New Heights with Jason and Travis Kelce - Kylie's Husband at the Olympics & Chris Stapleton on Anthem Tears, Drinkin' Whiskey, & More | Ep 180

Starting point is 00:00:00 Twinsies. St. Jersey. Yeah, baby. USA! USA! Where'd you watch the game? What'd you do for the game? Yeah, dude, I was up in New York watching it, man.

Starting point is 00:00:11 Just, uh... Nice. Yeah, catching it. Me and Taye watched the entire game, man. And it's just so fucking epic, man. From the first drop of the puck, man, that game was nonstop action and just had me at the edge of my seat at 8.05 in the morning or 8, 10 in the morning, whatever it was, man. And loved every bit of it, man.

Starting point is 00:00:30 It was Big Ed Kelsey's birthday. Shout out to Big Ed. Right. Making another. Went gold on Big Ed's birthday. Hell yeah, man. We're more fitting for the big guy on his birthday. And so we gave him a shout and talked to him a little bit during the game.

Starting point is 00:00:43 And just fucking exploded when I saw old Jack Hughes fucking put it right between the legs, man. How about a nice five hole? Nice little Lloyd Christmas lookalike rendition with the teeth. Oh, dude. He did. Yeah, he had the chipped tooth, man. High stick earlier. It looked like he had lost that tooth once or twice before.

Starting point is 00:01:02 They crushed it. USA was so much fun to watch throughout the entire tournament, man. That semi-final game that you went to, I'm sure we'll get it to in the rundown, but absolutely epic. Yeah. Yeah. We did our Slovakian heritage. We're not Slovakian. Slovenian.

Starting point is 00:01:20 What, Croatian? We're Croatian. I think there's some Slovenian on Mom's side, too. Is there? Yeah. Slobs. I don't know that. Go to those slavs.

Starting point is 00:01:28 I mean, it's all. like Balkan territory, I believe. Yeah, I think there's a little, little Czechie as well. Cheki? I think we're a little Czechie so fucking. We definitely got some Eastern European Bank fucking heritage. I've seen some like Slavic area people that I'm like, yeah, they kind of look like. Dude, you put a babushka on or those fucking furry things on, man.

Starting point is 00:01:48 You would fucking fit right in Russia. You got the eyebrows. I got the eyebrows. Are Russians known for thick eyebrows? I think Russians are known. Which Russians are you thinking of? It is a very big country. No, dude, there's an epic game.

Starting point is 00:02:01 Shout out to Canada, too, man. Obviously, that team is so fucking stacked. I've never seen that many close calls not go in for a team. Helly beers, man. It's wild. Helly beers, my fucking guy. Yeah, he fucking loved. I mean, he played a hell of the game.

Starting point is 00:02:13 The defenseman, I forget who it was, was in the net, freaking, he was stopping shots. It was crazy. Sometimes the force is just with you, man. There is just something about hockey, whether it's playoff hockey or national hockey. When guys are, like, going all out, it's just the most fun sport to watch on the planet. Bro, that wasn't a fucking. intense game from the start how much the fucking puck was moving it was like there were a few passes i was just like how the fuck did he even know the guy was over there you know what i mean it was

Starting point is 00:02:39 like the puck was moving so goddamn quick those guys on both teams those guys are like so in sake man well USA yeah we should probably start this thing huh hockey capital in the world i mean dude we're men's and women's gold medal best country on the planet in hockey I don't want to hear any i don't want to hear any arguments I know you guys had a lot of shots on goals and put up a hell of a performance. Got to get back on defense, man. Most important person, goaltender. Most important person.

Starting point is 00:03:07 Helly beers. If the Chief didn't have Patrick Mahomes, I don't know how many Super Bowl's they win, but they have Patcherball. Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. They're not playing hypotheticals here. Welcome back to New Heights, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, a wondry show, brought to you by Expedia. The one place you go to go places. That's right. The place you go to places.

Starting point is 00:03:31 We are your host. I'm Travis Kelsey, my big brother, Jason Kelsey, out of the U.S. of a Cleveland Heights, Ohio, and University of Cincinnati, 11. Shout out to the Bearcats taking down the fucking Jayhawks at Allen Fieldhouse. I've been there a few times. Not an easy place to play. But shout out to the cats, man. Keep making a fucking run, boys.

Starting point is 00:03:52 He's making a fucking run, boys. Got about four or five games left in the Big East, and I'm bucking. I'm dialed in. I'm watching every one of them. Especially got my eye on those BYU Cougars. We got to play coming out to all you cougars that are in the Kansas City Chiefs building. I'm talking, you big red. We're coming for you.

Starting point is 00:04:09 Subscribe on YouTube. OneGuPlus wherever you get your podcast and follow the show at New Heights with OneS for fun clips throughout the week on all social media channels. Jason, why don't you tell the people what we have coming up knowing we've had a lot going on these past two weeks? Yeah, I mean, we've been off from podcasting, but we haven't been off from getting out of the house. Not a few percent is we're going to get into everything these last couple weeks, including. from our time after the Super Bowl where Kyle and I went to the Olympics, and Travis had an absolute awesome moment at Pebble Beach with his absolute unit of a caddy. And we're also going to get into a great conversation with country music superstar Chris Stapleton.

Starting point is 00:04:48 Oh, yeah. Let's go, Chris. Before we get into all that, we're obviously going to get into some of that new news. News. News is brought to you by American Express. Yes, it is. Yes, it is. All righty.

Starting point is 00:05:01 we are in a full-blown blizzard. That's the new news I got here. I'll send a little text to the group chat. This is my front yard this morning. Yeah, I'm looking at the snow coming down right about now. Yeah, they weren't lying. I'm up on the East Coast right now, and it is... It's coming down.

Starting point is 00:05:19 It is coming down right now, and I fucking love it, man. When you haven't seen snowfall in a while and, like, it get heavy and just turn the entire place white and bright, it is just so magical. It looks gorgeous. Hard to get around if the city isn't taking care of it, but it is beautiful. That's my problem is that we have seen snow for a while now. It hasn't been missing for those of us in Philadelphia. So I'm kind of over the snow. I'm not going to lie.

Starting point is 00:05:47 It looks gorgeous. Love looking at it. But shoveling it doing all that stuff and then trying to freaking get around. It is a pain in the fucking ass. I'm not going to lie. Dude, you don't have the old snowblower? Snowblower? No, I don't.

Starting point is 00:05:58 No snowblower. Dude. That is an investment I need to make. You got to stop, you got to start working smarter. For sure. Smarter, not harder. Yeah. Paul Longuism.

Starting point is 00:06:07 Yeah. Dude, do you remember fucking shoveling snow our entire childhood? And then when we went off to the University of Cincinnati, we come back and dad has a snowblower. Yeah. I mean, why would he invest in a snowblower? I mean, he's got two kids and shoveling. It's such a head Kelsey move. He ain't shoveling snow with that back.

Starting point is 00:06:24 No chance. But then it's also like, yeah, dad, do you want me to go, like, use the snowblower to shoveling to get the snow. Like, no, I got it. It's like, it's like he like, dude, it's one of the funnest things you could have. I'm pro manual labor for kids. Yeah, no, 100%. You appreciate it when you, when you're the one doing it.

Starting point is 00:06:43 And then you get to tell another fucking kid to do it. Can't wait. We also drop some film breakdown for Eagles fans wondering what to expect from new officer coordinator, Sean Mannion. Oh, I saw that, Jason. That was a pretty good breakdown. It wasn't bad. Hitches left and right.

Starting point is 00:06:57 Hitches all over the field. It wasn't as organized as I would have liked it to be, but I think it turned out great. Aaron did a fantastic job. Shout out to our producer, Aaron. I think we can do a lot more stuff like that. That can be really insightful. I'd love to do it with you, Traub, because I know you know a lot more about route concepts and the passing game.

Starting point is 00:07:16 And I think there's a thirst for me learning a lot of that aspect of the game that I've never really known. So anyways, we had a lot of fun with this one. I'm excited about some of the things that come with Sean Mannion. We had some comments we were going to go through. I love this. We need more of this from Jason. It brings in his knowledge and genuinely, I really love watching film.

Starting point is 00:07:36 Oh, okay. It is fun to watch film. It is fun to watch film. You know what film also is? It's expensive as fuck. The NFL is they're not fucking around. We have the license and rights to that shit, and they're making you pay for every fucking minute of it.

Starting point is 00:07:48 Well, not every minute. But they're going to, you do a lot. They're going to start charging it. And that's the one reason. It's really difficult. We had another comment left my ass. off good one stating starting out to break down of a hitchpoint that was all intern brandon's idea shout out to interim brandon thought it was a awesome way to start it off who doesn't love a good

Starting point is 00:08:08 hitch route by everyone you know when everybody when you know when you know what it's called yeah so it's called spacing you ever heard that you ever heard that one being called in the huddle spacing concepts yeah soft and off outside you're ripping those guys all day and then if it's press outside, then you go inside. The inside guys kind of have to have like a nice little feel on where to find those zones, where to find those voids. You don't want to run to get covered. And that was a great job by, what was it, Messenberg or the tight end out of Green Bay

Starting point is 00:08:42 of finding that void or that arc release. Yeah. Yeah. There we go. Love it, love it. It was solid, though. It was solid stuff, though. And I thought it was a great timing on the dishes.

Starting point is 00:08:51 Jason sounding like a man who would be a great addition to the coaching staff. in the offensive line room. Yeah, he would. Jason is 100% a coach in the offensive line room. The Eagles just don't pay them. I wish I had time to do more stuff like that. I really think it would be fun. But those coaches, as we saw with Mike McDonald,

Starting point is 00:09:12 they spent a lot of time in the offices. Oh, yeah, a whole lot of time. That is something that I don't have that much of a desire to do. Well, it was awesome to see you break down some film. I know I had some fun with it, But I'm sure the 92 percenters would love to have an input on what we should break down next. Like, whose film we should break down next? We want your guys's suggestions.

Starting point is 00:09:35 So please throw some suggestions out there. And do we have a segment name? Have we named this segment yet? We got some. We got some comments underneath the post that we already put out there. If you break it down the film from Allison Rose Barnum, all 22. with the 92. Not a bad one, not a bad one.

Starting point is 00:09:59 Not a bad at all. Not bad at all. I like this one a little bit more, though. Joe Courtney 13, X's and Bros. X's and Bros. It's not a bad one at all. That was pretty good. We got one more from WikiWall or the obvious,

Starting point is 00:10:15 Kel see what I did there. Or Kel see what they did there. Sorry about that. I can't read. But that was a solid one. And I just like his profile pick of AI, with the fro. I think maybe you would just throw that out to the suggestions as well.

Starting point is 00:10:29 How about it, 92 percenters? Oh, that's Mike Wallace? Yeah, apparently. Like the Mike Wallace? Like wide receiver, Mike Wallace? No, no. Mike Wallace is in the main producer I have on my individual stuff. Oh, that Mike Wallace.

Starting point is 00:10:43 That'll be very nice of humbling Mike. Anyway, shout out to Mike. Mike did a great job with the bobsled video that came out this past week. Shout out to Mike and Joey. I can't wait to get into that. We're going to get into that in a second. That was fantastic. Also, this Friday dropping some bonus content, the Heights hotline,

Starting point is 00:11:01 off topic offseason. How about it? Got some great voicemails from the 92 percenters that you guys are going to hear us answer and available on YouTube, One Tree Plus, or wherever you get your podcast this Friday. So make sure you check that one out. Once again, new news is brought to you by American Express. Let's keep it moving to Out of the House. Brought to you by Pipsy.

Starting point is 00:11:24 Oh, man, I should know what my messy head. Ed Kelsey favorite. Rocking all the fucking USA gear because we're champions. Did you know that Norway was that fucking far ahead of everyone? Why are you saying Norway? What is what do you mean? Is it not Norway? What do you mean?

Starting point is 00:11:39 Don't they have like the fucking most golds of everyone? Oh, you're talking about in the Olympics? I did not know that. But I mean, Norway's always up there because they're... Dude, they came into it with 70 more medals than us. They came into it? Yeah. Like all time medals?

Starting point is 00:11:52 Yeah. I was like... Listen, there's nothing. There's not a lot to do up there in Norway. Cross-country skiing is just how you try. It's just going to work. Yeah, exactly. I was watching the Olympics nonstop.

Starting point is 00:12:05 And you were at them, so you didn't see a lot of the broadcast. But in between, they were talking about, they were showing why Norway is like, always like one of the best in the winter games. And they said they call it the Norway. It's the way of Norway. And they said they get them on skis and skates and, get them down the slopes and into the games when they're real, real young.

Starting point is 00:12:28 It's like their way of, like, competing in a lot of ways. Yeah, either way, let's keep this thing moving. USA won golden hockey and men's and women since all I care about. Out of the house is brought to you by Pantsy! Before we get to the Jason in Italy, Jason and Kylie in Italy, don't forget that. Tell us about your time with the Bob Sled team, Jason out in Utah. Dude, it was awesome. I got to, I got the, for those of you that didn't see the YouTube video that

Starting point is 00:12:53 dropped last week. I got the very fortunate experience to go up to Team USA bobsled's headquarters out there in Park City, Utah, and got to see what it feels like to go down a track in a bobsled with Team USA, Frank Del Duka, the driver and captain of the Team USA unit that I was with, as well as some awesome Olympians, Kaylee Humphreys, who won bronze, I believe, in the mono Bob Sled, which is just one man Bob sled. They were kind of all up there. And the whole crux of the video is like, hey, what does it take to make this team or to like kind of be considered?

Starting point is 00:13:31 So we started off by putting me through the ringer testing to see if I'd even go qualify for that. And to which that, I was borderline at best. I don't think they would have given me another shot, but they definitely, they appeased me. I don't know. Every time, every time they said you got to hit a number, you hit the number. Yeah, but I was also way below what they would like get those numbers. Oh, okay.

Starting point is 00:13:49 All right. Well, they said between on the, on the, would you run a 20 or 40? It was a 30 meter sprint. So it's like a little bit less than a 40. It was like 30, whatever yards. And you ran that at 3.9. And it looked like you were jogging. It didn't look like you were sprinting.

Starting point is 00:14:04 I definitely can do better than that. But it was. Why didn't you? It was the vertical jump test. It was really the telltale side. The 30? The 30 didn't count at your weight and your power. I don't know.

Starting point is 00:14:18 Here's the thing. They did say, why? So after we got done with this, we did what I really wanted to do, which was to see how these guys trained. So we got on the dry land sled up top and we started working on pushing, getting into the sled, how they get out of the break. The cadence, they use the cadence to know when to time it up so they all hit the sled in unison. It was awesome. It was a blast learning all the different techniques and whatnot.

Starting point is 00:14:40 I would love to do this more. I mean, it was humbling experience. But they did say, you're coming off of some power. Definitely coming off of some power. We know if there's anything Jason kills his gap. It's the power. I think it would be a lot of fun to do it more. And actually, they wouldn't let me push and do it on the ice for liability concerns.

Starting point is 00:15:00 You have to be better, I think, on dry land and really go at it jumping into the thing first before they did. They didn't have a fucking waiver. They had some waivers, but there were also three people. I mean, one of the sleds in the video, the driver didn't make it in there. So they're like, yeah, we're not doing that with you. But they did say, if you want to come up to the track and like Placid, the end. door, we'll let you potentially try and push it and jump in. So maybe that's a future video in the making because I would like to see that full

Starting point is 00:15:26 experience. But it is the timing required, the athleticism that these guys have, all of these guys are former like athletes and usually big skills. Some of them are former lacrosse players. Most of them are former track runners. Most of them weigh anywhere from 225 to 250, somewhere in that ballpark range. I'd be really curious to see what it feels like. The problem is I'm really built to be a third or second guy,

Starting point is 00:15:56 but you have to be running at full speed. That thing is moving already 21 miles an hour down the track. You've got to be keeping up with it. Off the jump? Well, not, but by the time you're jumping in, that thing is moving 19, 21 miles an hour with all four of you pushing it. So that was a big thing that was hard. I didn't know that.

Starting point is 00:16:14 That's moving. They weren't even. they weren't even like really getting after it. It is hard to keep up with the back. Especially if you're the last person to jump in, you can't slow that thing down. So you have to be running to keep up with it. So shout out to all those Olympic athletes that are doing that.

Starting point is 00:16:30 They are world class explosive top end speed runners. I would be curious to see how a lot of linebackers and running backs would do. That feels like the best or tight ends. Come on. Travis Kelsey moving on that thing. Come on. It sounds like. 19 to 20 mile an hour, like, top-end speed right now.

Starting point is 00:16:49 And I don't know about... Once you start striding, you can get that thing going, you've got them long legs. I hear you. You got those bird legs, right? I hear it. Yeah. I've actually recorded myself. I'm only going 19, 20 miles an hour.

Starting point is 00:17:00 I know these numbers. Well, either way, it was an awesome experience. It was great to meet all them, to learn how it all happens in a very intro-novist way. Yeah. And then also just the ride itself. way more intense than I imagine. Like, I think you, I thought it would be like a roller coaster. I really did.

Starting point is 00:17:20 I thought it would be, oh, we'll go around the beds and, you know, the energy that you are moving down this thing at over 80 miles an hour. And when you go into these bank turns, it pushes you into the bottom of this thing. And on the bottom of the sled, there's like these metal rails in my ass is so fucking wide. I'm, they're sitting on those metal rails. I'm being pitched down onto these metal beams. I'm trying to keep my head up so I can see.

Starting point is 00:17:44 Are you not allowed to put? a seat in this thing? Huh? I have no idea how Frank was. Frank Del Dukka, the driver. I have no fucking idea how he was even knowing when to do the turns and everything. Like you have to memorize it. Yeah, you got another course. That makes sense.

Starting point is 00:18:00 It is going by so fast. Like just, you, do, do, jiv, jiv, so anyways, it was a humbling experience to see the level which those athletes perform that. Did they teach you how to drive? it at least? No, I mean, I saw in there and they showed me how, so there's a pretty cool video that Kaylee Humphreys showed me how they train the turns before you get into it. So obviously they weren't going to let me steer in it. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:18:28 But she basically was kind of showing you how you push and pull and lean and how it feels. But you, it's a cable steering system. There's two things in here. And when you pull this one, it turns the front skis this way or that way. And that's basically how you're steering it. The skis, I thought, would be like ice skates. I saw you, I saw you talking about them on there. That's insane that they're, yeah.

Starting point is 00:18:50 So they're not really getting into, they're just kind of, they're kind of just gliding on the curve a little bit smoother. Yes. Yes. They're not really like turning it. Yeah, I mean, they are, but it's not like, it's not cutting into it the way I thought it would. It's like driving on snow, it feels like. I guess, yeah.

Starting point is 00:19:08 But either way, awesome, awesome, awesome experience. The old two-wheel drive. All right, let's keep this moving. I've never done that. Here's the real question. Next year, Olympics, are we doing the double luge? Double luge. I'm not a looser.

Starting point is 00:19:25 I got no interest in lusion. I would do Skeleton before luge. Which one's luge versus skeleton? Luge is like you're on your back and you're looking. My belly's too big. I wouldn't even see where I'm going. Oh, the double luge is the weird one everyone's talking about. Yeah, yeah, where there's like.

Starting point is 00:19:39 They're like laying on each other. Oh, yeah. There's a picture of it right here. Yeah, that's pretty good. There you. Even the single lusie. I'm not a looser. You're a top or bottom guy?

Starting point is 00:19:49 I'm a zero, zero guy. I'm not a lusier. All right, deal. I'm not a one-man loser, though. I'm not against being that close to another man. I'm perfectly comfortable with my sexuality. I'm just not a loser. Thank you to our presenting spots or Expedia.

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Starting point is 00:21:56 Thank you to our partner, Claude. Ever notice how everyone just wants the quickest route these days? Always skimming for hot takes, the headline, and then they move on? Yeah, but that is not how we do it, no. Whether it's breaking down a game, figuring out a big decision, decision going down a rabbit hole at midnight, the best ideas come through thinking them through. And that's what Claude is built for. That's right. It's from Anthropic, a company founded to help people think, not just keep you engaged in scrolling. Claude works through problems

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Starting point is 00:23:02 That's right. That makes sure to call you the plus one is essentially. You're the plus one, Jason. And sometimes being a plus one is the best feeling in the world. Kylie was there on behalf of NBC and YouTube. I really was just there to have fun and enjoy the Olympics. So I was 100%. This is the correct way to say it.

Starting point is 00:23:24 And I thought it was hilarious. Hell yeah. I wanted to tell them I prefer ball and chain. But yeah, that was the first USA women's game from the first day that we were there. That was awesome. Hell yeah. Dude, and you finally met. Yoko Apollo Oono, the speed skater, minus the Yoko.

Starting point is 00:23:43 That will forever be one of the funniest things. Dude, Apollo, I mean, we watched him all growing up. Hell yeah. Unbelievable speed skater. Dude, he's been to the Heights, dude. Did you talk about him coming to the Heights? I didn't actually ask him that. Dude.

Starting point is 00:23:57 I think you did. I'm pretty sure he did. At least that was Word around town, and you already know how word gets around Cleveland Heights. I believe you're right, because I think that's when the first, like, year that the new ice rink was built. It was an Olympic rink, and they could do all the speed skating. stuff. Yeah. Speed skating was electric as shit. Let me tell you. So we went to the things that we did there. We saw four Olympic hockey games, two female and two male games. We saw figure skating,

Starting point is 00:24:21 and we saw, um, we saw speed skating, short track speed skating. Which is the best. And, um, the long, the long tracks are fun and it's cool to see everybody get pick up speed. I want to see short track. I want to see short track, too. But I, sometimes it pisses me off when they start off real slow. When they're doing the, like, longer races, we weren't doing, we saw the 1,500 meters as I guess, was longer. Sometimes that pisses me off. But these things were fast-paced.

Starting point is 00:24:47 They were moving. They're doing tush pushes because we saw the relay version of it where they get in there and they push the ass of the guy in front of them. Yep. The thing that was nice. So I felt like this watching WrestleMania and then going to WrestleMania was in Philadelphia. When you're at WrestleMania, they don't have the announcing. And you realize when you're in the venue, when you're in the venue, when you're

Starting point is 00:25:07 you're just watching two guys wrestle, how much you need, like, the shit talking and you need Pat McAvey saying like, oh, off the top rope. Like, unless you have that, like, it's just not that fun to be at, in my opinion, in the venue, which I think wrestling needs to incorporate the announcing in the venue. I don't know how you got to figure that out, but it would make it so much more excited. Yeah. I kind of felt the same way watching figure skating, if I'm not going to lie. Like, I would have liked to have heard Terlopisky and Johnny Weir announcing it live.

Starting point is 00:25:35 You know what I mean? Like, you kind of, when you don't have that, especially someone that doesn't, is kind of newer to the sport, you like hearing the excitement in the announcer's voice that they just did something difficult. They just nailed a routine or like they just missed something. So I, in speed skating, brother, it is a goddamn party in that speed skating arena. That's awesome. It is like you're there for. There's DJs playing music. It's fast pace.

Starting point is 00:26:03 Hell you. There's bells ringing. It is you. It is high-stakes action in the speech. I love it. That shit was fun as hell to be at. You got to see some women's hockey, like we said, and you got to meet the great Cleveland Heights native Laila Edwards.

Starting point is 00:26:20 Best athlete out of Cleveland Heights. That's what she said on the other podcast, as I should say, not going to lie with Kylie Kelsey. And I'm just going to say, Lela, I've got two banners up in the Cleveland Heights hockey rink. I'm not sure how many banners you have. That's a young Travis Kelsey looking like as tall as all the adults on there. That's a hefty boy right there.

Starting point is 00:26:47 There he is. Looks like I might have fucking got some teeth knocked out or they just fell out at that age. A little squirt AA Division champion. Don't forget to ban him double A as well. Cleveland Suburban Hockey League champs right there, two-time, two-time champs. I don't know. I haven't been back. I saw you where Mighty Might.

Starting point is 00:27:05 you probably moved on to AAA before. She went to the Barron's real quick. Yeah, she went to the Barron team or maybe Phantom. Who knows which AAA team she played on. I think she went Barron's. I think I looked it up before. Well, that was the closest AAA to Cleveland Heights. But I'll let you have it because you're the only one that have gold.

Starting point is 00:27:21 So a little tip of the cap to you, Leila. That was awesome to see you go and get it. And I'll tell you what, man. She has a fucking shot. She was sniping multiple. She's ripping the wrist shot, dude. And she's setting up people in front for the tips. Hell yeah.

Starting point is 00:27:35 She was very, very good throughout the Olympics and through the games. One of the things, after talking to her, like, you realize she is from the Heights, man. There's just like this humbleness, but also like she's a great person and it comes across very apparent when you speak to her. We got a chance to meet that whole team. Kylie had four of the girls on after the game. They seemed like they were all just so close, man. That's what I was about to say. We hung out with them two after the men won gold in the little backroom.

Starting point is 00:28:00 They're a great team, man. They got, they're tight knit. They're playing jokes on one another. just so proud for all of them. And, you know, it's an incredible moment to win a gold medal. I can only imagine what that feels like, man. Especially in a team sport like that. You know, you got everybody in the United States watching.

Starting point is 00:28:19 Yeah. Shout out to Lela one more time for bringing home some gold to not only the USA, but the old Heights, baby, because you know how proud we all are once you grow up in heights. No doubt. Well, how much do you credit the women's hockey team of winning gold? to Kylie turning around. She's going to do everything she can. She puts her superstitions first, yeah.

Starting point is 00:28:40 And she's making me participate. What were you wearing in this? That is a hat that was sold exclusively for the Olympics, I believe it's actually a children's hat, but I was starting to put my pins around it and it was like a flower. We were having a lot of fun, man.

Starting point is 00:28:52 It was, Canada got out to the quick lead and it made it very stressful. Man, once you get into that elimination round, dude, the ref. The refs in that game. I don't know what the fuck they were doing. And that was after Megan Keller's goal.

Starting point is 00:29:13 A little dangle to the backhand underneath the blocker. So epic. So epic. Yeah. It was a sick goal. But anyways, yeah, it was an electric game. And then obviously we got to see USA men dismantle Slovakia. It got, yeah, 6-1, I believe.

Starting point is 00:29:26 It got ugly. It was 5-0 real quick. And I was sitting with the Kachuk family. Nice. Keith Kichuk was over there on the end of it. Got to shake the hand of a fucking legend. That was all. That's so fucking cool, man.

Starting point is 00:29:39 I was sitting next to Anthony Rizzo. Shout out to Riz. He let me know. He was over by you, man. That's so fucking cool. You got to see all these guys up there, man. We were right by the Hughes family, too, Jack Hughes, who had the golden goal for the U.S.

Starting point is 00:29:53 Gold medal game. Did you get a chance to meet the Hughes brothers? I don't think so. I saw Jack's dad and his mom, I think. I don't think I saw the brothers. Maybe I did. Absolutely. Do the Olympics need to sell larger?

Starting point is 00:30:07 Beers, Jason. Do they need larger beers? Because this beer looks like it's like a beer shot. We can't talk too much shit. These are the exact bottles. Garage beers coming out with coming down the line, which are one of the reasons I've wanted to not do those bottles because I like the long neck. Oh, there's a little long neck in there. It's a little baby long neck. Well, that's what we're going with, that same exact shape. But it's going to look really stupid in our gigantic hands. Whenever I hold a beer, it can, I was like, man, that can is so small. It's like, no, it's actually a normal size can. You did you want to me to say.

Starting point is 00:30:36 I do think the beers might have been a little bit smaller, though. I couldn't tell. Either way. It's just like, it looked hilarious. Are there any other highlights from the old Milan Olympics that we're missing, Jason? Um, best food G8. Man, I can't pronounce any of the restaurants we went to, but we took the, uh, metro down into, uh, near the Duomo area.

Starting point is 00:30:54 It had a couple restaurants that, uh, Susie Schuster, uh, Rich Eisen's wife, uh, recommended some of these spots. Nice. We had some. unbelievable food. But I did have a cheeseburger promptly once I got back to the United States. Man, there's just something like, don't get wrong. I love traveling.

Starting point is 00:31:09 But I just like, I was like, man, all this pasta and everything is great. But I'm missing a cheeseburger. Just a burger and fries or some fucking American-style pizza. You know, there's nothing like an American-style pizza. I didn't mind the Italian pizza. It was very good. Had a pizza with anchovies on it. Oh, big anchovy guy now.

Starting point is 00:31:30 I'm not. I usually hate anchovies, but this pizza was good. Nice. What else do we do? Saw the Duomo, which my God. Have you ever seen that? Nope. I have no idea what you're talking about.

Starting point is 00:31:39 In, this is a big church that, I mean, it's just like breathtakingly ornate. I don't know if it's a gothic. I don't know what I guess the architecture style that it would be, but it's just, it's incredible. I don't even know how to describe it. Pictures do not do it justice. You see a thing in person. It's just all stone carved out, fucking points and shit. shit carved into it. It is

Starting point is 00:32:02 fucking insane. But yeah, it was Milan was gorgeous. I've seen that unpatious. You're hilarious. Dog ran onto a track, which dogs are always the star of the shows. Canada catching a bunch of heat for cheating, which, listen, you know my rule. If you ain't cheat, you ain't trying.

Starting point is 00:32:22 Shout out to Canada. You got no problem. They didn't even get deduction. They got a slap on the wrist after the deal. I don't give a shit. I respect it. I like his reaction too. He knew he wasn't supposed to be doing it. They'd call him out. He's like, no, fuck you.

Starting point is 00:32:38 What are you talking? He's like, he's got to be fire with fire. Did he see his reaction? Hell yeah. Yeah. Like, yeah, fuck you. I didn't cheat. No one damn well he just cheated.

Starting point is 00:32:48 You got to, you got him if I could be force with force, man. Deny, deny, deny. Deny, deny. Yeah. Fuck you. You. It's like when the ref comes up, it comes up. The ref comes up to me.

Starting point is 00:33:13 He's like, hey, hey, just make sure you let him go. Oh, was I doing that? Was I holding him? I didn't think I was. I was, sorry, sir? I didn't know I was holding him. Knowing damn well, I just held the fuck out of that guy. I just go the other way.

Starting point is 00:33:22 I'm like, but he's holding me. He's holding me. He's holding me first. Exactly. Exactly. Ref, I was trying not to hold him. He just couldn't disengage. He was grabbing on to me.

Starting point is 00:33:32 Oh, man, that's fucking, that's hilarious. God damn. That was an epic Olympics. Shout out to all the Olympians. That was a fucking, I enjoyed every single bit of it from all the ski and snowboarding to the speed skating. Even saw a bunch of the figure skating. And man, it was a fucking show. Shout out to Alyssa Lou for bringing home the gold.

Starting point is 00:33:52 Lissa Lou. Yeah. And yeah, shout out to both hockey teams, bringing it home for the red, white, and blue. When I was watching the figure skating, we were at the short program night. Nice. I was standing and I was sitting in front of Nathan. Shen, and he was describing to me, like, all the things that they needed to hit. So by the end of it, I was like, oh, no, no.

Starting point is 00:34:13 Like, if somebody missed it, you knew what the, the review color was. If it was green, it was good. Well, they were showing that on the TV, too. I was, like, look and at it, like, ooh, we got to review that one. That's not good. It's a yellow. Is the heel at 6 o'clock, or is it at 9 o'clock? The great Scott Hamilton, I'm sure.

Starting point is 00:34:32 Dude, how cool was it meeting that guy? Unreal. That was mom's favorite. We always used to watch Scott Hamilton. Yeah, well, tusha. But she was the one that was like, he's the past when we were coming up. And I just remember, I don't know what it was. Was it the gala that we always watch Scott Hamilton do the flips in?

Starting point is 00:34:49 Because you can't flip during the Olympic Games. I asked him this too. I thought that he was the reason that flips were banned. Apparently they were banned before him, but he would do it. He just never did any competition. Right. Which now they let him do it. There's the first year, I think that they changed the rule.

Starting point is 00:35:04 You can do flips now. I didn't even see, I didn't see anybody doing flips. Yeah, he would do it. And, yeah, I mean, he was the star of figure skating. And he brought up a point to, like, now there's not really a lot of opportunity for figure skating outside of the Olympics. So a lot of these Olympians, they do like five or six years. They start so young, but then they retire like 26. Scott had like a professional career touring figure skating for like 20 years.

Starting point is 00:35:30 And he's like, this is like, it's just changed a lot since he was around. You know, I think that all the figure skating would like it to get back to that. right? They're really trying to push to make it something that is a touring professional circuit that it used to be on a large scale. And that was one of the reasons I think that we remember him so much as like he was doing it for so long. Nice. Well, now that the Olympics are over, what do you do next, Jason? What do you need to do? Well, we are doing a little, I'm doing TGL. That's right. Dude, I've always wanted to go to TGL. Same. And thankfully, it's a part of ESPN, so I get to go down there and work.

Starting point is 00:36:10 Nice, man. Do you get a plus one? Yes, I would love to have you if you're willing to come down. Yeah. I've heard from everybody how state of the art and incredible this technology is. So I can't wait to check it out firsthand. You know, a Tiger and all those guys have done at TGL is just remarkable. So epic, man.

Starting point is 00:36:29 It's going to be really cool heading down there. And then after that, I'm taking some much needed relaxation time. Yeah, I mean, you're the king of getting out. the house, Jason. I love how this all started where I was like, you couldn't keep me in my seat. I didn't have the opportunities I had back then. Now I'm over here going to the Olympics and the Super Bowl and all this stuff. Tush. Sure, a lot of it is contractually obligated footage and strict negotiations. Oh, no, I got to go to TGL. I mean, I live a very silly life where doing all this really fun, awesome stuff is also part of my job, right? And, you know, it's a joy.

Starting point is 00:37:02 I get to reconnect with hockey, which obviously we all love growing up, you know, do things with golf, which, you know, we've been fans of that sport for a long time. I mean, it's just, it's wild. It really is. Trave, let's talk about you. Oh, fuck. A little Pebble Beach Pro Am. Yeah. How was that?

Starting point is 00:37:19 Pebble Beach is one of the most epic tournaments I've ever been to. I can't tell you how amazing it was, you know, seeing that course Pebble on the water. The first two days, they split. courses as the pro am is going on as well play spyglass one day and then play pebble the other day it's just so well done man AT&T does a great job of bringing in you know the best golfers in the world playing at on some of the most beautiful golf courses um i didn't get to play cypress which is right around the corner that everybody who is raving about i'm fucking pumped to go back and and play that one man but that that little area over there by uh by carmel and uh monterey

Starting point is 00:38:02 man, it is absolutely unbelievable breathtaking views. And then you just get to see some of the most epic golf holes of all time. And some of the best players around hitting some of the best shots. I got to play with my guy Cash Beer Keith. He is unbelievable, unbelievable golfer man. Got to see him get dialed in and make a run. It was just an all-around fun opportunity. And I also got to play against my guy, Alex Smith for two days, man.

Starting point is 00:38:26 I was going to get back into Smitty. Yeah, he was the one that kind of threw the invite out there. It was just cool to always reconnect with old teammates, especially one that I admired and loved as much as Alex, man. He got me. He beat me in the games we were playing, but I couldn't fucking putt, man. I got to figure out how to fucking get on the green, but these three putts are absolutely ruining my day. That was one thing. I didn't know it was a northern, I guess it's not in Northern California, but it's up there by San Francisco, right?

Starting point is 00:38:54 It's up there. It's up there. Yeah, I think it's in between San Fran in L.A. But, uh, is it like north or south of like Sonoma and Napa and all that stuff? I think it's like southwest. South of that stuff. Okay. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:39:08 Dude, I'm telling you, you would fucking love this area. You would absolutely love it. No doubt. It's like, it's like this calm, hidden world over there. There's not a lot of like movement going around. It just seems like it's like one of the best places in the world. Also, got to run into my guy, Jim Nance, who, uh, one of my favorite. He's one of my favorite guys.

Starting point is 00:39:28 One of my favorite play callers of all time. announcer, you know it, man. And then on top of that, man, just the all-around professional. Obviously, listening to his calls on the PGA tour as well as the NFL. It's been such an honor to be able to be a part of the games and him handed me the mic in the ASC Championship games. And it's just, it's absolutely epic every time I read it to him. I got to meet him and him and his kids and his wife. So it was pretty cool walking off 18 and getting to say hi to everyone. Well, I was very jealous watching it. I've always wanted to go out. It was the one off week I had before the Olympics, so I'm like, you know what, I'm going to take this time to

Starting point is 00:40:01 go back with the fam before we head out again, but I'm glad you enjoyed it. What happened on the first team? Can we talk about that? Yeah, you know, I was told by somebody, I'm not going to throw anybody under the bus, but... So let's play this video first. I wear Kashmir, too. I then found out the more I saw Kashmir Keith rip it, that it's his game is a as smooth as cashmere as his as his uh his swagger so your swing's looking good right now trav i appreciate that but i'm starting to really uh play too much golf what do i got to do to get a smooth swing like that i mean you and i've always been opposites opposites you've always been the smooth athlete i've always been the like fucking tight wound run through a brick wall with the zero finesse how do i get this

Starting point is 00:41:13 i think you got to loosen loosen up and i that's obviously the clear thing to say but uh it seems like you're pretty wound up. Like you want your muscles like firing at all times. And I like my muscles firing at certain times. When you loosen up, you get more on the back swing in terms of rotation. And then you can really start the strength in the transition up top. I also get way too quick at the top because I do that. And I fucking yank the ball into the ocean. But I will say losing a lot of weight will help you loosen up as well. Going the opposite. I was just in Italy travel.

Starting point is 00:41:52 Dude, I got down to 250. I got down to 260 last off season. Felt really good about it. I am already back up to 285. Dude, you're 85 already. Between the season and holidays, going on all these vacations and pasta and my quad getting torn so I can't run. It's been a bad stretch for your boy.

Starting point is 00:42:13 But I'm going to get it down quick. I'll go right back down. Three months dedication. I can be back down to two. 260, lickety split. Well, I believe it. And I think the more you watch yourself and start to figure out this golf world, the more you'll start to dial in those fundamentals that you need. When I try to, like, swing the club and I'm not really trying to step on it, I'm just kind of like letting it go up and then just kind of like bringing it down almost by my hip. I just feel like I

Starting point is 00:42:42 really get in the pocket and it's consistent and it's replicable. I just, for some reason, And I stray. You do what I'd like to do. You like to hit the fucking Levy Piss out of the ball. And that's just how we were taught playing baseball and playing hockey is fucking, they can't catch it if you hit it as hard as you hand. And we like that feeling of connecting with the ball as hard as we can and seeing it fly as far as they can go. I mean, that's the fun in golf.

Starting point is 00:43:09 And I don't think I'll ever get to the point where I like, don't do that at least half of the holes when I play golf. Like if I got a straight fareway and I got the driver out and I get a driver, I'm going to at least on 90% of the holes do just that. And it's the one or two times that I actually connect and see that thing fucking go 340 that I'm just loving life and I love playing the game. And that's what keeps me coming back. Amen to that, brother. And that wraps up out of the house.

Starting point is 00:43:39 Brought to you by Pepsi. Thank you to our partner Pepsi. Pepsi. Oh, Jason, would you consider yourself a creature of habit? My, yes, yes, I would. How many times do we stick with something just because it's what we've always done? That's pretty much my whole life. Yeah, you know, you're so used to one thing. But when you actually think about it, you realize you've been missing out on something better.

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Starting point is 00:46:10 Potential savings vary, subject to terms, conditions, and availability, Allstate, North American Insurance Company, and affiliates in Northbrook, Illinois. Let's get to our conversation with the old Chris Stapleton. This incredible conversation is brought to you by Claude. Also, fun game to play during this interview. See if you can tell when Chris's 121 proof whiskey hits us. All righty, our guest today is six-foot songwriter, singer, and country music superstar from Stap Kentucky, Kentucky.

Starting point is 00:46:38 That's right. Kentucky. 19-time country music award winner, 12-time Grammy Award winner, including his most recent win for best solo country performance for a bad as I used to be. You know him from his hits like Tennessee whiskey, white horse, parachute, nobody in blank, broken halos, and it takes a woman. 92% is, please welcome. The man that performed a national anthem so good, it brought me to tears.

Starting point is 00:46:59 Oh, right now. The one and only Chris Stapleton. Yes, sir. How many people do you venture you've made cry just from singing the national anthem? At least two. Well, I know too. That's it. You know, I haven't seen much statistics on that beyond that.

Starting point is 00:47:14 Yeah. It was an incredible performance as only you could have done. Seriously. Well, I appreciate that. Thank you. We were just talking to Julian Edelman about how much the national anthem, for some reason, especially in the Super Bowl. But it's like that moment that just like even now going to a regular game, I still get goosebumps.

Starting point is 00:47:30 Oh, man. Goosepuses thinking about it. Yeah. But it's like, you know, this whole thing. Everybody's together. They got the jets going over. Yeah. It's a production and a, you know, it's heavy.

Starting point is 00:47:41 Yeah, it's a unifying thing, yeah. But you made it your own in, like, the most perfect way. Dude, it was so fucking magical, man. It got me fucking fired up. I came out hot in that game. Got the photos from that one? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

Starting point is 00:47:53 Fucking epic, man. And it was some great TV editing, too, I have to say. Of course. That caught you guys, you know. Right moments, man. You know, all the aircraft carrier and all the stuff. It was really great. She was awesome, man.

Starting point is 00:48:04 Well, you're on basically a full. You played some ball back in the day. Yeah, like 30 years ago. Oh, no, no, no. Listen, I know a ball, I know a ball player when I see one. Yeah. Look at that haircut right there. Dude, you already know.

Starting point is 00:48:19 I did have a haircut too, yeah. You played Tim Couch in high school? I did. That was the first football jersey I owned, actually. Well, actually, I had it back. I had a Jerome Bettis jersey first, and then Tim Couch was the second. When they brought the Browns back, that was the number one pick. We played couch several times.

Starting point is 00:48:35 How to go? Yeah. What positions you were playing? I was linebacker. Let's go. Middle, outside, where we're at? Inside. Inside. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:48:44 That's awesome, man. Taking on full backs. Yeah. Look like you had a little neck roll in there. You had that little cowboy? Those are those big shoulder pads were back in the day? That's right. I love it.

Starting point is 00:48:53 Who'd you grow up watching? Oh, I mean, I grew up in like Joe Montana, Jerry Rice era. That was kind of. Damarino, those guys. Very fitting that we're out in the same friend, yeah. Yeah. Dude, my uncle has a crazy story about how, uh, He played Notre Dame.

Starting point is 00:49:08 He went to Purdue, and he played Notre Dame, and he got to see the first glimpse of Joe Montana's like two-minute at the end of a game, winning it as a freshman at Notre Dame. And I asked Joe Montana about that game, and he said that my uncle didn't even mention this. He threw like three picks and got taken out of the game, and then a quarterback got injured, and he gets put back in to go save the day afterwards. It was like, all right, now I got those three picks out of the way.

Starting point is 00:49:34 I'm good to go, baby. Nobody remembers the picks if you win the game. You ain't lying. Before we continue, we've been told you have some gifts. I do. I brought some whiskey for you guys. Oh, hell yeah. Baby.

Starting point is 00:49:44 There's that. Piss it on down. Is it okay if we open this right now? Wait, we've got them swapped. Swap? Okay. Yeah, they're going to go there. They're specific to you.

Starting point is 00:49:53 Okay, got it. And how do we get lucky, dude? We got gifts for Chris, right? Yeah. God damn. I'm like, you're the first one that has ever came on the show with gifts, dude. Fuck yeah. Yeah, baby.

Starting point is 00:50:04 Christmas in February. 62 personalized bottle. This is awesome. This happens every Christmas. He always opens them faster than me. Then we got some glasses. Dude. Coaster.

Starting point is 00:50:15 This is nice. You guys are the first people we've ever done that for, but we got it in a gravy machine. Oh, fuck, yes. I don't even want to open it. Jason, you open yours and I'll drink it. That's the 90 proof. That's what we have been selling, but this is new coming out. This is 121 proof.

Starting point is 00:50:28 121. Right here. Those were the 90s. This is not out yet. But I brought this today, if you guys were up for it, could open it together. This is the first bottle that I will ever have opened of this and had with anybody. I am now turning that down for a second. Please. I'd be honored for you to, no, no, no, no, this has to be. You got to open that thing. Dude, this is so badass. This is awesome. There's some glasses in there, too,

Starting point is 00:50:51 I think. How long you've been in the whiskey game? Oh, I guess it's a couple years now. We've been doing that, but it depends on what you call in the games. Making it and selling it a couple years. There we go. I'll just do like a tasting for a person you got. I might not as should have wrapped things. Dude, this is awesome, man. Are you kidding me? What do we call on the 121 proof?

Starting point is 00:51:14 It's full proof. Full proof. Full proof. It's just travel full proof. Love it. It'll be out very soon in limited quantities, but... Oh, yeah. You guys ready to go?

Starting point is 00:51:24 Cheers for the first one. Hell yeah, baby. Get this thing going. Hell yeah. It's a simpler for me, but you guys do what you want with it. Well, if I didn't already have another hair or my chest. That is fantastic. Dude, that is smooth as shit.

Starting point is 00:51:37 Full proof. 121. It is smooth. Dude, thank you for this bottle. This thing's definitely going up on the bar, man. Thanks for having me out. That's so good. Lusus I've ever been in a podcast.

Starting point is 00:51:46 Lusus I've ever been in a podcast. Here we go. I got to ask even more about it. So being from Kentucky, it's always just been in like your backyard, right? Like a lot of the distilleries or what? As I became an adult and played music, it's been a big part of what we do. I've always enjoyed Buffalo Trace product, which is that what we do. that's who makes this travel whiskey.

Starting point is 00:52:06 That's awesome, man. We always had a bottle of something that they were making in the room for every record we've ever made. And so I had the opportunity to work with Harlan, who's the master distiller on Pappy and Weller and all these, you know, things that you can't get. Right. To do this, it was something to jump at.

Starting point is 00:52:22 And it's been really good to us, and I think this is going to do well, too. Yeah. Oh, this is amazing. I'm having fun with it. That's right. We jumped in the beer world, but the whiskey world's a whole new world for me. If every one of them tasted as good as this,

Starting point is 00:52:35 that bottle's going to be going to be going to be going to sneak up on you. It's 121, but the nanny would be. I can feel it, you know. Already? It's good in a great way. It warmed me up. No doubt. That's the best part.

Starting point is 00:52:50 All right, so last time I ran it to you as at the George Strait concert, I've been to a bunch of your shows. Well, the last time you came to a show, you had a tiny baby. That's what I was about to say. So you don't know this. Come again? Chris met Finley before you met Finn. At his show, she was so new and so young, we couldn't leave her at home and we wanted to go to the show.

Starting point is 00:53:09 Can't miss the show. Is that the link? And Chris gave me one of my favorite things and I've stolen it since you've said it because I love it so much that you miss like the smell of like newborn babies. New baby smells is a great thing. I'm going to sound like a weird creepy dude talking about it. No, it's not creepy at all because I mean anybody that's held a kid, a infant like that, you know what you're talking about. Yeah. Yeah, when you're a new parent and you hold the baby, it's a smell of your.

Starting point is 00:53:33 of your own child there in your hands. It's a great thing. Absolutely. Beautiful thing, man. I also like to smell other people's babies. That's what's going to sound creepy. Pardon me, sir. Can I smell your baby?

Starting point is 00:53:44 Please hand this over. So you're going back on a tour, though. Oh, yeah. Yeah, we got some tour dates coming up. Nashville's Nissan Stadium, Charlotte's Bank of America Stadium, Hershey Park Stadium in Pennsylvania, Paycourt Stadium, Cincinnati. We've been a lot a few times. Fenway Park, two nights.

Starting point is 00:54:00 Have you ever played Fenway? No. Well, I've played, they have a smaller venue in Fenway that we play. Okay, okay. We've never played the part proper. In the big, okay. Oh, man. And then Casey's Morton Amphitheater, do you like the big giant arenas or do you like more, like

Starting point is 00:54:15 more performing in? They all have their strong points. I mean, I like that we can get more people in the bigger places. I get it. Yeah, yeah. But I also, you know, some places that, like Fenway are magic in ways that they have historical significance and you know just

Starting point is 00:54:32 playing with Wrigley Field or when you go to these places that have been around while those places have ghosts in them or even playing the film war here we're in San Francisco right now like playing the film war here has a lot of music history and you do those things and you feel like you're you know part of the ethos of music yeah absolutely

Starting point is 00:54:53 I've talked to Taylor my Taylor about this a few times but she's she grew up in that the country world in Nashville and in high school and coming up. And she was underneath a lot of these big country singers. And she raves about how together they are, how they maneuver on tour and stuff like that. How was it rocking with George Strait around the country?

Starting point is 00:55:18 George is the best, man. George doesn't play a lot of shows, but we played as many as we could with him. And I think I almost talked him into pseudo coming out of retirement. He was playing less and less. shows. And we had a lot of fun playing a few shows with him. I was like, hey, man, many of these you want to do, let's do them. So we picked up and played more. And I think he had fun doing it too. And I don't know, we just have a good time. That's awesome, man. Favorite city?

Starting point is 00:55:42 I mean, I like a lot of cities for reasons. My favorite venue to play in is probably the forum in Los Angeles. Yeah. Just because it sounds so good. And it also has, you know, you walk in the down the hallway and it's like, they have all the people that have played there on the walls. Like, let's up. Just like, just crazy shit. You're just like, yeah, I'm going to go play the forum. You can feel history in some of these arenas and stadiums. The forum feels like it was made for that. You know, obviously the Lakers and everybody.

Starting point is 00:56:10 For music. It has the wood and all the whole. It just, yeah, it has the sports history too. But the music history of it is incredible. That's awesome, man. Wonderful. I haven't heard that when you had the forum. Do you remember your first concert? Oh, my first concert was probably Von Jovi at Rupp Arena with Skid Row.

Starting point is 00:56:29 opening. Oh, wow. And Skid Row was so loud, I had to go out in the hallway. I was like, I was maybe, maybe I was eight, eight or nine. Okay. They were hammered. Yeah. That's amazing. But it was fun, yeah. So a big Bon Jovi fan. Yeah, I like Bon Jovi. I mean, I grew up in the 80s, man. So all that stuff is, is good. I had that. So growing up, Bon Jovi, you were in the rock world, the country world, all the above. Yeah, I mean, I grew up in a, a, part of the country too. So, you know, we have, yeah, all the, my dad listened to all the outlaw music, you know, like, Whalen and Willie. Willie, Waylon, and old. Murrow Hager and Calh, you know, but also, you know, old R&B and stuff like that.

Starting point is 00:57:12 Oh, nice. I had it from all directions. And I don't, you know, if it's good, it's good. There's two kinds of music, good and bad. That's, that's it. So we always talk about some sports, actually. Like, we don't, to be a great athlete, it's best to play a bunch of different sports. and before you narrow down into one sport, do you think it's similar in, like, do you think playing and listening to all these forms of music and then narrowing down into like a specific genre

Starting point is 00:57:37 makes you a better musician? Or do you think it's best to stay in like one thing? I have to share this just because it pops in my head as you were saying that. Okay. When I was a kid, I went to Rick Petino basketball camp. Are you kidding me. Oh, let's go.

Starting point is 00:57:50 Louisville action. Hell yeah. And Rick Petino, you know, he spoke to us before we had the camp, for what, I'm sure you guys want to do camps. Yeah, you know how it goes, yeah. And he's like, now, in order to be a good basketball player, you have to play three sports, one-on-one basketball, three-on-three basketball, and five-on-five basketball.

Starting point is 00:58:09 That's a bag. That pops in my head as you were saying that. But I do think there's something that can strengthen you as a musician, if you can, you know, kind of at least have a working knowledge of a lot of different kinds of music. Absolutely. But at some point, all these influences kind of converge into, whatever it is that you are and that's what that is, you know, so.

Starting point is 00:58:29 I love it. That's awesome, right? Do you remember your first concert you played? I don't. No. I don't. Probably in church. That's not a concert.

Starting point is 00:58:37 Like, are you just singing church? Yeah, no, I don't, yeah. A couple times in high school, we, you know, I owned a PA, so we'd randomly get hired by somebody that needed a PA to open for them sometimes. Okay. Hell yeah. In high school, like, it's hard to get people to take things seriously and, like, try to work as a band.

Starting point is 00:58:52 And then you think you're going to go to college for a minute like me, and then you do that, and that doesn't work out for you. And you're like, well, what am I going to do? And so you get random jobs driving trucks or delivering pizzas or whatever it is. And then until you find out what it is that you do. Yeah. So now I got to ask you got me going down a rabbit hole. Dude, you were fucking, you were, you were a pizza driver?

Starting point is 00:59:14 I was not that high up on the totem pole. Still, though. I was the guy. Have you ever had been in a parking lot? I don't know if they did that. This is where you guys were from. But you go into a store or something. You come back in there.

Starting point is 00:59:25 on your windshield. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I was the guy that put the coupons on the windshield. Hey! Nice, man. Going around in the parking lot, that's fucking gold, man. Basically, I mean, giving people money, essentially. That's right.

Starting point is 00:59:38 Like Santa Claus. Robin Hood, man, this is sweet. What process of music making do you enjoy the most? Oh, yeah. Writing, working out the sound and melody. I guess that all kind of goes on the same thing. Performing. Like, what's the best part?

Starting point is 00:59:51 Oh, it's all part of one wheel for me. I like it all when it's working. I'm frustrated by it all when it's not. You know, but, you know, I do enjoy writing, but I don't do a lot of that anymore. I do enjoy going into the studio. And the studio is probably my favorite part. Okay. Really.

Starting point is 01:00:06 Although I don't have any plans to go do much of that these days, really, either. But they all feed into each other. And it's not really a separate thing. Right. And you have to do all of them in order to, once again, be whatever it is that you are. Hell yeah. I just have to say this. The tiny desk of you and your wife was one of the most magical, like,

Starting point is 01:00:25 tiny deaths that I've seen. That's the closest thing I get during the season to seeing live music is like doing, like, just surfing on the web and watching everything like that. Like, when you're, you're in an intimate setting like that, like, does it change how you're performing? Or is it, or is it just kind of like take you back to like, just, I don't know, what I would assume is like the beginning stages of you and a guitar and just making. Well, we try to maintain that even, you know, as we play larger venues. Like, we still set up the same. Oh, yeah. On a big stage that we would set up in a club or we don't change our setup. You know, I'm kind of tethered to a chord. I don't do a lot of moving around or anything. That's not my deal. It doesn't

Starting point is 01:01:05 change my mentality. We're still just playing songs. Somehow it feels like a little more pressure sometimes to play very intimate things, more than a massive thing, you know, because you can see the reactions of the five people in the room or, you know, there's a little more pressure there in an odd way. Hell yeah. Yeah, absolutely. I know you say you're not doing much songwriting anymore, but how many songs do you venture you've probably written?

Starting point is 01:01:31 Oh, thousands. Yeah. More than a thousand for sure, yeah. That is incredible. What is the process for you to, is it always the same? No. Strikes in different ways. Well, I mean, I grew up as a salary songwriter that grew up.

Starting point is 01:01:45 I came up in the business as that's together. The songs you've written are insane. Yeah. As songwriting. Yes. And to the point that I've, you know, I was a salary songwriter in a publishing house. And so we would show up at the, you know, crack of noon or something.

Starting point is 01:02:00 And you make appointments, and it feels very not sexy when I describe it that way. But that's what we did. We worked at like a job, you know, and you come in. It's a very workman mentality. And early on, I would do that three or four times a day. I would have different appointments with people and I would come out with songs and crank and crank and crank and crank. Trying to figure out how to do it and how to be good at it. Oh, yeah.

Starting point is 01:02:23 And eventually you figure something out or you get lucky enough to make people think that you did. Yeah. And that's kind of what that is. But the process can be different. For me, if I'm sitting by myself, I'll probably just have a guitar and hum and strum. Does the melody come first and then the lyrics? For me, a lot. If I'm by myself, that would.

Starting point is 01:02:43 Or something, you know, I've dreamt choruses before or wake up with, you know, just, I'm writing a song right now, not necessarily. but I would be if something, if you said something or you said something or something, you know, something struck me a lot on the wall that would, you know, start the wheels turning. Hell yeah. So you can't avoid it if you are a songwriter a little bit. You're always writing a song. Yeah. Even if you're not writing a song.

Starting point is 01:03:10 Yeah. That's cool as I around. I wish I had the fucking brains to be able to just put words to music like that. It's insane stuff, man. It is. I can't even write a full sentence out. Finish this and you won't be able to do it. All right.

Starting point is 01:03:25 Does every country Western song need to mention the following? Mamas, trains, prison, getting drunk. You're talking about the perfect country and western song. It is one of my favorites. Written by Steve Goodman. That's right. Is there some truth to that? I feel like that's a caricature almost now in a lot of country music where it's like...

Starting point is 01:03:45 I don't think you have to do that, but certainly when you do, those of us who know that, as the list of things that are supposed to be in there, would go, all right, cool, good job. Cover the base is nice. At this point in your career, do you go to places for like honest feedback from like where you're at or do you feel like you're... I'm married to my wife.

Starting point is 01:04:06 The biggest honest. It was the most honest person. Shut up. She'll tell me if something sucks immediately and not, she doesn't pull punches. That's the best, man. I don't need to go anywhere else for honest feedback. There you go.

Starting point is 01:04:16 Coach is right there letting you know. That's awesome. Yeah, I mean, places you want to play that you haven't played yet. Ooh. Huh. I'm sure there are, but I don't know what they are. Have you ventured much out of the States in terms of a... We've played in Europe a little bit in Australia, but we've never been to South America to play.

Starting point is 01:04:36 In terms of outside of the U.S., what was your most, like, accepting crowd, the ones that got the craziest? Oh, they've all been wonderful. Everybody in Europe's great, and Australians are great. Everybody's, you know, really nice to us. Hell, yeah. We don't do it that month. We don't, you know, it might be three or four years before we do those kinds of things. And so people really show up.

Starting point is 01:04:55 That's awesome. It's a really nice feeling to think that whatever you've done has crossed an ocean and gone to the other side of the world, you know. Do you feel like for country music in general, too, like those opportunities overseas are becoming more, like the genre is growing. Like, it feels like way bigger than it was when I was growing up. I do think that that's true. I mean, there's always been some element, particularly in Europe and in Australia, has a very, you know, kind of Australian country music scene on its own. Yeah.

Starting point is 01:05:25 But yes, I think as a whole, there's probably more of a market for it than there ever has been. Like, I was over in Ireland, and this young kid was like cadding force. He got in his car when he was leaving, and he was blaring. I forget what the country song was. One of mine, right? Exactly. It was. Perished.

Starting point is 01:05:42 Yeah. So this is fantastic. Thank you. And you guys also have a. car this year in NASCAR? Yeah, we have a car at the Daytona 500. This is the second year for it. Okay.

Starting point is 01:05:54 It's a partnership with Junior Motorsports, which is Dale Earnhardt, Jr. Fuck, yeah. And, yeah, we're going to Daytona 500 again. Oh, man. Is there a cooler pastime in any sport than what NASCAR was, like, originated from? Like, running from the cops is the pastime of the sole sport. There's nothing tops that. Not just running from the cops, but bootlegging.

Starting point is 01:06:14 Bootlegging. Sorry, yeah. Yeah. But so I think there's a, there's a good history between whiskey and what NASCAR has come from. And so I think it made sense. It was kind of a crazy idea. I'm friends with Rick Hendrick of Hendrick Racing. And I think we kind of floated his way. He's like, well, you know, Junior was looking to get into maybe running a car on the 500. And he kind of put us together. And I think that's how that happened. It all just kind of

Starting point is 01:06:41 came to this head of we wanted to do it and they wanted to do it. And I, you know, last year I sat, you know, the pet with the headphones on and listen to all the stuff that nobody gets to hear and watch the race in that inside kind of way. And it was intense. That is cool. That is really cool. Super intense. Yeah. Have you always been into NASCAR, like, growing up and everything?

Starting point is 01:07:05 Not necessarily. I think the race cars are cool. I like going fast. Fuck yeah. Not as fast as those guys. Those guys are different animals. Have you gotten in one of them cars? No.

Starting point is 01:07:18 No. Is there a desire to? No. Said you like going fast. No, I don't have that gene. I appreciate the stamina and the will and the lack of fear that it takes to get in one of those things. We went to a bowl game. Was that you went there? You were in the league. So we went to a bowl game in Charlotte and obviously the NASCAR Hall of Fame's out there. So part of the bowl game in college was that we got to go experience like going around the track. in one of those cars, and you're basically sideways going around those turns. Yeah. Like, that is a steep, steep turn.

Starting point is 01:07:57 And you're hugging the outside of the car and somebody else is behind the wheel. And it's a fucking wild ride, man. I mean, I took a hot laugh with a race car driver in a track car that wasn't like a race car. And he was telling me how much more it could do if it was, like, outfitted for the race. And I was about to puke. I was just like, I don't care, I'm good, man. Let me out. Well, I've been a major fan of years for a long time.

Starting point is 01:08:24 Really started when you were still with the steel drivers playing with that group. Like, that was the first time I heard your voice. I'm like, man, this guy just has something about him that I just love listening to. And then it went from there when you started doing your solo thing and really took off. And you've gone so far. Do you have a welcome, do you have a moment when it all initiated where you're like, man, I'm really doing this. Like, I'm in the music industry.

Starting point is 01:08:45 Yeah. I mean, I was in the music industry. As a writer, that was my goal. When I moved to town, I met a guy that was a songwriter named Steve Leslie, and who was kind enough to introduce me to some people. And the instant, you know, I was a salary songwriter working in the music business, sitting in a room making up songs for a living. That was making it to me.

Starting point is 01:09:04 Hell yeah. You know, I'm playing a guitar for a living. What more could you want? That's right. Was there anybody walked in those rooms or you took those meetings with that you were like, oh, shit, I've got to create something with this. I got to rise to the occasion. Or like, maybe somebody's performing it?

Starting point is 01:09:16 And you're like, I just wrote a song. that somebody like I don't know I did early on I went into the room with a veteran songwriter guy because I was real lucky to get in the room with some of those guys you know yeah and I sat down the room with him we never met the guy and he goes hey man you must have a pretty big ego I'm just like what do you mean she's like well you're 23 you walking in here thinking you can do this with us and you know make a living doing it you must have a pretty big ego and I'm just like well if that's how you want to look at it I guess I guess so no I'm not going to say no

Starting point is 01:09:46 I'm not going to say no. Let's see what we can do. Well, that is awesome. Doc, thank you for the stories. Appreciate the wisdom. I appreciate you taking the time and even coming over here. Yeah, man.

Starting point is 01:09:56 Appreciate the gifts. Appreciate the whiskey. Yeah, absolutely. I hope you got much more to do today, but you probably do. We don't have much more. We only got out, I think, a little bit longer. Yeah, but this is just sitting down talking.

Starting point is 01:10:07 This isn't work. You already know, especially we get to hang out with guys. When the talking becomes easier when you're... It just flows. That's right. Oh, man. Appreciate you coming on. And cheers one last time, brother.

Starting point is 01:10:16 Thank you, man. Thank you to Chris Stapleton. Yes, sir. Brought to you by Claude. Just the best dude, man. He's so down to earth, so just himself, man. I got to see him two days later at an NFL event, absolutely tearing it up, man.

Starting point is 01:10:33 Something about him that just makes you want to know more about him, like the more conversations you have with him because he's such an interesting guy, man. For sure. Appreciate him coming on and share out some stories with us. That wraps up another episode of New Heights. Thank you to Chris Stapleton for being here and check out his tour, the All-American Road Show.

Starting point is 01:10:51 Yeah, baby. Go get you some traveler whiskey today. Whatever proof you want, it's all going to be good. And make sure you subscribe to the New Heights channel on YouTube and follow New Heights on the WonderW app or wherever you get your podcast. You can listen to New Heights and New Heights ad for you right now by joining Wondry Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcast. Once again, New Heights A Wondry Show brought to you by Expedia,

Starting point is 01:11:10 the one place you go to go places. How about that? And follow the show on all social media, add New Heights show with 1S. Thank you to the New Heights production. team for always keeping us organized and making us way more professional than what we really are. And thank you again to all those 92 percenters. We wouldn't do this without you.

Starting point is 01:11:27 We can't do this without you. We love you guys. And we'll see you guys next week or this Friday. Peace. We've been over here, pressure beers for the past three hours and we had one of those. I'm just sitting here like, dude, I got to tell you about this tiny desk you did, man. I don't know if you remember, but.

New Heights with Jason and Travis Kelce - Kylie's Husband at the Olympics & Chris Stapleton on Anthem Tears, Drinkin' Whiskey, & More | Ep 180

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