Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard - Jason Aldean

Episode Date: September 1, 2025

Jason Aldean (Full Throttle, My Kinda Party, Night Train) is a Grammy Award-winning country music artist. Jason joins the Armchair Expert to discuss the chameleonic effects of not spending more than two years at any school growing up, teaching himself guitar via cassette player, and how big the gap feels between his real-life and performance personas. Jason and Dax talk about the eye-opening experience of playing bars while in high school, how he puts his fingerprint on a song he hears promise in, and his adjustment from desert dwelling to sudden chart-topping success. Jason explains learning how to tour in a tenable way with his family, dealing with PTSD and survivor’s guilt on behalf of his fans, and the reality in the country songwriting trope of ‘three chords and the truth.'Follow Armchair Expert on the Wondery App or wherever you get your podcasts. Watch new content on YouTube or listen to Armchair Expert early and ad-free by joining Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. Start your free trial by visiting wondery.com/links/armchair-expert-with-dax-shepard/ now.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondry Plus subscribers can listen to Armchair Expert early and ad free right now. Join Wondry Plus in the Wondry app or on Apple Podcasts. Or you can listen for free wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome, welcome, welcome to Armchair Expert. I'm Dan Shepard. I'm joined by Monica Lily Padman. Hi. And in the shadows Wobby Wob.

Today is our second guest we had in Nashville, but he was actually our first guest in Nashville. Bill. So delighted he said yes and came and was a guinea pig of sorts. Yeah, he was. Jason Aldeen. Jason Al Dean is a Grammy nominated and multi-platinum entertainer. Albums include Highway Desperado, My Kind of Party, Night Train, Wide Open, Relentless. And he's on tour now, the full throttle tour. And if anyone wants to go see him play, everyone agrees he's so radical in concert. Go to www.jasonaldine.com and go check out the full throttle tour. Please enjoy Jason. I'm John Robbins, and on my podcast, I sit down with incredible people to ask the very simple question, how do you cope? From confronting grief and mental health struggles to finding strength and failure, every episode is a raw and honest exploration of what it means to be human. It's not always easy, but it's always real. Whether you're looking for inspiration, comfort, or just a reminder that you're not alone in life's messier moments, join me on how do you cope. Follow now, wherever you get your podcasts, or listen to episodes early and ad-free on Wondery Plus.

How Do You Cope? It's brought to you by Audible, who make it easy to embark on a wellness journey that fits your life, with thousands of audiobooks, guided meditations, and motivational series. You're from Macon? You're from Macon, Georgia, yeah. Imani's from Duluth. Oh, yeah, we were talking about it. Oh, you already covered that.

And, you know, he's a huge Bulldogs fan. Well, yeah, we were saying his sister went there. Kind of a religion down in Georgia, college football. It really is. My fast pass to piss Monica off, if ever I want to wake her up, I just say roll tide. Now, I have no allegiance to that school. My wife graduated from Alabama. Oh, she's, yeah.

Oh, boy. It was really, really unfortunate. A house divided. Yeah. And did she watch all the games? Like, how into it is she? No, I feel like she kind of duped me a little bit because when we first met, she's like, oh, I love college football.

I love watching the games. I'm like, oh, it's perfect. I've found the perfect girl. Yeah, yeah. And then a couple seasons in, she's like, just tell me if they want or lost. Like, she doesn't really watch the game, you know? Yeah. It's more about going to the games.

It's more about dressing up in your gear for her, at least. A lot of people don't understand that. In the South, you dress a. up for games. You wear dresses. You wear heels. Oh, like formal. Not like a long dress. Normally, it's like a cute boutique dress. Very preppy at the SEC schools. Interesting. It's a whole thing. It's so fun. Now, let me ask you this money. When you were doing your tailgate parties before these games. When it was time to go into the game, we were like, fuck, we got to go into the game. Yeah, of course. Yeah. Yeah. That's fun. Especially back then, they didn't sell any alcohol inside. So you're like, you have to go inside. You're done drinking. You're like, well, tailgate parties over. Cowboy boots are always a good thing for that. Cowboy boots, then you shove it down in the boot. Shove it right down. And even if they pat you down, probably,

they're not picking up a pint. I'm not patty down on your ankles, really. Okay, I wonder how you'll feel about this. So we went to a Texas game last year with Matthew McConaughey. We were his guest. It was very nice that he invited us. You must have met him, right? I've met him over the years briefly kind of backstage at like award shows,

those kind of things. But I haven't really spent a ton of time with him, but he's like Mr. Texas. He's Mr. College football. He's like, if you're in Austin with Matthew McConaughey, it's like being at Disney land with Mickey Mouse. Yeah, I mean, it really is. His jacket and that hat are going to go in the college football Hall of Fame at some point, I'm pretty sure. It's like a staple now.

Yeah. So we went as his guest, but they were playing Georgia. I don't think that ended too well for Texas. It sure did not. Remember, we are guests of his in his box. Yeah. And I was like, what do I do? I have to root for Georgia.

I'm not going to go. Of course. Yeah, right? So I wore a Bulldog shirt. and a red sweater. I didn't go all out. Just enough to be annoying to him. Exactly.

Just a thorn in the side. Thank God he wasn't there. He was on the field. So we didn't have to make contact. Exactly. We didn't have to make contact. But this was a little bit of a point of contention because, you know, I'm there.

Dax is really trying to fit in. Austin's my spiritual headquarters. It's a cool town, man. It's a really cool town. But still, my allegiance. Well, yeah, I mean, you can't flip-flop. Yeah, but A, we were his guest. B, I love Austin.

And I wish I had gone. So, yeah, I was rooting for the Longhorns, and it almost ended our friendship. Yeah, this was a big friendship issue. College football has a way of doing that sometimes. It's almost hit my marriage a couple times. Kind of ironic that you married a gal that went to Alabama in your favorite bands, Alabama. Yeah, I grew up a huge Alabama fan. It was kind of like my first memories of music from my dad and having a record collection and sitting down and playing those.

Like the big vinyl just learned where the little marks were where you put the needle and I had a big set of headphones. the quarter inch cable, and I would sit there and play those records over and over and over, and Alabama was just the band for me that I always kind of gravitated towards. It was like country, but still cool. It had some rock and roll, Southern Rock. They were a club band that started in the bars and made it into Nashville, got a deal, became one of the biggest bands around in the early 80s. And so they were just always kind of my Beatles. Yeah, what did dad do in Macon? Well, my dad was in the Air Force. My parents met when they were in high school. Dad joined the Air Force right after that. And my mom got married. He got stationed in

Germany. And then they came back. They were living in Valdosta, which is a little south of Macon. He was stationed at Moody Air Force Base. I was born. Then we moved to Homestead Air Force Base, which is between Miami and the Keys. He was a weapons mechanic on fighter planes. And as a kid, I was running around the Air Force Base climbing in planes, which was cool. But then they got divorced when I was three. My mom kind of moved back to Macon where her family was from. And my dad stayed in Florida pretty much until I was 18 or 19 and then moved back to Georgia and now lives about 10 minutes from me here. So my mom and dad also got divorced at three. I'm two years older than you. So I think we got all the same references. 50. Have you hit 50? I've hit 50 in January.

Happy 50, man. That's a big deal. It is. Something I never thought I'd see. You probably too, right? Yeah, yeah, it didn't look good for many years. You had that thought. Yeah. You know, when you're young, and especially in this business, 28, all of a sudden, it got some hits and go on the road, and you're living the dream. Yeah. You've been preparing for this. And I don't really know that you can prepared for. I think in your mind you think you know what it's like. And then once it starts, you're like, it's not really like that at all. It becomes every day. I mean, you're on the road playing 200 shows a year. And so you're on the road, 250 days a year. And things get a little off the rails sometimes. Yeah, Monday never comes when you're too worried. No. You know, everybody comes to

the shows to have fun and hang out. And then you get home and all your friends at home haven't seen you. And they're like, let's go watch Monday night football. So you're at it again. Took me a while to adjust. Dad was in the Air Force, but he also played guitar himself. Yeah. He kind of knew the basics, and I would just be at his house. You know, my sister's seven years younger than me, so we didn't really have a lot in common at that time. I started kind of wanting to play guitar, and he basically drew it out on notebook paper. He was like, here's the frets, here's where your fingers go. That's a G-cord.

He would go to work, and I'd just grab his old Fender guitar and sit in there and mess around. He had a little band that would come sit at our, it was kind of like a living room garage band, three of them, four of them, maybe, and they would come play old Merrill Haggard stuff. And after a while, I started playing with them and singing all the songs. And that was kind of how it started. You start kind of like music theory, I guess. You start figuring out, oh, these chords go with those chords and those don't go with those.

And then you start figuring out how to put songs together. And you find a song like, turn the page. I mean, it's an E minor. So you're like, well, I know the D goes with E minor. And what chords to go with that? It's math, really. You go, oh, well, once you know where it starts, you can figure it out from there. And that's kind of how I learned to play guitar.

Even now, if we're learning a new song or something, and I'm like, what keys that in there? B flat. I'm like, what the hell is a B flat? And then my guitar play will be. it's this one. I'm like, oh, okay, I know that chord. I play it all the time. I just don't know what it is. Right, right. So that's how I learned to play. Even piano, if there's a song I need to learn, I don't know what it's in. I just put the keyboard in Middle C and I just figure it out. I couldn't go in a piano bar and sit there and play. But if you give me a day or two, I'll figure it out. It was like that with guitar, too. I do want to see you in a dueling piano bar now, though. Yeah.

It turned into an a cappella bar, trust me. Were you always self-motivated like that across the board, or was it kind of just solely music? sports was kind of always my thing before baseball especially from the time I could remember baseball being a huge thing played every year a lot of times on two or three different teams I played school ball rec ball and then you know you'd have like all-star teams that would kind of become a travel team or like American Legion team once I got to high school what position well I played first base in high school but I was not going to play first base in college because I hit lead off and switch hit her with zero power so I was going to have to make the switch when I was going to go to go to college and play, they wanted me to play either short, second, or center field. I'd already done that in summer leagues. I knew that I wasn't going to go to college as a first baseman and be a big power hitter. So I'd already started making the move to short and second. But yeah, I just always thought that's what I was going to do in some capacity. And the music was kind of a hobby.

In high school, I started playing in bars at 14 or 15 years old. I definitely want to get into that because when we interview with Shania Twain, she too was in bars from very, very young age. In northern Canada, which if you think you can. get hickie in the south. If you go up to Northern Canada, they can rival. I was just in Saskatchewan. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Shit was going down in the 80s in those bars for sure. Oh, yeah. But I'm curious really quick, when mom and dad split, my version of it is I had

lots of friends whose parents got divorced at 8 or 10 or 12 and they pined for them to get back together. I was three. So I didn't really have that fantasy. Same. But do you know with any stepdance? Yeah, that's some. Some not so good. Some were great. My mom. probably a lot of times was trying to make things better for us. Especially a single mom when they have boys. My mom had two boys. She's like, I'm supposed to get a man in the mix, I think. Or just married for the wrong reasons, not because they're like in love with somebody,

but because you're struggling as a single parent, you think that's going to fix the issue and it just doesn't. You know, I've stepped out now. It was great, David. They've been together for 15 years or something. And then my dad got remarried to my stepmom, Vivi. They've been married for 40 years. But yeah, I was like you, man.

I mean, they got divorced three. And them ever getting back together was never. I don't remember him being together. together at all anyway. I mean, I would be with my mom and Georgia, and then every year I'd go to Florida. It's been my summers at the beach with my dad. He ended up moving to Titusville, Florida, which is right there around Cape Canaver, where they launched the shuttles and stuff. And so the beach was a 10-minute drive. Back to the stepdad's because I know there's something there. One of mine was a Vietnam vet who had some issues with that. Addiction stuff? Not really,

just more. He was a dickhead. Seventh grade or something and wants to like bow up to me. Like, I was like this much taller than me. And a man who's been to war. Yeah. Oh, you're a badass. Yeah. And then what would happen in school? I always knew anybody that did that or any man that's like bowing up to a kid, like, you're fucking idiot.

And so getting to school, that stuff never carried over to me. I got to school. I got along with everybody. I changed schools a bunch. I never went to the same school for more than two years in a row until I was in eighth, ninth grade. And sports was kind of my end, baseball or whatever started. And even if I didn't know everybody or P.E. class, they figure out you could play sports. And all of a sudden, you kind of get in with the guys.

And it's cool. And that was how it always was for me. So I didn't get into a lot of stuff at school. You got a long way. I was kind of sneaky. I wanted to do stuff and not get in trouble, not get caught. Yeah, yeah. I got really good at that.

I moved a ton as well. I got to start over a bunch. I showed up at one junior high. I was like, I was full-blown punk rock. Mohawk, let's go. I got to try on these identities pretty quickly because I was moving. And I do think it weirdly helped me go to California, get into comedy, starting so many times at these schools, help me...

buy into a persona that I would be selling right away. And I just wonder if you think musically, maybe that all helped. When you're constantly having to meet new people like that and bouncing around and you can never get comfortable. Like, my kids have friends they went to kindergarten with. They've been friends since they were little kids. I was like, man, I didn't really have that.

We were bouncing around so much that you just kind of learned to be a little bit of a chameleon and figure it out as you go. I think I went to school one time dressed like Zach Morris, you know. Oh, sure. Coming back from Florida. in my hair, look like a total idiot, you know. It's like, couldn't be further from me. Couldn't be further from you now, but if you had grown up like that, maybe that would

have been you. Well, I just think that when you're younger, like, you're just trying to figure it out. You're trying to figure out, like, who you are. Well, you're going to get the most amount of girls. Yeah, like when the chicks think you're going to be cool and bouncing around so much, help me in the music business and just talking to people and just meeting people and being comfortable in an uncomfortable situation. So I think that it taught me a lot about how to deal with those things.

We've interviewed a bunch of musicians, and I do find that musicians tend to have this kind of weird split personality. Like, I guess they'd be ambiverts, which is you have some extrovert in you because you want to be on stage. But learning music and getting good at music is such a solitary, isolated introverts kind of pursuit. I mean, I did that. Eventually, my dad bought me a guitar of my own. I would sit in the room with my tape deck and stuff I wanted to play. I would play it and stop it and back it up. Did you have a four track?

No, I just had like a dual cassette deck. My buddy that was in my band, he had a four track. In high school, that was like the fucking chalice. Oh, that was Pro Tools back then. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Back then you could buy like the music books and they would have the chords mapped out. And so I would just sit there and figure it out and play. But you're right.

You're sitting in your room a lot trying to get decent at it before you ever join a band and you interact with other players. You know, I think there's a lot of that for me. I go on stage and do the show. And then as soon as I come off stage, it's like you hit the light switch. I don't think there's a more stark transition on planet Earth than going from a stage to a hotel room in a foreign city. I've had friends before that never seen a show in the early days and guys that I've been friends with and they've finally come out and they're like, what just happened? That is not you offstage. For me, it's just there to put on a show and I love that two hours. I get to kind of put

on my suit and tie and go to work. You get to be this rock star for a couple hours. As soon as I come off stage, I turn the switch off and I go back to being dad. I get my kids running around backstage. But how do you transition into the hotel room? I don't. I stay on the bus. Probably 99% of the time. And that helps. It's just my other house. So my kids are out there, my wife's out there. Well, you're five feet from mine. You don't have to tell me about a bus.

With the Wayland logo on the bike, it's awesome. I'm so glad you saw that. I did. I had that put on there. Is that actually Waylands or did you put that on there? That was so cool. But occasionally I'm driving down the interstate and someone will speed up, and I think they think they're going to see Shooter or somebody.

I think they do think that somehow. The ghost of Whalen's going to be driving the bus. I don't know. It's funny you see that on a bus. Somebody, I played a chauffe for. not too long ago, had one of Willie Nelson's old buses. Oh, really? And they had it at their house.

It was like a lake house. They had it sitting out there, and it was basically like an Airbnb. You could come rent it out and, like, sleep there. It's like one of their properties on the lake. Does it reek in there, like, weeds still? I don't know. I told the guy, I said, I think I was in this bus back in, like, 97, when I still lived in Georgia, opening for Willie.

I haven't been able to smell in 10 years. So I don't know. Did you have an incident or just, it just died? Nasal polyp. I'm supposed to be having some. surgery on this, but it hasn't happened yet. Are you afraid that'll affect your voice? A little bit.

I know it's going to probably sound different. And it's also just time. And they're like, yeah, it's going to feel like you got the worst flu for like two weeks. And I'm like, that doesn't sound like something I want to jump on. It just doesn't sound like fun. So I haven't had it done yet. Maybe you go CPAP during the recoveries. That thing seems annoying too.

Yeah. I need one that just goes right here. The strap, it wakes up. I actually try to, it woke up and it's like sitting on my eye. It's a learning curve. My childhood best friend's on. A CPAP. Yeah.

I constantly see him. in different states of it all. He looks like a fire pilot, though, as he goes to sleep. I always wish him luck on his mission. I have a question. So, since you do go on stage and you become a different version of yourself, do you feel like when you're out in the world, if you're at a restaurant or something and people come up to you

or they're excited to see you have to code switch into that? Do you feel the pressure to be something for people? Yeah, how big is the gap between Jason the man and Jason the performer? It depends on the situation. There's times where I know what I'm getting at. to when I go somewhere and you know that you're going to deal with it. Then there's also times where I feel like sometimes it gets a little inappropriate, like if I'm at dinner with my family and it's like, man, at least wait until I'm done.

But it's hard because you don't want to seem like an ungrateful asshole. It's not that. I'm very thankful for everything. It's just like at some point as an entertainer, you've got to be able to shut that off and give your family your undivided attention because they don't really get it a lot. It's situational for me. And if I know that I'm getting into it, you know, I can kind of prepare for it a little bit. I think of being harder as a country star, though, because I feel like people do expect a type of...

I think it's similar to a comedian. Yeah, probably. Like, I think when people see Leonardo DiCapri at a restaurant, they're like, oh, my God. Yeah. They see Will Ferrell, they're like, fuck, my bro's here. I'm going to go tell him how much fun I had. It's all in what they associate you with, I think, and they associate singers with being on stage or your highlight reels of your life.

And a party. It's kind of party music. It's what you put on to have a good time. For them, though, that's a moment they're going to remember. They're like, I got to take it. And that's the struggle. I understand that part of it, too. I'm also a fan.

Like, I remember moving in L.A. and you moved to Nashville when you're a kid. Like, I remember me, I'm so excited. I saw Nicholas Cage at a gas station filling up his Porsche. I could have stayed there all day watching them fucking fill up back. I've never seen a guy fill up a car. Like, how my deals is that tank? Okay, so at 14, mom figures out how to get you a gig at the VFW Hall.

And so that's your first performance. And does it immediately feel right? Are you terrified? Or do you go like, okay, yeah, this is what I'm going. going to do. My mom and my aunt used to go play bingo. If one of them hit it at bingo, they got a little extra cash. It was a big deal. So there was a little lounge there that had a band. And so they talked to them about me coming in and singing. So I went up and did a couple songs. I think I did Silver Wings by Merle Haggard and Tracy Lawrence or John Anderson song or something.

And I just remember at the time going, man, I was just trying to play guitar and sing at the same time. Remember the words? Remember the chords? Remember where the solos were? Were you a better singer or guitar player at that point. Probably neither. Equally bad at both, yeah. And I did that off and on. I remember singing a little bit with like karaoke tapes. I started getting this house gig. I was winning these talent contests

at our local bar and making one of the clubs just said, hey, you know, you want to come be a featured artist, play with our house band on the weekends and play four or five songs a set. And so at 14, 15 years old, I started doing that. Did your mom have any fear about you going and

spending four hours the weekends in a bar? Not really, because they had to be with me in the beginning. My mom would go to work. I'd go to school, and then after school, I'd have baseball practice. I'd get home, she'd cook dinner, go to the bar, and she'd sit there at the bar with me until 1 o'clock in the morning and then come home and we'd do that two or three nights a week.

What kind of bar was it, I guess? Let's start there. It was a country bar. How often were you seeing fights? I mean, you're usually good for a couple of weekends. There's stuff happening with women you're seeing that's kind of new. All of it. And are you loving it?

feeling overwhelmed, like, oh, this is intense. You know, when I first started seeing it, it was like, man, this is awesome. It kind of just becomes second nature after a while. You start seeing it, and you're like, all right, you guys move. We're trying to fit. You know, it's not really. You get desensitized. And you know how to navigate it.

You don't even break strut after a while. I think for Shania, when she was talking about it, as I recall, what was interesting is she's a young girl and she's seeing adults enter in one state of mine. And this is northern Canada. And then a few hours later, everyone's acting completely different. And they're acting pretty different to her. So I imagine it's probably less scary when you're a dude in that situation. But also, I went to work at 15 at a race team in Detroit.

And these guys were making jokes about butt fucking me and stuff. And I was like, I was like, oh my God, this is way too much for me of 50. I just like dropped into a 30-year-old mechanic lifestyle. What the hell have I gotten into here? Yeah, I think it can distort your version of normal. Like when you're young and that's what's happening. Like, I guess this is normal. This is what happens in a bar is kind of the way I took it.

By the way, did that make you cool at high school at all? Not really. It didn't? It was almost like Jason's going to be a country singer. It was almost kind of like maybe even a little nerdy. That's where the sports kind of, you know. Mitigated that. Yeah, yeah.

So I would just sit outside of my guitar on the tailgate of my truck playing. All my friends would come by, hawk in and be like, what the fuck are you doing? This guy thinks he's going to be Garth Brooks. Exactly. Yeah, yeah. Jokes on you, motherfucker. Yeah, no. Yeah, right.

But I did that. And then I met these guys. They fired the whole house band at this bar I was playing. and they brought in another band, and it was a bunch of young guys that were my age. Most of them were a year younger than me. And I was probably 18 or 19 at the time. So I met these guys,

and it was the first time I'd been around other musicians that were my age. And so we started playing, and that's kind of where I started really figuring it out and getting to be a better guitar player, learning to play with the band, and being the front man of a band that was playing our sets

instead of going up playing four-five songs. Justin Weaver, a guy that was in the band, who lives here and, Nashville now, who I've been friends with forever. He and I would write a few things, you know, but for the most part, it was... That's what people want to hear. Yeah, you're playing the top 40 country songs at the bar. You know, they want to hear achy, breaky heart.

They're waiting all night to hear those things. That was where I started really having fun. We started traveling with that band, and we were all the same age. Well, and now you're having the community that you would have on a sports team with peers. When you're with these older dudes, I'm sure they're being nice to you. But you're not part of the band. And this was like my first band where I felt like, you know, it was my... crew and we went out and my dad managed us at the time. He would go out and make sure we got

paid because club owners loved to rip you off. And it was a cool deal. And I got to spend a lot of time with my dad when I graduated because he had lived in Florida had just moved to Georgia when I graduated. And so now I got to go on the road, spend a bunch of time with him. You have a great relationship with him. I do. Yeah. You know, I think like a lot of things, it's probably been a little up and down over the years at different times. But he's great and super great granddad to my kids. They probably love being at his house more than they love being at our house, honestly. But No, I have a great relationship with both parents. Okay, so then you moved to Nashville at 21.

You get signed and dropped quickly, a couple times. A couple times, yeah. And then you end up with broken bow records in 2000? 2003, I think, is when they signed me. Okay, so this is where you and I have almost an identical journey. So I moved to L.A., and I'm in L.A. trying for eight years. And at some point going, like, when do we quit?

And then pretty much start working at 28. That's when it hit for me. So for me in that eight years, A, I had a blast. My life was great. I had a good time. I was broke. I was drunk. But you don't know any different.

That's the thing. I didn't know any different. But what was really hard on me was my friends and peers were working. And the people I performed with the groundlings, they're all in commercials and they have apartments. Just watching people around me for eight years succeed or have agents or this and that was fucking brutal. I would already been an addict, but definitely supercharged that because I was just scared. You're kind of like a boy wondered to be working at a bar at 15 and then have your own band at 18. What were those eight years like?

When I moved to Nashville, I felt like, man, I'd kind of been building this thing down in Georgia and Florida. We were selling out big bars down in Georgia and Florida and like making a name for ourselves. And then all of a sudden, I get the call to the big leagues to come up here and write songs for Warner Brothers. So that's kind of how I got my foot in the door. So I think I'm going to show up. We're just going to pick up where we left off. And it was just not even close. It's humbling.

And I realized that the live part of everything was what I had been working on that I had down. But what I didn't have was being in the studio and learning how to capture that on tape and being a better singer in the studio. And really, when you're in the studio, you start hearing all your flaws and all the things that you don't really hear live. We started working on that part of it a lot. But yeah, you know, I just think it was getting better at that stuff. And that seven years of being in town going, oh, we want to sign you. And then I was signed the Capitol Records for a year. And they kept going, oh, we're going to let you go in and cut four sides.

And then a couple weeks out, they go, I don't think we got the songs. And they would cancel it. I did that for like a year and a half. And when you're in that situation and you're new, are they telling you what songs they want you to sing? Or are they saying, hey, here's some great writers we know, meet with them.

How does that work? They're bringing in songs. You're trying to find songs. And then you collectively kind of sit down and go, man, we think this is the best. And that was always a big thing for me is that I just didn't want people picking songs from me. I feel like that happened a little bit early on in my career. and when it did happen, it didn't go well.

I'm a stubborn dude, especially when it comes to that. If I want to fail, I don't want to put the blame on anybody else. Fail with your idea. Yes, I can at least accept that. So at this point, I mean, even making records and stuff now, we go make the album. And when we're done, it's like, here's your record and here's the singles and that constant chirping in your ear of, I like this song.

And, well, this is my favorite song. And, you know, everybody's got an opinion. I'm like, I just don't want to hear all that noise. I just want to go make my record and go, this is what I think is cool. And that's kind of how we are now, but obviously it took a while to get there too. This is such a basic question, but I don't really understand it. When you sit down with someone who's written a song, they're a songwriter, you meet with them, and they play a demo of them maybe doing it?

They'll do a demo, they'll get a singer or somebody's, or maybe they sing it. Great. So now when you hear that, and let's say you respond to it, right? You're like, ooh, there's something there, whether it's this hook I like or it's this piece of it. How do you put your fingerprint on it? And then are you looking for a way that's like, okay, great. So that's a great suggestion. Now, how do I make it mine?

I think that's kind of the easy part. To me, it's fine in the song. If the song says something the way that I would say it, melodically, it's something that I think is cool. A lot of the tongue and cheek kind of lyrics, I stay away from that. But if it's something I feel like, man, that's my kind of song.

It's as simple as just my band cuts everything in the studio. So we go in and we've done it enough now to have the system down. And so we find the key that it's in and not let them do their thing. And we'll kind of dial it in a little bit. For whatever reason, you get all of us in a room and you start recording and it just comes out the way it does. There's not a magic button that happens. It's just that's the way everybody plays. It's the way I sing and that's the way we hear it coming out.

That's the recipe. And your producer who you've done all these with, Michael Knox, when does he come in the picture? And how does he help create that magic that you get in there and it always comes out this way? Yes. We're talking about the young band that I had. That was a club in Atlanta called the Buckboard. It was up in Cobb County somewhere up there. Right next to a strip club.

It's awesome. Boomers and then you had, you know. One-stop shop for everything. Stumble out of the bar and going to strip away. What a night. But they had a house band there, and sometimes that house band would have bigger shows like around town. They play a festival or something that was going on. And so the guy John Galatio, who owned it, would call and be like, hey, can you guys fill in for my band that's out?

So it kind of started like that. He would do like a showcase where he'd bring people in from Nashville and kind of showcase the best bands in the area to try and help them get a deal. At the end of the day, he probably got a little kickback off of that. You know, we were all paying him like 500 bucks to get into this thing. Yeah, yeah. So Michael Knox was there, saw me playing a couple songs we had written that night. And that kind of started that journey. He flew down to see me play some shows in Florida and then brought me to Nashville,

went in the studio, cut a couple songs. Okay, now back to the stepdad thing. It's like a strange dude enters the picture. You show promise to him. But you guys got to start working together. And you have to be receptive, I imagine, to what he brings to the table, whatever his genius is. And is that hard for you or easy? It was just new to me. Like, I don't know this guy, but he's interested in what I'm doing.

Maybe this is an opportunity in your business and my business. You just need a break. You need somebody to give you a shot. That's the biggest thing. Maybe this is it. And so I learned a lot from him. He's kind of like my mentor, my guy that taught me a ton about being in the studio and how to capture all that stuff. And he's the guy that goes home and obsesses with all this stuff and making sure levels are right and this guitar cuts through like it's supposed to. He's that guy. Did he have an approach that you think worked particularly well with you? He's like a big brother to me. He's from Macon, Georgia. He's from my own town and just happened to be the vice president at Warner Chapel here. His dad was Buddy Knox,

who was a 50 singer with Buddy Holly and those kind of guys. So he's just kind of been around it. Back when one and five musicians was named Buddy. Yes, clearly. You respected him, it sounds like. Yeah, and he was like a big brother that was in the business. He was a VP of a major company in town. And for whatever reason, this guy took me under his wing and wanted to help me, even when I would get record deals and lose them and those kind of things. Yeah, how are you staying resilient in that period? I think definitely losing confidence.

You know, you come into town with plenty of confidence. A little too much confidence. It's like, oh, they're waiting on me to get here. Big Fish syndrome. You realize, man, there's a lot of people here that are a lot better singers than you and have a lot more going on than you have. And like you were saying, you're watching your friends get deals and go on to have success. and you're just like, shit, maybe it's not going to happen for us.

Maybe I'm going to end up working at Pepsi again, and you don't know. And having somebody like him to be by your side and go, hey, give me gift cards to be able to go eat dinner at Applebee's or Applebee's gift cards or whatever. And if not for him, I probably would end up back in Georgia and re-evaluating my life probably. Yeah, you might be in rehab right now. Probably. Very likely, actually. Stay tuned for more Armchair.

If you dare. We are supported by Airbnb. If you're looking to squeeze in a trip before the summer's over, we've got an idea. Oh, Canada. Canada is gorgeous in the summertime. Oh, one of my greatest summers was up at Lake Muskoka. Discover Canadian Hidden Gems with Airbnb. Stay tuned for some travel ideas, eh?

Okay, so 2005, Jason L. Dean, your first album comes out, and Hicktown is first out. And then why is your first number one hit? So how do we adjust to eight years of desert dwelling to like pretty radical success right out of the gates? Once we finally got a chance to have a hit, so Hicktown came out, you know, it was the top 10 hit for us on the charts for what seemed like a year. all of a sudden that thing hits, man. We're selling out clubs again. We're starting to do the stuff I was doing down in Georgia and Florida, but now we got a major hit.

Songs on the radio and we had a damn blast. I was always that person of like, man, that's great. We got a top 10 with Hicktown, but what's next? We can only tour off of that for about a year, then what? You got to stack them, and then Y came out, and it was the number one, and then Amarillo Sky was in top five. Great song. And so all of a sudden we're stacking these songs.

Do you have a hard time believing it? That it's happening? Yeah. I was always like, this is too good to be true. I don't want this to end, and I'm scared of that. I'm not even enjoying the success

right for worrying about it ending. Exactly. And that was probably something I still do, actually. Yes. Even this far into it. I remember having a 15,000 square foot, or 1,500 square foot house, sorry. You've been rich too long.

Yeah. You forgot how many zero goes at the end. And this was like a house I had bought that I was hoping my record deal would do well, but I didn't have any money yet. I just remember thinking, man, if I could just make enough money to pay off this house, it cost me $105,000. All my problems will go away.

Yes, yes, yes. And then all of a sudden, a couple years later, my accountant's like, man, you got to sell that house and get a bigger one for tax purposes. I'm like, what the hell? So then you start getting into that and you're like, this is too good to be true. I don't know when this is going to end, but surely this can't keep going on the way it is and then you turn around and you're 20 years into it. Still waiting on something bad to happen.

Yeah. Well, when you have eight years of getting your ass kicked. You get pretty used to that's how it is. Oh, yeah. And more than that, you also grew up in an environment where you were moving all the time. Nothing was stable for that long. Yeah. Yeah.

There's a lot of evidence for that. I was never in a situation where you were financially stable, even though it's not everything. It helps. My oldest daughter was born. I was 25. By the time I hit, I had a three-year-old at home and wasn't making any money. Yeah, yeah. You know, and I'm going, oh, but this is working.

I'm out here on the road, partying and playing shows, not making any money. It's kind of hard to validate. ate that. Well, now, here's where booze and drugs works. So I couldn't really enjoy it. I was so afraid it was going to go away. But when I was fucked up, I could. Yeah, that's what you had the most fun. Yes, because that's what Coke gave me is optimism. I never went down that path. Well, good. You think your nose is fucked up now. Yeah. Maybe it'll clear it out. I was drinking, though, man. I probably drank enough to float a damn aircracking. It's a fun. Sure. It's a fun hobby. It is. You start getting in that lifestyle and then probably forward

doesn't really do it for you anymore, so you just kind of up in the ante. The drug side of it was never something I really got into, but still love to drinking that far and do my thing. I just got a way better grip on it now than I once did. Yeah. How about this? The people I was obsessed with growing up was like Charles Bukowski, whaling, all guys who their art was so significant that they were allowed to behave like fucking animals and everyone

forgave it. Yeah, but I think that's it. Whether people want to believe it or not, sometimes those things kind of create, you know, genius comes out of putting your head in a different place. There's a reason that rock stars, some of the best songs ever written are coming out of like a place of pain or despair or you trying to cover up something with drugs or alcohol. How many whaling songs are about cheating? A third of them are about cheating one way or another. And it was probably coming from a place that was very legit, you know, so. Yeah.

Okay. So how do you take to the road? It sounds like well, but your life starting in 05, I'm imagining you've just been touring almost without exception. How many shows have you played since 2005? I don't know. First few years are doing 200 for us. We kind of backed it down to 150 and stayed there for a while. And then 125, then 175.

Now we're probably about 55 is kind of where we live right now. And it's great. It gives me time to hang out with my family for five or six months and spend some time with them. and then get on the road and go work for five or six months. Is it the same with us? Like when they were little, there's no problem. We just took them everywhere.

We were working. And then they get to an age where you really can't do that. And then you have to really figure out, like, well, do I really want to work? For us, it's school. Does you have an eight-year-old boy? We have a six-year-old girl, seven-year-old boy. He'll be eight in December. And then older children.

22 and 17. Girls. Yes. I would imagine you have to kind of learn how to tour so that it's ten or that you can continue to do it. So, like, what things did you start figuring out along the way? When I first started, it was 10 of us on a bus. It was me, my band, my tour manager, my merch guy, you know.

And we're on one bus. We're rolling out. And, again, we're not making money. So I'm trying to save money, cramming us all on a bus. And it finally got to a point where started doing well, and I got my own bus. I met my wife not long after that. And so when we started having our kids, two weeks after they were born, they were getting thrown on the bus.

And you just have their bins for them. their toys and they go out to the shows now they're old enough we put a pass on them they kind of walk around backstage everybody around there lets them feel like they're helping they're working so that's the thing too i got a great crew out there that kind of helps watch them and we've kind of dialed it in over the years but like when we first got out there it was me and all the guys no family no kids no any of that we're playing shows being gone for a couple months at a time and the dynamics change now do you get depressed when you're at home it's usually groovy for me for about two months I'm good with taking a little time because it also gives me a chance to go and work in the studio a little bit or not trying to cram that in when you're on the road.

So I like a little bit of time home, but after two, three months of it, it's like, all right. And my wife even knows now. She's like, you got to go out. You got to go to Cincinnati. I mean, you can only travel so much. Real life sets in. You're like, all right, well, now I'm home. And she works from home and does her thing.

So we're home. She's pretty busy doing her deal. I have nothing to do. I'm like playing golf. Yeah, you can only do that so much. You're like, damn. You need your purpose back. Yes.

I have a tricky question, but I have to ask because I wonder, you have these older kids and then you have younger kids. Do you ever think about the fact that those two sets have had such different experiences? Yes, absolutely. My older girls, you know, they were little when things were taken off. As they were growing up, my career was kind of going with it. And then the little ones as they've been born, everything was already established. And you have a much more manageable schedule now.

Yeah, but from the time they've come into the world, they've been on Instagram and people have watched them grow up and stuff. So they even come up to them out and about, you know, Memphis, they start talking to them and they're like, who the fuck is this person? You know? So they've been around that too. My wife, she posts all of our lives on Instagram. I don't hardly post ever. She bakes up for it. You know what I mean?

It's cool. People have watched our kids grow up over the years. So I think their upbringing is very different as far as that goes. There's probably pros and cons to both. For sure. When you're in this business, it's like you feel guilty sometimes for some things. And then I know that the way my kids are raised is not normal. They don't know that because they don't know any different.

Because it is normal to them. And as parents, you want to give them things you didn't have and make it better for them. And it's like that fine line of you just want them to appreciate it and know that not everybody gets to have a share. So, yeah, very different upbringies between the two. And I'm super proud the way the older ones turned out. The young ones, I feel like they handle it pretty well considering their age. stuff right now. And so you kind of learn it as you go. You know what I mean? It's all train off. How bad do you want to say to your kids like, guys, get your fucking head out of your

ass. We didn't go out to Epo once every two months. We didn't have a fucking car with their kid. What are you talking about? My son broke his iPad the other day and he was just like losing his mind because it was cracked. And I was like, I'm not taking it to have it fixed. You dropped it. So I made him play with it broken for a couple weeks. Yeah. Until he started bleed to me and I took it out of fix. So I've been told you don't like to talk about it, and I'm fully want to respect that. But I'm also quite curious, not about the incident itself, but mostly about going to Saturday Live a week later. I'm quite curious about that.

But be done honest with me. If you'd rather never talk about that again. No, I don't want to talk about at all. And I'm not an exploitative type of person. I don't even know what anyone's talking about, to be fair. Well, Jason was performing in Vegas during the shooting. Oh, oh, oh. So Route 91, it was a festival, like we've done a million.

10 times. You know, it started. It was just obviously something that we weren't prepared for. It had to be very confusing at first. Very confusing. But yeah, you know, it happened. Obviously, it was a horrible deal. We finally got out of there the next afternoon. Getting home and you're just glad to be home, show up my mom's crying. You know, my kids would think my oldest daughter was in school freaking out thinking that somebody was trying to shoot us. All the details were still kind of coming out. Yeah, it's one of the most horrific national events we've had. And you were literally on stage. Yeah, it was wild. And so I was just kind of glad to be home.

We were still in the middle of the tour. So I was like, man, I don't know if we're going to finish the tour. We didn't really know what was going to happen yet. I was home for a couple days, and I got a call from my manager, Clarence Spalding, and he just goes, hey, Lauren Michaels just called and want you to come play. This is like on Thursday. I want you to play Saturday Night Live.

The shooting was the first, and Saturday was a seven. The shooting was on Sunday, I believe. We got home Monday, and then I got this call like Thursday. For Saturday. For Saturday. Yeah, yeah. That must be a really complicated offer. It was.

Obviously, Saturday Night Live is something I've always wanted to play. That's like one of those things as an artist or actor. It's just an iconic show. And so I hated that it was like that. And so part of me was like, fuck, I don't want to do it like that. Because you maybe are worried it feels exploitative or something. Yeah. And we were shell shock, too.

Guarantee at this point, you haven't even begun to process what the fuck you just left. No. And so Tom Petty had just died. that Monday. We got the news he had died on the flight back to Nashville. And so I just said, man, if you'll let us play, whatever I want to play, and they want us to do a cold open. So I was like, I don't want you guys writing shit for me to say. And me and my publicist sat on the phone in a room and hotel and wrote out what we were going to say. And they'd let me do it. And so I called my band, rallied everybody. And Sunday morning, I was on a flight going back to Las Vegas to go to the

hospital and see all the victims. That was tough. People hadn't recovered from their wounds. You forget. 869 people were injured. Yeah, it was pretty crazy. And so then a week after that, we were right back on tour going to play. And we had maybe another month of shows. And then we finally got to go home for a few months. My son was born during that time.

So the shooting happened on October 1st. He was born December 1st. Wow. All of a sudden, at home, we kind of had something else to focus on versus watching that on the news every day. I could imagine just moving so quickly through everything. saying yes and wanting to do everything I can. And then, I don't know, some period later waking up and going, oh, my God, so much shit happened, but I was so busy during it and so much was happening.

And I really haven't computed that. And I'm just curious that that day come. Yeah, I mean, I think for me, you know, I kind of had a breakdown at my house one day. It was after my son was born and just all that heaviness of everything, just getting laid on you. And it's easier to talk about now. At the time, it wasn't because you're still. trying to comprehend what had just happened. You know, my bass player, my best friend for the last 25 years, his base had a bullet

lodged in it that he was wearing when we were on stage. And for our little family, our little crew, we got so lucky. Not one injury to any of our guys, and you're happy about that, but then you're like, you feel guilty that you're happy about that. There's like this guilt-ridden thing. Survivors go. It sucks. Just one of those things that will kind of forever connect us to that city.

And at some point, you can either kind of run from it or accept it. and try and make something good out of it and that's kind of what we tried to do. I ended up having a moment at my house where I kind of broke down thinking about just all the people that I could have lost and all the people that we did lose as far as fans,

but my inner circle of people and my wife was there eight months pregnant with my son and all these things that could have happened. And you love your fans. Like I'm imagining if Warren Jerry's got injured at a show, it would fucking devastate me.

Yeah, well, that's the thing. It's like those people are there to see you and if this happens, there's this guilt. It's heavy. It's just heavy. It's a lot of, Heavy as it gets.

Shit to put on somebody's plate, especially when you're not expecting that. If you're an Army Ranger and you train for that kind of shit, something like that happens when you're armed with a guitar, ain't much you can do. Back to expectations.

You're talking about showing up. A lot of places you go, you're like, I know I'm going to be on. I'm leaving my house. I've gone there for a reason. I'm going to be nice. Army Ranger has those expectations. They jump out of the fucking helicopter

with a parachute. They know shit's hitting the fan when they land. If you're on stage or somewhere, gunshots start popping off. You're diving. Just trying to get somewhere. How much does it enter your mind going? forward.

Occasionally kind of situational. You have to have PTSD from it, is what I'm saying, basically. We played a show and there was a parking garage, you know, where there's, like, open things, like, in those kind of things when you see that. And you're on alert now. Yeah. We were in Canada just a couple days ago playing a show up there and we're in downtown in the city walking to our hotel, probably midnight and a car backfires.

You know, it sounds like a shotgun went off. And I mean, you're right back. All my crews with me that were all in that too. And so we're all like, what the fuck? So, I mean, you still have those. I think they'll always be there. Have you ever gone to therapy for it? Are you too Southern?

I guess too Southern. I never would. And here's the ironic thing. We funded a ton of therapy for a ton of therapy for all the crews and everybody else. And then, you know, obviously I didn't go. So my therapy was me, my wife, my band, all of us that were kind of there. We all talked about it amongst each other. Yeah, that's good.

You weren't alone in it and that's helpful. All of us had kind of our little inner circle to talk about it with. And that was what we did. But I have a hard time talking to people about my things. Being vulnerable? I just have a hard time opening up to people that don't know me or like haven't been in the same situation. You're on the wrong show, my friend.

I listen to you and Pitt talk. I mean, it's fun. I don't have any problem talking about. I'm just talking to voluntarily go and do it. Okay, this is a fun question. I wonder if you agree with this or not. I mostly love Outlaw Country. That's kind of my zone.

And I love rap. And I think those are the two most related musics on planet Earth is rap and country. I like them for the same reason, especially in the 80s and 90s. You're hearing these stories about these communities and cultures Compton, and it's their fucking story. It's not meant to appeal to everyone. It's their authentic life story. They're telling you without any frills, no apologies, no shame.

And I think country is very much that too. It's the music of disenfranchised folks who are engaged in real talk in a sense. and I just think they're very similar in that way. Do you see that parallel at all? I can see that. They're all storytelling. Well, I think that with country music, it's always been the driving force. It starts of the song.

And the storytelling, I think that's what everybody loves about country music is it's not a bunch of noise. There's a point to the song, and I can see that in hip-hop and stuff, too. There's also like a brave freedom to, you know, I get stoned and play all day long. I like to sit on the fucking porch with my blue-tick hound. Oh, yeah. There's a lot of owning... The shit that people are judgmental of. Yeah, owning things that most people wouldn't say.

You're not going to shame us. Yeah. This is our story. We're proud of it. We made music out of it. That's the essence that I see in both rap and country that I love. Everybody wants to say, but everybody's kind of scared to say until somebody says it once. And then they're like, yeah, and then they all start saying it. Yes.

But yeah, it raps like that. But your compton, to me, is country boy can't survive. I live in the woods. You see, the woman, the kids, the dog, and me. Just attitude. It's real. It's unapologetic. authentic. Authentic. And I think that's why those songs work and hip hop even. I mean, that's why that genre's as big as it is. I mean, it's no bullshit. This is the way it is. The fan bases are similar, too. Music album sales dropped out. The last two to remain the most robust are rap and country. Live shows. Also, great audience for attending. I think when people hear their story, they're really loyal to that. Country music fans for sure are some of the most loyal from a standpoint of,

they latch on to an artist early on in their career. That's their family member. And they follow that artist unless they just do something really stupid. You can do a lot, though. Trust me, I know. I've towed the line a few times over the years. But they will follow and they will support. I mean, it is a lifelong thing for them, for that artist and for that fan.

And that doesn't happen in all genres of music. I would say country has the misleading illusion. of being simple. And that's why people get into it and think they can do it. And that's why a lot of it's shit and generic, because they think it's easy. I think it used to be a lot more simple than it is.

You know, you hear people say three chords in the truth. You know, three chords, you can play a million country songs, which there is some truth to that. Over the years, you know, it's gotten a little bit more complex and different influences coming into our genre, you know, rock influence, pop influence, hip-hop, Stapleton's bluesiest shit. Is he the current god?

He's great. He's the best male vocalist in our genre to me right now. Morgan's a great vocalist, too. Morgan's kind of just like a global level amount. He's crossed all the boundaries. And that's awesome, too. We get a guy like that that really brings in a lot of different listeners in our format because he's getting people listening to his stuff that wouldn't typically listen to country

and those kind of things. I mean, it's all good for all of us. Let me ask you, how has the transition felt? And I'll start because we have it in our site. So, of course, Hollywood's super liberal. And then when you have the handful actors that are outspokenly conservative, it's not like the liberals are all that excited about that. Vince Vaughn will have some opinions and people are like,

oh, how has it been watching this transition? We're definitely country has gotten a lot more stars that are kind of outspokenly liberal and what's been a very conservative music history. Listen, I think everybody feel how you want to feel. You do your homework and you make your own opinions. And that's fun. I don't think we all have to agree. When it comes to anything, it's like I don't think anybody wants things shove down their throat.

Just because you believe this doesn't mean this is wrong. And unfortunately, you know, it gets a little muddy. You have a million different opinions, but these are the ones that you can no longer be friends over. And you start planting your flag in the ground on those kind of things. I mean, I'm always open for discussion. Enlighten me. That's my thing. Please, tell me something I don't know.

If you can make it make sense, then that's cool. But I'm pretty firm in how I believe. And it's going to take a lot to sort of change that. Well, you're not unique in that you're a product of your context. I'm a product of my context. Everyone that thinks they came to their big worldview independently is kind of ignoring. We're all pretty predictable in some sense. And I feel like I'm open-minded, but you got to make it make sense to me.

It's like anything. I'm not always going to agree 100% over here or over there. I can know that that doesn't make sense and that does, to me at least. Okay, so try that in a small town became controversial. But that led immediately to it being your first number one. one on Billboard. I'm interested personally. We have had very few, but we've had some episodes that are controversial. You're trying to wonder what's your tolerance and appetite for that discomfort of controversy. And yet if it somehow works, you have to bring that into your analysis. There's

sometimes direct relationship to the amount of controversy something's getting to the amount of people that are going to hear the thing. And how do you evaluate that cost benefit? This song being controversial was, I mean, a shocker to you? That it was as big as it was. Yes, it was a song that I felt like was probably going to raise a few eyebrows and hopefully make people look in the mirror and go, yeah, that probably wasn't a good look. And when we put the video out, it's like, I'm not recreating this. This is what was happening. Like, look at it.

Yeah, yeah. When that happened, everything kind of became focused on the BLM movements. And then this church that we had shot it in in Spring Hill, where I live, not a church, but a courthouse. They started digging into this courthouse and found where somebody had been hung there. And then that became a thing about it. And so it just kind of became this making something. out of nothing to me. Well, politicizing to the nth degree as much as we can, the person's on that

side. This courthouse had a lynching. The song was essentially saying, look at what we're doing to our country as a whole. This is not right. To put a song like that out and go, hey, you know, as a community, like where I'm from, you band together, you look after each other. And to take that and turn it into this very politicizing song, I knew that would start a little bit of a conversation that way, just because I know how things are these days with social media, did I think it would go to the extent it did and turn out to be such a national news headline for the next, whatever, no. How do you weather those events?

You're just not going to guilt me into something. We put that song out when everything started to happen. We put out a press release and said, this is our stance on it. I'm going to talk about it once. Here's your press release. Anything else you got to say is just speculation between you guys. Like, I'm not going to keep going out defending myself. Descending the song and letting you guys regurgitate a bunch of news.

It's not going to happen. I'm with you on that. If I know that I'm not wrong, you're not going to guilt me into it. I can accept it. If I feel like I'm in the wrong, it's like, I can kind of see that. But if I'm not, you ain't going to get it out of me ever. So it doesn't bother you. No.

Even when I believe in what I did, it bothers me. Well, you want everybody to like you. I want everyone to like me. Right. And I want everyone to see my intentions. And I want everyone to see that I'm good. Same. Yeah.

But it's also like, if you don't like me, you don't like me, you don't like you don't like my music. You don't like what I stand for. You're never going to buy a ticket to a show. You're never going to come see me. I'm never going to make a fan out of you. So at that point, I don't really care. You already convinced yourself that you don't like what I'm about. Yeah. So I'm not going to waste any time worrying about. I just can't do that. Like we were talking earlier, authentic. I think you have to be true to that. And I'm not going to go get on a TV show or something and just go and speak my mind for an hour and tell everybody how I feel about the state of the world or whatever. It comes out in a song like

that. That's part of my art. That's what I do. and not everybody's probably going to like that. And they don't have to. They don't have to. I don't care. Well, look, name a comedian, like, I love Chappelle. Same. Some people hate him.

He's inappropriate to shit, but he's funny, and he was a comedian, so he gets away with it, as he should. And I think I have a sense of his spirit and his intention. And I think he's fair. Everyone gets blasted. Yeah, nobody's safe. I think that's fun. Yeah. We're about the same age.

Is it harder for you to do songs and make albums the longer you've been at this? Was it easier when you were younger? I think I'm better at it now. There are certain songs and subject matter that don't make sense for me to sing anymore. Now it's like you're trying to have songs with a little more meat on the bone and things that are going to make sense for me to sing when I'm in my 50s. That can be hard to evaluate. Yeah, Hicktown. I mean, it came out.

I was 28. She's country, you know, those kind of things. It's great. But at some point, you're going to have to have some songs that have a little meat on the bone. Now we're writing songs about retirement communities. Yes, like, you know, things like family members going through things like dementia, but still having the things that people expect from us on a record, too. So it's just kind of that weird new era for us.

What are your thoughts about retirement or when you back off and what's that mental gymnastics for you? I don't think I'm there yet. For me, I still enjoy it too much. to not do it. And you've paired it down enough that it's manageable. I've made it to where it works for me. 55 versus 200 is a big difference.

Some years maybe 50, some years maybe 60. I still enjoy it too much, man. We just finished an album, so I still love that side of it. You know, I look at things that are going on now, like the sphere out in Las Vegas,

going and doing some residency. Have you been to some shows there? No, but Chesney just did his out there. And Sean Silva, who is our video director, too, did all the content for that and seen a ton of stuff. I think Backstreet Boys just did

one killer. I think that's probably in our future to hit Vegas do some residencies, but me to just stop touring and even doing it the way we do it. This is what I've wanted to do from the time I can remember. I've gotten to do it for the last 20 years and they've still let me do it. It works out for me though because I take half the year off and I work half the year I'm off. It's like we're traveling. I just got back from Europe. Where'd you go? Went to London. Went to see the band Oasis. Oh, okay. Did they get in a fight on stage? No, I was hoping they would, though. Yeah, of course. That's what you buy a ticket for. It was awesome. We saw their first show

in Cardiff. It was on July 4th. So, first show after 16 years, and it was killer. You're buying a ticket to Oasis is like going to a hockey game. You're going to see a fight. 75,000 people in the stadium sold it out two nights in a row. And they're doing like five or six nights at Wembley that holds like 90,000. Whoa. They're huge over there. But it was so fun, man. That's awesome. Okay, so on the topic of the new album, does it have a title yet? It's going to come out in August or September? The single was going to come out. Somewhere around first part of September. Doesn't have a title yet.

I literally just turned it in to the label a couple weeks ago. So if you got any cool titles, just text me. I'll hit you with some. I might need to hear a track or two, so that's not completely disconnected. Yeah, there's material. But you kind of mentioned it, so I'm presuming the dementia's family situations

in the upcoming album. My uncle just passed away at Louis Botte dementia, like in the last year and got another family member that's dealing with that kind of thing. And so, you know, we got some songs we wrote, kind of talk about that. I don't want to get too lofty here, but you talk about these political differences,

and then you really talk about, like, do you have a family member that's dealt with addiction? We all have. Do you have a family member dealing with dementia or Alzheimer's? Yeah, I think we all have. These real things, we're all doing the same shit. You kind of hit on that common denominator that everybody can relate to. But no one leads with that anymore. Everyone's leading with the thing that is going to be problematic.

That's the beauty of making albums and stuff these days is song-wise. down whatever road you want to, and as you get older, you know, the subject matter gets a little more mature and you deal with shit that you maybe didn't deal with early on or didn't pay attention to early on in your life. And now it's a real thing. But yeah, new single coming out, I think in September with new music, new album and all that stuff to follow. And so I'm excited for people to hear it. And then you have Jason Eldine Kitchen and Rooftop Bar. You have four of those? Yeah, the first one opened here, Nashville, downtown on Broadway. That thing's become a staple here. downtown Nashville, and then we opened one in Gatlinburg, one in Pittsburgh, and then

just opened one in Las Vegas last year. You and Kristen hosted the CMTs together? We did. I was going to bring that out. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's the only time I've ever hosted a show ever was with her. She was my co-hosts. And how'd you like that? It was great. She's about as good of a co-host as you can have. She was awesome. I think we had some teleprompters that went out that night. She was like on it. She saved me. So thank you, Kristen. They're promoting your institutions at the airport, just so you know. When I was waiting for my back, I saw you were on the carousel. I love it.

Hey, and take what you can get. Any press is good, Pris. What? Like all these things he had. Oh, they were all in the... Like the bars. Yeah, the bars. Yeah.

When Nashville's become such a tourist. Yeah. Do you hate this or not that we're all here? You can be honest. No. When I first moved here in 98, it was still kind of dumpy. He had a bunch of old bars. Not really nice restaurants.

It's become like a hot spot and obviously it's great for the city. And do you guys have... the kind of community we would fantasize about. Most of y'all musicians do live down here and do you guys get to see each other? A lot of us, I mean, we're touring and stuff. So when we come home off the road, we all kind of scatter and go do our own thing.

Well, you know, a lot of us, like Luke, I can call him and go play golf or go fish. He's in L.A. a bunch because he's doing, I don't know, a big TV star. Yeah, yeah. Like you, you know, big TV star. But yeah, you've got your crew that you hang out with and some that you kind of see occasionally.

But we're all kind of based out of here for the most part. Yeah. Well, I just want to read your accolades before you go, 30 number ones. You're in a group now with like George Strait and Merle Haggard and Chesney and Allen Jackson and Reba. It's so mega. 20 million albums sold 20 billion streams.

It's been a good run. It's been a good run. 48. You're not even 50 yet. Congratulations. Thank you. Yeah, truly, truly. Like I said, I was just trying to pay for that 1,500 square foot house, man.

And here we are. Well, Jason, it's been awesome meeting you, man. I really appreciate you being the first person we interviewed Nashville. It seems like a really lovely. Lucky get for us. And you're on tour now. So people, I'm sure they're already sold out, but people should be going to the full throttle tour.

You're also going to Australia and New Zealand. New Zealand, Australia, I think, in February next year. But we actually go on the road this week to really kick off the tour. Tulsa, Little Rock, and St. Louis, I think, is the first run. And then we head out west for a little bit. Well, Jason, this has been so awesome. Everyone check out full throttle tour. All right, brother, be well.

I hope that I bump into you now. Absolutely. Hit me up anytime. And I got a couple of restaurants You go check out Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, I got to stop at your many, many restaurants. Stay tuned for more armchair expert If you dare.

Stay tuned for the facts check So you can hear all the facts that were wrong. Okay, I have an update. You have an update? What is it? I was right again. Oh, wow, great. Yeah.

It feels so good to be right, doesn't it? Yeah. So remember when I said you were right about my period? Yeah. And I gave you a whole thing about that. You were wrong. Oh, okay. So it's a bad day for me and a good day for you.

And I was right the whole time. Yeah. The day I said is the day, which is today. Congratulations. Thank you. It came. So now we have, we still don't know why you had your clothes on backwards. Yeah.

That's still a big question. The original mystery remains. My mom liked me and write so much she made up a song. And you'd hear singing it occasionally throughout the house. And it was, it's such a good feeling to know that you're right. Wow. Yeah. There were more lyrics, but that's the, I guess the chorus.

That's what I remember. Do you think you really like, because you grew up hearing that, you really embodied it? I just know it feels great to be right. Yeah, but it's like, do you know because of the song or do you know? I heard the funniest thing once from an editor, a film editor who had cut some, a couple movies from an actor and he said yeah you know his thing is if he if he has his way his character's arc is that he'll find out he was right the whole time instead of learning a lesson he'll be he'll find out he'll find out he was right the entire time that's really funny it does

feel good to be right it does it's just important not to gloat you know i guess that's all you can do And I guess it's good to tell other people when they're right, like I do, even though you were wrong. I was wrong, yeah. You know, this was just a topic last night in a 12-step meeting, which was in the book, it said something about big-shotism, you know, like... What's it say? You know, just like that we have to avoid big-shotism. Don't be a big shot. And I was thinking maybe the best you can do is you just don't say anything.

Like, you're going to think things. I don't know that you can control whether you think something. It's just like the thought pops into your head. And really, again, the space between your thought and your actions, therein lies peace or whatever the saying is. Freedom. Therein lies freedom. So I was thinking like, no, I still have some pretty grotesque thoughts. I've just gotten good at not saying them.

And I feel like that's all I can, I'm capable of. And I'm proud enough of that. Yeah. I mean, yes. I don't think we can control our thoughts, but we can control everything else. After the thought. So we must. Yeah.

Increase our bust. We must. We don't have to do that. Everyone's boots are gray. I'm trying to increase my bus pretty regularly. I'm doing bench press, which is for the pectorals. Yeah, but you don't have to increase. No one has to increase their bus.

No, it's not a must. No. It's a choice. But it is from Greece. Oh, yeah. That's right. You don't like grease. I forgot. I don't know if I'm odd to say that.

What's the only person in the world that? Because I don't like musicals. And even I'm like, it's fun. Really? Yeah. We made out under the dock. Oh, please stop. Is that song in particular one you hate? I don't like any of the songs.

You know, my brother, when he was just a young baby boy. Yeah. He would be crying in the car because he was a baby. And my mom put the grease soundtrack on. To sue them? Yes. And it worked, and especially this one song. And so I had to listen to it on repeat to keep him from crying.

I got it. You've associated it with your brother's annoying behavior. It's separate. No, that's, that's what's going on. I already hated it. You know, it's so funny when you think back, like, my brother also was obsessed with the backstreet boys. Interesting.

As a little boy. Oh, that's cute. It's so cute. And I'm sure I was mean to him about it. Of course you were. Does he want to go to the sphere? No, exactly. I thought about it recently.

I was like, oh, he should go to that. That's his favorite band. Yeah, when he was six. I still like everything I liked when I was six musically. Like, I never came to hate anything that I once loved musically. Right. Have you? I'm trying to think.

I mean, I just liked so much top 40 that I'm sure, I mean, it's hard to say. Now if I heard it, I'm associating it with that time. So, of course, I'll like it. Yeah. But do I like it? Probably not. Well, this brings up an update for me. So my deepest superstition, as you already know, do you know, what's my deepest superstition?

Putting hats on. There's one worse than that. Where it really is like, it's, oh, I'm like, oh, my God. Can you give me a hint? Because I do want to guess. It's musical. Oh, you have to listen to a song. Twice.

There's a certain song you have to listen to twice. If I hear it accidentally, I have to. And which one is it again? So my stepdad used to play this song, like at full. volume and it was like again it's associated with like maximum chaos my brother and him fighting and that song was always playing and I just got it in my head that like if I heard it once I had bad luck and then I had to hear it again but I was not allowed to touch his record player and he had the album so I had no control over it the song is jump by Van Halen right jump yeah so I was in Nashville

and because I'm in my old cars and they don't have any way to play my phone through some of them I was listening to the radio a ton. Oh. So I was driving down the road by myself and all of a sudden, jump came on. Did you slam? My first thought, well, my trick is if I hear it on the radio, I know this is a total workaround that everyone will call bullshit on, but I'll turn the channel to another channel then turn it back and I try to count that as a second.

Oh. Which is we both know that's bullshit, but that's the best I can do. Okay, listen. There's no rules because it's all made up to your head. It's all asinine, yes, yes. I don't know why, but this song came on when I was in Nashville. And I go, we're done with this. Good job.

We're done with this. Yeah. And I'm not going to try to listen to it twice. And then I go, and in fact, I'm adding it to my liked songs. So now it is in my liked songs, which I listen to all the time. And it comes on once. And I'm like, it's a great fucking song. And you're going to get over it and you're going to love.

Immersion therapy. You're going to enjoy it. So I've been listening to it at one time, randomly a lot lately. And does your nose slowly bleed when you listen only once? No. my eyes tear black like Wednesdays and have you had any bad luck since you started this no nothing discernible no in fact I feel like I'm on good luck I'm on a good luck wave um I've discovered this documentary the Cowboys documentary not the cheerleading one which is also great but a history

of Jerry Jones buying the Cowboys are you watching it Rob I am not buddy I haven't liked to dock this much since last dance you don't You don't, what, you just asked Rob because he's a boy. Uh-huh, because he loves football. Because he likes football, not because he's a boy. If there was a dock on the row, I go, Monica, have you seen the dock on the row? But I love Last Dance. You know that.

I know you do. Have you seen him, Monica? Can you admit that you could have just asked everyone? I could have, but I would, if there was a row documentary, I wouldn't ask Rob. Rob does like football. That's fine. He loves football. Also, he might love to watch the dock on the row.

It's probably great. It's probably going to be great. I'm going to make it and produce it. I had a really strong feeling you hadn't watched the Cowboys documentary. Unfortunately, I was correct. Is it America's team, the gambler and his Cowboys? The gambler and his Cowboys. Okay.

It's awesome. I do think you should watch it. This was all to encourage you to watch it. I'm not leaving you out. I just wanted to see if I could get a two-way encouragement to you to give it a shot. Yeah. Because you do not need to care about football. But you know, I don't like peer pressure.

Okay. So you don't want me? Okay, so just be regular. You wanted me to ask if you've watched it and then no, not recommend it. No, that's not what happened. I just didn't want you to specifically ask the mail in the room about a dog when you just equated it to last dance. So we know it's not just for, I don't like basketball. You don't like basketball, yeah.

And I, and the last dance is basically my favorite show that it's ever happened. I know. it's a great one. Anywho, okay, so you want me to watch it or you think everyone should watch it. It's incredible. Okay. What characters? Jerry Jones is such a character.

Can he just give you a taste of what happens? So he is a very young guy and he is, I guess, a wildcat they call him. Maybe that's not the right term. But he is buying oil fields hoping to strike oil. Okay. He is so over leveraged. He's like $50 million in debt as a, young man and he just keeps gambling and when he describes the oil well he hits the noises it was

making and when it just started gushing and then that one oil well made him a hundred million dollars wow and then he immediately took that money and bought the cowboys wow and the cowboys are the most valuable sports team in the world yes i knew that every sport included yeah like a 13 billion dollar value of that team. Wild. Yeah, and then he grabs this coach out of college, Jimmy Johnson. And it's just a great story. Do you think it's because he has two Js?

It makes it really great that the alliteration's there. But like he has two Js. So he's like the only people I can hire, it's like a small pool because it has to have two Js. They were on a championship college football team together. And they knew each other forever. And did you ever watch the U? the 30 for 30 you did yes so he was the coach that was like yeah you i did not know well well well look at that if you remember um jimmy johnson was the one that was like yeah

be black don't listen to this bullshit that you're a thug right right he's cool yeah he's cool yeah and those two the owner and him you know it's tough to share glory it's tough to share glory It's tough to share glory. I'm not done with it. And I don't ever want it to end. That's fine. I love when there's a show like that. Yeah.

That was too much for me, the show too much on Netflix. Oh, I did start it for your recommendation, and I love it. Right. It's great. It's so cool. It does give me anxiety. Okay, tell me. Because she's so fragile.

Like anything could, she could unravel over almost anything. And so it does trigger my like, oh, my God, if I was around someone who is always, like, I don't know if they're going to unravel at this moment is very stressful to me. I don't know how far you're in. But it's interesting the way they. I love him. He's so hot. He's so hot. So hot.

I listened to this one thing on it that I thought broke it down really, really well where they were like, this show does such a good job of highlighting the highest or like the most manicurial. parts of a relationship, the beginning and the end. Because she's come, she has this other relationship she has come out of. Yeah. And it's very tumultuous. She's making some really wild. Isn't she's so funny? Oh, she's, she's incredible. Oh, my God. She's incredible. And Lena's great when she's on. Yeah. It's, it's a really good show. Really great cast. Really great station. Well, that's when I was rewatching girls and I was seeing all these people that she, that they cast before. I was like, God, yeah, some people just really have that knack. They have been a eye.

Like Mike White. Yeah, Mike White. Mike White had Will Sharp and Megan Fahey on the same season of White Lotus, which means he's a genius. He is a genius. Anyway, Cowboys, you love them. I'm going to watch. It's so good.

It's so good. Now, I am coming off of some good luck as well. You are. Okay. Because it's birthday luck still. Yeah. I still have birthday luck. And people who listen will remember that at the Bowery, I got a tassel, 1111, the room, this is incredible.

Yep. Wow, big story, tassel. For my birthday, we went to the Four Seasons and went to the pool. I had to get a room for that. Yeah. So guess what my room number was? You already know, 11, 11. 11.

11 again. Oh, my God. Gosh. This should be your first tattoo. I actually thought that. I bet you did. I already thought it, which is why I can't get it, because I guess it's a cliche. Do a lot of people have a love and a lot? No, but it's like if you thought and I thought, we all thought it. Or it's just so on brand for you. I don't know.

I don't know. I'm not going to get any tattoos. But if I was, I think it might be that. You could get X-I-X-I. It wouldn't be so obvious. I know, but you know, I'm not really into Roman. numerous those that's pretty that's pretty basic stuff it's not even it's just like it's basic it's not for me it is basic oh my god wait is this real i think so okay so for the listener uh rob just put up a photo of jennifer annison jenn aniston and and seemingly she has 1111 tattooed on her wrist oh or maybe oh my god oh my god yeah now you can't

can't because if she if we ever interview her and you have the same tattoo as her but now i have to oh that tipped it it was always meant to be yeah my god should i get one like because i since i don't really want anyone to see you think i could just get a really tiny one in between my um big toe and my second toe toes are rough the skin rubs off a lot fingers digits they can be tough like my bell's not holding up like the rest of my tattoos. Have you ever gotten one in here? It's hard.

Yeah, I guess that skins it's hard for the tattoo to stay there for whatever reason. I don't know why. Stay tuned for more armchair expert if you dare. Do you want to hear my

maximum sim event in my entire life? Other than when I guess the song you had made up Xanthum gum, that still is like, that can't have happened. I know. Xanthum gum, Xanthum gum. Zanthum gum. Okay. So I wrote this script called Send Lawyers, Guns, and Money. Right.

And it was about my last week of drinking in Kauai. Uh-huh. And while I was writing it, I'm just like swimming in the Warren Zeevon song, Send Lawyers, Guns, and Money. Do you know that song? No. Okay, I'll cover my face and sing it to you. I took home the barmaid, like I always do.

How was I to know? She was with the Russian twos. Hey! And it's send lawyers guns and money. The shit has hit the fan. So as I'm writing this script, and it's about my last week in Hawaii of using, I decide I should learn to play that guitar.

I should learn to play that song on the guitar. So I go on YouTube and I'm trying to find some footage of him playing that so I can look at the chords. And I find this video of him in a small venue and he's talking to the crowd. And he says, I wrote this song after. Oh, I got to add. My last week of drinking in Hawaii was I was taking a vacation between movies because I was exhausted and I needed a break. Okay. It didn't turn out to be a replenishing trip.

as you can imagine. Yeah. So he goes, yeah, I wrote this song after a couple years of hard work and I decided to take an island, I trip down to the islands of Hawaii. And after a week of improbable danger in something, I decided I shouldn't take vacations.

I took home the barmaid. And I was sitting at the computer going, what the fuck? This song is about his week in Hawaii. That's wild. I thought I was going to have vassaday. into the clouds at that point. My dad was helping your sim even before we met.

Well, it's all been orchestrated. I know. From 1987, we don't even know if I existed before 1987. Exactly. Yeah. Because even for you, that was the best year of your life. Yeah. So like, it's all really, it's stinky.

It's fucking stanky. Really stanky in here. Anyway, so birthday luck is continuing. Yeah. Birthday weekend was really nice. ended up at the, oh, I wanted to check something, maybe another sim moment. Okay. Can I look up when Wardogs was?

I'm gonna, I already did. 2016, dang. Oops. One year off. Okay, because in 2016, it was my birthday. Do do, do, do. And Kristen planned. You were turning 29?

I guess. No. Yeah. I was turning 29. And Kristen planned an escape room party for me and her and you and a group of people. It was really exciting. We get there, go inside, we're ready to escape. And she had accidentally booked it for the wrong day.

Mm-hmm. Which was fine. It was like, what are we going to do now? It's also textbook bell. It is. This is kind of her move. It happens. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So, you know, it was like, what are we going to do now? And we pivoted plants. It was your idea. You said, let's go to the chateau and have dinner, have bolognese. I had never been there. And I'd been trying to go for a long time. Sure. And it was really exciting and fun.

Then we saw war dogs. That was like a big birthday. I remember. And it was a good pivot. And the bolognais was so good. And it was very exciting. And on my birthday, it was a lazy day. I stayed at the Four Seasons, so then I, like, woke up and I was just lazy.

Callie told me I should order a milkshake in my robe room service. I didn't. Oh, okay. That's a rough way to start your day with a milkshake. That's why. I was like, it's too early. It was downhill from that. But it also sounded nice, but yeah.

Anyway, and then I went to Sunset Tower. Oh, I went shopping. I got myself a cute outfit, and I went to Sunset Tower. and then Sonset Tower turned into the chateau where I had Bolognese for dinner. You did. I did. And I thought, oh, my gosh. No, I don't think so.

I don't really look. You don't see very well. Yeah, I don't have good eyes. And I thought it was its 10 year anniversary, but I guess it was its nine year anniversary. Right. So that is not as sim as I wanted it to be. Okay. It's still great.

Still great. Yeah, yeah. That's a fun tradition. It is a fun tradition Maybe that'll be a new tradition Yeah Yeah You want to ask me Monica out

Oh yeah Speaking of this Okay I probably shouldn't do it like this with this like long This like long phase Yeah it sounds like bad news is coming It's not bad news Great news

It's great news for the world Travis and Taylor are engaged Oh right yeah And everyone is happy And I'm so happy She seems so happy It makes me feel really fuzzy like she got it all and she deserves it and I I love it and it's hopeful yeah great you know

Lincoln said that they like announced it they either announced it or like a teacher the teacher came like into the classroom and told everything oh really yeah it's all girl school this is incredible anyway um but I I forgot that the whole reason they're together is their podcast new heights he so he went to the concert to try to give her his phone number. Yes. And, but he didn't. He couldn't see her. So then on the show, his brother asked, how was the concert? He said, well, I'm kind of butt hurt because I really wanted to talk to her. But she doesn't talk to people before after shows. I wanted to give her my bracelet. It has my phone number on it. Yeah. Okay. That's cute. Oh, did he put his phone number

in the bracelet? Yeah. Oh, that's adorable. Adorable. Yeah. And look, that got, him a wife. Yeah. And here we are. One of the more coveted wives out there. Wives of all time. Yes. And here we are almost eight years in to this show.

And I have zero husbands. Yeah, but, but. Okay. So what she did is she heard that. Yeah. And then she reached out and he said yes. Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

There's a lot of people in the comments that are saying you're hot. They want to meet you. But see. You have said many times you don't want to date a listener. Unless they're Taylor Swift. Okay. Also, she wasn't a listener, just got back to her. Okay.

Okay, so who, like, I mean, I could on here. You know what's unfair? I would look crazy and he didn't look crazy. And that's... Well, he had a lot going for him. No, it's not. Well, I have a lot going for me. What do you mean?

No, it's... It's inherently adorable that this enormous football player, this gruff bone crusher, made a Taylor Swift bracelet. Yeah. So you have to do something as completely out of the boxes. That's what made that so adorable. It's like, oh, wow, that guy made a bracelet with his number for Taylor Swift. Yeah, it was really cute. There's a lot to the product, you know.

So what am I supposed to do? Like, go beat someone up? Well, we got to have scars on and, like, talk about that. I mean, get good with a butterfly knife and pull a butterfly knife. Like, you got to put the same effort he put into it. It takes like four minutes to make a friendship bracelet. You have to start by pursuing someone, which he did. Fuck.

Yeah. So, yeah, you're going to have to pursue like he did. And then he got the woman of his dreams. Okay. Yes, that is all true. This is all the correct. But, and I'm kidding. And I do think maybe I'm wrong.

But I want to be honest. It's such a good feeling. Didn't know that you're right. I want to be honest. I think if a girl did that, did that exact thing. He did. Yeah. Went to Chris Martin's show.

Mm-hmm. Wanted to give him a thing, didn't get to, went on her podcast and was like, ugh, like, I didn't get to give him my phone number. I'm sad about that. I don't think people would think it was as cute as what happened. Again, you're trying to frame it as female mouth. I'm not trying to say it's sexist, but I'm really trying, like, I'm being honest. Well, you said if a girl did that. Yeah.

Yeah. So you are framing it as if there's a double standard between men and women. But I'm not trying to make it. I'm just being honest about the fact that I think I even would be like, that's not cute. If he had gone to a Shania Twain concert, hoping to bump into her and give her a number, that's not what it was. You're really ignoring the fact that it was a huge NFL player that was a Swifty. That was such a, that's such a unique thing. That's what's happening there.

It's not that he's male or female. It's that here's the last guy you expect to be a Swifty is a Swifty. Well, then, okay, so then that's, so if you're reversing it. That'd be like you're going to find some grungy punk rock dude and you come and bring him flowers or something, you know, that's. That's just not my tie. Right. But that's why that's not a story. But it's not because you're a woman.

It's because it's not this crazy first time you've ever heard. Yeah, was he a Swifty or was he just wanting to date her? I think he's a Swifty. Well, now he knows to make the bracelet. Now he's a Swifty. I bet he's a lot of, Andrew Schultz is a huge Swifty. I know. So then if a lot of people are Swifties, then why would it be?

Mostly women are Swifties. I've been to a show. It's 90 plus percent female. Yeah, I guess. That might be an exaggeration. It's very few. email. Okay. Well, whatever. I guess this is getting twisted. So if you were like, if there was like some punk band that only dudes liked, Megadeth. Ew. See? I don't even know what that is, but I'm never

going to date a death guy. Pro death? Not even pro. Mega. We're trying to make this apples to apples. So you would have to have entered into the most masculine scene. And people would go like, oh my God, this cute little girl likes these headbangers. Oh my God. That guy kind of looks like. you on the right. Oh boy. That's not flattering. No, different hair. What do you mean? He's not unattractive. That's a story. That's my point. Is you showing up at that show is you showing up at a Slayer show and you're in love with the drummer is hilarious. This is them now. So they're maybe a little older for you. You know, yeah, you got to find the equivalent of Megadeth or Metallica of this era. And people go like, oh, that super cute liberal little podcast host loved that crazy maniac rocker.

That's a story. But I'm going to push back on that like it's not, it's not crazy for any man to like Taylor Swift. She's a, she's a very cute, blonde pretty girl with a, with a talent. I think it's crazy, and the reaction would substantiate that, that one of the most gruesome NFL players was a Swifty. That is, that's why it was so contagious. Well, a Swifty versus wanted to go on a date with her. Yeah, I'm saying Swifty. Yeah.

When I heard it, it's like, this guy knows about the bracelets, he made her a bracelet. He's a Swifty. Okay. You're saying it so, like, you know, 100% and we don't. Because he went there. He said he went there. Because he was a Swiftie. He's in love with her. He wanted to give her a number. He wanted, yeah. He wanted to give her. You're saying he just wanted to fuck her.

No, I'm not saying that. I'm not saying that at all. I'm saying he liked her. Like he was like, I want to date that girl. That girl seems awesome. She's pretty. She's talented. She's cool. I want to date her. Like I think a lot of men think about Taylor. I will say, and I don't know about the Megadeth community. But my guess is, um. Great backstory. Dave Mustang was in Metallica and left. He got kicked out of the band and then started that band, which became their big rival. Oh. Right, Rob? Is that story? Yeah. He's in a doc talking about how it haunted him, even though he sold 15 million records still. Oh, wow. Still thought about getting kicked out of Metallica.

Yeah. Well, I'm sure a lot of women want to date and marry them. Marrying Megadeth, I'm going to just say as a whole. is a real choice. Yeah, you don't want to. Well, I don't know. I've never met them, so maybe I'd love them. They're also way older.

Okay, I don't care. Again, I'm saying the equivalent of Megadown. I know, but I'm just saying, I think that's like a real choice. And I think dating Taylor is like dating Bradley or like Timmy or like someone. one huge in the popular zeit guys, not niche. Okay. They're enormous. They sold $50 million.

Okay, great. I'm proud of them. Metallica is not niche at all. No, I know, Mattelika. Yeah, yeah. But no, but it's still niche to date. What I think, we have a different opinion. I think what was charming about the entire Travis Taylor's story is that this big NFL player

was a sweetie was a sweetie. Yeah, he's a sweet boy. And I think an equally big story would be that this sweetie, liberal little girl is into this crazy off the chain band. That's the story that I'm saying. People would also find that charming. And the members would be the guys, the women that came to shows, I've been to these shows. The ones that came that were attracted to Megadeth, they looked like they were in Megadeth.

Yeah, exactly. You don't. If you shut up in the row with flowers, that's a story. Yeah, but I just don't like that music very much. They'd be so charmed by how unexpected this obsession is of yours. Right. I guess you're right. There's an element of unexpected.

I'm just the problem is I'm not unexpected. Yes, you are in areas that you don't have any interest in. What do you mean? You don't like Metallica. That's what I'm saying. That's expected. I'm saying I'm not, I'm saying the problem is I'm not unexpected. The things I like are expected.

Right. So this is the problem, is my point. Yeah. You'd have to. So I'm not going to be able to go to Megadette. You're going to give flowers to the same guy. Every girl likes already. Should I say it that it's Josh O'Connor?

You can't say it. I don't know why we're holding back. But he is dating someone. He's not always going to be dating someone. Maybe he is. And I wish them well if that's true. Josh O'Connor is extremely attractive. And I find him very cute and endearing and fashion.

Yeah. And he is exactly expected for who I would like. That's right. So it's not going to come. is a shock. But I guess I'm calling it in. But I'm not because that's actually rude because he's dating someone. Like if you tried to date Ben Shapiro. Dax. I'm saying if you tried to date Ben Shapiro. You're putting me in a tough sit. He would absolutely notice that happen. He'd be like, you're kidding me. She wrote me a letter and likes me. If another right wing,

it wouldn't break through the clutter. Yeah, that's fine. I'm not, I can't go against me. my values. I don't think Travis went against his values. And I don't think, me, it wouldn't be going against my values for Megadeth either, because I don't know, well, unless, again, I'm not really pro-death, so maybe it is against my values. But I think about it a lot. And so do they. So that's a good match made in heaven. They're just more mega of what you already are. That wouldn't be a good match. I need someone to temper. the death talk, you know. That's true.

That's true. Should we do some facts? Sure. You should date the singer of ghost. That's, that's some equivalent. Or if Monica hit on one of the, I was going to say guar. Gwar was on there.

Like if Monica tried to date one of the Gwar guys. I think they're older. Show a picture of Gwar. I know they're too old, but that guy doesn't look terribly young either. This is creeps, Rob. Where do you see Gwar? Yeah. I got to get a good one.

Truly, you'd say. stop the whole show. If you got up on stage during Guar and presented one of them with like an axe, like a custom engraved axe. Oh my God. I'm going to have nightmares about that. People, that would make national news. Oh my God. I take that down. That is truly scary. They like shoot blood on their guitars. Ew, that's on his penis. Oh, yeah, they have like, here, wait, I got one more. He has spikes on The whole band. That one's a little intense. This guy, his penis is out.

Oh, he's got several penises. He's got several. I mean, it's not as real penis. No, they're prosthetics. They shoot like blood. Yeah, and he's got two of them. You guys. Oh, there's the whole gang.

This is so unfair. I have to date Guar. No, that's not what I'm saying. I'm not saying you have to date Guar. I'm saying if you want it to be the same story. But it's so unfair. It's got to be that crazy where people go like, I can't believe Monica likes Guar. I don't think it's going to work out with me and Guar.

Oh, let's put it another way. Now, he's turned a corner. But there was a period where Marilyn Manson could have been the thing. Because he, right after Bowling Collinbine, and all we really knew was like, wow, this guy's way fucking smarter and more thoughtful than we knew. And you were super into it. And you came to this little good girl from a podcast and you approached him. Good girl. It would, it would, it would, it would, it would catch his attention.

I am not interested in people who like to scare other people, okay? Yeah, so it's not going to happen. Anyway, um, gore call me. I guess. Hit me on a Instagram, Guar. Okay, so he has nasal polyps, unfortunately. Jason? Yeah.

That sounds rough. Nasal polyps are soft, painless, non-cancerous growth that develop in the lining of the nose or sinuses. They are often associated with chronic inflammation and can cause nasal congestion, a runny nose, and impaired sense of smell. Do you think I have nasal polyps? I thought I had allergies, but maybe I have some. I doubt I have polyps because I get the screen all the time, the butt exam, colonoscopy, and they've never found a polyp. So I don't think I'm palp-prone. Are they looking in your nose?

No, but I'm thinking if you're a palopi person, you're a palopi person. I don't want to make that connection. Everyone get a colonoscopy. Wow, though. Those are all my symptoms. No, you can smell things. I don't know. Remember I smelled your shirt the other day?

I couldn't smell anything. No, you walked in and you were like, something smells funny that no one else smelled and then I assumed it was my vintage shirt. Maybe I was smelling my polyps. Maybe they smell musty. Well, that's possible. Well, anyone can get them there more common in adults, particularly those with conditions like asthma or allergies.

Treatment options range from medications to surgery depending on the size and severity of the polyps. So he needs surgery, but he doesn't want to get it. Scary. Very scary. And when you're, that's your career. I know. Getting in there and messing around, bunkying around. Although, you know what's funny, speaking of surgeries and people getting plastic surgery.

Yeah. You know, it is like, people are really willy-nilly. with their face, and their face is what got them there in the first place. It's the moneymaker. Yeah, it's tricky. I think facelifts have evolved. I think they, too, have, like, gone through the same radical progress all medicine has. I think they're different than in the 70s when Burr Reynolds was getting them, you know.

Yeah. More people are getting them, that's for sure. I think that they're different now, too. I think there's, like, different versions that you can get that aren't just, like, you know, the Bert Reynolds kind. I don't know. I think it's still like, it's still an intense surgery, I think. But yeah, like, you've got to be careful.

Yeah. I keep hearing they're very common. Are you hearing this too? A lot of people apparently. Yes, apparently. Have you had one? No. Okay.

No. But then. I would love one, but when could I do it? When would I be able to recover? We're on camera every day of the year. Yeah. I don't think you should. should get it.

I know. I'm not good looking to know. Like, that's not my brand. You know, if I was like a pretty boy or gorgeous, I'd have to. That's my thing. And I'm just kind of like, someone wrote a comment. Oh, because I talked to camera to explain why the episode wasn't up. And a guy wrote, your face looks like a scrotum.

Okay, but Dax, that's also because. Is that accurate? No, it's not. But I did watch the video and I was like, why is he holding it like that? You thought it looked like a scrotum too. I did not think that, but I did think he is putting zero effort into, like, making himself look how he actually looks. Like, it was, like, held it kind of a weird angle.

Yeah, you know why. And then you're, like, rubbing your eyes. Yeah, you know why? Why? Because, like, I was on the couch, and I'm like, I got to address this. It's so frustrating that people think we just didn't put an episode out. Right. And then I'm in my house and my kids are running around.

And, like, I'm not trying to show too much of my. internal personal space so I'm like trying to find an angle where you know kids are running by yeah you know and I so I think it was a it was a function over fashion I understand decision I understand but the problem's been fixing it's down now anyway the episode oh it's you took the yeah it no longer was relevant oh wow well then no one can see what we're talking about you were a little disappointed with the angle well I was like he's really gotten reckless I wish he could have talked to me about this before he did it and then all So, like, we could have held the camera a little different or something.

Anyway, because people find everything. Like, what's funny is so many. I kept seeing in the comments, like, yeah, shut the door, the AC's on. And then I immediately get defensive. And I'm like, the door was open. They think that we had the door open, the AC was on. No, they're talking about a little piece of paper that says on the door, shut the door, the AC's on that they're reading backwards.

That's not lit. Oh, wow. I had to dig in this video to see what the hell they were talking about. Oh, wow. And that's what it was. Like, I had to hold it. We're just, you know, you can't see anything. But you should have just come in here and done it.

This space is already exposed. Okay. So just like check, you know. Just like maybe check in with me. I have a lot of. You have a lot of thoughts about it. I have a lot of experience in, you are. Okay.

Broken Bow Records. We said he joined in 203, 2003. 203. Two thousand five. Two thousand five. According to the internet. Okay. Did Wayland Jennings have a history of cheating?

Yes, he had a reputation for infidelity during his marriage to Jesse Coulter. While they were a couple known for their strong partnership in love, both in life and music, Jennings also struggled with substance abuse and infidelity, which was openly discussed in Jesse Coulter's autobiography. Ooh, I should read that. Yeah, you should. Um, okay. the Vegas shooting, I was really grateful that he talked about it. Me too. Because that's a really vulnerable, hard thing to talk about.

Yeah. And I was happy that he did, impressed that he did. Yeah. It was in 2017. It was really bad. Deadliest mass shooting by a lone gunman in American history. Oh, horrendous. Horrendous.

And I can't imagine being. at this show, yeah. Being the person that has all these people here. You know, if that happened at our alive event, the guilt I have over. Oh, my God. But then we talked about him doing SNL, and then he was saying that he wrote his own, like he was like, I'm not having anyone write anything for me for that. So he wrote with his people, I guess.

And he said this, I'm Jason Aldean. This week we witnessed one of the worst tragedies in American history. history. Like everyone, I'm struggling to understand what happened that night, how to pick up the pieces and start to heal. So many people are hurting. There are children, parents, brothers, sisters, friends, and they are all part of our family. So I want to say to them, we hurt for you and we hurt with you. You can be sure that we're going to walk through these tough times together every step of the way because when America is at its best, our bond and our spirit are unbreakable. And then he played Tom Petty's, I won't back down because he had just passed away.

Yeah. A lot happened. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, oh, and it was Gal Godot. Was the host. Okay, well, that's it. That's it. All right.

Love you. Love you. Follow Armchair Expert on the Wondry app, Amazon Music, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to every episode of Armchair Expert early and ad free right now by joining Wondry Plus in the Wondry app or on Apple Podcasts. Before you go, tell us about yourself by completing a short survey at Wondry.com slash survey.