E309 Morgan Wallen
Episode Stats
Length
1 hour and 32 minutes
Words per Minute
224.15985
Summary
Morgan Wallen is a country music singer-songwriter who just won the CMA's New Artist of the Year Award for his newest album, Whiskey Glasses. We talk about growing up in the 80s and 90s, how he got started in music, and what it's like being recognized at the airport.
Transcript
00:00:00.000
Sometime you wake up in the morning or anytime and you need a sipper.
00:00:09.420
It creates that flow state that you've been wanting.
00:00:14.420
It has adaptogens, nootropics, and all types of magic in it.
00:00:31.980
and really just a young legend in entertainment.
00:00:36.780
He just won the CMA's New Artist of the Year Award.
00:00:43.820
I mean, he's just, the dude is just dang talented.
00:00:46.860
And we're happy to have him here today, Mr. Morgan Wallen.
00:00:49.960
It's like, I thought comedians 10 years ago could say whatever they wanted.
00:01:20.800
And now it's like, comedy's even getting restricted, right?
00:01:24.280
That sucks because some of the funniest jokes are the most messed up ones.
00:01:28.260
Well, I think now one thing you're seeing, though, like in clubs,
00:01:30.580
like say in, like Denver has a club where they will
00:01:39.000
So it's this company even that they have like these little bags at the front.
00:01:42.180
As you check in and get your ticket, they put it in there.
00:01:44.980
So you get to keep your phone, but there's no way for you to unlock it.
00:01:48.980
So then, at least then, it's like the environment is still safe,
00:01:53.160
but all it takes is somebody who's being risque.
00:01:56.280
It's not like they're patting them down or anything.
00:01:59.620
There's not like a T-Mobile mascot out there, you know, for it's good or anything.
00:02:10.800
Do you think about, I don't know, does that play the same in music
00:02:18.580
I mean, I guess if I were to write a lyric and I was, you know,
00:02:22.760
thought somebody might get triggered by it, maybe.
00:02:25.420
But so far, I haven't, so far, I have not really even considered that.
00:02:31.120
Dude, people, yeah, people love your music, man.
00:02:34.820
I was at a funeral, I'm not even joking, probably about seven weeks ago,
00:02:42.200
What was the album that Whiskey Glasses was on?
00:02:58.580
I mean, he's made it not only for the living, but for the dead.
00:03:14.040
I, you know, I just, I went to the airport the other day and got recognized.
00:03:18.980
This girl came up to me and I was trying to be incognito, you know, like somewhat.
00:03:29.160
But I had, you know, I had a mask on and had a hat on and stuff.
00:03:32.960
And I had my back turned to her and she came up and poked me in and was like, hey, are you
00:03:43.380
And before we, before she left, I was like, by the way, how, how'd you know it was me?
00:03:56.340
You might have to get like a little, you have to get something.
00:03:59.100
You might have to get some shapes and specs or something.
00:04:00.740
Well, on the way back, I, I put, I just wore a hood and that, the hood was fine, but
00:04:07.180
like summertime travel, I'm not sure what we're going to do there, you know?
00:04:09.980
But that was my first time being in an airport by myself in a long time, really since I haven't
00:04:15.300
been in an airport by myself in probably like three years.
00:04:18.580
So, and then since quarantine, I haven't been in an airport at all.
00:04:28.180
Cause I noticed this, like it used to be like, I would feel, cause I mean, I get recognized
00:04:34.860
I feel like that you're on, like, especially with music, like people are, you guys are rock stars,
00:04:38.900
you know, like we got to come up with some serious riddles.
00:04:48.140
Um, but I noticed having the mask is really nice because then it's like, if I want the,
00:04:52.880
uh, the, the possible, the, the dopamine hit I get from somebody who recognized me or
00:04:57.980
whatever, I can, I can, I can make that happen.
00:05:02.320
Well, sometimes I'm sure you might get recognized too, just based off your hair.
00:05:06.160
I'm sure that might be the case, but yeah, the hair doesn't help.
00:05:14.380
I think, you know, it's like, well, do you want it to work?
00:05:16.280
You're probably going to have to deal with being recognized sometimes, you know, it's
00:05:20.780
It's just, it can be a little, especially just, you know, just realizing you might be being
00:05:25.920
It's just, it's a little weird, you know, it's like you feel a little violated, you know,
00:05:30.720
Um, but the mask thing, you know, maybe I don't want masks to be required forever, but
00:05:35.460
maybe like for the next couple of years, it won't be weird if you're, if you're wearing
00:05:38.120
a mask, you know, stick one on for the next couple of years.
00:05:41.940
Well, the air, I like it on the airline because for one, I noticed everybody's quiet on the
00:05:46.700
It used to be maybe there's some loud kids, you know?
00:05:49.480
Um, and then also I feel like, like I started to feel this pressure sometimes where if I wasn't
00:05:54.440
in first class, then it would make, then I would be like, people would think something
00:05:58.640
of me like, oh yeah, it's my own thing in my own head.
00:06:02.580
Like, oh, they're going to think I'm not success.
00:06:05.780
So like, then it's kind of nice if I can't say, if it's just a last minute fight, there's
00:06:11.040
And as long as I have my mask, I'm pretty safe, you know?
00:06:17.400
It's like, oh, you want to, I'm doing something.
00:06:20.020
I got four number ones, but surely he's got a lot of money, you know?
00:06:22.800
He got four number ones and why is he in 16D, you know?
00:06:31.980
Now, is it kind of crazy going from, like, I noticed there's a moment where you're good
00:06:42.900
You know, like, just as an artist, as a performer, as just a human being, you know it, but other
00:06:49.540
And for me, that always felt like a kind of a special kind of place.
00:06:53.140
It's like, I know how capable I am, but everybody else kind of doesn't really.
00:06:58.300
But then you break the levy there and then it's like, everybody just knows.
00:07:04.240
It's almost like the secret has been told, kind of.
00:07:08.640
I mean, and I think at that point, you know, it's like, before people know, you have something
00:07:15.720
Like, I got to show them because I want to, you know?
00:07:17.860
And then once you get kind of past that, they start expecting it from you.
00:07:21.380
And then you're like, oh, I got to prove it for them now.
00:07:23.120
So it's like, it's just two different kind of places, I guess.
00:07:25.680
But hopefully you can hold on to proving it for yourself for a long time because I think
00:07:28.940
that's more important than proving it for anyone else.
00:07:34.640
I think just the more success you have, the trickier it gets is what I'm realizing.
00:07:38.080
I don't even know how to put all of it into words, but there's just so much going on
00:07:40.940
at once, you know, like somebody, they expect this and, you know, they think they've bought
00:07:45.560
in, they've cared about you for so long, so they have to, they have a say in what you
00:07:49.720
It's like, they almost feel like they're half your manager or something, you know?
00:07:52.460
So it's like, you got to be careful about listening to it and reading into people's
00:07:56.780
comments too much because you, I mean, they love you because you're you, not because of
00:08:03.160
I wish you lived in my head, bro, because I go down the other path.
00:08:05.420
A lot of times I'll start like, you know, I worry so much like, what do people expect
00:08:09.500
now and like, how, how would I behave, you know, sometimes, you know?
00:08:14.120
And I'm sure for you guys, it's even a total, it's at an even more grandiose level.
00:08:18.440
I don't live that, I don't, I don't always live by what I just told you.
00:08:21.500
I sometimes, I'm not, like, do as I say, not as I do, but I try to, you know?
00:08:29.260
Like, there'll be days where I'll go down that rabbit hole and I'm like, God, dude, this
00:08:33.740
Because so many people have so many different opinions, there's no way to, to please all
00:08:38.420
But some days I wake up and I'm like, hey, I'm gonna do what I want to today and I just
00:08:45.200
Now, do you notice like, uh, yeah, you said there's like fans, like whenever you have fans
00:08:49.480
from a long time ago that have been with you since the beginning, kind of, it is interesting
00:08:53.320
because you'll kind of listen to them and sometimes I'll almost go to them for like a point
00:08:57.280
of view of myself that I feel like I can't get anymore.
00:09:01.180
I, I, you know, there's some people, it's been so long since we've, we've played shows
00:09:04.300
who haven't seen their faces in a long time, but I mean, there, there was this one guy
00:09:07.740
in like the South Carolina, North Carolina and anywhere in that region, he would come
00:09:12.800
And I'd always talk to him, maybe have a drink with him or whatever.
00:09:16.260
Um, and then there was this lady and her, and her, uh, family member that they came
00:09:19.880
to, I don't know, like 20 something shows, like, you know, in a year or something, something
00:09:24.380
And those, you know, you start seeing those faces and you start, I don't know, you start
00:09:27.480
really appreciating them and start caring for them.
00:09:29.200
And I, and I, yeah, you know, if I look for a comment, I'll, I might look for theirs first
00:09:32.500
and be like, yeah, yeah, you know, they, they get it, you know?
00:09:37.360
Like I used to have a couple of people that would drive to different shows, like come one guy
00:09:40.740
drove his, like, he had this like beautiful car he'd refurbished and he brought it up from
00:09:44.800
like Tallahassee and drove it up so I could see it at a show one time, you know, just because
00:09:50.360
we'd had an interaction online and it was just like, man, it's pretty, it was just interesting,
00:09:54.620
But then I felt next thing I'm riding around the block in his car and stuff like that,
00:09:59.200
The fans you kind of have from the beginning, you know, it is.
00:10:01.240
I mean, at that point you don't really think about it.
00:10:02.960
You're like, you know, you may be like, oh, well,
00:10:07.520
But the, the longer, the longer you get going and the more people that jump on the wagon,
00:10:13.120
you kind of, I don't know, you just never forget them.
00:10:18.900
But you can't like, it's, it's interesting because in the beginning you can kind of have
00:10:21.640
a beer with that one guy or you can kind of have a beer with that, you know, the mom
00:10:24.900
and daughter that came and you can give them a hug after a show and there's, you know,
00:10:28.500
you can hang out outside of the venue and spend a little bit of time with people.
00:10:34.780
And yeah, I mean, for you, you can't, I mean, you can't do that anymore.
00:10:38.940
And like I said, it's been so long since I've, since I've even played a show.
00:10:41.660
I feel like things have even for, for us, the last, since the last time we played a
00:10:45.920
show and now things have grown so exponentially.
00:10:49.180
I mean, it's like unreal how much they've grown.
00:10:51.420
So I don't even, I'm not even sure what I can, what I can, can't do it inside in a venue,
00:10:56.280
you know, because it's just, it's just so much different.
00:10:58.740
But yeah, I remember we used to play some, you know, we, we started playing shows,
00:11:02.120
me and my booking agent, we, we had a, you know, a whole plan, you know, instead of
00:11:05.820
going and opening for other people, playing, you know, clubs and, and theaters and opening
00:11:11.060
for someone, let's just go do our own thing in these tiny places and build it from the
00:11:15.340
So like, we would go to like, I can't remember, like the boathouse in Myrtle beach or something.
00:11:19.940
It was called something like that, you know, and I would, I would play a, I'd play a show
00:11:26.380
No, no, I don't even think it was on the water.
00:11:34.060
But I can't remember what, I don't know if that's the exact name.
00:11:37.200
Man, that's like an oyster bar, but they only have lamb.
00:11:40.740
Um, but that would bring, I would bring people up on the bus and I was like, that's when
00:11:45.360
I first got a bus, you know, it's like, I was, I probably wouldn't even, I wasn't making
00:11:50.240
Yeah, if you, if you have a bus in the beginning, you'd lose money to pay for that bus.
00:11:55.720
And, uh, but I would bring them up there and I'd play them songs, like four or five people,
00:11:58.900
I'd play them songs on my bus, you know, just on the guitar and they would hang.
00:12:01.440
And it was like, I think that those are moments that I, you know, I didn't realize how,
00:12:06.060
how unique those moments were at the time because I didn't, I didn't know if I was going
00:12:10.480
I didn't know if I was going to make it any further.
00:12:11.880
I didn't know if I was going to get another bus.
00:12:13.260
I didn't know if I was going to get a tractor trailer.
00:12:14.820
You know, I didn't, I thought I might have to give this bus back real quick.
00:12:18.700
So, uh, but it's looking back now, it's those moments were really unique and special.
00:12:22.960
And, uh, and I know I'll, I'll remember them and I think they will too.
00:12:27.660
It's interesting how like, um, yeah, those moments, it's like they just kind of disappear.
00:12:33.200
I mean, you always have them, but you can't go back and relive that exact same thing a little
00:12:38.080
And I think that's part of what makes them unique and special, you know, cause if you
00:12:41.160
could continue to do them, then it would just not be a special for, for anyone.
00:12:45.600
And I think that's part of, you know, the, the, the mystique about something like that.
00:12:50.040
Um, but yeah, it would, it's, it's, it's funny to think about like the, the steps that
00:12:55.620
you take to, to get where you're going and how beautiful a lot of those, you know, those
00:12:59.400
things, those moments that you, once you look back, you realize how unique and special
00:13:03.400
they were, you know, and you don't, once you get to a massive scale, it's kind of just
00:13:06.960
like a lot of them are the same kind of deals the whole way through, you know, it's like,
00:13:15.280
Everybody's kind of, it becomes a little bit more like a Best Buy kind of a little bit,
00:13:21.040
But we got a question right here from a fellow that sent this in right here.
00:13:34.240
And this question for both of you guys, I just wanted to know, uh, when you guys were
00:13:38.540
up and coming and making your way, whether it's in standup or in country music, did you ever
00:13:43.280
book a gig or show up to a venue and there was only like two or three people there?
00:13:47.180
And since you had already booked and weren't being paid, you just had to power through.
00:14:22.880
Um, probably my most notable one was like, I don't even know if I'd gotten a record deal
00:14:30.860
It was right when I first moved to Nashville and my booking agent was like, cause I had
00:14:36.280
a band, you know, and he was like, well, I'm gonna, we're gonna, I'm gonna send y'all
00:14:39.300
out on the road and play some cover band shows and just make sure, just get you guys in your
00:14:42.320
band just a little tighter and, you know, make sure you guys are good.
00:14:53.440
But we were singing like, like we were playing like a long, long sets, you know, like a couple
00:15:03.360
Except I think weddings paid a lot better than this.
00:15:07.220
And, you know, there would have probably been some hot girls at the wedding.
00:15:33.760
And so what they told us was we were going to go to Greenville, North Carolina.
00:15:50.620
We get there and like the first thing the dude says to us, he's like, yeah, by the
00:15:55.800
None of the frats or sororities are allowed to go out this week.
00:16:02.660
You know, maybe there's some people that stuck around this town that are a little younger.
00:16:06.180
Maybe there's some people that dropped out of school that are still milling.
00:16:08.300
Yeah, or they didn't make to the frat, you know?
00:16:13.280
We'd go up there and so as soon as he starts saying that, I start pounding PBRs.
00:16:17.740
Just in the middle of the day, I'm like, oh, this is going to be.
00:16:22.520
That's the North Carolina State Burr, the PBR, dog.
00:16:29.240
But, man, we get out there and I'm pretty lit, dude.
00:16:33.980
And like, honestly, we have not had a chance to practice that much.
00:16:37.480
And there's a bunch of songs on this list, you know?
00:16:42.040
So I'm damn near making up words with these songs, lit, singing.
00:16:47.940
And there's like four people, you know, one person kind of dancing a little bit.
00:16:57.080
But I start midway, like, dude, I'm like halfway talking shit to the crowd.
00:17:05.520
I'm just not having a good time, you know, not feeling it at all.
00:17:09.340
You know, telling my band to replay the chorus.
00:17:13.800
I'm like, let's just keep this song going because I don't know the next one.
00:17:17.280
And it was like one of those moments where I knew I didn't want to do that.
00:17:25.640
And you just don't ever know what you're going to get.
00:17:27.120
So I think that moment, I'm pretty sure one of my buddies that I brought with me, like,
00:17:30.920
told the guy his bar sucked and, like, he got kicked out of the bar.
00:17:35.740
You know, one of the five people there was my buddy and he got kicked out because he was
00:17:40.820
And it just, but it was one of those moments where I was like, well, I need to get it
00:17:43.480
We really need to, I want to make something of this.
00:17:47.660
I really don't like singing other people's music the whole time.
00:17:53.820
And that was like, that was the worst one we ever, the first one was the worst one.
00:17:59.100
And you're still with some of the same guys today?
00:18:01.340
Everybody in that band is still my band except for my, one of my guitar players and it was
00:18:06.380
He, he just got married and wanted to stay at home.
00:18:09.340
I remember you talked about that in a different interview.
00:18:25.420
This was in, this was like university in North Florida or something.
00:18:32.500
You're like, I don't know if this really is school.
00:18:35.700
There's like 18 schools in Florida and that ain't, that's, yeah, they cut it off.
00:18:44.820
You know, like this shit ain't, this ain't checking out.
00:18:47.680
So they're like, okay, we need you to go out there, start the show off.
00:18:51.600
I go out there, but these kids do not give a fuck about me.
00:18:55.540
All they care about is seeing their friends who are performing because each one of the
00:18:59.260
Greek groups had like one of, they're doing something.
00:19:01.800
They're doing like a, uh, you know, they're playing a song or doing a skit.
00:19:07.920
So I go out there and I guess they didn't consider me talent.
00:19:11.000
So I go out there, but they're, they're booing.
00:19:13.660
So I'm just ripping through my material because it's all I have is my only weapon.
00:19:18.100
My only weapon is just these words that I have, you know, and only have about 15 minutes of
00:19:23.140
So I burned through that in about seven minutes, you know, uh, yeah.
00:19:26.700
Because part of your thing is like pausing and none of that.
00:19:31.400
Well, every time I pause, I can feel how much more they hate me, you know, these pauses are
00:19:39.360
I bring out the group who's performing coming out next and I get backstage and they're like,
00:19:44.480
Uh, and they're like, you're back up in three minutes or something.
00:19:50.480
You'd had no more material for 15 minutes each.
00:20:00.120
Like the third time, the third time I picked up an American flag that was backstage and just
00:20:22.260
But by the end, it was almost funny that I kept coming out.
00:20:33.060
But the one that hurt my feelings most, I had a special that came out on Netflix probably
00:20:54.200
I've been doing this for, you know, nine years, 10 years.
00:21:06.300
And there was just one like, and one girl came, bro.
00:21:13.160
And it hurts you because it makes you think like, dang, dude, I wish it wasn't her who
00:21:34.600
Yeah, I mean, I love linebackers, too, you know.
00:21:37.340
Yeah, no, she was, she was, she was just, and I still, I think I did actually end up
00:21:46.900
She came, you got to, you appreciate her, you know.
00:21:53.500
And I actually ended up, years later, she came up to me and said, do you remember me?
00:22:03.400
And I was actually pretty grateful she'd come, because she was one ninth of the audience,
00:22:15.020
So you were having this, that was when they filmed the Netflix thing?
00:22:28.560
Isn't, isn't, I mean, that's, that is a, that's an interesting thing, you know.
00:22:31.440
You get, or like, for me, it'd be like Spotify or something, you know.
00:22:34.060
Like, all right, I got on, I got on Hot Country, surely.
00:22:39.720
Just because some, just because the editor really cares about me means everyone in the
00:22:44.900
It's like, it's not always how it goes, you know.
00:22:46.660
You, you, and it's interesting to think you, they just got to care about you, not because
00:22:51.860
some, not because Netflix does, or because HBO does, or, you know, those, those people
00:22:57.880
It's not like, they're not God telling these people to, to watch, you know.
00:23:03.980
I think I always did, especially when I was coming up, I gave the media that power.
00:23:08.100
Well, I think the media probably had a little bit more power when you were coming up, you
00:23:11.380
know, because they didn't, or even maybe a little further than that, because that was
00:23:15.620
a lot of people's only way of, of getting to see you.
00:23:18.720
You know, there wasn't as much social media, there wasn't as much YouTube.
00:23:25.180
And now it's like, somebody offered you a TV show, I said, I've turned down television
00:23:29.180
It's just like, I wouldn't, I would just have more success, because I found success eventually
00:23:35.420
You know, and going and doing things like Joe Rogan, like guys like that, like saying, come on the podcast.
00:23:39.500
And then that's what changed me, at least people being able to at least see me for me, you
00:23:44.960
know, but like you're saying, they more of a natural thing.
00:23:49.500
It's something about like, they can push it as many times.
00:23:51.640
You can push the spins as many times they want.
00:23:53.520
But if there's not something, I think that they, if there's not something deeper in there,
00:24:00.560
And like for, for, I mean, I don't know what it, I don't, it's hard to put it that into
00:24:04.280
It's like, I don't know what, what it is that people like about me or what it is that people
00:24:07.460
like about you, but clearly there's something that they are drawn to, to that they feel
00:24:14.660
A lot of people just think they have to be a certain way or do a certain thing.
00:24:19.460
You know, I better buy a Conestoga wagon, you know, I need a couple, I need a cowboy hat
00:24:26.060
now, you know, it's like, it's not, you know, I don't know.
00:24:28.340
They, I think they just really know they can, everybody has a really good way of sensing out
00:24:36.460
I think authenticity is definitely becoming more and more of a commodity than it used
00:24:45.140
You know, like if you're, if you're not, then I guess you're just out of luck.
00:24:48.720
You know, like if you're just not a cool person, then.
00:24:57.200
So it's kind of like, if you don't, if you don't have both, then you're.
00:24:59.940
You got to have a certain amount of authenticity, dude.
00:25:04.420
I worked on this cotton soybean farm and, and corn over near like Louisiana, Mississippi
00:25:25.300
But he always used to be like, man, they named that truck after me.
00:25:27.900
I'm like, dude, they never, they don't know nothing about you, but you know, you got to
00:25:34.940
But he would, uh, so one time, uh, they had a lot of tornadoes would come through there.
00:25:39.700
So you have to go lay in one of the ditches whenever, if you were out there working, like
00:25:44.380
Like, so one day a bit pretty, there's a pretty good twister in the distance.
00:25:48.260
So we're scared, you know, so I run over, I lay in, he comes in behind me, lays right
00:25:54.920
I guess it's fine for me, but it's just like, damn, dude, we must have 400 yards of ditch
00:26:03.920
He used to go, after it would rain, he'd go take his shirt off and lay on the concrete,
00:26:07.900
And just let that, like a snake, you know, chest down.
00:26:11.360
Just let that heat get him, you know, just the heat coming off the concrete.
00:26:19.700
I think he was definitely, he was a little bit shivering.
00:26:22.740
I'm sure when it came to school work, he made him shiver a little.
00:26:26.700
Here's a question right here from a young fella, man, who sent this in.
00:26:36.580
Just want to say big respect as a fellow mullet man or aspiring mullet man.
00:26:42.360
And my question was, Morgan, what is the craziest town you've performed in with the wildest
00:27:03.220
Dude, it's good to know we're about to take France over.
00:27:11.040
The wildest place for me, I'm not even sure exactly what the town was called, but it was
00:27:23.200
It sounds like a map on Call of Duty or something.
00:27:27.120
Yeah, like right outside of Toronto, somewhere.
00:27:36.020
I was like the headliner for the B stage or whatever.
00:27:45.240
I've never played a show that loud, and I've never just played for an audience that was
00:27:49.420
that, I don't know, rabid for the material and for just what we were up there doing.
00:27:57.200
I mean, I played Whiskey Glasses, which I don't even know if it had became as big of
00:28:03.780
And after I played that song for 10 minutes, literally, maybe more, I just sit there, I
00:28:07.920
stood there, and they cheered, and it just kept getting louder.
00:28:12.860
It was like, you could tell that they really connected to the music and to what I was doing
00:28:20.660
And to this day, I have never played a louder or routier show.
00:28:27.540
Canada's always been really good to me, actually.
00:28:35.360
Dude, so far, those are the only two places I've been outside of the U.S.
00:28:40.660
I was going to go before Corona and all that stuff happened.
00:28:44.560
But yeah, man, maybe it's because, I don't know, we don't get to go there as much.
00:28:50.040
They know that this might be a thing that doesn't happen as often.
00:28:55.600
And I'm not talking shit about American fans by any means because there's places that have
00:29:01.520
But that one was just particularly just unreal.
00:29:06.620
Man, actually, I came on stage the other night here somewhere at the comedy club here, and
00:29:11.100
it was one of the craziest moments I'd had in a while.
00:29:15.920
It was just like a Monday new material night or something.
00:29:18.520
And I mean, I think they must have cheered for like a dang minute.
00:29:26.900
Some people just want to, they relate to you somehow and they want to see you, you know.
00:29:30.740
So it's tough as a performer for me, as a comedian, it's tough to try and feel like I can return
00:29:35.120
that from the stage, like return the emotion that people share with you.
00:29:38.680
Does it feel like that for you ever, or is it different with music?
00:29:53.080
But in other moments, you know, there may be times where I may, I may be so focused on
00:29:56.960
what I'm doing or whatever that I may not even realize how much emotion they're giving.
00:30:00.300
You know, I'm so, I'm playing, you know, 75, 80 minutes, 90 minutes of songs.
00:30:04.300
I'm so focused in on that and feeling that, you know, I may, I may not even, I may bypass
00:30:09.320
some, something that they felt, they felt like they gave, gave me, you know.
00:30:12.520
I don't know that we're all ever on the same page, but like I do really try to, to pay attention
00:30:16.400
to, to what they're doing and, and, and let, and let them know that I appreciate it.
00:30:20.980
Every time I get on stage and, and, and once we get to get back on stage, I think it'll,
00:30:27.660
It's almost like you're waiting for, it's like this rocket ship just keeps just buzzing
00:30:31.400
around your house and that you just can't get on it, man.
00:30:34.180
I mean, you're on it, but you're just, you're still on the ground.
00:30:40.520
Cause it's, it, a lot of artists are probably thinking, man, how am I going to make do,
00:30:44.360
how am I going to get, create an audience during quarantine?
00:30:48.000
Well, I was definitely concerned about that when it first happened.
00:30:51.720
I was, I was, I was concerned about a lot of things.
00:30:55.420
Because I really rely on other people to, to like inspire me, you know, like I really
00:30:59.940
like having conversations that inspire song titles or inspire just thoughts with other
00:31:09.800
Um, uh, you know, obviously I haven't really been, I haven't been quarantined as much as
00:31:19.600
Hey, every now and then a rabbit gets out the cage.
00:31:25.100
You scored more in Alabama than the volunteers have in a damn decade.
00:31:42.120
You're about seven for seven from the, from what I've seen, bro.
00:31:46.420
But yeah, it's, it's, uh, I don't even know what we're talking about, man.
00:31:52.540
Yeah, it's interesting because a lot of artists, I mean, for a lot of artists, it's like, like
00:31:56.600
all my friends, half of your friends probably, there's nothing they can do.
00:31:59.440
You know, at least, at least we have this, like this business is a business that's done
00:32:02.760
well throughout quarantine podcasting, you know, it's like, can still do it.
00:32:11.180
I mean, I've done a couple like private things, you know, just small top things where everybody
00:32:17.740
But, you know, you can only do so much of that and you can only have so many people.
00:32:20.820
And so that, that kind of something I had, that's something I haven't really been doing
00:32:24.820
I did that more towards the beginning, but, um, I, for me, I didn't, I didn't know.
00:32:29.160
And then like the whole TikTok thing started happening with my song.
00:32:31.720
So I just started trying to take advantage of it, you know, like, okay, well that song,
00:32:35.100
they really, they really responded to that song and I didn't even mean for it to happen.
00:32:38.840
So maybe I'll give them one on purpose now and see if, see if they'll start building up
00:32:41.680
every song the same way they did the first one.
00:32:43.240
And it seemed to be a really good strategy for me as far as leaking out, you know, demos
00:32:49.080
or whatever, which I've also learned don't leak, probably don't leak demos because people
00:32:54.440
And if you change it in any sort of way, like towards the record, they'll be like, oh, you
00:33:02.980
I was just trying to see if you liked the song or not, man.
00:33:05.220
I didn't know you're my producer now, but, um, it's, it's been interesting to see the
00:33:09.800
power of just social media because I didn't really, I didn't appreciate it as much before
00:33:16.520
So you, you think that it definitely had something to do with helping your music grow throughout
00:33:22.340
Obviously the music is the main thing that you need to have good songs, but as far as
00:33:27.260
promoting it goes, I don't know how else I would have done it at all.
00:33:31.200
I think people just hearing good stuff too, you know?
00:33:38.980
I mean, I think, you know, even you just probably meeting a strange women, I helped
00:33:46.280
I mean, I'm just doing shit that normal people do.
00:33:49.400
But of course I'm gonna get, I'm gonna get hate from, from people, you know, that, that
00:33:53.140
don't, don't, that wouldn't be doing that in the first place.
00:34:00.440
I would have got hate whether it's COVID or not for doing that.
00:34:09.220
And how am I supposed to write songs if I don't live my life, first of all?
00:34:12.000
And, you know, obviously maybe I don't want videos or everything I'm doing, but I don't
00:34:22.680
There was a, you're outspoken about like, yeah, why can't we go touring?
00:34:26.400
And, and, you know, and it's time to, you know, to get people back on the road.
00:34:31.240
And, and I just want to hear, so people think, oh, just this artist can't go, but you have,
00:34:38.460
you affect the livelihoods of a lot of people, you know, and not you, any, any big performer
00:34:43.060
And so who, how many, take me just through whose livelihoods you affect, like just so
00:34:48.080
people know who, you know, that it's not just you.
00:34:50.160
I don't even know if I can, I don't know if I can think of all of them.
00:34:53.660
I mean, I have, you know, my, my booking agency, my booking agent is one of my best friends.
00:34:58.560
You know, he, they make percentages of what I can go and make on the road, basically only
00:35:04.660
I know, I know for a fact, my booking agency has had to fire and furlough a ton of people
00:35:12.000
Then, you know, I have my label, my management, you know, my label makes more money off my records.
00:35:16.920
So that doesn't affect them as much, even though we do get to promote our, you know,
00:35:26.420
But my, but you know, my management team, I have my tour manager, I have my assistant
00:35:30.540
tour manager, I have my band, I have my guitar techs, I have my stage manager, I have my
00:35:36.220
I have all kinds of people who are getting the show together too.
00:35:40.260
Not to mention the local guys who are doing the, you know, every different town we go to,
00:35:43.780
there's a bunch of local people that rely on that income to make that happen.
00:35:47.800
But my guys, you know, like they all have families.
00:35:49.340
They all have people and I, I paid them for as long as I could, you know, I paid them
00:35:55.320
And then at some point I'm like, well guys, I, I'm not really bringing in nearly as much
00:35:59.640
So I can't continue to just keep dishing out money, you know?
00:36:02.980
And I wish that I was able to, but, and, and, and I know I get it.
00:36:14.640
There just seems to be no, it's just seems to me like it's a double standard.
00:36:24.080
But God forbid we do something that is all, that's going to make people feel good and
00:36:33.400
I think, but there should be some sort of a plan where it's like, let's lock up our
00:36:39.300
And then people that want to make a choice to go have a good time can make that choice.
00:36:43.900
That's kind of, that's kind of what I've said from the beginning.
00:36:45.560
It's like, okay, well, if you're, if you're at risk or you think you're at risk, that's
00:36:56.220
I know so many of my friends have had COVID and they're, it's not, I'm sure it's not fun,
00:37:01.940
And I think people forget about immune systems.
00:37:05.760
I don't know if that's like, did that just, did that just disappear?
00:37:12.840
If you wash your hands probably 40 times a day, you probably don't have an immune system
00:37:19.180
I just, you know, and, and then if you really look at the numbers, I was, I was watching the
00:37:23.320
news last night and like Tennessee, like, they're like, oh, five people have died.
00:37:30.200
Five people die every weekend in a runaway church van accident.
00:37:37.120
And like, if you listen to the numbers, like, oh, death, gee, gee.
00:37:40.640
It sounds scary, but I mean, God, why do they want us to be so scared?
00:37:50.140
Why, you know, I don't, I just don't like that.
00:37:52.180
And they, and they, no one mentions how many people are depressed and using drugs and using
00:37:56.860
alcohol because they can't provide for their family.
00:37:59.400
And they're feeling like they're worthless because of this.
00:38:02.860
I bet you there's more people committing suicide right now in Tennessee than there are dying
00:38:14.440
He said, I just couldn't, I couldn't even, I tried to get it.
00:38:20.380
And it just, cause I think at a certain point it starts to make me think, why can't I make
00:38:27.280
I have with other things like, you know, I should be able to make a choice and we should
00:38:31.880
be able to hold on to pieces of our society that still make us feel good and that are
00:38:36.040
And if like, obviously I don't want to contribute to no one's death or anything like that.
00:38:39.500
That's not the point I'm trying to, that's not what I'm trying to do.
00:38:41.720
I don't think anyone's trying to cause death, but you know, if we want to have a show,
00:38:45.700
If you're still that concerned about it, sign a waiver.
00:38:53.320
Put some responsibility on human beings, you know, cause it almost makes you feel like
00:38:57.540
is, I think, uh, is there any value in being, then what's the point of even being human
00:39:13.340
I mean like, Oh God, there's a new COVID next year.
00:39:21.080
They set us up perfectly for a lot of future COVIDs, man.
00:39:25.620
And it's just, no one likes to do any sort of research or look at data.
00:39:29.200
They just look at a headline and assume it's accurate.
00:39:33.400
And that's just, that's just not how you should be.
00:39:36.280
I don't think, I think you should do some stuff for yourself and educate yourself, you
00:39:39.760
And I'm not claiming to be all knowing about COVID cause I'm not, but I've seen some data
00:39:45.200
that just makes me think I shouldn't be as scared as they think I am.
00:39:56.080
It's like, you know, my mom says, well, if I get it, I get it.
00:40:00.080
You know, it's like some people have like, they're not as scared.
00:40:03.180
You know, some people are just, they're holding so close onto their life.
00:40:16.440
And I was wondering, what's it like being two Southern boys that travel the country year round?
00:40:22.200
You know, where do you see the most cultural difference compared to where you're from?
00:40:35.200
I mean, New York to me, when I first went to New York city, that was the craziest thing
00:40:38.580
I thought first, first place, first time I ever got on an airplane, I went to LA.
00:40:50.060
And I think I realized how, I guess, how much of a redneck I sound like when I get out
00:41:06.820
I ain't never heard anybody talk like you before.
00:41:08.560
You know, it's like, you don't really think about how much difference in one country there
00:41:13.960
And they get scared too if they hear a Southern accent.
00:41:25.340
There's so many, like, I don't know, just stigmas about the South that are funny.
00:41:36.820
The worst thing is, there is something funny, though.
00:41:39.820
The Southern accent, it's great, but it also sounds dumb sometimes.
00:41:44.360
It can really ruin it, because it's like, you can be the smartest person, you show up
00:41:47.480
with a Southern accent, and you don't get the same consideration.
00:42:01.960
Probably from, I guess, television, probably, is where you would see, you know, it was always
00:42:05.240
the, like, Southern, you know, the redneck-y kind of guy.
00:42:07.940
Yeah, and then rednecks, I've said this before a ton, is it's the last people they still let
00:42:17.280
That might just be part of it, but I don't, and I guess, you know, a lot of people from
00:42:21.360
the country and who you consider redneck don't have as much education, you know, as far
00:42:27.240
They may not be book smart, but they'll get your car back on the road, you know?
00:42:33.820
Well, my sister, she's pretty country, and she's the happiest person I've known in my
00:42:40.480
It's definitely a more simple way of living out there.
00:42:43.360
You know, I mean, you may be busy all the time.
00:42:45.160
You may be getting up at sunrise and going to bed at sundown, or, you know, not quitting
00:42:48.740
work until sundown, but it's just like, I don't know, there's not as much, I don't know,
00:42:53.600
pressure, it seems like, you know, to fit a certain mold.
00:42:57.180
Yeah, I was on a date the other day with this gal, and she said that they didn't live by anybody
00:43:02.640
They lived in, like, rural Alabama, and she said, so the only guys that would come literally
00:43:06.120
were her cousins when they would come over, like, a couple times a year, so a couple of
00:43:10.080
her siblings got in, you know, trouble with the family for smooching on the cousins, but
00:43:21.700
But it's just interesting, man, when you have limited options, man.
00:43:27.800
I didn't, I grew up, you know, decently rural, but not that, you know, I saw, you know,
00:43:37.780
I don't think we were, we didn't have the same last name.
00:43:41.680
Dude, you got to at least wait for a tall trick-or-treater to show up, you know what I'm saying?
00:43:47.720
Sean, let's pull up that question you played when you played for me earlier.
00:43:54.420
This is Jason coming to y'all from Who That Nation.
00:44:01.280
Out here on these tugboats, keeping America moving.
00:44:05.220
My question for Morgan Weiland is, if you could create a song with any artist, any genre,
00:44:10.540
past, present, future, who would it be and why?
00:44:19.460
Looking forward to that new double album release next year.
00:44:27.880
Who would it be, you think, out of the past, even?
00:44:29.680
I don't think I've ever seen the inside of a tugboat before.
00:44:35.140
And dude, that job, you have to get born into it a lot of times.
00:44:37.600
If it's in Louisiana, I think the laws are that you have to get grandfathered into it,
00:44:42.520
Like your grandfather has to have done it like it's a family job.
00:44:46.980
I mean, it sucks if you don't have a grandfather.
00:44:52.660
I bet they got a couple of bad water bitches out there, man.
00:45:02.120
even 21 Savage, who would be somebody to be across?
00:45:05.860
Oh, well, an artist of any time, like past or present or future, like,
00:45:10.040
I don't know about the future, but the Eagles, man.
00:45:17.200
Their music just makes me feel at peace, you know?
00:45:20.960
I think probably because I grew up listening to them a lot,
00:45:23.500
and just their sound is so harmonious and beautiful.
00:45:27.540
I love, if I could do a song with the original Eagles,
00:45:33.340
But if I could do a song, like, right now with somebody,
00:45:42.140
she kind of just don't care either, and I like that.
00:45:50.720
I've never been on the side of, like, oh, this kid's a punk.
00:45:56.420
You know, I'm like, this kid's, like, 15 years old getting thrown into the spot.
00:45:59.820
I'm 27 and not even close to the level of fame that he's on,
00:46:07.100
But this dude's 15 getting thrown into the pop world.
00:46:09.600
Yeah, the dude's eating now and laters and going to, like,
00:46:19.920
But so I've never been, and I've always kind of felt that for him.
00:46:23.180
Even before I, you know, had anything to do with music,
00:46:25.700
I was always like, dang, why don't people get off this dude's bag?
00:46:30.580
Yeah, he came actually to one of my shows in New York, actually, last year.
00:46:33.460
Him and Carl, a pastor buddy, he has Carl Lentz, who's also a friend.
00:46:39.000
I don't know JB as well, but I've met him a couple of times just through church and stuff.
00:46:49.700
And he's finally, like, really getting back on his feet.
00:46:51.860
And that On God track that he did is really good.
00:46:54.100
Man, I think, I've always thought he was a talented, uniquely, like, top-level talent.
00:47:33.760
Speaking of other artists, what's this question right here, Sean?
00:47:57.620
I just, I've always liked his music a little better.
00:47:59.820
You guys probably have good stories to tell, too, probably.
00:48:07.980
I don't know if that's a compliment or a compliment.
00:48:18.440
If you were Latino, you'd be Johnny De Niro, you know?
00:48:22.060
No, I'm sure he's got some crazy ones to tell, man.
00:48:27.180
I even love some of the music that he put out, like, when he was getting older.
00:48:30.500
He just always had a really knack for songs and, obviously, just being somebody who's
00:48:42.600
When he also got to, like, you had that video recently.
00:48:46.820
It's almost like a short movie, and it's, like, there's some acting in it by you, kind
00:48:53.820
Did you feel like, I thought you did a good job, man.
00:49:02.800
I've always kind of, not always, just in the past couple years, I've thought about doing
00:49:06.880
a little bit of acting in my music videos, you know?
00:49:08.720
So, and this one seemed like, we've kind of made it to a point to where we can, you know,
00:49:13.760
we have a little bit more leeway and a little more budget for our films and, you know, that
00:49:18.800
So, me and my manager just decided this, we can do it on this one, and, you know, came
00:49:24.100
up with the treatment with my director, and I was asking the girl, the actress that was
00:49:30.400
with me, I'm like, you know, because she's, like, been in some legit stuff, I guess, you
00:49:33.860
know, like Netflix and all that kind of stuff, and I was, you know, hey, how am I
00:49:39.060
Am I like, are you feeling all right, you know, with this?
00:49:40.880
And she's like, yeah, you seem like you feel comfortable.
00:49:44.660
So, I don't know, I didn't have to, it's not like I was doing a whole, like, I wasn't
00:49:48.740
really acting, I wasn't, like, having to change my accent, or.
00:49:51.880
But you were being yourself, but it's hard to be, it's really hard to be yourself, it's
00:49:56.020
It is, I think that's the secret, it's like, you know, you got, that camera's there, so
00:50:00.420
it makes you want to perform, but you, and you do want to perform, but at the same
00:50:03.500
time, you want to, I don't know, pretend, I don't know, it's weird, I don't
00:50:06.860
even know how to describe it, it's like, the camera's there, but it's not, I don't
00:50:16.240
I don't know, I had a meeting with a director for a possible movie for next year, so I'm
00:50:23.560
going to, a decent role in the movie, so, I don't, that doesn't mean that I got the
00:50:29.580
role, but I think they're at least somewhat interested, so I will see, I don't know, as
00:50:33.500
far, do you mean how talented I am as an actor?
00:50:35.380
No, I just think overall, you know, what else, what are you going to, what else can
00:50:44.560
I mean, I'm not, I wouldn't say I'm great, you know, I can handle the rain, I just can't
00:50:55.840
If the levee breaks, yeah, it's going to be risque, baby, if the levee breaks.
00:50:59.080
You just had a song that hit number one on the charts, right?
00:51:01.880
Yeah, I guess today is like the official day of it.
00:51:06.100
It was me, Charlie Handsome, Ernest Smith, and Michael Hardy.
00:51:11.000
Let's see if, let's see if we can get those guys in here.
00:51:18.940
Here, we'll go to a commercial break and then we'll be right back with these fellas.
00:51:21.520
You know, I'm trying to get a home right now and do a home buy.
00:51:29.300
And one of the issues I'm running into is I have, my credit is banged up.
00:51:33.440
Had a couple issues, invested in something bad, a bad deal.
00:51:37.360
Somebody was doing like a factory or something and I put a couple thousand in it and got dinged
00:51:44.600
But anyway, Bridge Credit Solutions is what's helping me.
00:51:49.120
You know, they've helped take the dings off of my credit.
00:51:54.900
Otherwise, I have to wait six months or eight months before they naturally just fall off.
00:52:03.900
Bridge Credit Solutions, they are backed with 100% money back guarantee for any items that
00:52:09.360
You will not find that anywhere in the credit repair industry.
00:52:13.280
You know exactly what you're paying for up front.
00:52:17.940
It's written in the contract what work is to be done and how much you're paying.
00:52:22.160
You will need to have the bridge report access prior to scheduling your audit.
00:52:28.400
They cannot go over your credit report without it, but it costs just $1.
00:52:32.100
It can be found on the website by simply clicking on the services drop down bar where you'll see
00:52:38.220
Once you have that, it's time to repair your credit.
00:52:42.580
Bridge Credit Solutions prides itself on its lightning quick turnaround that will guarantee
00:52:45.880
removal of certain negative items in as quick as 24 hours.
00:52:58.000
That's bridgecreditsolutions.com slash theo and help get your credit in a place where you
00:53:05.760
Today's episode is brought to you by Athletic Greens.
00:53:10.060
Athletic Greens is a great way to have your greens and also feel athletic.
00:53:15.320
Nothing makes you feel like you just went to outer space, but you didn't go anywhere.
00:53:22.700
You know, I like to get up and put it in a cup and put it in the water.
00:53:25.500
I throw in one ice cube to really kind of give it a little bit of a refreshing vibe.
00:53:32.500
One tasty scoop of Athletic Greens contains 75 vitamins, minerals, and whole food sourced
00:53:38.640
ingredients, including a multivitamin, multimineral, probiotic, superfood, everything.
00:53:45.580
I mean, it's just like somebody just took a salad gun and just shot you point blank.
00:53:54.660
You know, you don't have time to do everything like you used to.
00:53:56.760
You don't have time to stop and have an onion at lunch or to, you know, nub down a couple
00:54:05.020
Get it out of the way in the morning, in the beginning of the day.
00:54:12.560
She said, Theo, stop sending me Athletic Greens because she has too much.
00:54:17.180
And I'm letting you know right now, Athletic Greens is doubling down on supporting your immune
00:54:22.540
They are offering this past weekend listeners free one year supply of vitamin D and five free
00:54:28.940
travel packs with your first purchase if you visit our link today.
00:54:33.980
You'll basically never have to buy vitamin D again for the rest of your life.
00:54:42.720
Again, simply visit athleticgreens.com slash Theo and get your free year supply of vitamin
00:54:56.420
One big sip where you can make it happen, athleticgreens.com slash Theo.
00:55:28.720
You know what's funny is like they always called her Lee Ellen and I never noticed that
00:55:36.180
That sounds crazy, but I always just saw it as Lee Ellen.
00:55:39.660
Now that I think about it, like Ellen is a part of Lee Ellen and Ellen is definitely an
00:55:43.980
older lady's name, but no, she was probably, we were probably like 13 or 14 and we were
00:55:48.520
at my, my family has like a, you got a late start on life.
00:56:03.520
I went to the Church of Christ where we started at about seven or eight.
00:56:07.120
If you're Morgan Wallen, that's a late start, okay?
00:56:11.520
I got to think about what company I'm in right now.
00:56:23.300
It's also heartless of Morgan not to remember her name.
00:56:25.280
I mean, I don't know if I was making out with her, but I kissed her.
00:56:30.040
Did you like, did you put the moves on her or was it like a cute thing?
00:56:45.800
Morgan Wallen kissing his babysitter on TikTok.
00:56:48.380
What did Morgan Wallen do in his babysitter's kitchen?
00:57:02.500
Man, my first kiss, it probably was like kindergarten.
00:57:14.600
This girl, this girl, I think Virginia Bain Burkhart, I believe is her name.
00:57:24.180
I know that my mom tells this story because she picked me up from school that day.
00:57:28.820
My little preschool ass jogging down the steps.
00:57:31.100
Mom's there and she said, how was your day at school?
00:57:33.840
I said, I'm going to marry that girl in the pink panties.
00:57:36.440
So I don't know how I knew that, but that was a true story.
00:57:40.700
My mom tells me, she said, and I didn't marry, I didn't end up marrying that girl.
00:57:51.480
Dude, we had this girl in my neighborhood and she used to wear V-neck T-shirts, her dad's,
00:58:15.600
Did you get a little blood flow from the sharpening tits?
00:58:19.320
Bro, the sad thing was, my butt, I think I might have.
00:58:24.460
And look, dude, I remember she drew them too small at first, so then she drew them bigger.
00:58:29.800
Her first breast augmentation was with a sharpie.
00:58:42.020
She actually almost looked like she had the same haircut as Morgan, which is crazy.
00:58:48.100
And her brother used to make us come over and play in a bathtub, and he was kind of more
00:58:51.320
of a, you know, I think he preferred the company of men, really.
00:58:54.120
And he had us come over there, and we would play ship captain.
00:58:57.620
And we would all be in there at a pretty decent bathtub, and we'd be in there.
00:59:00.380
He'd be on the side yelling stuff at us like it was the Marines or something.
00:59:03.220
But it was, it'd be illegal now, I think, to do that.
00:59:09.600
Do you guys, is there another song you guys have written?
00:59:11.640
I mean, I know you guys are writing a lot of stuff together, and especially on the new
00:59:15.000
You have a bunch of the songs on the new album, right, Earn?
00:59:17.200
Yeah, I think me and Hardy both do a good bit of them.
00:59:32.200
I forgot we wrote, I forgot when we wrote that.
00:59:35.540
Yeah, like a long, actually a lot of the cuts we had together are, like, I don't know which
00:59:41.420
one the oldest one is, but they're, like, either more than my hometown or Something Country
00:59:47.740
I think Something Country is probably the oldest.
00:59:49.640
Something Country was first, then Hometown, and then this bar a few weeks later, I think.
00:59:53.720
And if, you said it's three years harder to get it out, does it usually take something
01:00:03.500
I just had a number one on a guy named Jameson Rogers.
01:00:05.840
It took, like, almost six years from the time we wrote it, but then I've had, like, songs
01:00:11.700
go that, like, God's Country went from farm to table, meaning, like, created to number
01:00:23.540
Either that, I heard that Lights Come On was a Jason Aldean song, and a bunch of people
01:00:28.560
wrote it, but my buddy, Jordan Schmidt, all of our buddies, Jordan Schmidt, said that they
01:00:33.520
wrote it on, like, a Monday, and two weeks later, it was on the radio, and it was, like,
01:00:42.000
So, you guys, will you guys get together with Morgan and have a special time where y'all
01:00:47.600
Is it just kind of something that happens in the flow of y'all's friendship these days,
01:00:54.060
I don't even know the last time us three wrote a song together.
01:00:57.120
I've really been writing with Earn more, because he's been doing his artist thing.
01:01:00.380
You know, like, we've had more stuff that we've had to do for ourselves, I guess, me
01:01:08.200
So, hopefully, we don't all just get separated, but I don't think we will.
01:01:13.500
I see on his Instagram he's also pitching baseball at a junior college.
01:01:16.140
Hey, I'm getting my arm back, dude, for no good reason, dude.
01:01:21.560
We were all playing in this grown man softball league, and it did not get my itch, bro, because
01:01:26.120
I was like, all right, I'm going to pitch, because I've always been a pitcher.
01:01:28.600
And I'm just lobbing softballs up there, dude, and they're raking the ball.
01:01:32.200
And it's like, what am I going to do to try to throw a...
01:01:40.400
I was so pissed off, I just threw one overhand high up the backstop behind him.
01:01:48.880
Dude, when you did that, dude, my peripherals went...
01:01:51.340
And I literally just started thinking, like, all right, who's the closest motherfucker to me?
01:01:58.060
No real baseball, because this underhand shit ain't cutting it for me.
01:02:04.420
I'm out there in the rain at night throwing past the speedometer.
01:02:10.800
I went to David Lipscomb High School, K-12, and it's a college on the same campus.
01:02:14.880
And played baseball or whatever all the way through my freshman year of college.
01:02:22.640
I was like, all right, I'm going to pick up a glove and go throw again.
01:02:34.440
So I come out, throw a bullpen, and I was sitting at, like, 80, which was great for not throwing in six years.
01:02:43.660
I'm back out throwing, doing stretches and shit.
01:02:56.520
Dude, we had a blast doing that shit this fall.
01:02:58.620
I know we all kind of miss games here and there, but it was fun.
01:03:04.100
Like, because I was on a group for a little bit with a couple of...
01:03:06.240
I was playing with this Chinese restaurant, but we got shut down.
01:03:12.320
I think some of them had some family issues going on, but yeah, we had all kind of shit.
01:03:17.880
One of the places burned down that one of them was working at, but...
01:03:26.520
They would call me Godzilla, they kept calling me.
01:03:43.720
Like, there was a group of guys that, like, did...
01:03:52.680
There's a couple of hardcore serious, like, softball teams.
01:04:01.400
Randy Marsh on South Park, when he's, like, yelling at the kids and the whole fighting
01:04:10.520
He had his cargo shorts on, tucked in, had a fucking...
01:04:17.340
He goes, you got the round second with your head on.
01:04:25.600
Somebody should have ripped him with a foul ball.
01:04:33.800
A lot of grown men go to softball to get that last, whatever it is in their life, out of
01:04:37.840
their system, whether it's trying to hit a home or whether it's trying to pick a fight,
01:04:41.020
whether it's trying to, you know, do whatever they gotta do.
01:04:44.020
They bring it out there to that field and they do it one last time.
01:04:51.360
There were some teams that we played that were, like, really, really good.
01:05:02.640
Every person on the fucking team was an artist.
01:05:05.360
We'd never been able to do it if we were all on tour, so it was like, hell yeah, every
01:05:27.380
I like your dreams, man, but we'll see about it.
01:05:31.260
Back in 82, I could throw a pigskin quarter to my...
01:05:34.700
That was just an Uncle Rico quote from the point of that.
01:05:38.900
82, I was about 10 years before being thought of.
01:05:45.780
We had a one-armed guy that played quarterback in our high school, and he played backup quarterback,
01:05:52.460
and he got in for a couple games, and, dude, he could fling it.
01:06:01.480
You think if you run the Heisman, would they get him into a different trophy?
01:06:15.020
If people didn't know, he would pretend like the running back stole his arm, and he'd run
01:06:22.480
Sometimes he would for like a dance or something, a school dance, but he wouldn't bring it
01:06:26.940
Yeah, not for like a Tuesday or Wednesday, yeah.
01:06:29.380
Dance is more important than the Friday night game.
01:06:31.900
Oh, dude, his dad would, you know, come home early from work and hook that fake arm on him
01:06:38.200
So the neighbor's dad's tying a tie for his kid, and this dude's sticking an arm on there
01:06:45.360
Dude, we had a guy in our neighborhood, the dad was an Elvis impersonator, and so, but
01:06:51.460
We live in a small town, we don't need a damn Elvis, you know what I'm saying?
01:06:53.820
It's only 400 people, you know what I'm saying?
01:06:55.460
Nobody needs an Elvis, this guy's an alcoholic.
01:07:04.680
But he made his son a wooden shirt one time for Christmas.
01:07:09.080
Made him a shirt out of plywood and teak, a little bit of teak on the sides.
01:07:16.560
I went over there, dude, we came back from church on Wednesday night, and I went over
01:07:19.440
there, and he's making it in the garage, and he's hammering it.
01:07:21.660
And I came over there and held the side of him, and he nailed his son into it.
01:07:29.220
Was it like, was it contoured and stuff, or was it just a piece of...
01:07:37.820
He just wants to, you know, he wants to go that extra mile.
01:07:58.520
The problem was, on the bus, he just had to fall into the seat like that.
01:08:12.300
He wore that thing probably four days a week for about two weeks, and some people spray
01:08:21.560
His dads were in velvet and giving his kids a plot with fucking shirts.
01:08:27.960
Did he think it was like a nice gift, do you think?
01:08:33.260
It was like, oh, this is him doing something nice, you know?
01:08:36.720
I bet he probably spent two weeks in there putting it together.
01:08:41.200
Hey, these are reasons the South gets a bad thing.
01:08:46.540
You would never hear any fucking way else in the world, dude.
01:08:50.280
Education is low, but skills are through the roof.
01:08:53.220
This is why we lost the Civil War, because we're too busy making damn wooden shirts.
01:08:57.580
You could have built like a wagon or something with that.
01:09:03.860
Let's go to a question right here that came in.
01:09:07.040
Well, well, well, if it isn't the Mullet Muppets, Mr. Theo Vaughn, Morgan Whalen.
01:09:16.300
I did want to submit a question to Morgan and ask, what song are you most excited about?
01:09:25.340
I listened to the three new songs that came out, as well as the other ones that have been the singles.
01:09:35.760
And, yeah, what song are you most excited for and why?
01:09:47.580
And he does have a different accent, so maybe that's how they would say my name.
01:09:51.680
You get a lot of French fans, dude, that one year.
01:09:55.340
Was that guy really from France, you think, or was he just saying that?
01:10:11.580
And I think the mullet goes, I think we got four different types of mullet.
01:10:21.980
Maybe, if I think if I combed it all the way down, it would look more like you.
01:10:26.320
Yeah, you look like a damn raccoon that's going to prom, though.
01:10:31.180
It's wintertime, and wearing this kind of shit makes my hair look like a rat's nest,
01:10:41.280
Dude, I used to have Jeff Leppard hair back in the day.
01:10:49.940
I'm like, all right, anyway, what about your hair?
01:10:54.560
Mine is a little bit more like women who prefer the company on women, I feel like.
01:11:06.480
Well, when I get it trimmed up right and let it sit down correctly, it's outgrown.
01:11:12.520
It's actually, bro, it's actually a bullet because I do it straight.
01:11:17.820
When I do it straight across the top and let it drop.
01:11:20.800
Oh, the Lord will find you if you keep it like that, bro.
01:11:24.220
Because I can put it back for a casual setting.
01:11:27.840
I would do that and drink out of the birdbath in the front yard, dog.
01:11:34.580
That's almost like a British sort of 80s British.
01:11:41.640
I know I did, and I know Miley's seen it because my name gets dropped, all right?
01:11:48.900
And looked it up and saw my haircut and said, they'll never know I took it from him.
01:11:57.560
I'm trying to get Miley Cyrus on the phone and figure out where she figured out.
01:12:11.520
I drank a suicide on the way here, and I'm geeked up.
01:12:14.040
No, you remind me of my Aunt Sally, dude, right now.
01:12:18.380
And she's badass, too, when you borrowed one of my dad's shirts one time to go swimming
01:12:38.300
She won seventh place in a beauty contest, dude.
01:12:56.720
I don't think we even answered that guy's question.
01:13:12.040
And you shouldn't have to answer something like that.
01:13:17.420
Let's get one more question that came in right here, man.
01:13:31.820
What's the best place in Nashville to get that real hot-hose country music hitter?
01:13:46.080
I like a man who can calmly ask a question and also drive.
01:13:51.440
But there's probably a kid in the backseat or something just asleep.
01:13:57.260
A kid who will watch this later in court in years from now in the future.
01:14:20.380
We're going to say princess for that, probably.
01:14:23.360
I mean, I guess it's like, how competitive is it on the songwriting market?
01:14:27.340
It's like, if you need a good hit nowadays, do you go to one of these guys or do you have
01:14:34.340
No, I mean, honestly, if I have an idea or if I just want to write songs, they're going
01:14:38.440
to be my top two people that I write with, for sure.
01:14:41.680
I mean, not only are we good buddies, I really look up to and respect their talents more so than
01:14:52.240
You know, it's not like we don't just only write with each other.
01:14:56.180
You know, like we haven't written a song together in a while.
01:14:58.880
But it's not just it's not because we don't want to or because, you know, just we get
01:15:02.820
scheduled rights with other people or, you know, we get on a roll.
01:15:05.640
We may get on a roll like me and Aaron got on a roll with a couple of people.
01:15:10.980
It comes in and out of phases of people that you're kind of gelling with.
01:15:17.880
But I mean, but we're also not going around writing with everybody in Nashville.
01:15:21.300
You know, it's not like at first I did at first.
01:15:25.260
Once you find everybody did, you literally till you find your crew, you write with everybody.
01:15:30.540
And even once you kind of get cuts and you get some hits, then you write with the next
01:15:36.060
And it sort of goes on until you really are here for, you know, writing songs for four
01:15:40.240
or five years and like really get your crew together.
01:15:42.980
And who keeps the tabs on how that like how that's dispensed between the different writers
01:15:51.700
And, you know, they'll ask, you know, did you enjoy that?
01:15:59.900
I mean, I don't know about y'all, but I mean, they they just like I don't know
01:16:05.060
who I'm writing with tomorrow, but I know I'm writing with somebody.
01:16:07.380
Like they just book it out and you just kind of stay on your calendar and stay a couple
01:16:11.760
weeks ahead and make sure it's not somebody that you hate.
01:16:17.580
I mean, there may be a hit songwriter that's got 20 number ones that you just don't really
01:16:23.460
It's like every room dynamics completely different because like I was saying, we definitely spent
01:16:31.540
And then now the luxury is not having to do that.
01:16:36.880
And luckily we found people who we really enjoy the company of who are badass at the
01:17:04.200
And then I remember Morgan recorded the work tape.
01:17:08.580
So after you write it, usually these days you have somebody that's pretty much sitting
01:17:11.440
and they look just like him except they're making music instead of other stuff.
01:17:18.920
And they're working on the music while we're working on the song.
01:17:23.520
But the first time we wrote, we wrote on acoustic and Morgan played the work tape like you just
01:17:29.400
recorded on your phone, you know, after it's over.
01:17:31.940
And he raised the key like three steps, which is a lot out of seven.
01:18:10.760
My dog escaped from my house and he's running through my neighborhood.
01:18:19.280
Like the whole drive home, you're thinking about how you can set your kid on fire and take
01:18:33.080
Do you ever like, oh, this would be the last question I got.
01:18:35.220
Sometimes with music, like, you know, I noticed a lot of your stuff that I've heard, Morgan,
01:18:40.480
makes me like kind of nostalgic a little bit, you know?
01:18:44.320
If people are like, if you could go to space, you know, would you go be that astronaut?
01:18:47.680
I'd be like, no, I want to be an astronaut that like blasts backwards in the time and
01:19:00.640
Now, I'd go for, dude, Ernie, I would go to you for like a reading or something, I
01:19:20.240
Do you sometimes find like a piece of something that like, you're like, oh, that makes me
01:19:27.840
think or feel a certain way and that's how you guys start a nugget for a song?
01:19:34.360
I mean, you start with an idea usually and I think everybody, once you know how that idea
01:19:39.680
is going to get written, like the storyline, everybody sort of taps into their own personal
01:19:42.900
experiences and then they use their writing voice to sort of regurgitate that to a certain
01:19:48.380
I mean, for me, that's one of my favorite feelings too.
01:19:53.300
I think it probably is all three of us, if I had to guess.
01:19:56.860
That's a feeling that I think we all relate to.
01:19:59.040
So I think just naturally, that's kind of where we go.
01:20:01.900
It's like inspiration that's like you don't even know you're using it.
01:20:09.400
But when I'm listening to a song, I like songs that make me feel that way too.
01:20:13.520
So I think just, and I'm guessing we're all the same.
01:20:15.500
Yeah, country music's good because it lends itself to that.
01:20:19.840
So the art of writing a country song, like you're writing three or four topics all the
01:20:24.100
It's like, what's the new clever way to write a nostalgic song?
01:20:26.880
I was like, the night we wrote Hometown, I was faded as hell.
01:20:29.840
I always ask Hardy if his back hurts for carrying my ass through that song.
01:20:36.760
Yeah, yeah, dude, I was browned out in the corner, but it was in my room over at Big
01:20:41.940
I do remember when, he said, ain't that a map dot shame?
01:20:47.260
And I think that, boy, I got glass walls, I about ran through one.
01:20:52.780
Ain't nobody writing this song in Nashville tonight.
01:20:56.920
And that is not even a diss at Earn, because Earn is usually the one saying more than anyone.
01:21:08.280
But his energy in the room, I don't know that we would have wrote that song without that.
01:21:12.220
No, yeah, it never would have came out exactly like it did.
01:21:20.440
But usually he's writing more lyrics than me and whoever else it is combined.
01:21:24.820
But I say that because more than my hometown, it was unraveling that whole nostalgic feeling.
01:21:34.300
Like, stuck in these streets like the train tracks and bars, dude.
01:21:42.360
It is stuck in these streets like some train tracks.
01:21:52.100
Petaphore is a damn dessert, I think, isn't it?
01:22:01.560
Petaphore is a little cake you get at the bakery.
01:22:20.920
And so you tour, because I was getting my hair cut, and this lady's like, you got to hear
01:22:26.060
And so that's how she turned me on to you, this hair cutter in town, Whitney.
01:22:32.300
You got to tour a little bit during this COVID.
01:22:42.340
That was our first show back, and it was like a socially distant...
01:22:46.580
And they had like, you know, like, it's just guardrail with the bicycle rack looking kind.
01:23:03.620
They'd be like, you know, the third one right outside Texas, it's got the Sharpie on it.
01:23:06.640
You had to lean up again with your belongings on the side of...
01:23:18.320
He's the only one who showed up with a book bag over there at Kid Rock's bar.
01:23:21.600
Yeah, he did have a book bag full of beer and reasons, dude.
01:23:39.580
And everything was completely normal in Florida.
01:23:46.880
Like, crazy to think that, like, you could drive 30 minutes north from Gainesville or however
01:24:07.000
Dude, I tell my friends in Britain, I say, hey, man.
01:24:28.780
I watched Morgan play a festival there one time in a tent.
01:24:37.960
And the crowd was, somebody had the decibel, like, they were some way to measure volume.
01:24:46.620
The crowd was literally louder than the sound, than the band, than the music coming out of
01:24:53.500
It was, I had never witnessed anything like it, dude.
01:24:58.340
I was like, I don't know if I can play today, guys.
01:25:03.820
I definitely didn't know if I could sing or not.
01:25:07.200
I did, like, a few interviews before the show, you know, and I'm like, rrrr.
01:25:19.140
Have you guys ever all sang together on the stage at once?
01:25:24.320
Well, Ern's busy pitching baseball, so as soon as he gets back on the stage.
01:25:34.340
As soon as they send him back to the softball league, out of the men's league.
01:25:38.800
Now, Ern, if you push the envelope and try to get on the damn female softball team, I
01:25:47.880
Dude, I was peeing in the airport in St. Thomas, and then it was like a minute-long
01:25:53.400
piss, and I turned around and realized that one of the ladies had been cleaning the whole
01:25:57.160
I was like, dang, dude, I bet she just has to deal with this all the time.
01:26:00.740
I probably would have still peed, but that's something different.
01:26:04.900
Yeah, it's like you don't even know who the janitor is.
01:26:07.080
It's like what janitor is going to be in there.
01:26:19.300
Yeah, I do what I usually do in any bathroom is completely ignore everybody.
01:26:22.420
Do y'all tip the dude that's in nice places that'll wash your hands for you and shit?
01:26:33.440
I'm in there, and I go in the bathroom, and there's a guy in there, and he's like,
01:26:39.160
I go in there, I'm like, I go in the stall, and I have to sit down, right?
01:26:44.860
So, I have to sit down and do adult bathroom use, and this man, the guy working in there
01:26:49.640
bangs on the stall is like, don't worry, bro, I got you, Holmes, and I'm like, what?
01:26:57.720
It's the guy with the mint and everything, you know?
01:27:01.440
Another guy runs in the bathroom a minute later and starts pulling on the stall door,
01:27:06.620
This bouncer guy, I guess he's now the bouncer of this toilet, he starts a fight, a physical
01:27:14.480
And I'm in there like, I don't know who's out there.
01:27:29.940
No, it was just a guy who I think, you know, you come in there, he's like, hey, I got you,
01:27:36.080
It's like the bathroom version of the people wiping your windshield.
01:27:41.280
You might owe that dude some loyalty or something.
01:27:47.660
Like, I don't want a bathroom attendant at all.
01:27:52.220
I'll stay there and have, you know, it's like a little salad bar.
01:28:00.300
I just beat the shit out of somebody coming here trying to shit.
01:28:08.900
If he had to get in that fight and then had to get hit in the face.
01:28:26.560
Well, man, congratulations on all you guys' success.
01:28:37.180
I was like, do you think Morgan would be upset if we had you and Ernest come in?
01:28:44.760
And then halfway through, I was like, oh, fuck.
01:28:50.660
Yeah, and that's why I was like, oh, it was the perfect timing.
01:28:58.500
I had to come into town and get that COVID test and do this and get my tires rotated.
01:29:09.900
And thank you guys for making good music that makes people think and feel, you know, and
01:29:25.420
Everywhere I go, it's like people say all you guys' names.
01:29:28.060
It's really cool to just hear and even just to get to be here with you guys today
01:29:35.720
Now I'm just floating on the breeze and I feel I'm falling like these leaves.
01:29:45.560
Oh, but when I reach that ground, I'll share this peace of mind.
01:29:57.140
But it's gonna take a little time for me to set that parking brake and let myself unwind.
01:30:08.900
Shine that light on the breeze and I'll sit and tell you my stories.
01:30:19.680
Shine on me and I will find a song I will sing it just for you.
01:30:31.280
And now I've been moving way too fast on the runaway train with a heavy load of my hands.
01:30:46.060
And these roads that I've been riding on, they're war so thin that they're dancing on.
01:30:51.860
Ladies and gentlemen, I'm Jonathan Kite and welcome to Kite Club.
01:30:58.420
A podcast where I'll be sharing thoughts on things like current events, stand-up stories, and seven ways to pleasure your partner.
01:31:10.820
And as always, I'll be joined by the voices in my head.
01:31:29.140
Anyone who doesn't listen to Kite Club is a dodgy bloody wanker.
01:31:34.380
Hi, I'll take a quarter pounder with cheese and a McFlurry.
01:31:37.980
Sorry, sir, but our ice cream machine is broken.
01:31:44.980
Anyway, first rule of Kite Club is, tell everyone about Kite Club.
01:31:49.120
Second rule of Kite Club is, tell everyone about Kite Club.
01:31:53.360
Third rule, like and subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts or watch us on YouTube, yeah?
01:31:59.160
And yes, don't worry, my Brad Pitt impression will get better.