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Circling The Drain is a show about the current state of the music and radio businesses as well as culture in general!
Hosted by John E. Bozeman and Jay Harper along with Jim McCarthy as Co-Host/Executive Producer.
John has had a storied career in music and talk radio, most notably as the Executive Producer for the late and legendary Phil Valentine.
Jay also has has a long career in radio as Announcer, Play-by-Play, Voice and On-Camera Actor. He was also an Artist Rep for MCA records.
Jim McCarthy ALSO has had a tremendous career in radio since 1996 and has since brought his consulting/producing skillset to the podcast world.
Circling the Drain is produced by ItsYourShow.co
Unknown: Hey, welcome back to
Circling the Drain. I'm John
Bozeman over there, Jay Harper.
Hey there. So you're not Johnny
B anymore? You're just John
Bozeman. Well,
you know whatever you want to
call it. I've been called worse.
Yes. Yeah, I've been in in your
presence when you've been called
worse. Sometimes it was you.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, and I said
that voice I hear you, you know,
hear calling you worse was mine.
Yeah, so
yes.
All right, and of course the guy
that's a man apparently James
Patrick is having a little bit
of a rough day. Jim, are you all
right?
I shouldn't have asked God to
give me patience today.
Okay, because He's given you
a lot of opportunities. A lot of
great patience. I think
part of the problem was I heard
you, overheard you, and when I
heard you, you said, "God, give
me patience now. Doesn't quite
work that way. He said, "Okay,
let me show you. Yeah, we'll
work on that. Yeah, guys, I tell
you what, we are in the presence
of royalty here. I'm telling
you, and I don't mean to
embarrass her, but we've got
somebody that has been part of
the country music industry for a
long time. She was huge on the
radio with a great show, The
House Foundation, and and on top
of that, a great animal lover.
Which
yeah, that's my heart. Yeah,
yeah, but Devin O'Day is joining
us today on the podcast, and
we're glad to have you. I'm
so glad to be here. And you had,
and
you had, you had a moment today
too. You had, I
did. You had
tire trouble. Yeah, a little bit
of a challenge.
I know. I've learned how to use
those those air fillers. You
know that you put your credit
card. You know, air used to be
free. Yeah, it did.
Did like water?
Yep, I know. You just go and
there's no free water, no free
air. There's
no free anything anymore.
No, we got it for free at Sheets
over the weekend.
What?
Yeah, really? Sheets and
Bucky's.
You got air free? Well,
get the sheet out of here. Sheet
out of here. No sheets. Yeah,
I think you're full of sheep. I
can't believe it. I
kid you not. Two times I went to
Bucky's this weekend. It's my
favorite place to stop. I route
my trips if there's a Bucky's,
and so I Decatur, Alabama. I had
to go that direction on the way
to to see Twitty and Lynn in
Decatur, Alabama. Yeah, and on
Saturday I was in North Carolina
for a corporate kind of
backstage Nashville event. So we
went to Nebo right outside of
Asheville, and there was we went
by the the Bucky's in Pigeon
Forge area. Yeah, the Beerville.
It's the
biggest one, is it?
Well, you know there is one that
will be opening here in about a
month, about three miles from my
home in Murfreesboro. Yes.
Yes. How many brisket sandwiches
can you eat? Yes. Exit exit 84
off of I 24.
So yeah, man. I I'm just
thinking I'm going to eat Bucky
Nuggets at two in the morning.
I'm going to be able to yeah you
know take care of that. Yeah,
just a few miles away.
It's the best. And I did do a
comparison. I went online and
did a comparison. We stopped at
the Dolly Parton Travel Stop.
How was
that?
It was okay, but I mean, the
hats were almost 60 bucks, and
the a bag, a souvenir bag, was
70. And then you go to Bucky's,
and they're like 999. Oh man,
I'm going. Okay, there's my
comparison, and the the
sandwiches are still the same at
Bucky's. I mean, you get them
like nine bucks, you get a nice
big brisket sandwich, and you
know. So, I don't know. I I
would. The difference is Dolly
actually has trucks at her truck
stop. Yeah,
and Bucky's is not. They do not
allow
trucks. Yeah,
yeah. It's not a truck stop.
That was made very clear to me
one time. And the staff seems
pleasant at Bucky's because they
pay them well.
Did you see what they pay people
to? Oh yeah, manage manage
those. Yeah, the car wash. 120
grand a year.
Yeah,
really.
Oh yeah,
yeah. And
really,
and the GMs of those places can
make like 265.
Oh
yeah, yeah.
They have to be doing this. No,
they all go to work for Bucky's.
They had a sign out front where
there is going to be one in
Murphy's Rusty. There you go.
There we go. We got a job. We
got a gig.
Yeah, exactly.
I just think it's kind of cool,
and you see these people, and
they're so happy. You happy to
be there. Welcome to to Bucky's.
People say, "Oh, we cannot get
help. We cannot get help. Well,
if you pay them, it's amazing.
In the middle of nowhere,
they're fully staffed 24/7. Yes,
that's the whole difference is
as how you treat your employees.
You know, if you if if you if
you make the work environment
fun and nice, and you pay them
well. It's
like radio could take a note
from them. Money changes
everything. Yeah, everything.
And maybe a little
pat on the back when you do
well. You know, a little Atta
boy every now. Yeah, that would
be nice. You know, when the
ratings are number one, and not
that I'm complaining, he would
never do that. No. I would not.
We don't do that. No, I listened
to you for years on the Spouse
Foundation. That was such a
great show.
It was so much fun, and I have
had people ask me. They said,
"Do you would you ever do radio
again? And I said, "I wouldn't
do terrestrial radio the way
that I've been asked to do it,
you know, of late, I I don't
love to to voice track. I I did
it early on with SiriusXM, and
so it just wasn't my favorite
thing. I love a group. I love
that ensemble where you're
getting together and you're
laughing and having a good time
and and living on the edge.
Yes,
not knowing what people are
going to say.
Yes,
and having to use your extra
sensory perception to know.
Okay, they're about to fly one
over on us. Be ready to hit that
button.
We don't want to go over the
cliff, but yeah, we'll look over
the edge. That's right. That's
right.
That's just good adrenaline
rush. It is. You're
exactly right. But you guys did
it so well, and Jerry was so
good. My gosh, that guy was-he
worked harder than anybody I
have ever seen in my life, and
that's the one thing that I got
from that. It's-it was the best
school in the world. Since then,
I will run into people if I do
have some radio shows or
whatever, and they'll look at my
show prep. They go, "Good Lord,
you do so much show prep. I
can't not do show prep because
that's that's who he taught.
That's what he taught, and he
would do it. And he never asked
more than he was willing to do.
Yeah,
that's that's the thing about
it. And that you know, and I
appreciate that. Now, if it's
someone that kind of phones it
in and has everybody else do the
work now. I don't have anything
for that, but I always knew he
was going to be there before
anybody. He was going to be
writing in the afternoon,
recording a show for the next
day after everybody was done
with their day.
Yeah,
long after Mike Bohan went to
checkers. It
was funny one time because we
moved over to the studio where
Jerry's show was at, and I was
told by by a general manager
there that had no clue. He said
I had rules about Jerry. Said if
you see Jerry, you don't talk to
him. You don't no eye contact. I
mean, this general manager is
going all over these lists. So
I'm at Virginia's market, which
we called the Murder Mart.
Yeah. Oh
yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's
right around Love Horn Lady.
Lovingly. Yeah. That's what we
all called it. But I was I was
there like getting some snacks
or something, and all of a
sudden, you know how you feel
somebody staring at you? What
was Jerry?
Yeah.
And I thought, well, what do I
do? I'm. I was told never to
talk to him, or, and I told I
told Mike Mohan this story
later, and he said, "That's a
bunch of bull. He said he would
have loved to have talked to
you.
Yeah, of course he would. I I
heard so many rumors about
Jerry. Now, what he didn't like
is if someone just would burst
into the studio, and there's a
reason for that. He would record
his character the day before and
leave a space for him to talk
and ask the question to the
character.
Right.
The timing was right on, and if
someone burst in and said
something or interrupted him.
They weren't full. He didn't
talk back and forth to himself
all in one. It was literally if
he missed the break, the the
joke wouldn't work because the
question that set up the joke
from him wouldn't. That
character goes on whether you
talk to it or not, right? The
way he did it. So people would
interrupt him or distract him.
It could mess up the whole bit.
So, well, I think anybody
on the air, you don't want
somebody. Yeah, and it's always
some sales guru popping into
the studio. Yeah, it's always a
sales hog. I don't know why, but
I had one
general manager, and maybe it
was that one that told you not
to say anything. That he wasn't
there for very long. Yeah, must
be the
same guy.
Yeah, he didn't last long. He
was not there for very long, and
he insisted, "I'm going to go
in. I am the general manager
with a few expletives thrown in.
And I said, "Don't go in there.
I'm just telling you, don't go
in there right now. He, I did
everything but throw myself in
front of the door saying no. He
just forced his way in, and he
wished that he hadn't because it
messed up something that we were
right in the middle of. Yeah,
and he was recording phone
calls, and so here the the GM
goes in and you know messed up a
whole next break. And so anyway,
he walked in. He said, "Okay,
I'll never do that again.
Because Jerry, he as as funny as
all it was, it was very intense
sometimes. You know, because we
didn't repeat any bits. We did
four full hours of stuff, like
you guys did. I mean, you
weren't. It wasn't the NPR thing
where you replayed the first
hour and the. Second hour, you
know,
right?
You do one complete hour, and
then you just like, we'll just
do it again. Yeah, yeah,
you know. And people said,
"Well, your time spent listening
is just unbelievable. I said,
"Because it's always different.
Yes, it's fresh.
Yeah, right. The whole for four
hours, it's all different. You
never knew what it was going to
say. So there you go. How much
of it was because a lot of ours
was spontaneous. Yeah,
it was spontaneous for us. It
was truly live, you know.
Yeah, and I think that's better.
I think that's when comedy can
really. That that's when it's
funny. That's the funniest. I
hate people that want to set up
something way in advance.
Well, it takes a real. We
want you to laugh right here,
Johnny. It
takes a real talent to make the
canned stuff sound spontaneous,
yes, you know, yeah, the
spontaneity oftentimes is what
lends itself to the to the
comedy. Oh, sure.
And Jerry only had three
characters, you know, and those
were the only times, probably
out of a four-hour show, seven
minutes that were recorded, but
but it was still spontaneous
because he had to react to it,
right? And the phone calls were
all spontaneous.
Wow!
And people go, you know, we we
didn't have a we did not have a
dump button, a a delay or
anything. Oh wow! For the we
didn't get one until like our
last two years. Well, weren't we
living On the edge, big time.
Yeah, this is crazy, but it was
fun. Yeah, fun. How'd
you meet Jerry House?
When I was I was doing middays
there, and we went through a
sale as like you do in radio.
And they said Jerry House is
coming back. They called me in.
They said Jerry needs a
producer, and we want to know if
you want to be that. I said,
"What's a producer? They said,
"None of us know. He just wants
one.
I said, "Okay, so do I have a
job if I don't say yes? Because
I was doing middays, and I kind
of like being a disc jockey. I
really like that. And they said,
"No, you won't have a job. I
said, "Well, I guess I'm a I'm a
producer, whatever that is. Sign
me up,
you know. So I mean, you you
kind of learn in the first day.
I mean, I walked in and I, you
know, got my little cup of
coffee and sat down in the back
of the studio, and he started.
He and Paul Randall at the time
were, "What are you doing? I
said I'm here producing.
Whatever that is. Whatever that
is. He said you can't sit there.
He said you're going to have to
go in another room because
you're going to have and and he
taught me how to be a producer.
Wow!
How to listen. I mean, literally
taught me the whole rope. I I
was so green, I didn't know
anything, but I learned then.
That's my rule, and it's in my.
I have a memoir that I'm working
on. Say yes and figure the rest
out later.
That's true.
Be a learner, and here I had
this icon that was willing to
teach. He taught me songwriting.
He brought me into rooms with. I
remember the first time I ever
co-wrote anything. He said,
"Billy Dean and I are writing.
We're stuck, and you're really
good with words. Come in and sit
with us and write.
Oh wow!
And I went, "Okay, I'll go in
there. I'll pop on in there, and
that song was recorded by Ray
Stevens.
Wow, it was a funny
song, you know. And then he
called me in on another room,
and that song was recorded by
Hank Jr. and became a single.
And then I said, "You got any
more rooms? I got more words.
But you know, honestly, I told
somebody the other day. They
said, "Who do you think is the
most influential person in your
career? And I said, "Without a
doubt, it's Jerry House because
every door in the music industry
in this town in this career have
been opened. They were opened by
him.
Yeah,
and he had no problem shoving me
through it and saying, 'You go
handle this. I don't want to.
So you got that too, did you?
You and I have a lot. We really
do.
When I was listening to you just
now, it felt like my life story
without the hit song. Just what
it sounded
like.
Well, I did say they were all
hits, but so so
which Hank Jr. tune was the
single?
A song called "Diamond Mine.
Yeah,
I'm in a diamond. Yeah, right. I
do recall that Capricorn
Records, and my sister, who's an
actress, came in and was in the
video. That's
right, Faith Ford. Yeah,
I was just talking to her on the
way in. Oh, okay. Yeah, and so I
don't know. There, there are a
lot of times when writing and
co-writing is very difficult if
you've never done it before. I
had written songs a lot, and
oddly enough, the person that I
wrote songs with back in
Louisiana, well, that kind of
knew I. As a songwriter, I was
at this little Pentecostal
church, and before service, I
was just kind of playing for the
Lord. You know, I was just
sitting there singing, and the
praise and worship leader came
out. She said, "Did you write
those? I said, "Yeah. And she
said, "Well, I'm going back to
Nashville, and when you get
there, give me a call because
you've got some talent. And I
said, "Okay. So I called her,
and I'm thinking this little
Pentecostal praise and worship
leader. Well, it was Linda
Hargrove who wrote Tennessee
Whiskey with Dean Dillon and a
few other huge hits, and she
signed me, and she signed Phil
Vasser, and she was my teacher,
my somebody that really taught
me. And she says, "Look, you're
going to do well in this
business because you're one of
the guys. She said, "There are
the girls that are the girls,
but she said you're one of the
guys. She said, "You don't, you
don't put on airs. You don't
worry about how they talk. You
don't worry about if they cuss,
spit, and chew. You just kind of
take it in stride. And I said,
"Okay. She goes, "Don't change
that because all the other girls
will go get married and do what
they do. But you will always
write if that's what you love.
And I said, okay, so that's what
I did.
You came to the right town for
that too. Yeah. What brought? I
mean, when when did you get to
Nashville?
Raised in in Louisiana, and I
knew I had to change. My sister
was living in New York, and I
said, "I'm, I'm 20 years old. I
graduated from Northeast
Louisiana University. I said,
"You know what? If I'm going to
go try New York City, I need to
go now because otherwise I'm
going to be afraid. You know,
you because the older you get,
the more you you don't know that
you're afraid when you're 20.
You're bulletproof.
That's very true.
So I moved to New York, and I
moved in with my sister and two
models that were friends. One
girl worked for she worked for
ESPN, no Sports Sports Channel,
and the other was a model. And
then Faith and I shared a room,
so we had this little. It was a
crazy, crazy time in my life,
but a couple of years, and I
just jumped in with. I said,
"Where? What have I got to do in
in New York City? So I went
literally and signed up. I
wanted to be a writer, a book
writer, so I signed up for
classes at NYU. My sister said,
"Where have you been all day? I
said, "Here's my class ID. I'm
going to NYU. I'm taking
creative writing. Real authors
teach the classes. Isn't that
cool? That took voiceover. I
said, "Okay, I'm going to take
voiceover. And Don Cobiella, who
was the initial voice on CM, not
CMT, MTV.
Yeah,
done tonight on MTV.
Yeah, that
was my voice coach. Oh wow, that
taught me, and and I took the
voice coach that I had to get
this south out of my mouth. She
said, "I don't believe I've ever
heard a southern accent like
yours. Where's it from? The
swamps of northeast Louisiana,
southeast Arkansas-that's where
it's from. You know, Bill Cody
once said he was listening, and
I was on afternoon drive, and I
was there. And Tammy Arnder, who
graduated with me, and Andy
Griggs were all from the same
little spot. He said I was
driving in. I thought, "Who is
on the radio? He said, "You and
Tammy and Andy started speaking
in this brogue, this North
Louisiana Louisiana South
Arkansas brogue. He said it was
the weirdest accent. There's a
there's a surprising element,
like a New Orleans accent. Yeah,
it's
different New Orleans. It's very
laid back. It sounds like a
Long Island accent. It
does.
Yep, it's just slower. I grew up
in New Orleans. Oh, did
you? No kidding. Yeah.
So you're absolutely right. I
mean, born in Texas, and you
know, when I I was a little kid
when we moved to New Orleans,
but you know, I was born
southeast Texas and talk like
is,
and then I go to New Orleans,
where it, as you say, I mean,
it's kind of got a a New Orleans
kind of hey well yeah bro it's
yats it's the yats yeah the yats
and boy talk about you know
culture shock and I got picked
on Merce you know anyway I'm I
made it a point like you say to
get that South and Southern out
of my mouth and I've been doing
radio for almost 50 years so you
know and you you're not going to
work a lot of markets sounding
like Gomer, you know exactly
true. So you try to try to work
yourself out of that, you know.
It's just so funny, and I have
to do a lot of accents when I do
audio books because I nailate
audio books. And I did this one
that was set in the South, and
one of the reviews said her
Southern accent absolutely
sucks, but her New England
accent is fantastic. So she must
be from New England. How does
your
New England accent sound? Just
out of curiosity,
I did. I literally played
Pepperidge Farm commercials over
and over and over. You know, you
know, Pepper's Farm, and I
learned, and I. And I, I, you
know, and I would practice that,
and I would my my Latino accent
was the
words. Yeah, we want to hear
that. No, it was
Caprito Bandito. That was the
only thing I go from. I said I
can't do this. I said. Well, if
there was anything in the wood
pile, there was no Latino in my
wood pile, and obviously nobody
of Asian descent, because I kept
telling Dave Walton, you know,
yeah, the Walrus from from KDF,
he's the engineer on them, and
he, I'll see him just just dying
on behind the console. He said,
"Hadn't quite got that one
nailed down, have yet? I said,
"Oh, shut up, shut up. I had to
do
a commercial once for a pool
company in Vegas, and they
wanted a British accent, and I
was like, "Guys, my British
accent ends up sounding like
Dracula for some reason, but
okay, that's what you like. So
we had a guy with us living that
was renting a room who was from
Wales.
Oh, okay.
So he must have heard me doing
this hard sell, you know,
Renaissance poo. I was like a
Robin Leach kind of thing. Yeah.
And I got done with it, edited
it, and I opened the door, and
he's standing there in the
doorway, looking at me, and he
goes, "What the hell was that? I
go, "Dude, I don't know. Try my
best here. All right, try to
work with me. It is
funny, and everybody that wants
getting voiceovers always hands
me a tape of all the accents
they do. Oh yeah, right. And I'm
going, "You, you, you really
don't need to use those,
right? Yeah,
just just do you. And on the off
chance they ask you to learn
something or do one, the only
one I got down is Irish, but I'm
third generation from Ireland,
so I mean, you might Dracula
after a while in Ireland. Like
the Irish, you know, probably
it's after me, lucky charm. And
that's the thing is that
sometimes you just get you stuck
on one thing to say. I know you
can't keep the character. You
know what I mean, right? Right.
It's weird.
Well, I know you've done
hundreds of audio books. I've
done I've done a few, and I
really don't have the patience
for those. Yeah, they don't pay
very well. You know, yeah. Well,
it depends on the publisher and
the writer and such. But but you
know, the the handful that I've
done pretty much called for kind
of southern lilt, so you know.
But I find doing the you know
switching from a female voice,
you know, you don't do a female
voice, but you know the female
dialog to the male dialog. I
mean, how how do you handle that
going back and forth from a
masculine dialog to to one
that's more feminine in those
audio books.
I'm a singer,
yeah,
and I I graduated with a minor
in voice, but I learned that you
just place them different places
in your throat. Like my narrator
was usually female, obviously
the narrator, and so she would
be right here, right, pretty
much in my voice, and then a
male would be down here and kind
of like this and kind of like
sometimes he had a scratchy
voice and like that and and if
it was somebody older she would
be up here like this and
sometimes she had a little bit
of a kick in her voice and and
so but when you separate them
out it was just I had to
memorize where they were in that
spot of my vocal cords and
sometimes Dad would look up, and
Dave said, "You didn't know who
was talking, did you? I've lost
it. I've lost myself. I'm
somewhere in this. God bless
Dave Walton because he he he
will fix a multitude of sins in
that that room in there. But I I
love doing audio books, which
has totally gone away, pretty
much with AI. Yeah, for a while.
Yeah, for a while.
Yeah, we just listened to
Project Hail Mary, which is an
18-hour book. That guy did a
good great job. He had to do
like New Zealand and all sorts
of different German, Russian. I
mean, his Russian came out, and
I was like, "Oh wow, this guy is
weird.
You know, it's difficult. At
least it it was a challenge for
me. You know, and you know,
you're doing it over a course of
a couple of days, perhaps
several days, and having the
same voice quality each day.
Yeah, I was, you know, being
consistent. Yeah, about four
hours, and I had to stop,
especially if I was doing a lot
of guy voices. You know, I did a
book that was based on the
Carnton plantation out in
Franklin. It was a historical
romance, but at the same time,
it was it was a powerful story
about all that happened at
Carton, and it was a during the
time when it was a Civil War
hospital, and Tamra Alexander
was the writer, is the writer,
and oh my goodness, because I'm
such a history buff, I just
absolutely love it. So I was in
it. I had to go visit the
plantation after I did the book
because I wanted to feel. All of
those things, and you can if you
if you have not gone to see the
Carton Plantation and studied
what went on there and seen what
you know, you might even see
that little thing looking out
the window. I'm not saying that
did you go to see it, but there
is one. Yeah, there is one, and
I've just seen pictures of it.
Gladly, I did not see it while I
was there because I don't want
any haints around me.
No, and that's-I mean-that place
has so many stories. I mean,
awful. I mean, they even say
there's still blood on the wall.
Oh, yeah, there is, and on the
on the floor, definitely the
floor of the the porch, it's
there, and they have these
lovely concerts in the hall. Do
you know what
happened here, and what may
happen here in a few hours? I
know,
and then Holt's house is not any
different. I mean, they it's
really full, but of stuff. You
know, you hear about that, and
you know, downtown Franklin was
the bloodiest battle of the
Civil War. So, I mean, it. This
one of the stories recounts how
to walk from one side of the
street to another, you would
have to walk across bodies piled
10 deep.
Man,
and I thought, I don't, I don't
ever want us to experience
anything like that.
Never again. I
don't know that there's any
cause, any cause that should be
like that. I, I'm, I'm so
grateful, and people don't
realize too that that Nashville
was, I mean, the Union had
it, yeah,
and Franklin was still the
Confederate thing, and I said,
you know, and it does make me
think about when we get in our
political climate. People start
screaming and talking about
that. I go, wait a minute, you
know what? At the bottom, just
like your shirt, we're all
American.
Yes,
and you know, we really can get
to a point where we've lost our
minds.
Well, I think we have. I think.
I think we need to get back. I
like debating.
Oh yeah. I have
nothing against it, but that's
where. And I think that's where
you come to great conclusions.
But all we're doing now, we're
just screaming at one another,
and we're calling each other
names, and that that's that's
not going to get anything done.
All that's going to do is cause
friction. Skittle
discourse.
Yes, and that's where we're at.
And most people are not the
polarized opposite. Most people
are somewhere hanging toward the
middle,
exactly,
wanting good lives for everyone.
Maybe, maybe
leaning one way or the other,
but but they just want common
sense. Yeah, that's it. That's
the big difference.
And Faith and I were talking.
She said, on the way here, "Why
in the world do actors find it
just imperative that they they
tell everybody who they're going
to vote for? She says, "What
does that matter? She said,
"Now, if somebody I know is an
actor and I don't really like
their work and they tell me who
they're going to vote for, I
definitely will not vote for
them. It has nothing to do with
the person that they're telling
me to vote for. Now we should
tell people that may not know
your sister is Faith Ford, who
you used to. If if anyone used
to watch Murphy Brown, she was
on there and she was great
actress
and Hope and Faith and the
Pacifier. She was the mom in
Pacifier with Vin Diesel, and it
still freaks me out. She'll get
a phone call. I said, "Who was
that? She said, "Vin. It's just
old Vin. They
they got along. They've been
dying to do something together,
and they need to be fast and
furious. And then apparently,
he's not doing any more of his
fun, warm comedy things. That
was a departure for him, but it
was a huge success. That
was a great movie. We loved
it. Oh, thank you. It's part of
part
of one of the biggest movies in
history. Yeah, Avengers Endgame
and Infinity War. He played
Groot. Yeah, the voice of his
his whole line. That's right. I
am Groot. I
am Groot. Anytime they ask me a
question, I am Groot. I am
Groot.
And I said, "What is he like?
What is he like? She said, "He
is the goofiest person you've
ever met. He loves goofy humor,
and he would call her funny
names. And I can't remember what
he called her. The faith. I
can't remember what he called
her, but he had a special
nickname for her, and I just
don't think of him as being
jovial. No, I don't either. I
think he just always looks like
he's just about to whip some
ass. Yeah, I mean,
just real intense. Yeah, I mean
that's that's the persona. Yeah,
he was a bouncer, I
think. That's how he got
discovered.
Isn't that crazy? And his
partner in his business, his
film business, and it's his
sister.
Really? Oh
yeah, yeah. Their brother and
sister kind of that they just
kind of created their own
franchise of stuff. And by the
way, I do like the Captain
America shield that's here in
the in the studio. Oh yeah,
that's all my yeah. That's
Jim's the the Marvel geek. I
do like me some. I love all that
stuff.
You know, it's. I never thought
I'd be getting into it as deep
as I did at the age of 45, but
I. It got me.
Well, they started doing all the
movies.
Yeah, yeah. That was the magic.
A lot of people onboarded at
that point because all the noobs
like just fell in love with the
lore and the multiple plot
lines, and then you know, I just
got-I was always like an arm's
length kind of fan. And then
Infinity War came out. My wife's
like, "You want to go see that
new Avengers mall, that Infinity
thing? Yeah. Oh, look at
that-they're all coming
together. I had no idea. You
know, oh, they're the guardian.
Oh, I know them. What are they
doing here? And look at there's
Iron Man. And and at the end,
you're like, "This is awesome!
Everyone died. This is like
Empire Strikes Back all over
again. What a down note! Great,
this is awesome.
Well, Thor was my favorite, but
that has nothing to do with
anything except yes, that's it.
That's it all. That's why I did
it. Yeah, it wasn't the big
hammer. It was no, it was him.
He was the big hammer. He was
what a he's a funny guy. He he.
I mean that that's the thing is
that that whole crew had such
like that's what I think made it
so magical is that they all
seemed to gel and just have fun
with each other. Yeah, and the
culture of it on set just seemed
to really work, you know.
There was he was on the Graham
Graham Norton show, and he was
on with some of his co-stars on
a comedy that he did. And
Melissa McCarthy said, you know,
he started. She said, well,
maybe he's not funny. Maybe he's
not funny. And she said, then he
started telling jokes and go, oh
God, he's funny! And then one
day he was like, he's gonna have
to sing or something. And she
goes, I bet he sings terrible.
She goes, no, sings like a bird.
He does everything. Look at him.
He comes out of the surf
singing, telling jokes, and he's
beautiful. I always
wondered that, like every time
he had a shirtless scene, it was
only for a small amount of time,
and I wonder if that was part of
his contract, in respect of his
wife and stuff like that. I
don't know, I don't know, I
don't know. Yeah,
but that's why you can rewind.
Yeah, my daughter. One of my
daughter's favorite movies is
Thor Ragnarok.
Oh yeah, absolutely. Yeah,
great movie.
Yeah, I like lore. I like
fantasy movies. I like lore
movies. I like dragon stuff. I
like all of that. And I will say
that those vertical shorts that
get you on-if it's about a
dragon or a werewolf or a
vampire, I'm in. I just the
stroll
has stopped. I'm in. I said,
I've got to see. I said,
what is it? And I go, what is
it? I and I, but I, but I'm not
going to go back and watch
Twilight. I'm not like that
crazy though. You know.
So are you a Lord of the Rings
fan?
No. See, I well,
I'm not either. I'm not either.
I can't stay awake through them.
Well, yeah, they're too long.
Fall asleep. Yeah, they're way
too long. I tell you, what's
better
is, and my wife and I have
started watching it again. We
fell in love with Supernatural,
the TV series. Oh, oh, oh,
that has layers, though. That
has that battle of good and
evil, and all of a sudden the
metaphor for yeah, the lines.
Yeah, oh yeah, yeah, my wife.
And those two guys were
really good. Yeah, good team.
Fantastic. Yeah. And I've seen
them in other roles separated,
and they both are doing fairly
well in their separate roles.
But I still miss their chemistry
together. Yeah, that's
me. They they should they should
try to they should try to do
something together because they
were very good together.
Yeah, Vikings is my kind of
thing. I love Vikings. All those
Viking movies and the the lore
around that, the Lost. What is
it? The Lost Frontier or
something. You know.
My wife watched that. Go figure.
I'm working on the bod. Well,
tough.
That's like me. I have to. Who
is it that my wife is so crazy
about? I can't think now. The
Rock. Yeah. Oh gosh. My wife and
my sister. My oldest sister.
Really.
In fact, my wife got my oldest
sister a a rock calendar where
he's you know
that's all bare chested.
Oh yeah.
Well, the thing about Vikings
though is that they had, you
mean, they had the Hollywood
version of the Viking, which was
a lot. But Vikings were just
big, thick people.
Yeah,
I mean, they were not
necessarily all jacked, jacked,
because it was cold. Yeah, you
know, let's just be real. I
mean, I was in the pool, and it
was freezing, and so they had
like big animal skins, and they
had to keep enough to keep warm
and stuff. So I I don't think of
it, and certainly if you go to
Scotland and Ireland now,
they're not worried about
whether they're jacked or not,
you know. They're they're big
people, you know. They're
sturdy. They're a sturdy people.
They're all bus, aren't they? A
sturdy lot.
Weed well. I did like
Outlander, though. I did like
Outlander when I went to
Ireland. I took a tour group to
Ireland, and we got out of the
the bus at one of the stops, and
it was one of the scenes. I
went. Is this where? And she
goes, Outlander. Oh, a lot of
the battles were filmed right
there, and it's this. The
scenery. We have this big,
beautiful world, and sometimes
we miss the scenery. But oddly
enough, we have scenery as
beautiful in in Tennessee. We
do.
Yeah.
It really is very similar. And
so I read this book. It was
called the Scots Irish of Middle
Tennessee, and the reason we
have so many people, especially
in Columbia, Spring Hill, that
area, this is where they stopped
when they were going across the
country because it reminded them
so much of the home of home. Oh
wow! And so, and you think of
that McEwen and that area, and
the same thing. Yeah, you go.
You see these rolling green
hills. I went. Oh, this is what
it looked like home. Yeah.
So kind of cool. So if you don't
get to go to Ireland, just go to
Spring Hill. Yeah, go
to McEwen. There you go.
You'll be there. You're almost
there.
What now? You are a big animal
lover. I know. What What first
got you? What What really drew
you to the animal world? That
my first, I was in college and I
wasn't allowed to have a pet.
You know, I grew up on a farm.
My grandfather had a farm, and I
was the only grandkid that loved
it. I rode the tractor with him,
I was the one that did all the
doctoring of the animals. He
thought he, I thought he was
teaching me. He had a weak
stomach, and so he would send me
in with a sow with mastitis or
something, and he says, "Go daub
something on it. Here's some
stuff, you know. And I didn't
know, you know. My grandmother
now she taught me a lot of the
the doctoring stuff, but I mean,
I learned things like to
vaccinate and do all that stuff.
So I was totally into animal
care of any of everything from
chickens and pigs and cows.
I mean, do you ever think of
being a vet? I
I went I was in pre vet first.
Okay, I was in pre vet first,
and I had trouble with
chemistry.
You ain't the only one. But all
the zoology
and and the and the botany and
stuff. I mean, I was except for
the big rats. We had to do the
study of the big rats, and they
said, "Oh, don't worry, they
won't bite you.
Oh,
and sure enough, about that
time, a guy screamed. He was
holding it by the tail, and it
rat and it grabbed him under the
arm, and that. Well, I guess it
won't be that. That's the only
animal, you know. Rats and mice.
Yeah, I have no use. Big
old possum. Yeah,
I don't. I
don't mind possums. Well, I
mean,
that's just a big rat. Yeah, I
like I
like possums. I like I like all
the animals. I I just I'm I'm
not fond of snakes. That's the
thing. I don't want to do
reptiles.
I'm not a snake.
You know, I did have pet rats at
one point.
They're pretty clean. Didn't
surprise me. Does that really
surprise anyone that he would
have? That's all the apartment
would allow. No, I think the
little mice are cute, but the
the rats, no, little mice. Yeah,
little mice are kind of cute.
No, no, no, no. But they got
little hands. I'd
rather have the snake. I mean,
like the movie
Mouse Hunt. Have you ever seen
that movie? Oh, it's adorable.
Hysterical, funny movie. And
Ratatouille. I mean, come on.
Let's just little mouse and
mouse hunt. He was so
cute. Now the only animal, the
greatest animal I ever had in my
life was my dog. He was a
collie. It really wasn't my dog.
It was my oldest sister's dog,
but he ended up being mine
because I spent more time with
him. But this guy was so smart,
and my mother was amazed. But
this dog knew when my school bus
would come because she said
every day it's the same. Said he
he gets up right when your
school bus is coming, and he'd
wait at the school where they'd
let me, and he'd be waiting on
me there.
They know. Yeah, they really. He
was
my he was my but he was my bud.
I mean we we we were
inseparable.
The things they can sense are
incredible. I mean they could
sense earthquakes before they
happen. Oh yeah, or they can
sense. I we went to a bed and
breakfast. Beautiful couple.
They were down in Shelbyville or
Sheville, and they had a. I
forget what kind of dog it was,
but the dog would always go with
the husband to like get the
paper or something in a little
golf cart. Well, something
started happening to the dog. It
started pulling his own hair
out. He was going through all,
and they didn't know what was
wrong. Turned out the husband
had, I think, he had cancer, and
the dog sensed it. He was trying
to get them to pay attention.
Yeah,
and and he was already. Already
going through, you know, he was
grieving. Yeah. Well, you know,
there
I have experienced, you know,
animals. You know, we've got a
cat who, sadly, I think we're
going to have to put down soon
because she's ailing. She's 15.
Yeah.
But anyway, I mean, the amp cats
and dogs-they can sense when
you're upset.
Oh yes. You know,
because you know, I've had
animals kind of get up close and
get in your lap when when you
know when you're upset about
things. Sure, as you say, the
sensory of of the animals is
pretty amazing. I do.
In college, I couldn't have
animals. I went to a little. I
just started volunteering at the
pound, which was a hideous place
at the time, down in Louisiana,
and this little black cat took
me in. I mean, took me in. He, I
thought I was adopting him. He
adopted me, and we went through
so much together. And he was the
first one. And then I just, I
would sneak him into the dorm.
I'd sneak him in places, and he
knew. And I was taken. Then I
had when I got here. I had I
worked at the Nashville Humane
Association as a volunteer, and
I adopted Winston, my
Loshnowser, who went with me to
every voiceover. Oh, they're
smart! And he would
he would watch, and he knew when
I got in front of the
microphone. Okay, I'm supposed
to wait, and then when I'd go
done, and he would get up,
shake, and do all the scratch
with a sound. He get that out of
his system. I said, "Okay,
ready? Start again. And go down,
and he would, you know. And then
I had a golden retriever, Yogi,
that would go to all my radio
remotes. And Yogi the Wonder Dog
wore the station colors, and I
would take him everywhere,
including we would go to schools
like High Hopes that work with
kids with special challenges,
and I remember there was this
one little girl who couldn't.
She was nonverbal, and she had
not responded to anything. And
this golden retriever, I took
him in, and some of the kids
would squeal and scream, and
they would pull his ears, and he
would just okay, whatever you
got, I bring it. Come on, I love
you anyway, kid. And this little
girl, they noticed and they
watched her, and she had started
crawling, and she came over and
just wrapped her arms around
Yogi, the wonder dog. She didn't
say anything, but she connected.
They said she had never
connected with anything that had
happened in that class, and so I
think animals are great, and and
that's one of the things I love
working with all sorts of
organizations. I mean, there are
some right now. New Leash on
Life in Lebanon. There's Safe
Place. There's a Safe Harbor
that's out Hendersonville
Gallatin area, and True rescue
for cats that is in Mount
Juliet, and there's Rivers Edge
that does a lot of work with
horses and Horse Plus Humane. I
could go on and on, but there's
some amazing people, boots on
the ground, that are doing
things for animals with animals,
and if if you can't adopt an
animal, you can volunteer, and
if you can't keep them and take
care of them financially, you
can foster, and that adoption
agency, that that shelter will
take care of all their bills.
Oh wow!
So you can still have a pet if
you say, "Look, I'll give them a
good home till they get a home,
but you're not responsible for
everything. Sometimes that's
helpful, and the senior to
senior that Williamson County
now, what Williamson County
does, they're a county run
shelter, but they work like a
rescue, and it's just so cool.
They have like free senior to
senior adoption days, so if you
got a senior dog or a senior
cat, they can adopt free to
another senior, and I just think
that's precious because the
senior population of which I are
one now. You know, you imagine
when you start losing all your
people.
Yeah, I am. Yeah,
you know, you lose a spouse. You
know, yeah, lose your friends.
Yeah,
and it gets really difficult.
And loneliness is a deal. And
all of a sudden, these little
senior animals who really just
want to hang out with you-they
don't want to. They're not too
active. They don't want to. They
don't chew too much because
there's not a whole lot of teeth
left. Right. You put them. You
both eat soft food. Both need
diapers. Yeah, there you go. So
just just hang out together, and
it is just a wonderful program.
And I, you know, a lot of places
are starting to institute. But I
know that Williamson is one of
the first counties that did it.
Now you've written a lot of
books about
yeah
your deal, which they're really
good. And I would tell people to
go get them.
Thank you. They have some at
Amazon still left. Some of them
are out of print. My favorite
one. It was the one that started
everything. Is my angels wear
fur.
Yes,
and it started the night. It was
the my beloved horse Maria
passed away. She was my first my
horse that I. God and she passed
away, and I was with her, and it
was just so tough. And so I just
wrote her story out. Then
another story came. Then another
story came, and pretty soon I
had a book, so I took it to
Brian Curtis at Thomas Nelson. I
said, I don't know if these are
anything. This might be too
close, but here's five stories.
Would you just see if I'm on the
right path? And he called me a
week later, and he said, "How
would you like to be a published
author? You've got everybody
crying here in the office. And
I said,
"Okay. And he said, "And I can
only give you as as a as an
adventure first time writer. I'm
sorry, I don't have more. And I
wanted to scream through the
thing. I couldn't believe
someone gave me money for
something I wrote.
Yeah,
you know, and I mean, and now I
know it wasn't some huge amount
to me. It could have been a
million dollars for way it made
me feel inside.
Yeah,
and because my dream when I was
a little girl, I just I didn't
have all the dreams of radio or
anything. I wanted to I wanted a
book in a school library.
Wow,
that's it. That was my big. That
was my big. That's what I want
to have, because I was president
of the library club. Oh, that's
quite prestigious. Yes, it's
back when we had those those big
things that you checked out
books and go, yeah, cool. It was
cool. And libraries smell so
good, and books smell so good,
and I
love the shh.
Yeah, yeah. You got to look
through the cards, and the you
pull out the thing, and yeah,
the card catalog. Card catalog.
I miss those days.
Yeah, I Dewey Decimaled
everything in my house. I had
little things, and my mother
came in. She said, "What are
these? Everything is within the
Dewey Decimal system. Here's
what they are, and they're all
subject to. And they're, she
said, you are the weirdest
child.
It's going to count one day,
Mom. Yep, I promise you. You
could have gone from
veterinarian to librarian. I
mean,
all the Aryans. Yeah, all the
no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
Let's scratch that. I'm not no
Aryan. Yep, I just like Vikings.
It's not anything to do with
that. Well, the great
thing too is you're in the
Tennessee Radio Hall of Fame,
which you belong, because man,
you. I loved listening to you. A
lot of people, you know, a lot
of guys. Some of them are just
into the guys on the air, but
I've always loved women,
especially when they have great
voices like you. Thank you. That
is that's yeah. I can recall.
You know,
I came to town in '85 to go to
work with MCA Records out of
radio. But anyway, I can
remember. You know, you started
about then, did you not? Was it
the early or mid '80s when you
started Nashville Radio
'86?
Yeah. Okay. Yeah, I knew it was
about that time when I remember
first hearing you. Yeah,
yeah, and I got here, and Kathy
Martindale was on at SMFM.
Another
great talent. Oh my
gosh, I thought
and a great person.
She is the best. Yes, she is
just the best, and I. There is a
lot of competition in radio, and
especially among women.
That's true.
Until they decide to not let it
be, and we started years ago
creating these little radio
luncheons of the women in radio,
and Shannon and U Turn Laverne
and U-turn Laverne. I love
U-turn. Oh my gosh! And we
started getting together, and I
just remember one of them in
particular, U-turn, had just had
her twin boys, and she had them
both in high chairs next to her,
and they brought these babies
milk to drink in beer steins.
Well, these babies, these babies
were already linebackers. I
don't know. See how she had
them. I said,
"How old are your children? She
goes, "They're not quite a year.
I think she's
a Viking. She is a Viking. She's
her husband. Yeah, they are.
They really are.
And she said, "Well, she said I
just started. They're going to
be a football team. I just might
as well start early. And I said,
"Oh my lordy! I'd never seen
babies like that. But she's a
real kick, and we've talked.
Kathy and I have talked about
going fishing all the time.
Because I'm a Louisiana, you
have to fish. You're required,
required. But we haven't just
haven't had the time yet. But I
just absolutely adore her. Were
you here? Either one of you here
when Playboy came to town and
asked all the girls from radio
to be? Yes,
yeah, I do recall that.
And Kathy,
Kathy was in
it. Yes, Shannon
was in it.
I didn't know Shannon was in
it. Uh huh. Which
episode is this? Which issue?
Where can we get
this? Women in radio. We were
all laughing, and Kathy says,
"Yeah, yeah. When the Playboy
people, you know, she said, "But
nothing ever showed. I covered
everything with a cowboy hat.
And Shannon said, "Yeah, and I
covered it with such and such.
And then I said, "Well, I did
the ads for Nutrisystem, and I
couldn't cover anything. Great
comeback. They they they asked
me, and I said, "My grandpa's a
Baptist preacher. And they said,
"Well, you're not going to show
anything. I said, "Yep, but if
there's naked ladies in the
magazine, my grandpa would." He
would not be pleased. So
well, I remember was it Eve
Vopel? Yeah, she was in because
she she was in one of them. I
think it was the it was the
girls of college. Yeah, but Eve
could
she could bounce quarters off
her belly button. I mean, she
had I mean she worked out like a
fiend,
but the great thing about her,
she was smart. I heard this
story. I don't know how true it
is, but she was the only clothed
girl in the whole pictorial. It
just showed her, and you know,
she was, you know, it was just a
shot of her in her, you know,
school uniform, whatever. And
what I understood was that they
wanted her to be nude, and she
said it's not in the contract. I
don't have to be nude, and so
she got away with it. And they
good for her. Yeah, I thought I
thought, boy, how smart is she?
Well, it's
surprising that they even
included her. They did well.
They, I think she
she held them to their contract.
Well,
let's just put it this way: her
little school uniform. There are
a lot of men who buy that just
for that, and they didn't mind
that she was clothed. She did.
Eve is gorgeous, and was one of
the very first women that was in
that part of that workout scene
to to be really strong. She
worked out not so she would be
cute in her outfits, but like
workout and strength technique.
Yeah, bodybuilding. Yeah, yeah.
She was had a lot of strength
training and stuff, and she was
the first one of the first
people I ever met that did that.
I went and and music row of all,
because that was not something
on music row that everybody did.
No, you know, you did like
jazzercise. We're gonna do that,
or
maybe, or just you know,
12 ounces at a time. Yeah,
that's the workout I did. The
only
workout I did was going to the
get the more ice. The only Jim
they went to was the pie
wagon. Oh, that's that's
right. Yeah, yes, the pie wagon.
That's how I walk. That's how I
lost weight. Yeah, yeah. Well,
we walk between the pie wagon
and back. And then after once
you ate it, the pie wagon you
lost it pretty quickly.
Something we
never talked about was you know
all of us being in radio. What
were your hot spots for lunch?
Because we were all in different
areas. Like I was in the Berry
Hill area, and Baja Baja Burrito
was mine. Oh
yeah,
like oh, I feel like taking a
mid-afternoon nap. Let me go to
get a burrito football.
Yeah, from
Baja Burrito. You know, where
did you guys normally eat for
lunch?
Well, I had my favorite place.
Well, my first go to was
Virginia's because they had they
had meat and three, and they
had, but they had sandwiches
that were amazing.
They were. They
still do. Yeah, just plain
unadulterated. Just this is just
a turkey sandwich. By God. Yeah.
And slice of life when it was
there. It's a vegetarian
restaurant. Oh yeah, forgot
about
that. Yeah, there used to be one
when I first got to town called
Laughing Man. Oh yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah. That was
really good.
Yeah, I was so poor in radio. I
always just brought my own
baloney sandwich. You
were that guy.
Yeah, yeah, but I didn't heat up
nasty stuff in the microwave. I
was about to say no,
not one of those.
Everybody, every radio station,
the kitchens always smell like
Ling cuisine cannelloni. Yeah,
it was. You know what I'm
talking about? That smell. It
was cannelloni.
Yes.
And you go. People go. What's
this about? Was it? It's a radio
station.
Yeah. Or either popcorn. Oh,
burnt popcorn. Burn popcorn.
Somebody would bring cabbage. I
don't know why.
There was a guy I worked with in
Connecticut who you always knew
he was there because I smell
tuna, went open a can of tuna in
the studio. Oh, in the studio.
Oh, oh no, nasty! I tell
you, one place I did love on
right off Music Road was a sub
stop. Oh yes, oh pink building,
pink building. A little woman
that talked like this, and boy,
she just and she knew what she
wanted. Yes, she
did.
Did any guys ever ever go to the
subway on Thompson Lane?
I know. I know which one you're
speaking. The angry subway right
across from Hunter. Yeah, from
Hunter. There
was a guy in there. He was like
the subway Nazi. You know, he
was
kind like the super. Oh my god!
And he would
be sitting there and he'd be
like, "Next, and you'd
immediately kind of come up.
Sandwich. I'll take a bread,
please. A whole wheat. What kind
of meat? I know it's like you
just. I don't want to get the
answer wrong because he's going
to yell at me. The sub Nazi. Oh
my gosh! Like who? Who hired
this guy? Yeah, a lot of people
like that. He probably owned
the place.
Barry Hill, Sam and Zoe's.
Yeah, yeah.
I have. anxiety order anxiety
that big that board that had 8
million things on it they didn't
have like a you can go study the
menu it was just it changed
every day I thought I just
figured out finally I just went
chicken salad wrap and I found
one. Thing I I just I can't look
at it. It was just too much for
me. I'm glad to
hear you say that
because it got going overload.
Yeah, see,
there was a little place that
used to be in College Grove or
no Eagleville. I forget what it
was called, like Eagleville.
It's not there anymore. That
Sorelli's is there now, but
whoever owned that, they had
they didn't specialize in
anything. It just all I couldn't
make up my mind because there
was just too too much to choose.
I know
sometimes you're right. I mean,
all that's so overwhelming, and
the and the person working there
is kind of like yeah, you know,
and you got people behind you,
you know, and there
was nobody in the whole building
when you walked in, and all of a
sudden you start to order, and
then 80 million people come
behind you, and they all know
what they want.
Yeah. Oh yeah,
and some of them are are buying
for the whole office. Those are
my favorite. You know, when
you're in line and and you're
behind them, and they pull
out the list.
Yeah, yeah. The Dead Sea scrolls
roll out. Well, for me, Don, I
missed it. Well, if I want 8000
hamburgers to go, if I just
want coffee, I just want plain
coffee, and Starbucks is my only
option, like at an airport or
something. Invariably, I'm
behind the person with the you
know the latte, da da da, you
know, with the order that's this
long, but all I want's a black
cup of coffee.
Yes, and you want to pay $7 for
it, right? Yeah. I've always
said they need to have just a
coffee express, like a quick
lube. You know, yeah. For the
people that just want plain
coffee.
Well, the same to be said for
your convenience stores with the
people that buy lottery tickets
when you're just in there to buy
like a soft drink or get a cup
of coffee or something, and
there's some guy that's buying
all kinds of tickets. Yeah, I
need to. Yeah,
so they're in there. I need to
scratch your three. Yeah,
ripping off stuff. But you know,
the Circle K's now have got the
AI registered things where you
just set your stuff on there,
and
that's good. It
reads off the stuff, and it's
usually accurate. Yeah, except
one time
it rang up my fanny pack. I
don't understand. I just and
apparently they sell those
there. I didn't know, and they
just they said, "Well, we did,
and I went. I think I got a
soda, and it was like $29. I
don't know what's in his solo
soda, but I don't believe I want
it. You know, but oh my gosh!
Did you
guys ever go to Calypso? Yes. Oh
yeah, another another staple.
The same people still work
there. Really, really. I moved
here in '05, and I remember it's
like every time I go there, I'm
like, "There you are, you're
still here.
And I've always felt like I was
back in the hippie days when I
did
that. Oh, salmon's always kind
of brings me that. It does,
yeah, yeah, very. And
that's a positive actually,
because I sometimes I like going
back to the
uncomfortable. Doesn't really
align with my
worldview. Yeah, yeah. Well, I
understand that, but sometimes
I, I feel. I have fond memories
of my hippie days.
Oh, I do too.
Yeah,
Chevy vans and they're carpeted,
and it's so funny. It was those
things were the grossest look
at. I mean, you think about it.
I go, did we have bad taste or
did we have bad taste? And
girls, girls wearing
patchouli. Yeah, I still love
patchouli. I do too. I still
love it. I some people really
just can't believe I
like patchouli, but I do.
Yeah, well, trust me, I know
exactly when I walk into a room
and I have it just because I
have a moment that I go, I just,
I just, I'm just, I'm feeling a
mood, you know, amber or
patchouli, and you wear that,
and people, what is that? You'd
be stinking. It's a good smell
to me. It is me
too. I love it. I just I
absolutely love it. There's this
this really cool app. I have I
found it. It's called Too Good
to Go. I just they just like
launched, and you know how when
they take food at the end of the
night at certain restaurants,
and it would just go in the
garbage. Or they have
convenience stores that they're
going to switch it out the next
day or whatever. They too good
to go. You can have a surprise
bag, and for instance, there's a
place in Mount Juliet that's an
Indian restaurant, and you can
get the app, and they go, "Oh,
we have three surprise bags. You
can pay $9. You get $30 worth of
food at the end of the night.
You just go pick up your little
bag. I tried it. I thought it's
going to be the worst experience
of my life. This bag was so
heavy. I had to hold it with two
hands, wondering at the bottom.
I
went. It
had chicken biryani or bir ji.
However you said that? That
chicken and rice thing. And then
they had tandoori chicken, and
they had an order of samosas,
and all the sauces. It was
literally $30 worth of food for
nine bucks.
Wow! And
then they have like the you
mentioned Circle K, and
sometimes they'll they'll just
put together a package. My
friend, I turned her on. To it,
she said, "Girl, we got two
chicken wraps, we got some
pastries, and something else,
and a bubble drink. I said,
"What's a bubble drink? She
says, "I don't know, but it was
in the bubble. But and and I
thought, "Well, I just turned
everybody onto it because that
was $3. She got the you know
some of them. Interesting. So if
you have like a coffee thing,
you can you can say go get
pastries at the Circle K or
whatever, and you have just a
little coffee clatch, and
instead of spend 20 bucks, you
spend three. Very cool. I like
to save money. Yeah, well, we
have to
these days, and also you know
the the
food isn't being wasted. That's
the whole reason. That's what
they
started it for. The people who
started it, and right now, this
they've got out where I'm on
East Side, like a long way from
here. There's a mule out there
that brought me here. It's a
long travel road to get here.
They chicken and waffles.
There's a place and two or three
Indian restaurants and a lot of
there's some grocery stores that
have jumped in on it and say,
"Hey, we've got things that are
going to be going bad. But if
you you get it that day, it's
kind of like manna. You got to
eat it right then, or it's just
going to ruin, as my grandma
used to say.
So, what are you doing now? Tell
the folks what you're doing now.
Well, I got tired of being
fired, so I opened my own
business. Smart girl. But you
know, you know, I when when you
lose a job, I was working with a
nonprofit, and I really loved
what I did. But they went under
new management, and like they
did, they want their people in.
Yeah.
So you get the call, and they
said, "Well, I'm sorry, we're
terminating you, and blah blah
blah. There's no okay. You could
have waited till Medicare. I
mean, you know, hot a hot
minute. You could have waited,
and then I got really upset, and
it was like God just said,
"Okay, you've been going to
school for a long time. All
you've learned up to now is what
you need for what you're going
to do. And so I opened my
publicity marketing firm called
Devon's Farm, and we grow
careers heart first. And so I
work with artists, authors,
companies, and nonprofits. I
help them all because nonprofits
need artists, and companies want
to be aligned with nonprofits,
and all of it-it all ties
together, and so I realized I
know how to do press for a tour
and talk to radio people and get
people on the air. Who knew?
I've only been in it for 40
years. Hello, Sonny. I've got a
guest for you and a mule, and
I'll bring them. I promise. But
it just has turned out great,
and I signed T. Graham Brown is
one of my first artists, and
Cletus T. Judd is coming back
out. I've seen
that. Yeah, I've seen that.
He's got a brand new video that
drops this week, and it's really
cool because let's just say he
and Ella Langley are going to be
really good friends after this.
Oh, really? All
right.
You know, because Shania did a
lot for his career at one time.
Yes, she did.
And so,
so now he's an Ella fella. He is
definitely an Ella fella. Yeah,
and it is
the funniest video. I can't tell
you more about it, but it's
going to drop on Friday.
Awesome!
Does have to do with Texas?
Yes. Yes. Yes. It it's not that
song though. But but but it does
it does have to do with Texas.
Well,
he really was the weird owl of
country. Yeah, he was. Yeah. He
was a radio guy at one point. He
was in Tampa.
He and still he was in Tampa. He
did Atlanta, you know,
Huntington, Virginia. I mean,
he's he he paid his dues as a
radio guy.
His he has he has a tumultuous
story, life story for sure.
The thing I love about him is
he's not afraid to talk about
it. And as doing his publicity,
that's one of the things he
wants to talk about his
testimony as much as he does
anything, because the thing that
brought him back is he's got an
amazing wife and an amazing
little girl, and the little girl
now is a married and is a
recording artist, and she sings
Christian music. Now, how about
that?
Yeah,
and he just said, "You know
what, I want to be home with my
kid.
Good friend.
But he talked about anxiety and
how difficult it was, and you
know, anxiety is one of those
things that people don't talk
much about. He's and I loved his
quote. He told me he said,
Devon, I've always been able to
make people laugh. I just
couldn't make me laugh.
Yeah, that's usually the case
with comedians,
so he, so it's going to be
really interesting. He's got a
book that he's almost finished
with, and that'll be coming out
as well. And I can't wait to
help people understand this side
of him that's coming out, and
and I can't wait. T. Graham
Brown did probably the best.
Gospel project I've ever heard
in my life is an album called
Forever Changed, and if you're
in a bad place, you put that
album on, and it will lift you.
So he and Leon Russell did it
together.
Oh wow!
And oh, it's so good. Well, he's
got a new project. I'm just
gonna say that Bill Gaither is
behind
it,
and I cannot wait for this next
one to to happen. It's just it's
just exciting the the people
that have been around for a long
time and people can put them in
the category of legacy.
Yes,
but they're singing and doing
things just as well, if not
better than they ever did, the
other thing is they're all
sober,
yes,
and and are willing to talk
about
it, yes.
Which you know, I I stay away
from the firewater myself, you
know.
I do too,
and is one of those kind of
things people ask me. They said,
"What did you learn when you
decided to stop drinking? And I
learned one that I wasn't
actually an alcoholic, and I
never call myself that. Not
because I don't want to be one;
it's because I don't want to
discount some of my very best
friends who really struggled.
Yeah,
I just stopped one day. I did a
90 and 90. I I don't hold
anything back. That I said I
wasn't addicted to alcohol. I
was addicted to people who
drank.
Wow, interesting.
I wanted to save somebody, and
that's and that's just as bad an
addict. We all try to fill up
the the hole.
I think that's what it
is. Yeah, I think that's where
people become alcoholics, drug
addicts. Is they are trying to
fill a hole. That was my case
anyway. But what I found is, and
I don't know if it's the same
for anybody else, but once I
quit drinking, and once I got
away from drugs, my life became
a lot more manageable. Not at
first, but as I went along, I
thought, "Wow, life is so much
easier than I thought it was.
When
you don't have to question
yourself, when you get behind
your wheel of your car, or you
don't have to ask yourself,
or you get married, or you get
married, well, that
ain't happened for me. But I
don't lose my car anymore.
There's that, you know. I don't,
you know, dude. Where's my car?
Where's my wife? There you go,
there you go. But you know, but
I didn't grow up with alcohol. I
was raised in literally the
Baptist, and they didn't drink
when they fish and keep it a
secret with people. They they
weren't that kind of bad. They
literally they just they walk
the walk, and and my dad always
I always daddy, why don't you
have beer like mr. Floyd, the
guy in the back next door? Why
don't you do like him? He says,
"Well, honey, he said, "I don't
know if I could handle it or
not, but he said, you know, if
somebody saw me drinking and it
tore their family apart, they
said, 'Well, I saw mr. Charles
drinking, and I thought it was
okay that I did, and it
destroyed his family. He said I
couldn't live with that, so I
just don't drink.
Wow!
He said I'd rather show that I
show up for my little girls and
go to the the stuff for them.
And he said if they want to do
what I do, he said just show it
with me. I go to church every
time the doors are open, and I
show up at everything my little
girls do, and I said, "Oh, okay,
and I never questioned that
after that.
I wish I'd met him long enough.
Yeah, you know, not the truth,
and that the truth. I, you know,
he had a God bless him. He had a
way of explaining spirituality
in a way that was just so real,
and it wasn't preachy, and it
wasn't punitive. And he said, "I
don't ever worry about where you
go, honey. He said, "I just send
Jesus with you.
Oh wow!
And I went. He said, "So
everywhere you go, just know
that Jesus is right there with
you. It scared the ever loving
out of me. He's right
here. But you tell
your kid that you know, and
they're a real believer. It's
like they don't want to do
anything. I mean, people ask me
all the time. They said, "Well,
you know, when you were in high
school, like when I was in high
school, I was talk about I was a
choir girl, not a choir boy. I
was a choir girl. I I didn't. I
wanted to be a missionary. I
didn't. That wasn't any of that
kind of stuff going on, because
I wasn't scared of Jesus. I was
scared of my mama. Heard that
he's always with you, but don't
ask him for patience.
That would be what we called a
callback. Yeah, that's true.
Well, Devin, it's
been wonderful to have you with
us. Yeah, where can people check
you out?
You can go to devinoday.com, and
that's my my home for keynote
speaking and all the stuff that
I do. But my new company, if
you've got somebody and you go,
I need a guerrilla way of
marketing or something that's a
little bit off kilter, a little
left of center, or a little, you
know, something that hasn't.
Been thought of yet, or it's in
new media. They can go to
devinsfarm.com.
Very cool. We may be coming your
way. There you go, Jay. Tell
them where we can check us out.
Yeah, at the moment, and
hopefully moving forward, you
can find us, of course, on
Facebook. That seems to be the
big platform where folks toward
seem to gravitate toward us.
Over 23,000 followers on
Facebook. Of course, we've got
the YouTube channel, and we're
also on X and all of the other
podcast platforms for audio. And
there's circlingthedrain.net.
But as we mentioned in our
previous episode, we are looking
at some rebranding, and we'll
just kind of leave it at that
for now.
So ahead of rebranding, and I
tell you, Jesus is with you, and
Jesus is with you too, and we
will be with you next time. Join
us.