Artist Friendly with Joel Madden - Mitchell Tenpenny

Episode Date: October 15, 2025

On this week's episode of Artist Friendly, Joel Madden is joined by Mitchell Tenpenny. Across five albums, Tenpenny has established himself as a platinum-winning presence within country pop while making unexpected peers out of Underoath, State Champs, and Bilmuri. Before leaving for tour, the Nashville-bred singer stopped by the Artist Friendly studio. Sitting down with Joel, Tenpenny opens up about family roots, growing up in Nashville, life on the road with his brother, and balancing marriage with a fellow touring artist. From fatherhood and faith to sports cards, collectibles, and Pokémon, the conversation reveals a new side of Tenpenny — equal parts songwriter, performer, and fan. ------- Listen to their Artist Friendly conversation on ⁠⁠⁠Spotify.⁠⁠ ------- Follow Artist Friendly! IG: @artist.friendly TikTok: @artist.friendly YouTube: youtube.com/@artist.friendly ------- Host: Joel Madden, @joelmadden Executive Producers: Joel Madden, Benji Madden, Jillian King Producers: Josh Madden, Joey Simmrin, Janice Leary Visual Producer/Editor: Ryan Schaefer Audio Producer/Composer: Nick Gray Music/Theme Composer: Nick Gray Cover Art/Design: Ryan Schaefer Additional Contributors: Anna Zanes, Neville Hardman Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's funny you say that about your dad. You know, hey, dad, I'm right into you. Like, I had a great relationship with my father. He passed about 10 years ago. Oh, I'm sorry. But that song even made me want to think about the deeper elements of my relationship with him. Like when we would test, you know, there's a part where you're like, can I fight you? Can I beat you?

Can I, what point do I do that? And like, where do I break away from you? 100%. And be my own person. I grew up in Brentwood area. Oh, cool. So my mom's still out there. Yeah, we just opened an office there about six months ago.

He moved out there like about two years ago. We opened an office out there. But we love Nashville. I kind of wish I lived in Nashville. Well, come on. I probably will actually. At some point, yeah, come on. When my kids graduate, we got about three years left.

Okay, right on. There's plenty of room, man. Yeah. We love it. Yeah, we moved kind of in the outskirts. I was always kind of in the middle of it, but I moved about 30 minutes out, got to the woods. I love it out there, man.

It's just beautiful. countryside. That's cool. So you grew up there, grew up in Nashville. Yeah. So you would have been around music a lot. I mean, all the time. My grandmother was in music. She was a big publisher at Sony. Oh, cool. And so I was around songwriters my whole life and just fell in love with the songwriting community. And then, yeah, it was just in bands and worked my way around that. But it but yeah, it's being centrally located the whole time when I got a little bit older, I was like, and I got married. I was like, I'm going to get a little bit outside back in that country which is a little bit quieter. Yeah. I love it out there now, man.

Yeah, that's the dream, right? Is to be out there and have some space and be in nature. Absolutely. That's why we moved out. We lived in the city for a long time. We moved out to like Ventura County. Sure. Which is more, it's not as much space as that, but there's a lot of space.

There's a lot of nature. There's like, if you want to ride dirt bikes, you could go ride dirt bikes and it's not like a heavy lift to get somewhere where you're like, I want to ride a dirt bike or I want to go like whatever so then the beach is still only you know 20 minutes away so see that's the thing we don't have it's amazing i wish we had that california like oh what you know climates and every little thing you want to do yeah the only thing i will say about the water here is where because i'm from maryland yeah so maryland we have water everywhere yeah so everywhere you go there's a river there's a creek there's a lake there's a yeah it is beautiful and the fishing that we did in maryland was

different because you're on rivers and lakes. Yeah, what do you fish in for? So there's bass fishing and then in the bay there's rock fish. That's different than California, which is more like if you want to fish. There are like lakes and stuff, but it's not, I don't know, it doesn't feel the same, you know, almost feels like they're manmade. I always feel, I swear every lake in California feels like it's manmade. It has to be. Some of them probably are. So I can't explain it, but it doesn't like your soul doesn't get. I know exactly what you're saying. The calm.

You know, when you're on a real river that's been there hundreds of years, thousand years or whatever. Absolutely. It's different. And then deep sea fishing is really cool. Yeah. But it's like a thing. Like it's,

you can't just go. No, it's an all day thing. You got to, it's a whole thing. Certain boat you need, certain and everything. So the fishing part of life when you leave Maryland goes away.

Yeah. You know, in California. People fish in California for sure. Sure. But it's like they grew up here. it's like a different fishing language or something. Yeah, that totally makes sense.

Yeah. I love fishing being outdoors, anything I can do. Yeah. That's like mentally, that's how I try to reset when I'm home. That's cool. Yeah. Nice to meet you. Yeah, you too, man.

Thank you. Big, big fan too, brother. Oh, absolutely. I love it, man. That's really nice. You literally got me into music and still an emo kid at hard. Really? Yeah, those early records, the first two for you all were like everything for me, man, truly.

Thank you, man. That means a lot to me. That's a nice surprise. No, man, I mean, every single song I could go to sing every word to him. Really? My uncle used to live in New York and he would, he used to sing for the opera and so in the offseason, he would babysit my brother. My brother plays bass in my band. He's younger and he sings harmonies too.

So we've kind of got that thing and plays. But we would take, he would take us to shows all the time. My parents were working and that record, I swear, for five years. I mean, young and the hopeless, like was just, it was everything to us. Thank you, man. I mean, every single thing, man. So thank you. Thank you.

That means a lot to me. You know how it is? You put your whole life into something. Yeah. And I'm probably a lot of order than you, but it'll be 30 years next year that we've been a band. Yeah. Congrats on that.

Thank you. That's amazing. Yeah, that's like being married, man. Yeah. Same guys. That's incredible. Yeah, we've been through a lot together. It doesn't happen.

It doesn't. That's very rare. Yeah. Well, it takes, I think, a special group of guys because we've been together since high school basically yeah really yeah we all love each other same that's that's important and and i know the brother aspect man i mean having my brother on the road with me nothing better saying yeah i mean it's uh it it truly helps yeah to see the world with your brother because of music is a special thing but you pour your whole life and your whole youth and your whole all that into music and sometimes

you wonder if anybody i mean the songs that were successful were cool it's cool like that's that's one thing but it's not early about that yeah it's almost like you wonder if people like get it or if they feel it or if does it matter and when you bring that up it's like it makes me feel good about what we did yeah i mean congrats on the hits but we were singing every deep cut too yeah yeah yeah we always like the deep cuts very i mean your voice and anyway yeah i could go all day about it but dude big fan and love love what you do and what you've done and accomplished it's definitely inspired my brother and i let's talk about what you've accomplished how much man i got to be here. Actually, here's what I like to do. I've started doing it more because I feel like it's

important to do. One, because most of the time I find artists, songwriters, they don't bring their resume in the room with them. Ninety-nine percent of them don't. But let's talk about it, because I think it's important to also hear what you've done altogether. You have over 1.2 billion streams and counting probably more now than when I got this. You have multiple, multiple platinum and gold certifications. Junked me is three times platinum. Truth about you is platinum. We got history is gold. Anything she says is gold. Alcohol you later. Gold. At the end of a bar, gold. Telling all my secrets. Gold. Been nominated for ACM, CMA, CMTs. Entry. Uh-huh.

Country music, man. To look at your accomplishments and to hold them is a thing. Because I think sometimes we'll dismiss them. Sure. Like we got lucky or... Yeah. And some luck. Sure.

So it's like, you know, God, luck, blessings. But I tend to think that the harder we work, the luckier we get. I 100% agree with that. You make your own luck. Yeah. Right. I mean, my granddad always said he was a, he was a, preacher and that's what he said i don't truly believe in luck but i believe you make your own that's

going to be out here and i've always that's always in the back of my head and it goes down to yeah the hardy work the lucky you are i mean but also there's some luck there's some circumstance yeah stars have to line up so much man i mean that's a that's a thing to me it's like i look at you and i go okay now i you within five minutes i got a little bit of uh context to like your grandma was a publisher. Yeah. And your granddad was a preacher. Okay. So it's interesting. Yeah. You ended up being a songwriter who goes on stage, sort of like a preacher. I mean, yeah, I guess. I'm hoping I'm not preaching all the time. But yeah, I guess the presence of one to be out in front of people and tell something that you believe in. Yeah, I never really put those two together. That's

kind of interesting. Right. So like what if we, but I think about this too because I grew up in, in Maryland with my parents, but my dad was a butcher and my mom was a homemaker with, you know, side jobs and things like that. We went to church three times a week. Religiously, we were just like Sunday, Sunday night, Wednesday. We did Wednesday as a Sunday night. Yeah. So, um, that's funny. Until I could, until I got the choice to, to, until I was like 17 and I was like, nope, I'm out. That's kind of how it works, man. Trying to play music then. Yeah, I want to play music. and at the time I was, you know, my family had fallen apart. So I think part of the lessons I was taught by the people, by my parents,

I started, you know, I had a moment of doubt. That being said, I think I came full circle in my adult life and realized like what they were up against and it was had nothing to do with religion. It had nothing to do with church. So anyways, I've come full circle on that. But your youth is your youth and you go and you try to find out. It's real. The hard way.

You have to. Yeah. You got to. That's, that's, it's, it's interesting how that works. You run away, but then you come home. I feel like, I mean, that's me. I mean, the story is saying, you know, you grow up in this thing, and then you're like, man, I got to experience this on my own, figure it out.

And then you come back, like you said, you realize what they were up against because when you get a little, a little bit of a perspective on that, and, you know, you just can't. You're so young. Everything's moving so fast. You just don't really have time to understand those things. And I'm enjoying the little pockets where, like, things click at this point of where it's like, oh my gosh, I get why that happened.

I get why they did that. I understand what they were saying here. It's almost like, you know, these little light bulb moments when you're like, you love them more. It's like, oh, my God, wow, that's what you were doing there. I never would have seen it until now. Yeah, it only took me a lifetime of experience. Yeah. To see exactly what you told me.

Exactly. Yeah, I'm sorry for that, but, you know, it is what it is. But it is kind of, I think, for people listening to remind us all what we're doing. Yeah. We're learning. We're experience. Someone can tell you something. And if you don't get it, you might have to go the long way.

And you come all the way right back around and you go, oh, I get it. Yeah. Story my life. You know? Yeah. And some of us take the long way to get to exactly what our grandparents told us or our parents told us or the lessons that life has for us. They sum it up really simply.

A lot of times when you're young, you're like, what are you talking about? Sure. Don't believe anything you hear and half of what you see. I remember my granddad you said that and I'd be like, what are you talking about? Yeah. Right? And then you come all the way around at 46 years old and you go, yeah, don't believe anything you hear in half of what you see. So I'm Anna Mena.

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of who don't continue but who are 100%. I mean it's my dad every time I left the house be aware of your surroundings and I'm like

all right whatever now it's amazing thing it's like keep your head on a swivel you know just pay attention to what's going on but like you said don't believe everything it's a weird

like have your own concept of what's going on your own reality I mean we're learning in real time you know that's the thing and I do think the long way has a lot of benefits to it as well. Yeah.

There's a lot of hardship in that, but I think it all, that's how you get the good perspective on thing, like a good grasp on it, is you kind of got to figure it out yourself. Anybody can give advice and, and I'm one to not take my own, but it's funny how that works.

Like you give advice because you know, you know where you want to end up, but you aren't there yet either. Like here's the advice I can give, but I haven't taken yet because I still got to take the long way to get to where I know that advice makes, And it's kind of a weird concept.

Yeah. Yeah. Would you say you're a songwriter first or an artist first? I'm always going to be a songwriter first. I love writing songs. That's from my heart's been from the beginning. I love playing music. I was always in bands.

I was in rock bands. I used to play drums. Be a scraver. You know, I loved being in bands. It was never my name that was part of my dream. But in Nashville, you go with what's offered. Yeah, yeah. And I would be playing my songs.

I was writing for other artists or everything else. And people would come up afterwards and be like, you need to do that. That sounds like you. Yeah, yeah, you do have that voice. After you hear that, well, thank you, man. I don't know what I'm doing. But I just love playing music and writing songs.

And whatever way I could get it out to the world is kind of what happened. And there's so many different things that led to doing this version of it. And don't get me wrong, I love it. But like you said, my band's all my high school buddies, college roommates and my brother. Like, we've been together since the beginning. and I love that camaraderie. Like there's a part of me that like, you know,

I know it's my name, but we're a band. Like it was not even my real choice to do that. Like it was more of a here we go. This is what's offered. If I want to make music for a living and do this, you got to go. And so that's what we did. I remember, you know,

when Sony wanted to sign us and I went to guitar center and bought a bass. And I went to my brother. I was like, dude, I don't know what I just said yes to, but I needed you do it with me. Will you play bass and be out there with me? He goes, all right. And we've been doing it forever.

ever been like and I think um that naivity niue is that a word naivete naivete yeah I think that's important man it's French it's French yes I'm very very good in French yeah yeah yeah I think that's important staying naive and yeah and that's the only way this it's ever worked for me is when I'm naive when you start thinking you got a whole of the business or a grasp or how to do it it's like nothing it's it falls flat you got to stay young dumb and uh and figure that out and so I'm feeling like I'm coming back around to that and feeling good about that, especially on writing new music, not worrying about anything else, doing again what got people interested in the first place, which was you not knowing better.

So it's kind of coming full circle around for that for me, I feel like. So growing up in Nashville, which sounds like to you, it's just where you grew up. To me, it sounds really cool. And also, where I grew up, country music is really big. But I kind of rejected where I was from for a long time. Sure. So for so long, I was just like, I want to listen to punk music and I want to be in a band that's like, we wear all black and we do this. And, you know, we were pissed off and pissed at my dad and all this. And listen, in those songs, there's a lot of depth and there's a lot of pain and there's a lot of struggle and there's a lot of real pain. Right. Because growing up is hard. And every guy's relationship with their dad is a complicated thing, even when it's good, I think. Oh, yeah. Because the journey of kind of becoming your own person is like just sharing as like a man.

Yeah. Right. And like how do I grow up to be my own man? Absolutely. And then if you throw in the complications of like addiction and dissolution of the family and those things, you go to our songs and you hear all that experience. But it's wrapped up in this style of music that we were drawn to away from like what I think we came from.

Right. Yeah. That makes sense. In some ways we denied our roots. things like that because we were young and we were just like we want to get out of this place and this house and these experiences the last 16 17 years was was mostly like pain and suffering and God bless my parents again as a parent now 46 year old guy with teenagers I don't know what the fuck I'm doing different world right yeah I don't know what the fuck I'm doing it's crazy right

actually had this conversation with my daughter last night I was like we were talking it was so nice actually just to like talk she was upset about something and I was like listen it just want to preface, we've never done this before. You've never been this age, we've never had, we've never, like, you know, so you don't have to, but understand that, like, I'm not that different. I'm you grown up trying to figure this out. So that's an incredible conversation I have with your, with your kids, man. I mean, that's, that's awesome. Yeah, like, we don't know the absolutes, right? Yeah, I don't. That honesty is amazing. I think that's important. It's funny you say that about your dad. Um, you know, hey, dad,

right into you. Like, I had a great relationship with my father. He passed about 10 years ago. I'm sorry. But that song even made me want to think about the deeper elements of my relationship with him. Like when we would test, you know, there's a part where you're like, can I fight you? Can I beat you? Can I, what point do I do that? And like, where do I break away from you? 100%. And it's my own person. Yeah, man. And it's so interesting. You said it that way because it's so true. And I commend you on that, having those conversations with your daughter like that. I think that's extremely important because all my friends that have kids that are growing older and now hopefully, you know, good Lord willing one day have my own. I would love that. But

that honesty of saying, I don't, this is the first time we're doing this, we're doing this together. Yeah, yeah, exactly. It's like it's real with you. Like, I think that's an incredible thing, man. Yeah. And so I was like, you're frustrated because we're trying to navigate this, this thing. And that's fair. But also, I'm just. Just worried. I'm terrified. Right? I'm like something.

If you got hurt or if you got, I'm just like, I just want you to be cool, to be good. So if my anxiety seeps in here and gets into the, you know, just understand like I'm anxious because I want to do a good job. I'm not anxious because I think you're a bad person or you're up to no good. I just am anxious because I want to keep you safe. I just want to know where you're at. I just want to know.

It's like, you know, she's fucking almost 18. So she understands. fucking adult, you know what I mean? Yeah, that's great. And so I'm just trying to like let go. Yeah. But at the same time, I'm just worried. I don't, I trust her.

She's fucking a great person. Yeah. And she's smart and she's going to do what she wants to do. Like she should. So I'm just going to be like here trying to like, ooh, watch the movie going, oh my God. Like, you know, ever since they're little, you'd be feeling that way. You're like, don't fall down or don't, but you have to let them, right?

So that's the conversation I was able to have because. my parents didn't get to have that conversation with me. I didn't have those kind of conversation with me. My mom's still alive. I love her. I mean, incredible mother. And my dad,

right before the end, we started to get there because I was getting, you know, at the age, like, you know, 18, 19,

20. You could recognize. And where you could have those conversations, but I think I didn't, I didn't have that. I think that's so cool. I mean, I think that's so important that you,

you're able to do that with your daughter. And I hope to be that with my kids one day, hopefully. I don't. I have nieces and nephews that I live vicariously through my sister's and you're watching and learn. But my wife's a country artist as well. She tours and travels and we're just always gone all the time. And so are you guys apart a lot because of it? Wow. And I mean, we would make it work. I know there's never a perfect timing but yeah that's work. Yeah, but it's just, you know, we would love to do that. But I do see and I love to parents my niece and nephews in my own way, being an uncle. And it's, it's fun to talk to them. Let them talk to them.

You know, things that I've learned. I really enjoy that. How old are you? I'm 36. Good question. I had to figure that out. So I'm 10 years older than you. You're in good. Okay. So you're in really good shape. You just got to like keep going down the road. Yeah. I mean, I actually think that you're at a good, like you'll have kids probably in the next 10 years. Yeah, that would be, that would be great. That's probably what will happen. Yeah. And you'll have tons of experience also because you're another thing that we get by touring as we get to travel around the country.

Yeah. We get to see all these different perspectives. Man, that has been the greatest saying touring. Like, again, when I was a kid living in Nashville, we would go to vacation to Florida and back. Maybe cross over to Kentucky and back home. And so my brother and I get to travel to the world. And growing up, we went to Christian schools

because we were in the church. And so we had a perspective in one perspective. and to get out of life and to meet other people. And it's been such an incredible thing for me personally. And I know my brother as well. To have a different, I'll be able to approach conversations way differently than my family. Not talking anything bad. My family is amazing.

Yeah, no. It's like. Just to have a worldly view that, you know, we didn't have. We didn't travel. Like, we just didn't. That's a really good point. A worldly view isn't a scary thing. It means I've been around the world and I've seen some different perspectives.

And so now I can actually have empathy. Absolutely. And a better, in a better viewpoint on what you believe. What I believe and what I'm trying to say. It's so ignorant when you don't have that ability to learn from everybody else. I can really hone in on what I actually believe, what kind of values and things I want to teach or at least present to you and see what that works. But also in a way you can actually receive it. If I don't, if I haven't been to your country, if I haven't engaged in like a real life scenario where I'm in, your culture and your customs and your country and you're speaking your language,

then I don't have any perspective and experience. And like what I've actually, you know, talked about this with my mom who's very religious. Actually, the Christian faith still applies. Yeah. It's okay. If you want to talk to a person who's from a completely different place, from a completely different walk, different perspective,

would it not serve the conversation for you to have a real sense of the place or the person so that you can communicate with one another with some empathy. Just makes sense. And also maybe enjoy it. Absolutely. You know, which I think is like taking the conversation from the digital space,

which is where most conversations happen now. It all happen on social media and in digital spaces. We're not real people there. We're like... Man, we can do a whole day on that. I think it's just changed their dynamic of how people communicate and empathy. Like you were saying, it's like, If I'm sitting in front of you, I'm going to be way more willing to understand your perspective than if I'm typing thousand miles away from you.

And I can see you. And I can see if you have an affliction. I can see if you have, I can see what kind of state of mind you're in. I can see if you're stressed. I can see if you're friendly. I can see if you're, it actually matters. It does, man. And it does scare me. I mean, you got, you said, 18 year old. And that is one thing I think about. It's like what kind of world. I want my kids to talk to people, to see people. to understand people's immediate reaction to something they say, not wondering about how they're gonna text back looking at bubbles. Like I think you talk different, you act different, you learn differently with that. Human connection is important, man. And I- It's number one for me.

It's why I have the show. Yeah, well, amen, brother. Because I refuse to be beholden to any group of people that tell me how to be me. Yeah. And I have this conversation with my mom. She gets it. it like we have great conversations about this took us time took us two decades but it's great because

she sees me right so all i need for you to do is see me because my one of my values is i love people yes and so i want to meet them where they're at if i'm in their country or their city or their state or their you know and so if i'm not guest right i'm going to respect their beliefs their views i'm going to try to fit in right i'm with you on that and i'm going to try to try to just be a good guest. Yes. And if they ask me what I think, I'll tell them.

If they ask me how I feel, I'll tell them. But with respect. And there's like something like that where we're at someone's house. That's how I kind of look at like, if I'm at a venue, I'm in their house.

If I'm at someone's actual house, if I'm at someone's thing, I try to be a good guest. Yes. It doesn't mean I'm going to agree with them. Yeah. And I'm very careful online. You could look through all my stuff

and see, like, I don't really do religion or politics online. But if you see me in a coffee shop or we're having, if we're hanging out going fishing or something and you start talking about something, I'm going to tell you what I think. Yeah, me too.

Yeah. And that's where I actually think we can like learn from one another or just see each other. We can also agree to disagree and there's a healthy way to do that. But the world we live in and we go there and we get sucked into these big kind of. And most of the time it's like it's half of its bots. The other half of it's like engagement. farmers, the other half of it is, and there's like very few real people that are trying to do like the Lord's work there. And so I think it's interesting because I found the older I get,

the more confident I get in that. I used to be a little less confident in it. And the stronger and stronger I feel in like, no, this is what I do. And some people fuck with it. Some people aren't satisfied with it because they want you to. But I think that like as songwriters and musicians, we go on stage, our number one purpose is healing. Oh yeah, dude. It's like singing to people's pain. Yeah, I want to make, I want to give you a just a little bit of getting out of the reality, the real world, and come here and I want you to enjoy yourself. So I want you to forget about everything else so that you can, you know, maybe make a friend to your left. Maybe you are your best friend right there and you get even closer, whatever it is. Like, it's my job to make sure that while

I'm on stage at Charra having a moment. And because I've had those watching bands, you know, that's what always I loved about it, man, the community that comes with that and what you leave. When you leave a show and you're just fired up, you know, and you're just like the inspiration, you're like there with a friend or something. You're like, oh my gosh, man, it's just, I love that.

And like, I don't take that for granted that we have that, that blessing to be able to do that on a night-to-night basis. And so I am thinking the same way up there. And everything you just said, man, I couldn't agree with more. when I'm a guest at a house, where I'm doing like, I want to, I want to be, I want to be that. I want to, I want people to feel like I'm, I'm listening, I'm open to what you're saying. And it's not about me.

It's not about me. It's not about, it's not, it's not about, it's not, it's not about me. It's not. Like, I want to, I want you to understand that I don't think that way. Like, I want to hear you out. But if you ask, I don't talk religion or politics online either, for a lot of reasons. I'm still learning every day. And also, you know, if we're not sitting here, no one's going to understand what you say in context. So it's not important to me. That's right. But I will talk all day long about if you want to sitting at a bar,

hanging out at a house, watching the football get, whatever it is. I'll do it all day long. But it's when you said that, I'm like, I'm aligned the exact same way. And it's done really well for me because when I walk into a room, generally or when we're out of show and people come up and meet, they don't already have this preconceived notion of what you believe. So they're more open to tell you who they are. That's right.

And then I get an actual real connection instead of a fake connection. And they feel welcome in the space. And that's what the most joy I get is if someone feels welcome and comfortable and safe around me, then I've done my job. That's what I want. Because that's what I want too. That's exactly how I feel. Yeah. That's really nice.

It's nice too when like a stranger sits down next to you. Yeah. You meet somebody and you're like, oh, that was cool. That guy was cool. You know what I mean? It happened the other day. I sat down, there's a little bar down the road from my house and I go there and get lunch a lot. And this lady I had a hat on that about a baseball team.

we're trying to bring to Nashville. And we stuck up at conversation. She was, you know, she was telling me about her son. Which baseball team? We're trying to bring a team called the Stars, Major League Baseball team. It's going to happen. Yeah, it's going to happen. We're just, we're close.

But, I mean, we talked for an hour, and she told me about her son playing baseball. And after I left, I was like, man, that was a really nice, that was a really nice lady. Do you love baseball? I love baseball. I gave my hat. I gave my hat. I said, here, take the hat. Just for the word.

I was like, I was like, I would do it. I would love, I'm born and raised in Nashville, so I had to pick between Atlanta Braves or St. Louis Cardinals. What a terrible choice. Well, I went with the Braves. I loved Tripper Jones back in the day. I like the Braves. Yeah, but I would love to have my own team. I love Acuna. I got so many Acuna rookies, bro. Oh, really? Are you a car

collector? Oh, yeah. Bro, we say, oh, man. Do you collect? A huge. Still to this day? Still to this day? You rip? I rip. Dude, I rip as much I finally found some Pokemon cards here in L.A. last night at Target. Oh. There are none anywhere in Nashville, but sports cards. I can get pretty good sports cards in Nashville, but I saw a big Pokemon guy too.

Okay. You're speaking my language. Yeah, I can't. I can't find them anywhere. I'm of the hobby and I love it. So I don't like to overpay. I like to find them at retail. It's fucked, bro. The prices are so bad, bro. Man, I'm a, I'm a nerd, man. I'm a big, big kid, dude. The hobby is the best hobby. Me and my son have been doing it for 12 years probably. That's awesome. Yeah. What do you all collect mainly? We collect baseball, football, Pokemon, and one.

piece. Okay. You know one piece? No, no. So someone with the other day was just telling me about one piece. So what is that? It's a TCG. Okay. Um, like Pokemon. So it's a trading card game. It's the, you're like the second person I've heard say that in the last. Okay. So the manga anime. Um, one piece is like a manga from Japan of like one of the oldest most like popular. There's like 500 episodes. But my son got into one piece. Yeah. Okay. But he was into Pokemon. And then when, when one piece came out in 22, in 2022, one piece came out. And we were just getting Pokemon cards. And at our card shop in LA, there's a great card shop down the road here.

Please let me know. I want to stop on the way back. There's two card shops. The one you should go to, the one you should go to. Shout about the coolest. Yeah. The coolest is called LA sports cards. It's on Olive.

LA sports cards. Yeah. They're great. They have all the good stuff. All right, sweet. And they're really cool guys. And so like. I love that too.

I love the community. bro like kids come in with 10 bucks and they're like there for an hour trying to decide what to buy and these guys like help them yeah they're like all about the kids and the the hobby my algorithm on ticot is watching sports collector and like kids come up and be like what can i and the guy being very kind and giving them a car that like lights of fire so that they want to be a part of the hobby yeah that always makes me small more than anything like that's that's my algorithm i mean it's more people into the hobby absolutely all your knickknack like i'm a knick neck neck guy like dude like this is this looks like my like i think it calms your brain yes i think your brain is the exact thing i got

your brain because i'm just yes i collect i'm not a hoarder i tell my wife anyway sorry i just that's my no no no no no no now we're like you're this is like i have this is it i have action figures all everything you're showing right now is oh yeah look what my brother just like my brother just got me oh yeah um i'll give it to you Dude, that's killer. This is the Cow Ripkin. Oh my gosh, dude. Starting lineup.

I have this, I have this exact one. Because I'm meeting Cal, uh, I'm meeting Cal next week. You gotta get him to. I'm thinking about, yeah, taking in and have him to sign it. Yeah, man, that'd be killer. Yeah. I'm meeting him next week. I haven't, I opened mine up though back in the day.

That's awesome. Iron Man. That's it. And now are you, so have you gotten into the custom collectibles? No, not yet. Piggy makes? No, I haven't, no. Check that out.

Please show me that. Oh, my God. I know. I mean. It's pretty cool, right? Dude, that's so long. Piggy Banks is like number one in the Dude, this is sick, this show hey.

And it's a custom, right? So they do, this is an old one, but they do cards, custom collectibles, and they drop them every week. And people like, get in the lottery. So anyways, I wish I would have known I would have brought some shit to rip. Oh man, dude, that would have been a lot of fun. Next time.

Yeah, man, please. Yeah, I'm mainly, you know, Pokemon, or Pokemon football, baseball, basketball. I like finding packs ripping and then Pokemon baseball football basketball is expensive yeah I know I mean

I like ripping I do buy cards if I see them every now and then like we'll go to shops what's the latest product that you've ripped that you kind of is there anything lately that you've ripped that you thought was great

dude actually it was really fun I opened up some old movie chucky cards the other day that was some old wax stuff I've been getting more into some of the old wax I got a grip for you from like the 92

I think an old wax fleaer pack that I've, I just, I've opened up. Topps Chrome. Yeah, Topps Chrome. You do Topps Chrome. Some of that, yeah. Have you seen Topps Chrome boxing that just came out? I haven't done that personally, no. It's pretty cool.

Yeah, I would, see, I would love to get into that, but I love the pack of just finding packs out in the wild, taking them home, opening them up and doing that. That's always been my joy. When I was in middle school and high school across the street was a place called Collector's World, and we'd have to walk. I played football, so we'd have to walk from our school down the street to the football field and it was in between that. And so every bit of lunch money I would save up and go to

collectors world and always get a pack and open it on the way down to football. And I mean with that, so I was a kid since then, I just saw. Have you ripped on TikTok yet? I've done a couple, man. Like breaks, do you buy into breaks? So I have, I have bought a couple breaks before. I've done that like two or three times. But generally I just watch them all night long. That's me, doom watching like till 4 a.m. I'll just be watching people. It's a problem. My wife's like, go to bed. You don't understand. They're ripping 60. 60 boxes of Panini 1.

This is a first edition. Fucking crazy. It's a first edition. Charzar. Like he, like we are in search. We are in search together. Pokemon's my favorite.

Okay, that's awesome. But, but, but I, and then, yeah, probably football than baseball.

Do you have any sealed? Old stuff? Packs wise. Yeah. I've got a first edition pack. What? Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. I've got one in the, in the whole box. With the stamp. Yeah. Yeah. I've got one. That's worth a lot of money.

Yeah, I know. I think it's what what is a pack worth like 15 grand 10 grand yeah probably yeah I bet I mean if I'm sold probably 10 to 12 and then I have all the OG I have the whole OG and did you get it graded I've not got a great enough because I've never got I've only sent off a few things now that game stop and stuff is doing it easier yeah it's because I was always a little afraid of the insurance the way it works and getting getting you got to be careful with that one but yeah no I'm starting to get into that too I just love binders I love opening it up when I'm

board and just looking at them and and again like I just surround myself with all this stuff. What's your biggest Pokemon card? Probably a Charzart, no G Charzart. Wow. I don't have a first edition, but I don't either. I've got a bunch of, I've got the entire 151 collection all. That's good. I mean, bind it up and I mean, it's my prize pride and joy, dude. I love it.

Here's how I make sense of it. And then we'll talk about your record. I don't care. I literally don't care, man. At all. One, I've now spent 12 years doing something with my son together. It's like it feels a bit like an operation in a business because we do organize them and we got a system of like how you.

That's the best part is when I get to put them in, organize them. I love that for my brain. Like sitting down. You see the value go up. You track it. And so it's been a great experience for us to do something together. Absolutely. It's probably thousands of hours to be honest of like a decade plus.

That's something he'll never forget. I wouldn't put a price tag on that. Number two, I could straight up be like at a blackjack table. Yeah. Because it's the same rush and it feels like playing roulette or something. It feels like the same. Yeah, that immediate touches on that nerve. Yeah.

Whatever, yeah, whatever part of the brain that's firing off there. I agree with you. So it's not quite. It's a little safer, more. Yeah, it's like I'm not doing drugs. I'm not gambling. I could be spending money on like a bunch of other things. And it's like, it's not the worst obsession.

No, especially when you're attributing it to time with your, with your child. That's it. That's a special thing to have. So what's your excuse? Like I said, like I said, I think it's a, it's a calming thing for me. It's a meditation for me. It's market research. Yeah, yeah, sorry.

I mean, my dogs like me when I do this. That's fun. No, it's definitely for my brain, my brain only. We will rip in Nashville. Yeah, okay deal, man. That'd be awesome. What about the record? Oh, we have a new song coming out called Therapy.

What's that about? It's kind of playing fun at the whole concept of, you broke my heart, I want your heart to be broken too. It's super bitter. I hope you end up in therapy. Yeah, type thing over me, therapy over me. Right. It's a, you know, it's just, it's a wild, just,

I like to do those every now and then. Yeah. They'd have nothing to do in my life because I'm happily married. I write a lot of breakup songs and people like, what happened to you? and I'm like, I don't know. I just like stuff to devulks in emotion. Like, that makes people think about something that happened.

I'm not a hear truck, sea truck kind of guy. Right. It's not always about my life personally. Oh, good songs is a good song. Yeah, I just like writing songs and make people think about something. Yeah, that's fun to sing. Yeah, and it's fun to sing. It's a very, more than anything, the song is just really fun to play and sing.

So that's coming out called Therapy. And then, yeah, I have one at radio right now called Same Moon that I wrote about my wife. And, you know, when we're far apart, cliches it sounds, we can look up at the same moon. I feel like we're closer together. That's nice. I actually thought about that before, too. Yeah, I've wanted to write that for a long time.

And, you know, we were taught. She was like in L.A. I was somewhere else. And I was like, man, maybe just look up at the, look up in the moon. It's like we're there together. And I was like, oh, how lame is that? Here we go. Perfect.

And I wrote it down. It's actually, do you ever see an American tale? Bible Goes West? Yeah. Yes. One of my favorite movies ever. Somewhere out there. Yeah.

That's kind of the, that strikes me. because we have actually said that before, too, when we were apart. That is the whole con. Yeah. I've been married. Well, I say this on probably every episode because I talk about my wife, but I've been with her for like 19 years. Yeah.

So it's a long time. And one of the things that I think keeps us together is being together. Oh, dude. You know what I mean? Absolutely. And the longer we go down the road, the less we like to be apart, actually. Sure. That makes sense.

And so when we're, when we're, when we're, apart, actually like a couple days apart isn't really that bad because you can rip cards and you can do things like that. No, no, we weren't great that way. It's absence makes the hard growth on or whatever. And we have a limit. Yeah, you have a limit and you take advantage of the time you get. I think it makes those

the little time that we get is more, we cram it all in and it becomes something bigger than it would be and we're in entertainment, right? So at the end of the day, we're dealing with like different things than what we come from, right? Like we if you grow up in like a more traditional place,

So also there's that, right? We're trying to build a family and we're entertainers. So we're like, you get called, you got to go. Right. You book a tour. And you don't feel guilty about that. Like that's both understanding each other. That's the way it works.

You make hay when the sun shines. The thing about musicians, though, is once we book a tour, once you put those shows in place, you can't cancel those. We never cancel shows. Yeah. I mean, we probably had to do one or two of my whole career. And it drives me crazy. Yeah, right?

Because like that's the- It kills you, man. You can't do it. But life doesn't care about those shows and your kids, if they're sick or if they're this or that, what's going on. So there is this weird element of like being married and both being entertainers, like what you guys are doing. We're similar, right?

She's in film and TV. And so she's doing that. But it's the same thing. It's like she gets a call. She's got this thing that she wants to do. Yeah. And you want her to do it too. Because when you see that joy.

when they're accomplishing their dreams, God, it makes the marriage so much better. It makes everything around you when you're together better. When both are feeling like they're winning, God, man, it makes it such an amazing thing. So, of course, yeah, I'll miss you from the moment. But the memories we can make when you get back, if you're truly fulfilled, it's so much better. And if you get four or five days off, you go over there. But it's hard. Yeah, no.

And so it's something that's hard to explain unless you're doing it. Yeah, it's hard to explain it unless you're doing it. Her dream becomes your dream. Yes, I totally agree with that. And same. I want everything in the world to happen for her too. Because I feel like I get more joy of when it does for her than maybe she does. Because when you're in it, you know, you don't always celebrate your own stuff.

Isn't that funny? I always feel the same way. I'm like, honey, can you believe this? Look at this. And she's like, oh, thanks. It's okay. Right, exactly. That's amazing.

What are you talking about? And I'm sure it works vice versa on the other side. But that's how I feel. I'm like, look at what you just. did, but she's in the go mode where it's like, I don't have time. I've got to look at the next thing. And it's each person, it's such a valuable thing to have each person that stops you and brings perspective back to what you're doing in the moment. Because otherwise, you'd both fully be gone at all times and not realize in what, like, what is this time equating to,

what you're accomplishing, hopefully? And someone needs to remind you of that. Otherwise, what are you doing it for? And so having someone, finally finding someone that gets that has been, massive blessing in my life. How long have you guys been together? I mean, probably almost seven years-ish. Yeah. Married about coming on three. Oh, that's great.

Yeah. Same moons on the radio. How's it doing the radio? It's okay, man. It's slow. It's, you know, radios, unless you're, you know, Morgan Wallner, Luke Combs, it's pretty hard. Get a bunch of chance.

And I love both those guys in their own. I mean, they've achieved so, so much, been on tour. Hey, give me some of your radio. Yeah, but, Morgan. But, you know, it's doing this thing, man. That's cool. Yeah. Yeah, listen, radio is a good thing.

The song's getting played on the radio. It's great. And as a songwriter, I want my song, you know, as a songwriter and other people that write songs, that's how you get paid these days. Yeah. You know, as a lover of songwriters, I want all my friends that are songwriters in Nashville to make money in this living for them, you know, in its radio that's still generating money for songwriters.

Or sync, obviously. Yeah. But every song finds it. way, its own way. Sure. Yeah. And they've all got their own stories and it's like to find, figure out the life of a song is, it's weird. If you tried to act like, you know, yeah, you'll never figure it out. It feels good when you hear a song you care about out there in the world and you're like, whoa, my song I heard it in this shop or in this. Yeah, man. Dude, I was at tractor supply the other day and it. I love. Me too. I will go there all day long. One of my favorite

stores. Me too. See, I think I think we have too much. They literally have everything. Everything in the world. That you like. That I love. It is my life. I will go and just look at a fucking riding lawnmower for 30 minutes going to buy this. I'm like, I'm just trying to find like, I'm trying to find things that'll fit on the back of an ATV that I can put stuff in. I always like, is this big enough that I can carry long? I always stop at the clothing. I always stop at the clothing. I need another car, hard t-shirt.

I just need one more shirt jacket. Yeah. Just like, shirt jackets. Cards and tractor supply. Here we go. Listen, shirt jackets were the best thing that ever happened to us. all the way down, budded down, baby. I know 100%.

Is it a shirt is a jacket? I don't know. But I love it. But it looks awesome. We're both ways. That's killer. Is there anybody that you want a tour with, that you haven't gotten a tour with? What's your dream?

Man, to be honest, I have been able to knock off a lot of my favorites. Any top three? I mean, being out with Luke Holmes was amazing. You know, like getting to do stadiums was just nuts. did you know me and him our friends yeah I know uh yes we we got to play L.A. last year and he told me all about that yeah see my brother was at that yeah I met your brother there

okay you met Ben and then for like a split second we were we were walking through but I met your brother back there with Luke and he told me that y'all were all buddies I love him yeah me too man what a genuine dude that like what a incredible thing he's done but that still has a great perspective on reality he's just he's what you want to be when you grow up to be a stadium packer

who's just fucking like selling out stadiums and hanging with his buddies and serious listen when it comes to the music that guy is serious he does not play he great songwriter great songwriter great band

his band's amazing all those cats are killer man that's the things he's got I feel like he's got such a good grip on separating out this big ass thing that he's built because I think because he built it at at a time and he just can separate that so that when he comes in the room it's not coming in the room with him where you feel like you're hanging out with your your friend and he makes yeah i don't know

he makes room for everybody to be there and he's he's he's a humble dude yeah he's humble as shit and i think nashville helps with that a little bit too because everyone's kind of rooting for each other i mean i know l a la is different Atlanta's different new york's different but nashville's kind of got this home base like that and and luke really took to that man like he's, he's larger than life, dude, but like you don't feel that

when you're just hanging. No, hanging out of them is the best part. Yeah. Is he's like, it's like your old friend. Yeah.

Um, but I went on stage with them at stagecoach. Oh, nice. And I've been on, I've done thousands of shows, dude. Yeah.

We did one of our songs and then we did where the wild things are. I was so. Scott, I'm going to look that up. I don't know how. Bro, don't look at it. You all doing what the wild things are.

I did not do good. Oh, I, I, I, I, was, but when I turned around and I saw a blue on stage, and it's like one part fan boy maybe, like I'm actually a real like hardcore fan. I know every song. I think he thought I didn't know the

song. I lost my breath. Like I lost like I lost my composure. Yeah. It was so bad, dude. I know. I have to watch it. And I couldn't, it was the in ears and I was like, oh my God, I'm fucking. My worst fear was to fuck that up. I was so excited to do. do it. And we picked our favorite song and I was like, and I was like, that sounds great. You did what the wall thing is. My brain. That's amazing. You've done it. You played your whole life, but there's just some nuance. I couldn't that was different. I couldn't. I sang it, but it was not good. And I got off stage. And I could tell. He was like, what the fuck's going on? Like we were like singing and I'm in the, I don't use inners a lot. So it's like,

now I do. But anyways, we're standing there and I'm looking at Luke and I'm like singing. I'm Oh my God. It's also like very imposing on stage. He's dude he's a like it's so funny. I was saying I see because all he has to do is just a little nod like he looks like and it looks like yeah yeah he's he's a he's a monster man on stage especially like I don't know what it was like we hang out we find out a million times get on stage he's his presence dude. He's got a presence on stage that is like a it's a mountain yeah when you're on I promise you there's not many experiences I've had on stage where I went okay that's a fucking legend. Yeah. I mean, I watched it every night selling out two stadiums and when we get done,

I'd watch a lot of his shows and people standing all the way to the top singing everywhere. Like the moments in people's lives he's made with his music is undeniable because they're singing every word. So whatever memories they made to his music, I don't know how it's hard to explain, but it's just so cool to witness. I never thought that like that was a possible in country music. Yeah. To be growing up in country. music and being born in it and to see country kind of take over in its own way and have multiple stadium acts is a many many many many stadium acts and to see a guy that is building a legendary career who is like I said I was on stage with them I love that story and it was like unlike any

experience I've ever had and it was legendary feeling and I mean I didn't forget the words I just I couldn't find my fucking key. I couldn't find, like, I couldn't find my space in the song. I hear you. You know what I mean? I totally get in there. Like,

and your voice is so unique too. I mean, it would be a hard song to sing like Luke the way Luke sings too. I mean, you could definitely do it. It's one of my favorite songs. Did y'all never rehearse it? You just got up.

No, we didn't rehearse it. But me and my brother rehearsed it a little bit. That's like a really hard thing to do. It was bad. It was bad. It was bad. That's tough. I think it was probably okay out there.

I'm sure you're great. But I know you were. It was not what I wanted it to be. In my mind, I had built it up. Right? I feel that. I was very excited. Yeah, I feel that.

And so when we got off stage, I looked at the bench, like, what the fuck just happened? I could not find my, like, zone. You just couldn't get it. I totally understand that. And I was like, I'm sure it was great. He's intimidating. On stage, though, I was like, that's it, man. That's just the presence of someone that is.

He knows who he is on stage. That is who Luke. is designed to be made to be he is that and like he knows it when he's on stage he owns and he that's his zone he is a presence man and it is and his band and it's undernial but it's something i'll never forget and we'll laugh about it i'm sure for years and it was truly just born out of friendship that's awesome he was like i'm gonna be in l a you guys want to come yeah we're like yeah so um he's one of my favorites that's awesome man well who else same man i don't know for me like you know rock I got to see I would love to open up for like in the rock world somewhere like I just saw

him a talca and lint biscuit it would be really it would be really cool to do something like that I mean I'm not in that genre at all yeah I mean honestly that would be a massive model dude that would fit on ours it would be killer dude I would do that in a heartbeat that would be so sick please that be cool I would I mean would do that in a heartbeat because we're definitely going to show now not a lot but we're doing shows for sure if you ever need if you ever need one that would be the coolest thing you would make me look so cool in front all my friends. Rocking,

but like rock and country work really well together. They do. And we have some. I mean, I've done some songs with, we did a song with Under Oath. Thank you for saying that. I've got.

Oh, yeah. Some state champs stuff. I love Under Oath. Love those guys. And so I, and I, and I'm in my set,

I do scream. Yeah. We try to go back to where I came from on those. So we do, we do try to blend both worlds of that as, as good as possible. I'm a, I'm a warped Turk kid.

You're in the scene. Yeah, I'm in the scene. I'm all that. I love it. I mean, you started it, honestly. Good Charlotte pretty much started that for me. We were just the same. We were just trying to get into that.

Like, we went to Warp Tour. We wanted to, we toured Warp Tour so many times back in the day. Yeah. And we were just in it, you know? It was the greatest thing in the world as a kid to get out. That was me running away from my bubble and experiencing that stuff. And my first taste of people outside of my bubble was Warped Tour. And that scene, Rocket Town in Nashville.

in those cool venues. I loved it, man. Yeah, I knew you were a rocker. Yeah. But you can hear it in your voice. So I can hear the miles. I can hear the bands. Thank you.

All the different, like, all the different versions. I tried it all, yeah, man. And I love what I do now, but I still got to, I got to scratch that itch, man. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I write with many rock bands as I can. I still write songs for other ones. And I try to, anytime I can do features or sing on those, but I love it. I take those like, like, like, I love getting an opportunity to sing a rock song again.

That's great. Anytime I do it, man. I love it. That's cool. That's awesome, dude. This is pure joy. Thank you. That's awesome, bro. I love it. I really appreciate. Is there anything else you want to talk about? Man, dude, I'm good. I mean, like, this was fun. I'm so surprised that we met in the middle on so many things, which is awesome. Yeah.

But also just our love for cars. All this stuff, man. I think it's so cool. Yeah, I bet you we have a lot of things in COVID too. But, uh, but truly, but thank you for your music, man. And what you've done for me and inspired me, that's, it's so real. Thanks, bro. That means a lot. You're awesome.

Thank you. I appreciate that. That means a lot. And you saying that out loud, it gives us credibility, man. Like the fact that you fuck with us and you like our music, it's never lost on me when another artist likes our music or gives us any kind of acknowledgement because it gives us credibility. It makes us exist. You know what I mean? So I don't know.

You definitely exist. You're definitely credible, brother. I appreciate it, man. You're a huge influence on me. So thank you, man. Thanks, bro. Great. Awesome.

Thank you. for watching artist friendly if you like this episode please make sure you hit the like button you follow the channel and please share it with your friends we appreciate the support that is why this show exists because you listen to it thank you guys and we'll see you next time