Transcript:
Announcer: For the politics of Nashville, to the history of the Upper Cumberland, this is the Backroads and Backstories podcast, with Senator Paul Bailey.

Sen. Bailey: Welcome back to the podcast. I'm your host, Senator Paul Bailey. In today's episode, we have Grand Ole Opry member Jamie Dailey, from the bluegrass and country music duo Dailey & Vincent. Welcome to the podcast.

Mr. Dailey: Thank you, Senator, good to see you again.

Sen. Bailey: Well, we're so happy that you joined us today. And you and I became friends a few years ago through, really some legislative processes, as well as my assistant, Miss Brandy. And so, became very good friends, especially knowing that you came from Jackson County. So, I'd like for our listeners to learn a little bit more about you and about you growing up in the Upper Cumberland in Jackson County and just kind of introduce yourself to our audience.

Mr. Dailey: Well, I'm Jamie Dailey from Gainesboro, Tennessee. And Gainesboro is a beautiful little town nestled in the hills, north of Cookeville, about 20 minutes south of Celina, if you will, near Dale Hollow Lake and on the Cordell Hull Lake. I grew up above the Cumberland River and the Roaring River Park, right there is where I grew up. And my dad is a musician and a singer, locally of course. He's 74 now, but when I was growing up, I was around music a lot. 

 And I remember standing above the river up there, singing to the top of my lungs, working “9 to 5,” Dolly Parton’s song. And a few years ago, Dolly had us come to her office, she was singing on our Christmas record and we were singing on three or four of her records, to, and I told her that story about growing up in Gainesboro and singing “9 to 5” and she says, “Well, what did you use for a microphone?” And I said, “A stick.”

Sen. Bailey: Right.

Mr. Dailey: And that's how we grew up. And of course, she thought that was funny. But growing up in Gainesboro was a huge blessing for many reasons. The way we grew up there, we didn't have a whole lot. We didn't know that we didn't have a whole lot, but everyone knew everyone. 

 It was fun. When you were in town, sometimes you would hear the church bells ringing. I wrote a song about that called “Back to Jackson County.” We rode horses on the riverbanks and through the river bottoms, picnics on the riverside, we did that a lot. It was just a great American way of life. And when I go back there, I still have a great sense of that same life. It’s like you almost step back in time a little bit.

Sen. Bailey: Well, one thing that you alluded to was the song that you've written about Jackson County, and that's something that has really impressed me about you and about your success is that you've not forgotten your roots. You've not forgotten where you come from. And also, where you and I first connected was the fact that you have a heart for Jackson County, Gainesboro, as well as the Upper Cumberland, and you have been working very hard to try to bring economic relief, economic recovery, health care relief, to the Upper Cumberland and especially to Jackson County. And I just think that that speaks volume about who you are as a person in that, as someone that has become a member of the Grand Ole Opry, you still come home: I think you're spending your weekend in Jackson County this weekend, and I just think that's admirable, and I appreciate that very much and your hard work for the people in Jackson County.

Mr. Dailey: I appreciate that. And I appreciate how you've always been there every time we've called. And it doesn't matter if I call you—we have a good team of people in Gainesboro that's trying hard, from our county Mayor all the way down to the people working on the city. And a young man named Jordan Hunter down there that's helping very hard. 

 And every time we've called you, you've never not answered, and you've always called us back and you've taken time for us. So, I commend you for that, and Upper Cumberland is very lucky to have you in their corner and helping. And as you know, we are living in a most unprecedented time, as I said recently in a graduation commencement speech to socially distanced graduates in Jackson County. Two of the things that I talked about was we are living in an unprecedented time, and it is important for those students, I believe, to not forget where they came from, no matter how successful they are. We can all come back and try and help the community and give back when we can. 

And I think that's very important to not forget where you came from. But I love the people in Jackson County and the Upper Cumberland. And you know, Senator, I played all over the Upper Cumberland. As a kid, I had a mattress in the back of my Blazer, my old Chevy Blazer that I bought bagging groceries. And, you know, you could get out of town in it, you couldn't get back in town with it [00:05:09 crosstalk]. [laughs]. 

 But I played all over and stayed in the back of my blazer, and played contests and festivals, and Lester Flatt day and all over the place. And so these people mean a great deal to me; the Upper Cumberland means a great deal to me. And I think you would agree that these folks in the Upper Cumberland are some of the finest among us Americans, and we truly do appreciate and love them.

Sen. Bailey: Absolutely. And you know, Lester Flatt Days is coming up on October the 10th in Sparta. I don't know if you're part of the lineup this year, as far as the bluegrass musicians; I know you keep a very busy schedule, but—

Mr. Dailey: Well, I would like to talk about that right there, actually.

Sen. Bailey: Well, okay. Well, let’s get—

Mr. Dailey: I didn’t realize that they were having that day. But since COVID hit, as you're well aware, everyone has—in music, of course—has had to become innovative. We've had to figure out what are we going to do? How are we going to combat an economic crisis within the music industry through COVID? And one of the things that I decided to do is, I have close to 100 acres in Gainesboro, so I said, why can't I use my property to host an outdoor, socially distanced concert?

Sen. Bailey: Oh, wow.

Mr. Dailey: So, put that on sale and thought I'll go for it and see what we do here. And after we measured, I talked to the Tennessee State Health Commissioner and made sure I had their clearance. I talked to the County Mayor, made sure I had his clearance. The Jackson County Health Department, and we said, “Okay. We want to encourage everyone to come but to be safe, socially distance, we're going to check your temperature at the gate.” But it's sold out.

Sen. Bailey: Oh, wow.

Mr. Dailey: And it's sold out in six minutes. And so we added a second show, a matinee show, and now it has sold out, so I'm having that in Gainesboro the same day as Sparta. But don't worry, we're sold out and can't take any more. But it's very interesting, Senator; we're having people come from Arizona, Utah, Iowa, Maine, Manhattan, Florida, South Carolina, Virginia, Ohio, Missouri, Texas. 

 It's not really locally-driven for some reason, but all of the people from out of here both tickets up. So, when we talk about economic relief, one of the things that we've noticed, which is good for Jackson County, the Wildwood Resort in Grantsville has called and said, “We're getting booked up by all of your fans to stay here for the weekend. We're going to run a little street fair, and The Bull & Thistle, and The Stolen Coin and all the businesses there are getting reservations made already. They're starting to fill up.” Which is great. So, I'm looking very forward to that, and very forward to having people come and visit not only Gainesboro but the Upper Cumberland from all over America.

Sen. Bailey: Well, and that’s—back to where we talked about you've been promoting Jackson County and the Upper Cumberland, that's kind of been your vision is to have an amphitheater, if you will, there in the Jackson County area. You've said many times that you could sell those seats out in an amphitheater not only with you and with Dailey & Vincent but as well as having other country music stars come in and that would certainly—

Mr. Dailey: Bluegrass stars, gospel stars, yeah.

Sen. Bailey: —just—so there's a multitude there, and so you're kind of proving your point.

Mr. Dailey: I am. And there is also a place that I thought I might be wrong, too. And so we have to look at where we can improve in our thought process about this. So, I will basically say that we are going to do, for the first time, with a lot of help and support, we're doing our very first Cumberland Riverfest, brought to you by Dailey & Vincent, at the airport because we don't have a venue. But at the Jackson County Airport next year. We got the Oak Ridge Boys coming.

Sen. Bailey: Oh, wow.

Mr. Dailey: We got Jake Hoot coming, Dailey & Vincent, and several more, and I hope you will come and get on stage and we’ll let you do the Lee Greenwood song with us. That would be fun. God bless the USA. But anyway, we are probably going to have a lot of people at that, and so with that being said, another thing we have to worry about with the amphitheater that I didn't think of upfront is weather can play a big part. 

 So, I've been talking to some folks about helping me raise money to build an actual pretty good-sized performing art center. So, one of the things that would do is provide a few jobs, but also bring a pride to a community. And be able to bring in great acts, which I can help train and help get that done. Because you can have seasonal concerts, plays, or whatever, and it can be done and it can be successful. It has been for many rural towns across America because I play them and I know what they're about and what can happen.

Sen. Bailey: Well, again, it's amazing to me, you listed a lot of states that people are coming to the concert that you're going to have on October the 10th at your farm. So, you have been able to reach a wide audience, not only because of your appearances on the Grand Ole Opry, but you actually have your own TV show. And so, and that airs on…?

Mr. Dailey: Circle Network. And that is we're on four days a week with—and Circle just signed with Dish, so we're going into 71 million new homes on top of the 60 million we already have.

Sen. Bailey: Oh, wow.

Mr. Dailey: And also, it's on Roku, and it's getting ready to be on a few more networks—or a few more things coming up, where a lot of people will be able to get it that hadn't been able to get it. It's now the home of the Grand Ole Opry, our television show, many others. And then I just signed on and shot 26 episodes as the new Western Movie Nights host that will start October 11 that they're announcing today. So, we're very excited. And on top of that, the Grand Ole Opry has announced that we're going to start trying to ease some small audiences back into the Grand Ole Opry House to help celebrate 95 years of Grand Ole Opry, and of course, the First Family of country music.

Sen. Bailey: Well, that's awesome. And course, again, we go back to the economic piece and, as we know, a tide raises all boats. And the economic piece for those local businesses definitely benefit from those coming from out of town, from out of state. They're filling up the hotels, they're eating in our restaurants. 

 And so you're bringing that economic piece to the area that you and I've talked about many times. Now, back to the Grand Ole Opry. I've been your guest there several times backstage. It's an awesome experience. And it's really a humbling experience to walk through those hallways, especially to see the photos hanging on the wall there. 

 But one thing that I've found, it doesn't matter how big of a superstar you are, they're still very approachable, they're someone that'll just meet you in the hallway and say, “Hey, how are you doing tonight? What's your name?” I mean, you guys are a family there. And that's just what I was just awestruck by that, just how really down-to-earth some of those superstars treat you whenever you're there.

Mr. Dailey: It is like coming home. It's what we call our musical home, and all of the other stuff that sometimes you hear about is checked at the door when you come through the door of the Grand Ole Opry because we are a family. And we want to make sure everyone that's there is treated like a good friend that’s stopping by. And Roy Acuff has a rule and it still stays in place, though he's gone now, is dressing room number one, when you have dressing room number one, sometimes we have it, or number two, or number three, you always keep the door open and you don't close it because you want your neighbors to stop in and say hello and feel welcome. And so that is a very big deal to us, and that is a tradition that we will uphold with honor.

Sen. Bailey: And again, being there and being able to be in your dressing rooms. It's also a gathering place for your family, your friends, those that are just wandering the halls, such as myself, and everyone—I mean, you just stop by the doorway and someone will turn around say, “Hey, come on in here.” And, I mean you may be looking at Luke Bryan, or you may be looking at someone that you're like, “Oh man, I just never thought I'd have the opportunity to—”

Mr. Dailey: That old Aaron Tippin guy—

Sen. Bailey: Yeah, [laughs]—that Aaron Tippin guy. Yeah, you never thought you'd have the opportunity to really interact with someone like that. And then just some of the great musicians. There's a lot of musicians that are there and their names may not be known to people, but they have been the backbone of the Grand Ole Opry and a lot of these superstars and country music stars by just being able to play all the various instruments. So, I just appreciate the opportunity for—to be able to experience that and—

Mr. Dailey: And you know, you're always welcome. You're always welcomed. And I would like to tell a story that was—if we got time—

Sen. Bailey: Oh, sure. Absolutely.

Mr. Dailey: To tell a story that was touching. The Grand Ole Opry called me last year and said, “We need you to go to Cookeville, Tennessee, and go to 94.7 FM and hideout in Philip Gibbons’ office.” I said “Okay.” [laughs]. 

 And they said, “Jake Hoot—” I had talked to them about getting Jake on the Opry because that was one of his biggest dreams. And when I called them, “They said we're already one step ahead of you. We're getting ready to do this but we want you, since you’re a member, to go, and surprise him, and invite him on the radio.” And so, there's video of all this, and I drove to Cookeville, hid out in the office. 

 Jake doesn't know I'm there, and I walk in. He looks kind of surprised: “Why are you here in the middle of my radio interview?” And I asked him, I said, “One of the most important and most elite institutions in country music and clubs is the Grand Ole Opry. And we've heard you say many times you'd like to play on the Grand Ole Opry. So, as a member of the First Family of country music and on behalf of all of us in the family, we'd like to invite you to come and play the Grand Ole Opry.” 

 This big old boy just started squalling, right there in 94.7 FM. So, he came, and he walks in, we have cameras, and we're staying to the side and let him walk down the hallway and watching him, just, oh, and all over it. And then he gets out to the stage and he starts to walk the circle. He said, “Come on, go with me.” And Darrin and—Vincent and I said, “No. This is your moment. This is your time to enjoy the circle on your own.”

 And so he goes out and he's just crying. And it was so wonderful to watch this fine human being who is an outstanding singer and talent, stand on that circle and enjoy the moment by himself without an audience. Then, later on, he went out and he sang three songs, and just tore the audience all the pieces because the Upper Cumberland was a family. They showed up.

Sen. Bailey: They did.

Mr. Dailey: When he came off stage we said, “Hey, we're going to give up one of our songs and why don’t you come out sing another one? And while you're out there, just sing another one with us when you get done.” [laughs]. It was fun to share the love and be there with our Opry family and are very proud and outstanding Upper Cumberland family as well.

Sen. Bailey: Well, if you remember I was your guest that night as well—

Mr. Dailey: You were.

Sen. Bailey: —and that was an—you know, as you have described, just an awesome experience to see Jake Hoot from Cookeville, Tennessee, winner of The Voice, have another dream come true by stepping out onto that Grand Ole Opry stage, and, you know he was just—

Mr. Dailey: Oh, he got tickled because I looked at him before he went out there, I said, “Whatever you do, let's make Jackson and Putnam County very proud tonight.”

Sen. Bailey: [laughs].

Mr. Dailey: And of course he just laughed. He said, “Count on it.” We gave each other a high five. [laughs].

Sen. Bailey: Well, and you described that he wanted you guys to kind of go out there with him, and I remember just, I was kind of back in the shadows. I remember him kind of looking around and kind of saying that to you guys.

Mr. Dailey: Yeah, like, “Come on. Let's—” [laughs].

Sen. Bailey: “Come on, let's go.” And, “No, man. This is your time to shine.”

Mr. Dailey: Yeah, that’s right.

Sen. Bailey: So, that's awesome. And—

Mr. Dailey: But isn't it wonderful for the Upper Cumberland to have all this music heritage?

Sen. Bailey: Oh, absolutely.

Mr. Dailey: I mean, look around: it’s Lester Flatt. Now, Jake Hoot. All these wonderful—Uncle Jimmy Thompson.

Sen. Bailey: Right.

Mr. Dailey: One of the first Opry me—well, the first Opry member from over in the Granville area. Did you know that?

Sen. Bailey: Yes.

Mr. Dailey: That's a big deal.

Sen. Bailey: Granville there is Jackson County.

Mr. Dailey: Yes, it is.

Sen. Bailey: Jackson County. So, what is it about this area that you think that causes the inspiration for bluegrass music, country music? What is it about this area that has produced some very well known bluegrass, and country music stars?

Mr. Dailey: I think it's in our blood. I think it's in your blood. It's in—I've heard you sing. I can hear it. It's what you love. It's what we all love. It's just in our blood. It's who we are. And one of our songs called “I'll Leave My Heart in Tennessee—”

Sen. Bailey: Which I love, by the way.

Mr. Dailey: Oh, thank you.

Sen. Bailey: Yeah, I do. I mean, that's one of my favorites.

Mr. Dailey: Thank you very much. And it has the line in it: “It's in my blood. It's in my marrow.” It just is. And so, you look at how most of us grew up. We grew up in the hills, and on the farms, and riding horses, and it's just who we are.

Sen. Bailey: So, who have been your biggest influences as far as your music career? I know. You mentioned your dad—

Mr. Dailey: My dad. Yeah, JB. He's got a brand new CD out that I produced on him, and got on that Pinecastle Record label, his first record deal at 74 years old. [laughs]. And he's got Parkinson's. And the CD went number one on Amazon and stayed there for 13 weeks, I think it was, on bluegrass Amazon. 

 And I said, “Daddy, you're ahead of Alison Krauss, and several others on there. This is a really big deal.” He said, “Well.” [laughs]. And he had four songs made the top 10 charts and so he's been a humongous impression on me and on my music. But when we get over into who did I listen to and who were my favorites, The Statler Brothers, who are dear, dear, dear friends of mine were my biggest—

Sen. Bailey: Really?

Mr. Dailey: —influences. And they are my heroes. And we sang for them as they went into the Country Music Hall of Fame. We surprised them by coming out singing one of their songs. 

 We sing their old song, “Do You Know You're My Sunshine?” The one they wrote, not the old one that you might think of. And Reba McEntire came out and sang “Flowers On the Wall” for them. And so, they have been my biggest inspiration, and I might tell you, going back and tying this all in, we talked about the Upper Cumberland music growing up here, as a nine-year-old kid I was running around the yard singing that “9 to 5” song of Dolly’s, but my dad had bought me a boombox and set it on the retaining wall, plugged it in and put a cassette tape in. 

 And I'm running around the yard, and I hear for the first time this voice, [singing] “Oh, Elizabeth,” and I stopped—which was very hard for me to do because I had ADD—and I ran over and I got down on the grass, and I looked at the radio and just listened. And I heard this beautiful four-part country quartet harmony. I’d heard gospel quartet, but not country quartet. “Dad who is that?” “Son, that's The Statler Brothers.” 

 And then I heard this awesome kickoff on a guitar. And I heard the song, [singing] “I'll Go to My Grave Loving You,” it’s like, “Oh my gosh, this is the best thing I've ever heard.” I said, “Dad, I want to do this when I grow up.” And I never dreamed that I would meet these fellas. 

 But here's where it ties in. We all had a good cry—us and The Statler’s—2010, we asked them for their blessing to do a tribute album to The Statlers. And we picked their greatest hits and I said the one we have to cut is “Elizabeth” because it’s the first one that made me fall in love with country music. I’ll be doggone if we didn't cut that thing and I'm sitting at home one night enjoying a good bowl of ice cream, like us Upper Cumberland people love to do. 

 And I received a phone call from the Grammy office. “Mr. Dailey, we would like to inform you that, Dailey & Vincent, you're nominated for your very first country music mainstream Grammy nomination.” I was like, “We've had bluegrass and gospels, before but country?” And he's like—I said, “Who are we nominated with?” They said, “Lady Antebellum, Little Big Town, Zac Brown Band—” and I'm like, “You are kidding me. For what?” And they said, “For the song ‘Elizabeth.’” 

 I started crying, you know? I was like, “This—I cannot believe this.” And so I knew it was over before it started because that's when Lady Antebellum had “Need You Now” out, I thought, “That's going to win everything.” I called Darrin; we cried. I called the Statlers—got them all on the phone—I said, “You guys had a number one hit in ’83 with this song. You won award after award.” That song went gold and platinum for them. I said, “Thirty years later, we have a country music Grammy nomination on the song.” They were touched. They were crying on the phone. We're like a big bunch of babies. But we went on to the Grammys and enjoyed the award show. Lady Antebellum did win, and on the way out the back door, we slit their bus tires. [laughs].

Sen. Bailey: [laughs]. Did you now? [laughs]. Well, [laughs]—

Mr. Dailey: [laughs]. Being the nice guys we are, [laughs], you know.

Sen. Bailey: Well, that is an awesome story.

Mr. Dailey: So, that's how it all tied in full circle. It was really cool.

Sen. Bailey: Yeah. Well, very good. So, The Statler Brothers were a huge inspiration—

Mr. Dailey: Yes.

Sen. Bailey: —their song “Elizabeth—”

Mr. Dailey: Yeah. And then, later on, a few years later, my dad put another tape in, and I heard this bluegrass and bluegrass gospel group sing, and I’d never heard anything like it, either called Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver.

Sen. Bailey: Oh, yeah.

Mr. Dailey: “And they—so they're in Tompkinsville, Kentucky this weekend, son, let's go see them.” And we went, and I sat, and my—I was—oh, my mouth dropped. And I was like, “Wow.” So, I kept watching Doyle and never really got to know him, and a gentleman in Alabama, when I was 21 years old saw Doyle. And Doyle was having band changes, and he said—Rick Jarman was his name—said, “There's a kid up in Gainesboro, Tennessee, that sings really high, and he knows every one of your songs. And he would fit you.” And Doyle said, “Okay. I'll call him.” I didn't know that.

Sen. Bailey: I gotcha.

Mr. Dailey: So, at this time, I'm working at Fleetguard here in Cookeville, and at the—you know, building filters, and saving money to go to college. The phone rings, and I go over after work. I'm at home and I—“Hello?” “This is Doyle Lawson. Is Jamie Dailey there?” Well, I thought it was friends playing a trick on me, and I said, “Yeah, right. And I'm Bill Clinton.” And he says, “No, this is Doyle Lawson.” And I thought, “No.” And he said, “Son, do you have an [00:24:20 ID collar]?” And we had that big old box ID collar and it said, ‘Kingsport, Tennessee.’ And I was like, “Oh, my—” and I get back on the phone and said, “Sir, I'm an idiot. I'm moving to another country.”

Sen. Bailey: [laughs].

Mr. Dailey: He didn't even [laughs].

Sen. Bailey: Oh, okay. [laughs].

Mr. Dailey: So, he said, “Come and try out.” And there was 13, I think, of us that tried out, and I got the job. But here's what I want to say about that to aspiring musicians. This is really important: if you're wanting to do this for a living, if you're wanting to sing and play for a living, this is really true. 

 When I went to try out for Doyle and got on his bus, he told the band to leave after we sang and he said, “Son, I want to say something.” He said, “I think I can get this out of you.” He said, “You've got a lot of bad vocal habits. You got a lot of—” He said, “You're going to have to work harder than you ever worked in your life if you want to be in this band.” I said, “Yes, sir. I do.” And he said, “Well, here’s the deal. I'm going to hire you. Be back here in two weeks.” I was so excited I ran off the bus, got in my car, was going across the parking lot, and he waves me down, runs out, waves, “Whoa, whoa, stop, stop.” And I rolled the window down. He said, “Would you like to know what kind of money you're going to be making?”

Sen. Bailey: [laughs]. It didn't matter, at that.

Mr. Dailey: It didn't matter. And my point is, you have to do, and play, and sing music first because you love it. If you truly have a passion for it, and you truly love it, the rest will come.

Sen. Bailey: Right. I think that's true about a lot of things. You've got to love your profession to be really good at it, and then the other part comes. That is an awesome story. And how long were you—how long did you stay with Doyle?

Mr. Dailey: I was with Doyle nine years, and we had a good run. We won vocal group of the year for seven years. We won songs and albums of the year. We had six Grammy nominations together, wrote 34 songs together. Yeah.

Sen. Bailey: And he remains one of your very good friends today.

Mr. Dailey: Very much so. So, much so that I had him on our television show last week, he and Quicksilver. They came down and shot an episode with us and I've had him back at the Grand Ole Opry. He had not played the Opry in 10 years since I had been there, and I was talking to him one day, he said, “Son, I never get to play the Opry anymore.” I said, “We’ll change that.” And heading back on the Opry, and it was so fun to watch my old boss go out there and enjoy the Opry and play it again. It was fun.

Sen. Bailey: I just want to touch on this for just a second. He told you you had some bad vocal ha—

Mr. Dailey: Habits. And instrument habits, playing my instruments.

Sen. Bailey: Okay. So, how did he work with you to overcome that? Did he work with you personally?

Mr. Dailey: Yes.

Sen. Bailey: Did he get a vocal coach for you?

Mr. Dailey: No.

Sen. Bailey: I mean, how did h—

Mr. Dailey: No, he's hands-on. And he was very tough. And people from the past will tell you—especially from the past; he's mellowed a lot these days, but from the past, they will tell you it was like going to a military music school.

Sen. Bailey: I got you. Mm-hm.

Mr. Dailey: “Here's how you sing that note.” “You're using too much air.” “You’re using not enough air.” “You're singing flat.” “You're singing sharp on this one note.” “Son, you're not singing the right part.” “Pronounce your words like this when you sing.” Or, “Pronounce your words like that when you sing.” And, “You're playing the wrong note.” “Cut the bass notes off when you're playing—” because I was playing upright bass at the time. “Cut those notes off” “Don't let them sustain.” It was so many things. And then when I started playing rhythm guitar for him, it was a whole different new training ground that I had to go through. But for the first two years, he was really hard on me, but I'm glad he was. It paid off.

Sen. Bailey: So, today in your career, do you still use vocal coaches to as—

Mr. Dailey: I do. I had vocal issues last June. We had been running 100 miles an hour, and we had been—praise the Lord, we'd been selling out show after show and we were getting where we were doing two shows a day, and we were pulling up 1000 to 2500 people and afterwards trying to go out and meet and greet, and those were going for two and three hours, autograph sessions after a show. And I'm like, “Whoa.” 

 And I came home one day—we had a day off—and had rehearsal the second day. The guys came to the house, got their instruments out, we started to rehearse, and I started to sing and nothing came out. I couldn't make it do anything. And I literally panicked. And so they all left, and I was at home for three days. I said, “I can't do this, and what is going on?” 

 And the phone rang, and it was Alison Krauss. And she says, “Jamie, I've heard what's going on with your voice.” She had paralyzed—which you can read about on Google. You can Google it—she had paralyzed her vocal cord in 2013. She had gone out to an arena, she said it was packed, and she said, “The band kicked off the song.” She said, “I sang three notes and it just went dead. I couldn't do anything.” 

 And so she went to a vocal coach named Ron Browning in Nashville. And she said, “Long story short, I'm setting you up with my vocal coach, and you're going to go see Dr. Catherine Garrett at Vanderbilt, and you're going to get checked out.” “Yes, ma'am.” [laughs]. 

 So, I went to Vanderbilt, they ran the scope down my throat, over a month's time three times they ran it down. And they said, “Nothing is damaged. You're not paralyzed. Nothing. We can't figure out what's going on here.” So, then I went to a therapist there, they sent me to therapy. 

 And they found out that the back of my upper back and neck, the muscles were locked up from just stress and overtalking and just, you know. So, they gave me things to minimize the damages on that, and to try to correct it, get it better. And then I started going to the vocal coach and he had me doing some of the weirdest things you've ever heard in your life with my voice. I mean, he worked with Whitney Houston, he worked with—he works with Amy Grant, Alison Krauss, Wynonna Judd, all these people he's worked with. He's bonafide. 

 And so I went to him for three months, could not sing. It started coming back after about four months. I was scared to death. So, I took a whole month off, July, and just relaxed and didn't hardly do anything. But praise the Lord, it came back, and thank you, Alison, for setting all that up for me. [laughs].

Sen. Bailey: That's a true friend.

Mr. Dailey: It's a true friend.

Sen. Bailey: It goes back to that, being a family friend.

Mr. Dailey: She’s an Opry member and a family, you know.

Sen. Bailey: A family friend. So, tell us a little bit about how you ended up a member of the Grand Ole Opry because, I mean, that is a huge honor in the country music industry, and there's a lot of folks that aspire to be a member of the Grand Ole Opry and sometimes they're not always asked to be a member. So—

Mr. Dailey: There's only 230—I guess it’s 42—242 members ever. And there's only, now, 89 of us living.

Sen. Bailey: Wow, really?

Mr. Dailey: A lot of people don't know that.

Sen. Bailey: I did not know that.

Mr. Dailey: And if you notice, over the last couple years, they’ve been adding more you know. [laughs]. So, when we started Dailey & Vincent on January 31 of 2007, one of our very first goals is—and as you well know, and I will say this to all the aspiring musicians, if you're going to do this, you need to have a plan, you need to have a team, and you need to execute the plan. And you need to think in terms of five, ten, fifteen years down the road. Build strong foundations, and be able to build on those foundations. 

 So, one of the plans, when we got our team together, we hired our manager, we hired a publicist—we couldn't afford all this—hired an attorney, got a good record label, and when we all sat down at a conference table like we are today, I said, “One of our dreams is, we want to play the Grand Ole Opry. We want that to be our first date we ever play.” Now, I had played it with Doyle & Quicksilver; Darrin Vincent had played it every week with Ricky Skaggs who was a member, and we said, “We want that to be our first tour date.” And everybody's like, “Oh, geez, man, that’s—I don't think we can pull this off.” I said, “We've got to try; give it everything we got.” 

 Long story short, our first manager, Don Light, who had managed Jimmy Buffett and the Oak Ridge Boys and the Happy Goodman Family, he had a lot of gut. And he went to the Opry executives, and met with them for four months, just banging them over the head. “We got to make this happen. We got to make this happen.” They finally said yes. 

 So, we hired a video team, which you can see, it’s on YouTube, and our first night at the Grand Ole Opry was December 29th of 2007. And it was being held at the old Ryman Auditorium, which was fantastic. And we walked out on stage with just one microphone, and a guitar, and a mandolin and we sang a song “By the Mark” that was our first hit. Then we brought our band out for the second song. 

 I was so nervous, Paul, I couldn't even—my knees were knocking. I couldn't have found the back door if he told me to. But it went off great. So, much so that they kept asking us back, and back, and back. Fast forward ten years. Ten years later, they call—the Opry calls and says, “Hey guys, we're going to give you a 30-minute segment at the Grand Ole Opry of just yours to celebrate your hundredth show, and 10 years on the Grand Ole Opry.” I said, “You're kidding me. Nobody gets 30 minutes on the Opry.”

Sen. Bailey: Now, this is 2017?

Mr. Dailey: I'm sorry, it was December 2016.

Sen. Bailey: Okay.

Mr. Dailey: ’16. And it's 10 years on the day. You know, [00:33:33 unintelligible], “Wow. And it was being held at the Ryman again because that's what they do; in December they move it to the Ryman. “Well, thank you so much.” And they said, “Call anybody you want to be on that stage with you to sing on the Grand Ole Opry.” Well, my dad had never played the Grand Ole Opry and always wanted to—it was his dream. I called, “Daddy. You want to go play the Opry Saturday night?” “Why, son, I ain’t stepping out on that stage.” And, “I don't need to be out there.” 

 It’s like, “Yeah, you're going to.” It’s like, “Oh my gosh.” You know. So, I called my mother. But let's back up a little bit. My mother and dad and Darrin’s family had been sworn to secrecy about something that Darrin Vincent and I knew nothing about. They had been sworn to secrecy for two months.

Sen. Bailey: Two months. That's a pretty big—[laughs].

Mr. Dailey: And so, I didn't know that. So, I called Mother and I said, “Mom, we're going—’’ to she said, “Oh, hon, I can't come.” She said, “I’m busy that night.” I'm like, “Wow.” That's not like Mom. 

 And Darrin told his wife Julie and she said, “Oh, honey, I'm going to New York to shop with my mother. We can't be there.” It's like, “What in the world? This is a big night to celebrate 10 years. 100—” and none of our family said they could come, so we—other than dad and Darrin's mom: they were going to get on stage. 

We called several—we called Dolly; she was going to be on tour. We called Dierks Bentley; he was going to be on tour. So, I called Johnny Cash’s son, John Carter. I said, “Come sing with us.” “Hey, we're in town. Okay.” I called Marty Stuart. “Yeah, I'm in town. Okay, I'll come sing.” Like, “Okay.” So, we can get out there and we see this big box backstage, Paul, and this big cake—it looked like a big cake. I said, “Darrin, I bet you that's a 10-year-anniversary cake. They're going to bring it out, get some applause. We'll take a picture, sing a last song while [00:35:12 unintelligible]. How cool?” “Yeah, I bet it is, too.” 

 So, we get out there and the Ryman’s packed; they bring us on. We sing songs with everybody. We bring Marty Stewart out and we get around that old microphone and we sing an old bluegrass gospel song called “Rank Stranger.” It was so fun. And when we finished—I knew we were live on the radio, so I did what you're supposed to do. “That was Marty Stewart right here on the Grand Ole Opry WSM 650 AM.” 

 The crowd’s applauding, you know, and Marty said, “Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait, wait, wait.” I'm like, “Uh oh, what’d I say wrong?” He said, “Boys, we got a little business to finish here.” And I was like, “Business?” Then I thought, “Oh, the cake.” I thought I had it all figured out. And he said, “You know, gentlemen—” and I'm paraphrasing some here. So, you can watch this on YouTube. It's on there. But he said, “You know, gentlemen, the most important and the most elite institution in country music is that of the Grand Ole Opry. And if you're going to be in country music, and you're going to be in bluegrass, it’s the most important institution you can be a part of.” And said, “By the way, did you know—I think you've got a lot of family in the audience tonight.” We said, “Oh, no, we actually don’t.”

Sen. Bailey: Two people.

Mr. Dailey: He said, “Hit the house lights.” And up in the balcony was all of our family, our mother—you know, brothers, sisters, cousins, like, “What in the world?” Darrin's wife, you know. It’s like, “What is going on?” And he said, “You know, gentlemen, country music loves you. Country music needs you. The Grand Ole Opry loves you. The Grand Ole Opry needs you. And the Grand Ole Opry welcomes you.”

Sen. Bailey: Oh, wow.

Mr. Dailey: We—just like I’m doing now, start crying.

Sen. Bailey: [laughs].

Mr. Dailey: Well, you know, Darrin fell to his knees, started praying. I thought I was going to have a heart attack, needed some new underwear. So, they brought the cake out, and they invited us to become members—Marty did, and then you fast forward to March of 2017 was the induction date and the big party backstage. But that night, they had a big party for us afterwards, after the invite, and Darrin and I sent our bus on with our band to Indianapolis, downtown Indianapolis because we had to show the next night. 

 And so Darrin and I had to drive our cars. So, I couldn't sleep anyway. So, I drove all night up through there. And Darrin drove his car and we started getting calls. And it was amazing. All these big stars we had never even heard from or talked to, would call and say, “Hey, we just heard the news. We wanted to welcome you to our family.” And, of course, I'm just crying all up the road.

Sen. Bailey: [laughs].

Mr. Dailey: And then the induction night, Old Crow Medicine Show and Grand Ole Opry star Jeannie Seely inducted us. And to stay true to my roots and who I appreciate and love, we sang the first song, again, that we ever sang on the Opry, that was our hit that started our career “By the Mark.” And then also talked about our parents and then I sang “I'll Go to My Grave Loving You” for The Statlers. And—

Sen. Bailey: There you go.

Mr. Dailey: And Jeannie Seely, we were walking out to doing the induction, 4500 people—say Upper Cumberland showed up again big time that night. Thank you all—she looks at me and she says, “Now look—” and you got to know Jeannie Seely. One of the longest members of the Opry, she said, “Look, I'm wearing my false eyelashes tonight, so don’t you get me to crying because they'll fall off.” [laughs].

Sen. Bailey: [laughs].

Mr. Dailey: So, I'm laughing as we're walking out. We get out there. They do this wonderful induction. And as I turn to walk off, I'm crying and squalling, and she's holding on to my arm and she says, “Well, I'm glad you're not wearing your false eyelashes.” [laughs].

Sen. Bailey: [laughs].

Mr. Dailey: So, it was a great night, and all the family was there, and a lot of Opry members came, the Oaks, everybody, to join our party. And it was a night I will never, ever forget.

Sen. Bailey: Oh, absolutely. I—

Mr. Dailey: I feel like I've talked too much, but that’s the stories.

Sen. Bailey: No, I mean, this is something that our listeners want to hear. They—especially I want to hear those stories because it’s, again, it's real. It's who you are, and we're able to share in a huge milestone in your career, and in your life and it makes us feel like that we're part of your family.

Mr. Dailey: And you are. If you think about it, Paul, my grandparents, Daisy Dailey and John Dailey, they were old farmers, and they didn't have a lot, but they sat every Friday and Saturday night, and they listened to the radio, the Grand Ole Opry. So, I thought about them. It’s like, man, what if they were back in Gainesboro right now, listening that radio popping and crisping, and heard their grandson sing on the Opry and become a member? I thought about them.

Sen. Bailey: Right. Right. Absolutely.

Mr. Dailey: And it's part of who we are here. It's part of all of us in the Upper Cumberland, country music, bluegrass, gospel, and the Grand Ole Opry.

Sen. Bailey: Right. It all goes hand-in-hand.

Mr. Dailey: It does.

Sen. Bailey: It all goes hand-in-hand.

Sen. Bailey: You're listening to Backroads and Backstories with Jamie Dailey as my guest today, from the bluegrass and country music duo Dailey & Vincent. Let's segue over to just a couple more questions for you. And 2020 has been a interesting year for all of us, and especially for country music tours. So, how have you adapted? 

 How has the Grand Ole Opry adapted, but in particular, it's had to affect your concerts that you had scheduled and so forth. And, of course, you're able to still do your TV program, which reaches millions of people. But being on tour, tell us how that has changed this year. Do you see it opening back up? Do you already have new dates established? Just, kind of, update the audience on where we are as far as your tours in the future.

Mr. Dailey: March 13, we were getting ready to do two shows in South Carolina. And a friend of mine who works at the White House, Catherine O'Neill called, and she says, “Just giving you a heads up, we're getting ready to get some pretty bad news.” And she said, “I think it’s going to affect—” you know, we're really close. She said, “In other words, I want you to get home.” 

 So, like, “Okay.” And then we started seeing more breaking news about the virus and how bad it was supposedly getting. And after she called, we were just getting ready to walk out on stage and my manager called and he said, “As soon as you finish this date, fire the bus up. You're not going on to Virginia and on to DC—” because we had dates up through there. 

 And I said, “Oh. Is this really as bad as Catherine and everybody saying it is?” “Yes.” And says, “By the way, all your dates are falling. They're canceling right and left.” It’s like, “Wow.” And he said—and rumor had gotten around, too, that the state was going to—the state of Tennessee was possibly going to shut down. That was the rumors flying around. Whether it was true or not, we didn't know what to believe. And so, I didn't want to call you and bug you know, and you hang up on me. So—

Sen. Bailey: No, no.

Mr. Dailey: Yeah. But anyway, we finished the show, got on the bus, started heading home. And we're getting calls from our manager constantly. The promoters are saying, “This is falling, this is going.” 

 And it wasn't too long, the Grand Ole Opry saying, “We're suspending for now.” And it's like, “Holy cow.” So, we knew we were going to be hurt because we just—at that night, we lost about 78 more dates for the year. That's a lot of revenue. And not only that, the upcoming television shows that we were supposed to shoot, all those episodes, put on hold, suspe—it's like, “Whoa.” 

 So, we get home, and it took us a month to shut the business down. There were so many loose ends, it took us a month to get it shut down. And my property in Gainesboro is called Flagler Point—named after a dear, dear friend of mine in Palm Beach—but I went there and I stayed there for a month and a half and didn't move. I was scared to death. Because we didn't know what we didn't know.

Sen. Bailey: Right. Exactly.

Mr. Dailey: I mean, it could be bad, it could be not bad. We just didn't know. So, I thought, “I’m going to play safe.” And I stayed in the woods by myself. 

 And saw nobody and cooked every meal there—other than my dad. And while I was there, I started thinking, “Okay. How are we going to innovate through this? Because people were saying we're going to be up and running again, by April, May, June. I've read enough books on pandemics, EMP attacks, government strategies, that I thought, “This is not going to bounce back anytime soon in our industry. We'll be the first shut down; we'll be the last back to work. Period.

Sen. Bailey: Right.

Mr. Dailey: Because, I mean, common sense tells you people scared, they're not going to come out and see you. Rightfully so. So, I started thinking, “How are we going to innovate through this?” And man, for the second month I'm there, I couldn't come up with anything. And I'm watching what other people are doing. 

 Then we started thinking about—as other artists had thought about; I'm not the one to come up with this, but I thought about, well, drive-in theaters. Maybe that's an option. We need to start thinking about outdoor fairgrounds where we can space everybody out. We need to be thinking about outdoor festivals, are they going to run? Are they not going to run? 

 Luckily for us, our fanbase is so loyal—the Dailey & Vincent fanbase is so loyal, they were giving us just tons of moral support online, and we could feel they were with us. They were behind us. “We're praying for you. We're here for you.” And so I thought—that made me feel better. 

 The Grand Ole Opry called and said, “We're going to start doing TV and we want you to come host it with Ricky Skaggs. But it's going to be no audience there.” Wow. Paul, we get to the Opry—this was in, I think, by this time it's May. And we walk in backstage of the Opry; nobody in the hallway. They put Ricky in one dressing room, me in one dressing room, Darrin in one dressing room, and each band member in a dressing room by themselves. And we come in with gloves on and masks, and we rehearse in a big old circle in a huge room, far away from each other. And by this time, we’d not sang in two and a half months, Ricky hadn’t either. And we're all trying to learn his stuff, and he was trying to learn our stuff. And we go out to do this on TV to 4500 seater that's empty, and cameras looking at you and—

Sen. Bailey: Now, is this live?

Mr. Dailey: This is live.

Sen. Bailey: Okay. [laughs].

Mr. Dailey: And I'm thinking, “Boy, this is going to be different, for me anyway.” So, they spread us out on stage—and you can watch some of this online, too, and on Circle TV, but we go out there, and we start doing our songs. And I thought, “You know what? Have a good time. You're blessed to be able to be here because other musicians are sitting at home.” 

 And I just smiled and had a big time, and loved every note we sang. And it was so odd because you didn't have any applause or audience. But I left there thinking, “Boy, this has changed the music world. This has changed it.” So, after that is when I came up with the idea to do the show at my property to try to start cranking the business again and try to figure out how to build models where you can have the space to socially distance people in order to keep them safe. 

And so, one of the things we've done, we've ordered boxes and boxes of hand sanitizer for our guests that come. We encourage masks, we will—you know, we can't enforce that, but we encourage it. We have temperature guns to check people's temperatures before they come through the gate. Ah, we're doing everything—[00:46:57 Sammy Carr] is coming from the state of Tennessee, [00:46:60 unintelligible], he's coming. I'd love for you to come if you’d come.

Sen. Bailey: Absolutely.

Mr. Dailey: Because we want to build this model to try to do this across the US. So, in other words, we can call a venue in Texas, say, “Hey, we know how to do this, now. We had them sold out. We had them spaced out.” And hopefully, if it goes well, we can say it went well. Would you want to try this outdoor your venue instead of in the venues? We think in essence, it will probably save us—out of 78 to 115 dates next year, it'll probably save us 30 good-paying, maybe 40 good-paying dates to get this model up and running. That's what we're doing.

Sen. Bailey: Well, good. Well, you got to be innovative.

Mr. Dailey: You have to, and it's really hard with this because, Paul, we really don't know if—maybe you guys do. I don't know if we're going to have a round two. And if we do, what does that look like? Will states put more band dates that will keep business like us from moving forward, even with new innovations? So, will we have to innovate again? There’s a lot of questions.

Sen. Bailey: Well, you know, visiting with some friends of mine from the Cumberland County Playhouse, and they have really, really struggled over the last several months not being able to have their plays. And so they're just afraid to pack everyone into those theaters. I'm on an equine association, we're about to have a huge—an event in Fort Worth, Texas. We've basically had to cut the crowd down to one-third of the size, we have to do social distancing, we have to do, they're—actually, the facility is requiring us to have everyone to wear a mask. 

 So, it takes innovation, though, to be able to continue to have your events and to be able to get people to adhere to the guidelines that the event set out. And one thing that I found—this equine association that I'm part of, National Reined Cow Horse Association, we've held events in Las Vegas, we were actually, just last month—at the South Point Casino & Hotel, we held the first major event back in Las Vegas when it started opening up.

Mr. Dailey: Really?

Sen. Bailey: And the mayor of Las Vegas came, their director of Public Health came from Las Vegas, and our members who come from all across the United States there to the horse show, they adhered to all the guidelines at South Point, Nevada, and Las Vegas had put out for us. And in fact, the mayor and the public health officials were like, “Okay. We can start opening other venues and events up and start having things.” 

 Because people recognize that if they're going to be able to have events, they have to adhere to guidelines. Now, that doesn't mean that they're going to continue to wear that mask once they leave that venue, but if they're wanting to participate in a concert, like what you're having, or a horse show, or a play at Cumberland County Playhouse, people are willing to adhere to those guidelines to be able to get the entertainment that they're after. And so, I'm just saying—

Mr. Dailey: I encourage it. I don't know that I can—would enforce it, but I highly encourage it at our concerts because, look, even if the mask has a 10 percent chance of helping me not give it to someone, or vice versa, I'll take that chance, if it will help save a life.

Sen. Bailey: Oh, absolutely, absolutely. And just so the audience knows, you're sitting in my conference room at our trucking company, and we have over 100 employees and knock on wood, we've not had a single employee test positive.

Mr. Dailey: Praise the Lord. That’s great.

Sen. Bailey: And my drivers are going all across the country from Washington, California, to Maine, to Massachusetts, to Florida, Texas, and all points in between. And we've been very blessed, but we gave our drivers guidelines early on, and we asked them to adhere to it. And so—and a lot of our customers are doing the same thing. It's become kind of a cliche word, a touchless society, if you will, as far as whenever you arrive at places. But—

Mr. Dailey: Yeah. For sure.

Sen. Bailey: But, again, back to the innovation. You've got to come up with innovative ideas, and people are wanting to get out, they’re wanting to be entertained, they're wanting to support Dailey & Vincent—

Mr. Dailey: And they want to feel some normalcy.

Sen. Bailey: They want to feel normal. I think that's one of the biggest—

Mr. Dailey: I do.

Sen. Bailey: Absolutely. I think that's one of the biggest things that people just want to have some normalcy to come back. But I also know that there is a spirit of patriotism in America today, people want to do what's in the best interest of their country because they love the United States. And I think you have a very dear friend that I consider to be one of our greatest patriots as far as the country music industry is concerned, and that's Mr. Lee Greenwood.

Mr. Dailey: Lee is a dear friend and I love Lee. He came to the Ryman—to our Ryman show, was it last—July before last, and sang “God Bless the USA,” come out there, and I had to sing tenor on that thing. Man, that thing gets high toward the end. I was having to pull my pants up to hit that one. 

 But yeah, he is a good fella, and we've cruised together and gone out to eat, and all of us, as Americans can have fundamental differences on any certain issues, but at the end of the day, we have to come together; we have to set our differences aside and love one another. And I'm very proud of America and what we can accomplish together. And when we sit down and talk, and just talk and try to understand one another. And that makes me very proud. I wrote a song, Paul, years ago, called “American Pride” with Whispering Bill Anderson wrote this song, and it talks about the flag. And basically, it talks about, it waves for me and you, that line. It waves for me and you. It's not just this group or that group. At the end of the day, if you're an American citizen, it waves for all of us. And it's a beacon to the whole world of freedom. And that's what we all are proud of is freedom.

Sen. Bailey: Absolutely. When you talk about our American flag, it gets very emotional for me. A couple of years ago, I had the opportunity to be in France, and visit several of our cemeteries of our World War One soldiers. Number one, the United States government keeps those in immaculate condition in honor of those men and women that died for America. But I was also able to participate at several of those cemeteries, the lowering of the flag in the afternoon and the playing of taps. And that is just an emotional—

Mr. Dailey: If you don't feel something on that, there's something wrong.

Sen. Bailey: Yeah. There's nothing more beautiful than the red, white, and blue. And to see the honor and the respect that those men and women that are lowering that flag at the end of the day, show to the flag and to America, it's just awe-inspiring for me. And to know that that flag has flown over many a conflict, but yet it stands for freedom, it stands for liberty, and it stands for a way of life that no other nation in the world has, that we have here in America.

Mr. Dailey: It does. From every creed and color [laughs] and every—and I love that about America.

Sen. Bailey: Absolutely.

Mr. Dailey: It waves for me and you absolutely.

Sen. Bailey: Absolutely.

Mr. Dailey: Several years ago, we were invited to come to DC and sing for the 25th year commemoration of The Wall. It's a cold November day. And veterans sit out in the grass with their families, you know, with blankets and coats, and Jimmy Fortune and Darrin and I went and stood on that stage, and we were flanked by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, all decked out in their gear, in a semi—it's like, “Holy cow.” We sang the song “More Than a Name on a Wall.” 

 And as we hit the chorus, it wasn't planned, but Marine One flew over, and I think it had W onboard, from what we understand. And as it flew over—it wasn't planned, he was just coming in from somewhere, they saluted, and it was right as we hit the chorus of the song. And on C-SPAN, this was all over C-SPAN, I broke down squalling, and I couldn't even get through the chorus. I cried through the whole song, I could—I was so embarrassed because I just couldn't hold my emotions. You felt the mighty power of the United States of America. And it was a feeling I will never forget, as long as I live.

Sen. Bailey: I know I've been to The Wall, and taken and rubbed my hand and my fingers across those names, and been to the Korean Memorial and, I mean, it's just—people need to go there, and experience that, and understand what the cost of freedom has been so that—

Mr. Dailey: And truly means.

Sen. Bailey: —and truly means—that allows you and I to both enjoy the careers that we have. You entertaining and bringing hope, bringing encouragement, bringing inspiration to millions of people all across America and around the world. People just need to really, really understand what it means to be a patriot. And I want to thank you for your songs of patriotism, and for inspiring people to love America. So, thank you for that.

Mr. Dailey: Thank you back. We really truly appreciate it.

Sen. Bailey: As we close out our episode, I’d just like to ask if there's any final thoughts that you would have for us?

Mr. Dailey: 1 Timothy 6:12, I think it is—you can check me on that, but I'll paraphrase. I can't remember the exact wordings of it because I know people get upset if you don't word it exactly, but it talks about fighting the good fight. And I think that's what we all have to do—all Americans. We have to fight the good fight. And that's what I try to live by.

Sen. Bailey: And that is certainly a scripture to live by. Well, thank you, Jamie Dailey.

Mr. Dailey: Thank you, Senator. I think a lot of you, and I'm proud of you and keep doing what you're doing.

Sen. Bailey: Well, thank you.

Announcer: Thank you for listening to the Backroads and Backstories podcast, with Senator Paul Bailey. You can keep up with the latest on the podcast at backroadsandbackstories.com. And subscribe, rate, and review the show on iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, or wherever fine podcasts are distributed. We’ll see you next time.