And The Writer Is...with Ross Golan - Ep. 169: Tyler Hubbard

Episode Date: July 10, 2023

Originally from Monroe, Georgia, today’s writer has accumulated 21 No. 1 hits and is a staple on Country music radio. Yet, his Southern-bred authenticity is what makes him a real star. He’s never made a project bearing solely his name — telling his story — until releasing his debut solo album on January 27, 2023. A decade ago as the lead singer of the multi-platinum-selling country music duo, Florida Georgia Line, he received every country award you can think of – CMAs, ACMs, AMAs, and Billboard Awards. The cherry on top of all of this success is that he was only 24 years old when his band took off. As a songwriter who has had more than 100 songs recorded by artists including FGL, Jason Aldean, Chris Tomlin, Zac Brown, and Kane Brown, our guest thought he could be happy as a songwriter for other artists. And he was, but the more he wrote, the more he realized many of the songs were telling his own story, through his music. We’re so happy this songwriter decided to take this courageous leap into a solo career. And The Writer Is… Tyler Hubbard! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to And The Writer Is with Ross Golan. There are millions of singers, thousands of artists, and only 40 songs per genre at a time. These are the stories of the hottest creatives, the most venerable legends, artists, songwriters, executives, and more. Follow our socials and share your music with the and the Writer is community. We'll see you all there and now. Here's this week's episode. Hey guys, I'm excited to say a few words about what. of today's sponsors, Seeker Music. Seeker was founded and is run by one of my very dear friends

and repeat guests on the writer is Evan Bogart. Evan is an advocate for songwriters. He is in charge of the songwriter wing of the Grammys. He's a trustee for the Grammys. He's just a good person. And so that kind of community and culture is what Seeker is based on. They acquire only the best catalogs and sign only the best humans. That's the kind of person Evan is in real life, and that's the kind of person that runs Seeker. So I recommend you go follow Seeker on all their social media sites, but go follow Evan to and let them know how much you appreciate Evan's work. Because of him, we have Songwriter of the year. Because of him, we have songwriter's added to the album of the year for the Grammys. And now he's got his publishing company that is a wonderful

sponsor for our podcast. So thank you again, Seeker, and go check them out now. Hey guys, there's a cool company called Sound Royalties that was founded about 10 years ago. They provide funding for music creatives without ever taking ownership of their copyrights. So think about it. It's like a bank, but they don't actually own any of your copyrights. All they need to do is see that you have a royalty stream. They don't need personal guarantees, collateral, financial statements, or credit checks. They work alongside publishers and labels, distributors, and PROs, they don't replace them. Again, all they need to know is that you have a royalty stream of at least $5,000 in a year, whether it's from mechanical performance,

digital streaming sync, whatever it is. If you're interested in finding out more about sound royalties, call 844 for all music. That's right. It's 844 for all music to get started with sound royalties, call them today. BMI is the champion of the creator, supporting songwriters and making sure you get paid for your creative work. More than that, BMI has an incredible team that helps guide and develop songwriters, shows you how to navigate the industry plus provides invaluable opportunities on stages and at festivals. Bottom line, they help you with your career at all levels from those just starting out to the biggest hitmakers. Just like they helped me out when I was just starting out

and how they still helped me out today. You can learn more at BMI.com. Welcome to And The Writer is. I am your host, Ross Golan. Today's record-breaking country superstar cruised into Nashville's elite. He has cemented his name in the biz with his 20 number one songs, not 19, 20,

including some of the biggest boot stomping anthems of all time. His old band's first single stayed in the number one spot on the Hot Country Songs chart for an impressive 24 weeks, but of course he later smashed the record with 50 weeks with yet another hit. Only a few years later. He's received every country award you can think of, AMA, CMAs, Billboard Awards,

but don't pigeonhole this guy. He's a genre-bending songsmith. Sure, he's collaborated with, stars like Tim McGraw, Luke Bryan, and our friend Thomas Rett. But it's his collabs with legends like Nellie, and the writer is alum B.B. Rexha that showed his ability to stretch, proving his understanding that it doesn't matter regardless what your background is, he can connect with you. Recently, he stepped into the limelight himself as he ventures into a new solo career.

He's already rung the bell with that, of course. and originally from Monroe, Georgia, this writer is a family man first. And that's what makes a Southern man a real star. And the writer is Tyler Hubbard. What's up, buddy. Man, what an intro. Thank you.

You know, I'd be like, I had a few typos, and it really makes you, like, rack your brain. You're trying to be like, God, you know. I'm like that guy from, what's an anchor man, you know? It's like, you change the word just a little bit. I lose my mind. He's reading the teleprompter, baby. Exactly. So I was saying in there, the impromptu part is that you just had your 20th number one song. And it's weird because if you have 19, it sounds like you're a teenager and then you have a 20 and you're like you're in your 20s.

Do you feel different about your 20th? I mean, that's a kind of loaded question because I know you do for what it is. But do you feel different? Yeah, I mean, I would say for sure, you know, I remember thinking, man, I really wish I could get to the number 20 with when we knew that this is our last record. This is probably going to be our last single. And it'd be really nice if it was 20 and not 19 because something with something about just ending with teen. You're right. It's just like, ah, you know, it's a little bit.

It's in the teen still. So, yeah, it feels good. And then it was, you know, extra special that my first number one as a solo artist with my 20th. and kind of just felt like a really cool start to a new season. And, you know, it's the season of 20s. So let's go. I mean, we'll get into that, but it went platinum this week, right? Yeah, yeah.

So, I mean, dude, congratulations. That's like, it's a whole other thing. It's been rocking. Yeah, it feels really good. It feels really good. Well, let's start from the beginning. You were born in Monroe, Georgia, or is it Monroe, Georgia? I said Monroe, yeah.

Growing up. Yeah. Okay. What is Monroe, Georgia like? Where is it on the map of Georgia? I haven't been back in years, so I'd hate to not do it credit. I hear it's amazing now, and they've really built up to something kind of cool and got a lot of character. But when I was growing up in Monroe, it was super small, little farm town, and I actually

lived even further out in a little, I guess, suburb of Monroe, if that's even possible, called Good Hope. Just a little one light, little general store, four-way stop town, and it was great. you know, just grew up in the country, kind of living that life. And really thankful, worked hard, played sports, road dirt bikes, you know, grew up just being outside and playing and living that country kind of life, you know. Yeah, it's hard because I'm an 80s baby too and there's this weird truth about, you know, I don't want to get all nostalgic.

when we were in the 80s, there were movies about the 50s, and you'd see these kids riding bikes outside, and that really wasn't a huge difference from what we grew up with. It's like, my parents, I still remember the first TVs that we had were still, like, clicking through knobs,

which you probably don't, but it was sort of before, like, a basic cable, you know? And it's, that life of riding dirt bikes outside is not so different from our parents, but our kids are growing up in a whole other thing. Do your kids get out of the house? Yeah, fortunately, they're not really big on technology yet.

You know, we really keep it to a minimum. Actually, I should be really honest, we keep it as a very strong manipulation tool. And if you give it to them all the time, it's not a special. So we give it to them when they're on an airplane or, and I'm talking about an iPad, when they're on the airplane or when they're sick, because then they can stay in their room and wash their iPad, and it keeps the germs in their room.

So, yeah, we still use that as that, and they're not huge TV watchers. They love to play, but they're also similar in age. So I think they push each other. Let's go outside, let's play. Let's go to the playroom and build a fort or something like that. And it is pretty neat. It's been cool to kind of like get to relive my childhood

a little bit through just watching them, you know, be kids. Yeah, you were one of three also. Yeah, but I had a younger brother that was similar in age, two years younger than me, and then my sister was 14 years younger. So I was basically just like, basically grew up with just a brother. And so, but yeah, very similar, you know, you're just living life. Everything is great. And you see everything with such excitement and cool energy.

And I don't know, it's just really fun to be in this season of life and watching those kids grow up. Your, tell me about your childhood. when it comes to music. Like, who played music in the house? When you're in the suburbs of Monroe, like, where are you learning anything about music? Mainly my walkman.

My mom did, we had a piano in the house. My mom could read music and played piano in church when I was real young and even before I was around. And so there was a little bit of music in the family, but for the most part, we weren't a very musical family. most of my memories as a child, music-related, is just in the car, man. Road trips, we'd listen to the radio every morning on the way to school, country radio. And so I have a lot of memories there, but, you know, I didn't pick up the guitar until fourth grade.

And then after fourth, I took like three guitar lessons and quit until like seventh grade. And then it was like, oh, the girls think it's cool when the guys play guitar. And like, not many guys are playing guitar, so I want to play guitar. And so I picked it back up in middle school. and kind of fell in love with music through church. So that was a lot of my, that was my first sort of introduction into the power of music. I would say it was sort of my portal, you know, one of the ways I communicated with God and just felt close to him.

So it was very, like, impactful in my life. And so I fell in love with music, I would say, in church and around the middle school age. So, yeah, my early childhood is very much not really musically. I remember somebody saying to me early on where it was like when you go to a concert and you see somebody with a microphone, if you didn't speak the language and you were anywhere else in the world, if you saw everyone lifting up their arms singing along back with the person with the microphone, you'd be like, oh, we're in a church. You know, the experience of, I mean, somewhere like the rhyme in, you know,

where it's like clearly was, you know, a spiritual place and it's still a spiritual place. and it's still a spiritual place but different. You know, the idea of what you do has always been in that role of sort of worship in a way. Do you still feel connected spiritually while you're performing currently? Yeah, totally. Yeah, I would say so. You know, we've always had an ongoing joke and there's some truth to it. But, you know, growing up in church and learning up in church and learning.

learning how to be on stage and play guitar and sing and lead a crowd in church was super, you know, inspiring and pivotal to me learning and doing what I do now. And we've always said if you can lead a group to worship, you can lead a group to party for sure. That's really funny. And so, yeah, I mean, but even now, you know, it's really fun, especially now as a solo artist, to get to really tell my story through the show and play some songs that are, you know, I guess more on the head. head as far as like almost a worship song to an extent. So my show is really a journey now from talking about, talking about bars, to church, to God, to beer, you know, it's just, and it's just,

it's a fun, it's a fun journey, and it's who I am, and it's what I love, and now I get to just kind of showcase that through my music. When you were in seventh grade and you picked up a guitar again, one, why did you pick it up again? And did you immediately start writing music? You know, I think part of it was what you just mentioned. I mean, I remember having a where I'd be at church or at a church event of some sort, and I would see, you know, a band playing and everybody singing and just like, wow, this is a really powerful experience with bringing people together and like, man, I kind of want to be on that stage,

and I want to learn to play guitar, and, like, how cool would it be to be able to be one of those people on stage? And so I think I just got fascinated by it. And also it started to just love music, you know, even, country music, on the radio and all the things. And I remember, you know, a lot of my first songs I learned was like Chris Thomas' songs and Tim McGrawl. So it was very, you know, very church influenced, very country music influence at the time. And so, yeah, I picked up guitar just because I was fascinated by the concept of music.

And I knew, man, I need a tool. I need something to play. And I did enjoy. At the time, I was hanging out with some buddies and we would get together on, at the time, whatever software program, I think it was called acid, to be honest, if you remember that. And like in seventh grade, and we'd make beats and like make raps and sing hooks and stuff like that. So I was already getting into like, oh man, this is fun, like just creating music, like writing songs and stuff. So between church and then, you know, hanging out with them

and kind of getting creative, I really started to find a passion behind, you know, playing, leading, and writing at the same time. You said rapping. And clearly, your music has influences from all kinds of music, but you were listening to country music in the car with your family. Who's introducing you to the music outside of country music? Everywhere else I was listening to music. Anytime I was by myself, I was listening to Dr. Dre, M&M, Juvenile, Little Wayne. That was what we grew up listening to.

Country and rap music, that was basically it. I did listen to rock as well for a little while. especially when I was working out stuff like that. I love some of the rock stuff in the dirt bike world. Everybody loved rock music. So, yeah, I was pretty, my influences are pretty diverse, but hip hop has a huge impact on. Yeah, totally.

Even what I'm listening to today, it's mainly rap music. When you, wait, before I go on, who are you listening to now? If you say mainly rap music. I can't get off Jack Harlow right now? Oh, I love him. Does he know that? that? Not unless he's heard an interview, but I don't think so. Oh yeah. We probably connect some dots. Yeah, if you know him. Yeah. I'll holler out for me. I will. Shout out, Jack. Okay, so,

yeah, so we're back in, you know, you're now writing with some friends. You're realizing this is pretty fun. When was the first time people actually saw you play music that wasn't in church? That was music that you wrote, or maybe covered. Yeah, yeah. That's a good question. I actually think I think this was the first time. I played this little music store in Monroe called Stan's music, and it was me and my three homies that I was making music with at the time. Alex and Adam Smith, they were brothers and Matt Sherling.

We kind of lived in the same neighborhood, went to the same school, and I think we were like the few guys that were really interested in music at the time. And, you know, so we, I guess you would call it a show. We played a show. It was a rough one, but it was fun, and we still have pictures of it,

and I think that was probably the first, the first time I played music that wasn't on stage and wasn't like with a worship band or something. What was the song of that that you were like, this is pretty good. I mean, I should write another one. Probably none of them. I don't know, man. There was a song called Late Night that I remember that our friends liked. How does it go?

Shoot, I don't know, bro. It was super simple. It was like, you know, something about those late nights. Yeah. Don't get it twisted. We're not going to dig up any gold here from my seventh grade years. This is the moment, man. But I love the effort.

If this goes viral, then all of a sudden you're like, oh, my guy, I've got to bring this thing back. Bring my homies back, man. When did you record for the first time? Middle school, seventh grade, eighth grade. How did you record? In our closet. From that, from using, like...

Same way I record now, basically, like, in our bedroom, in the closet, with clothes, you know, was our sound. Who knew how to do that? I mean, we, like, there was... Somebody in the room was like, oh, well, if you get this software, we could probably record some of this stuff. I think it was... I mean, we all kind of dabbled with it, to be honest. I'm not sure who was the first to, like, yo, get this program. I remember my parents bought me a computer that was going to be, like, was like...

supposed to be better for like music stuff you know so they were they were definitely like an encouraging uh factor in the whole thing um but i think my friend alex smith probably had the program had the microphone first and and sort of the basic principles of let's get in the closet let's hang as many clothes around this mic as we can and you know uh and it sounds pretty good you know in our opinion so we just kind of went from there and the fact that yeah i think it was just the fascination with being able to create something out of thin air, whether we knew it at the time or not, I think even looking back now, I'm like, man, what blows my mind today about songwriting still did, like, in seventh grade.

I just, I think we didn't know why we loved it, but the fact that we could create a song and take it to our school and play it for our friends, it was just like, this is pretty cool. Did your brother, was your brother encouraging? I mean, you guys were close in age. Yeah, but he didn't really. Was he doing, like, other things? No, he was doing other things. He wasn't really into the...

Were you guys close? Yeah, we were close, but we had different interests, and we were like... We were close, but we were just way different. Yeah. So, yeah, he just kind of rolled with his own... He kind of rolled to his own drum, if you will. Yeah.

It's weird being like a new dad and thinking that, you know, your kids, they're their own people. Oh, yeah. And it's like, it's all mind-blowing. You can have two kids that are so close in age and they can be so wild. wildly different.

When you were in high school, I'm assuming you graduated high school, and then where did you go after that? I went to Belmont. I went to Nashville right after I graduated. So you knew, like, I'm going to be in Nashville country, somebody. Not really. I went to Nashville, my senior year for like a field trip

to this conference called the Passion Conference. And I was like, oh, this is a really cool city. I like Nashville. And then I actually wasn't going to go to college at all. I thought I don't really like school. It's not for me. It wasn't for my dad. You know, I've enjoyed, up to this point, I ran a car detailing business.

And so I kind of quit sports my 10th grade year and decided I'd rather work than play. So I started washing cars and working for myself and was making pretty good money. And I was like, I'll just keep, like, running my own business. and I live in Monroe and just do my thing, you know. And then I did a couple, like, college visits with some friends. And I was like, oh, this looks like not high school. And this looks like really fun. And I might have major, I might have major FOMO if I don't go to college.

And so I was like, I'm going to go to college. So I knew I wanted a business degree, but I was also, like, interested in music. And I figured my first thought was, like, what am I interested in enough to get me through four more years of school? because I really wasn't into school. And so music was one of those things, and I applied to Belmont because they had a music business degree, and they were like one of the only schools that did. And I just said, well, if I get into this school, I'll go here

because chances are I won't get in. And I somehow got in and decided, all right, I'm moving to Nashville, and I'm going to go to Belmont. And then when I got to Nashville is when I kind of learned, like, oh, there's like a profession called songwriting. Like, oh, yeah, that's kind of what I think. would be cool. But I didn't take, I didn't take myself or my career choices too seriously at the beginning, you know what I mean? I was probably like a soft, I remember moving to Nashville,

going to Belmont and realizing like everybody here is so good that like, I'm just going to put my guitar away because this is not, like, I'm not going to stand out in this school with my music. So I just put it away and I figured I'd stand out more if I didn't play music. And I was just like the guy that hung out with everybody and rode my, rode my motorcycle around campus and just like, you know, kind of goofed off. I remember the piece of advice my dad gave me before I went to college was, he's like, I don't care if you pass or I don't care if you make straight A's, but I want you to know everybody in that school. So I want you to know everybody by name. And so like, I was a pretty social guy and I think that was really good advice

looking back now, you know. So anyways, all that to say. That is really good advice. Yeah. And kind of contrary to what you'd expect, but that's, that's, that's, probably the most, that's the advice you should give anyone in the music industry, period. It's like, remember names, know all the assistants, know all the interns, because there will be bosses, like, know all of them. Yeah. Where did your, that's so smart. Yeah, I don't know. I mean, he was just always, he was sort of, maybe ahead of his time a little, but I just think he sort of, you know, he knew the, he knew the same piece of paper that everybody was going to get at the end at the end of their college experience was going to look the same to matter if he made straight A's or C's.

And so for me, he was like, look, I want you to pass your classes and take them serious. There's probably a lot to learn in there, but I think you need to know everybody at that school, most importantly. So that was great advice. And did my thing, and I would say my junior, senior year, I kind of got my guitar back out and thought, all right, like, I'm going to start pursuing this seriously. If I want to be a songwriter when I graduate, I need to start to work. work on my craft and I think the intimidation kind of went away and I began to just, you know,

except where I was at. I wonder how many of the people who showed up in school freshman year who were incredible, you know, those guys who could just rip on guitar, I'm sure a lot of them still are around, not belittling that. But I would imagine that they didn't all pull from the same place because they, you sometimes go to college because that's what you're good at, not because you're passionate about it. And I imagine there are a lot of people who end up in music school

that is sort of the next step in their music journey and not necessarily because I went and visited a school and was like, this is the one thing that would make me go to college. Those are different people. Right, that's true. And I would imagine that that same thing that was intimidating when you were just starting out was probably the thing that

made you really, you know, probably made you really successful as you were not. And even the not taking it seriously in the beginning and being social, and that stuff makes you a better songwriter. Yeah. And if you're so serious about it,

you're going to be in that same like pot as the rest of the guys who are like desperate. Right. And man, there were some talented. Who were some of the people in your class that, because you know, Belmont, every, you know, Belmont, every, class has somebody in it. Like, who are some of the other people that were in your school that

turned out to be, like, people you worked with later? Oh, man. There's a guy named Jason Nix, who was, like, the first person I met when I went to college, and he's still doing his thing, and he's like, I've always looked up to him as a songwriter, a guitarist, and a singer. He's super talented, and he's great, man. He's still rocking and rolling. I see him in Nashville all the time, and he's doing great things. And so it's... It's cool to see, like, the progression. I mean, we were both 18-year-old kids moving to Nashville, figured it out, and now we're, you know, doing it for a living.

It's really cool to see. But there's a lot. I mean, even Russell Dickerson, for example, somebody I went to school with, I believe he was in the music program, and he was like one of those guys that I'm just like, yo, his voice is so crazy and good. And, like, man, you know, just looked up to him, and anyways, became friends, and have been really good friends ever since. And it's just fun to see our journeys.

you know, kind of come up together, you know. We're sort of in the same class. And now we get to be in arenas and stadiums together at times, playing shows and sharing a stage. And it's just, uh, it's really special. Yeah, that's, that's amazing. That stuff is really the priceless part of going, if going to college is worth anything, that's probably it.

No doubt. Hey guys, there's a cool company called Sound Royalties that was founded about 10 years ago. They provide funding for music creatives without ever taking ownership of their copyrights. So think about it. It's like a bank, but they don't actually own any of your copyrights. All they need to do is see that you have a royalty stream. They don't need personal guarantees, collateral financial statements or credit checks. They work alongside publishers and labels, distributors and PROs. They don't replace them. Again, all they need to know is that you have a royalty stream of at least $5,000 in a year, whether it's from mechanical performance,

digital streaming sync, whatever it is. If you're interested in finding, out more about sound royalties, call 844 for all music. That's right. It's 844 for all music to get started with sound royalties. Call them today. BMI is the champion of the creator, supporting songwriters and making sure you get paid for your creative work. More than that, BMI has an incredible team that helps guide and develop songwriters, shows you how to navigate the industry plus provides invaluable opportunities on stages and at festivals. Bottom line, they help you with your career at all levels from those just starting out to the biggest hitmakers, just like they helped me out when I was just starting out and how they still helped me out today. You can learn more at

BMI.com. Hey guys, I'm excited to say a few words about about one of today's sponsors, Seeker Music. Seeker was founded and is run by one of my very dear friends, and repeat guest on the writer, is Evan Bogart. Evan is an advocate for songwriters. He is in charge of the songwriter wing of the Grammys. He's a trustee for the Grammys. He's just a good person.

And so that kind of community and culture is what Seeker is based on. They acquire only the best catalogs and signals. only the best humans. That's the kind of person Evan is in real life, and that's the kind of person that runs Seeker. So I recommend you go follow Seeker on all their social media sites, but go follow Evan to and let them know how much you appreciate Evan's work. Because of him, we have Songwriter of the Year.

Because of him, we have songwriter's added to the album of the year for the Grammys. And now he's got his publishing company that is a wonderful sponsor for our podcast. So thank you again, Seeker. and go check them out now. So, I mean, you know, when you were in college, I know you had some personal tragedy with your father passing. How did that influence, you know,

when you were saying in junior years when you started taking songwriting seriously, it was probably around then, just knowing your age, how much of that influenced being a songwriter? Yeah. I'd say there was probably a pretty good shift around that time, and it was probably pretty heavily impacted by me losing dad. I remember being like, kind of having to make a decision

after he passed away, I was in Georgia, and I was like, all right, am I going to like stay in Georgia and take over his, he had a tree removal business. And I would say it was sort of the family business in a way. I mean, it was, you know, I grew up working with him in the tree business some and sort of knew the business. And I think mom helped run the books and all that. So it was sort of somewhat of a family business, and I just thought, you know, is this something I need to just stay home and take over and do? I kind of knew, like, pretty much right away, like, I don't think that's what dad would want. He was always a big advocate of me chasing my dreams and big supporter of me and the music stuff, you know, and even as terrible as I wasn't in middle school, I just still felt like he was one of the biggest advocates for me, like doing the music thing. And so I think at that point, I was like, no, what would he want me to do?

And he would want me to go back to Nashville and finish. to school and see where music takes me. And so, yeah, I'm sure that impacted me in a big way. And I remember going back and probably just having a little bit, I mean, anytime you have a major trauma or a big loss, you know, I think it kind of gives you a new perspective on life. And I think for me, it was like, all right, like, what am I, I, I'm not going to be able to just goof off and, you know, hang out forever.

So, like, what does my future look like when I finish school and what do I want to do? If I don't want to run a tree business or a car washing business, then what is it? And something he really instilled in me was really hard work ethic, you know. And so I think I just channeled that and into the creative process and into the songwriting and into kind of pursuing a publishing deal out of college. And so, yeah, I would say my junior, into my junior year, senior year is when I really kind of started writing consistently and trying to build up. a catalog where I could go take meetings and be proud of some of the stuff I wrote.

What were the songs that you were proudest of that helped you get to that next level? Well, my first cut was a song, before I had a publishing deal, was a song called Black Tears that Jason Aldine recorded. And somehow he actually heard that song on MySpace and reached out to me, believe it or not, and reached out to me on MySpace. And you released it at that point as Tyler Hubbard? Yeah. I mean, I mean, I was no, but I was just like... How did you hear it? Literally on MySpace.

I think he might have had someone in his team, like, going through my space and looking for songs or something. I don't know if it was actually Jason, but his team reached out and said, hey, Jason, Adain heard your song called Black Tears and would love to record it. And I'm like, what? Had you graduated at this point? And at that point, it was a voicemail. I remember, and I think they actually called... I think we had, like, at this point, I had graduated, yes. I was living with BK and Chase Rice and Tom Boprey who played bass for us.

And then my buddy Justin Marusick, we were living in the basement. And we had sort of started a band and started really like pursuing the songwriting thing. And I think we had like a bandline or something like that, like a landline literally, because I think we used to call clubs and act like we were the booking agent. So we had our own little landline. And that's the line they called and left a voicemail and said like, hey, I'm representing Aldine. and he loves this song, Black Tears, wants to record it. And I remember BK called me and said,

bro, you're not going to believe this, but Al Dean wants to record your song. And so it was true, it felt too good to be true, but sure enough, like, he recorded it, put it out, and that was my first cut. And so then I had a little bit of leverage to go in and say, hey, I mean, at least have a little bit of attention here and hear some more songs.

What years? That's like 2010 or so? 2000 or 10, yeah, probably so. I mean, that's the last era where, you know, single or not, like, if they release a song, it would generate some revenue and, you know, it's like you could leverage that one song into a lot of respect, if nothing else, you know? Totally. I mean, you still would get respect today if you had a Jason Aldeen cut, you know.

Did you get to hang with Jason? Especially as a no-name writer that, you know, nobody. And that's living in a basement with a band that nobody knows yet. Exactly. You know, like, that's crazy. Did the rest of the band look at, did they treat you differently at that moment where it's like, oh, shit, this is real? No, I wasn't really like that yet.

It was a, I mean, that was just like a two-way song that I wrote with Canaan Smith back in the day, like an old song. It wasn't even like, I think we played it some. Yeah, we did play it. Me and BK played it some together, but yeah, we weren't even looking at our band, as a band yet. We were looking at our band as a way for people to hear songs to hopefully record them. It was basically a pitch band. Yeah. If there's a such thing. And so that was what we did for the longest time. And then it turned into like, well, maybe we should like stand up and then

take these stools away and then, you know, call some clubs. I didn't realize that Chase was living with, like, when he moved to Nashville, he moved in with us. So how did you know Chase? I mean, that's such like... BK and Chase grew up together. It's so crazy. When he moved back from like South Carolina or somewhere, like working in NASCAR. He moved to Nashville. And it was after that and after that TV show he did. And then he moved to Nashville. And we were all one.

We were all pursuing songwriting. He was like, yeah, that's what I want to do this too. So we just all chased it together. It's weird because you assume outside that, you know, that there are groups of songwriters who are in Nashville and who are in L.A. in New York and London, Stockholm, wherever. that don't function as well as the group you just mentioned. The group you just mentioned all ends up,

they all end up with like hits. Do you guys gravitate to each other because you guys are hit songwriters or is there a coincidence that this group of friends ends up having? I mean, it was definitely a coincidence. You know, Chase was not a musician or a songwriter, nor was, BK was a baseball player

up until his senior year at Belmont. So like nobody, nobody would look at Chase, BK, or myself, and say, oh, they're going to be the, they're going to, we're going to hear them on the radio. Like, no, that was not, that was not the vibe. So, like, I think we just, I think a lot of that work ethic from their past, too, you know, baseball history and Chase's athletic history, he played football at South Carolina slash worked in NASCAR and did survive. I mean, he had a lot of, so, like, I think all those experiences help you just. become resilient and also determined and and and a hard worker so uh all that kind of played into it you know and i just remember when we just worked and worked and worked and weren't really going to take no for an answer and heard no a lot at the beginning and just kept kind of grinding and making ends meet

and uh chase had a little bit of i think he had a little bit of cash dashed away from survivor and so he didn't have to stress super hard and right away and we were just like let's just write songs until we, until something happens, you know. There's a book called Range from the guy who wrote Moneyball. And it's basically, instead of a Jack of All Trades, you know, a master of none, it basically says like a Jack of All Trades makes a master. And when you have those three life experiences that turn into successful songwriters, it's because of those life experiences, not in spite of.

I think there are a lot of people that think if they dedicate 100% of their energy to one thing, that that'll make them successful, but it'll often make them not myopic. It'll make it hard for them to view the world and bring in those life experiences, whether it's work ethic or it's actual deliric life things, to bring those in. So it's not crazy as much as it's crazy. You guys meet Joey Moye, though, pretty close to like after that. You guys have a lot of music going on.

At that time, Joey Moy is the biggest producer, certainly rock producer, one of them in the world. What enticed Joey to take you guys in is like, oh, we'll work with these guys before a record deal.

He saw us at a fair and thought we were awesome. What fair? I don't even remember. Some fair in Tennessee. like two hours away. And I, well, the same time that we signed a publishing deal with Big Loud, that was the same time that Joey had partnered with Big Loud.

And that was when all the, basically the business was created around us to start a company. I think Joey had already been dabbling around and producing some stuff with Jake Owen. So there was already a little bit of infrastructure and like systems in place. And so we were just sort of like inserted into the equation. I think we sort of, I don't know, what's the word I'm looking for when you get something that's passed down to you? We sort of inherited Joey Moy through nature of Big Loud, you know. And it wasn't like BK. and I studied every producer in town and thought he's going to be the one that's going to create the sound that's going to make us big. It was just really by nature of, oh, this is where we want to be publishing wise.

and we love Craig Wiseman, and he's taking us under his wing, and Seth England has taken us under his wing and learning how to manage, and we're learning how to be managed, and how to do this artist thing, and then yet Joey's a partner. So we have a producer now, and so now we have a publisher, manager, and a producer. And at the time, being all under the same route seemed like a great idea. So we just rolled with it, you know, and Joey put in the work and taught us a ton and, you know, kind of put us through boot camp,

away in studio boot camp which was great learned how to sing and learn how to be in the studio um i mean i remember the first album we made with him like we didn't understand that like joey probably wants to like have his own time to do his own thing and bk and i just practically lived on the couch in the studio watching him just like do every little thing he does um and it it was a process but it was great we learned a ton and we did four albums with joey and he's you know have a lot of respect for him and i have to give him a lot of credit for you know, creating our sound, if you will, and helping us become who we became as, you know, studio artist.

Yeah. Shout out to Craig, too, former alum of And The Writer is. But that, you know, it's hard to be a songwriter and be a business person. Clearly you inherited that too. When, at what point did you think I should help open doors for other writers? because that became that was that's a big passion for you you really are so good to the songwriting community but that's not for everybody right no totally why is that for you uh i think multiple reasons you know one one being that you know somebody took a chance on me you know Craig took a chance on me and

and uh i didn't have a whole lot to show you know i just he just believed in me and uh taught me a ton and I thought, man, one day, if I ever given the opportunity, I'd like to repay that to, you know, to people that I believe in and support up-and-coming writers. Because a lot of these writers in Nashville, you know, we're chasing a dream and we don't have, you know, we're barely making ends meet. And so an opportunity like that is life-changing. And so, yeah, it's been really cool. I've been patient and it's been fun to try not to force it.

But when the opportunity does come and it's a writer that I love and it's somebody that I believe in someone that I think this would be a good fit, I can actually, you know, kind of maybe mentor this writer or this seems like a writer that would fit well for these opportunities that I may have, or whatever the case is. It's been really fun and rewarding and fulfilling to kind of, I don't know, pay that back, if you will, and inspire young writers to give them opportunities. And it's been neat. I always look at the writers who didn't do that and think, man, what a different life. You know, like, you could make a choice of just being the guy, just being the artist who shows up. You know, like, you don't have to do that.

And then once, but once you go into it, there's no going back. Because then you're like, oh, man, this guy's talented and does something I don't do. And this woman's amazing. And she does something I don't do. And you're just like, then you just, oh, man, that, you fall in love with. the next generation and hopefully the generation after that. And it becomes like, it becomes just as addicting as writing. I would say so.

And in Nashville, you know, the co-writing thing is so big that, you know, for me, it's also about creating a culture around me that inspires me and that, you know, I mean, some days I come to work drained, you know, and I show up and I'm with some of these writers, young writers that I love. and they're full of energy and ideas. And I'm like, this is why the same way I was probably feeding Craig Wiseman, this new kid energy and this, you know, this hunger and this drive and this determination, you know, I'm seeing with the young kids.

And it's great. And I always say the reason Craig Wiseman is still super relevant and still loving life is because he's continuing to hang out with the young kids and learn from the young kids and let them inspire him. And as iconic and legendary as he is, he also carries himself humbly and likes being around the young talent and I think that's important. You always tell young people to listen to your elders, but if you want the key to having longevity in the music business, tell your elders to listen to the young people. That's right. That's what keeps them going. When did you know, there's, you know, when you start recording music, you have a public.

publishing deal. Everyone sort of sees like, oh man, I could see, you know, some people are starting to cut my songs. I've got these outside songs. Things are starting to happen. There's a difference between that and having hits. When did you feel like you had the hit? And obviously there's some really obvious parts to that question. But when, what are the moments where you're like, oh, I'm not just an aspiring writer. I'm not just somebody who's a publishing deal. I'm now going to be a player. Yeah. I think when it hit was, you know, when BK and I started Florida Georgia Line, like I said, I mean, we had big dreams, but ultimately I think it was just an outlet for us to get our songs heard. And when we wrote and recorded crews and put that song out, and it started getting some traction, we were, it was the summer of 2012, I believe, we were on the country throwdown tour. And we were like the first band on the big. stage at like 2 o'clock on the afternoon. I remember fans showing up and going crazy and starting to really

connect with that song and me and BK looking at each other that summer and being like, yo, I think something crazy's happening, bro. Like, I don't even know. And at that point, we just kept our head down and we told our agency just to book us as many shows as we could play, and we did that. And we literally just worked so hard that I don't think we came up for error or to process what was going on for years, to be honest. But I do remember in 2012

looking at each other and being like, bro, this is about to pop. And we could feel the energy building and we could feel it connecting. And so it was just kind of a own ever since that song came out. The thing that's crazy, though, again, it goes to like your character

versus, I think a lot of artists, which is that's life-changing moments, right? That's the moment where you can dive into, like, I am my band. and that's what I do. But you wrote hits during that time for other artists.

That's what's kind of nuts. How you can play all those shows and then still go into a room probably in Nashville that's not so dissimilar to what we're in right now. And then write you know, Coleswindell and

Jason Aldeen, like you had hits the same year and the year after. Like you wrote the weird things, you wrote those during the biggest year of your career. You wrote those songs for other people. When did you have any time to do co-writing or is writing so deep in you that's like that while you're on the road,

all you want to do is go write. A little bit of both. I mean, at the time I wasn't married and had zero kids. So I had all the time in the world. Right. So like Monday through Wednesday, I was writing songs, Thursday through Sunday. I was on the road.

You know, that was pretty regular week for me. And so I was still writing three songs a week, even in a real busy season. And sometimes on the road, once we got to a bus, which was later on, but once we got a little bit more comfortable, we could set up and write on the road. Then we started, you know, one thing led to the next. You know, you're on tour with guys. You're like, yo, Cole, let's write a song. Hey, Luke, da-da-da-da.

So, like, then collaborations happen, and other songs happened. So we started seeing opportunities as opposed to being held back by being on the road. We were like, nah, this is just an opportunity. before you knew it, we had a whole tour bus of writers, you know, Tree Vibs bus that was out riding with me and BK and every writer, every artist on the tour. So it was an evolution, and I would say a lot of that has to still do with the stars aligning. I mean, for all that to be going on at the same time and to be,

I mean, you know how hard it is to get a cut and much less a single. So to have some success in the publishing and writing world as well as the artistry was, was pretty amazing. and, you know, but like I said, I love to work, and I had my head down, and we were just, like, focused. We also always sort of have understood the power of a song, especially after Cruz, and we were like, man, and being songwriters first and foremost at heart, like, it wasn't like, hey, we can, we can slack up on sawwriting because we got the artist thing going.

It was really just like, well, the songs is what's feeding the artist side anyway. It's like, we need to make sure we always prioritize songwriting before the rest of it. So we've always kind of done that. And fortunately for me, that's really one of my favorite parts of the creative process is writing songs. And so it's always worked. Yeah, this is so unique to what you guys, as you guys being like that, that elite class of Nashville writers love it so much that when they're on the road and they're off of doing a show, they're not getting rest.

They're in a studio. That is so unique to, there's no, there's, it's not like, you're out at a party, although I'm sure you do that too, but, you know, it wasn't really about that. If you're on the road, you're using those after hours to write your next album. And to be honest, like even following up a hit, like, Cruz has like, you know, you could, you could easily have been a one-hit wonder had those other songs not been written and had you not continued that work ethic, you know? But obviously dirt. Holy, these are huge records.

Did you start thinking it was easy? Yeah, probably. Did that change how you wrote? No, not really. But I definitely took it for granted. I took for granted how many stars had to align for number one to happen, how many people and how many phone calls and how many hours somebody was putting in, you know what I mean?

and how many relationships. And, yeah, because there for a while, it was just number one after number one after number one. And all we were doing was just what we love and playing shows and showing up for the number one parties and calling radio stations and making our visits and doing our thing. And, you know, it was, I don't say that in an egotistical way.

I really say it in a humble way of, like, you know, for a while there, I was pretty, I had on, my eyes were pretty blurry. I was like, man, I wasn't seeing super clearly everything that had to go on to make this happen for us, you know, and I've even told people recently, like, I don't know if I processed our success or processed our success until, like, the pandemic even.

So that's 12 years later almost, you know. So it's pretty wild, especially now, you know, you have a few that don't work, you have a few singles that are more difficult, that the label's saying, hey, bro, like, we need y'all to do X, Y, and Z. and we're like, whoa, we need to do what? Like, I thought this just happened.

I thought it was just like, yo. So, yeah, I would say over the years, we learned like, okay, like, this is not just happened. You know what I'm saying? And so we learned to be extra grateful and continue that work ethic that we always leaned into. And even today, man, after the pandemic and after, you know, learning what I've learned and having everything I've loved taken away from me for a while there in 2020 when the pandemic hit, like we all kind of dealt with. I'm really grateful now for that new perspective and that extra layer of gratitude on top of everything,

whether it's even a top 10, you know, I'm just like, hey, I'm just grateful to be on the chart. At this point, I have a whole new perspective, and I think a really healthy perspective on music and the whole business and just the fact that it's just such a blessing to even be in the game. you met your wife during this time and there's also like an interesting time in your discography I always think it's interesting to see when you know you had all these cuts coming out you know especially because as an artist you're releasing albums

you know so much music being released and then you have like a you have I wouldn't say like a lull but between after dirt and after you know some of these that next album there's like this kind of break I mean in 2015 isn't like a flood of records, but it's also when you start really, you know,

seems like you start becoming a human outside of being in a band. Is that all coincidence? Is that purposeful? It was pretty purposeful, I would say, but also coincidence, you know? I mean, I remember when I met Haley, I was sort of getting to a point in my personal life where I'm like, all right, like,

I'm kind of ready to meet someone who, I can settle down with and someone who loves me for me and not for being in a band or having a hit. I could feel the difference. I could feel the change is starting to happen with people I was hanging out with. And I could just tell like, all right, like, I don't know what it's like to be famous. I don't know what it's like to have lots of money or be successful or whatever the case may be. But if that is the trajectory of my future, like I want to find someone who keeps me grounded and someone who loves me for who I am.

And so, but I really wasn't, I still didn't have the time to look for that. I was sort of just, I think it was subconscious. Like, that was just my desire. And when I met Haley, we stayed friends for a long time. We kind of ran around the same circle. And I was like, man, we had a really cool foundation of friendship. And then we sort of fell in love. And so it felt like it was very anointed, if you will, very much, very timely.

And then it was a pretty big shift for me too, because I, I had seen, you know, I think I was starting to process the fact that, okay, I'm going to be like an artist, and I'm going to do this long term, and this is not a one-off, and this is going to be my life. And so, like, what do I want this to look like? And you hear all the stories of people falling off and drugs and addiction and, you know, all the things that were super conducive around. And it can, and I could easily see, like, where this lifestyle can easily turn into, um, probably. problematic, you know, relationally, personally, emotionally. Was this all self-discovery? Yeah. Or was somebody helping you see it? No, every time you get together with somebody and they tell you a crazy story, it's just self-discovery because you're just like, oh, well, I can see that.

I could easily see how that happened. That's crazy, but I can see how that could happen, you know? And then you're like, how many stories was I hearing about, oh, this artist has tons of success and also has a successful marriage and a great home life? and he seems to be pretty happy and he has a good balance with alcohol. And, you know, you don't really hear that story often. So for me, again, like, almost going back to college

or it's like, what is everybody else doing? I'm going to do the opposite. So, like, I really had a drive and a desire to be like, yo, I want to be one of the most successful artists out there and have a successful marriage and have a good home life that I get to come home to after this weekend, you know? And so that began to be a really big priority for me,

especially right after I met Haley. and it was just like, all right, this, wow, this is the girl that I see myself being with forever and I can see this life with her, you know. And so that began to be a goal for me. And, you know, up until now, I do take a lot of pride in the fact that, man, like, not only do I get to be on stage and playing in front of tons of people and living a really cool life and getting to do what I love, the best part of it now is getting to come home and, you know, hang out with the family and see the kids and, you know, have a healthy marriage.

and try to be a good dad and all those things, it really make life so sweet. So, yeah, all that to say, I think I made a conscious decision at some point to just, like, keep good people around me, have accountability, make sure I did some self-checks every now and then, and just to maintain that focus and that goal. A lot of people say that when you have your first kid,

you know, or when you have kids, that then your career, really kind of like starts to have a different focus. And after you had your first kid, you know, you have another number one song with Jason Aldeen. Like, not that that's not a big deal for you at this point, but it wasn't your first. It just happens.

But then you start having like, you have, you know, really maybe the biggest song of, you know, country billboard history with meant to be, which is written, after you're, you know, comes out a little bit later, but it's written after you're like now a dad. Is that a coincidence again, or is it sort of a focus? You know, I've talked to Beebe about that song separately,

and it's like it was, seems like it was a really natural day in the studio, you know? Did having a family at home allow you to write differently in a room? Or is, how do you have the biggest song in country, you know, Billboard History? Dude, I don't know, man. I mean, that song, if I was putting my money on it, I would have never thought that song would be the one, to be dead honest. And so... Why?

It just didn't feel like it was there anything special to me. I just felt like, oh, this is another cool song. Like, I don't know, dude. I just never did. I never thought it was the one that was going to be the biggest song ever. If you were to look at it now, what was it about the song? I don't know, dude. I think it was just a simplicity or the, or the, or the, or the, or the, or the, or the,

authenticity or the collaboration with the voices, I don't really know what the secret sauce was on that song, to be honest. But I did learn that, you know, it's okay to write simple songs. It's cool to be repetitive. I do remember telling Beebe that night, like when we met in the studio, she thought I was a little big town, and I didn't know who B.B. Rexel was, and so we got to know each other pretty quickly, and then we started writing a song, and she thought she was going to write a country song. I obviously thought I was trying to, I was in L.A. why would I want to write a country song? And I finally just said, look, let's just write something.

Let's be you and I'll be me and let's not try to like force anything. Let's just write something fun and something, you know. So we just, that one kind of fell out pretty quickly. And then sat around for a while and she ended up putting it on her EP, which if you go listen to the EP, it's like six hip-hop songs and they're meant to be at the end. So it doesn't make any sense. And that's why I just sort of thought this is just going to be like, you know, whatever.

It'll just be out there in the world. It's just a cut. One of the other cuts, yeah. And then it started getting some traction, maybe because it was so unique on her project. And then it got a lot more traction. And then we were like, well, maybe we should put it out as a single, you know,

because it was doing so well. And we did, and it did great. And just kind of kept getting gasoline poured on it and ended up being a huge song. But again, that's why you just, you never know with music, man. You never know a song you can predict. You can think you got the biggest,

in the world or a song that probably won't move the needle and you never know what's going to happen. So one thing I learned from that is just to show up. I mean, I remember that that right was our second right of the day. It was 8 o'clock. It was after dinner. We got a phone call during dinner saying that because we were supposed to write with Charlie Puth, I think that night actually, and he had to cancel. And so we're like, all right, we'll just chill.

We won't write tonight. And then we got another call. It's like, hey, this girl, BB Rex is available. Would you want to write with her? And we were like, yeah, why not? So we went back to Sunset and wrote, and that was where that song was born. But to answer your question, I mean, I would say I take inspiration from life. You know, my songwriting a lot of times is from my own life experience, and sometimes not.

But having kids, having a wife, having a life that's really full of a lot of great emotions and love and frustration as well. And all the things that come along with being a parent, you know, I mean, it's, I don't. definitely take a lot of that into my songwriting. Whether you want to or not, I just think it's part of who you are is what's going to come out in the songs a lot of times. Certainly in the solo stuff, you really hear the storytelling in a way

that feels like I'm let in on what's going on. Not that I'm getting with the FGL stuff, but you listen to it and it feels like, yeah. What is it about Jason Aldeen? Why does he keep cutting like, why do you guys have this relationship? Dude. I don't know, man,

but I'm thankful for it. I think there are certain voices that he gravitates towards, and fortunately I think I'm one of those voices. And I think with each single becomes more and more trust, you know, and I think I understand Jason pretty well, and he understands me at least musically. And I think it's just worked. You know, I think we've had five number ones on Jason.

And so for, like I said, I think just that consistency and that comfortability with him and knowing me and like I said, him leaning towards my voice and stuff. And I think he does a really good job of bringing those songs to life and putting his own thing on it and making it an Aldine song. And I grew up being a big Al-Dine fan. So for me to get that phone call as whatever year that was in 2010 that he was going to cut one of my songs,

it was probably my probably would have been one of my top picks for an artist to cut my first song. So you have, you know, you come off another hit, you now have a wife, you now have a family, everything is moving the way you, I think you'd assume that perfect musicians life could be. The pandemic happens a little bit after this, but FGL is a huge part of your life. know, your relationship with BK is a huge part of your musical journey.

Why would, when it seems like everything's going right, why stop? That's a good question. Well, we were forced to stop, obviously, with the pandemic. We had everything

booked and locked and loaded, and we were actually on a trip in Africa together, four of us. and we got word that, hey, bro, when y'all get back, things are going to look a lot different. And we're like, what do you mean? Like, there's a pandemic happening, and the world's shutting down. And we're like, what?

And so we got back, we got on an airplane, the flight that we were booked to go back, we got on that flight, and it was the last flight out of Johannesburg. Then they were shutting the airport down. So, like, somehow we got really fortunate, got back to the States, and yeah, I mean, it was like, oh, okay, we processed what was happening, and then we realized, like, okay,

like everybody's canceling tours. So we canceled our tour. We kind of did what everybody had to do. And it was just like, all right, well, I guess this will be like a, what, two-week thing? And we'll get back after it in a minute. And then it's like, six months goes by, a year goes by. And then you're like, all right. So I'm going to get to the rest of it.

But that was kind of like the first, like punch. Like, oh, okay. It's not going as we expected, right? We're supposed to be on tour right now. We're not doing anything. At the time, I was just like, well, this is nice because, like, I'm sort of, like, down for a break. This is kind of cool. I can just write a lot, and I don't have, you know, be with the family.

My wife was pregnant again, so I was like, this is cool. Then, like, year two, I'm like, this is not cool. Like, I'm really ready to go play. And at that point, BK came to me and said, hey, dude, like, I've been writing some songs that feel really personal, and I really feel like, oh, and also during this time, we put out our fifth album. and it was the last album on our record deal. So we were kind of in this interim phase of like, are we going to sign another record deal? Actually, we hadn't put out the album,

but we were going to. I think it was in February of 2021. So before we put out the album, we were sort of, I guess, thinking about what's next, and BK came to me and said, dude, I really want to do a solo thing. And my kind of my response was sort of, to what you just said, like, why?

Like, we're just now getting to where we've always wanted to be, bro. Like, we can own our own music. We're about to sign another deal if we want to. We can, like, get whatever deal we want. We can do it. We've worked so hard to get here. Like, why are we going to start over? And he just really felt that it was what he needed to do,

and he was excited about it. And he's just like, I really want to do both. I want to do a solo career and still do FGL. And I said, well, dude, for me, I want to support you. and what you need to do, but like I can't, I don't have the capacity to do both. Like, I need 100% commitment or no commitment.

Like, I can't do both. And so, but I said it's your choice. Like, you know where I stand, solo artists or FGL. I'm down for either. But if you do the solo thing at the time, I was like, I'll just be a songwriter and I'll just put the artistry on the side. But I don't want to have a partner

who's only halfway committed to me. And so, so he chose to do this. the solo thing, called me a couple weeks later and said, I really, you know, I appreciate the support. This is really what I feel like I need to do, and so I'm going to do it. And I said, all right. So he did his thing. I wrote songs in Nashville for probably like eight months, just mentally thinking that's what I would do. And kind of a little bit envious of the Nashville songwriter schedule and, you know, just stay at home, dad, work from like 11 to 4, go back home, be around

all the time. I thought this is really nice, and I really enjoy this. And I did. for a little while, and then I just sort of, I don't know what it was, probably just time and everything. I was like, I really miss playing shows. I really miss making records, and, you know, maybe, maybe I understand where BK's coming from. I'm starting to feel the same pool. I'm starting to feel this like, man, I got some stories to tell. I got my own story to tell. We've been doing it within a band for 12 years, but never had the opportunity to be an individual or be a person. And so I, you know, I kind of get why my BK wanted that, and I kind of want it too now. So I sort of made the decision, like, all right, I'll do this, only if I can get a team around me that I feel supported.

And I really started praying about that around that time and being like, yo, like, I felt really alone at that point as far as, like, you know, career-wise. And around that same time, I randomly met Gary Borman in Sun Valley, Idaho out of nowhere through a mutual friend. kicked it with him and started getting to know him and telling him my story and we just really connected in a line almost instantly and and long story short asking if he'd be willing to take me on as a client and help me rebuild you know and help me start this new new chapter and um he was willing to do that and introduce me to his team and we all hit it off really well and then they introduced me um you know to some other people we started taking meetings around town with labels and figuring out what that looked like.

And I found a home at Universal, and it's just been, it's been incredible. I mean, to now I feel super supported. I have a team around me who's aligned on many, many levels, and it's just really nice. It feels good. And so, yeah, this new season I'm stepping into or have been stepped into now for a little while was unexpected, but also looking back now in hindsight, it's like, wow, like, I'm really thankful for it. You know, I'm really glad to be here. I feel re-energized, um, creatively and, uh, just there's a new excitement around this whole thing. There's also a new challenge, you know, I think I really

thrive in this, like, in the building phase or maybe the, the challenge phase. Um, and I heard a lot of times, like, why would you, why would you ever leave FGL? Like, you can't ever redo what FGL did. This is da-da-da-da-da-da. And there's no way, you know, it never works when you leave a band. Everybody's tried it and it's really you know it's pretty rare that it's possible and it's never really happened in our genre and all these things that I kept here and I'm just like you guys you're doing the opposite of what you're trying to do here you're if you're trying to make me want to do FGL you're really making me want to take this new challenge that everybody thinks is impossible and so so it's been really fun to take it on and uh I think it's just re-energize me so when we wrote not that long ago

we were talking about how you know nobody's really had a number one coming out of the band situation. I mean, you've had super groups in country, it's like highway men, highway women, you have these like classic things where solo is coming together. But it's a different thing when you have these bands where

somebody steps out and does something solo. And we were saying how that's the challenge. And it wasn't like we wrote that long ago, well now you've, when I said in the intro, like you've rung the bell. You have a number one song now as artists.

You did it. You did the challenge. And you did faster probably than, maybe not faster than what you thought, but faster than what other people thought, because they thought it couldn't even be possible. Shout out to Gary Borman, great manager. But you did it.

You earned that. What is, what's next when you, like, what's the next challenge then? Is it now to sustain that? Is it, do you dive into something different? what happens when you reach a goal that fast? Well, that's just one goal. You know, I mean, one number one is only as strong

is the number one to follow it, you know? And so, yeah, I didn't look at it as, all right, we've got our number one, we've done it. I look at it as like, all right, first stage, like, check. There's like 20 more. You know, it's like when I say rebuild, like I really envision, like, rebuilding this solo thing like to the same scale that FGO was.

and it took 10 years the first time. So, you know, this is not going to happen overnight, and I'm trying to be patient and just continue the journey. You know, I'm really, and I'm also, this go around really trying to enjoy the journey. I'm going to go back and play some clubs this year, and I've played a few already that have just re-energized me, and it feels like, man, this is so fun,

and I don't know if it's because it's nostalgic, and I've been here before, or if this new, having experienced the small, insoment room, in a while and it just feels special man it feels um i don't know it just i'm just it's something that never would have been able to be uh felt within the confines of fgl you know even if we had reinvented ourselves in some way i feel like this is the the reinvention why couldn't that have i just think just the dynamic would have been so when you take it when you when you switch the dynamic up so much it's uh it's sort of inevitable that it's going to be so different it's going to feel new right

But within the same band, it's just, I find it really hard to reinvent yourself and feel that new energy, especially to the level that I've been feeling it. And so, yeah, just enjoying where I'm at and do some fairs and festivals this year and some headline shows as well. But I just really look forward to the next five years of building and seeing where it goes and seeing how many singles I can push up the charts. And also, you know, it's fun kind of building the hard ticket again, you know. seeing how many people you can put in a club and seeing where it can go from there. It's so interesting because you mentioned, the things that you mentioned that make you sort of happiest in the process isn't the result of the number ones. It's you're on tour playing in stadiums for 10 years and it's the writing on Monday and Tuesday

or Sunday and Monday, whatever it is on the schedule. It's, you know, there's the pandemic and you're doing the Nashville life and it's writing songs. And then it's, you know, it's putting music out there and it's playing in, you know, and playing in clubs. Not, you didn't say like playing, you've played stadiums, man. You didn't say that. You say, like, you play in front of a club and it's like, but it's songs that are you. And it feels, you play in front of 300 people. or a thousand people and you feel free,

that's going to be, that's just as rewarding as playing in front of a stadium where you feel like you're doing it to get it done. And not to say you were doing that. It's not like you said that, so I don't want to put words in your mouth. But it's really interesting that the things that this go around, as you're saying, that feel really satisfying,

are achievable already, regardless of the number, ones, regardless of whatever you push up the charts, that's fun. That's part of the game. But all the, like, the real happiness in it comes from that playing songs you like, whether it's for 300 people or for 20,000 at a fair, you know, it's going to be like the, it's going to be the fact that you're releasing, you know, 5'9. Right. Yeah. It's like, it's like, it's all. It's Also, like, the first time around, all I was seeing was the top of the mountain. You know, all I wanted to do is get there, get there, get there, get there. Like, you sort of like tunnel vision past all the other great things going on.

You're just looking, you're just hiking and you're seeing the top. When, like, right now I'm like stopping and taking the picnic, you know what I'm saying? And looking at the animals around me and, like, looking at the view from halfway up the mountain too. And, yeah, it's a view that we could have went back down the mountain and saw, but we would have had to sacrifice lots of ticket sales. financially it wouldn't have made much sense. Like, you know, it would have had to only be because we wanted to do that out of nostalgic or whatever. But like now it's like, no, this is where I'm at.

This is, you know, I'm starting over. I have one single or one album out. Like, so it's sort of like I'm getting to enjoy this without having to take a huge cut. And also knowing, like, I'm going to get to the top of the mountain again, but like there's no rush. Like, let's just enjoy it this time. Because I've been there before.

I know what it's like. It's not as, uh, it's great, but, It's not the funnest part of the journey. So I'm really just trying to enjoy, take my time. Because it's like the funest part is getting there. I know that sounds super cliche, but I'm in it and I'm loving it, and I'm loving it more than sitting on top

trying to figure out how to stay there next year. So it's been fun. That's wisdom, man. That's because you've earned that perspective. And you have a family now that's three kids deep that can travel with you. So, like, those things are because you've earned it, not because it's, you weren't born that way. Thanks, dude.

Yeah, it's a good, it's a good grounding, man. It's a good, good to come back on the bus and have three little kids excited to see, man. It's really, it's the best. All right, we're going to go to the next segment, which is five for five. I'm going to name five things, and you just tell me what comes off the top of your head. Okay. We're going to start with Belmont. Okay.

Just tell me anything. Belmont. Belmont. Ooh. I'm going to go with uneducated because I was very uneducated at Belmont. And yeah, anyways, I don't know why that came off. I had a couple of the words that might have been inappropriate, but let's just go with that. We'll do that.

Okay. And not because of Belmont's education, just because of my personal choice. It's here. That's cool. We're going to go with Joey Moy. Okay. Let's go with Big Loud. No, let's go with Big Loud. Let's go with Joey Moy, and I'm going to say the great pusher,

because he will push you to be better, whether you ask him to or not. BK. BK. Let's go with, oh, man, let's go with creative. Let's go with Haley. Haley. Grace. That's pretty.

your dad. Let's see. Let's just let's go with inspiring. Well, I appreciate you doing this. You know, what's fun about this is I feel like we're having this

first interview at the beginning of your career. Right. You know, you happen to be a guy who was in a band that had a lot of number ones. You've written a lot of 20 number one songs now, but like you've had one number, number one in this new endeavor.

And I feel like this is totally something where in three years from now, when we sit down and get you like, oh, man, this album, like, well, we tried this thing and it was crazy. And this album, we tried this and it was crazy in a totally different way. But all the choices are going to be yours. And, you know, there are a lot of people rooting for you.

You're part of the songwriting community because you commune with the songwriting community. because your dad was right. Because you became friends with a lot of people and you text them and you say hi and you're friendly to everybody. And so they want to be friends with you. So the success that you're having

isn't just because you're very talented. It's because people are rooting for you because they want you to succeed. So it's fun to be part of that crew, both as a co-writer and as a friend. It's cool to watch this. You're just beginning here. Thanks.

You're just a kid who just had his first number one hit. Yeah, man, I got to be the first guest on this podcast. It's just put out his first album, right? I mean, come on. No, but thanks for all the kind words, man. Thanks for chatting with me. And it's been awesome, man. I'm feeling more inspired than ever.

And I love talking about it. So thank you. This episode is produced by Joe London, Hypnosis, mega house management and myself. See you all next week. I'm Ross Golan, signing off.