The Nick Bare Podcast - 120: Warren Zeiders: Collegiate Athlete to Country Music Star

Episode Date: May 12, 2025

In this episode, I sit down with Warren Zeiders — American country music singer/songwriter and a Hershey, PA native — to talk about the real work behind his rise from lacrosse player to chart-topping country artist. Warren shares how a viral video sparked his career, the battles he fought to stay true to himself, and the role family played in keeping him grounded. This is a conversation that focuses in on holding the line when the pressure to change is at its highest.CHAPTERS:05:20 The Highs and Lows of Performing12:07 Balancing Success and Personal Life22:29 Fitness and Health Journey29:58 Diet and Nutrition on Tour36:42 Hometown Roots and Musical Beginnings47:12 Discovering and Developing Musical Talent53:55 Navigating Early Success and Record Deals01:06:24 First Headlining Show and Early Performances01:12:10 Viral Success and Original Music01:30:31 Conclusion and Final ThoughtsFOLLOW:Become a BPN member FOR FREE - Unlock 20% off FOR LIFEhttps://bpn.team/memberIG: instagram.com/nickbarefitness/YT: youtube.com/@nickbarefitness

In today's episode of the podcast, I sit down with country artist Warren Ziders. Now, Warren is currently on tour for his new album. And he was playing a show in New Bromfels, Texas, which is right down the road from the Austin area. And funny enough, Warren and I grew up in neighboring towns. We didn't know each other or know of each other as you were growing up. I'm a little bit older than Warren. But as I was listening to some country music a couple years ago,

I came across Warren's music and I saw on one of the albums, it was titled 717 tapes. Now, the reason that 717 is applicable is because that was my area code growing up. So to see those numbers together, it grabbed my attention. I did some research. I found out that Warren Ziders was from Hershey, Pennsylvania, which is right next to Pomira, Pennsylvania, where I grew up. So I reached out to Warren, we connected, we've talked back and forth a little bit over the years.

I've enjoyed his music. I love a lot of his music. And as he was passing through Central Texas, I was like, you got to stop by BPNHQ. Let's record a podcast. Let's sit down. Let's connect. Let's talk. So that's what we did.

So I welcome Warren Ziders onto the show. Okay, today on the podcast, we have Warren Ziders, another 717 boy. What's up, brother? I'm good, man. I'm good. 717 in the house. So you're on tour right now for the relapse, lies, and betrayal album. You were at Whitewater Amphitheater last night in New Bromphels.

Yep. I want to talk about that because that is one of my favorite venues to go to. I was there my first time ever a few years ago to see Aaron Watson. Texas Country Boy. I loved that venue. And then there's this restaurant right around the corner, which I doubt you have the time to go to. But there's like one restaurant that after shows, they sell these massive turkey legs. Okay.

And like that for me is Texas in a nutshell. I mean, right now it's April, but you go to a concert there, July, August. You don't stop sweating the entire time. They got lone stars on tap, turkey legs afterwards. How's Texas been treating you on this tour? Texas has been good. We had two shows this past weekend here in Texas. Last night was my first time playing at that amphitheater.

Great turnout of a crowd. Every show's different. but I will say this much. Last night, the way the venue set up, you can't have a video wall, which is something new that we've added to my show and everything. So that was definitely something I missed for specifically the ride the lightning moment

with all the lightning and stuff behind me. But nonetheless, it was a great show. It was honestly a great reset for me and my team. We've been burning the wick at both ends, and yesterday was just a beautiful day out. We've been in New York for two days. We were in Minnesota past weekend. So it's been a lot of cold weather, doom and gloom, cloudy.

So having the sun out yesterday was awesome. So we spent some time in the water, in the cowboy pool at the venue. Yeah, it was just kind of nice. We got a nice workout outside and hung out, played some cornhole, did the thing. So it was really good for team bonding and just to kind of reset, I think, just kind of regroup. So it was good. Of all these shows you've done the basketball, years. What's been like your favorite geographic location to play? I've seen you play,

I saw you play at the Ryman actually in Nashville when me and Steph were living there. And that was a great show. Like we loved watching you perform there. But like for you like the big, shows, you like the smaller venues. What brings a lot of life to you? Man, I think for me is I love a big crowd. I do, and it's all about how the room set up as well. And a lot of people like to play outside. And like, I like festival season. But for me, I love an arena because the way I describe it is is that when you're playing outside and the fans are cheering and everything, the sound's going everywhere. There's nothing to capture that sound. So when you're playing in an arena, I describe it as this sound is trapped inside in the giant arena. So you're

you can just, it's a vibe thing and I can feel the energy within the room. It's not going anywhere. It's hovering around you that entire show. So we just played, like I said, past weekend in Minnesota, which was my largest headlining show to date on one of my tours of 6,500 plus people. And it was absolutely insane, ginormous GA floor. And it just felt like people were on top of me. So that was an awesome experience. And then just a few weeks ago played the Houston rodeo in front of 65,000 people. And you're in, call it in the round, where you're in the middle of the stadium on a stage that's spinning around and playing my hit song, pretty little poison in front of 65,000 people. And hear them saying that, it's very intoxicating.

It's hard to describe that energy. But if I had to say anything, put me in an arena any day of the week where I can just, feel that energy. I'll pick an arena. I can only imagine the energy of like what that feels like. A few weeks back, we're at the University of Texas, and we were just touring the athletic training facilities. And then after the tour, they took us onto the football field. Okay. And I've been to UT football games before in the stands. Yeah. Watching the game. And that's like one way to experience it. But when they took me on to the field walking out there and looking at the stands which felt like miles away i was just thinking i

can only imagine what this place feels like when it's full and it's rocking and what that does to the energy i can't imagine the high and and what measures to that high anywhere else it's a lot man my manager described this best to me when it's a drug you can't buy i believe that. And there's a reason why you know you look at the the days of back and rock and roll with people getting you know people having drug and alcohol issues is because you're trying to go hence why we're here talking about working out and everything. It's like you find healthy things to go ahead and put the energy into because it can be. It can be very difficult to have that switch off and on because I'll say this much. I don't get nervous a lot going on stage. But when I play the

Houston Rodeo. I was in an SUV. They're about to drive me out to stage and you're in this SUV and it was me and my tour manager and my content guy, my creative director. And I was like, shaking because you can hear the screams and the fireworks. You better feel it too. Yeah, you can just, it's like going through the tunnel at UT going under that tunnel and fans screaming for you to come out and play. And I could just hear it all. And it was just like, I'm about to go play the largest show of my career. to date and haven't even been touring for three years yet. I'm going to go play in front of 65,000 people.

And I got to go out there and I got to make a statement and I got to go show them why I don't deserve to be here. I earn this. There's nothing in my opinion that's deserved in this life. We go out and earn it. We work for it. And I just needed that sense of normalcy. So I went ahead and said to my boy up front, my tour manager,

like, put nickel back on. I need something that's comforting. Put it on. 10 seconds later, driven out. I'm hopping on a stage and it's go time. But having that sense of normalcy and a comfort song coming on just to get me hyped up for that moment was awesome. But yeah, it's a, it is a drug you cannot buy anywhere. It is. What's it feel like coming down from that high post show? It's, it's going to be different for everybody, you know. And for me, man, you know,

I can come off and I can be on cloud nine. And I can be like, that was a a great show. But the thing that people don't see about me is, is that that athletic background and that killer instinct inside of me is never turned off. So I haven't shared this yet, but I played the Uson Rodeo and I came off because, and I came off the stage and I was so hell-bent on myself about like, what did I do wrong, or this moment was weird, or this threw me off. And it's like coming off the field and playing a game and you're like, I dropped that pass or I should have had this or I should have that. But that's what's going to make you better. And that's what's going to.

And it's that balance where it's like, hey, that was an awesome experience and that was incredible. And sometimes we're our worst critics, but I beat myself up so many nights because I'm just like this could have been better or I messed up this or I missed this note or I did this because I am chasing my own form of perfection. and, you know, I want to go out there and I want to impress the fans and I want to impress myself. I want to be proud of myself at the other day. So it was an awesome experience to go out there and do that. But coming off that stage, I was like, you know what? There's things we need to work on. There's things we need to fix. And the crowd would have never noticed, but it's things that I noticed. And it's like, next time I come back, it'll be even better. So it all depends on the given night because there's just so many unseen things

that fans will never pick up on but we as people on the stage notice and it's just that athletic background that I have, that I've very tough on myself. I guess that's like one of the things that separates just a musician

and a performer. Like performer is at the root performance. Yeah. And I've obviously never been on stage and played music, but if I can, compared to a race or competition I've done, you show up and toe the line,

and the energy is just out of this world. Like you are so hyper-focused on this one thing. And during that one-to-three-hour effort, all other distractions in your life disappear. You're focused on this one thing. In three hours could feel like 30 minutes. And then when you're done, and that high starts to fade a little bit,

you then start to reflect back on every little thing you could approve upon. And I'm sure that hyper focus and that critical component of yourself can actually lead to some dangerous thoughts if you get stuck in that. Do you ever experience that? Yes and no. I think it's important to have good people around you. And obviously you want people to be supportive of you and everything.

And you know, you don't want yes men around you. You want people to shoot you straight. And, you know, I am definitely one of those straight shooters on my team. And it's like I've had my guys on stage be like, that was a great show. And I go up to them like, yeah, it was good. Could have been better. I was like, there was this and there was this. And I didn't like this about this.

And they're like, but I'm playing with guys on stage that didn't play sports. And that's the weird thing about what I do too is that love my dudes on stage. And they're amazing musicians, but I'm the only one on stage. it comes from a sports background. So it's hard for them to kind of grasp the concept of getting absolutely reamed out by your coach because you dropped a pass or because they're trying to make you better. They're in their head of like, that was so cool. Like we played an awesome show.

And I'm like, no, we did play an awesome show. But this needs to be worked on. And this wasn't cool. And this is this. And so it can be sometimes hard to find that communication barrier with them and whatnot. and some of these guys have been with me for three years, and sometimes they still have a hard time processing who I am as a person in my character. But yeah, it can be hard sometimes because I do, man.

I do beat myself up, and it's because I do care so much about what I do. And there's people out there that go out and do the thing and don't think twice about it. And that's their game, and that's what they do. I'm up there night after night giving it my all, and I'm not going out and drinking. I'm not going out and partying. I'm getting on the bus. I'm showering up, having a snack, watching a movie,

going over content, figuring out what we're doing for the night, what are we doing tomorrow. So, yeah, very disciplined, I guess is a good way of putting it. I think it's a really important thing that you identified there is not having just yes men in your corner, especially at the level of exposure and excess that you're experiencing right now. You know, if I look back at my life

to compare these last couple years, this last decade, in the beginning of this journey, everyone was willing to tell me what I was doing wrong and criticize and provide feedback. but then as you as you climb and you improve and get better, less and less people are willing to tell you what you're doing wrong. So right now I have a few people that I can count on one hand who I know are going to pull me aside very tactly

and tell me what I'm doing wrong and how to improve and call me out my crap. They won't do it in large groups or out loud, but in private they will provide me constructive. criticism. Yeah. Who in your life are those people right now? Yeah. That aren't the yes man, but are those who will tell you what you need to know, not what you want to know in here. Yeah. I think the first one that comes to my mind is my dad, who you just met, my best friend, both my parents gave up their careers to come work for me full time over a year ago. And

now they live in Nashville and my parents are the most qualified people for the positions I put them in come from a family of entrepreneurs and business backgrounds and everything. So there's no more people than, there's no two more people I trust than those two right there who want nothing from me at the end of the day. They just want them, they just want me to be successful and want the best for me. So my parents right out the gate are the two people that I would go to and are not afraid to share their opinion and tell me, hey, you know, you could probably cut back on some of the language on stage some nights because you do have younger kids there and you want to be a good example. And you know, some nights, you're on stage and you're up there for an hour and a half, and it's a blur.

You get off and you're like, you snap out of it, but it's just like, oh, I didn't even realize I said that, or I didn't even realize I said that that many times. So it's, it's, I was saying my parents, I think I have a good management team around me. I just had a conversation with my my head booking agent who was at one of my shows and shared his opinion. And before he could even finish his sentence, I was like, I already know what you're going to say. And I'm completely in agreement with you of knowing what you're about to say to me. So it's a, it's a like you said you can count them on your hand and i think that that's important um to have that small nick group that's going to come to you and shoot you straight and kind of give you

not necessarily what you want to hear but you need to hear it i'm really curious and i want to get more into this topic a little bit later in this conversation but you have grown really fast over these last couple years and you're still pretty young. You're 25 years old right now? Yep. What are some of the things you've done to, I guess, to say manage the ego

as you've grown at this rate? Because the rate at what you've grown is remarkable. Yeah. You know, I think it was just a few years ago that you weren't even play music. Yeah. And now you're on tour.

Yeah. Your whole family's on tour. Yeah. outside of having people like your parents, keeping you straight, how have you kept a level head? Because for a lot of people, when you gain that much success that fast,

it guides the trajectory of your values, your legacy, how you're showing up, the longevity of success that you want to maintain and accomplish. Yeah. I think, I mean, I know I just talked about them, but it is my parents.

And I still have my one best friend from high school, actually from fifth, sixth grade, who I just saw recently, who I don't get to see a lot because we're both, you know, I'm traveling everywhere. But I try to see him as much as I can, when I can. And him and I've stayed in contact, and he's been my homie since fifth, sixth grade, and just kind of having that normalcy when I see him and just going down memory lane and just knowing that he's been with me since day one and wants nothing from me. And it's just a dude that knows me as the dude that knows me as the. the guy that he went to school with and became friends playing lacrosse and stuff. But it really is my parents, man.

You know, my parents, you know, I didn't come from a family with money. You know, being from Hershey, you know, people that know that area, they think of, you know, doctors, lawyers and all that kind of stuff. Like my parents worked tooth and nail for everything. And then there was times where I was old enough to realize that like there were not, there were some not so easy times in the house, but I was old enough to understand that. So for me, it's like my parents raised me in a Christian household. My parents raised me around my grandparents. So I'm also very close with Christians. Very supportive of what I do. Hey, my grandparents have a hard time comprehending sometimes what I do because it is a tough thing to understand. But I think for me, the best decision I made to keep ego in check or making sure that success doesn't go to my head, it has been the family dynamic that I do have. Because, I trust my parents with my finances.

My parents have been my rider dies, never missed the lacrosse game. We're there from all my travel games with me all year round, 365 days a year for, you know, summer tournaments, showcases, trying out for college, and all that kind of stuff. They were always with me. And it only made sense that they would come on this journey with me. And the thing about my parents was is they didn't force themselves onto it, onto me. It was my decision to do that because the music industry, man, is a scary place, man, because you don't really know who you can't trust. I believe that.

It is a very scary place. And I feel bad for other younger artists. They don't have good people in their corners or at the other day. You don't know where your money's going. You don't know how it's being spent. And you're going to wake up one day and realize you might not have enough. You might realize you just toured for a whole year. might not have a lot to show for it.

But that was the right thing to do. That's what the industry does. That's what we should do because everybody else does it. And that is one of the biggest amounts of BS you're going to hear. And what we do is that this is how it's done. This is how we need to do it, which is a whole load of BS. You do not have to do that way. I brought my family in and we started the pot in Nashville.

And we're like, yeah, we're not going to do it that way. We're going to do it our way. This is a business. like we're going to go out and do it how we see fit. And I'm going to go out there and I'm going to go do me whether you love it or hate it. And either you're going to get on board. You want to be part of the team. You're going to want to buy into it or you're not.

And honestly, my parents did a really good job in my household, my entire life of balancing love and tough love. And my dad was one of the first ones every morning to say, I love you. and shoot me a text in the morning saying, I love you. He was honestly still my first text, probably I get every day, just checking in on me and making sure I'm good. And I think that he instilled a lot of confidence in me

at a young age. And it was good confidence in the fact that it wasn't just like, oh, you can do anything you want. It's like, no, you can do what you want, but you've got to go work for it. So, yeah, they definitely have done a good job of keeping the ego in check, but I'm not going to sit here and say, I'm not confident.

You've got to be confident if you're going to go step on a stage in front of thousands of people night after night. Oh, for sure. I don't doubt that. I don't doubt you in that at all either. When you decided to bring your parents on your team, was there anyone in the industry that pulled you aside and said, hey, I don't think this is a good idea? Oh, 100%.

Oh, my goodness, there's another artist in town that his mother was his businessman. manager and all you would hear through town was, oh yeah, we don't like her. We don't like her. And I could never figure out why. And it was like, why is everyone saying they don't like her? And the reason why they don't like her is because she's the one with the money and she's the one that's going ahead and saying, yeah, it's not going to work for me. Or she's the one that's going ahead and saying, no, I'm not going to give you money for this because this makes no sense. Why are we spending money on this when the money should be going here or we're already spending money on. Like, they didn't like her because she was the one that was keeping the money under wraps

saying, yeah, you're not just going to take my son's money and go spend it however you feel like it. Because that's what the music industry does. Is, oh, this is what this costs and this is what's going to cost. There's like, it's like, it's like, where's in the negotiations? Don't ask, don't ask questions. This is just how it's done. Yes. And it drives me nuts. So now having my mom worked for me these last two years, I see why now. I see why now she wasn't liked because she's going to stand you up and she's going to be like, yeah, no, no, we're going to talk about this and we're going to figure out where the money's going and why it needs to go there. Not just, here's money, here's 10 grand, here's 20 grand, here's 30 grand. Like, that's what the town does. You reach out, this is what we need,

this is what it costs. Oh, easy, peasy, here's the money. And the artist is none the wiser until they get their checks and balances at the end of the year. And they're like, why did you spend this much money on this shit? The P&L is upside down. Yep. Yeah. I mean, people won't like the yes man or yes woman when they are pushing back against what is expected or resisting the norm.

Yep. And asking questions. asking questions typically is offensive to a lot of people who have experience in a certain space or industry. So right now you're in great shape. I mean, you reached down to me a few months ago. And you've lost 15 pounds since then. I actually heard you on a podcast say that when you first went on tour, you gained like 35 pounds.

What did you weigh at your peak? So let's think about this. I was in really good shape prior to signing a record deal. And then when I signed the record deal and through that, going through that process of meeting with all these record labels and publishing companies and bookings, you're eating, you're out late, you're drinking, you're this, you're off your regimen.

It's a whole shit show. So I probably was about 2.15, 220 at my heaviest. Oh, wow. I was a big boy. I was, man. And I was drinking beer. left and right. I was, oh man, I was, yeah, I was never out of control at whatsoever. I've never been a seriously heavy drinker, but it was just like I just, it adds up. It does. It does. And then I was

dating someone at the time that didn't mind me being a little bit bigger because, you know, the women, you know, they looked past it, you know, now that you can do it. My wife loves it on heavier. She wants me to pack on the pounds. If I'm getting too lean or skinny. You're more cuddly. Yeah. Yeah. Put on some weight. Come on, Steph. Come on. You guys are supposed to be pushing me forward. Yeah. So, yeah, I was a big boy. And it's been a process back and forth, you know, losing weight and stuff like that. And what's funny is, is like looking back, I was talking to my content guy before coming on here this past weekend. I was like, dude, what's so funny is that we. you and I thought I looked so good when I was weighing 185. And you're like, you're in that moment.

You're like, man, I look good. And now I'm like looking at these new photos and like what I look like now. I'm like, this is night and day. You're like 170 pounds right now? Yeah, I'm like, this is night and day. And I was like, and there's even like a, there's always one step further. You know what I mean? And that's what makes working out and eating and all that kind of stuff fun and the bulking and the cutting and all of it.

And that's why I love it because it's one more thing for me to, you know, add into my regimen. And I love, I love doing it. I do. So I'm thankful for you sending me that. And I've stayed, I've stayed actually pretty much regimen on similar to that diet. So it's worked. So like 50 pounds later than you were at your heaviest. Yeah.

That's crazy. Yeah. What a lot of people don't realize is, you know, see, you go to dinner. And I have some friends who own restaurants. or executive chefs at restaurants. And the goal of those restaurants is to make those meals taste. Absolutely amazing. And I have this one friend who's an executive chef,

and I was asking him what they do to make the meals healthier. And he's explaining to me, like, we don't make these meals to be something you're supposed to eat every night. We make these meals for an experience. It should be a special occasion. So when you're going out and having these big steak dinners, that come with the loaded mashed potatoes and you get the appetizers

and get the drinks. That's like when you order a steak, it's not just a piece of meat. It's a piece of meat that's loaded with salt that's cooked in oil and butter. Oh yeah. And before it comes out, there's butter added on top of it.

So, you know, your typical ribbi that might have 50 grams of fat now has 110 grams of fat and you think you're just eating a steak but you're eating a steak with a stick of butter on it. And you do that multiple times a week. adds up really fast.

It does. It gets a balance fast. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, the before photos are absolutely. I mean, I remember saying to my family, I'm like, why did no one tell me I was fat? I was like, why did no one tell me? And they're like, we tried it.

I'm like, no, you did it. I'm like, no, you didn't. Gracefully. Yeah. Yeah. I'm like, next time just hit me over the head and say, get your shit together. So it was after that breakup that I kind of was like, yeah, this has got a, This has got to change.

So it's been an ongoing process and whatnot, but I think that what really kind of kicked it into the gear was a photo shoot I had coming. And I was just like, you know what, man, it's time to really kick it up a notch. And I want to see how far I can push myself. And honestly, even when I played lacrosse and stuff and was in college, I was in great shape.

But I never, never looked like this. Mike, was never this diced. You're diced right now. Yeah, yeah, pretty diced. I think that if I got down to like, if I hit 165 for like a photo shoot, I think that I would be super, super diced. 165 and then carve up. Yeah.

Fill back out. Yeah. And look really good. Yeah. So what are you doing now? Obviously, like, life is crazy on the road. Yeah. Before we started recording, you guys were telling me about your current schedule.

You know, you're playing these night shows. You wrap up. It's 1. 132 a.m. Yeah. You sleep on the bus. you're waking up preparing for travel and another show. How are you maintaining diet and training right now

while being in a different city? Yeah. Every single night. It's tough. It's tough. It's actually prioritizing. One thing that I've realized, too, on this recent, like, cut and recent just kind of like diet change and workout regimen is I've actually prioritized the rest days.

I was working out six days a week. and I've realized that like actually having a rest day and allowing my body to like truly rest and recover and focusing on compound lifts and you know overload and all that stuff like it's actually helped me maintain and it's worked out in my favor I was like I was like I can't remember the last time I've taken two days off in the gym and I was just like taking two days off and it was just like okay now when I got back to the gym I was like I I feel rested. I feel ready to go. And whether there's two days incorporated with light cardio or a walk or, you know, a sauna or or an ice bath. It's like still something semi-physical. But for me, it is tough.

It's kind of sticking. It's tracking your calories and trying to stay within that ballpark and trying to space your meals out the best you can and everything, depending on a given day or what time you're waking up, what time you're going to be. bed. So I've stayed pretty regiment with that diet you gave me and that updated one you had given me. And it's just been trying to, the nice thing is, is even if I don't get a workout in, I'm working out for an hour and a half on stage running around and moving and shaking and sweating and running on stage. Do you track your steps? I want to. I would be so curious. I would be so

curious too. Everyone keeps telling me I need to get like something so I, because I don't keep my phone on me on stage, but just get some sort of a tracker just to see like how many calories burned from a show performance. I would love to know that to be like, oh, wow, I'm burning a lot more than I thought. That'd be super interesting. Yeah. I want to talk about diet because I recently saw this video on Instagram of jelly roll. Obviously jelly rolls on this weight loss transformation. And you were, you toured with jelly roll recently. And I saw this video pop up. where he has a chef on tour with him. And then his chef makes all of his meals for him.

And he has like two meals a day right now on tour plus a snack. Yep. And he looks like he's losing weight and staying on track and working out. Do you have someone with you that's making meals, sourcing meals? Or you're just like trying to find whatever's convenient and available? Normally sourcing meals. So normally we're having catering at these venues and stuff like that for my team. So my tour manager will advance to the venue like, hey, have the chef make him a steak or have the chef make him a baked sweet potato or diced up sweet potatoes.

So like normally in the morning, I'm normally doing what you're saying. I'll eat about four eggs. So the venue will make those for me. I'll do my egg whites. I'll do my blueberries. I'll do my half a bagel. And then my coffee. And then lunch is normally.

about two eight ounce patties or and then there's no much cheese on and then I'll normally scrape the cheese off and just put honey over them and sweet potatoes and then dinner is normally

either another burger or a steak I cut off all the fat eat the steak another baked sweet potato and then post show I'll eat like non-fat Greek yogurt with some honey and some blueberries and have a little

sweet treat at the end of the night. But what I've found is, honestly for me, is I have found eating the right meals and eating, like, I'm eating almost like four meals. And that's not even including like the banana and dates that I eat with sea salt and honey before I go work out and whatnot. But it's like, I've found that eating more meals, but the right stuff is actually helped me maintain and like kept me on track. Like everyone thinks like, oh, if I just eat, a smoothie in the morning and I fast and then I'm like, no, I need the fuel. I'm like, if I'm going to be working out and going on stage at night and performing, I'm like, I need the calories. I'm burning them off. Like, I need the, I need to hit my protein intake.

And people are always afraid of carbs too, but if it's the right carbs, like the right carbs ratio for building muscle and the maintenance and everything. So I've taken your diet. I've added a few more things, but it's worked for me. I've maintained this level of weight where I wake up in the morning sometimes and I weigh 167 pounds in the morning on an empty stomach. And that's when I look the most diced. I'm sure going into like this summer too, oh yeah, being on stage for 90 minutes. Yep. You're probably burning well over 1,500. Oh my goodness. Calories. Yeah. And that's another thing too, plenty of water. Plenty of water, hydration, um, electrolytes, all that stuff. Yeah. It's especially like you said,

Sweatting my ass off on stage in the summer. Just absolutely drenched. So, yeah, plenty of calories being burned, especially summer festivals. Do you have a pre-show meal? And I asked that because I listen to a lot of podcasts about Michael Jordan and Kobe. But Michael Jordan had like a pre-game ritual

where he would always have a steak before a game. Do you have like a pre-show ritual meal? Yeah. typically. But like, for example, last night, the way my schedule had worked out with the time I woke up and everything fluctuating, I ended up skipping my pre-show meal because I was like, I'm not going up there feeling bloated. I'm like, because by the time the schedule worked out, I was like, I'm not, I don't like to eat too close to show time because I don't want all that food sitting in my stomach while I'm up there trying to sing and all that stuff. So, but for me, it's normally, it's normally a steak as well. And it's, baked sweet potato has been the thing honestly for this tour. It's normally my go-to pre-show meal. Do you ever eat cold potatoes? I have. But I mean, man, since doing this diet, like I have fallen in love with sweet potatoes. They're just so good. They're so good. I love cold potatoes. Like I'll do a red, a red potato or a yellow Yukon potato. Put

holes in it, put in the microwave, and I'll put in the fridge. And I'll eat. like an apple. Okay. And it's like, you know, the russet is like a dry potato. Okay. But red or sweet potato and like Yukon gold, like that cold is really good.

And when you heat potatoes and you let them cool and you eat them cold, they're high in resistant starch, which is really good for your gut and digestive system. Oh. So there's two foods that are really high in resistant starch, cold potatoes after they're heated and cold. Okay. And then green bananas.

both of those high and resistant starch really good for your digestive track. Okay. So would you eat a sweet potato after warming it up and then making it like an apple? Did you say? Oh yeah, dude.

Like a cold sweet potato for me is like dessert. Okay. The way I make my sweet potatoes is I'll throw them in the microwave for like four minutes with some holes in them. Yep.

Then I'll wrap them in tinfoil, finish them off in the oven. Okay. And then I'll let them cool and I'll put them in the fridge. Okay. And then when I want a sweet potato, I'll just take it out,

unwrap it. eat it like an apple. And it's like super sweet. Okay. Maybe I'll throw some like, I'll cut it open, put some flaky sea salt. Okay. A little honey and cinnamon. And now we're talking.

Man. Okay. The sweet potato for me is literally dessert. Oh yeah. 100%. I love it. Yes. Okay.

Now I got, I got to try that now. I don't know if you've tried the viral meal going around right now. That's diced up sweet potato, like cooked sweet potato. Okay. Ground beef. Okay. Cottage cheese. cheese, avocado, and then you cover it all in honey. Okay. And it just works. It is so good. I'll have to

try it out. The only thing that I've tried to get on board with it, man, I wish I could. I've tried the avocado. You don't think avocado? I've tried it over and over again, man. It's just one of those things. Just one of those things I couldn't get on board. Do you like wacamole? No, I don't. I know, I know, but hey, people can't come out of me. I've tried it. I've tried it numerous times. I've tried to get on board. I love avocado. So the first time I came across your music was probably two years ago. Okay. And this was like before the blow up, I guess you can say, that happened these last two years.

And what grabbed my attention is I was listening to Spotify and listen to country music. And it's just kind of like feeding me new music. And then West Texas weather popped up. And I was like, oh, do I love this song? And then I saw this 717. and like 717 tapes. And in my head I was like, there's no way, there's no way this dude is from central Pennsylvania.

So I googled your name and then 717. It was like Warren Ziders from Hershey, Pennsylvania. It's like no freaking way. I grew up in the town next to you, Polmeyer, Pennsylvania. You grew up in Hershey, Pennsylvania. What year did you graduate high school? I was 17 grad. 17.

I was 09. I was 09. So I was a little before you. But I could not believe you were from Hershey, Pennsylvania. I know. It was funny when you DM'd me and you're like, yo man, I'm from Palmyra. And I remember the DM still.

And I remember telling my dad me, and like, hey, two of us got out of that area and made it out for ourselves. But yeah, it's a small world. And it is pretty cool. I guess, wow, that's crazy. Two years ago already, man. Wow.

Time flies. It really does. Yeah. It really does. You've come out with so much music since. Yeah, since then. Yeah. Double album.

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So I want to get into some of the music stuff, but I want to go backwards a little bit first. Because for me, what makes, or one of the reasons you are so unique as an artist, as a country music artist with a number one, is that music wasn't always part of your life. Yeah. Had a similar conversation actually with one of our athletes, Max, Joel if a few weeks ago, where he is crushing the ultra running space. He just won Mab 240 last year, which is a 240 mile race, very notorious, very popular. But he only started running ultras like three years ago. And he only started running in 2017.

Wow. Okay. So you think back to in any industry, any space. the people who are at the tip of the spear who are doing really well must have been doing it for decades and decades and decades and they must have been born into a family of ultra runners or born into a family of musicians but that wasn't the case for you yeah and i want to talk about that really going back to percy pennsylvania being an athlete yeah take me through that journey of being an athlete playing the cross before me

music. Yeah. I'll say this. You know, music was always something that I absolutely loved. It was, I always say my love for music began in the church. That's kind of where, you know, I found that I liked to sing, you know, singing in church and stuff like that with during praise and worship. And I just recently talked about this, but my first concert I ever went to was a Jeremy Camp and Toby Mac concert with my dad. And that was a moment that I'll, and a memory I'll never forget. But growing up, my mom always loved musicals and stuff. So Greece, we watched Greece a million times,

the sound of music. My sister and I, Disney Channel, you're watching high school musical, good old Troy Bolton, star basketball player, got the girl in the end because he could sing and everything. My daughter's obsessed with the high school musical right now. It's like, we're watching that. Yep.

So good watch. It's a good watch. But yeah, I mean, I just always loved music. I grew up loving, playing guitar hero and stuff. And I just loved, I was always singing something. It didn't matter. It didn't matter if it was Christian music or if it was rock and roll or if it was classic country, Justin Bieber, you name it. I was singing something in the car.

I was singing something at practice on lacrosse field. I was singing something humming a tune during a game. Like I was just always, always, you know, had a song stuck in my head that I was singing. And I picked up a guitar in, I want to say sixth grade. And I was like, you know, I want to take lessons. I want to learn. I want to do this thing. Just kind of as a side hobby.

And I sucked at taking the time to practice. And my mom caught on. I mean, she'd come home from work. And she'd be like, did you practice? I'd be like, yeah, I practice. I mean, while I'm playing Xbox with my friends and whatnot. because or I just got back home from practice playing the cross and I was like I really don't feel like practicing. I'll practice when it gets closer to go actually do my practice and it would

come up and then my teacher would be like you didn't practice at you and like no don't tell my mom so she ended up stopped doing lessons and whenever I wanted to I just go pick it up and I'd watch YouTube videos and stuff and if there's a song I liked I would go figure out and watch a tutorial on YouTube, figure out how to play it. And that's kind of how I self-taught myself, you know, how to play. All that being said, as you previously stated, was I came from a family of no musical background. My parents didn't play instruments. My parents didn't sing. None of that. No one in my family was like, you have a gift. You should pursue this. But there was always this underlying tone of music just in my life. Me and my family, it was a ritual

where we'd always sit down at the end of the night and we would watch American Idol. And we'd always watch The Voice together and everything is my life, looking back, like, when you ask me a question like this and I have time to reflect on interviews and whatnot and think about it, it just shows to me that I always say the good Lord was just kind of pushing this towards me my entire life. And I was so hell-bent and focused on lacrosse and sports. my whole life because that's all I knew and that's what my family background was and my dad was a star baseball player you know tried out for the majors and everything's like he was just a really

talented gifted baseball player so it was just kind of without you know being said that athletics were pushed on to me and um it was something that it wasn't forced but I loved it and I committed myself to it so all that being said uh when it comes to the musical thing there was a time where I was really turned off from the music because there was a video that surfaced all over social media when I was in middle school. And I was trying to impress these two ladies that I had a crush on. And they put it on YouTube without me knowing.

And it got out to the whole school before I did puberty and everything. And to put it lightly, I went through a pretty harsh, you know, bullying all through middle school. And then when I got to high school, day one of tryouts for my freshman year of lacrosse, they played the video over the intercom, the audio through the school during tryouts. People are brutal.

They are. High school is tough. High school is tough. And I don't use the word bullying as a like a woe is me and like feel bad for me. I actually reflect on it and say, you know, again, it's another thing as athletes' adversity. We're all going to face adversity at some point in our life, whether it's an athletic world or whatever it is. But athletics have you have a better understanding and how to deal with it.

Honestly, man, hindsight, I wouldn't go back and change a thing. And I dealt with it for four years. I had upper classmen trying to get under my skin. I had upper class been trying to get to me because I was talented. I did work for it. I was gifted, and it wasn't just given to me. I worked my tail off for it. So whether you're insecure

that I'm coming for your position, that I'm going to take your spot as a senior, you should be nervous. So lo and behold, try to get on my skin any way you can. Did you know that you had the ability to sing then? You enjoyed singing, but did you know there was something there?

Yes and no. I think that I had people in my life saying, I was known for the guy that would pick up the guitar around the bonfire and sing and mess around. And they're like, hey, like, oh, like Warren sings. Like he can sing and he can carry a tune. It wasn't anything like your voice is one in a million. Like, you need to pursue this. And like I never, like the way I sound now, like that was through searching and developing and refining and practicing and, you know, just like practicing, just like running, just like working out.

you're going through the process, you're refining your craft, you're getting better at it. So I went back and listened to your acoustic covers, album that you released in 2021. Completely different. Your voice is completely different now. 100%. I was mind-blown. Yeah. And just in that short period of time.

Because what you're hearing right there is the first crack at the bat, like the first surfacing of, like the first surfacing of like, like, okay, stuff's going viral on social media. Now I'm going to go ahead and I'm going to go buy some SM7s. And I'm going to go ahead and buy some recording equipment and watch YouTube videos on how to record and get a free software and press record and soundproof the room and buy stuff off Amazon and do all this kind of stuff. And then I'm going to go ahead and play the guitar and sing into a microphone. No idea of a mix. No idea how to master. None of this.

Like just go out and do it. And that's what you're hearing. Those are all raw, unedited, one take. of just me doing this with a guitar. That's what that was. So to your statement of how different it is, is now taken to the fact of three years of touring, playing. God knows how many shows, 350, 400 shows.

That's like going to the gym 400 times. You know what I mean? Like that's going on 400 runs of development, of perfecting your craft, getting better at it. And I say, you know, you talked about earlier about these people that have been doing it or born into an ultra-marathon running family or born into it, I went ahead and I say baptized by fire, man. I was thrown in the water and it was like either you're going to sink or you're going to swim, baby, like figure it out. And sure

enough, here we are having a conversation. And I've somehow I figured it out and still figuring it out. But it's just a, it's a ongoing process and you're only going to get better. The way I think about it is you set the conditions to put yourself in this position in life to have the opportunity. And then when the opportunity is finally there, you have to make the decision, do I go all in and pursue this? Or do I see what happens and just keep tinkering? And if you keep tinkering, the flame of that opportunity will eventually die. Yep. But once you see that opportunity, you see that opportunity, you.

you go all in, it is foot pressing that pedal to the floor. Yep. And you just can't let up. Yeah. Momentum is there. You got to keep the momentum. Yeah. When the iron's hot, when the iron's hot, man.

And I think that, like, I think of, like, the conversation we're having right now. And you think of, like, Arnold being like, there was no plan B for me. Like, this was, there was plan A and this what I was going to do. Once I set this, the way I am is like, I describe this. How do I put this? my ADHD brain. I did well in school. I was never really known for applying myself.

I did well. I did the thing. I'm the kind of person that you give me something. And if I love it and I apply myself to it, I'm going all in. Gave me the diet. This is what I do now. I now identify with this. This is what I'm doing.

I'm not drinking. I'm doing this. I'm cutting this. I'm eating this food. I'm texting you. What I need to get? What am I doing? Here's my progress photos.

Like when I find something that I love, I go all in. And that's what happened with me for this was I was having success. I was dabbling. Go ahead, get some recording equipment, record. People liked it. And from that point on, when that acoustic covers, some of those songs were coming out, I had then gone to Nashville, met my manager for the first time. And when he said to me, you have a gift, this is something you need to pursue. When I had that one person to say, I believe in you. And it was just like, you can do this, gave me all the confidence in the world

to believe in myself, brought him home with me, senior year of college. First job was my manager. You're telling my parents, I'm dropping out of college. And he's like, okay? Because at that point,

my brain flipped a switch. And I'm like, I'm committed. This is what I'm doing. I don't care what anyone else says. I love my parents. I appreciate your opinion. It's valid. Don't want to hear it.

I'd already checked out at that point. So I came home. He tells him that parents aren't convinced. They say no. I go ahead and reach out to my advisor. Say I'm dropping out. Didn't even tell them. I was like, I'm dropping out. After I'd done that, I went downstairs. I said, like, mom and dad, I don't know how this deals with payments or whatever. I know loans or whatever, but I just want to let you know. I dropped out. I was like, I'm going to go down and see him next week. So I need you guys to book me a flight. And I'm going to go stay with him for two weeks. And that's what I was doing. I was going for about a six-month period. where I was going down and I was staying with him for a week to two weeks at his place with his family. And it was, we're going to go right here. We're going to go right here. We're going to go meet with these people. We're going to go to this studio. We're going to cut some of this stuff.

And it was just like I went all or nothing. And it paid dividends, obviously. And how old were you at this point? Were you 20? 21. 21. Yeah, I was 21. I turned 21 during COVID, so I couldn't even go out and celebrate with friends.

So it was just like, it was such a weird point of life. I went from just not turning 21, being able to legally drink and couldn't even go out and drink with your friends to celebrate 21st to social media success to I'd grow up really quick. Like it was just like a boom. And it wasn't anything worth having in life is hard. But like it just came innately natural. to me the way my family raised me and the sports background and to face all the pressures of like was it nerve-wracking 100% you go from being in your bedroom to then now this record label reach out this record label reach out without we're going to go fly to L.A. We're going to go to

New York. We're going to go meet with these people and now we're going to go even these publishers. We're going to go do this and my parents are just like freaking out of like how do you go from telling us you're dropping out four months ago to now we're going to meet with record labels and because you have offers on the table. And I'm like, told you. I told you it's going to work out. So I think I got emotional the other day talking about this. But like I said, my dad's my best friend.

And, you know, one of the moments I remember the most was when I called my dad up for the first time. And I was in Nashville and they hadn't known yet. But we had just got a call. I was in the car with my manager for my first offer. I remember calling my dad being like, I told you he was going to work. work out, man. And I just got my first offer for my record deal. And I just remember him breaking down on the phone and just sobbing. I'm just like, you could feel like his proudness and you could feel like the relief of a father of just being like he's going to be okay. Like he just did what he said.

He was going to go do. But that's when the work begins. Because like you said, yeah, you can tinker in it and you can do this and you can have social media success. But I've seen people sign record deals. and I've seen them go nowhere. I've seen people have social media success and it goes nowhere. It's what do you do with the continuous opportunities put in front of you? It's going ahead and playing in front of 700 people

from my first sold-out show three years ago to then now fast forwarding, sitting in front of you, playing on a tour that's got 6,000, 5,000, 7,000, 8,000 people and then going and playing in front of 65,000 people three weeks ago. So at the end of the day, to wrap up the story, God is good and God has played the absolute master role in all of this. The gift was from him, the voice, the hand on my shoulder, the guidance, the all of those things that just, it was just innately always there part of my life, I think. And just the floodgates opened and the opportunities arose and I just took action. did it. I have a few thoughts there. One, one of my favorite quotes is belief comes before ability.

So you have to believe that you can actually achieve before you can actually go and do. And it feels like from an outsider looking in, this was like a burn the boats mentality. Yes. And what I've found with a lot of successful individuals or businesses and brands is that, that what makes them successful is being able to hyper focus. And you oftentimes, at least in the early stages, you can't hyper focus on multiple things. So it makes sense where you had this passion for music, but the focus couldn't be music because it was sports.

And it was playing lacrosse at college. But then when you got the multiple concussions and you couldn't play lacrosse anymore, that was no longer an option. It couldn't be a focus. So as people who are achievers, you sit back and you say, well, what's the next focus?

Boom, music is this. I'm all in. It is the burn the boats mentality. I finally believe, no, I have to go do. What I'm really curious about, though, is how did that experience in high school where that tape was released

of you singing and I'm sure that was embarrassing and it kind of killed your confidence a little bit. How did you have the confidence to then go on a larger scale based off of your previous exposure to when you put yourself out there? I think the biggest thing for me was, you know, we're talking sixth grade when that video came out and you go through that and you do, you go through high school and everything and then you get out of high school. the biggest reflection of it all is insecurities. People at the other day are going to go try to attack you for anything you can. Like I said, I don't lack confidence.

I think that the confidence comes from a good place because it's a self-believe and you can have confidence if you're a person that's going to go out and do it. If you're going to go out and do the thing, no one can believe in you unless you believe in yourself first. and I think that like there is that thing. I bet it all myself and it's worked out. So it's like when you have, man, I've heard this before. It's like I heard it on another podcast or in the motivational speech.

It's like when I can look back here and I can show you the proof is in the pudding of all these things I just did, well, of course I'm going to be confident because now you're going to go ahead and look at me being like, well, yeah, he's done all these things that he said he's going to do. So I believe he's going to do the next thing too. So I think for me, you know, yeah, those was a tough time in middle school and high school. But after I got out of that man, I took a guitar with me to college, even when I went to go, you know, play lacrosse. And the dudes, even on the lacrosse team in college, didn't like it when I had the guitar out because the chicks liked it. You know, oh, he was a lacrosse player. He's a good looking dude.

He can sing. Like, it was, and of course it got me a, you know, a good looking soccer. player in college so you know it works out but i just think that for me like there's always been a there's always been i would say this like my manager said he's like i have never seen a guy or an artist have so much hate comments early on in his career than you have and i think that that's just part of my story man i mean there's people that show up to my shows with you know i joke around with the guys like there's guys that show up to my shows and um They're fans.

They're fans. Like, don't get me wrong. But they're there. And there's like this sentiment of where men feel like they can't show emotion or they feel like they can't, like, show it there enjoying themselves. And I'll bust their balls right on stage. I've actually heard this from a lot of different artists. Yeah. I actually heard Thomas Wrette talking about this once before where he was watching this guy in the audience.

Yeah. And the guy was showing no emotion. And he stopped midway through the show. I was like, are you not enjoying this show or something? And the guy was like, no man, I'm like your biggest fan. I love this. I know. But you couldn't read the emotion.

But see, that's the thing though. Like to them, they have a different perspective because it's like, dude, I'm up here and I'm looking. Like I'm performing and it's like I need you to, I'm not saying you have to jump up and down and go all out, but you got to give me something, man. You got to give me a read because it's like when I'm up there and I'm scanning and I see, it's hard for us to not hyper focus and hyper-analyze because I see that dude or I see that dude over here. and I'll go ahead and bust their balls. And, you know, in a flattering way, being like, yo man, like, dog, you came to the show. Like, it's okay to have fun, man. And it normally gets him to crack a smile.

And then they're like, okay, like, they're relaxed then. But, like, there's just, like, I don't know if it's a masculinity thing or whatever, but it's just like, maybe it's just somehow some people are more observant. And like, that's okay. But it's just like, for me, when I'm up there and I'm jumping up and down, I'm singing my ass off and I'm giving you my all. I'm like, dog, you need to at least give me 10%. Like, I'm like, come on, man.

Like, it's a transaction. Like, I'm giving you. everything that I got. I need you to just show me a little bit that you're enjoying yourself. I'm not telling you to go get the moon and the stars for me. Just show me a little bit. So I'm glad I'm not alone. I actually don't know.

I don't know if I heard that from Thomas, but that's actually funny. Yeah, I heard that a while back. And I thought that really interesting. And I also recently heard you talk about how in Europe, the fans show emotion differently where it's really hard to read based off of like the UK then. And in the U.S. where fans are super engaging. And when you're performing, you're feeding off of that. But in Europe, it was completely different.

It is, man. And it's even that way in the U.S. too. You know, like a Thursday show is going to be different than a Saturday. Because, you know, those people are coming to the show at Thursday, and they're like, I've got to work tomorrow. It's Friday. You know what I mean? Friday and Saturday are going to be different because people are like,

oh, it's the weekend. They let loose. They let loose. You know what I mean? So those shows are going to be different. Now, depending on the market, it's also another thing. There's so many different factors. It's like I could have a show Thursday night in my hometown in Hershey.

And you know that people are going to show up. Have you played in Hershey? I haven't yet. Oh, man. I'm going to the Giants Center in the fall. I just, I think that when it comes to Europe, Europe was a very observational crowd. They were very reserved. And that's just kind of their respectful way of showing like, I'm here.

I'm listening to the music. And then at the end of the song, it was very much so like a golf clap. Like they enjoyed it. To me, first time where I'm like, this is weird as shit. I'm like, guys, you're going to have to get me a little bit more than that. And, you know, I'd poke fun and whatever. And I'd even like address the, you know, the fact of like, hey, guys, I know you guys, I know you guys are more of a reserve crowd.

Like, I know it's kind of how you guys do things over here. But like, it's okay to let loose y'all. Like, it's okay. Like, this is a rock show. This is not your traditional country show where I'm going to stand in front of the microphone for an hour and a half, play my guitar. Thank you guys. I'm Warren Dider. Catch you later. No, I'm going to run around. I'm going to sing my ass off. I'm going to give you a performance of a lifetime. And I need you guys to give me something in return to help continue to fuel that

fire to get me through that hour and a half because it can't just be give, give, give, give, give, give, it's like you got to give some back so that I have some fuel to keep going. So yeah, it was interesting. And then you got to the UK and they're like head banging and they're losing their ever-living mind. You know, they're, how do I put this in relation to sound and stuff like that? 120 decibels is where you start to have hearing loss. There's crowds over in the UK that were hit 115. Like just screaming. No, manically singing songs, screaming in between songs, just, holy shat.

Is your head ringing on stage? Well, that's what the interiors are for. But like I've taken, I've cracked ears before just to experience it. and then your ear starts ringing. You got suction that shit right back up because it's just like, it's a lot. So what do you hear on stage? Man, it is, so we wear in-ears,

and what you hear on stage is you're hearing the on-stage mix, and then there's a front-of-house mix, what the crowd's hearing. On stage, we have a monitor engineer that's controlling my vocal and the guitars and the drums and everything, and we have our own mixes individualized

to each of the players of, what we want. So it's like what works best for me is going to be different for what works best for my bass player or my guitar player because we all have our own nuances and we all have our own individual ears on what we prefer to hear

throughout the duration of a show and what's going to give us the best performance. But for me, what I have is we call them crowd mics. So there's microphones on stage that you put out towards the crowd that go into our mixes. So I'll have my monitor engineer, monitor engineer, funnel those crowd mics in so that I can feel the show because it can be very disconnecting when you don't have those.

I can imagine. Because you're just, you're suction off and you're playing in. I have a tendency too, which is probably not good for my ear health, but for my eardrums, but I have a tendency to pull an ear throughout the show. And you'll see that a lot with performers where you'll see them reach for their ears. I'll pull it out. You'll see it hanging because you want to feel that energy. you want to be able to hear it.

You want to be able to pull from it and use it for your performance because it can feel very lonely on that stage when you're up there and you can't feel the energy because you're so in your head. It probably feels very disconnected. It is. It's like it drives you nuts. I can imagine. So when was your first headlining show, a show on your own? First headlining show would have been March 12th. 28th of three years ago, so we're over 25.

So that would have been 2022. Was there a fear going into that show? I'm sure there were a lot of fears, but was there a fear that no one was going to show up? No, there was not a fear of that. There was, so the way we did this, my team and I, we talked about this, and we're a friend believer in,

yes, it may feel like I've skipped steps because I have, just with the trajectory and everything and the success that, you know, my fans have allowed me to have and the way they've bought in so rapidly and fast. But we went ahead and I signed the record deal. What people don't realize is I spent a whole, almost a whole year, probably about nine months of no touring, nothing. And it was signed record deal. Now we're going to go ahead.

And now we're going to go ahead and get you into these rooms. Right, right, right, right. Studio, studio, studio. Keep putting out good music, figuring out what's the next thing to release. And then when through that duration, we're going through artist development. We're developing me. We're figuring out what I want to say in these rights. I'm perfecting on the craft.

We're still posting on social media. And when it came down to it, we're like, okay, how do we want to approach this? Okay, so 717 tapes, my first project was primarily acoustic. So it's like, okay, how do we want to present the art? What's going on an acoustic tour? keep this simple let's go ahead and put 15 dates up and i love acoustic tours yeah they're cool they're intimate it's cool it's raw and um so we're like okay we're going to put acoustic tour up and we're going to go take you and a guitar player we're going to go put you in a van and we're going to go

see how this see how these sell we put my tour up my first tour 15 dates and it damn near sold out on the on sale. And then after tickets officially went on sale, it was less than 24 hours. Whole tour sold out. So my first show ever playing was in State College, Pennsylvania, at Champs,

and it was 800 people showed up for my first ever show. My first time playing in front of people. That's awesome. 800 people. So it was like, go bigger, go home. And I describing, oh man, I'm like reliving it.

describing that moment, no one knew if I could do it. Like no one knew. I had three days of rehearsals with a guitar player. We went ahead into a rehearsal space. And it was like, I had gotten, I had actually taking guitar lessons in years. We went ahead and hired someone and I was like, hey, can you teach me how to play some of my own songs? Because I'm like, I'm not playing some of these songs on the records now. So we got a guitar player to come teach me lessons. I'm taking lessons. We did three days of rehearsals back to back to back and it was just like running the set top to bottom let's just let's build the set out feels like what figure out what works and um I remember it was people from a record label it was my booking it was my manager was my mom and dad they were out of the they were

there selling my merch night one um and they were like everyone's looking at each like we don't even we don't even know if he can do this like can he get on a stage and perform and play in front of as many people. And my heart, man, was thumping. And what's funny is, is anything that could go wrong went wrong. But the fans were none the wiser. So get on stage, guitar is out of tune, get on stage, feedback from the wedges, this or that, microphones not wanted to, like, you know what I mean? Like, all these things that you can't learn unless you go through it. Right. And this is my first show. And I'm, like just flying by the seat of my pants. And then it's like, hey, you got to go up there and perform.

And you've never done this before, but go up there and remember all your lyrics and the chords and everything. So I get up there. We do the thing. People are going nuts. It is an absolute just riot. And I just, I'm soaking it all up. I get off a stage. And it was in that moment, man, where I was like, yeah, this is what I was put on this earth to do. I was like, you were not lying. that is a drug you cannot buy and I am all in. This is something that I love to do. And it feels like from that point forward, it was like the rest was history.

I was like, this is going to be an absolute blast to go out here and do this and see fan singer songs and just see how much they just soak it all up. And my guitar player at the time, he came up to me after this show and was like, I really think you're, full of shit. There is no way that that was your first time ever stepping on a stage and performing.

And the way you handled all of the things that went wrong, it was like you've been doing this for 10 years. He's like, I am absolutely blown away. And again, good Lord, sports background, dealing with things on the fly, and you just got to go. You know what I mean? There's no stop in the show. There's no, you know, hold on, give me a time out. Like, they don't know that. They bought the ticket. They're there to see this thing. And this is their escape. Like my issues are my issues. I got to figure this out. We'll figure it out. We'll get through it. But you guys are going to have the time of your life. So yes, it was a, it was a crazy experience. But yeah. How long after was that from when you released that first song that Chris Daibleton cover on TikTok?

Okay. Yeah. Yeah, man. So, man, when was that video? That, That video was, I just got a, actually just got a, one of those memories that pop up on your phone. Yeah. I just got one of those, it was five years ago, just a few days ago. It was like a week ago. It was like five years ago. So for me posting that video on TikTok, about a year had gone on of me posting. But it was very, how do I put this, lack sedesical posting.

There was no schedule to it. there was no rhyme or reason. There was no, this is what I'm doing because this worked last time and I'm fully committed to it. It was just like, hey, I want to record a video today. I'm going to go ahead and sing. People have been digging my videos. I'm going to put it up.

It was through that year kind of of posting those covers and stuff, viral post, post, post, post, another viral moment. It wasn't until like through that year towards that end. and where there was one that went like to the moon. And people were like, okay, we've had enough for your covers. Like, we love your covers. This is awesome. What's the original music sound like?

And then they wanted original music. And I'm like, I'm not claiming to be a writer. I never said that I was a writer. I never said that I was an artist. Never said I wanted to be an artist. So I always actually give the credits in my fans. I say my followers turned into fans. And I would say my fans pushed me in the direction to pursuing this.

because what people don't misunderstand is that if you actually just pay attention and listen, the answer is right in front of you. And I think that I just listened to my fans and I took their word of advice and I was like, okay, I'm going to try out and figure out how to write. So I wrote my first song on the run, childhood bedroom, recorded it, put it out. And that's about the time where my manager got in contact with me and brought me to Nashville. you don't just go to Nashville your first time and write your first hit song,

Rye the Lightning. Like that's that my story is so just one in a million because I come to Nashville, second song I wrote my life is Rye the Lightning. And after writing it, my manager's like, yeah, it's okay. But we should probably write 100 more before we figure out what the next song

to release is because he wanted to really develop the artistry. I go home, I play the song for my friends, and they're like, you should put this out. I'm like, right? I think so. Tease it on social media. Boom. And then my manager's like, okay, yeah, we should probably put it out. I'm like, tried to tell you. Did you co-write that song?

Yeah, I wrote that with Eric Pazley and Rob Crosby. And Eric's a phenomenal writer. And he's done the artist thing for years too. And I think he's kind of taken a beat on it and whatnot. I'm sure you've probably heard some of his songs. So what's this one song that I really love? She don't love you. She's just lonely.

Okay, yeah. And he's written, his big hit song was Barefoot Blue Gene Knight with Jake Owen. Yep. Yep. So, yep, it was a co-write. It was on Zoom. I was in Nashville and it was on Zoom because we were still in the COVID. So I'm in my manager's guest bedroom on a Zoom call for my first co-write.

And I'm nervous as shit. And I'm like, I don't know how to really write. I just wrote one song and now I'm here. So I was very vulnerable with them and I told them that and they were just like, hey man, no worries. Like let's just like let's just you're going to learn. Like you just got to do it. You'll learn and perfect the craft. And it's again, it's whether it's the singing 300 plus shows, it's the writing. And it's the writing. It's the writing. It's the writing. They're all muscles that just need to be worked on and perfected and continue to grow and you get better at it. it seems like you just applied that athlete mindset that you were applying for 12 years in pursuit of lacrosse and played at the college level and then when that ended just applying that to something else yeah embracing and enduring the process searching consistent improvement and then refining your craft once you understand that that process and you realize what works,

you can apply that to anything you do, anything you do. And it's so powerful. One thing I'm really curious about is, I'm sure you've experienced this in the industry with other artists. There's got to be like a we made it accomplishment or a moment.

But the dangers of accepting the we made it. check the block or then it's all downhill from there. Yep. What do you do to avoid or is this the I made it mindset? I have a, I always quote my manager on this. We talked about this. We always say happy, never satisfied. Because I'm a firm believer in what you're saying.

The second you're satisfied or the we made it moment, what's there else that are going to go out there and achieve? It's like, yeah, I'm doing something that most people just played Jimmy Fallon, just played the Today Show, played Kimmel, like played the Houston Rodeo and not even three years of touring. Like, I've done so many things that people have not and will never touch. And that is just a harsh reality. But again, it's part of it. But it's just like for me, I've had people come up to me and ask me that exact question in VIP meeting grades and stuff like that. being like, so how do you feel like, when, like, what's your, when did you know you made it?

And I look at them and I go, I don't really feel like I have made it. And they're like, what do you mean? I'm like, I am 100% grateful for where I'm at right now in my career. But I was like, if I was to believe that I made it, I would not be reaching for the next room size. I would not be reaching for what, what is the next album cycle going to look like? What is the, where's, where's the content go from this? How do we grow my brand? How do we branch out from just the music and really showcasing the working out lifestyle and

what I'm interested as a person? Or do I want to have my own tequila brand one day? Do I want to dabble in clothing and stuff? You know what I mean? Like, if I felt like I made it, you're putting a restrictor on yourself. It's just like, whether you care to admit it or not, it's like that, that, you know, it's like, I'm trying to think. Oh, man, there's so many things. I'm blanking all my quotes right now and just, there's so many things that I listen to and whatnot. But it's like,

it's a part of it. And I don't know that if there is a we made it moment down the road. but for speaking right now, I think you can have a we made it moment when you go ahead and set a goal out and you achieve that goal, but you have to have your next, we made it moment. Maybe that's a better way of putting it.

Because speaking things into existence and then doing the work to get there, I wish I had the napkin and I wish my manager would have saved it, but three years ago, you talk about the self-confidence thing and whatnot and believing in yourself and self-belief and just going out and taking that application of the athlete's mindset

and applying it to all facets of your life. I spoke everything into existence when I walk into a room before Poison was number one or even close to number one, I'd walk into a room and be like, hey, here's my first number one song. And these radio people would look at me like, I'm crazy, I'm like, no, it's my first number one song. After you listen to it, after you see the streaming numbers, after you see the live show, after you see the tour, after you see everything I'm talking about doing out here outside of this room, you'll be like, got it. Makes sense. So comes to fruition my largest song to date, triple platinum song, first number one. I was in a bar with my manager. And this was like shortly after I had signed and stuff like that. And I just recently kind of been

in town. We wrote on a napkin and I said arenas in 2026. He's like, you think you'll be in arenas in 2026. I'm like, he's like, it's 2022 right now. I'm like, put me down. Arena is in 2026. He's like, that's a fast come up, man, four years. We're going, we're playing, we're headlining the giant center and we're headlining arenas in Canada in 25. Will the giant center be the first arena? The giant center will be the first hometown arena. We're playing some arenas actually in Canada on the fall tour coming up. So we're going to Canada and we're, my second, we're skipping so many room sizes. I went in Canada last spring and we went to Canada for the first time, sold out tour playing 1,500, 2,000, 2,500 cap rooms. Now we're going to Canada playing

6, 7, 8, 9,000 cap rooms, which is a huge jump. Yeah, that's awesome. A year later. So it's, again, it's just continuing to put the work in. And you said it best, though. It's that applicable thing that you can apply to anything in your life. It's like the golden key. It's like if you can take that and apply it to anything in your life, you're going to find success. It makes me think of, to quote Kobe, someone was asking him post post- championship. Please say it. And he goes, jobs not finished. Jobs not finished. That is the one I was thinking of, but I couldn't think of it. It's one of my first. It's one of my favorite quotes of all time. I love Kobe and Jordan's mindset. Oh my gosh, man. I literally thought of

that exact quote. Yes, my favorite. This week before I knew because I knew it was coming on here. I was like, the reporter says to him, he's like, you happy? He's like, what's it to be happy about? Jobs not done. He's like, well, you're up too well. He's like, jobs not finished. I don't think so. I just love my gosh, man. Thank you for saying that. They used to make chills. Yes. Because of just how Kobe and Jordan were so confident, but they were so confident because they backed it up with all of the work. Yes. And they were confident because of the preparation they put in.

Yes. So when they went to execute, it wasn't a guess of, will I perform or not? It was, oh, I'm going to perform. Yep. And I'm so confident in my ability, I'm now going to show myself and all of you what I've been working towards. And that is like, I love studying those two guys. Yep.

love it that i'm so glad you brought that up yes cobi is 100% man you said it best that's the best way to put it that do you're going into it knowing people are like why are you so confident and it's like i'm doing all the things this provides me confidence because i have results that show up time and time again that i show up for myself and that i have things to back it up there was another one too man there's so many good ones but the um who was it um It was like just after Kobe had lost the championship or, what was it? And he was on, no, what was it? Oh, he's on the court and a guy shows up and he's still working out.

He's in a dead sweat and everything. The guy comes up to him and he's like, after the game and whatnot, he was like, dude, why are we working out for so long? Because I wanted to make sure you knew that you would never outwork me. Meanwhile, he'd already been there working out for two, three hours. It's just, it's that mentality of like, and that's kind of, kind of like what I carry with me because like I feel like no one else is so outspoken about the motivational background and the sports background and talking about it this way because that's

how I think of it. I'm like, you will not outwork me. I will be, I will do this seven days a week to make sure that everything that I've said and spoken into existence is spoken out there, that it will come to fruition. So, yeah. I was on an ultramarathon in 2013. It was called Last Man Standing. 4.2 mile loop restarts every hour on the hour until there's one person left. Everyone else is DNF. And there was this guy that I identified in the first couple of loops who looked like a stud. And he ended up winning the last man standing race.

He was the last person standing. But I ran up next to him early on. It might have been like loop two or three. And we were just keeping a light. and I look at him and I go, how far are you going, man? Like how far are you going today? And he looks at me and goes, the whole way, brother.

And in my head, I was like, he is calling that right now. And I can see it in his eyes. I can hear it in his voice. He's going to win this. And he went and did it. The whole way, brother. Yep.

It's almost like when you say it and you believe the words you're saying, there's something in you're saying, there's something in your brain if you have that inside of you and that killer inside of you and that monster that needs to wake up like you're telling your brain you're going to do it there's no there's no other if-ins or buts like it's going to happen and it's just like it just it rewires your brain and when you do that time and time again it becomes easier and it becomes more innately a part of you when you when you continuously get the results because you kept telling

yourself i'm going to do it i'm going to check the next box i'm going to check the next box So, yeah. Chatteright, one of my favorite things Chatteride says, he's been on the podcast. He says your tongue is your rudder. And if you speak it into existence, it will come to fruition for good or bad. So if you talk down upon yourself,

if you are pessimistic, if you are negative about your disbelief in yourself and what you can do or what we can do, that will happen. Your tongue will guide you in that direction of life. But if you speak all, positivity and belief in your mind and out loud. That will guide everything.

And I always think about that before I say something negative or whatever it is. As soon as I say it, as soon as I think it, as soon as I put it out there, that is now guiding my actions moving forward. That's well put. I do want to ask one question. I love your piano versions of your songs. Is that your idea? Yeah.

Dude, those are my favorite versions of the songs you do. Well done on those. Thank you. And then as you were talking about growing up in the church, having a foundation of faith, have you ever thought about collaborating on a worship album? Like Brandon Lake, for example, just did a song with jelly roll. Yep.

I'm glad you brought that up. I think that that question right there. there is God trying to speak to me. And I mean that in the most pure way and just such a beautiful way because I actually had, I've had numerous fans bring up to me in these past couple of days in VIPs

and my mean greets about asking if I would do like a little gospel album or like a church album or a Christian music thing. And I think that that, I think I've been praying to God a lot and I've gone, going through this diet in these last couple of months,

have been so beneficial for me for being a young, you know, young dude, mid-20s of just kind of trying to figure out all of this, what do I want to get out of this, you know, going through a breakup, going through some betrayal, going through some of crazy stuff on the record and whatnot. And I think that that is definitely something that I would highly entertain. And the first one that comes to mind is my favorite hymnal, How Great Thou Art. that is just a song that has always spoken so much life into me. And yeah, I definitely think it's something on my list of things to do. That would be super cool.

Yeah. It'd be very cool to record and listen to. Well, if you were at the rhyme and you heard how great thou art at the rhyman then. Yeah. Which was a spiritual awakening in my opinion. That was such an awesome moment to share with the fans and the crowd. That was an incredible show. It was.

That was such an awesome. awesome show. But that that right there in itself is another great example of talking about speaking into existence, right? Like the Ryman, I had never stepped foot on the Ryman. I had been invited to the Ryman so many times to tour it and visit it and go with friends and let's go check it out. And I said to him, I will not step foot in that venue until I headline it. I didn't step into it. I think you said that actually at the show. Yeah. Yeah. And then step into it until that day to sound check and get ready for the show. So I've done that a couple times with, um, a lot of venues and a lot of things.

And I think that that's, it just gives you that much more confidence, man, when you keep saying those things and you keep doing that and you stick to your word. And the grand old opera was the same way for me. I didn't step foot into the opera until I'd step foot into that circle for my opera debut.

So you get confidence by continuously doing it in showing up for yourself and continuously showing that it's working. Like, I continuously get the results. So, yeah. Yes, I can totally see some religious music for sure in the future.

Maybe around Christmas time, we'll see. Yeah, that would be awesome. Yeah. Well, Warren, dude, appreciate you making the time for us. Appreciate you. I know your life is absolutely wild right now, and you're heading back to Nashville tonight. So I appreciate it, man. I just want to congratulate you on everything you're doing.

And it's cool seeing someone else from the 717. doing some stuff. Amen, my friend. Let's go take a scuba free workout now. For sure. All right, thanks, man. Appreciate you all me.