know, people on the American idol sing it. I've seen, you know, I've had letters from people that use that during chemo treatments or aroundom marathon, to my daughters sing it at her pre K graduation. You know, it's just it's like the song that people have taken so personally. I love this song. I played it because I was on poperating at the time. I played all time. Yeah, I had no idea you were influencing my life even then. So I have the climb. Is this her singing a Mike? Okay? And christ is that what this is? Yeah? Well here Chris and Morgan, here we go. It's so al it's gonna be another mountain. Hold on? What is this from this? Sounds amazing? I made a record, Bobby with that song after Miley put it on. Yes, when you tell me I want to bother one? When did you make this record? Like a couple of years ago, Dirk's this sing in mine would be you with me day? Okay, hold on, let me hear this. Let me tell you it's any good? Hold on, let me listen. Who's on this track? This is Chris Stapleton in Morgan Stapleton in me. Okay, So it's gonna be another mountain, always gonna want to make and al it's gonna be in up Peel bad. Sometimes I'm gonna have to hate about how fast again, hat about waiting only use. Yeah, it's the class these BOOSUM prey chances, UM take it? Did you go back and make the original version on your record? I just kind of sang it the way we wrote it. Um. This whole record that I made is really acoustic. Um. People will come hear me play and they'll say, gosh, I love your version of I Drive your chuck. It's so different coming from a female's perspective. So when I made this record, I wanted them to have a Bluebird experience, Like literally, I want them to walk away after just seeing me play the Bluebird and put it in and be like, that's exactly what I just heard. So the common denominator is me and a guitar, my husband I get the guitar, and Richard Bennett. It was very sparse the way we recorded it, but on every song there's a special guest like Sheryl Crow sings on it, Charlie Worsham. Um, We'll hope like I've got all my friends singing kind of a special feature of the song. So I'll bring you on. I'll just download it when you leave. I don't even have a disc play. I don't have a discal You have a disc hoal in your life, No, I don't have a discoal either for anything, So I haven't You have a much CD laying around. People give me CDs all the time, Like, I don't know what to do with this? What's it? What's the name of the record? I felt so ignorant called down Home because me and brothers I was born wrote a song on their record they recorded as well. Um, but Christofferson is on there, and there's some really cool songs that I wrote for the record. Man, look at you. I remember the first time meeting I was timitated to talk to you. I told you this. I was like, I'm such a big fan because I saw you play and then I knew what you had written a songwriter geek, and and you're really nice to me and not nice? Isn't nice? You were very friendly, You're very warm. There's a difference in nice and warm, and you're very warm to me. And I was like, man, people aren't warming to me because everybody's like, either scared because they I'm get on the radio and say something about them, or they just don't like me because I said something about him. Well you might have said something about me if I did. It was awesome. I said, I want to Okay, so let's Miley the clan. That's that was my introduction to you. That was the one. What's the third clip of the Mica over here? There's one of black whites? Okay, no, we'll see Okay, Okay, we did that one. So I drive your truck, Lee Bryan. I mean that one, one, one everything. I mean that's did. That's because I wonder what the Miley song inside of our little bubble here in Nashville. If that really made you like whoa She's because I wouldn't think it would, didn't. It was very surreal because you know, I'm a Nashville songwriter. I grew I grew up. You know, I wanted to write country songs like he stopped loving her today. That's my bar, you know, so you know, I'll be honest. I don't listen a lot of pop radio. It wasn't influenced by pop radio, so it was so weird to have a number, you know, one song on pop radio number in fourteen weeks at number one on a C and all these formats that I didn't really listen to and other country. So surreal. Yeah, and so you're right, like I thought it would open all these doors in Nashville, but really what happened was it was almost like all these day and our people and people that have been looking at me all these years, it was almost like they went, oh, ce, she should have been doing that, you know what I mean. It was it was and it really kind of messed with me too, like well, maybe I should have been writing female songs all this time, like maybe you know, it was a head trip and it took two years. It was kind of this crash, you know. It was like this high having the song and then nothing else happened. And it was because that's not the kind of writer, um, you know, because they're Disney was like, you gotta go to l A. You gotta write, you know. I got to write with some incredible l A writers. But I got out there, It's like, this isn't I'm a Nashville songwriter. What's the difference. A lot of friends go out in there right in l A. And there let's come back and like, not for me, But what's the difference in l A rite the Nashville, right? I think it's just the like craftsmanship. You know. I'm I'm raised on hooks and you know, lyrics basically, I mean that's everything for me. A lyric and um out there. It's like, you know, you're bringing that to the party. But it's all happening so fast. The way they write so different. I'm very Sixteenth Avenue. You know, I grew up wanting to be Harlan Howard and those kind of writers. So I think they knew I was an imposter too, you know, but they come here now because they want to get away from that environment. Yeah, you know, I'm Alo Black come into the studio and he said, I don't know if you know Alo at all. He said, um, you know, he's an R B singer. And he was like, I came here because people really write songs here. Yeah, And I think and I'm just paraphrasing, and he's like, in l A they just kind of turn out music. In Nashville, they write songs. We craft. We're craftsman. I mean, we were making the finest cabinet you can make of the finest shoes, like we don't we're going deeper than the surface. Um. And I respect pop music so much, like you know, the way what they can do with the melodies and tracks and and lyrics. But it's just, you know, I grew up on country music and certain kinds of songs. So that's my bar um. And so what happened was I had to reinvent myself, believe it or not, after going in twleven, after I had this huge song, UM, I had to re change everything. And that's when you know, I was writing female songs. I wasn't get anything recorded, and I remember thinking, I've got to just start writing men's songs. It's really not that hard. I love men's songs. I grew up on men's songs, you know. So my first coming back to that was one of the first co writes of that year was Rodney Clawson and we wrote Drink on it, and that was I had to prove myself why I'm a girl being in a man's room. You know, I had to retra so write this. We wrote that with John Randall and my Husban and it was like finally I was like, yes, you know, I've got a man song. I mean, that's what I needed to then kick into mind with you and I drive your truck. Well, let's talk about this one for a second. So you're right, drink on it. And when do you know that one? Blake has put it on hold because it's a process. Put it on hold, then cut it. Then it's a single like walt Me through those Steps. Okay, this is a great story. Actually, you know, me and Blake Shelton have been friends for a long time. Um, but he's very cryptic and mysterious when he's when he's going into cut. So I didn't even know they cut it until two days after they cut it. Yes, and you know believe actually, me and Rodney and we we are we liked the song. We all you know have fibbed and stuff. But it wasn't like that's a smash, you know. So we recorded it and then he recorded it and they put it there. Yeah, you're right, but it was still just like holds a hold. I mean, I'm sure you've heard that term. We say it all the time, like I get holds, you know, but it cuts. It's a big leap between a hold and a cut. And um, so he records it and then he I was pregnant with our twins. He asked me to come sing on it because I sang on the demo and that was a really cool experience. Um, and then um, the weight is am I going to get a single? Because in my world, if you don't got a single, then you know, it's really hard to make a living now with you know, piracy and everything. So um, the day before I went in to deliver the twins, I get an email from Scott Hendricks, which is his producer and like label head, and he said, I just want you to go in knowing that you have the next Blake Shelton single. And so I have brand new babies and I had a song go number one for two weeks, one for each twin, and they don't go number one for two weeks very often. That's actually a big deal. And so think you and I should just dress. Was it the first single off the record? I can't remember what was before it, It was maybe third or four. So do you start to wonder after the first one and something like, oh, am I gonna get And you're probably already listening to that, going well, this song is probably going to be the single and not not not ours totally, and so you get the and then do you believe it though right when you get the email, or do you still think and have that can eurosis of oh, I wonder somebody who's gonna change their mind. I still go through that, but I have a lot of now. I mean, you know, I've got faith that you know, I'm supposed to now. I feel like these songs are supposed to be heard and sometimes you know, like drive your Truck and those songs that're it's like they're bigger than me. So I mean, I don't I was really scared of that one. That was the third single that the song had already been released on the album, and I remember us thinking, gosh, someone's going to rewrite that title or that concept. You know, we're sweating it. And he came a woman like you and then he came with hard to Love. You know you're on DRU but it I mean, yeah, we we I'm worried right now. Songs I have out, you know that you know, where are they going to release it? And they may never. So let me talk about express pros for one second. 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Express never charges the job secret To find employment, visit Express pros dot com and go today Express Prose dot Com, apply online Express Prose dot Com, or visit an office near you today. Okay, so I do want to talk about um Let's I have a lot and I have some notes here. How about let's just talk about Lee Brice for a second. And this wasn't the first single from the record. Here's the third single, the biggest. This was this is his career song. Like I mean, not easily, this is his career song. You know what's always awkward and I don't you don't have to deal with this because you're the writer of the song. But you know what's awkward for an artist because it is such a powerful song, is that Lee or artist A will go places. And people don't know that songwriters write songs a lot of the time for the artist, not all the time, most of the time. And so do you know how many times he was asked, hey, when you wrote this song? And he had to be like, I didn't really write I didn't write the song. How does that make you feel that it's a really listen. I'm lucky enough that I know better because I have friends that are songwriters, but I don't. Most people don't because it's just not a thing that's put out there. I know. I think that that's why I was horrible at being an artist, because I've never really wanted to be in the front. So it actually makes me just kind of smile inside knowing that you know it doesn't offend me. I mean people thought Miley wrote that song, you know, and they think every artist writing so and so, and I get that default awkward though for Lee m M, I don't. I mean, he's been so he's been so supportive, but I can see because he is a good songwriter, he needs to be support That's the biggest song of his career. I mean that changed it. He had hits, but but there are career songs, you know, just in the past two years. Uh t Rette die happy Man. That's a career song. Um, I mean even for I mean, Sam's had a few, but this last one body like a back road, It's gonna cross over and that's his career That's Lee's career song. Yeah, and that's what put him. So you go and you win? Because I were watching the award you won what with that song? A C M and C M A and A N S A. I did? I Actually my friends like the President, Lee, So do you have do you go and talk? Like in d C? I used to a lot, but I kind of did. I did a lot of those and smart like I'm gonna I'm gonna do it again. I'm gonna do it again. But yeah, right, sing you go testify from testify do so, you're right, Okay, I want to know about the process if I drive your truck. This is a great story. Okay. Connie Harrington, who I had written a ton of songs with, Okay, remember this is the era where I was overwriting female songs. If I never I'm done, I'm I'm gone. Bro. I'm like, I'm a dude. I'm like, I'm walking in the door. I'm thinking like a man. I've got to make a living. I've got three kids. I mean that's literally all. That's where my headspace was. So Connie and I even looking at the book that day, thinking, well, me and Connie, we're gonna write a female song. You know. Um. She she has her all these notes, she always has all these great song ideas, and she came to this one and she couldn't even talk about it. She started crying, and I knew that was the one we were going to write. She finally gets out. Okay. She's driving home from Dixon, Tennessee, to Nashville. She's listening to NPR and she kind of hears the middle of this interview. It's a father talking about his son who had lost in Afghanistan and the interviewer says, what are you gonna do to any your son? And he just says, I don't know, man, I guess I'm just gonna go drive his truck today. Connie, being an amazing songwriter, she has pulls over with post it notes and starts taking down everything she can about this truck. And that's all she had. She I mean, it wasn't I don't even if it was really that title. It's just the concept. And I just remember thinking, we just can't mess this up. This is so important. Grief something that I've dealt with a lot in my life. I've always wanted to write a song about grief, being on the other side, you know, being the person that has to deal with you know that. And it was instantly like we're just writing, writing, writing all these you know things about this truck. My grandma kept my granddaddy's truck and Jackson, Tennessee, where I'm from, parked, and when I go home for the summers, i'd go get in his truck and it was always like mint condition to wait the way he left it. So a lot of those images, the change in the ashtray, and you know, the ball cap all. That's a lot coming from my granddaddy. But we really both felt like, if we don't get a man in here to sing this and help us write this from a man's point of view, then we can mess it up. And that's when, you know, I feel like, you know, got intervened, and it's like we could have picked any guy, I mean any you know, any songwriter, but Jimmy Arrey was the right guy. He walked in, We called him, gave him the idea, and rebooked another session and he had a lot of it started, you know, with those lyrics, and when we finished it, we all just wept. I mean literally, it was just I've never had an experience like that as a songwriter. And um are fearless leader. Rusty Gatson, who's our publisher, He's the guy that goes and then has to get the song recorded. He had a meeting with Lee Bryce and Lie said to him, don't play me any ballads. I only want tempo show openers. And Rusty's said, well, I don't have that, but I have a song of the year, and he plays him I drive your truck and lead like looks up afterwards he has tears rolling down his face and he said, really, I get to have that song and Rusty said yep. And so that's when the waiting game. I mean, that's you know, we've basically had our baby, but we're waiting, you know, where we've made a baby, waiting for to be delivered, you know, and that's the hardest part. And so you know it comes out. It's everything we wanted to be. When you hear it the first time, and how did you You hadn't heard the finished project yet, like pride beyond, like it's your baby. It's like that's the greatest feeling in the world for a songwriter and to know that that dad somewhere might hear it. Where did you hear it the first time on the radio? Um? I feel like we called us in to hear it because usually that's how it happens. And I remember us just feel like he nailed it. Like his vocal and his demographic people he sings to every night, these are those people, you know, and it was just incredible. Man, I could be wrong about this because I'm just going from memory. There are people who passed on the song right, definitely yes, And he was the first person I pitched it too, because Dark is a good friend of mine and he had just like literally days before, written home and he but you know what he did. This is when a great guys like I'm sending this to Kenney Jesney for you, I'm sending I think you might even send it Aldine Um. But we This is where you know, faith comes in play, and just these songs, they will come through if they are fromant too. I'm gonna have to believe that if not all go crazy. You know here you are singing it. Here, here's Jesse singing. I drive your true? Who's with you? Everyonedow down bird, every back road in this town. I find a field, tear it up to all the paint cloud up dust. Just sometimes I drive you true? So what happened with the artist thing? Like you sing you look the part you write the part? Yeah, what what happened? I think? I truly think that there might have been some like self, Well I don't know, like maybe I didn't. There's some part of me that didn't want it, do you know what I mean? Like most of you did you try to want it? Not really? I mean I'm very passionate and I like put everything I got into something. So I know that if I really had wanted that, I would have gone hard for it. So why come to town. I came to town to make a living for real. I mean like I had worked every day weird job, subway car, auction sears, I mean, like you name it, in a small town. I did it um and truly just the thought of I quit college. First of all. I went to Mt. Sue for four years and my professor pulled me aside one day and said, you need to quit school. I mean I was playing in bar bands and singing out at night, and I just wanted to be I didn't know what I wanted to be a harmony singer songwriter. I mean I didn't know. I just knew that there was literally no major for me. There was no diploma. I mean, I'm not really good at anything else. So I would just, you know, quit quit school and moved here. And within days I got my first backup singing gig. And who was that for it was a great artist. His name is Matt King and he at the time was on Atlantic And I mean I was literally on a bus to Beaumont tuned two or three days after moving here. Whenever that happens and it's so quick. Do you think, well, this is just how it happens. I think it was kind of a fairy tale. And then there was the hard fall. You know. It was like I was on the road for like two years with him, and then I came home and I was like, now get back in line, you know. And that's when people started to hear my songs that I was writing, like who aren't you an artist? And I had a lot of great people around me, going you should be an artist. But the problem was at that time, there wasn't Americana. There was. You had two extremes. You're either a country you know, Nashville country artist singer, or you're like loosen to Williams. You know. There wasn't um A Casey Musgraves. You know, there wasn't Chris Stapleton. There no one has done that really, and I didn't fit in either. I have very commercial sensibilities and I also have artistic you know, so I was always read in the line. But beyond all that, I think I would have gotten bored being an artist sing the same song every night. That's why I love my job is I like to get in every day like are we going to write the blues today? We're gonna write bluegrass, We're gonna write country. Like you know, it's more exciting for me to be on in the back. Did you write today? What kind of song did you write? I wrote, um like sounds like dark side of the Moon pl Pink Floyd literally and I mean this is a wild Who did you write with Matt drags Rum and Josh Osborne? I saw Jock day of the night. I guess I saw anybody during sem a week and like it was two days yesterday. I wrote with Tony Lane and Travis Danning wrote one of the country's songs I've ever written. I mean, I love that when you're writing it and I don't know what the song is, but you write a Pink Floyd type song, Where do you expect that to land? Or is it just you're in a room and you're feeling and it's just to see that you throw out and hope that it catches something. It's I mean, it's so scary, like because you can think, well, wasted a day. I don't know. I mean, we just I just have to show up. I mean that's kind of my motto is you know I'm not very strategic, but I'll work, you know, I can. I can work. I can work, and I can you know, bring heart and soul just to it. That's really all I know. Beyond that, I have to really lean on other people to be like, this is al Deane, this is you know, if we do this, it'll be Dirks. The only artist I feel like I have luck really steering it is Blake. I don't know why. I just well probably have to hits from Blake. Yeah, and like pretty much record who you know the last I think four records I've had, you know, two songs recorded. We just speak the same language, and you know him and I know him and him it's just he's as a male artist, he's kind of my voice. Do you know Blake well enough to send him a song yourself? All the time. We wrote two songs on this last his last record, and we just wrote one for his new record. Okay, so you go email him straight up and you won't go to the proper channels and you'll just be like, hey wrote this, do you get your young start? He's like, not for me, no, because um, we have like kind of a thing where if he doesn't reply, then he passes, that's fine, But I never send him something. I mean I send probably three. You know, mine would be You might have been the only song I sent him for that record, in this record that he just made us send him maybe two songs and he cut one of them like I pretty bad. I know, I know his the way his mind works. Crazy. Mine would be here, man, that was a jam too. Of all of these songs, I'm thinking I've probably made the most from Miley, right because it was an international song. Yeah, And then I would imagine Lee was probably too, and that least song that's a money maker for everybody except you had a Miley song that was an all format it's crazy and all in countries in movies. Oh my goodness, I want to hear you do. And there's Dirk. Let's see here. This is Dirk sing with you that road fly send lot crazy it fools, make it up, all laugh until it may. I had a truth my best day five step but while the stream come true, Yeah, mine would be. So why did you make a record? Because I play a lot of shows. Um, I get out and do a lot of private shows kind of bluebird style with other writers. And there's so many times people would come up and ask me for a record. I mean, it just got to the point where like, why don't I have a record? Why don't I have? I mean, is that two thousand five record that's it? You know, and my kid's gonna hear that, that's gonna be it. It had nothing to do with like artistic like vision necessarily. It's really just to have something in my hands that represents me at this age, at this time in my life. And I'll probably make another one, but for me, it's really songs that have been recorded. I don't have any you know, desire to write an album for myself. You know, I don't really have something I want to say as an artist, you know yet yet you never know. You can wake up tomorrow. You know what I want to do a hip hop I mean, damn country music. When I wrote that UM song, that was the first time that I thought maybe I'm going to make a dirt country record. You know that that aspires me if I could write ten more of those. So here's a question for you. When McGrath puts the record on and this is the name of the record too, don't you think it should be a single because the record is named after it. Heartbreaker. I mean, that's that one, right, there is one that hurts, you know, because me and Kerry Barlow and Josh Thompson, when we wrote that song, we thought we'll never get Hirer. I mean to be to be honest, as a crafted song, I felt like that was more crafted than any of my other songs, like as far as like ringing the Bell. That was from for me, ringing the Bell and I had to kind of kind of grieve that one, and we thought, we kept thinking he was going to come with it, and we were told that the record was named after I would think that too. Yeah, just if you're okay, he's putting mcgras in the project, he's named it after the song that we wrote. Yes, and it's that's a hard and then I'm still like kind of getting past that, you know, but you just have to believe you're gonna get another idea, You're gonna get another song, You're gonna ring the bell again. And every day I got to try to do that. You know, my friends, is always getting to the mountain. There's always you're always gonna want to make a name. It's always going to be another mountain. I'm always going to making okay, okay about this one. So it's a song about a girl, song about a girl. Eric Passley and Gordy Sampson so much fun. We probably wrote in an hour. And I love him and I'm part listen yes, and I'm partially because he's one of my closest friends. Just love him. He's so good. Gets so frustrated for him because like he just and he gets frustrated. Frankly, we have had talks when he's like, what what what is it? Like? What iposed to do? And there is no answer. The thing is, there is no answer. I know. There's no right or wrong in creative m there's what works right now, what's not. But what's not might work tomorrow. Is the weird thing all of a sudden it could be it could beat the exact right thing. It's because some people, I'm sure they come to you two like, hey, how do you? When do I? What is the there is There is no There's never a right answer. I know. There is one one thing that I do believe though, and I've just seen it now as I've been here so long. Don't go away. That's the only that's the only thing I know because I promise you meet in a little big town. Got signed Orner Chapel the same year on I saw them make records, change labels, change producers. They wouldn't go away, and they just kept bringing music. And I've just seen that with writers. There's a writer right now that's killing it. She's been Kelly Archer. She she just kept She's not gonna quit. She just keeps bringing songs, keep showing up to the party. And I do believe that if you don't go away, they will give you something. That's my motto. It's funny you say that. And I don't know if you know Carly Pierce at all, but um so, Carly's now. I think she's in the twenties or something, but she's been to the world. She's new because she is new, and I've got to know Carly a bit. She's opening up on my stand up tour for the next two or three months, and so she's really good. She's so good. And she came in and we're talking and she's like, I've been the shiny thing multiple times, Like first I was nineteen, Hey, I'm big start. Nope, never mind, No, I'm not got a second shot. Damn I'm big start. Nope, no I'm not, because the only thing that I did was just keep trying. And that's it. Because I think someone told her it's like, if you just keep fond, the city will eventually give it, give you something eventually. Yeah, it's like you'll get a consolation prize at least, like something will happen. Good. I mean, what you said is basically what she said. I mean, I'd really believe that. I've just seen it too many times. But this song here from the cartoon friends, Yeah, that was really fun. It's really fun to get from Angry Birds. Do you make any money from my cartoon movie song that doesn't go on the radio? Like you still because it because it's in the movie. The fun part about that is you get paid up front, which is we don't ever. That's so you get a and Blake of course, was so generous and made it really fair for me. And I was just sitting co writing with someone else that the day that I got a text from him and he said, hey, Sis, can you write a song for me for this movie? I mean, I was like out of nowhere, you know, I'm like, guys, hang on one second, I don't want to say, Blake Shelton just text to me, but um, I called him, like, what are you talking about? Out? And I had a lot, a lot of history doing this, And when I was at Disney, I wrote for so many franchises, tinker Bell, Princess and the Frog, I mean tons Like I was, you know, really where in Nashville. But I would go to l A and write for all their franchises and I was there. To be honest, it's kind of easy compared to what I have to do every day writing these crafted songs. To go out there and write it was pretty. Um It's fun, but not as fulfilling. Obviously, they pull you in and say, okay, Jesse Pinocchio, so write a song and here's the scene. It kind of gives you some and that's what he did. He was like, so these pigs and these birds are fighting. I mean, I'm like, what are you talking about? And he got to see the movie at least, but he's like, there's gonna be this moment that I come out. There's this fight and the pigs and the birds and I have to sing about us all getting along, and I mean literally spring break and I'm supposed to be on spring break with my kids. This is when you're happy you're married to another songwrite her. But I have to like leave all the time because Blake's out on the voice. He's calling me like what you're texting me like what do you think about this idea? And we're writing is we only had a short window to write the song and then we had to record it and send it to him and then you wait and see if the producer even likes it. And thank god he did. And it was really neat though to have at the time, four year olds, three year olds that get to take to a movie. I got to go to the premiere with Blake and I mean, there we are, you know, Hollywood watching this song. So did they sit through the movie? They did? They loved it. It was really cool. Did they know? Did they know that you write that song? We're just starting to figure this out. I mean, my daughter definitely gets it now and she's put together, like okay, mom goes and write songs. And then we hear him on the radio. It's still very surreal that I mean we I mean if I hear and when I hear, please play when the way I talked, Because when we hear a song like that that's new that we haven't heard on the radio yet. It's like the whole family goes crazy because it's like it's a big deal to us every time. That's how you eat and and you know, with writers, you're the first one to create the product and you're the last one to get paid. Yes, I mean it's sad, and now we get paid so little. It sucks and it's and and everybody's kind of sticking it to you from the streaming services. It's the wild West steel and there are no rules. So they're not breaking the rules because there are no right and so you know, you get like the percentage of everybody giving. But someone has got to make the rules, and that's the hardest thing to do, the adjusting rules. They're not looking at something and going, we don't think this is working all the way. So let's there just aren't rules. I know, we have to reinvent the wheel. And the wheel is being reinvented as you're reinventing the wheel, like streaming is happening. I mean, I spend you know, the radio show gets five million downloads a month, much less the millions people listen every week. So to me, you know, I'm cannibalizing myself on purpose, and I do this, we get million downloads a month and it's like, people, I hope people listen to this. But because this is the way it's all going, and I'm getting paid like more as a backup singer on a record that yeah, Like, I mean, it's insane that now I'm like, I used to sing a lot of harmony and I kind of quit doing it. Now I'm like singing on everyone's record because because the money comes quicker. It's because, um, when Spotify or whoever did the deals, they didn't necessarily do a great deal with songwriters and publishers, but they great deals for musicians, producers and singers. So I'm getting great checks as a backup singer. So like a song like Drink on It, I'm probably getting more paid as a backup singer than I am as a songwriter. I'm I'm guessing that. I'm bet so you think it's kind of close the fact when someone streams drink on It and I s I think it's more. I mean, I'm getting paid. Point is mind blowing to me. And again, no, it's the thing everybody wants to get angry at everybody. But could you get mad, or you get out of radio, you get matter? There are there. Nobody's breaking a rule, but nobody has made a rule. And that's just as bad, if not worse. But technologies moved so fastn't keep up, and all the lawmakers are seventy year old white men who don't have any idea what technology really means. I have to tell you a fun story. When I went to d C with Lee one time, the climb was out. It had been out, I've been a hit, but it was still really hot, and um I walked into one of the congressman's office and the staffer was like, oh, you're at the climb And I was like yeah. She goes, did you see it last night on Glee? And I was like, no, I didn't. I was flying here. She goes, It's okay, you can watch it on YouTube. I said, exactly, That's exactly why I'm here. It was the perfect setup because in two thousand nine, the Climb was the most watched song on YouTube, the most you know, streamed. And do you know how much I got paid? I do not know? Is the answer? Zero? Literally zero zero zero? YouTube? Doesn't I mean people can sing the Climb all day long on the on YouTube right now, I could sing it. No one's gonna ever tell me about it or pay zero. So what do you do? Like, really, what in your mind you try to get singles on? But that's that's or you right for you know, you right for film and TV? You sing harmony? Um, how do you change this? Though? That's a better question for Lee or someone like that. I mean, I would go crazy if I spent you know, a lot of my energy trying to figure that. I have no idea how you feel like the quality is going to go down though, because people aren't focusing on the just the quantity of quality song and everybody just shooting for a quick single. And some of the best songs in my life songs I ever heard on the radio it was I would download a record I've downloaded John Mayer record and here stop this train and be like that's that's my favorite song. Yeah, but I would never be on the radio. I don't. I don't know what we're gonna do. I really don't. I mean, I I fear what will happen to my occupation seriously, Like I don't know, like what kind of business it's going to be for someone like me fifty years from now, it's already been. I mean in the time that you've been here, you've seen it drastically reduced. And the amount of people that just do it, Oh yeah, I mean there's so few, and there's so few people like the people that are having success or they're all having they're having so much success. Like it's just really hard and you know we have you know, there's so much writing with artists now and so many camps in different ways that it's it's just when you have a song on the radio, that's what are you write a song like damn country music or something you really feel like you have a shot with. That's when why it hurts so bad, because you know your shots are so few. What camp? Are you in? The Blake camp? Obviously? Are you considered in the Blake camp? Do you think I would? I would say, though, but um, I don't really have I have friends, you know, we all came up together. I was at Dirk's showcase when he showcased for the label. I mean these are people, Randa Lambert, we were signed together, um at the same time at Sony. So I don't know that I have camps. I just have friends, you know, but there's so many new people coming up that you know, I've got a there's so many people to meet. Um, I don't know if I have a camp. Are you and Dirk still close? Yes? Does he send you pictures of his Hawker's What's because that's that's a guy thing. I know if it was sure to my husband. But it's the most disgusting thing. I don't want to see. It's not a guy thing. It's a disgusting guy I don't want to see that. That's a guy thing. People like I check this out. Yeah, I'll be like, all right, what's again? Boom, Yeah it's his because he gets Now let me talk about Blue Apron for one second as we do the shot. I am my house. In my house, I have blue Apron, and I eat blue Apron. I mean, it's not an apron. What it is? Blue Apron comes in a box. It's pretty portion and greed. It's from food that you get online. You like, I'd like to try that recipe and then boom, this recipe card, all the ingredients preportioned, and you make these awesome meals. Blue Apron dot com slash Bobby cast Bobby Cast one word and you get your first three meals for free with free shipping. Blue Apron dot com slash Bobby Cast. Listen to my voice, let me tell you a story. Here for less than ten dollars per person per meal, Blue Apron delivers seasonal recipes along with preportioned ingredients to make delicious home cooked meals. Customized recipes each week based on preferences. And again they have recipe cards. So for me, it's a lifesaver because it's like a cookbook, but every time it's something different. Again, less than ten dollars per person per meal. I will say this again, Blue Apron dot com slash Bobby Cast, check out the week's men. You just do that Blue Apron dot com slash Bobby Cast right now, your first three meals free with free shipping. Okay, So I want to play this Morgan Wallen song which is climbing a bit. Yeah, we're seeing some track. It's called The Way I Talk throughout this Me and Chase McGill and then haste. Look, when you write this song, do you you write it for someone like Morgan? Or do you write it and then it gets pitched around? It gets pitched around. I mean, we obviously thought gosh, we thought FHL, we thought, um, I mean anyway, Luke Jason. But a lot of it has to do timing, like who's looking right then? And Morgan needed a first single and that's the magic word for me and for all of us is single. You ever and I'm not gonna ask your names. Do you ever say no to somebody? Yeah, like you have and you're like, man, I really this is a treasure to me and X wants it and you're like, I just don't think that's the right fit. Definitely, And that's why we have people like Rusty, our publisher, that can kind of help you get be the bad guy, be a buffer, because you know, we have high hopes for these songs, like we don't know when our next one is going to be written. So yeah, it's it's it's all such a risk. That's hardest part. It's a risky you know, you don't know. So your husband rights, I've seen you guys played together, and so let's just a few of his songs. Well, his biggest, you know, song of the year, Whiskey Alla Bye was it was a song of the Year and two thousand favorite Bay song and I tell him that I'd like my favorite song his year, Like what, I don't write that. I don't care sell my favorite song ever. And so I had to walk by that Song of the Year, you know, UM award for years and look at it. And then I was like yeah, But so he wrote that, he wrote, am I the only one? Um? The only one? I have? Ye? And then he also produced that up on the Ridge Bluegrass record for Dirks, and then he wrote drink on it. He's just an incredible songwriter. And you guys write together, Okay, we do. We're right, We're really good together. Do you ever just just a home on the couch? You do talk shop? Yeah, that's that's tricky. I wonder if you guys deal with that. It's it's hard because I know too much about his job. You know, he can't just have a bad day without me being but you but you just got you know this on hold or whatever. You know. It's sometimes I have to take off my songwriter brain and just be, you know, a wife and friend. But having kids helps out a lot because we I mean, we're in the trenches. We have three kids under eight years old, so we don't even have time to talk about it. It's like we're making someone's dinner or fixing something. You know, it's it's hectic in my house. You're right, though, about because my girlfriend now, like I know what she's doing, and she knows what I'm too much, too much, and and it's likely she's frustrated us, And I'm like, but but what about this? I just got booked for this huge thing, like stop exactly, and you know what, some people should just be allowed for a little bit to be upset about things. I know. I had to really learn that the hard way. It's like I haven't learned it yet, and session it helps. It just helps to pretend that like you're a banker for a minute and like you have no idea what you're talking about, because all they really want to hear is you're amazing and this is gonna you're gonna kill it or just just support. Do you ever feel like, though he gives you something, you're like, isn't not that good? Down we both do, you know, I'm sure he's you ever been really wrong with that one? I don't know about this and it ends up doing doing pretty good. I don't know. I mean, usually you're right, I think I mean, I hear so many songs, but yeah, I'm sure he definitely here's songs that he's like, Yeah, that's great. But I'm a huge fan of his. You know, we have a lot of respect for each other musically. You guys, we're both songwriters. When you met, yes and I mean, he he had just written Whiskey All Bye. I remember him playing from that for me in his first apartment and be thinking, all, that's so cool, but like, no one will ever record that, and then Brad Paisley put it on hold, and then Alison Kraus sang on it, and then they said it's going to be single. I mean, it's the craziest thing. That's one of my favorite country murder suicide song on the radio four minutes. I mean, it just broke. That's why, you know, to answer your question from earlier, you know, I could get in my head and try to force these songs to be something every day, but if I did that, I would miss out on I Drive your Truck or Whiskey, a little by type song. So I try to let the song when the day. If something wants to be written, I want to be there. So why is it that you want because we're how we officially met as we're on the A c M board together, and I've about I would never be on a board because I never want to be on the inside until I started to realize I could be on the inside and change the outside a little bit, a little bit, so I had to dabble a little bit just so I can kind of dump the egg from the inside. So why why you? Why are we doing this now? Um? The same I think winning you know, winning the A C M Award and kind of being a part of that and realizing, you know, we have to the questions you're asking earlier about how are we going to change this and what's the future for a songwriter and what's the future of our format? Things like that. It's important. I'm in a place in my career where I feel like I need to give back in different areas. Um, I've tried to mentor a couple of songwriters. UM. Yeah, I'm just in that place in my life where I want to make try to be a part of the change. So yeah, I'm with you. It's I feel like a fish out of water there too. It's weird. It's weird. It's weird because We're walking to a wheel that's already been built, and we're kind of a square peg that's make and we just get in the way, Like I feel like in the way because we joke, you and I joke about it. We go on to these meetings. I think I want to just like spit do spitballs at you and like we do want to change. Yeah, we we do, but we don't know what to do and how to do it. We don't know what to do, that's for sure. No, man, this has been fun. So if I'll look like this for a year quick, here's Patty loveless. Yeah, just how much I want this one? Oh man, that's so fun. Me and al Anderson. In a conversation, Gary Nicholson wrote this one of my first You know, I probably wrote this in the first three years I'm living here. I love Patty Levels. Get Patty Levels cut at that time was huge for me. It would be huge for me right now. Tricia Yearwood, all those females. It had to have somebody that you like, admired, regardless of money, especially early on, because there are two stages where it's cool early on and way late, because early on you're looking for anything and anything and somebody that you admire, it actually gives you that to keep going. Yes and way late, it's like, well I've done a lot of those stuff. Now it's cool for me to be able to do things with people that I admire. So the first time you heard that song, would you think I was blown away? I remember hearing that on country radio around here and it was just man, it's just crazy. I mean, it's there's no way to ever express what it's like for a songwriter to hear your song on the radio. It's still still I mean, you guys play my and we be you. We usually want to hear on Then it's like it's like the first time or like when I get I just got to go. You know, here's some some new things that have been cut, and it's like it's like a ride, you know, and it's a rush. You just want to ride again. Do you ever hear one that's cut no names and you're like, mm hmmm, I don't really think that as good as I hoped it would be. Definitely, it's gonna be a little deflating. It's very tough, you know, because we we kind of hear how it should be, you know, that's what we do demos, you know that process. So we write the song and then we get in the studio with a bunch of amazing musicians and we do a demonstration of it, which we call a demo, and then usually the artist takes that demo and does it pretty close to the demo, but obviously makes it even better because we only have like twenty minutes to cut small, right, and they have like a full day, you know. So it's just weird sometimes when they're like, maybe make it not as good as the demo. That can be a heartbreaker. But now with the songs that I'm having recorded, I mean, we're talking about the best of the best, incredible musicians, producers, singers, So I don't really deal with that a ton anymore. But yeah, it can be deflating. I'll play it one more. I was with Blake in l A and he was and he goes his first time to play this to break me. My sweet Jesus long, forsake me safe. You shed We're I'm supposed to tell me about this one. This is a surreal day. Um. We moved, me and my husband moved to a better house for our family, and it was not really like that big of a step financially. But it was just just moving and just we had a lot of weight on us, you know, as being just being parents, being you know, in the stage of our life. And I remember, we're literally moving and I beat the moving trucks to the house. I had the first load of boxes, and I'm unloading boxes and I heard ding, you know, from my phone, and I had a lot of just I was in this new home by myself, and it was Blake and he said, hey, Sis, I need you to listen to something and help me write it. And he said, I had a dream last night and I wrote this chorus in my in my dream, and you know, he was going through all that stuff with Miranda, and I don't even think. I don't I don't even know if the news was out yet, but I knew kind of what was going on. And I mean I was wrecked. I mean, just imagine him singing that on your phone, just by himself, not with a guitar, just singing that, and it sounded like old Rugged Cross or Amazing Grace or one of those classic gospel songs. And I mean, never mind unpacking. I mean Jerr walks into where I'm like, I mean, here we are again, like we have to write this right now, and um, Blake was just we were all just it was just very emotional for you know, to go there with him, and it meant a lot to him and meant a lot to us that he shared it with us. And then that's us singing on it. Oh it is yeah, and that's me, Me and JR and Blake. He flew here for us to do the demo and that's what they ended up using, except we put like twenty five strings orchestra on it. Try to break me, my sweet Jesus long forsake me and saved you shed where to good really good stand. So I was an honor that it really was. Oh but JR. I meant to mention he has ten men out with R. So I'm trying to think of other songs he had. Um. Yeah, and that's Blake has been good to me. Do you guys get proud of each other? Oh my god, yeah, I mean so I get so proud. It's like when he gets it cuts like I to cut, you know, um, and vice versa. And we've just been doing this for so long together that I mean almost fifteen years and so it's crazy just to see our journey and the way our paths changed, and you know, we're just still We just both feel lucky to still get to be doing it. To be honest, you know, it's just really awesome. What makes you happy right now? That's a great question. I mean, I'm so into writing songs. The company that I'm at with, the people I'm riding with my Mini Cooper convertible makes me really happy. Um, traveling makes me happy. Of course. My kids watching them grow and just become people now, like they you know, we're out of the baby face and they're just like little humans and have like real conversations. Um, what else. So I mean, just like getting to live the dream. Man, I'm here, you know, I got I got to where I wanted to be, and so that's out. It's I call it like the gravy now. Now, I just got to enjoy the gravy part and try not to blink and just enjoy it. We'll frustrate you right now. Ah, that's a good that's a good question. I think negativity. Um, I tried really hard to bring a lot of energy and positive even where we're at in the format or where we're at, you know, with with everything in the music business. I think that's such a turn off now because it's like I try to really stay engaged in the positivity. UM, so that's frustrating sometimes. Well, I appreciate coming over these I'm a fan. I told you the first time I was geeking out a little bit. I was like, hey, Bobby, that's how you play ones, And I thought you're awesome. And I listened to you. I mean, I'm usually got a car full of kids. I can I'm hearing every other word, but I listen to you guys, and I love what all y'all do with pimp and joy and there's so much great stuff you are doing. Thank you very much. Well, this has been a good one, Mike. Did you have anything you want to ask her? Do you never get like approached by companies to write stuff like that? If I wish, I hope that's something I really want to do more of. Um the company that I'm with, we have like an ad side. I would love to do that. There's so much like it's not easy because you got to get to a place to get it. There's so much good money in corporate Like I just got hired on to do a corporate hosting thing, right, I mean crazy, It's just it's a I can't say what it is right now. I would tell you off there, but we haven't sign the contract yet. But it's a national corporate and it's all their shareholders coming. It's not Walmart. I wish it were Walmart because then I'll be balling. But it's a big one. And they're like, hey, want you to come write some jokes, host it. It's a real thing. And they're like and I'm like, okay, I don't know what's the Thursday And they're like, well, it's this many dollars. Why did you say this is a third? I love the funniest on Thursdays. But thank you so much for that's good. Alright, So that's episode number sixty three. Thanks to our sponsors. Our sponsors, Express Pros and Blue Apron, thank you so much. Because of our responsors, we get to have songwriters in and and hear the stories not just about behind the songs, but the stories about why the song, the stories about why do you do what you do? The struggles of the songwriter, like and then I think you really, I mean I've learned from did you learn something? Yeah, I didn't learn something. Awesome. You're the coolest, all right, Jesse Alexander, and we'll see you next episode, right,