Blurry Creatures - EP: 356 Arrowheads and Apparitions: Ghosts, Faith, and Creativity with Hardy

Episode Date: September 9, 2025

Prolific songwriter and country artist Hardy joins us for a different kind of Blurry Creatures episode, sharing his most chilling paranormal experience - a months-long haunting that began after he discovered an untouched Native American campsite along the Cumberland River. From mysterious truck alarms and moving furniture to a terrifying encounter with something jumping from his balcony at 3 AM, his story will make you think twice about what artifacts you bring home. Hardy opens up about his passion for artifact hunting, ghost stories from the music industry (including Waylon Jennings' haunted cowboy boots), and how his faith has evolved alongside his career. Plus, Hardy discusses the supernatural aspects of creativity, UFO disclosure, and why he thinks Bigfoot might be into John Denver.This episode offers a rare glimpse into the personal side of one of country music's biggest names, covering everything from Civil War ghosts in Nashville to the spiritual dimensions of the creative process. Hardy reflects on his journey from small-town Mississippi to writing #1 hits in country music and how his relationship with faith has evolved through success. This episode offers a rare glimpse into the personal side of one of country music's biggest songwriters.  - Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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So we're bringing in singer-songwriter, country legend, Hardy into the show today. I talked about some of his paranormal experiences. And, you know, he's a Nashville guy. Moved here with a dream. Yeah, I love it. It's fun. He's got some blurry stories. And it's fun to get out of the box a little bit and talk to the last.

someone who's in a different you know completely different lane and you know hardy's a prolific songwriter like multiple three four five time songwriter the year yeah um wrote some of the biggest hits in country music but super down to earth guys this will be a little bit different episode for for blurry creatures but we're gonna dive in talking about his stories talking about collecting artifacts talked to him about the creative process and god's hand in his life and how he sees everything sort of through that lens in his in his career um you might even play a song for us yeah i might even play a song. We may have gotten him to play Blurry. But hey, you know, if you want to become a member of the podcast, support what we're doing here, Blurriercreatures.com slash members. You get access to all kinds

of members' content and even some exclusive videos. We're rolling out more perks every day. So hit that up, help support the show, help us produce this and make it happen. Get Hardy on this one. Right. We're back here in the basement, Luke. And we've got Hardy in the house. Welcome to the basement. Dude. Do you remember this era? Or were you a little too young for this? I was born in 90. So this was a little before my time. Barely. Did you have to blow in the NES and stick it back in?

Or did you have an NES back in? You have Super Nintendo or? 64 was my era. 64. Yeah, I was 64. So it's NES versus the kids versus the 64 kids. Wait, what's NES? Super Nintendo.

Regular Nintendo. No, no, regular Nintendo. The square remote, the rectangle remote. Yeah. And then Super was the. Yeah, yeah. No, I never had that. I never even saw one of those.

Like my friends that had like an old school console at my age had like a super I have it's a super Nintendo. I love it. I love it. That was the era. I mean the 90s were I think you caught the tail end of like a pure unadulterated childhood. Yeah. That was pre-internet.

Internet changed and kind of made everything more convenient but ruined everything. Yeah. Well, I mean for those who don't know, you are a dude, you have been writing songs. You moved to Nashville. just be a songwriter and now your your fourth album's coming out and uh all the way from Philadelphia Mississippi oh man nobody's ever made that joke before dude that's crazy nobody yeah I know right um but you've got the cheese steaks down there yeah yeah there's actually not you know I would think that we would adopt more of their of their culture but it's it's just it's totally

different in Mississippi you'd think not actually you'd be like we're not doing well you would think like our high school team would be the Eagles you know or something like just one thing but there's really nothing. I love it because, I mean, Mississippi feels like, you know, a place where you'd see a good, have a good Sasquatch sighting, you know, and that's kind of what we ask here. That's where we get into it on blurry creatures. Talk about all the strange and paranormal.

And we're Nashville guys, right? We moved here to make it in the Bigfoot podcasting scene. Right. We moved all the way here. And there was no other podcast doing it, so it worked out for us. Yeah. It's awesome. Followed our dreams, dude.

Just follow our dreams. But you've written some songs for some of the biggest artists out there from Morgan Wall and to Carrie Underwood to Georgia Florida line. And we appreciate you spending some time with us, man. I know you're busy. I've never heard of Georgia Florida line. I didn't say anything. Florida, Georgia line.

FGL. Shows how much of a country kid I was. I was on Warp Tour. I was not hanging out in, you know, those seeds. But welcome, dude. Thanks for coming on. Appreciate it. Thanks for having me, dude.

You know what I was going to say? Biggest name in country, his son yesterday was tweeting, or not tweeting, he was posting on Instagram that My dad believed in Bigfoot. It was John Carter Cash. Oh, okay. So I guess Johnny was a Bigfoot believer. So what are your thoughts on Bigfoot, Hardy?

Thank you. Man, I just, I don't know. There's too many hunters and too many game cameras for it to never have a single real moment. Okay, I'll start with this. All right. My producer Joey Moy, who is from like he was born and raised. raised in the pretty sure in like what is now known as like nannivate like the yukon territory yeah like north of bc in the middle of freaking nowhere in canada and um he said that like once a

year in his town of like 500 people that um they're you know guys would you know they they they sounds so like a movie but i mean this is the life that he lived he was like we you'd all be at the bar or wherever and one old timer would come in there and he would be completely shook and like be like I've seen bears my whole life. I've seen moose my whole life. I saw something and I could not explain it. And Joey is a guy that like has never, I would never ever ever have him like or peg him as like a over embellisher of any kind whatsoever.

So that's that's about all I got. There's like a, there's a small little, we have a swamp. I grew up Philadelphia, Mississippi and there is a band of Chalkdall, Native Americans. Yeah. and there's a community on each side of the county and one is called Chalkdoll and on the other side it's called Bogachita and there's a rumor, there's been a rumor for forever called the Bogot Chita Swamp Monster but it's there's never been anything like super crazy that's come out of my own personal thing. But the thing that Joey told me, that's like

the, I don't know, that's the only real life, real person I've ever talked to and way up in Canada where if it was, if there was ever going to be a thing, it would be to me, I would think just that's you know that that that type of area that that sort of desolation up there but well you're a hunter right you're hunter outdoors yeah big time never seen anything anything weird in the woods yet no no never i mean those are the stories that convinced me because most hunters haven't seen anything you know but they've seen everything and uh but then everyone's one one would come on a show like this and say something and you're like dude that guy is not going to go hunting again and that seems to be the saddest part is they never go back

So do you know, like when you guys have somebody on and you know, like, how well do you know these people? Because sometimes I do wonder how like a story gets better and better and better and better the more you tell it. And the more you tell it, the more you believe it. Sure. And so I'm just curious, like, because for me, like when I hear a story, like I have a good friend that saw a ghost in his backyard. He lives on Shides Hill and Green Hills, which was a big Civil War battle thing. Yeah. And like, this is a guy that has, he has no reason to lie.

I've never, he's just, he's just a very cut and dry. I've known him a long time. So I believe when he says it, but sometimes I'm curious. Like, do you know the guy as well? Like, do you know, I'm genuinely like curious? It's a mix, honestly. Yeah. I mean, I think we've tried to vet some stuff.

And, I mean, at this point, I don't think there's a lot to gain in a Bigfoot story. I mean, they've been going on since the late 60s, you know, coming out and say, I saw a Bigfoot. And I think most of it, you'll. get ridiculed you'll get kind of made fun of. I think it's a little bit of like, yeah, like, if you were to tell like I had this Bigfoot story, probably, I would guess you probably wouldn't tell it unless it was like you were. I would be embarrassed. Yeah. Well, you would, you would debate if, should I say this? What are my fans going to think? You know, like, Hardy, oftentimes we have, we have folks on the show like that are authors or theologians,

something like that. And they'll just be like, well, I have this experience. And that we haven't really told anybody about this. And so I think you make a good point. Like at, how do you vet? I think that's the hard part out, because I think there's people that have real experiences and it really happens in their story. So I think you kind of like, are they, you know, where's the credibility lie?

Do they, is it something that they've written a book about or they've created this sort of a platform off of their experience? Or was it a cop or like a, so you start to think these guys in uniform perhaps, like they see everything or a hunter. Hunters are great because like you said, you see everything. You know a bear when you see a bear.

Yeah. If you're a real hunter, I mean, you know anything and anything. Exactly. But I also think there's sometimes in these spaces, as you said, there I think the difference, there's two types of people. There's those that have a real experience and believe that. And there's those that believe they had a real experience and they believe that, right? And those are two different things. Well, I think Bigfoot's a little, it's a little less than the ghost paranormal space.

So it's like encountering an actual creature, even though Bigfoot does have a lot of paranormal stuff attached to it. All the stories are they get weirder and weirder. and there's even one I was going to read to you about Bigfoot singing to a guy. Okay. And I thought that was great, dude. And they cut it and it was number one. I was going to say, do they? Yeah.

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Hilton for the stay. There's a whole genre of music you haven't tapped into yet. Bigfoot, uh, you've got to play a sitar though. Here it is. Here it is. Sabbath Day Point, New York, March 31st, 2006. A hiker reported hearing strange sounds roughly 300 yards away,

described as a sing song. The creature was like talking to itself, singing to itself. So does Bigfoot sing, Hardy? Is he musical? I just think if, if it has to be of some sort of humanoid thing, because I don't think, I think, at the end of the day, I think like music I don't think every

like animals you know birds like sing songs or whatever but I think like only like humans really understand music okay like no other animal like an ape could not hum a tune even though it's it hears music and it might soothe him or her

like does that make sense at all? What do you think his favorite instrument is? Bigfoot? Yeah. This is the thing we know these things. Unfortunately we know these things. If I'm making a joke I would say like the tuba, you know.

Close. Whatever. I'm trying to think of the biggest instrument there is. The Native American flute. Yeah. He's got a lot of history with it, apparently. I mean, it makes sense. He'll come around when you pull that thing out.

Yeah, it's funny, man. I mean, the stories we've heard over the years. I don't know. I think sometimes our job is, we deliberate after the show a lot. Like, what do you think about that? Is that legit? Does that not? But, I mean, sometimes you just present it.

Hey, here it is. That's going to be like my ghost story. I don't say. So this is a good segue. too because you got a buddy who has, what you said, a Civil War ghost encounter, which is not really uncommon.

Like, I live in Franklin, Tennessee here, and we're in, we're in the middle of all of the Civil War history. Yeah, a lot of it. We had one we were talking about

how this Civil War ghost would show up and just walk through this guy's garage, like repeatedly. And there's one guy who said, my neighbor. Do you see it or only hear it? See it? Yeah.

They see it walk through. On the camera or just in person? Like, I would see it in his house, like walking in his garage. Yeah. And there's, you know,

and we've talked about ghosts a fair amount. like what would be like the woman in white stuff or even like uh just sort of running the mill ghost stories um and trying to suss out what that is right because there's there's a lot of theories what do you what do you what do you think i think that science can't explain a lot of that kind of stuff and just that we there's there's so many discoveries that we've made in the last 100 years yeah uh radio waves right uh even things is like a lot basically a lot of things that you can't see but we've discovered, whatever that may be. I don't, I'm not smart enough to explain Wi-Fi, but like things like that. Right. Yeah. And I just, I think that there is a, there is a very simple,

uh, scientific explanation for why. Because a lot of times, the ghosts that people see are, uh, what it seems like are stuck in some sort of loop. Yeah. Of some kind. Yeah. And so maybe there's some sort of just energy thing that was like it was such a powerful moment, that the light that was absorbed. I, I feel like there is something that could be explained there. 100% with science. That has nothing to do with religion. That doesn't negate whether you're a Christian or whether you're whatever. Yeah.

That I just don't think we've figured out yet because I think that most people think that it's a complete waste of money and resources to try to figure out what a ghost is when there's really unless you want a ghost hunting show on A&E that you can be. It's not. Well, like growing up Christian, your mind is kind of set there, right? Like you want me. It's like angels or demons. It's either angel or a demon.

But your mind is like set up to like hear some of these stories. and go, oh, I can believe that because, you know, mom talked about that when I was a kid or whatever. And, you know, it's funny because doing the show, people will all tell you just random people that wouldn't tell anybody else their stories. My buddy plays base for Nathan plays base for Scotty McCreary. And I was at his house hanging out.

And his wife was like, I saw the Civil War Ghost in Franklin. Like, she just couldn't wait to tell me when I showed up, had a little dinner party. And it was cruising through people's garages. Benefits of the job, man. it was like they built these houses you got all the good ones you're like hi nice to meet you

by the way I you know Bigfoot and me we're friends we've heard those stories too but you know they built these houses in these areas in Franklin where they're supposedly haunted and this stuff just it's almost like this ghost was just walking through his garage

Roman Roman yeah I mean it's weird I wonder because is there any like thread to because a lot of the most haunted places are like crazy hospitals, for lack of a better term.

Sorry, that might be insensitive. Asylums. There you go. Or hospitals, like children's, are just like hospitals in general, war zones. It's like very trauma-related deaths. And I feel like, yeah,

I don't know. Other than, because I mean, maybe, I guess you hear plenty of like so-and-so died peacefully in his or her bed, you know, and now they walk around the house. But it just seems like the really spooky stuff. The repotent stuff is like trauma-related or sudden death-related stuff maybe. Well, you're on it, I think, because we're doing the show as long as we have.

I think that's the interesting thing is that they're about angels and demons, right? Yeah. Most of these ghost stories are, it's the operation is doing something. It doesn't, like, it's not paying attention to you or me or anyone else. It's like on a loop. It's like a, sometimes. It sounds like a time incident more than it is like a, whereas like a demonic thing is like interacting and having, you know, like a poland. The other guy's experience is much different than like seeing someone in Victorian, you know.

They're ripping the sheets off the bed and trying to. Yeah, levitate and whatever. Depends what, yeah. Well, those stories come too, but they're a little more creepy. They don't feel like a ghost. They don't feel like they're, you know, sort of doing their own thing like Luke was saying. I mean, I think as Christians, you know, growing up in that in the church, you're not allowed to believe in ghosts. Even though in the New Testament they talk about ghosts many times, right?

Christians sort of don't believe in. How they describe Jesus when he came back from the dead and how he would appear in rooms and things like that. Or Peter. When Peter shows up, they think it's his ghost. And they're like, where's the theology for that? That's interesting. Well, they thought Jesus was a ghost when they're out in the boat, right? Fantasma.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's interesting. We sort of bring all these thoughts into it. And I think doing this show, I don't think, I think we know a lot more, but I think we're more confused almost because, like, if that story is true, and that sort of blows this whole other door open. I don't even know if I want to go down that road. There's actually a funny woman in white story at Loretta Lens' haunted ranch here in Tennessee. She said that visitors and her family reported seeing the woman in white possibly crying on the balcony.

She asked her nanny about it, but no one else was home. The ranch has developed a reputation for ghost activity. Wow. Is that the one in Hurricane Mills? I don't know. That's all it says. Interesting. Yeah.

My favorite is Waylon Jennings haunted cowboy boots. We'll tell that at the end. There's a story about that. Yeah, let's hear your story, though, because we kind of, we touched on Native American flutes.

I know that, like I know from, from what you've talked about, you are a, you're a collector. You're a floutist. Floutist? Yeah,

you find any, you find any Native American flutes and any of them? No, no flute. That would be, I would lose my show. You're a treasure hunter.

So welcome the show. This is like, dude, this is right up our alley. Man, yeah, so about 15 years ago, I really got in,

to finding. I never buy any, and I really, if I ever get any of his gifts, I kind of put them in a different box or something, but I find and collect what most people will call arrowheads, but, you know, the more you nerd out about it, it's more than that, you know, like just Native American artifacts.

Like knives and... Yeah, blades and all that kind of stuff. It's all arrowheads, but it's, you know, it's more than that. Hardy, how do you get into that? Like, I mean, is it just like... My personal story, my, when I was in college, I went to MTSU. Yeah.

The Raiders. My, go Raiders, dude. For songwriting. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I did. And my, my best friend at MTSU was in aerospace, just, you know, the two furthest things possible. But we were good friends. And we didn't really do a whole lot of party and not a whole lot.

And so spring break came along. And he was so random. But my buddy was like, man, you know, my cousin in East Tennessee like digs in digs like in campsites that he finds like for for arrowheads have you ever done anything like that and I'm like no but I've never even found one but that'd be super cool and he was like why don't we go to your back back home in Mississippi and go like just poke around your deer hunting property and see if we can't find anything and uh just I was just like sure and I so I called one guy that I knew about that that that like collected and he was like do you have a you got a ditch or a creek

that runs through your property and was like yeah and he was like just look around in there maybe you'll find something dude sure enough enough, the first, we drove from Nashville to Mississippi, and at like 5 p.m., it was like almost dark, and we drove straight to our, we called the camp house, that's where our deer camp is, went back to this creek, and within five minutes, a creek I've walked like a million times, but never looked down, you know what I mean? Like, my buddy, Clay pulls up a, like a really nice arrowhead, and we freak out, and I'm like, oh my God, this is so cool. And the next morning we go back, and I found a really good, and after that,

I was just hooked. And so from there on, you know, and now, you know, and now, you know, I look all over the banks of the Cumberland. And, you know, it's really simple. It's just like high ground next to running water. It's kind of typically the thing. So that's how I got into it. And since then, you know, what's your collection look like now?

Man, I wish I had a photo. I've got a few hundred. Wow. Hundreds of broken ones and stuff like that. But a couple hundred like really, really, really. That's kind of insane. I mean, the population must have been massive. Well, they say at its peak, it was 22 million.

Wow. As far as they know. and if you kind of and now it's 2 million but let's just say on average from 12,000 years ago to right now or 12,000 years ago to 500 years ago

so let's just say 11,000 years you know that's quite literally like hundreds of millions of people so when you think about it I mean you know there's one ever heard person their lifespan was was 35 40 years old

so I mean if one native made 5,000 or a thousand, you know, arrowheads and it's, I mean, it's, there, there's more than you think. Yes. I mean, yeah, I think the numbers are just off the charts if you can find them. If you can just go out and find one, there has to be. And it is. It's high ground next to water.

It's every, they were everywhere. A little bird shop. Yeah. I have, I found, I have like four. Those are, those are an anomaly to me. Yeah, because they're taking, they're just, they're just pecking away at it with a little deer bone or something. Is it the little people arrows, you think?

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where zesty Brazilian lemonade accord meets coconut milk and golden brown sugar. Don't miss Sol de Janeiro's limited edition perfume mist collection only at Sephora. Have you heard of these stories of little people? I've heard the giants. Okay, there's giants, too. The Cherokee little people.

Yeah, the Cherokee little people are little miniature people. Do you think they were dwarves? I think that's where we get that mythology from, because there are stories. But do you think that that was a genetic thing even with natives? I have no idea. Luke always makes fun of me. It's my favorite thing for the little people. But we interviewed these guys that have a show called Expanded Perspectives,

and they told the story of this hunter that he's friends with the guys. They're bow hunters, right? right, they go out all the time. He saw them, like two or three, right? They had little animal skins on. They're like going through a creek. In North America? Yeah, they're not dwarves, though.

They're like little full size. And he lost it. Allegedly. He like basically like, you know, had a melt, like had a crisis. So they were like proportionally. Yeah. The right size. Yes.

Not the right size for them though, right? I just say it's right. Yeah. Yeah, it's so bizarre. And this exists in like a lot of the Native American lore as well. So there's like, there's not, it's not just like it's, It's precedent for it. Yeah.

In fact, I fish in Montana up on the Crow Reservation. And up there they call them Duendez. And there's a bunch of old cowboys that run the ranch out there. And they literally tell stories to be like, there's Duendez out here and we've seen them. These are like crusty old. They're not saying to keep me from going on. I'm not going on their land. We're just fishing on the big horn.

And it's, so there's this, it's weird. It's this weird cultural thing of these little. I've not heard that one. And there's more defarious activity associated with them. So you don't like seeing them You like to drink whiskey And they like to steal stuff Yeah

No honestly that's what they tell They leave them like little trinkets in whiskey And they steal You had no idea what you were going into I did not expect to hear this That's the first for me But we derailed your story So yeah

Sorry So you were out Oh yeah okay So How long ago was this When this was happening Uh 2021 I think

Maybe 22 Are you ever out there And then someone recognizes And they're like What are you doing out here? Are you looking for stuff? One time Recently

Yeah yeah yeah I'm because I, dude, I just have a basketball. They thought you were a wrestler, though, right? I've actually gotten that as well, too. That's a whole different story. So, girls stopped him and asked him if he was a wrestler. I thought, Luke. No, I did it.

I got a COVID back when they were doing this. The girl was like, hey, I'm a nurse in like Shelbyville, Tennessee. Do you mind I heard your own record for having COVID? Can you do a like a, you know, whatever? Do an interview about your symptoms, yada, yada, yada. And when I gave her my name, she was like, wait a minute. And I was like, oh, God, here we go. She was like, are you one of the wrestlers?

I was like, no, I'm not. Like, is my name Jeff? No. Okay, so the time was like around, it was like May. And this spring, winter and spring, we had had like a lot of rain. So the river had stayed high, like consistently high for a really long time, like months and months and months. And when it's doing that, it's just slowly carving, you know, inches away from the vertical riverbank, if that makes sense. Right.

As that water runs, it's just slowly carving the dirt. moving dirt. Yeah. So we had a few. So there's a number that's like a sweet spot to walk the river. And it's like 20 is too high. But there's, but there's like a,

there's a little website and you just, you know, me and my buddies will be like, hey, it's looking good right now. But there's one, there's a number that's like a, that's a spot where it's like low enough that you can walk it

and you're not climbing through trees and stuff, which is like not almost not even worth it. Yeah. So long story short, my buddy texts me and he's like, hey, the river is projected in like two days to, drop for the first time in, you know, like four months. And that's usually pretty prime because

you're like, if you can beat everybody out there, there's a handful of other arrowhead hunters. Yeah. It's like if you can beat everybody out there, you can, you know, you will, you will hit the mother load. You'll have a really great day. So anyway, long story short, we get out there. We both, heaping my buddy's a songwriter. We, uh, so we're, we both kind of late getting out there that day and the time hadn't changed yet. I remember that. So we get out there. We hit a couple banks. We find a couple things. And then we hit this last bank and I put the bank like the boat right in the middle and my friend goes this way and I go this way and I walk down here and I find a few things and I get back to the boat and he comes back and his

eyes are like he's like dude you got to come down here and see this and so I follow him down the the bank that he went and we look up and this is actually a really great example so if you look at that wall that's like the color of the of dirt it's like brown and then it just in an instant an instance goes to the color of like that black curtain or whatever just that black space right there and it's just an entire campsite of like burned fires that was just pouring out of the bank. How deep? How deep is it? It was probably eight feet, probably close to that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, just just a wall of black dirt that went that was like eight feet tall and probably I don't know, 20 feet wide. And it was just like animal bones, like small bones, you know,

that were old enough to be like, I don't, I wouldn't say petrified because that's, that's too long. but like Flint broken arrowheads broken pieces of pottery like it's just a campsite that's just pouring out and we were the first people to ever find it

because that river had you know we had walked that bank a hundred times but we had never seen that because it had not been kind of carved out of the bank yet so long story short

we start looking around and we realize that there's stuff laying everywhere the main thing there was this giant log and we flipped over this log and under the log was like four or five arrowheads

it was so random but anyway so we were like holy crap this is crazy took some stuff it got dark we went home uh the first weird thing that started happening um was my truck which was like at the time like two years old maybe no it was two years old uh when i got so i used to live in jolton which was like north of town yeah and i had an actual cabin in the woods and you go through this little gate and it was way off in the woods yeah my driveway was like a

half a mile long was awesome uh my truck alarm started going off in the middle of the night like Every single night. And I would, there was no need to, but I would lock my truck. And if you lock your truck, the way that mine was set, if you locked the truck

and tried to get out from the inside, like if you were to put it like a kid in there, you know, like not like a kid in there, but you know what I mean? Safely secure a child in the truck and they try to get out. Parking lot and leave them while you go to the story.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, well, it's really in the middle of summer. It's terrible. It's terrible. But, yeah.

So my, so I would wake up at like three, two or three in the morning and, and be like, damn, my truck alarm's going off. So I would turn that off. And that happened for a couple weeks. I woke up one morning. And so I lived in like an A-frame house, like a cabin like this, right? The master bedroom was like, you walked up the stairs. It kind of followed the wall.

And the master bedroom was the only room upstairs. And there was no door to the master. So like if somebody turned a light on downstairs, it would light up the whole bedroom, if that makes sense. It was a single bedroom house, pretty much. So I woke up one morning and every light on downstairs. Every light was on downstairs. And I didn't really think anything about it,

but I was like, I didn't leave every light on. And then there was one morning that every one of my appliance, like countertop appliances were unplugged. And at this point, I was like, I think I must be like sleepwalking or something because I have no idea. But the big one, the first big one was Callie and I, there was one little small guest. bedroom downstairs. We hung a mirror and it took like it took us. It was like a circular mirror

kind of like the size of that whatever that thing is over there behind you. And it took us like an hour to get this mirror perfect. And my wife is very meticulous. And we got it. And we look at it and we're like, we're good. And we wake up the next morning and there's a giant scratch across this entire mirror. Like across the entire mirror. And Kelly goes in there and she was like, what's going on? So that happened. We had a window open one night and then one night we're laying in bed watching Yellowstone and we heard a commotion downstairs and Callie was like what was that? And I was like it sounded like one of the chairs just got scooted out from our kitchen table. And the next, I didn't think anything about it. And I went downstairs the next morning and one of the chairs at the end of the table had been moved like six feet away from the table. How old is this house? The house itself was built in the 80s. So it wasn't that old. But you had previously no nothing. No, I lived there for like a year, almost a year. Um, So there are 80s ghosts. Are there?

Yeah. It's a good band name. That would be a good one. It was stuff like all the time. Like stuff started happening a lot. And just little things or whatever it may be or a light. We would be laying in bed and like a light downstairs would like turn on and turn off. And you know, my wife was like freaking out.

Just random little things. And when I told her I was coming on this podcast today, she was like, you have to tell you have to tell this part because apparently I have forgotten to tell this part. But she was the first one that was like, hey, I'm going. getting weird vibes like you have there's something going on in this house and uh i denied it for like a really long time i don't know i don't know why i didn't you know whatever and so she she we weren't married then we were just dating and she lived in town uh and so she quit staying with me because it freaked her out like really bad and she would and sometimes i would have to leave early and go into town and do work and she's like i don't i don't like being here alone the whole whole vibe so

a lot of weird stuff that we just were kind of just like you didn't know if it was electrical or like if it was a whatever. It was a lot of stuff, except for the chair. The chair was kind of legit. Yeah. Or the scratch on the mirror. You're like, how does that happen? Well, yeah, exactly.

But there was one week that I woke up at 259 or 3 a.m. on the dot every single night for like four or five days in a row. And I would wake up and I would check my phone. And it would literally be 258, 259 or 3 o'clock every single morning. And I would go back to sleep and not think about it. This episode is brought to you by Subaru. Go further in a long range. Subaru Hybrid with up to 581 miles per tank in the Forrester Hybrid.

Longer range, better fuel efficiency, and legendary symmetrical all-wheel drive, standard. The Subaru Forrester Hybrid. Visit Subaru.com slash hybrid to learn more. Maximum range based on EPA estimated combined fuel economy and a full tank of fuel. Actual mileage and range may vary. At the time, I didn't think anything about it, but looking ahead, I feel like something was making a noise in my house and that it was wake. me up. I wasn't just like waking up out of nowhere. But I woke up the last morning at

three o'clock on the dot and I was in a complete sweat. And I was like, I was just woke up in this like anxiety. Like I feel extremely uncomfortable. And I turned and put my feet on the side of the bed and I turned my lamp on. Something jumped from the the A-frame balcony so detailed that when it put, like this won't do it, but when you put pressure on it, it creaked. And then there was like a two second pause and then boom. And the floor of my house, like the whole house, it was like something was sitting on my balcony or like, and it jumped to the floor and I heard it run through my house. And I flipped every light on in my house. And I grabbed my gun and I went through my entire house. And there was not a door open. There was not a window open. Everything.

And I was shook. It screwed me up for a while. It was the biggest adrenaline rush I've ever had in my life. Do you think that that was there when you showed up? So I think, I personally think that that like potent campsite artifact situation, I don't know how to explain it, but I think I brought something home. Oh, yeah. Because the hit chiker. I do because, you know, obviously we get back in my boat. Drive home.

I put my boat on the trailer and then my truck alarm. I was, this is all after the. fact, but I'm like, man, my truck alarm went off for like a week. And then all the, and then nothing weird was happening in my house. And then the weird stuff started happening like in my house. Anyway, I don't know. That's what I had credit to. Did you have the artifact in the truck, you think?

Maybe and didn't even think about it. Did you bring it in the house? I totally did. I still have it technically. It's outside. I had this whole thing. How does this episode stop? I called Callie the next day and I was like, hey, I had something like kind of screwed up

happened last night and now I'm kind of scared. And she, they, her family had some sort of someone. that that was, I don't know what you'd call a medium or whatever. And they were like, if you just buy some sage and you sage every window and every corner and you go in there with intention. And she and I felt like idiots because like we, she Amazon the sage to her apartment. And then we're driving out to Jolton. And I'm like, are we like, am I about to just like talk to a ghost or something?

And she was like, you have to go in there and tell it to leave, like respectfully tell it to leave and yada yada. And man, we did that. We sage the windows, every doorway. And I was very intentional. I was like, I don't know if I have something of yours. If I do, I promise I trade it with respect. But you're in our home and it's time for you to leave and yada, yada, yada.

And, man, not a peep after that. Nothing. Nothing. It's, I was never like a true believer. And I also didn't see anything. Like, I only heard stuff and then, like, weird stuff happened. But it was the most, I mean, it was, it was, that made me a believer in something that we can't see. Whatever, whatever that means.

I mean, obviously, you're hanging out backstage talking to a lot of people. Do you feel like there's some, like, paranormal stories or like a belief in this stuff in like the music industry. I'm obviously there's a lot of conspiracy theories about how the music industry works and other things. Are people open to talk about this stuff or? Yeah. I don't believe I don't think the Illuminati as far as I'm concerned. Uh, it's real. Hooper went there right away. And we were in. Well, I just, I feel like that's the, that's the one. I mean, Morgan Wallin is one of my best friends and, and if anybody were going to be, if anybody going to be considered to be in it at this

point in their career, it's him. That's silly. Now, now being in the industry and I just, I don't, I don't, there's not a, there's not a wizard of Oz behind the curtain that's like controlling the thing and the people, people just, there are record execs and managers that, that's, that recognize trends very well and they, they can kind of see history repeat itself and be like, this kid, this girl, this guy, whatever, is going to be the next big thing. And then they are, and I think that that's all there is to it. What about the, the biggest story about this from Mississippi, Robert Johnson. You're right.

I mean, that's... What do you think about that? I don't know. Because, you know, like, I truly... I'm like a realist in this way. Like, was that guy an over embellisher? Like, that's my only thing. It's like...

I understand he came back like the next day and was like really good at guitar, but I just, I don't know. I have a hard time believing, you know, like, that that was a real thing. Do you think that there are people that make deals like that? like Faustian deals with like, with demons of the devil. Because you hear, I mean, this is like, this is a, this is not a super common, but like there's common trope, especially in like hip hop.

But also there's like crazy things like the Bob Dylan quote. Are you familiar with what Bob Dylan said? Yeah. He had a lyric in one of his songs that said, it's a destiny thing. I made a bargain a long time ago, and I'm holding up my end. He was interviewed about this one point, and they asked who he made the bargain with, and Dylan replied, with the chief commander of this earth in the world we can't see. Oh, that's weird.

It's weird, right? Yeah, it's weird. Weird. I just don't know. I don't know if I believe it. I mean, obviously there's all the shock rock. And we were talking about metal pre-roll, like where people cosplay some like devil worshiping and stuff and that kind of stuff. But there's probably a real side to a lot of that as well, in my opinion, at least, doing this long enough.

You're in the industry, but maybe not that industry for sure. But do you think there's perhaps people do make deals? No. I really don't, man. I don't. I don't think so at all. I think all that is just gets the people talking, and I just don't, I don't believe it.

Yeah. I mean, these people are already, you know, like, I mean. Well, you've been there at the beginning of a lot of people's careers. So you've seen, you've known these people, you've been friends with these guys and in your own career as well. It's like, I mean, I get that. I went through the music business myself and I didn't see anything super strange. But you always wondered at the top, top, top, top echelons,

behind some closed doors, maybe? Maybe, but I, you know, I mean, I didn't see anything. I know some of those people too, and they're, I just, they might do some weird stuff and, you know, go to some parties that are questionable, do some questionable things, but I just don't think that there's any sort of, you know, I don't think that there is some demonic force or the devil that is,

that is like, if you make music that is secular and that drives people away from Jesus, you'll have, I'll give you everything in the world, whatever that may be. Yeah, yeah. Because like what, why else, what would be the intention of signing a deal with the devil if the devil's not having them use their talent for bad, right? I mean, that's kind of the thing. I will never believe that in a dream or that somebody walked into a, you know, a room they were told to walk in and they're sat the devil and, you know, that they made the deal. I just don't.

Do you feel like there's a genre music that's more into like just pop paranormal stuff or like do people talk about? Sorry, like all the pop stars are devil worship. Well, I just think that that's like the only, that's the only place that it could live. Paranormal stuff with... Just real bad songs. The worst songs of the devil's songs. Well, okay, I will say if there was a country or like Americana would be the only one. Because I feel like nine times out of ten, like a lot of pop people are from very, not always,

but a lot of times from like very suburban or, you know, they're from just very cookie cutter places that are not very old. and I feel like people in the country space and in that Americana space which you're kind of conjoined now grew up in smaller towns a lot older properties a lot older whatever hospitals and this and that and the other so I feel like if there's ever a space for it

it's here anyone told you any stories like backstage and like hearing things like or is your ghost story is that the one that everyone talks about it's one of them but the one of my buddy who's a songwriter he's a really successful songwriter

and that one is it's not very long but he lives on shy's hill or used to and if you google it that's that was a big battle because it was the biggest biggest hill south of town see a long way and man he was laying in his hammock and said that he saw a dude on kind of his wood line on a on just like a bee line up the hill and to the point where he like put his hands up and was like going to yell at a guy for like walking through his yard yeah

and said that the guy, he kind of was just like, and said that the guy just sort of just disappeared up into the trees and he was like, I just saw a freaking ghost. He was like, it was just like, I saw a ghost. I just saw, and he said he was in full, he said it was actually in union guard, like the gray bit or whatever. And I mean, he's a guy that like would never tell a lie.

Right. You know what I mean? And he's just like, I saw a ghost laying on my hammock. Well, the point, because the trespassers was a much easier one to be like, there's some dude boggrap on the property. That would be like, bummer. It irritates me, but not. you wouldn't be like, let me concoct a growth story.

But he just like, it was really, it was fairly close by. He was like, it didn't make any noise. It just sort of, and when he went in the woods, he said it just was kind of like, he didn't really disappear. He just sort of, you know, disappeared. I don't know how to describe that. Well, you were growing up, did you have any stories that were told to you to kind of help, like. Yeah, actually, I remember when I was a kid, there was a family that lived.

I need to, honestly, I don't even know if my dad would remember this, but it stuck with me for sure. there was a family that lived on the far side of town that allegedly had what you would call a demon is what they they called it in their house and the only story that I remember of that was that the wife was cooking breakfast one morning and she she literally felt this thing standing over her and it like she claims that it cast a shadow like over her and then and that you know nervously she was like good morning you know like I'm just making breakfast, and that apparently at some point they got fed up and they were like, get the hell out of my house and it left and never came back. LinkedIn is pretty amazing at helping you grow your small business. We cannot make your email response time faster. We can help you sell, market, and hire in one place.

We cannot help you find space for your three desk drinks. Why do you have three? And while we can't help you find the perfect volume for your presentation video, LinkedIn can help you find the perfect audience for your business. Grow your small business on LinkedIn. Learn more at LinkedIn.com slash small business. That's kind of the only thing I really remember. I've always heard of, you know, old buildings in our high school

or, you know, churches or whatever being haunted or having some sort of ghost. But that was the most, I mean, that was young. I remember that. I was like in my early memory. I was like six or seven years old kind of core memory. Yeah. kind of, because it makes all that stuff real. I'm like, Dad, why would you say that in front of me, dude?

But that's the only one that I can remember. I really, I should get more info on that, though, because I haven't really thought about that in a long time. But no, in my family, oh, I have another good one. I have one more. And then that's it. We'll allow it. Okay, okay.

So my grandparents on my mom's side lived in Foley, Alabama. And they built this little, this. really small house, honestly, maybe about the size of this room. And they, so it's my blood grandmother and then her husband, who she married late, who was not a blood relative, but he had a son and he had a bunch of children, but he had one son who had a wife and some cousins that took a boat out in the Gulf of Mexico. A storm hit, and the boat was in really bad shape, and they all died. Okay.

And it was a thing. You can Google this. His name was Rodney Crumb, K-R-U-M-M-M. If you Google Rodney Crum, you know, boating accident, Gulf of Mexico, it will come up. They had Rodney cremated in that house, my grandparents' house. Yeah. And my sister and her friend, so Foley is really close to Gulf Shores, Beachtown, yada, yada, yada. So my sister and her friend when they were in college, they went down one summer to stay with my grandma for a couple of weeks.

And right when they got in, there was like two. bedrooms on this side and their bedroom in the back of the house. And my sister's in her room and they're unpacking their things. And her friend Lacey is in the front bedroom unpacking her things. And she looks up and she sees a guy in the closet like looking at her. And she looks up and she said the guy like backed away from the closet and it freaked her out. And she said that he was wearing a mechanic out like a mechanic suit, whatever you want uniform outfit or whatever. Like you know, baby blue kind of thing. My name is

Earl kind of thing. And with boots. And she said when she looked in the closet, the boots that guy was wearing were sitting in the closet. So she walks out and walks into my sister's room. And Madison, my sister said that she was like white as a ghost.

And she was like what? She was like, I just, oh, and this was all, Rodney's death was all unbeknownst to my sister's friend. She had no idea any of this had ever happened. And she perfectly described Rodney, like to a T. And they come back and they tell,

I'm still in high school at this point. So they get back to my hometown and they tell me and my family about it. And my parents looked it up because my dad was like, man, that was really close to went. And it was like five years or three years or something like that to the day when she saw his ghost that they went missing, which was like a weird. That's weird. The anniversary.

Yeah. Yeah. But it was all, it was all, Lacey had no idea. That's my sister's friend's name, that any of that had ever happened. and still, you know, according to the story, perfectly described this guy who was Roddening, you know. So, anyway, that's the only other good one I got. I mean, it's interesting how long it takes sometimes, you know, you have these experiences. I had a similar story down the street.

This family would leave and they'd come home in their closet. All the clothes would always be thrown to the ground every time they would come home. And so they didn't know what to do. And they knew my parents went to church. So they came over and they were like, hey, come. come pray over the closet but so they did and then the clothes never got thrown around.

Do you know why I've heard a theory about closet stuff? Yeah, I don't know. I don't have a noise. They would, they would That could be a joke in some other Probably old houses. I don't know if it was an old house but old houses would they would

make their cloth the wood in their closet be like a pine even if the rest of their house was built out of something else. because it made the clothes smell good. Oh, interesting. And especially... I thought it was cedar a lot, right?

It could be cedar. It could be cedar. It could be cedar. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I think it is cedar. But they, and if there were too many clothes in a closet, that the ghost would throw it out to let the cedar sort of do its thing or whatever. And I've heard that,

I've heard that story a bunch of different times. Apparently that's a pretty decent explanation. Your dad is just a cheap husband. He's just like, get rid of the... I'm going to start throwing my wife's clothes. She has 70 class. I'm just going to start throwing them in the floor and be like, I didn't do that. Well, I think you should get rid of, maybe they're haunted.

This ghost is still in the closet. I think the reason most people are skeptical is they don't have any of those stories. I mean, and then flash forward to you in your adult life, you're living in a haunted house. And you keep rationalizing saying, oh, well, maybe I left the lights on. Maybe I'm sleep walking. Electrical issues. Yeah. Yeah.

And I think for us, it took us a long time to even believe some of the stuff we would hear, like alien stuff. And it's like. And I think because we all. all come into these stories with sort of this preconceived idea of what can exist. Sort of all that stuff shapes the way that we can hear these things. And I don't know, something about just providing a podcast platform. People kind of open up and they're like, oh, I have this one story. I have this one story.

But I can't tell that to anywhere else in my life. Nobody will believe me. I just think it's interesting how long it takes people to kind of accept and believe their own stories and what's out there. I mean, and now, flashword to today. it's almost like we have disclosure happening. What do you think about all that, that the government's saying that...

They're stuff. Whistleblowers are trying to... They've got craft and non-human biologics. What do you think is coming already? What John saw in Revelation and how much of that can be translated into, not all of it, and I don't know it as well as I used to know it, but just beings that come from the sky and just things of that nature I just I don't think that there's anything wrong with ruling out or ruling in alien activity.

Yeah. We don't know, we don't know anything. We only know what we know. Yeah. And there's somebody out there that knows a whole lot more than we do and not on earth. You know what I mean? Yeah. And I just don't, I will never, ever believe that, that alien, I refuse to believe that we're the only thing in the entire universe.

and I think that that can perfectly align with what you believe as a Christian through science and just yeah so I think it's coming man I do I don't what's what we do in our show here we kind of deconstruct that like you know the idea that we our take and or the take of a lot of our guests on the show have been like yeah there's we we can find all the precedent for this in the Bible like what we call angels is just a job it's a job title Greek it just means messenger And then we have other job titles. Like there's a watcher class. We consider angels.

We don't really know a whole lot about it. Well, how they're described even. They're not described as like beautiful people with, they're like terrifying looking, right? That and they're also very human-like too. They'll come and they'll eat and walk and wrestle with Jacob. There's all these crazy things that angels do. But they're not from here.

They're by definition extraterrestrial. They're not from Earth. We are the only, you know, terrestrial beings. Yeah. the sentient terrestrial beings that are here. So I'm with you. Yeah, it's, I think there's a ton of, of the things that we, and we kind of unpack a lot on the show, like, you know,

there's technology in heaven. We know what we know about having. Talk about revelation. There's things that, like, are shown that John doesn't really understand and tries to describe. There are things in the Bible that are shown to people that they don't really understand or try to. You can only describe it relative to what you're experiencing on Earth.

It's a fire, right? Come pick up Ezekiel. Or Elijah, sorry, pick up Elijah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Do you feel like there's like a lot of faith, more faith conversations in the country music industry than other genres? Do you think people talk about what they believe? Definitely. They come from a family of faith?

100%. Way more. I don't want to, you know, I don't know that to be a fact. Yeah. Yeah. Or more willing to talk about it. Willing to talk about it? 100%.

Yeah. You're a prolific songwriter. I mean, you've been your songwriter of the year, BMI, three-time AIMP is just pulling up your bio here. so like you've done you done a good job and you've written with a ton of people yeah do you think there's anything that's like where you feel there's some supernatural aspects to creativity like sometimes you just get things yeah definitely and how do you how does that I don't know I it's it's it's it is like it is the most supernatural you feel like when you when you're on to something really great weight in the truck is a really good example that was kind of the first time not really

Really, but it was one of the first times that, like, that song, I don't remember writing it. Like, it was, we, I felt like myself and others were just, I mean, we were a vessel for like a creative moment that just kind of happened. Long a tick. Hour, maybe, hour and a half. Wow. I just put a song out called Bottomland. That's now one of my favorite songs ever. And that song was exact same way, and it took maybe 25 minutes.

You just, it just comes here. Yeah. It's just like your eyes were on the back. your head and you just you know what i mean you just sort of spit it out and there it is as a creative do you feel like there's evidence that you've been created yourself like you have a creative being behind you yeah i think so because that's a that's a deep that's that's good but yeah i do i mean very much so because you're always trying to tap into that part of your your your heart and soul and it's not something that like i can never really do that and it never will be able to there's something

different about when a computer creates something than a human being. Dude, man, you know, it's funny because like maybe some old people will have a hard time and that sounds terrible, but like, I can immediately tell

no matter how good it is an AI from a human created thing. And I think that like, especially with music, like songwriters, like real songwriters, will never, it will never go away because there's something in your soul that is that I truly feel like as is a is a god

given gift that you have a certain voice and a certain way of saying things and telling a story yeah that a computer will just never ever ever be able to replicate and to go further on that I think that music you know if you zoom out into this like into like a universal view that that music is a gift uh to earth because it is and I've said this on the ninjas thing too, but like, it's the only language that the entire world can truly speak, you know, and then you can, people can argue like art in certain things, you know, like actual paintings, whatever that may be, but music is such a crazy side quest to our purpose on earth, which is just to basically, I know there's a lot more to it, but just to have love

in our heart and to be a good person. And obviously there's a lot more that with Jesus and everything, but like music is such a special little like side quest thing but that's also like so big and so so important for for the world to come together and it's it's just like you wonder like if there are other planets and other things with people on them like do they have that like I don't I don't know if they do it's such an interesting yeah form of representation that that can also show love and I don't know I could get could go on and on and on about people to be speaking I think I think it would be if you look, it's a gift from heaven, right? Because the angels worship there.

They sing there. There's a precedence in our faith for understanding. And then we have that gift. It's interesting, you point that out too. I think that, like, there aren't any other species that we know of that they communicate through song that we know of, right? Like, you could say whales and stuff. You could say whales, kind of sing, but that's a communication.

They're not talking the rest of the time. At least we don't know that to be the case. Right. They put singing out there, Lou. Well, maybe he is. Come on. No, he's good. Well, there is something interesting to say, like,

a lot of people on our show have said that Jesus spoke things into existence. So there is a vocal, something about a resonance and a frequency that creates. Do you feel like that could also be like manifestation, like the secret, the book the secret or what, you know, like, both like aside from music, like speaking things, you know, how people, like quantum. Yeah, well, I think words have power for sure. And some people say that's why Jesus called the word, right? I don't know. I'm not smart enough to get into the theology of that. But I'm just saying, like, there's something about when it all comes together with music and the spoken word, but in a

singing style, it's, you know when you hear it and you immediately can get 10,000 people all into like one mood. It's crazy. I mean, you look at the worst Christian worship scene, you know, sometimes I have this dilemma because it feels like are they are they the artist being worshipped or is the or is the god of the universe being worshipped here right and it's so easy to hijack one of those too because the lyrics you're singing are very powerful and you're going to tune into those versus the song that you write which is a story and it you know it's it's kind of a parable

it's true but it's not true I'm sure you have some true songs obviously that yeah but especially it's like Johnny Cash never killed a man in Marina Yeah, it's a story. And to me, it feels more authentic because you're not like trying to kind of hijack a message and make it your own. It's harder to do, that's for sure. But, you know, I was just watching a video that is because Oasis is back, right?

One of the biggest bands in the world. And the whole stadium is jumping. I've never seen that. I've never seen the entire stadium. And this guy's filming it from the outside going, these songs are different. What do you think that is? I don't know.

There's just songs throughout time that do that. But I just, again, I think it's just a gift that is God-given. And I just, I don't know. I just don't, it's such a, music is such a different thing that it's just so hard to explain, like how people get it and understand it more. And some are still good, but not as good as some people that are great at it. Yeah, I know. And all that.

It's a crazy, it's weird. Where do you see it going with AI? This is a big thing now, right? You've got, there are AI bands on Spotify now that they've said, oh, this is an AI band and they've got, you know, a million, they're getting a million plays, right? Like, where do you see this going? Because all of a sudden you've got, it doesn't matter the arts in general. Film, design, art, music is now we have machine, learning machines that are replicating

or creating. but really just sort of just borrowing and then creative. But what do you think this goes for, I mean, this is what you do, right? For music? This is what we do too. Like, what point are they going to have computers asking better questions than us knuckleheads up here, you know?

They'll actually know the name of bands. Well, they might. I don't know. I think that touring is going to be fine because people are going to want to pay to see the person and not the band. Thank God. And I think that kind of what I was talking about earlier, I think that it is the people that I'm,

and fear of being in danger are the musicians, like in the studio, because AI is so good. It just, like, the app suno that you can just be like, make a so-and-so rock song about blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And the lyrics are never right. It's just not right. And you can tell, like I'm saying, that a person, not yet, but the music is pretty good. And any musician in the studio would be like, no, it's got a blah, blah, blah, but like, Joe Blow doesn't know that.

You know what I mean? Like, he's going to hear that the music from an AI thing and be like, yeah, that sounds just like, you know, whatever, Creed or whatever, whatever, whatever thing that you want it to sound like, they can make it sound pretty close. They could, they could, never, they could never. You're right, you're right. I'm sorry I said that.

Yeah. But I still think for the songwriters, like the people that write the song and they have the idea and they write the lyric and they, that's still, that just like, it's the, it comes from the soul or comes from somewhere that is not just, you know, it's just something that, hey, I, I, formula you just can't you can't make it a binary code right exactly yeah yeah so i think that we're the last the true songwriters are kind of going to be the last to go for sure i mean it's hard because i think what it does is it picks off the little guy 100% in a way because the little guys are the

ones like you know you're you're you got a scrap a long time to get to get to where you're at and i know what that's like i mean just it took us you know two and a half three years of just grinding out playing for 20 kids before you play for 500 and then you play for a thousand and then you get on that big tour. I saw the little guys are going to get sort of hit. Yeah. It's scary. It's a time of uncertainty.

What's the most scary is that it can be stopped. You know? Like there's somebody that can just pull the plug out and we can just let creative people and people that want to have jobs sort of in the arts. I feel like there's in every facet, but kind of the thing I'd live in, like you said, with fashion and whatever else it may be, graphic design and stuff like that like let people uh just have those jobs but it's it's apparently or you know that's just not the world we live in there's somebody making a ton of money and that's just the way it is but yeah

what it was the moments in like your career where you felt like you had the crowd in a moment i know i know a lot of shows feel like it's a wednesday night or a thursday night it's just not the same as those moments when you're like i had a few you know that i can remember but when's the moments like some top five moments You felt like, man, there's something just beyond me happening right now. Man, some of the best, I mean, you know, it's all, it's all depends on, like, where we are. And, you know, I'm very thankful. Our show is really kind of rowdy.

And so, like, our crowds are usually pretty rowdy. So it's just, it's, it's. You could put out a workout tape, you know what I mean? You can't sell that thing. The Richard Simmons. of rock and all and the hardy music. Right, yeah.

But I would say Jim Bob like Kai Bo you know this is with Hardy. It's actually a great idea. I'll take 10%. Come on. At the merch table.

My number one moment that I love to tell is I signed my record deal in 2018. Yeah. And pretty much immediately went on tour with Morgan Wallen

who back then was playing anywhere from 500 to a thousand cap rooms which was nothing obviously compared to what he's doing now. Sure.

And he brought me on tour and I opened for him from November to like March. And then I opened, I played this festival at 2 p.m. And I played this other festival at 3 p.m. And da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da. And then I played a festival in Chicago called Lake Shake. And at this point, I had about eight songs out. And we played, you know, there's the main stage and then there's the tent. Yeah, yeah.

And we were, we, we, we played the tent at like, you know, 5 p.m. And it was, before that day, I still, because I had only done festivals and like opener slots, had no idea where I stood within the community of the people. And that was the day, that day changed everything because we went on and there was like 6,000 people in this tent and they knew every word to every song. And it was, that was, it was a moment. it was a turning point for me where I was like, okay, I feel that there is like no turning back. This is a, and that's not necessarily answering your question of like, you know, those moments where you never want to leave.

But I am so blessed and thankful that, like, I have a lot of those. And like, we have a lot of really great shows. And so sometimes they run together. But that is still, that's a moment that I could live in for forever because I was like, you know. Because until then it feels like a job. And then all of a sudden... Yeah, and you're like, do we suck? I don't know.

Like, I don't know. Oh, my Instagram following is going up and like my streams are doing well, but like touring is everything? And it's like, you know, is this going to work? Is this not going to work? Yeah. And we went from like having a few people in the front row of some festivals, knowing a couple songs to like play in that tent of people that was like pouring out

of the sides. And, you know, the hearty chant is kind of a thing. And that is Lake Shake, Chicago was like where it was actually born. And it was right before we went on state. It was just the most hypeest thing I've ever experienced in my life. And that was just a, that was a moment where I knew. I was like, okay, this is what I'm here to do. Like, I thought for the longest time I was just going to be a songwriter.

But like this, this is a moment that, like, I'll never forget. And that's, yeah, that one stuck with me. What's the first moment you've been, like, in the room and someone's singing your song or a song you wrote? And you don't, they don't know you're there. And you're like, it's all on, like, maybe at a restaurant or something. And you're like, someone's singing a line. Oh, man. Like something you wrote, something you birthed and put in the world.

Yeah, I was actually throwing my bags. One of the, one of my favorite ones was early, early on. There was a, I just, my first song I ever put out was Rednecker. And I was putting my bags in, my golf bag in the back of my truck at McCabe. I was leaving McCabe with my buddies. And some dude pulled in in a big old jacked up truck, just blaring Rednecker, dude. And drove right by me and didn't see me. And I just threw my bags and got in the truck.

And that was a moment where I was like, damn, that was pretty cool. Like that was the first time that I had ever heard my own voice. but man the coolest moment that I have and this wasn't like a in the wild thing but up down which was Morgan Wallin's first number one was my first number one as a songwriter and long story short I had been on the road with Florida Georgia Line and they had had me out for quite some time and I had been writing songs and this and that still hadn't had any real traction but they were sort of giving me a shot. But I was still like on paper, I was like a nobody.

Nobody knew who I really was as a songwriter. You know, I had nothing to show for my any of the, I might be writing with some cool people, but I had no cuts. I had no success. And basically over the course of a couple months, Morgan, he recorded up down. And then I caught word that Tyler and Brian,

the FGL was going to feature on it. And so it was a very hopeful point in my life. And I'll never forget I was on the road one time and Tyler texting me. He said, hey, come to my bus. I got to show you something. And so I get on his bus and there sits Tyler, Brian, and Nellie and me. And I'm just some barefoot idiot songwriter kid that has nothing going on.

And I'm just like, what am I doing here? And I had not heard the song yet. And Tyler played me that song. And that was another huge, huge moment that I just was soaking it all. in and just couldn't believe the room I was in and what I was getting to hear. I mean, at that time, you know, they're broken up now, but FGL was like, they were massive, massive. And I'm just like, what am I doing here?

Yeah. Anyway, that was a really special. That was a cool one. How was, Hardy, how was it, how was a degree of success you've achieved at this point? Like, at this point in your career, how was that changed or impacted your perception on, on God and or your faith? Like, how does, has it changed? anything for you as far as like, is there a deeper understanding in God's plan in your life?

Is there, have you had, is that, is there anything there like where, you know, you, you, you climb the mountain and if you think about things differently or look at things differently? Yeah, definitely. I mean, uh, gosh, sometimes it's, it's hard to pinpoint, but my, I mean, my purpose, I've, I, my biggest thing is that I, um, and kind of through therapy and just a lot of, there's a lot that I've had to come to turn, like, I don't know how to explain it, but that I'm, I've had to learn that I'm, like, very blessed to have been given a gift. And I need to know that I need to use that.

I don't always, but it's hard. To use that for good a lot of times. But, man, with my faith, it's, that's, it's, it's different because, you know, the one thing that sort of, put me on the rocks with a lot of my faith was early on when I started traveling and I started meeting a lot of people that were really good people and there were a lot better people than people I went to church with

but these people necessarily didn't have a relationship with God and that threw me for a loop for a really long time and I feel like I went way over here and was just like let me rethink a lot of things because and I and the thing that I've come to I think is that, I mean, it just, the reality is it is the small town that I grew up in. There's a lot of convolution is not the right word, but there's like a, you guys know the type of people that I'm talking about when it comes to the church.

And so I think that just the church and not even the church here, but like my church and all that, I started to resent a lot of that because I'm like, man, I've met a lot of really great people in my life that are way cooler than you guys. and you guys are judgmental and you don't practice anything that you preach or that's preached to you and yada, yada, yada. And it took me a long time to realize that I need to separate my faith and what I believe in with my now perspective of the church. And so, I don't know, traveling did a lot of that for me. And, man, but it took me a long time also to realize that the blessings that I have and to not. to not be mad at, you know, my success or even my fame, losing my anonymity.

Yeah. Things like that. And it's taken me a long time, but I'm getting back to a lot better place with that. Let me ask a follow up then. Like, did you watch the Scotty Schaeffler interview right before the, the open? Yeah. And then he won. And then he won.

Yeah. If you had any kind of sort of a similar thing because that was a profound, for me, a statement that he, you know, he's like, because he was just like, for what? Like, why am I doing this? Like, I worked my whole life so I can shape a golf ball and shake a golf shot. And it doesn't mean I don't want to be the best at what I do, but, you know, two hours after I win, it's like, you know, what's next. Like this isn't, you know, what matters is like he would say, he said it was his faith and his relationship with his wife and his kid is a singular child. And that that perspective, you know, because he got hammered for it.

And other people thought it was amazing because, you know, everybody's striving to be. So what kind of person you are, you know, right? To sit in that number one spot where he's at, right? Yeah. And then he says, guys. For what? Yeah, for what? It doesn't really matter like you think it does.

I mean, it's, yeah, I think it's very loaded. Some people would call that depression and other people would call that the best, you know, sense of self and sense of perspective that you have, which is, too, I feel like on the far ends of the spectrum. Man, yeah, I think it's, I think that if that is, if that's his perspective and he, and he uses his, and his reasoning is to be just a good person and to be a good Christian and to be a good Christian and to be a family man, then I support it fully. It's different than Trent Resner with Nine Inch Nails

doing an interview and saying, like, none of this matters, I'm going to die and, like, you know, in 10 years, it's a crash and burn lifestyle. That's not what he's, that's not what Scottie's saying, right? I think it's great. But it's also, you know, I feel like maybe he could do a little bit of work

on just, like, enjoying those moments. I don't, I think he did follow it up. I think he said, like, hey, I don't want you, you guys took something to the wrong way. I'm not grateful or whatever. He's like, yeah, I want to win every tournament. And I find a ton of satisfaction and being really good at my craft.

Yeah. But that isn't, I think more or less said, summarizing. Like, it's not the end-all be-all. I think it's hard because when you're a kid, you know, I know your story. You heard Pearl Jam with your dad played Pearl Jam

and just kind of changed your life. There's a long journey from that moment you hear that song to where you're sitting in that tour bus with those dudes going, oh crap, it's number one. But then it happens. So your whole life you've been dreaming of that moment, right?

Yeah. You go to school to be a songwriter. It's not like, I think that's what makes you a personal guy that was willing to come on a show like us because you have a long journey. You know, you have a long story. It's not just like one day you woke up. You're a rich kid.

Your dad puts you in front of the right guys. Pays the money. And then you have a career. Yeah. You pulled yourself up from the swamps and literally. Yeah, literally. Dude, I feel like I have just always kind of had nothing to lose when it comes to my career and stuff.

So, and that makes me, yeah, I mean, it makes me appreciate it more. I moved to Nashville on a. kind of on a whim. I made like a one-day decision and spoke to my parents and was just like, can I give this a shot? Yeah. But I didn't, you know,

I didn't, I didn't, I didn't, I didn't move here with this great anticipation of being a star and like, but, but it's just sort of, I mean, it was my process very similar to what you're saying is,

it was just so like tiny, tiny, tiny steps. And, and so yeah, I just, I don't know, I'm just always just happy to be here.

Man, I, I pride myself and not being a diva, my crew of guys on the road. I'll hang with anybody. Like, I'm not too cool for school. Yeah. No, but like, I just, that's just how I roll in, man. I just to feel like I'm not any better than anybody else.

I just got lucky. But the thing I think that separates a lot of people, and I'm not knocking anybody, but a trend that I have seen more than not is the people that kind of blow up overnight and they lose a sense of perspective because I think they think that it's easy and that they deserve it more because they got it so fast. And I just, I ain't like that, dude. I'll never be like that. Like one of my career is long gone and it wasn't nearly close. I mean, we did about 500 tickets at the peak, but one of the guys I talked to will pick up is an old crew guy. He will still talk. I mean, it's like the people that are at the bottom who work in the music. Those are like actually

your real friends in these industries. And maybe another guy that booked us a couple times because loved our band and it's funny how after it's all said and done, after you win the Masters or you get the Grammy Award and then your career's done, who's still around, who's still hanging out? Boys, dude. I know.

Let me ask this, how was, you was six-month-old, how was being a dad changed your perspective on things? Oh, man, I mean, there's a lot. There's a lot to it. It, um, one of the main things, which is funny, but I've, I've come to peace with it,

is what I say like what is my kid going to be able to Google in 15 years and see about me but the thing is man like the damage is kind of already done for me so like I'm not I'm not to you know there's a lot of middle fingers and there's a lot of internet's forever right yeah yeah so but you know it's a part of my thing and and and as long as I can be a good dad to her and then keep my my music and my art if you want to call it that separate and let them sort of figure out who their dad is on the other side of things later. That's, that's completely fine.

But man, uh, it's awesome. It's, it's like the best thing ever. She's, she's, we're trying,

we're kind of rewiring her sleep schedule brain right now. So that's a little stuff. Yeah. And so, which, and that kind of sucks because we, we want to bring her on the road, but every time we do it,

just screws her up for like two weeks, you know, schedule wise. Um, so. Cause she sleep on a tour bus. Better than anybody I've ever known. Okay.

That thing is like a cave. And she has her little crib. Put her in there. And, zip her up and it's dark. Do the tour buses get better from the, from the warp tour days? Yeah.

They make them now, they just have the air shocks and stuff. So you hit a bump and you just sort of like, you start like an old caddy, dude. It's like a little cat like, yeah, that was the one thing I envied so much. It's like, when you get to that at level, where you can actually sleep on the road. Did you, did you have bandwagons back then?

Do you remember those? The bandwagons, so I had just a, 15 passenger. That was it. Dude, we had there, it was like the war tour special, uh, I guess like later.

on. Like 12 bunks or something? No, it was a, so it was like a, the front of it looked like an, like an F450 or like a, like a, kind of like a 18 wheeler. Yeah, yeah. But it was a fixed, like it wasn't on a hitch trailer that was separate from the cab of the car and you just had a driver, but this trailer had bunks in it. And it's like a, it was like a smaller like bus kind of thing.

It was like cheaper than bus. It was. It was horrible and it was loud. If you hit a bump, dude, it was just like it got struck by lightning. It was horrible. Oh, yeah. I remember, I just remember wanting to get there. I mean, I remember we did like one tour where we were on someone else's bus and it was just like

life changing. I was like, this is, this is, this is where it's at. It's the beginning of the end, dude. Walking out of a tour bus, you know, just like at three o'clock with your hair everywhere and you're like, where am I? It's just like, dude, it's the best. I'll never forget the day that we went from van to bus. And I knew, it was like, you know, my business manager was like, okay, it was like,

We just finished this thing in the bandwagon. She was like, if you can go in a van for the whole month of October, then you'll be in a bus in November and you'll never go back. And I was like, done. So we vanned it for October and then it was just, and it was the best. Do you like writing songs for other people and watching them go? Or do you like writing them for yourself and then like getting behind it and giving it life? I can't choose.

I've never been able to choose. Like, I've been asked that a few times, but it's just like, they're both cool I love being able to write a song and then like someone else make that their own it's like a weird it's like a weird thing

but uh and but you know there is something very special about just you being the person seeing it you know like remembering at truck bad is probably my biggest song on my set and I just remember we're writing that song at 2 a.m.

and we're exhausted and we're tired and we're you know we're trying to squeeze all the creativity we had left and just then now singing it and it being the biggest moment of the night and having all these people sing it and that's a cool moment.

But man, there's just something so cool, especially about writing. I've been very fortunate to be able to write some songs that really helped people's careers. Like for Morgan having his first number one or even God's country for Blake Shelton kind of, I mean, these are his words, but sort of helped resurge or revive his career,

put new win in his sales. and like, man, that's, that's freaking cool. I mean, there's something cool about knowing that you helped someone else, you know, either kickstart or just kind of hit a new, hit a new stride or whatever. That's hard to beat. So I really, I don't know if I can choose.

That's a tough question. I've got to ask you about the bro country. Oh, God, yeah. That was the new single with, you put out the new record with artists, but there's a whole thing going on right now. Yeah. Yeah, with Gavin Atcock and Charlie Crockett.

Yeah. Dude, that timing was just perfect, but I had that. There's nothing to do. No, completely separate parallel lines, dude. Earn texted me like Wednesday and was like, bro, this drop is like perfectly timed. And I was like, I know, but we have our timeline by May. We know exactly what's coming out and when. So when this beef started happening, I was just like.

So you didn't just hit up Gavin. You're like, hey, can create some conflict here? It was all completely organic, man. It's wild. Do you see that, do you see like ride the, wave of that? Does that actually become a thing? You know, I try to stay away from initial comments and stuff because I'm bad about like, I'm bad about reading 100 good ones and one bad one. I'm focusing on the bad one. So usually these days when I have a drop, I'm like, I just let it

let it breathe for a little while and not like dig into it too much. But yeah, I don't know. But the, yeah, I haven't followed the Gavin and Charlie thing a whole lot, but that's But it's on Bro Country, right? It's the whole idea. There's this sort of tension now between. And the song is great. I was, I listened to it on the way into the studio this morning just to be like, you know, it's fun.

It's cool in the sense of like, there's a whole era. You weren't listening to Blurry. His blurry cover? You sent me that on the drive-in. I was listening to the blurry cover. I said, puppet. Roll the windows down, straight blur all the way here. But it's, it is interesting in the timing.

just because there is this whole nostalgic era for I think the sort of what people call BroCountry. Are you asking if he prefers the original Cracker Barrel logo? Hey, yo. No, there's a new time. I mean, times are changing right now.

And the song kind of addresses everything. Even the bridge is like, I'm sure there's a spot or a shot. You'll always have a spot on the Billboard Country Top 10. Like that's an era that was so profound that I feel like that song will live every decade there'll be a few you know like bro country hits like that's never

going to go anywhere I feel like but but you come from so many different genres of music so it's like you probably don't feel like married to one particular thing no not at all but I also like I was my the beginning of my songwriting career was I wrote some bro

some of the most bro stuff out there so like it's just it is what it is I was towards the end of it but I mean up down I wrote a song called I don't know about you for Chris Lane that was right down the got single Saturday night by Coleswindale that was a very brough I mean there's it's in me for sure so I'm you know

I'm talking to myself as well but yeah the song is just like man there's a new thing happening right now with guys like Gavin Adcock Zach Brime which he's been around for forever Wyatt Flores there's all these guys that are that are coming back top the 90s country is sort of

it's just there's a new wave of thing that's really taken over right now that the kids are loving and it's just it's kind of overshattering some of overshadow some of the more the sound of the last 15 years. The mollets and mustaches are back, dude. Do you feel like,

it's kind of a heavier question, but do you feel like God has sort of always been there like helping you in your career? Yeah. Because you kind of, it sort of makes it sound like you didn't really know if this is what you wanted to do or not.

But then you, it just, some guys grind so hard. They want to do it so bad. It's everything they want. There's like, for every Taylor Swift, there's 10,000 little blonde girls playing guitar.

but just dream. Yeah. And you're like... It's just never going to happen. Yeah. You can't break that news. I'm like, dude, it's not going to happen. No, I definitely do.

I mean, dude, I tell people all the time. It's a reason that I have faith is because, like, I've just, like, had so many opportunities fall into my lap that are unexplainable. You know what I mean? Yeah. Obviously, I like to believe in myself and think that I have talent and all that stuff. But I just, there's, I have always in my mind seen it like there is a hand. that it's just sort of pushing me this way, you know,

and then I'll go do this, and then they sort of push me over here. And those are reasons that I believe in God. There's a lot more than that, but, but I, dude, I'm, I just have always just felt like I have just randomly made the right decision, and that's not, that's not me making the decision, you know? I mean, a great example is, like, Morgan, when I, the first time I wrote with Morgan, he was, he was, he had one song that had peaked at, like, number 30 on the,

on the chart and, uh, my publisher called me and was like, hey, this Morgan Wolling kid, big loud, brand new artist, you want to write with him. And, uh, I was like, sure. And at that point in my career, I was, I was, if it wasn't somebody that I, like, I was turning things down occasionally. You know what I mean? It wasn't like, but and all I mean by that is like, I was like, yeah, I'll write with him. I think he's cool. And just like, like, he is a huge part of, I mean, he changed my life. You know what I mean? Yeah. So did the FGL guys. But they, they, they, a whole different story but like just things like that that were just like I could have been anybody that day he could it that could it that could have been anybody but he and I happened to hit it off and

and ended up writing a ton of hits together and I don't know and then just to see how much I my career and my life has benefited from from those relationships I've been in a few rights and it's literally like you drive across town it's a couple hours you grab some lunch you talk about life half the time you're just trying to get to know this person you write a song and that thing lives in the the universe forever. It's kind of a crazy experience that you got that phone call that one day and that happened. I mean, that's like one and a million phone call. Yeah, kind of.

Yeah. I mean, he's like one of the biggest artists on the planet. Yeah, it's wild, dude. Do you feel like you're like, just based on how you described, you kind of growing up in your faith, like you're on a path of separating creativity from your negative church experience? Like, completely separate. Yeah. If that's what you're asking. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Like, it's kind of coming to terms with like this, the creation of everything is different than my bad experiences with Christians or church people. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because you kind of live in that creative world and you're constantly talking to the people about what is a good song, what isn't a good song, what are, you know, what connects and what doesn't connect. It's, you're kind of happening a philosophical conversation all the time trying to figure out why does this song work and this one doesn't.

Yeah. Dude, that'll, that's a, that'll, I have to wash my hands of that sometimes because there's just, sometimes you hear it and you're like, oh boy, that is going to be a jam. You know, being in the industry, like somebody else has to be like, yo, do you hear so and so single? It's coming out next week. Check this out. And you're like, oh my God. And then there's some that you're just like, that's not going to work.

And it's just like a massive hit. And you're just like, I don't know anything anymore, you know? You don't. It's wild. It's weird howl. I watched an interview that John Mayer gave at, I think it was Berkeley School of Music. or whatever and he was saying if you think you're smarter than your fans you're going to sell like a thousand copies you know because you're not like there's some sort of collective knowledge that

everyone knows about and when they get the message they're all in and you can't really crack that it's weird because i feel like you're you're like you're tapped into it but it's like short-circuited because those are your moments of creativity is when that electricity gets through and you're like they're going to love this you know what i mean but sometimes you just you don't know you you really don't know which one's going to be the one. You have no idea. Yeah. So what genre would a music would Bigfoot be into?

What's the, what's the, what's the, I know it's country, but what? Is it country? I mean, it might be mailing and something. Dude, it's just mail. Just melee. It's just the melee discography. It's hardcore. What genre?

What big, what's, what's, what's great, dirty Southern Rock? Yeah. What's he streaming on Spotify? Or Yonnie. It's, what makes me think that it's like, it's like John Denver, like very acoustic, heavy, outdoorsy Americana type music. The 70s Bigfoot's just ripping John Denfer

rolling through the... Yeah, dude. Smoking Marlboro Reds. He's hiking the Appalachian Trail just... Yeah, with just some... Just like some Jim Crocey sounding stuff in the background. What if it's like... What if he's just really into like classical?

We just, we misread him the whole time. Maybe. He's got Bach and... Well, you know, if he's... I mean, it's like if he... Like you said, it's like Pan flute, you know, he's, he's heard, he's heard everything at this point, I'm sure. What are you guys, what's y'all, what's like your number one?

And I don't even know if you're allowed. This is, this is like, this is like the question of like, if Gilligan got off the island, then there would not be a show anymore. But like, do you have an ultimate theory or a belief about Bigfoot? Like, do you have a number one mantra or whatever you want to call it? Like, a, like, like, you're best. I think it just, like, what's your, what's your take? What's your all-time tank?

And if this is a don't answer thing, that's fine. We could ask this sometimes, actually. Yeah, we get, when we go on other people's shows, these are the questions. We were just on a show the other night, a Ramsey show and Ken Coleman's show. And he was trying to, his whole audience is not ours. And we had to kind of rethink those questions. So I think it's just the stories grow and sort of the paradigm grows. You don't really get an answer, but you don't think that it's, it's an easy answer.

that makes sense. It's harder to like answer the question of what you really think Bigfoot is because kind of throw all the bizarreness in there like the telepathic communication people have with this thing. You're like what is that? That's not an animal. It's not a bear. It's not like undiscovered primate. That's that's been that's been that's in different stories too. Like that's in Mothman stuff. Oh yeah. Yeah. Where they're like and then I realized that we never spoke words like kind of thing. Yeah. That's why I'm more and more it's about the supernatural aspect because obviously there's footprints. And like, you know, famously in our show, like Dr. Michael Heiser said,

if just one of those stories of true, it's true, bust the paradigm. So you'd have to believe that everyone is faking all of the footprints and everything and every story is. Luke thinks he's attractive. He's very attractive. It's hot. He's like a hairy Brad Pitt out there, dude. Glistening in the sun.

That's your favorite story. We had some lady on that told us a story about him. She pulled up in a boat and there was this like beautiful big foot on the shore. Like hair glistening. Jacked. Dude, it was like, it was like starting to venture into like this sort of this erotic story.

You're like, this is getting too weird. Yeah, I think, I think, you know, the wildest stories, Bigfoot's not from here,

you know, he's kind of dropped off. So, um, or any crazy book of enoch type thing or whatever. Yeah. Is that one? Isn't that one?

Is there not a, I mean, there's not one in Enoch. There's one, uh, there's descendants of, you know, that's like the,

like there's a whole, there's a whole Mormon. take on Bigfoot. Oh no, we don't, we don't go that. We don't get to that one. I mean, there could, it could be a chimera. So, like, you know, the fallen angels were tinkering with all of creation, plants, animals, whatever. Could have taken this from a human genome, splice it with this animal, and you create this, like, I mean, I think early on in the show, I thought that.

It still could be possible. But it seems like Bigfoot's kind of, like, curious. So if he was been around longer than us, I think he would know a lot about what we're doing and who we are. But the fact that they were still kind of trying to like peek in your window be like, what's already up to tonight? What's he doing here? You know, what's he? Without or they're just walking through. He's just kind of cruising through. Yeah. And not even paying you attention. It's almost like the ghost parrot and I'm. You're like, what's happening here?

You know, like. So the sort of the personality doesn't lend to those theories. But I don't know. What do I know? I mean, dude, I think the biggest thing is like if, if he, if Bigfoot is real, then he's got to. to have some sort of superpower, supernatural thing because the history channel could just have a TV show where they scan every single square inch of Canada with a thermal thing until they find him. That's not that hard to do if we really wanted to do it. Yeah. And then Gilligan gets off the island. Well, yeah, then you have, you got an answer. Yeah, he's way smarter than that. And I think, in some ways, I think we like it to stay in the mystery realm. Yeah, for sure. But there's so

many blurry creatures so it's like once we figure this out maybe they maybe they kill one pull it out of the woods or whatever and they have there's so many stories where the guys have shot them and killed them and this and that and men and black show up and all the yeah yeah yeah who's the blurriest person in the country music industry who's the artist that has that's super into these rabbit holes and is actually way into the weird stuff other than you of course present company excluded who do you think oh man what you think's weirder than you i don't know we're ready to Like who would you be talking to backstage about all this stuff versus some people you know you couldn't talk about this stuff with? They'd be like, ah, you're a little weird.

I'm not going to... Man, for some, something tells me that like, uh... Okay, so one, I think that Luke Combs is very intrigued by a lot of that kind of stuff. He and I've had some cool talks about whatever, and he's a very, he's a really, really smart guy. So he's, I feel like he'd be into that. Another one, big Colorado mountain guy, who I just feel like would be into that is Dirk's. Okay. Yeah.

Oh, he just posted a UFO video on his Instagram. Boom. There you go. Yeah. Did he really? Yeah, he did. You pull it up? I don't even seen it yet.

Yeah. Hey, Dan, can you pull up Dirk, his Instagram? He posted a UFO video. Where was he? In Colorado? I don't know. I just, we get, like, people send us all the blurry stuff. So we got like 10 links to that that day.

You know who messages me quite often is Jared Neiman, who writer. Oh, bro. He's always like, hey, I want to talk about this stuff, dude. Dude, that's a great answer. Yeah. He's out there. I'm trying to think.

While we're waiting, I got to tell Waylon Jennings' haunted cowboy boots. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I want to hear this. Okay, so, Whalen Ben Jennings and the haunted cowboy boots. This sounds like a children's book. No, hey, this is the top. By Michael Hardy.

This is the number one paranormal story in country music. So he wore cowboy boots that were once owned by Hank Williams Senior during a stormy night in the studio. Suddenly a tree crashed down on his brand new Cadillac, but miraculously, there wasn't a scratch on it. Jennings believed that the ghost of Hank's, Hank Williams, Sr. was behind the eerie incident and promptly took off the boots. So there it is.

Interesting. Yeah. I can't believe I've never heard that before. That's it right there. There's a couple. There's a Darius Rucker one. That's literally like the Wizard of Oz. I know.

Take it what it is. And here's Dirk's Bentley. Here's Dirk. Dirk's Bentley says, see this all the time flying east to west in the northwest sky. Me and a post about it for a few years. They light up, move around for a bit, then go dark. It appeared to be 70,000 feet, but then they stay in the exact same spot when you fly across the entire country. Yeah, because he flies.

Not satellites, not Starlink and not meteors. Not saying they are UFOs, but they are definitely unidentified flying objects. Okay, come for the post, here for the comments. He, and, you know, he flies. Yeah. So, like, he sees probably a lot of that. in the sky. Yeah.

He would be a good, he would get down with that for sure. I feel like he's, he's got, honestly, between the aliens and Bigfoot, because he's a big mountain guy. Yeah.

You know, and also spends a lot of time in the sky. I'm trying to think, I wish I had a, I wish I had a better answer, but you know, like,

kind of a layup is like, Billy Ray Cyrus. Yeah, yeah. He would be down with that for sure. He was a little crazy. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So everyone wants to know,

or any blurry lyrics, anything paranormal, weird, or wild in your lyrics? Or is it coming? Is it coming? Dude, I have a song that's on my next album that is, it's not necessarily blurry, but it's definitely my favorite concept I've ever written.

And the song is called Bedrooms in the Sky, but it basically says that it's the, it's the concept that in a nuclear fallout, it's crazy. Let's go. But like in a nuclear fallout or like a meteor or something that if a few people, you know, happen to be underground or something like that, that, that, the concept is that, you know, country lifestyle is going to, it's going to, no matter how how crazy the world gets, it's always going to come back around because people are going to crawl out of a hole and they're going to have to learn how to hunt and they're going to have to learn how to fish and all that. But that's as blurry as it gets right now. It's at the cyclical.

I don't know if you guys watch Rick and Morty, but when Jerry, when he's, what is he, he's stuck in the time loop thing and he wakes up and he's like, Christianity again? I don't know if you, it's like an older episode, but yeah,

it's just this time loop that's, you know, going over and over over. So that song is, that's, that's what it talks about. That's, that's as blurry as it gets.

It's hard, man. It's hard to like come up with new concepts. You know, you've got to pull some, some weird ones out of that. Yeah, you kind of have to make twist on new ones too,

you know. Yeah. Sometimes. So you're excited about your new record? Do you want to talk about that a little bit? Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's called Country Country. It comes out September 26th, I think.

That's correct. Yeah. That's on my notes. My manager is just like, God, you've said it 100 times by now. You should know. But yeah, it's a full on 20 song country record. Wow. Which I haven't really since I've started, like, been like, this is my fourth record.

And everyone has sort of had its own thing. This is very much like this is a country record. And I'm not saying it's traditional or this or that. It's all very much me. But it's this is a country record. There's 20 country songs on this record period. So I'm excited. We're in this fall.

So we're going folks fine. Yeah. We are, we've only got, we've only got four weekends left. But this weekend we're in Syracuse, Hershey, Pennsylvania, and right outside of Pittsburgh. we've got Jackson, Mississippi, Birmingham, Greenville, South Carolina, Tampa, West Palm, Atlanta, and then finish up at Madison Square Garden in September 24th, I think, or 23rd, something like that. The Garden. What's it like going home, being back in your hometown now?

Going to my hometown? Yeah. I mean, I'll stay out of the riffraff for sure. But I mean, like, just... That's a good answer, too. People have to use cigars. cars and what are they doing? No, I don't, I don't go anywhere. Like, if we even go out to eat, there's only like, you know, five or six, seven, eight restaurants in my hometown, but

I, um, I, you know, it's just too much now. I slip around. I'm, I'm very elusive when I go home for sure. I, dude, I am. I am the big foot of Philadelphia, Mississippi. I, um, I made the mistake of wrapping my truck and camouflage. Oh, there you know, thinking that nobody would see me. It's a good idea. It's a good idea. Yeah, yeah. So, so now I drive around town and get people, you know, People are kind of tracking me down. But no, my parents live here and sold our, my childhood home. So when I go back home, I just stay at our deer camp. Okay.

I mean, I live like a redneck for, you know, depending on however long we're down there. I hunt a lot. So I go down there and I hunt a lot. And, man, I'll make one trip to a grocery store that's actually not in my hometown. It's the one town away. Yeah, yeah. And I run in there real quick and grab everything. I have a list and I get everything.

I get out and I just sort of hide out for a couple weeks. It's great. Do you have any good fan experiences? Like, just like the one that... Like good, good as in like that was funny but never wanted to be in. That was my number one fan story. I have...

There's a lot of like autograph fans that honestly just sort of pissed me off and are very pushy and kind of very rude. eBay fans. Entitled. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's always kind of a thing. And like I flew to a wedding in New York

that was a wedding that that nobody would ever ever, ever, ever know that I was invited to. Yeah. And so I flew alone. This was like a month or two ago. And a guy met me at the freaking gate with a guitar and a vinyl. Oh, come on.

And I just asked him. I signed everything. I was like, how did you know? And he was like, my aunt works at the airport and saw you in the airport. I was like, how did your aunt know that I was flying to LaGuardia at 1.20 p.m.? And he was like, you know, couldn't tell me. But you never know how people find that. But a lot of people will, I mean, I'll do a meat and greeting.

and they'll just have like a giant portrait, you know, tattoo thing. But I will say my favorite thing to do. That's always wild to see that, I bet. One of my best friends in the world is my photographer, content guy, Tanner. And I've had him for years. And he and I were just, he works for me,

but we're like, we're also just good friends. And our favorite thing to do, it's for, I'm just going to be straight up is make fun of people for botching their first impression with me. If that makes sense. It's just like the most awkward. It is so funny because there was one guy at a meet and greet and he's like, How's a band, Georgia's for a line?

How's it, Gogan? And it's just like people that just completely fumble their words and then turn around and bump into something, you know, and just knock something over. It's like our favorite thing to do. And there's a lot of that. So that's like, that's fun. That's fun. Harmless.

You know, harmless fun. It's never to their face or anything after the fact. We give them hell pretty good. You know the guy's going home being like, man, I screwed it up. Exactly. We're like, man, that guy watched the. whole show and was like, man, I met that guy. I completely screwed the whole thing.

It fell down right into catering, you know. Knocked over all. Yeah, the entire rack of food. It's true, though. I mean, some people who wait their whole, you know, a long time to finally say hi and kind of get stumbled. And I mean, sometimes doing this podcast, the same thing. Like you, you like listen to this person on so many podcasts.

They get on your show and then you're like, and you just chunk it. That's a real thing, man. I mean, yeah, I'm trying to think I, I feel like I'm, oh, I recently met James Het field. Oh yeah. He came to, I played the opera. So you had that moment. Dude, I did. And I, when he, after, he came in our green room and we chatted for a little bit. And then he left. And I just like, turned to my band and I was like, that was bad, wasn't it? And they were like, dude, you would not shut up. Like, you needed to quit talking. I just kind of went into overdrive or whatever. I got to redeem. The next night that they played and then I got to see him

again and redeem myself. It was a lot more chill the second time. But it happens, man. I love those stories. I was watching one. The drummer of Sun 41 was talking about when he met Oasis the other day on his channel. And he just walked up to him like Liam, I think one of the guys and just walked up to him and gave him hell right from the beginning and then did something else. And it's just like these funny stories when you're the guy behind the scenes, but you're the guy that people want to, they're paid to see there to be there. And yeah, you're having your own experience. Yeah, dude. It's humbling, man. It's awesome. It is. I love it. You're like, I don't know what to do with myself. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. It's funny who the people that you end up being starstruck by and who you don't though because it could be it's just

it hits you like you don't you don't see it coming you know what I mean like sometimes you meet somebody and you're just like oh they were super cool like I never would have ever thought yeah that it would you know not be starstruck and then some people it just it's like a wave comes over you and you're like when I met I met West Borland um okay with Limp Biscuit and I kind of had the same thing I just and he was right before he went on stage so he was in full full like costume And I just was like, you know, it happens, man.

It's kind of whoever you listened to when you were a kid. Exactly. Way before you got into this. 100%. Yeah. Like I could meet Celine Dion and just not, you know what I mean?

It just wouldn't affect me. But yeah, you never know. It could be some indie rock band that nobody had ever heard of and you meet the drummer and you freak out or something. Yeah, I'm trying to,

we have a buddy that we brought on the show. He had a big foot experience. He was a shock rock DJ, Man Cowell-Muler from Chicago. And he's good friends with Billy Corrig. And I'm like, can you get Billy on the show? I'd love it. Because Billy has a shapeshifter story that he tells.

Oh, no way. And I was like, I would definitely be like, you know, instantly just stuttering every word and couldn't talk to that guy. He seems kind of unapproachable, too. I don't know if he, I don't know that. It's hard to tell with some of those guys. Because some of the guys that are super hard on stage are actually the easiest to talk to. Yeah. And you're like, this is so weird.

And then, you know, they're not super introverted off stage. I mean, that's always the comedians that are always the super introverted ones. and you're like, you're nothing like you are on stage. Yes, comedians, that is, there's some of them that are exactly the same, but there's a lot of them that you're like, yeah, you're like, how are you this boring or like shy? Yeah, it is. It's crazy. Well, thanks, Hardy.

Yeah, thank you. This was awesome. Hardy appreciate it, man. I know you're busy guy. I know you're, you know, you got your fourth record coming out. There's so many places you could be right now. And in between dates, too. So, thanks for making time for us.

Yeah, of course. I enjoy it.