This Past Weekend with Theo Von - E327 Travis Tritt

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00:00:26.280 So, today's guest is, well, he's a soundtrack of a lot of lives, many lives.

00:00:37.560 And he's, I mean, just a real archipelago of talent.

00:00:44.400 You know, I really, my God, I just, well, you'll hear all about it.

00:00:49.920 I'm honored to be able to be in his presence today and to have a conversation with the musical superhero, Mr. Travis Tritt.

00:01:00.980 Shine that light on me

00:01:05.420 I'll sit and tell you my stories

00:01:11.400 Shine on me

00:01:16.120 And I will find a song

00:01:20.320 I'll be singing just for you

00:01:22.980 And how's it been like having kids?

00:01:31.340 Like, was it hard to go from, like, being a kid?

00:01:34.280 Because I feel like with fame and popularity, there's this, you know, and I can't imagine your position.

00:01:40.840 In my position, I notice a little bit there's more opportunity to stay a kid.

00:01:45.760 Yeah, right.

00:01:46.440 Things are just, you know, life, there's more fun going on.

00:01:49.560 You're part of the fun.

00:01:50.460 You're bringing the fun.

00:01:51.880 Was it hard to go from that to, like, wanting to be, like, a parent and getting into that vibe?

00:01:57.220 Like, was that ever a thing?

00:01:58.820 It, you know, it was a process.

00:02:00.780 It, I got married right out of high school and did what everybody else did.

00:02:06.080 You either did one of two things.

00:02:07.520 You either went to college, which that wasn't an option for me. 0.99

00:02:10.820 Damn, no judgment, bro. 0.99

00:02:12.100 You know what I'm saying? 1.00

00:02:13.400 College is hard.

00:02:14.180 Or you got married and went to work.

00:02:17.800 So I got married to my high school sweetheart and went to work for a heating and air conditioning wholesale company down in Georgia.

00:02:26.100 So was that age factor you getting in the attics or were you just selling the equipment?

00:02:28.760 I was selling the equipment.

00:02:29.780 Okay.

00:02:30.020 But I was also going to school, like, two or three times a year to find out all of the, you know, updated products and kind of be a troubleshooter, you know, for all the products.

00:02:40.920 So I did that and I started out on the docks loading trucks and worked my way up to manager of the store for, in about 18 months.

00:02:51.820 Dang.

00:02:52.100 And.

00:02:52.680 Were you a hard worker?

00:02:53.500 Yeah.

00:02:54.020 I mean, well, that's right around that same time is when I started wanting to play music as well.

00:03:01.660 And so that marriage lasted for about two and a half years.

00:03:05.460 And as soon as that marriage was over, I started playing clubs at night and then six days a week, Monday through Saturday.

00:03:15.320 And then I would play, I would go and get, get up the next morning and go and do my gig.

00:03:20.500 So that nearly killed me, even though I was very young.

00:03:23.500 Right.

00:03:23.740 It nearly killed me.

00:03:24.880 Just those hours.

00:03:25.700 Yeah.

00:03:26.340 And do you think if you had stayed married in that first marriage, would you think you think you would have had the same career?

00:03:32.360 Was there inspiration that came out of getting a separation at that young age?

00:03:36.220 Was it, were you just too young to even be able to put any of that, any of those feelings into music?

00:03:42.420 Did any, I wouldn't even have thought about it probably at that particular time.

00:03:46.560 Thought about music?

00:03:47.400 Yeah.

00:03:47.760 As, as a full-time gig.

00:03:49.220 I mean, I played occasionally with, you know, I had a little band that I played with, you know, every now and then, but not very often.

00:03:55.700 And, uh, I was kind of, my wife at the time, she kind of discouraged me from doing that too, because, you know, when you're new young couple, you know, you don't want your husband out, you know, traveling around all over the place, man.

00:04:11.100 Yeah.

00:04:11.760 And it's not even, look, play, doing a live performance, it's not a real job to people until you start to really make it, I feel like.

00:04:19.500 That's right.

00:04:20.220 I mean, until then, you're just a really, you're just somebody who's trying to break up marriages around the area. 0.99

00:04:25.160 I feel like, like people are like, this shit is a little strange. 0.99

00:04:29.100 That's a good analogy. 0.99

00:04:31.160 It really is.

00:04:32.440 So.

00:04:32.720 But that whole thing just, uh, it just worked out.

00:04:35.600 And I, I did, I did the day job and the night job for, oh, I don't know, several, eight months, maybe.

00:04:43.800 And I started realizing that I was having more fun at my night job than I was at my day job.

00:04:50.720 And oddly enough, I was making more money at my night job than I was at my day job.

00:04:56.160 So I went back to my, my, uh, vice president and said, look, you know, if I don't take this shot now, I'll never know.

00:05:05.280 I'll end up being an old man one day and I'll never know whether or not I could have made it in the, in the music industry.

00:05:11.100 So I, I quit that job and, and never looked back.

00:05:16.060 Was there a person that kind of like chatted with you and influenced you?

00:05:19.560 My best friend, Scott's dad, actually, he introduced me to Jerry Clower, who I was telling you about.

00:05:23.440 He's one of my favorite comedians and, um, and just a storyteller.

00:05:27.640 You know, I just miss so often now we, everything's glanced over the art of storytelling and it's all just like, uh, almost like everything's an equation of what sells, you know?

00:05:37.640 And, um, and Jerry Clower just did it.

00:05:40.560 He just put me in a comfortable place.

00:05:42.100 But my friend, my best friend, when I was young, his, his dad, uh, was from Mississippi and he introduced me to Jerry Clower.

00:05:48.040 And then he said to me one day, I said, you know, I think about doing standup comedy and he goes, well, you have to go do it.

00:05:53.960 You know, you have to go in and take that chance because otherwise it's your life will be there.

00:05:59.320 You can always come back, you know, was there anybody like that and that kind of, or was it just you playing that kind of influenced you to keep moving?

00:06:06.620 Well, the, uh, vice president of the heating and air conditioning wholesale company that I told you about, he also was a really good guitar player and he had had, of course, it was a kind of a family business.

00:06:19.260 And his, uh, his whole family, his dad had been president of the company and they had groomed him to basically do that.

00:06:27.560 But when he was very young, I think he had an offer from Carlos Santana to go out on the road and play guitar with Carlos Santana.

00:06:38.040 That's huge.

00:06:38.480 He's wonderful.

00:06:39.360 And he passed it up.

00:06:40.640 Oh.

00:06:40.920 And so when I went to him and told him about what my dreams were, he's like, man, do it.

00:06:46.720 Because he said, I will be that guy in my rocking chair at however, however old, 80 years old, wondering, man, I wonder if I could have, if I could have made it in the music industry.

00:06:59.120 Man.

00:06:59.280 And he gave me, he also gave me a kind of a safety net because he said, look, man, if it doesn't work, your job here is always safe.

00:07:07.200 So I knew something, I had something to fall back on.

00:07:09.700 Yeah.

00:07:09.960 But it worked out great, man.

00:07:11.720 I mean, it was just a.

00:07:12.600 It seemed like you're doing, it seemed like it's paid off for you.

00:07:15.100 Yeah.

00:07:15.520 You know, from an outsider's perspective.

00:07:19.080 Do you, uh, do you miss sometimes like, um, like I've gotten to some light levels of success in, in my work in the past few years and, and it's been a long series of work, but it's kind of weird.

00:07:31.700 I felt like when I got to a certain level of like, uh, like mild popularity or comfort, like that every, all my problems would go away.

00:07:39.640 Right.

00:07:40.200 Or other things would disappear.

00:07:41.560 But really you're just still right there.

00:07:43.640 Oh, it's, it's, it, those things never change, you know, and the, the more success that you do have, first of all, the busier you are.

00:07:52.120 Yeah.

00:07:52.560 You know, I remember the first two years when I started releasing records in, in 1989, the first two years I was home each year, a total of 14 days each year.

00:08:06.440 Oh my God.

00:08:07.040 And no two days were ever together, Theo.

00:08:09.260 They, they, they were all, it was just like one day here because you're either, you're either writing or recording or you're out on the road performing concerts or you're doing videos or doing press or doing whatever.

00:08:24.360 Yeah.

00:08:24.640 And it's every single day when it takes off like that, um, it just, it's every single day.

00:08:31.320 And I don't have the luxury of being Travis Tritt, um, 40 hours a week.

00:08:39.920 Right.

00:08:40.440 You know, wouldn't it be nice?

00:08:42.120 Wouldn't it be nice?

00:08:43.080 You could lock out at a certain hour.

00:08:44.980 It would be, man.

00:08:45.880 You're like, all right, I'm just Donnie Tritt.

00:08:47.880 You know what I'm saying?

00:08:49.360 I'll be like, yeah.

00:08:50.760 Joe Schmo.

00:08:51.620 Yeah.

00:08:51.940 Wouldn't that be nice to lock out of it?

00:08:54.920 It'd be great.

00:08:55.560 But on the other side of that coin, I found that for me, the old saying about find something that you love to do and find a way to make a living with it and you'll never work a day in your life.

00:09:11.560 And that's really true for me.

00:09:13.400 I mean, you know, yeah, there's, there's, it's not all glitz and a lot of people out there think it's celebrity all the time and they think it's glitz and glamour and all this stuff, but that's, that's not it at all.

00:09:26.880 As a matter of fact, when I come home, a lot of people that, um, that I correspond with through social media or whatever, they think that the only people that I hang out with are celebrities.

00:09:43.380 Right.

00:09:43.600 Right.

00:09:43.900 Or people in that, and that's the furthest thing in the world from the truth.

00:09:47.580 In my case, I go back home when I get off the road, I go back home and hang out with people that I've known for some of them I've known since high school.

00:09:58.080 That's cool.

00:09:58.600 And like 30 years, you know, and they're all, every single one of them, you know, these are not, they're not even involved in the entertainment industry.

00:10:06.940 I mean, they're, most of them are blue collar, hardworking people that go out and work with their hands and, uh, they keep me grounded.

00:10:15.620 They keep me grounded.

00:10:16.760 If I, if I came back home and started acting anything other than the Travis that they know and have known for all these years, man, they wouldn't hesitate one second. 0.99

00:10:27.700 Give me an ass whooping, maybe. 1.00

00:10:28.820 Oh man, put me right back in my place. 0.99

00:10:31.160 Exactly.

00:10:31.980 Exactly.

00:10:32.600 Was there a time like, cause yeah, it's a rock when things get busy, especially in you guys's world.

00:10:37.060 Like it is, it's such a rocket ship.

00:10:38.900 I mean, I did about a year and a half of touring and it was so intense, like around the world.

00:10:43.560 And it was just intense.

00:10:44.480 I was just like, there were countries I don't even remember being in.

00:10:47.320 Right.

00:10:47.640 Really.

00:10:48.140 And this happened a year and a half, you know, it was just like, it's almost bizarre kind of just the pace that you go at.

00:10:53.700 And, um, was there a time when you had to kind of check your ego at all?

00:10:58.220 Cause the ego is a dangerous thing.

00:10:59.540 It's not even something we control.

00:11:01.220 You know, that ego, it can start to, cause you're see a reflection of yourself so often in posters and in people's smiles are so excited to see.

00:11:08.400 Yeah.

00:11:08.740 Little things like that.

00:11:09.760 It can creep into your soul and build you up.

00:11:11.640 Did you ever struggle with it?

00:11:12.900 Uh, I don't know that I necessarily struggle with ego, but obviously when you're just trying to get started and especially back in those days, it's, everybody's in competition with each other.

00:11:27.940 And there, there weren't, uh, as far as all of the people that were the newcomers, they, they didn't hang out a lot, you know, together with each other.

00:11:38.760 I mean, everybody's kind of, and they're very secretive.

00:11:41.560 They're keeping their stuff to themselves cause they don't want to rush almost or something.

00:11:45.520 Exactly.

00:11:46.100 They don't want anybody else to know exactly what it is that they're doing for their recipe for success.

00:11:52.780 Wow.

00:11:53.240 And so it gets competitive and I've always been a competitive guy.

00:11:56.800 Yeah.

00:11:57.120 You know, I like to compete and I like to win.

00:11:59.760 Yeah.

00:12:00.280 Um, so there, there comes a point in time where you have to, um, realize that, Hey, a little friendly competition, there's nothing wrong with that.

00:12:10.560 But at the same time, you have to remember that, uh, you know, nobody was more surprised to have the career success than I was.

00:12:21.460 I remember in the early days, man, you know, you dream about it.

00:12:25.140 You dream about wanting to have that, but it becomes a reality.

00:12:28.780 I mean, when it becomes a reality, I remember being on stage, man.

00:12:32.620 And I'm, you know, you'd be in these big, huge arenas that seated, you know, 25,000 people and it's sold out and they're there to see you.

00:12:42.780 And I'm looking at the band and looking at the guys and it's gone. 0.99

00:12:46.700 Can you believe this shit is happening? 0.99

00:12:49.500 Man, this is, this is unbelievable to me. 1.00

00:12:53.420 Tell me I was dreaming, baby.

00:12:54.960 It's unbelievable.

00:12:56.260 Yeah.

00:12:56.520 Wow.

00:12:57.060 Wow.

00:12:57.820 Yeah.

00:12:58.460 Yeah.

00:12:58.700 There's something, sometimes there's some surprising moments.

00:13:00.840 You can never really live in the fame or in the popularity.

00:13:04.140 It's almost like it's something that's bigger than you.

00:13:06.660 It's almost, it's like, um, you can't really wear it that much.

00:13:11.080 It doesn't feel like, I mean, I guess you could, if you really wanted to, that would almost seem bizarre, but, um, it's almost something that even though you're sitting in it, you marvel at it.

00:13:20.420 Almost like you're in a pond, but you have waders on or something.

00:13:23.480 For sure.

00:13:23.940 Like it's not seeping into you, but you're right there in it.

00:13:26.560 I think it's, uh, for me, I am no more the extrovert that I am on stage, uh, in real life than you could ever imagine.

00:13:41.860 I mean, I'm just, I've, I've always been, you know, I kind of, you know, I'm, I'm one of those guys that, you know, I kind of keep things on the down low, you know, and that sort of thing.

00:13:53.240 Um, and any partying I did back in those days, I did pretty much with a very small group.

00:13:58.780 Yeah.

00:13:59.500 Uh, and it was hidden from the public.

00:14:02.640 Yeah.

00:14:03.260 Of course that was before cell phones and all that other stuff.

00:14:05.800 Cameras.

00:14:06.500 Everybody had cameras everywhere that, that didn't happen back then.

00:14:09.820 But, um, for me, it was about just, um, I don't know, maintaining, uh, the love for the, for the music, but being able to, you know, when the, when the, when the show is over, it's almost like you put on.

00:14:28.420 You, that's going to sound bad to say, but it's almost like you put on this, this suit that is Travis Tritt.

00:14:37.560 Right.

00:14:38.000 On stage.

00:14:38.860 Of course.

00:14:39.220 And then as soon as you come off stage, that suit comes off and the real me, the real, my real personality comes back through.

00:14:47.680 Well, I think it's almost a necessity because you also want to be a showman at that point.

00:14:54.080 Like there's a level of, it's not really expectation, but you want to give people their money worth.

00:14:59.460 You want to put on your best self at those, you know, especially at that moment where they came to see you and you came to see them.

00:15:06.300 It's like watching a college football game.

00:15:07.920 You know, if you watch the team right before they run on the field, what are they doing?

00:15:12.600 They're jumping up and down.

00:15:14.300 They're banging each other in the head with their helmets and they're firing each other up to go out there on this field, man.

00:15:21.480 There is nobody on this planet that's going to do better at what we're about to do on this field today than us.

00:15:30.940 And that's exactly the kind of thing that I have always had to do in order to be able to get up enough nerve to go out on stage.

00:15:40.740 And backstage, I would tell myself, I started doing this as a ritual and I still do it to this day.

00:15:46.060 If I'm backstage and the lights are going down and they're getting ready to, you know, fire off the band and I'm getting ready to run out there.

00:15:53.280 I am backstage jumping up and down and firing myself and I'm telling myself in my head, there's no other time that I think this way.

00:16:05.820 But at that particular moment, I'm thinking to myself, there is nobody on this earth living or dead that is going to be able to do a better job of entertaining these people than what I'm about to do right now.

00:16:22.840 And I fire myself up.

00:16:26.280 Yeah.

00:16:26.520 Of course, as soon as I come off stage, I realize there's a whole, you know, that are a whole lot better at this than I am.

00:16:34.200 But in order to get, in order to get up the nerve.

00:16:37.080 Look, it's a lot.

00:16:38.080 You're going out there and the lights are there.

00:16:39.880 You have to meet the environment.

00:16:42.360 It's like you can't show up to your wedding day like in beach clothes, you know, like you've got to, you have to meet the moment.

00:16:49.160 That's exactly right.

00:16:50.880 Did your son go to school here?

00:16:52.800 No.

00:16:54.040 I live in Georgia still.

00:16:57.340 And my oldest daughter and my son, my oldest son, are both striving to be artists in the business and they're working real hard at it.

00:17:08.860 My youngest son, my middle son, excuse me, my oldest one, he is, his music is very different than mine.

00:17:16.700 And my daughter's, she's kind of a throwback to a kind of a Linda Ronstadt kind of era.

00:17:21.820 Yeah.

00:17:22.060 And she's wanting to bring that kind of back, but more in a direct country style.

00:17:28.660 And my middle son, he's more, he's more Southern Rock, Blackberry Smoke.

00:17:35.420 Yeah.

00:17:35.980 Kind of influence.

00:17:36.480 Bishop Gunn, you heard of that?

00:17:37.680 Oh yeah, man.

00:17:38.540 You know, so, but they're both very talented and, you know, kind of makes you feel good when your kids come along and want to be a part of the family business, you know.

00:17:50.620 I like that.

00:17:51.280 Yeah, it's kind of cool.

00:17:52.140 Is it hard to be supportive since you had such success?

00:17:55.200 Because success is a unique thing.

00:17:56.680 It's like, there's people that deserve it that don't get it and there's, you know, it's a real wheel of fortune out there.

00:18:02.620 But is it tough to be a parent of artists, like, you know, knowing that you've had success, not knowing exactly what their future will be?

00:18:13.180 Um, is it hard to like balance how you, um, how you kind of parent that and support it or is it easy?

00:18:20.240 I'm just, it's scary.

00:18:21.720 I mean, because you've seen, I've seen so many people in this industry that the industry has literally chewed them up and spit them out.

00:18:30.400 Yeah.

00:18:30.620 And, um, it's your chances, once again, your chances of being successful in this industry or being successful in sports or whatever are minute.

00:18:47.020 They're minuscule to reach that success level.

00:18:51.180 So, um, it's, it's always a thing, but I, I have to tell them because I raised my kids, all three of them from the time they were born.

00:19:00.720 To believe that the only limitations that you have on yourself are the ones that you put on yourself.

00:19:07.080 Uh, you can do anything, you can accomplish anything, but the biggest part of, of, of being successful, I think is just showing up every day and constantly try to work to move yourself forward.

00:19:22.160 Constantly try to do something, constantly try to learn something, constantly try to make yourself better.

00:19:27.560 Yeah.

00:19:28.020 Um, so that you, and I think when you do that, you appreciate it more of when it does happen.

00:19:35.300 Was there moments where you had to trust your instincts over what other people were telling you or anything like that?

00:19:40.120 Was there moments where you kind of like just had to follow like an inner voice or inner vibe, uh, where maybe the market or the, you know, there's a lot of technicians that are also in every business.

00:19:51.900 You know, was there, was there, was there times like that along your path?

00:19:55.160 I started out, uh, I came out with that first single, which was country club in 1989.

00:20:01.500 And I'm a member of, is that, that's it, that's it.

00:20:05.540 And it became a top 10 hit.

00:20:07.680 And then we came with the album in 1990 and the second single was helped me hold on.

00:20:14.580 Third single was, I'm going to be somebody all, all those were huge.

00:20:18.400 And then the fourth single, I released this song called, put some drive in your country that I had written at, uh, Dwayne Allman's gravesite down in Macon, Georgia, down at Rose Hill Cemetery years ago. 0.98

00:20:32.000 Damn. 0.99

00:20:32.300 And. 1.00

00:20:32.480 You know, on mushrooms or something?

00:20:33.660 You already just.

00:20:34.040 No, I just, that's where they used to hang out.

00:20:36.000 That's because that song memory of Elizabeth Reed, that was on, on a gravestone that's right down at the bottom of the cemetery where they used to go down there and hang out. 0.99

00:20:45.020 Damn. 0.93

00:20:45.280 So, uh, I just used to sit by the grave and just try to soak up some of that vibe, that energy. 0.99

00:20:52.460 And because that's, that song had all these distorted rock guitars on it and it, it was a throwback to that Leonard Skinner to Allman Brothers kind of thing, man, everybody in Nashville, Tennessee that was involved in the music industry and everybody at radio in country radio, all of a sudden they just came out, man, claws out and they started angry.

00:21:20.520 Oh, pissed off.

00:21:22.460 Cause you had what, taken their sound?

00:21:24.180 No, because I was not following the rules at the time of country music, which were, you can use pedal steel guitar and you can do this and you can do that, but we don't allow that kind of stuff, you know?

00:21:40.300 So, uh, all these writers in these country music magazines, man, they start trashing me.

00:21:47.580 And I turn on the radio and I hear some disc jockey or some program director talking about, oh, well, he's just trying to be a rebel or he's, he's a, he must be hard to get along with. 1.00

00:21:58.720 And some of them actually came out privately and said it, he's an asshole. 1.00

00:22:03.120 That's kind of cool. 1.00

00:22:04.360 I think that's kind of dope, dude. 0.99

00:22:06.240 Sometimes you hear somebody think you're an asshole, it hurts you a little bit, but you're like, oh, that's kind of cool. 0.99

00:22:10.040 Well, it was starting, it was starting to get to me and then they hit me with the one that really did the most damage at the time. 0.99

00:22:16.040 They said, well, he's just an outlaw. 0.99

00:22:18.880 Damn. 0.99

00:22:19.200 And it was really starting to get to me until I met Waylon Jennings. 0.99

00:22:26.560 We have a question that came in right here.

00:22:28.000 This might be pertaining to it, actually.

00:22:29.640 So let's just pop this up and see if it fits in, man.

00:22:32.980 Hey, Theo.

00:22:33.720 Hey, Travis.

00:22:34.560 Hey, buddy.

00:22:35.320 Hey, man.

00:22:35.680 This is Josh, Southern Indiana.

00:22:38.300 Travis, seen you in concert a couple of times.

00:22:41.540 Always remember the tribute to Waylon Jennings.

00:22:43.640 Tell me how he influenced your life and your singing.

00:22:47.820 Thanks, man.

00:22:48.940 Gang, gang.

00:22:49.820 Gang, brother.

00:22:50.440 And I'll tack on to that question.

00:22:52.140 Thank you for the question, man.

00:22:53.340 And I love you, brother.

00:22:54.280 Thank you for submitting that.

00:22:55.380 And, yeah, you kind of got accepted by, like, the, you got that dirty thumbs up from the bad boys in a weird way, you know, which was, what was that kind of like, you know?

00:23:06.800 And I guess what role did kind of Waylon play in that?

00:23:09.220 And, yeah.

00:23:10.840 But Waylon told me that first time I met him, he, I was getting ready to leave.

00:23:16.820 We came into the dressing room.

00:23:17.880 We were playing a show together at the Omni in Atlanta.

00:23:21.200 And you're younger than him by how much?

00:23:23.020 I know that, but by how much?

00:23:24.340 By a lot.

00:23:26.880 20-something years, 30-something years.

00:23:28.880 So do you, is it like when you were spending time with him, is it, I mean, it's almost like, it's like a seventh grader being around a ninth grader, I'm assuming.

00:23:35.040 And he was a hero.

00:23:36.260 Right.

00:23:36.840 I mean, I loved everything about him before I ever met him.

00:23:39.180 I loved his singing voice.

00:23:40.760 I loved his songwriting.

00:23:41.600 I loved his guitar picking.

00:23:42.900 I loved everything about him.

00:23:44.380 But one of the things I loved about him was he was not afraid to do things his own way.

00:23:49.740 And he sat me down in his dressing room that first time we ever met.

00:23:55.060 And he said, listen, I've been, listen, Hoss, I've been hearing all the stuff that they've been saying about you in Nashville and on these radio stations.

00:24:02.360 He said, let me just remind you that everything that they are saying about you now is exactly what they said about me and about Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash and Hank Williams Jr.

00:24:15.420 and David Allen Coe, all, he just goes down the list.

00:24:20.620 And he said, let me ask you a question.

00:24:22.700 He said, are you still selling records?

00:24:27.560 And I said, yeah.

00:24:28.500 I said, man, I've been lucky.

00:24:29.680 Everything I've done so far has sold platinum or better.

00:24:33.220 A million copies are better.

00:24:34.500 And he said, well, are you still drawing people into your shows?

00:24:38.040 I said, yeah, man, we're playing huge arenas and they're sold out.

00:24:41.720 He said, listen, those are the people you should care about their opinion because all these people in Nashville, they're saying all this stuff about you.

00:24:50.460 They get their their music for free.

00:24:54.000 He said, these people that come out there, he said, those are the people that work hard 40, 50, 60 hours a week to put food on the table for their families.

00:25:04.400 And he said, and they're willing to spend a certain amount of that hard earned money to buy your music every time you put out new music.

00:25:15.940 And occasionally they'll splurge for a concert ticket to come see you when you play in their hometown.

00:25:23.500 He said, those are the only people that matter.

00:25:26.080 And as long as you're pleasing them, which you obviously are to hell with all the rest of these people.

00:25:31.380 And man, that was like an epiphany for me.

00:25:34.980 And it also it took a tremendous amount of weight off of my shoulders because I realized at that particular point, Waylon and all the rest of those guys that were labeled as outlaws, they got that label by simply doing the same thing that I was doing,

00:25:53.080 which is just wanting to do my music my own way and do show my influences, all my influences, which were very widespread.

00:26:06.560 I grew up country was always my center.

00:26:09.920 George Jones, Merle Haggard.

00:26:11.740 That was my center.

00:26:12.740 But I also grew up loving the Allman Brothers, Leonard Skinner, Marshall Tucker Band, Charlie Daniels.

00:26:19.240 And then, of course, the Eagles in Boston and Fleetwood Mac and, you know, all this other stuff.

00:26:25.160 And then blues.

00:26:26.220 I was always a blues fan.

00:26:27.600 Still am.

00:26:28.340 Your voice has a lot of it, man.

00:26:29.980 When I listen to some of your tunes, I'm like, man, this reminds me.

00:26:33.640 There are moments where it goes into a guy like a light gospel.

00:26:37.540 You know what I'm saying, or a light, it takes me through, like, the different neighborhoods that were, you know, adjacent to the neighborhoods I grew up in.

00:26:45.780 It takes me through.

00:26:47.260 There's just, yeah, I can really, I can feel some of that, man.

00:26:50.920 Well, Mississippi, man.

00:26:52.020 I mean, that's so much great blues stuff came out of there, you know.

00:26:57.040 And that's one of the reasons why that was always a staple.

00:27:02.160 If you take bluegrass and if you take blues and straight-ahead country and southern rock and mix all those together and then sprinkle a little bit of southern gospel over the top of it, that's me.

00:27:17.420 Yeah, that's gospel, baby.

00:27:18.060 That's me.

00:27:19.120 Looking for the Lord, man.

00:27:20.320 That's like Jerry Clower.

00:27:21.120 He ended up being a pastor at the end of his time, I think.

00:27:23.360 Yeah, I think so.

00:27:24.280 He was a preacher at the end of his time.

00:27:25.560 I think so.

00:27:25.880 Here's a picture right here.

00:27:26.900 Will you go back to that, Sean?

00:27:27.660 Here's a picture of you and Mr. Jennings right here.

00:27:30.880 Is it kind of interesting to see this photo?

00:27:33.020 Oh, yeah.

00:27:34.200 That was the first time we met.

00:27:35.860 Really?

00:27:36.380 That was right before we had that conversation that I just told you about.

00:27:40.320 And was he like, did he carry himself like an outlaw?

00:27:43.280 Oh, he did.

00:27:43.760 He had that Jesse James vibe a little, huh? 0.96

00:27:45.500 His give-a-shitter was totally broken. 0.50

00:27:47.400 Yeah. 0.94

00:27:49.200 He didn't care.

00:27:50.160 Dude, that's awesome, man.

00:27:51.940 Yeah, man.

00:27:53.280 To have that moment right there.

00:27:55.200 Yeah, that was the first night.

00:27:57.020 And did he have any traditions that you noticed kind of backstage or what was kind of,

00:28:00.540 did he have any?

00:28:02.460 As far as traditions, I don't, you know.

00:28:06.420 Were you allowed to spend time with him backstage before the show?

00:28:08.760 Yeah.

00:28:08.780 Or he kind of liked to be by himself, or did he?

00:28:10.400 No, he was always really good about, you know, anytime I was around.

00:28:15.120 He and I, we, Waylon was one of the kind of people, if he liked you, he lets you know it.

00:28:19.220 And one of his favorite sayings that I remember was, because a lot of people, they would talk

00:28:29.160 about, man, when you do this many shows, do you warm up or do you, how do you prepare for

00:28:34.220 a show?

00:28:35.140 And Waylon's favorite answer to that question was, I get up off whatever I'm sitting on

00:28:40.020 and go out and play music for people.

00:28:41.560 Well, that's what I do.

00:28:44.080 And that answer alone just gives you an idea of what his, his, his, his, he was just cool,

00:28:51.200 man.

00:28:51.520 Yeah.

00:28:51.620 A cool guy.

00:28:52.740 And a guy that was just, you know, wanting to do his kind of music, his own way.

00:28:59.340 And that's what he was going to do. 0.99

00:29:01.180 And he didn't give a shit what anybody thought about that. 0.99

00:29:04.140 I love that. 0.99

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00:31:54.580 Do you, um, do you see any of that nowadays still? 1.00

00:31:57.940 Like, there's a lot of, and I don't want to judge it, there's a lot of cookie cutter

00:32:00.800 stuff out there, but, um, you know, I come from a cloth where I didn't have much luck

00:32:05.740 with the entertainment industry, so I started creating my own stuff and, you know, went

00:32:09.780 on Joe Rogan and learned, oh, I can podcast and talk about my life.

00:32:13.160 Sure.

00:32:13.500 I spent a lot of time in Hollywood trying to, like, um, get rid of whatever kind of accent 0.99

00:32:18.460 I had in my throat, even though I didn't grow up, like, really redneck.

00:32:20.980 We just grew up kind of poor and white.

00:32:22.520 Right. 1.00

00:32:22.880 More like white trash. 1.00

00:32:23.740 Like, we didn't have a boat. 1.00

00:32:24.780 Right.

00:32:25.280 You know what I'm saying?

00:32:25.840 Like, I didn't, we didn't have bait.

00:32:27.240 You know what I'm saying? 0.99

00:32:27.680 Like, those were fucking, you know, chicken liver was a delicacy, I thought, you know? 0.99

00:32:31.740 So, I thought it was sushi when I first heard about it, you know? 0.99

00:32:34.800 It was fucking, it seemed pretty nice, but, but, so we didn't have, like, a country kind 0.92

00:32:38.880 of vibe. 0.98

00:32:39.300 We just had more of, like, a regular white vibe, but when I got to Hollywood, it really

00:32:43.100 was like, oh, here's a country.

00:32:44.340 It was like, there was no nuance to anything there.

00:32:46.500 Right.

00:32:47.300 And I, for years, I would take vocal classes trying to, like, get, like, a straight, normal

00:32:51.120 voice where I sounded exactly, and then finally, one day I said, man, I just can't even,

00:32:56.920 I'm just tired of pretending, you know?

00:32:58.480 I just don't even know what's going on anymore sometimes, and once I started to fall into my

00:33:02.220 own world, you know, in my own life is when I started to have a little bit more success.

00:33:08.300 Do you see any outlaws still out there these days?

00:33:11.100 Do you see any?

00:33:12.080 There's a few.

00:33:13.040 I mean, in just the last few years, you know, you've had people that have basically chosen

00:33:19.080 to say to hell with whatever's going on in Nashville, and they really don't use that

00:33:26.220 as a gauge for what they think they should be doing.

00:33:30.500 Right.

00:33:30.820 And they're not afraid to break those rules, you know?

00:33:35.380 You've got guys like Cody Jinks, you know, and some of those guys, Jason Isbell is one.

00:33:42.320 Some of those other guys, they just want to do their kind of music their own way.

00:33:47.020 Yeah.

00:33:47.200 And those are the people that I think, especially in today's world, they stand out from the crowd,

00:33:55.980 you know?

00:33:56.760 And that's all I was trying to do back in those days to not only just show my influences,

00:34:02.940 but also be a little bit something different so that people remember your name and remember

00:34:09.340 your music and they remember your performances because they're a little bit different than

00:34:14.740 everybody else's.

00:34:15.640 You need to get people to remember you.

00:34:18.220 I remember thinking, man, you know, I don't care if they remember my jokes.

00:34:22.960 Right.

00:34:23.280 I want people to come back to see me.

00:34:25.180 Exactly.

00:34:25.760 As a human, as an entertainer, but also as, so I need to get as close to my work as I can

00:34:32.040 to my humanity.

00:34:33.000 Yes.

00:34:33.420 So that when they see one, they see a little bit of the other.

00:34:36.640 And I want them to come back and pay a fair price ticket to see me as a person.

00:34:40.660 I want them to be like, oh, we're going to see Theo.

00:34:42.280 Like, what jokes does he tell?

00:34:44.400 I don't even know.

00:34:45.640 That's fine.

00:34:46.300 If I don't, if they don't even know what jokes I tell, I just want them to come and see

00:34:49.060 me.

00:34:49.600 Don't you think a lot of that comes from people just want to, want to gravitate towards

00:34:55.180 something that's real?

00:34:57.020 I think, I think especially these days.

00:34:59.360 Yeah.

00:34:59.780 You know, we talk on this podcast, you know, we do a lot of episodes where it's just me

00:35:03.360 talking and to nobody really.

00:35:05.020 But, um, and so, yeah, we try to talk about like just things that make us feel or that

00:35:09.800 make us think or.

00:35:10.900 Yeah.

00:35:11.160 Yeah.

00:35:11.780 Cause everybody has these things going on and it's like, we've kind of disappeared.

00:35:15.680 Um, some of that's kind of disappeared.

00:35:17.840 It's everything's become so formulaic.

00:35:19.580 It has.

00:35:20.280 It has.

00:35:20.800 And that's one of the things that, you know, is when you, when I hear people talk about

00:35:26.020 being a little bit nostalgic for the, the music that took place and not just the music,

00:35:32.460 but lifestyle with all the, all the stuff that's gone on in the last few years, um, I'm just

00:35:39.580 in the, in the process right now of releasing a single off of a new album and it's called

00:35:44.900 smoking a bar.

00:35:45.740 And it's talking about kind of being nostalgic for the days when we didn't seem to have all

00:35:52.420 this upheaval and, you know, you, people came by, neighbors came by and talked on the

00:35:57.040 porch.

00:35:57.520 We all said good night.

00:35:58.900 We never locked the front doors.

00:36:00.320 Yeah.

00:36:00.540 Even downtown, you could still see the stars when the world turned slower and you could

00:36:05.280 smoke in a bar.

00:36:06.200 Oh yeah.

00:36:07.000 You know, that kind of thing.

00:36:08.480 So I forget about that there.

00:36:10.300 Yeah.

00:36:10.640 I mean, and people are nostalgic for that kind of thing, especially as crazy as things are

00:36:17.600 getting, um, those of us that are, that are old enough to remember a simpler time.

00:36:24.880 I think we kind of long for that.

00:36:27.300 Do you feel like, well, and I, well, it's one of the reasons why recently I've tried to

00:36:30.480 relocate to Nashville.

00:36:31.840 I still have my place in Los Angeles and I'm from Louisiana originally, but, um, but

00:36:36.300 I do notice here, there is a, there is certainly a bit more of, you have a little more time

00:36:40.760 for people as humans.

00:36:42.220 Right.

00:36:42.460 Um, and it is a bit of a slower pace.

00:36:46.020 There's a little more trust amongst people.

00:36:48.020 There is.

00:36:48.280 It's not as eroded away.

00:36:50.060 Exactly.

00:36:50.460 Um, it hasn't been as marketed.

00:36:52.380 Right.

00:36:52.680 Um, you know, I, uh, dude, I remember I used to play, they used to have this place in St.

00:36:58.540 Louis, the funny bone over there.

00:36:59.760 And so it was a comedy club, man.

00:37:01.840 And the first, the first show was no smoking.

00:37:04.820 Right. 1.00

00:37:05.320 The, the late two shows, dude, those bitches were smoking. 1.00

00:37:07.820 Bro, I remember, bro. 1.00

00:37:09.140 Like, dog, I didn't know if there was nine people in there or fucking 9,000. 0.97

00:37:15.180 There was so much smoke. 0.99

00:37:16.720 It was seven foot ceilings at best.

00:37:19.180 Trust me. 0.76

00:37:19.620 And no, uh, no, uh, I don't even think they had a damn system to get the smoke out. 0.91

00:37:23.800 They had a frickin', I swear to God, they had a waitress by the window with the window 1.00

00:37:27.760 open, just waving a menu at it. 0.99

00:37:29.340 Like, they didn't have a damn game plan, bro. 0.99

00:37:32.280 And I couldn't tell you, bro, if it was a damn. 0.99

00:37:35.360 Bro, I swear at one point I saw a damn boat go through the mist. 0.99

00:37:38.340 I didn't know what was going on. 0.99

00:37:39.940 I said, it is fucking thick in here. 0.98

00:37:43.140 But I would just still do my shows. 0.98

00:37:44.720 I had cancer by that second show, but I kept doing them, boy.

00:37:47.880 I was in remission by the second day I was there.

00:37:49.920 I was in remission.

00:37:51.220 Did you ever smoke cigarettes at all?

00:37:52.680 Oh, yeah.

00:37:52.900 I used to smoke them.

00:37:53.560 I smoked for probably about 16 years.

00:37:55.440 Yeah, I did about the same thing.

00:37:57.440 Do you miss smoking it?

00:37:58.340 Sometimes I miss some of it.

00:37:59.580 Not at all.

00:38:00.460 How bad did it get for you?

00:38:02.440 I never was a heavy smoker.

00:38:04.300 I, at my, I would always smoke when I drank.

00:38:07.340 And so, at the very most, I was maybe a pack a week.

00:38:12.920 Oh, that's not bad.

00:38:13.640 You know, so it wasn't bad at all.

00:38:15.500 But I got bronchitis in, I think it was 1992. 0.98

00:38:23.100 And I went to the doctor and he said, man, he said, I don't give a shit if you start back 0.98

00:38:29.220 immediately, but you've got to quit smoking for at least three weeks. 0.97

00:38:32.480 And I thought to myself, well, if I can quit for three weeks, man, I can quit completely.

00:38:36.440 Yeah.

00:38:37.000 And then, ever since then, I'm not completely tobacco free.

00:38:41.520 I still dip every now and then, you know.

00:38:43.780 Yeah.

00:38:44.500 I couldn't dip good, man.

00:38:45.760 Yeah.

00:38:46.240 Well, the good thing about dipping is nobody's ever died from secondhand spit.

00:38:50.640 Yeah.

00:38:51.240 That is true, dude.

00:38:52.460 I don't know.

00:38:54.080 Well, I don't know.

00:38:54.940 I mean, who knows what's going on in some places?

00:38:57.480 Who knows what's going on? 0.99

00:38:58.420 Some people are real caught up in some wild shit. 0.99

00:39:00.400 But, dude, I remember when I was young, we went, the first time we got a can of dip, 0.99

00:39:04.920 man, it was like cherry skull or something.

00:39:06.740 Yeah.

00:39:07.300 And my buddy had got his driver's permit.

00:39:09.780 In Louisiana, they gave it to you at 15, man. 1.00

00:39:12.100 They gave you that bastard at 15. 0.99

00:39:13.760 And it didn't even have a picture of you. 0.99

00:39:15.160 It literally had a drawing of you on it. 1.00

00:39:16.760 I was like, damn, that shit looks sketch as hell. 1.00

00:39:20.560 And my buddy got his mom's car and we got a can of cherry skull, dude. 1.00

00:39:25.080 And that was our night, bro.

00:39:26.240 Oh, yeah.

00:39:27.080 We was just hitting pervade, man.

00:39:28.500 So, we didn't even know nothing about really women. 0.94

00:39:30.040 We knew about them, but we wasn't thinking about it.

00:39:31.700 Right.

00:39:32.300 Exactly.

00:39:32.640 So, we went out, man.

00:39:34.640 And I got sick on it, right?

00:39:36.160 And I puked out of my buddy's driver's side window.

00:39:39.020 Then I got so sick, I said, I need to sit in the back.

00:39:41.120 I puked out of each window in the back.

00:39:43.080 Okay, look.

00:39:44.620 So, in the morning, my buddy, his mom came back in town or whatever.

00:39:48.860 She sees the car and there's vomit out of all three windows.

00:39:52.500 So, she said, who were you?

00:39:53.500 Went out with some kind of party.

00:39:54.700 And he said, look, I went out with Theo.

00:39:56.600 He got sick.

00:39:57.080 He just vomited out of all three windows.

00:39:58.540 His mom, to this day, doesn't believe him.

00:40:01.080 She said, what kind of maniac would vomit out of three different windows?

00:40:04.920 That'll make you do it.

00:40:06.020 That was fun, man.

00:40:06.560 Especially the first time.

00:40:07.760 Oh, yeah.

00:40:08.660 Dude, I miss stuff like that.

00:40:09.820 Do you remember the first time you ever drank or anything like that or anything like that?

00:40:15.200 Man, I shouldn't even tell this story, but I'm going to tell you.

00:40:18.740 I was 16 years old.

00:40:23.660 And my high school was doing the play Godspell.

00:40:30.280 And I was in.

00:40:32.480 You were in the play?

00:40:33.200 I was singing. 1.00

00:40:34.040 Oh, damn, boy. 1.00

00:40:35.220 Off stage. 1.00

00:40:35.900 I was singing off stage. 1.00

00:40:36.860 Oh, damn. 1.00

00:40:37.320 Yeah. 0.99

00:40:37.660 They weren't ready for you to center yet.

00:40:39.100 No, no, no.

00:40:39.620 I said, put them in the wing.

00:40:40.860 There you go.

00:40:41.400 And the guy that was our theater teacher, we were doing rehearsals, and he's sipping

00:40:51.520 on a Coke can.

00:40:53.400 And I just got a whiff of it, and it smelled like peppermint.

00:40:59.460 And I thought, now, that's not Coca-Cola, man.

00:41:02.100 So I asked him one day, I said, what are you drinking?

00:41:04.620 And he said, peppermint snobs.

00:41:07.880 And he told you.

00:41:08.880 And he gave me some.

00:41:10.180 Oh, hell yeah.

00:41:11.560 That's the Lord working.

00:41:12.620 Man, I remember.

00:41:14.180 That was all I needed right there, man.

00:41:16.580 It's like, yeah, this is good.

00:41:19.320 And until I got sick on it, and then I can't stand the smell of it to this day.

00:41:23.640 Oh, I can imagine.

00:41:24.320 That's a strong one.

00:41:25.120 Yeah.

00:41:25.420 That's a weird one.

00:41:26.440 But, oh, God.

00:41:27.780 I just, I did so much.

00:41:29.200 And would you sing?

00:41:29.440 Would you just do it at the shows?

00:41:31.780 Yeah.

00:41:32.180 Well, I mean, all my buddies, I mean, we're country boys, man.

00:41:37.280 Oh, yeah.

00:41:37.720 We lived out in the country.

00:41:38.960 So, you know, the thing, everybody went to work and did what they had to do.

00:41:43.680 And then when you get off work, let's go buy some beers, and let's go find someplace to hang and party.

00:41:50.480 Oh, yeah.

00:41:51.120 You know, and that might be a club. 0.95

00:41:53.500 That might be a bonfire out back.

00:41:56.040 Yeah.

00:41:56.280 That might be, you know, there was a big waterfall that was close to our area where the Chattahoochee River ran through.

00:42:05.240 And a lot of times, hey, we're all going to meet at the falls tonight.

00:42:08.540 Let's go over there, you know.

00:42:10.400 So just, you know, stuff like that.

00:42:12.200 Yeah.

00:42:12.580 It was, you know, normal.

00:42:14.500 Normal.

00:42:14.880 Yeah, and such a good, such a rich environment for creating music, I feel like.

00:42:19.840 Such a rich environment for creating memories and moments.

00:42:25.940 Like, I just remember, yeah, things then, a lot of songs then I felt like had a little bit, and I hate to blanket statement like this, because it's not always true.

00:42:36.640 But there was sometimes more story that I could relate to.

00:42:41.140 Maybe I was also at an age where I was really just growing up and still coming into life, you know, in your late teens and 20s.

00:42:49.340 But, yeah, there's something about, like, moments that are just yours where you can really then create art from them.

00:42:56.620 Whereas now so many moments are, they're so manipulated before you ever even put the pen to the paper.

00:43:03.780 That's right.

00:43:04.240 Because they've been shared so many times or.

00:43:07.200 Back in those days, man, I mean, and from its inception, country music has always been, in my opinion, the best genre for storytelling of all music.

00:43:22.520 No matter where you're from, what your background is, there's going to be a country music song out there, back in those days there were, that is going to speak to how you're feeling.

00:43:34.920 No matter how you feel about your job, your social status, your family, your country, your spouse, your boyfriend, girlfriend, whatever.

00:43:50.060 There's going to be a song that's going to relate to how you're feeling and the things that you're dealing with in your life at that particular point.

00:44:01.520 And that's one of the things I think I miss the most about a lot of today's country music because I just miss those great stories, man.

00:44:11.080 And that's being able to tell those great stories that everybody can relate to.

00:44:16.360 Johnny's daddy.

00:44:17.440 Exactly.

00:44:17.840 He's taking and fishing.

00:44:19.680 Exactly, man. 0.99

00:44:20.220 Dude, by the time they got to the end and they're in the damn hospital, I'm just fucking. 0.99

00:44:24.260 I'm at the gym, bro. 0.99

00:44:26.080 And I'm fucking crying. 0.99

00:44:28.180 I'm trying to do 45s. 0.99

00:44:30.300 See, that's good.

00:44:32.480 That's good because that means it obviously touched a really special spot in you that made you feel.

00:44:42.360 If it makes you feel something.

00:44:44.600 Yeah.

00:44:45.100 I don't care what it is.

00:44:47.000 Anger, fear, sadness, joy, whatever it may be.

00:44:52.600 If it makes you feel something.

00:44:54.660 Yeah.

00:44:55.020 That's a pretty darn good sign, man.

00:44:57.580 Yeah, man.

00:44:58.380 And I remember, I'm trying to think of ones.

00:45:00.240 Well, we went to the dances.

00:45:01.740 So a lot of y'all's music, they would play at some of our dances once I got like later in the high school, man.

00:45:06.600 And some of those, man, you hit those ballads, you get out there with a lady, bro.

00:45:10.760 There was nothing like that.

00:45:13.080 There was nothing like that, man.

00:45:16.140 And that's where music becomes more than just music for a lot of people, too.

00:45:20.440 It becomes really kind of the soundtrack of your life.

00:45:23.620 Yeah.

00:45:23.880 That's one of the things about music that's always amazed me.

00:45:26.700 It's like, I can remember where I was for very specific moments in my life and exactly what song was playing in the background.

00:45:37.520 Like, first time I ever drove my dad's car by myself, you know, or first time I ever went on a date, first time I ever kissed a girl, first time I, you know, all these different things.

00:45:47.700 And I knew exactly what song was playing in the background for each one of those individual things because they're not just something that's playing in the background.

00:45:59.860 It's the soundtrack of your life.

00:46:02.140 And every time I hear that song today, any one of those songs, it takes me right back to that spot again.

00:46:08.820 And I think a lot of people, music does that for them.

00:46:12.220 Yeah, I think, man, my mom got one of those Warner Brothers, like, music disc things for, like, 19 cents.

00:46:18.680 You got, like, six albums, you know?

00:46:20.180 Yeah, right.

00:46:20.760 So she picked out four and she let us pick out two, you know?

00:46:23.760 And we would have to clean the house to Bryan Adams every weekend, man.

00:46:29.140 Absolutely.

00:46:30.220 Yeah.

00:46:30.580 Yeah, man.

00:46:31.380 Have I told you lately?

00:46:34.680 No, that's not even Bryan Adams.

00:46:35.720 No, that's Rod Stewart.

00:46:38.060 Rod Stewart.

00:46:38.740 Rod Stewart was one of the she got.

00:46:40.200 She got Leonard Cohen, Rod Stewart, Bryan Adams.

00:46:43.220 But, man, we would, oh, and the Traveling Wheelberry she got.

00:46:47.320 Oh, yeah, man.

00:46:48.160 Dude, that was a band that never got the, I mean, I'm sure they maybe did at the time, but, I mean, that was even before your time.

00:46:54.240 But it was like, man, that band.

00:46:55.680 Well, that was like the country music equivalent of what the Highwaymen were, which was Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jenner.

00:47:06.220 And Chris Christopherson.

00:47:07.300 I've got to go back and listen to more of that.

00:47:09.000 Yeah, it's good stuff, man.

00:47:10.380 Yeah, the Traveling Wheelberries, man.

00:47:12.760 Yeah.

00:47:13.260 That was some Traveling Wheelberries. 0.57

00:47:15.180 That's some of the best in the business right there.

00:47:18.620 Got Tom Petty in there.

00:47:19.900 You got George Harrison.

00:47:21.980 Did you ever want to, did you ever try to cheat genres a little bit?

00:47:25.300 Did you ever feel like you were trying to get out of your own, like, because it's like, I know, it's not cheat genres, but did you ever, was there ever a moment where you felt like you were, just sometimes our lives change.

00:47:38.220 Right.

00:47:38.440 And so the art we're putting out changes with it.

00:47:40.620 And sometimes it's hard to, you know, we're like, man, this has worked so well for me.

00:47:45.000 I'm almost scared of getting older, growing into something different or anything.

00:47:48.600 Did you ever feel like there were moments where your music changed?

00:47:50.720 No, I really didn't.

00:47:51.740 Now, I've always kind of used the same recipe for making records, and that is that I just want to include a little bit of each one of those different genres that were so influential to me.

00:48:04.360 So there's going to be, in the process of just recording this, I just recorded the first album that I've done in studio in 13 years.

00:48:15.360 Oh, dang.

00:48:15.660 And I recorded it with Dave Cobb, who produces Chris Stapleton and Sturgill Simpson and all those guys.

00:48:23.400 And it's done now?

00:48:24.220 Yeah, it's done.

00:48:25.080 And how do you feel good about it?

00:48:26.180 Yeah, I feel great about it.

00:48:27.220 It's going to be out May 7th.

00:48:28.940 It's called Set in Stone.

00:48:31.100 But people were asking me, when people found out that I was going to be doing an album, a new album, what's it going to be like?

00:48:39.160 Man, are you going straight head country?

00:48:40.800 Are you going more toward the rock side?

00:48:42.980 Are you going to do more blues?

00:48:44.480 What are you doing?

00:48:45.100 And I said, man, the only way I know how to answer that, it's going to be a Travis Tritt album.

00:48:49.540 And that means that every Travis Tritt album that I've ever done has had the same recipe, which is show a little bit of the blues, show a little bit of the Southern rock, rock influence, show a little bit of that straight ahead country stuff, show a little bit of the bluegrass, and just show and sprinkle a little bit of Southern gospel over the top of it.

00:49:09.000 And that's me.

00:49:10.420 So that's exactly what we did.

00:49:12.100 And if you are particularly into one genre over another, you may not like every song, but there's going to be something on there you're going to like.

00:49:25.520 I like that.

00:49:26.460 We've got a question right here from a fellow that came in.

00:49:28.480 Let's get to this right here.

00:49:30.200 Thanks, Sean.

00:49:30.680 What's up, Theo?

00:49:35.840 Hey, Mr. Travis Tritt, one of my favorite artists, by the way.

00:49:38.560 Me and my dad just went to a show two years ago, and it was a blast.

00:49:42.780 You guys got some fine-looking mullets.

00:49:44.480 Trying to grow one out myself.

00:49:46.040 For Travis, I'm just curious, some of your new favorite artists in the country, same as it used to be, but just wanted your take.

00:49:51.980 Thanks, guys.

00:49:52.740 Gang, gang.

00:49:53.140 Well, you said Cody Jenks, you said.

00:49:56.980 I love Chris Stapleton, too.

00:49:58.580 I think he's tremendously talented.

00:50:04.020 Yeah, he's timeless.

00:50:04.780 It's almost like listening to a cavern of nostalgia, comfort.

00:50:09.980 There's a lot that goes in.

00:50:11.460 It's almost like a whiskey or something.

00:50:13.320 Yeah, exactly.

00:50:13.480 Like a really good whiskey.

00:50:15.240 Exactly.

00:50:15.960 He's really good.

00:50:16.700 I love Marcus King.

00:50:18.540 Oh, yeah.

00:50:19.220 He was just on Tom Segura's podcast, wasn't he, Sean?

00:50:22.380 Yeah, people love him.

00:50:23.520 He's such a neat person as well, it seems like.

00:50:25.660 Yeah, man.

00:50:26.220 He is a talented dude.

00:50:28.880 There he is.

00:50:29.440 Yeah, he's so...

00:50:30.880 There's just something immediately so endearing about him when you even see him.

00:50:35.320 He's got a great voice, great guitar player, great musician.

00:50:41.060 He's got a lot of that same blues, southern rock influence, and he's not afraid to show it.

00:50:48.340 That Larry Fleet, you listen to it?

00:50:49.680 Oh, I love Larry Fleet.

00:50:50.680 I actually met Larry Fleet for the first time.

00:50:53.940 I was hosting a show for USA Network called Real Country back about...

00:51:01.360 I might remember this.

00:51:02.420 ...three years ago.

00:51:03.800 Yeah.

00:51:04.620 Me, Shania Twain, Jake Owen were the...

00:51:07.680 Oh, Jake's an awesome guy.

00:51:08.580 ...host judges, and one of the people that came up in the competition was Larry Fleet.

00:51:15.300 And I remember telling him, as soon as he actually won his round, and I remember going up to him after cameras were shut off and just telling him,

00:51:28.180 man, you are an amazing talent.

00:51:31.720 I'm looking forward to hearing more from you.

00:51:33.960 And he just has just done some great stuff recently.

00:51:38.180 He's got a song out called, That's Where I Find God.

00:51:41.060 Oh, yeah.

00:51:41.720 That is just...

00:51:42.660 It's one of the ones that made me feel when you talked about songs that make you feel or make you...

00:51:46.040 There you go.

00:51:46.820 I mean, it's like somebody took a trailer hitch from the world and literally hooked it onto my heart.

00:51:55.540 That's right.

00:51:56.620 That's right.

00:51:57.180 There's something special he does there.

00:51:59.340 Yeah, he's a super unique man, super talent.

00:52:02.180 I believe that we're kind of getting into a time where...

00:52:05.840 Morgan Wall, you listen to Morgan?

00:52:06.980 Yeah, I like Morgan.

00:52:08.000 Yeah, I love Morgan.

00:52:09.520 A lot.

00:52:09.640 Yeah, he came on.

00:52:10.240 He came on like maybe a month ago.

00:52:11.940 Yeah.

00:52:12.740 Yeah, he's a close buddy of mine, man.

00:52:14.420 God, he's almost too talented.

00:52:17.260 Yeah, exactly.

00:52:18.600 I almost feel like sometimes I listen to so many of his songs, I'm like, Jesus Christ, man.

00:52:22.700 Throw a couple bad ones in here.

00:52:24.160 He's like, you know, and then he's got like, he's always like, you know, he's like, look,

00:52:29.740 I always want to tell you, you know, they don't...

00:52:32.820 Somebody leaked my music at Walmart and I don't even shop at Walmart.

00:52:37.280 I love him, bro.

00:52:38.120 He's such a...

00:52:39.440 And Morgan, you know, I love you, so I'm just...

00:52:42.080 But I introduced him to UFC.

00:52:43.500 We watched some UFC fights a couple weeks ago.

00:52:46.820 He's a special talent, man.

00:52:48.260 He's a special talent.

00:52:50.220 I think that people are getting more into...

00:52:53.020 I think like you're talking nostalgia and connection.

00:52:56.780 I feel like during this virus, during the pandemic, that a lot of people have started to say,

00:53:02.020 I don't know if I want this rat race.

00:53:05.180 Yeah, man.

00:53:05.540 Whatever this is.

00:53:06.500 It doesn't...

00:53:08.000 The allure of it, it's almost like the curtain got pulled back on some of just the relentless

00:53:12.620 go, go for what.

00:53:14.400 Yeah, exactly.

00:53:15.100 And I think a lot of us...

00:53:17.100 Well, I know for myself, I can only speak for...

00:53:18.740 I'm sitting in kind of just in myself and saying, what do I want?

00:53:22.340 I want to feel good.

00:53:24.560 You know?

00:53:25.120 I want other people around me to feel good.

00:53:26.720 I want to be able to be a part of things that are good.

00:53:30.040 Exactly.

00:53:30.540 And I think that a lot of people are starting to feel that way.

00:53:33.440 I think there's going to be a resurgence of not country music, but music that connects people.

00:53:40.560 Music that makes people feel.

00:53:41.800 I'm looking forward to seeing what takes place in all of music, really, but especially in

00:53:49.860 country music.

00:53:50.480 I'm looking forward to seeing what takes place as a result of being locked down for all

00:53:57.100 these many months.

00:53:58.140 And because you know good and well, all these great songwriters and all these artists and

00:54:05.940 all these people, they have had nothing better to do with their time than to sit down and

00:54:11.820 do exactly that.

00:54:13.240 All of those things.

00:54:15.440 And I think it's going to be...

00:54:17.740 It's almost going to be like a baby boom, except for music. 0.95

00:54:21.700 Yeah.

00:54:21.980 I think we're going to see that.

00:54:23.320 And that's exciting to think about.

00:54:25.040 But the baby's a pedal steel, maybe.

00:54:26.560 That's a dragon. 0.60

00:54:27.360 Yeah.

00:54:28.480 It's a six pound, eight ounce pedal steel guitar.

00:54:31.320 It's a girl.

00:54:32.440 Congratulations.

00:54:33.440 It's a progressive instrument.

00:54:37.000 We have a question that came in right here from you.

00:54:39.340 You might even notice this lady. 0.88

00:54:40.560 She was at...

00:54:41.580 I remember her from...

00:54:43.920 She was at Kid Rock's 50th, actually.

00:54:45.820 Awesome.

00:54:47.540 Hey, Travis.

00:54:48.700 Tammy here.

00:54:49.680 Big fan.

00:54:50.460 I think you had some of the best music videos of the 90s.

00:54:55.440 I think your performance in your video, Tell Me I Was Dreaming, should have won an Oscar.

00:55:00.180 My question to you is, I know you've done a lot of acting in your career.

00:55:05.940 Which do you prefer?

00:55:07.600 Full-time rock star or full-time movie star?

00:55:11.720 Love ya.

00:55:12.620 Love you, too.

00:55:13.560 That's a good question, man.

00:55:14.580 Because at certain points of popularity, they start to offer you things that they might not have offered you.

00:55:21.080 You don't have to go into that room to audition as much.

00:55:24.020 That's exactly...

00:55:25.460 Man, I had no aspirations whatsoever about being an actor.

00:55:29.540 Right.

00:55:30.160 But...

00:55:30.560 Did it grow on you, though?

00:55:31.500 Well, I enjoyed it, and I'll tell you the reason why.

00:55:36.360 I was always out of my element when I was doing a movie or a television show or whatever it may be, when I was doing any kind of acting.

00:55:46.220 And because I was so insecure about it and so nervous about it, I didn't just go in and learn my lines. 0.97

00:55:52.840 I learned the whole damn script. 0.94

00:55:54.880 I knew everybody's lines. 0.99

00:55:56.100 And because I have a real hard time multitasking, I get real laser-focused on whatever it is I'm doing at the moment.

00:56:07.300 So if I'm songwriting, I'm focused on that.

00:56:09.940 If I'm recording, I'm really focused on that.

00:56:12.840 And if I'm performing, I'm really focused on that.

00:56:15.840 So doing these acting roles, it forced me to concentrate so much on that that I completely took a vacation from music.

00:56:27.440 I didn't think about music.

00:56:28.840 I didn't talk about music.

00:56:30.340 I didn't try to write music or whatever.

00:56:33.460 And I found that the benefit of that was when I finished an acting role and came back to the music, I found that I was more creative.

00:56:45.320 It was like, man, this is a fresh start again.

00:56:49.500 And I wrote better songs.

00:56:53.000 I performed better.

00:56:55.040 My mind was more in the game.

00:56:56.960 Because if you do anything, I think, over a long period of time, same thing over and over again, it can tend to get a little bit monotonous.

00:57:06.420 Yeah.

00:57:06.760 But if you get a break from it and then you get a chance to come back and look at it through a little bit different perspective, it helped me tremendously.

00:57:18.840 I think it helps make me a better artist and a better songwriter and a better entertainer.

00:57:25.840 Was there a role ever that you kind of like, oh, this is kind of neat?

00:57:31.660 Because acting, one of the reasons that people don't know acting, if you're a touring artist, acting takes a lot of time.

00:57:37.900 It's a really long.

00:57:39.460 So, you know, as a musician, you could probably do six shows in a daytime of you would do one set or one scene or half an episode of a TV program or something.

00:57:49.260 So that's one of the reasons I think a lot of entertainers don't go over into acting that aren't actors.

00:57:55.180 Right.

00:57:55.840 Was there a role or something you felt like you kind of got into or something?

00:57:58.440 Man, the one I had the most fun with was I got to do, do you remember a show called Tales from the Crypt?

00:58:07.000 Yes.

00:58:07.800 Yes.

00:58:08.240 I remember the beginning, the opening thing with the skeletons.

00:58:11.280 Yeah, with the skeletons.

00:58:11.300 Exactly.

00:58:11.780 Okay.

00:58:12.000 I got to do Tales from the Crypt with Hank Azaria and with Ben Stein.

00:58:19.880 And I played.

00:58:22.480 We were robbing bodies for this doctor so that he could try to find what he believed was the soul gland in a person.

00:58:33.940 And at the end, I'll go ahead and give you a spoiler alert.

00:58:39.620 Yeah, there you go right there, big dog. 0.68

00:58:41.420 I get my head cut off and I come back from the dead because they didn't remove my soul gland. 0.56

00:58:51.020 I come back from the dead and that was so much fun because there were no limitations.

00:59:00.020 The director basically said, do whatever you want to do.

00:59:03.800 Come up with your own voice for it. 0.95

00:59:05.980 Act as crazy as you possibly can. 0.63

00:59:09.120 Do any wild stuff that you want to do in this. 0.53

00:59:12.340 Your parameters are just wide open.

00:59:16.140 And that was so much fun, man.

00:59:20.060 I came up, you know, I come out and, of course, I've got this head on backwards and I look like I'm walking.

00:59:26.140 Is it your head?

00:59:26.780 Yeah, they did a, they did a, Todd Masters, who did all of the special effects for that show, he created a head, a rubber head of me.

00:59:37.920 It was perfect that they dropped down a well and I come back out of the well.

00:59:41.700 Yeah.

00:59:41.780 And, man, it was, that was just so much fun to do that particular role because there were, you know, it's always fun to play kind of the bad guy.

00:59:51.580 Yeah.

00:59:52.260 You know, that's always fun.

00:59:54.400 But, but especially when it's like you're this monster that has returned from the dead, there's no, there's no limitations on that.

01:00:02.740 Oh, yeah.

01:00:03.280 It's free, free.

01:00:04.460 It's all, it's, it's open game.

01:00:06.080 Yeah, exactly. 0.94

01:00:06.820 Yeah, you're already dead, dude. 0.99

01:00:07.620 It's a wrap. 0.99

01:00:08.300 You can do whatever you want now.

01:00:09.600 That's exactly right.

01:00:10.660 Dude, I miss the old days, man. 0.98

01:00:11.940 Mecklin had Peepin' Toms and shit when I was growing up. 0.96

01:00:14.660 Dude, we used to do Peepin' Tomlin when I was growing up, dude. 0.80

01:00:17.440 We had a guy in our neighborhood who had a ladder and we'd have to like almost sign it out for him because everybody was always borrowing it. 0.97

01:00:22.560 Or we'd get that bitch on a Thursday, dude. 1.00

01:00:24.500 We'd get out there, dude, do some Peepin' Tomlin. 0.99

01:00:27.920 We don't even have that anymore.

01:00:30.080 You know what I'm saying? 1.00

01:00:31.200 Like, damn. 1.00

01:00:32.000 That is. 0.99

01:00:32.400 When's the last time you heard of anybody getting arrested for Peepin' Tom?

01:00:35.040 Dude, in high school, we had a buddy who did, but all my other friends were like, man, that's disgraceful.

01:00:40.320 I'm like, I think it's pretty cool.

01:00:42.000 You know what I'm saying, man?

01:00:44.060 I told him, I even said, hey, man, don't smoke cigarettes out there and leave the butts.

01:00:47.120 That's how they catch it.

01:00:47.900 Yeah, you got it, man.

01:00:48.900 And I said, look, if you're going to be out there for a couple hours, do a little gardening while you're out there.

01:00:54.880 You know what I'm saying?

01:00:55.400 There you go.

01:00:56.020 Have some respect.

01:00:56.760 There you go.

01:00:57.560 Have some respect.

01:00:57.960 For who you're looking at.

01:00:58.720 Yeah, yeah.

01:00:59.160 Have some respect.

01:01:00.440 Dude, I miss those days, man.

01:01:02.560 I just, you know, I'm heavily nostalgic.

01:01:05.020 I love nostalgia.

01:01:06.020 I love like just sometimes just laying back and trying to feel through the moments that I had as a child and as a young adult.

01:01:12.220 And there's just something so wonderful about like the freshness of life and how it's the every moment is like in a Ziploc bag.

01:01:20.900 And you're just cracking that thing open for the first time, you know, was there what about like a first kiss?

01:01:27.300 Was there anything special that you had like that growing up?

01:01:29.800 Oh, yeah.

01:01:30.620 I mean, well, yeah.

01:01:32.740 Falling in love.

01:01:34.380 Oh, it was fun.

01:01:35.340 Oh, man.

01:01:36.320 It was awesome.

01:01:37.660 It was awesome.

01:01:38.460 It was fun.

01:01:39.240 It was so severe.

01:01:41.060 Oh, yeah, exactly.

01:01:42.840 Exactly.

01:01:43.960 And everything, everything that happened, man, you could relate it to.

01:01:48.660 Oh, man, this relates to how I feel about so and so.

01:01:51.660 Yeah.

01:01:51.700 You know, it's just crazy.

01:01:54.780 But, you know, I don't think that ever really goes away completely, you know, because I remember when I met my wife.

01:02:05.420 I've been married three times.

01:02:07.120 This is my third marriage.

01:02:08.620 Like getting hit by rice, huh?

01:02:10.980 Or bird seed.

01:02:12.220 Yeah, man, that cheap rice.

01:02:15.460 That's right.

01:02:16.140 My wife and I, we met in 95 and we got married in 97 and we've been together ever since.

01:02:22.320 I've heard a lot of nice things about it.

01:02:23.240 We were at Hillary Williams' birthday last night and she said, oh, she had a ton of nice things to say about you guys.

01:02:27.620 She's just wonderful.

01:02:28.620 But I knew as soon as I met her that this person is, it wasn't love at first sight, but it was darn sure heavy attraction at the first sight, man.

01:02:38.640 Because she, not only was she beautiful, but she was just so down to earth and relatable.

01:02:45.040 And that's the kind of people I grew up around.

01:02:47.860 So we just kind of gravitated toward each other.

01:02:50.260 And it just, and I remember that, how that felt.

01:02:54.060 And even though it was, you know, 20 some odd years ago, it's, it doesn't feel like that to me.

01:03:01.340 It feels like it was, you know, could have been last week.

01:03:04.400 Like, I think some of that is adult love.

01:03:06.840 Whenever you kind of get that person that you're just so comfortable being around.

01:03:11.820 But yeah, I remember childhood love.

01:03:13.900 It was just like, I remember I'd go to school and I knew I was going to see this girl, Katie.

01:03:17.900 And like all day I was like, just practicing what face I would have on when she looked over, you know.

01:03:23.900 And it was always the worst one when she finally looked. 0.98

01:03:26.680 It was always the fucking worst one. 0.98

01:03:30.140 Do you remember our first kiss? 0.99

01:03:31.520 There was something, even just a little like smooch around the neighborhood or anything?

01:03:34.400 Yeah, I was.

01:03:36.120 And no offense to your wife.

01:03:37.120 She's the best.

01:03:37.940 Oh, yeah.

01:03:38.580 Yeah.

01:03:38.940 Well, she doesn't mind that because she knows.

01:03:43.720 First girl I ever kissed was a girl by the name of Melody McCoy. 0.98

01:03:48.240 Oh, yeah.

01:03:48.960 And I was dating her.

01:03:51.080 And she was in that same play, Godspell.

01:03:53.780 So this was all around the same time.

01:03:55.820 Oh, yeah.

01:03:56.300 You liquored up.

01:03:57.060 You're learning it all, baby.

01:03:58.360 Absolutely, man.

01:03:59.180 Let's go.

01:03:59.700 I'm learning quick.

01:04:02.180 I'm on the fast track.

01:04:02.900 Probably the same guy that gave you the liquor didn't teach you how to run the smooch, man.

01:04:06.240 That's what I'm hoping.

01:04:08.660 And I had my first car.

01:04:11.480 What was it?

01:04:12.240 A 1969 Rambler, three on the tree, 306 cylinder. 0.99

01:04:19.580 Damn new? 0.99

01:04:20.640 Oh, no. 0.99

01:04:22.000 69.

01:04:22.720 Oh.

01:04:23.280 Rambler.

01:04:23.700 Oh, my bad.

01:04:24.880 69 Rambler. 1.00

01:04:26.120 Oh, it was a piece of junk, man. 0.98

01:04:27.780 Yeah, yeah, yeah. 0.99

01:04:29.120 And Rambler was an appropriate name for it. 1.00

01:04:31.200 Oh, my God.

01:04:32.040 It was terrible.

01:04:33.440 But it was mine, and I bought it.

01:04:35.640 Yeah.

01:04:36.140 How much was it?

01:04:37.440 500 bucks.

01:04:38.400 Hell, yeah.

01:04:39.120 Dude, I had a 1984 Ford Escort for $600.

01:04:42.060 See?

01:04:42.260 And somebody stole the passenger seat out of it.

01:04:44.160 So people would get in, and they had to go directly to the back.

01:04:48.520 Nobody would have wanted the passenger seat out of this one, man.

01:04:51.280 It was awful.

01:04:52.640 It was terrible.

01:04:54.000 It was so bad.

01:04:55.540 Instead of, you know how you turn on the windshield washers?

01:04:58.820 Uh-huh.

01:04:58.960 You know, spray the windshield washer fluid up on?

01:05:01.320 Yeah.

01:05:01.440 Well, this one had a little bulb on the floorboard that you had to pump like a water gun.

01:05:10.120 Oh, man.

01:05:11.080 It was terrible. 0.99

01:05:12.240 Like, hold on, there's some bird shit out there. 0.99

01:05:14.380 Let me get this thing going. 0.99

01:05:15.600 Exactly.

01:05:16.420 But, man, yeah, we went out.

01:05:19.320 Where'd you take her? 1.00

01:05:19.980 Do you remember?

01:05:20.560 I took her to a, there was a park close to our house, and they had, like, swing sets and,

01:05:28.080 you know, one of those.

01:05:30.720 There's merry-go-round things, and I took her to that.

01:05:34.880 Were you nervous, you remember?

01:05:36.040 Yeah, I was nervous.

01:05:37.400 Yeah.

01:05:37.820 Yeah, big time.

01:05:38.860 But, man, oh, that was a great experience.

01:05:42.980 Dude, I remember they had this girl in my neighborhood named Chrissy Hunt, and she was missing a tooth, 0.99

01:05:47.620 or one of us was.

01:05:48.340 I don't know.

01:05:48.940 You know what I'm saying?

01:05:49.400 It was that age.

01:05:50.140 I don't know.

01:05:50.520 Somebody, dude, between two of us, I think we had about 11 teeth, you know, and it was just,

01:05:55.240 I didn't come from a heavily enameled area, you know.

01:05:59.480 And she was, yeah, I remember she, we kind of locked ourselves in a room or something.

01:06:06.640 I think we'd felt so much pressure.

01:06:08.100 Kids in the neighborhood were always going to kiss each other, you know, just like, and

01:06:11.420 we were so scared.

01:06:12.800 And then I remember at one point thinking I was supposed to, like, touch her breast, but

01:06:16.200 I remember touching my own.

01:06:17.260 I was so scared to touch hers, I started touching my own.

01:06:21.580 I just didn't know what to do, man.

01:06:23.220 I just, but I didn't want to be a wimp, you know.

01:06:25.900 So I just.

01:06:26.880 Absolutely.

01:06:27.520 Dude, I think I had bigger chest than she did at the time. 0.76

01:06:30.020 I mean, it was just young, you know.

01:06:32.160 And we had, dude, we had this guy in our neighborhood.

01:06:34.260 The dad was an Elvis impersonator, right?

01:06:36.520 But we only had about 600 people in town. 0.99

01:06:38.160 We didn't have, we don't need a fucking Elvis impersonator. 1.00

01:06:40.140 This dude was alcoholic. 1.00

01:06:41.180 Oh, okay.

01:06:41.800 So, but I mean, he also dressed up like Elvis, at least, you know, so it was pretty entertaining.

01:06:45.520 But he would make his kids stay in the yard and he had an electric fence, dude.

01:06:49.380 And one of the girls would let me go over there and, like, kind of smooch her through the 1.00

01:06:52.280 electricity, bro.

01:06:53.660 Oh, man.

01:06:54.540 Bro, the stress, just, God, I can still feel the stress in my neck trying to kiss through

01:06:58.900 those wires.

01:06:59.480 Holy cow. 0.89

01:07:00.680 God.

01:07:01.580 Wow, man.

01:07:02.640 Dude, and then we had, I forgot about this.

01:07:04.380 So this girl, Chrissy's brother, he was like, I think he more preferred the company of men,

01:07:09.180 you know, and so he made us, I remember this now.

01:07:11.800 He made us dress up like army people and put our hair back and, like, made our hair look

01:07:16.960 short and hers and her, and made me and his sister kiss each other. 0.68

01:07:21.100 Dressed up like little men. 0.94

01:07:22.640 How old?

01:07:24.020 Dude, I think we were probably about 13, boy, 12, maybe.

01:07:28.280 He shouldn't have been doing that.

01:07:29.500 He was only about 16, so I don't think he really knew what he was doing either.

01:07:32.720 But when I look back on it, I'm like, why are we both lieutenants?

01:07:36.080 You know what I'm saying?

01:07:38.360 That dude was fine.

01:07:39.040 And then he went into the military years later.

01:07:41.040 He went into it.

01:07:41.360 Did he really?

01:07:41.960 Yeah, he did, man.

01:07:43.160 Awesome.

01:07:44.160 But, uh... 0.99

01:07:45.260 Damn. 0.99

01:07:46.040 Yeah, I just, there's something I love about that. 0.99

01:07:47.840 We got a question right here that came up from somebody.

01:07:50.900 What up, Theo?

01:07:51.920 Gang, baby. 0.75

01:07:52.800 I just got a question for Travis real quick.

01:07:54.960 I want to know, what do you miss most about the climb to fame in the music industry when

01:08:00.100 you were out there cutting your teeth on Broadway or wherever you were?

01:08:04.120 What do you miss most about that? 0.98

01:08:06.780 And, uh, Theo, why don't you use some of that money from your butt and get your tire fixed? 0.98

01:08:11.760 Amen, dude. 0.93

01:08:12.440 I just, I had a flat tire, and I got up to eight cans to fix a flat in it before I finally

01:08:17.780 took it in, man.

01:08:19.660 So that's who I am.

01:08:20.780 You know?

01:08:21.140 You're a procrastinator.

01:08:22.260 Oh, I was like, you can hold one more can.

01:08:23.540 They had to replace a lot of stuff when I finally got over there.

01:08:30.600 They said, your tire has plaque buildup.

01:08:32.660 I said, plaque buildup?

01:08:34.720 Take it to the dentist.

01:08:35.620 Yeah, dude.

01:08:36.120 I need to take this thing somewhere else.

01:08:38.020 Somewhere else.

01:08:39.420 Yeah, what about that climb, man?

01:08:40.820 Because there's something, once you kind of achieve the level, once you, I mean, your

01:08:44.380 level of success is a really rare level, but what do you miss about that climb?

01:08:49.760 What do you miss about, like, really miss about some of the early moments, you know?

01:08:53.060 I wouldn't say I miss it, but...

01:08:55.300 Because you can never replicate that, really.

01:08:57.040 Exactly.

01:08:57.220 You can't, I mean, you can only, you know, you can only launch that rock at one time,

01:09:02.420 you know?

01:09:03.160 But, and when it's all new to you, you know, that you're only, you're only a virgin once.

01:09:09.140 Yeah.

01:09:10.700 And the fact that I was playing all those bars and clubs and stuff, and I've told my son

01:09:17.340 and my daughter that want to get into music about that experience, man, I learned so much

01:09:26.360 the hard way, playing all those smoky clubs like you're talking about, those smoky bars

01:09:32.400 and dives and beer joints and honky tonks and bowling alleys and pool halls.

01:09:38.440 Bowling alleys is always the weirdest.

01:09:39.700 Oh, man, weird place, man, right? 0.99

01:09:42.160 You're hitting a low note and somebody just damn gets a split, like, damn! 0.98

01:09:47.000 But you're having to compete against all of that, and plus you're having to compete against 0.99

01:09:50.980 alcohol to try to get these people's attention.

01:09:53.880 And every one of the places that I played, man, they had, they either had pool tables or

01:09:58.720 they had dart boards or they had pinball machines or maybe all of the above, so you're trying

01:10:05.720 to compete against all that.

01:10:07.940 And it was difficult, man, it was rough.

01:10:11.660 And I went through a lot of nights where, how in the world am I going to get these people's

01:10:18.540 attention?

01:10:19.020 But even though I hated some of those instances that I was put in, some of those positions

01:10:27.720 I was put in, I wouldn't take anything for them now.

01:10:32.040 Because I learned, I learned how if the show is interrupted for whatever reason, if you break

01:10:41.240 a guitar string, for example, or if a mic quits working or something, you learn how to keep

01:10:48.000 people's attention, you learn how to keep the patter up, you learn how to work your way

01:10:55.240 through it, and those are the things that I still pull from that book of knowledge, I

01:11:04.460 still pull from that every single day when I get on stage.

01:11:07.960 Was there a song that you would go to?

01:11:09.660 Because it's funny you say that, because I remember being in places where the music was

01:11:15.020 secondary to the liquor.

01:11:15.800 So it's like, these people are having a good time, we're going to also let you do comedy

01:11:20.020 over here.

01:11:20.940 Right.

01:11:21.340 But if you want to get everybody's attention, you have to do that.

01:11:24.280 There's nobody in here that's going to help you do that.

01:11:26.200 That's a fact.

01:11:27.120 Was there a song or something you went to sometimes when you realized, okay, I got to kind of reel

01:11:30.840 it back in here ever when you were starting?

01:11:32.500 Yeah, there were two songs that I really learned right off the bat.

01:11:37.280 After playing clubs, because I started out with just an acoustic guitar, that was it.

01:11:44.180 And then I went out in probably, I don't know, it was probably 1984, and I went out and bought

01:11:56.940 a Fender Twin amp, and I bought a Fender Stratocaster, and somehow or another, I've never even seen

01:12:06.660 one since then, but I bought a 100-foot guitar chord.

01:12:10.380 So the first two songs, our first two sets, rather, that night, you know, because they're

01:12:18.540 serving food in there too, it's a bar, restaurant kind of thing.

01:12:22.280 The first two sets, man, I'm up there with my acoustic guitar, and I'm playing James Taylor

01:12:26.400 and John Denver and, you know, whatever, George Strait.

01:12:29.960 But by the time it got to that third one, pull out that electric guitar and that 100-foot 0.89

01:12:35.760 guitar chord, and I'm running out on top of people's tables, kicking beer and shit over, 0.56

01:12:39.720 you know, and just, but I had their attention.

01:12:42.800 7.37 coming out.

01:12:44.680 Absolutely, man.

01:12:46.320 Absolutely.

01:12:46.920 And I'm doing Johnny B. Good, you know, and stuff like that, getting people's attention.

01:12:53.260 On the other side of that coin, I found out that, because you'd have fights that would

01:12:58.520 break out, you know, occasionally.

01:13:00.900 Yeah, would you play a ballad then?

01:13:02.480 What do you do at that point, man?

01:13:04.560 I found out not only a ballad, but the right ballad.

01:13:09.720 Nobody can fight.

01:13:11.820 I learned this right off the bat, man.

01:13:16.040 Nobody can fight if you play Silent Night.

01:13:19.700 The Christmas song, Silent Night.

01:13:22.280 Oh, yeah, bro.

01:13:23.440 That will stop a fight quicker than anything on this planet.

01:13:29.320 Shepherds quake.

01:13:31.100 I could see that, man.

01:13:33.260 That's hilarious.

01:13:34.340 Yeah, man.

01:13:35.160 So I learned those two things right off the bat.

01:13:37.380 I learned how to take them up, and I learned how to take them down if it got a little bit

01:13:41.620 too crazy.

01:13:43.400 Dude, I'm so bad at karaoke.

01:13:44.560 My song that I've always done is Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree, right?

01:13:47.000 I do that at karaoke no matter what time you hear it is. 1.00

01:13:49.540 And people, like, at first are like, this guy's a fucking idiot. 1.00

01:13:52.480 But then about, it's only a two-minute and 16-second song, the one I do. 1.00

01:13:56.640 Right.

01:13:56.840 So about a minute in, you kind of see people are kind of okay with it, and then you're

01:14:00.660 done, so you kind of got it out of your system.

01:14:02.960 But I can relate to going to a Christmas carol, man.

01:14:05.340 Yeah, man.

01:14:05.980 Using it when you need it.

01:14:07.060 It worked.

01:14:09.020 What's it like to be a father, man?

01:14:10.560 What's that experience been like for you?

01:14:12.880 Man, it's the greatest thing in the world.

01:14:14.880 Did you know it would be going into it?

01:14:16.620 Did you have skepticism about it?

01:14:18.060 Because I have a lot of fear about going into it and being a father.

01:14:20.560 I'm not a father yet.

01:14:22.760 No, I really didn't.

01:14:23.700 And I guess the reason that I didn't was because after my second divorce, I basically

01:14:32.460 took about six, eight years, and, man, I played the field.

01:14:39.040 I sowed all the wild oats that I could have possibly grown.

01:14:42.140 Oh, you was out there, huh?

01:14:43.520 Big time.

01:14:44.520 Okay.

01:14:45.020 And played the field.

01:14:47.100 And the good thing about it was I figured out during that period of time, okay, this

01:14:53.560 is what I do want, and that right there is what I definitely don't want.

01:14:59.320 And so by the time that I met my wife, I knew exactly what I was looking for, and I knew

01:15:06.880 she was it.

01:15:08.360 And so having kids with somebody like that that you feel that way about, it's not scary

01:15:14.960 at all, or at least it wasn't for me.

01:15:16.720 Now, it would have been extremely terrifying had it happened in the first two marriages.

01:15:23.220 But thank God, I got through both of those with no kids.

01:15:28.680 But I remember being excited to be a father.

01:15:32.320 And my daughter, when she was born, I was with Warner Brothers Records at the time.

01:15:45.640 I had been with them since the beginning of my career.

01:15:49.820 And I was looking to get off of that label.

01:15:54.460 And I also wanted to stay home and see what being a dad was all about.

01:15:59.280 So as soon as we found out she was on her way, I told my record label, I'm not doing

01:16:08.480 any more records for you.

01:16:10.420 I'm going to get out of this contract.

01:16:12.940 And I'm staying home.

01:16:14.360 I'm not touring.

01:16:15.320 I'm not doing anything.

01:16:16.460 I wanted to be home the first time.

01:16:18.560 I wanted to be home, obviously, when she was born.

01:16:21.020 But I wanted to be home when she took her first steps, when she said her first words.

01:16:26.780 I wanted to be home for all of that.

01:16:28.620 So I took from 1998 to 2000 off just to be home and see what this daddy thing is all about.

01:16:37.180 Yeah.

01:16:37.600 Was it pretty special?

01:16:38.860 Oh, extremely.

01:16:39.900 This is her right here.

01:16:41.360 Extremely.

01:16:42.240 Yeah.

01:16:42.800 Oh, you got a beautiful little family, dude.

01:16:44.840 Oh, thank you, brother.

01:16:45.960 That's all three of your children?

01:16:47.200 Yes.

01:16:47.680 Oh, dang, huh?

01:16:49.240 Yeah, that's them.

01:16:50.080 A couple shorties in there.

01:16:51.900 Beautiful ladies, bro.

01:16:52.980 Sorry.

01:16:54.280 Oh, wow.

01:16:56.360 What's your daughter's, what was the first daughter's name?

01:16:58.560 Tyler Reese.

01:16:59.460 Tyler Reese.

01:16:59.880 And is she the one that plays music, you said?

01:17:01.260 Yeah, yeah.

01:17:01.900 Okay.

01:17:02.540 Yeah, she's been, obviously, before COVID and everything hit, she'd been out on the road

01:17:08.260 doing a lot of shows.

01:17:11.180 Do you guys play together ever?

01:17:12.600 Yeah, we do.

01:17:13.200 As a matter of fact, I took her in the studio when she was 14 and recorded a song for one

01:17:20.640 of my albums, and we'd been doing that song together.

01:17:24.400 I'd bring her out on the road with me, and we'd do that song together.

01:17:28.380 And then she started working on her own, and she's doing shows on her own.

01:17:34.020 And she was really, I mean, everything was really, at that stage where it was, she was

01:17:40.820 getting to be known by a lot of people, and then COVID hit.

01:17:44.960 Yeah.

01:17:45.120 But it's going to come back.

01:17:45.880 It's going to come right back.

01:17:46.440 It's going to come right back.

01:17:47.480 What's something special about Tyler?

01:17:50.620 Just how, even though.

01:17:53.620 Even just as a human, it doesn't even have to be about music.

01:17:55.440 The fact that she is, she's got one of the kindest hearts I think I've ever been around.

01:18:01.740 She really is.

01:18:02.820 I mean, she can be, now she can be rough. 1.00

01:18:05.460 Yeah.

01:18:05.940 You know?

01:18:06.700 She lost her cell phone back at Easter of last year.

01:18:11.500 Oh, that'll roughing the girl up. 1.00

01:18:12.780 That's a female's Vietnam right there, dog. 1.00

01:18:15.060 Man, she lost her cell phone for about four or five hours, six hours.

01:18:19.160 And, man, she didn't speak to me for like a week, you know, because I was just trying

01:18:27.680 to help, and it was pissing her off.

01:18:31.160 But she's, outside of stuff like that, she's really one of the kindest hearted people.

01:18:38.880 She cares about people.

01:18:40.140 She cares about family.

01:18:41.920 And she's extremely sweet.

01:18:45.880 That's cool, man.

01:18:47.280 That's cool.

01:18:47.780 And your son, his name is Taylor, you said?

01:18:50.780 No, Tristan is my middle.

01:18:53.420 And then my youngest one is Tarion, T-A-R-I-A-N. 0.76

01:18:56.960 Oh, dang, like the Lannisters almost, like the Game of Thrones.

01:18:59.580 Yeah.

01:18:59.840 That's dope, dude.

01:19:00.680 Yeah, yeah.

01:19:01.400 That's dope. 0.93

01:19:02.500 And what's Tristan like?

01:19:04.620 Tristan is, he's very laid back.

01:19:09.060 He's, he looks almost exactly like me.

01:19:14.020 Oh, he's got to get that mole going then.

01:19:15.660 Does he have that haircut or no?

01:19:16.600 Yeah.

01:19:17.120 He has some flow?

01:19:17.780 Yeah.

01:19:18.240 Praise God, bro.

01:19:19.120 Yeah, he's got some flow going.

01:19:20.460 Yeah, man.

01:19:21.080 That lettuce.

01:19:21.920 The kids call it lettuce.

01:19:23.200 You know that?

01:19:23.800 That's what they call it.

01:19:25.060 They call it that cabbage.

01:19:26.240 That's what they call it.

01:19:27.060 Cabbage?

01:19:27.380 Yeah, they call it that lettuce, yeah.

01:19:28.900 Well, Tristan Tritt is, he's coming into his own.

01:19:32.300 And the more I watch him perform live, he's got a group called Tristan Tritt and Pale Moon Creek.

01:19:42.140 And the more I see him live on stage, the more he looks exactly, I look at him and it's like looking in a mirror.

01:19:53.100 Wow, that's interesting.

01:19:54.360 Yeah.

01:19:55.060 I see him and I see me.

01:19:58.140 That's cool.

01:19:58.520 It's just a fact.

01:19:59.880 But yeah, that's him.

01:20:01.780 There you go.

01:20:02.500 There he is on the left.

01:20:03.500 Oh, cool.

01:20:04.400 Yeah, that's him.

01:20:06.280 That's cool, man.

01:20:07.800 That's neat to have your family kind of be involved in what you're in.

01:20:10.260 And it seems like you guys are able to navigate it pretty comfortably without any too much envy or anything like that.

01:20:16.520 That's the thing that I think would be tough.

01:20:18.540 Maybe it would seem like from an outsider's perspective if there's like envy from the kids that makes the parenting uncomfortable or something.

01:20:24.480 Yeah, everybody.

01:20:25.320 You know, our family really has always gotten along extremely well.

01:20:28.600 And I know one of the things that blows my mind, as I said, my daughter is 23, my son is 21, and my youngest son is 17.

01:20:41.580 And I know when I was at any one of those ages, man, all I wanted to do was get as far away from my parents as I possibly could, man.

01:20:50.720 I'd just get out on my own and do my thing.

01:20:53.420 But our kids, and I give my wife credit for this, she raised them with so much of an appreciation for the family unit.

01:21:06.120 And, hey, this is family.

01:21:07.580 Blood's thicker than water.

01:21:09.140 You take care of your family.

01:21:10.540 Amen.

01:21:10.760 And so she instilled that in them, and they still, man, I mean, they love being with us.

01:21:19.020 And we have some of the greatest times in the world together, just going out and doing things.

01:21:24.200 But even like mundane things.

01:21:26.360 If my wife and I are home watching a movie or something on television, kids come walking through the room and go, hey, what are you watching?

01:21:35.980 And they'll sit and watch it with you?

01:21:36.900 They'll sit down and watch it with us.

01:21:38.160 You know, that's very cool.

01:21:39.900 That never happens.

01:21:40.900 I know.

01:21:41.460 I know.

01:21:42.040 I would have never done that.

01:21:43.480 I know.

01:21:43.780 Yeah.

01:21:44.880 What's something you guys are watching today?

01:21:46.580 Anything you and the wife sit back and watch or a program that you kind of enjoy?

01:21:49.820 Oh, man.

01:21:50.760 We've been, gosh, we've been watching so much stuff, man.

01:21:54.560 I just watched The Sinner.

01:21:55.500 That's what I'm on season one.

01:21:56.700 The Sinner?

01:21:57.220 Yeah.

01:21:58.080 I haven't seen that.

01:21:58.740 It's like a murder mystery kind of with Jessica Biel.

01:22:00.800 It's good.

01:22:01.280 Oh, really?

01:22:01.820 Yeah.

01:22:02.040 Well, we've been watching just, I think we've watched everything that there is available on Netflix.

01:22:09.100 Yeah.

01:22:09.720 Because of the COVID lockdown stuff, you know, everybody's just staying at home.

01:22:14.420 It's going away pretty quick, though.

01:22:15.720 Do you start to feel that a little bit?

01:22:16.900 Yeah, we're starting to see our schedule is starting to open back up for the next few months.

01:22:22.180 And it can't happen too soon for me, man, because there is something about, from an artist standpoint, I can tell you that if you love it as much as I do, there is a part of your life that is not complete if you're not able to go out there and do that at some point.

01:22:42.440 Interesting.

01:22:42.920 And I think from an audience standpoint, we have to bring live music back.

01:22:49.740 Yeah, people are ready.

01:22:50.900 People need it.

01:22:51.600 They are chomping at the bit, man.

01:22:53.380 I've been lucky, luckier than a lot of people.

01:22:57.120 I've had the opportunity to do a few shows here and there in different places.

01:23:02.120 But the people are just so hungry for it because they've been locked up and cooped up too.

01:23:08.000 And there's, as you well know, think about concerts and stuff that you went to when you were young and as you grew up and just the experiences that you had at some of those places.

01:23:19.800 There is nothing like being in a live audience and your favorite band or one of your favorite bands doing some of your favorite songs and you've got your fist up in the air.

01:23:32.840 You're playing air guitar out in the audience and the lights are going and everybody's drinking.

01:23:38.940 Throwing a joint with your buddy.

01:23:40.120 Exactly.

01:23:40.780 The whole thing, man.

01:23:42.100 There is something about that that can't be replaced by anything else.

01:23:46.320 Tell Me How.

01:23:46.960 Is that your song?

01:23:47.640 Tell Me I Was Dreaming. 1.00

01:23:48.700 Damn, bro. 1.00

01:23:49.700 Yeah. 1.00

01:23:50.140 That's cool. 0.95

01:23:50.800 Is there moments where you get so far along where some of you are like, holy shit, I forgot about this.

01:23:55.800 We haven't played this one in a while.

01:23:56.920 This one's great.

01:23:58.120 Yeah.

01:23:58.580 That's got to be pretty cool.

01:23:59.720 We do that.

01:24:00.040 As a matter of fact, that's one of the hardest things, I think, about changing the set list around from one year to the next.

01:24:09.160 Always taking some things out.

01:24:10.260 Taking some things out and then putting new things in.

01:24:13.960 But it's always when you run across a song that's like, man, that was a great song.

01:24:21.120 And that song meant a lot to a lot of people.

01:24:24.980 It was just my imagination.

01:24:27.400 Exactly.

01:24:28.160 Telling lies.

01:24:29.620 God.

01:24:30.040 I was crying on the weight bench, bro. 0.99

01:24:32.380 Dude, I used to listen to the most sentimental shit in the gym. 0.98

01:24:35.600 I would be just, and I was doing steroids in high school, so I was doing steroids just ball. 0.99

01:24:39.020 People were like, is it the steroids?

01:24:40.340 Is it the music?

01:24:41.520 What is going on, bro?

01:24:43.860 Get it together.

01:24:46.940 Music is a powerful thing.

01:24:48.420 It really is, huh?

01:24:49.600 It is.

01:24:49.920 It's amazing to have something that can almost just be a key.

01:24:52.860 And some days it doesn't do it.

01:24:54.480 A song doesn't do it sometimes.

01:24:56.040 That's right.

01:24:56.400 But sometimes, you'll have heard it a hundred times.

01:24:58.120 You might have even liked it.

01:24:58.880 And then you'll hear it that one time, and it just fits every little groove.

01:25:02.460 Yeah, man.

01:25:03.540 It's the thing, man.

01:25:05.300 Music is a very, very powerful force.

01:25:08.220 And it never ceases to amaze me how powerful it is in some people's lives.

01:25:14.040 I've had people, man.

01:25:15.220 Oh, I can only imagine.

01:25:16.160 They could write, they come up to me and they say, man, when you wrote that song, you must

01:25:20.780 have been reading my mail.

01:25:22.360 Because that's exactly what I've been feeling for a long time.

01:25:25.620 And I just didn't know how to put it into words.

01:25:27.360 But you did in a three and a half minute song.

01:25:30.860 You said everything I've been wanting to say.

01:25:33.380 That's powerful.

01:25:34.400 Do you feel like it's a gift from, because sometimes I feel like I like to do a lot of

01:25:37.800 words and talk about stuff.

01:25:40.160 But do you feel like it's a gift from God?

01:25:42.180 Yes.

01:25:42.340 Or do you feel like it's something you've created?

01:25:43.840 No.

01:25:44.400 Like you're just like a vessel kind of thing.

01:25:45.640 I have, and I have no reason in the world to understand why I got that gift.

01:25:55.640 I have no reason in the world to understand why he picked me.

01:26:01.540 But thank God he did.

01:26:04.520 I mean, it's...

01:26:05.100 Yeah, you got to accept it.

01:26:06.100 It's been great.

01:26:06.920 Yeah.

01:26:07.080 It's been great, because I've loved music all my life, and then to have the opportunity

01:26:13.120 to play it and sing it and perform it and write it for a living, a really good living

01:26:20.340 over all these years and provide for my family with it, man, it's the best.

01:26:26.380 It's the best.

01:26:27.240 Doing what you love.

01:26:28.340 Absolutely.

01:26:28.580 I got one last question for you.

01:26:29.780 So I heard a...

01:26:30.740 This is a rumor, and this is just like there's lore out there.

01:26:34.080 There was a song, Here's a Quarter, that you got tired of playing it, because people would

01:26:38.620 throw quarters on stage.

01:26:40.120 Actually, I didn't get tired of playing it.

01:26:41.640 I got hit by one.

01:26:42.720 No way.

01:26:43.800 When we first started playing that song, we were playing small clubs, and people would

01:26:51.560 start throwing quarters up on stage.

01:26:54.220 And even if they threw one, it's not going to hurt anybody.

01:26:57.900 Right.

01:26:58.540 But when we start playing theaters, and you're third row balcony, to throw a quarter hard

01:27:07.340 enough...

01:27:07.740 You wouldn't do that. 1.00

01:27:08.560 ...people that are crazy as hell, man. 0.99

01:27:11.200 So we started getting pelted. 0.98

01:27:14.440 I would look down and...

01:27:16.740 Sorry to laugh, man.

01:27:17.920 It's just crazy to think...

01:27:18.680 Oh, no.

01:27:19.100 ...some guy in the third row like, man, I think Travis needs this for a song.

01:27:22.940 Yeah, he does need that.

01:27:23.640 At least I didn't have Leonard Skinner's problem.

01:27:25.460 Leonard Skinner had a song way back in the 70s called Give Me Back My Bullets, and people

01:27:30.580 would throw live ammunition on stage.

01:27:35.860 Oh, man.

01:27:37.240 But this guy, I was on stage one night in Knoxville, I think it was in Knoxville, Tennessee, and

01:27:46.760 I got hit.

01:27:50.060 Somebody threw one from third row balcony, and it hit me right here.

01:27:54.780 And I thought I'd been shot. 0.99

01:27:56.520 Damn. 0.99

01:27:56.640 It was just one of those things where it's like, whoa. 1.00

01:28:00.620 And you kind of lose it for a second.

01:28:02.980 And then I look down, and there's blood just streaming.

01:28:08.180 I got hit right above my right eye. 0.99

01:28:11.100 Damn. 0.99

01:28:11.580 And it's just gushing blood. 0.99

01:28:14.340 So I grab a towel, and I'm trying to stop it.

01:28:16.740 And I couldn't stop the bleeding.

01:28:18.620 So bottom line is, it stopped the show.

01:28:21.760 It ended the show. 1.00

01:28:23.120 Damn. 0.99

01:28:23.360 So we had to start making an announcement to people. 0.99

01:28:27.660 It's like, look, if you start throwing quarters, and somebody gets hurt on stage, you're actually

01:28:34.880 cheating yourself because it's going to put an end to the show right then.

01:28:39.760 Yeah. 1.00

01:28:40.040 And it raises your ticket price by a damn quarter. 0.99

01:28:44.580 You know, kind of. 0.97

01:28:46.540 But thankfully, with Venmo now, a lot of people didn't have quarters on them.

01:28:49.620 You know what I'm saying?

01:28:50.440 Yeah.

01:28:50.720 Like, if I even see a quarter, I'd be shocked sometimes.

01:28:53.900 I got Larry the Cable Guy a couple of years ago to do an intro for me.

01:29:00.980 And it's like, hey, y'all, this Larry the Cable Guy, because of the danger involved, please

01:29:07.800 do not throw quarters or any other hard objects at the performers during the program.

01:29:14.340 Otherwise, I'm going to come over to your house, shove a milk bone down your throat, stick 1.00

01:29:19.100 a hungry dog up your hand in. 0.99

01:29:24.520 That's awesome, man.

01:29:26.500 Did you ever meet Jerry Clower or even get to see him?

01:29:29.260 You're probably a kid.

01:29:29.880 You got to meet him.

01:29:30.500 I got to meet him.

01:29:31.380 No way.

01:29:32.360 In the early days of my career, there was a show on the Nashville Network, which was

01:29:40.820 later became CMT.

01:29:43.040 There was a show called, it was Ralph Emery that hosted it.

01:29:48.340 And it was Nashville Now.

01:29:52.760 And I went on that show one night and Jerry Clower was one of the other guests.

01:29:58.660 And I got to meet him.

01:29:59.400 I mean, he was everything I hoped he would be, man.

01:30:01.460 Just what a great guy.

01:30:03.360 And I grew up probably the same way you did, listening to all those records that he did.

01:30:09.720 Knock them out, John.

01:30:10.760 Marcel Ledbetter and the Chainsaw.

01:30:14.900 Yeah.

01:30:15.500 Always something.

01:30:18.600 Marcel Ludell.

01:30:19.900 Here we go.

01:30:20.400 He would name all of them.

01:30:21.580 It's great, man.

01:30:22.560 Man, I loved him.

01:30:23.320 And was he a big known star when you were young, kind of?

01:30:29.780 Oh, yeah.

01:30:30.340 To your parents.

01:30:30.880 I'm sure your parents loved him, huh?

01:30:32.020 Yeah.

01:30:32.340 My parents.

01:30:33.400 My dad, that's back in the days of eight-track tape.

01:30:37.660 And my dad had four or five Jerry Clower eight-track tapes that he would listen to from time to time.

01:30:44.400 Of course, a bunch of country stuff thrown in there, too.

01:30:47.300 But, yeah.

01:30:47.900 And then he was on television almost every weekend.

01:30:50.660 Oh, wow.

01:30:52.580 He had a show that he hosted.

01:30:54.860 I can't remember what network it was on.

01:30:57.300 But he hosted every week with Jim Ed Brown.

01:31:02.380 And he was just, man, he was great.

01:31:04.620 And, of course, you'd see him on He-Haw from time to time, too.

01:31:06.820 Yeah.

01:31:07.160 Yeah, I've been watching a lot of He-Haw, just some replays of it and stuff.

01:31:10.540 Yeah.

01:31:10.900 It's really fascinating what they did with that show.

01:31:12.800 Yeah.

01:31:13.460 It was amazing.

01:31:15.040 Did, yeah, I thought about trying to even do a documentary about him, like trying to put it together and fund it and everything, you know?

01:31:21.040 Yeah.

01:31:21.300 Just before, because I know his wife is still alive.

01:31:23.680 So before, like, some of that disappears, you know?

01:31:26.480 Yeah.

01:31:26.680 Just trying to find a way to memorialize some of it.

01:31:29.220 There's a lot of that that I think needs to be.

01:31:31.260 That's one of the biggest reasons why I like to recall and recollect.

01:31:37.920 I'm going to write a book at some point.

01:31:40.400 I did one a few years ago.

01:31:41.980 But I want to write another one and just tell all of the stories that I've experienced and heard about throughout the years, about all of my heroes, the people that came before me, Waylon Jennings, Charlie Daniels.

01:31:58.640 Oh, yeah.

01:31:59.060 Willie Nelson.

01:32:00.640 I bet, man.

01:32:01.200 You've got to have those things because they'll go away even, you know.

01:32:03.720 Exactly.

01:32:04.380 They'll go away.

01:32:05.180 If you don't tell them, they do go away.

01:32:07.540 Yeah.

01:32:08.220 And there's nobody else that knows those stories but me.

01:32:11.160 Amen, man.

01:32:11.900 And them.

01:32:12.340 And them, yeah.

01:32:13.460 And the Lord, baby.

01:32:14.760 Well, we've got to hold on to what we can.

01:32:16.240 Anything else, Sean?

01:32:18.440 You feel good?

01:32:19.960 Travis, man, thank you so much for being here with us today, man.

01:32:22.420 Thank you so much for having me, Theo.

01:32:23.900 I appreciate it.

01:32:24.540 Thank you for, yeah, I think keeping nostalgia and just keeping my feelings alive throughout my life, I think that's something that you and a lot of entertainers of your ilk have done, man.

01:32:34.380 Well, thank you.

01:32:35.260 It's a real value to be able to, just someone who kind of is running like a, it's almost like you're just running this stitch every now and then through time that kind of holds people just close enough to the world that they're in that makes them feel a part of something, you know.

01:32:48.600 Well, I appreciate you listening and I appreciate the fact that you were able to recognize something in some of the music that I did that touched your heart and that's good.

01:32:59.840 Yeah, thank you, man.

01:33:00.620 I appreciate that.

01:33:01.300 Yeah, the one about the, what was in the spell, man?

01:33:06.300 I used to, I couldn't even spell and I was singing it all the time.

01:33:09.600 T-R-O-U-B-L-E? 0.95

01:33:11.200 No, no, no, no.

01:33:11.920 That one, you made that one easy for me.

01:33:14.800 But no, it was a, I'm going to be somebody.

01:33:17.140 Oh, yeah, man.

01:33:17.800 I remember, dude, I remember being in spelling class.

01:33:19.920 I'm thinking, man, I'm going to hear that song.

01:33:21.520 I'm going to be somebody someday.

01:33:22.860 And I'm going to be like, I'm going to, going to be some of the better.

01:33:27.220 I would, dude, I was getting the F in spelling, bro. 0.97

01:33:30.100 But in fucking the hope in my heart, dog, I had an A+. 0.98

01:33:32.660 There you go, man. 1.00

01:33:33.560 Amen.

01:33:34.120 Travis Chitt, thank you so much for being here.

01:33:35.760 Thank you, Thea.

01:33:41.480 Daddies were daddies, and mamas were saints.

01:33:46.420 What preachers were preaching, you could take to the band.

01:33:52.240 Kids played outside, up until it turned dark.

01:33:57.340 When the world turned slow, and you could smoke in a bar.

01:34:05.760 Trucks took a beating, a working man, too.

01:34:13.120 You could turn on a six o'clock, and get the whole truth.

01:34:19.320 A seat belt was a backup, for mama's right arm. 1.00

01:34:24.200 When the world turned slow, and you could smoke in a bar.

01:34:29.900 Ladies and gentlemen, I'm Jonathan Kite, and welcome to Kite Club,

01:34:39.160 a podcast where I'll be sharing thoughts on things like current events,

01:34:42.840 stand-up stories, and seven ways to pleasure your partner.

01:34:46.580 The answer may shock you.

01:34:48.300 Sometimes I'll interview my friends.

01:34:50.360 Sometimes I won't.

01:34:51.680 And as always, I'll be joined by the voices in my head.

01:34:54.980 You have three new voice messages.

01:34:57.580 A lot of people are talking about Kite Club.

01:35:00.900 I've been talking about Kite Club for so long.

01:35:03.580 Longer than anybody else.

01:35:05.240 So great.

01:35:06.600 Aye, swee-ah. 0.89

01:35:08.220 Easy deal. 1.00

01:35:09.560 Anyone who doesn't listen to Kite Club is a dodgy bloody wanker. 1.00

01:35:13.480 Jermaine. 1.00

01:35:14.740 Ho-ho! 1.00

01:35:15.540 I'll take a quarter pounder with cheese and a McFlurry.

01:35:18.560 Sorry, sir, but our ice cream machine is broken.

01:35:20.620 Ho-ho-ho! 1.00

01:35:21.900 No!

01:35:22.220 I think Tom Hanks just butt-dialed me.

01:35:25.540 Anyway, first rule of Kite Club is,

01:35:27.760 tell everyone about Kite Club.

01:35:29.540 Second rule of Kite Club is,

01:35:31.520 tell everyone about Kite Club.

01:35:33.760 Third rule,

01:35:34.700 like and subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts,

01:35:37.380 or watch us on YouTube, yeah?

01:35:39.540 And yes, don't worry,

01:35:40.820 my Brad Pitt impression will get better.

01:35:42.620 Thank you.

This Past Weekend with Theo Von - March 05, 2021

E327 Travis Tritt

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