From Farm Life to Fame: Gary LeVox on Rascal Flatts, Printers Alley, and Wine Ventures :: Ep 20 Try That In a Small Town Podcast
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I know that song. Pretty good. Let me hear you.

♪ If it'll move right where it is ♪ ♪ T-shirt hanging off a dogwood branch ♪ ♪ That river was cold ♪ ♪ We gave love a chance ♪ ♪ Yeah, head on me ♪ ♪ Oh, you don't look a day over ♪ ♪ Fast calls and freedom ♪ ♪ Like sunset or river black ♪ ♪ First time ♪ - Gary the boss in the house! Good to be here, y'all!

In a small town podcast begins now. Try that in a small town.

How does it feel to be in the big city? You know, it feels a little weird.

Yeah, I had to hit the GPS to figure out where 65 was again. I'm like, wait a minute. It really does run through here. Folks, you really don't know how hard it was to get this guy off the farm. I didn't even know they did 840. That's weird. It's big now. Yeah, right.

I'm off grid. I like it. This is awesome. Hey, I'm proud for you fellas, man. This is freaking awesome. Proud for you guys. Well, thank you. You look great. You smell incredible. I mean, you know, you're podcasters. You got your own cups. What are we talking about, people? Yes, right in that cup. We got to put some Levox wine in our cups right here. Oh, yeah. Hey, so we were asking about this. Give us a little heads up what's going on. So my buddy Russ Hayworth and I,

um started this so this is uh the the the vineyard is in uh willamette willamette valley oregon so which is the pinot capital of the world so hayworth estates and i partnered up and so we got lavox wine pinot noir the pinot gris and we got a new one that just came out called front porch which is a white blend which is a pinot gris chardonnay

which is ridiculous. I never knew you were so sophisticated. Well, you know what? Hang on a minute. Where do we get this? Hold on. Hold on. We got to plug this. Where do we get this? Well, let me tell you where you get it. You can go to GaryLevox.com and any of my social medias, Instagram, whatever. Just click on one and it'll go right there. Yeah. What you got? No ship anywhere around the world. No, I was just going to

Touch on the sophisticated word. Oh, we'll go on before. On the wine thing, though, when you first started coming out with it, you said, hey, K-Lo, I've got me a wine coming out. You like wine? I said, yeah. So we like red wine and everything. And I said, what all kind are you going to do? And you're naming off all the things. And I said, you going to do any box wine?

And I said, you said, I don't know. And so I was sitting there. I said, what if you had like Gary LeBox wine? It'd be amazing. I know. And so if you want the dot coms for any of that, I've got them. For a small price. He's not kidding. It's the same thing. When we came up with Try That in Small Town, it's the first thing he did. Went out and got a dot com for it. So anything that seems interesting, you know, we'll kind of get it. And then sometimes people want them. Sometimes they don't. He drove up in a Bentley so he can afford to buy the dot com. Yeah, I think you can be funny. Yeah, I mean, I mean.

Did you really get the .com LeBox? I got all versions of it. See, well, that cost me. Everything's a third. It'd be funny because of what your people ever caused it. So we're trying to get Gary LeBox wine, but some old boys got it. He won't come off of it less than $19.95. That's right, yeah. $2.50 a LeBox bottle of LeBox for you. So you've been touring? Been touring, been on the road, yeah. Leave for Kansas tomorrow. Oh, wow. Wichita's been great. How many shows are you doing?

I probably did 35 this year. All right, so you're jumping back in. Well, that's about good. It is good, right? Yeah, 30 is good. 20 is good. We tell people all the time, you know, it's like just like when you guys started, when we started, you're out doing 200 plus a year. Right. Grinding. Yeah, man. And then you finally get to that spot where you can do 60 and 50, and then it's like, oh, this is the spot. Yeah. This is the spot. And, yeah, I think Jason is probably the same way. It's like –

If we can do 40, do big shows, man, that's where you do it. Really cool for me and Kurt tonight. Obviously, we have so much to talk about, but... Let him know. No, let him know. Took us and Jason out, 06, 07. First year was like 7 o'clock slot. We did four or five songs. Mm-hmm.

The first time we played like in an arena opening up. And then the next year we did the middle or the old, it was us and you guys play like 45 minutes. What a, I remember standing there, I might've been in Florida somewhere and you know, we'd played our five songs, you know? And I think, God, I want to see like Blake was maybe out doing, doing middle slot at that point.

But that was when you guys got the pinnacle. I mean, we were... I couldn't believe it. I was like... Yeah. You guys were firing. Did you say what year was that? That was probably... 2006? This was the first time. Oh.

06, 07, in that range. But we were like, oh my God, how did we get here? How did we get here? How did we get here? It just seemed like... And it was still a ways away at that point. Yeah, you did it. But you know, I remember something that you guys said, and you might have just been BSing, which could be true, but it was like, man, come out here, take our audience, do it, try to steal our fans. That's...

And that's we pass that on to people that play in the open for us. It's like, listen, that's your stage. That 20 minutes or that hour. Take it like those are your fans. Make them your fans. And I always thought that was cool that you guys kind of gave us that advice and that freedom to do that. Yeah. Even though we couldn't go past a certain point. Yeah. Didn't that. Speaking of that, didn't that happen a couple of times with a couple of openers with you guys?

Well, yeah, our old manager was pretty staunch on that. I'm like, they only have two and a half feet anyway. They can't get a kick drum in here. It was funny. It was taped off for sure. And we couldn't go past the white tape. So it was our first. We were scared shitless. We're like, oh, we don't want to screw up and get kicked off. Right. So I remember a couple of points like me and Aldine would be up there in that white tape. We put one toe over that white line.

It's like the bowling. We're going to lose our lights, boys. But that was fun. We always appreciated you guys having us. Man, we loved having you guys. That was actually, but you guys, I remember very specifically, you guys never treated us like

like that like i remember we it was always very welcoming uh absolutely well shoot we're all out there to try to win you know yeah it's all about them fans really he goes ugly you know no no no space behind the tape for that yeah well you guys did put your toe over it it's documented you and i you and i go back a long way yeah buddy

2,000? Almost 25 years. You look fantastic still. You do too, buddy. Golf tan? Look at him. That's a spray tan, by the way. Thanks to Ali. It's not a spray tan. I'm going to take the $10 package for 30 minutes and the goggles. I got to see these guys firsthand.

From the get-go to, I remember the first time I heard you guys sing. Billy Currington came over to the house one day. And this was probably in 2000. May have been a year before, I don't know. But he played me a demo because he knew I was a huge vocal group guy. I loved the harmonies and stuff. And he's like, hey, I got this demo of this new band. And they're called Rascal Flatts.

I'm like, really? And we put it on, and it was praying for daylight before y'all had released it. I was like, oh, my God, these guys are like the next coming of Diamond Rio. This is incredible. And then I got to meet you, and we had a ton in common. We got to hunt together. How did you guys meet? We got to write together. What was the hookup? Do you remember? I don't remember. Was it to write together? Yeah, it was the first time we met was we wrote I Melt.

Are you kidding? That was the first time we met? First time we met. I know we talked before then, but I guess that was the first time face-to-face. Yeah. That's a good first right. It was a pretty good launch, pretty good song for a launch in a relationship. Yeah. What year was that?

That was 2001 or something like that. God damn. Didn't Lana have something to do with y'all getting that going that night? She did, actually. Well, what's the story? You're out there shaking that five-gallon bucket with corn in there and them turkeys are... I was like, am I at home? We're at home. This is going to happen. That's a fact. Yeah. No, it was late and nothing was happening. Yeah. And...

Me and Wendell and Gary were getting ready. I mean, we were getting ready to part ways and get out of there. And it was about that time. It was after midnight, and Lana comes around the corner and didn't say a word and goes up to the mantel in the den there and lights candles on the mantel. And Wendell was like, it was like, when you light those candles up there on the mantel, sitting in the moon.

Was he just joking or was he like inspired? No, he was serious. He was dead serious. That's a great story. Wow. And I'm Out was written. That's a great story. Thank you, Lana. The rest was history. And so I have to thank Lana for everything in my career. Well, you're a smart man. I do. Yeah. We know. So here we are 24, 25 years later. Yeah. And...

I got to have a front row seat to see the flats do their thing. What year did you come here? What year did you get to Nashville? I came here in 98, February of 98. And you guys were doing like Printer's Alley, right? Oh, yeah. Before it became Touristy Printer's Alley. It was like seedy. We was on the bricks, dog. Dude. We was on the bricks. That was such a great time in Nashville. Gosh, it was good. So I moved here. It was like 95, 96. And the first thing I did was go downtown.

To print his eye, I went to Barber's. And sat in, and it was the old guard, like Donny Castleman and Preston Stanfill. Rusty Danmeyer. Oh, yeah. Eddie Dunbar. Eddie? Yeah. I can't believe you're one of those people. It's amazing. I just moved to town. I got sent there waiting to get called up to play or something. And I tell people about that. It's such a different town now, but that's what you did. You...

immediately went to Printer's Alley and just tried to meet. And it was basically after hours. Oh, yeah. Pat Lassiter was down there. Yeah. You know. And so was it you and Jay doing that? Because you hadn't met Joe Don at that time, right? Uh-uh. I came here a couple times, met Jay, and I could never get caught up at Barbara's or all that, but Lonnie's always had the karaoke. Oh, yeah. So I was like, shoot, I'd get in there, you know. And Lonnie said, man, you want to...

you know, I'd like to hire you. And that was my first time in town. I said, man, I don't even live here, but I'd love to. What do I just be a karaoke singer? I don't know. So anyway, I go back and literally when I moved here in 98, I'd go to Barbara's, put my name on the list, fiddle, put my name on the list. It wouldn't get called up. You know, nobody would call you up because everybody had their friends, you know, Preston, Russ, you know, I'm like, dude, that guy just got here. Yeah.

Yeah. I have a $400 tab. I have no job, no money. I'm going to have to run out of here or beat this dude to death because he, you know. I used to tell people that like literally no money. No. None. I remember walking down those streets, leaving Barbara's at someone, you know, three in the morning or two in the morning, like, yeah,

the hell am I going to do? I know. I just played one Keith Whitley song, waited five hours. Don't close your eyes. I didn't get shit from that song tonight. Right. You know, I mean, but anyway. Yeah, well, and then when Jay and I got offered the gig to play like Mondays, that Fiddle and Steel Monday. Oh, you got the house gig on Monday. Big banger. Yeah. Big banger Monday. Yeah.

Monday because it's always crazy down there on Mondays at that point. Oh, yeah. There was nothing down there. Monday at 8.30, off the chain. $3 you're looking at. Thank God for those cops that would walk through it because they'd pop in and be like, oh, we got somebody. Wouldn't hear anything? They'd be like, no, we're just out there. Okay. All right.

And we just worked off tips only, you know? True story. We played from 9 to 3, looked in that tip jar one night, and there was 27 cents in there. See? I told Kurt. I was so embarrassed. I was in that damn Tootsie's window. Oh, yeah. Some Sundays back in the day in the mid-90s. I played a 10-hour shift. I played every song $16. Yeah. Yeah.

For you or to split? Yeah, right? Bragger. No, I took 16 home for myself. Oh, you got 16 for yourself. I took 16 home. He is a bragger, yeah. But those are the days when nothing happened on the other side of Broadway. Oh, it was closed down? There was like a wheel. Yeah. Remember that? There was a wheel. And no one even, it was like, don't go on that side of the street. Now they're making bank down there as a player. Oh, yeah. Yeah, when's Gary LaVox's open? No, I'm staying all out of that. That deal. Yeah.

I can't compete with the Aldeans and the Old Reds and the... Yeah. It's never too late. That's right. Yeah, there might be a...

Maybe we could get you a place in the alley would be fitting. I know. And then knock the fiddle down to put up a taco stand. Are you kidding me? Oh, they did? I didn't even know that. There's a taco stand. I got threw up. You know, you'd go there and you'd see Hank Cochran and Willie Nelson and, you know, just everybody that walked those streets. And now, you know, you knocked all that history down to put a taco stand in there? What a world. No, no, that's no problem. That's a bad thing. Yeah.

That's not right. You can't do that. Buy some tacos somewhere else and get it off the bricks. When did Joe Don enter the picture? You know, probably, well, it was 99 because we had a

The stage was so small to fill and steal that Jay would set his little keyboard up beside the cigarette machine. There were cigarette machines back in the day. There was no vape or anything. You just had to pull it and it would come out. So Jay would set it there and had a little drum track. We had a guitar player that would come in sometimes and play with us.

And then he had got a gig, I think with Michael Peterson and he had been, Jay had got the gig with Shelly, right? Shelly. Oh, that's right. Yeah. Right. And Jay had hired Joe Dawn to play acoustic for Shelly. And he had told me about Joe Dawn and singing, you know, high harmony and being a great guitar player and all that. And then, um,

I get that. I show up at the – because, I mean, I was just killing myself. I was building swimming pools during the day. I was playing there 9-3, and then I'd go throw the Tennessean after that. I didn't know that. Really? Yeah. Dead sober. Sorry, everybody on my route. I never hit a porch. Yeah.

I broke my window. There was nothing. That's funny. I'm a 30-year-old favor boy. Yes! This is awesome. Hey, you did do it up. Is that where your front porch wine idea came from? Yeah. Well, I never even hit one, so now it would have been like sidewalk wine. It would have been called. But anyway, so our guitar player didn't show up, and they called Joe Donn.

I walk in, and Jodon's back there tuning up. And I was like, dude, who is this? I didn't even want to be there. I'm sunburnt from building pools. I'm like, I have to be here. My skin hurts. And then I have to go throw the freaking newspaper out here. My confidence is not high, guys. This is not how it's supposed to go. No, yeah. A little heads up would have been nice. So he was like, that's the guy I was telling you about, Jodon. Plays with Shelly. And I was like, oh, okay, great.

So I was not even in a good mood. And Preston, Stanfield, Preston was playing drums. And he's like, what song are you going to start with? I was like, I don't care. And it was Church on the Carmel Road. Yes, right. And they kicked it off. I was like, okay. He knows the intro. And we got to that. We hit that harmony thing. And I went.

I had Tourette's. And I was like, what was that? So you really did feel it from the beginning. It was like, oh, this is cool as shit. The first chorus of that song, yeah. We didn't really talk before then, you know. That's amazing. That's a very crazy story. That's how it always happens. Not to go out, but when me, him, and Rich met, same thing. We were playing a bar. Remember Kickers in Clarksville? Oh, yeah.

Mid kickers. Late 90s or something. Same thing. We had never played. I never played with Rich before. And we kicked into like, you know, Tisha Yearwood song. And I was like, damn. Rich used to play with us. Yeah. I know. Down there. Isn't that crazy? Yeah. Rich Redman. Yeah. Yeah. Rich did. And Dave played with Toby. Oh, that's right. What's Dave's last name? That's...

I can't remember. Sorry, Dave. Sorry, Dave. You know who you are. Those stories in town are cool, though. Like how you know or something just, you know, God thing comes in and it lines up for whatever reason. Then you're stuck together for 20 years. Okay, so give us the story there of you guys. Okay, you've got something.

Hey, let's form a band. Let's do this. And then were you doing showcases or did somebody see you? How did Rascal Flatts come to be? So it kind of came like this. The cliff note of it is Jay and Joe Don were playing with Shelly Wright. So that was kind of their thing. I came here for a solo gig. So I was working with, there was an artist named Myla Mason. And so Myla was helping me. She was like, you have one of the greatest voices that I've ever heard. She's like, I would do anything to help you. And I was like, okay. Yeah.

Let's do it. So she took me to Blake Nevis, you know, who managed Keith Whitley and all that. And so she was helping me find songs. And so we just started doing that. And then I had signed a development deal with Sony Tree, with Mark Bright and Marty Williams. And then Jay was like, hey, man, we should try to do this duo thing. And I'm like, what?

We never talked about a duo thing. I was like, you're not playing with Shelly and, you know, all that. So I'm like, all right. So I tell Mark and Marty, we go over there, we sing. He was like, bring your cousin in, we'll sing. We sang something and he was like, awesome. Two weeks later, you know, we get Joe Don. He was like, well, how many more are you? Are you bringing in? I think this is it. So we get in there and do, you know, Church of the Common Road or whatever. So that's,

where that happened and we got praying for daylight was actually on hold for black hawk because mark bright was producing black hawk at the time he was like i don't think they're getting back together but if they do we'll have to worry about that later because i think the song was perfect for you guys so we did praying for daylight long slow beautiful dance from time to time that was our three song demo and then you know the rest is after that it's kind of you know it's funny i heard about you guys and and so what year was that when you when you cut praying for daylight uh

The first album came out June 7th, 2000. Okay. So I was in a rock band at that point and Mark, Mark was kind of helping us a little bit. And he said, man, you got to hear this. I remember hearing about you guys, you know, I was like, yeah, sure. You know, another, yeah. Yeah.

I'm in a rock band. I don't give a shit. And there was you guys. This is back here playing that Satan music. I'll be worshiping that devil. Look at his arm. Look at him. Greg McCarn would not be happy. Oh, my God. Tell them what McCarn says. This is great. During our rush load. These guys were huge, and we were in a...

in a band that Rainey Goodman had signed called Rushlow. And we're like the stepchildren because you guys were so big and we're in there and we're trying to carve out some sort of space. And Greg McCarn, Greg, I love you, but you know this is true. So this is 2002, 2003, somewhere in that area. Yeah, somewhere in that. And Greg was doing, what was his title? He was doing some stuff.

you know, advising or styling or whatever. And so we went to the label for a meeting and he looks at me and he goes, I have to cover those arms up. Like, what do you mean? And I had like one tattoo at that point, you know, it's all kind of Ford and look at it today. Like, you know, people, you know, their necks covered. So yeah, I was ahead of my time. You were way ahead of your trendsetter. Yeah. See, but I remember what's great. The year that we got signed over there,

We went to the, I want to say the CMA watch party was there. And I can't remember what song you guys played, but I remember Renee Lehman, who works for the label, was there. Everybody was watching the television. And you guys, it might have been one of your first CMA performances. It was a big performance. And I can't remember what song it was. Moving On, maybe? Could have been. But it was big. And I remember being there thinking, God, how did he get there?

You know, how do you get there? But what a fun time reminiscing about that. Yeah. You know, but...

Yeah, it's funny. Like back in the day when I'd hear you on the radio, and he has such an amazing voice. He always has and just pops off the radio and off the mic. And he does so many tricks with it and just moves that people can't really make. And in my mind, I'd never met you before. I thought you're, you know, this kind of – I didn't know you were a country guy. Oh, right. Oh, yeah. I just thought you were a little more poppy and everything. You can say you were the boy, man. No.

Let it go, Caleb. You'll feel better about it. We wrote one time, and that's when you get to know somebody. And remember, you came to my little country farmhouse over there on Paisley's farm. And you walked in, and I don't know if I was expecting you to be wearing, but it was completely different. Like, you came in, and you had on this hunt. Just say it. You're really beating around the bush. You thought he wasn't beautiful. Hang on now.

I mean, I just... You thought he was a little... Yeah. That's what he wants to say, Gary. I thought you were going to walk me with parachute pants, Gary. I didn't know.

I didn't even say liberal. Anyway, you came in, y'all, in everything camo. He had two pounds of deer jerky that you'd made yourself. He said, do you like deer jerky? Had a big dip of Copenhagen in. I'm like, okay, I have totally misread this guy. Completely, you know. But just the coolest thing ever. I just didn't think you were a country guy, and sure enough. Tell him about that time that he came over to your house to write, but he went over to Paisley's house. Oh.

Sorry, Gary. Oh, I do. Oh, yeah. He remembers. No, Tim, what happened? He remembers. Well, I was getting directions to your house, you know, because I was reading them and said whatever, and I pulled in. I'm like, daggone, Caleb's banging. Yeah.

I'm like, wow. What is this guy written? Let's go. I'm like, I know he's wearing a bunch of Paisley hits, but this circus, Halo is killing it. I get up there. I go, I knock on the door, you know. I forgot about that. Knock on the door. And I'm like, wow. I got my little backpack. My number two pencil is sharp. I'm like, yeah. I'm going to get me one of these houses one of these days. And all of a sudden, this little guy comes over. He's like, Alvin? Yeah.

Yeah, Kalo here to write. And he was like, oh, come on in. And I go, okay, great. And I'm like, this is the right place. And then all of a sudden, he goes, Brad? And I'm like, is that Kalo's partner? Yeah, I'm thinking, we were right with Ashley, weren't we? What I don't know about him. Ashley was over there, Ashley Gourley. Yeah, it was me, you, and Ashley Gourley. And he goes, Brad? And I'm like, Brad? See, I'm sitting here because it pays the other staff. So I'm like,

He's like, what are you doing here? And I'm like, what are you doing here? He's like, this is my house. And I'm like...

This isn't Caleb's house? Where is everybody? I'm so confused because I drove by your house, I guess, to go back there. That's funny. I forgot about that. He was like, do you want coffee? And I was like, yeah, I want coffee. Yeah, come on. Gary, what are you doing here? That's funny. I was like, that's weird. I didn't think I'd wake up this morning and Gary LaVox would be standing here. I said, well, I didn't think I'd be standing in Brad's house in your house.

Looking for Caleb. I actually didn't know you wrote with other writers besides me. I was kind of pissed. That was early on. Don't even try that. Try that in a small town. They tell you that story. Oh, here we go. We're turkey hunting. Thrash is like, play something. Go on. We're turkey camp, you know. Plays that. I'm like...

I said, I'm cutting that sucker. I'm like, woo! I'm like, let's go, Thrasher. He goes, no, no, no, no, no, no. You can't. Aldine already cut it. I was like, did you ever play me anything I can't cut? Are you kidding me? Dude, you called me. I was out to walk. You and Thrasher were hanging out at your barn. I'm outside my phone ring. It's you. I'm like, Gary? You're like,

fuck that damn song. I'm like, Gary? Why is Gary yelling at me? You bunch of Indian givers. What are you doing? We're just kidding. Yeah, yeah. Here, listen to this that you can't have. Listen to that that you can't have. We always play each other's songs. You play me stuff you do and I get pissed because I know they're not hits. You always play me hits. No, no. So yours counts different than mine does. I just wanted your approval when I played it. I knew you would love that song. I was going to cut it. No, you can't. All right.

Hey man, that's cool though. Every night, I mean, at least one time per run, your name comes up because one of Valdeen's, he loves your voice. We all do, but as a singer, he always says, man, I've stole some...

some cool shit from Gary or tried to, you know, he's always wanted, he's always loved that range. You know, he talks about it all the time. It's a big, I've stole a lot of shit from Gary. Whatever. I mean, I saw a lot of stuff out of Jason's pool. It's fun. That's why it was so fun being out there too. Like in that point, you know, in the early days was,

Learning as we go, really. It's so fun. It's so fun looking back on it. Try it and see what works and what don't. You learn quick what happens. You better learn. And playing bars, you know, that's the best education you can get. We talk about this all the time, about people that came up in the era that we did.

That's how you had to learn. You had to learn by being in the bars and you learned how to perform to one person or 20, you know, and it wasn't as easy. That's right. Yeah. You know, and you had to earn every minute of that. And we talk about it all the time, how it's,

I'm not bashing the new artists today, but most of them haven't put that time in. And you can tell when they get up there. Yeah. They never suffer through five sets with no one there. Or when it's packed, you haven't thrown any sets. Right. Or the worst thing of all, a showcase. Well, but it's true. And it's like, and this isn't, it's just a different time. So if you become popular via TikTok or whatever, that's awesome. That's a great path. But yeah,

You just didn't do that in the way that we're accustomed to seeing it done and learning that way. Well, and you know what? The other thing, too, is I think if you haven't failed on that circuit, you know what I'm saying? That's a great point. Yeah. Because it's what it takes. It takes a few boos or people getting up and going, oh, they're leaving. Yeah.

What do I need to do? Get me just one more last minute. That kind of thing. But now people, they go TikTok to this, to a showcase, and there's so much pressure on them because they've never failed. You know what I'm saying? They've edited how they wanted to edit, and they put it on there, so you see what they've wanted you to see. They've never been in front of people failing.

or winning. - That's a great point, I never thought of that. I like that. - I got a book coming out next Thursday. - A book and wine. - It's probably true. - It comes with a bottle of-- - Even after you pay those dues of before you moved to Nashville and you play in the bars, and like we all did, wherever we're from, the hometown,

You get to Nashville, you do Printer's Alley, you do that, you get your deal. And then the hard work starts again because I'm even, when the first, Aldean's first record came out and we were on tour with you guys, we're doing a fill-in day at Coyote Joe's somewhere in Charlotte. And I remember we got like an hour to play on the, we hop up there on the house band's gear.

And I remember we were busting an Amarillo Sky. This is like a year before the album came out or something. And the dance floor empties. It packed house. And we're up there playing like we're in a stadium, of course. And we're playing Amarillo Sky. And right in the middle of second chorus, this guy walks up to the front of the stage and just...

play something good just gives us the mean one the greatest and we're like we just kept but that you need that yeah you need it and I don't think enough of the young artists that where it's like okay you gotta you gotta get through it you know well and then you know imagine doing that in your face but now they can read one thing on there and go really and start responding you know well just have somebody do it in your face and you go okay

Hit me with your best shot and you switch up songs. You know, you make it. Guys, we're in the middle of an awesome conversation with Gary LeVox. Stick with us. We've got a word from our sponsors coming right up. LeVox Wine. Hey, welcome to LeVox Wine and LeVox Sponsors. We're so thankful for our sponsor. Original Brands is starting a new era in American domestic premium beer. American made, American owned. Original Glory. Original Glory.

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Take me there. Oh, that's a good one. Things nobody knows. Not even your friends. Take me there. Tell me about your mama, your daddy, your hometown, show me around. Yeah. I want to see it all. Don't leave anything out. I know everything about you. And I

Take me

Gary LaVos on the show tonight. Sing it, Neil Sandler. Your first real kiss. Oh, we're going off. Your first true love. We were in love. You were scared. Show me where you learned about life. Spent your summer nights.

is

Hell yeah, boy!

Damn, that hurt. I feel like we're at the Bluebird and we're just like, you know, we can't talk. It's about this big. There's nothing like that going on anywhere else right now. Two of the best singers we've got. I mean, Neil, he's better than you, but you know that. But you're pretty good. You're pretty good, Neil, but this is Gear of the Box. Is there a story behind that song? That's a great song. That was amazing. There's a great story behind it.

Take me there. Well, take me there. Yeah, well, I'd like to. Take him there. Yeah. Thrash and Wendell and Chesney wrote it. Hacks? Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was a fluke kind of a thing. That was actually Chesney's idea because he called me one night.

And he said, hey, man, I got an idea for a song, and I got the title and the first line. And he said, there's a place in your heart nobody's been. Take me there. And I went, ooh. So we got with him and wrote it. But by the time it kind of sat there for a while like songs do, and it's like by the time we got around to demo it and everything, Chesney was already done with his record. So.

You know who I thought of right off the bat. Like they say in the Grinch, another man's trash is another man's poop. And man, the first time I heard it, when I heard it, when they cut it before they put it out, because I think it was on the Steel Feels Good record. And they put it, it's like it was the first single. And man, I heard that and I was like, oh my God. It's a hammer. It's great. I love that. It found the right home. It did. It did.

I still love to sing it, too, man. It makes you just want to. You know, there's some songs you do, and you're just like, oh. You hear the intro, and you're just like. But that's when it starts that. There's a place in. Yeah, man. You're like, oh, that's good. I owe half. I owe probably more than half of my career to the flats for the relationship that I've had with that guy right there.

And the guys and the songs that they've recorded of mine. What's your favorite? What's your favorite one? That they've done? Yeah. Oh, God. You had to ask me that. I did. What's your favorite?

Well, Fast Cars and Freedom was such a big song. Yeah. And it still is. I mean, it's like a standard thing. I hear it all the time. I heard it at TSC yesterday. Yeah. Really? Tractor Supply. I walked in. Yeah. That's amazing. And me and Gary and Wendell wrote that one, and that's why it's so special. And I melt. I melt, too. That was the first one. And it's so funny how many people still request. Like, you know, before the show, they should do a meet, greet, a VIP thing. Everybody would go, I'm held. They're like, what?

People don't understand, man. The verses are like way down here, like two octaves almost. It's not two octaves, but it's an octave, but it's way down the verse. When you light those candles, and then the chorus is... It's amazing. You know, I was going to ask you before you got here. Not to back you up. I would say probably my favorite song that's...

that we've ever written together probably means the most is probably changed. Probably changed. Yep. I knew you were going to say that. Really? Yeah. We wrote that at the farm. At Freedom Farms. See my hat? See Gary's hat? You

You can get those online. At GaryLevox.com. At GaryLevox.com. And they're coming in many different colors. That song right there came from when Allie, my oldest daughter, got baptized in the Gulf of Mexico. That's where that song started. I came up with the first two lines. You got baptized in the Gulf of Mexico? Wow. Standing there on the beach. Yeah. With a margarita. It was weird. Yeah.

I'm ready, Lord. She went down. She went down. I think I see God. The cup went up. That's not true. Hold this, Pastor. Is that you, Jesus? Oh, that's pretty good. Oh, my God. I'll tell you what, though. It's so funny. Knowing you guys for so long, when my son was younger—

We'd always fly in a Demra, drive up and go skiing in a steamboat, Breckenridge, and it'd be a good three-hour drive or whatever. And from when he was like six and seven on...

Life is a Highway on repeat. Yeah, I'm sorry. 70 West the whole way. I'm like, Keller, one more time, Dad. I'm like, okay. Okay, whose idea was it to cut that song? Because some people might not know that's a cover. So how did that come up? John Lasseter, the head of Pixar, came to a show. Because we were on Disney with Lyric Street. So Lasseter came to a show, which John Lasseter, who wrote...

Toy Story, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles. Yeah. It goes on and on and on. He's rich. Yeah, he has a lot of money. He has a big house. Yeah, he does. And wine. And wine, yeah. And speaking of wine, get your Gary LaVox wine. GaryLavox.com. Yeah. And get a matching hat with it. Yeah. We have them two color per bottle. But you know what's cool? So we go to the show and he wears...

John would wear these shirts with all the stuff on there with Woody. He's like a big kid. He's got these little index cards. He's like, I got this idea for this movie. The cars are the actual people in the movie. Blah, blah, blah. We're like, all right. It's kind of like... He's scrolling down through there. You see Lightning McQueen come out of the back of the semi. He was like, do you guys know the song Life's a Highway? We're like...

Yeah, you mean like, life's a highway, I'm gonna ride it all night long. I go, yeah. And he goes, do you know the whole thing? And I go, is there more to it than that? I didn't know there was verses to it. That's all I knew. And I'm like, he goes, yeah, it's a whole song. And I go, really? Yeah.

And I go, well, I'll learn it. And he goes, I think it'd be an awesome place to do that song right there coming out of the thing. I'm like, okay. And then I got in the studio. I'm like, what do these words mean? Where was Tom Cochran on? Was he on Acid? So was it going to be just a soundtrack song or did you guys think, hey, this is going to be part of our or a single? Did you have that feeling? No. Okay. No, we just cut it for the movie. It was the first time I worked with Dan Huff.

Really? Yeah. And that's when Dan came in. It was the first thing he produced on us was that. And then it became... It was kind of a landing ball moment of Dan's about us. Yeah. Yeah. But all those kids, they think that y'all... Oh, yeah. That was a new song and it was y'all's song. Well, I didn't know my son. I mean, that's Rascal Flatts. When I say on repeat, I mean, we had to stop him. I said...

I said, I know those guys. I can't take any more. Oh, yeah, I get it. I love them. I can't take any more. But I will put you up for an adoption. It's been 10 times in a row, yeah. You will be adopted. We are high-altitude and have a good reason. But no, it was... What a... I mean, seriously, it is like your song. Yeah, well, and people said it's so weird. They're like...

My son thinks you're Lightning McQueen. If I saw more Lightning McQueen stuff, it's crazy. It's just amazing. Same thing. He had the whole, he was playing it on repeat on his car's CD player. Oh, yeah. You know, so a good call on that and doing that. Man, no kidding, man. Biggest one ever. Oh, yeah. Well, and talking about like timeless classic songs and stuff.

Ticks? Is that your list of... Oh, yeah. It's Ticks, I'm with K-Lo. I sent that to Gary. This is something Gary and I wrote. Oh, wow. Can I peek? Let's see if he remembers it. He doesn't. He passed me. Do you need my readership? Do you remember that? Oh, K-Lo. What'd he pull out? What is it? I'm just telling you. Yeah. At the time, it never got recorded, but...

Didn't someone record this? Yeah, it was a different version. Remember we called each other? We were like, can you believe this crap? Yeah, because our publisher was sitting there saying, y'all can't put this out. You can't record it and everything. I had no idea. This story takes ticks. Well, because it's called Corn Star. I know the song. I know.

song. I know, but this is a different song. Craig Morgan came out with one after ours. Oh. Completely different song. And we were so irritated. He had that brilliant idea too. It was so great. And it was shortly after we wrote it. Very, yeah. Probably short after you wrote it. He's a corn star or something. And we were like,

Well, I want to hear this version now. Can you play that version? It's so old, I didn't have the demo. If I have my computer, I got it on my computer. If you've got it, but like the verse is like a tempo. This is amazing. And as soon as that rooster crows, she's slipping on her clothes, ties her hair up in a bow. She's awake and the whole town knows.

She's in that good dirt walking. She's got her iPod rocking, got all those old boys gawking, caught behind those tractors honking. Going to be a traffic jam on 68 again. They're rubbernecking through that four-board fence. Of course, she's never made a movie, never been in a magazine, but she's a three-year, reigning, hay-bailing county fair queen.

All the farmer's daughters hate her. All the farm boys want to date her. They try to catch a peek. When she comes out of that barn, she's a corn star. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Smash. Smash, boys. I feel like it's better as a written poem. Easy money. Easy money. Oh, wait. The bridge. Continue on, Tully. I'm still in love with it, Caleb. The bridge is amazing. Yeah, she's hot. So hot.

She just thinks it's from the sun. But oh, oh no. They hate why they're pulling up. The river on the shoulder thinks some boy just told her he's her biggest fan, but she don't understand. That she's a corn star. That she's a corn star. Hey, you know what? One man's trash. That's another man's potpourri. She's a corn star. This needs to go up in our office. I feel like it does. I remember you talking about this title. Yeah, I do.

I don't even know where we go from there. I was thinking about that. No, because when you hear a title like that, you're like, hmm.

Should we write that? Yeah. Well, I mean, and then Ashley Gorley, you know, he's thinking the same thing, like after we got it done and we're going to demo it and everything. And he's like, he's like, man, I don't know. He goes, I don't know. He goes, I said, dude, it's right. I said, we wrote it right. It's right for the idea. I said, somebody's going to write it. I said, I guarantee you somebody's going to write it. And he goes, I don't know. I don't know if I feel good about it. He goes, how's Gary feels? I said, I don't know. I said, I think he loves it. You know, and then just kind of went away. Yeah. You know, and then literally months later.

Here it come. Hear it on the radio. And I said, Craig Morgan. So let me ask you this. Hold on. This second verse may be the best. Because I wasn't ready to leave it yet either. No, I got to hear this. It's a little hanging fruit. Hold on a minute, y'all. She ain't done nothing wrong. Can't call that girl a hoe. No. No.

That's what she's using when she's working in them rows. Oh, it rhymes. It rhymes. Holy shit. Oh, yeah. Shh. Oh, yeah. Eminem ain't the only one that can do this. Go on, Gary. Overalls may be a little tight, but her folks raised her right. That's all that she'll be showing until her wedding night. Oh, my gosh. Never been to Hollywood, never left that little town. Oh, but can she draw a crowd. She's a corn star.

It ain't easy. No, it ain't easy. It ain't no hobby, is it, K-Lo? No, she ain't no hoe. That's just what she's using when she's turning up them roads. I remember Craig Morgan's version.

it wasn't similar at all was it like was that a like a same premise but you know but not as good I don't remember it was not close no couldn't have been as good I think we remember just being irritated because we had we had it first and it's kind of the thing like when you come up with ideas regardless of what it is it's out in the universe and once somebody thinks of something somebody's going to grab it and as a just a writer and not an artist you're like like please we gotta cut it like as soon as possible because somebody else is thinking of it right now like tics

Someone was going to write Tix. Yeah. You wrote it. Again, not my idea, but I was glad I was on it. I wish I was on it. I wish I was on it too, Kevin. I wish I was on it. I make fun of it, but I still want to be on it. I'll tell you a funny story about Tix. What? I'll tell you a funny story about Tix. We're at the Grammys. So we're nominated. We're at the Grammys sitting in there. This was 06, I think.

What Hurts the Most was out, and we had outsold everybody in the whole entire world that put a record out, any genre of music or whatever. So they had one country performance on the Grammys. And we're like, pfft, got to be What Hurts the Most. Nope. Brad Paisley and Tix. We're sitting out there going, man, we outsold everybody in this whole entire... I'd like to check you! We didn't get a performance. We were like, Brad Paisley, I hope you get Tix and Tiggers, you know what I mean?

Get all of it. Yeah, the Grammys are funny like that. I didn't know that. I love it. I didn't know that. It's kind of like Morgan Wallen can't seem to get any award now. I know, he cannot. Yeah. It's unbelievable. It's so unfair, man. It is so unfair, and he is outselling everybody. He does five nights at stadiums. It should be Entertainer of the Year, Entertainer of the Year, Entertainer of the Year. No, it shouldn't be. It comes down to...

You know this. We all talk about it. You don't argue with stadiums. You don't argue with selling out three nights in football stadiums. And even Aldisa, that's his award right now. I mean, you know how the show business thing goes. But to me, just being an honest person, if you have got the biggest single, you should win single of the year. If you've sold more albums than everybody, you should win album of the year. If you've outsold everybody, you can't give that to Loretta Lynn. No.

You know what I'm saying? Because there was one year we were over there that she won female vocalist and she hadn't had an album out and, you know, we all love Loretta. Absolutely. You know, but, you know. It's, you know, people don't understand and it kind of,

pulling back the curtain a little but it's like in anything where there's money to be made or power to be had there's politics at play and you know people think that the award goes to the most deserving and that's just not how it is and it's unfortunate but that's that's the way it is there's no business like show business i mean but if corn star were to came out

Think of the walls that would have knocked down. Well, and you know, that's what we are. We're wall knockers, you guys. We've been called worse. And Kayla and I are going to sign this. We'll get this to GaryLeVox.com with the mind and the hat. Oh, hell. Y'all should freaking autograph that lyric and we'll... Oh, definitely. All right, Gary. We'll get a handwritten one. Are you kidding me? I'll dig up the handwritten one. Try that in a smalltownpodcast.com.

You want to sign it? We can. I can find the old handwritten one. It's somewhere. Yeah. Oh, heck yeah. You know where it is. Yeah. Gary, everybody knows you're an amazing singer. You've been recognized for that. But tell me this, like collaboration wise, who was the best artist that you collabed with that you were like, damn, this is badass?

You know, we've just been fortunate enough to sing with a bunch of greats, you know. It'd be hard to pick, but, you know, every time you can... Like the Lionel Richie thing was great. Yeah. You know, Dancing on the Ceiling, then us and Reba, you know. And then, gosh, I don't know. You know, we got this... I don't know. You know, we wrote a song with Michael Bolton that was on his record, and that was...

That dude's face off. Very cool. Anytime I sing with Neil and K-Will, it's always... Obviously, that goes out the same. Thank you, Gary. You as well. All us little corn stars out there just trying to make it...

Cornstar Publishing. That's right. Cornstar Publishing. You laugh now. I'm not laughing. I'm laughing. I'm thinking how to make money off this. Kalo, get that .com real quick. You got it. You got it. Rachel, are you on that? Yeah. Rachel. Cornstar.com.

Is there any chance of the flats? I mean, you know. Is it like the eagles when hell freezes over? The stars lining up again? I mean. You know, God's in charge of them stars. But, you know, I mean, yeah. Never say never. Never say never, yeah. Never.

Never say never. Yeah, so I don't know. Jay's kind of doing his thing. Joe's getting all his stuff together. Who knows? 25 could be different. I don't know. I'm sure there'd be a lot of people in line for that, including...

We're going. If it ever happens, we are going. Yeah. Yeah, because I write for Jay over at Red Street with Kelly King. Yeah. And so I've been over there for a few years. And he loves them. He's doing the label and the publishing and everything. He's always had that business mind. He's kind of meant for it. Yeah. He loves it. And I mean, I guess they have an HR department, but...

But anyway, he's great. Is he in charge of it? But no, he's doing amazing over there. Red Street. Dan Crockett, Dan's a good dude, too. Yeah, he's a great guy. Such a great team over there. Yeah, he's got a good setup. Hey, Gary, we were talking before we came on. You were mentioning Hold the Umbrella. Tell us what that's about. You know, Hold the Umbrella is a song that Thrash wrote, too. We...

Gosh, I don't know when you pitched it originally to us, but I loved it. Sometimes the songs, there's a time and place for them. And now is the time. So Mickey Jack produced. I don't know. Who did you write? I wrote it with Mickey Jack Cones and Tony Martin. Oh, so you all didn't write it together. No. It's something I pitched to them. That song's probably 10 years old. Yeah. Yeah.

And I never let it go. I always had it. I always kept it. I'm like, gosh, I love it. But the rendition we had was more kind of country. I mean, it wasn't country, but it had a little Jamaican feel, but nothing like the record that Mickey Jack and Gary cut. And who's the other guy? Rudy Perez. Yeah. And they just took it to another level and put this Latin feel to it. And so that's something that's coming out. Yeah, that's going to be...

I don't know. We're working on it now. It'll either be out this year before the chart freezes or it'll be out first of next year. But it's going to be a whole... There's going to be some...

really big Latin artist on it. Right. Yeah. I love it. And so it's, it's time. It'll be out in 25 for sure. And Gary, that's on Big Machine, right? Yeah. Scott Borchetta. Yeah. And our boy Clay Honeycutt over there. Yeah. Yeah. Oh boy. That's good. No pressure, Clay. He loves some music. No pressure. No pressure. Make this happen. Yeah. Yeah. And you know, there's another one too that may be coming out next year, but

But me and Thrash and Lee Miller wrote called She Stayed Anyway that we cut. That it's really, really anybody that's been in a relationship, you know, called She Stayed Anyway. Knowing all the crap that she's going to have to go through. You know, she could have done better and should have left. Sounds a little too close to home. A little too close to home. Yeah. Well, I've had a great career with these guys, with you. You're one of my best friends in the world. Yep. You're mine. And I hope it continues.

Because you still sing your rear off. Thank you, buddy. Yeah, it's kind of crazy how your voice sounds amazing. So it's top of the game. Well, you still give me an incentive to write. You still give me the inspiration to write. And I think we should make a toast to Gary coming out. We got him off the farm tonight.

Which was a rarity. I could be bush hogging, but never. Hey, thanks, Jerry. Sincerely appreciate you, my friend. Here's a toast to you. I love you, brother. Cheers, cheers. Love you, too. Cheers, love you. Jerry LaVox. Let's go. Yes, sir. Well, guys, that was an eventful episode right there. That was a lot of fun. Oh.

That guy is ridiculously funny, entertaining, great friend. And one of the greatest singers in our genre. The greatest. Oh, hands down. It's amazing. And he sounds as great today as he ever did. Yeah, and I'm excited about the new stuff. It's amazing. God dang it, he's singing like...

than ever. You know, sometimes you get older and sometimes people's voices get a little bit weaker. It's like, man, he's crushing it. I know, yeah. I would have thought by now he would have like, it would have been over. He'd be singing baritone in some quartet somewhere. He'd lost his high end. But it seems like he sings higher now for some reason. And better. And smoother. And pure. Oh, he's still here. Listen, I totally agree. I'm serious.

I wanted to leave, but you know, I couldn't because I am, I might be just as good as you guys are saying.

Don't let me interrupt, though. Keep going. Oh, my God. So we said everything you wanted us to? Yeah. Okay, good. We got the sheet and the fee, your fee. Okay. Got the fee down there. Yeah, yeah. A little cheesy. A little more than I thought. We're going to need an extra sponsor this week. Yeah. We love us some Levox. Absolutely. Love you boys, too. Hey, we're going to have to have them on again, but please do this. Okay, we'll do it tomorrow. Okay.

We can make that work. Hey, guys, if you're watching on YouTube, you got to like, you got to subscribe. Right, Gary? Come on, guys. Like and subscribe. Come on. Tell them what to do. Insta, we're there. At Try That Podcast. What's your Instagram? Is it Gary LaVox? Yeah, Instagram at...

Hold, please. Well, while you're doing that, we're on X. I've got people to do things. I've got guys. We're on X. We're on Instagram. We're on Facebook. We're on everything. Go check out Gary. GaryLeVox.com. Gary LeVox on everything. All right. Let's do it. I appreciate you being here. Thanks, Gary. Make sure to follow along, subscribe, share, rate the show, and check out our merch at TryThatInASmallTown.com.