1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:01,920 Unknown: The next year, when it came around in Oh, eight, my 2 00:00:01,920 --> 00:00:04,320 wife is the one who said, hey, they're having that songwriting 3 00:00:04,320 --> 00:00:08,460 competition. Yolanda, by the way, oh my, yeah, that thing, 4 00:00:08,460 --> 00:00:11,340 Scott won last year. They're doing it again. And she said, 5 00:00:11,340 --> 00:00:16,020 and I really want you to enter a song, like a song contest. I've 6 00:00:16,020 --> 00:00:19,920 had 20 number one song, you know, I'm in a song contest. And 7 00:00:20,220 --> 00:00:22,700 she goes, yeah, just do it, you know. And then, you know, I 8 00:00:22,700 --> 00:00:25,700 always say, she said, she literally said, bro, you got 9 00:00:25,700 --> 00:00:26,660 nothing else going on. 10 00:00:29,900 --> 00:00:30,980 Wives are good at that. 11 00:00:34,160 --> 00:00:39,860 Welcome to a podcast about music and entertainment before it all 12 00:00:39,860 --> 00:00:44,800 goes down the disposal. This is circling the drain. 13 00:00:44,800 --> 00:00:51,160 And welcome back into circling the drain. The podcast that we 14 00:00:51,220 --> 00:00:54,520 talk about everything. It talks about radio, entertainment, 15 00:00:54,520 --> 00:00:58,000 music, you name it. Jay Harper is over there. Jay, how are you 16 00:00:58,000 --> 00:01:01,320 doing? Always doing well, when I'm with you. Johnny B, same, 17 00:01:01,320 --> 00:01:01,500 right 18 00:01:01,500 --> 00:01:05,340 back at you and Jim McCarthy piloting this ship. My honor. 19 00:01:05,640 --> 00:01:09,120 That's my honor too, sir. My name John E Bozeman. Some people 20 00:01:09,120 --> 00:01:13,920 know me as Johnny B. We got a special guest today. In fact, I 21 00:01:13,920 --> 00:01:16,800 thought, you know, we've had so many pro you know, so many 22 00:01:16,800 --> 00:01:20,120 episodes where we're talking about all the sinful things we 23 00:01:20,120 --> 00:01:23,300 do the horrible things we've done in radio and all, 24 00:01:23,420 --> 00:01:26,180 especially me. I mean, I'm talking more me than you two 25 00:01:26,180 --> 00:01:30,440 guys, but I thought we, you know, elevated a little more, 26 00:01:30,440 --> 00:01:34,280 and bring somebody in that, I think the world of, and that is 27 00:01:34,340 --> 00:01:38,360 Reggie ham, singer songwriter. Oh, good to have you with us, 28 00:01:38,360 --> 00:01:41,860 sir. Yeah, elevate baby. First of all, 29 00:01:42,880 --> 00:01:44,800 I feel like I need to talk like this with 30 00:01:52,480 --> 00:01:54,940 you guys. I think we can advertise 31 00:01:55,000 --> 00:01:57,820 anything in this room. Call me now. 32 00:02:01,240 --> 00:02:03,060 Operators are standing by. Look 33 00:02:04,320 --> 00:02:08,460 at that. Come on, right now. Every every product in America, 34 00:02:08,460 --> 00:02:10,980 you're missing the opportunity of a lifetime. You 35 00:02:10,979 --> 00:02:12,599 really are. We're all here 36 00:02:12,600 --> 00:02:15,840 if you want to, if you want to support this program in a world 37 00:02:15,900 --> 00:02:18,960 right there. We've got the voices. We've got it. Yeah, 38 00:02:18,960 --> 00:02:21,380 exactly so what in the hell are you waiting for? 39 00:02:22,520 --> 00:02:24,680 Come on, that's what the lines are open now. 40 00:02:24,920 --> 00:02:29,960 But Reggie has been around quite a while with us. I actually got 41 00:02:29,960 --> 00:02:34,340 to know Reggie through the Phil Valentine show, yeah. And the 42 00:02:34,340 --> 00:02:37,940 big thing that kind of brought us to him was the big song that 43 00:02:37,940 --> 00:02:42,160 you had on American Idol that you won the song of the year, 44 00:02:42,160 --> 00:02:44,800 which was a time of my life, yeah? 45 00:02:45,400 --> 00:02:46,480 Well, you know, 46 00:02:47,800 --> 00:02:51,940 actually, so the way Phil and I became friends was through a 47 00:02:51,940 --> 00:02:59,020 song called infidels. Yes, I so when I when my debut record came 48 00:02:59,020 --> 00:03:05,400 out on in 2003 American dreams, American dreams, yeah, and this, 49 00:03:05,400 --> 00:03:09,420 so there's this, you know, big story behind it, and all of 50 00:03:09,420 --> 00:03:14,880 that, but, but when it came out, three days after it released, my 51 00:03:14,880 --> 00:03:20,220 wife and I flew to China to adopt our first daughter, and 52 00:03:20,220 --> 00:03:22,940 that was Very dramatic. And there's, like I said, a big 53 00:03:22,940 --> 00:03:25,220 story about it. There were relates to the American Idol 54 00:03:25,220 --> 00:03:27,620 song and all that. It was a book, and they're trying to turn 55 00:03:27,620 --> 00:03:32,780 it into a movie and all that. But while we were gone, my 56 00:03:32,780 --> 00:03:38,600 management team was I had a single that was in the top 20 on 57 00:03:38,600 --> 00:03:42,460 the Billboard charts when I left for China, and I was supposed to 58 00:03:43,480 --> 00:03:46,300 come home and open for Cher. I was supposed to come home, I was 59 00:03:46,300 --> 00:03:49,240 supposed to open for the Goo Goo Dolls on a European tour, open 60 00:03:49,600 --> 00:03:52,720 for like, Willie Nelson on a few dates. It was all like, lined 61 00:03:52,720 --> 00:03:56,320 up. The whole this was March of oh three, and, you know, the 62 00:03:56,320 --> 00:04:03,360 rest of the year was booked, yeah. And so my management was 63 00:04:03,360 --> 00:04:07,440 like sending songs to different radio. There was a lot of 64 00:04:07,440 --> 00:04:10,440 syndicators picking up songs, and I had different kinds of 65 00:04:10,440 --> 00:04:13,140 songs on the record. And it was, it was just kind of creating 66 00:04:13,140 --> 00:04:19,860 interest here and there and whatever. And I got home, and 67 00:04:19,980 --> 00:04:24,380 I'll never forget it. My phone started buzzing. You know, this 68 00:04:24,380 --> 00:04:27,260 is back when we had flip phones. You know, phone started buzzing. 69 00:04:27,980 --> 00:04:31,640 Answer it. And it's a guy from CSAC, the performance rights 70 00:04:31,640 --> 00:04:36,140 organization, a friend of mine there, and he goes, Hey, Phil 71 00:04:36,140 --> 00:04:38,600 Valentine, is like, talking about you right now. I don't 72 00:04:38,600 --> 00:04:40,840 know if you know this, but you might want to call in the show. 73 00:04:40,900 --> 00:04:44,020 I'm like, Phil Valentine, the radio guy. He goes, Yeah, he's, 74 00:04:44,080 --> 00:04:48,880 he's talking about you, yeah. I said, Oh, okay, so I closed the 75 00:04:48,880 --> 00:04:52,600 phone, literally, it buzzes again. I open it, it's my dad. 76 00:04:53,080 --> 00:04:56,740 He goes, Hey, Bill Valentine's talking about somebody. Just 77 00:04:56,740 --> 00:04:59,140 somebody told me. He goes, Yeah, you might want to call in. He's, 78 00:04:59,560 --> 00:05:04,200 he's like. Asking about you. Okay, close the phone. Third, 79 00:05:04,260 --> 00:05:07,260 third call my manager. Hey, you got to call Phil Valentine right 80 00:05:07,260 --> 00:05:12,540 now. I said, Okay, I and I had heard Phil I actually had 81 00:05:12,540 --> 00:05:17,700 followed the whole tax tax protest, yeah, which I thought 82 00:05:17,700 --> 00:05:21,500 was fantastic. Yes, it was. And I told him many times like that, 83 00:05:21,680 --> 00:05:25,580 that was more game changing than you think it was, you know, or 84 00:05:25,580 --> 00:05:28,940 maybe, maybe he did know how important it was, but I thought 85 00:05:28,940 --> 00:05:31,880 it was great. And Pamela fur had been a friend of mine for years, 86 00:05:31,880 --> 00:05:35,780 and so I kind of followed him through that. Anyway, my 87 00:05:35,780 --> 00:05:39,140 management had had, apparently, while we were in China, had sent 88 00:05:39,740 --> 00:05:43,600 you guys the record American dreams, and particularly the 89 00:05:43,600 --> 00:05:48,940 song infidels, yes, played it a lot, and Phil played it and was 90 00:05:48,940 --> 00:05:51,520 like, I don't know, I don't know what to think about this guy. I 91 00:05:51,520 --> 00:05:55,780 don't know where he is on this, on the political spectrum, but 92 00:05:55,840 --> 00:06:00,400 this song is cracking me up. And Reggie, if you're out there, 93 00:06:00,520 --> 00:06:03,960 call in the show. You know what? I remember that? Yeah, and so, 94 00:06:04,500 --> 00:06:08,340 so I did, and we had a great conversation on on air, just, 95 00:06:08,400 --> 00:06:13,680 just from the phone. And then when that ended, he, when the 96 00:06:13,680 --> 00:06:16,980 when that segment ended, just off the air, it was either you 97 00:06:16,980 --> 00:06:19,260 or him said, hey, you need to come in the studio one day and 98 00:06:19,260 --> 00:06:22,520 let's, let's have a longer conversation. So we did that. 99 00:06:23,120 --> 00:06:26,180 And, and then, I don't know, Phil and I just became buddies, 100 00:06:26,180 --> 00:06:29,300 and we, we would go to lunch occasionally and just talk about 101 00:06:29,300 --> 00:06:36,380 everything, yeah, and, and it wasn't all politics, in fact, in 102 00:06:36,380 --> 00:06:38,180 fact, very little of it was politics. 103 00:06:38,179 --> 00:06:41,919 No, that's, that's the truth. Anytime you, anytime you spend 104 00:06:41,919 --> 00:06:45,219 any time with him away from the show, yeah, it was usually 105 00:06:45,219 --> 00:06:50,559 either about Tar Heel basketball or music, yeah, or ideas, yeah. 106 00:06:50,559 --> 00:06:51,099 Or I did 107 00:06:51,099 --> 00:06:53,919 just we, I remember one conversation. The last time we 108 00:06:53,919 --> 00:06:56,379 had lunch together was at Jay Alexander's, and we, man, we 109 00:06:56,379 --> 00:07:00,659 just talked about every just all kinds of ideas. And it was, 110 00:07:00,899 --> 00:07:05,939 that's the that's where I am, like, I always, I'm about ideas. 111 00:07:05,939 --> 00:07:09,119 I'm not really about politics. You know, the politics of the 112 00:07:09,119 --> 00:07:13,319 moment changes. The people definitely change. Yeah, and 113 00:07:13,319 --> 00:07:16,019 it's the ideas, really, to me, that are the most important 114 00:07:16,019 --> 00:07:18,899 thing. And that's, I think Phil felt the same way. Obviously, 115 00:07:18,899 --> 00:07:23,059 his job was to talk about the topics at hand, which he did a 116 00:07:23,059 --> 00:07:27,019 great job. Both of you guys did a great job of that. But, you 117 00:07:27,019 --> 00:07:31,399 know, we talked about everything under the sun. And I was funny 118 00:07:31,399 --> 00:07:33,859 because I was telling my dad last night we were talking about 119 00:07:33,859 --> 00:07:39,079 Phil and how much we missed him on the radio and and all in your 120 00:07:39,079 --> 00:07:44,439 show. And I say a lot of people don't know this, but when Phil 121 00:07:44,439 --> 00:07:47,799 would say, a friend of mine just texted me and said, blah, blah, 122 00:07:47,799 --> 00:07:49,899 blah, blah, blah, it was almost always me. 123 00:07:49,960 --> 00:07:54,280 So you were basically doing show prep for 124 00:07:55,420 --> 00:08:00,360 like I would usually take my I walk three miles a day, and I 125 00:08:00,360 --> 00:08:03,480 would usually take my walk during the first hour of his 126 00:08:03,480 --> 00:08:08,700 show, yeah, and listen. And he would say something. He would 127 00:08:08,700 --> 00:08:11,700 tee it up, you know, some so and so and so happened or whatever. 128 00:08:12,300 --> 00:08:15,900 And I would text him, yeah, but this and that. And then the next 129 00:08:15,900 --> 00:08:18,720 segment would come around, and he would a friend of mine just 130 00:08:21,720 --> 00:08:24,740 he was such a rush for me to know that 131 00:08:25,160 --> 00:08:26,900 was a good imitation of his laugh. 132 00:08:30,980 --> 00:08:34,460 The last the last one I texted him, I'll never forget it, and 133 00:08:34,460 --> 00:08:37,100 the reason I remember it is because it was the last one that 134 00:08:37,100 --> 00:08:41,140 he was talking about Zuckerberg losing money from Facebook, 135 00:08:41,140 --> 00:08:46,180 because people were at at some point boycotting because of the 136 00:08:46,240 --> 00:08:50,080 you know he was, he was censoring people, you know this 137 00:08:50,080 --> 00:08:56,320 back in those, in those in those days, and I texted him, I said, 138 00:08:56,740 --> 00:08:59,860 if Zuckerberg gets below 50 billion, he won't be able to get 139 00:08:59,860 --> 00:09:00,400 laid anymore. 140 00:09:02,860 --> 00:09:05,820 He I was, and I thought to myself, There's no way he'll say 141 00:09:05,820 --> 00:09:07,800 this on the air. And he did, and he's like, if 142 00:09:10,560 --> 00:09:13,200 Zuckerberg is below 50 billion, he won't be able to get laid 143 00:09:13,200 --> 00:09:13,980 anymore. I was like, 144 00:09:18,060 --> 00:09:20,240 I didn't realize how much show prep you were, 145 00:09:22,040 --> 00:09:24,740 you're like a staff writer, man. 146 00:09:24,740 --> 00:09:27,320 It was so much fun. I was just and he would just like, you 147 00:09:27,320 --> 00:09:31,400 know, and he would text me back, and I still have the last text 148 00:09:31,400 --> 00:09:34,580 he sent me. I can't, I can't bring myself to get rid of it. 149 00:09:34,580 --> 00:09:38,780 But we were texting about Condoleezza Rice and something 150 00:09:38,780 --> 00:09:43,840 she said, and this and that. And anyway, I didn't mean to get off 151 00:09:43,840 --> 00:09:46,480 on that. Oh no, that's fine, but that's how Phil and I met 152 00:09:46,840 --> 00:09:52,060 through infidels, yes, and then, and then he, he actually became 153 00:09:52,060 --> 00:09:58,540 fan of all the other music in and I played at his 50th 154 00:09:58,540 --> 00:10:02,640 birthday party. And I. Remember that, yeah, something else. And 155 00:10:02,640 --> 00:10:09,180 he did a couple of charity things for us, like Bella 156 00:10:09,180 --> 00:10:12,300 bashes. Bella bash, he was at several of those. And the last 157 00:10:12,300 --> 00:10:16,980 one, the bourbon bash we did, he was at that. And, you know, I 158 00:10:16,980 --> 00:10:21,380 mean, we were just, we were just friends and and I still 159 00:10:21,380 --> 00:10:24,140 occasionally keep in touch with Susan, just to check on her, 160 00:10:24,140 --> 00:10:29,660 just as she has, yeah, how the kids are doing. And he was 161 00:10:29,780 --> 00:10:34,340 always, and I'm going to use this word again, always 162 00:10:34,640 --> 00:10:38,660 available to me if I needed to promote a show, if I needed to, 163 00:10:38,660 --> 00:10:42,460 you know, we were doing some kind of charity thing. He never 164 00:10:42,520 --> 00:10:46,240 turned me down. No, never one time. And man, when you find a 165 00:10:46,240 --> 00:10:49,780 friend like that in those days, in particular, when radio was 166 00:10:49,840 --> 00:10:53,980 basically King, and you had to be on the radio to get your word 167 00:10:53,980 --> 00:10:58,180 out right, as an artist, if you found some somebody like that 168 00:10:58,180 --> 00:11:01,060 who was in your camp like that, you just never forgot that. 169 00:11:01,180 --> 00:11:03,420 Well, that's the whole thing with him, and we won't make this 170 00:11:03,420 --> 00:11:08,580 all about Phil but, but when he believed in you, or if he loved 171 00:11:08,580 --> 00:11:12,540 you, He would do anything for you, that's why I've told people 172 00:11:12,540 --> 00:11:17,040 many times that I've seen him help out so many people that, 173 00:11:17,040 --> 00:11:20,300 and I'm talking people from all walks of life. It's not just 174 00:11:20,300 --> 00:11:23,660 somebody that's on the conservative side where he was. 175 00:11:23,900 --> 00:11:27,680 He was that way with everybody. Yeah, if you were, if you were 176 00:11:27,680 --> 00:11:32,060 good to him, he gave it back tenfold. Yeah, he was that kind 177 00:11:32,060 --> 00:11:32,660 of innovation. 178 00:11:32,660 --> 00:11:37,880 He was a really good man and really and a talent in that 179 00:11:37,880 --> 00:11:42,400 space too. Oh yeah, people forget, that's that's its own 180 00:11:42,460 --> 00:11:43,960 ability. You know, 181 00:11:44,080 --> 00:11:46,420 oh, it's not as easy. People think, Oh, you just get on the 182 00:11:46,420 --> 00:11:50,260 air and you talk. No, it's, it's, it's an art. And he was 183 00:11:50,380 --> 00:11:51,880 the greatest. And 184 00:11:52,600 --> 00:11:55,180 it's funny because, again, my talking about the whole 185 00:11:55,180 --> 00:11:58,480 conversation with my father last night was about people who have 186 00:11:58,480 --> 00:12:03,300 that ability, and it's the ability to go. And I was telling 187 00:12:03,300 --> 00:12:05,340 him, You know, I've been entertainment my whole life, and 188 00:12:05,340 --> 00:12:07,980 my dad has been entertainment. And we were talking about how 189 00:12:07,980 --> 00:12:12,720 it's this, it's this ability right here, man, I'm gonna 190 00:12:12,720 --> 00:12:15,240 listen to this for three minutes and then I'm gonna turn it off, 191 00:12:15,240 --> 00:12:17,460 because I don't have time listening to this the rest of 192 00:12:17,460 --> 00:12:20,540 the day. You look at your watch, you know what? I'm gonna listen 193 00:12:20,540 --> 00:12:24,560 three more minutes, and then I promise I'm gonna turn it off, 194 00:12:24,800 --> 00:12:27,560 dang it. I got it. Okay, I'll listen three more minutes. That 195 00:12:27,560 --> 00:12:31,220 is what the entertain. That's what the ability to do that is 196 00:12:31,280 --> 00:12:34,880 exactly. You know, there's a lot of people with great minds, 197 00:12:34,880 --> 00:12:39,680 great voices, whatever, but for some reason it's real easy to 198 00:12:39,680 --> 00:12:43,840 turn them off, whether that's a musician, whether that's a voice 199 00:12:43,840 --> 00:12:47,620 talent, whether that's a novelist, you know, a filmmaker, 200 00:12:47,620 --> 00:12:51,760 whatever it's the person who has the ability to keep you on the 201 00:12:51,760 --> 00:12:53,380 line one more minute. 202 00:12:53,920 --> 00:12:56,260 Well, you've probably learned that a lot too, from your own 203 00:12:56,260 --> 00:13:00,100 father, because he was a Pentecostal minister. Was 204 00:13:00,099 --> 00:13:05,759 he and an amazing one, yes, and he, my dad, was was deep into 205 00:13:06,899 --> 00:13:09,359 human behavior and all this stuff, all these hacks that we 206 00:13:09,359 --> 00:13:12,299 that we're like, into online. He was doing this stuff in the 70s 207 00:13:12,299 --> 00:13:18,059 like he knew exactly how long the human attention span was. He 208 00:13:18,059 --> 00:13:21,979 knew exactly how you have to turn a story at one minute, 30 209 00:13:21,979 --> 00:13:24,439 seconds. You know what I mean? He right. He was very detailed 210 00:13:24,439 --> 00:13:29,239 and all that. And my father could, could preach for 90 211 00:13:29,239 --> 00:13:33,619 minutes, and you felt like, it was like two minutes. You felt 212 00:13:33,619 --> 00:13:36,799 like, Man, I haven't been here that long you had because he 213 00:13:36,799 --> 00:13:41,979 just wove the story. So it wasn't eloquence. It was like, 214 00:13:41,979 --> 00:13:45,399 Man, I gotta, I gotta keep hearing what this guy what I 215 00:13:45,399 --> 00:13:48,639 don't, I don't know why I'm still listening to this, yeah, 216 00:13:48,639 --> 00:13:52,239 but I can't stop. And he had that ability. Still, still has 217 00:13:52,239 --> 00:13:57,519 that ability. But in his prime it was, it was almost a miracle. 218 00:13:57,519 --> 00:14:00,359 I mean, I've seen, I've seen my dad hold 10,000 people 219 00:14:00,359 --> 00:14:04,979 spellbound for two hours, and it's and I'm thinking about, 220 00:14:04,979 --> 00:14:07,439 how's he doing this? How these people not leaving, but they 221 00:14:07,439 --> 00:14:09,899 wouldn't, man, nobody would get it. Nobody wanted to go the 222 00:14:09,899 --> 00:14:12,599 bathroom. It's like, I can't miss what's next, right? You 223 00:14:12,599 --> 00:14:16,619 know, that's the that's the essence of it, right there. If 224 00:14:16,619 --> 00:14:21,323 you have that ability, you can apply that to anything, any 225 00:14:21,323 --> 00:14:27,203 stage, any activity you can, you can be a car salesman, you know, 226 00:14:27,563 --> 00:14:30,503 if you've got that ability to keep them in the office one more 227 00:14:30,503 --> 00:14:33,383 minute, like, I just think this deal is going to be great. I 228 00:14:33,383 --> 00:14:36,143 don't know why, but this guy's got me feeling like, you know 229 00:14:36,143 --> 00:14:39,623 what? I mean, that's a really, that's, that's buying a car from 230 00:14:39,623 --> 00:14:41,319 me. I mean, that I might have bought, 231 00:14:41,740 --> 00:14:42,940 I spellbound. I would have 232 00:14:45,040 --> 00:14:48,040 we buy one right now. Jim Well, as a matter of fact, there, 233 00:14:48,040 --> 00:14:50,260 Johnny come on down, 234 00:14:51,460 --> 00:14:53,980 well, you started with your dad too. Did you now you're playing 235 00:14:53,980 --> 00:14:57,700 drums, yeah, because we were talking before we came on. But 236 00:14:57,700 --> 00:15:00,300 we both kind of started in a in a what? Because my. Father 237 00:15:00,300 --> 00:15:03,960 wasn't a preacher, he was a salesman, but he was also a 238 00:15:03,960 --> 00:15:06,720 singer and and he was a radio 239 00:15:07,560 --> 00:15:10,500 my dad was a salesman too. He was Yeah, basis, baby, yeah. He 240 00:15:10,500 --> 00:15:10,920 was and, 241 00:15:11,340 --> 00:15:14,460 thank goodness, right, but, but you started playing drums with 242 00:15:14,460 --> 00:15:16,680 him, so I'm sure you learned a lot. 243 00:15:17,040 --> 00:15:22,880 Absolutely, yeah, my dad. So, so my dad was kind of a child 244 00:15:22,880 --> 00:15:27,920 prodigy guitar player. When he was 10, he was given to, and I'm 245 00:15:27,920 --> 00:15:32,900 not that's exactly what it was. He was basically signed over to 246 00:15:33,680 --> 00:15:39,680 a traveling evangelist in 1957 who traveled the world. And my 247 00:15:39,680 --> 00:15:47,140 father, my father's job was to plug his guitar up in some 248 00:15:47,140 --> 00:15:52,300 place. Great example, London. Okay, they're in the middle of 249 00:15:52,300 --> 00:15:57,340 London. My dad finds an outlet to plug his amp in. Yeah, on the 250 00:15:57,340 --> 00:16:00,880 street corner in London. He plugs his amp in. He's 10 years 251 00:16:00,880 --> 00:16:03,660 old. I guess when they were in London, he was 13. But anyway, 252 00:16:03,660 --> 00:16:08,280 he plugs it in. He sings and plays. He busts, basically, and 253 00:16:08,700 --> 00:16:14,040 gets a crowd. And when the crowd is big enough, the evangelist he 254 00:16:14,040 --> 00:16:19,920 was touring with would literally put a soapbox down. They 255 00:16:19,920 --> 00:16:22,100 literally carried a soapbox. People say, I'm up on my 256 00:16:22,100 --> 00:16:25,640 soapbox. That's what this comes from. Evangelists doing this, 257 00:16:25,700 --> 00:16:28,100 Street Preachers doing this, this man would literally put a 258 00:16:28,100 --> 00:16:30,800 soapbox down, stand on the soapbox and start preaching to 259 00:16:30,800 --> 00:16:35,900 this crowd. Wow. That's how my father was raised, and so he 260 00:16:36,260 --> 00:16:39,140 continued that on it as an evangelistic team, by the time 261 00:16:39,140 --> 00:16:44,140 he was 20 and had a band, a group called the World Challenge 262 00:16:44,140 --> 00:16:47,620 singers, and they toured the country and played and saying my 263 00:16:47,620 --> 00:16:51,640 dad was the minister, and then when that, when that disbanded. 264 00:16:51,640 --> 00:16:55,780 And so I was raised on that bus with that group. I tell people I 265 00:16:55,780 --> 00:16:58,720 don't know when I learned to play an instrument, like I just 266 00:16:58,720 --> 00:17:02,640 always known how to play. Yeah, people ask me, when you start 267 00:17:02,640 --> 00:17:06,660 playing? I don't know. I don't remember not knowing. I just so 268 00:17:06,960 --> 00:17:12,960 we were, we moved to Atlanta. My dad took a church to pastor, and 269 00:17:13,020 --> 00:17:17,520 the drummer for that, for the church could not he was on his 270 00:17:17,520 --> 00:17:20,420 honeymoon. We weren't going to have a drummer. And I said, 271 00:17:20,420 --> 00:17:24,920 Well, Mom, I'll play. I'm five. Yeah. She's like, Oh, honey, I 272 00:17:24,920 --> 00:17:28,100 know, I know you will No, no, seriously. I like, I'll play. 273 00:17:28,100 --> 00:17:32,540 Yeah. And she, she looks at my dad. I know what the look is 274 00:17:32,540 --> 00:17:35,000 now, you know. But then I was just trying to, I was just 275 00:17:35,000 --> 00:17:37,880 getting the social cues, but the look meant, I think he's 276 00:17:37,880 --> 00:17:42,220 serious. My mom always she's like, okay, so we got to church 277 00:17:42,220 --> 00:17:46,360 early. She goes, Okay, jump up there. Let's play something real 278 00:17:46,360 --> 00:17:50,680 quick before people get here. And, man, we we started rocking 279 00:17:50,680 --> 00:17:54,700 something. And she's like, okay, yeah, he'll play. He's part of 280 00:17:54,700 --> 00:17:57,520 the key. He's the he's and so that I was officially, at that 281 00:17:57,520 --> 00:18:02,160 point, the backup drummer from five to, like, seven. And then I 282 00:18:02,160 --> 00:18:05,940 was the, then I was the official drummer, once my legs got long 283 00:18:05,940 --> 00:18:10,380 enough to reach the kick pedal. And I could, actually, I used 284 00:18:10,380 --> 00:18:16,860 to, I used to only be able to, like, grab the the hammer, you 285 00:18:16,860 --> 00:18:19,740 know, the kick, the kick pedal, yeah. And I could, I could pull 286 00:18:19,740 --> 00:18:23,540 it back, and I could get a kick every, every, like, three or 287 00:18:23,540 --> 00:18:32,300 four measures, you know, that took some talent, yeah? So I 288 00:18:32,300 --> 00:18:36,260 got, like, a little bit of a, you know, one of those things, 289 00:18:36,260 --> 00:18:41,140 yeah, to do that. Anyway, when I was seven, I started, I pretty 290 00:18:41,140 --> 00:18:44,440 much was the full time guy, and then at 10, we went back on the 291 00:18:44,440 --> 00:18:48,820 road as the ham family, and I was I played drums and sang 292 00:18:48,820 --> 00:18:49,300 lead. 293 00:18:49,780 --> 00:18:53,800 Wow, yeah. So yeah, and did you know you guys did these? We 294 00:18:53,800 --> 00:18:56,560 talked about it, but a lot of people don't know about the all 295 00:18:56,560 --> 00:18:59,860 night sing a thons, or the all night singing. And, man, those 296 00:18:59,860 --> 00:19:03,900 things and people. Because I was in, I was in Hot Springs, 297 00:19:03,900 --> 00:19:06,600 Arkansas one time, and I won't say what the guy said, but 298 00:19:06,720 --> 00:19:09,780 apparently there was a husband there that had never been to an 299 00:19:09,780 --> 00:19:12,060 all night singing. He probably thought, yeah, it's probably 300 00:19:12,060 --> 00:19:16,080 gonna last about midnight. Whatever. Found out they last 301 00:19:16,080 --> 00:19:19,260 all night. That's why they call them all night, baby. Yeah, it's 302 00:19:19,260 --> 00:19:21,380 sun's coming up. They're still playing, yep. 303 00:19:22,040 --> 00:19:25,160 Oh yeah, we did. We did a lot of this. We did, I've been in a lot 304 00:19:25,160 --> 00:19:28,760 of tent revivals, yes, like, more than you would think. 305 00:19:30,620 --> 00:19:32,240 But we did this one 306 00:19:33,560 --> 00:19:37,100 all night, thing ever. We did it for three years. We did it in a 307 00:19:37,100 --> 00:19:41,440 place called fields of the wood, North Carolina. And this is a, 308 00:19:41,500 --> 00:19:45,640 like a Christian Gospel theme park in North Carolina, way back 309 00:19:45,640 --> 00:19:48,640 in the woods, in the sticks, and it's this mountain that they 310 00:19:48,640 --> 00:19:52,240 call it 10 Commandment mountain. It's literally a mountain. And 311 00:19:52,240 --> 00:19:56,260 they have the 10 Commandments carved in stone like huge 312 00:19:56,260 --> 00:19:59,260 letters you know, bigger than a person you know, all the 10 313 00:19:59,260 --> 00:20:02,460 Commandments. On this all the way down this mountain, and then 314 00:20:02,460 --> 00:20:05,040 it's, like, lined with stone, you know, around it. And then 315 00:20:05,040 --> 00:20:07,860 there are steps going right up the middle of the all the 316 00:20:07,860 --> 00:20:12,840 commandments, you can go all the way to the top, and the kids 317 00:20:13,260 --> 00:20:15,960 would get, you know, the thing was to get to the top and then 318 00:20:15,960 --> 00:20:20,040 try to get back down, like, like, without the steps, right? 319 00:20:20,100 --> 00:20:23,180 Yeah. But somebody would inevitably, like, trip and fall 320 00:20:23,180 --> 00:20:26,420 and just roll down the mountain, like hit every commandment on 321 00:20:26,420 --> 00:20:30,080 the way down all those stones. Good way to learn them. Yeah, we 322 00:20:30,320 --> 00:20:33,860 would learn, you know. And so you learn. So I learned all the 323 00:20:33,860 --> 00:20:36,380 commandments by, like, literally falling over them. 324 00:20:41,540 --> 00:20:44,740 And but at the base of this mountain, we would set up a 325 00:20:44,740 --> 00:20:50,140 tent, and for three years, we were the fam, the host, the host 326 00:20:50,380 --> 00:20:53,800 artist, you know, and we'd set our park, our bus or motor home, 327 00:20:53,800 --> 00:20:58,000 whatever we were traveling in at the time, next to this tent, and 328 00:20:59,200 --> 00:21:04,080 our family would start the all night thing at sundown, six or 329 00:21:04,080 --> 00:21:07,800 seven, whatever it was, right? And we would do 45 minutes to an 330 00:21:07,800 --> 00:21:15,300 hour to open it. And then all of these groups from the backwoods 331 00:21:15,300 --> 00:21:19,140 in North Carolina would come out of the woodwork, and they would 332 00:21:19,140 --> 00:21:22,640 do their their stuff. And man, it was, it was unbelievable. 333 00:21:22,640 --> 00:21:26,180 Some of it was great. Some of it was like, true, like 334 00:21:26,180 --> 00:21:30,260 undiscovered brilliance, you know. And then at midnight, we 335 00:21:30,260 --> 00:21:34,040 would do another set, you know, to kind of rev it back up. And 336 00:21:34,040 --> 00:21:37,220 then we, you know, then you had this, the next round of these 337 00:21:37,220 --> 00:21:41,500 performers from, you know, say, 1am to four or whatever. And 338 00:21:41,500 --> 00:21:45,880 then as the sun was coming up, we did our last set as the sun 339 00:21:45,880 --> 00:21:48,880 was coming up. And then they did a pageant, an Easter pageant, on 340 00:21:48,880 --> 00:21:55,600 this mountain. But, yeah, man, we did that three years. And we 341 00:21:55,600 --> 00:21:58,240 did a lot, a lot of that stuff. And then, you know, we played 342 00:21:58,480 --> 00:22:03,720 really high end stuff. We played toward the end of it, you know, 343 00:22:03,720 --> 00:22:08,580 my dad was becoming pretty well known. We played arenas and, you 344 00:22:08,580 --> 00:22:13,920 know, this really cool center in Detroit once that was like, real 345 00:22:13,920 --> 00:22:19,920 high end. And we did, we played. There were these two, like, 346 00:22:19,920 --> 00:22:24,260 performing arts centers in Virginia, and we were in one and 347 00:22:24,320 --> 00:22:27,620 and the Sugar Hill gang was in the other. I don't know if you 348 00:22:27,620 --> 00:22:30,380 remember the Sugar Hill gang, and I remember, and I met wonder 349 00:22:30,380 --> 00:22:33,860 Mike, like I just stood out in the lobby and, like, hung out 350 00:22:33,860 --> 00:22:36,860 with wonder Mike. Wonder Mike is the guy who invented the term 351 00:22:36,860 --> 00:22:41,500 hip hop. You know, wonder Mike. I am wonder Mike. And I'd like 352 00:22:41,500 --> 00:22:42,400 to say, Hello, 353 00:22:44,740 --> 00:22:45,940 something in yellow. 354 00:22:47,920 --> 00:22:51,760 He said, That's wonder Mike. He's the guy that said, and so, 355 00:22:51,760 --> 00:22:56,020 you know, it was, it was a weird way to grow up, a fun way to 356 00:22:56,020 --> 00:23:00,360 grow up. Sometimes, I've got some stories that people don't 357 00:23:00,360 --> 00:23:03,780 believe but the absolutely happened. So were you? Were you 358 00:23:03,780 --> 00:23:08,940 home school? Yeah, some part of it, I was tutored in the second 359 00:23:08,940 --> 00:23:13,560 grade. I was part of a homeschool thing from like my 360 00:23:13,560 --> 00:23:18,060 sophomore year till I graduated. So it was kind of all over the 361 00:23:18,060 --> 00:23:23,660 place. Few years I was in public school, but but every year I was 362 00:23:23,660 --> 00:23:28,760 in public school, my father had a meeting with the principal, 363 00:23:29,720 --> 00:23:36,500 and my brother and I were given three tours we could do, and the 364 00:23:36,500 --> 00:23:40,480 all of our teachers were informed that they had to Get 365 00:23:40,480 --> 00:23:45,520 lesson plans ready for us for these three tours. And so even 366 00:23:45,520 --> 00:23:48,340 when I was in public school, I knew, Okay, well, in October I'm 367 00:23:48,340 --> 00:23:52,240 going to be gone, you know, those three weeks, and my mom's 368 00:23:52,240 --> 00:23:55,420 got the lesson plans from the you know. And then in February, 369 00:23:55,420 --> 00:23:57,520 we're going to be into, you know, whatever. And so we had a 370 00:23:57,520 --> 00:24:05,640 schedule like that. So it was odd, you know, and my school 371 00:24:05,640 --> 00:24:12,240 experience was sporadic, and I don't know, I mean, it was fine, 372 00:24:12,240 --> 00:24:15,060 but it was, yeah, it wasn't everybody else's. You couldn't 373 00:24:15,060 --> 00:24:17,940 have played sports, I guess, even if you'd want, and that, 374 00:24:17,940 --> 00:24:22,880 no, that was a big point of contention. My dad had a very, 375 00:24:22,880 --> 00:24:28,340 very strict rule that we could play one year of each sport. So 376 00:24:28,340 --> 00:24:30,680 you can play one year basketball, one year baseball, 377 00:24:30,680 --> 00:24:35,120 one year football. That's it. And a lot of it had to do with 378 00:24:35,120 --> 00:24:39,620 our hands. He's like, I can't, you can't, true, risk messing 379 00:24:39,620 --> 00:24:44,080 your hands up. And it was a big deal. Like, like, you, you take 380 00:24:44,080 --> 00:24:48,400 care of those hands, because you need those hands. My brother and 381 00:24:48,400 --> 00:24:51,760 I both. So I played one year football where I stayed on the 382 00:24:51,760 --> 00:24:55,180 bench because I I was hurt all the time. My knees were just 383 00:24:55,480 --> 00:24:58,780 this. I played running back for one year, but, man, my knees 384 00:24:58,780 --> 00:25:01,860 were just i. Have water on the knees all the time. And that's 385 00:25:01,860 --> 00:25:06,840 when I realized I don't have the body for this sport. Yes, almost 386 00:25:07,740 --> 00:25:13,380 be a little bit of a, you know, masochist, masochist. Love pain, 387 00:25:13,440 --> 00:25:18,000 and I did not love pain. I'm with you, and I played baseball, 388 00:25:18,240 --> 00:25:22,340 I think when I was like little league baseball, and I've 389 00:25:22,340 --> 00:25:25,700 actually played basketball a little bit more than the rest of 390 00:25:25,700 --> 00:25:30,200 it. But once I got in high school, and then I ran track in 391 00:25:30,200 --> 00:25:33,260 high school, he was fine with us doing that, and I ran track for 392 00:25:33,260 --> 00:25:36,740 three years, and wrestled when I got in high school, but that 393 00:25:36,740 --> 00:25:40,660 didn't really have, that was no no impact so and didn't really 394 00:25:40,660 --> 00:25:42,400 have any impact on my hands, you know. 395 00:25:42,520 --> 00:25:46,000 But, yeah, so that was kind of like, 396 00:25:46,000 --> 00:25:50,140 that school was, was a happy, you know, it was, it was 397 00:25:50,139 --> 00:25:53,079 a necessary evil. Exactly. It was, like, we got to do this, 398 00:25:53,079 --> 00:25:56,979 but we don't. We get to do it our way. And, yeah, exactly. And 399 00:25:56,979 --> 00:26:02,399 we didn't put a lot of stock in it, you know, in this just his 400 00:26:02,399 --> 00:26:08,099 thing, like, okay, so I can sit in a class and I can learn about 401 00:26:08,219 --> 00:26:11,639 Bunker Hill, but I'm going to be in New Jersey next week at 402 00:26:11,639 --> 00:26:16,559 Bunker Hill, yeah, so, why don't I just learn about it there, you 403 00:26:16,559 --> 00:26:19,139 know? And it was a lot of that, yeah, you know, I would read 404 00:26:19,139 --> 00:26:21,979 about this stuff, like, in, you know, this America, you know, 405 00:26:21,979 --> 00:26:24,499 American history stuff. And it's like, yeah, I mean, I was there 406 00:26:25,099 --> 00:26:28,699 in the summer. I saw, I saw read out 10. I know, I know how the 407 00:26:28,699 --> 00:26:32,059 American Revolution ended. I actually have eight millimeter 408 00:26:32,059 --> 00:26:35,839 video of me charging read out 10. I know that French showed up 409 00:26:35,839 --> 00:26:40,399 on this, you know, because I saw it all. Yeah, right. And so that 410 00:26:40,459 --> 00:26:43,779 you don't forget. You'll forget all the stuff you learn and, Oh, 411 00:26:43,779 --> 00:26:48,099 definitely, but you don't forget, you know, and I took 412 00:26:48,099 --> 00:26:54,759 that into my parenting style. I really parented my son that way. 413 00:26:55,599 --> 00:26:58,719 He wasn't a performer with me, but I took him as many places as 414 00:26:58,719 --> 00:27:01,919 I could. Take him, and we would go see stuff and talk about, 415 00:27:02,339 --> 00:27:05,999 talk about it. And, you know, this is the way they teach it, 416 00:27:05,999 --> 00:27:09,419 but this is kind of how, how it really went down. Yeah, they're 417 00:27:09,419 --> 00:27:13,259 standing over there, and then they, you know, and, and, you 418 00:27:13,259 --> 00:27:16,799 know, that's a we live in, Nashville is a great place for 419 00:27:16,799 --> 00:27:16,979 that. 420 00:27:16,980 --> 00:27:19,920 Oh, it is. There's so much history here. Yeah, absolutely. 421 00:27:19,980 --> 00:27:24,500 So what brought you, I mean, what? What was the when you what 422 00:27:24,500 --> 00:27:28,580 brought you out of working with your family to becoming the 423 00:27:28,580 --> 00:27:31,580 songwriter you are, the artist you are. What brought you to 424 00:27:31,580 --> 00:27:32,180 Nashville? 425 00:27:32,180 --> 00:27:36,920 Well, a bull auction in South Dakota, basically was our last 426 00:27:36,920 --> 00:27:41,740 show as a family. Wow, we, we were hired to play a bull 427 00:27:41,740 --> 00:27:47,860 auction out in the middle of nowhere in South Dakota, and 428 00:27:48,460 --> 00:27:51,400 they put a piece of plywood down in the middle of the ring where 429 00:27:51,400 --> 00:27:57,220 all the bulls were brought in. They handed us one plug, and we 430 00:27:57,220 --> 00:27:59,920 could do that. We like, we could handle that. And they handed us 431 00:27:59,920 --> 00:28:02,400 this this one plug, and they're like, there's your electricity. 432 00:28:02,640 --> 00:28:06,420 And, you know, so we set up on this 10 by 10 piece of art. It 433 00:28:06,420 --> 00:28:09,720 was probably two, four by eight. Actually, I think it was, I 434 00:28:09,720 --> 00:28:12,120 think that's what it was. So it ended up being like, eight by 435 00:28:12,120 --> 00:28:13,920 whatever, eight by eight. And 436 00:28:14,520 --> 00:28:16,500 as I spoiled you, yeah, 437 00:28:17,580 --> 00:28:22,160 and I have a picture of it in my office, because the local paper 438 00:28:22,220 --> 00:28:26,780 snapped a picture. And so I have that paper that clipped our last 439 00:28:26,780 --> 00:28:32,300 show, yeah, as the family, I was 17, and it was just horrible. 440 00:28:32,300 --> 00:28:37,820 It's just, it was just the worst gig you can and I was so, I 441 00:28:37,820 --> 00:28:40,340 mean, I was jaded by then, you know, by then, I was just like, 442 00:28:40,340 --> 00:28:44,200 Man, I gotta get through this set. You know. No, 17 year old 443 00:28:44,200 --> 00:28:45,760 should be going, I gotta get through this. 444 00:28:48,340 --> 00:28:50,500 You're 17. You should be like, Yeah, I'm 445 00:28:53,920 --> 00:28:57,100 still the drummer. I'm still the drummer. Singing lead. I'm on 446 00:28:57,100 --> 00:28:59,440 song four. Okay, I can do it, you know. And, you know, an 447 00:28:59,440 --> 00:29:02,820 unstable platform, an unstable platform. All your stuff's 448 00:29:02,820 --> 00:29:07,020 moving, yeah, and I'm sliding off here and there, and I'm in, 449 00:29:07,140 --> 00:29:13,800 you know, bull crap. And so then it's so then it starts raining 450 00:29:13,800 --> 00:29:17,400 during the show, we can always great, we got a tin roof, so 451 00:29:17,400 --> 00:29:21,140 it's, we're it's off of us, but we can hear it like, okay, and I 452 00:29:21,140 --> 00:29:26,240 know load out is gonna be awful, you know? Oh, yeah, so that's 453 00:29:26,240 --> 00:29:28,280 all I'm thinking about now. I'm here in the rain, and all I'm 454 00:29:28,280 --> 00:29:32,000 thinking about now is loadout is gonna be awful. And sure enough, 455 00:29:32,000 --> 00:29:37,040 man it. And so dad backs the trailer up that we kept all this 456 00:29:37,040 --> 00:29:41,920 stuff in to the pen, you know. And we're like, as fast as we 457 00:29:41,920 --> 00:29:44,440 can. They're like, hey, we need to get in here and start. You 458 00:29:44,440 --> 00:29:47,140 know, we're like, going as fast as we can to get everything in. 459 00:29:47,140 --> 00:29:51,400 And I have the last piece of gear. I have the monitor mixer 460 00:29:51,460 --> 00:29:55,900 in my hand. I will never forget this. And I am running with this 461 00:29:55,900 --> 00:30:01,920 mixer to get to the trailer. I slip and fall. All in the pen, 462 00:30:01,980 --> 00:30:07,080 and I'm just covered in bull crap, you know, and I, and I 463 00:30:07,080 --> 00:30:09,540 stand up and try to and they, and they had brought the first 464 00:30:09,540 --> 00:30:13,140 bull in, and the bull is coming at me. Oh, no, I'm covered in 465 00:30:13,140 --> 00:30:17,220 the stuff. And I'm got the, I've got this, and the only thing on 466 00:30:17,220 --> 00:30:18,780 my mind is protect the gear. 467 00:30:18,899 --> 00:30:24,319 That's when, you know, you've been raised. I got to protect 468 00:30:24,319 --> 00:30:26,719 the gear Exactly. 469 00:30:27,920 --> 00:30:31,160 So think about your own safety. Make 470 00:30:32,840 --> 00:30:36,380 sure this gear gets in the trailer so I get out of there, I 471 00:30:36,380 --> 00:30:39,440 get out of the pen, and, you know, and I and I'm wet. I've 472 00:30:39,440 --> 00:30:43,240 gotten rained on now, I've gotten stuff on me, and I'm and 473 00:30:43,240 --> 00:30:46,600 I just, I get in the van, I slammed the door, and I said, I 474 00:30:46,600 --> 00:30:51,460 am done. And dad knew, you know, he's like, You okay? I said, No, 475 00:30:51,520 --> 00:30:54,940 I'm done. I won't do this anymore. Yeah. And he goes, 476 00:30:54,940 --> 00:30:58,480 Okay. And now, let me say this, in my dad's defense, my dad 477 00:30:58,480 --> 00:31:02,040 never forced us to do any of it. You know, I was, I was, it 478 00:31:02,040 --> 00:31:05,640 wasn't a Joe Jackson situation. I mean, my dad was always very 479 00:31:05,640 --> 00:31:08,400 clear, you boys don't ever want to do this. You don't have to. 480 00:31:08,400 --> 00:31:12,180 This is my thing. Yeah, you know. And you're, I want you 481 00:31:12,180 --> 00:31:15,000 with me, but you don't have to be. And that's when I said, I 482 00:31:15,000 --> 00:31:18,840 don't want to do this anymore. And he was and he never wavered. 483 00:31:18,840 --> 00:31:22,700 He said, that's totally fine, son. He said, I get it. And that 484 00:31:22,700 --> 00:31:25,100 was, that was the end of the bed. Was the last show we did as 485 00:31:25,100 --> 00:31:25,580 a family. 486 00:31:25,700 --> 00:31:28,880 Well, I don't blame you, because I remember when I worked with my 487 00:31:28,880 --> 00:31:32,720 dad, it was always a crap shoot where you were going to play. 488 00:31:32,720 --> 00:31:36,200 Because what he did, he used his radio station. It was out in 489 00:31:36,200 --> 00:31:40,480 Kansas. And back in those days, Kansas didn't get a lot of 490 00:31:40,720 --> 00:31:44,620 entertainment. So he so he would, he would hire a big 491 00:31:44,620 --> 00:31:49,360 country star and then bring his troupe open for him. Yeah, we 492 00:31:49,420 --> 00:31:53,200 opened for them. But I remember my first gig. It was in a place 493 00:31:53,200 --> 00:31:58,480 called cold water, Kansas. Oh, yeah. And we were outside, and 494 00:31:58,480 --> 00:32:01,560 it just happened, there was a, there was a severe thunderstorm 495 00:32:01,560 --> 00:32:04,680 that was blowing up about the time we were setting everything 496 00:32:04,680 --> 00:32:08,340 up. So they made the grand decision to put us in the high 497 00:32:08,340 --> 00:32:11,220 school. Yeah, but the high school had been shut up all 498 00:32:11,220 --> 00:32:15,780 summer, and it was like 100 degrees, and they did not have 499 00:32:15,780 --> 00:32:19,620 air conditioning, right? And we go in and we put on this show, 500 00:32:19,620 --> 00:32:23,120 and when we as we're coming out on stage, me and this singer, 501 00:32:23,660 --> 00:32:28,400 they introduce us. There's not one hand clap, nothing. The 502 00:32:28,400 --> 00:32:34,940 audience is angry. They're hot. They had to wait. Yeah, it was 503 00:32:35,720 --> 00:32:41,500 the MC goes, oh no. Boys go back out. Let's, let's get these 504 00:32:43,000 --> 00:32:43,180 boys. 505 00:32:43,180 --> 00:32:45,820 You literally had to walk out and walk back, yeah, 506 00:32:47,380 --> 00:32:48,400 okay, I'll give them a 507 00:32:50,920 --> 00:32:52,300 background that was like, 508 00:32:55,960 --> 00:32:58,540 so anyway, what brought you to Nashville? What, 509 00:32:58,780 --> 00:33:02,220 I mean, we were from Nashville, so I basically came home. I 510 00:33:02,220 --> 00:33:06,000 mean, we, I'm like a fifth generation native, so 511 00:33:06,000 --> 00:33:09,000 Wow, that's kind of unheard of, yeah. 512 00:33:09,000 --> 00:33:16,500 So we, I went to one year of junior college, Johnny, where I 513 00:33:16,500 --> 00:33:17,400 carried a solid 514 00:33:17,399 --> 00:33:18,599 2.0 great. 515 00:33:21,900 --> 00:33:25,520 Dropped out of college, and just I realized, because I was in 516 00:33:25,520 --> 00:33:28,640 bands in college, and all I was doing was chasing girls and 517 00:33:28,700 --> 00:33:31,400 making music, and I was like, I can do this without paying a 518 00:33:31,400 --> 00:33:37,340 college, you know exactly. So I left college after my freshman 519 00:33:37,340 --> 00:33:39,980 year, moved to Nashville because I knew this is where I wanted to 520 00:33:40,220 --> 00:33:44,140 be. I wanted to really, I wanted to be a studio player. I wanted 521 00:33:44,140 --> 00:33:50,800 to be a session drummer. And I came to town with my set of 522 00:33:50,800 --> 00:33:56,500 drums and my little pickup truck, and just started 523 00:33:56,800 --> 00:34:02,160 hustling. And I was, I was circulating tapes that I was 524 00:34:02,160 --> 00:34:05,700 playing drums on to try to get drum work, and I had written the 525 00:34:05,700 --> 00:34:09,420 songs on the tapes, which to me, was like, incidental, like I 526 00:34:09,420 --> 00:34:12,060 didn't really care about that. I just, I wanted people to hear my 527 00:34:12,060 --> 00:34:16,500 drumming, right? And I kept getting calls about the songs, 528 00:34:16,800 --> 00:34:19,680 and I'm like, Yeah, but I'm playing drums. We don't care 529 00:34:19,680 --> 00:34:24,920 about that. We care about the songs. Yeah, finally it dawned 530 00:34:24,920 --> 00:34:29,000 on me, oh, oh, you're mainly a songwriter, you know, and 531 00:34:29,000 --> 00:34:31,700 you're, you're okay. And my dad used to tell me, I used to get 532 00:34:31,700 --> 00:34:34,100 mad at him, but he's like, you, you know what, you're a good 533 00:34:34,100 --> 00:34:37,820 drummer, but you're a great songwriter. And I'd get really 534 00:34:38,000 --> 00:34:41,620 pissed off at him for that, but he was right, or at least he was 535 00:34:41,620 --> 00:34:45,580 right about the drum part, you know, anyway, that that sent me 536 00:34:45,580 --> 00:34:50,440 down the road of focusing on the songwriting and and then when I 537 00:34:50,440 --> 00:34:55,360 got successful enough as a songwriter, that's when I 538 00:34:55,360 --> 00:34:59,740 actually realized, I mean, I had always wanted to be an artist 539 00:34:59,740 --> 00:35:05,400 that. What that was the thing that was the ultimate goal. But 540 00:35:05,400 --> 00:35:08,040 I felt like, well, I think I could be a session drummer until 541 00:35:08,040 --> 00:35:10,620 I can do that. And I think I could, you know, maybe I need to 542 00:35:10,620 --> 00:35:13,920 be in a band to make that happen, because I'm not really 543 00:35:13,920 --> 00:35:18,600 the lead singer, you know. But then when I got enough success 544 00:35:18,600 --> 00:35:22,040 in the music business, I went, Oh, I just need to do this 545 00:35:22,280 --> 00:35:26,540 myself, because I don't really care if these other people are 546 00:35:26,540 --> 00:35:30,020 singing my songs. And, I mean, I'm always appreciative, but 547 00:35:30,020 --> 00:35:33,260 it's not, it's not my goal. It's not the same, yeah, yeah. And 548 00:35:33,260 --> 00:35:38,780 it's not, it's not really, you just write different songs when 549 00:35:38,780 --> 00:35:42,220 you're writing them for other people. Yeah. So I gave myself 550 00:35:42,220 --> 00:35:45,820 permission. One year I was a staff writer at this company, 551 00:35:45,820 --> 00:35:48,640 and I was like, you know, I'm just gonna write whatever I 552 00:35:48,640 --> 00:35:53,200 want. I don't want no radio involved, no no success 553 00:35:53,200 --> 00:35:56,020 involved. I don't care if they ever get recorded. I just want 554 00:35:56,020 --> 00:35:59,680 to, like, say what I want to say. So I had about 13 of these 555 00:35:59,680 --> 00:36:04,860 songs, and I started going in and just paying to record them 556 00:36:04,860 --> 00:36:08,640 myself. And that's the American Dreams 557 00:36:08,640 --> 00:36:13,680 record. Man, that is a fantastic record. It really is, in fact, 558 00:36:13,680 --> 00:36:18,120 that my favorite on there is Shelby Street Bridge. Oh, I love 559 00:36:18,120 --> 00:36:18,540 that too. 560 00:36:18,600 --> 00:36:24,320 Well, it's a true story. So Shelby steer bridge I was when I 561 00:36:24,320 --> 00:36:26,960 was in this year of college. It was in a little town called 562 00:36:26,960 --> 00:36:29,780 Cleveland, Tennessee, just outside of Chattanooga. Yes, 563 00:36:29,780 --> 00:36:31,580 yeah. And I was driving back 564 00:36:31,640 --> 00:36:35,900 I do their live stream of their sports Cleveland State. Okay, 565 00:36:35,900 --> 00:36:38,060 yeah, so I know Cleveland. Well, 566 00:36:38,120 --> 00:36:41,740 yeah. So Cleveland. I lived there for a few years when my 567 00:36:41,740 --> 00:36:44,500 dad was a national evangelist for this church. That's where we 568 00:36:44,500 --> 00:36:50,440 lived when I was from, like, age 10 to 15, and then I moved back 569 00:36:50,440 --> 00:36:53,680 there to go to this to this college and we were my a 570 00:36:53,680 --> 00:36:56,860 roommate, my college roommate and I were visiting Nashville. 571 00:36:56,860 --> 00:36:59,440 For some reason, we'd come up here for something, and we were 572 00:36:59,440 --> 00:37:03,720 driving back, and we and the pickup that the aforementioned 573 00:37:03,720 --> 00:37:08,160 pickup, yeah, had a blowout under the Shelby Street Bridge, 574 00:37:08,220 --> 00:37:13,380 like it was on Interstate 65 north or, yeah, we were on 575 00:37:13,380 --> 00:37:17,100 North, going south, trying to hit 24 and I just pulled off the 576 00:37:17,100 --> 00:37:20,160 road. This is before Shelby Street Bridge was a walking 577 00:37:20,160 --> 00:37:24,080 bridge. This is way back in the 80s, and I pull under the bridge 578 00:37:24,080 --> 00:37:27,560 because that was that, you know, little drizzle going and I was 579 00:37:27,560 --> 00:37:29,780 trying to get out of the rain. And, you know, what are we gonna 580 00:37:29,780 --> 00:37:33,560 do this? So we pull under the under the bridge, and there's 581 00:37:33,560 --> 00:37:37,160 this van kind of staring at us on the side of the road, and 582 00:37:37,160 --> 00:37:40,720 these guys, it's like a movie, like, all the doors open and all 583 00:37:40,720 --> 00:37:44,200 these dudes jump out. I'm like, oh, you know we're what's going 584 00:37:44,200 --> 00:37:47,800 on. And, you know it's 218 year olds. 585 00:37:48,040 --> 00:37:50,860 Well, back in those days, Nashville wasn't like, yeah, 586 00:37:50,860 --> 00:37:55,000 people forget, yeah. It's like, I told I think I was on another 587 00:37:55,000 --> 00:37:57,280 interview on a podcast somewhere, and they asked me 588 00:37:57,280 --> 00:38:00,300 what Nashville was like then. And I said, Well, if you went 589 00:38:00,300 --> 00:38:03,420 out at night on lower broad you you were among criminals and 590 00:38:03,420 --> 00:38:04,920 prostitutes. Listen, basically, 591 00:38:04,920 --> 00:38:06,960 listen, okay. I thought about this the other night because I 592 00:38:06,960 --> 00:38:11,820 was down on second and I remember, I remember vividly, my 593 00:38:11,820 --> 00:38:14,940 friends and I would drive to Second Avenue and the The 594 00:38:15,060 --> 00:38:19,920 Crucible, like the proving you were a man Yes. Was walking to 595 00:38:19,920 --> 00:38:26,360 the end of second, yeah, and back and making it, yeah, we 596 00:38:26,360 --> 00:38:28,940 literally would do that, like, we enter the bottom of second, 597 00:38:28,940 --> 00:38:31,820 go, Okay, who can do it, yeah? And, you know, and one of us 598 00:38:31,820 --> 00:38:34,760 would try and, you know, man, I got up, I got like, six blocks 599 00:38:34,760 --> 00:38:38,240 by. I just couldn't, you know, anyway, I'm under the Shelby 600 00:38:38,240 --> 00:38:40,720 Street Bridge while these doors open, this van, these guys get 601 00:38:40,720 --> 00:38:43,540 out there wearing, like it looks like army surplus clothes, you 602 00:38:43,540 --> 00:38:45,820 know, yeah. And they're all long hair, they got beards and 603 00:38:45,820 --> 00:38:47,920 whatever. And they, they come out there, Hey, man, you need 604 00:38:47,920 --> 00:38:51,640 to, you need help with your tire, like me, I guess, 605 00:38:51,700 --> 00:38:53,380 you know, may have been one of those guys. 606 00:38:55,180 --> 00:38:58,540 And this one dude was sort of the, clearly, their leader, you 607 00:38:58,540 --> 00:39:01,260 know? He was like, okay, dude, you go. He was, like, giving 608 00:39:01,260 --> 00:39:04,740 orders, yeah, you know. And it was, it felt kind of quasi 609 00:39:04,740 --> 00:39:08,340 military at that point, you know, yeah. And, and they all 610 00:39:08,340 --> 00:39:11,400 introduced themselves, really nice guys. They were all Vietnam 611 00:39:11,400 --> 00:39:15,300 vets, wow. And they helped me change the tire, come on back to 612 00:39:15,300 --> 00:39:19,560 the van, man. So we and they lived in this van. And this 613 00:39:19,560 --> 00:39:23,240 dude, the leader, me and my buddy sat kind of in their van, 614 00:39:23,240 --> 00:39:25,520 and he's like, where you guys headed? Like, well, we're going 615 00:39:25,520 --> 00:39:28,820 back to college. He's like, Ah, man, F that you need to tune 616 00:39:28,820 --> 00:39:33,440 out, drop out, tune in and drop out, whatever the you know, the 617 00:39:33,440 --> 00:39:36,200 phrases were back there, you know. He's like, Nah, man, you 618 00:39:36,200 --> 00:39:39,080 don't need to go back to college. You need to do this. 619 00:39:39,080 --> 00:39:42,940 And we're like, what is this, you know. And he's like, and he 620 00:39:42,940 --> 00:39:45,820 spent the next 20 minutes preaching the gospel of 621 00:39:45,820 --> 00:39:48,880 homelessness to us, you know. And he's like, Yeah, you don't 622 00:39:48,880 --> 00:39:51,700 need a you don't need a house. Man, you don't need a car. You 623 00:39:51,700 --> 00:39:54,820 need a van that you can, like, keep the sun off of you, keep 624 00:39:54,820 --> 00:39:57,880 the rain off of you. Man, and some of those lines in Shelby 625 00:39:57,880 --> 00:40:01,440 Street Bridge are exactly from his mouth. Mouth, like, 626 00:40:01,860 --> 00:40:05,400 Sullivan's Ridge is where he was from, yeah, is. And he literally 627 00:40:05,400 --> 00:40:08,040 told me, man, one day I'm gonna get back up Sullivan's Ridge, 628 00:40:08,100 --> 00:40:11,640 you know, it's where I'm from. And, and the first born son, 629 00:40:11,640 --> 00:40:15,060 he's like, Yeah, I'm the oldest of three, or whatever. And, and 630 00:40:15,180 --> 00:40:19,620 the thing some, if I wake up in the mood, I work for food. He, 631 00:40:19,620 --> 00:40:21,980 like, literally said that to me, like, man, you can get a sign, 632 00:40:21,980 --> 00:40:24,380 like we got the sign here. It says we'll work for food. People 633 00:40:24,380 --> 00:40:27,320 will stop and give you money. And, you know, sometimes you go 634 00:40:27,320 --> 00:40:29,540 to their house, you do stuff for them. I'm telling you, man, this 635 00:40:29,540 --> 00:40:32,780 is the way to live. And I'm dude, he preached this. He was 636 00:40:32,780 --> 00:40:37,400 like, really adamant about, don't, don't plug into society, 637 00:40:37,400 --> 00:40:40,760 stay on the edges of it, right? Kind of an off the grid. And 638 00:40:40,940 --> 00:40:43,420 I'll tell you, man, now that I've got a wife and kids and a 639 00:40:43,420 --> 00:40:47,440 mortgage, I'm not sure he wasn't right. 640 00:40:47,440 --> 00:40:52,600 He was ahead of his time. Really appealing, yeah. Well, it's very 641 00:40:52,600 --> 00:40:55,120 interesting too, when you say you talked about this, because I 642 00:40:55,120 --> 00:40:59,800 remember when, when you gave us that, that CD. I remember going 643 00:40:59,800 --> 00:41:03,300 into Phil and saying, I love Shelby Street Bridge. I said, 644 00:41:03,840 --> 00:41:06,840 for some reason, it really reminds me of a John Lennon. 645 00:41:07,020 --> 00:41:08,580 What something John Lennon would Oh, 646 00:41:08,580 --> 00:41:12,420 wow, wow. That's what I thought. Yeah, that's, that's high 647 00:41:12,420 --> 00:41:15,000 praise. That's, I appreciate that. Oh, I just fell in love 648 00:41:15,000 --> 00:41:18,300 with it, man. Well, it was, yeah, it's true story. And I 649 00:41:18,300 --> 00:41:20,300 remember it's one as a songwriter, you tuck these 650 00:41:20,300 --> 00:41:22,700 things away, and I remember tucking that one away, going, 651 00:41:23,120 --> 00:41:27,080 Okay, I gotta find a way to make a song out of this. Yeah, I 652 00:41:27,080 --> 00:41:29,900 don't know how I'm gonna do it, but it was, you know, about 10 653 00:41:29,900 --> 00:41:34,340 years later, I think I was, I was just at the piano, and I 654 00:41:34,340 --> 00:41:37,580 came up with this little riff and and I started singing a 655 00:41:37,580 --> 00:41:42,580 melody over it. And I saw that. I saw that event in my head, and 656 00:41:42,580 --> 00:41:46,240 I was just like, he called himself a native, and it just 657 00:41:46,240 --> 00:41:50,680 kind of went from there, you know. And I realized, Oh, I know 658 00:41:50,680 --> 00:41:53,200 what the song is. It's the song is just him telling me about all 659 00:41:53,200 --> 00:41:57,580 this, you know, and and all of its every Oh, the other thing 660 00:41:57,580 --> 00:42:01,680 that's true is him. I sold it for some blow a year ago, after 661 00:42:01,680 --> 00:42:04,740 my brother died, he really, he told the same thing, like, he 662 00:42:04,740 --> 00:42:10,320 had a he had a Harley Davidson, and he sold it to buy cocaine to 663 00:42:10,320 --> 00:42:14,700 kind of cope with his brother's death. And so all all of it, 664 00:42:15,000 --> 00:42:17,820 there's some stuff that filled in the gaps, but most of it is 665 00:42:17,820 --> 00:42:20,900 like, what straight out of this guy's mouth? You know, I just 666 00:42:20,900 --> 00:42:21,500 made it rhyme. 667 00:42:21,620 --> 00:42:25,940 Awesome, awesome story. Well, you also had a hit off that. 668 00:42:25,940 --> 00:42:28,580 Really, that album, American? 669 00:42:28,640 --> 00:42:33,560 Well, yeah, baby, baby was the thing that Delilah, yeah, yeah. 670 00:42:33,560 --> 00:42:36,980 So Delilah picks up this song, babies, which was my least 671 00:42:36,980 --> 00:42:39,500 favorite song on the record. It was the last one recorded. I 672 00:42:39,500 --> 00:42:43,000 didn't want to put it on the record. But every time I would 673 00:42:43,000 --> 00:42:47,680 play live, women would request this song and just lose their 674 00:42:47,680 --> 00:42:51,400 mind. It always works that way, doesn't, dude. And so I play the 675 00:42:51,760 --> 00:42:54,220 all you know, what I'm thinking are the cool songs, yeah. And 676 00:42:54,220 --> 00:43:00,480 some woman would go, would you buy babies? So finally, a friend 677 00:43:00,480 --> 00:43:04,380 of mine, great songwriter, friend of mine, his wife, pulled 678 00:43:04,380 --> 00:43:07,560 me aside at a club one night and she said, kind of put her finger 679 00:43:07,560 --> 00:43:10,200 in my face. She goes, if you know what's good for you, you 680 00:43:10,200 --> 00:43:15,240 will record that song. I'm telling you, that's the one. And 681 00:43:15,240 --> 00:43:19,620 I said, okay, okay, Jane, so I did, and it was it cost less 682 00:43:19,620 --> 00:43:22,280 money to produce, I mean, like we literally went in and just 683 00:43:22,280 --> 00:43:25,280 cut me, and Kent Hooper just went in and kind of did it. I 684 00:43:25,280 --> 00:43:30,260 kind of played every I mean, we just did it, and we did it in a 685 00:43:30,260 --> 00:43:33,740 couple of days, just because it's just how I would have it to 686 00:43:33,740 --> 00:43:38,780 give to people, you know, and that was another thing that my 687 00:43:38,780 --> 00:43:44,320 manager had sent Delilah that, and she heard it the day she 688 00:43:44,680 --> 00:43:48,100 adopted her son. TK, or was going to trying to decide if 689 00:43:48,100 --> 00:43:50,980 she's going to do it. She gets this song, and it freaked her 690 00:43:50,980 --> 00:43:56,440 out. And she's like, this is the sign that I'm supposed to adopt 691 00:43:56,440 --> 00:44:02,340 my son. Wow, and he's, I don't know, 2526 now, strapping young 692 00:44:02,340 --> 00:44:08,700 man, but she started playing it, and it's, it's as I understand 693 00:44:08,700 --> 00:44:13,800 it. And I had her on my podcast a couple years ago, and she told 694 00:44:13,800 --> 00:44:17,100 me, then it is still to this day, the most requested song 695 00:44:17,100 --> 00:44:23,180 she's ever had on her show. Wow. Yeah, so power of radio, yeah, 696 00:44:23,240 --> 00:44:26,720 exactly. So it that kind of catapulted it into this, and 697 00:44:26,720 --> 00:44:29,900 that's when they started sending songs to all these syndicators. 698 00:44:30,080 --> 00:44:32,480 And Phil got infidels through 699 00:44:32,480 --> 00:44:36,320 that, yes, yeah. And we played the heck out of that one, 700 00:44:37,880 --> 00:44:40,900 yeah, that one, that one got me beheading threats. 701 00:44:43,360 --> 00:44:46,060 We also tried the infidel report. Remember? Yeah, 702 00:44:46,060 --> 00:44:49,720 absolutely back when we kind of did like two episodes, 703 00:44:50,080 --> 00:44:51,520 who should I piss off in the world? 704 00:44:55,720 --> 00:44:59,920 Pretty understand, I don't think they'll get too upset. No. 705 00:45:00,180 --> 00:45:03,300 Oh, fine. They're known to be amenable, 706 00:45:03,359 --> 00:45:07,859 yes, well, it was around this time too. That wasn't this 707 00:45:07,859 --> 00:45:09,959 around the time that you went to adopt your 708 00:45:09,960 --> 00:45:12,960 dog, yeah, in China, yeah. So the story goes, 709 00:45:15,360 --> 00:45:20,780 my release date for American Dreams was March 18, 2003 and we 710 00:45:20,840 --> 00:45:26,180 get a phone call from the service we had gone through to 711 00:45:26,180 --> 00:45:29,300 adopt. This had been going on for 18 months, but we didn't 712 00:45:29,300 --> 00:45:34,520 know that they were even going to pick us, you know. And we had 713 00:45:34,520 --> 00:45:39,440 to leave on March 21 to go to China. Oh, wow. Debut record 714 00:45:39,440 --> 00:45:44,440 drops song in the top 20 supposed to tour with Cher on 715 00:45:44,440 --> 00:45:48,280 March 18. Oh, by the way, you got to be in China on the 22nd 716 00:45:48,940 --> 00:45:54,940 Oh, man, so we and, by the way, the other thing that happened, I 717 00:45:54,940 --> 00:45:57,940 wrote about this in the book angels and idols that talks 718 00:45:57,940 --> 00:46:01,020 about this, but though the Gulf War started while we were in the 719 00:46:01,020 --> 00:46:10,080 air. We are, me, yeah, we are literally like, you know, 720 00:46:10,080 --> 00:46:12,780 getting our bags checked, and I'm looking up at CNN, and 721 00:46:12,780 --> 00:46:16,920 George Bush is like, and we will commence operations. So, you 722 00:46:16,920 --> 00:46:19,860 know, we're like, are they gonna be shooting people down? You 723 00:46:19,860 --> 00:46:22,040 know, you know, you just think about that stuff like you don't 724 00:46:22,040 --> 00:46:24,320 know you're in international airspace. You don't know why 725 00:46:24,320 --> 00:46:27,920 it's all gonna play out. So the Gulf War starts while we're in 726 00:46:27,920 --> 00:46:33,440 the air. Anyway, we got to China, and they handed us a 727 00:46:33,440 --> 00:46:36,800 little girl a week later, you know, with one of the rarest 728 00:46:36,800 --> 00:46:40,220 genetic disorders on the planet. And that really just changed my 729 00:46:40,520 --> 00:46:43,420 entire life, my wife's entire life, and and the whole 730 00:46:43,420 --> 00:46:47,140 trajectory of my career, and what I'm about as a person. And 731 00:46:49,300 --> 00:46:52,900 it's not even people say it's night and day, it's like night 732 00:46:52,900 --> 00:46:56,560 and Mars, yes, you know, it's not even night and day, it's 733 00:46:56,560 --> 00:47:02,520 night and another planet. And really, you know, she has 734 00:47:02,520 --> 00:47:05,400 Angelman syndrome, so she's missing a piece of a chromosome, 735 00:47:06,600 --> 00:47:11,580 and she can't speak, she can't bathe herself, feed herself. You 736 00:47:11,580 --> 00:47:15,780 know, she's 24 hour care. She can walk. If she came into this 737 00:47:15,780 --> 00:47:21,680 room, you might think she's relatively typical, you know, 738 00:47:22,940 --> 00:47:26,360 until she started reaching for your glasses and pulling your 739 00:47:26,360 --> 00:47:28,580 hair and, you know, all this stuff that she's also had. She 740 00:47:28,580 --> 00:47:33,620 also has autism. She's dual diagnosed, so she has all the 741 00:47:33,620 --> 00:47:37,700 tics of Angelman syndrome, and then all the kind of, you know, 742 00:47:38,780 --> 00:47:43,720 difficult compulsions of autism. So there's a lot going on there 743 00:47:43,780 --> 00:47:47,680 with her, but we didn't know. When we got her at eight months, 744 00:47:47,680 --> 00:47:50,920 we had no idea. They didn't know, you know, nobody knew. And 745 00:47:50,980 --> 00:47:55,420 we didn't. We got her home, and when we got back to the United 746 00:47:55,420 --> 00:47:59,560 States, all the dates had been canceled. The single died, you 747 00:47:59,560 --> 00:48:04,260 know, it all went away, yeah, in three weeks. And then that's 748 00:48:04,260 --> 00:48:07,320 when the story starts, you know, because then it's like, okay, 749 00:48:07,320 --> 00:48:11,160 now I'm scrambling to figure out, what do I do now, you know, 750 00:48:11,160 --> 00:48:15,780 I left my cushy songwriter job, and nobody really wants me back 751 00:48:15,780 --> 00:48:19,500 there, and I'm fell in this weird, no man's land of now 752 00:48:19,500 --> 00:48:22,820 nobody really wants they don't know me enough as an artist to 753 00:48:22,820 --> 00:48:27,380 book me for the for those dates, I don't know what to do. That's 754 00:48:27,380 --> 00:48:30,620 I think that's why I still, you know, back to Phil but and you I 755 00:48:30,620 --> 00:48:33,500 always had a soft spot for you guys, because you didn't care 756 00:48:33,500 --> 00:48:35,960 about any of that. And you always like, you know, had me 757 00:48:36,020 --> 00:48:39,500 on, and that was great. And it was like, I felt like, Okay, I'm 758 00:48:39,500 --> 00:48:44,380 kind of back to being who I'm, who I am, but for the next five 759 00:48:44,380 --> 00:48:47,200 years, you know, we didn't know what she had, we didn't have the 760 00:48:47,200 --> 00:48:50,740 diagnosis, we didn't know what the hell was going on with our 761 00:48:50,740 --> 00:48:54,100 life. You know, it was just spiraling out of control. And 762 00:48:54,100 --> 00:48:56,500 that's when the American Idol opportunity came up. 763 00:48:56,740 --> 00:48:59,380 That's fantastic. Tell that story if you could. Yeah. So how 764 00:48:59,380 --> 00:49:00,840 that all came about? Yeah. 765 00:49:00,840 --> 00:49:05,700 So for two years oh seven and oh eight, they had songwriting 766 00:49:05,700 --> 00:49:09,840 competitions in tandem with the singing competition. A lot of 767 00:49:09,840 --> 00:49:12,780 not a lot of people know that in oh seven, a friend of mine, one 768 00:49:12,780 --> 00:49:18,240 named Scott kerpain, brilliant songwriter, and that's the only 769 00:49:18,240 --> 00:49:21,860 reason I didn't watch American Idol. But my daughter loved the 770 00:49:21,860 --> 00:49:26,180 bad singers, so she would, you know, we would have it on so, so 771 00:49:26,180 --> 00:49:30,080 that she could enjoy that, yeah, and, and then I saw that finale. 772 00:49:30,080 --> 00:49:33,200 I saw my friend Scott win, and, oh, that's, that's all. That's 773 00:49:33,200 --> 00:49:35,120 awesome, you know. And then I talked to him, I don't know, 774 00:49:35,120 --> 00:49:37,940 maybe three months later, and he's like, yeah, it was, you 775 00:49:37,940 --> 00:49:41,560 know, it was a pretty cool thing. You know, Jordan spark 776 00:49:41,560 --> 00:49:44,560 did my song, and, you know, we got an iTunes single out of it, 777 00:49:44,740 --> 00:49:47,380 and that's it. That's the only conversation we ever had about 778 00:49:47,380 --> 00:49:50,680 and it's the only reason I knew about it. And the next year, 779 00:49:50,680 --> 00:49:52,900 when it came around in Oh, eight, my wife is the one who 780 00:49:52,900 --> 00:49:55,060 said, hey, they're having that songwriting competition. 781 00:49:55,060 --> 00:49:56,920 Yolanda, by the way, oh my, yeah, 782 00:49:58,240 --> 00:50:01,080 that thing, Scott won last year. That. Were doing it again, and 783 00:50:01,080 --> 00:50:05,940 she said, and I really want you to enter a song, like a song 784 00:50:05,940 --> 00:50:08,400 con, I've had 20 number one song, you know, I'm in a song 785 00:50:08,400 --> 00:50:12,360 content. And she goes, yeah, just do it, you know? And then, 786 00:50:12,420 --> 00:50:15,540 you know, I always say, she said, she literally said, bro, 787 00:50:15,540 --> 00:50:16,800 you got nothing else going on. 788 00:50:20,100 --> 00:50:21,140 Lives are good at 789 00:50:24,020 --> 00:50:26,540 that. I love your honesty, but really, come on, 790 00:50:26,600 --> 00:50:32,840 yeah, Reality Bites for sure. No, all I'm 791 00:50:36,800 --> 00:50:42,100 saying is you're not, you're not doing your basic, you know, as a 792 00:50:42,100 --> 00:50:43,120 man, you're not 793 00:50:45,460 --> 00:50:47,980 doing that, no offense. And 794 00:50:47,980 --> 00:50:52,240 it's just the basics, above and beyond stuff you're not even 795 00:50:52,240 --> 00:50:55,360 doing, like the basics. Yeah, that's all I'm saying. I love 796 00:50:55,360 --> 00:50:57,880 you. You're just not doing the basic a slug. And then 797 00:50:57,880 --> 00:50:59,680 there's you right here. 798 00:51:01,660 --> 00:51:03,060 Inspire you to write a song. 799 00:51:04,080 --> 00:51:07,500 I'm not saying anything other than I regret my decision to 800 00:51:07,500 --> 00:51:11,100 marry you every day. That's all I'm saying. Okay, don't read 801 00:51:11,100 --> 00:51:12,000 into it. Reggie, if 802 00:51:13,320 --> 00:51:15,900 I can go back and ask myself, what were you thinking? 803 00:51:17,760 --> 00:51:22,040 I contemplate suicide and alcoholism three times a day. 804 00:51:22,580 --> 00:51:26,540 That's all I'm saying. Okay, only three times. Yeah, don't 805 00:51:26,540 --> 00:51:29,420 only three. Don't make this more than it is. Okay. Just write a 806 00:51:29,420 --> 00:51:29,720 song, 807 00:51:31,340 --> 00:51:33,800 one little song, American item, 808 00:51:35,900 --> 00:51:37,880 yeah. And if you could please, you 809 00:51:37,880 --> 00:51:40,480 know, yeah. And then take out the trash. 810 00:51:41,800 --> 00:51:43,120 Could you get to this trash? 811 00:51:44,140 --> 00:51:46,420 Don't want to bother you out 812 00:51:46,840 --> 00:51:48,460 by the way. You know I love you, right? 813 00:51:50,440 --> 00:51:53,080 You're the love of my life. You're just not taking care of 814 00:51:53,080 --> 00:51:54,940 the basic needs anyway, so yeah, 815 00:51:58,120 --> 00:51:59,500 oh, we laugh because we 816 00:51:59,500 --> 00:52:04,500 can't cry, and we've all been there. Don't feel alone. Rich. 817 00:52:04,680 --> 00:52:04,980 Okay, 818 00:52:05,280 --> 00:52:12,120 good, good to know. So, yeah, so I, I said, Well, okay, I'm gonna 819 00:52:12,120 --> 00:52:17,340 give it a shot. So, and we had a we had just adopt we our son was 820 00:52:17,340 --> 00:52:20,660 like, 16 months old. We just adopted him, and he was, like, 821 00:52:21,560 --> 00:52:24,020 amazing. He's still amazing. He's, he's in first year of 822 00:52:24,020 --> 00:52:27,740 college now, but he was just, like, he brought this, you know, 823 00:52:27,740 --> 00:52:33,080 we have, we have this daughter with, you know, this crazy 824 00:52:33,080 --> 00:52:35,360 condition, but then we got this little boy who's like, this 825 00:52:35,360 --> 00:52:37,880 light, you know, he's like, lighting everything up and be 826 00:52:38,060 --> 00:52:42,460 becoming the, you know, the little rock star. And so I'm 827 00:52:42,460 --> 00:52:45,820 thinking about all this, and I'm like, Man, I think what I want 828 00:52:45,820 --> 00:52:50,440 to say is something about the moment that you have right now 829 00:52:50,440 --> 00:52:53,980 is important. And it's not about trying to get somewhere, like 830 00:52:53,980 --> 00:52:56,740 I've been trying to get somewhere in my life. I think 831 00:52:56,740 --> 00:52:59,800 it's about these people who live in this house with me. You know, 832 00:52:59,860 --> 00:53:04,140 this, this crazy little boy who I love, and this miraculous 833 00:53:04,140 --> 00:53:07,740 little girl who is this mystery, and this amazing woman who 834 00:53:08,160 --> 00:53:11,400 constantly reminds me of how I'm not doing the basics to take 835 00:53:11,400 --> 00:53:12,240 care of my family, 836 00:53:14,280 --> 00:53:16,620 showing the love, loving me 837 00:53:17,940 --> 00:53:22,040 unconditionally, I kid. I only say it because it's true. 838 00:53:23,240 --> 00:53:26,000 Reggie, if we could put a sound effect to your life right now, 839 00:53:26,000 --> 00:53:27,740 would be okay, 840 00:53:32,360 --> 00:53:35,300 man, my wife is going to love this and hate this. 841 00:53:36,740 --> 00:53:42,800 She's gonna laugh and be like, okay, they get it. You really 842 00:53:42,800 --> 00:53:45,700 should. It. My wife is hysterical. She is the funniest 843 00:53:45,700 --> 00:53:48,820 person I know. She's the person that needs to be doing these 844 00:53:48,820 --> 00:53:53,020 podcasts. She's so funny anyway. So I thought about the all of 845 00:53:53,020 --> 00:53:55,300 that, and I was like, You know what? Man, I'm just gonna write 846 00:53:55,300 --> 00:53:58,900 this from that perspective. I don't know if it'll gonna fly 847 00:53:58,900 --> 00:54:02,580 with American Idol or these kids or whatever, but so I wrote the 848 00:54:02,580 --> 00:54:06,960 song The time of my life and turned it in on the day, man, on 849 00:54:06,960 --> 00:54:10,320 the deadline day with my $10 entry fee, had no idea. I didn't 850 00:54:10,320 --> 00:54:13,380 even know if I did it right. You know, I was like, I think I got 851 00:54:13,380 --> 00:54:19,080 it uploaded right, but I'm not sure. And somebody from the 852 00:54:19,080 --> 00:54:24,680 company called me. They kind of knew me through a friend of a 853 00:54:24,680 --> 00:54:26,840 friend, and they called me and they said, Hey, I just want to 854 00:54:26,840 --> 00:54:32,000 let you know your song did get because I think I called 855 00:54:32,000 --> 00:54:35,180 somebody. And hey, man, did I even do this, right? Is it in 856 00:54:35,180 --> 00:54:37,940 there? And somebody just did call me, and it was like, real 857 00:54:37,940 --> 00:54:42,820 cryptic. They're like, Yes, we did get it click, you know? And 858 00:54:42,820 --> 00:54:44,920 that was it. So the only interaction I had, well, 859 00:54:44,920 --> 00:54:47,980 that's the music business for you, yeah. And so, 860 00:54:49,300 --> 00:54:52,000 you know, I just forgot about it. Man. It was just like, Okay, 861 00:54:52,000 --> 00:54:54,280 I did what my wife asked me to do. I can't do any more than 862 00:54:54,280 --> 00:54:58,540 that. I think I did the best I could on this thing, and got a 863 00:54:58,540 --> 00:55:02,640 call. You're in the top 20. Again, real, real, like, terse, 864 00:55:02,700 --> 00:55:05,460 you're in the top 20. If you talk about it, you'll be 865 00:55:05,460 --> 00:55:07,440 disqualified. Click, you know 866 00:55:07,560 --> 00:55:17,820 so. KGB, yeah, man, it was just like, who are you? KGB, or my 867 00:55:17,820 --> 00:55:22,220 wife. The whole time I'm like, Wait, who are you, dude, you 868 00:55:22,220 --> 00:55:25,640 know what your name? Yeah. And so 869 00:55:27,080 --> 00:55:30,380 I just So again, I'm like, so they put it up on a website. It 870 00:55:30,380 --> 00:55:34,880 was 2020, songs, and I talked to Scott about I was like, man, 871 00:55:34,880 --> 00:55:37,100 what do I do? Because there's nothing to do. He goes, I'll 872 00:55:37,100 --> 00:55:39,560 tell you what you don't do. You don't read the blogs. I'm like, 873 00:55:39,560 --> 00:55:46,240 Okay, I mean, I went right to the blog, and they were 874 00:55:46,240 --> 00:55:50,500 scathing, man, nobody was even talking about my song. You know, 875 00:55:50,740 --> 00:55:53,080 every all these other songs are supposed to win. I'm like, Okay, 876 00:55:53,080 --> 00:55:56,740 well, I guess I lost that too. And then, like, one of the 877 00:55:56,740 --> 00:56:00,720 trades did a, did a breakdown of all the songs. And it did. There 878 00:56:00,720 --> 00:56:04,800 were 20 songs. It did a breakdown of 19 songs, and not 879 00:56:04,800 --> 00:56:08,340 mine, like they didn't even do a thing, they didn't even tell 880 00:56:08,340 --> 00:56:11,400 they didn't say it was bad. They're just like, oh yeah. And 881 00:56:11,400 --> 00:56:13,620 then there's this other song, like, 882 00:56:14,100 --> 00:56:14,760 wow, 883 00:56:16,140 --> 00:56:19,560 not only did I lose this like they don't even want to act like 884 00:56:19,560 --> 00:56:19,860 I'm in the 885 00:56:19,859 --> 00:56:22,219 room and they don't even remember the title, 886 00:56:22,220 --> 00:56:25,940 yeah, so this song did this, and this song does that. And there's 887 00:56:25,940 --> 00:56:28,040 some of them had great soliloquies, you know, like, 888 00:56:28,040 --> 00:56:31,640 this song is, it wraps us in. It's, you know, rapturous, Oh, 889 00:56:32,300 --> 00:56:38,120 yeah. And then there's this other song. I'm like, yeah. So 890 00:56:38,120 --> 00:56:41,320 first, yeah, okay, first, my wife. Now, you guys, 891 00:56:44,260 --> 00:56:45,340 we love you. Come on. 892 00:56:47,680 --> 00:56:48,940 No, the bloggers, you know. 893 00:56:50,260 --> 00:56:54,160 So I was like, Okay, well, okay, I guess I lost that too. Anyway, 894 00:56:56,140 --> 00:56:58,540 I came home on a third I'll never forget it was a Thursday. 895 00:56:58,540 --> 00:57:01,680 I came home and I was just tired, and we've been up with my 896 00:57:01,680 --> 00:57:04,080 daughter for a couple of days. One of the things about Angelman 897 00:57:04,080 --> 00:57:06,660 syndrome is they have sleeping disorders when they're young. My 898 00:57:06,720 --> 00:57:11,160 daughter didn't sleep two hours a night for five years, and I 899 00:57:11,160 --> 00:57:14,100 was just dead, and I said, I'm gonna take a nap. She goes. I 900 00:57:14,100 --> 00:57:16,260 think they're gonna call you today. I think you're gonna win 901 00:57:16,260 --> 00:57:20,636 this like I baby. I love that. You love that, that you think 902 00:57:20,636 --> 00:57:25,856 that, but I'm gonna take a nap. I took a two hour nap. I woke up 903 00:57:25,856 --> 00:57:30,716 and I had 36 voicemails, all 310, numbers. And I'm like, 904 00:57:30,716 --> 00:57:35,576 okay, that's LA, wow. I either won this or I lost it. And so I 905 00:57:35,576 --> 00:57:37,856 called him, and the guy goes, literally again. He goes, Hey, 906 00:57:37,856 --> 00:57:40,780 man, you won. Okay, here's what's got to happen. And it was 907 00:57:40,780 --> 00:57:44,380 like, you know, you got a USA Today interview in two hours. 908 00:57:44,380 --> 00:57:49,960 I'm like, Whoa, what's your name, dude? And so I win the 909 00:57:49,960 --> 00:57:55,900 contest of David Cook wins the year, and he was the dark horse. 910 00:57:56,980 --> 00:58:00,660 David Archuleta was, like, the favorite. But David Cook wins, 911 00:58:01,320 --> 00:58:06,180 and his version of my song becomes a single. Now, those 912 00:58:06,240 --> 00:58:09,240 coronation songs in those days were just like kind of a, you 913 00:58:09,240 --> 00:58:12,540 know, flashing out, you know, we sing it on the thing, on the 914 00:58:12,540 --> 00:58:16,320 show that night, and then we move on to the next thing. But 915 00:58:16,380 --> 00:58:19,020 something happened with this one. It was just kind of the 916 00:58:19,020 --> 00:58:22,640 right moment at the right time, right song, right voice, and 917 00:58:22,640 --> 00:58:26,840 people lost their minds over it, and they crashed the iTunes 918 00:58:26,840 --> 00:58:32,840 server to get it. And so the company was like, Well, wait a 919 00:58:32,840 --> 00:58:35,240 minute, we might have a hit on our hands. So they took it to 920 00:58:35,900 --> 00:58:40,840 radio, and it became like a 16 week number one radio global, 921 00:58:40,960 --> 00:58:44,320 you know, all around the world kind of thing. And they used it 922 00:58:44,920 --> 00:58:49,420 in all of these packages, like they used it on the ESPYs, and 923 00:58:49,420 --> 00:58:52,300 they used it on NBA Finals, and they used it on So You Think You 924 00:58:52,300 --> 00:58:58,960 Can Dance, and all these shows. And so here's the cool thing, 925 00:58:58,960 --> 00:59:02,040 when my wife and I were had been in Beijing adopting our 926 00:59:02,040 --> 00:59:06,060 daughter. We got little hats that said 2008 Beijing Olympic 927 00:59:06,360 --> 00:59:11,580 Games, and we made a pact with six other families in Beijing. 928 00:59:12,060 --> 00:59:15,480 We're bringing our daughters back to Beijing for the Beijing 929 00:59:15,480 --> 00:59:19,260 Olympics in OA. Oh, how cool. And, yep, we're all in. We're 930 00:59:19,260 --> 00:59:23,420 all gonna do it. Well, obviously we, you know, I lost everything. 931 00:59:23,420 --> 00:59:27,440 We lost all our every I lost my Platinum American Express card. 932 00:59:27,440 --> 00:59:30,140 You know, there's no way we could have done that. 933 00:59:30,200 --> 00:59:32,360 Told you leave him home without it. And 934 00:59:33,080 --> 00:59:34,460 then I did. I went dead. 935 00:59:36,560 --> 00:59:40,300 But on the on the eighth day of the eighth month of the eighth 936 00:59:40,300 --> 00:59:45,280 year of the new millennium. They closed the opening ceremony of 937 00:59:45,280 --> 00:59:50,560 the Beijing Olympic Games. To my song, Oh, how cool was that. And 938 00:59:52,240 --> 00:59:56,620 and they it was like Bob Costa says, for all of us here at NBC, 939 00:59:56,860 --> 01:00:01,260 good night. And I heard the guitar strum. Yeah, and it's 940 01:00:01,260 --> 01:00:04,440 like, what is happening, right? You know? So we couldn't be 941 01:00:04,440 --> 01:00:07,680 there, but the song was there, and it was like, speaking to the 942 01:00:07,920 --> 01:00:11,460 whole world. And so my my wife and I just kind of sat in our 943 01:00:11,460 --> 01:00:15,060 living room and just sobbed. It's like, wow, we're there. 944 01:00:15,240 --> 01:00:18,360 That's a God thing. Yeah, that's special. And they used it seven 945 01:00:18,360 --> 01:00:22,700 more times. They used it as Michael Phelps victory song. He 946 01:00:22,700 --> 01:00:26,120 won a record number of medals that year. So it was played, you 947 01:00:26,120 --> 01:00:29,180 know, and then Oprah declared it like the official theme song of 948 01:00:29,180 --> 01:00:32,540 the Olympic Games. It became this thing and and so I wrote a 949 01:00:32,540 --> 01:00:35,840 blog about it. My manager at the time said, do you tell people 950 01:00:35,840 --> 01:00:39,680 about this? I wrote a blog about it. It went viral. Millions and 951 01:00:39,680 --> 01:00:42,700 millions of reshares and clicks and this and that, back when 952 01:00:42,700 --> 01:00:47,860 that was, you know, back before this, and it was MySpace, and it 953 01:00:47,860 --> 01:00:50,920 was people literally sending it to each other's email, you know, 954 01:00:50,980 --> 01:00:55,420 yeah. And I got a call from a book publisher, and they said, 955 01:00:55,420 --> 01:01:00,360 We think this could be a great book. And I said, Well, let me 956 01:01:00,360 --> 01:01:02,520 write you three chapters, because this is what the book's 957 01:01:02,520 --> 01:01:04,740 actually about. And so I sent them three chapters, like, we 958 01:01:04,740 --> 01:01:07,800 love it. Finish it. So that was my first book I wrote that I 959 01:01:07,800 --> 01:01:10,800 came out in 2010 angels, and I angels and idols, yeah, and 960 01:01:10,800 --> 01:01:15,240 they've, they've been trying to make a movie about this for a 961 01:01:15,240 --> 01:01:20,040 long time, for 15 years, and it, it gets traction, and then it 962 01:01:20,040 --> 01:01:23,840 loses traction. And actually got a call tomorrow with a guy about 963 01:01:23,840 --> 01:01:26,600 it, but we're making the doc about it. We're making the 964 01:01:26,600 --> 01:01:31,340 documentary about it now, and David Cook is involved and and 965 01:01:31,340 --> 01:01:34,040 we're little expand. It's a little more than just our 966 01:01:34,040 --> 01:01:36,920 stories kind of expanding into the whole kind of American Idol 967 01:01:36,920 --> 01:01:39,080 experience. This, this experience, though, is that 968 01:01:39,140 --> 01:01:41,260 because kind of the behind the scenes, thing you've never 969 01:01:41,260 --> 01:01:46,300 heard. You know, there are the world has never heard. And that 970 01:01:46,360 --> 01:01:52,660 that led me to just writing more books and that kind of thing, as 971 01:01:52,660 --> 01:01:55,480 opposed to just doing records. I mean, I still do it, you know, I 972 01:01:55,480 --> 01:01:58,000 still make music, and I still go out and do shows, and I've got a 973 01:01:58,000 --> 01:02:02,220 new record I'm sitting on my computer right now, but it's 974 01:02:02,220 --> 01:02:08,520 really more for me about issues and, you know, things. It's so 975 01:02:08,520 --> 01:02:14,040 weird. I've my fam, I like I don't care a lot about political 976 01:02:14,040 --> 01:02:18,660 things, but my family, for whatever reason, is at the 977 01:02:18,660 --> 01:02:23,300 center of adoption, which has kind of become a thing. There's 978 01:02:23,300 --> 01:02:26,720 a whole movement to abolish adoption, believe it or not, 979 01:02:28,280 --> 01:02:31,460 immigration, because my daughter is an immigrant, a legal 980 01:02:31,760 --> 01:02:34,520 immigrant, yes, that we went through the process of 981 01:02:34,520 --> 01:02:38,180 immigration to and we're still having to jump through hoops in 982 01:02:38,180 --> 01:02:42,580 that process. And special needs, you know, because my daughter 983 01:02:42,580 --> 01:02:45,940 has Angelman syndrome and the autism conversation, my daughter 984 01:02:47,080 --> 01:02:54,340 is in that world, so all of these weird under, what you call 985 01:02:54,340 --> 01:02:57,640 it, Nexus points, where, where politics is really hot, all 986 01:02:57,640 --> 01:03:00,100 these hot button issues, like my family's like, in the middle of 987 01:03:00,100 --> 01:03:02,320 it, and it's Like, I don't want to talk about it, but 988 01:03:02,320 --> 01:03:05,040 everything, but every but you can't not talk about it. It's 989 01:03:05,040 --> 01:03:12,000 just it informs everything. And so I find myself writing about 990 01:03:12,000 --> 01:03:15,180 that stuff. And I started because that blog went viral, it 991 01:03:15,240 --> 01:03:18,720 kind of sent me into becoming a blogger. And I think I have more 992 01:03:18,720 --> 01:03:22,100 people who know me as a blogger that didn't know me as a music 993 01:03:22,100 --> 01:03:28,280 guy, and I've written five books, and, you know, it's just 994 01:03:29,120 --> 01:03:32,300 it opened my world. Sometimes the thing that you think is 995 01:03:32,300 --> 01:03:37,580 going to destroy your life actually opens a door to a whole 996 01:03:37,580 --> 01:03:40,280 world you didn't know was in there. Yeah, adds more to it. 997 01:03:40,520 --> 01:03:45,340 Oh, absolutely, yeah. And I think about who I was before my 998 01:03:45,340 --> 01:03:49,960 daughter's adoption, and before all this happened. And that guy 999 01:03:49,960 --> 01:03:53,740 really, you know, I think he was a thoughtful guy. I think he was 1000 01:03:54,040 --> 01:03:57,220 open to things. I don't think he was a bad guy, but I think there 1001 01:03:57,220 --> 01:04:02,220 was just a lot he didn't know, you know, yeah, and I don't 1002 01:04:02,220 --> 01:04:04,980 even, I don't even know that I can have a conversation with 1003 01:04:04,980 --> 01:04:07,620 that guy anymore, you know, because it's just a lot of stuff 1004 01:04:07,620 --> 01:04:10,260 he didn't know. And you just don't know what you don't know. 1005 01:04:10,260 --> 01:04:15,900 I mean, I know that's a cliche, but it's really true. And so I'm 1006 01:04:15,900 --> 01:04:19,560 thankful. I find myself in gratitude. So when you the first 1007 01:04:19,560 --> 01:04:21,980 question, you asked me, How you doing? And I said, yeah, in some 1008 01:04:21,980 --> 01:04:24,200 ways, my life is better than it's ever been. And it's a lot 1009 01:04:24,200 --> 01:04:27,680 of that. It's a lot of just being thankful for things that I 1010 01:04:27,680 --> 01:04:30,920 didn't even realize. You know, were things you could be 1011 01:04:30,920 --> 01:04:32,480 thankful for. Oh, yes, 1012 01:04:33,320 --> 01:04:37,160 Reggie, do you find the the blogs and the books and all that 1013 01:04:37,160 --> 01:04:41,080 is, is that therapeutic? In some therapy from Yeah, yeah. 1014 01:04:41,320 --> 01:04:45,520 Well, songwriting was that. It's always been that for me, and so 1015 01:04:45,580 --> 01:04:48,340 I've expanded that into blogging, and it's me getting 1016 01:04:48,340 --> 01:04:55,660 clarity. Man, that's what it is for me. And the books all spring 1017 01:04:55,660 --> 01:04:59,920 I just, I had an idea and and my grandmother, man, I want. 1018 01:05:00,000 --> 01:05:02,280 Everybody to hear this. My grandmother used to tell me 1019 01:05:03,420 --> 01:05:08,460 this, if God gives you the idea, he gives you the responsibility, 1020 01:05:09,000 --> 01:05:12,840 Ooh, I like that. Yeah, it's used to, I mean, just hammer 1021 01:05:12,840 --> 01:05:16,620 that. If you get the idea, you have the responsibility. And so 1022 01:05:16,980 --> 01:05:21,020 now, every time I get an idea for something, I hear her words 1023 01:05:21,020 --> 01:05:24,260 and I think, Okay, I got to figure out how to do this, you 1024 01:05:24,260 --> 01:05:27,980 know, because this was, this idea was entrusted to me. So the 1025 01:05:27,980 --> 01:05:31,340 books really came from that just, well, I got an idea for 1026 01:05:31,340 --> 01:05:33,860 this book. My nanny would not like it if I didn't, you know, 1027 01:05:34,700 --> 01:05:38,540 at least try to write it. So I don't know I'm any good at it or 1028 01:05:38,540 --> 01:05:44,920 not, but I certainly, boy, it's just, I just love doing it and 1029 01:05:46,120 --> 01:05:50,800 so that so creatively, man, my life is so wonderful in that 1030 01:05:50,800 --> 01:05:54,820 regard. I just feel like I feel I'm 58 I feel, I feel more 1031 01:05:54,820 --> 01:05:59,500 creative and more excited about that world than I ever have, 1032 01:05:59,560 --> 01:06:03,300 really in my life, unfortunately, I look around and 1033 01:06:03,840 --> 01:06:08,280 there's no way to make it make any kind of sense anymore. It's 1034 01:06:08,280 --> 01:06:11,760 like, all amorphous. And, you know, nobody listens, nobody 1035 01:06:11,760 --> 01:06:14,580 buys music, nobody buys book. It's like all in Oh, everything 1036 01:06:14,580 --> 01:06:18,000 is going crazy. And so I don't know really where to put all of 1037 01:06:18,000 --> 01:06:18,660 it, but, 1038 01:06:20,100 --> 01:06:23,000 but I sure do enjoy Yeah, and you still feel compelled to do 1039 01:06:23,060 --> 01:06:24,380 it exactly, yeah, and 1040 01:06:24,380 --> 01:06:27,740 I'm glad you are. I don't mean to blow I'm not blowing smoke up 1041 01:06:27,740 --> 01:06:37,100 your rear end, but you can be quite a talent. But the thing 1042 01:06:37,100 --> 01:06:43,720 is, ever since I was made aware of you, I have, I have been a 1043 01:06:43,720 --> 01:06:48,760 huge fan, and I've also been a great admirer, and I think, I 1044 01:06:48,760 --> 01:06:53,260 think you and Yolanda were meant to have this child. There's no 1045 01:06:53,260 --> 01:06:55,000 doubt about that. Yes, that was a God. 1046 01:06:55,000 --> 01:06:57,880 There is no doubt about that. Johnny, we and we. I'm not 1047 01:06:57,880 --> 01:06:59,800 saying anything. She wouldn't agree with me if she were 1048 01:06:59,800 --> 01:07:03,300 sitting here. We, don't talk out of school about each other. We 1049 01:07:03,300 --> 01:07:06,960 both know we probably wouldn't still be together if it weren't 1050 01:07:07,200 --> 01:07:10,500 for our kids, and particularly our daughter. I mean, our son 1051 01:07:10,500 --> 01:07:13,500 too, but our daughter was kind of the she was this anchor 1052 01:07:13,500 --> 01:07:16,740 point, because we had to really figure out how to be co 1053 01:07:16,740 --> 01:07:21,320 caregivers, and we are real good at it, like we there's an 80% 1054 01:07:21,740 --> 01:07:25,220 divorce rate among people with children with special needs. 1055 01:07:25,220 --> 01:07:28,220 Yes, people don't realize, man, it just wreaks havoc on a 1056 01:07:28,220 --> 01:07:32,480 marriage. And I don't why we ended up in that 20% we don't 1057 01:07:32,480 --> 01:07:36,680 know, like we, if you had put it all on paper, there's really no 1058 01:07:36,680 --> 01:07:39,320 reason we would have made it. You know, we weren't those 1059 01:07:39,320 --> 01:07:43,240 people. We were like, real surface level, you know, my wife 1060 01:07:43,240 --> 01:07:46,480 worked for a record label, and I was a singer songwriter, and we 1061 01:07:46,480 --> 01:07:49,540 were like, always, you know, going out on expense accounts, 1062 01:07:49,540 --> 01:07:51,880 and we went to all the parties, and we drank champagne on a 1063 01:07:51,880 --> 01:07:54,820 Wednesday night. We were like, those people, right? You know, 1064 01:07:54,820 --> 01:07:58,540 we were partiers, and we would go to Vegas for fun, and we 1065 01:07:58,540 --> 01:08:01,140 would go to New York just to shop for clothes, you know? I 1066 01:08:01,140 --> 01:08:04,140 mean, we're surface level people. We were not, you know, 1067 01:08:04,140 --> 01:08:04,620 these. 1068 01:08:06,780 --> 01:08:07,860 We were bougie man 1069 01:08:09,300 --> 01:08:14,100 and unapologetic about it, like we didn't even care. And we put 1070 01:08:14,100 --> 01:08:18,960 on our application when we when we applied to adopt. Do you 1071 01:08:18,960 --> 01:08:22,940 think you could handle a child with a disability, and we were 1072 01:08:22,940 --> 01:08:27,020 like, not just No, but hell no. Like, we are not those people. 1073 01:08:27,080 --> 01:08:30,860 You can't, you can't. And we somehow we became those people, 1074 01:08:32,300 --> 01:08:36,020 and found out that we were, in fact, those people. And that's 1075 01:08:36,020 --> 01:08:38,420 so when people tell I could never do what you do, I'm like, 1076 01:08:38,420 --> 01:08:40,720 Yeah, you could. And if you couldn't, you're probably a 1077 01:08:40,720 --> 01:08:44,740 really bad person. Because, trust me, if we can do it, 1078 01:08:44,740 --> 01:08:49,120 anybody can do it, but, but we, man, we just, we just locked 1079 01:08:49,120 --> 01:08:53,860 arms, and you're right it. We know that this was God's gift to 1080 01:08:53,860 --> 01:08:59,560 us, yes and and a hand on our life, and it's all meant to be 1081 01:08:59,560 --> 01:09:04,920 that way. And we've, we have become a couple that we're, 1082 01:09:05,820 --> 01:09:09,180 we're glad we became and the people you know, we we always 1083 01:09:09,180 --> 01:09:11,880 say we're kind of just standing behind Isabella, our daughter, 1084 01:09:11,880 --> 01:09:14,220 you know, we're just trying to be as good of a person as she 1085 01:09:14,220 --> 01:09:18,060 is, because she's very loving. She's, it's unconditional, she, 1086 01:09:18,300 --> 01:09:21,320 you know, she wants to hug everybody and kiss everybody. 1087 01:09:21,320 --> 01:09:24,440 And that's, you know, her gift to the world. And so I'm trying 1088 01:09:24,440 --> 01:09:30,200 to learn from her, you know, and she, she really keeps it simple 1089 01:09:30,200 --> 01:09:33,740 in such a wonderful way. You know, it's just all, well, I'm 1090 01:09:33,740 --> 01:09:37,280 gonna love you, and I'll start there. Yeah, we'll start with 1091 01:09:37,280 --> 01:09:39,740 love, and then we'll see, we'll see where it goes. But I think 1092 01:09:39,740 --> 01:09:42,880 we're gonna stay with love and that. And I'm trying to, gosh, 1093 01:09:42,880 --> 01:09:45,460 I'm trying to stay in that. And it's, boy, it's getting harder 1094 01:09:45,460 --> 01:09:46,000 and harder. 1095 01:09:47,560 --> 01:09:51,220 That's called life. The world makes it harder and harder. You 1096 01:09:51,220 --> 01:09:51,940 know, well, 1097 01:09:51,940 --> 01:09:55,060 where can people get your blog for one 1098 01:09:57,280 --> 01:10:03,180 the it's just Reggie ham Blog on. Honestly, r, e g, it's 1g R, 1099 01:10:03,180 --> 01:10:08,880 E, G, I, E, H, A, M, M, 2m blog, and you can get the it's a 1100 01:10:08,880 --> 01:10:12,900 WordPress blog, and you can just follow me there and and then I 1101 01:10:12,900 --> 01:10:16,500 have a Patreon site, if people want to, like, get involved in 1102 01:10:16,500 --> 01:10:20,480 that. And it's all Reggie ham, you can just find it all Reggie 1103 01:10:20,480 --> 01:10:24,140 ham, and that's where they can get your music as well. And I'm 1104 01:10:24,140 --> 01:10:26,000 working on an only fan site where I 1105 01:10:26,300 --> 01:10:30,560 Oh, we're doing that. Yeah, we're doing that too. We didn't 1106 01:10:30,560 --> 01:10:34,640 tell you this, but there is an only fan portion of the podcast 1107 01:10:34,640 --> 01:10:37,520 that we'll be hitting on the minute. So you may want to get 1108 01:10:37,520 --> 01:10:37,880 ready 1109 01:10:39,620 --> 01:10:44,080 oiled up. One of the surfaces is blowing smoke. 1110 01:10:45,160 --> 01:10:47,920 Well, I was gonna say, if you want to come blow smoke at my 1111 01:10:47,920 --> 01:10:49,060 rear end on the only fans, 1112 01:10:50,860 --> 01:10:53,500 I got a whole niche, you know, group of people 1113 01:10:53,500 --> 01:10:54,520 and it's affordable. 1114 01:10:55,540 --> 01:10:57,400 Where did that come from? 1115 01:10:57,400 --> 01:11:00,040 Right with you? I've never understood how that's good for 1116 01:11:00,040 --> 01:11:00,480 anybody. 1117 01:11:00,600 --> 01:11:04,980 I might just blow it smoke. It's like, I don't want you to 1118 01:11:04,980 --> 01:11:07,680 I don't watch anywhere near there. That's everything. 1119 01:11:09,060 --> 01:11:10,860 But even if it weren't smoke, 1120 01:11:11,940 --> 01:11:13,140 why the 1121 01:11:14,460 --> 01:11:18,780 charts has a meaning musicians are playing off the charts? Yes, 1122 01:11:18,780 --> 01:11:21,740 exactly. You know, on your soapbox is an actual soapbox. 1123 01:11:21,860 --> 01:11:25,760 Why was it a soapbox? I don't know. Was it still full of soap? 1124 01:11:26,780 --> 01:11:27,980 Blowing smoke 1125 01:11:27,980 --> 01:11:32,060 up your ass? Where is that from? You know, we're like Victorian 1126 01:11:32,060 --> 01:11:36,740 people like blowing smoke up each other's butt. Politicians. 1127 01:11:37,880 --> 01:11:40,960 Guess where it came from. But I keep making the music because I 1128 01:11:40,960 --> 01:11:43,960 was listening to 24 hour conspiracy call, oh man, this 1129 01:11:43,960 --> 01:11:47,920 morning. Yeah, the show and, man, you just make some great 1130 01:11:47,920 --> 01:11:51,520 music. Thank you. You got a fan here, and I hope that we get 1131 01:11:51,520 --> 01:11:52,960 more heading your way. 1132 01:11:52,960 --> 01:11:56,980 Well, it's coming your way, man. I'm working on getting the new 1133 01:11:56,980 --> 01:11:59,440 record out here, so I'll let you know. Let 1134 01:11:59,440 --> 01:12:00,540 us know when you 1135 01:12:00,600 --> 01:12:04,980 do I have an answer? Oh, there's actually blowing smoke up your 1136 01:12:04,980 --> 01:12:05,460 butt. 1137 01:12:07,440 --> 01:12:09,000 Of course, there's an answer. There is. 1138 01:12:09,839 --> 01:12:13,079 It's an AI overview. So with that in consideration, 1139 01:12:13,079 --> 01:12:15,659 originates from the literal medical medical practice of the 1140 01:12:15,659 --> 01:12:19,559 tobacco smoke enema in the 17th and 18th centuries, used to 1141 01:12:19,559 --> 01:12:22,459 treat conditions like constipation and to resuscitate 1142 01:12:22,459 --> 01:12:23,659 near drowned victims. 1143 01:12:24,500 --> 01:12:26,600 So everything's got a medical circle 1144 01:12:28,580 --> 01:12:31,040 in the brain. So they were teaching people how to do this 1145 01:12:31,040 --> 01:12:32,180 right in medical school. 1146 01:12:32,240 --> 01:12:33,980 Here's what you Okay, watch this 1147 01:12:35,780 --> 01:12:38,840 jack. I've got smoke up the butt class. 1148 01:12:40,520 --> 01:12:43,480 What part are you guys to you? Well, right now we're inserting 1149 01:12:43,480 --> 01:12:45,580 the we're learning how to insert the instrument. 1150 01:12:47,560 --> 01:12:50,020 People had to learn how to do that, right? 1151 01:12:50,020 --> 01:12:53,440 And because of your fanaticism from Marlboro, yeah, you're the 1152 01:12:53,500 --> 01:12:53,800 lucky 1153 01:12:53,800 --> 01:12:57,640 guy, yeah. So what were you today? Well, I was the smoker. 1154 01:12:58,780 --> 01:13:04,200 So to do this, right? It really takes two people. Hold him down. 1155 01:13:04,200 --> 01:13:06,660 Yeah, hold him down. Here we go. 1156 01:13:07,920 --> 01:13:14,460 Hold him down. Look, his life depends on this. He's 1157 01:13:14,640 --> 01:13:17,760 drowning, and people don't know that's where the you know, where 1158 01:13:17,760 --> 01:13:20,820 people blow the smoke rings. That's called circling the 1159 01:13:20,820 --> 01:13:21,060 drain. 1160 01:13:22,860 --> 01:13:25,340 To drain, full circle. Moment. So 1161 01:13:26,540 --> 01:13:29,420 much for being on this with us today. Thanks for having me and 1162 01:13:29,420 --> 01:13:31,100 tell them where they can catch us. 1163 01:13:31,280 --> 01:13:34,880 There, brother. Of course, all of the podcast platforms for 1164 01:13:34,880 --> 01:13:38,480 listening, we're there, but you can also find us. Of course, 1165 01:13:38,480 --> 01:13:43,120 Facebook and Twitter and YouTube, and we're on Twitch as 1166 01:13:43,120 --> 01:13:47,500 well, so that's where you can see our lovely faces and the 1167 01:13:47,500 --> 01:13:50,380 lovely faces of our guests. Yes, indeed. And circling the 1168 01:13:50,380 --> 01:13:53,980 drain.net. That's correct. And merchandise coming soon. 1169 01:13:54,040 --> 01:13:58,120 Oh baby, hang on and come back for the next episode of circling 1170 01:13:58,120 --> 01:14:00,120 the drain. You. You.