YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED, Errors & Retractions a Surprise Guest :: Ep 18 The Try That in a Small Town Podcast
01:06:14 Share

We have an errors and retraction. Uh-oh. Yeah. Won't we the last? It's a good place to start. It is. It is a good place to start. So... We put out fake news. We did. That dump truck flying in the wind and spitting and going through people's trash. But you know what's funny about this? What a life. Actually, what's funny about this is that really the career path you chose as a songwriter...

You're never really that far from that. That's true. If it doesn't go well for a little span, you could be hanging off swinging in the wind. You can always fall back to it. That's true. With all the Copenhagen you want, bro. Oh, come here. Come here. There he is. We have a special guest in the house. We have a special guest. Oh, yeah. Uh-oh. Oh. The Try That in a Small Town podcast begins now. Welcome to...

To another episode of Try That in a Small Town podcast. We've got Tully. We've got Neil. Hold on. We've got Kalo. You're right. That is Kalo. That's Neil. And for people that don't know, may have forgotten, we are the songwriters of Try That in a Small Town, recorded by Jason Aldean. We've got a different kind of episode for you guys tonight, right? We're going to... We just put out a little thing on our Insta.

And, by the way, follow us at Try That Podcast. Isn't that it? That's it. Try That Podcast. All the socials. We're asking for questions, and we've got quite a few good ones. So we're going to take some questions. We're going to read some comments. We're going to go through it. It's going to be fun tonight. But first, as our producer Jim says...

We have an errors and retraction. Uh-oh. Yeah. Won't be the last. It's a good place to start. It is. It is a good place to start. We put out fake news. We did. Yeah, we did. Deep fake. Fake news. We're not CNN. But it wasn't on purpose. It wasn't on purpose. We didn't have all the facts. I do feel bad about it. So listen, let's read the comment first. It is from Eddie Arnold.

I don't think it's the. I don't think so. It is a guy named Eddie Arnold. Hey, guys. My band and I play the Tootsie Circuit on Broadway owned by Steve Smith. And we have never been told not to play Try That in a Small Town. In fact, we played it several times, whether by request or not.

We may even play it tonight. Great. I can't say what the airport Tootsies were told to do, but we... I should be wearing my glasses, but my band and I were not given any orders to not play it. So, there you go. We went off. Sounds like we said enough. Yeah, and for those of you who may not know, we heard that the owners of Tootsies said they couldn't play Trout in a small town. Airport Tootsies. So, Steve, we are sorry.

If you still want to come on, you can. You can. You can be great. Wade, we need to get Steve a six pack of our glorious beer. Maybe a mug. A mug, if he wants it.

We apologize. Without a doubt. Actually, though, there's a lesson here. I feel really bad. I think I've learned a lesson. We should have maybe checked that a little deeper. Yeah, we didn't vet it here. I think the vetting process was Neil gets a text and he says, oh, guys, here's our show right here. And then we just read it. And we didn't really check at all. And it could have been. I can't call my daughter's fiance a liar. No.

Well, no, you don't have to say. It came from a good source. It came from a reliable source. Yeah, I wonder. I don't think it's from... I think the problem is I think maybe whoever was singing at the airport tootsies got some bad info or he himself.

Didn't want to play it. We don't know. Maybe the singer misspoke. The point is, we went in my classic style. Zero to 60. Guns blazing. Immediately. Guns blazing. Steve, so sorry. Yep. Apologies. We messed up. We'll come in tonight and we can have drinks in the house at TG's. Which I'm sure he really needs because he owns half of Broadway. But still. Anyway, we apologize. I'm actually...

I feel quite bad. Well, like you said, it wasn't the first time. Well, actually, it was the first time on the podcast, but it will not be the last. I mean, I understand your reaction to it initially. I mean, our songs are like our children. Yeah.

When they don't get the exposure that they should. Someone's being mean to my child. Yeah. But Steve wasn't is the problem. We should have dug a little deeper. Right. Or we should have been able to say, well, it could have been a manager. It could have been the airport. But we just didn't know. And we went all in on the owner. Yeah. That's our first lesson in journalism. Yes.

It'd be hard to get on the news like this, guys. Yeah. And next thing we want to get to, we just did an episode about Emma who went to the Williamson County Voting Center, right? And she got turned away. I hope everybody saw that episode. I think it was really great and some good information. Neil, do you want to tell a story about something about that? Yeah. They saw the – everybody, I'm assuming, saw the episode with Emma. Yeah.

Holmes on here in the shirt that she wore to go vote in and the loves Jesus in America to shirt. And wildly enough, a few days after that, somebody knocks on my door and I go and I don't recognize him right off the bat. But it was my neighbor's son in law. And he happens to be chairman of the Williamson County Election Commission.

And he handed me this note, and I'll read like the last half of it. The last part of the first part says, I'm a huge fan of your work and your podcast. I also serve as the chairman of the Williamson County Election Commission. To put it plainly, we made a mistake in how Mrs. Holmes was treated with her Loves Jesus in America 2 t-shirt.

I wanted to let you know that we are going to take the appropriate measures to ensure this never happens again. I appreciate that you covered this situation on the podcast and the way it was presented. Know that we will do everything to make sure expressions of patriotism are not infringed upon again. Keep speaking your truth in songs and the podcast.

That's pretty commendable. Oh, yeah. That's amazing. I was like, I was like, I was pretty amazed that, you know, he did that. Not to stand up to him. Yeah. And he also apologized to Emma personally. Wow. Really? Yeah, he did. Which is really good. And that's, you know, the point of bringing things up.

because generally, we've talked about this before, a lot of times, conservatives, you're quiet and you're nice, you really don't say anything, then nothing happens. So all we do is just bring it to attention, and then things change. And when you're in the right and you're speaking truth, it's kind of easy to do that, but it's very commendable. And when I saw that and you sent that text, I was like, wow, that's amazing. Yeah, it was. That quickly. Yeah.

Which just shows how powerful our podcast is. I agree. That's what I take from it. But that's cool. That's very cool. It's actually very cool. And that's all you really want out of that scenario, right? Like you said, we're not here to be...

Just yelling from the bleachers or the front row. It's just bringing awareness, and there was awareness brought, and hopefully. So the four of us are going to wear our love Jesus in America too to vote in November, are we not? Sure. I'll see why not. I love Jesus. I love America. America too. And even in that, it was a lot like the airport thing with Steve Smith.

It's not, we don't know if it's the head people or if it was a worker or a volunteer just instituting their beliefs. Well, we don't know. That's what I've learned. So you don't know. Let's jump to conclusions. We don't know. I have learned. Yeah, I'm learning. You're right. No, but it's good for all of us. Yeah, it is. Yeah. All right, let's get to some questions because actually there is...

I'm surprised, guys. There's a lot of people that follow us, want to know some things. Let's see if we can't give back to the fans a little. This is unscripted. This is unscripted. I've noted a few here. Unlike the rest of our podcast. Yes. Okay. Hope Dover.

asks, if you had not made it as musicians and songwriters, what career path do you think you would have taken? That's actually an awesome question. Who wants first go at that?

I know, I know. Go, Kalo. So for me, I wanted to be either a garbage man at the time. Now, I think they're sanitation engineers, but back then it was just garbage man. Is this part of a joke or is this real? Or a mechanic. No, it's real because that's outside and you could dip Copenhagen. At the time, I wanted a job where I could –

I could work. I could hang off the back of the truck. I did not see this answer coming. And dip Copenhagen and get paid for it, and it was going to be fantastic. So that's what I was going to do before my mom and dad urging me in a different direction. You might be good at this. Anything. But that's the two things I wanted to do, even though I knew nothing about auto mechanics. It probably sounded good at the time, didn't it? Put a big old

fatty in and hang off that dump truck flying in the wind and spitting and going through people's trash. But you know what's funny about this, K-Lo? Actually, what's funny about this is that really the career path you chose as a songwriter is

You're never really that far from that. That's true. If it doesn't go well for a little span, you could be hanging off swinging in the wind. You can always fall back to it. That's true. All the Copenhagen you want, bro. It's right there in your grasp still. I did end up waiting tables on and off for like 10 years, and I won't say that I'll never do it again. I just hope I don't have to, but I will. I'll do it. It's good money. But that's the two things I wanted to do before the songwriting thing didn't work out. TK, what do you got?

I honestly, I would, I'd be screwed. I had no backup plan for sure. And I definitely only wanted to, you know, growing up in music and my family music. So it was, I don't know. I mean, it's a scary thought though. One little, one little weird fork in the road. Did you ever have any job besides playing? I know you played when you were young. No, and it really bothers Rich Redmond, our drummer. Yeah.

I've never had another job. Not a single job that you got paid for. I mowed lawns when I was 11 or 12 so I could buy a dirt bike. But I started playing out in bars when I was 14. And I just kept...

going and going and going until I moved to Nashville. So no, I mean, now don't get me wrong. There was some very thin times. Can you even put yourself in the moment if it didn't work, what you might've done? Or you are truly one of those people. Any other talents at all? Or just your basic rich kid? You're a very good skier. Oh, no.

What did K-Lo say? Just your basic rich kid. I hope my mother's not listening to this right now. No, it's funny you should say that, Kurt, because I think I tell you this all the time. I wake up, I'm like, wow, close call. I don't know. I mean, I guess you do whatever I would have had to do, I guess. I can't imagine it. But yeah, I mean, it's a...

Okay. Very, very, very... It's fair. I don't know what... I really don't. I mean, I guess I would have been working... That's good. I guess I would have done whatever. But you're... Yeah, that's great because a lot of people say, oh, I had no backup plan, but you actually didn't. You... Yeah, out of either stupidity or just being naive. No, that's great. Or it's just your path. Yeah. Yeah, I...

Yeah. I'm very, very blessed. I'm very lucky. And like I said, though, there are probably some times where I should have maybe taken on. I say it worked out. I think so. Hey, speaking of Steve Smith, though, I remember the first year I lived here. Back to Tootsies. Okay. Okay. Oh, we're tying it all together. I'm tying it together, Neil. I'm with you. I'm a journalist now. Okay.

No, I remember you talk about backup plans and stuff. The first year I moved here, like I said, I played out in bands up home and made pretty good money for being young. And when I moved to Nashville, I was playing in the Tootsies window. Now, this is before Tootsies was expanded to a back room and before there was football team and hockey team. So it was pretty thin sometimes. I played down there on some weekends for like six, 10 hours straight and made like $16. Wow.

Oh, yeah. And for the first couple years, I had no bank account here. I kept all my money in like a country crock buttercup. That was it. Bank account. That was it. It was a long time before I had a bank account. So the Tootsies, see, it all ties in. See what I did? Yeah. I love it. It's great. I'm depressed now. Neil, what would you have chosen if this didn't work out? Or did you have, I know you were a kicker. Yeah, it wasn't that hard.

I don't look good. Well, I do look good in a suit, but it wouldn't have been a suit job. But I was working construction a lot after I got out of college when I wanted to be doing my music the whole time. And I started working construction and started off picking up sheetrock and putting it in dumpsters and, you know, trash stuff. Kind of like, kind of like Kalo's aspirations. Yeah.

What he wanted to be. And I didn't enjoy being a trash guy at all. So I learned how to trim. I learned how to work with wood. And I finally got to where I could do trimming houses and lay tile. And I actually thought about opening my own tile company at one time. Wow.

And I was going to do that for a little while and see what happened there in case the music thing didn't work. But the music thing was always there, just like it was with Tully and all of us. One in your family, too. I mean, you grew up in a musical family. Yeah. Your dad. But, you know. You know what's funny about that, before we get to Kurt, this isn't really a job thing.

But my stepdad, I'd have to help him when I was like 14, 13 or 14. He'd build houses, contractor. So I'd help him. He'd go, hey, come help me. I'm pouring foundation today. And he had these, what's called like a form truck, big heavy forms that you'd pour the basement in. And that's when I knew-

that music had to work. Yeah. Because manual labor is no, yeah, I would do siding and, and help him with sheet rock, hold the sheet. I'm like, I remember thinking when I was 14, like, okay, this isn't for me, you know, not really a job, but yeah, enough to know, uh,

Oh, come here. There he is. We have a special guest. I don't know. Hey, come over here. No, get on a mic over here. Oh, no, no, no, no. Get over on a mic. Look at this. Look who's back for an unexpected visit to the Try That Podcast. I will start by saying you ever had a friend in jail, even on birthdays, only sent you Father's Day cards?

Well, all I have is a birthday bag. That's for you. Just for me? Yeah. I made you a promise. I didn't know it was your birthday. It's your birthday? What's up, Thresher? It took me a while to find it. What have you done? What did you do? Never opened. Oh, no. Look at that. Oh, he's had that for a minute. That is gold. I had to get that one in an auction. That's what took a while. I'm coming over. Traveling. What a moment. I'm going to try that podcast. Wow. Wow.

So show that thing for the camera and you guys explain what this is. You should be able to see it right there. This is the Holy Grail. That's original, obviously. Never opened. That's what I wanted to find. It was original. No words. I had this case. Well, I have no words. Yeah, I'm jealous. I don't have one of those. That's pretty amazing. That's amazing.

We were all on your podcast. When they say all, they don't mean all. I didn't know. Group text without Kelly. Just the owners of the podcast know. Yeah, I see. I had to run my credits to get through the gate. I'm feeling closer all the time. Well, you know what's funny? There's actually a Kurt and Lana thing.

I have no... We were just talking about moving to Nashville and everything and all that stuff and having to... It reminded me of selling all my Star Wars stuff to move here. I got like 230 bucks for it all and that sold it in this case.

This is unopened. That's vintage, buddy. Never opened. That's amazing. That's pretty amazing. And you know, we were talking about Silver. It's worth so much to me. We were talking about Silver on the last podcast, and this is who he is. I made you a promise, buddy. Oh my... Silver... That's amazing. That's amazing. Hold on, don't put it in. Act like it's genuine. I really do. Act like it's genuine for a couple more minutes.

Oh, yeah. There you go. No, it means a lot. You're such a good person. That's an awesome, awesome thing. But for real, I've got to take that bag back to my wife. I've had in the family for six years. Oh, this is amazing. Well, thanks for letting me crash. Yeah, come on. You're going to make another appearance on our awards. I didn't want to bring it on the road. I called Kurt and I said, this came in yesterday. I don't have any words.

Yeah, I just hope you have a big shelf. I know where this is going. Love it. I'm glad you love it. Thank you. That's incredible. Love you, buddy. That's a friend. Love you, man. All right, y'all go back to sleep. Man, silver.

That's our first surprise guest. That was fun. Wasn't that fun? I had no idea. You're really good. You're a good president. We couldn't say anything to you downstairs. He was sitting there. Oh, I see. Yeah, whatever. Caleb feels left out. Handstand, anybody? Well, what a surprise.

Dude. What a surprise. DJ Silver, we talk about this, is such a great human. He knew how much this meant to me, and I had no idea. It's pretty awesome. This is... I mean, that is, what, every year, 77? You tell me. This is the Return of the Jedi. Oh, okay. So, 80? Is that right? Yeah, we're in there. 83. 83 we got. 83. But like I said, when I moved to Nashville...

I financed my trip by selling all my Star Wars stuff to this guy. So this is crazy. I'm going to, I mean. It's pretty awesome. That's incredible. And again, that's who Silver is. That's who he is, though.

Man, I like that part of the podcast, getting gifts unexpectedly. Yeah, that's a first. It is a cool podcast. That's awesome. So back to Kurt. So we were... Oh, I'll quickly, just so we can get through some more questions. You didn't get to have your... No, no, it was good. I didn't necessarily have a backup plan either. I went on the road when I was 18 with my dad, and it was just like, oh, that's going to be cool. I'll be in a band. Yeah.

And that probably went for eight or ten years. And then I was going to be done. I was going to go to my backup plan, which was I actually went to broadcasting school for maybe... Really? Yeah. Which is where the voice comes from. No, but I did that for... It was probably a year and a half, and it was a trade school. You know, being a huge sports fan, it was like, well, I'm...

Short and white so I can't really play sports, but maybe I can be involved by sports journalism or something. So I was dabbling in some of that.

I should have did the game show, like you said. Game show host. Oh, you would have been the best game show host. That sounds fun. Yeah. You definitely got the voice for it. You could have been a pro golfer. That's going to be the next question. It's never too late. Okay. This is actually good because it's going to be good to remind people. It's from Stephanie, and I think it's to Neil. What? It said, what made you and Tully decide to start the podcast?

Did we decide to start the podcast? I don't know, but that's the question. So tell people why, seriously, why did we start the podcast? I think we all decided because people all over the country were selling merch. We'll try that in a small town on it. I don't think, yeah, because remember, to be transparent-

The podcast came about, we were talking about trying to get some t-shirts and some stuff with our song title on it. I know it started with, you know, I mean, it was like, and I know I'd mentioned it to each and every one of you about, aren't y'all pissed? I mean, it's like, look at all these freaking people, look at all these people everywhere, you know, profiting off of our podcast.

the title of our song. And you're not obviously outside of Aldine. You, you find it on Etsy. You find it on all these places. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it was, it was everywhere and it was just, and it started popping up everywhere. And then one day I was playing golf and I'm, we got finished playing golf and I ran into Wade in the parking lot at the, at the club over there. And,

And just, I don't even remember what I said to you, Wade. No, I'll just say, because I remember, because y'all were talking about it. And you said, yeah, hey, Kalo has got the trythatinsmalltown.com. He gets these dot coms all the time. That's exactly what happened. And so that's what happened. That's what got Wade intrigued. Because you got that, and then everything started coming together, and you had secured that. Because the story behind trythatinsmalltown.com was really cool, because we were trying to find it and trying to secure it, and saw that somebody else had bought it.

bought it or owned it. And we're searching for it. So who reached out? No, I got an email from GoDaddy.com saying, hey, we have somebody who wants to buy your... We had no idea that Caleb already had it. ...trymandsmalltown.com. And meanwhile, Neil and Lana were trying to get it. And it was kind of funny. And I found out it was Neil and Lana. I said, tell them 10 grand. LAUGHTER

Kayla, though, and that's obviously the impetus, but like,

What's our mission? Because I think that's important too with the podcast. Yeah, our mission just as we talked about it because we all, like Aldine took the most amount of heat because he's the voice. He's out there and he's taking everything. But we were also taking a lot of heat and the song to us got completely misrepresented from what we meant for it to be. It was a song that was

to unite people and look out for your neighbor and take care of people. And, and it wasn't divisive at all, but, but other people made it something that it wasn't. And so we were just kind of bound to term and said, Hey, let, let's continue this thing on and, and make this title. If anything, years down the road, people that hated it say, Hey,

you know what, I hate that song, but man, those guys are doing some good. They just built back Mr. Miller's Farm in Kansas last week doing a benefit playing their songs. So that was the beginning of it, I think. I think that's important. Hey guys, obviously in the middle of a great conversation, but we're about to go to an ad from our sponsor. Give us a minute. We'll be right back. ♪

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 not only tastes great, but it's under 90 calories and only two carbs. Easy drinker and perfect for the active lifestyle. Bring it. Original Glory. It's a veteran founded company with a deep love of country. Original Glory. Freedom is worth drinking to. Join the movement at drinkoriginalbrands.com.

And we're back. Thanks for hanging on with us. Hey, this is a good question. I love this. Let's get to it. It's from Michelle Newman. If you were stuck on a deserted island and had only one album with you, what album would you want it to be? I'm not sure. I guess you have a record player, too, so that's nice. But a deserted island playlist.

actually album what was it going to be really tough it's really tough because i can't decide if i want to rock or if i want something nice and easy wisely you only get one so pick wisely choose wisely lonely anybody got one well would we have anything to play it on you're on yes that's kind of that's not a fair question actually i'm gonna go um synchronicity by the police covers a lot of my moods

I feel like I can get through the desert with numerous tracks on that. Jason's looking for a new bass player as we speak. You're like the police, bro? No, Jason's looking for a new bass player as we speak because it wasn't one of his albums. I don't think one of his Desert Island albums would be one of his own. True. No, it's definitely going to be something I grew up on. Go ahead, Neil. I mean, because I would have a tough time if I want to, like, there's...

Man, I don't know. I mean, I guess while you're thinking, I guess I would go back to my, I mean, for me, high school, what I wore out is Hank Jr., Greatest Hits, Volume 2. That's a good one. Just over and over again. I just love those songs. A lot of them are happy, but it covers a lot of ground, and so I'd go back to the one I wore out the most. I love that. It's tough. It really is. It's really tough because, like you said...

You got to cover a lot of things. I mean, how do you not go with Henley? Well, that was actually going to be mine, Henley. Oh, sorry. In a real sense. Yeah. As much as it pains me to say Don Henley, that's a great record. Yeah. It's so good. Mine's probably going to be Keith Whitley. Good pick.

The only thing I'll say, and I love Whitley, that's a lot of sad nights. That sure is. It's just. You've got to cover the scope of the mood. You're on a desert island by yourself. It's cute. It's sad. Miami, Miami. Oh, come on. Are you kidding me? Sorry. That's a great pick. It's an impossible question. And you'd have Wilson with you, you know, a little soccer ball. Yeah. Okay, here's one. Another question. I like this one. From Jesse. Who's your favorite female songwriter?

Jesse who? Jesse Alexander. It's you, baby. It's you. She knew we were going to say that. Absolutely. That was a setup. That's an easy one. That was a setup if I've ever heard one. We love you, Jesse. She's by far, hands down, my favorite. Absolutely.

We all have a song on the latest record with her, right? Yeah. Rather Watch You. Go download that one while you're at it. Nice. She's got so many Blake Shelton hits. She's got a hit out right now. I don't know the title of it, but...

Somebody told me about it the other day. She's got one of the best songs of all time. I drive your old truck. Drive your truck. Give it. It's a huge, huge copyright. Okay. Here we go. Everything. She's amazing. This is from Kimberly. This is actually, this is a great question. Have you guys gotten a lot of pushback from family members about your political views and or after the song came out? This is actually a really good question.

Pushback, no, for me, but I do have, not immediate, but family members that have disagreeing views. So it is interesting, but luckily in my family, it causes division in some families. It's like people just don't talk anymore. That's not the case with me. Have you guys had any kind of family or friends that...

You know, disagreements that have caused an end to the relationship or a severing.

I'll go with the family thing first. You know, I will say I have an incredible family, extended family. And, you know, and I was, you know, telling everybody because, you know, like we always talk about, we're grassroots on this podcast. And so you send out family and friends, all the stuff. And I sent it out and I said, hey, you know, follow us on Instagram, all that stuff. And

And I had a large amount of my family that did. And then there was a few others that didn't. And I didn't think they would. And they may not be able to because of where they work in corporate America. They may not be able to follow that. And so...

It doesn't have anything to do with the... I'd never mention anything to them about it, but you just kind of know the ones that don't. But we still have Christmas and Thanksgiving and everything's great. But no family rift or anything like that. As we've talked about before, it wasn't one of those hits that we had out that...

all your buddies are saying, saying, hey, congrats on that Aldine single. Love it. You know, like you usually get that because it's very hard to get on the radio, you know? So I didn't get many of those from the normals that I would get from friends. Nope. Nope. All in the land. I'm from Alabama. Nope. Tell me anything. Well, you know, I have a very large family.

My mom and dad divorced when I was two, so I've got a very large family on both sides. One small set of my family tends to lean the other way, which is completely fine. It was fine until they bought into all the mess around the video. You know what I'm saying? Right. Which, that's the only thing that bothered me. We never really talked about it, but it was a thing where...

They thought there was racism involved in it. And I didn't even take part in that conversation because it's ridiculous. It was media spun. So, but like I said, it's family. It's nothing we can't get over. Yeah.

I think that's the important thing. And that's the thing. It's like, I mean, politics is that. I mean, family, I would hope people have bigger bonds and love that you can disagree about things. And, you know, and I think we all have the same thing, which we have faith. And we know that whatever happens, we still have that. You know what I mean? It's like...

Politics is just that. There's going to be Republicans voted in and Democrats voted in, and at the end of the day, that's not what really matters. Well, it matters this year. Well, yeah, our family argues more about college football, like SEC, because you've got Georgia, you've got Tennessee, you've got Alabama and all that, so we argue more about that than politics, which is more fun.

Okay, let's go through these. We've got a couple of really good ones from JustB1224. What's the best part about being able to do this podcast, the hardest part, and do you feel completely free to speak your mind? Anybody want to take that? Those are good ones. Wow. Best, worst, or hardest, and do you feel completely free to speak your mind? I do. Okay.

I know you do. I do. A lot of what I say gets edited out. That'll make it. Now that part will make it. But a lot does stay in there.

It really does. Is there a hard part? The hard part, I'll jump in. We've been on the road all week last week, right? We were in Canada last night. We flew in early this morning. We have two days in town. One of our days is here. So you don't get as much family time as you would hope or need. That can sometimes be the hard part. I think for the most part, we feel pretty free to speak our mind. I mean...

There's things we might not completely dive into, but for the most part... Well, and it's fun getting together. Yeah. Because we were so close. That's definitely the fun part. That's a great point because...

we're all really close, right? But we don't really just talk on the phone together. This is our talking time. It really is. Yeah, it's when we're getting to know each other, you know, because we've said this before, like Neil and I have been riding in buddies for a long time. And, you know, Try That in Small Town was our first song that we'd ever written together. And when that happens and you have that kind of success and everything, you become...

Very close, very fast. Rearview Town was our first song we wrote together. Not the four of us. Oh, you're talking about the four of us. Yeah, yeah. You just said my name. But that wasn't our first song. It was our first hit. Well, we've had other radio. It was our first number one.

Yeah. Ooh, we've had other things on the radio, but anyway, my, my point was in saying that, that like the fun part is doing something you hadn't done before, you know, like we all talk individually or text and said, Hey, we got this coming up and we've got this guest and do you know them? And, and just kind of researching and getting to know people that you don't know and do something outside your comfort level, but talking about things that you enjoy.

and just the camaraderie and the friendship and just knowing, saying, hey, we're getting together tonight. It's going to be fun. We're going to hang out and talk about stuff and just kind of learn as we go. I love talking about politics, but I don't love talking about politics. And that's what's hard. Actually, I'm glad you mentioned that because it's,

I don't think any of us are afraid to say what we're thinking, but I'm afraid to say something that isn't correct, like happened with Tootsies. So now I'm like in my- But you know what? And as we're learning- That's okay. Because we're not news anchors. It's just like my opinion on something. That's all it is.

And I really, sometimes I don't think people care. It's just that they get it. They get bombarded by people's opinions every day, every minute of the day. Well, and hopefully, and I think you're right, but hopefully the distinction is or will be, we're not gaslighting is a new term, but you know, it's like, we're not doing any of that. We're not just trying to get clickbait. I think we're just trying to speak from the heart.

And that's the difference. You can't turn on whatever news channel, Fox, MSNBC, CNN, any of them, and think you're really getting messages from the heart. I think that's what we're trying to do that could separate us from that thing. Hopefully. I agree. Okay. That's a good one. Love you guys and love the podcast. Yes. What's the most memorable, oh boy, road story that you will never forget about

and or can tell it can be collective or you can all share one from your times on the road that's a great question oh i think that was directed to you too there's a lot of great road stories um some of them they've already heard about the fight might be well you beat kelly's ass we've already heard that one

And just so you know, these guys, you guys have been on the road plenty. You can share anything. You were out there quite a bit on your own as an artist. You were also out there quite a bit. Yeah, but I wasn't making any money. But usually those are the best stories. Yeah, right. I do remember one time when I was in Steubenville, Ohio. Oh, we know Steubenville. Yep, yep. And I was in like one of those one-level motels.

And, you know, the shady kind. Oh, yeah. Yeah. And I remember calling Lana from a pay phone, and she was crying. You remember that, Lana? She was crying, and I said, what's wrong? And she goes, we just got our first, like when I had my first hit as a writer. I was on the road doing radio tour as an artist, but Diamond Rio had cut, like, that's what I get for loving you, and it was my first hit. Oh, that's a good one. She had the first check.

than we had ever gotten. Oh, she got the check. Yeah, she's holding it, and that's why she was crying. And she's like...

She thought it was a mistake. Like, there's no way. And so that was a cool road story. Because I'm out there not making a dime. I think people don't realize that the poorest you'll be is when you're just starting out as an artist. Yeah. Radio tour, you're doing everything. Every penny goes to the band and fuel and whatever for the van that you're riding in. And you're in the hole, actually. Yeah. It's...

Yeah, there's a great story. We haven't talked about it. And this isn't like one of those crazy late night drinking, crazy road stories. But one of my favorite memories is we had finished, I think Hicktown had peaked and the record had just come out, Jason's first album with Hicktown on it and Amarillo Sky. And we were on the release, like the album release tour. We were doing some clubs in the Southeast promoting the release of that record.

And we were all walking on the beach midday. And the number came in that we had sold 28,000 albums the first week, which was really good for then. And I remember thinking, we were all out there pumped up that, OK, now we can maybe stay on the road for another year or two. And just the joy in that was pretty great. Just I remember looking back on those days. It's easy where we are now to take it in. And it's huge. But yeah.

It wasn't that way then. It was like every song was a big deal. What was it going to do? Then the album comes out and is it going to, is anyone going to buy it? Right. You know, I think a lot of people ask about favorite memories and kind of to what you were saying, it's not necessarily stories, but it's those moments. And it's always in the beginning, kind of speaking to what you were doing too, when you,

You didn't know if it would work. And we were on the road 320 days a year. And the bond that you form during that time when you don't know what's going to happen and you do something with your brothers, that's what you look back on. And I think we've talked about this a lot when Hicktown was the first single and Hicktown

There was the first gig that we knew that it might be working was in Portland. Do you remember that? We played the show, and it was the first time that people were singing it back to us. And it was like they were into it. And we were like, oh, my God, they know the song. They know the song. And it was kind of like you said, this could work. This could work. And those are the years you become a band.

It was us and Jason, a five-piece band on the bus together with a sound guy and a guy just doing some merch or helping the monitors, all crammed in one bus and going from club to club.

And that's when the band became a band. That's when it was like, okay, playing 220 shows a year or whatever, not coming off the road. So yeah, those memories are, that's what I find myself looking back on as the years go by.

K-Lo, you got a road story? Yeah, I got one. As y'all were talking about that, I was thinking about one. It was years ago, and Ashley Gourley and I were going out on the road to write with Scotty McCreary.

So they actually had us a bus, you know, full on bus drivers stocked and everything behind him and going. It was just me and Ashley in there. And I thought, that's freaking great. We're rolling like rock stars. We got our own bus and everything is great. We got snacks and drinks, all the stuff in there. And we're just kind of getting ideas. You know how it goes on the road. You're riding with them, you know, in between interviews and things like that.

But it was the first night, and it was probably about 3 o'clock. I mean, we weren't even in bed. So they stopped and everything and stopped on the side of the road, and then like eight people piled in. They just kept going on and carrying all their stuff.

Like, what the hell? This is our bus. This is our bus, you know? And so one of the buses broke down, you know, the band bus or crew or lighting, whatever. And they're all filing in. And I was like a child. You could see the excitement disappear from my face thinking, my God, three nights. Now there's 12 of us, you know? And so that was my terrible experience.

Bus story because it started out as Elation and Rockstars and ended up, you know, we were riding in the front of the bus, you know, with eight other people just looking at us and stuff. It was a little awkward. This is a good question and interesting from Chris.

We saw you all in December 2019 in Vegas. What was it like coming back for the first time since the Route 91 shooting? What kind of emotions were you all experiencing coming back? That's a good question, and there was definitely emotions the first time we went back. And to kind of even maybe backtrack a little further, I remember the first time

We took the next weekend off right after the shooting. And then we did Saturday Night Live. And that was great. And then the next show back was in New Orleans. And it was outside in a very eerie type of setting where there's a lot of buildings out in front of you. And that was probably the one show that since then I had a hard time because you're just looking out and going crazy.

This is weird. Yeah. Yeah. So that one was hard for me when we went back to Vegas, it was weird to go back and it was weird to see the hotel that, you know, the shooter was up at and they still have the venue fenced off and closed off. And that was kind of weird as well. So yeah, there, there was a lot of feelings. What was great about it is that there were a lot of fans that came that were obviously at the original show and,

And this is any time we go back, even in the area. There's a lot of round-I-1 family there, and they're always holding up signs, and you get that connection with these people immediately. It's unexplainable, and you can't even describe it, but you see them, and you just go, yeah, that's family. So that's kind of like my thoughts on it. Yeah, when we went back,

I think we're all the same where it's like, I know that we're all, those emotions generally come up for the victims. I don't think we look at ourselves as victims. I think, I know for a fact that we think about the people that didn't make it out of there. That's what makes it hard. I mean, I think we talked about this before, but it's in our DNA to kind of,

move forward and get out there and do what we do. But the victims didn't have a choice. So that's what makes it hard. Like every time I go back there, thinking about that, you know, because they were there seeing us. It was our crowd. It was our fans. Make no mistake about it. It wasn't anybody else. It was our fans, Jason's fans. So there's automatically a little bit of natural guilt that comes in that, you know. But yeah, but Vegas, you know,

Negus has always been so good to us.

Like we've played Vegas so many times. And when that happened there, now it all just means a little more. It's a different thing, you know? But we spent a lot of time there. We do. Some of the first shows we did as a band were playing outside the rodeo in December. Freezing. Playing four-piece, like Kurt was playing with gloves on. And we were staying in one hotel room. Oh, yeah. Just the fingertips. Yeah. Right.

I remember playing Amarillo Sky outside the rodeo finals. Is the finals in November? Oh, yeah. In December. Out setting upside where people are walking up, just walking past us. We were playing Y in Amarillo Sky. Got scarves on and gloves on. That's what I mean. Those road stories. That's a good road story. We're in one hotel room. Oh, yeah. So we go back.

We've played Vegas so many times, and I guess it was, you know, I always say that, not to sound weird or anything, but I really do believe that we were meant to be on the stage that night, you know? So it's just another thing that we have connected to Vegas. Yeah, 100%.

Okay, here's another great question from Kathy. I'm sure it's too late. It's not, Kathy. But my question is, if a politician slash advertiser wants to use a song that an artist has recorded but did not write, and they say no, but the writer-writers okays the use of the song, who has the ultimate say?

Jeez, that's a lot of information. That's a lot. I'm sure my question, if a politician advertiser wants to use a song that an artist has recorded but didn't write...

Well, the artist has a final say over everything. I would say, yeah, first off, especially if it's like... Well, no, not necessarily. No, I'll just say like in this family, let's say, because that is a tough question, it's Aldine, right? Right. So he's going to have that say, and the songwriters are going to go along with whatever he says. That's happened before. It happened to us. Yeah. It happened to us and Aldine. Yeah. With Flower States. And so in the publisher, in a different scenario...

That'd be a tough one because you have a lot of publishers. Yeah, but I think the artists... I don't think you can make an artist sing a song he doesn't want to sing. They have to get permission from the publishers first, the copyright owner first. Yeah. Yeah, but they're asking if they want to use the recorded song, right, Kurt? I think so. Yeah. They want to use the recorded song. They're not doing anything without the artist. No, they can't. That's a fact. That's a fact. I think that's the... Whatever the artist says, everybody has no choice but to...

go along either way. That could get ugly if one of them, you know, one party said it was cool and yes and all that could get a little dicey. But if the artist, I agree, if it's the recording that the artist has, the actual recording of it, yeah, I think that's what she's asking. The record label can shut that down. We might need a lawyer.

We need a lawyer anyway. But I think ultimately in that sense, let's say if it was, you know, hey, we want this song played at the Democratic Convention, the DNC, right? Yeah, the recording. And we're like, okay, the artist doesn't want that. That'd be easy enough for the artist to say, no, we don't want that. And the writers aren't going to fight for it and say, yes, we want it played. Writers have no say. Yeah, we wouldn't have say in that. We have no say. Because we always want what's best for the artist because it's best for us.

Okay, I'm trying to find, I remember the question, but I don't see who the name is, and I'll get to it, and we'll make sure you get taken care of. But the question was, for all of us, what's your favorite deep Jason Aldean cut that you didn't write? You guys have a- Speak wisely. That we didn't write, though. Speak wisely. He's insinuating you should say Flyover States. Deep cut. Yeah. Deep cut wouldn't be a single, right? No. Yep. Right. What? What?

Deep Cut. What does Deep Cut mean? We have the same one. It was, oh boy, Grown Woman. Okay. It was on the, what record? Do you remember? Record number two. Grown Woman was a song that I know Brett James wrote. Yep. Right? Yep. And I don't know who else, so forgive me, but Miranda sang backup on it. It should have been a single. It's a great song. Go listen to Grown Woman. I like...

Do I now? Back in the Cigarette. It's a good one. Yep. It's a good song. Mike Mobley. Man, we're getting some honest shit out now. I can't remember the other writer. I'm so sorry. There's another writer on it. But it's Back in the Cigarette. I really don't like that question. Well, you'll like this. Choose wisely. You'll like this. Mine is Rock and Roll Cowboy.

Oh, really? That's actually a good one. I feel like that's a big old hit. So they missed that one by not putting it out. And you can't put them all out. You just don't have time to put them all out. You just don't have the window for it. Deep cut. I love that song. Does that just mean album cut? Yeah. Is that what that means? Yeah, just something kind of hidden away. On Aldine. Yeah. Yeah.

That you didn't write, which is harder for you than anybody. Which is harder because you have the most Aldine cuts. You only have three options on each record that you didn't write. Because my songs are like my children, so I can only think of them. Unfortunately, it can't be Last You Cry. Then you know what? You don't even have to go deep cut. You can just go favorite Aldine song. No, I can't do that.

That's a toughie. I don't know. Well, make a – I don't understand. Because it's – I always think – Decision 24. I got to be honest. I'm like – because I've had some stuff on him that I thought were –

Let's go with that then. Fantastic. I mean, I was like, wow, why did that not come out? And I'm still mad. Well, then let's amend the question. What song of yours that wasn't a single do you wish would have been a single? See You When I See You. See You When I See You. Yeah, it's a great song. It's a great song.

He asked me and Kurt about it, and we said, that's probably not a single. And ironically, they had the next single. The label picked it. They didn't pick it. It was the label. No, it's amazing. As a matter of fact, we played that in our show for a long time. We played it for a few years. Great song.

Great song. Here's a very blunt question, blunt answer forthcoming from Grant Cagle. The question is our buddy Grant. He says, Yankees or Red Sox? Well, I'll jump in. Red Sox, and I'll just leave it there. Red Sox, lifetime Red Sox fan. I will say I miss the hardcore Yankees.

Yankees Red Sox days. Yeah. I'll leave it there. Grant's a friend of ours. Both Neil and I know Grant. He's a fan of the show, and he's also a huge Yankees fan, let's just say. And part owner. Sorry, Grant. Red Sox. Yeah.

Hey, I got a question for y'all. Oh, yeah. If you could be invisible for one day... Oh, my God. This is amazing. Oh, wow. This is the kind of stuff we need. If you could be invisible for one day, what would you do? Oh, boy. If you could be invisible for one day... What would you do? This is like... Uh-huh. I don't know if I want to answer this. I know, right? I'm not going to answer this. Do you have an answer since it was your question? No, I don't. I just...

Invisible for one day. If you could be invisible for one day, what would you do? A whole day. Yes, a whole day. I mean, I'm probably so old. Where would you go? What would you do? I would want to be wherever the president was all day long, Air Force One, Oval Office. You'd hang with Trump. And I want to see whoever it is. I just want to hear what we're missing, like what we don't know. Wow. That's actually a great answer. That's what I'd want to know.

i was going to say something you know what and i'm going to send that question out to the fans too i want to know what they would do if they could be invisible for one day but right now i want to know what tully and kurt we know what kayla would do and it's a fabulous answer what would totally hurt i thought it was just going to be i'd lay around all day and hope no one actually was going to say i actually was going to say go to the white house yeah which is as in-depth as yours but i was curious i'd like to sneak through those jfk files and stuff

I can do that, right? Yeah. Can I feel things? Just look. You're invisible. You can do what you want. Yeah, you're just invisible. Yeah. Can I touch things? I mean, not inappropriate things. We're not talking about ladies and things. Neil, you got something? No, it's on you, bub. I have no answer. I'm completely creatively devoid or void of any answers right now. It's a tough one. It really is. There's so much that we'd want to do.

I mean, go hang out with Tiger Woods. I mean, the list goes on and on and on. Yeah. Jump on a flight. Nobody would know you're there. Fly wherever you want to go. You can get in anything. You can get in anywhere you want to get. My mind's going to different places. But you only have a day to do it. I don't know. Fans, send in your answers to that question. That'll be good. Okay, this might be the last question, and it's good. From Ed Frankovich. Frankovich.

I heard Kenny Chesney recently say that songwriters have a tough time right now making money on their songs. Ooh, we're going there. I imagine that this is how the whole publishing thing got hot and heavy. I love songwriters. Is there any way that you can explain this to the fans? Well, I'll let Neil take no sir, but just in layman's terms, just so out there listening know, if you hear our song on a radio station,

You know, like whatever, whatever the wolf, we're making money. It's what they call terrestrial radio. If you hear our song on Spotify or Pandora or whatever streaming, we're not making any money. And it's heartbreaking because you're going to have a song that can stream millions and millions and millions of times, and you're making almost no money. Neil, take it away. Okay.

I can give them a comparison, and so can K-Lo. I mean, in the 90s, in the early 2000s, all the way through the first decade of the 2000s, when there were still CDs, we made really good money on mechanical royalties. If you had two or three cuts on a Jason Aldean record that sold two or three million copies...

we made a really good living on mechanical royalties. Sales matter. Sales matter. And it could still matter. It could still. Now, I mean, they could make it where it still matters. They could make it where X amount of streams...

They could do that. But just to go back to what you're saying, albums used to sell three or four million albums. Hard products. So you would make money for being a part of the album. I made my retirement in those days with Rascal Flatts and Jason Aldean. I had 50-something songs recorded by Rascal Flatts. I've had 30-something songs recorded by Jason. And those were on the big records. Those were when CDs were the big thing, and they were selling hard copies, millions of them.

And we did really, really well. Thank God. Today, if you move to Nashville today...

and you wanted to make a living at it, good luck because it's all about streaming now. It's all about streaming, and they still haven't gotten it. Even though they've fixed it a little bit, thank God for NSAI. Those guys are warriors, and we love them, and we thank God for those guys every day. But it's still not right, and NSAI is still not happy about it, and they're still fighting for songwriters to get these rates up and get –

get it to where it's feasible for people to move to town and write songs for a living. Yeah, you're saying the industry has moved to streaming. Unfortunately, they haven't found a way to make the songwriters get paid accordingly for that. They don't want to find a way. Yeah. Well, and for the ease of math, and we're talking about mechanical royalty, which a mechanical is a physical sale. It's what it used to be. Like you go into Walmart and you buy something that's a mechanical royalty sale.

And so let's say you have one song that was on a record that sold a million records. So for the ease of math, let's say the statutory rate for mechanicals is nine cents. Okay, so you get nine pennies per song.

So if you're on a million records, that'd be $90,000. And let's say three of us wrote that. And let's say it's me, Curt, and Tully because Neil gets so much already. And so out of that, you know, that $90,000, it's split into 30s, right? Right.

And so, but you have the publishers that get a piece of that too. And so you got, you know, 15, 15, 15, which you can recoup from that, but you might've been writing at that publisher for a few years. So you might be on a, you know, platinum record, a million selling record and still not make anything or recoup.

But you could eventually catch up, and especially with mailbox money, if you get anything on the radio, that's the money we can live on. Nowadays, that's really the only way to make a decent living. And that's getting in the weeds a little. It is a little bit. But here's the thing that bugs me. They've adapted those to make it work for the producers and the artists and the labels still.

But they have not gone out of their way to adapt the fact that streaming is now the king and that there isn't physical CDs sold. Everybody else has adapted just fine. It's that they haven't put the value on the songwriter. And then look, we're producers. We produce. And hey, it's great, right? Yeah.

But the value of the songwriter is lost, and that's why the quality songs are down. Yeah. Even as musicians, we get paid for streaming maybe more than we do as writers. Hey, I was fixing to say. Yeah. There was one year that I made more money. Singing, I bet. Yeah, singing background vocals on records than I did as a songwriter. Yeah.

That's crazy. Anyway, hopefully that explains a little. Caleb, you said you wanted to give somebody a shout out. What do you got? One other thing on that, if you don't mind. Yeah, absolutely. Because we're all kind of dealing with it, and I just had a lunch with my publisher Friday talking about it, is that you have – you're writing with artists now that –

You write a song and you feel like, okay, that could be a hit. And then they said, yeah, I'll hit you with a demo. But you don't get the demo. What you see is you go on social media and they've released half the song on their socials.

Right. It's like, oh, wow, that's my title and everything. And now it's out there for the for the whole world. And you're not making anything on it that you're not. That's not even a streaming thing. No, it's on Instagram. I'm making a thing on that. And so so now we're having to try to go to publishers and say, hey, if we're going to write with artists that are going to just release stuff socially, we have to have something, you know, be able to own the master a little bit, something like that. So anyway, we're really in a spot now.

to where it's really cool for the people releasing it, but the writers are still not making anything and the law catching up with the technology, we're always behind. That's it. The law is catching up with the technology. It's just way behind. It is a great subject. I know we're running long, but

This is a whole podcast. We could do a whole podcast. But I think it's interesting, though, because I think people think when they hear a song, no matter where they hear it, like, oh, you're making money and the writers are making money. It hasn't, like Kayla said it best, look, me and Kurt have been inside the Spotify building in New York City. For some reason, the writers have been left behind when it comes down to the splits. And

I hate it. I was just talking to a young writer last week and they're like, I want to move to Nashville. I said, don't do it. I said, the odds, hey, don't do it. I said, the odds of you achieving what I, we have achieved are not great.

And it's just not set up for that right now. It's not set up for success as a writer just to get stuff streaming. And the sad thing about that is this kid could be the greatest songwriter that fans have ever known, and it still wouldn't matter. Well, and we've talked about this before, too. It wouldn't matter. It's all kind of relative in the time you can tell that kid that.

He's probably still coming. That's fine. And he might find a way. I'm just, you know, I'm not a, well, that's another podcast. It is. Actually, there's a lot of ways. I'll let it go. Who asked that question? What's his name? I let it go, but we'll get back to it. Ed Frankovich?

That's a good question. Wow. People are curious. You have the Buchanan worms, Frank. Thanks. But it's good, though. No, it's great. And by the way, to all these, and Kayla, I'm going to get to your thing here in a second, but I just want to make sure people know, we put out this thing on Instagram, said, hey, send us your questions. First of all, thank you for doing that. We're going to send you something fun. Could be this mug.

Might be that mug. So we're going to go back through and make sure we hit everybody that got their question on air tonight. Can we send Steve Smith something?

We better. We should. And also, I just want to give D.D. Williams and Amore Price a shout out because they've asked a couple of questions. They're good friends of mine from high school and always follow me. Any kind of town thing, you know, they're always there. And we've already kind of covered those questions. But love you guys. Thank you very much for listening to us and keep spreading the word. Absolutely. I mean, thank everybody for listening. And this is, I mean...

Guys, we've gotten to a point where we can actually put out a thing on Instagram. Say, send us your questions. I love the questions. And people asking the questions. I do too. That's fun. That's pretty awesome. It actually is. The interaction's great. Yeah, I loved it. So the Instagram handle is at trythatpodcast. I believe that's the same for X, for TikTok, for Facebook. Watch us on YouTube. Like, subscribe, right? Yep. Kalo says what?

Download. Download. Smash it. Smash it, y'all. Listen, from TK, I'm not going to say Neil. Kalo. Neil. I'm Kurt. Listen, that is the Try That podcast. Here's to another one, boys. Yes, sir. Cheers, everybody. Y'all be careful on the road. Let's get that RV. Boom. Make sure to follow along, subscribe, share, rate the show, and check out our merch at trythatinasmalltown.com.