Right About Now with Ryan Alford - 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. 

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. You always got to show up. Like you said, there's mountaintops 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 1 million downloads a month. Taking the BS out of business for over 6 years and over 400 episodes. You ready to start snapping necks and cashing checks? Turn it up. It starts right about now.

What's up, guys? Welcome to Right About Now with Ryan Alford. I am your host, and welcome to our newest show. Wherever you are, whenever you are, however you are, we love you for making us number one in business and 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 DeLoach, Michael Hovey, 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, I was like, oh, we did it again. We're getting you in the studio. Oh, yeah. I knew when i hit you i was like i'm gonna make a trip whenever he whenever he gives me the green light i told him that was our deal yep exactly so graham came with me you know yeah he was like hey i need

somebody to ride come on with they almost got surprised like sending me down here i was like you know what this is gonna be my podcast yeah we're not even talking about you, you know what? This is going to be my podcast with Ryan. We're not even going to talk about you. Hey, we'll get Graham on the board, too. 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, that makes me feel good. Yeah, man. Put him somewhere like the bottom corner. Yeah, very unnoticeable spot. 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 6'4", 6 half six five with some boots on these guys stroll in and i'm like i don't know michael was but graham long hair looks like a rock star michael here you guys are yes 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 it. I don't get paid to say anything I don't want to say. Nobody says anything. We've become buds. But I have become a true Thousand Horses junkie. Oh, man. Just saying.

If you went, you got the Spotify playlist thing at 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 killer. I'm serious. It was like, literally, it was like, how many times have I played X number of songs?

Because what happens is, and you guys know this. You guys have been playing for a long time, and everybody knows you have the wonder hit of all time, Fastest Charting No. 1 with Smoke, 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. There's the stuff that I like to listen to,

but it's like you don't know what you don't know. I know your hit, but 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. 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 what's the guiding inspiration these days for you guys i feel like in we may have covered a little bit of this michael the first time but i feel having graham here and having perspective you get to the highs of the

high we got to the mountaintop in the business and then you grow up a little real world smacks you in the face but still making good music but what's the drive these days man 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 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 and 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 right like you said like there's mountaintops 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'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 are out of 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 someone say use the term they were like we all knew who all the lifers are here and they call us lifers and they're 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 this. We're doing life.

Now we're in way too damn deep. You know what I mean? Yeah, right. You know what the irony is for me? It struck me when I first started getting to know you, Michael, and listening to the songs. You had a lot of establishment. You'd been playing and doing stuff before smoke y'all 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 band 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 and but the reality is there's so much more depth to you guys that i think becomes like this gem 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. We, we, that's such a huge part of our story and that's, that's a major highlight,

but yes, like you said, there, 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 not it's the exact opposite of one hit it's like right you've had other hits and you've got it's way more than that and it's but the assumption that it was just that when no these guys are like you said yeah everybody knew y'all were in it. We've been doing it together for 20 years, like playing in a band. Before 1,000 Horses, 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 our biggest commercial success. But there's other successes underneath it. No, because you're career musicians. You're career artists. That's what I'm saying. 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, right. 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 and but it probably gets and you're not we we would get into this track a little bit michael but i think i gotta do a little different spin on it 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.

One hundred percent. 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 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 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 it yeah after 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 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 it'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've tread some of this track. We talk, I like to do this, guests 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. Yeah, we start talking about all the business and everything else.

And Michael, you and I talked some of this, but I think we can go even deeper now like thinking about how different it is because even me even myself knowing it i have friends like you that tell me about it and then seeing the business from afar i sit there going when's the album coming out when's the new album coming out and it's coming out but people will just want the next single, right? It's what's the next? We're in a singles world.

Yeah, we are, which takes it back to back in the day. 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 in it, 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 got to wrap your head around what the what does that even mean because you're wired the old way and yeah and you're always and the technology changes now because the day...

Okay, the radio changed the game years ago. And then that was the thing. And then 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. He knew what he was doing.

And you've had that. And then you've got smartphone proliferation and all the apps. And then now, TikTok. Yeah. 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, 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 then, 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 that started. eight, nine years ago. Yeah. And then now it's everything. And then now there's TikTok, like you said. I think Instagram just had come out. Yeah. We're starting to get warmed up. Yeah, it started in 2009, but it didn't hit mainstream until 14, 15, 16. Yeah. And then now TikTok.

But back to the social thing, you think about 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. 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 care. They don't just care about seeing rehearsal. They want to see what you ate for breakfast. They want, like 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 gonna have to be like quasi influencer slash like content creator type thing as well but and

you don't want to get lost in those things but they in the same sense that it's you said it's a blessing and a curse it really is it's 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 feelings sometimes yeah we all do yeah i got

a care 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 like independent artists now i feel like for music in this time and music have the the best opportunity than they've ever had to really do their art and play their music in in in build an audience that's actually like sustainable and also can provide for them a lifestyle and i think that's the the silver lining of it all it's it but that comes with lots like 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 gonna happen and the art 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 got multiple hits. 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 played Pick Up the Nintendo when we were like 20 years old. 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 the thing to do. Yeah, it's like natural. Just like we used to go hand out flyers and hang up flyers and then take a Discman with our CD in it and play it for random people on the street to see if they wanted to buy it or wanted to come to a show. It was like street marketing.

We didn't seem to think there was anything hard or strange about that. We had a MySpace page. And you had your music player. Or a website. Yeah. And then we'd tour in a car or a van or whatever and we'd play anywhere anybody would have us and that's how we were trying to get our music out and now with the new generation they their version of that is is sitting in front of their 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 say here another brainstorm i can see there should be a total like thousand horses like a great american country rock band like the telling of this story in real life. Because you guys have the credibility of the, again, the talent of the music, the five, six albums, like how many ever albums, how many ever songs. Yeah.

So you have all this credibility and all these things that you've done, so this professionalism. I feel like 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 as that's the content. Yeah, actually, yeah.

That's the story. 100%. I don't know. I'm seeing production here. But then let's talk about new music. Yeah. You guys obviously embraced the singles thing. Michael shared a pre-release of the album.

We talked last time. I've been jamming it and keeping it under wraps as long as possible as one single after another. It's coming, man. It's coming. It's coming. I appreciate that. 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 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 headlining tour starts and we had a lot of fun making that record.

We made it over the course of a year. We do it in like spurts when we had time. Like little three song, you know. 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 this it was over before it started because the world was over before it started during that time period 2020 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 it's like 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 with that record. And then we put it out on our own 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 yeah i don't know the number of years but i think just because i've been looking at the album covers so much it's three or it was like three years i think yeah it was a long time and and that now that we're out of all that and we're clean and we're independent we do it ourselves we have our own label and we have a 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 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 fauc thing that you're talking about. I think really the goal there is just to consistently release music, like the Fawcett 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 got,

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. Is, what would you classify like the style of the newest music and now and then i want to talk about some fighters we all like it's not country rock and roll as we grew up on rock and roll music and country music but also we when we met each other

it was led zeppelin the black crows tomty. Graham was really into the Ramones and the Sex Pistols. Bill was into the Beatles and Oasis and Blue Fires and Incubus. We come from a real rock background that happens to be Southern because that was what was around us growing up in South Carolina and Georgia. We all know the type of music that comes out of here. And it's just naturally what comes out of us. Whenever we try to mold ourselves in a different box, it's like wearing two left shoes.

We always say, we're like, man, 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 yeah an america there was a song about that yeah exactly yeah i was hearing it as you were saying it um i think it is i listen to it not play for people that maybe not have heard you guys and it always just comes back to that country rock southern rock something like that and it's very endearing like that. And it's very endearing. And I think Summer's a 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. Yeah. 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. It's just honest. Yeah. We try to be as truthful as you can when you write, 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 like i think that and you can get tripped up very easily that would drive me like not crazy but that would always be about my yeah but you gotta sing it every night and you gotta 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 the 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 going to tell a story. I played a lot of the new album and I started catching it. Like, my favorite song that I'm still waiting on. It's coming. It's coming. I'm going to tell a story. I played a lot of the new album, and I started catching it. My favorite song that I'm still waiting on, Roll On. It's coming. It's coming. I meant to tell you that earlier. My kids are waiting on it.

I have a day. When are we going to be able to play that on Apple Music? Daddy and I have to pull it out of his files on his phone. Out of the Dropbox. Yeah, the Dropbox. I can't even put you all on a playlist. It's all good. I at't even put you all on a playlist. But anyway, it's all good. I at least get to listen to it.

But Foo Fighters, I was like, your voice always had a little bit of that ring to me. So when the new single came out, I was like, yeah, that made sense. My Hero. Yeah. Yeah, My Hero, 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 Foo 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. I mean, who doesn't love the Foo Fighters?

Yeah, they've been the soundtrack to our lives from when we were 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 just they wrote the song so

they get the that's their songwriting credit we can you can record anybody's song yeah re-release it and so they would get they get a portion of some proceed or something? Yeah. As a songwriter credit? Yeah, absolutely. Talk about that, though. That's stuff people from business don't understand. Like songwriting royalty.

That's fascinating. From business, 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 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. 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 from a dollars and stints standpoint, if that thing blew a billion down, but out of a dollar, how much goes to the band versus the writer? Like a percentage.

I know you have costs built in. I'm not talking about profit. But 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 time to time. But y'all obviously make money. Just to 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. Yeah, 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 bucks and you had what you had invested in it and you got your percentage of that. 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 comes from a million different ways so it's so when it's an accountant nightmare i would imagine but and it's not nearly and we rely on these things because they give you out 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 playlists on apple or spotify so you got to be there yeah it's uh 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 west yeah and i'm loving the my hero he doesn't like the foo fighters then he did you when you went and you knew you're gonna do acoustic the best way to make it your own way and to going to do it that way. And to be honest with you, we're just trying to meet Dave Grohl. You're watching us, Dave. All right. We want to meet you.

Really, that's all we want. How do you make that happen? He can call me and tell me it sucks and then make my day. It'd be the best day ever. That's really why we did it. We want to meet you, Dave. Y'all would open up for the food fighters wouldn't you absolutely in a minute like are you kidding me that'd be a great fit too

i'm feeling that yeah that's another reason why yeah is got a little tour coming yeah we got the highway sound tour kicks off march 21st in 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 wouldn't 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. I don't drive four and a half hours for many people, but I was like, I'm going to go support Michael,

the band, they're in town. I hadn't seen y'all live ever. And I'm like, they'll be good. I'm sure you guys. They'll be decent. Yeah. With all the albums. But you sure you guys. They'll be decent. Yeah. 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. Like, 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. We're streaming, man. 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. Yeah, that's so rad. But I'm serious. I would have just not brought this topic up, like the story with the background music yeah that's so rad so uh but i'm serious i don't i would 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 it's 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 like michael had more stage presence that I knew that he would have. Dude can fucking crush it as the front man. 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 played eight instruments. I know what fucking good music sounds like. You think you're gonna hear something off,

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 Kicksoft Madison, Wisconsin. We're playing Nashville, Tennessee towards the end.

We're playing a hometown show in Newberry, 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.

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 gonna have to get a mic we're gonna get a mic at the bar for when we have guests in because that's get behind the scenes yeah he's like okay sure man more to do put it on the list all right uh we're gonna mic in the bathroom hey we gotta get all the outs about content baby yeah hey don't walk into their car bar talk segment right here 100 bar talks the real talk but getting up for shows and you guys have 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 itself 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 you're in it it's not a ticker on a computer screen it's like real life in person you feel what you 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 special like we live in this digital world and it was streaming

and everybody's on the phone and all that irl in real life that's it's a lost art to be able to play and hold and captivate 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 the stuff that's happened now. When I go to a show, I'm in heaven. That experience. And I think having a band in a world where there's just not enough good old rock band to just play, it's just a lost art. Oh, yeah. People need to find the art.

I know. There's nothing that can replace that. There's been a million ways that people have tried to simulate it. And but I'm like, nothing can give you that experience except for going and seeing the live show. And we love that. I still still feel like we're in the garage turning our amps up to 10 and just playing. 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 feeling inspired. We went and 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. Yeah.

But I remember that record growing up. How's Clint Black these days? Awesome. Dude, 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, the way he talked in between songs and the way he described things and told stories.

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

And just hit after hit. That's the thing. You guys live in Nashville, man. For everybody listening, you know Nashville's gotten cool and all that stuff. But the amount of great artists and music just still comes through there's unmatched in it yeah at the Ryman that's where that's where he was at yeah which is an incredible venue but you guys played there yeah we did yeah recently play there a few times but most recently on the last tour yeah it 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 that was 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 loved it we're on a big Clint Black kick right now if you're doing the Foo Fighters with My Hero

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. Just go to 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 has it made you consider doing more covers? Yeah. Yeah, we've talked about it. 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 you found out what you were into and what you weren't. So we've toyed around with a few ideas.

Yeah. There might be something in the works, potentially. Nothing we can name for one of the cats out of the bag yet. Still playing around. Still got to figure out what fits us. But if you've got any ideas. Yeah, throw them our way. I do.

We really are. We'll talk off air on that one. I got some thoughts. Probably ones that have 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 Foo Fighters is perfect. And gosh, it's a great song. Yeah, such a great song yeah such a great song great song what so tour coming up more albums to come like what 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 i never i was thinking about this I wanted to ask this question because I think as an artist, we always talk

about it and everybody knows this and you guys have lived this. Success is not a destination. Correct. If it was, we'd all stop and just be having a joyous time there. It's just the up and downs of life. It's a journey. Is there this perfect place for a band and a group like

you guys that's comfortable but it's where you want to be it's like where you don't where you're not chasing it but is it called what kenny chesney's doing or is it like something different like yeah i think it is building an audience like a real large audience that that you can release a record and tour and go see your people and just know you have a baseline that's sort of right a good healthy baseline of doing it that's like the goal for every artist and have longevity with it that's exactly what i was thinking is longevity because this is 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, the business that would surprise people you know that i think there's enough like train wreck shows now that people know that superstardom and celebrities don't have it all perfect all the

time but maybe what's a like one of the biggest surprises maybe for people for a group that's 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 this is back 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 a 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 shaking to the core when dad had, they practiced like two or three times a week. And you guys saying that, I was like,

oh, 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 build your show 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 you're it that's it you're not in tour mode and you're not in rehearsal mode so you 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 7 always something going on for us we all talk with our team every

day from like 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 it's all 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 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. And 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 like from literally the ground up. Yeah, you're a business owner.

You run your deal. It's always on your mind. It's always those things. And you can't turn it off. True to entrepreneurs. You're laying in bed thinking about that shit. Even on vacation. 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 gotta 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 toursying on tours and how people hold it together for as long as they do, or does it always just crash and burn eventually? I just think about it, because that's just what you think about with rock stars touring. If you thought the show was great,

you should have seen us on our party days. We had that phase. We really got after it. We were younger. But then you start realizing, oh, man, there's a lot. Does the toil or the devil come a call on eventually for paying for it? 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've got to think about that. What's more important? And eventually, yeah, man, it catches everybody. There's not a single person.

I was about to say, is there anybody that's just somehow ridden away 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 artists, whether it's, I don't know, Jason Aldean 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. And the one thing, they're smart and they're responsible. You got to know when to cut loose and when not to. So they find their moments. 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. They got five shows this week. No, it ain't happening it ain't happening but maybe the last night because they got a four day five day break or something right then they're 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 right but you're not like me at work all day everybody's not necessarily here to party all day you know yeah we can make it feel like a party sometimes. You are everybody's Friday night,

every night of the week. It's just being responsible, really. I know that growing up, when we watched Behind the Music, Motley Crue, we were like, that's what I want to be. Those guys weren't responsible at all. Yeah, you just go crazy, and that's part of the charm of it.

The reality is not. But do you eventually find joy in not doing that and the playing? 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 just the true energy and fulfillment of a great crowd and a great show and the camaraderie of the band and the brotherhood and the people that are there. And they also spend their hard-earned money to come see the show. Right. They didn't come to see you get drunk.

They came to see you put on a kick-ass show. They came to see you and them get drunk. That's what they want to do. Right. So why would you? Who was the best partier? Like big star or who you hug out with that 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 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 that was the fun part.

And the end of tour was always, that's the end of the tour. The end of tour is always the true cut loose moment. 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 and it's it's like the last day of the school year when you get your yearbook signed and you're like i'll call you man i'll hit you up yeah and then you know that is fun and everybody goes back to their world what do y'all make of the country music scene now everybody's coming country yeah it's a popular place to be that's 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 when I think a lot of people are when you get into music is you're a fan of music period you know I think post Malone coming I'm a fan of him and I think

it's a cool thing like he wants to express himself. 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. 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. I mean, he's fucking Columbia, South Carolina boy.

Yeah, that's right. That's how far before you grew up. 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 what, 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. I don't, come on. Beyonce? Yeah. Come on. She's a Texas girl. She grew up in Houston. Could do a little Thousand Horses Beyonce mix, right? Let's great. Come on. Beyonce? Yeah. Come on. She's a Texas girl. She grew up in Houston. Could do a little Thousand Horses Beyonce mix, right? Let's go. There you go.

A little collab. I like that. I was trying to meet Beyonce. Exactly. Dave Grohl, Beyonce, where y'all at? Yeah. We'll do it. That'll be a great one.

Post Malone can come in, too. Yeah. Yeah. It's called borrowed interest, baby. Hey, you don't mind we don't mind getting a little shine from them there's plenty of room right we need their shine they don't need ours but they need your talent yeah but so i think it's cool man come it can't help it it's got to help the genre even the genres needed any help let's be honest it's taken over

as the popular music in a lot of ways and opens doors for people that are trying to do the same thing that their doors have been shut i think that's the 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 they it i think it opens up a lot of doors for people and opens up people's minds to things. It puts more ears on the genre as a whole.

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 anybody now, and obviously the Food Fire, but I'm just being,

I'm talking about like, specifically, y'all are digging what they're doing or feel like, any questions, the envelope a little bit? Yeah, man, I'm talking about like, specifically that you're digging what they're doing or feel like. I think pushing the envelope a little bit. Yeah, man. I love what Jelly Roll's 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 Lainey 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 he did talk about Breaking Barriers Jelly Roll have you listened to his old stuff but then now it's everything gold with him you know or toured with. Those are the new... You're talking about Breaking Barriers, Jelly Roll.

Have you listened to his old stuff, but then now it's everything gold with him. Yeah, yeah. He's an inspiration to people. Yeah, he's just like the last person you'd think that would be

crossing that line. But look, the music speaks for itself, right? People like it. Yeah, yeah. He's doing it and doing good things for people. I was going to say,

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

That's the beauty of an artist. It evolves into something. How's the community? you guys are in nashville you know the community of country music like you got all 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 is that just a mythical thing in someone's mind all these guys everybody's got their own thing it's fun when we see each other out on the road we see each other at events you know that's in that's when we get to hang but the community is

definitely real it's like a family man there's only there's not very many of us and it really even from superstars to new acts like there's never never like an ego of, hey, man, I'm such, and you're going to do that. Like 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 little community of people that we're all,

we're all competitive without a doubt. That just life but supportive yeah 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 yeah 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 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 like.

It's been an awesome journey. Yeah, awesome so far. Most of the time. Most of the time. Most of the time. Where can everybody stay in touch with A Thousand Horses and everything y'all have going on?

At A Thousand Horses on everything. A, thousand spelled out, horses, and then a thousandhorses.com. That's all our handles are that. Tour dates there. Tour dates are there links to all the music on every platform

you can listen to music and we're out in the world man we're on the big old worldwide web worldwide web yeah and on

all the social channels thousand horses guys loved having you dude thank you for having us thank you good to see you again man I know

I know it's awesome we'll have to do this regularly. Who knew when we met on Jaren's bus that we would become buddies and do this thing? But 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. Roll On's coming. Yay. I'm telling you. I'm going to say I told you so. I want you to tell me that. I want you to tell me that. want you to tell me that i'm looking forward for that phone if nothing else it'll get played a billion times at the alfred house and that's what it's all about and my sons

i'll never forget i'm on the boat and played it for the first time and my son clayton's very studious and he's got dry humor whatever he's like played the song or whatever what'd you think he said that sounds like a hit dad oh nice he said he said i can see uh all the college girls playing that that's what that was his second comment that's a great comment and he liked it like because he was nodding and whatever and he's just a stoic kid but dry humor but like he wasn't even joking he was just matter of fact. Sounds like a hit dad. I love that.

Yeah. That's so awesome. This guy needs to get a job. You know what I mean? He should 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 Offroad on all the social media channels. And look, go see these guys live in concert. 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 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