#101 - Bobby Bones Class of 2018 New Artist Jimmie Allen

00:00:01
Speaker 1: Yeah, episode one on one. I think you're gonna like this one. His name is Jimmy Allen and he's a new artist. We'll talk to him in a second, but right now, we're currently in what's known as CRS Week. I haven't done a lot with CRS, but it's where all the radio program directors from all around the country coming to Nashville, all companies, all stations, and just Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday is UH artists after artists, playing bar after bar, showcase after showcase, and so they want to put on their best to front all these program directors. So Jimmy Allen has been out doing a lot and he is one that everybody loves him. Man, and you're gonna hear why in a second, but bound bound bound, But then put them bound bound. But we're putting out episode every Thursday. Now they'll be extra ones that come out too. I'm about to actually go over to a CRS Awards show where this is the finale of the CRS three days and I think they feed as dinners that right, Mike, d are you going got ticket? I know today for a while there was no tickets. There's always tickets, but that's gonna happen. Nah, we'll see if we won the award. I hope we did. If we didn't, I'll be okay, though I don't think i'll be that sad. I might be embarrassed, but I get a free dinner and it's just late. I just feel like I would be a douchebag if I went. We won the award and I wasn't there. It's not even about winning the award. It's the look. If I'm not there and we win the award, that just isn't a good look. So I want to go, and that's all. I'll surprised. See. It's a New Faces show tonight too. It's five new artists who last year they had big head big gears like fresh Faces. So I think Laura Lana's plays Laura Lena playing it in Midland and Carly Pierce and Garth Brooks. I don't know, but yeah, that's it. It's funny to catch you guys up. Let you know what I'm doing. And check out the Christian bush podcast called geeking Out, where it's Christian talking to people about what they geek out about. Granger Smith was on one of them. So far. UH manager named Brian was on another one where he's they talking about martial arts and Brian also oddly produced lindsay l No No. Brian Lindsay ELL's manager, Christian produced Lindsay ELL's record I used to date Lindsay Ol. It's just like worlds colliding, but not on purpose. So check out that's called geeking out with Christian Bush. Other than that, here we go away we go episode one on one with Jimmy Allen. All Right, thank you. I don't know want to thank you because nobody here. Way we started thinking people, all right, Jimmy Allen's here. You're good, Yeah, man doing great. Did you live in your car for a bit? Is that true? Yes? It is. It was not a fine point. I was rita steth about you. And we met a few times already, oddly we've met a few times. Um, we get to a second, but what so, what's the deal with the car? You're living in Nahvill? Yeah? I was living in Nashville. Um was when I first moved here. I was living in the trailer for a little bit. And then the lady was putting the trailer up, a trailer like I left the trailer park. You mean that kind of trailer It was a trailer out in like spring Hill on eighteen acres or nothing. It was like a real trailer with tao floor and I was sleeping on the air mattress when I first moved here. Then the lady was like, hey, we're gonna sell the trailer. I was like, all right, well I can't afford it. So then I spent one night with a buddy and then it was my car. It was either leaving my car or go back to Delaware. So I lived in my car for a little bit about four and a half months. Oh that's a long time. Yeah, but I saved a lot on rent because yeah, yeah, they for four months, yep. And the only person that knew was a guy named Aaron Benward. He uh he was in this old country duo called Blue County. Um he uh he found out or whatever, and he's been like one of my closest buddies ever since. But yeah, so how do you shower when you're living in your car working? I was working at this gym, so I would like shower at the gym, uh while I would sneak in and watch clothes. Luckily, like the gym didn't have cameras and so I was like watching clothes, showering. I would eat there because I worked in a snack bar, so it's a good times. So how would you sleep? Would you lower the front seat? So I was in the front seat. Um, I had my little box TV in the passenger seat, and then I had that adapter where you can still plug your TV in. So every time my mom would call, would just crank up my PlayStation to make her think I was it. She would have, but I couldn't come home. And at the same time, UM, I was still trying to send money home to help her out financially. So that's another reason why I wanted to live in my car a lot longer, just so I could have more money to send to my mom and my two sisters. So I said, well, I can only sleep for like four or five hours anyway. So I started the car up. Let the car get warm, UM, turn it off, wrap up in that little blanket I had. I had to sweatpants on, some jeans and just laid the seat back. The first two nights. It was weird though, like maybe the first even week, because when you're sleeping on driver's seat sometimes you think you're still drive. I would like wake up waking like you know how it is when you pull over at the rest stop and like you wake up and think you're driving. So like the first week, it took me a while to get adjusted. But after that it was cool. Man. It's I looked at the park um on Carruthers and Cool Springs between this business parking lot over there behind my gym. Um, between those two parking lots of good thing is shaded with trees. So I would just go back and forth. I didn't really have anything but just closing the air mattress. So a little Malibu was just it was home for a while. So do you didn't worry about someone breaking into the car or saying, hey, you can't park here anymore, because it was it was cool Springs. You know, if i'd have been like in Nashville or something, I'd have been worried. But it was Cool Springs. And then behind my gym, nobody even knew where Prayer Life Fitness was. So I was back behind my gym by like the dumpsters and stuff, and nobody's over there hanging out. Really, So it was were you playing music around town? Man? I was writing, Um, I played downtown. I played it like Rippy's feeling steel. So you're playing Broadway, I was. I was doing that sometimes for fun, like filling in for people whenever I could, and I was working at the gym full time. Was was was keeping the bills paid for a while. Man, you come full circle. Man, now you got a deal finally ten years later. Man, it's a ten your town for sure. Wow. All right, well let me let me have one of these songs and what we can just kind of go back a bit, but here's the song, best shot because when you smile, se single right now right, Yes, schools down to California, and there's no doubt because you sounds really good. It's really good. I'm not saying that I'm perfect. Dogs girl, you know I'm not put out everything I got. God give you my bit shot. Musically, what do you do? Um, guitar, piano, drums, but for the record, just sing no no, but yeah for the record, because there are people in town. Yes, but but you do play piano. I saw you start doing your hands while I was playing, So yeah. I grew up a drummer in church and then I moved. Then I started singing. Then I moved to piano. Then I didn't start really playing guitar. So I got to Nashville because I got tired of paying a dude fifty bucks to play writers around. So I was like, man, I just learned to play my own songs myself, and you know, luckily it started painting out. I think you're the only person I've ever met from Delaware. Yeah, darn a lot of you know. It's about two of us man, about two of us man, not a lot. So you grew up in like, uh, is there any part of Delaware that's not rural? Coup of market song? We don't have many players aren't rural. Yeah, Northern Delaware is plays called Wilmington's. So women can dover where the Air Force basic you know, close though by like twenty miles off, like a pinch of the finger on the map. Yeah, because they can get through the whole state by like two hours. So you got dover and there's places that, man, when you think about it's so crazy. I didn't realize how ruling country that place was until you leave and then you go back. But like Willmington's, you get shot up there. What's it? Why do I know Wilmington, Elaware? It's like right, under Philly. You know why I know it because my show's on there. That's why I thought it was Okay, we're on Yeah, yeah you are, and so that makes sense. Then okay, well, so you grew up in Wilmington. Now I grew up in Milton, which is not Milton, is in the middle of nowhere. So you grew up in Yeah, it was like soy being fields, corn fields, fishing, four wheeling, setting stuff on fire, all that good stuff your mom and sisters. But what your mom do. So my mom used to be a nurse. She's retired. Uh, my dad was in the military. Um he's home now, just fishing, probably right now. Like so he's the one that got me on country music, like that's all he listens to. Like if you touch, if you change the dollar in his truck, he will slap you. Like I remember we said, headed to the softball game and I tried to turn on his on the ore he punched me right in the show. I said, don't you do my radio station? And my mom wasn't that but Christian music. So that's for a while it was just those two genres. Then I got cool. You know when and when did you get cool? Like eighth ninth grade got into like rock, hip hop, R and B. You know, I think everybody did, though at that point you didn't have. Everybody got into hip hop at ninth at the eleventh grade, yeah, I think, and if you have if yeah, and it's a big change in life too. I think around that age, you know you want to armpit smell? Did you get armpit hairs to get boners? Yeah? Yeah, I'm still on that face. So let's I kind of tell the story that how you and I can't but know each other is that the day your EP came out, I was online. I was, I was looking at some of the new releases. I was on a couple of thing, a couple different I was. I went to Spotify to here the little record, but I had heard best Shot on maybe I too, and so I wasn't gonna buy the whole thing without but I want to Spotify. I reached out one of my friends said, Hey, what's up with that, Jimmy Allen, Guy, I just heard this record. I guess it came out today. I didn't know it was new about. I just happened to stumble upon in the day came out, and he said, yeah, he's really really good. I'm gonna sign it your record label. So I tweeted you and said, hey man, she wasn't records really good? Now was it? I don't know, you know, I just I just want to let you know. I was listening and Amy my Coast came. She goes, hey, you know I met it kid Rock. Yeah, I said, um, I met Jimmy Allen. I was like, why do I know that name? I said, oh, that's right to his record on Friday night. Yeah. I freaked out when you tweeted me and I said, he's got it really So I made Amy listen to it and full circle, I bring it in for the radio fon saying radiothon and every year I do a class of twenty whatever. So this year and then I see you again at kid Rock. I was with kid Rock the day that's crazy, and you were there playing for the radio people. So yeah, and then here we are at the house, man, look at you. How you get record? How did you get the money to pay for my publisher? I signed a pub deal with Wide Open Music, which is Ash Bowers and Amy Hendon Scott Um. Yeah. Ash funded it. He was like, man, let's let's let's let's just make the record we want to make and let's take some risk, and so we did so Ash Bowers and ed Toys co produced it, and then we went to labels afterwards. But we just wanted to make the music we wanted to make. So you shopped after you made the music. That's a good thing because then the label doesn't really make you who they want to make you. Yeah, man, and I spent so many years trying to be something that other people wanted me to be, and it was the first time in my life where I was able to I wasn't in a box creatively, and I had no timeline, so we were able to just try different sounds out, write the songs I wanted to write, um, find the songs that I wanted to find, and just be who I wanted to be musically. And it was god refreshing, you know what I mean. I I live my whole life like that. All right. Let me let let me talk about this for a second. If you've ever stumbled through a social media site around Valentine's you know that a lot of people love to show off with their boyfriend or husband or whomembers surprised them with. So this year one hundred flowers dot com. I have you ready to go right now. When you order early, you can get eighteen pink and red and chanted roses for only Valentine's Day is just days away, or let's act like it's months from Valentine's Day. You may be listening to this later one eight hundred flowers dot com slash bones. We'll talk about Valentine's specifically. There's a bouquere right now ready at pink and red roses, perfect for Valentine's Day. She's gonna love it. Eighteen red and pink enchanted roses for only a great war reward. Yeah for thinking ahead and ordering early, So make sure you lock in the offer when it comes. Valentines don't settle for anything less than what's called the rose authority. One hundred flowers dot com eighteen red and pink and chanted roses one eight hundred flowers dot com slash bone at any point one hundred flowers dot com slash bones get to deal with they're offering now. One hundred flowers dot com slash bones. Well, so you moved to town? What year? Um two seven? Man? You've been here? A long time August seven, two seven. I would say, how do we never run in each other? But I don't go out. And the thing is, I don't go out. I don't want anybody. I made driving about you in the car in your Malibu. And I love jeeps. I'm sure I saw your jeep. Yeah, yeah, how long you had the jeep? No, not that long. I got it like six months ago. I live on a really tall hill here, so when it gets at icy, I can't get up or down, you know, So instead of being trapped forever, I bought a Jeep and I got to finally use it for that the big ice storm here. Nice. So yeah, forward thinking and I just want to look cool. Yeah, and I always had cars. I have a car, but I was like, man, I want to look like a big ding Dongs. Did you have before? What I know? I didn't have to have two cars now, so I just had one car. And I think I had a BMW. Yeah, of like BMW was yeah, it's nice, nice, but during it in you can't get up hill. In the BMW, you make cool those sitting at the bottom in the hill. Yeah, I don't know how to like that cool? You really can't polishing turns. My grandmother said, so, yeah, that I had once I started making money, because forever I had a Poniac sent Fire. They had almost three do miles on it, and that was the car that drove from Little Rock to Austin. But when I do my night show, and I had that car forever. But when I first started to make money, meaning I was making forty dollars a year, I bought Old School being BMW, not because it was old school, it was just old and I would say probably like eighty thousand so so, and as about fifteen years old. But I thought, I'm driving to BMW and I come in Argas have nice cars. I had a suber ru before I had a Peniacs Empire, and I kept buying every time I would get something, and I'd buy a nice R BMW and then I got a really really nice one, and uh, I thought, I'm done. I'm done with this. So jeeps are in like Jeepster. I don't know. I'm not the end guy. I'm in a T shirt from the night I'm in a matchbox T shirt. I'm not that cool. That's a great record, though, Yeah, yeah, yourself for someone like you it was the first. It was our introduction to match bar. I don't know when were you born. I was born, okay, so five years younger than I am. So you got to experience and stuff. Man, whenever push came out, I want to push you around. Well I will not with Yes, that was the jam, but even songs like Cody, which people don't even know. It's like, I want tracks that one song off that record that I love. I don't know what you love about the world. Oh yeah, that's my That's a good one. I saw Rob Thomas play on just a piano for an hour and a half of the outdoor venue. That fantastic. It was, Yeah, and it was in the middle of his really messed up stages. I think you may google this, Mike. I think you had a huge coke problem. M And I don't know if he does anymore or not. Scott Staff was the dude. He was really messed up, that dude. I had a whole talk with Devin Dawson about Scott Stappard have Scott step stories. We don't play pink pongk with Scott stapp And he was out of his mind and he still dominated me. I've never met him. You ever met Rob Thomas? No, I met. I met Kyle Cook is a friend of mine now from the band from mash Up of the Heir. Yeah, he lives here. Do they hate each other? I don't think so. No, not that I know. Like everything's everything's cool from what I know. Hey, make sure that Rob Thomas had that problem. I'm gonna take it back there. He admitted to doing it, and then he stopped when he had a kid. Okay, well so he did it. Maybe it was when he was doing Listen. I just st a lot of stories. You know, I've been around around. I started doing this earlier. Yeah, dude, you got you got all this, You get you get all the stories over the years. Is it fun and funny to see people now want to be your friend because you've got something going that probably didn't want to be your friend before you had something going. That drive me crazy? I have so many friends drive me crazy. Have I've had producers and songwriters that I tried to like bug and get them to write with me years ago. I was like, trust me, I'm gonna work hard. I'm gonna give everything I have to this. It's like, nah, I just gonna have time I appreciated the guys that were honest that would say, you know what, Jimmy, I'm getting income from this. I don't have time right now. I respect that, But the BS is the god. Here's my number, Man, take me calm and so I call him. I wouldn't hear a sponsorb and then you see him in personally like, hey, man, we should get up, we should write some time. Then I finally got to the point where I was just like, man, screw that, get the record deal EP comes out. Um. I got so many congratulations from those guys, congratulations from being one of Bobby Bones claps to the other in eighteen. Man, it's huge. Man, we're gonna take over. We should write And it's not to be a whole man, It's just I like real people. Man. That's why I picked my my band. That's why one of the reasons why I chose my label, one reason why I chose my my booking agency and my publishing companies because I don't want to just build people that we can do business. I would like to dig a little deeper, like I'm a below the service type dude, Like I want to build a family to the point where that's my biggest weakness because people could eventually screw me over because I cared too much, you know. But like my band, I love those guys man, we're like we're like brothers, you know, Josh Tait and and Seth. And the weird thing is my bass players is uh brothers with Trip the drummer in our Land Cup. They're just I'm all about just good people, man. And you know when people show you who you who they are, Like my grandma used to say, believe them the first time, so they're a hole in the jerk the first time. There will be a home jake eventually. Do you feel like people are because you go in you're black doing the country for man? Like what you don't know how somebody really is the first time you're at the radio. But I mean when they give you proof, man, like you know, when they're just blatant, like you know, you can tell, Like if I don't trust anyone ever, I don't tell the first time, sust anyone can tell. You can kind of tell who's genuine just from one the reputation that might perceive them and how people respond when you mentioned their name versus and the vibe you get from them like you can meet somebody and kind of get a vibe, because there's been songwriters I meet and I don't know what it is. I'm like, whoa, bro, there's something coming off of you like that. I don't you know. I don't really like do you feel like there's extra pressure though? So it's like, okay, are your country artists? You're a black dude, man, I feel like I don't really feel like there's for sure. I just feel like there's always gonna be a set like judgment already on me because it's like people feel like, since I'm black, I have to prove I'm from the country. And I'm like why, you know what I mean, Like, why why do I have to prove I'm from the country. I don't have to take you to my hometown so you can see how country it was. You know, it's super country. Like why you have to meet my old country redneck dad. I feel the same way, dude in a way, like people, you're not country. Let me take you back the Mountain Pine, Arkansas. That's what I'm saying. Let me show you. Let's compare notes. I know what country there. You can have all your judgment and then we can compare notes and what but similar on the nerdy dude with the big you know glasses that comes from pop and they're like, for years, you're not country. I can't imagine how how was that when you came out? The reception was horrible for years, for years, it's terrible because, uh, I didn't look like they wanted me to look. Oh now, it was the greatest decision. Every blunt. You can't be blunt in country music. You can't say what you feel. Yeah, you're not supposed to. I've been trouble a lot people behind closed doors. Yeah, it must to be kind of the people that opened the gates. And so I just came and I was probably a little too much, too quick, and I just kicked the gates and I kicked him and kept kicking him. And they didn't always fall down, and they kick them all down. But I appreciate your honesty though, man, Like I'd rather somebody just be honest and you know where they where they are versus you know now. I just try to put the honesty in places I feel most important. It's like I pick a lot of battles because man, I didn't care about battle. I was just shooting everybody down. I was like, you suck, you suck, you suck, and they now, I may feel that way, but I just really to go out to people I think it really it's that. And so I wonder because I came in this format, people said you don't look like we think you're supposed to look, and I wondered if that dude, man, I've I've felt it. And I get asked a lot of time. I had this guy like tweet me actually he was like, Jimmy, like, is your music country at always a straight hip hop? I wanted to be like, dude, do you haven't even heard hip hop? My music is not even close to hip hop? Bro, Like, it's not. I wanted to like retweet it so bad to me, but but I was like, you know what, there's always gonna be that. But for me, country music is a lot about how you're raised, your morals, what's important to you, and storytelling and the music being authentic to you. That's country music to me because I grew up on like, you know, Aaron Tipping mcgommery, Gentry Garth Brooks, Alabama. That's all the artists my dad like listen to, you know, and um, but you know, I've have a musical power that has grown like like us all you know, we'll go from Kid Rock to Keith Urban to jay Z and everybody does that. Everybody does that. It's just a super vocal minority that does it, but don't want to admit they do it publicly because they can't be the vocal minority. Are you getting these conversations a lot with people who say, hey, we're trying to create something that's a lifestyle brand. What would you do? And I say, well, the last thing I'll do is chase the vocal minority. What you want to do is go to that majority that's actually consuming the product and enjoying it so much. They're not saying anything and we don't feel like they're the people reacting. But when you eat a good sandwich, do you send an email to the sandwich people and go, hey that's a great sandwich. No, just if you get a hair in your sandwich, Hey, there aren't so many hair and sandwich. It's just those are the people that that the very mind minute secret of people that are piste off that it's not going to directions of the one screaming all the time. If you listen to people and just listen to who's yelling I'm the worst thing to ever happen in the format, the absolute worst. Why do you think that? Why do you feel that? But oh, all the time, every time I hit my ant reply on Twitter, it's people cursing my name or it's blogs how terrible I am. But that being said, they're still talking about you. Yeah, and you know, I don't care about that so much. But I have eight to nine million people. They aren't saying anything because they're consuming the product and they're satisfied by it, and they continue to consume that by tickets. Don't have comedy shows, they listen to my radio show. But we get so fixated on people yelling at what they don't like. That's just in a small box. And if there aren't people yelling that they don't like you, that means that they are not gonna people yelling they do love you. It's same thing with the music. I'm not trying to get my theory one that I understand. Man. There there was one moment when I came into uh, you know, because I was doing what I'm doing now, I was doing in two thousand and seven, but country was saying I was too pop back then because I was even before darties came over, and you know, there was no uh current like Sam Hunter, Thomas Rhett. The pop country for a guy thing wasn't really happening, you know. And then I was two country for pop. So it was like there were years when I kind of just sat in this box and people were like, WHOA are you really country or you just trying to be country because you couldn't get a pop deal. Well, I was offered a pop deal. I just turned it down because they told me you had to lose my boots. I couldn't talk about my small town. They wanted to make me an urban one Republic black. Yeah, they said they wanted me to make me a black version of one Republic. But I was like, man, I can't. I can't not be who I am, you know, so, and what's a black version of one Republic? One Republic? But black? I mean, but even I hear one Republic and I don't a race with that, dude, I'm telling you. And if the funny thing is people we still here with our eyes because I you know, like, for instance, somebody heard my music once and I'm thinking they would say it reminds them of like you know, Sam Hunt, tr F G L more of that. They're like, man, your stuff sounds just like they're this rucker what staying with and just da man, dude, It's it's so funny like that, Like and everywhere I go when Darius is in town, if I go somewhere that Darius is true story. So when he him and John Mellencamp did their uh their Crossroads, I was there right so I went because they were in the like the theater downstairs, the bridge downs. I went to the bathroom and I'm just trying to get to the bathroom. The security lady stops me and saying, hey, you are you looking for Darius. I was like, nah, I go to the bathroom. She's like, okay, cool, but no words. Soon as you come back, I take you to darius Is room. I was like, I don't I'm not here with Daris. I don't even know Daries, like I've met him twice, but I don't know what she said, Oh my god, I'm so sorry. Coming back out, I was at the rhyming not rhyming but gran Old operate for CMA week last year, um backstage, same thing that this guy was like, so you're looking for Mr Ruckers Room. No you're You're not with Darius, No No, but it's hilarious. I get a kick out of it. Home to You, Baby Shoe, the one little moss beIN my night song stones through bringing up a healing at to get to wherever you are you want to get you. Yeah, it's funny to mention being too pop into country for wherever. When I was in pop and hip hop, I was too country to do pop and hip hop. When to get the country, I'm too pop to because still and wherever I go, I've just never fit. But I'm telling you, you you know what makes you fit the most, it's not fitting anywhere. The greatest thing to ever happened to me was not fitting anywhere because it made me like everybody else. Not I like to them, but it made me like them because nobody fits into any specific little cabinet. And whenever you don't fit, you were like to the other people who And that's the people don't fit exactly. Because we look at our phones, that's all we we have it all kinds of music, movies, Netflix shows. There just isn't a cabinet. We have to get into No, not at all. And I'm sure if you went down your Netflix things, it's stuff that I'm sure you got. Like. People might like one of your movies, another twenty might not go another one. And what your difference is is what attracts people to you. And that's why I think it's it's great to be, like you said, to just be yourself. If you're considered quote unquote different, you're different. But in every one of your differences, people looking up to you or looking or listening to you will gravitate to some part of you, know of who you are. So talk about this for a second. Let's talk about Blue Apron. Blue Apron delivers fresh and preportion ingredients and step by step recipes right to your door. You cooking mine forty five minutes. It's the thing, cooking whenever you want. The menu changes every week based on what's in season, and it's designed by Blue Aprons in the house culinary team. Twelve new recipes each week, pick two, three, four recipes based on what fits your schedule. Their high quality. I'm talking about non GMO ingredients, meet no added hormones. Strip steak and potatoes with spicy maple collar greens that's happening there, looking at it now. Some spicy chicken and stir fried vegetables to jasmine rice. You can make that, trust me, you can make it. You may be that terrible cook. You can make this soy glazed Korean rice cakes with broccoli and soft boiled eggs. You can make that. They'd be like, dang your shift. You don't have to tell them. It's Blue Apron. Blue Apron is treating the listeners of the Bobby Cast right now at thirty dollars off your first order. If you visit blue Apron dot com slash Bobby Cast thirty bucks off Blue Apron dot com slash Bobby Cast, then you put that in the Blue Apron dot com slash Bobby Cast. Blue Apron a better way to cook. So I was writing a story about used to live off prize winning for like shows, reality shows or like just go to like trivia night, Like what kind of money? How you make a prize money? Who? Yeah, I used to live on trivia money? Well I no, no, I'm saying like they say. I was during a story or something online. I said, you would go to these shows and you are you compete and you win money and that's how you pay your bills. So there was a couple of like talent shows I did. That's saying like a trivia not a local bar, like a talent But that only happened. Whoever wrote that money like exaggerated a little bit. It was only like three times. It's like three times I went and uh, I one like a local talent show, you know, and a little stuff in Delaware. It's like four hund dollars here, hard dollars here. I would go to like Philly and do like open mics in a couple of dollars here. I think I made total like maybe like tan grand over the span. That's pretty good. It was spent like two years though, but it was enough for me to, you know, financially, take care of what I needed to take care of, and just get back to the next you know, to the next talent show whatever. So you were so close to New York, like that seems like the place you would go to try to sell your music, right, It's just I thought about it, but it just didn't fit me, you know. In New York for me was scary, like coming from Milton, like going to New York, Oh my god, did like it was just all these people. Everybody was different because I got used to, you know, small town. You know everybody, everybody dresses like this, we talk like this, you say hello, you speak to everyone. I'm not used to, like people like me, mugging me, like walking down the street. Like my first time going to New York was horrible. Like when I took the Chinese bus there for people that don't know what the Chinese. But it's twenty five dollars, like round trip. You catch the bus at Womanton, Delaware. It takes you to New York to Chinatown. It just drops you off, like it's not great, hounding nothing, Like there's nothing on the bus. It's just an Asian dude driving the bus. It's like, but I've saying so much money taking the Chinese bus to New York. I went there by myself. I think how it was like seventeen I think, and then freaked me out. But I got lost on the subway. But I'm glad I did it. Like it really opened me up to a world where I knew nothing, and I had to accept the fact that you know, I don't know anything. I need I either need to learn or shut up and stay in my hometown. So so you know, down to Nashville, I mean that's a further trip, so it's harder to go home. That's across the country. Yeah, I feel like it's better to pull the safety net when you feel like when you pull a safety that whether you're safety that is family, a plan B. I feel like you're not able to really put into what you're doing because you're like, if it don't work, I'm good. But when you have no option but to succeed and be successful, you have you have no choice but to work hard and literally give every part of who you are to what you're chasing. And I feel like that's when you become You find who you are first, you become stronger, and then you become successful. You know who you are now? Yes, who are you? Man? I am a guy for Milton Delaware that uses music to, you know, one, make myself happy because I love it, but also I use my story to motivate people to not give up on what they're chasing. That's I honestly believe that's why I went through everything I did because I feel like there are so many people that are chasing different careers. Um, whether it's a career, whether it's a relationship, it's just that underdog mentality that don't quit that you set your sight on something, you practice your network, you do whatever it takes to be ready for that opportunity, because I all, I honestly believe we're all giving at least one opportunity to get everything that we've worked so hard for. But it comes down to are we ready when that opportunity presents itself. And that's just me, man, I'm like, I'm like a cheesy positive dude, Like that's just that's just how I see life. I always see like there's a way to win, even when you know the odds are against you. Like, if you push a little bit harder, eventually whoever is holding you back and whoever's fighting for you not to win, they'll get tired of trying to hold me back before I get tired of trying to press forward. And that's just a mentality you have to you have to keep. So how did you decide on your current record label? I love the radio staff, um. I love that it was small, it was family oriented. I love that I could just text back and forth with the VP of the label. I love that you know BMG came and I was a huge fan of that cats when he was with Bluga Hights, Jason Derrillo and all those guys. Yep. So my thing was, man, all right, the good people. You know that they're accessible, you know, they're honest, they're hard working. Um if I could get you know, BBR to help with the US radio, I can get BMG to come in and help with US and internationally, you know. So I felt it first as a personal family vibe and then a business you know. I was like, okay, cool, we we won't just go here, and I have the opportunity to be a guinea pig, you know. And um, I was the first artist that they signed out to the merging. They they signed me, then they signed Chase Rice and Kid Rock, and I was the only one without a fan base, you know. And I felt like, man, I'm forever great for the John Loeba for taking that chance signing me three months after them being bought, because he put his neck on the line for me because I had nothing going on, you know, So him investing that much faith in me made me want to work even harder because I felt like we all have something to lose, you know me, John, the head of the new head of promo at Stony Creek Byron Like, I feel like we're all like in this for the first time at these new positions, and we wanted you know, we're we have a good time, but we we work equally as hard and we all want the same thing, which is to be successful. I feel like listening to you talk. For a long time, my only goal was to destroy all haters. That it was just people that told me my whole life I wasn't talented enough I get a voice. But as I've gotten older, instead of wanting to destroy the haters, I've wanted to really show the people that supported me. I wanted to show them they were right more so than tell the people that they're wrong. I always want to tell the people that were right, like I appreciate that and I want to prove you right. And he was a lot more weight, man, did you ever feel like because for me and my family, I felt like I can't give up on my dreams because I had sisters cousins that were looking up to me, and I feel like I was always the one that was stepping out the trailblazer and if I gave up. How would their confidence be if I'm always the one that they were looking up. So part of my reason for never giving up was I knew I had two little sisters that were watching everything I did. And one of my sisters actually told me, she's like, Jimmy, I'm glad you didn't quit because every step you made I watched And if you didn't quit, I don't know what I would have done. And and like you said, you being different, you stepping up, Like I feel like there are people, whether your family of your friends, that were watching you every step, you know what I mean? Like, like, you know, I just feel like we motivate more people than we know. Man. You know, I hope I motivated people. I wrote a book and it was you know, I really got inside of my life. I don't have any family really, so my my mom died, it's just forty six died drugs and alcohol. I don't know my real dad. And so for me, it was never I want to show my family, but it was I want to show people like me that we're told you can't do this. You're from a small town. Your food stamp kid, You'll never be able to make it, that food stamp days. Yeah, and my food stamps. We didn't have a card we had, that's what they just switched that. I think like the last what ten no, not in ten years? Eight years? We had the boy those are the most embarrassing things to pull out and the the yellows and yeah, so did you have to do we have? What did you have? Wick? I don't know? So Wick was like it basically it looks like a menu that used to sit in a plastic bag and you get like kick cereal milk, juicy juice. So we didn't have that, but we would go stand in line for for government cheese and government rice. So we didn't get a bag, but we did have probably different program where it was similar to that and they would give you this box full of stuff. Yeah, we would go down to the church and once a month we go away in line. But that those are the kind of people that I want to say, I'm you if I can get out, and some people getting out doesn't mean success in radio music. It means having a family and being able to support them. Success is different for everyone, but it's if I can have success, and then you can have success. So that's who I like to step out and have a scholarship in my high school that I do every year out here for someone. So it's things like that that I care about. So and eventually I have a family. If I get somebody, keep me welcome to the club. Club, man, let me welcome to the club. What you got, no girl? Man? Man, I I said, Man, No, I meane some recent or something that's something to do. And you know I have you know someone that I am you know very got too much into it, right, that's a podcast. It will lift forever. So I'm probably But you know you're never married? No, I never been married? Man? Been close? H Yeah, me either. I've had some great relationships. I've poisoned them all thought about it. You know what. I wonder what what poisoned it for you? Um? Insecurity? Uh, scared of commitment, starting to get too good. Um My last relationship with Lindsay who's on your label, not even label on your imprint, even Sony Creed it was fantastic. Um. But then yeah, I start to go, oh, I'm probably gonna do something. I'd start. I don't know. I've been to therapy much. I'm broke all that did do that? Man? I have? Man, there's just you know, there's just going now. It's very just you know, just special and you know, and and I think it could be something, you know that could definitely last forever. But my fear that creeps into my head and lies, will I will I mess it up? You know, because you have a lot of your insecurities, you know, come in, whether it's you know, not feeling you know adequate, you know, if it's you know, abandonment issues, things that you beat ourselves up a lot. And you know, she's she's amazing, and I'm sure she should be listening to this um but you know, she's man, she's special. She's one of the times. So I always felt like if I were to lose my job or whatever job it is, because if I were to leave my current company, there are about three other companies that would go im pounce immediately. But if I were to lose this for some reason, I would think, I don't know that I'm worth being with. And I think that really poisoned it. What I'm wondering makes you think that, well, because no one ever stayed with me. I mean, I raised myself basically. My mom wasn't around. If she was just physically she you know was and I my mom has your fifteen, so she she never really had a shot at it either. So and I have a dad so heavy abandonment issues, so I don't trust anyone to be around, so I don't trust myself and also think having poster syndrome where I don't think I'm really as good as other people think. So I go, Okay, I'm just faking everything out, and actually I'm gonna be found out and then everybody's gonna leave. But the crazy thing is, man, through all of our insecurities, all of our mess, there is someone out there for all of us that will love us through what we feel. They might not love us, do you would think? Yeah? And and and I mean I'm a hopeless romantic me. I'm a sack bro like I believe it, you know, I take that back. I think that my last couple of girlfriends would have been there NonStop nons especially Lindsey and NonStop. But I I killed it. They didn't kill it. I killed it because I was afraid of it. I was afraid eventually they would piece out because they would realize what a fraud I am. Yeah, man, And I think the crazy thing is it's weird as that is. I think that ties into everything, like I think that stuff like that's what messed my career for so long. I was so worried about I'm not good enough, you know, thinking that, you know what, I can't be who I really am because nobody will think I'm cool. I want my music, so I found That's why I found myself for so many years doing what everybody else wanted me to do, because I felt like, you know, what they see me, so they get it, you know, looking for for validation and and other things, versus accepting myself who I am. Insecurities at all and using that too push me to find out who I really am and where I want to go, like because it's it's crazy how your insecutor can legit kill everything and strengthen. I believe I have been successful in my career because of my insecurity. But I'm on a microphone. I can have a conversation that I can never have with a human without one. I would never have this conversation with these microphones more in front of us, shut down, boom. It's that I can say anything on the radio show because I get pretty personal. I talked my book, I talked about a bunch of really personal stuff. If I'm having a human conversation with no microphone, it didn't feel like it's play. Yeah, I got nothing minus via text. I can text anything anything I feel, but face to face, I'm a coward. She is, she's proud. Man. My dad is like so happy that I went back country because he is like, if it wasn't to my dad, I would be dressed like John Party, I would happen. No, Lie, I would have a huge belt buckle but a tiny button up in a cowboy hat. And I said, Dad, there's no way, bro, Like, there's no way. Like boots. I love boots, always wear boots and Chuck Taylor's boots. Yes, the big belt buckle, I wore it once in like ninth grade. There was a fad in Delaware where we will wear big buck buckles with Hawaiian button up shirts. It was horrible, like it's it was bad. That's a fat, that's a definition of a fat. It seemed like it's not even a trend. That's a fat and fat. Bro. It was a bad idea, that's what it was. I don't even know own a pair of cowboy boots because I got so upset with people telling them I needed to wear cowboy books about I'm never wearing cowboy books. And I wasn't account I didn't grow up, and I grew up in a town of eight hundred people, and it was and it still has segregated. There's a railroad track, and there's the white quarters in the black quarters. It's still like that today, and it's two thousand and eighteen. Yeah it's And so it's like going back in time when I go home, how is that it's just a really poor town. So they haven't even progressed mentally at all. No one's mentally, I would say, yes, but no one moves, so when you're in, you kind of just die there. And it's still there's a railroad track and it separates, and I love my hometown and it's all I know. And it's not a we versus them versus. It's just not that. But there's always been a black quarters in the white quarters. I don't know it any other way. And then when I when I step back and think about it, it's crazy to think that right here we are and it's still like there's no law, there's no rule that says that you have to say there, but that's just how they that's just how everybody lives. When I was in Delawares, everything was different. Like we had like we had four friends. It was I was a black guy. We had a Mexican a motto and two white guys Drew and Stephen, and like we did everything together, man, like built forts, tree houses, set stuff on fire, you know, shoot down be highs and be be guns. And I didn't really see the whole thing, like not really paying attention to skin color, Like we just treat everybody the same, Like my parents would discipline them their their parents would discipline me. And man, it wasn't really until I went to college and um, you know, you start seeing people treat you different, even black people, because you know, I dressed. I didn't dress like a stereotypical like black person. You know. I remember walking on college campus and I got on these like these jeans and like this blazer and like this tiny Hollister shirt with this choker chain. Man, the looks I got my black people, what you're doing, white boy? Like what do you mean I'm not white man? Like you know, and and then you know, then I see, you know, I you know, I met a few white guys that were just like, you know, you know, I'm not really sure, man, you know, because of the whole black thing, Like it's man, it's crazy. And I've had play people said, well, Jimmy, do you think you're white because you went cowboy bootster? But I said, no, it's my skin. Color does not define what I wear, who I date, what I listened to. If I wear cowboy boots, well I'm a black guy that wears cowboy boots. If you're if you're a white, you're a white guy who wears cowboy boots. That has nothing to do Like it used to always just upset me how people want to um assigned different things at different races, you know what I mean, Like it kills me, Like if you're white, you shouldn't be wrapping, you know, Like but yeah, Eminem is one of the best rappers of all time. You know, if if you're black, you shouldn't be doing country music. You know. It's the stereotypes are hilarious, Like, yeah, I think I think it's funny. I've had a couple of boots companies come and offer me deals and say, hey, we want you to wear boots and we've paid a good amount of money. I was just told when I moved here, I had to Again, I never had cowboy boots as a kid. I didn't grow up. I was on a Cowboy and nobody said, hey, here are boots. So I never wear cowboy boots. And but but when I came to Talent, it was like, hey, where's your cowboy boots? Like that's this? Yeah, I don't. I wanted not now and I probably would have if I wasn't told I was supposed to. And so as we sit here, I mean, I got my I got my Easy. You have never worn a pair of Easy. It's not worth the money. Yeah, you know the truest thing with them. I'm hoping i'd get to know Tanye and given to him for free. Yeah, let me get some shoes, bro, what's time? I am eleven and a half twelve, that's it. I taller you. I am like six ft right on the dot. How would you weigh I am to ten? Okay, that's where it is. I'm s's not what I would love it because I'd be easy hook up. Yeah, let me see. Let me see what I can do, because I think I have. But the thing is you can't get them anytime. So I have a hook up and I'll get a note, Hey I got new shipment in do you want to pair? And I say yeah, and so I'll get them for for actual price, which is super cheap compared to having to go online to pay eight to um And so yeah, I'll keep it. I'll keep eye on next because I don't always get that because I don't. I have a bunch of shoes. I wouldn't say. I wouldn't say I'm a sneakerhead. No, but I do enjoy shoes a lot. I like all shoes, sneakerhead guys that just do tennis shoes, but I like dress shoes like slides. So I'm just a shoe flip guy. At times, I've got about three or four good and I rotate them. What's I get a new pair of like, I'll throw the last pair, donate them to do somewhere else. You can't keep flip flosh? Can you get your flip printing? Especially if you're taking them to like the beach and go to the beach. Now, I went to Hawaii, hated it. I'm getting I'm not even miserable. I just I've never been to ocean until I was probably twenty two years old, right, because I never leave Arkansas until out of college, and then I've never been to ocean. So what I gonna do at the beach? And then it's salty and you can't really swimming it because the waves. But you live up, you loove up near a coast, you probably I grew up going to the beach like skin board and we would serve the hurricane skin boards skin boarding and skin board skin boarding yea like skin boarding that sounds like skin boarding in and we we would serve doing like hurricanes because our ways won that big. And can you serve a little bit? I wiped out a lot, And I think the lungs I've ever still upon the surfboard was like maybe like three seconds three maybe half. Maybe you can't serve if you don't only send it three seconds. No, But I go all the time, and I'm still bad at it. But I just love it. Kept more as a huge, huge and he I don't hang out with really anybody in the industry keeps hey come out to Hawaii. First of all, I don't hang out with it by Nashville. I'm don't want Hawaii to hang out with any but I went out and uh. I told the story on the air and I got on standup peddle board. Looks like Grandma's doing it. I was like, man, could you stand up on it? Briefly? But the problem was, you know there's a you tied this rope to you so the board doesn't fly away. So I guess that's the thing because a wave crashes and the board shoots off. I had it tied to my wrist end of the difference supposed tied to your ankle, and so like, I'm an idiot and have the thing tied to my wrist and I can't fully get my balance. Many kid senys me a picture a video of him strapping it on his ankle over and over again. Alright, but I'm also I'm an okay athlete, but I'm a hard worker, so I wasn't going enough athlete to get it at first. I can't stand up on us on a wakeboard. Oh, I can wakeboard, but that's a lake. So I grew up on lake. I wouldn't say a pro, but I got wait, I can wake skate. How do you get up? Like? I've never never to get my butt out of the water at all. Probably the same way. Yeah, it's it's it's tough. You hold your knees in tight and eventually it's like riding a bike where once you feel it, once you try to get back to that spot and you try to get up one and once you start to I don't know, it's hard to explain, but I think once I get up, I'll be great. It's just the getting up problem. Once you get up, you hardy to go. I'm up, I'm up. Boomah, what'd you get up? All right, dude, I'm gonna hear some of this. This is a Jimmy Allen, one of the first guy would run in for a guy, your girl for class, some good class issue. I think. So it's good over your bounce with you. But I'm not saying I'm a little bas because it's you know what I'm saying. Good, give him up. Shot, We've got some stuff for it. Come to all you we guys with we're gonna do stuff. This year is gonna be real cool, be real cooling. You want you try to say something over there, You're good, you have a quite you everything I want to say, Jimmy, we're good, You're good. We're hanging like, got a little deep there for a minute. Yeah, spill your emotions in this coat. Have a drink up my tears, Jimmy, and then tell me what you feel like they get. Yeah, Jimmy throws some stuff with a blackmailion with Yeah. I feel like it's good sometimes to just be real man and take some layers off, you know, I think I think it's important to do that. Time transparencies, how people love you the most and the unless you're my personal life, I'm completely transparent. And when you date me, I had more walls, so you want to get close to me. Enjoy these seven new walls. Yeah, okay, uh, well we'll see. We'll have you on soon, have on. We're gonna have you on the show real soon too, So man, looking forward to it. But till you're out back tonight. More radio tour, Yeah, more radio tour. How long you have, Beny more weeks on this thing? Um? Well, one person told me till the end of Mars. The other person told me, and tell the rest of my life. Yeah, that's that's the rest of your life until you get it, until you get a number one, and then then it's always still even that still, man. It's just I really enjoy meeting people like I love it, Like I can't imagine doing anything else. I get the travel country and sing songs that made up like it doesn't get much better than that. So you come a long way a long way. You've even just come a long way from just in Nashville. Yeah, yeah, that's crazy, dude. I have so much more respect for you now, Like hearing your story and I knew your story, I still didn't know your story. You know, we have somebody story tell you man, you really don't man, and you know hearing yours man about you know this, you know, getting the food stamp thing. And we used to have this stoopid Milton where we would get free lunches from you know. I mean one time we had our electric shut off, and my mom that week she said, uh, I acted like it was a camp out, Like I didn't know electric was off until I got older. She told me, she said, hey, guys are gonna do like an indoor camp out for a week because the electric got shut off, you know. And one time we had nothing in the covered to eat but like crackers. And then his family from the church came and brought us groceries. Save the life man. So you know hearing you, you know, tell your story like that, dude, I get it. But you know what you can do and it's something that I tried to do now, is that you can help people that were like you and they're like you. Now do you do that? You should do the dollar thing, man. I started this thing. The guy gave me a dollar changed my life. There's one time when I was in my card and eat for two and a half days. Um my guy gave me a dollar. I gotta make chicken a half on Wednesday, don't half on Thursday. So what I do now is I keep two dollars cash in my pocket on purpose and at the end of the day. By by the time of day is over, I have to give him away if somebody asked me for it, or if I just see someone and give it to him. But I have to get because that dollar can really change somebody's life. Man. It's I used to think I was very selfish, and I still at time to take I'm selfish about the causes that I support because they all are personal to me. I go, why don't I just help birds or something? Instead? I want to help people that were likeing me, and I go, I'm just trying to help meet years ago. But there's nothing wrong with that. I mostly feel that way. I still felt a bit selfish my high school. Recently, I didn't get to play ball a couple years because I couldn't afford the shoes. And I was too embarrassed that I couldn't afford the shoes, so I just didn't play ball. And so I was like, I don't want to basketball because I could, I couldn't afford the shoes to match, and I'd rather not tell anyone because there were years where church would bring food and they'd bring tris president because we didn't have any. And so what I'm able to do now is I did it with my football team, or I bought the uniforms for the school, but I buy the entire basketball team shoes. Not because I wanted to buy the entire team shoes, because I knew there were two kids that couldn't afford it, and I wasn't gonna buy two kids shoes because then they're the ones who, oh you go. So if I go, hey, I can buy the whole team shoes, then it's just like, oh wow, oh, bones know, he's crazy. He's got money. But but that's not what it's about. It's not about it's just those two kids that I don't that. I was one of those kids and it had people help me out when I was younger. So it's that type of thing and that was years ago. I'm not calling anybody out now, but uh yeah, man, like your your story is great, man, and I'm rooting for you. I wasn't untill now, but I guess I will now. I guess I'm in because I'm in, all right, So check out, Jimmy Allen. This is the best shot. This is single now before you. I'm not saying that I'm perfect, os girl, you know I'm not put out every saying I'm good. Give you my bishop, Mike. How long has been? We went longer than we thought. Damn, look at that we're ending up. You got person, Yeah, yeah, got the old rectal check. That's how personal. I got here. I got a hemorrhoid. You know, a real personal. We're going to a medical history. Yeah all right, we'll see uh see you next time. And thanks for our sponsors. This is the Bobby Cast and now we'll talk to you soon.