Right About Now - Legendary Business Advice - Achieving Longevity Within the Music Industry | A Thousand Horses

Episode Date: March 26, 2024

TakeawaysThe love of music and the drive to create keeps A Thousand Horses going despite challenges and setbacks.The music business is constantly changing, and artists need to adapt to new technologies and platforms to reach their audience.Authenticity is key in creating music that resonates with listeners and stands the test of time.A Thousand Horses embraces their country rock sound and continues to release new music to connect with their fans. The music industry is complex and challenging, with various revenue streams and accounting complexities.Live performances are a crucial part of an artist's career and provide a direct connection with fans.Longevity and building a loyal audience are important goals for artists.The music business requires hard work, rehearsals, and constant strategizing.The country music community is supportive and collaborative.Crossover artists can bring new perspectives and audiences to the country music genre.Chapters00:00 Introduction and Welcome01:26 The Drive and Inspiration Behind the Band09:13 The Importance of Authenticity in Music24:57 Covering Foo Fighters' Song 'My Hero'26:24 Understanding Songwriting and Royalties27:43 The Challenges of the Music Industry28:39 The Wild West of the Music Industry29:05 The Desire to Meet Dave Grohl29:33 The Highway Sound Tour30:02 The Impact of Live Performances31:30 The Impressive Live Performance of Thousand Horses32:01 The Highway Sound Tour Dates32:30 The Excitement of Touring33:26 The Value of Live Music33:56 The Influence of Live Shows34:54 The Impact of Live Concerts35:22 The Experience of Seeing Clint Black Live36:19 The Possibility of Doing More Covers37:16 The Goal of Longevity in the Music Industry38:44 The Challenges and Surprises of the Music Business39:17 The Importance of Rehearsals and Preparation40:17 The Work and Energy Behind Making Music41:14 The Community and Support in the Country Music Scene42:38 The Temptations and Challenges of Touring43:06 The Reality of the Music Industry44:25 The Joy and Fulfillment of Live Performances45:21 The Influence of Trailblazers in Music46:41 The Popularity of Country Music48:04 The Impact of Artists Crossing Over to Country Music49:01 The Artists Thousand Horses Admires50:27 The Country Music Community in Nashville51:52 The Gratitude and Journey of Thousand Horses52:52 Where to Stay in Touch with Thousand Horses If you enjoyed this episode and want to learn more, join Ryan’s newsletter https://ryanalford.com/newsletter/ to get Ferrari level advice daily for FREE.  Learn how to build a 7 figure business from your personal brand by signing up for a FREE introduction to personal branding https://ryanalford.com/personalbranding.  Learn more by visiting our website at www.ryanisright.comSubscribe to our YouTube channel  www.youtube.com/@RightAboutNowwithRyanAlford. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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and throw in a towel or just not be inspired. You always got to show up. Like you said, there's mountain tops and then there's life that hits you in the face. This is right about now with Ryan Alford, a Radcast Network production. We are the number one business show on the planet with over one million downloads a month.

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marketing on Apple. And you know what? I got some of my favorite guys in today. The music's good. But once you get to know them, you don't want to leave. Graham De Loach, Michael Hobby, A thousand horses. Hey, what's up, man? What's going on? Hey, G Vegas, baby. Here we are. In the studio. Here we are. A lot of memories. Glad to be here. I know. Love having you. I told Michael was like, oh, we did it again. We're getting you in studio. Oh, yeah. I knew when I hit you, I was like, I'm going to make a trip. Whenever he gives me the green light, I told him that was our deal. Yep, exactly.

So Graham came with me. Yeah, he was like, hey, I need somebody to ride, come all with. They almost, they're like sending me down here. I was like, you know what, this is going to be my podcast with Ryan. We're not even talking about you. Yeah, you know. Hey, we'll get Graham on the board too. Yeah, I need a-old.

Get him on the board, man. Get him on the board. Got the Wall of Fame here. You know what? It's the Wall of Fame, but it's like my Wall of Favorites. Hey. Hey, that makes me feel good. Yeah, man.

Put him somewhere like a bottom corner. Yeah, very unnoticeable spot. Yeah. Where you got to really look. I will say this. So you guys came in. These guys come in the back door. We've got like the luxury intro for them.

They slide in the back door like a true band. But the funny thing is, and you guys, if you're listening, you got to go watch the YouTube. This is what rock stars are supposed to look like. I'm like six, four. a half, six, five with some boots on. He's got a stroll in, and I'm like, I knew Michael was, but Graham, long hair, looks like a rock star, Michael here. You guys are, you guys carry the part. Oh, thanks.

Oh, shit. We've been dressing this way for most of our life. Yeah. Trying to. No, you're looking good. Thanks, man, you too. I will say this. And I don't say, I don't say, I don't get paid to say anything I don't want to say.

Nobody says anything. We become buds. Yeah. But I have become a true thousand horses junkie. Oh, man. That was just saying, if you went, you got the Spotify, like, playlist thing, like, the end of the year, like your favorite bands or whatever. It was like, the name of the playlist they gave to me was a thousand horses and these other few songs you listen to. Oh, man, that's so clear.

I'm serious. It was like, literally, it was like, how many times have I played X number songs? Because what happens is, and you guys know this. You guys been playing for a long time. and everybody knows you have the wonder hit of all time fastest charting number one with smoke and

but you guys have this whole other set of albums like five six seven albums that are out there and it's all fucking good rock like country music it's just there's the stuff that I like to listen to but it's like you don't know what you don't know yeah I know I knew you're hit

and then met you with Jaron and started to dig into it and I'm like this is my jam I mean I grew up loving all that kind of stuff So I'm a digging it, man. Thanks, man. Thank you. Thank you.

Yeah. We've been doing it a while together. Yeah. We got a lot of music out and more on the way out. I know. Which is exciting. So, yeah, it's been fun. What's the guiding inspiration these days for you guys?

I feel like, and we may have covered a little bit of this, Michael, the first time, but I feel like having Graham here and having perspective, you get to the highs of the high. We got to the mountain top in the business. And then you grow up. little real world smacks you in the face but still making good music but what's the drive these days man go ahead we're doing this together you want one yeah sink up yeah the drive for us and it is really the love of music and the love of playing music and i know that sounds a cliche thing to say but that's the truth it's inside of us and it's it even when we don't want to do it

It still feels like the right thing to do. It still feels like the right thing to do. And I think that's what keeps us going in the inspiration behind it. Because we've had plenty of opportunities to not and throw in a towel or just not be inspired. But you always got to show up. It's not always, like you said, like there's mountain tops and then there's life that hits you in the face. And for us, we love to play music together. And we love to write music.

And we love to listen to music and go see. music and it's been part of our life since we were kids. That's how we became friends when we were 11 and 12 years old was listening to each other's records that we liked and trying to learn how to play those records and then talking about songs and trying to throw house parties together. Who's parents around town? Yeah, exactly. But that's really what it comes down to for us. We couldn't stop if we wanted to. It's like a blessing and a curse at times. I heard some when say use the term they were like we all knew who all the lifers are here and they call us lifers and they're like and i feel like that i'm like we don't we can't do anything else i think

we're just we're in this we're doing life now we're in way too damn deep you know what i mean yeah what you know what the irony is for me and it was it struck me like first started get to know you michael and listen to the song is like you had a lot of establishment like you've been playing and doing stuff before smoke. And so an established band, but then you had this meteoric rise, so everybody comes to know you as that song, and maybe a flash in that moment.

But then when people like really get underneath you guys to see that this is a fucking true rock man, like they're in it. Like it's a contrary to what is the normal flash in the pan, which is someone that just hit it, luckily, and maybe aren't that in it or aren't that great. Yeah. But the reality is there's so much more depths to you guys that I think becomes like this

gym of a surprise for people that gets to know you guys. Man, yeah, there is a lot to, there's a lot more to a thousand horses than just smoke. That's such a huge part of our story, and that's a major highlight. But yes, like you said, there is so much more beyond that albums. And just so much life lived in this band. Yeah. And to be lifers in it. It's the exact opposite of one hit.

It's like, and you've had other hits and you've got, it's way more than that. But the assumption that it was just that when, no, these guys are, like you said, everybody knew y'all are in it. Yeah. We've been doing it together for 20 years,

like when we, like playing in a band before a thousand horses, like we were in another band together. and just cutting our teeth, trying to figure it out. And you're right, yeah, smoke was like a commercial success. And that opens a lot of doors to a lot of people's ears. And that's by far in our career, like our biggest commercial success. But there's other successes underneath it. No, because your career decisions, your career artist.

That's what I'm saying. Like a lot of people, they hit this, they come in and they do the blip and they hit it, whatever. But you guys, this was going to be a career no matter what. Yeah, you just happen to have that. We're going to do the damn thing. You just happen to have what a lot of people would love to have, whether it's once, five times, a thousand times, like, it's right in the middle. Yeah, we always say we rang the bell. Yeah, it is. But it probably gets, and you're not, we would get into this track a little bit, Michael, but I think I got to do a little different spin on it.

It probably becomes unhealthy. There's probably been healthy and unhealthy moments of trying to do that again or thinking about it too much. For sure. 100%. Yeah. I would just think. The overthinking. Yeah.

And the getting in your way sometimes. But who doesn't do that? I know. Anyone who sees a goal who knows their path, but they just got to figure out how to get there, you're inevitably going to have those times, I think, where you, at some point, you're going to get in your own way. And you're going to learn from it. But I think the music shows, if you really go listen to these guys, the albums and the consistently good music,

you start to realize that you got that out of the way and at some point you just got to play the damn good music. Yeah, and that's kind of where we're at in our career now because you're right, you start chasing. Yeah. You chase that feeling again. You chase, you... It's a good feeling.

And there's a lot of... Yeah. After... We're human beings, the mecca of everybody loves you. Yeah. And yeah, and the influence, there's a lot of influence on you and there's a lot of pressure on you to do it again, and then you get confused as an artist.

I think that happens to a lot of artists. they get caught up in the business system side of it, that they lose focus on what actually got them there that made them unique and made it successful. And you get tossed around a little bit. And we've just, we went through that after smoke. And then just now with the new music that we're releasing and the last record we did,

we're coming out of that because we're able to do what we want to do and really what's like looking back and like, why did we get in this in the first place? you know what I mean? To make music that we love and we hope other people love it. It's a fascinating discussion. I think

thinking about the business, we tread some of this track. We talk, I like to do this guest come in and we end up shooting the shit at the bar for a little while. Yeah, we could have done the whole interview before we got in here.

We started talking about all the business and everything else. But, and Michael, you know, I talked some of this, but I think we can go even deeper now, like, thinking about how different it is. Because even myself knowing it,

I'm friends like you that tell me about it and seeing the business from afar, I sit there going, when's the album coming out, when's the new album coming out? It's coming out, but people will just want the next single, right? It's, what's the next?

That's, we're in a singles world. Yeah, we are, which takes it back to back in the day. The music started, that's what it was, history repeats itself. But it's almost being in this business for as long as we have been in it and as young as we are still and still in it.

We can see it now in our position of like how many times it's changed over the course of that 15, 20 years. We've seen a lot of versions. We've seen a lot of versions and a lot of it's like you get right to the goal line and you're like, all right, and then they move it. You know what I mean? And like very, sometimes you get ahead of it, but it's going to catch up to you. is our analogy towards it

and things change and what was important then is no longer important now and there's a new thing that's important and then you've got to wrap your head around what does that even mean because you're wired the old way and you're always and the technology changes now because

the day because radio changed the game years ago and then that was the thing and I guess CDs did and you've got the now the technology was streaming changing the game with the iPod. That started it.

Steve Jobs. You knew what he's doing. And you've had that. Then you've got smartphone proliferation and all the apps. And then now, TikTok. There's all these different mediums that seemingly come up overnight comparatively. When the technology cycle used to be 10, 20, 30 years, it's now every two years or less. Like what's going to be next?

Yeah. And it just adds more responsibility to your plate as an artist because now you have a new job that is like a content thing and then an engagement thing. And that didn't exist. Even when smoke was out, like streaming was brand new. It was something that we really weren't allowed to support in the situation that we were in. And then like overnight it was like everything that we had to support.

So you see the confusion, and that was only eight, nine years ago. Yeah. And then now it's everything. And then now there's TikTok, like you said, that's, that didn't, I mean, I think Instagram just had come out when we're starting to get warmed up. Yeah, it was just started in 2009, but it didn't hit mainstream until 14, 15, 16. Yeah. And then now TikTok.

But like, back to the social thing, like, it's, You think about, like, when you used to create songs, you'd create music video, right? And that was the video content for the band. But now people want, there's a desire for, what's the band up to? Show me your rehearsal. Yeah. Like, the life, a thousand horses is the TV station of behind the scenes. Everybody wants.

There's like this voracious appetite for as much as you want to give people. and it's both a blessing and a curse. It is. It is. And they don't just care about seeing rehearsal. They want to see what you ate for breakfast. People want to see everything now. It's crazy.

It's like totally wild. And we didn't get into playing music in our garage when we were kids thinking one day, okay, we're going to have to be like quasi influencer slash like content creator type thing as well. And you don't want to get lost in those things. But in the same sense that you said it's a blessing and a curse, it really is. It can be an amazing. tool for you to use and it's a way that now you have direct access to the people that care

about what you're doing no matter what you're doing which is amazing you can create your own ecosystem yeah you can create your own thing and that's where i feel a lot of people fight it and a lot of people are mad at it and a lot of people have there's all kinds of feelings towards it that we've talked about but it really is i have those feelings sometimes yeah we all do yeah i got to carry in my face all day and i think about it all yeah seriously it's an incredible opportunity for independent artists. That's the new thing. Independent artists now, I feel like for music, in this time and music have

the best opportunity than they've ever had to really do their art and play their music and and build an audience that's actually like sustainable and also can provide for them a lifestyle.

And I think that's the silver lining of it all. But that comes with lots. There's a lot of noise with that as well. that you have to navigate how to cut through. And you and I were talking about, like, how? Yeah. You just never know when that moment's going to happen.

And the irony, again, is you guys have the savvy and the repertoire and the ability musically because you've got all this experience. You've got a hit. You've got multiple hits. And, but yet the new generation is more adept to these new channels and maybe comfortable and knows exactly how to activate it. So I'm sure for guys like you that it's all about the craft, having to learn and want to take on those things

is probably like a daily, like you embrace it, but it's not. Yeah, it comes with a lot of challenges. You know, we pick up the Nintendo when we were like 20 years ago. That was easy. It was natural because I was like, you're young and dumb and you do it. And so like a new artist that's 21, it's just, that's the thing to do.

Yeah. that's yeah it's like natural just like we used to go hand out flyers and hang up flyers and then you know take a disc man with our CD and play it for random people on the street to see if they wanted to buy it or wanted to come to a show yeah like it was like street marketing when we didn't seem to think there was anything hard or strange about that we had a my space page and you had your music play or a website yeah and then we tour in a car or a van or whatever and we'd play any anywhere anybody would have us. And that's how we were trying to get our music out.

And now, with the new generation, their version of that is sitting in front of their computer and playing and sending it out to the world, like, every night, and being consistent with it. So it's just, it's the same amount of effort. It's just a different, you don't have to do that anymore. I would think, I'm always, I did this like the last time I was I said here, not a brainstorm.

I can see, there should be a total, like, thousand horses. is like a great American country rock band, like the telling of this story in real life. Because it's because you guys have the credibility of the, again, the talent of the music, the five, six albums, like how many every albums, how many of songs. Yeah. So you have all this credibility and all these things that you've done

to this professionalism. I thought there's just a story to be had there in the professional journey of now. There is a lot to that story, for sure. How much time you got? I can see that playing out is that's the content. Yeah, actually, yeah. That's the story. I don't know.

I'm seeing production here. But then talk about, let's talk about new music. Yeah. You guys obviously embraced the singles thing. Michael shared a pre-release of the album like, when we talked last time, I've been jamming it, and keeping it under wraps as long as possible as one single after another.

Yeah, it's coming, man. It's going. It's going. I appreciate it. But talk about the inspiration and what's the sound and where's the head space at now for what you're doing? Yeah. We finished it. Yeah, we did a new record with producer John Randall, who was the first time working with him.

He's great. And we've been rolling out songs from it since September. And we got another new song dropping March 1st called Summer. And we're just rolling it out before our head. Headlining tour starts. And we had a lot of fun making the record. We made it over the course of a year. We do it in like spurts when we had time.

Like a little three song. Yeah, to get together. And we cut everything we cut on that record. We wanted to cut and had been wanting to cut. Because, you know, a lot of people don't know is after smoke, we got stuck in this holding pattern that the business can put you in because we were coming out of that record deal, which it takes a long time.

And then you can't release anything and you can't do anything while you're in the middle of that. And then we moved right into a new one. And it was over before it started because the world was over before it started during that time period. We got held there. And not by anything malicious by anybody. It was just, it was literally. Unnatural purgatories. Right.

You just stumble into some red tape and you get caught up in it for a while. And we had this record that we'd made, the one before this new one that's coming out. And by the time we exited from that deal, it had been three years, like, with that record. And then we put it out on our own, you know, because we have it, and then started the next one, which is the one that's coming out now. And that's where we feel like, that's why there's such a gap in our catalog. Like, not that anybody notices that there's a gap, but from the first record, Southernality to the Broken Heartland, full-length record. How many years was that?

Too many. I don't know the number of years, but too many. Just because I've been looking at the album covers, it was like three years, I think. It was a long time. And that, now that we're out of all that and we're cleaning, we're independent, we do it ourselves, we have our own label, and we have a distribution deal and our own team of people, we have turned on the music faucet for our band to make up for the last five, six years, and we're just not going to cut it off. And it seems like the best time in the world to not cut it off because now that is what is, that's what you got to do. We think.

Yeah. And that speaks to the singles thing that you're talking about. I think really the goal there is just to consistently release music, like the faucet that he was talking about. We just want to go and never stop. Yeah. Because we got a lot of pent up music. I'm like, we hit a little bit of a roadblock and it's let's just, let's learn from that and let's just not ever do that again. So just constantly release music.

What did you classify, like, the style of the newest music? And then I want to talk about some fighters we all like. It's not country rock and roll. We grew up on rock and roll music and country music. But also, when we met each other, it was Led Zeppelin, the Black Crows, Tom Petty. Graham was really into the Ramones and the sex pistols. Bill was into the Beatles and Oasis. and food fires and incubus.

We come from like a rock, real rock background that happens to be southern because we're all, that was what was around us. Growing up South Carolina and Georgia, we all know the type of music that comes out of here. And it's just naturally what, like, comes out of us. It's the time, whenever we try to mold ourselves in a different box, it just, it's like wearing two left shoes.

We always say we're like, man, it's, it can be. this hybrid, it can be country, it can be rock and roll computer. Man, we're like, we're just an American band. That's what I call it. There was a song about that. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, we're in America.

I was hearing it as you were saying it. I think it is. I listen to it and I play for people that maybe not have heard you guys and it always comes back to that. Country rock, Southern rock, something like that. And it's very endearing and I think, and Summer's

very endearing song. That was it's got I don't know there's a brightness to it and then there's like just that Americana it like totally brings you there yeah we get the Americana thing a lot

but I think that's in our songwriting yeah it's like the style of what we want to sing about just honest yeah try to be as truthful as you can when you write your when you tell your stories when you write your lyrics and try not to cliche it up

with what you think That's another thing, too. It's like writing what you feel and what you like or thinking about what you should write that you think someone else is going to life. And you can get tripped up very easily. That would drive me like crazy, but that would always be about my life. But you got to sing it every night and you got to live with it

when it's really your expression of your art. So I would go on that. I would say, yeah. I subscribe to Rick Rubin philosophy. He's like, you have to truly, make something for yourself. And when you do that, it just so happens to connect with other people because it's authentic. And I'm like, that's it, man.

That's it. The latest single. It's ironic. I'm a total story. I played a lot of the new album, and I started catching it. Like, in my favorite song when I'm still waiting on, roll long. It's coming. It's coming.

I'm into telling you earlier. Yeah. And my kids are waiting on it. I have a day. You know, when we're going to be able to play that on Apple Music? And Daddy and I have to pull it out of his files on his phone. Yeah. Out of the drop box.

Yeah, the drop box. I can't put you all on a playlist. It's all good. I at least get to listen to it. But Food Fighters, I was like, your voice always had a little bit of that ring to me. When the new single came out, I was like, yeah, that made sense. So my hero. Yeah.

Yeah, my hero was, it was something we were just messing around with, and we'd play in sound checks, and we'd jam acoustic. And we love the Food Fighters. Yeah. And we love that song. We love so many of their songs. And they were a big influence on us. growing up and we just started going down that road of learning it and how we would want to do it and we loved it and we so we went in and cut it live and we're like man let's we've never put out

a cover like we've never been allowed to do something like that so why wouldn't we and it's a great song and I feel like the band and everybody did a great job and I mean who doesn't love the food yeah they've been like the soundtrack to our lives from when we were you know kids all the way up until now and I'm like, why not do something that we love that means so much to us? And then just have fun with it and that's what happened. How does it work putting out

a cover song that someone else is, and you release it? So how does that, you have to ask permission? Do you have to, can you just do it? No. They wrote the song so they get the songwriting credit. We can, you can record anybody's song and re-release it. And so they would get,

they get a portion of some proceed or something. Yeah. It's a songwriter credit. Yeah, absolutely. Talk about that, though. That's stuff people are like for business don't understand. Like songwriting royalty. Yeah, that's fascinating. You think about every dollar made. Where does that dollar go? They may make a few bucks off that. Yeah. I hope so. I hope they do. I hope so. Yeah, so it's divided up publishing and writing. If you write the song, you own the publishing. And then there's recording side, which is like master's side. And whoever pays for the recording of that owns that master essentially.

and that's just the recording side of it. In that part. Yeah, because you produced it. Yeah, it's our thing. And it's their song. So any royalty distribution off its streams or plays or placements or whatever, it goes pretty much to them.

And we retain the recording side of it. So, like, from a dollars in standpoint, if that thing blew up a billion down, like. But out of a dollar, how much goes to, the band versus the writer, like a percentage. I know there you have costs built in. I'm not talking about profit,

but like 50-50 or is it? The royalty structure with streaming is still a little confusing to me, like what goes where and what is made. I think it's confusing to everyone because they seem to be moving it from a bunch of, but you obviously make money.

Just be clear, like if someone does a cover, they make money themselves. Yeah, 100%. But you're splitting it with the original songwriter on some level. They get the songwriting royalties off of it. Which whatever the streaming rate that those companies pay. I don't know what they pay.

So it's different on everyone. Yeah. That's this mad world that we live in there for, I'm sure for you guys. It's a crazy thing. You used to probably know if you put a CD out to the penny. Every CD that sold you knew you made X. Yeah, it was like $10 and you had what you had invested in it and you got your percentage of that. Yeah.

On Spotify, I know that the amount that gets paid per spin even varies from what country it's played in. So it's all just split up in. comes from everywhere. A million different ways. So it's an accountant nightmare, I would imagine. But, and it's not very, not nearly. And we rely on these things because they give you outlet to play it and they pay you versus the direct route. And then trying to go that route's difficult now because everybody wants their playlist on Apple or Spotify.

So you've got to be there. Yeah. It's Wild West. Yeah. It really is. It's a crazy time. That's a great way to put it. It is the Wild Wild West.

Yeah, and I'm loving the my hero. He doesn't like the food fighters. When you went and you knew you were going to do acoustic the best way to make it your own. And to be honest with you, we're just trying to meet Dave Grohl. Yeah. You're watching this Dave. All right. We want to meet you. Really, that's all we want.

I can make that happen. He can call me and tell me it sucks and it'd make my day. Yeah. You know, it'd be the best day ever. So that's all, that's really why we did it. We just, we want to meet you, Dave. Yeah. Y'all would open up for the food fires, wouldn't you?

In a minute. Oh, man. Like, are you kidding me? That'd be a great fit, too. I'm feeling that. Yeah. That's another reason why. Yeah.

Is it got a little tour coming. Yeah, we got the Highway Sound Tour. Kicks off March 21st and Madison, Wisconsin. Let me just say this. Okay. I know I have my friends on, but let me just tell you. I love you, Michael. But if I didn't like your music, I would.

and play it up. So I need to say that, asterisk. You don't know a band, a rock country band, until you see them live. So Nicole and I went down to the House of Blues in Myrtle Beach and proceeded to, we took a couple of our best friends and went down there and I don't drive four and half hours for many people. But I was like, I'm going to go, I'm going to go support Michael, the band, they're in town. And I hadn't seen y'all live ever. And I'm like, they'll be good. I'm sure you got it. That'll be decent. Yeah, I mean, I like, and I, with all the albums, but you don't know.

Yeah, absolutely. It's about a fucking great concert, dude. Y'all rocked it. It was awesome. Thank you. The first song, Down in a Blaze of Glory, is now the most played song on my playlist, like, of all of them. Yeah. That should have been a fucking hit.

Can we go backwards? Yeah, sure. That's the beauty of the world today. It can go. Let's go backwards, guys. Go stream blaze or something. Go stream it. Yes.

You need to. It is definitely my most, on my Instagram stories, used song for my posts. Like, the story with the background music. That's so rad. But I'm serious. I would have just not brought this topic up, but I'm so confident now that people need to come go see you guys. Because you felt like you were in a country concert, but you really did feel like, these guys are fucking rock band badasses.

You guys are fucking good. Thank you very. Very, like, Michael had more stage presence that I knew that he would have. Dude can fucking crush it as the front band. He's all over the place. But then the music, it just, I never, and I grew up around music. My dad played in a band. I play eight instruments. I know what fucking good music sounds like. You think you're going to hear something off the, it's live, right? Yeah.

Not a fucking beat missed. At least at that show. Yeah. You guys fucking crushed it, man. Thank you very much. I want people to hear that because it's just that good live. It was. Thank you. I don't know what to say.

But I wanted to say that because they need to know. Let's talk about the tour. So where are you going? Oh, man, we're going to kicks off Madison, Wisconsin. We're playing Nashville, Tennessee, towards the end. We're playing hometown show in Newbury, South Carolina. Then we're going to Philadelphia, Omaha, Detroit, St. Louis. St. Louis, Indianapolis.

We're doing, what, maybe 18 shows, something like that? 16? 16 or 18? just in that region is the first leg of it. And we talked about this in our bar talk earlier. I'm going to have to get a mic.

We're going to get a mic at the bar for when we have guests in because that's getting behind the scene. Yeah, I'm like, okay. Sure, man. More to do. Put it on a do list.

All right. We're going to mic in the bathroom. Hey, we've got to get all about content, baby. Yeah. Come walk into their car. Bar talk? I mean, 100%. Bar talk's the real talk.

But getting up for shows and you guys are toured enough. Like, that's the... You think about the rock and roll band. Like, you think about touring, and everybody thinks it's cool, but then you get worn out, but then you learn...

I don't know. Do you all get excited about it still? We do. Yeah, we do get excited about it. I mean, it's, you know, we have families and stuff now, so it's a different kind of animal. But...

I know that. Yeah, we do, man. Playing live is what we love. We've been doing it for so long. It really is. That's where the hard work and everything, you feel it. in it. It's not a ticker

on a computer screen. It's like real life in person. You feel what you've, it's a vibe. Right. Yeah, you're feeling the direct connection to the people that pay attention to what you're doing. And it's such a lost thing. We live in this digital world and it was streaming and everybody's

on the phone and all that. IRL in real life. It's a lost art to be able to play and cultivate an audience which is what you guys do. and just that experience. I don't know.

I don't know what post-COVID and all this stuff that's happened now when I go to a show, I'm in heaven, like that experience. And I think having a band in a world where there's just not enough good old rock band

that just play, it's just the lost art. Oh, yeah. People need to find the argument. I know. There's nothing that can replace that. There's been a million ways that people have tried to simulate it.

But I'm like, nothing can give you that experience. except for going and seeing the live show. And we love that. I still feel like we're in the garage, like turning our amps up to 10 and just play. It's still so exciting. So I encourage people to go out and see any live show.

Live music is incredible. We went and saw a show the other night, and I left Ling inspired. We went saw Clint Black. Who was amazing. It was like his 35-year anniversary of the Killing Time record that came out in 89, which is two years after we were born.

But I remember that record growing up. How is Clint Black? these days. Awesome. Better than ever. I mean, it was an incredible show, and I was truly inspired. Talk about, like, musicianship and, like, a show and entertaining. And he, like, his, the way he talked in between songs and the way he described things and

told stories. But you would approve. You would be like, dude, this is great. Like, it was captivating. He played, like, a couple of hours. How long did he play for it? Two and a half hours. Was it in Nashville?

Yeah. And just hit after hit. That's the thing. You guys live in Nashville, man. Like, for everybody in my listening, then if you know Nashville's got to, cool and all that stuff but like the amount of great artists and music just still comes through there

is unmatched in it yeah the rhyming that's where he was at yeah which is an incredible venue but you guys played there yeah we did yeah recently played there a few times but most recently on the last tour yeah he was he was great yeah Clint Black thousand horses he was in the movie Maverick

yeah when I told my dad I was like we're going to see Clint Black tonight he was like oh that movie Maverick man it's good I'm like that's what you know him for That's awesome. But so many good songs. So many great songs. And I don't know. We love it.

We're on a big Clint Black kick right now. If I'm doing the Food Fighters with My Hero and go download that guys if you're listening, just go Spotify, look up Thousand Horses. My Hero will be their top single right now. If you're listening to this in real time or the next month, probably, maybe another single out by then. But is it made you consider doing more covers? Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah, we've talked about it. Yeah. some of our favorite songs from the 90s we grew up with that my brother played every day on the way to school that molded our mind of music and what you found out what you were into and what you weren't so yeah we toyed around with a few ideas yeah yeah yeah there might be something in the works potentially yeah yeah yeah nothing we can name for one to get a little out of the cat out of the back yeah still play now yeah still got to figure out what fits us but if you got any ideas yeah throw them our way

I do we'll we'll talk off there all that way I got some thoughts. Probably ones who've already crossed your mind. It's just stuff that I feel like Michael, I hear Michael's voice and I hear the guitars and like with you guys. There's stuff that I think probably fits with you guys naturally. And that Food Fighters is perfect.

And I guess it's a great song. Yeah, such a great song. Great song. So tour coming up, more albums to come. Like what are, when you forward think, you want to stay out of the box of chasing something. Like going back to what we're talking about. Yeah.

But what does like that magical bus ride look right? What is the perfect tier? I never, I was thinking about this. I was wanted to ask this question because I think as an artist, we always talk about it and everybody knows this and you guys will live this. Success is not a destination. No, correct. If it was, we'd all stop and just be having joyous time there.

But it's just the up and downs of life. So it's a journey. But is there like this perfect place for a band in a group like you guys that's like comfortable, but it's where you want to be? it's like, where you're not chasing it, but is it called what Kenny Chesney's doing? Or is it like something different? Yeah, I think it is building an audience,

like a real large audience, that you can release a record and tour and go see your people. And just know you have a baseline that's sort of... Yeah, right. A good, healthy baseline of doing it. That's like the goal for every artist, and they'll have longevity with it.

That's exactly what I was thinking, is longevity, because it's so much fun And honestly, it's a privilege to be able to make music and have people care about it. Like, what a privilege. It's incredible. So to be able to do that for, like, the arc of a career, what a gift. So we work hard at it. We take it seriously and longevity.

I think that's it. We want to be doing this 25 years from now. What's something about that journey or the business that would surprise people? You know, that I think there's enough. like train wreck shows now that people know that super stardom and celebrities don't have it all perfect all the time but maybe what's like one of the biggest surprises maybe for people for a group that's living their life making music the biggest surprise this is a good question I don't know if we've ever been asked this question before this is one or what people wouldn't expect and I'm going to give you a little teaser

while you think about that because it because this is back to to Bar Talk. You talked about rehearsal. And when you guys said that, because we were talking about doing the new album on the show, and growing up with the father that played in just local nothing bands, but they always, man,

they rehearsed, boy, our house would be rocking. The Alford House would be shaken to the core when Dad had they practiced like two or three times a week. And you guys saying that, I was like, well, you guys still rehearse? Of course you do. But It was just like, you have to hone the, it didn't just come.

No, it's the practice of the profession. Yeah, you have to, you have to build your show, like, from scratch. Every tour starts over and every record it starts over. So there's a lot of work and energy that goes into that before you ever play the first night and you rehearse and you learn what you recorded. Because a lot of times when you cut the song and you're done with it, that's it. You're not in tour mode and you're not in rehearsal mode. So you've got to go back in and refresh yourself on what you recorded.

Luckily, you can remember most of it. But yeah, the amount of work that goes into making records and writing songs and then rehearsals for tours, it's a full-time job. And now you throw content on top of it. It's 24-7, always something going on. For us, we all talk with our team every day from the time you wake up. to the time you go to bed. And it's always strategy. And it's always what can we do here?

What can we try? What can we be? And it's besides the show, I always compare the show is like a smoke brick at work. That's where you get to have fun. That's where you get to cut loose and let it all out. And then everything else is you're back in the daily grind. You're traveling, you're flying, you're riding sleeping places. And we love it.

So it's not a negative thing for us. a lot of people may not be on board with that, but it's where we thrive is in that lifestyle. But there's a lot that goes into it. I think that's probably it, that they know that there's work involved, but they don't know, think of it as, they probably think of it as a three-hour day and not a...

Yeah. Oh, no, there are long days, man. And it's no one else can do that for you because it's your idea, your creative vision. So it's like from the, from literally the ground up. Yeah, you're a business. owner. Yeah. You run it like you run your deal, but it's always on your mind. It's always, always those things. And you can't turn it off. True to entrepreneurs. You're like, you're

laying in bed thinking about that. Even on vacation, like vacation isn't vacation. You're in a different place and you may not have any responsibility, but you're looking for inspiration. You're looking for ideas. You're writing things down. And I think that's just an entrepreneurship, really, with the whole thing. But you got to, it's a full, there's a full team. I know you guys have families and do stuff and I just I still think about like how the partying like on tours and how like how people hold it together for as long as they do or is it does it always just crash and burn eventually are there I just think about it because that's just what you think about with rock stars touring yeah if you thought the show was great you should have been you should have seen us on our party days were great we

we had that phase like we really got after it we were younger and yeah but then you start realizing Oh man, like there's a lot. Does the toil or the, I guess, the devil come a call on eventually that for paying for it, like it starts impacting the work? 100%. Without a doubt. There's a lot of people's livelihoods on the line for what you do. So you have to act accordingly. And we talked about that word longevity.

If you want longevity, you got to think about that. What's more important? And eventually it, yeah, man, it catches everybody. There's not a single person. I was about to say, is there anybody that's just somehow ridden the way for 20 years? I don't know. If you had a call in line, I'd love to talk to him. I think about the biggest artist, whether it's, I don't know, Jason Aldeen or any of those guys.

Have they all just had their ups and downs of that, you think, assuming? And I'm not saying you're speaking for them. No, but we have toured with a lot of legacy, not legacy, legendary acts and superstars and become friends with them and gotten to know them and them mentored us. Like, the one thing, they're smart and they're responsible. Like, you got to know when to cut loose and when not to. So they find their moments. Like, they're...

Well, everybody has their, everybody finds their moment to have a late day, you know what I mean? And cut loose and have a good time. Just like everybody else does. And that's one thing... The five shows this week. No, it ain't happening. It ain't happened. But maybe the last night, because they got a four-day, five-day break or something,

that their hair down. Yeah, man. Everybody's hanging out by the... buses after the show and having some beers listening to music there's a food truck or something like you're it's the same as anybody else like you you get out off on a Friday and you're like all right let's go boys so most of the temptation of that I think would just be hard because of the nature because everyone's coming to your show to party yeah but you're not like me at work all day everybody's not necessarily here to party all day you know we can make it feel like a party so you are everybody's

Friday night every night of the week yeah and you just, it's just being responsible, really. Yeah. I know that growing up, when we watched behind the music, Motley Cree, we're like, that's what I want to be. Those guys weren't responsible. Yeah, you just go crazy, and that's part of the charm of it. But the reality is not.

But do you eventually find joy in not doing that and the playing? The experience is better in that world. Yeah, you remove the lens of the filter of what it is, and you actually experience it and you feel it. And you enjoy it. It's more pure. And that's the joy of it. Yeah, how much you really enjoy it.

And it's not about just getting fucked up all the time and running away from whatever problems you have. It's more or less, or it's more just the true energy and fulfillment of a great crowd and a great show. And like the camaraderie of the band and the brotherhood and the people that are there that, you know, and they also, they spend their hard on money to come see the show. Right. They didn't come to see you get done. drunk they came to see you put on a kick-out show they came to see you to and them get drunk that's what they want to do right so why would you who was it was the best part of year like big star or hug you

hug out with it was like a lot of fun oh man everybody can we name names are we just getting down you know um i don't know i mean we had we had good nights yeah you can look up our touring history and without naming names use your imagination yeah but it was always like you said like last night of the three-day run or four-day run and that's when everybody got to see each other because you don't see each other a lot during the day yeah everybody's got their own shit going on and it was that was the fun part and into tour was always that's the end of the tour is like always the true cut loose moment it's oh man we did it boys we made it it went well you know what I mean and got on the other side of it yeah you got on the other side of it and you made all

these new friends along the way and you're celebrating that. It's like the last day of the school year when you get your yearbook signed and shit and you're like, fuck, I'll call you, man, I'll hit you up. And then everybody goes back. That is fun. And everybody goes back to their world. What do you all make of the country music scene now? Everybody's coming country.

Yeah. It's a popular place to be. Post Malone's crossing over. And he's a reasonable, like, artist and songwriter, I think, even in his genre, but it's still fascinating how he's a fan. of country music. Yeah. I think a lot of people are, when you get into music, you're a fan of music, period.

You know, I think Post-Balong coming, I'm a fan of him, and I think it's a cool thing. Like, he wants to express himself, and he's a fan of country music. And it's like Darius Rucker, but it's like he was in Hootie, and that guy can sing every word to classic. He's a country music. The most obscure country album, like encyclopedia. Columbia, South Carolina boy. Yeah, that's right. But, yeah.

Yeah, and you would never know that. No, you wouldn't if you didn't know. But he will school you on country music history. And thank God he came and made a country record. He brought his talent and his expression to that genre. And, man, I think it's great. Come on. Beyonce.

Yeah, come on. She's a Texas girl. She grew up in Houston. He could do a little thousand horses of Beyonce mix, right? Let's go. A little collab. I like that. I was trying to meet Beyonce.

Exactly. Dave Grohl, Beyonce, where you're all at? Yeah. We'll do it. That'll be a great way. Postal loan can come in too. Yeah. Yeah.

So it's called borrowed interest, baby. Hey, you don't mind getting a little shine from them. There's plenty of room, right? We need their shine. Yeah. They don't need ours, but. Hey, they need your talent. Yeah.

But so I think it's cool, man. It can't help. Yeah. It's got to help the genre even. The genre is needed any help. Let's be honest. It's taken over as, it's, the popular music in a lot of ways.

It opens doors for people that are trying to do the same thing that their doors have been shut. I think that's the cool thing about it. Somebody's got to pave the way. Somebody's got to be a trailblazer when it comes to it. It's hard. Those people are very influential and very powerful. So when they do something, I think it opens up a lot of doors for people

and open up people's minds to things. It puts more ears on the genre as a whole. Yeah. Is there someone, it's not, but it's just in country now, like if you were pointing out, y'all would love to tour with them. Is there, like, is there anybody now? And obviously the food fire,

but it's me, I'm talking about, like, specifically that you are digging what they're doing or feel like they're pushing the envelope a little bit. Yeah, man, I love what jelly roll is doing. And we've known him for a long time. We don't know him, like, personally, but we had some party nights. Oh, yeah, down at the red door,

you know, there in Nashville. And Lany Wilson is another artist that I love what she's doing, man. she's such an incredible performer and her stage presence and just attitude towards the whole thing I think I find just badass you know

it's those are two there's a lot of great music coming out but yeah I would say people that we haven't worked with or toured with those are of the new new crowd talking about breaking barriers jelly roll have you listened to like his old stuff but then now it's everything

gold with him you know he's an inspiration to people yeah he's just yeah he's just Yeah, he's just like the last thing, the person you'd think, that would be crossing that line. But look, the music speaks for itself, right? People like it. Yeah.

He's doing it and doing good things for people. I was going to say he's doing it's such a positive way. He's doing good things for the world. I think every chance he can get. And his story's great. You know, where he came from, what he went through, and even looking back at the genre, the music that he was doing and then what it's evolved into.

That's the beauty of an artist. Like, it evolves into something. you know how's the community you guys are in Nashville you know the community of country music like you got the superstars and then the guys like you guys are great musicians put a lot of albums you've had the highs and lows but just steady is there I don't know a circle or like a bar that y'all hang out of it is that just a mythical thing in someone's mine all these guys we see each other their own thing it's fun when we see each other out on the road We see each other at events.

That's when we get to hang. The community is definitely real. It's like a family, man. There's not very many of us. And it really, even from superstars to new acts, like there's never like an ego of, hey, man, I'm such and you're going to do that. Like, every, it's a real, like, you've never, nobody makes you feel that way. It's who can, it's real, they help each other.

Everybody helps everybody in a nice way. And I feel like it's like a. It's a little community of people that we're all competitive without a doubt. That's just life, but supportive of one another. The reality is wherever you guys go, you've done something that millions of people wish they had ever done. To make music your livelihood to have a number one hit, to have multiple hits, to have you guys are living the dream. Yeah, man. It's a God thing.

always bring it back to that. You've got to follow where he takes you. And it's important to keep that close to you as you travel through this crazy high and low business of things. That's what we always bring it back to that. But yeah, we're very grateful. Very grateful. Never imagined what we've seen and done. That's what we dreamed of when we were kids, but it didn't look like, it's like what you dream of and then what you experience and then what it really looks in it. It's been a, it's been. been an awesome journey. Yeah, awesome. Most of the time.

Most of the time. Where can everybody stay in touch with a thousand horses and everything you all man? At a thousand horses on everything. Like a thousand spelled out horses and then a thousand horses.com. That's all our handles are that. Tour dates there. Tour dates are there.

Link music on every platform you can listen to music. We're out in the world. Man, we're on the big old worldwide wind. Yeah, and on all the social channels, Thousand horses. Guys, loved having you. Dude, thank you for having us. Good to see you again, man. I know.

I know. That's awesome. We'll have to do this regularly. Who knew when we met on Jaron's bus that we would become buddies and do this thing? So thank you for having us in. Hey, you got my seal of approval. Anything I can do to make the Thousand Horses star shine brighter. Thank you.

We'll be doing it here. And your song's coming. month's coming. Yay. I'm telling you. I'm going to say I told you. I want you to tell me that. I want you to tell me that.

I'm looking forward for that phone call. If nothing else, it'll get played a billion times at the Alford House. And that's what it's all about. And my son's, I never forget, I'm on the boat and played it for the first time. And my son, Clayton, it's very studious. And he's got dry humor, whatever. He's, I was like, played the song or whatever. What did you think?

He said, that sounds like a hit dad. Oh, nice. He said, I can see all the college girls playing that. That was his second comment. That's a great comment. And he liked it, because he was nodding and whatever, and he's just a stoic kid, but dry humor. But it wasn't even joking.

He was just matter of fact. I love that. That's so awesome. This guy needs to get a job. He used to be an A&R guy. Yeah, he should. But thank you guys for coming in. Hey, guys, you know where to find us online.

I'm at Ryan Offer on all the social media. channels and look go see these guys live in concert just send me a thank you note or two hit me up in the DM because you'll see the music playing all my stories we'll see you next time now now to listen or watch full episodes of right about now on the web go to ryanisright.com or follow at ryan alfred on all social media platforms