Tyler Farr - Redneck Crazy Country Music Industry Tales :: Ep 33 Try That In A Small Town
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And I look at these artists and I'm going, you got to have something that sets you apart. That was you, dude. Redneck Crazy was so good. That's what I'm saying. That's what it did. It was fantastic. And you had the one-two punch of the hit song, the right artist, and then the missing piece, that video too. I mean, I was featured in the Tennessean for Stalker Awareness Month. I'm not joking. I'm like...

That's amazing. I didn't actually do all this stuff. It's a song. I would love to hate Jason. Don't misconstrue anything I'm saying, folks. I would love to hate him because he's giving me more shit than any human being on planet Earth. The Try That in a Small Town Podcast begins now.

All right, everybody. Welcome back to the Try That in a Small Town podcast. Let's go. We've got a very, very special guest with us today. But first, I'll introduce Kalo. We've got Thrash. We've got TK. I'm Kurt. And today we've got...

I got to read this. Give me a cool nickname. Hold on. You don't get any cool nicknames? Let me introduce you. I'm going to have to press your mute button. This is the man behind three number one songs.

He was nominated for the 2014 Breakthrough Artist of the Year. And here's my favorite. Taste of Country calls him one of the best male vocals in country music. We've got Tyler Ford. Let's go. Redneck Hale. I had to read that two or three times to make sure that was right. Oh, really? Yeah, man. Oh, memory.

No, seriously, it's great to have you on. One of our favorite people. Yeah, we've all known Tyler for quite a while. And by the way, you were doing that

I also read that you were classically trained. I was, yeah. I learned that this weekend. I was. Can't you tell? The best thing about this podcast, well, there's a bunch of good things about this podcast. But Tyler's been a great friend of ours for a while, but you still do a little bit of homework, and you just found out, Kalo. I was like, hold on, he was classically trained? Did you actually do anything with that? Yeah, so when I was in seventh grade, my mother...

I was always naturally gifted to be able to sing. Right. If you do this. And humble. I mean, I was always naturally gifted. No, I was. I could always sing. I mean, what do you want? Naturally beautiful. What do you want me to say? I was naturally gifted at basketball?

Well, we know. That's another story. Okay. That's another story. Don't insult our guest. Please. I'm an exception to the rule. I promise you tonight on tonight's episode. But no, I can always sing in my mouth. Like I was about in seventh, sixth grade. Maybe I was supposed to be in seventh, but I was in sixth. Yeah.

But she got me into classical voice lessons with this lady named Debbie Mills, and she was one of the best instructors in our state. I grew up in southern Missouri, and...

Got me taking voice lessons from her. Actually, I enjoyed it. Back then, I would, you know, you're trying to be cool. Well, yeah, I was about to ask who your mom got you in classical. At sixth grade, that's like, that's not the norm. That's a red flag. But you enjoyed it? Because I'm playing, I played tackle football since I was in second grade. Played travel team baseball. And that's not the cool route to go. You know what I mean? I mean, singing. Singing, yeah. The,

classical singing. So I got made fun of a lot, a few fights, but you know, I really enjoyed it. I did not admit it. I was like, my mom's making me do this. And man, it's just, it is what it is, you know? And then I went to all state, like my freshman year, so all the way through high school. And my dad actually was the last person at my high school, which had a gravel parking lot, which Billy Shitty parked his combine there.

in the gravel parking lot after he got done combining in the morning and then went to school and it was k through 12. my dad was the last person to make all state choir before me 20 years prior to me oh wow wow um and i did national choir and i was just i was good at singing no obviously you're a great singer obviously you're a great singer it's just you know we we have a great time because we've spent

so much time together there's two years that i spent more time with you than my wife you tore less and then you know not to jump too far ahead but well let's talk maybe let's talk about the hits you had first let's leave let's leave a minute redneck crazy huge song i remember when we heard that song we were on we were playing a festival somewhere uh what year what year did that come out

Do you remember? I was at 13. 2013. Okay. So this must have been. Don't discount the two songs that came out before that, though, that absolutely did not do anything. Well, we didn't hear those. I know. No, but seriously, we were at a festival somewhere, and your song, it was probably, it had to be close to the top of the charts. And Jason was saying, man, I really, really like this song. And we're like, yeah, Tyler Fargo.

And we were huge fans of that. So you have that song. Talk about that a little bit and that experience. Because it's your first hit. It was. And so the first, I got started, the Peach Pickers kind of got me kind of going. Explain who the Peach Pickers are. Dallas Davis and Ben Hayslip and Red Akins. All from Georgia. All from Georgia. They're all great songwriters. And honestly, it's how I came to like Georgia. Because I moved to town at 21. Yeah.

Played at Tootsie's for two years, moved back home, worked at a children's rehabilitation facility with kids with affect disorder and trauma and stuff. And it was the second favorite job I ever had besides singing. Then Red Aikens, and I was doing stuff in the hunting industry. Red Aikens heard a demo that I had done from a turkey hunting buddy of mine.

with Hunter Specialties and called me and said, do you plan on moving back? I said, well, I don't know what I'm doing. I was just trying to regather and figure things out. I said, I can put in my notice and I can be back in two months. I remember going back and him sitting with a jaw of a red man in with his arms crossed and just spitting on my booking agent, my now booking agent's garage floor. I was like, yeah, that's all right. I'd play him songs over here.

That's all right. Kind of like you. Very similar. So that's why I'm used to it. That's why I love you. But they kind of got me going, and they repelated me into Allison M., and I started working with them, and they landed on Jim Cattino's desk at Sony, and somehow or another, this is a long story, so I'm going to skip several parts, but...

Long story short, my first single was Hello, Goodbye, and Hot Mess that the Peach Pickers wrote. And it was pretty modern, pretty contemporary for that time. I was about 20. It's been, there's some years. About 26, I guess, 25. Let me interject real quick. So they wrote that song Hot Mess for you, and it was more of a modern song, did they? Yeah.

This is not anything against those guys. They had huge hits, but knowing you now and knowing how you became famous, like, why did they choose that song? So, and I listened, but I was just holding on to the bars and just being like, I was just glad. I mean, I've been broke as hell my whole life. Yeah, dude, of course. And so, and that's tricky for new artists. You know, it's like you're trying to, you don't really know who you are yet. And if you're a new artist and you know exactly who you are,

hats off to you let's be honest I didn't we have a lot of when we talk to young artists you did the right thing too you play ball until maybe you don't have to play ball as much ball but you did it right you want the opportunity at that point that was the fast lane to the opportunity so I think there's a lesson there

And it led you to where you are now. So talk about, though, where did Redneck Crazy come from? Was that Jim Cattino who was with Sony Records? Did he find that song for you? So we cut an album, and it was almost done. Hot Mess was my first single. Hello, Goodbye after Hot Mess. I'm like, oh, hell, this is harder than I thought. We got to make it.

decision here and uh i wrote this song i was going through a breakup you know was single at the time it just went through a breakup and i released a song i wrote called hello goodbye and um still one of my favorite ballads breakup ballads i've ever written and uh i'm like we need to put it out it's the best song on the album in my opinion turns out um there was a consensus

and it was not because it went to like 52 as well and then i remember my manager calling me because i'm like there's no way this song can't do something because it it just pull at your heart strange my buddy lee bros he was taking we had became friends because he loved the damn song and my manager called me and i just got a new stereo system put in my old z71

I was back home in Missouri for Thanksgiving. My manager called me and said, they're pulling Hello Goodbye. I'm like, I don't understand this business. This is crazy. Like, how did this? This is a great song. I know it's a great song in my heart. I know it's a great song. Wow. And I said, we need to put Redneck Crazy out next. And I heard it. So where did that? Did you? I was in.

I'm not going to be able to say all of this story, but just tell us the bullet points. There was a gal at a publishing company that knew I just went through a breakup, caught my ex, and I really did catch my ex in Pegram cheating on me wrong driveway, wrong time of night, and they weren't playing backgammon. So there is some truth behind the song. Oh, yeah. Okay. Yeah.

And this gal, this plug-in gal, she happened to be with her in a truck one night.

Playing backgammon? Yes. That's exactly it. Wait a minute. You've got to tell everybody what a plug-in gal is. I was going to say. I didn't want to. Neil, I'm glad you brought it up. Thank you, Neil. Because I was going to ask how much it was an hour. I had her foot up on the dash. Plug it away. Here we were, plugging away. Anyway.

The song plug, she plugs songs for us. And plugged. K-Lo, help him. In the old days, a song plugger is somebody that pitched songs. I think they still exist, but they don't actually. They're not called pluggers anymore. They don't like it. It's actually, no. Especially plug and gaff. They don't like that. So they pitch songs. They pitch songs for publishing companies.

You better explain though, pitching songs, what they do, they actually play songs and try to get artists to cut them to be specific. Yes, thank you. Plug and Gal. Can we call that the Plug and Gal episode? Because I think this is going to really hit a nerve. What's Plug and Gal's real name? Yeah. Or can you say? It's all right. Emma. Okay. Yep. I'm my daughter. She's like, you got to hear the song. You're the only person that can pull this off.

I don't know if that was a compliment or like... Okay. For sure. That's a great... Seriously, that's a great job of a plug-in gal doing her job. I just left Losers and she's like, you got to stop by the office and hear this thing. But that's amazing. And it's a great... So we tell people this all the time. We're talking about artists and how they can...

One thing you need to be is genuine. You need to put out songs that are you. And actually, I don't know the Hello Goodbye song, but one thing I could maybe say is that maybe people didn't know how to identify that song with you. Redneck Crazy is an amazing introduction to Tyler Farr. I honestly don't think Hello Goodbye is...

And you can list through it after this, but I don't think it's... I don't think it's separated me enough from the pack. Right. If you know what I mean. Yeah, I do. Especially nowadays, they're just like, I mean, there's just people kind of, and it's like, you got to, and I'll look at these artists and I'm going, you got to have something that sets you apart. That was you, dude. Redneck Crazy was so...

good that's what I'm saying that's what it did it was fantastic and you had the one two punch of the hit song the right artist and then the missing piece that video too

really drove it. That was a cool video. Dude, the video. All of our cast. No, no, yeah, go ahead. No, it's a great point with the video. You know, you had, who was in that? Because I know Willie was in that. I'll talk a little more about that. So I cut it, and I remember going, we need to put out, we need a swing for the fence. And that was the reason I wanted that. And Sonny, I'll be honest, Sonny was terrified of it.

That's the best. That's how you know you're on to something. I told my manager, I'm like, I don't care. I said, we just here to bunt or we just want to get things done.

But there's some lines in there, though, because what I was going to ask you in the reading, that's funny. Like, you know, I'm about to get my pissed off on and things like that. That would be something the label might say. Well, maybe they could soften that a touch. Yeah. Right? And things like that. And about not getting any. He's not getting any tonight. On the side, yeah. You know? And his little truck. Plug it, gal. You know, things like that. There was a lot of little. But it really colored up the song.

Oh, my gosh, yeah. And it was real for me. Like, because I'm like, I mean, I was featured in the Tennessean for Stalker Awareness Month. What? I'm not joking. I'm not joking. I mean, I didn't actually do all this stuff. Like, it's a song. Right. I mean, you can't put, but really, though, when you, as an artist,

Really proud of you for seeing what was in that song and for the plug-in gal pitching it because if you get it with the right artists like yourself, it's a polarizing moment. You'd have been more proud of me if you'd have heard Josh Keer on the damn demo. Oh, really? There's like screeching tires and it sounds like an 80s...

I was about to hear that. Oh, yeah. Hey, so the video, just to make sure we get to this, because it's awesome. You had some guests in there, and then Willie Robertson was probably the most famous at the time. Did you know Willie? I got a...

or a duck commander at that time. I'd met Willie. I'd already known Willie from playing because I played acoustic in Colt Ford's band. That's right. For about a year or two when I had a developmental deal with Sony. Okay. And that's, you know, I cut my teeth at like Tootsie's playing the honky-tonks, Whiskey River down in Macon. Oh, we know it. Love it. Love what they've done with it. Yeah.

It's another episode, isn't it? It is. It is. The Whiskey River Files. Yeah. That's probably one of the black label that. But man, I really, playing with Cole, I remember playing

I mean, that's where I really honed in. He let me, he said, if you play acoustic for me in my band, I'll let you open up for 30 minutes, use my band, you'll get paid for you opening up and paid for playing in my band. I'm like, dude, that was the first year. I'm like, damn, I'm rich. Yeah. I made $80,000 this year. Dude, he paid you that?

That was with the publishing deal. But I was like, man, I'm finally not broke as hell. And for Colt Ford, people may or may not know, but he was one of the writers to Dirt Road Anthem, him and Brantley Gilbert, which is one of the many songs that he's had cut. But he is a great artist. And we were touring with Brantley. Brantley was playing before Colt.

I was playing before Brantley, and Brantley was driving a blacked-out Suburban pulling a U-Haul trailer. You know, and that was in Brantley's hell-raising days. Oh, yeah. You know, and I remember Colt one time, y'all was playing, and he goes, hey, Jason wants to hear some of your stuff. And I remember being nervous as a damn seed dick selling Alabama. Yeah.

And he was very similar to how y'all are now. He didn't like it one damn song. I sat up there and I was just like, he's like, hey bud, what's up? He's smoking heaters. This is back in the day. He's being cold as hoop earrings. Man, those are good, but

Not really what we're looking for. Okay. Touche. I'll go back over to the bus. Well, one thing, as we've said about Jason, is he's not a bullshitter, right? He is not a bullshitter, and that's why I love him. And that's why I love y'all. Kind of. I met Willie. We were playing at Rab's Steakhouse in Louisiana outside of West Monroe.

And Willie come on stage and was singing Dirt Road Anthem. This was before Jason had even cut it. And he sounded terrible. Absolutely terrible. And we just kind of hit it off. And like I said, I was doing stuff in the hunting industry. And man, when it came about to do that Redneck Crazy video, I remember Sony, I got a script of what they kind of wanted. And it's like, man, this would be cool. Because we were trying to keep it lighthearted. Because we knew we were going to get some...

Yeah. Some shit for. Sure. You know, and we were wanting to kind of like, hey, we're just joking, but we aren't. And they said, man, it'd be cool if you get some, you know, cameos like Willie and side. I was like, oh, I see. I text Willie. I was like, hey, you want to be in my video? Is there any way we can do it down there? So, yeah, we'll do it. We're filming the world's largest duck call. So I got my buddy, Lee Bryce.

Cole Ford. And I've always been very blessed to have good friends that have my back. Damn good friends. Damn good friends. Nice. Very nice. No, I really have. And they really do have my back. And it's been a blessing to have that. And I've always tried to surround myself by people that make me a better person. Because I think that's one of the fine tools you can use in life is to just not be around idiots. Yeah.

No, you're right. Yeah. Close friends that are also celebrities are key. I mean, that's a ticket. What I'm saying is, you know, they're good dudes and I don't hang around fake people and I'm just, I am what I am and my buddy's

all the same way and man Willie's like sure come down here they're like how the hell did you get Willie Robertson because this was when Duck Dynasty was popping off yeah it was huge and you couldn't go into a Walmart without seeing an air freshener with Willie's big face and beard on it and a cut out and a loofah I think I bought

I'm just lathering down in dial soap. Hitting my grundle and everything. Wow, that's a high dollar. Oh, yeah. But man, it really, they're like, wow, this, I'm like, so I'll utilize my friends. And that's a lot what this business is about, is about making friendships with good people. Mm-hmm.

And, you know, and carrying it forward, paying it forward. I remember, again, that song Peaks Out. And I remember during that tour, hanging out after the show, it was like in our Whiskey River room that you've been in a hundred times. I got hazed in a million times. But I remember listening and Jason's like, you guys, we should take him out on tour. I remember that. And yeah, Guy walks into a bar, which is one of my favorite songs. Me too. I love that song. Great song.

And it was so fun. So you come out, and I remember you coming out and touring with us, and it was really, really fun. It was like the hang was great, you were great, songs were great. You know, you had, so it was great.

Guy Waxman Bar, and then your third one. Whiskey in My Water. And those are the big three, back to back to back. That's right. It's my least favorite number one. Which one? Whiskey in My Water. And it was the only number one I wrote, and it's my least favorite. That's your only number one that you wrote? Yeah. Why your least favorite? Because we wrote it in like 45 minutes, I guess. And it was like...

Neil talks all the time about Night Train, right? I don't know. I don't know what it is. It's just like we was at Blackberry Farm. We wrote this thing, and I'm not saying it's a bad song. It's just like I guess it's in my head because we wrote it so quick. Yeah. And I didn't even know the chords. I had a guitar, and I was just going, I was doing like this. Where are you going? What?

He's pulling a needle. No, that's perfect. This is great. I was just doing, literally, don't even know what they were. I was just going. What chords are these? Oh, they're cool, though. Hey, while you're sitting there, I've got to hear. In my truck, flying down the dirt, picking you up, feeling kind of crazy, think I'm in love. I don't know my baby.

That's awesome, dude. Hey, don't put it down. I've got to hear God Walks on the Bar. Verse, chorus, I love that song. It's getting close to Christmas. Oh, we love these Christmas songs. Seriously, it's a present to me. It's the least you can do for all I've done for you. Jesus. Oh, my God. I love this song, though, seriously. Where are you capoing that thing? The mandolin all of a sudden. Oh, my God.

Oh, I believe. Listen closely to the glockenspiel. I didn't know I was going to do a Diamond Rio song, did you? I would love God Wants Me to Know Bar. Just the verse chorus of it. Pick. I got a good story with that. There you go. Oh my God, you have one in your pocket. Look at him. Got to come prepared. That's amazing. Wow. It's part of my uniform. Joke's on me. It ain't funny, everybody to me. See the punchline coming my way.

I've heard it so many times I can tell it, but they believe me I can tell it all on the way

And a guy said a guy

Walks into a bar. That's a great song. That's a great song. I love your voice. Your voice is so cool. I mean, you get the right song for your voice. It is really great, man. It is. And so I'm going to skip forward a little bit because there's one thing I couldn't wait to talk about today because we never talked about it. We haven't talked about this. So...

We went in, me, Kurt, and Jason, and cut a project on you, and it was a blast. We cut, what, five, six songs. First one was Only Truckin' Down. That was a COVID hit. When I talk about... Because COVID, for those of you who don't know, COVID really changed our business, and not all for the better. So we cut this in 2019, and then the world shuts down. And what happened was...

We were trying to do almost like a relaunch. It was. We were such fans, and we had some great songs. And Only Chuck in Town was one we cut. Excited about it.

And the whole thought was to send you out to radio again and revisit all these radio stations and relaunch you. And we were number three most added. Yeah. And I did a big old radio tour again. It was amazing. And the world shut down. And I tell everybody, if you look at the artists that got hurt the most by COVID, Tyler Farr-

is the top of that list. Because we had a great project and it got weird. It went from... They stopped doing their radio visits and it went to all streaming and it was...

It was a big change of everything. So part of what I think you do really, really well is you connect with people. And you connect with people well in concert, in a room. Like Tully said, you were going to go around to all the radio stations again and meet those guys. You excel in those areas. Yeah, and I'll pat myself on the back for that's one of my –

If you say X-Men powers, that was my thing, and that's what hurt me the most. I was in a dark place for a while after that because that killed me. Well, you know, it killed us. To this day of being in this business 30 years and all the things we've done that worked and hadn't worked, the one thing that bothers me the most is that that project is

didn't get what didn't do what it should have for you and that i almost feel like we let you down in a way and it was just like the timing was weird i love you i love that project though i love the songs we didn't let me down but it was fun making it we had a great time there were some there were some great songs neil you one of my favorite songs we did um i wish love wouldn't so hard yeah i remember when aldine uh yeah

Called me about that. Yeah. Because we had just got finished and he was practically... I remember calling him. Are you sure you want me to cut this? It was... It was me and Kalo. Can we get a little... Was Kalo on that song too? Oh, did you bring a lyric? I happen to have one with me. Oh my God. I'll pass them around to everybody. Can you give us a little bit of that? I want to hear some of that. I can't sing it today. I'm singing it. He can. Can you sing it? I want everybody... I ain't sang this and...

Do you remember? Neil, do you remember the chorus? There's a good story though, right? Oh, I don't even know if I'm... We're going to fake it, though. Because it ended up being about one of your dogs. Didn't you lose a dog? T-Far. Yeah, Cooter. Cooter Brown right here. Kalo, I didn't know you were on this song.

Neil said he wrote it by himself. You know what's funny? It's not just Neil. It's not just Neil who said he wrote it by himself. I just lost my bloodhound. This is an amazing song. It's a great song. My bloodhound, Cooter Brown, he died, he was like 13 years old. I love this song too. I love it. This is one of those that you thought. It's just me and you on this one, wasn't it? Yeah. It was just the two of us. It's just me and you on this one.

Boy. Whatever she and I went, he'd want to ride. He loved the wind in his face. Hanging at passenger side. Right next to her. Cause he loved her too. Thank God I had him.

To get me through He pulled me through I wish love wasn't so hard I wish people could stay together I wish girls couldn't break hearts And dogs could live forever Yeah. Tyler Farr. Love it. I ain't done yet. He was there that night

I drank myself to sleep. He lay there on the floor by the couch right next to me. Then a sun came up. It was like he knew. He slept by me like a friend would do, like best friends do. I wish love wasn't so hard.

I wish people could stay together. I wish girls couldn't break hearts. Dogs could live forever. What a great song. Great song. Great song, Neil. Tyler Farrell, yeah. Good job, Neil. Great job, Neil. Even though Neil and I did write that together, I guess Neil was interviewed.

And it says the underlies track is called Dogs Who Live Forever, which is wrong already. And it says, and while Neil Thrasher wrote it, Farr's performance was inspired by the death of his bloodhound. Is that on? It's on Taste of Country. Anyway, it was really funny. I read that today and I thought, man, Neil.

He forgot about me. Did you instantly get mad at me for that? No. I didn't remember talking to him. He's in the comments already. That was just funny. It does say written by Neil Thrasher and only Neil Thrasher. It's funny, even though it's Warner Chappell, it's like there's no writers on it. It's funny. But I started, honestly, I started singing that show, that song live at my shows and man, I...

It was hard. I'd start choking up. I'd be crying. I'd sound like a... Every song we cut with you, and we've cut a few in the course of... And there's one I want to talk about when we get to it. But, man, I just hate that it didn't relaunch everything. And COVID was to blame for most of that. And here's the deal. Here's what I've had to accept as a man. It's like, you want one hand and shit in the other? Yeah.

See which one you get first. Yeah. I got a beautiful three-year-old little girl that happened during COVID. What I thought my career was going to, I mean, you can tell God your plan. He's going to laugh right in your damn face. Amen. You're right. You know, so that, it is what it is. And you got to spend more time with us, which is a gift.

Yeah, that's not what I was talking about. You know what I'm saying? It's like you can make your plans and maybe that's not the plan he had for you. So I just try to get better at listening to his plan instead of mine. Yeah.

That's a good lesson there. Hey, this is pretty awesome. We got Tyler Farr here with us. We're going to take a little short break. We'll be right back. Hang with us. Natalor sponsors.

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All right, we're back. Thanks for hanging with us, guys. Hey, we want to tell you this. If you go to, by the way, speaking of sponsors and stuff, you go to patriotmobile.com forward slash smalltown. They're giving you a free month of service. It's pretty awesome. If you guys don't know of Patriot Mobile, you should. It's a great service. It's a great company. They have great values. Go to patriotmobile.com forward slash smalltown.

Use the promo code SMALLTOWN. They'll give you a free month of service, T-Fire. And get you some of those raised up rat hats. Come on. Which are nice. Thank you, Branded Bills, for this, by the way. They've been rocking with us. We got Tyler Farr with us. We've still been talking about I Wish Dogs Could Live Forever. By the way, go check out that song. It's on Apple Music, right? It is. All that stuff. Unless they pulled it.

No, it's still there. It's still there. It's an amazing, amazing song. Where do we want to go? Well, there's one song we did. And of course, over the couple of years of, we cut a lot of music together, trying to find something that would connect. And we had a great project and COVID happened and it kind of put a dent in our plan. And so we continued to cut and try to get music heard. And we,

Where did this idea come from? I think it was Aldine's idea, wasn't it, to cut Simple Man? Yes. Okay, so this idea comes up, what, three and a half, four years ago? I don't know. About three years ago or so, we was at E3. We was hunting out there, which me and Jason just got back from E3 a few weeks ago.

He didn't kill anything, by the way. Explain to people what E3 is. E3 is Adam O'Roges. Yeah. Ranch out there. Great man. Adam, we just had him on. Does the E3 Foundation, does a bunch of stuff for sex trafficking. His foundation benefits that. And wounded vets. And just a great dude. One of my good friends. We was out there doing our annual buck commander hunt, which I got to hunt with Jason, which

Back when I was on tour with y'all and Willie ended up asking me to be a part of Buck Commander about five years ago. And that's all I wanted to do was be like, I think I wanted to be in the hunting industry before I wanted to sing. Um,

I was just a crappy hunter. I'm like being a naturally gifted singer. Yeah. But no, it's kind of funny how things worked out because Willie was part of that. I already met him. It's funny how things kind of just work out. And I was with Jason at E3 and he's like, it was after the COVID hit, we had released Only Truck in Town, y'all produced and

We were all kind of frustrated. It was COVID. And we're like, what the hell happened? Which that was what the entire country was saying. What the hell? What the hell happened? What just happened? And Jason goes, dude, basically like we need to send it. You like Charlie Daniels. I know you're a big fan of Charlie Daniels. I'm like, yeah. And he goes, we need to do Simple Man. Like, oh, hell yeah.

he goes we need to cut this we need to cut it raw and we need to put it out there we don't need to ask for permission and we need to send this out there and smack him right in the face that's i mean that's what he said and i'm like hell yeah the idea was absolutely the idea was amazing and i remember we we had a breakfast meeting about this and one of my favorite moments we're sitting all around breakfast and you're talking about okay we're gonna cut simple man

And I'm thinking to myself, okay, this is great. This is classic music business story. So I'm sitting there. I'm like, simple man. Okay, boy, that's going to be interesting. And I'm thinking to myself, simple man, Leonard Skinner. So the whole meeting, the whole hour and a half meeting, I actually didn't do. I'm sitting there and I'm like,

Okay, simple man. This is good boy. He must really feel a connection to this thing Are we sure this is the one I guess this is the one I'm like five minute song is you and L Dean were passionate and I'm like I'm like Because Ron from like we listen to me seriously like I didn't listen to a lot of really tried deals I listened to a lot of Lynyrd Skynyrd and that so that I heard that hook and I was like, okay I'm like wow, they are really feeling it for this thing. I'm like, oh I call Kurt like

I'm like, man, they're really loving this. I guess we're going to have to do some dual guitar stuff at the end. So me and Kurt talk and I'm like, I'm like, Kurt goes like, man, one of us should call Dean and make sure this is the right song. I was like, I'm like, all right, I'll do it. I'll call out of the, I'm like, I remember pulling out of the breakfast place. I'm driving home and I call out Dean. I'm like, bro, I got a couple of concerns. I guess we can cut the song down.

from six and a half minutes to three and do a bunch of twin guitar stuff. And Aldine's like, there's this awkward silence, awkward silence. And I'm like, you there, bro? And he goes, what is wrong with you? I was like, simple man. He goes,

I said, dude, it's a Leonard Skinner thing. He goes, Leonard Skinner, not that you dumbass. Simple man from Charlie Dean was you idiot. That's what he said. I'm like, oh, of course, of course. I'm just kidding. Well, then it made perfect sense, but we did cut a hell of a version. You sing your ass off on it. Of course,

Label was scared to death. Got shut down. Yeah. Why not? They were a little scared. People were scared. Yeah. But they were also scared. Let's try that in a small town. Yeah. So, yeah. So, Jason, I was like, Jason's pumped up about it? I was like, oh, hell yeah. Let's go out with the gloves off and slap these sumbitches in the face. You know, let's get rowdy. And we went and threw it out there.

And it went up the chains and then just, nope, we can't put it out. We can't do that. Can't do it. The Russians said no. Well, it's out there now. And I'm like, who are the damn Russians? Don't they do the satellites?

What the hell did they have to do with comfy damn music? Hey, let's switch gears a little bit. I was madder than a Keebler Elf who got demoted to fudge packer. Speaking of getting mad, just this week, there was a little controversy on the gram about

deriving from Billboard's 100 Greatest Country Artists of All Time. So don't get me started on that. Well, we're going to get you started because let's tell people what happened. They put out a list of the 100 Best Country Artists and Jason Aldean was not on the list. Maren Morris was. She made it. She was. Who? Maren Morris. Exactly. She's on it.

Really? No shit. And there's like two others that I've never heard of that don't. So I want to get you started. Tully brought up a good point. We started to talk about this downstairs, and Tully and I both posted on this, and it obviously gained a lot of traction because I think, you know, we're biased, but obviously we think he should be included in that list, and not just included, but pretty far up the list. Yeah.

There was a lot of love for him, some hate too. Yeah, they came out of the woodworks again. I tell you this, the thing about it is, you know, and Todd, I think you would agree. I mean, you've been around us for a long time. One thing about Jason is like, I do feel like it should be a jest because definitely had an impact on the industry. That's an understatement. And the way music...

took a turn and he was on the forefront of that and and um and so you know because jason is jason's not going to come out and post something about it so like i felt like it was my place i think kurt did too like to get our our boys back that's what we do because that's he's not going to do that right but man they um tyler you know you know me i think it was intentional what do you think 100 well i'm not going to bite my tongue here one day don't

We released Simple Man. You know, we tried to release it. Earlier, the machine shut us down. Jason knew there was a place for a song like that that people would feel, which was Try That in a Small Town. So he released it. The people responded. What more do you need to say? But then they pull out this crap about someone getting hung on the town square, and I'm...

I mean, I'm over there clenching my teeth going, what in the hell? Like, seriously, are you just trying to find something wrong with it? And they are. That's what they do. And that's their program. So guess what else is their program?

to make sure he doesn't find his way into the Billboard Top 100 artists. That's also their program. Yeah. And that's an intentional thing. 100%. And that goes into even to Morgan Wallen. Like, whoever the hell is, I don't remember his name. He was in the Big Lebowski. Jeff Bridges. Jeff Bridges. Yeah. Morgan Whalen. Morgan Whalen. Don't tell me for a damn second that wasn't intentional.

A smack in the face because you didn't show up. Well, hell, I wouldn't show up if I was him either. I agree. Morgan's been disrespected so much by the industry, by the award shows and that kind of stuff, I should say. You know, on the back of the Billboard thing, it's no coincidence that Billboard had our song as the worst of the year.

They tried that in a small town. It made the list of worst song of the year. I think I blocked that out. So we know where they stand. It's a game plan that someone other than ourselves, our people, have against us is what it is. Isn't it funny, though, to you? We've talked about it on here, but not with you. And I want to get your take.

I would love to hate Jason. Don't misconstrue anything I'm saying, folks. I would love to hate him because he's giving me more shit than any human being on planet Earth. I tell you what, though.

It just goes to show that they have no feel for who the country audience is. You're out there, you're touring. What are you doing, 120, 30 shows a year? Yeah, and I live out there. I mean, I live in the country. I stay out there, and those are my damn people. And I got buddies that grow crops, woodworkers, damn just country-ass people. And that's the people I like to be around.

And I can hear from them, and that's why I knew it's going to be bullshit again if Trump didn't get elected. Because I'm like, I tour the damn world. I see how many small towns there are. I know what's going on. So there's going to be some shit that pops off if this happens again. You know what I mean? Like, I've been around people, and they're everywhere. Yeah.

They're in New York. They're in New Jersey. That's right. We talk about it all the time. Some of the biggest responses we had from Try That in a Small Town live was in New Jersey, was in Salt Lake City. And that's, I mean, we talked about it this year. We knew we could see it brewing in our, like, God, the crowd's young. Man, they're fired up. And that base, that young base went out, and everybody's had enough.

They had enough. But it was interesting to see the response to the song. And one of the biggest responses was in Boston. And Boston's always been good to us. Always been good to us. Love it. But it's a hard... It's a blue-collar town. It's like Pittsburgh, Boston. It was great. It was still great. Neil and Kayla, we're all kind of biased, especially with Jason and the billboard thing. Did...

How do you guys objectively, I mean, obviously you're connected with Jason, but what was your take on that? On what? The billboard, leaving him off of the- Oh, just intentions. What I said a while ago, it was intentional. Yeah. There's no doubt. I mean, it's so obvious it wasn't even funny. Yeah. And for Maren Morris to make it on the list was even an extra stick in the gut. Yeah.

Because that's a joke. I mean, are you kidding me? I mean, I should have made it. But she damn made it. Well, what was funny, you know, because try that in small town, you know, was number one on the pot 100 billboard, which they couldn't stop that. Yeah, right. Which is so funny. Can you imagine when they realized that they had to print it? Yeah.

This is, we have to. It's numerical. We have to do it. We can't keep it out. But they had to do it. And it's in there forever, Billboard. It's all over the internet. Everybody knows. The Billboard staff, they're the ones that came up with the list. The top 100 list. The staff of Billboard. Is that what it was? Yes. And they don't have any control over the charts. But anything they have control over, they're going to stick it to Jason.

Because he's one of, like, three guys or gals out there that'll even utter the word Trump. And they're going to try to make him pay for it. But all it's doing is just helping him. What about Aaron Lewis? So, yeah. Right? I mean, like, what the hell? Yeah, well, I think people, like we learned, is that, you know, people –

are not going to be told what they can and can't listen to and what they can like and they can't like, you know, and, and you, and you, you're great for this industry, man. Seriously. You're like, we are missing that in the young artists today. It's like the backbone of what country. I think, I think, I think we're missing that. We talk about it all the time as the running theme on this podcast is the fear I have for the future of this genre. Cause I'm, sometimes I feel things are, are turning a good way and, and,

I don't think they are, honestly. I mean, I'd be lying if I told you I didn't. I don't like the way the artists are coming up. I don't like the way they have really lack of experience really playing before they get to a big stage even. But my point is that Tyler Farr is important to this genre. I appreciate it. I really mean that. Love you to death. And you need to be on the radio. You need to be playing shows because it's a genuine...

You're a genuine artist. Speaking of that, you got some new stuff coming up? I do. I do. We got a song coming out. I'm back with my original producer, Jim Cattino, which y'all know. Oh, he's great. So we're not producing? You got fired. Wait a minute. We got fired. No, but... You got fired. Asshole. Did we write it? No. Did we get part of the publishing? No. I mean...

Are we listed anywhere? No, you are not. If you want to uncover art, you're in the video. But no, man, I'm happy to be working with Jim again. We're putting out this new song, be it the end of the year, coming to a bar near you. And I'd be lying if I didn't say my kind of...

How I look at things is a little different than how it used to be. I got a three-year-old, about to be a four-year-old little girl. So it's like, you know what, if I get another hit, great. If I don't, great. I'm going to keep shooting deer. Make sure y'all go check out Bug Commander, by the way. Yeah, absolutely. Because I'm killing the most deer.

But, you know, it's just a little different. You get older and your priorities change. And I would love another crack at it. Would love it. Hey, so are they – how are they doing this? Because the new model now is you have to ask – It's like they're – it's ticked off.

So they're trying to get it viral. They're trying to get the streams up before they go to radio. Because for people listening, they don't understand the method. It's a whole different way than when I got started. Of course it is. I was doing damn showcases. Like, y'all were third and Lansley, 12th and Porter. Yeah. I played six damn showcases. You go do a radio tour, it goes on the radio. Oh, we'll get you in a developmental deal. Yeah.

I mean, shit, they had me. They said I was 10 pounds overweight. Now there's some bitches coming in looking like damn sumo wrestlers. I'm like, shit. Yeah, I know. Damn, man. I could have...

I could have just been fat. I know. Damn. Maybe that's your thing. You get fat enough. I don't think it's like that. No. No. I don't. No. I don't think my wife would fly out like that. But so are they just trying to get it out by early first? It's a. Streaming and. That's. We had this song we just put out called Wait For It. And it was literally directed towards Instagram. Right. And me doing dumb ass stuff, which y'all have seen. Me falling off things and.

You do that well, though. I compliment it, but it's a whole different ballgame with the TikTok. It is. I will not conform to doing this selfie. You got to have some boundaries. There's guys doing this.

Yeah. Oh, it's rough. It's rough. It's tough for old guys. I'm like, where's your nuts go? Did you lose them during COVID too? Hey, so you're telling me you lost your sense of smell and your ball sack. Hey, you know what? It reminds me, I'm a little hurt in this podcast before we wrap it up that you didn't talk about our hunting trip we had. It was great.

We had an amazing hunting trip. We limited out on jackraps. Give people a short story. Short story. Jackraps still in my freezer. Yeah, where is that thing, by the way? It's in my freezer. We go down to write some songs at this incredible ranch in Texas. I'm still banned from there. Yeah, we all are, I'm afraid. So we're writing songs. And when I say this is a...

Five star. This is crazy. Flying on jet, private strip. We go turkey hunting. Don't you put that on me, Dewey. I got stuck in a blind with T-Far roasting in this blind. No turkeys. He's like, man,

I'm a, I wouldn't the best Turkey call in Missouri. Then you tell me that. Okay. So he's doing this Turkey call. Turkeys are, I don't see a Turkey. How long? Two hours. No Turkey. I'm like, God. So anyway, we get back to the, we get back to the, you know, lodge and everybody's got like seven turkeys. I'm like, damn T-far. We got nothing. We suck. That night we have, we start getting in the whiskey and,

And I want to kill something. I didn't shoot anything. So we get in the whiskey. I asked him, how many can we shoot? We grab an SUV. Probably shouldn't have. We're pretty drunk. And we go around the property. They said like 25 is your limit. Jackrabbits. Yeah. Yeah. So he told us, kill rabbits. Okay, we'll kill rabbits. So we get in an SUV and two shotguns.

And we start killing rabbits. Now, were they pets in a cage or were they wild? Oh, no, no. Dude, these jackrabbits, they're intimidating. Moving vehicle, mowing these jokers down. And to our listeners. He's throwing pebbles like he's a biblical man. They had to be killed. We were told they had to be killed. So those of you who are offended by this. How many did you get? We killed. Truckload. Truckload.

Back in the back of the SUV. Dude, I killed one as tall as you, bro. That's not saying much. It is for a rabbit. I've never heard that. It is for a rabbit. So you're supposed to get it mounted for me.

Where is it? It's in my freezer. Don't say you will because it's been years. Have you ever eaten jackrabbit? We can. I don't want to eat jackrabbit. It's the funniest. We got back there that night and shot one by the lodge. These guys are freaking out. It wasn't good. We shot one too close to the other. I've had other people tell me about this.

That have done retreats after us. Oh, because of stories of you guys going out. Yeah. They told me, they're like, man, what the hell did y'all do? And I'm like, man, it got a little Western. We were a bottle in in this SUV and we were driving off-road and there was gunfire coming out. It's amazing. It was. Great time.

Really great time. That's what it's about. It is. The fellowship. Did Tulk have camo on in the blind? He had. He was wearing zero camo. I think he was dressed just like this. Probably so close. Running through cactuses, hurtling over them, shooting a shotgun. I can't believe I've never heard this story. But it's all about the fellowship.

And we wrote some great songs, too. Well, thank you all for having me on your podcast. We're glad to have you here. I was going to ask you one more thing before Kirk closes out here. Sling Blade, can you give us a line from Sling Blade real quick? What'd you kill Jesse for? I reckon I ain't got no reason to kill nobody.

That's solid. Ha ha ha ha!

so good one of my favorites excellent T-Far you're a great man you're a great friend we're so thankful you were here

what's the name of the song that's coming out? Coming to a Bar Near You. Coming to a Bar Near You. Make sure you stream that thing, follow it. If it's TikTok and do all the things. And speaking of doing all the things, if you're watching on YouTube, like, subscribe, follow us on all the socials at Try That Podcast. Are you following us?

No, he's not. Wow. I don't know. Well, you better now. Raised up right. That's right. Get raised up right. Ah, 4K low, 4 thrash. TK, I'm Kurt. We got Tyler Farr with us. This is the Tie That in a Small Town podcast. Thanks for listening. Make sure to follow along, subscribe, share, rate the show, and check out our merch at trythatinasmalltown.com.