The Taproot Podcast - Interview with PYNK Beard

Episode Date: June 5, 2026

Grammy-winning songwriter and artist Sebastian Kole (aka Pynk Beard) joins Joel Blackstock on the Discover Heal Grow podcast to unpack the intersections of Southern heritage, creative deconstruction, and finding authentic human connection in a digital world. From the pews of his parents' church in Birmingham, Alabama, to the national stage, Pynk Beard's journey is a masterclass in artistic evolution. In this episode, Sebastian and Joel dive deep into the cultural cross-pollination of country, hip-hop, and gospel — viewing them all as deeply connected "working man's music." Sebastian explains how his album Sugar and Salt serves as a deconstruction of what it means to be a Black man in Alabama, and why dying his beard pink became his ultimate creative calling card and a visual rebellion against industry elitism. Beyond the music, the conversation shifts into profound psychological territory. They explore Sebastian's early experiences with therapy for anger management, the therapeutic value of art, and Taproot Therapy Collective's innovative neurological approaches to healing (including EMDR, brainspotting, and subcortical brain modulation). (Plus, you won't want to miss Sebastian's unusual but brilliant foil-free baked potato recipe at the end of the episode!) Episode Chapters: 00:00:00 - Introduction: Pynk Beard’s viral success and transitioning to center stage 00:01:36 - The inescapable influence of Birmingham, Alabama & Southern bluntness 00:06:03 - Genre-bending: The shared roots of country, hip-hop, and soulful storytelling 00:08:11 - Formative influences: Tom Petty, Nirvana, and the Forrest Gump soundtrack 00:12:59 - Sugar and Salt: Deconstructing identity, inner conflicts, and the "grits divide" 00:22:59 - Connecting to the inner child through honest artistic reflection 00:35:14 - Navigating conflict, early encounters with racism, and the power of dialogue 00:37:36 - How childhood therapy and anger management shaped Sebastian's music 00:41:51 - The shifting music industry, upcoming book, and prioritizing human connection 00:46:44 - The philosophy behind the "Pink Beard" persona & anti-elitist art 01:00:00 - Sebastian’s perfect baked potato recipe (No foil required!) 01:01:39 - Taproot Therapy’s mission: Brainspotting, EMDR, and reinventing neurology Connect with Pynk Beard (Sebastian Kole): Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pynkbeard X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/pynkbeard About Discover Heal Grow & Taproot Therapy Collective: Hosted by Joel Blackstock, the Discover Heal Grow podcast explores the psychological impulses of artists, creators, and innovators. Taproot Therapy Collective is a Birmingham-based clinic focused on bringing unique, relational psychological approaches to Alabama, specializing in advanced neurological therapies like brainspotting to heal subcortical trauma. Learn more about Taproot Therapy: https://gettherapybirmingham.com Listen to more episodes: https://discoverhealgrow.podbean.com #PynkBeard #SebastianKole #DiscoverHealGrow #TaprootTherapy #JoelBlackstock #CountryMusic #BirminghamAL #MusicTherapy #EMDR #Brainspotting #SouthernHeritage #SugarAndSalt

I'm just the country boy at heart, no frills, no bravado. I'm from Birmingham, God damn. Don't ask me shit about avocados. Look a man in his eyes when you shake his hand. That's all that I know. I'm irreverent. And my daddy is still a reverend on the Bible. Every day above grounds, brindle.

All right, I'm here with Pinkbeard. Welcome to the show. And we go ahead and shred all these questions that I had written about avocados. and hopefully we could find something else to talk about. Hopefully it does. Yeah. What I really appreciate you coming on, Discover Hill Grove, the Tapreet Therapy Collective Podcasts.

We're just, you know, a little local therapy, you know, firm trying to have some good conversations and find out about, like, the psychology and really like the, not just the psychology in a corny way, but like the psychological impulse of the artist, like the good and bad things that go along with it, help people try and redirect their energy to make sense. of a crazy world or change a crazy world just a little bit, plenty of craziness right now. Absolutely.

You've got a new one climbing top of the pops. Like every time I check that video, it's like another five million, you know, on there. I need damn, man. Yeah. Yeah.

So congratulations. And for people who aren't familiar, Pinkfeard's done a couple things. I mean, he's done some, like, really good music. And then also just,

I was always a huge fan of your marketing. Like the, I love the, I'm not going to fight for you. I'm going to fight for you. mayor. So please vote for me and I'll come to your house and kick your ass. I was like, I was hoping that would turn into like one of those like real LA style celebrity, you know, like Tim Heidegger style like campaigns. So you could actually vote for the person and then

they start winning. Yeah. Incredible, man. Yeah. I just, I want to see like the Supreme Court case. Are you like, I told you what's going to have. Told you if I want. I was going to vote. Did you vote or not? Yeah, you asked for it. Your name is on the voter roll. This matches. that was fantastic. Well, see, you've got an interesting story, and I want to get to your contemporary stuff,

but could you go through what it's like, you know, because I grew up in Birmingham, too. I've been here my whole life, lived in Florence, Alabama for a little bit, went to school at Swanee, but other than that, this is where I'm from. And it's an interesting area. Like, I was in New York recently to demo,

like this new thing that we were doing a Taproot, and everybody's like, you know, like they all had fun, and I was like, yeah, I like talking to people, meag people. But then they were all kind of privately would come up and be like, are you really from Alabama? What's Alabama like? Like, I don't think of people like being from Alabama, you know?

And I thought, I love that. My wife was like really uncomfortable. She was like, oh. Some of the times I'm embarrassed and was like, no, dude, I love it. I go into a room, rizzing everybody out. And then me, I'm like, I'm from Alabama. I'm from Alabama. Yeah.

Like, yeah. I don't know. What's your experience? Like, what do you associate with a place or, you know, anything that kind of speaks to you or informs your work? Because you're definitely in communication with it a lot in a way that's empowering and unashamed and hopeful. Oh, man, you know, like being from Birmingham, I mean, from Alabama in general, but, you know, Birmingham specifically, you know, it's like the first lens to my whole worldview, you know? So, like, um.

Can't get away from that one. Yeah, you just can't get away. Yeah, it stays with you. Even if you rejected and rebel against it and say, I'm going to do this whole new thing and move to L.A. or New York, like, it's like, you could still kind of tell the person's rebelling against it. instead of owning it. Yeah, man. And I've always just wanted to own it. I moved to LA just because my career kind of took me that,

but, you know, everywhere I go, I tell people I'm, you know, I'm really proud to be from Birmingham. Because Birmingham has been really good to me. You know, I had, like, great teachers in my school system and, you know, great support system and great friends. And so, like, it's always been very much home to me. And so I try to carry it as a badge of honor in a lot of ways, specifically because when you walk into a place,

people might have a conception about it. You know, they might have some kind of, you know, all y'all wear shoes? Yeah. Running water? Yeah, I got that too. You know, so I wear it like a badger honor, man. Burnham has been really good to me.

You know, every city's got his problems, but, you know, the devil that you know, you know. Yeah, and it is almost a language. You know, you can't get away from it. There's good and bad things, you know, about, about the, I think, the mythology, so we have it. But, I mean, I always enjoyed kind of about the South that it brought the worst stuff to the surface because people felt comfortable. I mean, sometimes, like, you know, I travel, get other places.

And it's like a lot of the people that I went to school with that, you know, we're for the life of a better word from the north or something. It was like, you know, things would still come out that were kind of bad, but they had this way of like making it fly to whatever. And there's something about Alabama where people just feel comfortable telling you what they believe, which a lot of them I don't like or agree with. But I'm glad you're telling me that's in there, man. because you're not making it complicated. Yeah, and that I think makes for kind of a different kind of discourse. It's like a weird culture where things are on the surface, even when they're not great. Do you just play with any of that in your music or like you kind of use that in the way that you see?

One of the reasons, like specifically in my newest stuff, like one of the things that I'm really trying to tackle is just just a blunt conversation about certain things, right? Just having the blunt conversation and just saying, hey, this is how I see it. You know, and I think Birmingham kind of gives you that as a place. Specifically, like when you're getting into, like, venturing into country music, a lot of times people will say, oh, don't say that. Or, you know, they kind of treat it as if we don't talk like it. But it's like, no, no, when I'm from, we say what's on our minds. And like it, love it, hate it, it doesn't matter, right?

They want you to polish it or dress it up in a certain way? Or they want you to avoid the problem entirely and sing a happy song? Yeah, yeah. And I made room for happy music. One of the reasons that I'm doing this whole project is because I wanted to get back to happy me. And so most of this, I'm really a happy person. I don't know if you can tell, man, but like I'm a fun, happy person. And I spent so much time in L.A.

and L.A. had kind of like put a bunch of seriousness on me. And I just, I'm sick of that. So I wanted to make good fun, happy music. But at the same time, you know, it's an artist's job to reflect the times. And so, you know, I just have to be honest about all of that. Yeah. Well, and a lot of, a lot of the stuff that you've done, too, is kind of playing with Jonna, which I'd like to talk about because it's like, you know, you are a country artists.

And you see now more kind of like cross-pollination, I think, between rap and country and hip-hop and country, and even R&B in country sometimes now, like, than ever would have been around when I was in high school. Is there, like, kind of a way, but you're also not the traditional. country music singer just kind of like it's not the old kind of 70s country of like i lost my truck and my dog and my wife it's like not that new country where it's like i don't know a wheel used to make a joke did that like kind of like mid 2000s like iraq war pop country there was like you could use 15 words and the more you use them you got like a ding ding and you went up but if you use like another word it went down yeah yeah cherry toes in the sand in the truck and then you'd be

like you know tax return uh-uh wrong wrong it was like you know you have this like 15 words It's like you're definitely not do anything like that. I mean, it's it's very like soulful songwriter, you know, almost kind of like indie rock stuff. I mean, tons of tons of influence there. I mean, can you say anything about you just kind of spit it out and then see what happens? Or do you think through that or? I think through it. I've got like some, I've got like some breaks in my mind.

I grew up in, I'm born at, you see my hair, 1980s. Yeah. But I was born 82, man. You know what I'm going. And so and my musical influences, I spent a lot of, lot of time in church my mom and dad were both preachers. When your mom was a preacher too, I knew your father was a preacher. Yeah, my mom and dad both preachers.

Same church? Yeah. At the same time? Yeah. So I guess like you ever get in a fight like in the middle of the sermon, like, well, I got a great story about it. It wasn't my mom and dad. My dad and the co-fuster one time went outside and legit ran on fate.

Like legit railway. Can't make him bloody than the whole night. Like real life. That's what I'm my oldest. Great. But, you know, I spent a lot of time at church. And my musical influences early on, because I got like uncles

that, like, you know, didn't spend as much time in church as me, uncles and cousins. But I got a little bit of hip-hop from that. And I went to Epic Elementary School. You're from Birmingham, anywhere. Yeah, yeah. Epic's like a melting pot, right?

So, you know, you know, it was very, like, integrated and, you know, that was just normal to me. So, like, the first hour, album I ever listened to that wasn't like a gospel album, was acting in Nirvana's unplugged. Oh, yeah. First thing I ever listened to that just wasn't a gospel, you know what I'm saying?

And, you know, grew up a big Nirvana, you know, REM, Pearl Jam, like I was in that world. Right when MTV was starting to really, like, get a hold to what was happening. You know, so I grew up Tom Petty. I actually used Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers as like a, specifically last dance with Mary Jane. I used that song as a template for most. of the stuff I'm right.

Right? Like that day, because he had to kind of like a little rapy, like, rhythm to, he grew up in an Indiana time. There is like a fast and a slow rhythm kind of pulling it in different directions. Yeah, just kind of pulling it.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I used that as a template a lot in my music. That makes sense. Yeah. And then, you know, outside of that, once I started getting it, like, the next album I got that was just like not gospel was, oh, God.

Sorry, about that. You're bad. Okay, I'm back. The next to my God, that wasn't gospel, was actually the Forest Gump soundtrack. I got that. I think in the sixth grade for Valentine's Day. And it was a two-disc, you know, what? Oh, my God, it was so great.

Oh, my God, it was so great. And, like, that's how I learned out about, like, Simon and Garfunkel and Creas Clearwater Revival. And so, like, I was getting, like, this old. Yeah, you could never license something like that outside of a movie. That would just be like millions of dollars. Millions of dollars, right? Really?

It's like, but it was so great for me to like kind of like submerge myself in that for a while. I still had a lot of gospel. And then, you know, just over time I just kind of picked up different influences from different places. But I felt like all of it was this true story. What we call country music, hip hop music, jazz music, gospel music. at least those four, at least those four, all of them come from about 300 miles of each other. Hmm. Right. They are germane to the same people. Yeah. Right. The, the, you know, not, like a working class kind of fault. It's working, it's working. It's working. It's, you know, the core of that is, it's pop from, you know, 60 to 100 years ago, but it's a, it's a pop core of like this is what anyone could pick up and understand. Yes. Yes. And so it's working man's music and all of those different branches of music,

they have this one thing in common to me. And it is that it is important to let the audience know that we're from the same place. Right. The first thing you ever find out about a hip hop star is where they are from, right? Where they are from is bigger than them, right? They might be the biggest thing where they're from. But they only matter because of where they're from, right? Yeah. Same thing is true in country music. Like, you might be the biggest thing out of Dallas, or you might be the biggest thing from Roanoke, Alabama. But you're never bigger than Roanoke.

Right. Like, your old story is based than Roanoke. So I like to put those two things together, and I like to tell it, you know, this is where I'm from, and I'm not bigger than that program. I hope to be the biggest thing in the program, but I'm not bigger than the city. Well, that's beautiful.

And do you, are there other artists that you like, not just in music, but that are kind of exploring that thing. Like, I don't know if you saw, I read a lot of kind of like independent comics and like, was it Southern Bastards. Actually, like, it ended up to be set in Birmingham. Nobody knew it was going to be, but then you see these scenes from Birmingham. But it was like, you know, there's these violent shots of people eating barbecue and like living in trailers.

And but it's, you know, it's a graphic novel. I've never said, I need to tick that. That one's really good. Yes. It's called Southern Bastards. That artist and author have done some cool stuff. and they'll go make the money doing like Marvel and Wolverine and then they'll come back and tell like a, you know, a little simple story. But yeah, you know, things like that kind of make me think of what you're doing because it's so familiar, but it's also a deconstruction of the familiar.

It's not just more of what you can go out and get at the record store or, you know, the, you know, decor store already. It's kind of a, I mean, like being a working class farmer guy with the style that you've got that is, you know, somewhat urban, somewhat laid back. You know, you know how to drive a tractor, but also your beard is pink. I mean, that's kind of a deconstruction of, you know, an idea. And like I think the, I hate to do this. This is so cheese, but it's true. When sinners came out last year, I thought to myself, oh, my God, that's the story. Right?

Yeah. Like, that's the story. I kind of, I was deconstructed coming out of church. And being like this, I'm a preacher's son. I'm a church musician. that's where I learned to do all this stuff, right? But I felt this calling to go do it elsewhere, and I've had some success doing it elsewhere.

And I wanted to come back home and tell a lot of, literally, when I finally put out this whole album, this whole album is a deconstruction of what it means to be a black man in Alabama. Right? And the country parts of it, the more urban parts of it, the gospel parts of it,

the deconstruction of the gospel parts of it, the internal conflicts, the rises and falls, that's where the whole thing that's called sugar and salt. And that is a deconstruction of what it takes to make people addicted, right? Like, we're all born with this addiction to sugar and salt. It's all in what you do with it, right? So just getting it down to the bare knits and grits. I tell this story that, like, if you're from Birmingham or you're from Alabama, you know, there are sugar people that eat their grits with sugar and there are salt people, right?

They eat their gris with salt. And the sugar people think that the salt people are disgusting. And the salt people know that the sugar people have lost their minds, right? And which side is correct, though? You know, salt is right. I think the same for cornbread. I don't like sugar in the cornbread. Yeah, yeah.

Salt is grits. I'm supposed to be savory. And the mayor eats sugar in his grits. I couldn't even believe it. I can't even believe it, man. And I love that guy. You know what? You have my woodfin?

Woodfin's sugar in his griskin? sugar grit guy. Oh. Nice. So you see the animosity but when you strip it back, we're just two country grid eating sons of bitches, right?

Right. And I want people to deconstruct that, like it's the grits that make it country. It's not how you talk it. Right. Like, that's the message I'm trying to get across. Like, oh, I'm from, I'm country,

right? Like, I don't want to have to explain that to you know better than that. You might top yours a little differently. You might talk about pickup trucks And I talk about Coup de Vills. But that's just what my granddaddy drove. Yeah.

Right? My granddad worked on steel plant. You know, my other grandma had a farm. You know, so I know that life too, but I grew up right on the line between Birmingham and Waltham. My grandma and Waltham had a farm. My grandma and tholemite was at the steel mill. You see what I'm saying? So.

Yeah. And that's a real life. That's not like, that's not some caricature I had to make up. That's really how I grew up, you know. So you've got both of those influences of kind of the culture. of the city and then also the culture of the country and a lot of the ideals of self-reliance and

community, you know, that sometimes you don't necessarily see in music as much as I mean, you're kind of, it's meeting people where they are, but also call them to action, which is hard to do at the same time. It's easy to kind of preach people. Yeah, what you're doing already is enough or, you know, rugged resilience,

don't worry about it and, you know, end up on the Taylor Sheridan soundtrack or something. But, like, I don't know, maybe you're gone into that one. I want to burn any bridges for you. This is not reflected. No, you could, buddy. And one day when we're not doing this, let's just hang out, Roggan.

Yeah. God, I kind of see if I can remember it. This is way off topic for the podcast, but there was like, I made, we used to make, like, jokes about, like, if you were going to, we would make a song called, like, Taylor Sheridan and please hire me for your soundtrack, and it would be, like, a country song. But it would be like, it would just be, like, a parody of the kind of stuff that plays when the, like, Sunset rolls. I don't like someone tell you. I'm going to share it.

I'm fine. You know, money would be like. Yeah, like one of those songs was like, in my heart, there's a bar with seats for both of us, but now I'm drinking in my car because you went to Alcoholics Anonymous. And, you know, like that kind of like that kind of old banjo. Because I mean, the thing that I, because I grew up in Alabama and, you know,

like if you asked me in high school, you know, like if I would ever listen to country music, have a cowboy hat, drive a truck, I would have been like, hell no, you know, like I'm protesting the Iraq war or whatever. And then, you know, two months ago I'm driving out to somewhere in Bessemer being like, this truck is $10,000 under Blue Book. I'm a social worker married to a teacher. I don't care if I got a scrape an American flag decal wrap with bullet holes in it off the back and a Confederate flag I'm getting used to struck.

And I just, you know, like I love my cowboy hat. I love a lot of country music. But, you know, when I was at that time, like so much of that genre was I'm a guy who really wants to date somebody who doesn't want to date me and also I'm drunk and I think that's very deep. And that whole thing that's kind of disgusted me because that's not deep. Like you can do that and no shade, but like also don't tell that to me like, is this just so interesting and aren't I unique? Like, no, dog, not at all.

Nah, you're not. You're not. And I think, I think a part of like a part of what I'm trying to build is like, bro, people from down here, like sometimes we get labeled that's dumb. or like shallow or you know whatever and it's like nah man like there's a there's a real politic to this place there's a real like um there are people down here who really love people there are people down here who really fight for things sometimes sometimes we don't get to be as amplified because you know we don't hold all the levels of power but man like

I don't know if you'll find better people on the planet man like it really is an interesting culture. And I think it's, but there's a politics to it. You're right. I mean, you kind of have to know how to interact in it.

And I think from the outside, you lose that nuance. People just see something on the news or they look at, oh my lord, all of our political ads season. So I'm like watching these ads come in. And I don't know where they get the names for these people for one, but also like it's,

it's wild. There is a, there's like an ad that has been playing when I'm driving. And it's like for a gun store, but it's the same. that you should go to the gun store because the rapture's coming and you should like get some assault rifles for the rapture and it's like well if the rapture's coming what do I think the guns for I don't know who we should yeah do we need to revisit how the rapture thing is supposed to work like

you tell us about yeah you see what I'm saying like that and that's alabama when I first moved to l.A. there was like this I forget what mass shooting it was there been so many and that's so sad to say but when I first moved to L.A. there was a mass shooting and it might have been Sandy Hook as a matter of was saying to do it. And, you know, so of course they were talking about, you know, guns and gun violence. And I was like, oh, my God, y'all don't realize how easy it is to get a gun where I'm from. Yeah. And I was living in LA. So I came home to Birmingham and I did a little Instagram thing. I've taken it down since then because I've rebound my Instagram. But this is a little Instagram thing where I went to the place where you get the licenses. I wanted to get one legally. I wanted to show you how easy it was given. So I go to the place to get the gun down there by the courthouse.

I didn't know what it's called, but right down next to the courthouse. There was a sign in the parking lot that had a 15-minute parking limit, which means you had to be out of there in 15 minutes. I'd never seen, like, I was like, what? I went in, and it's a government building. Now, think about it. Government building. 15 minutes, you got to get it.

We will make it efficient. Got to get up. So I went in there. I got the permit. It's like $30, $40, whatever. Got the permit. Went down to Hoover Tactical. I should stay down now.

It was right behind my business, honestly. Okay. So you know what the collective, yeah. It used to be like a Winn-Dixie and it was a jail champ at one point. Yeah. There's a gun store. A little grocery store. Like, think about that.

I go at the Huber Tactical. I stand in there and keep in mind, you know, they serve in all the people. And the lady finally comes to me and she says, what can I do for you? And I said, I need the biggest gun you got in here. That was it. I want the biggest gun you got in here. He said, well, I got this. But she hands me at AR-15 and they go, you need some bullets?

I'm saying, let me get like a thousand. She says, okay, let me cash your credit. You need me high nitrogen and fertilizer? You need any enriched geranium? Yeah. I'm like, man, like what? Like, okay. But again, that's the politic, Alabama.

You just have to kind of know that that's how it goes. and be responsible in that. You know what I'm saying? Like, you know, not abuse whatever that may be. It is something you can't fathom what that process is that way. I mean, not saying anything political like yes or no about it,

but like if you're from New York or, you know, like your shopping bag is regulated, you know, you could have that experience, you know, in the same country. In the same country. Yeah.

Right. And I walked out of that, I walked out of that store, not even concealed because I had a license. Yeah. I walked out there. they're going to put it in a brown paper bag. Like you people just walking out like The Terminator.

That's just walked out like Rambo. Yeah. But that's Alabama, man. And it's a beautiful place in that regard. But, you know, it's got it's someone has to tell that story and kind of, I hope to be one of the people who get to tell it. Well, when I read one of the things that I think is important to track like what we're losing in the psychotherapy profession and also like how it's changing and sort of

becoming losing a lot of the depth that it had is I read the biographies of people you know from the founders and the people in the 70s going back to it and when I was doing that they all kind of described this feeling of like I kept thinking I was going to discover something and then when I got to the top I realized that I just was knowing what I had already known as a kid I'm in their own language and then when I started this podcast you talked to all these artists and not just musicians but like architects and fine artists painters all this stuff and a lot of them had encountered you know Jungian therapy or some kind of you know depth oriented therapy but not all of them and most of them are kind of saying the same thing. It seems like there's like two

primary things that are the most common. One of them is like I want to speak to myself when I was a kid. Like I want to be the artist that says something that I wish someone had told me when I was a kid. And then the other one is this idea of like I'm really trying to chew on my own psychology, understand it. I don't know what I'm trying to say. Like I'm making art because I want to come back and say it this way, say it another way, say it another way on the fifth record, on the fifth painting, go, oh, that's what those five things were saying. Sort of as an assignment. Any of those kind of relate to?

Are you just jumping off point for a reflection on your process? I speak a lot to my inner child for sure, right? Like, I say all the time that, like, eight-year-old me would love this guy, right? Would love this guy. And I don't even know if eight-year-old me would believe that this guy exists. where he would be, he would be my biggest fan. And so I do this for him. And I, well, that's a part of why I do it,

but like, you know, to let him know that you're not as crazy as you think you are, you know, and you can be whatever you want to be. You can say it however you need to say it and blah, blah, blah. So a lot of it is that I tend to go into a studio. Sometimes I go in with like, like, something I really, really want to segment. Right. Like, I got a song that's doing pretty well. Now, Ice on the Road, I walked into the studio that day.

With that on my mind, I want to tell you this. Yeah. And Ice on the Road is the one that's blown up. And that's the one, if you're listening to this, Google, we'll link to it in the show notes. But, I mean, every time I went back to kind of try and listen to the music to prepare for the enemy, then wrote two, three million more hits on that song. It was top of the pops. And I'm so thankful for that, man.

I'm really glad that people are listening to it. I think there's a huge market for anything other than every politician that we have right now. Like, I mean, the thing that I just kind of see across the board, because I mean, I see wildly different kinds of people. I don't really judge anybody. I think that if you're going to be a therapist, you got to love everybody. You don't necessarily have to, you maybe benefited from not liking them, but just loving them and holding them in the room. And, you know, I don't care what people's politics are. I don't care what their gender, sexuality, or anything.

I just like to get to know people and help you find you and usually take clean. a lot of things up along the way. But yeah, I mean, you're really saying that by the, and that's, by the time you get to, which sadly is not just relevant to bites probably, but by the time you get to the point where there's dead bodies in the street, something's wrong, you know, something's not working. And can we just back up and say, hey, it's sort of self-evident that this is not the way to do it. And then maybe figure out what's, I mean, if you can't get there, I mean, where can you? I'll at least be able to agree that that's not it, right?

That seems like a very low bar is that piles of bodies is not an aspirational. That can't be it, man. And so sometimes you go in with that kind of thing. And then sometimes I go in really more or less to paint a feeling, right? Like I just want you to feel a certain thing, not necessarily to pay attention to my story. But, like, I want to give you hope or I want to give you happy feet, you know, give you something to hum along too. So, you know, but all of those things are really like speaking to, really I want to speak to the children, you know, we grow up, you know, and, yeah, we get old, whatever. But I don't know if we're supposed to grow up.

I'm not sure of that, right? Not to the degree that we lose the young scientists that was in us all, right? You got to grow backwards and then it's more of a remembering unless. Yeah, man, like you got to remember like the curiosity. that you had as a kid and the, you know, the willingness to explore and, you know, get out of your safety zone. Because every day you were out of your safety zone, for one point, you were learning something new all the time. And then you get to a certain age and you feel like you know it all. And it's like, nah, nah, remember what it's like to keep learning every day.

Remember what it's like to have new experiences and blah, blah, blah, blah. So, you know, that's kind of what I try to do in my music. Yeah. And are there other, I mean, there is a tradition. I mean, even in Birmingham of kind of, you know, like, alternative and, you know, especially like in the, and also people kind of making their, like, personality and aesthetic more of the mythology of the art, like people like SunRaw. And, you know, are there any kind of like African-American or, you know, musicians from the South that kind of, I'm going to stay here, but I'm also going to break the mold. And that's a little bit of the point, you know, I'm not just wrong. Man, SunRaw, you named one George Clinton, man.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. 3000. Yeah. Right. Hell, I think,

hey, like the, a part of being, like, a part of being down here is, a strut and peacock kind of thing. Like, like,

it's, you know, having an aesthetic, uh, that breaks mold is like a, uh, it takes a lot because I come from a working man's town, right?

Like, this is still, you know? Which is it's an inherently, not even politically conservative, but it's conserving the normal. It's conserving the, let's put everybody in a blender and keep this lump average. And if you're saying something from the outside, that's really weird. You know, that's really, I'm a little bit afraid because I'm trying to kind of retain something. And, you know, that's so much the impulse when you're really breaking that and then forcing people to also have a connection with you.

And that's kind of the seed of change, you know. And it's not Christlike in a way. I mean, Jesus kind of was like, hey, I'm here, but I'm pointing you somewhere else. You know? Point some of us. Yeah. My dad is still, like, the preacher, but a steel worker, army man, right? Like, as conservative as you can think, right?

Just conservative, evangelical army steelworker. Like, I don't even know if I can, if you get the picture, right? Yeah, yeah. That's a hard-in diagram to find the, find the middle of. Oh, that's literally, the Venn diagram is just a circle, bro. It's just one circle, bro. And that, he always wanted for me to be literally a productive member of society. That's what he wanted for me, right?

First word I ever learned how to spell, this is not a joke. First word I ever learn how to spell is job. The first word ever learned how to spill. You know, he wanted me to be a preacher and, you know, maybe play some music for church and like just kind of following that tradition, get your steel job, blah, blah, and steel workers, they were the same navy blue, you know, dicky pants, you get what I'm saying?

All of that. Yeah. Right. But that being said, that just didn't fit me well. You know, I think a lot about like the story of David and Goliath, when David went to go fight Goliath and, you know, they tried to put Saul's armor on him and it just didn't fit it.

Right? He was like, I'm going to take a slingshot and go out here and do this, you know. And that's kind of how I see it. You know, like, it's not that I didn't want to, you know, be productive in society. I just, that just wasn't the outfit for me to do it. And that wasn't the way I saw making the world better. Yeah, when I worked like in Jasper, Alabama, sling blade and highways and stuff, in between college, it really was like everybody had the dicky overalls that the thrift store t-shirt or the plain white t-shirt and then the baseball hat that you wore every day.

and that was like your uniformed for it. That was the other. But then, you know, that, that, like, being so heterogeneous, they had to have these kind of weird competitive personalities, like really lean into their, you know, like the cockfighted guy was always fighting, like, the, you know, souping up the truck guy. Yeah. Just weird, the weirdness of the community.

You got to be an individual in some way, right? Yeah. Yeah. Right. So, you know, but respecting the collective, you know, I honor those who came before me and all those still working people, you know, all those farming people, like I love them and they taught me a lot. But, you know, that just wasn't mold I was made for. Was that what he was working for Birmingham still?

Yep. Yeah. My dad worked for polymer cord code was right out there in Fairfield. And then, of course, he was in the Army and, you know, we went to church. As soon as he got out of work almost every day, so. So when you're taking that, you know, background to fit into, you know, the mythology of an artist, the persona of an artist,

which is, you know, some of you, but also, you know, you got to turn it up a little bit to have a thing, to have a performance. What are you taking? You know, start with, you know, why pink beard? Why a beard?

Why pink? Okay, well, I had, I've been growing a beard for years. Fetcher is just kind of part of what I do. But I'm, I'm dyed at pink because, you know, I'm 44, so my beard is skunk under here,

right? It's black and white. And when I just, I spent a lot of time writing for other people. So I was just in the studio, I didn't really have, I didn't care about an aesthetic. I'm just,

old man coming in to write some songs, you know, I didn't really care. But when I got, when I decided I wanted to get back out and sing, I was like, man, I don't want to shave my beard. And I happened to meet these pastors. I was throwing a birthday party for a friend of mine in L.A., and her pastors had this color in their hair. I'm like, man, if I had hair, I'd dye my hair that color. And one of the brothers said it.

Oh, you do it. It's just on your face. I was like, oh, I think that'd be interesting. I thought it'd be a good calling card. You don't really run into a whole lot of people with pink beards. So I figured it'd be a good calling card. And again, and it reminds me every morning that I need to do something to make this worth it. You know, because otherwise it just looks silly, you know.

Yeah. So it's like my, it was my push out of the nest. I was like, man, once you die your beard pink, you got to go. I mean, you've got to do something. So this like reminds me to get up and be productive and, you know, enjoy what I'm doing. Don't take it too serious. But just, it's got to be serious enough because otherwise you look silly. Yeah.

So, yeah. Yeah. That's a great line of trying to take yourself seriously, but not too seriously. So a lot of what makes it actually work. Like in any area, you think. So, you know, Alabama has some problems. We've touched on it. Your music goes into that.

I mean, do you have, you have, like, kind of experiences where you, growing up, you saw, you know, this is wrong, or all of a sudden, oh, I realize my self-image was, you know, the culture was telling me it was bad, but actually it's good. having this kind of breakthrough or, you know, you know, if you have activist parents, I mean, sometimes you speak that language pretty early. But I mean, most of my career as a social worker, you know, in Alabama, but I was at the hospital or something. I'm a white guy in a polo shirt. So it's like a lot of people just feel comfortable telling you how racist they are sometimes, which I just, you couldn't, I always thought it was funny because like when I, when I first started

you'd go to these apartments and a lot of the people are, you know, on disability and kind of real hard up and you're trying to help them with a crack addiction or something. And sometimes you have to call the police for something if there's somebody, you know, if there's a break in or whatever. Like the police officers would always come in. And I think for the size of the city, Birmingham has a really, pretty good police force. I mean, there's some problems. But a ton of the time, you know, I'd be around the corner and they weren't expecting to see me.

And so they'd come into the apartment and like, well, well, we haven't. Oh, sir, we are, we had in a tactical kinetic, uh, report, uh, situation that we, Yeah, yeah. You're kind of like, that's the 180. I'm sorry. I, I, um, I would keep my, like, I went to elementary schools, very integrated. My middle school is very integrated. High school, pretty integrated, right?

Like, as far as that's concerned, I was around, I feel like good-hearted people. Yeah. But when I got to college, I was at, I wouldn't even say to school, but, you know, I was in undergrad. And I, I played in this band, so, like, kind of, sort of. Southern Rock, we did a lot of almond brothers kind of stuff, but, you know, just a cover band. We, you know, did that kind of stuff. And we were playing on the strip, and there's this young lady who took a liking to me.

But I was the front man. He's supposed to like the front man, you know? Right. And she happened to be white. And so during the set break, we were standing outside and she's talking to me, blah, blah. Another guy is kind of standing out to the side. He looks back at her and says, you're not supposed to talk to him. He's an N-word, right?

And I looked back, and I looked at him as a police officer standing rid of it, like, maybe arms late the way. I look at the police officer, the police officer looks at me, and then he turns his head, right? And I said, sir, if I knocked him out, will you turn your head again? And he looked at me, he turned his head. And then I, you know, keep in mind, I'm a preacher's kid, man. So I thought about all the Sunday schools I've been to and, you know, you're supposed to turn the other cheek. And, you know, I get it.

And, you know, what would Jesus do? And then I knocked them out. Punched them right in this race. And I picked him up, brought him in the bar, set him on the stool, all these drinks the whole rest of the night. We actually became really good friends after that. And he stayed. He, like, he accepted it.

He did. He accepted. Okay. He accepted. And like to this day, we're actually pretty decent friends. That was a life-changing moment before us both, I believe. Wow. Um, and because, again, growing up, I never really had, like, you know what I'm saying?

Like, I'm not saying it didn't exist. I just lived in a bubble that, like, that's just not how I live life, right? Yeah. I mean, Birmingham is pretty metropolitan. I mean, there's, like, there, I mean, there's some sundown towns in Alabama. There's some places you probably don't want to be hanging out too long. I don't know how much of that's changed, but there definitely was when I was in high school. Yeah. But, you know, that was my first time really, like, experience or something like that. But I knew, I knew then, like, that's not, that's not the way to live, man.

Like, you know, judge a person on their content, bro. Judge them on their character. And, you know, I've been raised that way. And I feel like that's the way we all treat everybody, you know. So it's something that you were kind of in conversation with that you never controlled you, but you were always kind of aware of how to be managed. Yeah. And me

probably I had to learn like early on I had counselors and stuff when I was a kid like my mom put me in therapy when I was super young

because I did have a while like I keep talking about how my parents were preachers but my dad was a while like I mean not like a drug addict or anything like that really straight arrow kind of guy

but like mean right because he was so straight arrow and And, you know, my mom put me in counseling when I was really young. So he was, he was like the military mindset of that time of like, you got to be 100% perfect to make sure that you have every opportunity. Yes. You know, pure discipline. Like, like, that's just what my dad was and he was, you know, like just the.

True Detective Season 3 type. Yeah, like that kind of. Yes. You know, and so, you know, growing up, I really, I dealt a lot with, like, how to deal with, like, my own. issues, right? Because I wanted to fight back and I, you know, I wanted to, and I was bigger than other kids. So, and I was learning that if someone disagreed with you and you had the power to hurt them, you hurt them. Yeah, yeah.

Right. Um, so I, you know, I dealt with that a lot of the kids and, and fortunately, thanks to my mom and that there, bro, like I, that really helped me out a lot in life. And it, and then Dr. Paula Brown, I'll never forget the later mention rest of the soul. I've seen people who knew her, generally like older therapists have mentioned stuff like that. I mean, she was kind of an OG. A G and a, and a doll, man, like a just a sweet lady, man. And she, you know, she kind of put kind of like, hey, man, you know, do this thing. Express yourself in music.

Like, you know, you could sing about it. I would sing a little songs when I came to therapy, you know. So a part of why I exist today is because of that. So I'm really appreciative to that. And it really did help me, like, process my feelings. And I still do that to this day. Well, I try and stay away from any of the, like, Mark Marion territory of, like, what would your dad like?

What do you talk about in therapy? But, you know, like, I don't know, for the lack of a better, you know, like, what, you know, do you see things from your childhood that you kind of engage with in therapy as an adult or as a kid or, you know, um, that you're not come off. Yeah, man. Um, maybe even to my dis, like, to my down. downfall to a certain degree, having that therapy young taught me how to talk through a conflict, right? Like, you know, make sure you understand what that person is saying to you and make sure that you are understood, right?

Like, make sure you tell the truth because you can't fix what you won't say, what you won't reveal, man. And so I used that to this day. You can't hear what you won't reveal. And so, you know, even in my relationship now, and I'm sure she hates me, not should we like each other. But, like, I'm very much like, hey, my love, I want to make sure I'm understanding you. Let me repeat what I think I'm hearing you say. Am I getting that right? You know, and sometimes you just want me to get it.

And I'm like, before I say, I got it, then you make sure I get it. And I want you to understand me. You know, this is what I'm trying to say. This is where I went wrong there. This is what I thought I was doing right there. Right. But I learned that, you know, even as a kid, like, you know, don't be afraid. Because I would run from, I would either run from conflict or run to it.

Right? Like I, there was no real like mediation for me. Nothing to like, I would either completely shut down or we're going to fight, you know. And so I'm really thankful that I had that those experiences to help me like, you know, be able to move through those. Yeah. So do you have anything that's, you have anything that's upcoming? Do you want to get more into kind of film or start to act? I mean, you have a personality where it probably be, you know, probably be pretty easy to make the jump into, you know, showing up as a character actor and an HBO thing or something. You know, crazy.

Up then, like, in music now, it doesn't make the money it used to make. So now you have to think about, like, what else you're going to do? But, um, right now, I'm, I'm really focusing on, um, this. I'm, I'm appearing on America's Got Talent. Uh, at some point next month, you guys should see me on, on TV. And I'm really going to just try to push this. I feel like this to me, this particular part of my life, I feel like it's going to be one of my most impactful times.

But I do want to write a book. So you're trying to sketch out some stuff on that. Well, awesome. Congratulations. I look forward to it. And when you got the book, come back and promote it. I'd love to in the hometown. Yes, sir.

I love talking about, I love talking to artists, especially when they're switching kind of mediums or exploring the same thing in a different medium. So that, like, when you, you know, maybe you do want to talk about that. Some people are kind of scared to just because of the forces in the industry, but it's like you used to be able to make money as a pop musician. Now you can have millions of views,

and Spotify and this kind of streaming economy crap has figured out how the, which those companies aren't making money anyway, which is kind of frustrating that people took money away from other people to have some new business model to lose the money for themselves. But love them. Yeah, but like, you know, so it's done this like weird thing to the industry where like now everything has to be events.

Like you have to be like an event size. artist and you have that means that you're dealing with one of five companies really two or three companies that own venues and have this kind of tort monopoly and all this stuff and then you have to like and then that also means that the concert can't just be a concert where you go up and do it and maybe a you know intermission you have to have sets and blazers and film production stuff in order because they're kind of trying to turn the the money is in the events you know so it's like all that's I've watched that slowly happen over 10 years. And it has the same effect that a lot of our culture does,

where it makes a whole lot of losers and a couple winners. You know, these people make, you know, millions of dollars. And they're essentially going on, you know, 18 trailer trucks and their kids have a little house that gets rebuilt behind the stadium

every day so that they never feel like they're in a different thing. And in tons and tons of money. And like, that's great. You know, if you get to be inked, that's great. But like,

you know, there's not the pathway to just kind of be a, middle class or upper middle class or slightly wealthy, you know, musician, even, even actor. You're starting to sit at that. You know, yeah, these industries as they change, I mean, you got any thoughts on that? Yeah. My thoughts, I've always, here's the socialism. I'm all power with all the people, man.

And I mean that, you know, a dollar is only worth what you say is worth. And the consumer is the battery for all industry, right? And I say all that to say that whatever you want to see happen is what has to happen. Right. Like they can make whatever model they want to make. My goal has been specifically this year. Like I'm coming to see people where they are. You know, like I'm, and if that's, it's somebody's backyard, I'm pulling up on you. You know, and I'm bringing my band and you just tell your friends come over. Right. And that way, that way we can do that. You know, because the human can

connection, none of that. I mean, nothing against your laser shows, right? But I think that there's a heartbeat that goes on, especially as things start to kind of, I guess the world starts to kind of get weirder and weirder. I think people are looking for something that's a bit more human. Right? And as we get more AI and I'm not, you know,

I'm not like the anti-AI person. I don't use it personally, but, you know, to each his own. But I think there's... How many are right now? I'm at the beach. This is a Jedi holocron.

I just... Well, that's nice. I'm not really like. That's nice. It looks good. One day, though, you could be in that situation. You don't even know if the... But it's all, right?

Like, and nothing against that, right? But I think people are going to be looking for, like, you know, just real heart-to-heart-to-heart-human-type interactions. And so I just, I want to be at least that. bridge while I can. I won't be by the time I leave Earth, they probably won't have a single human being singing in anything. So, especially Jim Z is like really

rebelling against AI. I mean, they're, they'll like, um, they won't, um, they're, they're real, uh, angry about that because they came about, you know, when this period where the internet was mostly crap and, you know, I think it's kind of like, a more extreme version of the millennials that had watched, you know, their, their parents like,

get a best buy an applebee's and they're like, We want authentic, real culture. We're going to hang up Edison classic light bulbs on strings. Here will only be made in this one spot. And then, you know, that kind of gets co-opted or whatever. But, yeah, I think the Jim Z thing is like an even stronger reaction to the same thing. I'm hoping that the kids will be all right, man. Because we're going to need human beings, man.

We're not quite in post-humanistic world yet. And so we're going to need human beings and human beings to tell real stories and put real emotion behind it. And yeah, so that's really all I can hope for us to be a person who brings value to that. And, you know, if selling records is a way of the past, I can understand that. You know, business models change. And I think that right now what we're selling is we're selling characters. And so I just want to be a valuable character. Yeah.

Yeah, it is. I mean, do you have anything to say about becoming a character? because it is this kind of involuntary process of when you become a pop musician, you're almost part of the collective mythology. I mean, people are thinking of you like Superman, Batman, Zeus, and not just, you know, there may be an understanding that you're a person too,

but you're representing a thing. And, you know, too, like, you know, so much of the history of the music that you're mining, there's, you know, African-American ballads about, you know, social justice and protection. And then, I mean, there's also, you know, not just white, but largely white, you know, songs about Blair Mountain and socialism and coal mining

and pushing back on the worst excesses of capitalism that go back 150 years in this area. I mean, I'll open end to turn that over to you. Yeah, you know, as far as being a character as concerned, as a songwriter, I used to tell, like, when the young artists would come see me, I would always ask them, you know, who things? Like, who are you and who wants to dress? like you, right? In other words, like a part of this is just a visual, like a visual thing.

Like, not that everybody would want to do this, but you could dress as me for Halloween easily, right? And that's a, that was a big part of why I wanted to do this. I want you to be able to dress as me for Halloween to make a visual impact. You're like a poster with like a Vulcan with a pink beard? That'd be a, that'd be a cool. Yeah, right. I hadn't, but that's a good look. That's a good look. Thanks for the, thanks for the looking, but then as far as like the collective mythology, you're right. You know, punch of music specifically. Again, it's working man's folk music, right?

And it tells this story of like just what it's like where you're from, the ups and downs. You know, in the South, we've always kind of had like this kind of anti-elitist mindset, right? You know, food on your neck type thing. And I think once it starts to lose that, you do the art of disservice. And I'm not saying everything has to be the blues, right?

But I'm saying that reality just, you have to have something that represents whatever reality may be. And so I think being a part of that and hearing these, like during this whole time I've been hearing all these songs, you know, that's showing that angst, I miss when white kids were in their dad's garage is making angsty music, right? Get back in the garage, Clayton, and play that guitar, right? Yeah, Parker, definitely needs to, you know, post-punk was going somewhere.

Yes, man, get back in there and tell them how angry you are. You know what I need that, right? You were here Planet X Records, that's what was big when I was in high school, is like that kind of, like, anti-folk punk thing that had no melody to it at all. And, you know, it was like coming out of Texas and, like, Indiana, do that. Food, not bombs was, like, a big part of it. But it was like, yeah, there were so many cassette tapes in high school where it was like, they didn't have any musical ability. They're just like, you use the steeples of your churches to cover up the graveyard of your crimes.

I smoked cigarettes in the graveyard. Screw you, dad. You know, that was the genre. Yes. Get that off your chest, man. You know what I'm saying? Like, get that off your chest. I love that.

Um, and we need, like, you know, because we're, we're going to. we kind of got hyper-capitalistic. And now it's about making money, if I can get it online, blah, blah, blah. You know, the art itself stems from our successes and our failures. And I feel like I'm starting to hear that again more and more. Once people are out of hope, then they have to make their own hope. And it tends to come out in the art. Yeah.

Right. Like once the money stops working, once the chase for money stops working, people tend to just go back to that garage, man and yeah because they got nothing to lose or win yeah right um so as long as they still got garages you know you might be uh putting on a subscription for your garage next year but whatever um do you see the culture moving back to a time like that i mean i've said for a while i feel like we're kind of moving back to the 70s like the oil embargo this like people looking inward because there's not as much stuff outside to distract them you know like the ability to

consume as much if there's a recession and less oil, you know, people look inward. Yeah, and cultured shifts when people have to do that. You see, you know, any parallels or, you know, oh, yeah, I can see that even starting in COVID. When COVID hit and people couldn't go outside, people got created. Boy, now, fair enough, we had the internet. Right. Well, man, like most of the stars that you see today were born in COVID. Right? Like, they figured out what to do with their phone. They figured out what to do with their camera.

They figured out what to do with their voice. They, like, when people are forced to sit with themselves, they have to sit with themselves, you know? I think a part of what you're starting to hear now in music, and even from the consumer to the artist is, you know, people just want something real, right? Like, people just want to hear something real. They want to hear something that relates to them,

something that they can feel. And that's that's really my goal. I want to give people a whole range of emotions. Life is not always happy, but it's not always said. You know, I don't always have it all worked out, but I'm not always drunk, you know, you know. So I think people just, they want to be able to attach to something that's real. Yeah. I think in figuring out how to get back to it or what real means, you know,

in the inevitably digital world is probably the future. And one touched by the algorithm in some ways, you know, you've got to touch the algorithm a little, bit to find the real. And I think that people are kind of figuring out in show business now, but it was like there was just really almost 10 year period where they just said, hey, we're not going to give you money anymore, but we'll give you views. So this is the number that's like a real thing. But we'll give you this fake number. Is that good enough? And you know, some of these kids are like, okay, yeah. And now people are being like, wait a minute. 50 million views and you can't give me $15. What's going on? Like, yeah, I need. I got to

eat, man. Yeah. I get, you know, so figuring out that economy, you know, know, it's been a wild one. Because it's like, you need to be on the internet, right? It's just the shift where you live. I live online, man. But then how do I break away from that? Because I got a real family. I got real friends that I really love and I really need to just spend time with them and,

you know, drink coffee and have breakfast or whatever, you know. But it's like, man, I need, I need, he's looking at 10 this week because my peak numbers are done. And I'm like, bro, just figuring out that balance, you know. It's a delicate one, but, you know, just have to go with what you can. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I want to be respectful of your time and kind of wrap up so that, you know, I don't run over. But is there, what is like the best way for people to engage with you out there and especially, like, the best venue for them to get yourself where you get the biggest cut, you know, Van Camp versus Amazon or Spotify versus Apple?

You know, what should people do that want to kind of get into the paint beard verse? If you want to be a part of my world, come see me live, man. Come see me. Digitally, I don't really care about, I mean, I'm not supposed to say this. Stream the music, thank you. Come see me, man.

Pull up on me at the show. Come hang out with me so you know what it is. Get the feeling and see what it feels like. I'm not really a recording artist. I'm an artist that records, and that's a difference, right? Like, come see me, come hang out with me. I'll be back in Birmingham and June.

I'm doing, oh, God, I wish I had it. I don't even have my calendar, but I'll promote, I promise you. But no matter where you are, if you hear this and you hear it, I'm coming to town, come see me. We'll figure out a ticket. I'm not charged and absorbent prices for my tickets. I'm not a part of the Ticketmaster gang or the Live Nation gang. I'm just out here doing shows, right?

And pull up on me so you get to see all like my crowds literally from four-year-olds to 80-4-year-olds. Real life. And we're dancing and we're singing and we're all having our own good time together. And I don't even know that's really the best thing for me. Like it's better for me. I think it's better for the people. But, you know, streaming music on. Apple if you got a stream one because they pay or title if you got it is actually the best

paying of them all title if you do that um but again I want I want to put people together you know I want people to see that they've got neighbors that don't look like them or dress like them or live in that neighborhood per se but you all got this guy in common right and and I think the best way to do that is just to see that person like come see it so you can see this lesbian couple from Asheville North Carolina right and this old old-ass man from Montgomery, Alabama, right? That should never know each other, but they should know each other, you know what I'm saying?

That's the magic, man. That part is so magical to me, man. The concert is part of the art form. The community is part of the art form. That's part of the persona. I'm going to tell you one thing. I'm going to share about this. Frankie Beverly died about two, three years ago.

And I remember when Frankie Beverly died from, you know, Franklin Beverly Mays. And I've been seeing Frankie Beverly since I was a kid. I probably seen Frankie like eight, ten times in my life. Never even on purpose either. Because Frankie was a lot, you know, making music way before I was born. But he was always at like music festivals and stuff. And he was old when I was a kid, right?

And so he would come out and go, you made me happy. And point that mic, he didn't have to sing another word for the rest of the show. Right. And I realized that Frankie Beverly was the highest paid microphone stand in the world. Right. We didn't go to Frankie Beverly concerts. to hear Frankie Beverly sing to us, we went to Frankie Beverly

could watch us sing to him. And that kind of community is the kind I'm trying to build. Right? Like, this is not about pink beard. I just happen to be the button that brings the two sides of the shirt together. You know what I'm saying?

But I want to be, that kind of energy is, like, you could touch it. Like, that's real to me. And that's what I'm trying to build in these shows. Yeah, I'd love to bring both my kids to see you. I got a five-year-old that is a huge dancer.

and then my eight-year-old is she just loves energy so that'd be a ton of fun you got anything coming up byron city Saturn anything big i'll be a work play on oh god i don't i can't get to my call though i will just email me and i'll put it in the show notes and then if you're ever coming back to the south even if it's like you know in 10 months a year from now just you know me i'll put it out on the instagram and i'll relink to the episode clip the episode so you can only send me stuff enough We'll do. I'll send a team an email. As soon as I get off, I go, I'll check the calendar. Yeah, no rush, no rush at all. But yeah, anything you want to close with or kind of promote, I don't, I appreciate you so much coming on, you know, a show and, uh, you know, have a conversation. Man, thank you. On the way out now, I just want to, again, thank you for having me, man. It's always a privilege to be able to chat with people, for somebody to think that I'm

interesting enough to sit down with, you know, and so. Oh, no, you're like my ideal guest. I was really happy that I was, get past the agent, even if I can get in front of the artists, they're kind of, they're interested, but sometimes those agents are like, if you're not,

you know, five million. Oh, man, no, not. I appreciate the time. I appreciate the time. I appreciate it. And if there's anything I want to promote,

you know, make sure, come and see me on Instagram, pink beer, P-Y-N-K-B-E-A-R-D or Twitter. I mean, X, I'm sorry, the same thing or,

any way you find me, P-Y-N-K-B-E-R-D, all one word. Follow me there and, and, you know, join the community and, you know, let's pitch in and do the best that we can to make this world better, you know, one song at a time, one handshake at a time, one smile at the time. Yeah, that's awesome. You want to close with a, you got a barbecue recipe you like, you want to close with a rib recipe or something. I'm curious to swap tips because I've been working on my rib recipe for like 20 years.

Let me put you up on a secret to baked potatoes. Okay. Okay. Hear me out here. No foil. Mm-hmm. Okay. Fort three holes and three stabs in the potato. Both sides were six and all. Brine it.

Three seconds. That's it. Three seconds. Put it in the oven. 375, 400 for 45 minutes. Take it out. Olive oil. Back in the oven.

4.50. 15. You're going to get a good crisp, you know, chew on your skins inside, mashed potatoes. Massed. I mean, no clumps, no nothing, just. That sounds perfect. It is the perfect baked potato.

And I share with people out there, it is the perfect baked potato. I'm going to try that out. That makes sense. I always do tons of salt, but the brine probably makes a little bit more sense to get it in there. Brian, right.

Because the total I get it, but sometimes you don't want to eat it because it's too salty on outside. Yeah. Little brine. That's going to kind of crisp it up on that outside when you put that oil on in the flesh, kind of flash fried a bit. I mean,

three seconds the brine will penetrate into the potato? Get into the potato. It sounds weird because you think, well, they didn't do anything. Three seconds. Just make sure you get it in there a little bit. Perfect baked potato. That's fascinating. Every time.

I'll check that out for sure. Yeah. Well, thank you so much for coming on. I really appreciate you. I picked up my phone. It's all congressman. A lot of money in his pocket, little blood on his hands. If they gunned me down, I bet no one can't.

A lot of babies in the ground saying thoughts and rats. Too many babies in the ground with the thoughts of friends. But keep quiet and tell me in secret. Where are your neighbors? When did you last see you? Is anything great? Can't have you met Jesus? What was it teaching?

Did you believe him? Be quiet. Tell me in secrets. Where are those strangers? And when did you feed them? Is anything great? Can't have you met Jesus. I think we might need him.

But would you believe him? Would you believe him? Cover your eyes play blind why they pose and smile over someone's chimes You can't clean this up through a talk with God I can't burn this down with revival fires Oh no Only light gonna fix this dark world of eyes Hey hey keep quiet

Tell me in secret Where are your neighbors And when did last see Is anything great yet? Have you met Jesus? And what was he teaching? Did you believe?