Sunday Sitdown with Willie Geist - Brad Paisley

Episode Date: July 4, 2021

Brad Paisley started his career in Nashville as a songwriter, landing his first hit 25 years ago before the world knew his name. Since then, the West Virginia native has become one of the most popular artists in all of music while rolling out platinum albums, selling out arenas and hosting the CMA Awards with Carrie Underwood. In this week’s “Sunday Sitdown,” Willie Geist gets together with the country superstar at the Ryman Auditorium to talk about that rise to the top and his efforts to give back to the Nashville community.  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey guys, Willie Geist here with another episode of the Sunday Sit Down podcast. My thanks as always for clicking and listening along. Excited to bring you this one this week. He is three-time Grammy Award winning country music superstar. Brad Paisley. I just got back from Nashville last night. I was down there shooting a couple interviews, including one with Brad Paisley. And we shot it. Oh my gosh. What a thrill. On stage at the Riemann Auditorium, which is known as the Mother Church of Country. music. If you've never been to Nashville, when you go, make time to stop at the Riemann. It is a cathedral. Literally, it was a church. So the seats inside are pews. There are stained glass windows upstairs. So when you stand on that stage, first of all, you feel the history of every artist who's ever had a name in country music who's stood on that stage, but also just looking out at the

pews. It's a tight room with great acoustics, watching the sun stream through the stained glass windows. absolutely incredible. So Brad Paisley and I sat on that stage and chatted. The room where I flew in and got ready in this room backstage at the Ryman. It was the Johnny and June Cash room where they spent a lot of time. And there's a picture on the wall of Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley must have been late 50s, early 60s, arm in arm backstage. My God, can you imagine what they'd been up to that night. So there's just so much history in that beautiful, beautiful venue. And it was great to talk to Brad as he was getting ready to perform a Fourth of July concert on Lower Broadway, downtown Nashville, the estimate 300,000 people to be at that show. So we got to talking about his journey. He's got this

song out called City of Music, which is the story of a musician who comes to Nashville like him and like just about every other musician with that dream with a guitar, not quite knowing what to do with it. How are they going to get their way to the top? How are they going to become their hero? That person they listened to on the radio. And he did it. So great to talk to him about that, about how he spent his time during the pandemic with his wife, the actor you all know. Kimberly Williams Paisley, she was in Father of the Bride. There's a little story behind that, how he loved that movie and eventually met her and cast her in a video. Also the work the couple does with an organization called The Store, which they founded right around the time, right before the pandemic hit, around the time the tornadoes that devastated Nashville hit. And they just opened it up to people who needed food, food insecurity and ended up now since then in a year and a half delivering 1.5 million meals to people who need them. So a great guy who you know from commercials, you know him from hosting the CMAs.

He's funny. He's got personality. He's a big baseball fan and one of the most popular musicians on the planet. So picture us on stage at the historic Riemann Auditorium. This is Brad Paisley on the Sunday Sit Down podcast. Brad, thanks for doing this, man. I'm thrilled to do it. Welcome to Nashville.

Thank you. It's good to be back. I feel like we could do an hour right now on baseball, but I guess we should talk about music. We should probably do that. You went to Vanderbilt. Tonight, as a matter of fact, in a matter of hours, Vanderbilt's playing for the college world series. It's pretty exciting. I'm rooting for them hard.

It ought to be. They're so formidable, and they've created a dynasty, and they're classy, and everything about it. It's just really neat to watch. And it's been fun as a Vandy fan to have something we can hang our hat on. We're used to just chasing everybody, you know, and to be the big dog. Right. No. No, it's like you only go to Vanderbilt football games to see the other team a lot of the time.

I hate to say it, but it's true. Yeah, that's great. I mean. Pick the LSU game, usually, you're in Alabama. Yeah. Let's talk some music. We have to start with where we're sitting right now. I mean, it is the Mother Church.

You can see it as you look out there. For people who haven't been, people who may not appreciate fully what this means to music, why is it so special? Well, it goes all the way back to sort of the birth of what country music is. I mean, very few places have that sort of central location where you can kind of say, this was the cauldron. And this was the place where, you know, the opera started really just as a radio show.

And then they needed a venue. And it went to War Memorial and it went to, I mean, they started lining up outside the radio station. They were like, well, we got, if we're going to play this for people, we should figure out a spot. This became the first sort of real home. And people that made their debut on the stage

from Hank Williams on, it really did set the tone for what would be this music. I mean, they were trying to figure it out. Like, what are we? Do we have drums? Do we not? They weren't real happy about drums in the beginning in this format. They were real mad when Boots Randolph tried to play the saxophone.

I mean, it was really, it was like, what are we? And we discovered that in this building. And the building also goes all the way back to the 1800s. And this was a church. And there's something really, there's just something incredibly sacred about it. I was sitting upstairs and addressed. dressing room, and there's a picture of Johnny Cash and Elvis. Yeah.

Standing in the wings right over there. Oh, and they kicked Elvis out of here. He came and played the opera, and they weren't happy. They didn't like what he did, which is too bad. But, you know, those are amazing stories now. Not his crowd. Yeah. Shortly after Johnny Cash did a few things, made him mad, too. You know, we have a history of that.

Well, I was just thinking, though, I mean, must as an artist, not weigh on you, but you must feel the history when you walk on and stand on this stage. Do you remember the first time you did it? And what was that like? Yeah. So I played the opera when I was a new artist first at the new opera house, which is also magical. That's been there since the year I was born. So we're talking about something that is more of, it's more state of the art.

It's a little less sort of, it has less of the ghosts of this place, but it has its own. it's since then become its own place. But when I finally played here, somewhere in the season of Opry shows, they moved here and I came and played. Yeah, you get a feeling that you are carrying a lot on your shoulders being on this stage. You want to make sure that what you do,

like if you're going to mess up, don't mess up here. Because you're going to mess up. I mean, musicians mess up. So this is like, you don't make a clam on this stuff. that feel like pressure when you step out here? Oh, yeah, absolutely. This is singing at a wedding. This is one of those, you know, it's like...

But the other thing that's really fun is the way it feels the audience. It sounds great in here. Yeah. I mean, you know, and so much alchemy goes into making some place magical, making music be something different. Venues matter. I mean, these were taken away for a year and a half. from all of us, venues, you know.

Yeah. We could only listen to recorded music and watch stuff on YouTube and Zoom and whatever. And you forget something about being in the air of a place that was missing. Well, you're going from zero to a million, which is a year and a half of doing nothing to a couple blocks from here on the 4th of July. You're going to be playing for two, 300,000 people out in these streets on Lower Broadway. Yeah, who knows. I mean, it's however money it'll hold, I bet. I mean, I'm not going to take full credit for that. I think when you take something away for a year and a half, you know, you could basically go down there. They could do a local community theater production of Yankee Goulda Dandy and they have 300,000 people, I think. People just want to get outside at this point. But this is going to be a special day on the 4th of July for you to sort of say, we're back, music's back, Nashville is back. How did it all come together? together. We were going to play last year. That was the original plan. We were kind of booked

before there was a pandemic. And then it hit. And I'll never forget in March when all hell broke loose. And they pulled the rug out from all of us and said, no tours. Let's all stay home. And I remember saying, this is great. Well, a couple of months, you know, back in June, you know, oh, here we are, you know, finally. And so luckily we were able to kick the can down the road and do it now. And this is so amazing to have the miracle of somehow getting the virus under control in this country and the ability to safely do this and the ability to celebrate that, that we are, you know, that we're able to kind of get back together.

And I also think about, I mean, look, country music was hit. It was hit hard in its economic ways where it was like no shows. Bands, there were musicians delivering pizza, you know, that were doing anything they could. We lost Joe Diffey to this disease. We lost Charlie Pride. We lost John Prime. During this disease, we lost Charlie Daniels. You know, it's hard to, it's hard to, it's hard to,

properly process and mourn that. And all of that goes into walking out on that stage for me, you know. What was it like for that year and a half for a guy who's spent the last 20 years or so on the road, make an album, you go out and tour behind it, and you get that feeling of being on stage? What did it do to you, not just professionally, but being home all that time and not being able to do what you do? It did a lot.

I mean, it wasn't all bad. I mean, I've never spent a summer. largely home with my kids. And what a great time in their lives to do that when, you know, at like 11 and 13 to be able to go and spend that time, you know, so that part was great. But there was a lot of fear. None of us knew what we were dealing with in the beginning, really. Yeah. And I remember when the schedule went from all these things on my eye calendar. to brim, nothing every now and then a birthday. Yeah.

You know what I mean? Like, so-and-so's birthday. Right. Is it? Yeah. So, I mean, I don't know. It made you really count your blessings, I think, and for me. And we found creative ways to stay together as a band and stay together as a married couple, my wife and I.

You know, you had to, like, it's like, okay, well, I guess now we're going to be together all the time. So let's figure this out. How do you do it? Well, I mean, you joke about it, but there is some truth of that. By the way, we have kids exactly the same age. My daughter just turned 14. My son's about to turn 12. That's great.

And so we had that same experience of, oh, my gosh, this is this terrible tragedy happening out in the world. But let's take this one blessing of being together and spending time together. And you and Kimberly found new ways to enjoy each other's company? Yeah, I actually like her. That was something I wasn't, you know, I was forced to confront. So was she. I like to think you knew that a long time ago. I knew that.

Yeah. She's, I don't know if she's still sure yet, but it doesn't matter. No, it's great. She, we really, we had a pretty good time. I mean, we got creative. We would have, you know, we sort of bubble, did a bubble with my mom and dad. So we would have dinner over at their house one day.

And they'd come over to our house another day. And then we, you know, go outside and eat in the field and set up a picnic with the family and do that. I don't know. It was a lot of what. what it must have been like to be a settler. You know what I mean? You know, it's like, I don't know. It's finding creative ways to entertain yourselves.

And the other aspect of it for me was just, I think I got to know fans better because of Zoom. I mean, Zoom and the technology that we all use throughout where you would get together face, well, I say face to face, but, you know, face to face on a screen with someone, I started to answer Zoom requests when I was bored, which was a lot. And next thing you know, there's a woman who's just had her last cancer treatment, who's a big fan,

and she's like, will you be on this while I ring the bell on the cancer floor? Wow. And same with, you guys covered the story where I bought a bunch of beer for the guys. And up in New York, the best friends, black and white, hey, come have a beer for the neighborhood. And we're actually flying them to Nashville for the fourth. They're going to be at the show on the floor. I'm going to bring them out and sing no wine beer and say, remember them? That's awesome.

Welcome to town. That's awesome. But getting to know these folks, you know, I know what pajamas my fans wear. I know what I mean. I know what artwork they prefer in their homes. And what kind of mounted animals they have on the wall. It's awesome. I mean, got to know them better than I think I ever did in a meet and greet.

But one of the other things you did, which was extraordinary, was the store, which you and Kim put together. If my numbers are right, it was something like a million and a half meals. And it goes back to the tornado, I know. It predated COVID a little bit. By a week. Was it only a week? Yeah. Yeah, I guess that's right.

It was crazy. So a long time ago, Kim and I took our kids to volunteer at a charity in Santa Barbara called Unity Shop, which was similar to what we saw. And I said, this needs to be in Nashville. So we got a group of really smart people together and formed a board of directors and said, this is our objective. And a lot of them came and visited and were like, that's a great idea. So we got everything in place. I went to Belmont, my old alma mater, and said, what do you think?

We could have kids work in this place. They'll see hunger firsthand. They'll learn something in college that's way beyond academics. And Dr. Fisher at the time loved it. and said, let's do this. And we built that from the ground up in its spot over there on 12th, and we got it all going. And we got our permits like the last week of February,

first week of March, to open. Wow. And we were going to do a soft rollout and make sure everything worked and then announced we were open and have like a grand opening and invite people like you to come cover it and say, here's what we're doing.

And instead, tornadoes hit downtown. town and we just did an announcement and said, you know, if you need food, we're open. So people showed up for that. And then a week later, the NBA walked off the court and baseball spring training was canceled. And I was in Canada doing a show. And I had one more show because I was playing Moose Jaw, which I don't know if Moose Jaw knows, there was a pandemic. I don't think they know yet up there.

But I got to play one more show before I came back here, knowing that's. probably it and then we had to pivot and figure out how do you do this how do you feed people in a pandemic how do you who's that who needs it and somehow made it work and I told our director when it happened I said if we get this right during this time period we'll be here forever and we knew there was some fate involved in it that you know what are the chances you open your food charity and then this it's It's got to be gratifying for all the things you get to do in the position you put yourself into to be able to do something like that. All the other stuff is fun and you have fun with it.

But to be able to say, hey, I want this to happen and to have it happen and be as successful as it's been, that's got to be among the best parts of the job, I guess. It's really been the thing that I think mentally got us through this pandemic a little bit. When you're talking about being able to, you know, actually not feel so helpless, to it's really, you know, anytime something would feel a little too heavy, you could, I could call Courtney, our director, or Kim could say, hey, check this out what they're doing. We would get a letter from the elderly that we were delivering to that would be this amazing. thing about how it had kept them safe and how they didn't starve in this. And the first time we ever did deliveries, my producer, a guy named Luke Wooten, came up with the idea to deliver to the elderly nearby. Instead of just our model was just, you know, lower income and food,

you know, food insecurity. And it's like, hey, if they're 85, they shouldn't be out, you know, going to grocery stores. So we'll send them food. So he said the first time they went, people were like you're giving us food the next week they all got in their sunday best in the hallway and they delivered all the bags to their their rooms at the towers there and they came out and gave them a standing ovation in their like suits and ties and stuff best dresses yeah and those things they keep you saying yeah well good on you for that that really it's been an amazing thing that you and cam have done together um you're also making new music City of Music, new single about this town, telling the story of this town, and rolling in here with the guitar and the dream like you did when you came into Belmont.

Without a doubt. Why was this the right time for that song? What story did you want to tell? Well, I wrote that with Lee Miller and Ross Copperman on Zoom during the pandemic. We were never in the same room during the right. Really? And, you know, it was informed by this, I think. Again, you take this away for a year and a half, sort of the nightlife that's happening right through that wall and the crazy sort of amazing mecca that this is, this destination for pilgrims,

you know? And it's like, I really wanted to celebrate it, and I wanted it to musically feel the way that feels, you know. I've thought for a long time about this room. It's the first time I've been in this room since we wrote the words, which are, you know, sing it for the ghosts that came before you, play to your fingers hurt, play something that'll ring out after

in the rafters of the Mother Church. Here we are. So it's fun to release it now with the vantage point of let's not take this for granted anymore. Everybody's got their guitar and a dream story, right? When they came to Nashville,

so yours was to come to Belmont. Yes. What were some of the joints you played? Did you play a bunch down here at Tootseys and the Orchid Lounge and all those? A little bit. I mean, it's interesting. At the time, this street became so much better for live music recently. I mean, back then, there were, you know, I played a lot of venues.

There's places called, there was 12th in Porter and Douglas Corner and Ace of Clubs, you know. Remember Ace of Clubs? Station In. Station in, which is, thank God, still there. And played a lot of those, you know, throughout the course of trying to make it. But I always wanted to be here. I mean, I'll never forget the first night once I drove to town. My dad met me out in the garage as I drove away from Nashville in my car.

I had packed everything up for school. And I was going, and he came home from work. He had his aviator sunglasses on, his mustache, he was much thinner. He meets me there and he says, he goes to shake my hand as I'm going to drive here. And he goes to say, make me proud, and he couldn't make a noise. You know what I mean? I'll never forget it. And I cried all the way to Columbus, Ohio, all the way here.

And then that I was good after that. And once I got here, there's never been one night in this town where it didn't feel like home for me. I love it here. I mean, it feels like it was always moving in this direction. If you get your first guitar when you're seven and write your first song when you're 13, was this always where it was going to end up? Didn't mean you were going to become this country superstar, but were you always going to end up in Nashville?

I think so, because I was willing, I knew going to Belmont is such a great place to be to learn about this business. And I knew that worst case scenario, I could probably play guitar for somebody. second best would be like guitar write songs maybe do some session work maybe sing on the side third would be like you know i don't know maybe get a record deal and have just enough success to you know i'm so far beyond what i would have settled for but don't tell anybody but it happened i mean correct me if i'm wrong relatively quickly for you started writing some hit songs when you were pretty young, got your record deal, I think 1990, 1999, relatively young at that point, right? Did it feel,

okay, this is moving or did it feel like this is a grind? It felt like it was moving, but I also was really informed about how tough it is because of going to school there. You learn so much about the business. So, you know, I had, my eyes were wide open, but it's like with anything, you know, you just, the next thing you know, time has flown by and you've accomplished something, you know. And I felt like also just going to Belmont like I did and seeing these other kids, you know, I knew the struggle. I knew what happens when it doesn't work out. And so I don't know. I was just trying to do everything I could that was the right thing to do.

But I learned something early on that I think is true still and key. and that's that it starts with the song. And, you know, and I've said this many times, I'm successful because of the songs I sang, you know. If I had given all these songs to someone else, I think they'd be successful. It's not about me. It's about the song you do, you know.

My charisma is limited. See, you're just being humble now. I don't know about that. There's a reason they ask you to host the CMAs every year and the commercials of Peyton. Come on now. I'm telling you. I'm putting on an act, and I have pulled the wool over everybody's eyes long enough.

I was going to say, you're doing a pretty good job of it. You sold it well. But, I mean, your first album goes platinum. You sell a million copies of the first thing you ever put out. Was that shocking to you in some way? You don't know how it's going to go. You might think it's good, but you don't know how to be received. I don't know about shocking because anybody, I've said this before,

anyone who's ever walked across the stage, whether that's the local talent contest or this, the Pinnacle, thinks they got what it takes at that moment. moment. You're up there, you know, and so shocked about platinum? No, thrilled. I knew it didn't matter. There's incredible people right through that wall playing Tootsies and all these other clubs, and you may never hear of them. And they're better than some people on the radio, you know? And so it's like there's no fair. It's, you know, fair's got nothing to do with it. It's, it's sort of like you get lucky and you also have to work really hard. And so I wasn't, I was thrilled, though, because I know. I know it can not happen, and the odds are against you.

So what do you think the difference is between this side of the wall and that side of the wall? The rhyme and Tici's. Wow, that's a great. I've never heard it put that way. Because you're right. We hear it right now. Yeah, I hear it's right there. I hear the bass. Yeah. I mean, because yes, there's talent, but then there's managing the journey, right? Figuring out when to make the right moves. It's songs. Yeah. I think it's if you, if you, You sing a song people relate to. They want to say they believe in or have a message and carry it well. Then you've got a chance of coming through the back door here and sing it on here.

You know, and that's where it begins. And we're still that. Country music still should be that. A format where the songs are about things and they are reflective of life. Another new one, off-road. People are loving. Thank you. What was the inspiration for that song?

Watching, you know, watching my wife and other just females that venture. Look, look, I married a New Yorker who now lives on a hundred-acre farm. And she's learned to drive the off-road vehicles. Does she drive them? Oh, yeah. She gets out in four-wheels and everything? A little bit. Not like I do for fun.

And she's more like, but she's very, very capable. And I just started to use that as the metaphor for women. They put up roadblocks throughout history for women. And, you know, Dolly Parton, Reap McIntyre, Carrie Underwood, you name it, drive right through them. You know, it's like, try and stop them. Good luck. They'll just lock in the hubs and head off through the woods. You know, it's, so that was fun to kind of make that metaphor.

So I was going to ask you, Kim is part of the inspiration for that? Without a doubt, absolutely. I mean, it's an amazing thing to watch. You and I both know. We don't have to deal with half the things they do. Yep. And so, yeah, it felt good to celebrate that. Is the story really true, Brad, that you saw her and Father of the Bride, and then he said, I like her.

I'm to put her in my video. And it's nice to have that platform to say, I like someone. I'm going to put them in my music video. It's a lot more complicated. I suspected. It's like basically, yeah, I wrote a song about those movies because of a college relationship that ended badly that ended up being the best thing that ever happened to me. You want a songwriter to be, you know the difference between that wall and this one? Maybe when they moved to town, their girlfriend didn't leave them.

You know, when I moved here, I got like my heart just trampled. And it led to, I think my first hit as a songwriter, which was a song called Another You for a guy named David Kirsch. And, you know, it's like with the situation with Kim, I wrote a song or two about that experience about that first movie, going to see Father the Bride on a date. And then I realized, oh, this would be, it's absolute fate to have her in the music video, which is funny because that video never happened.

The video she ended up being in was, I'm going to miss her, the fishing song. Right. Where she plays a disgruntled, you know, spouse throwing all my stuff on the lawn and say, get out if you go fishing again. It's over. But a way to start the relationship. Yeah, it was a precursor in many ways.

She reenacts that video. At times, for sure. So you're getting ready to go back out on tour. Yeah. Done a show or two, I think, already. What has it felt like to be back out and be back in your groove a little bit? It feels like, it just feels like everybody's grateful. I did a couple of nights in Las Vegas last weekend by myself with an acoustic guitar

and was able to play, I did like 100 minutes by myself, just me and a guitar, telling stories and the stories I noticed, first of all, the audience, I joked with them, I said, they just looked different. They're 15 pounds heavier. but other than that, they're wearing pants. No, but I was kidding. What I told them was they looked like hungry. And it hadn't felt that way in concert.

They looked like they were like, we need music, and we are going to like whatever you do today. I really felt that, you know. And all of my stories that had to do with songs changed last weekend. telling the story of, you know, last time for everything, which is a song that I remember singing in Canada on that last gig, thinking, is this maybe the last time I sing this

for a large audience for a long time? But then recounting that story to them, that song will always feel like something that has to do with the pandemic to me now. I had nothing to do that. It was way older than this. Right. But all of the stories changed.

And the humor changed. I mean, there's so much humor to be found in just talking about, you know, who we are now. And it's, it was a lot of fun. And I really think that going out on the road this year, none of us are taking it for granted, performers included. I used to always say, no matter what streaming does and record sales and the way that that monetary models kind of have. a window, you know, in some ways like it used to be. No matter what, they can never take away live performing. You know, that'll always be the, like, well, we learned that they can actually do that for a little while. They found a way. Yeah. But again, that just means we're going to

really, really enjoy it now. There's so much in the wind between COVID and the politics in our country right now. Do you feel like music in general, your music in particular is as important? as it's ever been, maybe? I think so. I think people are hungry to leave all of that at the door when they walk in a venue, you know. And they want to, they want to heal together, and they want to party together at the same time. And that's what's happening through that wall. I mean, they're over there healing and partying.

Their brains out. At three o'clock in the afternoon, no less. Yeah, that's true. You're right. That's crazy. It's the new Nashville. There is no. It's like Vegas.

No, you can't tell what day of the week it is from looking at the streets and the sidewalks. No. It's insane. I told you I walked in here about noon. This is a Tuesday as we sit here, and it looked like Mardi Gras down there. It's unbelievable. It's incredible. I'm happy to see it.

I mean, we needed this and, you know, and these people, they just, I think people need the collective experience of sharing music in the same room. It's not the same to watch. watch a live performance on video. It's not. And it's not the same to, to like, even go with strangers to something to some degree. It is, there's people you love and you want them there. And there's kindred spirits that, you know, that sit here knowing that these are all people that love the same kind of music. And you feed off it as a performer, they feed off it, you know, as an audience. And I think psychologically, we're all going to go a little crazy without that.

Yeah. But at a concert, we all agree on one thing. We like that guy up on the stage. We'll take that for a couple hours. Maybe a couple of people that came begrudgingly with someone else. I can always spot them. There's the guy that's sitting there that's just like, and the girlfriend's clapping.

He's just like, I'd much rather be at something else. Taking one for the team. I'm always trying to win him by the end of it, you know. Can you see him turn if you flip him? No. Usually not. Still on his phone. Hey, guys.

Thanks for listening to the Sunday, Sit Down Podcast. Stick around to hear more from Brad Paisley right after the break. Welcome back to the Sunday Sit Down podcast. Now more of my conversation with Brad Paisley as we take a walk around the hallowed halls of the Ryman Auditorium. So Brad, what's it like to stand right there and look up at this audience and see those windows and all the history that comes with it? It's great. I mean, you can hear it like. Yep. I mean, it's got a thing. You obviously. You always, I've always thought you almost don't need a mic in here, especially certain types of music. Bluegrass in this place is great. It's, you sense, like, look, if you look at the floorboards.

We were talking about this. I mean, these have been here a long time. They got some stories to tell. That's pretty crazy. And they actually, and these pews are here so that people stay awake. They're uncomfortable. You want the audience. That was the church trick, right?

Right, right. Stay awake for the sermon. but we it's an amazing place to play because you just how many places how many types of music have a building that is like the cauldron that began right right i don't think many you know and when you were inducted into the opry that took place here yeah i was on that's that yeah right there that's a moment it was it was like you know it parents were here but he's crying I wore Buck Owens jacket from my favorite album, which was the Live at Carnegie Hall album that he did,

which was yellow with sequins, and I actually wore it for the induction. He let me borrow it. Oh, the actual jacket? Yeah, the one he wore in Carnegie Hall. Oh, my gosh. He was a buddy, so I was like, I was always into the romance of these things.

Like, how do you make the most of the moment and have the little things that kind of matter, you know? You seem like you were, I know you're respectful of the history of country, but you seem like you stop in the moment and appreciate. You still have pinch me moments for all these steps that have come on your path? I definitely do. And I'm somebody too that I take advantage of the opportunity to be friends with heroes when I can. And like I was saying with Buck, George Jones, and Jimmy Dickens became, you know, he was this place. I mean, that was the Mr. Opry and Bill.

Anderson, who's a dear friend and an amazing songwriter here, and Jeannie Seeley and all the guys, I mean, you know, I've always, I just love incorporating them into stuff and being part of their lives. I, how many people get this chance? So why not, you know? Yeah. Have you gotten to know your heroes? I mean, a lot of them. And I can't, I still can't believe that I even met them, let alone worked with them. Yeah. Collaborated on things with them, you know. I know. It's, uh, you certainly appreciate it. I mean, it's, I've talked to actors about this, too, where you say, like, I had a poster of Robert De Niro on my wall in taxi driver, and now I'm acting across from him, and he's asking me for notes on his performance.

It almost, your mind almost can't process, and I'm sure you feel that way sometimes. I do. I mean, yeah, I remember, well, I got to know the guys in the Rolling Stones, and so I opened for them at the stadium here, and in passing told Mick, hey, you should come back and write and hang out when you don't have a game. And he was back six months later, and we just wrote and hung out, and he hung out in Nashville. And he took me up on it. And it's like, and I realized it's as simple as you got to ask.

Yeah. You know, and we cut a duet on that record. And the same goes for, you know, when I would come to town, George Jones was so kind. I had a horse back when I had a house in a subdivision. So I had this horse, which made no sense that horse without a farm. And I kept it at Georgia. So I'd go out and ride the horse out. out there and then watch football with them and hang out.

Memories I'll never get again. You're going to be in here anytime soon, playing again? Well, yeah, at some point. But right now, it's not the Opry's at the Opry House. So we're out there next week. They come back here. The shows come back here in the winter months. Right.

So I'll be here in the winter. Awesome. Well, thanks for the time. Much as they'll let me. This has been awesome. We appreciate it. My big thanks again to Brad for a great conversation. You can catch him out on tour this summer and fall, beginning with that big Fourth of July celebration, downtown Nashville.

My thanks to all of you for tuning in this week. If you want to hear more of our conversations with my guests every week, be sure to click subscribe so you never miss an episode. And don't forget to tune in to Sunday today every weekend on NBC. I'm Willie Geist. We will see you right back here next week on the Sunday Sit Down podcast. Just.