EPISODE 7: Working for Jason Aldean, Challenging Mahomes & Kelce to Pickleball, & Neil's Golf Tips
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You saying stop doing that, it's like telling the guy who stutters, hey, stop stuttering. I said, I can't. Me and Kurt challenged Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelsey to pick a ball match. We did. Are you serious? You stand on stage and play a base. Those guys are always in shape. You will get destroyed. What's it like working for Jason Aldean? It's amazing. I'm sure we touched on this when he was here. He is...

One of the great things about Jason is that he has not changed since we met him. He is who he is. It's not like he's one of these guys that got famous and turned into something else and it's like, oh, we can't even hang with him anymore. He is the exact same guy. And he doesn't come off like he's a superstar or a celebrity. That's one of the best things about him. He's been the same guy since we started the band in 1999. Same guy, same

And I think what we really appreciate about him is that he lets us be us in our playing. He lets us write. He lets us write how we feel it, play how we feel it. He knows that's how the sound's behind him, and he's smart like that. You know, it's been great. Like, I mean, we've talked about it before, just kind of a magical combination of things. I'll look at pictures of y'all, you know, 15 years ago.

Y'all haven't changed that much. Oh, I thought you were going to say something else. No. No. You still look fantastic. Neil, I love you. Yeah. Right? Well, I thought I got to get in touring shape.

I forget which, and I don't know if it's on that or not, but I remember one of the questions that somebody was asking about, you know, because even if people aren't songwriters or aspiring songwriters, they're interested in that and what we do and what our days look like and stuff like that because it is so incredibly different than most ever job. And I kind of know, you know, what Neil and I do, but it seems like you guys are

But do y'all write every, when you're not on the road, do y'all go in town? Do you write or do something toward it? The song tracks, lyrics, whatever. We're working. I've always, I've always said this. Like we, we, we never, and any young musician or out there, I think me and Kurt and Rich, we've always talked about this. Like never be the guy that comes home off the road and gets off the bus and goes home and then waits for the bus to leave.

So since we've been touring, it's always been come home off the road, go to the studio and play or produce, write, work. We're always working for the next thing. But with Jason, it's so great because it all feeds itself. We get to write songs and take them on the road and play songs that Neil's written. And we've got this great song together, Kalo Now. And it really means a lot to us because I think we're such band guys now.

that we always wanted to be in a band. And even though it's not the Jason Aldean band, he treats it like that. He treats it like a petty, like a John Mellencamp. No, but you guys visually from the very beginning were a huge part

You can credit Jason for that because you guys know this, right? When you play with an artist, hey, you get on your black shirt and you step 20 feet behind him because you don't get to be part of the show. Y'all are part of the show. We always have a shirt, yeah. But that's credit to Jason because he grew up watching, well, bands like Alabama. I'm trying to think what song it was. It was, what song was it? First video I saw of Jason was,

um the thick time video no no it was the ballad why why and y'all were featured a lot in that and and from that point on you were still featured a lot and it was a huge visual part and think about it what artist is cool with that almost none of them why are you showing other guys

I'm the artist. Because you guys were like, you've been good looking. Come on. But Jason did that because he comes, you know, until I alluded to this, he comes from a band mentality. All of his favorite people growing up were bands, whether it was Alabama or Guns N' Roses. I mean, he got the concept of that. That's right. And he gave us the freedom to be able to do that with him. And that's rare for an artist.

And Jason is the kind of guy that he's smart. He's like, look, it's a band vibe. He always wanted to be like an Alabama, like an Aerosmith. Like having the energy around him where he doesn't have to go out there and feel like he's got to carry every moment of the show.

Like he wants to have fun with us as well and be part of the band. Jason is part of the band. It's not a artisan band. It's, it's that way. You know, it's Jason Aldean, but you know, it's when we're on stage, like it, it's a, it's a brotherhood up there and he's, you could tell he's led by it, but he's, he likes that.

But he knew what looked good. He knew what was going to capture the audience. He knew, and that's why you guys were on the forefront. I'm still shocked after all these years as much camera time as Kurt got, and he doesn't have a tattoo. It's amazing. Yeah.

But he looks really cool. Yeah, people still mix Tully and me up. They still. What? Oh, my God. Just the other day, someone who's known as 20. Nobody stands like you do on stage. He doesn't. Let me tell you something. I know. Peter Coleman, who records all the Aldine records, and I'm talking, we've been in the studio with Pete since 99, doing demos and albums. Over 20 years. Over 20 years. When we're tracking, he calls us Catulli.

Because he doesn't know who's who. He doesn't know if it's Kurt or Tully he's talking to after 20-something years. I'm like, Pete. Tully plays bass. I play guitar. We sit in the same place. Yeah, it's like we've been in the same chairs for 20 years. Yeah. You know? That's hilarious. Yeah. Well, K-Lo still calls you Allison. He can't get that straight. You know, I think it's interesting with the songwriting aspect of it. And listen, we're all incredibly blessed, right, to have success. But I think sometimes people think that...

Every song you write is a hit.

or is successful and especially if you're a new songwriter it's really a failure business like 99 of the songs you write are not successful right and it's an interesting thing to go through right and it's like especially i don't know how it was when you came to town like did you pop right away or was it failure failure failure failure no it was i came to town to be an artist

right thrasher shiver yeah yeah you got the you got shiver's name right that's great everybody says shriver yeah yeah that's impressive you paid attention but wait i came here to you know to be a star and do the record deal and do the artist thing and that the songwriting thing just kind of evolved yeah that was in 95 so i was on radio tour promoting two records for five years

and was getting cuts because my first hit happened in 96 with diamond rio so you were getting cuts while you were doing your art oh yeah i'll see that's great and then ariba thing happened in 99 and that was my second hit and that's when i said i wonder what would happen if i devoted all my time to writing songs and came on the road so i did it was the best decision i ever made

And that way you get to go to bed around 8.30 or 9 instead of staying up all night. That's exactly right. But I still get to perform. I mean, we get to do writer's rounds and stuff. I still get to sing. You know, songwriting, I wanted to ask you guys, and we never really talk about this, but in my opinion, I don't think you're, or at least for myself, I don't think we became really good songwriters until we realized when you can tell yourself you didn't write a great song.

You know, when the song you wrote that day, I know when we wrote something good and I know when we didn't. Totally. All my songs are good. That may be true for you, but I tell you right now, like they're like my kids. A lot of, a lot of, a lot of young writers. I, you know, I can look on social media and like wrote a smash today, wrote a smash. I'm like, damn, when did you ever write anything? That's not a smash. You know, but I, I know when we write though, it's like, we'll stop.

We will stop. No, we've done that before. Just stop. What's the sense? You've got a bar, right? Some days it's just not happening. You have to show up. Are you the same way though? If you get on one and you know it's not working, do you suffer through it? It depends. Sometimes for the

the politeness of the room. Like if you have a couple people and they're way into it, and I'm the only one feeling that, you know, I don't, this song's okay, but I don't think anybody's going to record it, then I will finish it just because I'm a little bit stubborn. But it's hard because you're starting to think, especially on a pretty day, you know, like how we could be hitting some balls or something, you know, you'd be doing something different. And I guess that's the luxury we have writing for Jason is like, if we're not on one form,

A snail. Start over. Yeah. No, that's true. Well, and I was going to ask you guys, because Kurt, it was interesting that you were saying that, what you started with, like if it's been a minute, you know, since you've had a song on the radio, because like you said, we have been blessed and we're stubborn and we refuse to leave. And so we've stayed a long time and over the course of time, some good things have happened, but there's a lot of not so good days in between there and there's droughts, you know? And so I was going to ask you guys, I know how I feel,

If it's been a drought and you hadn't been on the radio for a minute, and when I say a minute, like a year or two, or you hadn't got anything recorded in a while, do you get in the funk? And do you feel like, well, I've lost it. I guess that's, even if it's temporarily, or do y'all stay even-keeled? I'll tell you this right now. This is dead honest. Like Kurt said, years ago, I got really fortunate with Tibbett on back. Me and Kurt had seen Red.

And then Kurt wrote one for Jason called They Don't Know. And we hit a pretty good drought. And we had some album cuts, you know. And it was, we'd go into work and it was like, and again, this is Jason's credit, like, you know, we're better songwriters because of Jason. Just because we knew we had to raise the bar.

But it was a lonely drought. Yeah. We've had some, I mean, the shed, the shack, that was, we've had a few of those situations. Well, and that's kind of to my point is that, again, we've been blessed, right? But it's an interesting job where you, every day, pour your creativity and heart and everything into something that,

to have it shot down like every day, right? Right. Right. Every day. Right. Nope. Not good enough. Nope. Not good enough. Nope. Not good enough. Now that's, well, you mean, like I said, we've been blessed to get the hit, so that's great, but it can't help but affect the way you think. Right. That's the way I, one of our places, our offices was in a cubicle, literally in an upstairs and like an office building.

with accountants around oh wow like and we're trying to make music and make track with that going on i know right they hated us we'd walk to the getting coffee and they they just hated us up there so morning vivian yeah no that's that's what it was like i'm gonna tell you right now covid was a blessing to me okay it was a blessing because you know we started zoom writing

Didn't have to go in. And ever since, that's really basically all I want to do. Were you afraid of the virus? No, I hate people. He was actually. No, he does not. I was not. I was like, everybody else was afraid of the virus. And I didn't give a shit. I was like.

If I could be at home in my golf clothes and I can write a song and I can get up and walk around and go get a cup of coffee and there's nobody sitting right there, I can think. I think so much better with somebody else not in the room. It was the same but opposite for us. COVID, that time period was a blessing for us as well because while a lot of people were taking time off-

we hunkered down and that's when we wrote the most. And we had a team of people that felt the same way. There were a lot of great songs written during COVID. Yeah, and that's kind of what happened to us is that we were like, hey, there's not a lot of people writing. Let's take advantage of the situation. And I think people ask us all the time, how'd you get on such a hot streak?

And I tell him, like, you know, for 20-some-odd years, almost 30 years, we've been on the road. Come on the road, come home for two days, leave again. COVID gave us a chance to just write. And we got better and better and better and kind of really honed in on what is it that we do well. And that's when we wrote Trouble with the Heartbreak. Yeah, and I Don't Love You and all these songs. And it was...

That, for me, was a big thing. Just being able to write and get in that headspace of not having to do five different things, but just write. And we've never had that. We've always been doing, come off the road, go to the studio, track, produce, write on a Wednesday, and then leave again. It's like being able to write really... And you know how that goes. We got a little role in the confidence bills, and you feel like you can't miss. So COVID, I think we made that situation...

the best week. We talk about it all the time. I still write like there's a pandemic going on. I mean, my Zoom writing, I freaking love it. And most of the guys that I write with love it. Yeah, and it's easy if you have a relationship

friendships and all that stuff, all that works really good. It's hard sometimes with brand new people and you're all on laptops, you know, but if you've got something going, it's so easy. And at the end of the day, you don't have to, you know, you don't have to go through all the small talk and stuff. Hey, what are you doing tonight? Hey, see you guys. And you just close it. So it's pretty clean.

I got a couple more questions that were just handed to me that we should answer. Andrea, what do y'all do when you're not writing songs? Pretty good question. Neil, you got something? Yeah. I mean, I do a lot. No, let's be honest. What are you talking about? Yeah. What is it that you would do maybe in your free time? Do you have free time? Oh, I do so many things. I mean, look at my trophy wall.

I mean, there's dead animals on the wall, so I do that when hunting season's in. What do you like hunting? Whitetail deer and eastern turkeys. Okay. When's the season? Because I'm not sure when that is. Well, the deer hunt's in the fall. Okay. I check out in November, so don't call me. Okay.

I want to go hunting with you. I know. In April, most of April, I'm turkey hunting. And then everything around that. And during that, I'm playing golf. All right. I like that. Kalo, what you got? What do you do when you're not writing songs? Well, I kind of...

about not writing songs because I have a new baby, you know, baby Lucy, and I'm 13 weeks old, so thinking about college and all the stuff. I'm not bored. And,

And how hard it is to get songs recorded. So when I'm not writing songs, I kind of, you know. Panic? Panic. I'm in a, you know, you kind of walk around and a lot of people say, well, how do you come up with ideas and stuff like that? It's pure desperation. You know, you just walk around and look at your house and say, and tweet my other guys. I got to make some money. That's actually the truth. Fear and desperation. But outside of that, golf winning, you know, when I'm not incredibly slammed, golf,

That would be my go-to. But I got to say, though, you ask what we do when we're not writing. Yeah. We're always writing. This is true. We're not actually constructing a song, but we're always thinking of ideas, lines, and things. When we do actually sit down to write, we have ammunition. That's a good point. Yes. Because you never really turn it off. My cell phone is full.

Yeah. Of song ideas. Right. That's a good point. That's a good point. You're always on. Tully, do you do anything? I know you, you're kind of like K-Lo, right? You're always wondering about the next song. Yeah, I run off of anxiety and panic. Yeah. My gasoline. No, you know, you know this. I love to ski wintertime. I like, you know,

from December as soon as I can get there yeah and that's when I that's like the only time I really think like I unplug for a second is when I'm skiing and you know couple weeks out of the year

But yeah, I mean, other than my addiction to DraftKings NFL football. Well, that's true. I have a clinical addiction to Boston sports and DraftKings. Is there money to be made in that? No, but there's bragging rights to be made. And there's a little bit of money, but not money that, you know, it's just fun. It is. You're right. Anything about that. You think DraftKings would want to sponsor this show? I don't know. If we get to a million followers by December 24th,

It might be on their radar. That ain't going to happen. Kurt, what about you, buddy? When you're not writing, what do you like to do? Well, again, like you guys said, you never really turn it off. But when I'm able to turn it off, it's usually, I guess, you know, my son is at the age where he's doing a lot of baseball or basketball or whatever. So...

Doing that, somehow, I coach when I'm in town. I help coach the team. So that's kind of a nice release just to kind of try to get away. Are you a nice coach? Oh, he is a nice coach. I'm an uplifting coach. I try to be positive. He has the gift of encouragement. I mean, believe me, they already got the negative coming. You wouldn't believe these guys. I mean, the parents at these games...

They get intense. It's intense. I mean, he's 11. They feel like it's, you know. I have to ask Tully, what's Kurt like when he gets mad? I've never seen him lose his temper or get mad. I can see you doing it, but I can't see him doing it. I can totally see Tully doing it. Oh, absolutely. Yeah. Well, I'm...

Look at his hair. Hot water. What kind of name is Telly anyway? He looks like Heatmiser. Look at his hair. He's pissed all the time. Don't be jealous. I love the Heatmiser. I wish I had that hair. Your hairline's not receding like mine. That's why I got a hat on. Maybe we could get a sponsorship from Rogaine or Minox out. Up yours, Kurt. I'd take a shower with a hat on. You know?

Kurt. Have you ever seen him get mad? Oh, yeah. Of course he has. Kurt actually threw me to the ground one time. Oh, stop it. What? Really? Stop it. Katie, Texas. How long ago was this? You want to see him get mad? 2003. Y'all got in a fight? We did not. No, I didn't get in a fight. He threw me to the ground. The fight was over. What was it over? Oh, I don't know. It was over some whiskey is what it was over. Really? Yeah, okay. We probably had too much to drink, and I think what happened was we stumbled. Well, no. That's the story. What happened was...

We got in an argument about something. But what were we doing? We were loading the bus. We were loading the bus. Because you guys know that, do you? You know, it's like you're just first starting. You're loading your own gear. But we don't know about the bus deal. But yeah, I know about loading gear. Well, this is the early days when we, you know, you tear down your stuff, you bring it to the bus and all that stuff. And we had way too much Crown Royal one evening. And Tully and I are loading the bus. We're loading the bus and something happened.

I don't remember the story, but I guess... Well, I remember it very well because something happened and then I grabbed Kurt or I touched Kurt and then Kurt threw me to the ground. What would we possibly argue about? I don't know, but then I remember... I don't believe it. What I remember is being on the ground looking up and Kurt standing over me. Ha ha!

In a very intimidating fashion. That's not true. That's exactly what happened. Let's go to the next question. Next question. Kurt, throw me to the ground. This is not true. Katie, Texas. We're going to get some counseling. Okay. I want to know, Kurt. Why are you teaching this? Well, anyway, let me answer the question, though. Yeah. Kurt has a superpower. And one of it is to, when he's mad, he'll say something. And it almost sounds nice. We call him the silent sword in the band because he'll say something. You're like, damn.

Was that nice? I'm like, shit, he just burned me. And you don't even know it. So he has a way. I think it's passive aggressive. I have seen him. I have seen him angry. It's a sight to behold. It's very scary. Really? Very intimidating. Oh, boy. I don't want to be around it.

I do not want to be around it. I defer to Kurt. No, I got to find out this stuff. Kurt's the boss. I just signed a publishing deal with you guys, and I need to know this stuff. Well, we'll find out eventually if the RV deal comes through at some point. We'll get in some fights. Hey, David from Chicago. We love Chicago, right? He wants to know, do you all have any favorite sports teams, and would you ever have an athlete on as a guest? That's actually a great question. Hey, if you could have an athlete on, who would it be?

Are you a sports fan? Seriously? I'm setting this up for the past. I mean, I'm from Alabama. We only have two teams down there. We don't have pro. So what about Nick Saban? Pro sports. I mean, you know. Obviously not an athlete, but. Yeah, you know what my team is. Yes, I do. Yeah. Yeah. So Saban, would you like to have Saban on? Who wouldn't? Absolutely. I agree. We should get Saban on. It'd be great. It'd be amazing.

Well, let's get Saban on. Okay. Okay. There we go. Kayla, what about you? Do you have any sports teams that you like or follow? That's a reach, by the way. Nah, we can try. Nah, if we get to one million followers by December 24th. I bet if you bought one of his BMWs at his dealership. It's a Mercedes. Mercedes. Yeah. Boy, you missed that. Those would be two good sponsors. We'll get an outlier.

Maybe we'll get Kirby instead. I mean, Saban's retired. He's got time to come on. That's right. So if you're listening, Coach, we want you on here so bad. We want to talk music with him because he loves country music. Well, we should do that. Okay, let's go. Nick Saban. Let's call him Nick. He loves Nick. Is he on Instagram? Nicholas Saban. Nicholas Saban.

Okay, Lowe, do you follow sports? Yes, yes. I'm a huge Tennessee Vols fan. I love watching college football. How does that go with you guys on that game day? It's fine. He'll never come over and watch a football game. I've asked him to come over. Hey, let's watch a game together. Let's watch the Alabama-Tennessee game. Third weekend in October. He never wants to come over.

It'd be fun for you. It's okay. Win or lose. I'm okay. No, it's okay. Y'all beat us last year. He's such a bully. It's fantastic. We would have been fine. We would have eaten nachos together after we lost. I know, but who would have known we were going to win?

In such a fashion that we did. I mean, we killed you guys. Oh, so you're a Balls fan? Yeah, Balls fan. But obviously, I'd love to have Peyton Manning. I've met him before at a nationwide shoot. We've met Peyton as well. He's a great guy. Is he a conservative? I don't know. I wonder if he is. I don't want to speak for him, but I bet he has some similar points of view. He seems like he would lean right. All right, let's have Peyton on. Peyton Manning. Peyton Manning. Nick Saban. Peyton Manning. You're coming on, Peyton. And Aaron Rodgers.

Go tell me. Aaron Rodgers. He probably would come on, actually. Well, you know my answer. Oh, well, I know probably. I don't. What is it? Tom Brady, the GO. Huge Pats fan. So obviously, you know, when Tom comes on, it's going to be a great episode. We might get to a million followers. We will get to one million followers, but it's December 24th. Tom will come on. I feel it. I hope so. Yeah.

Yeah, I mean, we're all huge sports fans. Any athlete that would come on would be awesome. Kurt? So what about you? I'm up for anybody. I mean, my all-time favorite is Stan Marino. He didn't win a Super Bowl. You do know his cousin. What's that? You do know his cousin. I do know his cousin distantly, but I do know his cousin. I would like to get Aaron Rodgers on here.

I bet it could happen. Because I know he would say something controversial and it'd be awesome. But it isn't controversial to him, right? No. I mean, you know, he's fantastic. I think it'd be a good ask. He's a great guy. Sometimes just speaking your mind becomes controversial. As we know. That's right. Y'all take out everything I say and I don't appreciate it. Everything I say gets edited. That's not true. That's not true. That's not true. We even kept your breathing in the other one.

That's all I got. You guys got any other questions?

I don't have questions, but this is a little bit off topic, but we were talking about the podcast earlier and you keep saying the million followers and stuff like that. And it's really fun for all of us just watching the numbers and everything and communicating with the listeners out there and it's exciting and stuff. And so Neil got this text from a buddy at the Grove today and he was at the gym and this guy, he just sends Neil, said, I think you'll chuckle at this.

He goes, I'm at the gym watching episode two, put my phone down and a hot young lady comes up to me, said she saw my phone playing and she goes, man, I'm loving that Trident Small Town podcast. And he goes, he goes, Tricia was her name. He goes, it was cool stuff. And then he goes on to say, yeah, after that,

So we just kind of, she sat down on the bench press with me and we talked for a couple hours and then we went back in the, oh, no, okay. But anyway, but we're making, you know, I mean, people are falling in love even like over this podcast. That's a God thing right there, honestly. I think people are relating. Seriously? I'm kidding. They didn't even know each other. No. It really did happen. It did or it didn't? No, it did happen. That's a true story. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Except for sitting down on the bed, but she did pass by and said, said, I love that podcast. I've got a lot of great feedback, like positive feedback. Like, you know, we felt on tour with this thing. Like I think people are due, there's gonna be some haters and that's fine. Um, but I mean, it's, I think it resonates with people because, um, well, of a lot of reasons, a lot of reasons, um,

You know, the message, like we said before, is meant to be a positive message, and it's not to be divisive. We're trying to be positive. But also, you know, I think people enjoy, like hopefully they'll enjoy tonight getting to know a little bit of us, a little bit of the background from each of us, and...

Um, you know, I just hope that that shines through. And I think it will because listen, I'm not going to get sentimental, but I love you guys and you guys all have great hearts, right? And it's in the right place. And I just love that we're able to share this with people. And I think that's why it resonates. They see that we're just, you know, we're just trying to be average people, but we're just trying to spread a good message.

And we, one of my favorite things, Neil, tell them, I didn't know this about you, Neil, until like a month ago. Oh, no. No, seriously, which is because I've tried to kick field goals. Oh, my gosh. Thank you for bringing this up. Because let me tell you, I've gone out there with a football, and I've tried to kick field goals, and it is about as bad as my golf shot. You can actually kick field goals and were a kicker. Well, used to. But you...

legit you i know but were you on a college team as the place kicker wade wade and i played together at middle tennessee hey and you were the field goal kicker yeah yeah until i got sick my mind's still rapid that's legitimately impressive it is we pulled out clippings the other night so what's your what's the farthest one you kicked

In college? Mm-hmm. Just, yeah, whatever. 47. It wasn't that long. Bro! It was long enough. That's amazing! It was long enough. I mean, you know when they do, they get the normal man out there and they try to kick it 20 yards. Bro, exactly, yeah. Skids off to the right and bounces twice and then it's really sad. The main thing, hey, the main thing I got out of kicking is it helped my golf game more than anything. I'm blown. And I hope I'm playing golf until I'm 90.

Okay, how did you get into the play school? Real quick, give us a quick story why you became a kicker, how you became a kicker. Well, that all started in junior high school in soccer. Okay. And I got injured in soccer, but I could kick, and I knew I could kick, and I started kicking in junior high, and then I kicked in high school. That was your gig. You were a kicker. Yeah, I was smart. You are smart. It's the same thing as like, you know, I quit being an artist. I want to be a songwriter. Came off the road. It was easy on me. And being a kicker's safe.

I love it. So I got good at it and I just kept doing it. And I went to kicking camps all over the country. Did you have a scholarship to go to? Yeah, I just went to middle. Yeah. Could have gone to Auburn. I went down to Auburn. They sent me a letter.

to come down there but back in that day nobody was i mean everybody was walking on yeah right you know they didn't sign kickers to scholarships no nils no no i mean kickers had to earn their scholarships yeah and uh but i wanted to be in nashville i wanted to be close to nashville because i knew music was my what i wanted to do my dad wanted me to kick and he wanted me to do that he didn't want me to follow my music

in the beginning. He just wanted me, because I was good at it, and he wanted me to do that. And so I did. I went to kicking camps, went to kicking schools, and I went everywhere. I went down to Fort Lauderdale and trained and did all this stuff. But music never left my heart, ever. And so I chose to come up to Middle. They didn't offer me a scholarship at Middle. I just came up to be there so I could be close to Nashville.

That's really amazing. Is there video footage of you kicking somewhere? Lord, I don't know where it would be. I think that was before phones. There's got to be some old teen footage somewhere. There's got to be somewhere. There's some Polaroids. We'll have to get you guys involved in me and Kurt's latest passion the last couple years, which is...

The very intense game of pickleball. I've never played. Everybody loves it. Everybody loves it. Me and Lana played. My wife played not too long ago, about a month ago. It is so fun. It's unbelievable. As a matter of fact, Kurt, me and Kurt challenged Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelsey to a pickleball match. We did. The proceeds will go to charity. Yeah. No.

And our bodies will go to science after we die. No, so those guys have come out to a couple shows. They're both, they've been great guys. So we may have had a whiskey. Oh, God. And you were there, I don't know if it was before the show or after the show, but we found out that they were playing some pickleball. So we're, you know, we're talking smack to professional athletes. Right. About how we can take them down and pickleball. Aldine comes up to us the next day and he goes, let me get this right. You two idiots.

two professional athletes to pickleball? I said, yeah. That's kind of how we are, though. But yeah, I like our chances. What could go wrong? No, I got to tell you something. Let me tell you something. We will win that pickleball. We will do it because that's not a game of power. How much do you want to bet? We've already done this. The bet's there. Pickleball is not a game of power. You guys are already looking at it wrong. Pickleball is a delicate dance.

Are you serious? It's a delicate dance. You stand on stage and play a bass. Those guys are always in shape. You will get destroyed. Well, now listen. Let me tell you. Kurt, tell them. Okay, so when we first... This is probably boring, but when we first picked up Pickleball, Tully and I are all in. We go to this rec center that has Pickleball every day. Everybody goes there. Tully and I walk in like we're, you know,

Like Federer and Nadal. Yeah, like we're the shit, right? We walk into this place and we're like, all right, we're going to take a bunch of people that are older than us. First game we have is against, I'm telling you, this guy was 86 years old, war vet, and another guy, and I'm not making fun of it, he's in stage four cancer. They skunked us. Well, yeah. They skunked us. Believe it. Pickleball is a...

It's an amazing game, but it's not about power at all. No. Which is why we're going to beat Mahomes and Kelsey. We're coming for you guys. We're coming hard. It's out there. And they have forgotten about it. But we're issuing the challenge here. No, guys like that don't forget challenges. No, they're scared. Patrick's scared.

Because they know they don't want to get beat by us, but it's going to happen. Well, this needs to be in one of the teaser clips before this episode comes out so they can be watching it to officially get that. We'll tag them. Mahomes Kelsey versus Allison Kennedy. I like it. And we'll travel. It's got a good ring to it. There's a place up there called Chicken and Pickle, I think. Yeah. That's right. We'll take them down. They know where we are. There you go. Tag them. They know where to find us. Allie, tag them. Yeah.

Good God. I just want in on the bet. I guarantee you guys, it sounds crazy, but this will be, we will win. Maybe easily. Maybe it'll be crazy enough to work. We'll find out. I just want to see the video of you stretching. That's all I want to see. You don't have to stretch. Do you wear a headband and wristbands and stuff? We might.

We might have uniforms. That could throw them off. It's all right. Anybody who plays pickleball knows what I'm talking about. The game is won inside the kitchen. The game is won inside the kitchen. I didn't know we'd go there, but you're right. It's on. It's on. Just waiting. Waiting for the acceptance of the challenge. Oh, they're going to hear this. It's going to get to them. I promise you that. Well, I mean, speaking of amazing athletes, Neil and I –

We do enjoy an occasional round of golf. And we're in Kiva Dunes. Where? Kiva Dunes. What is that? Is that a public course? It is, actually. It's down near Gulf Shores, Alabama. It's right on the coast in Oregon, Alabama.

Yeah, so we'd went, and every now and then we'd go down there and write. You know, we went down there to Randy Hauser one time, played some golf with him, write in the morning, and then go out in the afternoon. Or sometimes you'd just golf in the morning and then golf in the afternoon. That works out good, too. But anyway, so Neil is a, one, he's a great golfer, you know, and he is scratch, you know, or better. And at the time, I was struggling, you know, a little bit. And I tell you, you mentioned struggling with your golf game. You were, at one time, though, a four handicap.

You got on a roll and you could play. Yeah, that's pretty good. So I'm just going to say that. Well, thank you. That's very kind. It was a long time ago. But anyway, so that particular trip, I was struggling. And even though I was struggling, I was still struggling.

even though we're having brews and everything, it just didn't really help. You know, when the ball is going everywhere, it's just not fun. And then Neil's hitting it, you know, right down the middle all the time he's laying on the green. And every time he hit a good shot, he said, see, Kalo, all I'm doing, you know, is I'm just kind of – I got a good tempo. I'm letting it drop there in the slot. I just stay in there and I hold my finish and I just watch that ball. It's not easy. And then I would say –

I'd say, yeah, that's good. That looked good. And then I would spray one or put one in the woods or whatever, and then he'd say, that's all right. You're going to get it. You just kind of keep your head down. You're getting a little quick. I never said keep your head down. I never tell anybody to keep their head down. Hang on. Hang on. You'll get your turn.

Anyway, so I said, and I didn't say anything, but inside I was getting mad because I wasn't having fun. And he had hit his next one, and he said, he'd get in the car, and he's all happy and driving and everything. He said, see, on that one, I just kind of felt that one. I don't even know how to explain it. I just felt good about it. Anyway, so each time I was hitting something wrong, he would say, well, here's what you did on that one. He's being nice. I'm just trying to help. He's trying to help.

On hole 14, I held it as long as I could. I finally was in the fairway. Then I hit my approach shot. I just yanked it just so far into the woods. It just went directly that way. I got, as I was walking back to the cart, he goes, see, Kayla, all you did on that one, you kind of closed the face. At the bottom, you just kind of closed the face. That's what made it go left and right.

And I said, did it? Did it, Neil? Oh, no. No, no, no. Kalo lost his shit. Oh, so Kalo got mad. Does Kalo have a temper? Yes. This is it right here. I said, oh, is it that I closed the faces? He got real sarcastic with his anger, too. Is that why I went to the left? I said, I know why I went to the left. I was trying not to make it happen, but it did. I know I closed the face. And I'm like this. I'm like...

And he goes, well, just stop doing that. And I said, I'm trying to stop doing it. You saying stop doing that, it's like telling a guy who stutters, hey, stop stuttering. I said, I can't. I got to tell you all, in that moment, there was a lot of tension and a lot of anger because he was walking back to the golf cart. He's going, I would love to stop doing that. It's like, you know, like he said, it's like telling somebody to quit stuttering.

And when he did that, I fell out of the golf cart laughing. I fell out in the fairway, and I'm laughing so hard. Then I started singing a Mark Will song, Don't Laugh at Me, Don't Call Me Names. You know, Kalo, I tell you what, you come golf with me, and you'll feel so great about yourself, about your golf game, because it's really sad, my game. I've heard it. I wouldn't think it's that sad.

See, it's pretty sad. It's a sad. We'll do it at something. We'll have a try. I don't know. You know what I love, though? Yeah. Everybody I ever talk about golf with, I'm like, oh, I'll take you out. Yeah. We'll have fun. And by the third hole, they're like, get me out of here. No, that's not true. That is true. That's not true. You deal with me because you have to, and now Dean deals with me because you. It's like having your little brother out there to kick around and laugh at me. Hey, but do you want to get better?

I want to be good. Here we go. Do you want to get better? Here we go. It takes time. It takes time. You have to make time for golf. Back to the question. It's just hard being, for me, being bad at something on that level. It is... It's like...

That's why golf's hard in general, because you can never master it. I don't want to master it. I just want to hit the damn ball in the air. I want the ball to go off the tee, but in the air. You know what your problem is? You're a control freak. That's your problem. Well, I mean, aren't we all? No, that's the... But to get better at golf, you have to give it up. You have to give up. Give what up? Control. Is that a riddle? Control. What is a sorcery? Control. You have to give up control. Control.

You want to dominate the ball. And that ball owns you. Right now it's so bad in your brain, it just owns you. Well, and two, when you're playing bad, because I've had my share of bad rounds, I have learned that we're thinking that people are worried about our game and they're thinking, ah, he sucks and we feel bad about it.

in golf to me, everybody's just thinking about their ball. Am I playing well? Where's my ball? Oh, let me tell you about Caleb. It's a very selfish game. Let me tell you about him. This is how bad his brain can get on the tee box. He's thinking about, he's not thinking about his swing or his shot that he has to hit. He's,

He's wondering if everybody's staring at his calves. No. Does he have nice calves? He does. He's got nice calves. They look like hot butter turkey legs. I got this from my father. It's genetic. But he thinks about what other people are thinking about him, and nobody's thinking about that. Oh, yeah, I would think that. That's where your brain is. I don't take a practice swing because I'm thinking to myself, well, everybody's thinking, why is he taking a practice swing? He sucks. So I just don't take one.

Again. But you have a great golf swing. This would be a good foursome. This would be a good foursome. Oh, it's great. But it wouldn't. It wouldn't because I'd lose my shit after six holes, wrap my club around a tree, and be mad and angry. And that's why I stopped playing on the road because I go out with, you know, Kurt. No. Okay. Kurt.

Kurt is pretty good. And when he plays a lot, it gets really, really good. Yeah. And Jason can get pretty good. And our photographer, Justin, pretty good. Why did you use the air quotes for photographer? Justin. I mean, he is. He is. I'm just saying it's frustrating to me that he can go out there and play well. And so...

I'm not going out there because it's a shit show. And I'm just wanting to get the ball in the air off the tee. Everybody's hanging out for dear life. I know, but no one else does. I'm out there. Not Neil. No, he's just showboating. Well, I grab an iron. I know I need a seven. I know I need a seven iron. And I walk up there after, even if I get a good drive and I'm feeling like, okay, this finally got this game happening. Grab my seven iron.

Walk up there and just hit the ball three inches before the ball and bend my wrist into the ground and the divot flies out and the ball moves three feet. I'm like, okay, this is over for me. Well, I tell you what we ought to do. I'm ruining my day. This is what's making me. I'm trying to. I'm ruining my show. That's why I just stopped doing it. Have you ever wrapped your base around a tree? Again, you gave me some good advice. You said to me one time, you don't hold your base tight, do you? No.

You squeeze the shit out of your bass when you're playing it? No. You just freaking choke it when you're playing? Well, no. No, you caress it. What are we talking about? It's the same thing with golf. It is good advice. You can't freaking choke a club. You can't freaking just... I'm choking the club. You're mad at it. You're already mad at it. I am mad at it. It's a terrible game. You don't do that to your bass guitar. That's good advice. Well, what we should do, I think, Wizard, is take the negative mindset here

of the golf game and we ought to have a try that in small town golf tournament and raise money. Pickleball tournament. Or pickleball. That's fine too. Or pickleball. Or Holmes Kelsey. Allison Kennedy. That'll be the feature match. Okay. Yeah. Try that in a small court. The late bat. On ESPN 8. The Ocho.

I don't know. I mean, with the Holtons, it might be. Kurt, does Aldean get mad when you beat him? At what? Golf. No, we're actually very similar. Does he get mad when you beat him? No, no, no. And it doesn't happen much. You don't know that. He probably does. No. No. We are pretty even. So it's like, hey, we both suck today. Yep. No, it's not like that. You don't keep score? We keep score. But, I mean, it's –

I totally is embellishing a little. We're not that good. Not that good. I'm just saying when I go out, I mean, I'm not saying you guys go out and play in the PGA. I'm just saying. I mean, when I go out, it's so, I mean, it's hard for me to go out and enjoy it because you guys, when you guys hit, okay, I hear you say, okay, well, give me that eight. I need an eight. Yeah, I need a strong seven. And you go up to an eight and you got your, you adjust the ball correctly.

And you hit the ball with an eight and it goes really high. And you're like, damn it. I hit it six feet to the left too far. And when I grab my eight, I'm just hoping I hit the ball. Because it is a good feeling when you hit an iron high. Just very rare. So they're mad that they hit. Oh, I hit it 10 feet too far. I flew the green. I'd love to fly a green. I'd love to fly. It's my dream. Let me fly a green. Yeah.

I want to fly green. I, no shit. I still use my driver on a par three. So? Like 150 yards. Oh, good. Par three. I knew I could get that in the air. Yeah. All right.

So whatever it takes. Yeah. He put it on the green. So what's that tell you? Yeah. I don't care. I was jealous. If I roll it, roll it. All right. I wish we had more questions, guys, but we don't. So what we need you to do, if you're watching on YouTube, right, we need you to like, we need you to subscribe.

And leave us a comment. Leave us a question. Leave us a review. We need that interaction. Follow us on Instagram. Follow us on what? Facebook, TikTok. X. X. Follow us on all of it. Leave reviews. Leave comments. Like and subscribe. That means a lot to us. And the questions are big. We want to get to these on the air. So please do that. Right?

It's been fun tonight. It's been fun. I learned a lot about you guys tonight I did not know. Yeah. I really did. I just hope you forget most of it. Oh, were we supposed to ask the listeners out there if anybody had an RV that they were willing to let us borrow for a while? We have to wrap it, too. No, no, no. Any RV. No, not any RV. Preferably. No, any RV. I'm not doing a Breaking Bad Winnebago. Because what's the objective here?

The objective is to take the Try That in a Small Town podcast on the road. On the road. We want to come to the small towns. Our luck will get a meth lab. I'm telling you. No. That's what I have. No, we can't. No, we'll get a meth lab. We can sell the equipment. It'll be bad.

You can't just... But somebody may actually have one sitting there not getting use, and we could use it. We'd wrap it, you know, and try that in a small town podcast. Actually, I want to take it on the tour this year. It'd be fun. And so we can do the podcast live from the... So we're going around to the Jason Albee dates, and we'll just kind of... Oh, it'd be awesome if we could go and... If anybody has an RV...

That we can borrow. Yeah. Or that Kayla can lease. Yeah. For us. Let's borrow. Or just a donation, if you will, so that we can go raise money for other people. That would be amazing. It'd be fun though, right? On a serious thing on the road. If anyone knows of an RV...

Yeah, because we're... He's dead set. We are. It would be fun. No, he's dead set. I don't know who's going to drive. I just feel like... Actually, my father-in-law said he would drive. I don't have a CDL. I have no idea. He'd do it. Seriously, for our small town, try that in a small town, the whole thing, if we can get to the small towns...

And come to the podcast from there, right? It'd be amazing. We'll do that. Play some music. To raise money for like local farmers, local vets. For responders. Hey, 100%. 100%. No. Anyway. I think it'd be great. It'd be awesome. Yeah, because we, you know, like we've talked about before, we just want to, you know, continue this movement and just help people. And...

You know, preferably during the season when we can take your clubs also take your clubs and play. Yeah. Good place. And our paddles. Yeah. The pickleball. Yeah. Yeah. And I thank all you guys like her saying to everybody listening, you know, so far, it's very exciting for us that people are listening and, and we can't wait to meet you guys. Hopefully one day. Absolutely. All right. It's been fun guys. It's been great. See you. Thank y'all.