Subpar - George Birge's incredible journey from University of Texas walk-on to country music superstar

Episode Date: November 26, 2024

On this week's episode of GOLF's Subpar Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz are joined by country music superstar George Birge for an exclusive interview. The former walk-on to the University of Texas golf team talks how he earned his roster spot, rooming with Top Gun star Glen Powell as an undergrad and creating his breakthrough single "Beer Beer, Truck Truck." -- Rhoback is having their biggest sale of the year for 20% off the entire website for all customers That’s 20% off all hoodies, pants, jackets, and more. No code needed, just head over to https://Rhoback.com and introduce others to the most comfortable activewear in the game this holiday season. -- Subscribe Now to out YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCt5ESUx6omMUsMoEKvMTzlA Shop The Birdie Juice Collection: https://fairwayjockey.com/collections/birdie-juice Follow Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/golf_subpar/?hl=en Follow Twitter: https://twitter.com/golf_subpar?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

How are we doing, everyone? Welcome back to Golf Subpar with Coltonost and Drew Stoltz. And what an episode we have for you here today. And Sleece, get a little chilly outside. Perfect hoodie weather. And by the way, if you're like me, you got to have something you can swing easy in and nothing better than Roebuck when it's nice and chilly outside. Swing easy. Something that doesn't limit the speed. You know what I mean?

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Go give. It's what it's about. We got a lot to get into this week. First off, happy Thanksgiving everyone. Hope everyone enjoys time with family and friends. Got some football to get to, but let's start off with the R-S-M classic. where Maverick McNeely picks up his first win on the PGA tour, birdied the 72nd hole,

hit a seven iron from 185 to just inside a six feet to win by one over three other guys, including Daniel Berger, and the amateur, Luke Clanton, who's an absolute stud. I thought we were about to get maybe the second amateur winner on the PGA tour. It just shows how good these kids are coming out of college. He played eight events this year on the PGA tour and top ten and half of them. Is that right? And it contended multiple times.

He's 93 in the world right now. He's not even professional. Quite a future ahead for him. But, I mean, the story I thought... Well, hold. Before a quick, just for more on Luke Clanton. Yeah. We talk all the time on here, PGA Tour You, PGA Tour Accelerated program. With what he's done so far, he's got 17 points. You need 20 to earn a PGA Tour card. He's pretty much a lock to win the Hogan Award, which will give him the three more points. Get him the PGA Tour accelerated program. What he needs is what Gordon Sargent did as well. we're going to be seeing him on the PGA tour as a professional very soon,

possibly as early as May. Yeah, as we should. I mean, what he's done in eight events, they put out a stat and said, average player on the PGA tour this year, top tens, three, Luke Clanton, four, and eight starts. So, I mean, he's ready to go right now. He is, but Bavreton McNeely stole the show. He's been playing great.

Guy who won 11 times in college at Stanford was destined to be a star on the PGA tour. I think winning will get him over that hurt. My one thing following him over the years, I didn't know if he had the firepower, or sorry, not the firepower. The internal fire. The killer instinct to, you know, get the job done on a Sunday. He's come close a lot of times, but he finally did it. And I think big things are coming. It's, you can't fake it and win 11 times at Stanford. No, and then he had the injury, you know, that he had to go stop playing for a while and come back. And I mean, this week, dude, he just, he hit it so good. He's like that his Iron Games gotten infinitely better. He used to be extremely underneath into out. teacher, got him on top of it, hitting fades now. I mean, that story was great for a kid who didn't have to play golf and probably went out

a pretty good life regardless. He's going to have a good life anyway, but you got to want it and you got to grind. It's hard to win on the PJ, it's hard to keep your card on the PJ True. And when you know you have a pretty cushy landing spot as he does, like, it would be easy to just like, ah, I'll play for a bit, see how it goes, you know, but to really buckle down, grind, maybe even after the injury, could have been like, okay, that's enough. he's going after it. And I mean, we had Trevor Inman on a radio show last week,

said, give us your breakout star for 2025. And he said, Maverick McNeely's going to win two times. And he might have just been a little premature, which happens, obviously. As usual, Trevor, using all his good stuff during the off season. Yeah. But I thought the coolest story, and obviously it hits home for us because he's a very good friend of ours. Love having him in here on subpar. But Joel Damon, just, I mean, as my good friend, Ray Whitney would say,

grab your sack and go out there and take care of business. Give those nuts a squeeze. He's squeezing. Did he ever? Little final round, 64 to move to 124. It's projected 127 or 8 going into Sunday. Goes out there. I knew he had to shoot 5 under probably at worst to get it done.

Goes out there. He shoots 30 on his first nine holes. Makes a birdie on the back. Ends up making a six foot little slider on the last for par to get the job done. So happy for Joel. The only thing I was frustrated with is I wish we could have seen. more of it. Obviously, he was finishing on the front side. The cameras weren't there, but we saw him on number nine make that put, obviously a huge relief, so happy for him. And that's what this,

this tournament, as well as the wind. I'm like, guys fighting for their job. I mean, it's, it's great. Someone's going to win. Someone's going to get a master's invitation, the two-year exemption. That's awesome. Like, Maverick Neely, congratulations to you. But watching guys fight for their job is just, it's great entertainment. It makes my palms sweat, just watching it, even though it has nothing to do with me. I thought it was so cool to see Joel do what he did. And I think, this is going to give him so much confidence going forward. I think it's like the most clutch thing you can do, more than like winning a golf tournament.

Because, you know, even if you don't win, I got a bunch of money coming my way, got the rest of the season. When it's like jobs on the line, changes ever, going to, you know, playing out of the conditional status next year when they're about to change it to top 100, keep their cards, you know?

I mean, it's going to get brutal. And you can forget his final round. Just go back to Thursday, Friday. What did you do? First thing you had to do was make the cut and it was nasty out there. It came down. Kind of a similar situation.

Six footer on the last hole makes it, fist pumps it just to get to the weekend. And he got in there, it's like, look, we ain't done, but at least now I got a chance. And to wake up on a Sunday knowing you need every bit of $5,00 and actually go out and do it. I mean, he holds out early on. Then he makes the little turkey burger there to end the nine, shoot 500. It's kind of just like, man, the gods are with you because, you know, it was pretty remarkable. I was getting like emotional watching it when he was giving his interviews at the end and stuff like that. because it's been a long haul for Joel this year.

And I wish we're going to God to see more of it too. No matter who it is, when you're that bubble guy, it's great drama. It's the best, it's the most interesting stuff you can watch. But this was also Joel. Like, he's loved. He was on full swing. Like, he's a known entity. It wasn't some like random guy that nobody has any clue about.

Would have to see more of it. But the only thing important, Joel did it. Props to him. Lana was emotional. It was awesome. And Joel, if you're watching, which I'm sure you are right now, maybe in the off season, we work on the lag putting a little bit. because like Slee said, Friday ran the 25 footer about six feet by it to make it coming back.

This one, 50 feet left it about six feet short. Let's dial in that speed this off season. After he made it and it was like pretty, you know, non-animated after the make. And he saw him put his ball in his pocket and walked over and he kind of like grabbed his face. His hands were like trembling. I was like, dude, if you've ever had a put that you think like your life matters in terms of golf on the line and then you make it like you know exactly what he's going through. It's, it was like a fairy tale. Like they made a movie about it.

you know, that's the way they do it. Yeah, he's going to shoot six under the final round, make it on the number. Also, he's going to hole out. It was a cool week for him. And I think the most clutch thing you can do in golf. Yeah, last week was really cool for us as well. We were up in Vegas, had a little day out of Shadow Creek with Monty Montgomery. Played a little golf.

You got to be introduced to the one, the only Crypto Joe. Crypto Joe. He's one of one. What do you think? What did you think of his game? I like this outfit. Came up very casual, very casual with the sweatpants on. Game was, I wish we could have.

I wish we should play again. I'd like to... You'd like another shot at it? Yeah, I feel like everything was just perfect, just up the units, maybe. We got to thank Shadow Monty for hosting us out there. That episode will be out soon. So much fun. My favorite place in the world.

And got to give a little love to Ben Lamb. The man played incredible. He shot 78 at Shadow Creek, getting a lot of pops. He looked... I mean, he was like Greg Norman and his prime. The way he was driving it. Normally, Lammy, I mean, he can hit it in a lot of different places. He got there, I was like, how much...

Like, I don't know what you're doing. Are you just playing more, practicing? whatever, but the best he's ever looked. He played, you know what I mean? The best his golf game's ever looked. Yeah, I mean, he still looks like trash. Kidding, love you, Lammy. But it was a lot of fun out there.

The non-shaving Ben Lamb. And then a little different day, the next day for us, we headed well out into the desert. We actually crossed the Nevada Boulevard, or Nevada border, to go over into California into some sand dunes with our friends over at Zone and Kyle Bush, the great NASCAR driver. We took some souped up Polaris off-roading vehicles to a whole other level. I don't know what to expect, and I don't think a lot of people will ever do that. You got to really want to get there. It's in like Death Valley, by the way.

I will recommend this, if you ever get a chance to do this. Do it the first day you get to Vegas. Maybe don't have a night and then go over there and have a bunch of, you know, have a leader of tequila sitting in your stomach and then go get bounced around on that thing. Because I had a little bit of issue with it. Gottered it out, at least through the ride. You're saying 20 Sincorros and then going and getting spun all around sand dudes in the best pepper. That's preparation.

It's tough, dude. I was in that thing with Kyle, and he was going up and down and turning. You could feel like the G-Force, and then we get on the flat part, which is, there's still bumps, but it's, you know, and he's like, now we're going to gun it. We got up to 75, but my insides were just gurgling around. It's like, Doug, you got to get us to the house right now, like real quick. Because if I go in this, if I throw up in this helmet, it's going to be a problem. But like, I got done with the ride. You held it up.

Finished. And then I held it in. Then I let it all out. And then Kyle ran over with his phone. like, yes, yes, videoing me. So that, um, not embarrassing at all. It was good. I think I still have sand in some places.

Yeah, that takes a while to get out too. I took my clubs out of my travel bag because we had our golf clubs out there. And my entire bottom of my travel bag was just complete sand. I'm like, what the fuck is this? I was like, oh, I forgot that they kept throwing sand from his tires onto our golf bags. I left my shoes in the hotel room. Did you? Yeah, they were just coming out of everything.

I wasn't going to put them in the bag. So sacrifice to those bad boys. but hell of a run. Yeah. We did some gambling. Backer at turns out, it's a lot harder than I thought on first go. I haven't had a lot of success in that thing lately, but we gave them hell. Had a good first night.

And then, you know, we were one and one. What happens, happens. Yeah, we're one and one. That's the way to win. We beat them for a little bit. They kicked the shit out of us the second night. Yeah, hard. Blew us out.

So we're tied. It was a blow. It was a mercy rule. And also, special thanks to Aria for putting us up. That was very nice to them. We had a blast out there. And then I know one last thing before we get to, our guest this week. You went and saw one of your favorites.

Oh, dude, this was a cool one for me. Got home from Vegas. Needed to drink some more. So what better place? Got to go see Larry David. Conversation with Larry David, who's one of my favorites of all time. I've heard mixed reviews. I had some friends who read the show. They're like, I was okay. I loved it. It was like, it was Larry, a moderator who was the main writer, one of the main writers on Seinfeld, known Larry for forever, helped with curb. And it's basically like going through Larry's life from the start to college to post college, almost being like homeless to starting to in comedy doing random standup,

befriending Jerry Seinfeld and then boom, all the stuff. And also like the behind the scenes of the show of Kerb where some of the specific episodes came from and how those ideas and stories came to light were awesome. They went through the script. Like there's no script for Kerb. It's just an outline. It's like three or four sentences. Larry walks into the house.

He's upset about his car. Cheryl walks in. She's pissed at Larry. Dog does this. And it's like, that's all they need. know and they just go in there and they improv the entire thing i mean it was it was sweet dude tell me tell us about the one question the questions at the end this was beautiful he actually took real questions these weren't like some comics or performers like we'll take questions and there's like some stage

ones you can tell they have stuff prepped for it right these ones weren't because there were some terrible terrible questions one lady gets up and it's a room i mean there's a few thousand people in there and like if you're lucky enough to raise your hand and get the mic to you like ask something good this shit gets up her opener was, Hey, Larry, tonight was fun. I was always told you weren't actually funny in real life. And then she, like, stopped. And Larry was like, is that the fucking question?

Like, what is that? Is that what you got the mic for? Thank you. She was like, no, no, I actually do have a real question. She's like, you know, in Curb, you have a lot of strange phobias. Like, you're scared of a lot of things. I'm wondering what real life, Larry, what your phobias are. And he's like, probably have a complete fucking stranger tell me I'm not funny.

And that's funny. And then she, and then everyone, like, booed her. And she sat down. I was like, that's what you came with? you know. It's good to insult people. Did you raise your hand and ask him how many times a year he listens to golf subpar? I did not.

I should have just said, do you want to come on? Selfish. I should have told him, first, hey, you're not funny. Also, we come on subpar. It's kind of selfish. I love it. It was good, dude. It was a hell of a good time.

Well, we got a special one for you all this week. We got a rising country music star joining us. And also, he's a hell of a golfer. Walked on at the University of Texas. Also, might have been pretty good friends with Glenn Powell. Not too shabby. but George Burge, join us on golf subpar. All right, folks, we have a rising star in the world of country music and future star on the celebrity golf circuit as well.

You're probably already familiar with his music, but now you're going to learn a little bit more about the man himself. George Burge is in the house. George, pleasure to be with you. What's up, guys? Glad to be here. Thanks for coming. Thank you so much, man. We haven't got to meet in person yet.

We exchanged some texts the other day. I know you're a big golfer. And I'm a huge country music fan, so this is very exciting for us to have you on. It's a perfect blend of both worlds. I've been a fan of you guys for a minute. Obviously, I'm a golf junkie, just like any of us golf fans. You know, we kind of dive in headfirst to this thing. We're grossly obsessed with golf, but that's why we love it.

So I've been following you guys for a minute and was excited to come jump on here. What was your first love, golf or country music? Gosh, probably country music. Growing up in Texas, I mean, it's just kind of in your veins from the day you can walk. And so, I mean, both my parents were country music fans. It was playing around the house for as long as I can remember. I really didn't start golfing until I was about 15 years old. So country definitely first.

And, I mean, starting at 15, you eventually end up walking on at UT, which ain't easy to do. But if you start at 15, you had to be pretty active, I would think, like, junior-wise, junior career, to go to Austin, walk onto that team? Yeah, I don't dip my toe in the water on anything very well. And so once I get the bug on something, I kind of go head first. And I had grown up playing baseball and tennis, so luckily I had some hand-eye coordination. I was a great hitter in baseball. My coach would always say unhitch the trailer.

I remember I got thrown out at first base from right field one time, and that was kind of when I realized maybe golf was better for me. But I went out and played with some buddies, fell in love with the sport, and kind of just got addicted. I started playing 36 holes every day in the summers. I'd wake up before school, go hit balls at 5 a.m. sunrise, go to school, and then go play golf until it was dark every day until I graduated high school and then was lucky enough to walk on at University of Texas. So I'm a full-blown golf junkie. I absolutely love it. That is awesome to hear that.

Tell me a little about that process of walking on. I actually had some text with Coach John Fields talking about you. was telling me how proud he is of what you did. He said, you definitely made the right choice, Gold with Country Music, over golf. Damn, coach. Come on, coach. I think I may have started and ended the walk-on program at the University of Texas.

At the time there was, and I don't know if they still do it, it's been a minute. There was a walk-on tournament, and usually it was just kind of a ceremonial thing. Like, they would have it to say they had it, but nobody would really walk on. And so I went and played in the walk-on tournament, tournament and I was lucky enough to win that. And that didn't earn you a spot.

It just earned you a chance to go play in front of coach. And so I called Coach Fields and talked to him a little about about what I was doing and playing golf. And he invited me out to Steiner Ranch University of Texas Golf Club. And that was my chance to play 18 holes in front of him. And so we go out to Steiner and I'm about as nervous as I've ever been on the golf course because, I mean, you have to remember like I started playing golf three years before. now at a D1 program trying to walk on with the best golfers in America.

So I feel like out of my skin in this moment. But, you know, I caught a wind. I played some good golf in front of coach. And he gave me a bag in a locker and an opportunity on the team, which to this day I'm forever thankful for and got to be around some of the best players that I've ever met. Jonathan Vegas was the captain of the team at the time. So he was a senior when I was a freshman. It was really cool to get to see him.

And I remember in high school thinking that I was a boss. bomber. You know, I could move the ball pretty good. Comparatively to the other kids I was playing golf with in high school, I could send it. And I remember the first qualifier playing with Jonathan Vegas. I hit a drive, high draw right down the middle, probably around 300 yards. And he hit three wood past me and then chipped and putted better also. So I was like, man, I think I might be in trouble. Well, he's a freak. He was one of those guys.

He was different. He was different. I would say, you know, in the last eight to ten years, like everyone starts to bomb. comment now. But back when he was first getting going out on tour in like 2008, he was one of those crazy long guys. It was like nothing I had ever seen before. It was, I can only imagine it's what people said like when they would see Tiger for the first time. It's the ball makes a different sound. It compresses. It feels like nothing could make it go offline. And the guy was just a unit too. I mean, 6-4-230. He's only taking it back waist high. There's nothing that could go wrong with that golf swing. I mean, he was just a monster. But it was really cool to be around those

guys and get to play golf. And there was, Austin's such a special place. There's so much great golf around there. So, you know, being on the University of Texas golf team, we would get to go play Bart Creek Country Club and Austin Country Club and get out to, you know, Spanish Oaks. And then obviously our home course, Steiner Ranch was amazing. So it was really cool growing up and getting to be a part of that. I also was chasing the dream of playing country music and a fraternity at the time. So I think I was some comic relief for Coach Fields because I had a lot going on. And I was just lucky to be there.

And I'll never forget. I won't say any names that we had a stud freshman that had just joined the team along with me at the time. And he was a, he's not playing golf for a living anymore, but he had just walked on, or not walked on. He had just been recruited to play University of Texas. And he was excited to be there. And he was this name that everybody's excited to have on the team. team and I took him out to a fraternity party and was showing him a good time. And he ran his mouth a little bit and got knocked out at a black guy when he showed up the next morning at practice.

And Coach Fields was not pleased with me for getting his new recruit knocked out at a frat party. So I was excited to be there, but I had some other dreams in mind. And the PGA tour was never really realistically in my future. That's awesome. I think we may know. I have a pretty good feeling. We're in the same era, so I think I'm pretty sure who you're talking about. So it sounded like you're playing music, but you also walk on to Texas,

only playing golf three years, which is pretty remarkable. But was it, hey, I love country music more. This is where my heart is. So I'm going to chase this. Or was it, hey, I just played with Jonathan Vegas. Probably not going to be beating him anytime soon. I need to try music because golf's the long shot. I wish I could say it was because I loved country music more.

But I would say it was a little bit of both. country was something that was always in my veins. I mean, I started playing music when I was in middle school, writing songs by the time I was in eighth grade. And then when I was 14, I was playing Sixth Street with X's on my hand. So, I mean, that's always been in my blood. I've always loved playing live shows. I've always loved writing songs. But it was an instant wake-up call for me going to see from high school golf to Division I,

college golf, to see how good those guys are. And it was kind of one of those things where I could see, like, I could practice for the rest of my life from sunup to sundown. and there's a God-given skill set that those guys going to the tour have, that it's just different. They're just built different. And it was fun for me to learn from and fun to be around, but I did not have that gear.

Well, I'm fascinated about songwriting. I've met a lot of guys who do this for a living and just talking to them about it. Like sometimes it's just you by yourself. Sometimes it's a group of guys getting together and pitching ideas. But how does this all work? How does a song come together? Yeah, I've always been fascinated by songwriting. and I talk a lot about this.

I think it's a superpower. I've gotten to try to mentor a lot of folks that have been moving to Nashville and chasing this dream, and that's what I tell everybody is the number one thing to focus on because you go up and down Broadway, you go down 6th Street.

There are all these singing competitions, American Idol and The Voice. There are so many people that are otherworldly talented as vocalists, but music is about making people feel something. I'll never forget when I signed my first record deal, a guy named Scott Borchetta,

who's the president of a big Sheen Records, you know, sign guys like Thomas Red and Florida, George Alon, and all the big names that you heard of. He said, I'm not trying to sign the technically best singer. I'm trying to sign a singer that makes me feel something. And when you start thinking about that, like Eric Church, you know, he might not be the guy that's going to go win American Idol, but when he sings, you feel it. Like, it hits you in the chest. Gary Allen was always that for me. And so I think the magic of songwriting and the magic of music in general is just capturing real life.

And the way I tried to talk to young songwriters and new artists, moving to town is like you're looking for that relatability, right? Like that's something, that picture that you can paint that somebody else can instantly latch onto and plug their own life into it. And so it's something, you're looking for something that you've heard a thousand times before to give you that nostalgia in a way that you've never heard it to give you the freshness that, like, who is that? How do I hear that?

That is cool. That pulled out of memory out of me that I haven't thought of. about forever. And I think that's what the magic of music is. And I think there's genius in the simplicity sometimes, the country music. But for me, it's always, I can't force a song out. I have to go live. I have to go get off the grid for a couple weeks with my friends, or I have to go, you know, out and catch up and bring up some old memories. But I keep a little bank in my phone of titles and ideas that kind of come to me, like, throughout just the course of being on the road. And then when I get home, I'll call, you know, some of my buddies that, um, A, are just insanely talented

songwriters, but B, understand who I am and understand like what I would say, what I would say, you know, the type of, um, music, uh, melody-wise that I'm going for. And we kind of sit down in a room and we'll go through our phones and our title banks and we'll kind of like try to pick out an idea that we feel like is a hit. And then we'll spend four or five hours together trying to flush that out into a song. I like hearing about this. Is there, what is your ideal writing environment. Do you have a place that you like to go where you write, like, it could be back porch or by the water or anything that, like, that's where you go to work? Yeah. I like to write by the lake. I feel like it's like quiet and serene, but it's also, you know, I'm a cigar guy,

I'm a whiskey guy. I like to bring a couple of my best buddies out there and we'll usually run a house and spend two or three days out on the lake and just, you know, and there is, like, there's a very, like, formal songwriting business in Nashville where you've got. got Music Row where you've got all these publishing houses, which publishing are songwriting companies. And there's people that go in. Your standard Nashville day is 11 to 4 p.m. That's like what your manager will put on your calendar when you have a ride at Universal Music or Sony Music or wherever, and you'll pull up in your truck.

And it just feels very, it feels very business transaction. And there's not to say that I haven't written songs that were worth keeping in those instances, but for me, when I'm pulling on a music row and say it's 11 o'clock, and we spend two hours looking for an idea, something that feels like a hit. And then we spend another hour kind of like figuring out how the chorus is going to land and what direction we are. The next thing, you know, it's one o'clock and you're starting to think, oh, well, we got to grab lunch. Oh, I got to go pick up the kids from school. Or, oh, like, you know, I got to go meet my wife for dinner. And all of a sudden, you kind of lose the magic of what you

were chasing. Because a lot of times, that takes some time to, like, flesh out and poke holes in and figure out, like, what the angle is and how you're going to take something simple and turn it kind of twist the hook because that's the magic of country music is that turn of phrase is what we call it, when you can kind of like have double meaning and flip it on its head. And so for me, when I get off campus, you know, when we go out and rent a spot on a lake or a beach house or whatever, and we can start a song over breakfast and then kind of turn our mind off for a little bit and, you know, go sit on the patio or whatever, go play nine holes of golf, come back, revisit it, see where we were, see if there's any holes, we want to poke on it and then stay up till midnight 1 a.m.

if we want to, where it feels like there's no constraints and the song can come to you like it's supposed to. That's my favorite way to write. Man, that is so cool. I like that. Who are some of your favorites growing up that you just love to listen to and country music? I would say Gary Allen was the king of cool for me.

I love the dark, smoky vibe that he had, and he was just like Mr. Heartbreak. That was huge for me. Jason Al Dean is probably sonically my biggest influence. I love how he married. He's a rock and roll cowboy. That's the guy that married country music and big, heavy rock and roll guitar and drums. Especially some of his early stuff like The Truth, Amarillo Sky, Night Train, Flyover States.

That was just like he was in the pocket for a long time. Growing up in Austin, it's King George, right? George Strait is the greatest to ever do it and always will be. My mom have jokes that I'm half named after my dad and half named after George Strait, but he is definitely on the Mount Rush more for me. But those guys, and then more recently, I remember seeing Eli Young Band, make it out of Texas. That was like the first kind of guys that I saw on the red dirt circuit make it on a national

level. And I always thought, you know, that was, even if it breaks your heart, got a little drunk last night, crazy girl, you know, those songs were just larger than life to me. And to see those Texas boys kind of start small on bars like I did and then make it on a national level. That was always really cool to me. I remember when I first got my first record deal, I got to go out and open for Eli Young band.

and they were like my idols at the time, right? And I'm fresh-faced and young and right out of college, and I'm chasing this dream. And Mike Eli, the lead singer, Eli Young band, brought me up on a bus afterward. And I felt that was my first tour bus to ever go on. And it was kind of like, I made it moment. I was so excited.

And he looked at me and he's like, hey, man, he's like, he's like, you're really good. He's like, you can sing. He's like, you can write songs. But he's like, somebody just needs to take you in a back alley and beat the shit out of you. He's like, you need to live a little bit first. I looked at it. I was like, man, I hate you. I can't believe you said that to me.

But that was the best advice I ever got. I was like, you have to live. Like, you have to have the ups and the downs. And like, you have to have the drama and you have to have the hurt. Like, if you want to sing about hurt, you have to have felt it before. Like, if you want to sing about happy, you have to have felt it before. If you want to sing about love, like you have to have felt it before. And I hated him in that moment for telling me that because he was my hero. And then five years later, after I did fall in every bear trap you could fall in that life could throw your way. I became one of the best songwriters I know because I had lived all that stuff and we're amazing buddies now and that was some of the best advice I'd ever gotten.

Damn. Did you let anybody take you out and whoop your ass? You take them up on it and you know what? You're right. Not on purpose, but I get my face kicked in here. That's just a little bit. You mentioned Texas country. I grew up in Texas as well, and Eli Young Band, one of my favorites, Randy Rogers Band, Pat Green. I mean, those guys just, if you're not from Texas, I don't know if you know them quite like we do, but man, they are legends. Well, it's kind of cool because the secret is starting to get out. That red dirt kind of raw storytelling sound has started to creep into mainstream country music, which makes me so proud because I've always tried to carry a torch for that.

I've always kind of said that I was somewhere between Nashville and Austin. I had that red dirt side that I grew up in, but I also liked a little bit more of like a polished and like bigger sounds production-wise. And so to see Texas country music kind of carrying the torch nationally now is really cool. And, you know, Parker McCollum's out there killing it. Randall King's out there killing it. I'm pretty proud of what we're doing over here. And so it's fun to see it making on a national stage.

But I would say that Randy Rogers and Pat Green and Eli Young Band were the guys that kind of took that scene to the rest of the world. Love that. I want to ask about a song that I'm not, I don't know if it's your biggest hit, but I'd say probably safe to say it changed your life maybe more than any of it. other song, which is beer, beer, beer, truck, truck. Can you tell the story about how you wrote that or why you wrote that, I guess? Yeah, that is just, like, such a classic example of, like, chasing this dream in the music industry. You know, I had been playing country music since I was 14 years old. I've been playing live music for, at that time, you know, about 10 years,

probably more in a van and trailer, driving around the country, chasing the dream. I had a record deal that didn't work and I was on the verge of hanging it up and I was on a writing retreat with Clay Walker at the time and I kind of had told him the same thing I was like man I think I'm just going to give up the dream of doing the artist thing it's not that I don't want to do it but I have tried every avenue and I just I can't make it and he was like man he was like you can't give up he's like you got too much going on he was like you need to get on this app called TikTok and I was like Clay Walker is telling me I need to get the TikTok that in itself is the the most non-likely thing in the world.

But I figure if Clay Walker's on TikTok, I'm probably late to the game. And so we had finished writing for the record that day, and I went back to my room to kind of get showered up. We were going to go out to dinner. And I downloaded the app, and I had no followers. And I had no idea how to use it. And I clicked on the country music hashtag

because I'm trying to find some stuff that I like. And the first video I saw was a girl making fun of country music. And she basically said, it ain't nothing but beer, beer, truck, truck, and girls in tight jeans. And kind of in tongue and cheek, but also kind of in a defense of country music, I was like, well, I'm going to show her that a seasoned country songwriter could even take beer, beer, beer, truck, truck, and turn it into a hit song. And so I didn't spend more than 30 minutes on the edge of my bed, and I wrote a verse and a chorus, and I turned it into this love song about a guy from the country and girl from the city who fell apart, but still think about each other, and she's still got a safe place to come if she ever wants to. And I somehow wrapped beer, beer, beer, truck, truck into that. And I responded to her post of that video, not thinking anything of it.

And we went to dinner, and when we came back three hours later, it had done like three million views. And every record label in town was calling me, asking me if I wanted to go get dinner. And it, in the most bizarre way, opened every door that I had been trying to open for all these years for me and completely changed my life. So Clay Walker gave really good advice. And I actually sent the video to the girl after I wrote it and told her I was going to put her as a songwriter on it because she kind of inspired the song. and she's an elementary school music teacher outside of Charlotte, North Carolina, who had grown up listening to country music and kind of got away from it. And she said it made her a country fan again because she's getting royalty checks in the mail.

So it was a pretty small world the way that that all worked out. Shout out to her. That's a cool story, in it? But isn't that wild that, I mean, you go down all these pathways to try to get, try to reach your dream. And then all of a sudden, this girl makes fun of country music. You spend 30 minutes and your life completely changes. It's crazy. It's crazy. And I mean, it's so funny because you move to town and you see people make it and you have this preconceived notion about like how it's going to work out for you. And you just have to kind of let that go and be authentically yourself. And my deal is you have to be just irrationally confident in this town. You have to keep knocking on the door. You have to keep believing in yourself because there is nobody that has walked into this town and heard yes the first time I walked into a room, period. You can ask Luke Combs that. You can ask Morgan Wall on that. You can ask anybody at the time. of the game right now. Nobody has just walked right in and gotten a yes. And so it's,

you never know what your angle is or or when the light's going to shine on you. But what is important and what I try to stress to everybody that is moving to town is you need to have spent the 10 years developing your craft, learning how to put on a show, learning how to write a song so that when that door does crack slightly open for you and you do get to see the light a little bit, you got the goods to back it up. And that was kind of how it worked out for me. I had mind on you waiting in my back pocket. I got that critical mass. I got a a big platform and a bunch of people looking at me. I put that song out.

It ended up being the most added song in America at Country Radio and went on to be my first number one later that year. So it was pretty cool how it all unfolded. What a story. Is there any song you've written for someone else that you're like, damn, should have kept that one? You know, I think songs have an inherent way of finding the home that they're supposed to land in.

And I have been more selfish with the songs that I'm writing these days just because, you know, I have an idea of who I want to be in my voice and the direction that I'm headed. And candidly, the faster we're getting songs up the chart, the faster I need songs. I would say one of my favorite songs that I've ever written that I didn't record is probably catching up with an old memory by Clay Walker. That was his last top 40, which is pretty cool for me to say that I had that. And he just sang the absolute fire out of it and classic country song. and a really cool storytelling song. So that's one I still mix into my sets every now and then.

But that's probably my favorite outside song that I've written. Love that. Clay Walker, an absolute legend. Talk a little bit about Nashville. Since you've moved there, like how much has that town changed? I absolutely love the place. Like you said, you go in a bar every seven feet, and there's someone in there singing country music, and you're like, how the hell does that guy not have a record deal?

He's in here playing for tips. But just talk about how much that town has changed and grown over the last several years. It's crazy. It's all skyscrapers and shiny lights these days. When I moved here, you could literally drive your truck out to Broadway and park in front of the bar that you were going to go to just right on the street. And also when I moved here, there were people that would go play on bar stools and you'd get discovered playing in a bar. Ahead of A&R from Sony or Universal or Warner might stumble into a bar. Hear a voice say, hey, that's the ticket. That's the song I've been looking for.

and we're going to sign you to a record deal. And that doesn't really exist anymore. I think more than anything, it's a training ground now. So it's like you're going out to Broadway and you're getting your chops up. You're learning how to play for a couple hours, learning how to entertain fans and stuff like that. But people don't really get discovered in that scene anymore. You know, you have to kind of build your own army through social media

and streaming and all that now. But it's just crazy. It's gone from kind of a dusty little gritty town to everybody's moving here. every country artist has a bar with their name on in downtown these days. And it's kind of expanded a little bit too. So if you go down south, there's been a bunch of golf come to town between the Grove and Trubidor and all these awesome golf courses and big communities. And same thing where I'm moving northeast of town.

There's these big developments and out by the lake and stuff. So it's cool to see the city grow. And I do think it's actually done a really good job of maintaining its charm. there are still bars that you can go to where you know an artist is going to pop up and blow everybody's mind because they're sitting on a bar stool. Post Malone's going to walk in and play on a bar stool somewhere. And I think that that's what makes the town magic. But there's also, you know, if you want to go to a Michelin Star restaurant or if you want to just have an insane rooftop night with your boys, there's all that available too. So it's a really special town.

We've really enjoyed living here. Yeah. I think music like golf, you got to be on the come up. You know, if you're going to turn pro, normally you play mini tours. You play in some pretty shitty locations and things like that until you eventually, hopefully work your way to the PJ tour. Same with music. Can you remember your first paid gig or maybe the gig that you were just like,

oh my God, I can't believe this is where I'm at? Yes. It was, I was a huge fan of Reckless Kelly. And I will never forget, I got paid two. I got paid $200 to open for Reckless Kelly in Maynard, Texas. And I called my mom. I was like, Mom, I think we made it. Like, we made the big time.

We're opening for Reckless Kelly, and I'm actually getting paid. So that was, I think, my first time being like, oh, wow, this is something. And, you know, it's a lot of years of that, too. And, I mean, I've played under escalators. I've played under an umbrella and a water park. I've played everywhere that you can imagine. And it is definitely, I would equate it to the mini-tours. It's a grind, it's a life in a van and trailer and, you know, Motel Sixes and all that.

But when it goes, it goes all the way, kind of a lot like golf. You know, you make nothing, and then all of a sudden you make everything. And that's really been the last year and a half for me to just have that world turn upside down. So it's been exciting for me to finally be on the other side of it, too. I bet you got some great stories, though, from back in those days. I mean, that's living out of a bad place. playing under escalators. I've never heard of that.

And you meet some damn characters out there too. Oh, yeah. Now that you're out of it and you're making it, though, sometimes like when looking back, you're like, damn, those are some good. Like I had it on the mini tours. Like, yeah, we were staying in dumpy hotels with my boys, maybe two or three to a room. But we had a, I mean, that's all we knew and we had a hell of a time doing it. Oh, 100%.

I mean, some of my best memories are sitting outside of a motel room with, you know, a bag full of McDonald's in a couple 40s with my band after we just played a four-hour set for 50 bucks each, you know? Just kind of staying up all night, Howland at the moon. That's where some of your best stories come from and where a lot of my songwriting comes from today. And I do feel like in any artist's path, you know, like I was saying the advice I got for me like I'm being. It's important that you do it, you know, because now that I'm on the other side, like, there's not a day like that I wake up not thankful to be where I'm at. Even when I, you know, this morning my alarm went off at 3.45 a.m. because I had to go catch a flight.

And, you know, I still got a smile on my face because I'm doing what I love. and getting taken care of pretty damn well for it. Awesome. I love it. We do have to ask you about your Texas Longhorns. I know you're a huge fan. It's been a hell of a season. Well, are they back is the question. One lost to Georgia.

It was an ugly game. But what are our feelings about the Texas Longhorns this year? We've come a long way. I think Sark has done an amazing job turning that program around down there in Austin. I think we maybe got a little over-excited in the beginning of the season. We beat a couple of ranked teams that were maybe ranked a little higher than they were supposed to be at the time. And I think everything's kind of settling out. I don't think you can judge a team by one bad game.

And I do think Ewers has not quite been all the way healthy. This week, he looked like himself again. Like he might be all the way back. So I have high hopes for a University of Texas National Championship this year. But we still have a lot of proven to do. So we will see. No, we're excited to see what happens with Texas. I went to SMU, so I'm kind of holding out hopes for them to get in the playoffs.

A little SMU-Texis matchup will be fun. That's exactly right. Yeah, and I'm hoping the Quinnier stuff is a setup too. That has a little screenshots. Hopefully we can put that behind us. I think it'll be okay. Can't trust the Internet. Can't trust the Internet.

Do you want to talk about the Dallas Cowboys, or do we just want to just not even address that? I got a question upcoming about that in the E-9 if you want to park it, and we can save that conversation for the time. We can just get his thoughts on the team and then, yeah. Okay. You know, you can never call me a fair weathered or a bandwagon. I have taken my legs on the Cowboys, but you know what? I was joking about this on the highway the other day.

I would rather feel miserable than feel nothing at all. And I have tried rooting for other teams. I tried being a transplant Titans fan, and I just felt nothing. So I've hitched my bandwagon to the Cowboys, and we're going to take our licks while we have to. And maybe one day we will return to our former glory, but that is not this year. It is not.

Might be good material for writing a song. And having your heart ripped out instead of by a woman by a sports team. And I'm also right there with you. Diehard Cowboy fan. You know, we take it as we can get it. And, man, I got to meet Dak Prescott last year, and he was the nicest guy I could ever meet. We were at Top Golf for a deal for the ACMs, and he was out there. And he was like, oh, man, you sing that song right on you?

I love that song. He was like, would you sing me a little bit? And I was like, you mean right? We got probably 10 or 15 people around us in the middle of Top Golf. And I was like, you mean right here? He's like, yeah, yeah, man. We sing me a little bit. And so I sang mind on you,

a cappella for Dak Prescott at Top Golf. And that was definitely a core memory for me. But he's a great guy. That is shit. Here, Dak, here's a football. You mind throwing a few for me? Yeah. That's what we just do.

Oh, that's good. Should we get to the United? I know Dak was a country guy. Dach's a big country guy. I like that. Mississippi. He's, born and raised. That's right. Yeah. All right. Makes sense.

He loves his country music. Let's get to the E9 here. We got it. All right, George. We ask this to everyone. You can be anybody else for a day. Anyone in the history of time, who would it be? Tiger Woods. Wow. Don't even have to take.

That was quick. I mean, the greatest to ever do it, man. Yeah, that's a no-brainer for me. That's unmatched swagger right there. That is a full-blown golf-a-holic right there. Golfers pick musician. musicians pick golfers. It's true.

The grass is always greener. Vince Gill told me that one time. He's an unbelievable golfer as well. And, you know, Vince Gil is probably one of the sweetest voices and best guitar players to ever play in country music. And he's, to this day, says he'd rather be a pro golfer. And he says, every golfer wants to be a pro musician and every musician wants to be a pro golfer. It's just how we're wired, I guess. Grass is always greener.

Exactly. Exactly. And by the way, you've had some success in a pro golf event. You won the celebrity division. I believe out of the BMW charity pro am out on the corn fairy tour. That's as much fun as I've ever had, y'all. I got lucky. My putter got hot that week.

We were out there playing Thornblade, which they had just in as mint condition as I've ever seen a golf course. And to get out there with all those big names and I get to whip up on them a little bit, it was a lot of fun. Who was your pro? I played with an Australian guy named Brett Druitt. Yeah. Awesome, awesome ball striker.

and it was just a great week. We made a bunch of bunch of birdies. So that was a, I have the trophy somewhere behind me. Somewhere right there. Let me see if I look. There it is. Proudly display. Yeah.

Proudly displayed. That's awesome. That's right. That'll be a nice little warm up when you started getting like the AT&T pro M and stuff like that. Yeah, it took the celebrity part out of that. Oh, yeah, that's true. Those haters took that out.

Never mind. But. need to get you at Tahoe. That's exactly right. Yeah, I have a couple on my sites that we're talking about for next year, but y'all know I'm a junkie for it. So it's exciting. And for me, the coolest part about it, I would say,

is I've been doing what I do for a really long time. And I know I feel comfortable singing my songs, knowing what I do when I go out on stage. So I feel adrenaline when I go out on stage and I connect with the fans, but I don't really ever feel nervous anymore. I would say the only place I ever feel nervous still is a Grand Ole Opry just because that's hallowed ground and country music. But I sure as hell feel nervous on the first T on TV, that's celebrity program playing golf. So it's fun for me to kind of get my blood pressure up a little bit out there.

They all do, by the way. They might sell out arenas and they show up on that first T with a four iron and they're just freaking out. It's what makes it so beautiful. All right, George, you're the most qualified person we could have to ever answer this question. but you and the fellas, you're sitting out on the back porch, having a couple cold beers. What's the best country drinking song of all time? The chair by George Strait. Oh, wow.

I think that's the greatest country song written of all time. It's a story. It's take place in a bar. It breaks every rule of country music. There's no verse and chorus structure. It's just a minute and 45 seconds of a guy telling a story meeting a girl at a bar and dropping pick up lines while they're listening to the house band and if that ain't cool i don't know what is that's the greatest country drinking song of all time i'm going to this on the way home with

conviction also i was listening to your interview on the highway the other day and i never knew how should have been a cowboy was written and that's one of my favorite all-time songs can you share with us how that song was written because that's beautiful yeah i um i've had a lot of um missteps and stuff in my career but one of the uh luckiest things that i had on my way up and the guy that I learned the most from out of anybody was Toby Keith. He believed in me early, signed me to a record deal, and brought me out on tour with him. And that was like one of the most formative parts of my career.

And you want to talk about a guy that could write a song and tell a story and capture the attention of the audience. I mean, I stood side stage every single night watching him and how he could, you know, because there's a difference between standing behind a microphone in front of 500 people at a bar like I would do growing up and then being Toby learning and how to entertain 20,000 people at once. And so I learned so much from him. And one night we were on his bus,

and he was telling us a story about how he wrote should have been a cowboy and talking about how he was in my shoes coming up and writing songs and being out with his buddies. And he said that they were in between shows. They were at a honky ton. And I think it was either one of his bus drivers or something was walking up to a girl asked her to dance that night. And she said, oh, no, I'm sorry, sir.

I'm not dancing tonight. And about 15 minutes later, they look up and she's out there dancing with a cowboy. and he goes, well, he should have been a cowboy. And Toby took that, went back to his hotel room and wrote it that night by himself, by the way, which is pretty damn incredible, went on to be one of the biggest songs of all time. Oh, love hearing stories like that. So cool.

Yeah, it's cool to hear the behind the scenes. Who's up? You? Me. All right, let's go with... All right, you have to pay, actually pay for a ticket to go see another artist. Who would you willing to pay for to go see? I actually played a show with him last night.

And so this answer is very fresh. I have never been more blown away on stage than I was by this guy last night. Zach Topp. He is unbelievable. The best singing, guitar playing country act, I think that is out there right now. I do this for a living. I play every night. And my jaw was on the floor trading songs.

with him last night. I would buy a ticket to that show any day the week. As much talent as I've ever seen on a stage. If you have not seen that dude play, buy a ticket. I have not seen that hell of an endorsement right there. He is going and he has a six stash as well. He does, man. He's bringing that old school flavor bag and he

can back it up too, that's for sure. I love that. That was a hell of an endorsement. All right, I'm going to check him out. Okay. You're performing at your next concert, big crowd. You get to pick one tour player to come on stage and perform with you. Who do you want?

Who do you think would be the best performer? Oh, that is a great question. So we're probably looking for a guy that's going to get the crowd hype. You know, are we going country music? Yeah, we're going country music. Gosh, I feel like Jordan Spee has the cowboy swagger. I feel like he's kind of laid back. He's got a little bit of that George straight smile to him.

He's got the confidence. I think Jordan Speeth would be the guy. Plus, he takes a longhorn for me. He's, yeah, he loves his boots. His country music. His foundation, actually, his event is coming up here. I believe next week's got Jordan Davis playing, so he loves his country music.

Just a little sidebar to that. PGA Tour caddy, who lives out in your neck of the woods. Caddy's for J.T. Posten. His name's Aaron Fleener. The man can sing. I'm not kidding you. He's like the real deal. He loves to, he's never shied away from a karaoke bar.

No kids. I love that. We got to link them up. I got to understand you in Fleanor because he is a good time. We call him the Big Cat. I love that. I love when those worlds crossover. I heard Russell Henley's got a little bit of game on the guitar too. Yes, he does. I'd love to see that.

I believe last year or the year before at the RSM and Sea Island, he got up and played with Darius Rucker, played some guitar for him. I love that. Yeah. Well, we have been connected. That's nice. The other guy that loves to play golf and country music, and I'm sure you guys being around as long as you have,

have seen it, John Daly loves to get up on stage. Oh, yeah. He will, if you let him sing a 37-minute version of knocking on Heaven's Door where he takes that chorus about 20 times. And nobody has knocked on Heaven's Door more than that man. He lives on the front porch. I love J.D. He's the man.

Oh, that's good. You? Uh, no, that was me who was on stage. Okay. Um, talk to me about this Charlie Hall fan club text chain you got going on. Hmm. Interesting. We do our homework here at subpar. This is why you guys are the best, the best. This is why you guys are the best interview there is. You guys, you guys dig really good. So clearly, you all have talked to, uh, my friend Amanda Ballionis, um, who is amazing. And, um, my, my, um, my,

probably best friend in country music is a guy named Matt Stel and he's kind of just been a serial bachelor a poor guy just falls in love very easy and it's always kind of been our mission to set him up with the right girl and he is just um hopelessly in love with Charlie Hull and so um Amanda and I kind of made it our mission to try to figure out how to get him set up with her and uh we have not figured it out so far um Matt has you know Charlie if you're watching this Matt shot her a couple They went on returned. But, you know, we're still holding out up for him. He said, what did he say to her?

He said, what's your favorite flavor of pizza? Or what's your favorite pizza topping? And then he put Star and then he spelled favorite, like they spell it in England with an OU to try to see if he couldn't pull her off sides there. And she went unresponded. So the pizza topping was not the right. If pizza topping doesn't get it done. I don't know how brothers spoke.

to do it anymore, you know? By the way, we're going to circle back to Matt's day here just a little bit. What's your favorite pizza topping? Star favorite. Oh, that's beautiful. I like the creativity. All right. This was actually kind of like a serious one. I'm just curious. Okay, what would make, what would make you personally happier? Or what would you be more proud of? Writing a number one song that you then gave to someone else and they performed it? Or someone else writing a song for you and you perform their number, the song they wrote? It's a really, really good question. I think that I came to Nashville for the love of the song, like for writing song and crafting songs.

The reason that I fell in love with country music in the first place is I think that it's an escape. It's, you know, whether it's what you're going through, what you've been through, capturing real life for three minutes that you could turn the rest of the world off. So I've always been such a fan of crafting a song. So I think for me, especially since I have number ones of my own now, it would probably be writing a number one song that somebody else. recorded. Interesting.

I love that. Purist. Both will be great, my opinion. Yeah, not terrible. All right. Next one. Can you please describe to me the moment when you first met longtime professional

golfer Ken Duke? Yes. This is a throw you under the bus, by the way. Maybe not my finest moment, but also very, very on track for who I am as a person. We were playing in a charity golf tournament. in Arkansas and Matt Stell and I had flown in there. And it was one of those tournaments where you've got a handle of Tito's, like waiting in the back of the cart when you get there.

And Matt and I have never been shy of taking advantage of that when it's given to us. We don't want to be rude and turn our nose up, obviously. And so by the 18th hole, that bottle was empty and we were feeling no pain. And I had introduced myself to Ken because I told you I'm a golf junkie. I watch it on TV all the time. And I knew who he was. And we had a mutual friend called Ford. And so I walked right up to him and I was like, hey, man, I'm George Byrd.

I'm a fan. Wanted to get to know you. I'm a country singer. And he knew who I was and I knew who he was. And he's just the nicest guy in the whole world. And so we became fast friends. And we had kind of finished the tournament and they're doing the ceremonies and stuff. And I text him.

I was like, hey, man, you know, I'm a junkie. I was like, you want to get some extra holes in? And he was like, let's go meet me on 10T. And so me, Matt Stell, Ken Duke and his buddy meet on 10T. And Ken's like, what's the game? And so in my liquid courage, we decided me and Matt Stel, we're going to play Ken Duke and his partner straight up best ball, which is the worst bet of all time. I like that.

Right? We've got no chance. And so we tee off. All four of us hit the fairway. I'm standing over the ball trying to pick which one of the three that I'm seeing that I'm going to hit. By some miracle hit the fairway. And then Matt Stell and Ken Duke's partner, both. kind of fan one in the woods on their approach shots.

And I hit one in there to about 22 feet. And Ken hits one in there about 20 feet. And so it's basically me versus Ken at this point. We get up to the green. I'm standing over it. And for whatever reason, I just knew I was going to make the putt. And so I stroked it. And I had just seen this video on Instagram or something of a guy doing it.

But about halfway to the hole, I knew it was going in. And I put my shoulder, my putter over my shoulder like a bazooka. is the first hole of golf I've ever played with Ken Duke on the day that I met him. And I bazooked the ball into the hole and it went in and he missed the putt. And then we got kicked off the course because we were only allowed to play one hole. That's beautiful. Ken Duke will never forget the bazook. Ken Duke was like, what the hell just happened?

This fucking country guy is a lunatic. Yeah. By the way, I need someone on tour to bring that move out. That's good. Yeah, yeah. I like that. God. So we're, we finish the hole on with Matt Steele on the, on the, on the golf card on the way back to the pro shop. And I'll look at Matt, and I was like, hey, dude, oh, man, was that too much? And Matt looks at me and he goes, you mean the bazooka?

Yeah, the bazooka was too much. But Ken texts me that night and we'll never forget each other. We ended up being great friends and have kept in touch ever since. I like that. You get a handle of Tito's up in you. It's crazy what a fellow can come up with. That's it, man. Exactly. Yeah. I get it. All right. But my last one for you here, George, we just talked about Dallas Cowboys. I have three titles of actual country songs that I'm about to name. You tell me which one most accurately portrays your feeling about the Cowboys season. Okay? These are real songs, by the way.

You may have heard of them. I'd be surprised, though. First one, drop kick me Jesus through the goalposts of life. That's one. Second one, I don't know whether to kill myself or go bowling. last one you done you done tore my heart out and stomp that sucker flat which one most accurately represents where you are it's it's the second one it's the second one that's how i've always felt with the cowboys you know it's like i can't quit him but i don't

have anything better to do it's uh that's it the second one for me yeah by the way that's for like every team and then like other than unless you live in kansas city that's pretty much every team you know what i mean that's beautiful i actually got to to listen to that song as well. Which one? The bowling one. The bowling one. Can I kill myself or go bowling? Yeah. Yeah, you guys got to send me this playlist afterwards. Oh, we got you. Yeah, this will be our depression playlist. All right, last one. Mention you went to the University of Texas. You had a rather famous fraternity brother named Glenn Powell. Rather good-looking man. But back in the day, you're singing your country music.

Glenn Powell's bouncing around the fraternity. Who was more popular with the ladies, George Burge or Glenn Powell? Ooh. that's a great question um so i got locked down early um i coming from high school going to university of texas all of a sudden i was like man these are the most beautiful women i've ever seen in my life and um i ended up meeting my wife like beginning a freshman year um she was on the palm squad dance team at texas way out of my league and so i kind of locked that down early and uh glen on the other hand was was friendly and getting to know people and uh he had to have a little bit of you had had no problem. He looked exactly like he looks today in college. So I've never had a chance

against Glenn Powell. That's the best looking dude in America. And he looked exactly the same way in college. He could always get whoever he wanted. That is bullshit that he's looked like that his whole life. Now he's one of the most famous people on the planet. I mean, I saw his ex-girlfriend, Gigi Paris or whatever. You meet him and you can't help but love him. You know, you want to hate a guy that looks that good, but he's the nicest guy in the world. He stayed humble. He's handled success as good as anybody I've ever seen handle it. Um, so you know what? I'm glad Glenn looks like that. I'm glad everything's happening the way he is because he deserves it. I don't know if you saw today, but some big news came out for him. Tom Cruise wants Glenn Powell to take over the Mission

Impossible series. Oh yeah. I did not see that, but I would think that would be a great choice. That's cool, man. I mean, he is killing it right now. That's iconic. I can be Top Gun and Mission Impossible. Well, I heard your story. It's a decent day in the office. Yeah, he might make some money. You know? A little bit.

He might turn a profit on that. And I heard your story too about how y'all were on the Jimmy Fallon show, like within two weeks of each other. That was really cool for me. I mean, for a couple of kids that grew up chasing a dream out of Austin, you know, we both went to Texas together, same fraternity. And, you know, have been friends forever. And for me, the Tonight Show has always kind of been the gold standard. That's the one that's on in every household in America. That's where you see the biggest stars being interviewed.

And we ended up playing the Tonight Show about two weeks apart. And Glenn shot me a message just feeling, hey, man, how wild is it that we've gone from University of Texas Days to both playing the Tonight Show? And that's pretty special. That was kind of a pinch me moment for me. I bet. Jimmy Fallon, one of the best. Love it.

Well, George, man, you've been incredible. Congratulations on all the success. Can't wait to come see you out on the road sometime. I'm a genuine fan, guys. Thank you all so much for having me on. That was a blast, and thank you for a great interview. You got it. Come out anytime.

We'll see it up. All right, that was George Burge, joining us on Subpar, man. That's a good dude right there. What a story he has where he almost was out of the business, then wrote a little song called Beer, Beer, Truck, Truck. It's kind of a little bit of a joke turned into kind of change his life. Yeah, that was the one that did it. And for a guy that, I mean, love golf, walked on to Texas.

It ain't easy. They don't take many walk-ons, as far as I know, at Texas. and then I like the story too, getting in trouble right off to jump with Fields, where he brought the other freshman to party, his punch in the face, comes back like, listen, bud. These guys are going to actually be playing for me, so tighten it up. What changed your life more? Beer, beer, truck, truck, or watching Jonathan Vegas as your teammate be like,

well, I can't beat him, I'm out. That was our era when we're, you know, that's our time frame. I can still remember Jonathan Vegas, like one of the first times I saw him, and it was back when they were in Nike school, and they had the SaaS, remember the Sasquatch driver with Nike, the most awful sounding driver in the history of mankind, and Johnny Vegas swinging it at the time what was weird speeds, you know, 120-something and the sound that it would make.

I was just like, Jesus, that's like a shotgun going off. He's the kind of guy like talent-wise. You see him if you're just a regular dude, like, okay, maybe I'll write some country songs. But go check out George Burge, man. This guy is going to be a star. Love sitting down with him. Can't wait to play some golf with him.

But let's get to some gambling. I gave you another winner, Sleas. I'm nine and two this year. with NFL bets. I think I'm two and nine. So perfect. Not great, Bob. No.

But whatever. Yeah, well done. Broncos getting it done. But that was all the way up to the end. Sneaky at the end. I was like, dude, because I had them bet too. And I was like, if this doesn't cover. Maybe just kick the field goal, Vegas and then go get the onside and try to score.

Just go get it. Or maybe, hey, Denver, just eat a little clock. Make them use their timeouts. Coach Peyton, you're up two scores and you're throwing the ball with three minutes left. Stop it. Maybe put in Riley Moss at running back. Just see how it goes. All right.

For my pick this week. I'm going to go to Thanksgiving Day because we're all going to be sitting around with the family, eating some turkey, having some cocktails. You've got to have some action on the game. And this team has been a covering machine. They're also my pick to go to the Super Bowl. Dallas? Yes, by the way, they're back.

But Chicago is heading to Detroit for Thanksgiving. Massive favorite. Detroit is minus 10 and a half. Dallas is the first team to cover at double-digit spread so far this year. And that was last week against Washington. Great team. But Detroit just keeps covering every single week. They keep blowing, especially.

They keep blowing shitty teams out. Yeah, they smash. Chicago's pretty shitty. So give me the Lions minus 10 and a half on Thanksgiving Day. Okay. I thought you're going to go with the highly anticipated Cowboys Giants. Cowboys are four-point favorites. You guys should sign.

Giants, you should be embarrassed. Mark, you should be embarrassed. I don't know why you don't sign Daniel Jones for one game. We're not going to do. Let him go against the Giants. That'd be sweet. Jerry, you know what to do. All right, I'll stay on a cold streak.

Who'd I have? I had Indiana catching 12 in a hook. It didn't work out. day. It didn't work out. You're up seven, nothing early. I loved it. I was like, yes. And they couldn't get out of the first half. The botch snap, there was a good snap. The botch catch by the punter touchdown, dirt not.

Staying in college, of course. I give you a team that's hot. I do know that, and for a fact, this team is hot. Kansas Jayhawks. Big win this past week. They're finally healthy. They won at Arrowhead, beat Coach Prime and the Buffaloes. They're going to Baylor and they're getting one and a half. And for the third consecutive, for three weeks straight, They've beaten a team that could potentially play for the Big 12 championship.

Baylor ain't one of those, but they're playing good ball right now. And I think if they win, they're bowl eligible. I think they go, they get the six wins, I believe. Cool story. So you're taking them? Yeah, J.Ox plus one and a half. Cool story from their last week. Their punters from Australia.

Family flew over all the way from Australia to watch their son play. They'd never seen him play in college. It's at Arrowhead going up against Coach Prime and the buffs. He didn't punt one time because the Jayhawks scored every fucking possession. Yeah, Colorado in hindsight, maybe not the team to come if your son's the punter. But also, would you rather that? They win a big game at Jayock Placeco. Or would you rather, hey, they lost 51 to 3, but my boy punted 13 times.

My man's got ice his foot. Yeah, dude, we only didn't punt once. Like, would you rather watch that? I don't know. All right, there you have it. There's our picks for the week. Do with them what you want. Hopefully there's some winners.

But I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving with their family and friends. Thanks for always spending some time with us here on subpar. And we'll talk to you next week.